[Illustration: “MARCVS POLVS VENETVS TOTIVS ORBIS ET INDIE PEREGRATOR
PRIMUS.”
Copied by permission from a painting bearing the above inscription
in the Gallery of Monsignore BADIA in Rome.]
THE TRAVELS OF
MARCO POLO
THE COMPLETE
YULE-CORDIER EDITION
Including the unabridged third edition (1903) of
Henry Yule’s annotated translation, as revised
by Henri Cordier; together with Cordier’s later
volume of notes and addenda (1920)
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME II
_Containing the second volume of the 1903 edition
and the 1920 volume of addenda
(two original volumes bound as one)_
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
PAGE
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS iii
EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvi
THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO
APPENDICES 503
INDEX 607
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.
BOOK SECOND—(_Continued_).
PART II.
_Journey to the West and South-West of Cathay._
CHAP. PAGE
XXXV.—HERE BEGINS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR OF CATHAY; AND
FIRST OF THE RIVER PULISANGHIN 3
NOTES.—1. _Marco’s Route._ 2. _The Bridge Pul-i-sangin, or
Lu-ku-k’iao._
XXXVI.—ACCOUNT OF THE CITY OF JUJU 10
NOTES.—1. _The Silks called |Sendals|._ 2. _Chochau._ 3.
_Bifurcation of Two Great Roads at this point._
XXXVII.—THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU 12
NOTES.—1. _Acbaluc._ 2. _T’ai-yuan fu._ 3. _Grape-wine of
that place._ 4. _P’ing-yang fu._
XXXVIII.—CONCERNING THE CASTLE OF CAICHU. THE GOLDEN KING AND
PRESTER JOHN 17
NOTES.—1. _The Story and Portrait of the |Roi d’Or|._ 2.
_Effeminacy reviving in every Chinese Dynasty._
XXXIX.—HOW PRESTER JOHN TREATED THE GOLDEN KING HIS PRISONER 21
XL.—CONCERNING THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN AND THE CITY OF
CACHANFU 22
NOTES.—1. _The Kará Muren._ 2. _Former growth of silk in
Shan-si and Shen-si._ 3. _The |akché| or |asper|._
XLI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF KENJANFU 24
NOTES.—1. _Morus alba._ 2. _Geography of the Route since
Chapter XXXVIII._ 3. _Kenjanfu or Si-ngan fu; the
Christian monument there._ 4. _Prince Mangala._
XLII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUNCUN, WHICH IS RIGHT WEARISOME
TO TRAVEL THROUGH 31
NOTE.—_The Mountain Road to Southern Shen-si._
XLIII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ACBALEC MANZI 33
NOTES.—1. _Geography, and doubts about Acbalec._ 2. _Further
Journey into Sze-ch’wan._
XLIV.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF SINDAFU 36
NOTES.—1. _Ch’êng-tu fu._ 2. _The Great River or |Kiang|._ 3.
_The word |Comercque|._ 4. _The Bridge-Tolls._ 5.
_Correction of Text._
XLV.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TEBET 42
NOTES.—1. _The Part of Tibet and events referred to._ 2.
_Noise of burning bamboos._ 3. _Road retains its
desolate character._ 4. _Persistence of eccentric
manners illustrated._ 5. _Name of the Musk animal._
XLVI.—FURTHER DISCOURSE CONCERNING TEBET 49
NOTES.—1. _Explanatory._ 2. “Or de Paliolle.” 3. _Cinnamon._
4. 5. _Great Dogs, and |Beyamini| oxen._
XLVII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CAINDU 53
NOTES.—1. _Explanation from Ramusio._ 2. _Pearls of Inland
Waters._ 3. _Lax manners._ 4. _Exchange of Salt for
Gold._ 5. _Salt currency._ 6. _Spiced Wine._ 7. _Plant
like the Clove, spoken of by Polo. Tribes of this
Tract._
XLVIII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN 64
NOTES.—1. _Geography of the Route between Sindafu or
Ch’êng-tu fu, and Carajan or Yun-nan._ 2. _Christians
and Mahomedans in Yun-nan._ 3. _Wheat._ 4. _Cowries._
5. _Brine-spring._ 6. _Parallel._
XLIX.—CONCERNING A FURTHER PART OF THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN 76
NOTES.—1. _City of Talifu._ 2. _Gold._ 3. _Crocodiles._ 4.
_Yun-nan horses and riders. Arms of the Aboriginal
Tribes._ 5. _Strange superstition and parallels._
L.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ZARDANDAN 84
NOTES.—1. _Carajan and Zardandan._ 2. _The Gold-Teeth._ 3.
_Male Indolence._ 4. _The Couvade._ (See App. L. 8.) 5.
_Abundance of Gold. Relation of Gold to Silver._ 6.
_Worship of the Ancestor._ 7. _Unhealthiness of the
climate._ 8. _Tallies._ 9.–12. _Medicine-men or
Devil-dancers; extraordinary identity of practice in
various regions._
LI.—WHEREIN IS RELATED HOW THE KING OF MIEN AND BANGALA VOWED
VENGEANCE AGAINST THE GREAT KAAN 98
NOTES.—1. _Chronology._ 2. _Mien or Burma. Why the King may
have been called King of Bengal also._ 3. _Numbers
alleged to have been carried on elephants._
LII.—OF THE BATTLE THAT WAS FOUGHT BY THE GREAT KAAN’S HOST AND
HIS SENESCHAL AGAINST THE KING OF MIEN 101
NOTES.—1. _Nasruddin._ 2. _Cyrus’s Camels._ 3. _Chinese
Account of the Action. General Correspondence of the
Chinese and Burmese Chronologies._
LIII.—OF THE GREAT DESCENT THAT LEADS TOWARDS THE KINGDOM OF MIEN 106
NOTES.—1. _Market-days._ 2. _Geographical difficulties._
LIV.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF MIEN, AND THE TWO TOWERS THAT ARE
THEREIN, ONE OF GOLD, AND THE OTHER OF SILVER 109
NOTES.—1. _Amien._ 2. _Chinese Account of the Invasion of
Burma. Comparison with Burmese Annals. The City
intended. The Pagodas._ 3. _Wild Oxen._
LV.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF BANGALA 114
NOTES.—1. _Polo’s view of Bengal; and details of his account
illustrated._ 2. _Great Cattle._
LVI.—DISCOURSES OF THE PROVINCE OF CAUGIGU 116
NOTE.—_A Part of Laos. Papesifu. Chinese Geographical
Etymologies._
LVII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ANIN 119
NOTES.—1. _The Name. Probable identification of territory._
2. _Textual._
LVIII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF COLOMAN 122
NOTES.—1. _The Name. The Kolo-man._ 2. _Natural defences of
Kwei-chau._
LIX.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUIJU 124
NOTES.—1. _Kwei-chau. Phungan-lu._ 2. _Grass-cloth._ 3.
_Tigers._ 4. _Great Dogs._ 5. _Silk._ 6. _Geographical
Review of the Route since Chapter LV._ 7. _Return to
Juju._
BOOK SECOND.
(_Continued_.)
PART III.
_Journey Southward through Eastern Provinces of Cathay and Manzi._
LX.—CONCERNING THE CITIES OF CACANFU AND CHANGLU 132
NOTES.—1. _Pauthier’s Identifications._ 2. _Changlu. The
Burning of the Dead ascribed to the Chinese._
LXI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF CHINANGLI, AND THAT OF TADINFU, AND
THE REBELLION OF LITAN 135
NOTES.—1. _T’si-nan fu._ 2. _Silk of Shan-tung._ 3. _Title
|Sangon|._ 4. _Agul and Mangkutai._ 5. _History of
Litan’s Revolt._
LXII.—CONCERNING THE NOBLE CITY OF SINJUMATU 138
NOTE.—_The City intended. The Great Canal._
LXIII.—CONCERNING THE CITIES OF LINJU AND PIJU 140
NOTES.—1. _Linju._ 2. _Piju._
LXIV.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF SIJU, AND THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN 141
NOTES.—1. _Siju._ 2. _The Hwang-Ho and its changes._ 3.
_Entrance to Manzi; that name for Southern China._
LXV.—HOW THE GREAT KAAN CONQUERED THE PROVINCE OF MANZI 144
NOTES.—1. _Meaning and application of the title |Faghfur|._
2. _Chinese self-devotion._ 3. _Bayan the Great
Captain._ 4. _His lines of Operation._ 5. _The Juggling
Prophecy._ 6. _The Fall of the Sung Dynasty._ 7.
_Exposure of Infants, and Foundling Hospitals._
LXVI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF COIGANJU 151
NOTE.—_Hwai-ngan fu._
LXVII.—OF THE CITIES OF PAUKIN AND CAYU 152
NOTE.—_Pao-yng and Kao-yu._
LXVIII.—OF THE CITIES OF TIJU, TINJU, AND YANJU 153
NOTES.—1. _Cities between the Canal and the Sea._ 2.
_Yang-chau._ 3. _Marco Polo’s Employment at this City._
LXIX.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF NANGHIN 157
NOTE.—_Ngan-king._
LXX.—CONCERNING THE VERY NOBLE CITY OF SAIANFU, AND HOW ITS
CAPTURE WAS EFFECTED 158
NOTES.—1. and 2. _Various Readings._ 3. _Digression on the
Military Engines of the Middle Ages._ 4. _Mangonels of
Cœur de Lion._ 5. _Difficulties connected with Polo’s
Account of this Siege._
LXXI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF SINJU AND THE GREAT RIVER KIAN 170
NOTES.—1. _I-chin hien._ 2. _The Great Kiang._ 3. _Vast
amount of tonnage on Chinese Waters._ 4. _Size of River
Vessels._ 5. _Bamboo Tow-lines._ 6. _Picturesque Island
Monasteries._
LXXII.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIJU 174
NOTES.—1. _Kwa-chau._ 2. _The Grand Canal and Rice-Transport._
3. _The Golden Island._
LXXIII.—OF THE CITY OF CHINGHIANFU 176
NOTE.—_Chin-kiang fu. Mar Sarghis, the Christian Governor._
LXXIV.—OF THE CITY OF CHINGINJU AND THE SLAUGHTER OF CERTAIN ALANS
THERE 178
NOTES.—1. _Chang-chau._ 2. _Employment of Alans in the Mongol
Service._ 3. _The Chang-chau Massacre. Mongol Cruelties._
LXXV.—OF THE NOBLE CITY OF SUJU 181
NOTES.—1. _Su-chau._ 2. _Bridges of that part of China._ 3.
_Rhubarb; its mention here seems erroneous._ 4. _The
Cities of Heaven and Earth. Ancient incised Plan of
Su-chau._ 5. _Hu-chau, Wu-kiang, and Kya-hing._
LXXVI.—DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY, WHICH IS THE
CAPITAL OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF MANZI 185
NOTES.—1. _King-szé now Hang-chau._ 2. _The circuit ascribed
to the City; the Bridges._ 3. _Hereditary Trades._ 4.
_The Si-hu or Western Lake._ 5. _Dressiness of the
People._ 6. _Charitable Establishments._ 7. _Paved
roads._ 8. _Hot and Cold Baths._ 9. _Kanp’u, and the
Hang-chau Estuary._ 10. _The Nine Provinces of Manzi._
11. _The Kaan’s Garrisons in Manzi._ 12. _Mourning
costume._ 13. 14. _Tickets recording inmates of houses._
LXXVII.—[FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY.] 200
(From Ramusio only.)
NOTES.—1. _Remarks on these supplementary details._ 2. _Tides
in the Hang-chau Estuary._ 3. _Want of a good Survey of
Hang-chau. The Squares._ 4. _Marco ignores pork._ 5.
_Great Pears: Peaches._ 6. _Textual._ 7. _Chinese use
of Pepper._ 8. _Chinese claims to a character for Good
Faith._ 9. _Pleasure-parties on the Lake._ 10. _Chinese
Carriages._ 11. _The Sung Emperor._ 12. _The Sung
Palace. Extracts regarding this Great City from other
mediæval writers, European and Asiatic. Martini’s
Description._
LXXVIII.—TREATING OF THE YEARLY REVENUE THAT THE GREAT KAAN HATH
FROM KINSAY 215
NOTES.—1. _Textual._ 2. _Calculations as to the values spoken
of._
LXXIX.—OF THE CITY OF TANPIJU AND OTHERS 218
NOTES.—1. _Route from Hang-chau southward._ 2. _Bamboos._ 3.
_Identification of places. Chang-shan the key to the
route._
LXXX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF FUJU 224
NOTES.—1. “_Fruit like Saffron._” 2. 3. _Cannibalism ascribed
to Mountain Tribes on this route._ 4. _Kien-ning fu._
5. _Galingale._ 6. _Fleecy Fowls._ 7. _Details of the
Journey in Fo-kien and various readings._ 8. _Unken.
Introduction of Sugar-refining into China._
LXXXI.—CONCERNING THE GREATNESS OF THE CITY OF FUJU 231
NOTES.—1. _The name |Chonka|, applied to Fo-kien here.
|Cayton| or |Zayton|._ 2. _Objections that have been
made to identity of |Fuju| and Fu-chau._ 3. _The Min
River._
LXXXII.—OF THE CITY AND GREAT HAVEN OF ZAYTON 234
NOTES.—1. _The Camphor Laurel._ 2. _The Port of Zayton or
T’swan-chau; Recent objections to this identity.
Probable origin of the word_ Satin. 3. _Chinese
Consumption of Pepper._ 4. _Artists in Tattooing._ 5.
_Position of the Porcelain manufacture spoken of.
Notions regarding the |Great River| of China._ 6.
_Fo-kien dialects and variety of spoken language in
China._ 7. _From Ramusio._
BOOK THIRD.
_Japan, the Archipelago, Southern India, and the Coasts and
Islands of the Indian Sea._
CHAP. PAGE
I.—OF THE MERCHANT SHIPS OF MANZI THAT SAIL UPON THE INDIAN
SEAS 249
NOTES.—1. _Pine Timber._ 2. _Rudder and Masts._ 3. _Watertight
Compartments._ 4. _Chinese substitute for Pitch._ 5.
_Oars used by Junks._ 6. _Descriptions of Chinese Junks
from other Mediæval Writers._
II.—DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF CHIPANGU, AND THE GREAT KAAN’S
DESPATCH OF A HOST AGAINST IT 253
NOTES.—1. _Chipangu or Japan._ 2. _Abundance of Gold._ 3.
_The Golden Palace._ 4. _Japanese Pearls. Red Pearls._
III.—WHAT FURTHER CAME OF THE GREAT KAAN’S EXPEDITION AGAINST
CHIPANGU 258
NOTES.—1. _Kúblái’s attempts against Japan. Japanese Narrative
of the Expedition here spoken of._ (See App. L. 9.) 2.
_Species of Torture._ 3. _Devices to procure
Invulnerability._
IV.—CONCERNING THE FASHION OF THE IDOLS 263
NOTES.—1. _Many-limbed Idols._ 2. _The Philippines and
Moluccas._ 3. _The name |Chin| or |China|._ 4. _The Gulf
of Cheinan._
V.—OF THE GREAT COUNTRY CALLED CHAMBA 266
NOTES.—1. _Champa, and Kúblái’s dealings with it._ (See App.
L. 10). 2. _Chronology._ 3. _Eagle-wood and Ebony.
Polo’s use of Persian words._
VI.—CONCERNING THE GREAT ISLAND OF JAVA 272
NOTE.—_Java; its supposed vast extent. Kúblái’s expedition
against it and failure._
VII.—WHEREIN THE ISLES OF SONDUR AND CONDUR ARE SPOKEN OF; AND
THE KINGDOM OF LOCAC 276
NOTES.—1. _Textual._ 2. _Pulo Condore._ 3. _The Kingdom of
Locac, Southern Siam._
VIII.—OF THE ISLAND CALLED PENTAM, AND THE CITY MALAIUR 280
NOTES.—1. _Bintang._ 2. _The Straits of Singapore._ 3.
_Remarks on the Malay Chronology. Malaiur probably
Palembang._
IX.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF JAVA THE LESS. THE KINGDOMS OF
FERLEC AND BASMA 284
NOTES.—1. _The Island of Sumatra: application of the term
|Java|._ 2. _Products of Sumatra. The six kingdoms._ 3.
_Ferlec or Parlák. The Battas._ 4. _Basma, Pacem, or
Pasei._ 5. _The Elephant and the Rhinoceros. The Legend
of Monoceros and the Virgin._ 6. _Black Falcon._
X.—THE KINGDOMS OF SAMARA AND DAGROIAN 292
NOTES.—1. _Samara, Sumatra Proper._ 2. _The Tramontaine and
the Mestre._ 3. _The Malay Toddy-Palm._ 4. _Dagroian._
5. _Alleged custom of eating dead relatives._
XI.—OF THE KINGDOMS OF LAMBRI AND FANSUR 299
NOTES.—1. _Lambri._ 2. _Hairy and Tailed Men._ 3. _Fansur and
Camphor Fansuri. Sumatran Camphor._ 4. _The Sago-Palm._
5. _Remarks on Polo’s Sumatran Kingdoms._
XII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF NECUVERAN 306
NOTE.—_Gauenispola, and the Nicobar Islands._
XIII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ANGAMANAIN 309
NOTE.—_The Andaman Islands._
XIV.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SEILAN 312
NOTES.—1. _Chinese Chart._ 2. _Exaggeration of Dimensions.
The Name._ 3. _Sovereigns then ruling Ceylon._ 4.
_Brazil Wood and Cinnamon._ 5. _The Great Ruby._
XV.—THE SAME CONTINUED. THE HISTORY OF SAGAMONI BORCAN AND THE
BEGINNING OF IDOLATRY 316
NOTES.—1. _Adam’s Peak, and the Foot thereon._ 2. _The Story
of Sakya-Muni Buddha. The History of Saints Barlaam and
Josaphat; a Christianised version thereof._ 3. _High
Estimate of Buddha’s Character._ 4. _Curious Parallel
Passages._ 5. _Pilgrimages to the Peak._ 6. _The Pâtra
of Buddha, and the Tooth-Relic._ 7. _Miraculous
endowments of the Pâtra; it is the Holy Grail of
Buddhism._
XVI.—CONCERNING THE GREAT PROVINCE OF MAABAR, WHICH IS CALLED
INDIA THE GREATER, AND IS ON THE MAINLAND 331
NOTES.—1. _Ma’bar, its definition, and notes on its Mediæval
History._ 2. _The Pearl Fishery._
XVII.—CONTINUES TO SPEAK OF THE PROVINCE OF MAABAR 338
NOTES.—1. _Costume._ 2. _Hindu Royal Necklace._ 3. _Hindu
use of the Rosary._ 4. _The Saggio._ 5. _Companions
in Death; the word |Amok|._ 6. _Accumulated Wealth of
Southern India at this time._ 7. _Horse Importation
from the Persian Gulf._ 8. _Religious Suicides._ 9.
_Suttees._ 10. _Worship of the Ox. The Govis_. 11.
_Verbal._ 12. _The Thomacides._ 13. _Ill-success of
Horse-breeding in S. India._ 14. _Curious Mode of
Arrest for Debt._ 15. _The Rainy Seasons._ 16. _Omens
of the Hindus._ 17. _Strange treatment of Horses._ 18.
_The Devadásis._ 19. _Textual._
XVIII.—DISCOURSING OF THE PLACE WHERE LIETH THE BODY OF ST. THOMAS
THE APOSTLE; AND OF THE MIRACLES THEREOF 353
NOTES.—1. _Mailapúr._ 2. _The word |Avarian|._ 3. _Miraculous
Earth._ 4. _The Traditions of St. Thomas in India. The
ancient Church at his Tomb; the ancient Cross preserved
on St. Thomas’s Mount._ 5. _White Devils._ 6. _The
Yak’s Tail._
XIX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF MUTFILI 359
NOTES.—1. _Motapallé. The Widow Queen of Telingana._ 2.
_The Diamond Mines, and the Legend of the Diamond
Gathering._ 3. _Buckram._
XX.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF LAR WHENCE THE BRAHMANS COME 363
NOTES.—1. _Abraiaman. The Country of Lar. Hindu Character._
2. _The Kingdom of Soli or Chola._ 3. _Lucky and
Unlucky Days and Hours. The Canonical Hours of the
Church._ 4. _Omens._ 5. _Jogis. The Ox-emblem._ 6.
_Verbal._ 7. _Recurrence of Human Eccentricities._
XXI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIL 370
NOTES.—1. _Káyal; its true position. |Kolkhoi| identified._
2. _The King Ashar or As-char._ 3. _Correa, Note._ 4.
_Betel-chewing._ 5. _Duels._
XXII.—OF THE KINGDOM OF COILUM 375
NOTES.—1. _Coilum, Coilon, Kaulam, Columbum, Quilon. Ancient
Christian Churches._ 2. _Brazil Wood: notes on the
name._ 3. _Columbine Ginger and other kinds._ 4.
_Indigo._ 5. _Black Lions._ 6. _Marriage Customs._
XXIII.—OF THE COUNTRY CALLED COMARI 382
NOTES.—1. _Cape Comorin._ 2. _The word |Gat-paul|._
XXIV.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM ELI 385
NOTES.—1. _Mount D’Ely, and the City of Hili-Máráwi._ 2.
_Textual._ 3. _Produce._ 4. _Piratical custom._ 5.
_Wooden Anchors._
XXV.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF MELIBAR 389
NOTES.—1. _Dislocation of Polo’s Indian Geography. The name
of Malabar._ 2. _Verbal._ 3. _Pirates._ 4. _Cassia:
Turbit: Cubebs._ 5. _Cessation of direct Chinese trade
with Malabar._
XXVI.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOZURAT 392
NOTES.—1. _Topographical Confusion._ 2. _Tamarina._ 3. _Tall
Cotton Trees._ 4. _Embroidered Leather-work._
XXVII.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF TANA 395
NOTES.—1. _Tana, and the Konkan._ 2. _Incense of Western
India._
XXVIII.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF CAMBAET 397
NOTE.—_Cambay._
XXIX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF SEMENAT 398
NOTE.—_Somnath, and the so-called Gates of Somnath._
XXX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF KESMACORAN 401
NOTES.—1. _Kij-Mekrán. Limit of India._ 2. _Recapitulation of
Polo’s Indian Kingdoms._
XXXI.—DISCOURSETH OF THE TWO ISLANDS CALLED MALE AND FEMALE, AND
WHY THEY ARE SO CALLED 404
NOTE.—_The Legend and its diffusion._
XXXII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SCOTRA 406
NOTES.—1. _Whales of the Indian Seas._ 2. _Socotra and its
former Christianity._ 3. _Piracy at Socotra._ 4.
_Sorcerers._
XXXIII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF MADEIGASCAR 411
NOTES.—1. _Madagascar; some confusion here with Magadoxo._ 2.
_Sandalwood._ 3. _Whale-killing. The |Capidoglio| or
Sperm-Whale._ 4. _The Currents towards the South._ 5.
_The Rukh_ (and see Appendix L. 11). 6. _More on the
dimensions assigned thereto._ 7. _Hippopotamus Teeth._
XXXIV.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ZANGHIBAR. A WORD ON INDIA IN
GENERAL 422
NOTES.—1. _Zangibar; Negroes._ 2. _Ethiopian Sheep._ 3.
_Giraffes._ 4. _Ivory trade._ 5. _Error about
Elephant-taming._ 6. _Number of Islands assigned to the
Indian Sea._ 7. _The Three Indies, and various
distributions thereof. Polo’s Indian Geography._
XXXV.—TREATING OF THE GREAT PROVINCE OF ABASH, WHICH IS MIDDLE
INDIA, AND IS ON THE MAINLAND 427
NOTES.—1. _Ḥabash or Abyssinia. Application of the name India
to it._ 2. _Fire Baptism ascribed to the Abyssinian
Christians._ 3. _Polo’s idea of the position of Aden._
4. _Taming of the African Elephant for War._ 5. _Marco’s
Story of the Abyssinian Invasion of the Mahomedan
Low-Country, and Review of Abyssinian Chronology in
connection therewith._ 6. _Textual._
XXXVI.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ADEN 438
NOTES.—1. _The Trade to Alexandria from India |viâ| Aden._ 2.
“Roncins à deux selles.” 3. _The Sultan of Aden. The
City and its Great Tanks._ 4. _The Loss of Acre._
XXXVII.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF ESHER 442
NOTES.—1. _Shihr._ 2. _Frankincense._ 3. _Four-horned Sheep._
4. _Cattle fed on Fish._ 5. _Parallel passage._
XXXVIII.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF DUFAR 444
NOTES.—1. _Dhofar._ 2. _Notes on Frankincense._
XXXIX.—CONCERNING THE GULF OF CALATU, AND THE CITY SO CALLED 449
NOTES.—1. _Kalhát._ 2. “En fra terre.” 3. _Maskat._
XL.—RETURNS TO THE CITY OF HORMOS WHEREOF WE SPOKE FORMERLY 451
NOTES.—1. _Polo’s distances and bearings in these latter
chapters._ 2. _Persian |Bád-gírs| or wind-catching
chimneys._ 3. _Island of Kish._
BOOK FOURTH.
_Wars among the Tartar Princes, and some Account of the
Northern Countries._
CHAP. PAGE
I.—CONCERNING GREAT TURKEY 457
NOTES.—1. _Kaidu Khan._ 2. _His frontier towards the Great
Kaan._
II.—OF CERTAIN BATTLES THAT WERE FOUGHT BY KING CAIDU AGAINST
THE ARMIES OF HIS UNCLE THE GREAT KAAN 459
NOTES.—1. _Textual._ 2. “Araines.” 3. _Chronology in
connection with the events described._
III.—†WHAT THE GREAT KAAN SAID TO THE MISCHIEF DONE BY CAIDU
HIS NEPHEW 463
IV.—OF THE EXPLOITS OF KING CAIDU’S VALIANT DAUGHTER 463
NOTE.—_Her name explained. Remarks on the story._
V.—HOW ABAGA SENT HIS SON ARGON IN COMMAND AGAINST KING CAIDU 466
(Extract and Substance.)
NOTES.—1. _Government of the Khorasan frontier._ 2. _The
Historical Events._
VI.—HOW ARGON AFTER THE BATTLE HEARD THAT HIS FATHER WAS DEAD
AND WENT TO ASSUME THE SOVEREIGNTY AS WAS HIS RIGHT 467
NOTES.—1. _Death of Ábáká._ 2. _Textual._ 3. _Ahmad Tigudar._
VII.—†HOW ACOMAT SOLDAN SET OUT WITH HIS HOST AGAINST HIS
NEPHEW WHO WAS COMING TO CLAIM THE THRONE THAT BELONGED TO
HIM 468
VIII.—†HOW ARGON TOOK COUNSEL WITH HIS FOLLOWERS ABOUT
ATTACKING HIS UNCLE ACOMAT SOLDAN 468
IX.—†HOW THE BARONS OF ARGON ANSWERED HIS ADDRESS 469
X.—†THE MESSAGE SENT BY ARGON TO ACOMAT 469
XI.—HOW ACOMAT REPLIED TO ARGON’S MESSAGE 469
XII.—OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN ARGON AND ACOMAT, AND THE CAPTIVITY
OF ARGON 470
NOTES.—1. _Verbal._ 2. _Historical._
XIII.—HOW ARGON WAS DELIVERED FROM PRISON 471
XIV.—HOW ARGON GOT THE SOVEREIGNTY AT LAST 472
XV.—†HOW ACOMAT WAS TAKEN PRISONER 473
XVI.—HOW ACOMAT WAS SLAIN BY ORDER OF HIS NEPHEW 473
XVII.—HOW ARGON WAS RECOGNISED AS SOVEREIGN 473
NOTES.—1. _The historical circumstances and persons named in
these chapters._ 2. _Arghún’s accession and death._
XVIII.—HOW KIACATU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER ARGON’S DEATH 475
NOTE.—_The reign and character of Kaikhátú._
XIX.—HOW BAIDU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER THE DEATH OF KIACATU 476
NOTES.—1. _Baidu’s alleged Christianity._ 2. _Gházán Khan._
XX.—CONCERNING KING CONCHI WHO RULES THE FAR NORTH 479
NOTES.—1. _Kaunchi Khan._ 2. _Siberia._ 3. _Dog-sledges._ 4.
_The animal here styled |Erculin|. The Vair._ 5.
_Yugria._
XXI.—CONCERNING THE LAND OF DARKNESS 484
NOTES.—1. _The Land of Darkness._ 2. _The Legend of the Mares
and their Foals._ 3. _Dumb Trade with the People of the
Darkness._
XXII.—DESCRIPTION OF ROSIA AND ITS PEOPLE. PROVINCE OF LAC 486
NOTES.—1. _Old Accounts of Russia. Russian Silver and Rubles._
2. _Lac, or Wallachia._ 3. _Oroech, Norway (?) or the
Waraeg Country (?)_
XXIII.—HE BEGINS TO SPEAK OF THE STRAITS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, BUT
DECIDES TO LEAVE THAT MATTER 490
XXIV.—CONCERNING THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT AND THEIR LORDS 490
NOTES.—1. _The Comanians; the Alans; Majar; Zic; the Goths of
the Crimea; Gazaria._ 2. _The Khans of Kipchak or the
Golden Horde; errors in Polo’s list. Extent of their
Empire._
XXV.—OF THE WAR THAT AROSE BETWEEN ALAU AND BARCA, AND THE
BATTLES THAT THEY FOUGHT 494
(Extracts and Substance.)
NOTES.—1. _Verbal._ 2. _The Sea of Sarai._ 3._ The War here
spoken of. Wassáf’s rigmarole._
XXVI.—†HOW BARCA AND HIS ARMY ADVANCED TO MEET ALAU 495
XXVII.—†HOW ALAU ADDRESSED HIS FOLLOWERS 495
XXVIII.—†OF THE GREAT BATTLE BETWEEN ALAU AND BARCA 496
XXIX.—HOW TOTAMANGU WAS LORD OF THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT; AND
AFTER HIM TOCTAI 496
NOTE.—_Confusions in the Text. Historical circumstances
connected with the Persons spoken of. Toctai and Noghai
Khan. Symbolic Messages._
XXX.—†OF THE SECOND MESSAGE THAT TOCTAI SENT TO NOGAI 498
XXXI.—†HOW TOCTAI MARCHED AGAINST NOGAI 499
XXXII.—†HOW TOCTAI AND NOGAI ADDRESS THEIR PEOPLE, AND THE NEXT
DAY JOIN BATTLE 499
XXXIII.—†THE VALIANT FEATS AND VICTORY OF KING NOGAI 499
XXXIV.—AND LAST. CONCLUSION 500
----------------------------------------------------------------------
† Of chapters so marked nothing is given but the substance in brief.
APPENDICES.
A. Genealogy of the House of Chinghiz to the End of the
Thirteenth Century 505
B. The Polo Families:—
(I.) Genealogy of the Family of Marco Polo the Traveller 506
(II.) The Polos of San Geremia 507
C. Calendar of Documents relating to Marco Polo and his Family 510
D. Comparative Specimens of the Different Recensions of Polo’s
Text 522
E. Preface to Pipino’s Latin Version 525
F. Note of MSS. of Marco Polo’s Book, so far as known:
General Distribution of MSS. 526
List of Miniatures in two of the finer MSS. 527
List of MSS. of Marco Polo’s Book, so far as they are known 530
G. Diagram showing Filiation of Chief MSS. and Editions of Marco
Polo 552
H. Bibliography:—
(I.) Principal Editions of Marco Polo’s Book 553
(II.) Bibliography of Printed Editions 554
(III.) Titles of Sundry Books and Papers treating of Marco Polo
and his Book 574
I. Titles of Works quoted by Abbreviated References in this Book 582
K. Values of Certain Moneys, Weights, and Measures occurring in
this Book 590
L. Supplementary Notes to the Book of Marco Polo 593
1. The Polos at Acre. 8. La Couvade.
2. Sorcery in Kashmir. 9. Alacan.
3. PAONANO PAO. 10. Champa.
4. Pamir. 11. Ruck Quills.
5. Number of Pamirs. 12. A Spanish Marco Polo.
6. Site of Pein. 13. Sir John Mandeville.
7. Fire-arms.
INDEX 607
EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME II.
INSERTED PLATES AND MAPS.
_To face
page_
_Title_. Portrait bearing the inscription “MARCUS POLVS VENETVS TOTIVS
ORBIS ET INDIE PEREGRATOR PRIMVS.” In the Gallery of Monsignor
_Badia_ at Rome; copied by Sign. GIUSEPPE GNOLI, Rome.
xxiv. Medallion, representing _Marco Polo_ in the PRISON of GENOA,
dictating his story to Master RUSTICIAN of PISA, drawn by
Signor QUINTO CENNI from a rough design by Sir HENRY YULE.
29. The celebrated CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTION OF SI-NGAN FU.
Photolithographed by Mr. W. GRIGG, from a Rubbing of the
original monument, given to the Editor by the _Baron F. von
Richthofen_.
This rubbing is more complete than that used in the first
edition, for which the Editor was indebted to the kindness of
_William Lockhart, Esq._
79. The LAKE of TALI (CARAJAN of Polo) from the Northern End.
Woodcut after Lieut. DELAPORTE, borrowed from Lieut. GARNIER’S
Narrative in the _Tour du Monde_.
79. Suspension Bridge, neighbourhood of TALI. From a photograph by
M. Tannant.
111. The CITY of MIEN, with the Gold and Silver Towers. From a
drawing by the Editor, based upon his sketches of the remains
of the City so called by Marco Polo, viz., PAGÁN, the mediæval
capital of Burma.
131. Itineraries of Marco Polo. No. V. The INDO-CHINESE COUNTRIES.
With a small sketch extracted from a Chinese Map in the
possession of _Baron von Richthofen_, showing the position of
KIEN-CH’ANG, the _Caindu_ of Marco Polo.
143. Sketch Map exhibiting the VARIATIONS of the TWO GREAT RIVERS of
China, within the Period of History.
182. The CITY of SU-CHAU. Reduced by the Editor from a Rubbing of a
Plan incised on Marble, and preserved in the Great Confucian
Temple in the City.
The date of the original set of Maps, of which this was one,
is uncertain, owing to the partial illegibility of the
Inscription; but it is subsequent to A.D. 1000. They were
engraved on the Marble A.D. 1247. Many of the names have been
obliterated, and a few of those given in the copy are filled
up from modern information, as the Editor learns from _Mr.
Wylie_, to whom he owes this valuable illustration.
193. Map of HANG-CHAU FU and its LAKE, from Chinese Sources.
The Map as published in the former edition was based on a
Chinese Map in the possession of _Dr. W. Lockhart_, with some
particulars from Maps in a copy of the Local Topography,
_Hang-Chau-fu-chi_, in the B. Museum Library. In the second
edition the Map has been entirely redrawn by the Editor, with
many corrections, and with the aid of new materials, supplied
by the kindness of the _Rev. G. Moule_ of the Church Mission
at Hang-chau. These materials embrace a Paper read by Mr.
Moule before the N. China Branch of the R. As. Soc. at
Shang-hai; a modern engraved Map of the City on a large scale;
and a large MS. Map of the City and Lake, compiled by _John
Shing_, Tailor, a Chinese Christian and Catechist;
The small Side-plan is the City of SI-NGAN FU, from a plan
published during the Mongol rule, in the 14th century, a
tracing of which was sent by _Mr. Wylie_. The following
references could not be introduced in lettering for want of
space:—
1. Yuen-Tu-Kwan (Tauist Monastery).
2. Chapel of Hien-ning Prince.
3. Leih-Ching Square (_Fang_).
4. Tauist Monastery.
5. Kie-lin General Court.
6. Ancestral Chapel of Yang-Wan-Kang.
7. Chapel of the Mid-year Genius.
8. Temple of the Martial Peaceful King.
9. Stone where officers are selected.
10. Mews.
11. Jasper-Waves Square (_Fang_).
12. Court of Enquiry.
13. Gate of the Făng-Yuen Circuit.
14. Bright Gate.
15. Northern Tribunal.
16. Refectory.
17. Chapel of the Făng-Yuen Prince.
18. Embroidery manufactory.
19. Hwa-li Temple.
20. Old Superintendency of Investigations.
21. Superintendent of Works.
22. Ka-yuen Monastery.
23. Prefectural Confucian Temple.
24. Benevolent Institution.
25. Temple of Tu-Ke-King.
26. Balustrade enclosure.
27. Medicine-Bazar Street.
28. Tsin and Ching States Chapel.
29. Square of the Double Cassia Tree.
N.B.—The shaded spaces are marked in the original _Min-Keu_
“Dwellings of the People.”
213. Plan of SOUTHERN PART of the CITY of KING-SZÉ (or Hang-chau),
with the PALACE of the SUNG EMPERORS. From a Chinese Plan
forming part of a Reprint of the official Topography of the
City during the period _Hien-Shun_ (1265–1274) of the Sung
Dynasty, _i.e._ the period terminated by the Mongol conquest
of the City and Empire. Mr. Moule, who possesses the Chinese
plan (with others of the same set), has come to the
conclusion that it is a copy at second-hand. Names that are
underlined are such as are preserved in the modern Map of
Hang-chau. I am indebted for the use of the original plan to
_Mr. Moule_; for the photographic copy and rendering of the
names to _Mr. Wylie_.
241. Sketch Map of the GREAT PORTS of FO-KIEN, to illustrate the
identity of Marco Polo’s ZAYTON. Besides the Admiralty Charts
and other well-known sources the Editor has used in forming
this a “Missionary Map of Amoy and the Neighbouring Country,”
on a large scale, sent him by the _Rev. Carstairs Douglas_,
LL.D., of Amoy. This contains some points not to be found in
the others.
246. Itineraries of MARCO POLO, No. VI. The Journey through
KIANG-NAN, CHE-KIANG, and FO-KIEN.
313. {1. Map to illustrate Marco Polo’s Chapters on the MALAY
{ COUNTRIES.
{2. Map to illustrate his Chapters on SOUTHERN INDIA.
375. {1. Sketch showing the Position of KÁYAL in Tinnevelly.
{2. Map showing the Position of the Kingdom of ELY in MALABAR.
440. ADEN, with the attempted Escalade under Alboquerque in 1513,
being the Reduced Facsimile of a large contemporary Wood
Engraving in the Map Department of the British Museum. (Size
of the original 42½ inches by 19⅛ inches.) Photolithographic
Reduction by Mr. G. B. PRAETORIUS, through the assistance of
_R. H. Major_, Esq.
474. Facsimile of the Letters sent to PHILIP the FAIR, King of
France, by ARGHÚN KHAN, in A.D. 1289, and by OLJAÏTU, in A.D.
1305, preserved in the Archives of France, and reproduced
from the _Recueil des Documents de l’Époque Mongole_ by kind
permission of H.H. Prince ROLAND BONAPARTE.
594. Some of the objects found by Dr. M. A. Stein, in Central Asia.
From a photograph kindly lent by the Traveller.
WOODCUTS PRINTED WITH THE TEXT.
BOOK SECOND.—PART SECOND.
_Page_
4. The BRIDGE of PULISANGHIN, the _Lu-ku-k’iao_ of the Chinese,
reduced from a large Chinese Engraving in the Geographical
work called _Ki-fu-thung-chi_ in the Paris Library. I owe the
indication of this, and of the Portrait of Kúblái Kaan in
vol. i. to notes in M. Pauthier’s edition.
5. The BRIDGE of PULISANGHIN. From the _Livre des Merveilles_.
8. BRIDGE of LU-KU-K’IAO. From a photograph by Count de SEMALLÉ.
9. BRIDGE of LU-KU-K’IAO. From a photograph by Count de SEMALLÉ.
19. The ROI D’OR. Professed Portrait of the Last of the _Altun
Khans_ or Kin Emperors of Cathay, from the (fragmentary)
Arabic Manuscript of _Rashiduddin’s History_ in the Library
of the Royal Asiatic Society. This Manuscript is supposed to
have been transcribed under the eye of Rashiduddin, and the
drawings were probably derived from Chinese originals.
26. Plan of Ki-chau, after Duhalde.
30. The CROSS incised at the head of the GREAT CHRISTIAN
INSCRIPTION of SI-NGAN FU (A.D. 781); actual size, from copy
of a pencil rubbing made on the original by the _Rev. J.
Lees_. Received from _Mr. A. Wylie_.
38. Diagram to elucidate the cities of Ch’êng-tu fu.
39. Plan of Ch’êng-tu. From MARCEL MONNIER’S _Tour d’Asie_, by kind
permission of M. PLON.
41. Bridge near Kwan-hsien (Ch’êng-tu). From MARCEL MONNIER’S _Tour
d’Asie_, by kind permission of M. PLON.
47. MOUNTAINEERS on the Borders of SZE-CH’WAN and TIBET, from one
of the illustrations to Lieut. Garnier’s Narrative (see p.
48). From _Tour du Monde_.
50. VILLAGE of EASTERN TIBET on Sze-ch’wan Frontier. From _Mr.
Cooper’s Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce_.
52. Example of ROADS on the TIBETAN FRONTIER of China (being
actually a view of the Gorge of the Lan t’sang Kiang). From
_Mr. Cooper’s Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce_.
55. The VALLEY of the KIN-SHA KIANG, near the lower end of the
CAINDU of Marco Polo. From Lieut. Garnier in the _Tour du
Monde_.
58. SALT PANS in Yun-nan. _From the same._
61. Black Lolo.
62. White Lolo. From DEVÉRIA’S _Frontière Sino-annamite_.
66. _Pa-y_ Script. From the _T’oung-Pao_.
68. Garden-House on the LAKE of YUN-NAN-FU, YACHI of Polo. From
_Lieut. Garnier_ in the _Tour du Monde_.
72. Road descending from the Table-Land of YUN-NAN into the VALLEY
of the KIN-SHA KIANG (the BRIUS of Polo). _From the same._
73. “A SARACEN of CARAJAN,” being the portrait of a Mahomedan
Mullah in Western Yun-nan. _From the same._
75. The Canal at YUN-NAN FU. From a photograph by M. TANNANT.
78. “Riding long like FRENCHMEN,” exemplified from the Bayeux
Tapestry. After Lacroix, _Vie Militaire du Moyen Age_.
83. The SANG-MIAU tribe of KWEI-CHAU, with the Cross-bow. From a
coloured drawing in a Chinese work on the Aboriginal Tribes,
belonging to _W. Lockhart, Esq._
90. Portraits of a KAKHYEN man and woman. Drawn by Q. CENNI from a
photograph (anonymous).
108. Temple called GAUDAPALÉN in the city of MIEN (_i.e._ Pagán in
Burma), erected _circa_ A.D. 1160. Engraving after a sketch
by the first Editor, from _Fergusson’s History of
Architecture_.
111. The PALACE of the KING of MIEN in modern times (viz., the
Palace at Amarapura). From the same, being partly from a
sketch by the first Editor.
118. Script _Pa-pe_. From the _T’oung-Pao_.
122. HO-NHI and other Tribes in the Department of Lin-ngan in S.
Yun-nan, supposed to be the _Anin_ country of Marco Polo.
From _Garnier_ in the _Tour du Monde_.
125. The KOLOMAN tribe, on borders of Kwei-chau and Yun-nan. From
coloured drawing in _Mr. Lockhart’s_ book as above (under p.
83).
129. Script _thaï_ of Xieng-hung. From the _T’oung-Pao_.
130. Iron SUSPENSION BRIDGE at Lowatong. From _Garnier_ in _Tour du
Monde_.
131. FORTIFIED VILLAGES on Western Frontier of KWEI-CHAU. _From the
same._
BOOK SECOND.—PART THIRD.
_Page_
155. YANG-CHAU: the three Cities under the Sung.
156. YANG-CHAU: the Great City under the Sung. From Chinese Plans
kindly sent to the present Editor by the late Father H.
Havret, S.J., Zi-ka-wei.
162. MEDIÆVAL ARTILLERY ENGINES. Figs, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are
CHINESE. The first four are from the Encyclopædia
_San-Thsai-Thou-hoei_ (Paris Library), the last from _Amyot_,
vol. viii.
Figs. 6, 7, 8 are SARACEN, 6 and 7 are taken from the work of
_Reinaud and Favé, Du Feu Grégeois_, and by them from the
Arabic MS. of _Hassan al Raumah_ (_Arab Anc. Fonds_, No.
1127). Fig. 8 is from _Lord Munster’s Arabic Catalogue_ of
Military Works, and by him from a MS. of _Rashiduddin’s
History_.
The remainder are EUROPEAN. Fig. 9 is from _Pertz,
Scriptores_, vol. xviii., and by him from a figure of the
Siege of Arbicella, 1227, in a MS. of _Genoese Annals_ (No.
773, _Supp. Lat._ of _Bib. Imp._). Fig. 10 from _Shaw’s
Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages_, vol. i.,
No. 21, after _B. Mus. MS. Reg._ 16, _G._ vi. Fig. 11 from
_Pertz_ as above, under A.D. 1182. Fig. 12, from _Valturius
de Re Militari_, Verona, 1483. Figs. 13 and 14 from the
_Poliorceticon_ of _Justus Lipsius_. Fig. 15 is after the
Bodleian MS. of the Romance of Alexander (A.D. 1338), but is
taken from the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, 3rd ser. vol. vii.
p. 467. Fig. 16 from Lacroix’s _Art au Moyen Age_, after a
miniature of 13th cent. in the Paris Library. Figs. 17 and 18
from the Emperor Napoleon’s _Études de l’Artillerie_, and by
him taken from the MS. of _Paulus Santinus_ (Lat. MS. 7329 in
Paris Library). Fig. 19 from Professor Moseley’s restoration
of a Trebuchet, after the data in the Mediæval Note-book of
_Villars de Honcourt_, in _Gentleman’s Magazine_ as above.
Figs. 20 and 21 from the Emperor’s Book. Fig. 22 from a
German MS. in the Bern Library, the _Chronicle of Justinger
and Schilling_.
169. COIN from a treasure hidden during the siege of SIANG-YANG in
1268–73, and lately discovered in that city.
172. Island MONASTERIES on the YANG-TZŬ KIANG; viz.:—
1. _Uppermost_. The “Little Orphan Rock,” after a cut in
_Oliphant’s Narrative_.
2. _Middle_. The “Golden Island” near Chin-kiang fu, after
_Fisher’s China_. (This has been accidentally reversed in
the drawing.)
3. _Lower_. The “_Silver Island_,” below the last, after Mr.
Lindley’s book on the T’ai-P’ings.
177. The West Gate of CHIN-KIANG FU. From an engraving in _Fisher’s
China_ after a sketch made by _Admiral Stoddart_, R.N., in
1842.
183. South-West Gate and Water Gate of SU-CHAU; facsimile on half
scale from the incised Map of 1247. (See List of Inserted
Plates preceding, under p. 182.)
193. The old LUH-HO-TA or Pagoda of Six Harmonies near HANG-CHAU,
and anciently marking the extreme S.W. angle of the city.
Drawn by Q. CENNI from an anonymous photograph received from
the _Rev. G. Moule_.
196. Imperial City of HANG-CHAU in the 13th Century.
197. Metropolitan City of HANG-CHAU in the 13th Century. From the
Notes of the Right Rev. _G. E. Moule_.
209. _Fang_ of SI-NGAN FU. Communicated by _A. Wylie_.
212. Stone _Chwang_ or UMBRELLA COLUMN, one of two which still mark
the site of the ancient Buddhist Monastery called
_Fan-T’ien-Sze_ or “Brahma’s Temple” at Hang-chau. Reduced
from a pen-and-ink sketch by _Mr. Moule_.
223. Mr. PHILLIPS’ Theory of Marco Polo’s Route through Fo-Kien.
228. Scene in the BOHEA MOUNTAINS, on Polo’s route between Kiang-Si
and Fo-Kien. From _Fortune’s Three Years’ Wanderings_.
233. Scene on the MIN RIVER below Fu-chau. _From the same._
245. The KAAN’S FLEET leaving the Port of ZAYTON. The scenery is
taken from an engraving in _Fisher’s China_, purporting
to represent the mouth of the Chinchew River (or River of
Tswan-chau), after a sketch by _Capt._ (now Adm.) _Stoddart_.
But the Rev. Dr. Douglas, having pointed out that this cut
really supported _his_ view of the identity of Zayton, being
a view of the _Chang-chau_ River, reference was made to
Admiral Stoddart, and Dr. Douglas proves to be quite right.
The View was really one of the Chang-chau River; but the
Editor has not been able to procure material for one of the
Tswan-chau River, and so he leaves it.
BOOK THIRD
_Page_
248. The KAAN’S FLEET passing through the Indian ARCHIPELAGO. From a
drawing by the Editor.
254. Ancient JAPANESE EMPEROR, after a Native Drawing. From the
_Tour du Monde_.
257. Ancient JAPANESE ARCHER, after a native drawing. _From the
same._
261. The JAPANESE engaged in combat with the CHINESE, after an
ancient native drawing. From _Charton, Voyageurs Anciens et
Modernes_.
273. JAVA. A view in the interior. From a sketch of the slopes of
the Gedéh Volcano, taken by the Editor in 1860.
274. Bas Relief of one of the VESSELS frequenting the Ports of JAVA
in the Middle Ages. From one of the sculptures of the BORO
BODOR, after a photograph.
289. The three Asiatic RHINOCEROSES. Adapted from a proof of a
woodcut given to the Editor for the purpose by the late
eminent zoologist, _Edward Blyth_. It is not known to the
Editor whether the cut appeared in any other publication.
291. MONOCEROS and the MAIDEN. From a mediæval drawing engraved in
_Cahier et Martin, Mélanges d’Archéologie_, II. Pl. 30.
310. The BORÚS. From a manuscript belonging to the late CHARLES
SCHEFER, now in the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, Paris.
311. The CYNOCEPHALI. From the _Livre des Merveilles_.
321. ADAM’S PEAK from the Sea.
327. SAKYA MUNI as a Saint of the Roman Martyrology. Facsimile from
an old German version of the story of Barlaam and Josaphat
(_circa_ 1477), printed by Zainer at Augsburg, in the British
Museum.
330. TOOTH Reliques of BUDDHA. 1. At Kandy, after Emerson Tennent.
2. At Fu-chau, after Fortune.
336. “CHINESE PAGODA” (so called) at Negapatam. From a sketch taken
by _Sir Walter Elliot_, K.C.S.I., in 1846.
352. PAGODA at TANJORE. From _Fergusson’s History of Architecture_.
353. Ancient CROSS with Pehlvi Inscription, preserved in the church
on ST. THOMAS’S MOUNT near Madras. From a photograph, the
gift of A. Burnell, Esq., of the Madras Civil Service,
assisted by a lithographic drawing in his unpublished
pamphlet on Pehlvi Crosses in South India. _N.B._—The
lithograph has now appeared in the _Indian Antiquary_,
November, 1874.
356. The Little MOUNT of ST. THOMAS, near Madras. After _Daniel_.
358. Small Map of the ST. THOMAS localities at Madras.
378. Ancient Christian CHURCH at PARÚR or Palúr, on the Malabar
Coast; from an engraving in Pearson’s _Life of Claudius
Buchanan_, after a sketch by the latter.
379. SYRIAN CHURCH at Caranyachirra, showing the quasi-Jesuit Façade
generally adopted in modern times. From the _Life of Bishop
Daniel Wilson_.
379. INTERIOR of Syrian CHURCH at Kötteiyam. _From the same._
384. CAPE COMORIN. From an original sketch by Mr. FOOTE of the
Geological Survey of India.
387. MOUNT D’ELY. From a _nautical sketch of last century_.
393. Mediæval ARCHITECTURE in GUZERAT, being a view of Gateway at
Jinjawára, given in Forbes’s _Ras Mala_. From _Fergusson’s
History of Architecture_.
399. The GATES of SOMNATH (so called), as preserved in the British
Arsenal at Agra. From a photograph by Messrs. SHEPHERD and
BOURNE, converted into an elevation.
415. The RUKH, after a Persian drawing. From _Lane’s Arabian Nights_.
416. Frontispiece of A. Müller’s _Marco Polo_, showing the Bird
_Rukh_.
425. The ETHIOPIAN SHEEP. From a sketch by _Miss Catherine Frere_.
441. View of ADEN in 1840. From a sketch by Dr. R. KIRK in the
Map-room of the Royal Geographical Society.
447. The Harvest of FRANKINCENSE in Arabia. Facsimile of an
engraving in _Thevet’s Cosmographie Universelle_ (1575).
Reproduced from _Cassell’s Bible Educator_, by the courtesy
of the publishers.
448. BOSWELLIA FREREANA, from a drawing by Mr. W. H. FITCH. The use
of this engraving is granted by the India Museum through the
kindness of _Sir George Birdwood_.
453. A Persian BÁD-GÍR, or Wind-Catcher. From a drawing in the Atlas
to _Hommaire de Hell’s Persia_. Engraved by ADENEY.
BOOK FOURTH.
_Page_
478. Tomb of OLJAITU KHAN, the brother of Polo’s CASAN, at
Sultaniah. From _Fergusson’s History of Architecture_.
483. The Siberian DOG-SLEDGE. From the _Tour du Monde_.
489. Mediæval RUSSIAN Church. From _Fergusson’s History of
Architecture_.
493. Figure of a TARTAR under the Feet of Henry Duke of Silesia,
Cracow, and Poland, from the tomb at Breslau of that Prince,
killed in battle with the Tartar host, 9th April, 1241. After
a plate in _Schlesische Fürstenbilder des Mittelalters_,
Breslau, 1868.
501. Asiatic WARRIORS of Polo’s Age. From the MS. of Rashiduddin’s
History, noticed under cut at p. 19. Engraved by ADENEY.
APPENDICES.
_Page_
555. FIGURE of MARCO POLO, from the first printed edition of his
Book, published in German at Nuremberg 1477. Traced from a
copy in the Berlin Library. (This tracing was the gift of
_Mr. Samuel D. Horton_, of Cincinnati, through Mr. Marsh.)
595. Marco Polo’s rectified Itinerary from Khotan to Nia.
[Illustration: MARCO POLO in the Prison of Genoa.]
THE
BOOK OF MARCO POLO
BOOK II.—_CONTINUED_.
PART II.—JOURNEY TO THE WEST AND SOUTH-WEST OF CATHAY.
CHAPTER XXXV.
HERE BEGINS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR OF CATHAY,
AND FIRST OF THE RIVER PULISANGHIN.
Now you must know that the Emperor sent the aforesaid Messer Marco
Polo, who is the author of this whole story, on business of his into
the Western Provinces. On that occasion he travelled from Cambaluc a
good four months’ journey towards the west.{1} And so now I will tell
you all that he saw on his travels as he went and returned.
When you leave the City of Cambaluc and have ridden ten miles, you
come to a very large river which is called PULISANGHIN, and flows into
the ocean, so that merchants with their merchandise ascend it from
the sea. Over this River there is a very fine stone bridge, so fine
indeed, that it has very few equals. The fashion of it is this: it is
300 paces in length, and it must have a good eight paces of width, for
ten mounted men can ride across it abreast. It has 24 arches and as
many water-mills, and ’tis all of very fine marble, well built and
firmly founded. Along the top of the bridge there is on either side a
parapet of marble slabs and columns, made in this way. At the beginning
of the bridge there is a marble column, and under it a marble lion,
so that the column stands upon the lion’s loins, whilst on the top of
the column there is a second marble lion, both being of great size and
beautifully executed sculpture. At the distance of a pace from this
column there is another precisely the same, also with its two lions,
and the space between them is closed with slabs of grey marble to
prevent people from falling over into the water. And thus the columns
run from space to space along either side of the bridge, so that
altogether it is a beautiful object.{2}
[Illustration: The Bridge of Pulisanghin. (Reduced from a Chinese
original.)
“=—et desus cest flum a un mout biaus pont de pieres: car sachiez qe
pont n’a en tout le monde de si biaus ne son pareil.=”]
NOTE 1.—[When Marco leaves the capital, he takes the main road,
the “Imperial Highway,” from Peking to Si-ngan fu, _viâ_ Pao-ting,
Cheng-ting, Hwai-luh, Taï-yuan, Ping-yang, and T’ung-kwan, on the
Yellow River. Mr. G. F. Eaton, writing from Han-chung (_Jour.
China Br. R. As. Soc._ XXVIII. No. 1) says it is a cart-road,
except for six days between Taï-yuan and Hwai-luh, and that it
takes twenty-nine days to go from Peking to Si-ngan, a figure
which agrees well with Polo’s distances; it is also the time which
Dr. Forke’s journey lasted; he left Peking on the 1st May, 1892,
reached Taï-yuan on the 12th, and arrived at Si-ngan on the 30th
(_Von Peking nach Ch’ang-an_). Mr. Rockhill left Peking on the
17th December, 1888, reached T’aï-yuan on the 26th, crossed the
Yellow River on the 5th January, and arrived at Si-ngan fu on the
8th January, 1889, in twenty-two days, a distance of 916 miles.
(_Land of the Lamas_, pp. 372–374.) M. Grenard left Si-ngan on
the 10th November and reached Peking on the 16th December, 1894 =
thirty-six days; he reckons 1389 kilometres = 863 miles. (See _Rev.
C. Holcombe, Tour through Shan-hsi and Shen-hsi_ in _Jour. North
China Br. R. A. S._ N. S. X. pp. 54–70.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—_Pul-i-Sangín_, the name which Marco gives the _River_,
means in Persian simply (as Marsden noticed) “The Stone Bridge.” In
a very different region the same name often occurs in the history
of Timur applied to a certain bridge, in the country north of
Badakhshan, over the Wakhsh branch of the Oxus. And the Turkish
admiral Sidi ’Ali, travelling that way from India in the 16th
century, applies the name, as it is applied here, to the river;
for his journal tells us that beyond Kuláb he crossed “the _River
Pulisangin_.”
[Illustration: _A Housselin d._
The Bridge of Pulisanghin. (From the _Livre des Merveilles_.)]
We may easily suppose, therefore, that near Cambaluc also,
the Bridge, first, and then the River, came to be known to
the Persian-speaking foreigners of the court and city by this
name. This supposition is however a little perplexed by the
circumstance that Rashiduddin calls the _River_ the _Sangín_, and
that _Sangkan_-Ho appears from the maps or citations of Martini,
Klaproth, Neumann, and Pauthier to have been one of the _Chinese_
names of the river, and indeed, Sankang is still the name of one of
the confluents forming the Hwan Ho.
[“By _Sanghin_, Polo renders the Chinese _Sang-kan_, by which name
the River Hun-ho is already mentioned, in the 6th century of our
era. _Hun-ho_ is also an ancient name; and the same river in
ancient books is often called _Lu-Kou_ River also. All these names
are in use up to the present time; but on modern Chinese maps, only
the upper part of the river is termed _Sang-Kan ho_, whilst south
of the inner Great Wall, and in the plain, the name of _Hun-ho_ is
applied to it. _Hun ho_ means “Muddy River,” and the term is quite
suitable. In the last century, the Emperor K’ien-lung ordered the
Hun-ho to be named _Yung-ting ho_, a name found on modern maps, but
the people always call it _Hun ho_.” (_Bretschneider, Peking_, p.
54.)—H. C.]
The River is that which appears in the maps as the Hwan Ho,
Hun-ho, or Yongting Ho, flowing about 7 miles west of Peking
towards the south-east and joining the Pe-Ho at Tientsin; and the
Bridge is that which has been known for ages as the _Lu-kou-K’iao_
or Bridge of Lukou, adjoining the town which is called in the
Russian map of Peking _Feuchen_, but in the official Chinese Atlas
_Kung-Keih-cheng_. (See Map at ch. xi. of Bk. II. in the first
Volume.) [“Before arriving at the bridge the small walled city
of _Kung-ki cheng_ is passed. This was founded in the first half
of the 17th century. The people generally call it _Fei-ch’eng_.”
(_Bretschneider, Peking_, p. 50.)—H. C.] It is described both by
Magaillans and Lecomte, with some curious discrepancies, whilst
each affords particulars corroborative of Polo’s account of the
character of the bridge. The former calls it the finest bridge in
China. Lecomte’s account says the bridge was the finest he had yet
seen. “It is above 170 geometrical paces (850 feet) in length.
The arches are small, but the rails or side-walls are made of a
hard whitish stone resembling marble. These stones are more than 5
feet long, 3 feet high, and 7 or 8 inches thick; supported at each
end by pilasters adorned with mouldings and bearing the figures
of lions.... The bridge is paved with great flat stones, so well
joined that it is even as a floor.”
Magaillans thinks Polo’s memory partially misled him, and that
his description applies more correctly to another bridge on the
same road, but some distance further west, over the Lieu-li Ho.
For the bridge over the Hwan Ho had really but _thirteen_ arches,
whereas that on the Lieu-li had, as Polo specifies, twenty-four.
The engraving which we give of the Lu-kou K’iao from a Chinese work
confirms this statement, for it shows but thirteen arches. And
what Polo says of the navigation of the river is almost conclusive
proof that Magaillans is right, and that our traveller’s memory
confounded the two bridges. For the navigation of the Hwan Ho, even
when its channel is full, is said to be impracticable on account of
rapids, whilst the Lieu-li Ho, or “Glass River,” is, as its name
implies, smooth, and navigable, and it is largely navigated by
boats from the coal-mines of Fang-shan. The road crosses the latter
about two leagues from Cho-chau. (See next chapter.)
[The Rev. W. S. Ament (_M. Polo in Cambaluc_, p. 116–117) remarks
regarding Yule’s quotation from Magaillans that “a glance at
Chinese history would have explained to these gentlemen that there
was no stone bridge over the Liu Li river till the days of Kia
Tsing, the Ming Emperor, 1522 A.D., or more than one hundred and
fifty years after Polo was dead. Hence he could not have confounded
bridges, one of which he never saw. The Lu Kou Bridge was first
constructed of stone by She Tsung, fourth Emperor of the Kin, in
the period Ta Ting 1189 A.D., and was finished by Chang Tsung 1194
A.D. Before that time it had been constructed of wood, and had been
sometimes a stationary and often a floating bridge. The oldest
account [end of 16th century] states that the bridge was pu 200
in length, and specifically states that each pu was 5 feet, thus
making the bridge 1000 feet long. It was called the Kuan Li Bridge.
The Emperor, Kia Tsing of the Ming, was a great bridge builder. He
reconstructed this bridge, adding strong embankments to prevent
injury by floods. He also built the fine bridge over the Liu Li Ho,
the Cho Chou Bridge over the Chü Ma Ho. What cannot be explained
is Polo’s statement that the bridge had twenty-four arches, when
the oldest accounts give no more than thirteen, there being eleven
at the present time. The columns which supported the balustrade in
Polo’s time rested upon the loins of sculptured lions. The account
of the lions after the bridge was repaired by Kia Tsing says that
there are so many that it is impossible to count them correctly,
and gossip about the bridge says that several persons have lost
their minds in making the attempt. The little walled city on the
east end of the bridge, rightly called Kung Chi, popularly called
Fei Ch’eng, is a monument to Ts’ung Chêng, the last of the Ming,
who built it, hoping to check the advance of Li Tzu ch’eng, the
great robber chief who finally proved too strong for him.”—H. C.]
[Illustration: Bridge of Lu-ku k’iao.]
The Bridge of Lu-kou is mentioned more than once in the history
of the conquest of North China by Chinghiz. It was the scene of a
notable mutiny of the troops of the _Kin_ Dynasty in 1215, which
induced Chinghiz to break a treaty just concluded, and led to his
capture of Peking.
This bridge was begun, according to Klaproth, in 1189, and was five
years a-building. On the 17th August, 1688, as Magaillans tells
us, a great flood carried away two arches of the bridge, and the
remainder soon fell. [Father Intorcetta, quoted by Bretschneider
(_Peking_, p. 53), gives the 25th of July, 1668, as the date of
the destruction of the bridge, which agrees well with the Chinese
accounts.—H. C.] The bridge was renewed, but with only nine arches
instead of thirteen, as appears from the following note of personal
observation with which Dr. Lockhart has favoured me:
“At 27 _li_ from Peking, by the western road leaving the gate of
the Chinese city called Kwang-’an-măn, after passing the old walled
town of Feuchen, you reach the bridge of _Lo-Ku-Kiao_. As it now
stands it is a very long bridge of nine arches (real _arches_)
spanning the valley of the Hwan Ho, and surrounded by beautiful
scenery. The bridge is built of green sandstone, and has a good
balustrade with short square pilasters crowned by small lions. It
is in very good repair, and has a ceaseless traffic, being on the
road to the coal-mines which supply the city. There is a pavilion
at each end of the bridge with inscriptions, the one recording
that K’ang-hi (1662–1723) _built_ the bridge, and the other that
Kienlung (1736–1796) _repaired_ it.” These circumstances are
strictly consistent with Magaillans’ account of the destruction of
the mediæval bridge. Williamson describes the present bridge as
about 700 feet long, and 12 feet wide in the middle part.
[Dr. Bretschneider saw the bridge, and gives the following
description of it: “The bridge is 350 ordinary paces long and 18
broad. It is built of sandstone, and has on either side a stone
balustrade of square columns, about 4 feet high, 140 on each
side, each crowned by a sculptured lion over a foot high. Beside
these there are a number of smaller lions placed irregularly on
the necks, behind the legs, under the feet, or on the back of the
larger ones. The space between the columns is closed by stone
slabs. Four sculptured stone elephants lean with their foreheads
against the edge of the balustrades. The bridge is supported
by eleven arches. At each end of the bridge two pavilions with
yellow roofs have been built, all with large marble tablets in
them; two with inscriptions made by order of the Emperor K’ang-hi
(1662–1723); and two with inscriptions of the time of K’ien-lung
(1736–1796). On these tablets the history of the bridge is
recorded.” Dr. Bretschneider adds that Dr. Lockhart is also right
in counting nine arches, for he counts only the waterways, not the
arches resting upon the banks of the river. Dr. Forke (p. 5) counts
11 arches and 280 stone lions.—H. C.]
(_P. de la Croix_, II. 11, etc.; _Erskine’s Baber_, p. xxxiii.;
_Timour’s Institutes_, 70; _J. As._ IX. 205; _Cathay_, 260;
_Magaillans_, 14–18, 35; _Lecomte_ in _Astley_, III. 529; _J. As._
sér. II. tom. i. 97–98; _D’Ohsson_, I. 144.)
[Illustration: Bridge of Lu-ku k’iao.]
CHAPTER XXXVI.
ACCOUNT OF THE CITY OF JUJU.
When you leave the Bridge, and ride towards the west, finding all the
way excellent hostelries for travellers, with fine vineyards, fields,
and gardens, and springs of water, you come after 30 miles to a fine
large city called JUJU, where there are many abbeys of idolaters, and
the people live by trade and manufactures. They weave cloths of silk
and gold, and very fine taffetas.{1} Here too there are many hostelries
for travellers.{2}
After riding a mile beyond this city you find two roads, one of which
goes west and the other south-east. The westerly road is that through
Cathay, and the south-easterly one goes towards the province of
Manzi.{3}
Taking the westerly one through Cathay, and travelling by it for ten
days, you find a constant succession of cities and boroughs, with
numerous thriving villages, all abounding with trade and manufactures,
besides the fine fields and vineyards and dwellings of civilized
people; but nothing occurs worthy of special mention; and so I will
only speak of a kingdom called TAIANFU.
NOTE 1.—The word is _sendaus_ (Pauthier), pl. of _sendal_, and in
G. T. _sandal_. It does not seem perfectly known what this silk
texture was, but as banners were made of it, and linings for richer
stuffs, it appears to have been a light material, and is generally
rendered _taffetas_. In _Richard Cœur de Lion_ we find
“Many a pencel of sykelatoun
And of sendel of grene and broun,”
and also _pavilions_ of sendel; and in the Anglo-French ballad of
the death of William Earl of Salisbury in St. Lewis’s battle on the
Nile—
“Le Meister du Temple brace les chivaux
Et le Count Long-Espée depli les _sandaux_.”
The oriflamme of France was made of _cendal_. Chaucer couples
taffetas and sendal. His “Doctor of Physic”
“In sanguin and in persë clad was allë,
Linëd with taffata and with sendallë.”
[La Curne, _Dict., s.v. Sendaus_ has: Silk stuff: “Somme de
la delivrance des _sendaus_.” (_Nouv. Compt. de l’Arg._ p.
19).—Godefroy, _Dict._, gives: “_Sendain_, adj., made with the
stuff called cendal: Drap d’or _sendains_ (1392, _Test. de Blanche,
duch d’Orl._, Ste-Croix, Arch. Loiret).” He says _s.v._ CENDAL,
“_cendau, cendral, cendel, ... sendail_, ... étoffe légère de soie
unie qui paraît avoir été analogue au taffetas.” “‘On faisait des
_cendaux_ forts ou faibles, et on leur donnait toute sorte de
couleurs. On s’en servait surtout pour vêtements et corsets, pour
doublures de draps, de fourrures et d’autres étoffes de soie plus
précieuses, enfin pour tenture d’appartements.’ (_Bourquelot, Foir.
de Champ._ I. 261).”
“J’ay de toilles de mainte guise,
De sidonnes et de _cendaulx_.
Soyes, satins blancs et vermaulx.”
—_Greban, Mist. de la Pass._, 26826, _G. Paris_.—H. C.]
The origin of the word seems also somewhat doubtful. The word Σενδἑς
occurs in _Constant. Porphyrog. de Ceremoniis_ (Bonn, ed. I. 468),
and this looks like a transfer of the Arabic _Săndăs_ or _Sundus_,
which is applied by Bakui to the silk fabrics of Yezd. (_Not. et
Ext._ II. 469.) Reiske thinks this is the origin of the Frank word,
and connects its etymology with Sind. Others think that _sendal_
and the other forms are modifications of the ancient _Sindon_, and
this is Mr. Marsh’s view. (See also _Fr.-Michel, Recherches, etc._
I. 212; _Dict. des Tissus_, II. 171 _seqq._)
NOTE 2.—JÚJÚ is precisely the name given to this city by
Rashiduddin, who notices the vineyards. Juju is CHO-CHAU, just at
the distance specified from Peking, viz. 40 miles, and nearly 30
from Pulisanghin or Lu-kou K’iao. The name of the town is printed
_Tsochow_ by Mr. Williamson, and _Chechow_ in a late Report of a
journey by Consul Oxenham. He calls it “a large town of the second
order, situated on the banks of a small river flowing towards the
south-east, viz. the Kiu-ma-Ho, a navigable stream. It had the
appearance of being a place of considerable trade, and the streets
were crowded with people.” (_Reports of Journeys in China and
Japan_, etc. Presented to Parliament, 1869, p. 9.) The place is
called _Jújú_ also in the Persian itinerary given by ’Izzat Ullah
in _J. R. A. S._ VII. 308; and in one procured by Mr. Shaw. (_Proc.
R. G. S._ XVI. p. 253.)
[The Rev. W. S. Ament (_Marco Polo_, 119–120) writes, “the
historian of the city of Cho-chau sounds the praises of the
people for their religious spirit. He says:—‘It was the custom
of the ancients to worship those who were before them. Thus
students worshipped their instructors, farmers worshipped the
first husbandman, workers in silk, the original silk-worker.
Thus when calamities come upon the land, the virtuous among the
people make offerings to the spirits of earth and heaven, the
mountains, rivers, streams, etc. All these things are profitable.
These customs should never be forgotten.’ After such instruction,
we are prepared to find fifty-eight temples of every variety in
this little city of about 20,000 inhabitants. There is a temple
to the spirits of Wind, Clouds, Thunder, and Rain, to the god of
silk-workers, to the Horse-god, to the god of locusts, and the
eight destructive insects, to the Five Dragons, to the King who
quiets the waves. Besides these, there are all the orthodox temples
to the ancient worthies, and some modern heroes. Liu Pei and Chang
Fei, two of the three great heroes of the _San Kuo Chih_, being
natives of Cho Chou, are each honoured with two temples, one in
the native village, and one in the city. It is not often that one
locality can give to a great empire two of its three most popular
heroes: Liu Pei, Chang Fei, Kuan Yu.”
“Judging from the condition of the country,” writes the Rev. W. S.
Ament (p. 120), “one could hardly believe that this general region
was the original home of the silk-worm, and doubtless the people
who once lived here are the only people who ever saw the silk-worm
in his wild state. The historian of Cho-Chou honestly remarks that
he knows of no reason why the production of silk should have ceased
there, except the fact that the worms refused to live there.... The
palmy days of the silk industry were in the T’ang dynasty.”—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—“About a _li_ from the southern suburbs of this town,
the great road to Shantung and the south-east diverged, causing
an immediate diminution in the number of carts and travellers”
(_Oxenham_). [From Peking “to Cheng-ting fu”, says Colonel Bell
(_Proc. R. G. S._, XII. 1890, p. 58), “the route followed is the
Great Southern highway; here the Great Central Asian highway leaves
it.” The Rev. W. S. Ament says (_l.c._, 121) about the bifurcation
of the road, one branch going on south-west to Pao-Ting fu and
Shan-si, and one branch to Shantung and Ho-nan: “The union of
the two roads at this point, bringing the travel and traffic of
ten provinces, makes Cho Chou one of the most important cities
in the Empire. The magistrate of this district is the only one,
so far as we know, in the Empire who is relieved of the duty of
welcoming and escorting transient officers. It was the multiplicity
of such duties, so harassing, that persuaded Fang Kuan-ch’eng to
write the couplet on one of the city gateways: _Jih pien ch’ung
yao, wu shuang ti: T’ien hsia fan nan, ti yi Chou_. ‘In all the
world, there is no place so public as this: for multiplied cares
and trials, this is the first Chou.’ The people of Cho-Chou, of
old celebrated for their religious spirit, are now well known for
their literary enterprise.”—H. C.] This bifurcation of the roads
is a notable point in Polo’s book. For after following the western
road through Cathay, _i.e._ the northern provinces of China, to
the borders of Tibet and the Indo-Chinese regions, our traveller
will return, whimsically enough, not to the capital to take a fresh
departure, but to this bifurcation outside of Chochau, and thence
carry us south with him to Manzi, or China south of the Yellow
River.
Of a part of the road of which Polo speaks in the latter part of
the chapter Williamson says: “The drive was a very beautiful one.
Not only were the many villages almost hidden by foliage, but the
road itself hereabouts is lined with trees.... The effect was to
make the journey like a ramble through the avenues of some English
park.” Beyond Tingchau however the country becomes more barren. (I.
268.)
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU.
After riding then those ten days from the city of Juju, you find
yourself in a kingdom called TAIANFU, and the city at which you arrive,
which is the capital, is also called Taianfu, a very great and fine
city. [But at the end of five days’ journey out of those ten, they say
there is a city unusually large and handsome called ACBALUC, whereat
terminate in this direction the hunting preserves of the Emperor,
within which no one dares to sport except the Emperor and his family,
and those who are on the books of the Grand Falconer. Beyond this limit
any one is at liberty to sport, if he be a gentleman. The Great Kaan,
however, scarcely ever went hunting in this direction, and hence the
game, particularly the hares, had increased and multiplied to such an
extent that all the crops of the Province were destroyed. The Great
Kaan being informed of this, proceeded thither with all his Court, and
the game that was taken was past counting.]{1}
Taianfu{2} is a place of great trade and great industry, for here they
manufacture a large quantity of the most necessary equipments for the
army of the Emperor. There grow here many excellent vines, supplying
great plenty of wine; and in all Cathay this is the only place where
wine is produced. It is carried hence all over the country.{3} There is
also a great deal of silk here, for the people have great quantities of
mulberry-trees and silk-worms.
From this city of Taianfu you ride westward again for seven days,
through fine districts with plenty of towns and boroughs, all enjoying
much trade and practising various kinds of industry. Out of these
districts go forth not a few great merchants, who travel to India and
other foreign regions, buying and selling and getting gain. After
those seven days’ journey you arrive at a city called PIANFU, a large
and important place, with a number of traders living by commerce and
industry. It is a place too where silk is largely produced.{4}
So we will leave it and tell you of a great city called Cachanfu. But
stay—first let us tell you about the noble castle called Caichu.
NOTE 1.—Marsden translates the commencement of this passage, which
is peculiar to Ramusio, and runs “_E in capo di cinque giornate
delle predette dieci_,” by the words “At the end of five days’
journey _beyond_ the ten,” but this is clearly wrong.[1] The place
best suiting in position, as halfway between Cho-chau and T’ai-yuan
fu, would be CHENG-TING FU, and I have little doubt that this
is the place intended. The title of _Ak-Báligh_ in Turki,[2] or
_Chaghán Balghásun_ in Mongol, meaning “White City,” was applied
by the Tartars to Royal Residences; and possibly Cheng-ting fu
may have had such a claim, for I observe in the _Annales de la
Prop. de la Foi_ (xxxiii. 387) that in 1862 the Chinese Government
granted to the R. C. Vicar-Apostolic of Chihli the ruined _Imperial
Palace_ at Cheng-ting fu for his cathedral and other mission
establishments. Moreover, as a matter of fact, Rashiduddin’s
account of Chinghiz’s campaign in northern China in 1214, speaks of
the city of “Chaghan Balghasun which the Chinese call _Jintzinfu_.”
This is almost exactly the way in which the name of Cheng-ting fu
is represented in ’Izzat Ullah’s Persian Itinerary (_Jigdzinfu_,
evidently a clerical error for _Jingdzinfu_), so I think there
can be little doubt that Cheng-ting fu is the place intended. The
name of Hwai-luh’ien (see Note 2), which is the first stage beyond
Cheng-ting fu, is said to mean the “Deer-lair,” pointing apparently
to the old character of the tract as a game-preserve. The city of
Cheng-ting is described by Consul Oxenham as being now in a decayed
and dilapidated condition, consisting only of two long streets
crossing at right angles. It is noted for the manufacture of images
of Buddha from Shan-si iron. (_Consular Reports_, p. 10; _Erdmann_,
331.)
[The main road turns due west at Cheng-ting fu, and enters Shan-si
through what is known among Chinese travellers as the Ku-kwan,
Customs’ Barrier.—H. C.]
Between Cheng-ting fu and T’ai-yuan fu the traveller first crosses
a high and rugged range of mountains, and then ascends by narrow
defiles to the plateau of Shan-si. But of these features Polo’s
excessive condensation takes no notice.
The traveller who quits the great plain of Chihli [which terminates
at Fu-ch’eng-i, a small market-town, two days from Pao-ting.—H. C.]
for “the kingdom of Taianfu,” _i.e._ Northern Shan-si, enters a
tract in which predominates that very remarkable formation called
by the Chinese _Hwang-tu_, and to which the German name _Löss_ has
been attached. With this formation are bound up the distinguishing
characters of Northern Interior China, not merely in scenery but
in agricultural products, dwellings, and means of transport.
This _Löss_ is a brownish-yellow loam, highly porous, spreading
over low and high ground alike, smoothing over irregularities of
surface, and often more than 1000 feet in thickness. It has no
stratification, but tends to cleave vertically, and is traversed in
every direction by sudden crevices, almost glacier-like, narrow,
with vertical walls of great depth, and infinite ramification.
Smooth as the löss basin looks in a bird’s-eye view, it is thus
one of the most impracticable countries conceivable for military
movements, and secures extraordinary value to fortresses in
well-chosen sites, such as that of Tung-kwan mentioned in Note 2 to
chap. xli.
Agriculture may be said in N. China to be confined to the alluvial
plains and the löss; as in S. China to the alluvial plains and
the terraced hill-sides. The löss has some peculiar quality which
renders its productive power self-renewing without manure (unless
it be in the form of a surface coat of fresh löss), and unfailing
in returns if there be sufficient rain. This singular formation is
supposed by Baron Richthofen, who has studied it more extensively
than any one, to be no subaqueous deposit, but to be the
accumulated residue of countless generations of herbaceous plants
combined with a large amount of material spread over the face of
the ground by the winds and surface waters.
[I do not agree with the theory of Baron von Richthofen, of the
almost exclusive Eolian formation of _loess_; water has something
to do with it as well as wind, and I think it is more exact to say
that loess _in China_ is due to a double action, Neptunian as well
as Eolian. The climate was different in former ages from what it
is now, and rain was plentiful and to its great quantity was due
the fertility of this yellow soil. (Cf. _A. de Lapparent, Leçons de
Géographie Physique_, 2ᵉ éd. 1898, p. 566.)—H. C.]
Though we do not expect to find Polo taking note of geological
features, we are surprised to find no mention of a characteristic
of Shan-si and the adjoining districts, which is due to the _löss_;
viz. the practice of forming cave dwellings in it; these in fact
form the habitations of a majority of the people in the löss
country. Polo _has_ noticed a similar usage in Badakhshan (I. p.
161), and it will be curious if a better acquaintance with that
region should disclose a surface formation analogous to the _löss_.
(_Richthofen’s Letters_, VII. 13 _et passim_.)
NOTE 2.—Taianfu is, as Magaillans pointed out, T’AI-YUAN FU, the
capital of the Province of Shan-si, and Shan-si is the “Kingdom.”
The city was, however, the capital of the great T’ang Dynasty for a
time in the 8th century, and is probably the _Tájah_ or _Taiyúnah_
of old Arab writers. Mr. Williamson speaks of it as a very pleasant
city at the north end of a most fertile and beautiful plain,
between two noble ranges of mountains. It was a residence, he
says, also of the Ming princes, and is laid out in Peking fashion,
even to mimicking the Coal-Hill and Lake of the Imperial Gardens.
It stands about 3000 feet above the sea [on the left bank of the
Fen-ho.—H. C.]. There is still an Imperial factory of artillery,
matchlocks, etc., as well as a powder mill; and fine carpets like
those of Turkey are also manufactured. The city is not, however,
now, according to Baron Richthofen, very populous, and conveys no
impression of wealth or commercial importance. [In an interesting
article on this city, the Rev. G. B. Farthing writes (_North China
Herald_, 7th September, 1894): “The configuration of the ground
enclosed by T’ai-yuan fu city is that of a ‘three times to stretch
recumbent cow.’ The site was chosen and described by Li Chun-feng,
a celebrated professor of geomancy in the days of the T’angs, who
lived during the reign of the Emperor T’ai Tsung of that ilk. The
city having been then founded, its history reaches back to that
date. Since that time the cow has stretched twice.... T’ai-yuan
city is square, and surrounded by a wall of earth, of which the
outer face is bricked. The height of the wall varies from thirty to
fifty feet, and it is so broad that two carriages could easily pass
one another upon it. The natives would tell you that each of the
sides is three miles, thirteen paces in length, but this, possibly,
includes what it will be when the cow shall have stretched for the
third and last time. Two miles is the length of each side; eight
miles to tramp if you wish to go round the four of them.”—H. C.]
The district used to be much noted for cutlery and hardware, iron
as well as coal being abundantly produced in Shan-si. Apparently
the present Birmingham of this region is a town called Hwai-lu, or
Hwo-luh’ien, about 20 miles west of Cheng-ting fu, and just on the
western verge of the great plain of Chihli. [Regarding Hwai-lu,
the Rev. C. Holcombe calls it “a miserable town lying among the
foot hills, and at the mouth of the valley, up which the road into
Shan-si lies.” He writes (p. 59) that Ping-ting chau, after the
Customs’ barrier (Ku Kwan) between Chih-li and Shan-si, would,
under any proper system of management, at no distant day become
the Pittsburg, or Birmingham, of China.—H. C.] (_Richthofen’s
Letters_, No. VII. 20; _Cathay_, xcvii. cxiii. cxciv.; _Rennie_,
II. 265; _Williamson’s Journeys in North China; Oxenham_, u.s.
11; _Klaproth_ in _J. As._ sér. II. tom. i. 100; _Izzat Ullah’s
Pers. Itin._ in _J. R. A. S._ VII. 307; _Forke, Von Peking nach
Ch’ang-an_, p. 23.)
[“From Khavailu (Hwo-luh’ien), an important commercial centre
supplying Shansi, for 130 miles to Sze-tien, the road traverses
the loess hills, which extend from the Peking-Kalgan road in a
south-west direction to the Yellow River, and which are passable
throughout this length only by the Great Central Asian trade
route to T’ai-yuan fu and by the Tung-Kwan, Ho-nan, _i.e._ the
Yellow River route.” (_Colonel Bell, Proc. R. G. S._ XII. 1890, p.
59.) Colonel Bell reckons seven days (218 miles) from Peking to
Hwo-lu-h’ien and five days from this place to T’ai-yuan fu.—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—Martini observes that the grapes in Shan-si were very
abundant and the best in China. The Chinese used them only as
raisins, but wine was made there for the use of the early Jesuit
Missions, and their successors continue to make it. Klaproth,
however, tells us that the wine of T’ai-yuan fu was celebrated
in the days of the T’ang Dynasty, and used to be sent in tribute
to the Emperors. Under the Mongols the use of this wine spread
greatly. The founder of the Ming accepted the offering of wine
of the vine from T’ai-yuan in 1373, but prohibited its being
presented again. The finest grapes are produced in the district
of Yukau-hien, where hills shield the plain from north winds,
and convert it into a garden many square miles in extent. In the
vintage season the best grapes sell for less than a farthing a
pound. [Mr. Theos. Sampson, in an article on “Grapes in China,”
writes (_Notes and Queries on China and Japan_, April, 1869, p.
50): “The earliest mention of the grape in Chinese literature
appears to be contained in the chapter on the nations of Central
Asia, entitled _Ta Yuan Chwan_, or description of Fergana, which
forms part of the historical records (_Sze-Ki_) of Sze-ma Tsien,
dating from B.C. 100. Writing of the political relations instituted
shortly before this date by the Emperor Wu Ti with the nations
beyond the Western frontiers of China, the historian dwells at
considerable length, but unluckily with much obscurity, on the
various missions despatched westward under the leadership of Chang
K’ien and others, and mentions the grape vine in the following
passage:—‘Throughout the country of Fergana, wine is made from
grapes, and the wealthy lay up stores of wine, many tens of
thousands of _shih_ in amount, which may be kept for scores of
years without spoiling. Wine is the common beverage, and for horses
the _mu-su_ is the ordinary pasture. The envoys from China brought
back seeds with them, and hereupon the Emperor for the first time
cultivated the grape and the mu-su in the most productive soils.’
In the Description of Western regions, forming part of the History
of the Han Dynasty, it is stated that grapes are abundantly
produced in the country of K’i-pin (identified with Cophene, part
of modern Afghanistan) and other adjacent countries, and referring,
if I mistake not, to the journeys of Chang K’ien, the same work
says, that the Emperor Wu-Ti despatched upwards of ten envoys to
the various countries westward of Fergana, to search for novelties,
and that they returned with grape and mu-su seeds. These references
appear beyond question to determine the fact that grapes were
introduced from Western—or, as we term it, Central—Asia, by Chang
K’ien.”
Dr. Bretschneider (_Botanicon Sinicum_, I. p. 25), relating the
mission of Chang K’ien (139 B.C. Emperor Wu-Ti), who died about
B.C. 103, writes:—“He is said to have introduced many useful plants
from Western Asia into China. Ancient Chinese authors ascribe to
him the introduction of the Vine, the Pomegranate, Safflower, the
Common Bean, the Cucumber, Lucerne, Coriander, the Walnut-tree, and
other plants.”—H. C.] The river that flows down from Shan-si by
Cheng-ting-fu is called “Putu-ho, or the Grape River.” (_J. As._
u.s.; _Richthofen_, u.s.)
[Regarding the name of this river, the Rev. C. Holcombe (_l.c._ p.
56) writes: “Williamson states in his _Journeys in North China_
that the name of this stream is, properly _Poo-too Ho_—‘Grape
River,’ but is sometimes written Hu-t’ou River incorrectly. The
above named author, however, is himself in error, the name given
above [_Hu-t’o_] being invariably found in all Chinese authorities,
as well as being the name by which the stream is known all along
its course.”
West of the Fan River, along the western border of the Central
Plain of Shan-si, in the extreme northern point of which lies
T’aï-yuan fu, the Rev. C. Holcombe says (p. 61), “is a large
area, close under the hills, almost exclusively given up to the
cultivation of the grape. The grapes are unusually large, and of
delicious flavour.”—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—✛In no part of China probably, says Richthofen, do the
towns and villages consist of houses so substantial and costly
as in this. Pianfu is undoubtedly, as Magaillans again notices,
P’ING-YANG FU.[3] It is the _Bikan_ of Shah Rukh’s ambassadors.
[Old P’ing yang, 5 _lis_ to the south] is said to have been the
residence of the primitive and mythical Chinese Emperor Yao. A
great college for the education of the Mongols was instituted at
P’ing-yang, by Yeliu Chutsai, the enlightened minister of Okkodai
Khan. [Its dialect differs from the T’aï-yuan dialect, and is more
like Pekingese.] The city, lying in a broad valley covered with
the yellow löss, was destroyed by the T’aï-P’ing rebels, but it
is reviving. [It is known for its black pottery.] The vicinity is
noted for large paper factories. [“From T’ai-yuan fu to P’ing-yang
fu is a journey of 185 miles, down the valley of the Fuen-ho.”
(Colonel Bell, _Proc. R. G. S._ XII. 1890, p. 61.) By the way, Mr.
Rockhill remarks (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 10): “Richthofen has
transcribed the name of this river _Fuen_. This spelling has been
adopted on most of the recent maps, both German and English, but
_Fuen_ is an impossible sound in Chinese.” (Read _Fen ho_.)—H.
C.] (_Cathay_, ccxi.; _Ritter_, IV. 516; _D’Ohsson_, II. 70;
_Williamson_, I. 336.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] And I see Ritter understood the passage as I do (IV. 515).
[2] _Báligh_ is indeed properly Mongol.
[3] It seems to be called _Piyingfu_ (miswritten Piying_ku_) in Mr.
Shaw’s _Itinerary_ from Yarkand (_Pr. R. G. S._ XVI. 253.) We often
find the Western modifications of Chinese names very persistent.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CONCERNING THE CASTLE OF CAICHU.
On leaving Pianfu you ride two days westward, and come to the noble
castle of CAICHU, which was built in time past by a king of that
country, whom they used to call the GOLDEN KING, and who had there a
great and beautiful palace. There is a great hall of this palace, in
which are pourtrayed all the ancient kings of the country, done in gold
and other beautiful colours, and a very fine sight they make. Each king
in succession as he reigned added to those pictures.{1}
[This Golden King was a great and potent Prince, and during his stay at
this place there used to be in his service none but beautiful girls,
of whom he had a great number in his Court. When he went to take the
air about the fortress, these girls used to draw him about in a little
carriage which they could easily move, and they would also be in
attendance on the King for everything pertaining to his convenience or
pleasure.{2}]
Now I will tell you a pretty passage that befell between the Golden
King and Prester John, as it was related by the people of the Castle.
It came to pass, as they told the tale, that this Golden King was at
war with Prester John. And the King held a position so strong that
Prester John was not able to get at him or to do him any scathe;
wherefore he was in great wrath. So seventeen gallants belonging to
Prester John’s Court came to him in a body, and said that, an he would,
they were ready to bring him the Golden King alive. His answer was,
that he desired nothing better, and would be much bounden to them if
they would do so.
So when they had taken leave of their Lord and Master Prester John,
they set off together, this goodly company of gallants, and went to
the Golden King, and presented themselves before him, saying that they
had come from foreign parts to enter his service. And he answered by
telling them that they were right welcome, and that he was glad to have
their service, never imagining that they had any ill intent. And so
these mischievous squires took service with the Golden King; and served
him so well that he grew to love them dearly.
And when they had abode with that King nearly two years, conducting
themselves like persons who thought of anything but treason, they one
day accompanied the King on a pleasure party when he had very few else
along with him: for in those gallants the King had perfect trust, and
thus kept them immediately about his person. So after they had crossed
a certain river that is about a mile from the castle, and saw that they
were alone with the King, they said one to another that now was the
time to achieve that they had come for. Then they all incontinently
drew, and told the King that he must go with them and make no
resistance, or they would slay him. The King at this was in alarm and
great astonishment, and said: “How then, good my sons, what thing is
this ye say? and whither would ye have me go?” They answered, and said:
“You shall come with us, will ye, nill ye, to Prester John our Lord.”
NOTE 1.—The name of the castle is very doubtful. But of that and
the geography, which in this part is tangled, we shall speak
further on.
Whilst the original French texts were unknown, the king here spoken
of figured in the old Latin versions as King _Darius_, and in
Ramusio as _Re Dor_. It was a most happy suggestion of Marsden’s,
in absence of all knowledge of the fact that the original narrative
was _French_, that this Dor represented the Emperor of the _Kin_ or
Golden Dynasty, called by the Mongols _Altun Khán_, of which _Roi
D’Or_ is a literal translation.
[Illustration: The “Roi d’Or.” (From a MS. in the Royal Asiatic
Society’s Collection.)
“=Et en ceste chastiaus ha un mout biaus paleis en quel a une
grandisme sale là ou il sunt portrait à mout belles pointures tout
les rois de celes provences que furent ansienemant, et ce est mout
belle viste à voir.=”]
Of the legend itself I can find no trace. Rashiduddin relates
a story of the grandfather of Aung Khan (Polo’s Prester John),
Merghuz Boirúk Khan, being treacherously made over to the King of
the Churché (the Kin sovereign), and put to death by being nailed
to a wooden ass. But the same author tells us that Aung Khan got
his title of Aung (Ch. _Wang_) or king from the Kin Emperor of his
day, so that no hereditary feud seems deducible.
Mr. Wylie, who is of opinion, like Baron Richthofen, that the
_Caichu_ which Polo makes the scene of that story, is Kiai-chau (or
Hiai-chau as it seems to be pronounced), north of the Yellow River,
has been good enough to search the histories of the Liao and Kin
Dynasties,[1] but without finding any trace of such a story, or of
the Kin Emperors having resided in that neighbourhood.
On the other hand, he points out that the story has a strong
resemblance to a real event which occurred in Central Asia in the
beginning of Polo’s century.
The Persian historians of the Mongols relate that when Chinghiz
defeated and slew Taiyang Khan, the king of the Naimans, Kushluk,
the son of Taiyang, fled to the Gur-Khan of Karakhitai and received
both his protection and the hand of his daughter (see i. 237); but
afterwards rose against his benefactor and usurped his throne. “In
the Liao history I read,” Mr. Wylie says, “that Chih-lu-ku, the
last monarch of the Karakhitai line, ascended the throne in 1168,
and in the 34th year of his reign, when out hunting one day in
autumn, Kushluk, who had 8000 troops in ambush, made him prisoner,
seized his throne and adopted the customs of the Liao, while he
conferred on Chih-lu-ku the honourable title of _Tai-shang-hwang_
‘the old emperor.’”[2]
It is this Kushluk, to whom Rubruquis assigns the rôle of King
(or Prester) John, the subject of so many wonderful stories.
And Mr. Wylie points out that not only was his father Taiyang
Khan, according to the Chinese histories, a much more important
prince than Aung Khan or Wang Khan the Kerait, but his name
_Tai-Yang-Khan_ is precisely “Great King John” as near as John
(or Yohana) can be expressed in Chinese. He thinks therefore that
Taiyang and his son Kushluk, the Naimans, and not Aung Khan and his
descendants, the Keraits, were the parties to whom the character of
Prester John properly belonged, and that it was probably this story
of Kushluk’s capture of the Karakhitai monarch (_Roi de Fer_) which
got converted into the form in which he relates it of the _Roi
d’Or_.
The suggestion seems to me, as regards the story, interesting and
probable; though I do not admit that the character of Prester John
properly belonged to any real person.
I may best explain my view of the matter by a geographical analogy.
Pre-Columbian maps of the Atlantic showed an Island of Brazil, an
Island of Antillia, founded—who knows on what?—whether on the real
adventure of a vessel driven in sight of the Azores or Bermudas,
or on mere fancy and fogbank. But when discovery really came to be
undertaken, men looked for such lands and found them accordingly.
And there they are in our geographies, Brazil and the Antilles!
The cut which we give is curious in connection with our traveller’s
notice of the portrait-gallery of the Golden Kings. For it is taken
from the fragmentary MS. of Rashiduddin’s History in the library
of the Royal Asiatic Society, a MS. believed to be one of those
executed under the great Vazír’s own supervision, and is presented
there as the portrait of the last sovereign of the Dynasty in
question, being one of a whole series of similar figures. There
can be little doubt, I think, that these were taken from Chinese
originals, though, it may be, not very exactly.
NOTE 2.—The history of the Tartar conquerors of China, whether
Khitan, Churché, Mongol, or Manchu, has always been the same. For
one or two generations the warlike character and manly habits were
maintained; and then the intruders, having adopted Chinese manners,
ceremonies, literature, and civilization, sank into more than
Chinese effeminacy and degradation. We see the custom of employing
only female attendants ascribed in a later chapter (lxxvii.) to
the Sung Emperors at Kinsay; and the same was the custom of the
later Ming emperors, in whose time the imperial palace was said
to contain 5000 women. Indeed, the precise custom which this
passage describes was in our own day habitually reported of the
T’ai-P’ing sovereign during his reign at Nanking: “None but women
are allowed in the interior of the Palace, and _he is drawn to the
audience-chamber in a gilded sacred dragon-car by the ladies_.”
(_Blakiston_, p. 42; see also _Wilson’s Ever-Victorious Army_, p.
41.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] [There is no trace of it in Harlez’s French translation from the
Manchu of the History of the Kin Empire, 1887.—H. C.]
[2] See also Oppert (p. 157), who cites this story from Visdelou, but
does not notice its analogy to Polo’s.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
HOW PRESTER JOHN TREATED THE GOLDEN KING HIS PRISONER.
And on this the Golden King was so sorely grieved that he was like
to die. And he said to them: “Good, my sons, for God’s sake have
pity and compassion upon me. Ye wot well what honourable and kindly
entertainment ye have had in my house; and now ye would deliver me
into the hands of mine enemy! In sooth, if ye do what ye say, ye will
do a very naughty and disloyal deed, and a right villainous.” But they
answered only that so it must be, and away they had him to Prester John
their Lord.
And when Prester John beheld the King he was right glad, and greeted
him with something like a malison.[1] The King answered not a word, as
if he wist not what it behoved him to say. So Prester John ordered him
to be taken forth straightway, and to be put to look after cattle, but
to be well looked after himself also. So they took him and set him to
keep cattle. This did Prester John of the grudge he bore the King, to
heap contumely on him, and to show what a nothing he was, compared to
himself.
And when the King had thus kept cattle for two years, Prester John sent
for him, and treated him with honour, and clothed him in rich robes,
and said to him: “Now Sir King, art thou satisfied that thou wast in
no way a man to stand against me?” “Truly, my good Lord, I know well
and always did know that I was in no way a man to stand against thee.”
And when he had said this Prester John replied: “I ask no more; but
henceforth thou shalt be waited on and honourably treated.” So he
caused horses and harness of war to be given him, with a goodly train,
and sent him back to his own country. And after that he remained ever
friendly to Prester John, and held fast by him.
So now I will say no more of this adventure of the Golden King, but I
will proceed with our subject.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “Lui dist que il feust le mal venuz.”
CHAPTER XL.
CONCERNING THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN AND THE CITY OF CACHANFU.
When you leave the castle, and travel about 20 miles westward, you come
to a river called CARAMORAN,{1} so big that no bridge can be thrown
across it; for it is of immense width and depth, and reaches to the
Great Ocean that encircles the Universe,—I mean the whole earth. On
this river there are many cities and walled towns, and many merchants
too therein, for much traffic takes place upon the river, there being
a great deal of ginger and a great deal of silk produced in the
country.{2}
Game birds here are in wonderful abundance, insomuch that you may buy
at least three pheasants for a Venice groat of silver. I should say
rather for an _asper_, which is worth a little more.{3}
[On the lands adjoining this river there grow vast quantities of great
canes, some of which are a foot or a foot and a half (in girth), and
these the natives employ for many useful purposes.]
After passing the river and travelling two days westward you come
to the noble city of CACHANFU, which we have already named. The
inhabitants are all Idolaters. And I may as well remind you again that
all the people of Cathay are Idolaters. It is a city of great trade
and of work in gold-tissues of many sorts, as well as other kinds of
industry.
There is nothing else worth mentioning, and so we will proceed and tell
you of a noble city which is the capital of a kingdom, and is called
Kenjanfu.
NOTE 1.—_Ḳará-Muren_, or Black River, is one of the names applied
by the Mongols to the Hwang Ho, or Yellow River, of the Chinese,
and is used by all the mediæval western writers, _e.g._ Odoric,
John Marignolli, Rashiduddin.
The River, where it skirts Shan-si, is for the most part difficult
both of access and of passage, and ill adapted to navigation, owing
to the violence of the stream. Whatever there is of navigation is
confined to the transport of coal down-stream from Western Shan-si,
in large flats. Mr. Elias, who has noted the River’s level by
aneroid at two points 920 miles apart, calculated the fall over
that distance, which includes the contour of Shan-si, at 4 feet per
mile. The best part for navigation is above this, from Ning-hia
to Chaghan Kuren (in about 110° E. long.), in which Captain
Prjevalski’s observations give a fall of less than 6 inches per
mile. (_Richthofen_, _Letter_ VII. 25; _Williamson_, I. 69; _J. R.
G. S._ XLIII. p. 115; _Petermann_, 1873, pp. 89–91.)
[On 5th January, 1889, Mr. Rockhill coming to the Yellow River from
P’ing-yang, found (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 17) that “the river was
between 500 and 600 yards wide, a sluggish, muddy stream, then
covered with floating ice about a foot thick.... The Yellow River
here is shallow, in the main channel only is it four or five feet
deep.” The Rev. C. Holcombe, who crossed in October, says (p. 65):
that “it was nowhere more than 6 feet deep, and on returning, three
of the boatmen sprang into the water in midstream and waded ashore,
carrying a line from the ferry-boat to prevent us from rapidly
drifting down with the current. The water was just up to their
hips.”—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—It is remarkable that the abundance of silk in Shan-si and
Shen-si is so distinctly mentioned in these chapters, whereas now
there is next to no silk at all grown in these districts. Is this
the result of a change of climate, or only a commercial change?
Baron Richthofen, to whom I have referred the question, believes
it to be due to the former cause: “No tract in China would appear
to have suffered so much by a change of climate as Shen-si and
Southern Shan-si.” [See pp. 11–12.]
NOTE 3.—The _asper_ or _akché_ (both meaning “white”) of the
Mongols at Tana or Azov I have elsewhere calculated, from
Pegolotti’s data (_Cathay_, p. 298), to have contained about 0_s._
2·8_d._ worth of silver, which is _less_ than the grosso; but the
name may have had a loose application to small silver coins in
other countries of Asia. Possibly the money intended may have been
the 50 _tsien_ note. (See note 1, ch. xxiv. _supra_.)
CHAPTER XLI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF KENJANFU.
And when you leave the city of Cachanfu of which I have spoken, and
travel eight days westward, you meet with cities and boroughs abounding
in trade and industry, and quantities of beautiful trees, and gardens,
and fine plains planted with mulberries, which are the trees on the
leaves of which the silkworms do feed.{1} The people are all Idolaters.
There is also plenty of game of all sorts, both of beasts and birds.
And when you have travelled those eight days’ journey, you come to that
great city which I mentioned, called KENJANFU.{2} A very great and fine
city it is, and the capital of the kingdom of Kenjanfu, which in old
times was a noble, rich, and powerful realm, and had many great and
wealthy and puissant kings.{3} But now the king thereof is a prince
called MANGALAI, the son of the Great Kaan, who hath given him this
realm, and crowned him king thereof.{4} It is a city of great trade
and industry. They have great abundance of silk, from which they weave
cloths of silk and gold of divers kinds, and they also manufacture
all sorts of equipments for an army. They have every necessary of
man’s life very cheap. The city lies towards the west; the people are
Idolaters; and outside the city is the palace of the Prince Mangalai,
crowned king, and son of the Great Kaan, as I told you before.
This is a fine palace and a great, as I will tell you. It stands in a
great plain abounding in lakes and streams and springs of water. Round
about it is a massive and lofty wall, five miles in compass, well
built, and all garnished with battlements. And within this wall is the
king’s palace, so great and fine that no one could imagine a finer.
There are in it many great and splendid halls, and many chambers, all
painted and embellished with work in beaten gold. This Mangalai rules
his realm right well with justice and equity, and is much beloved by
his people. The troops are quartered round about the palace, and enjoy
the sport (that the royal demesne affords).
So now let us quit this kingdom, and I will tell you of a very
mountainous province called Cuncun, which you reach by a road right
wearisome to travel.
NOTE 1.—[“_Morus alba_ is largely grown in North China for feeding
silkworms.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 4.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Having got to sure ground again at Kenjanfu, which is,
as we shall explain presently, the city of SI-NGAN FU, capital
of Shen-si, let us look back at the geography of the route from
P’ing-yang fu. Its difficulties are great.
The traveller carries us two days’ journey from P’ing-yang fu to
his castle of the Golden King. This is called in the G. Text and
most other MSS. _Caicui_, _Caytui_, or the like, but in Ramusio
alone _Thaigin_. He then carries us 20 miles further to the
Caramoran; he crosses this river, travels two days further, and
reaches the great city Cachanfu; eight days more (or as in Ramusio
_seven_) bring him to Si-ngan fu.
There seems scarcely room for doubt that CACHANFU is the HO-CHUNG
FU [the ancient capital of Emperor Shun—H. C.] of those days,
now called P’U-CHAU FU, close to the great elbow of the Hwang Ho
(_Klaproth_). But this city, instead of being _two days west_ of
the great river, stands _near_ its _eastern_ bank.
[The Rev. C. Holcombe writes (pp. 64–65): “P’u-chau fu lies on a
level with the Yellow River, and on the edge of a large extent
of worthless marsh land, full of pools of brackish, and in some
places, positively salt water.... The great road does not pass
into the town, having succeeded in maintaining its position on the
high ground from which the town has _backslided_.... The great
road keeping to the bluff, runs on, turning first south, and then
a trifle to the east of south, until the road, the bluff, and
Shan-si, all end together, making a sudden plunge down a precipice
and being lost in the dirty waters of the Yellow River.”—H. C.]
Not maintaining the infallibility of our traveller’s memory, we may
conceive confusion here, between the recollections of his journey
westward and those of his return; but this does not remove all the
difficulties.
The most notable fortress of the Kin sovereigns was that of
T’ungkwan, on the right bank of the river, 25 miles below P’u-chau
fu, and closing the passage between the river and the mountains,
just where the boundaries of Ho-nan, Shan-si, and Shen-si meet. It
was constantly the turning-point of the Mongol campaigns against
that Dynasty, and held a prominent place in the dying instructions
of Chinghiz for the prosecution of the conquest of Cathay. This
fortress must have continued famous to Polo’s time—indeed it
continues so still, the strategic position being one which nothing
short of a geological catastrophe could impair,—but I see no way of
reconciling its position with his narrative.
[Illustration: Plan of Ki-chau, after Duhalde.]
The _name_ in Ramusio’s form might be merely that of the Dynasty,
viz. _Tai-Kin_ = Great Golden. But we have seen that Thaigin is
not the only reading. That of the MSS. seems to point rather to
some name like _Kaichau_. A hypothesis which has seemed to me to
call for least correction in the text is that the castle was at
the _Ki-chau_ of the maps, nearly due west of P’ing-yang fu, and
just about 20 miles from the Hwang Ho; that the river was crossed
in that vicinity, and that the traveller then descended the valley
to opposite P’u-chau fu, or possibly embarked and descended the
river itself to that point. This last hypothesis would mitigate the
apparent disproportion in the times assigned to the different parts
of the journey, and would, I think, clear the text of error. But
it is only a hypothesis. There is near Ki-chau one of the easiest
crossing places of the River, insomuch that since the Shen-si
troubles a large garrison has been kept up at Ki-chau to watch
it.[1] And this is the only direction in which two days’ march, at
Polo’s rate, would bring him within 20 miles of the Yellow River.
Whether there is any historic castle at Ki-chau I know not; the
plan of that place in Duhalde, however, has the aspect of a strong
position. Baron v. Richthofen is unable to accept this suggestion,
and has favoured me with some valuable remarks on this difficult
passage, which I slightly abridge:—
“The difficulties are, (1) that for either reading, _Thaigin_ or
_Caichu_, a corresponding place can be found; (2) in the position
of _Cachanfu_, setting both at naught.
“_Thaigin_. There are two passages of the Yellow River near its
great bend. One is at T’ungkwan, where I crossed it; the other,
and more convenient, is at the fortress of Taiching-kwan, locally
pronounced _Taigin_-kwan. This fortress, or rather fortified camp,
is a very well-known place, and to be found on native maps; it
is very close to the river, on the left bank, about 6 m. S.W. of
P’u-chau fu. The road runs hence to Tung-chau fu and thence to
Si-ngan fu. T’aiching-kwan could not possibly (at Polo’s rate) be
reached in 2 days from P’ing-yang fu.
“_Caichu_. If this reading be adopted Marsden may be right in
supposing _Kiai-chau_, locally _Khaidju_, to be meant. This city
dominates the important salt marsh, whence Shan-si and Shen-si
are supplied with salt. It is 70 or 80 m. from P’ing-yang fu, but
_could_ be reached in 2 days. It commands a large and tolerably
populous plain, and is quite fit to have been an imperial residence.
“May not the striking fact that there is a place corresponding to
either name suggest that one of them was passed by Polo in going,
the other in returning? and that, this being the only locality
between Ch’êng-tu fu and Chu-chau where there was any deviation
between the two journeys, his geographical ideas may have become
somewhat confused, as might now happen to any one in like case and
not provided with a map? Thus the traveller himself might have put
into Ramusio’s text the name of _Thaigin_ instead of _Caichu_. From
Kiai-chau he would probably cross the River at T’ungkwan, whilst in
returning by way of Taiching-kwan he would pass through P’uchau-fu
(or _vice versâ_). The question as to Caichu may still be settled,
as it must be possible to ascertain where the Kin resided.”[2]
[Mr. Rockhill writes (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 17): “One hundred and
twenty _li_ south-south-west of the city is Kiai Chou, with the
largest salt works in China.” Richthofen has estimated that about
150,000 tons of salt are produced annually from the marshes around
it.—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—The eight days’ journey through richly cultivated plains
run up the basin of the Wei River, the most important agricultural
region of North-West China, and the core of early Chinese History.
The _löss_ is here more than ever predominant, its yellow tinge
affecting the whole landscape, and even the atmosphere. Here,
according to Baron v. Richthofen, originated the use of the word
_hwang_ “yellow,” as the symbol of the Earth, whence the primeval
emperors were styled _Hwang-ti_, “Lord of the Earth,” but properly
“Lord of the _Löss_.”
[The Rev. C. Holcombe (_l.c._ p. 66) writes: “From T’ung-kwan to
Si-ngan fu, the road runs in a direction nearly due west, through
a most lovely section of country, having a range of high hills
upon the south, and the Wei River on the north. The road lies
through one long orchard, and the walled towns and cities lie
thickly along, for the most part at a little distance from the
highway.” Mr. Rockhill says (_Land of the Lamas_, pp. 19–20): “The
road between T’ung-kwan and Si-ngan fu, a distance of 110 miles,
is a fine highway—for China—with a ditch on either side, rows of
willow-trees here and there, and substantial stone bridges and
culverts over the little streams which cross it. The basin of the
Wei ho, in which this part of the province lies, has been for
thousands of years one of the granaries of China. It was the colour
of its loess-covered soil, called ‘yellow earth’ by the Chinese,
that suggested the use of yellow as the colour sacred to imperial
majesty. Wheat and sorghum are the principal crops, but we saw also
numerous paddy fields where flocks of flamingoes were wading, and
fruit-trees grew everywhere.”—H. C.]
Kenjanfu, or, as Ramusio gives it, Quenzanfu, is SI-NGAN FU, or
as it was called in the days of its greatest fame, Chang-ngan,
probably the most celebrated city in Chinese history, and the
capital of several of the most potent dynasties. It was the
metropolis of Shi Hwang-ti of the T’sin Dynasty, properly the
first emperor and whose conquests almost intersected those of his
contemporary Ptolemy Euergetes. It was, perhaps, the _Thinae_
of Claudius Ptolemy, as it was certainly the Khumdán[3] of the
early Mahomedans, and the site of flourishing Christian Churches
in the 7th century, as well as of the remarkable monument, the
discovery of which a thousand years later disclosed their forgotten
existence.[4] _Kingchao-fu_ was the name which the city bore when
the Mongol invasions brought China into communication with the
west, and Klaproth supposes that this was modified by the Mongols
into KENJANFU. Under the latter name it is mentioned by Rashiduddin
as the seat of one of the Twelve _Sings_ or great provincial
administrations, and we find it still known by this name in
Sharífuddin’s history of Timur. The same name is traceable in the
_Kansan_ of Odoric, which he calls the second best province in the
world, and the best populated. Whatever may have been the origin
of the name _Kenjanfu_, Baron v. Richthofen was, on the spot, made
aware of its conservation in the exact form of the Ramusian Polo.
The Roman Catholic missionaries there emphatically denied that
Marco could ever have been at Si-ngan fu, or that the city had ever
been known by such a name as Kenjan-fu. On this the Baron called in
one of the Chinese pupils of the Mission, and asked him directly
what had been the name of the city under the Yuen Dynasty. He
replied at once with remarkable clearness: “QUEN-ZAN-FU.” Everybody
present was struck by the exact correspondence of the Chinaman’s
pronunciation of the name with that which the German traveller had
adopted from Ritter.
[Illustration: _Reduced Facsimile of the celebrated Christian
Inscription of Singanfu, in Chinese and Syriac Characters_.
_Photo-lithograph, from a Rubbing._
W. GRIGGS, PHOTO-LITH.]
[The vocabulary _Hweï Hwei_ (Mahomedan) of the College of
Interpreters at Peking transcribes King chao from the Persian
Kin-chang, a name it gives to the Shen-si province. King chao was
called Ngan-si fu in 1277. (_Devéria, Epigraphie_, p. 9.) Ken-jan
comes from Kin-chang = King-chao = Si-ngan fu.—H. C.]
Martini speaks, apparently from personal knowledge, of the
splendour of the city, as regards both its public edifices and
its site, sloping gradually up from the banks of the River Wei,
so as to exhibit its walls and palaces at one view like the
interior of an amphitheatre. West of the city was a sort of
Water Park, enclosed by a wall 30 _li_ in circumference, full of
lakes, tanks, and canals from the Wei, and within this park were
seven fine palaces and a variety of theatres and other places of
public diversion. To the south-east of the city was an artificial
lake with palaces, gardens, park, etc., originally formed by the
Emperor Hiaowu (B.C. 100), and to the south of the city was another
considerable lake called _Fan_. This may be the Fanchan Lake,
beside which Rashid says that Ananda, the son of Mangalai, built
his palace.
The adjoining districts were the seat of a large Musulman
population, which in 1861–1862 [and again in 1895 (See _Wellby,
Tibet_, ch. xxv.)—H. C.] rose in revolt against the Chinese
authority, and for a time was successful in resisting it. The
capital itself held out, though invested for two years; the rebels
having no artillery. The movement originated at Hwachau, some 60
miles east of Si-ngan fu, now totally destroyed. But the chief seat
of the Mahomedans is a place which they call _Salar_, identified
with Hochau in Kansuh, about 70 miles south-west of Lanchau-fu, the
capital of that province. [Mr. Rockhill (_Land of the Lamas_, p.
40) writes: “Colonel Yule, quoting a Russian work, has it that the
word Salar is used to designate Ho-chou, but this is not absolutely
accurate. Prjevalsky (_Mongolia_, II. 149) makes the following
complicated statement: ‘The Karatangutans outnumber the Mongols
in Koko-nor, but their chief habitations are near the sources of
the Yellow River, where they are called Salirs; they profess the
Mohammedan religion, and have rebelled against China.’ I will
only remark here that the Salar have absolutely no connection
with the so-called Kara-tangutans, who are Tibetans. In a note by
Archimandrite Palladius, in the same work (II. 70), he attempts to
show a connection between the Salar and a colony of Mohammedans
who settled in Western Kan-Suh in the last century, but the _Ming
shih_ (History of the Ming Dynasty) already makes mention of the
Salar, remnants of various Turkish tribes (_Hsi-ch’iang_) who had
settled in the districts of Ho-chou, Huang-chou, T’ao-chou, and
Min-chou, and who were a source of endless trouble to the Empire.
(See _Wei Yuen, Sheng-wu-ki_, vii. 35; also _Huang ch’ing shih kung
t’u_, v. 7.) The Russian traveller, Potanin, found the Salar living
in twenty-four villages, near Hsün-hua t’ing, on the south bank
of the Yellow River. (See _Proc. R. G. S._ ix. 234.) The Annals
of the Ming Dynasty (_Ming Shíh_, ch. 330) say that An-ting wei,
1500 _li_ south-west of Kan-chou, was in old times known as _Sa-li
Wei-wu-ehr_. These Sari Uigurs are mentioned by Du Plan Carpin, as
_Sari_ Huiur. Can _Sala_ be the same as _Sari_?”
“Mohammedans,” says Mr. Rockhill (_Ibid._ p. 39), “here are divided
into two sects, known as ‘white-capped Hui-hui,’ and ‘black-capped
Hui-hui.’ One of the questions which separate them is the hour at
which fast can be broken during the Ramadan. Another point which
divides them is that the white-capped burn incense, as do the
ordinary Chinese; and the Salar condemn this as Paganish. The usual
way by which one finds out to which sect a Mohammedan belongs is
by asking him if he burns incense. The black-capped Hui-hui are
more frequently called _Salar_, and are much the more devout and
fanatical. They live in the vicinity of Ho-chou, in and around
Hsün-hua t’ing, their chief town being known as Salar Pakun or
Paken.”
[Illustration: Cross on the Monument at Si-ngan fu. (From a
rubbing.)]
Ho-chou, in Western Kan-Suh, about 320 _li_ (107 miles) from
Lan-chau, has a population of about 30,000 nearly entirely
Mahomedans with 24 mosques; it is a “hot-bed of rebellion.”
_Salar-pa-kun_ means “the eight thousand Salar families,” or “the
eight thousands of the Salar.” The eight _kiun_ (Chinese _t’sun_?
a village, a commune) constituting the Salar pa-kun are Kä-tzŭ,
the oldest and largest, said to have over 1300 families living
in it, Chang-chia, Némen, Ch’ing-shui, Munta, Tsu-chi, Antasu
and Ch’a-chia. Besides these Salar kiun there are five outer
(_wai_) kiun: Ts’a-pa, Ngan-ssŭ-to, Hei-ch’eng, Kan-tu and Kargan,
inhabited by a few Salar and a mixed population of Chinese and
T’u-ssŭ: each of these wai-wu kiun has, theoretically, fifteen
villages in it. Tradition says that the first Salar who came to
China (from Rúm or Turkey) arrived in this valley in the third year
of Hung-wu of the Ming (1370). (_Rockhill, Land of the Lamas,
Journey; Grenard_, II. p. 457)—H. C.] (_Martini; Cathay_, 148,
269; _Pétis de la Croix_, III. 218; _Russian paper on the Dungen_,
see _supra_, vol. i. p. 291; _Williamson’s North China_, u.s.;
_Richthofen’s Letters_, and MS. Notes.)
NOTE 4.—_Mangalai_, Kúblái’s third son, who governed the provinces
of Shen-si and Sze-ch’wan, with the title of _Wang_ or king
(_supra_ ch. ix. note 2), died in 1280, a circumstance which limits
the date of Polo’s journey to the west. It seems unlikely that
Marco should have remained ten years ignorant of his death, yet he
seems to speak of him as still governing.
[With reference to the translation of the oldest of the
Chinese-Mongol inscriptions known hitherto (1283) in the name of
Ananda, King of Ngan-si, Professor Devéria (_Notes d’Épigraphie
Mongolo-Chinoise_, p. 9) writes: “In 1264, the Emperor Kúbláï
created in this region [Shen si] the department of Ngan-si chau,
occupied by ten hordes of Si-fan (foreigners from the west). All
this country became in 1272, the apanage of the Imperial Prince
Mangala; this prince, third son of Kúbláï, had been invested with
the title of King of Ngan-si, a territory which included King-chao
fu (modern Si-ngan fu). His government extended hence over Ho-si
(west of the Yellow River), the T’u-po (Tibetans), and Sze-ch’wan.
The following year (1273) Mangala received from Kúbláï a second
investiture, this of the Kingdom of Tsin, which added to his domain
part of Kan-Suh; he established his royal residence at K’ia-ch’eng
(modern Ku-yuan) in the Liu-p’an shan, while King-chao remained
the centre of the command he exercised over the Mongol garrisons.
In 1277 this prince took part in military operations in the north;
he died in 1280 (17th year Che Yuan), leaving his principality of
Ngan-si to his eldest son Ananda, and this of Tsin to his second
son Ngan-tan Bu-hoa. Kúbláï, immediately after the death of his son
Mangala, suppressed administrative autonomy in Ngan-si.” (_Yuan-shi
lei pien_).—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] I am indebted for this information to Baron Richthofen.
[2] See the small map attached to “Marco Polo’s Itinerary Map, No.
IV.,” at end of vol. i.
[3] [It is supposed to come from _kang_ (king) _dang_.—H. C.]
[4] In the first edition I was able to present a reduced facsimile of
a _rubbing_ in my possession from this famous inscription, which I
owed to the generosity of Dr. Lockhart. To the Baron von Richthofen
I am no less indebted for the more complete rubbing which has
afforded the plate now published. A tolerably full account of this
inscription is given in _Cathay_, p. xcii. _seqq._, and p. clxxxi.
_seqq._, but the subject is so interesting that it seems well to
introduce here the most important particulars:—
The stone slab, about 7½ feet high by 3 feet wide, and some
10 inches in thickness,[A] which bears this inscription, was
accidentally found in 1625 by some workmen who were digging in
the Chang-ngan suburb of the city of Singanfu. The cross, which
is engraved at p. 30, is incised at the top of the slab, and
beneath this are 9 large characters in 3 columns, constituting the
heading, which runs: “_Monument commemorating the introduction and
propagation of the noble Law of_ Ta T’sin _in the Middle Kingdom;_”
_Ta T’sin_ being the term applied in Chinese literature to the
Roman Empire, of which the ancient Chinese had much such a shadowy
conception as the Romans had, conversely, of the Chinese as _Sinae_
and _Seres_. Then follows the body of the inscription, of great
length and beautiful execution, consisting of 1780 characters.
Its chief contents are as follows:— 1st. An abstract of Christian
doctrine, of a vague and figurative kind; 2nd. An account of
the arrival of the missionary OLOPĂN (probably a Chinese form
of _Rabban_ = Monk),[B] from Ta T’sin in the year equivalent to
A.D. 635, bringing sacred books and images; of the _translation
of the said books_; of the Imperial approval of the doctrine
and permission to teach it publicly. There follows a decree of
the Emperor (T’ai Tsung, a very famous prince) issued in 638, in
favour of the new doctrine, and ordering a church to be built in
the Square of Peace and Justice (_I-ning Fang_), at the capital.
The Emperor’s portrait was to be placed in the church. After this
comes a description of Ta T’sin (here apparently implying Syria);
and then some account of the fortunes of the Church in China. Kao
Tsung (650–683, the devout patron also of the Buddhist traveller and
Dr. Hiuen Tsang) continued to favour it. In the end of the century,
Buddhism gets the upper hand, but under HIUAN-TSUNG (713–755) the
Church recovers its prestige, and KIHO, a new missionary, arrives.
Under TE-TSUNG (780–783) the monument was erected, and this part
ends with the eulogy of ISSÉ, a statesman and benefactor of the
Church. 3rd. There follows a recapitulation of the purport in
octosyllabic verse.
The Chinese inscription concludes with the date of erection, viz.
the second year _Kienchung_ of the Great T’ang Dynasty, the seventh
day of the month _Tait’su_, the feast of the great _Yaosan_.
This corresponds, according to Gaubil, to 4th February, 781; and
_Yaosan_ is supposed to stand for _Hosanna_ (_i.e._ Palm Sunday;
but this apparently does not fit; see _infra_). There are added the
name chief of the law, NINGCHU (presumed to be the Chinese name
of the Metropolitan), the name of the writer, and the official
sanction.
The _Great Hosanna_ was, though ingenious, a misinterpretation
of Gaubil’s. Mr. Wylie has sent me a paper of his own (in _Chin.
Recorder and Miss. Journal_, July, 1871, p. 45), which makes
things perfectly clear. The expression transcribed by Pauthier,
_Yao-săn-wen_, and rendered “Hosanna,” appears in a Chinese work,
without reference to this inscription, as _Yao-săn-wăh_, and is in
reality only a Chinese transcript of the Persian word for Sunday,
“_Yak-shambah_.” Mr. Wylie verified this from the mouth of a Peking
Mahomedan. The 4th of February, 781 _was_ Sunday; why _Great_
Sunday? Mr. Wylie suggests, possibly because the first Sunday of
the (Chinese) year.
The monument exhibits, in addition to the Chinese text, a series
of short inscriptions in the Syriac language, and _Estranghelo_
character, containing the date of erection, viz. 1092 of the Greeks
(= A.D. 781), the name of the reigning Patriarch of the Nestorian
church MAR HANAN ISHUA (dead in 778, but the fact apparently had
not reached China), that of ADAM, Bishop and Pope of Tzinisthán
(_i.e._ China), and those of the clerical staff of the capital
which here bears the name, given it by the early Arab Travellers,
of _Kúmdán_. There follow sixty-seven names of persons in Syriac
characters, most of whom are characterised as priests (_Kashíshá_),
and sixty-one names of persons in Chinese, all priests save one.
[It appears that Adam (_King-tsing_), who erected the monument
under Te-Tsung was, under the same Emperor, with a Buddhist the
translator of a Buddhist sûtra, the Saṭpâramitâ from a Hu text.
(See a curious paper by Mr. J. Takakusu in the _T’oung Pao_, VII
pp. 589–591.)
Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 157, _note_) makes the following
remarks. “It is strange, however, that the two famous Uigur
Nestorians, Mar Jabalaha and Rabban Cauma, when on their journey
from Koshang in Southern Shan-hsi to Western Asia in about 1276,
while they mention ‘the city of Tangut,’ or Ning-hsia on the Yellow
River as an important Nestorian centre, do not once refer to
Hsi-anfu or Chang-an. Had Chang-an been at the time the Nestorian
Episcopal see, one would think that these pilgrims would have
visited it, or at least referred to it. (_Chabot, Mar Jabalaha_,
21)”—H. C.]
Kircher gives a good many more Syriac names than appear on the
rubbing, probably because some of these are on the edge of the slab
now built in. We have no room to speak of the controversies raised
by this stone. The most able defence of its genuine character,
as well as a transcript with translation and commentary, a work
of great interest, was published by the late M. Pauthier. The
monument exists intact, and has been visited by the Rev. Mr.
Williamson, Baron Richthofen, and other recent travellers. [The
Rev. Moir Duncan wrote from Shen-si regarding the present state
of the stone. (_London and China Telegraph_, 5th June, 1893): “Of
the covering rebuilt so recently, not a trace remains save the
pedestals for the pillars and atoms of the tiling. In answer to a
question as to when and how the covering was destroyed, the old
priest replied, with a twinkle in his eye as if his conscience
pinched, ‘There came a rushing wind and blew it down.’ He could
not say when, for he paid no attention to such mundane affairs.
More than one outsider however, said it had been deliberately
destroyed, because the priests are jealous of the interest
manifested in it.... The stone has evidently been recently tampered
with, several characters are effaced and there are other signs of
malicious hands.”—H. C.] Pauthier’s works on the subject are—_De
l’Authenticité de l’Inscription Nestorienne_, etc., B. Duprat,
1857; and _l’Inscription Syro-Chinoise de Si-ngan-fou_, etc.,
Firmin Didot, 1858. (See also _Kircher, China Illustrata_; and
article by Mr. Wylie in _J. Am. Or. Soc._, V. 278.) [Father Havret,
S.J., of Zi-ka-wei, near Shang-hai, has undertaken to write a large
work on this inscription with the title of _La Stèle Chrétienne de
Si-ngan-fou_; the first part giving the inscription in full size,
and the second containing the history of the monument, have been
published at Shang-hai in 1895 and 1897; the author died last year
(29th September, 1901), and the translation which was to form a
third part has not yet appeared. The Rev. Dr. J. Legge has given a
translation and the Chinese text of the monument, in 1888.—H. C.]
Stone monuments of character strictly analogous are frequent in
the precincts of Buddhist sanctuaries, and probably the idea of
this one was taken from the Buddhists. It is reasonably supposed
by Pauthier that the monument may have been buried in 845, when
the Emperor Wu-Tsung issued an edict, still extant, against the
vast multiplication of Buddhist convents, and ordering their
destruction. A clause in the edict also orders the _foreign bonzes
of Ta-T’sin_ and _Mubupa_ (Christian and _Mobed_ or Magian?) _to
return to secular life_.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[A] [M. Grenard, who reproduces (III. p. 152) a good facsimile of the
inscription, gives to the slab the following dimensions: high 2m.
36, wide 0m. 86, thick 0m. 25.—H. C.]
[B] [Dr. F. Hirth (_China and the Roman Orient_, p. 323) writes:
“O-LO-PÊN = Ruben, Rupen?” He adds (_Jour. China Br. R. As. Soc._
XXI. 1886, pp. 214–215): “Initial _r_ is also quite commonly
represented by initial _l_. I am in doubt whether the two
characters _o-lo_ in the Chinese name for Russia (_O-lo-ssŭ_) stand
for foreign _ru_ or _ro_ alone. This word would bear comparison
with a Chinese transcription of the Sanskrit word for silver,
_rūpya_, which in the _Pen-ts’ao-kang-mu_ (ch. 8, p. 9) is given
as _o-lu-pa_. If we can find further analogies, this may help us
to read that mysterious word in the Nestorian stone inscription,
being the name of the first Christian missionary who carried the
cross to China, _O-lo-pên_, as ‘Ruben’. This was indeed a common
name among the Nestorians, for which reason I would give it the
preference over Pauthier’s Syriac ‘Alopeno’. But Father Havret
(_Stèle Chrétienne_, Leide, 1897, p. 26) objects to Dr. Hirth that
the Chinese character _lo_, to which he gives the sound _ru_,
is not to be found as a Sanskrit phonetic element in Chinese
characters, but that this phonetic element _ru_ is represented by
the Chinese characters pronounced _lu_, and therefore, he, Father
Havret, adopts Colonel Yule’s opinion as the only one being fully
satisfactory.”—H. C.]
CHAPTER XLII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUNCUN, WHICH IS RIGHT WEARISOME TO
TRAVEL THROUGH.
On leaving the Palace of Mangalai, you travel westward for three days,
finding a succession of cities and boroughs and beautiful plains,
inhabited by people who live by trade and industry, and have great
plenty of silk. At the end of those three days, you reach the great
mountains and valleys which belong to the province of CUNCUN.{1} There
are towns and villages in the land, and the people live by tilling the
earth, and by hunting in the great woods; for the region abounds in
forests, wherein are many wild beasts, such as lions, bears, lynxes,
bucks and roes, and sundry other kinds, so that many are taken by
the people of the country, who make a great profit thereof. So this
way we travel over mountains and valleys, finding a succession of
towns and villages, and many great hostelries for the entertainment of
travellers, interspersed among extensive forests.
NOTE 1.—The region intended must necessarily be some part of the
southern district of the province of Shen-si, called HAN-CHUNG,
the axis of which is the River Han, closed in by exceedingly
mountainous and woody country to north and south, dividing it on
the former quarter from the rest of Shen-si, and on the latter from
Sze-ch’wan. Polo’s _C_ frequently expresses an _H_, especially the
Guttural _H_ of Chinese names, yet _Cuncun_ is not satisfactory as
the expression of _Hanchung_.
The country was so ragged that in ancient times travellers from
Si-ngan fu had to make a long circuit eastward by the frontier of
Ho-nan to reach Han-chung; but, at an early date, a road was made
across the mountains for military purposes; so long ago indeed that
various eras and constructors are assigned to it. Padre Martini’s
authorities ascribed it to a general in the service of Liu Pang,
the founder of the first Han Dynasty (B.C. 202), and this date
is current in Shan-si, as Baron v. Richthofen tells me. But in
Sze-ch’wan the work is asserted to have been executed during the
3rd century, when China was divided into several states, by Liu
Pei, of the Han family, who, about A.D. 226, established himself
as Emperor [Minor Han] of Western China at Ch’êng-tu fu.[1] This
work, with its difficulties and boldness, extending often for
great distances on timber corbels inserted in the rock, is vividly
described by Martini. Villages and rest-houses were established
at convenient distances. It received from the Chinese the name of
_Chien-tao_, or the “Pillar Road.” It commenced on the west bank
of the Wei, opposite Pao-ki h’ien, 100 miles west of Si-ngan fu,
and ended near the town of Paoching-h’ien, some 15 or 20 miles
north-west from Han-chung.
We are told that Tului, the son of Chinghiz, when directing his
march against Ho-nan in 1231 by this very line from Paoki, had
to _make_ a road with great difficulty; but, as we shall see
presently, this can only mean that the ancient road had fallen
into decay, and had to be repaired. The same route was followed
by Okkodai’s son Kutan, in marching to attack the Sung Empire in
1235, and again by Mangku Kaan on his last campaign in 1258. These
circumstances show that the road from Paoki was in that age the
usual route into Han-chung and Sze-ch’wan; indeed there is no other
road in that direction that is more than a mere jungle-track, and
we may be certain that this was Polo’s route.
This remarkable road was traversed by Baron v. Richthofen in
1872. To my questions, he replies: “The entire route is a work
of tremendous engineering, and all of this was done by Liu Pei,
who first ordered the construction. The hardest work consisted in
cutting out long portions of the road from solid rock, chiefly
where ledges project on the verge of a river, as is frequently the
case on the He-lung Kiang.... It had been done so thoroughly from
the first, that scarcely any additions had to be made in after
days. Another kind of work which generally strikes tourists like
Father Martini, or Chinese travellers, is the poling up of the road
on the sides of steep cliffs[2].... Extensive cliffs are frequently
rounded in this way, and imagination is much struck with the
perils of walking on the side of a precipice, with the foaming
river below. When the timbers rot, such passages of course become
obstructed, and thus the road is said to have been periodically
in complete disuse. The repairs, which were chiefly made in the
time of the Ming, concerned especially passages of this sort.”
Richthofen also notices the abundance of game; but inhabited places
appear to be rarer than in Polo’s time. (See _Martini_ in _Blaeu_;
_Chine Ancienne_, p. 234; _Ritter_, IV. 520; _D’Ohsson_, II. 22,
80, 328; _Lecomte_, II. 95; _Chin. Rep._ XIX. 225; _Richthofen_,
_Letter_ VII. p. 42, and MS. Notes).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The last is also stated by Klaproth. Ritter has overlooked the
discrepancy of the dates (B.C. and A.D.) and has supposed Liu Pei
and Liu Pang to be the same. The resemblance of the names, and the
fact that both princes were founders of Han Dynasties, give ample
room for confusion.
[2] See cut from Mr. Cooper’s book at p. 51 below. This so exactly
illustrates Baron R.’s description that I may omit the latter.
CHAPTER XLIII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ACBALEC MANZI.
After you have travelled those 20 days through the mountains of CUNCUN
that I have mentioned, then you come to a province called ACBALEC
MANZI, which is all level country, with plenty of towns and villages,
and belongs to the Great Kaan. The people are Idolaters, and live
by trade and industry. I may tell you that in this province, there
grows such a great quantity of ginger, that it is carried all over
the region of Cathay, and it affords a maintenance to all the people
of the province, who get great gain thereby. They have also wheat
and rice, and other kinds of corn, in great plenty and cheapness; in
fact the country abounds in all useful products. The capital city is
called ACBALEC MANZI [which signifies “the White City of the Manzi
Frontier”].{1}
This plain extends for two days’ journey, throughout which it is
as fine as I have told you, with towns and villages as numerous.
After those two days, you again come to great mountains and valleys,
and extensive forests, and you continue to travel westward through
this kind of country for 20 days, finding however numerous towns
and villages. The people are Idolaters, and live by agriculture, by
cattle-keeping, and by the chase, for there is much game. And among
other kinds, there are the animals that produce the musk, in great
numbers.{2}
NOTE 1.—Though the termini of the route, described in these two
chapters, are undoubtedly Si-ngan fu and Ch’êng-tu fu, there are
serious difficulties attending the determination of the line
actually followed.
The time according to all the MSS., so far as I know, except those
of one type, is as follows:
In the plain of Kenjanfu 3 days.
In the mountains of Cuncun 20 „
In the plain of Acbalec 2 „
In mountains again 20 „
——
45 days.
——
[From Si-ngan fu to Ch’êng-tu (Sze-ch’wan), the Chinese reckon
2300 _li_ (766 miles). (Cf. _Rockhill, Land of the Lamas_, p. 23.)
Mr. G. F. Eaton, writing from Han-chung (_Jour. China Br. R. A.
S._ xxviii. p. 29) reckons: “From Si-ngan Fu S.W. to Ch’êng-tu,
_viâ_ K’i-shan, Fung-sien, Mien, Kwang-yuan and Chao-hwa, about 30
days, in chairs.” He says (p. 24): “From Ch’êng-tu _viâ_ Si-ngan
to Peking the road does not touch Han-chung, but 20 _li_ west of
the city strikes north to Pao-ch’eng.—The road from Han-chung to
Ch’êng-tu made by Ts’in Shi Hwang-ti to secure his conquest of
Sze-ch’wan, crosses the Ta-pa-shan.”—H. C.]
It seems to me almost impossible to doubt that the Plain of
Acbalec represents some part of the river-valley of the Han,
interposed between the two ranges of mountains called by Richthofen
_T’sing-Ling-Shan_ and _Ta-pa-Shan_. But the time, as just stated,
is extravagant for anything like a direct journey between the two
termini.
The distance from Si-ngan fu to Pao-ki is 450 _li_, which _could_
be done in 3 days, but at Polo’s rate would probably require 5.
The distance by the mountain road from Pao-ki to the Plain of
Han-chung, could never have occupied 20 days. It is really a 6 or 7
days’ march.
But Pauthier’s MS. C (and its double, the Bern MS.) has viii.
marches instead of xx., through the mountains of Cuncun. This
reduces the time between Kenjanfu and the Plain to 11 days, which
is just about a proper allowance for the whole journey, though
not accurately distributed. Two days, though ample, would not be
excessive for the journey across the Plain of Han-chung, especially
if the traveller visited that city. And “20 days from Han-chung, to
Ch’êng-tu fu would correspond with Marco Polo’s rate of travel.”
(_Richthofen_).
So far then, provided we admit the reading of the MS. C, there is
no ground for hesitating to adopt the usual route between the two
cities, _viâ_ Han-chung.
But the key to the exact route is evidently the position of Acbalec
Manzi, and on this there is no satisfactory light.
For the name of the province, Pauthier’s text has _Acbalec Manzi_,
for the name of the city _Acmalec_ simply. The G. T. has in the
former case _Acbalec Mangi_, in the latter “Acmelic Mangi _qe vaut
dire_ le une _de le confine dou Mangi_.” This is followed literally
by the Geographic Latin, which has “_Acbalec Mangi et est dictum
in lingua nostra_ unus _ex confinibus Mangi_.” So also the Crusca;
whilst Ramusio has “_Achbaluch Mangi, che vuol dire_ Città Bianca
de’ confini di Mangi.” It is clear that Ramusio alone has here
preserved the genuine reading.
Klaproth identified Acbalec conjecturally with the town of
_Pe-ma-ching_, or “White-Horse-Town,” a place now extinct, but
which stood like Mien and Han-chung on the extensive and populous
Plain that here borders the Han.
It seems so likely that the latter part of the name _Pe_-MACHING
(“_White_ Maching”) might have been confounded by foreigners with
_Máchín_ and _Manzi_ (which in Persian parlance were identical),
that I should be disposed to overlook the difficulty that we have
no evidence produced to show that Pemaching was a place of any
consequence.
It is possible, however, that the name _Acbalec_ may have been
given by the Tartars without any reference to Chinese etymologies.
We have already twice met with the name or its equivalent
(_Acbaluc_ in ch. xxxvii. of this Book, and _Chaghan Balghasun_ in
note 3 to Book I. ch. lx.), whilst Strahlenberg tells us that the
Tartars call all great residences of princes by this name (Amst.
ed. 1757, I. p. 7). It may be that Han-chung itself was so named
by the Tartars; though its only claim that I can find is, that it
was the first residence of the Han Dynasty. Han-chung fu stands
in a beautiful plain, which forms a very striking object to the
traveller who is leaving the T’sing-ling mountains. Just before
entering the plains, the Helung Kiang passes through one of its
wildest gorges, a mere crevice between vertical walls several
hundred feet high. The road winds to the top of one of the cliffs
in zigzags cut in the solid rock. From the temple of Kitau Kwan,
which stands at the top of the cliff, there is a magnificent view
of the Plain, and no traveller would omit this, the most notable
feature between the valley of the Wei and Ch’êng-tu-fu. It is,
moreover, the only piece of level ground, of any extent, that is
passed through between those two regions, whichever road or track
be taken. (_Richthofen_, MS. Notes.)
[In the _China Review_ (xiv. p. 358) Mr. E. H. Parker, has an
article on _Acbalec Manzi_, but does not throw any new light on the
subject.—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Polo’s journey now continues through the lofty mountainous
region in the north of Sze-ch’wan.
The dividing range Ta-pa-shan is less in height than the
T’sing-ling range, but with gorges still more abrupt and deep; and
it would be an entire barrier to communication but for the care
with which the road, here also, has been formed. But this road,
from Han-chung to Ch’êng-tu fu, is still older than that to the
north, having been constructed, it is said, in the 3rd century B.C.
[See _supra_.] Before that time Sze-ch’wan was a closed country,
the only access from the north being the circuitous route down the
Han and up the Yang-tz’ŭ. (_Ibid._)
[Mr. G. G. Brown writes (_Jour. China Br. R. As. Soc._ xxviii.
p. 53): “Crossing the Ta-pa-shan from the valley of the Upper
Han in Shen-si we enter the province of Sze-ch’wan, and are now
in a country as distinct as possible from that that has been
left. The climate which in the north was at times almost Arctic,
is now pluvial, and except on the summits of the mountains no
snow is to be seen. The people are ethnologically different....
More even than the change of climate the geological aspect is
markedly different. The loess, which in Shen-si has settled like
a pall over the country, is here absent, and red sandstone rocks,
filling the valleys between the high-bounding and intermediate
ridges of palæozoic formation, take its place. Sze-ch’wan is
evidently a region of rivers flowing in deeply eroded valleys,
and as these find but one exit, the deep gorges of Kwei-fu,
their disposition takes the form of the innervations of a leaf
springing from a solitary stalk. The country between the branching
valleys is eminently hilly; the rivers flow with rapid currents
in well-defined valleys, and are for the most part navigable
for boats, or in their upper reaches for lumber-rafts.... The
horse-cart, which in the north and north-west of China is the
principal means of conveyance, has never succeeded in gaining
an entrance into Sze-ch’wan with its steep ascents and rapid
unfordable streams; and is here represented for passenger traffic
by the sedan-chair, and for the carriage of goods, with the
exception of a limited number of wheel-barrows, by the backs of
men or animals, unless where the friendly water-courses afford the
cheapest and readiest means of intercourse.”—H. C.]
Martini notes the musk-deer in northern Sze-ch’wan.
CHAPTER XLIV.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE AND CITY OF SINDAFU.
When you have travelled those 20 days westward through the mountains,
as I have told you, then you arrive at a plain belonging to a province
called Sindafu, which still is on the confines of Manzi, and the
capital city of which is (also) called SINDAFU. This city was in former
days a rich and noble one, and the Kings who reigned there were very
great and wealthy. It is a good twenty miles in compass, but it is
divided in the way that I shall tell you.
You see the King of this Province, in the days of old, when he found
himself drawing near to death, leaving three sons behind him, commanded
that the city should be divided into three parts, and that each of his
three sons should have one. So each of these three parts is separately
walled about, though all three are surrounded by the common wall of the
city. Each of the three sons was King, having his own part of the city,
and his own share of the kingdom, and each of them in fact was a great
and wealthy King. But the Great Kaan conquered the kingdom of these
three Kings, and stripped them of their inheritance.{1}
Through the midst of this great city runs a large river, in which they
catch a great quantity of fish. It is a good half mile wide, and very
deep withal, and so long that it reaches all the way to the Ocean
Sea,—a very long way, equal to 80 or 100 days’ journey. And the name
of the River is KIAN-SUY. The multitude of vessels that navigate this
river is so vast, that no one who should read or hear the tale would
believe it. The quantities of merchandize also which merchants carry
up and down this river are past all belief. In fact, it is so big, that
it seems to be a Sea rather than a River!{2}
Let us now speak of a great Bridge which crosses this River within the
city. This bridge is of stone; it is seven paces in width and half a
mile in length (the river being that much in width as I told you); and
all along its length on either side there are columns of marble to bear
the roof, for the bridge is roofed over from end to end with timber,
and that all richly painted. And on this bridge there are houses in
which a great deal of trade and industry is carried on. But these
houses are all of wood merely, and they are put up in the morning and
taken down in the evening. Also there stands upon the bridge the Great
Kaan’s _Comercque_, that is to say, his custom-house, where his toll
and tax are levied.{3} And I can tell you that the dues taken on this
bridge bring to the Lord a thousand pieces of fine gold every day and
more. The people are all Idolaters.{4}
When you leave this city you travel for five days across a country of
plains and valleys, finding plenty of villages and hamlets, and the
people of which live by husbandry. There are numbers of wild beasts,
lions, and bears, and such like.
I should have mentioned that the people of Sindu itself live by
manufactures, for they make fine sendals and other stuffs.{5}
After travelling those five days’ march, you reach a province called
Tebet, which has been sadly laid waste; we will now say something of it.
NOTE 1.—We are on firm ground again, for SINDAFU is certainly
CH’ÊNG-TU FU, the capital of Sze-ch’wan. Probably the name used by
Polo was _Sindu-fu_, as we find _Sindu_ in the G. T. near the end
of the chapter. But the same city is, I observe, called _Thindafu_
by one of the Nepalese embassies, whose itineraries Mr. Hodgson has
given in the _J. A. S. B._ XXV. 488.
┌────────────┐
│ │
┌───┤ ┌───┐ │
│ B │ │ C │ A │
│ │ │ │ │
└───┤ └───┘ │
│ │
└────────────┘
A. The Great City.
B. The Little City.
C. The Imperial City.
The modern French missions have a bishop in Ch’êng-tu fu, and the
city has been visited of late years by Mr. T. T. Cooper, by Mr. A.
Wylie, by Baron v. Richthofen, [Captain Gill, Mr. Baber, Mr. Hosie,
and several other travellers]. Mr. Wylie has kindly favoured me
with the following note:—“My notice all goes to corroborate Marco
Polo. The covered bridge with the stalls is still there, the only
difference being the absence of the toll-house. I did not see any
traces of a tripartite division of the city, nor did I make any
enquiries on the subject during the 3 or 4 days I spent there, as
it was not an object with me at the time to verify Polo’s account.
The city is indeed divided, but the division dates more than a
thousand years back. It is something like this, I should say [see
diagram].[1]
“The Imperial City (_Hwang Ching_) was the residence of the
monarch Lew Pé (_i.e._ Liu Pei of p. 32) during the short period
of the ‘Three Kingdoms’ (3rd century), and some relics of the
ancient edifice still remain. I was much interested in looking
over it. It is now occupied by the Public Examination Hall and its
dependencies.”
I suspect Marco’s story of the Three Kings arose from a
misunderstanding about this historical period of the _San-Kwé_, or
Three Kingdoms (A.D. 222–264). And this tripartite division of the
city may have been merely that which we see to exist at present.
[Mr. Baber, leaving Ch’êng-tu, 26th July, 1877, writes (_Travels_,
p. 28): “We took ship outside the East Gate on a rapid narrow
stream, apparently the city moat, which soon joins the main river,
a little below the An-shun Bridge, an antiquated wooden structure
some 90 yards long. This is in all probability the bridge mentioned
by Marco Polo. The too flattering description he gives of it leads
one to suppose that the present handsome stone bridges of the
province were unbuilt at the time of his journey.” Baber is here
mistaken.
Captain Gill writes (_l.c._ II. p. 9): “As Mr. Wylie in recent days
had said that Polo’s covered bridge was still in its place, we went
one day on an expedition in search of it. Polo, however, speaks of
a bridge full half a mile long, whilst the longest now is but 90
yards. On our way we passed over a fine nine-arched stone bridge,
called the Chin-Yen-Ch’iao. Near the covered bridge there is a very
pretty view down the river.”—H. C.]
Baron Richthofen observes that Ch’êng-tu is among the largest of
Chinese cities, and is of all the finest and most refined. The
population is called 800,000. The walls form a square of about 3
miles to the side, and there are suburbs besides. The streets are
broad and straight, laid out at right angles, with a pavement of
square flags very perfectly laid, slightly convex and drained at
each side. The numerous commemorative arches are sculptured with
skill; there is much display of artistic taste; and the people
are remarkably civil to foreigners. This characterizes the whole
province; and an air of wealth and refinement prevails even in the
rural districts. The plain round Ch’êng-tu fu is about 90 miles
in length (S.E. to N.W.), by 40 miles in width, with a copious
irrigation and great fertility, so that in wealth and population it
stands almost unrivalled. (_Letter_ VII. pp. 48–66.)
[Illustration: PLAN OF CHENG-TU.
_Églises ou Établissements français des “Missions étrangères”_
_Reproduction d’une carte chinoise_]
[Mr. Baber (_Travels_, p. 26) gives the following information
regarding the population of Ch’êng-tu: “The census of 1877 returned
the number of families at about 70,000, and the total population
at 330,000—190,000 being males and 140,000 females; but probably
the extensive suburb was not included in the enumeration. Perhaps
350,000 would be a fair total estimate.” It is the seat of the
Viceroy of the Sze-ch’wan province. Mr. Hosie says (_Three Years in
Western China_, p. 86): “It is without exception the finest city I
have seen in China; Peking and Canton will not bear comparison with
it.” Captain Gill writes (_River of Golden Sand_, II. p. 4): “The
city of Ch’êng-Tu is still a rich and noble one, somewhat irregular
in shape, and surrounded by a strong wall, in a perfect state of
repair. In this there are eight bastions, four being pierced by
gates.”
“It is one of the largest of Chinese cities, having a circuit of
about 12 miles.” (_Baber_, p. 26.) “It is now three and a half
miles long by about two and a half miles broad, the longest side
lying about east-south-east, and west-north-west, so that its
compass in the present day is about 12 miles.” (_Captain Gill_, II.
p. 4.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Ramusio is more particular: “Through the city flow many
great rivers, which come down from distant mountains, and run
winding about through many parts of the city. These rivers vary in
width from half a mile to 200 paces, and are very deep. Across them
are built many bridges of stone,” etc. “And after passing the city
these rivers unite and form one immense river called Kian,” etc.
Here we have the Great River or KIANG, Kian (Quian) as in Ramusio,
or KIANG-SHUI, “Waters of the Kiang,” as in the text. So Pauthier
explains. [Mr. Baber remarks at Ch’êng-tu (_Travels_, p. 28): “When
all allowance is made for the diminution of the river, one cannot
help surmising that Marco Polo must have felt reluctant to call it
the _Chiang-Sui_ or ‘Yangtzŭ waterway.’ He was, however, correct
enough, as usual, for the Chinese consider it to be the main upper
stream of the Yangtzŭ.”—H. C.] Though our Geographies give the
specific names of Wen and Min to the great branch which flows by
Ch’êng-tu fu, and treat the Tibetan branch which flows through
northern Yunnan under the name of Kin sha or “Golden Sand,” as the
main river, the Chinese seem always to have regarded the former as
the true Kiang; as may be seen in Ritter (IV. 650) and Martini. The
latter describes the city as quite insulated by the ramifications
of the river, from which channels and canals pass all about it,
adorned with many quays and bridges of stone.
The numerous channels in reuniting form two rivers, one the Min,
and the other the To-Kiang, which also joins the Yangtzŭ at Lu-chau.
[In his _Introductory Essay to Captain Gill’s River of Golden
Sand_, Colonel Yule (p. 37) writes: “Captain Gill has pointed out
that, of the many branches of the river which ramify through the
plain of Ch’êng-tu, no one now passes through the city at all
corresponding in magnitude to that which Marco Polo describes,
about 1283, as running through the midst of Sin-da-fu, ‘a good
half-mile wide, and very deep withal.’ The largest branch adjoining
the city now runs on the south side, but does not exceed a hundred
yards in width; and though it is crossed by a covered bridge with
huxters’ booths, more or less in the style described by Polo, it
necessarily falls far short of his great bridge of half a mile
in length. Captain Gill suggests that a change may have taken
place in the last five (this should be _six_) centuries, owing to
the deepening of the river-bed at its exit from the plain, and
consequent draining of the latter. But I should think it more
probable that the ramification of channels round Ch’êng-tu, which
is so conspicuous even on a small general map of China, like that
which accompanies this work, is in great part due to art; that
the mass of the river has been drawn off to irrigate the plain;
and that thus the wide river, which in the 13th century may have
passed through the city, no unworthy representative of the mighty
Kiang, has long since ceased, on that scale, to flow. And I have
pointed out briefly that the fact, which Baron Richthofen attests,
of an actual bifurcation of waters on a large scale taking place
in the plain of Ch’êng-tu—one arm ‘branching east to form the To’
(as in the terse indication of the Yü-Kung)—viz. the To Kiang or
Chung-Kiang flowing south-east to join the great river at Lu-chau,
whilst another flows south to Sü-chau or Swi-fu, does render
change in the distribution of the waters about the city highly
credible.”] [See _Irrigation of the Ch’eng-tu Plain_, by _Joshua
Vale_, China Inland Mission in _Jour. China Br. R. A. S. Soc._
XXXIII. 1899–1900, pp. 22–36.—H. C.]
[Above Kwan Hsien, near Ch’êng-tu, there is a fine suspension
bridge, mentioned by Marcel Monnier (_Itinéraires_, p. 43), from
whom I borrow the cut reproduced on this page. This bridge is also
spoken of by Captain Gill (_l.c._ I. p. 335): “Six ropes, one above
the other, are stretched very tightly, and connected by vertical
battens of wood laced in and out. Another similar set of ropes is
at the other side of the roadway, which is laid across these, and
follows the curve of the ropes. There are three or four spans with
stone piers.”—H. C.]
[Illustration: Bridge near Kwan-hsien (Ch’êng-tu).]
NOTE 3.—(G. T.) “_Hi est le_ couiereque _dou Grant Sire, ce est
cilz qe recevent la rente dou Seignor_.” Pauthier has _couvert_.
Both are, I doubt not, misreadings or misunderstandings of
_comercque_ or _comerc_. This word, founded on the Latin
_commercium_, was widely spread over the East with the meaning
of _customs-duty_ or _custom-house_. In Low Greek it appeared as
κομμέρκιον and κουμέρκιον, now κομέρκι; in Arabic and Turkish as
قمرق and كمرك (_ḳumruḳ_ and _gyumruk_), still in use; in Romance
dialects as _comerchio, comerho, comergio_, etc.
NOTE 4.—The word in Pauthier’s text which I have rendered _pieces_
of gold is _pois_, probably equivalent to _saggi_ or _misḳáls_.[2]
The G. T. has “is well worth 1000 _bezants_ of gold,” no doubt
meaning _daily_, though not saying so. Ramusio has “100 bezants
daily.” The term Bezant may be taken as synonymous with _Dínár_,
and the statement in the text would make the daily receipt of
custom upwards of 500_l._, that in Ramusio upwards of 50_l._ only.
NOTE 5.—I have recast this passage, which has got muddled, probably
in the original dictation, for it runs in the G. text: “Et de ceste
cité se part l’en et chevauche cinq jornée por plain et por valée,
et treve-l’en castiaus et casaus assez. Les homes vivent dou profit
qu’il traient de la terre. Il hi a bestes sauvajes assez, lions et
orses et autres bestes. _Il vivent d’ars: car il hi se laborent des
biaus sendal et autres dras. Il sunt de Sindu meisme._” I take it
that in speaking of Ch’êng-tu fu, Marco has forgotten to fill up
his usual formula as to the occupation of the inhabitants; he is
reminded of this when he speaks of the occupation of the peasantry
on the way to Tibet, and reverts to the citizens in the words which
I have quoted in Italics. We see here _Sindu_ applied to the city,
suggesting _Sindu-fu_ for the reading at the beginning of the
chapter.
Silk is a large item in the produce and trade of Sze-ch’wan; and
through extensive quarters of Ch’êng-tu fu, in every house, the
spinning, dying, weaving, and embroidering of silk give occupation
to the people. And though a good deal is exported, much is consumed
in the province, for the people are very much given to costly
apparel. Thus silk goods are very conspicuous in the shops of the
capital. (_Richthofen_.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] My lamented friend Lieutenant F. Garnier had kindly undertaken to
send me a plan of Ch’êng-tu fu from the place itself, but, as is
well known, he fell on a daring enterprise elsewhere. [We hope
that the plan from a Chinese map we give from _M. Marcel Monnier’s
Itinéraires_ will replace the promised one.
It will be seen that Ch’êng-tu is divided into three cities: the
Great City containing both the Imperial and Tartar cities.—H. C.]
[2] I find the same expression applied to the misḳál or dínár in a
MS. letter written by Giovanni dell’Affaitado, Venetian Agent at
Lisbon in 1503, communicated to me by Signor Berchet. The King of
Melinda was to pay to Portugal a tribute of 1500 _pesi d’oro_, “che
un peso val un ducato e un quarto.”
CHAPTER XLV.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TEBET.
After those five days’ march that I spoke of, you enter a province
which has been sorely ravaged; and this was done in the wars of Mongu
Kaan. There are indeed towns and villages and hamlets, but all harried
and destroyed.{1}
In this region you find quantities of canes, full three palms in girth
and fifteen paces in length, with some three palms’ interval between
the joints. And let me tell you that merchants and other travellers
through that country are wont at nightfall to gather these canes and
make fires of them; for as they burn they make such loud reports that
the lions and bears and other wild beasts are greatly frightened, and
make off as fast as possible; in fact nothing will induce them to come
nigh a fire of that sort. So you see the travellers make those fires to
protect themselves and their cattle from the wild beasts which have so
greatly multiplied since the devastation of the country. And ’tis this
great multiplication of the wild beasts that prevents the country from
being reoccupied. In fact but for the help of these canes, which make
such a noise in burning that the beasts are terrified and kept at a
distance, no one would be able even to travel through the land.
I will tell you how it is that the canes make such a noise. The people
cut the green canes, of which there are vast numbers, and set fire to
a heap of them at once. After they have been awhile burning they burst
asunder, and this makes such a loud report that you might hear it ten
miles off. In fact, any one unused to this noise, who should hear it
unexpectedly, might easily go into a swound or die of fright. But those
who are used to it care nothing about it. Hence those who are not used
to it stuff their ears well with cotton, and wrap up their heads and
faces with all the clothes they can muster; and so they get along until
they have become used to the sound. ’Tis just the same with horses.
Those which are unused to these noises are so alarmed by them that they
break away from their halters and heel-ropes, and many a man has lost
his beasts in this way. So those who would avoid losing their horses
take care to tie all four legs and peg the ropes down strongly, and to
wrap the heads and eyes and ears of the animals closely, and so they
save them. But horses also, when they have heard the noise several
times, cease to mind it. I tell you the truth, however, when I say that
the first time you hear it nothing can be more alarming. And yet, in
spite of all, the lions and bears and other wild beasts will sometimes
come and do much mischief; for their numbers are great in those
tracts.{2}
You ride for 20 days without finding any inhabited spot, so that
travellers are obliged to carry all their provisions with them, and are
constantly falling in with those wild beasts which are so numerous and
so dangerous. After that you come at length to a tract where there
are towns and villages in considerable numbers.{3} The people of those
towns have a strange custom in regard to marriage which I will now
relate.
No man of that country would on any consideration take to wife a girl
who was a maid; for they say a wife is nothing worth unless she has
been used to consort with men. And their custom is this, that when
travellers come that way, the old women of the place get ready, and
take their unmarried daughters or other girls related to them, and go
to the strangers who are passing, and make over the young women to
whomsoever will accept them; and the travellers take them accordingly
and do their pleasure; after which the girls are restored to the
old women who brought them, for they are not allowed to follow the
strangers away from their home. In this manner people travelling that
way, when they reach a village or hamlet or other inhabited place,
shall find perhaps 20 or 30 girls at their disposal. And if the
travellers lodge with those people they shall have as many young women
as they could wish coming to court them! You must know too that the
traveller is expected to give the girl who has been with him a ring or
some other trifle, something in fact that she can show as a lover’s
token when she comes to be married. And it is for this in truth and for
this alone that they follow that custom; for every girl is expected to
obtain at least 20 such tokens in the way I have described before she
can be married. And those who have most tokens, and so can show they
have been most run after, are in the highest esteem, and most sought in
marriage, because they say the charms of such an one are greatest.{4}
But after marriage these people hold their wives very dear, and would
consider it a great villainy for a man to meddle with another’s wife;
and thus though the wives have before marriage acted as you have
heard, they are kept with great care from light conduct afterwards.
Now I have related to you this marriage custom as a good story to tell,
and to show what a fine country that is for young fellows to go to!
The people are Idolaters and an evil generation, holding it no sin to
rob and maltreat: in fact, they are the greatest brigands on earth.
They live by the chase, as well as on their cattle and the fruits of
the earth.
I should tell you also that in this country there are many of the
animals that produce musk, which are called in the Tartar language
_Gudderi_. Those rascals have great numbers of large and fine dogs,
which are of great service in catching the musk-beasts, and so they
procure great abundance of musk. They have none of the Great Kaan’s
paper money, but use salt instead of money. They are very poorly clad,
for their clothes are only of the skins of beasts, and of canvas, and
of buckram.{5} They have a language of their own, and they are called
Tebet. And this country of TEBET forms a very great province, of which
I will give you a brief account.
NOTE 1.—The mountains that bound the splendid plain of Ch’êng-tu fu
on the west rise rapidly to a height of 12,000 feet and upwards.
Just at the skirt of this mountain region, where the great road
to Lhása enters it, lies the large and bustling city of Yachaufu,
forming the key of the hill country, and the great entrepôt of
trade between Sze-ch’wan on the one side, and Tibet and Western
Yunnan on the other. The present political boundary between China
Proper and Tibet is to the west of Bathang and the Kin-sha Kiang,
but till the beginning of last century it lay much further east,
near _Ta-t’sien-lu_, or, as the Tibetans appear to call it,
_Tartsédo_ or _Tachindo_, which a Chinese Itinerary given by Ritter
makes to be 920 _li_, or 11 marches from Ch’êng-tu fu. In Marco’s
time we must suppose that Tibet was considered to extend several
marches further east still, or to the vicinity of Yachau.[1] Mr.
Cooper’s Journal describes the country entered _on the 5th march_
from Ch’êng-tu as very mountainous, many of the neighbouring peaks
being capped with snow. And he describes the people as speaking
a language mixed with Tibetan for some distance before reaching
Ta-t’sien-lu. Baron Richthofen also who, as we shall see, has
thrown an entirely new light upon this part of Marco’s itinerary,
was exactly five days in travelling through a rich and populous
country, from Ch’êng-tu to Yachau. [Captain Gill left Ch’êng-tu on
the 10th July, 1877, and reached Ya-chau on the 14th, a distance of
75 miles.—H. C.] (_Ritter_, IV. 190 _seqq._; _Cooper_, pp. 164–173;
_Richthofen_ in _Verhandl. Ges. f. Erdk. zu Berlin_, 1874, p. 35.)
Tibet was always reckoned as a part of the Empire of the Mongol
Kaans in the period of their greatness, but it is not very clear
how it came under subjection to them. No conquest of Tibet by their
armies appears to be related by either the Mahomedan or the Chinese
historians. Yet it is alluded to by Plano Carpini, who ascribes the
achievement to an unnamed son of Chinghiz, and narrated by Sanang
Setzen, who says that the King of Tibet submitted without fighting
when Chinghiz invaded his country in the year of the Panther
(1206). During the reign of Mangku Kaan, indeed, Uriangḳadai, an
eminent Mongol general [son of Subudai] who had accompanied Prince
Kúblái in 1253 against Yunnan, did in the following year direct
his arms against the Tibetans. But this campaign, that no doubt to
which the text alludes as “the wars of Mangu Kaan,” appears to have
occupied only a part of one season, and was certainly confined to
the parts of Tibet on the frontiers of Yunnan and Sze-ch’wan. [“In
the _Yuen-shi_, Tibet is mentioned under different names. Sometimes
the Chinese history of the Mongols uses the ancient name _T’u-fan_.
In the Annals, _s.a._ 1251, we read: ‘Mangu Khan entrusted
_Ho-li-dan_ with the command of the troops against _T’u-fan_.’ _Sub
anno_ 1254 it is stated that Kúblái (who at that time was still
the heir-apparent), after subduing the tribes of Yun-nan, entered
_T’u-fan_, when _So-ho-to_, the ruler of the country, surrendered.
Again, _s.a._ 1275: ‘The prince _Al-lu-chi_ (seventh son of
Kúblái) led an expedition to _T’u-fan_.’ In chap. ccii., biography
of _Ba-sz’-ba_, the Lama priest who invented Kúblái’s official
alphabet, it is stated that this Lama was a native of _Sa-sz’-kia_
in T’u-fan.” (_Bretschneider, Med Res._ II. p. 23.)—H. C.] Koeppen
seems to consider it certain that there was no actual conquest
of Tibet, and that Kúblái extended his authority over it only by
diplomacy and the politic handling of the spiritual potentates
who had for several generations in Tibet been the real rulers of
the country. It is certain that Chinese history attributes the
organisation of civil administration in Tibet to Kúblái. Mati
Dhwaja, a young and able member of the family which held the
hereditary primacy of the Satya [Sakya] convent, and occupied the
most influential position in Tibet, was formerly recognised by the
Emperor as the head of the Lamaite Church and as the tributary
Ruler of Tibet. He is the same person that we have already (vol. i.
p. 28) mentioned as the Passepa or Báshpah Lama, the inventor of
Kúblái’s official alphabet. (_Carpini_, 658, 709; _D’Avezac_, 564;
_S. Setzen_, 89; _D’Ohsson_, II. 317; _Koeppen_, II. 96; _Amyot_,
XIV. 128.)
With the caution that Marco’s Travels in Tibet were limited to the
same mountainous country on the frontier of Sze-ch’wan, we defer
further geographical comment till he brings us to Yunnan.
NOTE 2.—Marco exaggerates a little about the bamboos; but before
gunpowder became familiar, no sharp explosive sounds of this kind
were known to ordinary experience, and exaggeration was natural. I
have been close to a bamboo jungle on fire. There was a great deal
of noise comparable to musketry; but the bamboos were not of the
large kind here spoken of. The Hon. Robert Lindsay, describing his
elephant-catching in Silhet, says: “At night each man lights a fire
at his post, and furnishes himself with a dozen joints of the large
bamboo, one of which he occasionally throws into the fire, and the
air it contains being rarefied by the heat, it explodes with a
report as loud as a musket.” (_Lives of the Lindsays_, III. 191.)
[Dr. Bretschneider (_Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 3) says: “In
corroboration of Polo’s statement regarding the explosions produced
when burning bamboos, I may adduce Sir Joseph Hooker’s Himalayan
Journals (edition of 1891, p. 100), where in speaking of the fires
in the jungles, he says: ‘Their triumph is in reaching a great
bamboo clump, when the noise of the flames drowns that of the
torrents, and as the great stem-joints burst, from the expansion of
the confined air, the report is as that of a salvo from a park of
artillery.’”—H. C.]
[Illustration: Mountaineers on the Borders of Sze ch’wan and
Yun-nan.]
Richthofen remarks that nowhere in China does the bamboo attain
such a size as in this region. Bamboos of three palms in girth
(28 to 30 inches) exist, but are not ordinary, I should suppose,
even in Sze-ch’wan. In 1855 I took some pains to procure in Pegu
a specimen of the largest attainable bamboo. It was 10 inches in
diameter.
NOTE 3.—M. Gabriel Durand, a missionary priest, thus describes his
journey in 1861 to Kiangka, _viâ_ Ta-t’sien-lu, a line of country
partly coincident with that which Polo is traversing: “Every day
we made a journey of nine or ten leagues, and halted for the night
in a _Kung-kuan_. These are posts dotted at intervals of about
ten leagues along the road to Hlassa, and usually guarded by
three soldiers, though the more important posts have twenty. With
the exception of some Tibetan houses, few and far between, these
are the only habitations to be seen on this silent and deserted
road.... Lytang was the first collection of houses that we had seen
in ten days’ march.” (_Ann. de la Propag. de la Foi_, XXXV. 352
_seqq._)
NOTE 4.—Such practices are ascribed to many nations. Martini quotes
something similar from a Chinese author about tribes in Yunnan; and
Garnier says such loose practices are still ascribed to the Sifan
near the southern elbow of the Kin-sha Kiang. Even of the Mongols
themselves and kindred races, Pallas asserts that the young women
regard a number of intrigues rather as a credit and recommendation
than otherwise. Japanese ideas seem to be not very different. In
old times Ælian gives much the same account of the Lydian women.
Herodotus’s Gindanes of Lybia afford a perfect parallel, “whose
women wear on their legs anklets of leather. Each lover that a
woman has gives her one; and she who can show most is the best
esteemed, as she appears to have been loved by the greatest number
of men.” (_Martini_, 142; _Garnier_, I. 520; _Pall. Samml._ II.
235; _Æl. Var. Hist._ III. 1; _Rawl. Herod._ Bk. IV. ch. clxxvi.)
[“Among some uncivilised peoples, women having many gallants are
esteemed better than virgins, and are more anxiously desired in
marriage. This is, for instance, stated to be the case with the
Indians of Quito, the Laplanders in Regnard’s days, and the Hill
Tribes of North Aracan. But in each of these cases we are expressly
told that want of chastity is considered a merit in the bride,
because it is held to be the best testimony to the value of her
attractions.” (_Westermarck, Human Marriage_, p. 81.)—H. C.]
Mr. Cooper’s Journal, when on the banks of the Kin-sha Kiang, west
of Bathang, affords a startling illustration of the persistence of
manners in this region: “At 12h. 30m. we arrived at a road-side
house, near which was a grove of walnut-trees; here we alighted,
when to my surprise I was surrounded by a group of young girls and
two elderly women, who invited me to partake of a repast spread
under the trees.... I thought I had stumbled on a pic-nic party,
of which the Tibetans are so fond. Having finished, I lighted my
pipe and threw myself on the grass in a state of castle-building.
I had not lain thus many seconds when the maidens brought a young
girl about 15 years old, tall and very fair, placed her on the
grass beside me, and forming a ring round us, commenced to sing and
dance. The little maid beside me, however, was bathed in tears.
All this, I must confess, a little puzzled me, when Philip (the
Chinese servant) with a long face, came to my aid, saying, ‘_Well,
Sir, this is a bad business ... they are marrying you._’ Good
heavens! how startled I was.” For the honourable conclusion of this
Anglo-Tibetan idyll I must refer to Mr. Cooper’s Journal. (See the
now published _Travels_, ch. x.)
NOTE 5.—All this is clearly meant to apply only to the rude
people towards the Chinese frontier; nor would the Chinese (says
Richthofen) at this day think the description at all exaggerated,
as applied to the Lolo who occupy the mountains to the south of
Yachaufu. The members of the group at p. 47, from Lieutenant
Garnier’s book, are there termed Man-tzŭ; but the context shows
them to be of the race of these Lolos. (See below, pp. 60, 61.)
The passage about the musk animal, both in Pauthier and in the G.
T., ascribes the word _Gudderi_ to the language “of that people,”
_i.e._ of the Tibetans. The Geog. Latin, however, has “_linguâ
Tartaricâ_,” and this is the fact. Klaproth informs us that
_Guderi_ is the Mongol word. And it will be found (_Kuderi_) in
Kovalevski’s Dictionary, No. 2594. Musk is still the most valuable
article that goes from Ta-t’sien-lu to China. Much is smuggled, and
single travellers will come all the way from Canton or Si-ngan fu
to take back a small load of it. (_Richthofen_.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Indeed Richthofen says that the boundary lay a few (German) miles
west of Yachau. I see that Martini’s map puts it (in the 17th
century) 10 German geographical miles, or about 46 statute miles,
west of that city.
CHAPTER XLVI.
FURTHER DISCOURSE CONCERNING TEBET.
This province, called Tebet, is of very great extent. The people, as I
have told you, have a language of their own, and they are Idolaters,
and they border on Manzi and sundry other regions. Moreover, they are
very great thieves.
The country is, in fact, so great that it embraces eight kingdoms,
and a vast number of cities and villages.{1} It contains in several
quarters rivers and lakes, in which gold-dust is found in great
abundance.{2} Cinnamon also grows there in great plenty. Coral is in
great demand in this country and fetches a high price, for they delight
to hang it round the necks of their women and of their idols.{3} They
have also in this country plenty of fine woollens and other stuffs, and
many kinds of spices are produced there which are never seen in our
country.
Among this people, too, you find the best enchanters and astrologers
that exist in all that quarter of the world; they perform such
extraordinary marvels and sorceries by diabolic art, that it astounds
one to see or even hear of them. So I will relate none of them in this
book of ours; people would be amazed if they heard them, but it would
serve no good purpose.{4}
These people of Tebet are an ill-conditioned race. They have mastiff
dogs as bigs as donkeys, which are capital at seizing wild beasts
[and in particular the wild oxen which are called _Beyamini_, very
great and fierce animals]. They have also sundry other kinds of sporting
dogs, and excellent lanner falcons [and sakers], swift in flight and
well-trained, which are got in the mountains of the country.{5}
Now I have told you in brief all that is to be said about Tebet, and so
we will leave it, and tell you about another province that is called
Caindu.
[Illustration: Village of Eastern Tibet on Sze-ch’wan Frontier. (From
Cooper.)]
As regards Tebet, however, you should understand that it is subject
to the Great Kaan. So, likewise, all the other kingdoms, regions, and
provinces which are described in this book are subject to the Great
Kaan, nay, even those other kingdoms, regions, and provinces of which I
had occasion to speak at the beginning of the book as belonging to the
son of Argon, the Lord of the Levant, are also subject to the Emperor;
for the former holds his dominion of the Kaan, and is his liegeman
and kinsman of the blood Imperial. So you must know that from this
province forward all the provinces mentioned in our book are subject to
the Great Kaan; and even if this be not specially mentioned, you must
understand that it is so.
Now let us have done with this matter, and I will tell you about the
Province of Caindu.
[Illustration: Roads in Eastern Tibet. (Gorge of the Lan t’sang Kiang,
from Cooper.)]
NOTE 1.—Here Marco at least shows that he knew Tibet to be much
more extensive than the small part of it that he had seen. But
beyond this his information amounts to little.
NOTE 2.—“_Or de paliolle._” “_Oro di pagliuola_” (_pagliuola_, “a
spangle”) must have been the technical phrase for what we call
gold-dust, and the French now call _or en paillettes_, a phrase
used by a French missionary in speaking of this very region.
(_Ann. de la Foi_, XXXVII. 427.) Yet the only example of this use
of the word cited in the _Voc. Ital. Universale_ is from this
passage of the Crusca MS.; and Pipino seems not to have understood
it, translating “_aurum quod dicitur_ Deplaglola”; whilst Zurla
says erroneously that _pajola_ is an old Italian word for _gold_.
Pegolotti uses _argento in pagliuola_ (p. 219). A Barcelona tariff
of 1271 sets so much on every mark of _Pallola_. And the old
Portuguese navigators seem always to have used the same expression
for the gold-dust of Africa, _ouro de pajola_. (See _Major’s Prince
Henry_, pp. 111, 112, 116; _Capmany Memorias_, etc., II. App. p.
73; also “_Aurum_ de Pajola,” in Usodimare of Genoa, see _Gräberg,
Annali_, II. 290, quoted by Peschel, p. 178.)
NOTE 3.—The cinnamon must have been the coarser cassia produced
in the lower parts of this region. (See note to next chapter.) We
have already (Book I. ch. xxxi.) quoted Tavernier’s testimony to
the rage for coral among the Tibetans and kindred peoples. Mr.
Cooper notices the eager demand for coral at Bathang. (See also
_Desgodins, La Mission du Thibet_, 310.)
NOTE 4.—See _supra_, Bk. I. ch. lxi. note 11.
NOTE 5.—The big Tibetan mastiffs are now well known. Mr. Cooper,
at Ta-t’sien lu, notes that the people of Tibetan race “keep very
large dogs, as large as Newfoundlands.” And he mentions a pack of
dogs of another breed, tan and black, “fine animals of the size
of setters.” The missionary M. Durand also, in a letter from the
region in question, says, speaking of a large leopard: “Our brave
watch-dogs had several times beaten him off gallantly, and one of
them had even in single combat with him received a blow of the
paw which had laid his skull open.” (_Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi_,
XXXVII. 314.) On the title-page of vol. i. we have introduced one
of these big Tibetan dogs as brought home by the Polos to Venice.
The “wild oxen called _Beyamini_” are probably some such species as
the Gaur. _Beyamini_ I suspect to be no Oriental word, but to stand
for _Buemini_, _i.e._ Bohemian, a name which may have been given
by the Venetians to either the bison or urus. Polo’s contemporary,
Brunetto Latini, seems to speak of one of these as still existing
in his day in Germany: “Autre buef naissent en Alemaigne qui ont
grans cors, et sont bons por sommier et por vin porter.” (Paris
ed., p. 228; see also _Lubbock, Pre-historic Times_, 296–7.)
[Mr. Baber (_Travels_, pp. 39, 40) writes: “A special interest
attaches to the wild oxen, since they are unknown in any other
part of China Proper. From a Lolo chief and his followers, most
enthusiastic hunters, I afterwards learnt that the cattle are met
with in herds of from seven to twenty head in the recesses of the
Wilderness, which may be defined as the region between the T’ung
River and Yachou, but that in general they are rarely seen.... I
was lucky enough to obtain a pair of horns and part of the hide
of one of these redoubtable animals, which seem to show that they
are a kind of bison.” Sir H. Yule remarks in a footnote (_Ibid._
p. 40): “It is not possible to say from what is stated here what
the species is, but probably it is a _gavœus_, of which Jerdan
describes three species. (See _Mammals of India_, pp. 301–307.)
Mr. Hodgson describes the Gaur (_Gavœus gaurus_ of Jerdan) of the
forests below Nepaul as fierce and revengeful.”—H. C.]
CHAPTER XLVII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CAINDU.
CAINDU is a province lying towards the west,{1} and there is only one
king in it. The people are Idolaters, subject to the Great Kaan, and
they have plenty of towns and villages. [The chief city is also called
Caindu, and stands at the upper end of the province.] There is a lake
here,[1] in which are found pearls [which are white but not round].
But the Great Kaan will not allow them to be fished, for if people
were to take as many as they could find there, the supply would be so
vast that pearls would lose their value, and come to be worth nothing.
Only when it is his pleasure they take from the lake so many as he may
desire; but any one attempting to take them on his own account would be
incontinently put to death.
There is also a mountain in this country wherein they find a kind of
stone called turquoise, in great abundance; and it is a very beautiful
stone. These also the Emperor does not allow to be extracted without
his special order.{2}
I must tell you of a custom that they have in this country regarding
their women. No man considers himself wronged if a foreigner, or any
other man, dishonour his wife, or daughter, or sister, or any woman of
his family, but on the contrary he deems such intercourse a piece of
good fortune. And they say that it brings the favour of their gods and
idols, and great increase of temporal prosperity. For this reason they
bestow their wives on foreigners and other people as I will tell you.
When they fall in with any stranger in want of a lodging they are all
eager to take him in. And as soon as he has taken up his quarters the
master of the house goes forth, telling him to consider everything at
his disposal, and after saying so he proceeds to his vineyards or his
fields, and comes back no more till the stranger has departed. The
latter abides in the caitiff’s house, be it three days or be it four,
enjoying himself with the fellow’s wife or daughter or sister, or
whatsoever woman of the family it best likes him; and as long as he
abides there he leaves his hat or some other token hanging at the door,
to let the master of the house know that he is still there. As long as
the wretched fellow sees that token, he must not go in. And such is the
custom over all that province.{3}
The money matters of the people are conducted in this way. They have
gold in rods which they weigh, and they reckon its value by its weight
in _saggi_, but they have no coined money. Their small change again is
made in this way. They have salt which they boil and set in a mould
[flat below and round above],{4} and every piece from the mould weighs
about half a pound. Now, 80 moulds of this salt are worth one _saggio_
of fine gold, which is a weight so called. So this salt serves them for
small change.{5}
[Illustration: The Valley of the Kin-sha Kiang, near the lower end of
Caindu, _i.e._ Kienchang. (From Garnier.)
“=Et quant l’en est alés ceste dix jornée adonc treuve-l’en un grant
flun qe est apéle Brius, auquel se fenist la provence de Cheindu.=”]
The musk animals are very abundant in that country, and thus of musk
also they have great store. They have likewise plenty of fish which
they catch in the lake in which the pearls are produced. Wild animals,
such as lions, bears, wolves, stags, bucks and roes, exist in great
numbers; and there are also vast quantities of fowl of every kind. Wine
of the vine they have none, but they make a wine of wheat and rice and
sundry good spices, and very good drink it is.{6} There grows also in
this country a quantity of clove. The tree that bears it is a small
one, with leaves like laurel but longer and narrower, and with a small
white flower like the clove.{7} They have also ginger and cinnamon in
great plenty, besides other spices which never reach our countries, so
we need say nothing about them.
Now we may leave this province, as we have told you all about it. But
let me tell you first of this same country of Caindu that you ride
through it ten days, constantly meeting with towns and villages, with
people of the same description that I have mentioned. After riding
those ten days you come to a river called BRIUS, which terminates the
province of Caindu. In this river is found much gold-dust, and there is
also much cinnamon on its banks. It flows to the Ocean Sea.
There is no more to be said about this river, so I will now tell you
about another province called Carajan, as you shall hear in what
follows.
NOTE 1.—Ramusio’s version here enlarges: “Don’t suppose from my
saying _towards the west_ that these countries really lie in what
we call the _west_, but only that we have been travelling from
regions in the east-north-east _towards_ the west, and hence we
speak of the countries we come to as lying towards the west.”
NOTE 2.—Chinese authorities quoted by Ritter mention
_mother-o’-pearl_ as a product of Lithang, and speak of turquoises
as found in Djaya to the west of Bathang. (_Ritter_, IV. 235–236.)
Neither of these places is, however, within the tract which we
believe to be Caindu. Amyot states that pearls are found in a
certain river of Yun-nan. (See _Trans. R. A. Soc._ II. 91.)
NOTE 3.—This alleged practice, like that mentioned in the last
chapter but one, is ascribed to a variety of people in different
parts of the world. Both, indeed, have a curious double parallel in
the story of two remote districts of the Himalaya which was told
to Bernier by an old Kashmiri. (See Amst. ed. II. 304–305.) Polo
has told nearly the same story already of the people of Kamul. (Bk.
I. ch. xli.) It is related by Strabo of the Massagetæ; by Eusebius
of the Geli and the Bactrians; by Elphinstone of the Hazaras; by
Mendoza of the Ladrone Islanders; by other authors of the Nairs
of Malabar, and of some of the aborigines of the Canary Islands.
(_Caubul_, I. 209; _Mendoza_, II. 254; _Müller’s Strabo_, p. 439;
_Euseb. Praep. Evan._ vi. 10; _Major’s Pr. Henry_, p. 213.)
NOTE 4.—Ramusio has here: “as big as a twopenny loaf,” and adds,
“on the money so made the Prince’s mark is printed; and no one is
allowed to make it except the royal officers.... And merchants
take this currency and go to those tribes that dwell among the
mountains of those parts in the wildest and most unfrequented
quarters; and there they get a _saggio_ of gold for 60, or 50, or
40 pieces of this salt money, in proportion as the natives are more
barbarous and more remote from towns and civilised folk. For in
such positions they cannot dispose at pleasure of their gold and
other things, such as musk and the like, for want of purchasers;
and so they give them cheap.... And the merchants travel also about
the mountains and districts of Tebet, disposing of this salt money
in like manner to their own great gain. For those people, besides
buying necessaries from the merchants, want this salt to use in
their food; whilst in the towns only broken fragments are used in
food, the whole cakes being kept to use as money.” This exchange of
salt cakes for gold forms a curious parallel to the like exchange
in the heart of Africa, narrated by Cosmas in the 6th century, and
by Aloisio Cadamosto in the 15th. (See _Cathay_, pp. clxx–clxxi.)
Ritter also calls attention to an analogous account in Alvarez’s
description of Ethiopia. “The salt,” Alvarez says, “is current as
money, not only in the kingdom of Prester John, but also in those
of the Moors and the pagans, and the people here say that it passes
right on to Manicongo upon the Western Sea. This salt is dug from
the mountain, it is said, in squared blocks.... At the place where
they are dug, 100 or 120 such pieces pass for a drachm of gold ...
equal to ¾ of a ducat of gold. When they arrive at a certain fair
... one day from the salt mine, these go 5 or 6 pieces fewer to the
drachm. And so, from fair to fair, fewer and fewer, so that when
they arrive at the capital there will be only 6 or 7 pieces to the
drachm.” (_Ramusio_, I. 207.) Lieutenant Bower, in his account of
Major Sladen’s mission, says that at Momein the salt, which was a
government monopoly, was “made up in rolls of one and two viss” (a
Rangoon viss is 3 lbs. 5 oz. 5½ drs.), “and stamped” (p. 120).
[At Hsia-Kuan, near Ta-li, Captain Gill remarked to a friend (II.
p. 312) “that the salt, instead of being in the usual great flat
cakes about two or two and a half feet in diameter, was made in
cylinders eight inches in diameter and nine inches high. ‘Yes,’
he said, ‘they make them here in a sort of loaves,’ unconsciously
using almost the words of old Polo, who said the salt in Yun-Nan
was in pieces ‘as big as a twopenny loaf.’” (See also p.
334.)—H. C.]
M. Desgodins, a missionary in this part of Tibet, gives some
curious details of the way in which the civilised traders still
prey upon the simple hill-folks of that quarter; exactly as the
Hindu Banyas prey upon the simple forest-tribes of India. He states
one case in which the account for a pig had with interest run up to
2127 bushels of corn! (_Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi_, XXXVI. 320.)
Gold is said still to be very plentiful in the mountains called
Gulan Sigong, to the N.W. of Yun-nan, adjoining the great eastern
branch of the Irawadi, and the Chinese traders go there to barter
for it. (See _J. A. S. B._ VI. 272.)
NOTE 5.—Salt is still an object highly coveted by the wild
Lolos already alluded to, and to steal it is a chief aim of
their constant raids on Chinese villages. (_Richthofen_ in
_Verhandlungen_, etc., u.s. p. 36.) On the continued existence of
the use of salt currency in regions of the same frontier, I have
been favoured with the following note by M. Francis Garnier, the
distinguished leader of the expedition of the great Kamboja River
in its latter part: “Salt currency has a very wide diffusion from
Muang Yong [in the Burman-Shan country, about lat. 21° 43′] to
Sheu-pin [in Yun-nan, about lat. 23° 43′]. In the Shan markets,
especially within the limits named, all purchases are made with
salt. At Sse-mao and Pou-erl [_Esmok_ and _Puer_ of some of our
maps], silver, weighed and cut in small pieces, is in our day
tending to drive out the custom, but in former days it must have
been universal in the tract of which I am speaking. The salt
itself, prime necessity as it is, has there to be extracted by
condensation from saline springs of great depth, a very difficult
affair. The operation consumes enormous quantities of fuel, and to
this is partly due the denudation of the country”. Marco’s somewhat
rude description of the process, “_Il prennent la sel e la font
cuire, et puis la gitent en forme_,” points to the manufacture
spoken of in this note. The cut which we give from M. Garnier’s
work illustrates the process, but the cakes are vastly greater than
Marco’s. Instead of a half pound they weigh a _picul_, _i.e._ 133⅓
lbs. In Sze-ch’wan the brine wells are bored to a depth of 700 to
1000 feet, and the brine is drawn up in bamboo tubes by a gin. In
Yun-nan the wells are much less deep, and a succession of hand
pumps is used to raise the brine.
[Illustration: Salt pans in Yun-nan. (From Garnier.)
“=Il prennent la sel e la font cuire, et puis la gitent en forme.=”]
[Mr. Hosie has a chapter (_Three Years in W. China_, VII.) to
which he has given the title of _Through Caindu to Carajan_;
regarding salt he writes (p. 121): “The brine wells from which the
salt is derived lie at Pai yen ching, 14 miles to the south-west
of the city [of Yen-yuan] ... [they] are only two in number, and
comparatively shallow, being only 50 feet in depth. Bamboo tubes,
ropes and buffaloes are here dispensed with, and small wooden tubs,
with bamboos fixed to their sides as handles for raising, are
considered sufficient. At one of the wells a staging was erected
half-way down, and from it the tubs of brine were passed up to the
workmen above. Passing from the wells to the evaporating sheds, we
found a series of mud furnaces with round holes at the top, into
which cone-shaped pans, manufactured from iron obtained in the
neighbourhood, and varying in height from one to two and a half
feet, were loosely fitted. When a pan has been sufficiently heated,
a ladleful of the brine is poured into it, and, bubbling up to
the surface, it sinks, leaving a saline deposit on the inside of
the pan. This process is repeated until a layer, some four inches
thick, and corresponding to the shape of the pan, is formed, when
the salt is removed as a hollow cone ready for market. Care must be
taken to keep the bottom of the pan moist; otherwise, the salt cone
would crack, and be rendered unfit for the rough carriage which it
experiences on the backs of pack animals. A soft coal, which is
found just under the surface of the yellow-soiled hills seven miles
to the west of Pai-yen-ching, is the fuel used in the furnaces.
The total daily output of salt at these wells does not exceed two
tons a day, and the cost at the wells, including the Government
tax, amounts to about three half-pence a pound. The area of supply,
owing to the country being sparsely populated, is greater than the
output would lead one to expect.”—H. C.]
NOTE 6.—The spiced wine of Kien-ch’ang (see note to next chapter)
has even now a high repute. (_Richthofen_.)
NOTE 7.—M. Pauthier will have it that Marco was here the discoverer
of Assam tea. Assam is, indeed, far out of our range, but his
notice of this plant, with the laurel-like leaf and white flower,
was brought strongly to my recollection in reading Mr. Cooper’s
repeated notices, almost in this region, of the _large-leaved
tea-tree, with its white flowers_; and, again, of “the hills
covered with _tea-oil_ trees, all white with flowers.” Still, one
does not clearly see why Polo should give tea-trees the name of
cloves.
Failing explanation of this, I should suppose that the cloves of
which the text speaks were _cassia-buds_, an article once more
prominent in commerce (as indeed were all similar aromatics)
than now, but still tolerably well known. I was at once supplied
with them at a _drogheria_, in the city where I write (Palermo),
on asking for _Fiori di Canella_, the name under which they are
mentioned repeatedly by Pegolotti and Uzzano, in the 14th and 15th
centuries. Friar Jordanus, in speaking of the cinnamon (or cassia)
of Malabar, says, “it is the bark of a large tree which has fruit
and _flowers like cloves_” (p. 28). The cassia-buds have indeed a
general resemblance to cloves, but they are shorter, lighter in
colour, and not angular. The cinnamon, mentioned in the next lines
as abundantly produced in the same region, was no doubt one of the
inferior sorts, called cassia-bark.
Williams says: “Cassia grows in all the southern provinces of
China, especially Kwang-si and Yun-nan, also in Annam, Japan,
and the Isles of the Archipelago. The wood, bark, buds, seeds,
twigs, pods, leaves, oil, are all objects of commerce.... The buds
(_kwei-tz’_) are the fleshy ovaries of the seeds; they are pressed
at one end, so that they bear some resemblance to cloves in shape.”
Upwards of 500 _piculs_ (about 30 tons), valued at 30 dollars each,
are annually exported to Europe and India. (_Chin. Commercial
Guide_, 113–114).
The only doubt as regards this explanation will probably be whether
the cassia would be found at such a height as we may suppose to
be that of the country in question above the sea-level. I know
that cassia bark is gathered in the Kasia Hills of Eastern Bengal
up to a height of about 4000 feet above the sea, and at least the
valleys of “Caindu” are probably not too elevated for this product.
Indeed, that of the Kin-sha or _Brius_, near where I suppose Polo
to cross it, is only 2600 feet. Positive evidence I cannot adduce.
No cassia or cinnamon was met with by M. Garnier’s party where they
intersected this region.
But in this 2nd edition I am able to state on the authority of
Baron Richthofen that cassia is produced in the whole length of the
valley of Kien-ch’ang (which is, as we shall see in the notes on
next chapter, Caindu), though in no other part of Sze-ch’wan nor in
Northern Yun-nan.
[Captain Gill (_River of Golden Sand_, II. p. 263) writes: “There
were chestnut trees ...; and the Kwei-Hua, a tree ‘with leaves like
the laurel, and with a small white flower, like the clove,’ having
a delicious, though rather a luscious smell. This was the Cassia,
and I can find no words more suitable to describe it than those of
Polo which I have just used.”—H. C.]
_Ethnology_.—The Chinese at Ch’êng-tu fu, according to Richthofen,
classify the aborigines of the Sze-ch’wan frontier as _Man-tzŭ,
Lolo, Si-fan_, and _Tibetan_. Of these the Si-fan are furthest
north, and extend far into Tibet. The Man-tzŭ (properly so called)
are regarded as the remnant of the ancient occupants of Sze-ch’wan,
and now dwell in the mountains about the parallel 30°, and along
the Lhása road, Ta-t’sien lu being about the centre of their tract.
The Lolo are the wildest and most independent, occupying the
mountains on the left of the Kin-sha Kiang where it runs northwards
(see above p. 48, and below p. 69) and also to some extent on its
right. The Tibetan tribes lie to the west of the Man-tzŭ, and to
the west of Kien-ch’ang. (See next chapter.)
Towards the Lan-ts’ang Kiang is the quasi-Tibetan tribe called
by the Chinese _Mossos_, by the Tibetans _Guions_, and between
the Lan-ts’ang and the Lú-Kiang or Salwen are the _Lissús_, wild
hill-robbers and great musk hunters, like those described by Polo
at p. 45. Garnier, who gives these latter particulars, mentions
that near the confluence of the Yalung and Kin-sha Kiang there
are tribes called _Pa-i_, as there are in the south of Yun-nan,
and, like the latter, of distinctly Shan or Laotian character. He
also speaks of _Si-fan_ tribes in the vicinity of Li-kiang fu,
and coming south of the Kin-sha Kiang even to the east of Ta-li.
Of these are told such loose tales as Polo tells of _Tebet_ and
_Caindu_.
[In the _Topography of the Yun-nan Province_ (edition of 1836)
there is a catalogue of 141 classes of aborigines, each with a
separate name and illustration, without any attempt to arrive at a
broader classification. Mr. Bourne has been led to the conviction
that exclusive of the Tibetans (including Si-fan and Ku-tsung),
there are but three great non-Chinese races in Southern China: the
Lolo, the Shan, and the Miao-tzŭ. (_Report, China_, No. 1, 1888,
p. 87.) This classification is adopted by Dr. Deblenne. (_Mission
Lyonnaise_.)
_Man-tzŭ, Man_, is a general name for “barbarian” (see my note in
_Odoric de Pordenone_, p. 248 _seqq._); it is applied as well to
the Lolo as to the Si-fan.
Mr. Parker remarks (_China Review_, XX. p. 345) that the epithet
of _Man-tzŭ_, or “barbarians,” dates from the time when the Shans,
Annamese, Miao-tzŭ, etc., occupied nearly all South China, for it
is essentially to the Indo-Chinese that the term Man-tzŭ belongs.
Mr. Hosie writes (_Three years in W. China_, 122): “At the time
when Marco Polo passed through Caindu, this country was in the
possession of the Si-fans.... At the present day, they occupy
the country to the west, and are known under the generic name of
Man-tzŭ.”
“It has already been remarked that _Si-fan_, convertible with
_Man-tzŭ_, is a loose Chinese expression of no ethnological value,
meaning nothing more than Western barbarians; but in a more
restricted sense it is used to designate a people (or peoples)
which inhabits the valley of the Yalung and the upper T’ung, with
contiguous valleys and ranges, from about the twenty-seventh
parallel to the borders of Koko-nor. This people is sub-divided
into eighteen tribes.” (_Baber_, p. 81.)
Si-fan or Pa-tsiu is the name by which the Chinese call the Tibetan
tribes which occupy part of Western China. (_Devéria_, p. 167.)
[Illustration: Black Lolo.]
Dr. Bretschneider writes (_Med. Res._ II. p. 24): “The
north-eastern part of Tibet was sometimes designated by the Chinese
name Si-fan, and Hyacinth [Bitchurin] is of opinion that in ancient
times this name was even applied to the whole of Tibet. _Si-fan_
means, ‘Western Barbarians.’ The biographer of Hiuen-Tsang reports
that when this traveller, in 629, visited Liang-chau (in the
province of Kan-Suh), this city was the entrepôt for merchants
from _Si-fan_ and the countries east of the Ts’ung-ling mountains.
In the history of the Hia and Tangut Empire (in the _Sung-shi_)
we read, _s. a._ 1003, that the founder of this Empire invaded
_Si-fan_ and then proceeded to _Si-liang_ (Liang-chau). The
_Yuen-shi_ reports, _s. a._ 1268: ‘The (Mongol) Emperor ordered
_Meng-gu-dai_ to invade _Si-fan_ with 6000 men.’ The name Si-fan
appears also in ch. ccii., biography of _Dan-ba_.” It is stated
in the _Ming-shi_, “that the name _Si-fan_ is applied to the
territory situated beyond the frontiers of the Chinese provinces
of Shen-si (then including the eastern part of present Kan-Suh)
and Sze-ch’wan, and inhabited by various tribes of Tangut race,
anciently known in Chinese history under the name of _Si Kiang_....
The _Kuang yu ki_ notices that _Si-fan_ comprises the territory
of the south-west of Shen-si, west of Sze-ch’wan and north-west
of Yun-nan.... The tribute presented by the Si-fan tribes to
the Emperor used to be carried to the court at Peking by way of
Ya-chau in Sze-ch’wan.” (_Bretschneider_, 203.) The Tangutans of
Prjevalsky, north-east of Tibet, in the country of Ku-ku nor,
correspond to the Si-fan.
“The Ta-tu River may be looked upon as the southern limit of the
region inhabited by Sifan tribes, and the northern boundary of the
Lolo country which stretches southwards to the Yang-tzŭ and east
from the valley of Kien-ch’ang towards the right bank of the Min.”
(_Hosie_, p. 102.)
To Mr. E. C. Baber we owe the most valuable information regarding
the Lolo people:
“‘Lolo’ is itself a word of insult, of unknown Chinese origin,
which should not be used in their presence, although they excuse
it and will even sometimes employ it in the case of ignorant
strangers. In the report of Governor-General Lo Ping-chang,
above quoted, they are called ‘I,’ the term applied by Chinese
to Europeans. They themselves have no objection to being styled
‘I-chia’ (I families), but that word is not their native name.
Near Ma-pien they call themselves ‘Lo-su’; in the neighbourhood of
Lui-po T’ing their name is ‘No-su’ or ‘Ngo-su’ (possibly a mere
variant of ‘Lo-su’); near Hui-li-chou the term is ‘Lé-su’—the
syllable Lé being pronounced as in French. The subject tribes on
the T’ung River, near Mount Wa, also name themselves ‘Ngo-su.’ I
have found the latter people speak very disrespectfully of the
Lé-su, which argues an internal distinction; but there can be no
doubt that they are the same race, and speak the same language,
though with minor differences of dialect.” (_Baber, Travels_,
66–67.)
“With very rare exceptions the male Lolo, rich or poor, free or
subject, may be instantly known by his _horn_. All his hair is
gathered into a knot over his forehead and there twisted up in a
cotton cloth so as to resemble the horn of a unicorn. The horn with
its wrapper is sometimes a good nine inches long. They consider
this _coiffure_ sacred, so at least I was told, and even those who
wear a short pig-tail for convenience in entering Chinese territory
still conserve the indigenous horn, concealed for the occasion
under the folds of the Sze-ch’wan turban.” (_Baber_, p. 61.) See
these horns on figures, Bk. II. ch. lviii.
[Illustration: White Lolo.]
“The principal clothing of a Lolo is his mantle, a capacious
sleeveless garment of grey or black felt gathered round his neck
by a string, and reaching nearly to his heels. In the case of the
better classes the mantle is of fine felt—in great request among
the Chinese—and has a fringe of cotton-web round its lower border.
For journeys on horseback they have a similar cloak differing only
in being slit half-way up the back; a wide lappet covering the
opening lies easily along the loins and croup of the horse. The
colour of the felt is originally grey, but becomes brown-black
or black, in process of time. It is said that the insects which
haunt humanity never infest these gabardines. The Lolo generally
gathers this garment closely round his shoulders and crosses his
arms inside. His legs, clothed in trousers of Chinese cotton, are
swathed in felt bandages bound on with strings, and he has not yet
been super-civilised into the use of foot-gear. In summer a cotton
cloak is often substituted for the felt mantle. The hat, serving
equally for an umbrella, is woven of bamboo, in a low conical
shape, and is covered with felt. Crouching in his felt mantle under
this roof of felt the hardy Lolo is impervious to wind or rain.”
(_Baber, Travels_, 61–62.)
“The word, ‘Black-bone,’ is generally used by the Chinese as a name
for the independent Lolos, but in the mouth of a Lolo it seems to
mean a ‘freeman’ or ‘noble,’ in which sense it is not a whit more
absurd than the ‘blue-blood,’ of Europeans. The ‘White-bones,’ an
inferior class, but still Lolo by birth, are, so far as I could
understand, the vassals and retainers of the patricians—the people,
in fact. A third class consists of Wa-tzŭ, or slaves, who are all
captive Chinese. It does not appear whether the servile class is
sub-divided, but, at any rate, the slaves born in Lolodom are
treated with more consideration than those who have been captured
in slave-hunts.” (_Baber, Travels_, 67.)
According to the French missionary, Paul Vial (_Les Lolos_,
Shang-hai, 1898) the Lolos say that they come from the country
situated between Tibet and Burma. The proper manner to address a
Lolo in Chinese is _Lao-pen-kia_. The book of Father Vial contains
a very valuable chapter on the writing of the Lolos. Mr. F. S.
A. Bourne writes (_Report, China_, No. I. 1888, p. 88):—“The old
Chinese name for this race was ‘Ts’uan Man’— ‘Ts’uan barbarians,’
a name taken from one of their chiefs. The _Yun-nan Topography_
says:—‘The name of “Ts’uan Man” is a very ancient one, and
originally the tribes of Ts’uan were very numerous. There was that
called “Lu-lu Man,” for instance, now improperly called “Lo-Lo.”’
These people call themselves ‘Nersu,’ and the vocabularies show
that they stretch in scattered communities as far as Ssŭ-mao and
along the whole southern border of Yun-nan. It appears from the
_Topography_ that they are found also on the Burmese border.”
The _Moso_ call themselves _Nashi_ and are called _Djiung_ by the
Tibetans; their ancient capital is Li-kiang fu which was taken by
their chief Mong-ts’u under the Sung Dynasty; the Mongols made
of their country the kingdom of Chaghan-djang. Li-kiang is the
territory of Yuê-si Chao, called also Mo-sie (Moso), one of the
six Chao of Nan-Chao. The Moso of Li-kiang call themselves _Ho_.
They have an epic styled _Djiung-Ling_ (Moso Division) recounting
the invasion of part of Tibet by the Moso. The Moso were submitted
during the 8th century, by the King of Nan-Chao. They have a
special hieroglyphic scrip, a specimen of which has been given by
Devéria. (_Frontière_, p. 166.) A manuscript was secured by Captain
Gill, on the frontier east of Li-t’ang, and presented by him to
the British Museum (_Add._ MSS. Or. 2162); T. de Lacouperie gave
a facsimile of it. (Plates I., II. of _Beginnings of Writing_.)
Prince Henri d’Orléans and M. Bonin both brought home a Moso
manuscript with a Chinese explanation.
Dr. Anderson (_Exped. to Yunnan_, Calcutta, p. 136) says the
_Li-sus_, or _Lissaus_ are “a small hill-people, with fair, round,
flat faces, high cheek bones, and some little obliquity of the
eye.” These Li-su or Li-siè, are scattered throughout the Yunnanese
prefectures of Yao-ngan, Li-kiang, Ta-li and Yung-ch’ang; they were
already in Yun-Nan in the 4th century when the Chinese general Ch’u
Chouang-kiao entered the country. (_Devéria, Front._, p. 164.)
The _Pa-y_ or _P’o-y_ formed under the Han Dynasty the principality
of P’o-tsiu and under the T’ang Dynasty the tribes of Pu-hiung and
of Si-ngo, which were among the thirty-seven tribes dependent on
the ancient state of Nan-Chao and occupied the territory of the
sub-prefectures of Kiang-Chuen (Ch’êng-kiang fu) and of Si-ngo
(Lin-ngan fu). They submitted to China at the beginning of the
Yuen Dynasty; their country bordered upon Burma (Mien-tien) and
Ch’ê-li or Kiang-Hung (Xieng-Hung), in Yun-Nan, on the right
bank of the Mekong River. According to Chinese tradition, the
Pa-y descended from Muong Tsiu-ch’u, ninth son of Ti Muong-tsiu,
son of Piao-tsiu-ti (Asôka). Devéria gives (p. 105) a specimen
of the Pa-y writing (16th century). (_Devéria, Front._, 99,
117; _Bourne, Report_, p. 88.) Chapter iv. of the Chinese work,
_Sze-i-kwan-k’ao_, is devoted to the _Pa-y_, including the
sub-divisions of Muong-Yang, Muong-Ting, Nan-tien, Tsien-ngaï,
Lung-chuen, Wei-yuan, Wan-tien, Chen-k’ang, Ta-how, Mang-shi,
Kin-tung, Ho-tsin, Cho-lo tien. (_Devéria, Mél. de Harlez_, p. 97.)
I give a specimen of Pa-yi writing from a Chinese work purchased
by Father Amiot at Peking, now in the Paris National Library
(Fonds chinois, No. 986). (See on this scrip, _F. W. K. Müller,
T’oung-Pao_, III. p. 1, and V. p. 329; _E. H. Parker, The Muong
Language, China Review_, I. 1891, p. 267; _P. Lefèvre-Pontalis,
Etudes sur quelques alphabets et vocab. Thais, T’oung Pao_, III.
pp. 39–64.)—H. C.]
These ethnological matters have to be handled cautiously, for there
is great ambiguity in the nomenclature. Thus _Man-tzŭ_ is often
used generically for aborigines, and the _Lolos_ of Richthofen are
called Man-tzŭ by Garnier and Blakiston; whilst _Lolo_ again has
in Yun-nan apparently a very comprehensive generic meaning, and
is so used by Garnier. (_Richt. Letter_ VII. 67–68 and MS. notes;
_Garnier_, I. 519 _seqq._ [_T. W. Kingsmill, Han Wu-ti, China
Review_, XXV. 103–109.])
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Ramusio alone has “a great _salt_ lake.”
CHAPTER XLVIII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN.
When you have passed that River you enter on the province of CARAJAN,
which is so large that it includes seven kingdoms. It lies towards
the west; the people are Idolaters, and they are subject to the Great
Kaan. A son of his, however, is there as King of the country, by name
ESSENTIMUR; a very great and rich and puissant Prince; and he well and
justly rules his dominion, for he is a wise man, and a valiant.
After leaving the river that I spoke of, you go five days’ journey
towards the west, meeting with numerous towns and villages. The country
is one in which excellent horses are bred, and the people live by
cattle and agriculture. They have a language of their own which is
passing hard to understand. At the end of those five days’ journey you
come to the capital, which is called YACHI, a very great and noble
city, in which are numerous merchants and craftsmen.{1}
[Illustration: _Pa-y_ script.]
The people are of sundry kinds, for there are not only Saracens and
Idolaters, but also a few Nestorian Christians.{2} They have wheat and
rice in plenty. Howbeit they never eat wheaten bread, because in that
country it is unwholesome.{3} Rice they eat, and make of it sundry
messes, besides a kind of drink which is very clear and good, and makes
a man drunk just as wine does.
Their money is such as I will tell you. They use for the purpose
certain white porcelain shells that are found in the sea, such as are
sometimes put on dogs’ collars; and 80 of these porcelain shells pass
for a single weight of silver, equivalent to two Venice groats, _i.e._
24 piccoli. Also eight such weights of silver count equal to one such
weight of gold.{4}
They have brine-wells in this country from which they make salt, and
all the people of those parts make a living by this salt. The King,
too, I can assure you, gets a great revenue from this salt.{5}
There is a lake in this country of a good hundred miles in compass, in
which are found great quantities of the best fish in the world; fish of
great size, and of all sorts.
They reckon it no matter for a man to have intimacy with another’s
wife, provided the woman be willing.
Let me tell you also that the people of that country eat their meat
raw, whether it be of mutton, beef, buffalo, poultry, or any other
kind. Thus the poor people will go to the shambles, and take the raw
liver as it comes from the carcase and cut it small, and put it in
a sauce of garlic and spices, and so eat it; and other meat in like
manner, raw, just as we eat meat that is dressed.{6}
Now I will tell you about a further part of the Province of Carajan, of
which I have been speaking.
NOTE 1.—We have now arrived at the great province of CARAJAN,
the KARÁJÁNG of the Mongols, which we know to be YUN-NAN, and
at its capital YACHI, which—I was about to add—we know to be
YUN-NAN-FU. But I find all the commentators make it something
else. Rashiduddin, however, in his detail of the twelve Sings or
provincial governments of China under the Mongols, thus speaks:
“10th, KARÁJÁNG. This used to be an independent kingdom, and the
Sing is established at the great city of YÁCHI. All the inhabitants
are Mahomedans. The chiefs are Noyan Takin, and Yaḳub Beg, son
of ’Ali Beg, the Belúch.” And turning to Pauthier’s corrected
account of the same distribution of the empire from authentic
Chinese sources (p. 334), we find: “8. The administrative province
of Yun-nan.... Its capital, chief town also of the canton of the
same name, was called _Chung-khing_, now YUN-NAN-FU.” Hence Yachi
was Yun-nan-fu. This is still a large city, having a rectangular
rampart with 6 gates, and a circuit of about 6½ miles. The suburbs
were destroyed by the Mahomedan rebels. The most important trade
there now is in the metallic produce of the Province. [According to
_Oxenham, Historical Atlas_, there were _ten_ provinces or _sheng_
(Liao-yang, Chung-shu, Shen-si, Ho-nan, Sze-ch’wan, _Yun-nan_,
Hu-kwang, Kiang-che, Kiang-si and Kan-suh) and _twelve_ military
governorships.—H. C.]
_Yachi_ was perhaps an ancient corruption of the name _Yichau_,
which the territory bore (according to Martini and Biot) under the
Han; but more probably _Yichau_ was a Chinese transformation of the
real name _Yachi_. The Shans still call the city Muang _Chi_, which
is perhaps another modification of the same name.
We have thus got Ch’êng-tu fu as one fixed point, and Yun-nan-fu as
another, and we have to track the traveller’s itinerary between the
two, through what Ritter called with reason a _terra incognita_.
What little was known till recently of this region came from the
Catholic missionaries. Of late the veil has begun to be lifted;
the daring excursion of Francis Garnier and his party in 1868
intersected the tract towards the south; Mr. T. T. Cooper crossed
it further north, by Ta-t’sien lu, Lithang and Bathang; Baron v.
Richthofen in 1872 had penetrated several marches towards the heart
of the mystery, when an unfortunate mishap compelled his return,
but he brought back with him much precious information.
Five days forward from Ch’êng-tu fu brought us on Tibetan ground.
Five days backward from Yun-nan fu should bring us to the river
Brius, with its gold-dust and the frontier of Caindu. Wanting a
local scale for a distance of five days, I find that our next point
in advance, Marco’s city of Carajan undisputably _Tali-fu_, is
said by him to be ten days from Yachi. The direct distance between
the cities of Yun-nan and Ta-li I find by measurement on Keith
Johnston’s map to be 133 Italian miles. [The distance by road is
215 English miles. (See _Baber_, p. 191.)—H. C.] Taking half this
as radius, the compasses swept from Yun-nan-fu as centre, intersect
near its most southerly elbow the great upper branch of the Kiang,
the _Kin-sha Kiang_ of the Chinese, or “River of the Golden
Sands,” the MURUS USSU and BRICHU of the Mongols and Tibetans, and
manifestly the auriferous BRIUS of our traveller.[1] Hence also the
country north of this elbow is CAINDU.
[Illustration: Garden-House on the Lake at Yun-nan-fu, Yachi of
Polo. (From Garnier.)
“=Je voz di q’il ont un lac qe gire environ bien cent miles.=”]
I leave the preceding paragraph as it stood in the first edition,
because it shows how _near_ the true position of Caindu these
unaided deductions from our author’s data had carried me. That
paragraph was followed by an erroneous hypothesis as to the
intermediate part of that journey, but, thanks to the new light
shed by Baron Richthofen, we are enabled now to lay down the whole
itinerary from Ch’êng-tu fu to Yun-nan fu with confidence in its
accuracy.
The Kin-sha Kiang or Upper course of the Great Yang-tzŭ, descending
from Tibet to Yun-nan, forms the great bight or elbow to which
allusion has just been made, and which has been a feature known to
geographers ever since the publication of D’Anville’s atlas. The
tract enclosed in this elbow is cut in two by another great Tibetan
River, the Yarlung, or Yalung-Kiang, which joins the Kin-sha not
far from the middle of the great bight; and this Yalung, just
before the confluence, receives on the left a stream of inferior
calibre, the Ngan-ning Ho, which also flows in a valley parallel
to the meridian, like all that singular _fascis_ of great rivers
between Assam and Sze-ch’wan.
This River Ngan-ning waters a valley called Kien-ch’ang, containing
near its northern end a city known by the same name, but in our
modern maps marked as Ning-yuan fu; this last being the name
of a department of which it is the capital, and which embraces
much more than the valley of Kien-ch’ang. The town appears,
however, as Kien-ch’ang in the _Atlas Sinensis_ of Martini,
and as _Kienchang-ouei_ in D’Anville. This remarkable valley,
imbedded as it were in a wilderness of rugged highlands and wild
races, accessible only by two or three long and difficult routes,
rejoices in a warm climate, a most productive soil, scenery that
seems to excite enthusiasm even in Chinamen, and a population
noted for amiable temper. Towns and villages are numerous. The
people are said to be descended from Chinese immigrants, but their
features have little of the Chinese type, and they have probably
a large infusion of aboriginal blood. [Kien-ch’ang, “otherwise
the Prefecture of Ning-yuan, is perhaps the least known of the
Eighteen Provinces,” writes Mr. Baber. (_Travels_, p. 58.) “Two
or three sentences in the book of Ser Marco, to the effect that
after crossing high mountains, he reached a fertile country
containing many towns and villages, and inhabited by a very
immoral population, constitute to this day the only description we
possess of _Cain-du_, as he calls the district.” Baber adds (p.
82): “Although the main valley of Kien-ch’ang is now principally
inhabited by Chinese, yet the Sifan or Menia people are frequently
met with, and most of the villages possess two names, one Chinese,
and the other indigenous. Probably in Marco Polo’s time a Menia
population predominated, and the valley was regarded as part of
Menia. If Marco had heard that name, he would certainly have
recorded it; but it is not one which is likely to reach the ears of
a stranger. The Chinese people and officials never employ it, but
use in its stead an alternative name, _Chan-tu_ or _Chan-tui_, of
precisely the same application, which I make bold to offer as the
original of Marco’s Caindu, or preferably Ciandu.”—H. C.]
This valley is bounded on the east by the mountain country of the
Lolos, which extends north nearly to Yachau (_supra_, pp. 45, 48,
60), and which, owing to the fierce intractable character of the
race, forms throughout its whole length an impenetrable barrier
between East and West. [The Rev. Gray Owen, of Ch’êng-tu, wrote
(_Jour. China B. R. A. S._ xxviii. 1893–1894, p. 59): “The only
great trade route infested by brigands is that from Ya-chau to
Ning-yuan fu, where Lo-lo brigands are numerous, especially in the
autumn. Last year I heard of a convoy of 18 mules with Shen-si
goods on the above-mentioned road captured by these brigands,
muleteers and all taken inside the Lo-lo country. It is very seldom
that captives get out of Lo-lo-dom, because the ransom asked is too
high, and the Chinese officials are not gallant enough to buy out
their unfortunate countrymen. The Lo-los hold thousands of Chinese
in slavery; and more are added yearly to the number.”—H. C.] Two
routes run from Ch’êng-tu fu to Yun-nan; these fork at Ya-chau and
thenceforward are entirely separated by this barrier. To the east
of it is the route which descends the Min River to Siu-chau, and
then passes by Chao-tong and Tong-chuan to Yun-nan fu: to the west
of the barrier is a route leading through Kien-ch’ang to Ta-li fu,
but throwing off a branch from Ning-yuan southward in the direction
of Yun-nan fu.
This road from Ch’êng-tu fu to Ta-li by Ya-chau and Ning-yuan
appears to be that by which the greater part of the goods for Bhamó
and Ava used to travel before the recent Mahomedan rebellion; it
is almost certainly the road by which Kúblái, in 1253, during the
reign of his brother Mangku Kaan, advanced to the conquest of
Ta-li, then the head of an independent kingdom in Western Yun-nan.
As far as Ts’ing-k’i hien, 3 marches beyond Ya-chau, this route
coincides with the great Tibet road by Ta-t’sien lu and Bathang to
L’hása, and then it diverges to the left.
We may now say without hesitation that by this road Marco
travelled. His _Tibet_ commences with the mountain region near
Ya-chau; his 20 days’ journey through a devastated and dispeopled
tract is the journey to Ning-yuan fu. Even now, from Ts’ing-k’i
onwards for several days, not a single inhabited place is seen.
The official route from Ya-chau to Ning-yuan lays down 13 stages,
but it generally takes from 15 to 18 days. Polo, whose journeys
seem often to have been shorter than the modern average,[2] took
20. On descending from the highlands he comes once more into a
populated region, and enters the charming Valley of Kien-ch’ang.
This valley, with its capital near the upper extremity, its
numerous towns and villages, its cassia, its spiced wine, and
its termination southward on the River of the Golden Sands, is
CAINDU. The traveller’s road from Ningyuan to Yunnanfu probably lay
through Hwei-li, and the Kin-sha Kiang would be crossed as already
indicated, near its most southerly bend, and almost due north of
Yun-nan fu. (See _Richthofen_ as quoted at pp. 45–46.)
As regards the _name_ of CAINDU or GHEINDU (as in G. T.), I think
we may safely recognise in the last syllable the _do_ which is so
frequent a termination of Tibetan names (Amdo, Tsiamdo, etc.);
whilst the _Cain_, as Baron Richthofen has pointed out, probably
survives in the first part of the name _Kien_chang.
[Baber writes (pp. 80–81): “Colonel Yule sees in the word _Caindu_
a variation of ‘Chien-ch’ang,’ and supposes the syllable ‘du’ to
be the same as the termination ‘du,’ ‘do,’ or ‘tu,’ so frequent in
Tibetan names. In such names, however, ‘do’ never means a district,
but always a confluence, or a town near a confluence, as might
almost be guessed from a map of Tibet.... Unsatisfied with Colonel
Yule’s identification, I cast about for another, and thought
for a while that a clue had been found in the term ‘Chien-t’ou’
(sharp-head), applied to certain Lolo tribes. But the idea had to
be abandoned, since Marco Polo’s anecdote about the ‘caitiff,’ and
the loose manners of his family, could never have referred to the
Lolos, who are admitted even by their Chinese enemies to possess a
very strict code indeed of domestic regulations. The Lolos being
eliminated, the Si-fans remained; and before we had been many days
in their neighbourhood, stories were told us of their conduct which
a polite pen refuses to record. It is enough to say that Marco’s
account falls rather short of the truth, and most obviously applies
to the Si-fan.”
Devéria (_Front._ p. 146 note) says that Kien-ch’ang is the ancient
territory of Kiung-tu which, under the Han Dynasty, fell into the
hands of the Tibetans, and was made by the Mongols the march of
Kien-ch’ang (_Che-Kong-t’u_); it is the _Caindu_ of Marco Polo;
under the Han Dynasty it was the Kiun or division of Yueh-sui
or Yueh-hsi. Devéria quotes from the _Yuen-shi-lei pien_ the
following passage relating to the year 1284: “The twelve tribes
of the Barbarians to the south-west of _Kien-tou_ and _Kin-Chi_
submitted; Kien-tou was administered by Mien (Burma); Kien-tou
submits because the Kingdom of Mien has been vanquished.” Kien-tou
is the _Chien-t’ou_ of Baber, the Caindu of Marco Polo. (_Mélanges
de Harlez_, p. 97.) According to Mr. E. H. Parker (_China Review_,
xix. p. 69), Yueh-hsi or Yueh-sui “is the modern Kien-ch’ang
Valley, the Caindu of Marco Polo, between the Yalung and Yang-tzŭ
Rivers; the only non-Chinese races found there now are the Si-fan
and Lolos.”—H. C.]
[Illustration: Road descending from the Table-Land of Yun-nan into
the Valley of the Kin-sha Kiang (the _Brius_ of Polo).
(After Garnier.)]
Turning to minor particulars, the Lake of Caindu in which the
pearls were found is doubtless one lying near Ning-yuan, whose
beauty Richthofen heard greatly extolled, though nothing of the
pearls. [Mr. Hosie writes (_Three Years_, 112–113): “If the former
tradition be true (the old city of Ning-yuan having given place
to a large lake in the early years of the Ming Dynasty), the
lake had no existence when Marco Polo passed through Caindu, and
yet we find him mentioning a lake in the country in which pearls
were found. Curiously enough, although I had not then read the
Venetian’s narrative, one of the many things told me regarding the
lake was that pearls are found in it, and specimens were brought
to me for inspection.” The lake lies to the south-east of the
present city.—H. C.] A small lake is marked by D’Anville, close to
Kien-ch’ang, under the name of _Gechoui-tang_. The large quantities
of gold derived from the Kin-sha Kiang, and the abundance of musk
in that vicinity, are testified to by Martini. The Lake mentioned
by Polo as existing in the territory of Yachi is no doubt the
_Tien-chi_, the Great Lake on the shore of which the city of
Yun-nan stands, and from which boats make their way by canals along
the walls and streets. Its circumference, according to Martini, is
500 _li_. The cut (p. 68), from Garnier, shows this lake as seen
from a villa on its banks. [Devéria (p. 129) quotes this passage
from the _Yuen-shi-lei pien_: “Yachi, of which the _U-man_ or Black
Barbarians made their capital, is surrounded by Lake _Tien-chi_ on
three sides.” Tien-chi is one of the names of Lake Kwen-ming, on
the shore of which is built Yun-nan fu.—H. C.]
Returning now to the Karájang of the Mongols, or Carajan, as Polo
writes it, we shall find that the latter distinguishes this great
province, which formerly, he says, included seven kingdoms, into
two Mongol Governments, the seat of one being at Yachi, which we
have seen to be Yun-nan fu, and that of the other at a city to
which he gives the name of the Province, and which we shall find
to be the existing Ta-li fu. Great confusion has been created in
most of the editions by a distinction in the form of the name as
applied to these two governments. Thus Ramusio prints the province
under Yachi as _Carajan_, and that under Ta-li as _Carazan_, whilst
Marsden, following out his system for the conversion of Ramusio’s
orthography, makes the former _Karaian_ and the latter _Karazan_.
Pauthier prints _Caraian_ all through, a fact so far valuable as
showing that his texts make no distinction between the names of
the two governments, but the form impedes the recognition of the
old Mongol nomenclature. I have no doubt that the name all through
should be read _Carajan_, and on this I have acted. In the Geog.
Text we find the name given at the end of ch. xlvii. _Caragian_,
in ch. xlviii. as _Carajan_, in ch. xlix. as _Caraian_, thus
just reversing the distinction made by Marsden. The Crusca has
_Charagia(n)_ all through.
The name then was _Ḳará-jáng_, in which the first element was the
Mongol or Turki _Ḳárá_, “Black.” For we find in another passage of
Rashid the following information:[3]—“To the south-west of Cathay
is the country called by the Chinese _Dailiu_ or ‘Great Realm,’ and
by the Mongols _Ḳarájáng_, in the language of India and Kashmir
_Ḳandar_, and by us _Ḳandahár_. This country, which is of vast
extent, is bounded on one side by Tibet and Tangut, and on others
by Mongolia, Cathay, and the country of the Gold-Teeth. The King
of Ḳarajang uses the title of _Mahárá_, _i.e._ Great King. The
capital is called Yachi, and there the Council of Administration
is established. Among the inhabitants of this country some are
black, and others are white; these latter are called by the Mongols
_Chaghán-Jáng_ (‘White Jang’).” _Jang_ has not been explained;
but probably it may have been a Tibetan term adopted by the
Mongols, and the colours may have applied to their clothing. The
dominant race at the Mongol invasion seems to have been Shans;[4]
and black jackets are the characteristic dress of the Shans whom
one sees in Burma in modern times. The Kara-jang and Chaghan-jang
appear to correspond also to the _U-man_ and _Pe-man_, or Black
Barbarians and White Barbarians, who are mentioned by Chinese
authorities as conquered by the Mongols. It would seem from one of
Pauthier’s Chinese quotations (p. 388), that the Chaghan-jang were
found in the vicinity of Li-kiang fu. (_D’Ohsson_, II. 317; _J.
R. Geog. Soc._ III. 294.) [Dr. Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ I. p.
184) says that in the description of Yun-nan, in the _Yuen-shi_,
“_Cara-jang_ and _Chagan-jang_ are rendered by _Wu-man_ and
_Po-man_ (Black and White Barbarians). But in the biographies of
_Djao-a-k’o-p’an_, _A-r-szelan_ (_Yuen-shi_, ch. cxxiii.), and
others, these tribes are mentioned under the names of _Ha-la-djang_
and _Ch’a-han-djang_, as the Mongols used to call them; and in the
biography of _Wu-liang-ho t’ai_, [Uriang kadai], the conqueror of
Yun-nan, it is stated that the capital of the Black Barbarians was
called _Yach’i_. It is described there as a city surrounded by
lakes from three sides.”—H. C.]
[Illustration: A Saracen of Carajan, being a portrait of a
Mahomedan Mullah in Western Yun-nan. (From Garnier’s Work.)
“=Les sunt des plosors maineres, car il hi a jens qe aorent
Maomet.=”]
Regarding Rashiduddin’s application of the name _Ḳandahár_ or
Gandhára to Yun-nan, and curious points connected therewith, I must
refer to a paper of mine in the _J. R. A. Society_ (N.S. IV. 356).
But I may mention that in the ecclesiastical translation of the
classical localities of Indian Buddhism to Indo-China, which is
current in Burma, Yun-nan represents Gandhára,[5] and is still so
styled in state documents (_Gandálarít_).
What has been said of the supposed name _Caraian_ disposes, I
trust, of the fancies which have connected the origin of the
_Karens_ of Burma with it. More groundless still is M. Pauthier’s
deduction of the _Talains_ of Pegu (as the Burmese call them) from
the people of Ta-li, who fled from Kúblái’s invasion.
NOTE 2.—The existence of Nestorians in this remote province is
very notable [see _Bonin, J. As._ XV. 1900, pp. 589–590.—H. C.];
and also the early prevalence of Mahomedanism, which Rashiduddin
intimates in stronger terms. “All the inhabitants of Yachi,” he
says, “are Mahomedans.” This was no doubt an exaggeration, but the
Mahomedans seem always to have continued to be an important body in
Yun-nan up to our own day. In 1855 began their revolt against the
imperial authority, which for a time resulted in the establishment
of their independence in Western Yun-nan under a chief whom they
called Sultan Suleiman. A proclamation in remarkably good Arabic,
announcing the inauguration of his reign, appears to have been
circulated to Mahomedans in foreign states, and a copy of it some
years ago found its way through the Nepalese agent at L’hasa, into
the hands of Colonel Ramsay, the British Resident at Katmandu.[6]
NOTE 3.—Wheat grows as low as Ava, but there also it is not used by
natives for bread, only for confectionery and the like. The same
is the case in Eastern China. (See ch. xxvi. note 4, and _Middle
Kingdom_, II. 43.)
NOTE 4.—The word _piccoli_ is supplied, doubtfully, in lieu of
an unknown symbol. If correct, then we should read “24 piccoli
_each_,” for this was about the equivalent of a grosso. This is the
first time Polo mentions cowries, which he calls _porcellani_.
This might have been rendered by the corresponding vernacular name
“_Pig-shells_,” applied to certain shells of that genus (_Cypraea_)
in some parts of England. It is worthy of note that as the name
_porcellana_ has been transferred from these shells to China-ware,
so the word _pig_ has been in Scotland applied to crockery; whether
the process has been analogous, I cannot say.
Klaproth states that Yun-nan is the only country of China in
which cowries had continued in use, though in ancient times they
were more generally diffused. According to him 80 cowries were
equivalent to 6 _cash_, or a half-penny. About 1780 in Eastern
Bengal 80 cowries were worth ⅜th of a penny, and some 40 years ago,
when Prinsep compiled his tables in Calcutta (where cowries were
still in use a few years ago, if they are not now), 80 cowries were
worth ³⁄₁₀ of a penny.
At the time of the Mahomedan conquest of Bengal, early in the 13th
century, they found the currency exclusively composed of cowries,
aided perhaps by bullion in large transactions, but with no coined
money. In remote districts this continued to modern times. When
the Hon. Robert Lindsay went as Resident and Collector to Silhet
about 1778, cowries constituted nearly the whole currency of the
Province. The yearly revenue amounted to 250,000 rupees, and this
was entirely paid in cowries at the rate of 5120 to the rupee. It
required large warehouses to contain them, and when the year’s
collection was complete a large fleet of boats to transport them to
Dacca. Before Lindsay’s time it had been the custom to _count_ the
whole before embarking them! Down to 1801 the Silhet revenue was
entirely collected in cowries, but by 1813, the whole was realised
in specie. (_Thomas_, in _J. R. A. S._ N.S. II. 147; _Lives of the
Lindsays_, III. 169, 170.)
Klaproth’s statement has ceased to be correct. Lieutenant Garnier
found cowries nowhere in use north of Luang Prabang; and among
the Kakhyens in Western Yun-nan these shells are used only for
ornament. [However, Mr. E. H. Parker says (_China Review_, XXVI. p.
106) that the porcelain money still circulates in the Shan States,
and that he saw it there himself.—H. C.]
[Illustration: The Canal at Yun-nan fu.]
NOTE 5.—See ch. xlvii. note 4. Martini speaks of a great
brine-well to the N.E. of Yaogan (W.N.W. of the city of Yun-nan),
which supplied the whole country round.
NOTE 6.—Two particulars appearing in these latter paragraphs are
alluded to by Rashiduddin in giving a brief account of the overland
route from India to China, which is unfortunately very obscure:
“Thence you arrive at the borders of Tibet, where they _eat raw
meat_ and worship images, _and have no shame respecting their
wives_.” (_Elliot_, I. p. 73.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] [Baber writes (p. 107): “The river is never called locally by
any other name than _Kin-ho_, or ‘Gold River.’[A] The term
_Kin-sha-Kiang_ should in strictness be confined to the Tibetan
course of the stream; as applied to other parts it is a mere book
name. There is no great objection to its adoption, except that it
is unintelligible to the inhabitants of the banks, and is liable
to mislead travellers in search of indigenous information, but
at any rate it should not be supposed to asperse Marco Polo’s
accuracy. _Gold River_ is the local name from the junction of the
Yalung to about P’ing-shan; below P’ing-shan it is known by various
designations, but the Ssu-ch’uanese naturally call it ‘the River,’
or, by contrast with its affluents, the ‘Big River’ (_Ta-ho_).” I
imagine that Baber here makes a slight mistake, and that they use
the name _kiang_, and not _ho_, for the river.—H. C.]
[Mr. Rockhill remarks (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 196 note) that
“Marco Polo speaks of the Yang-tzŭ as the _Brius_, and Orazio
della Penna calls it _Biciu_, both words representing the Tibetan
_Dré ch’u_. This last name has been frequently translated ‘Cow
yak River,’ but this is certainly not its meaning, as cow yak is
_dri-mo_, never pronounced _dré_, and unintelligible without the
suffix, _mo_. _Dré_ may mean either mule, dirty, or rice, but as
I have never seen the word written, I cannot decide on any of
these terms, all of which have exactly the same pronunciation.
The Mongols call it _Murus osu_, and in books this is sometimes
changed to _Murui osu_, ‘Tortuous river.’ The Chinese call it
_Tung t’ien ho_, ‘River of all Heaven.’ The name _Kin-sha kiang_,
‘River of Golden Sand,’ is used for it from Bat’ang to Sui-fu, or
thereabouts.” The general name for the river is _Ta-Kiang_ (Great
River), or simply _Kiang_, in contradistinction to _Ho_, for
_Hwang-Ho_ (Yellow River) in Northern China.—H. C.]
[2] Baron Richthofen, who has travelled hundreds of miles in his
footsteps, considers his allowance of time to be generally from ¼
to ⅓ greater than that now usual.
[3] See _Quatremère’s Rashiduddin_, pp. lxxxvi.–xcvi. My quotation is
made up from _two_ citations by Quatremère, one from his text of
Rashiduddin, and the other from the History of Benaketi, which
Quatremère shows to have been drawn from Rashiduddin, whilst it
contains some particulars not existing in his own text of that
author.
[4] The title _Chao_ in _Nan-Chao_ (_infra_, p. 79) is said by a
Chinese author (Pauthier, p. 391) to signify _King_ in the language
of those barbarians. This is evidently the _Chao_ which forms an
essential part of the title of all Siamese and Shan princes.
[Regarding the word _Nan-Chao_, Mr. Parker (_China Review_, XX.
p. 339) writes “In the barbarian tongue ‘prince’ is _Chao_,” says
the Chinese author; and there were six _Chao_, of which the _Nan_
or Southern was the leading power. Hence the name Nan-Chao ... it
is hardly necessary for me to say that _chao_ or _kyiao_ is still
the Shan-Siamese word for ‘prince.’” Pallegoix (_Dict._ p. 85) has
_Chào_, Princeps, rex.—H. C.]
[5] _Gandhára_, Arabicé _Ḳandahár_, is properly the country about
Peshawar, _Gandaritis_ of Strabo.
[6] This is printed almost in full in the French _Voyage
d’Exploration_, I. 564.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[A] Marco Polo nowhere calls the river “Gold River,” the name he gives
it is _Brius_.—H. Y.
CHAPTER XLIX.
CONCERNING A FURTHER PART OF THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN.
After leaving that city of Yachi of which I have been speaking, and
travelling ten days towards the west, you come to another capital
city which is still in the province of Carajan, and is itself called
Carajan. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan; and
the King is COGACHIN, who is a son of the Great Kaan.{1}
In this country gold-dust is found in great quantities; that is to say
in the rivers and lakes, whilst in the mountains gold is also found in
pieces of larger size. Gold is indeed so abundant that they give one
_saggio_ of gold for only six of the same weight in silver. And for
small change they use porcelain shells as I mentioned before. These are
not found in the country, however, but are brought from India.{2}
In this province are found snakes and great serpents of such vast size
as to strike fear into those who see them, and so hideous that the very
account of them must excite the wonder of those to hear it. I will tell
you how long and big they are.
You may be assured that some of them are ten paces in length; some are
more and some less. And in bulk they are equal to a great cask, for the
bigger ones are about ten palms in girth. They have two forelegs near
the head, but for foot nothing but a claw like the claw of a hawk or
that of a lion. The head is very big, and the eyes are bigger than a
great loaf of bread. The mouth is large enough to swallow a man whole,
and is garnished with great [pointed] teeth. And in short they are so
fierce-looking and so hideously ugly, that every man and beast must
stand in fear and trembling of them. There are also smaller ones, such
as of eight paces long, and of five, and of one pace only.
The way in which they are caught is this. You must know that by day
they live underground because of the great heat, and in the night they
go out to feed, and devour every animal they can catch. They go also to
drink at the rivers and lakes and springs. And their weight is so great
that when they travel in search of food or drink, as they do by night,
the tail makes a great furrow in the soil as if a full ton of liquor
had been dragged along. Now the huntsmen who go after them take them
by certain gyn which they set in the track over which the serpent has
past, knowing that the beast will come back the same way. They plant a
stake deep in the ground and fix on the head of this a sharp blade of
steel made like a razor or a lance-point, and then they cover the whole
with sand so that the serpent cannot see it. Indeed the huntsman plants
several such stakes and blades on the track. On coming to the spot the
beast strikes against the iron blade with such force that it enters his
breast and rives him up to the navel, so that he dies on the spot [and
the crows on seeing the brute dead begin to caw, and then the huntsmen
know that the serpent is dead and come in search of him].
This then is the way these beasts are taken. Those who take them
proceed to extract the gall from the inside, and this sells at a great
price; for you must know it furnishes the material for a most precious
medicine. Thus if a person is bitten by a mad dog, and they give him
but a small pennyweight of this medicine to drink, he is cured in a
moment. Again if a woman is hard in labour they give her just such
another dose and she is delivered at once. Yet again if one has any
disease like the itch, or it may be worse, and applies a small quantity
of this gall he shall speedily be cured. So you see why it sells at
such a high price.
[Illustration: “Riding long like Frenchmen.”
“=Et encore sachié qe ceste gens chevauchent lonc come franchois.=”]
They also sell the flesh of this serpent, for it is excellent eating,
and the people are very fond of it. And when these serpents are very
hungry, sometimes they will seek out the lairs of lions or bears or
other large wild beasts, and devour their cubs, without the sire
and dam being able to prevent it. Indeed if they catch the big ones
themselves they devour them too; they can make no resistance.{3}
In this province also are bred large and excellent horses which are
taken to India for sale. And you must know that the people dock two
or three joints of the tail from their horses, to prevent them from
flipping their riders, a thing which they consider very unseemly.
They ride long like Frenchmen, and wear armour of boiled leather, and
carry spears and shields and arblasts, and all their quarrels are
poisoned.{4} [And I was told as a fact that many persons, especially
those meditating mischief, constantly carry this poison about with
them, so that if by any chance they should be taken, and be threatened
with torture, to avoid this they swallow the poison and so die
speedily. But princes who are aware of this keep ready dog’s dung,
which they cause the criminal instantly to swallow, to make him vomit
the poison. And thus they manage to cure those scoundrels.]
[Illustration: The Lake of Tali (Carajan of Polo) from the Northern
End.]
[Illustration: Suspension Bridge, neighbourhood of Tali.]
I will tell you of a wicked thing they used to do before the Great Kaan
conquered them. If it chanced that a man of fine person or noble birth,
or some other quality that recommended him, came to lodge with those
people, then they would murder him by poison, or otherwise. And this
they did, not for the sake of plunder, but because they believed that
in this way the goodly favour and wisdom and repute of the murdered
man would cleave to the house where he was slain. And in this manner
many were murdered before the country was conquered by the Great Kaan.
But since his conquest, some 35 years ago, these crimes and this evil
practice have prevailed no more; and this through dread of the Great
Kaan who will not permit such things.{5}
NOTE 1.—There can be no doubt that this second chief city of
Carajan is TALI-FU, which was the capital of the Shan Kingdom
called by the Chinese Nan-Chao. This kingdom had subsisted in
Yun-nan since 738, and probably had embraced the upper part of
the Irawadi Valley. For the Chinese tell us it was also called
_Maung_, and it probably was identical with the Shan Kingdom of
Muang Maorong or of _Pong_, of which Captain Pemberton procured a
Chronicle. [In A.D. 650, the Ai-Lao, the most ancient name by which
the Shans were known to the Chinese, became the Nan-Chao. The Mêng
family ruled the country from the 7th century; towards the middle
of the 8th century, P’i-lo-ko, who is the real founder of the Thai
kingdom of Nan-Chao, received from the Chinese the title of King of
Yun-Nan and made T’ai-ho, 15 _lis_ south of Ta-li, his residence;
he died in 748. In A.D. 938, Twan Sze-ying, of an old Chinese
family, took Ta-li and established there an independent kingdom.
In 1115 embassies with China were exchanged, and the Emperor
conferred (1119) upon Twan Ch’êng-yn the title of King of Ta-li
(_Ta-li Kwo Wang_). Twan Siang-hing was the last king of Ta-li
(1239–1251). In 1252 the Kingdom of Nan-Chao was destroyed by the
Mongols; the Emperor She Tsu (Kúblái) gave the title of Maháraja
(_Mo-ho Lo-tso_) to Twan Hing-che (son of Twan Siang-hing), who had
fled to Yun-Nan fu and was captured there. Afterwards (1261) the
Twan are known as the eleven _Tsung-Kwan_ (governors); the last of
them, Twan Ming, was made a prisoner by an army sent by the Ming
Emperors, and sent to Nan-King (1381). (_E. H. Parker, Early Laos
and China, China Review_, XIX. and the _Old Thai or Shan Empire of
Western Yun-Nan_, _Ibid._, XX.; _E. Rocher, Hist. des Princes du
Yunnan, T’oung Pao_, 1899; _E. Chavannes, Une Inscription du roy.
de Nan Tchao, J.A._, November–December, 1900; _M. Tchang, Tableau
des Souverains de Nan-Tchao, Bul. Ecole Franç. d’Ext. Orient_, I.
No. 4.)—H. C.] The city of Ta-li was taken by Kúblái in 1253–1254.
The circumstance that it was known to the invaders (as appeals from
Polo’s statement) by the name of the province is an indication of
the fact that it was the capital of Carajan before the conquest.
[“That _Yachi_ and _Carajan_ represent Yünnan-fu and Tali, is
proved by topographical and other evidence of an overwhelming
nature. I venture to add one more proof, which seems to have been
overlooked.
“If there is a natural feature which must strike any visitor to
those two cities, it is that they both lie on the shore of notable
lakes, of so large an extent as to be locally called seas; and for
the comparison, it should be remembered that the inhabitants of the
Yünnan province have easy access to the ocean by the Red River, or
Sung Ka. Now, although Marco does not circumstantially specify the
fact of these cities lying on large bodies of water, yet in both
cases, two or three sentences further on, will be found mention of
lakes; in the case of Yachi, ‘a lake of a good hundred miles in
compass’—by no means an unreasonable estimate.
“Tali-fu is renowned as the strongest hold of Western Yünnan, and
it certainly must have been impregnable to bow and spear. From
the western margin of its majestic lake, which lies approximately
north and south, rises a sloping plain of about three miles average
breadth, closed in by the huge wall of the Tien-tsang Mountains. In
the midst of this plain stands the city, the lake at its feet, the
snowy summits at its back. On either flank, at about twelve and six
miles distance respectively, are situated Shang-Kuan and Hsia-Kuan
(upper and lower passes), two strongly fortified towns guarding the
confined strip between mountain and lake; for the plain narrows at
the two extremities, and is intersected by a river at both points.”
(_Baber_, _Travels_, 155.)—H. C.]
The distance from Yachi to this city of Karajang is ten days,
and this corresponds well with the distance from Yun-nan fu to
Tali-fu. For we find that, of the three Burmese Embassies whose
itineraries are given by Burney, one makes 7 marches between those
cities, specifying 2 of them as double marches, therefore equal to
9, whilst the other two make 11 marches; Richthofen’s information
gives 12. Ta-li-fu is a small old city overlooking its large lake
(about 24 miles long by 6 wide), and an extensive plain devoid of
trees. Lofty mountains rise on the south side of the city. The Lake
appears to communicate with the Mekong, and the story goes, no
doubt fabulous, that boats have come up to Ta-li from the Ocean.
[Captain Gill (II. pp. 299–300) writes: “Ta-li fu is an ancient
city ... it is the Carajan of Marco Polo.... Marco’s description
of the lake of Yun-Nan may be perfectly well applied to the Lake
of Ta-li.... The fish were particularly commended to our notice,
though we were told that there were no oysters in this lake, as
there are said to be in that of Yun-Nan; if the latter statement be
true, it would illustrate Polo’s account of another lake somewhere
in these regions in which are found pearls (which are white but not
round).”—H. C.]
Ta-li fu was recently the capital of Sultan Suleiman [Tu Wen-siu].
It was reached by Lieutenant Garnier in a daring détour by the
north of Yun-nan, but his party were obliged to leave in haste on
the second day after their arrival. The city was captured by the
Imperial officers in 1873, when a horrid massacre of the Mussulmans
took place [19th January]. The Sultan took poison, but his head was
cut off and sent to Peking. Momein fell soon after [10th June], and
the _Panthé_ kingdom is ended.
We see that Polo says the King ruling for Kúblái at this city
was a son of the Kaan, called COGACHIN, whilst he told us in
the last chapter that the King reigning at Yachi was also a son
of the Kaan, called ESSENTIMUR. It is probably a mere lapsus or
error of dictation calling the latter a son of the Kaan, for in
ch. li. _infra_, this prince is correctly described as the Kaan’s
grandson. Rashiduddin tells us that Kúblái had given his son
HUKÁJI (or perhaps _Hogáchi_, _i.e._ Cogachin) the government of
Karajang,[1] and that after the death of this Prince the government
was continued to his son ISENTIMUR. Klaproth gives the date of the
latter’s nomination from the Chinese Annals as 1280. It is not easy
to reconcile Marco’s statements perfectly with a knowledge of these
facts; but we may suppose that, in speaking of Cogachin as ruling
at Karajang (or Tali-fu) and Esentimur at Yachi, he describes
things as they stood when his visit occurred, whilst in the second
reference to “Sentemur’s” being King in the province and his father
dead, he speaks from later knowledge. This interpretation would
confirm what has been already deduced from other circumstances,
that his visit to Yun-nan was prior to 1280. (_Pemberton’s Report
on the Eastern Frontier_, 108 _seqq._; _Quat. Rashid._ pp.
lxxxix-xc.; _Journ. Asiat._ sér. II. vol. i.)
NOTE 2.—[Captain Gill writes (II. p. 302): “There are said to be
very rich gold and silver mines within a few days’ journey of the
city” (of Ta-li). Dr. Anderson says (_Mandalay to Momien_, p. 203):
“Gold is brought to Momein from Yonephin and Sherg-wan villages,
fifteen days’ march to the north-east; but no information could
be obtained as to the quantity found. It is also brought in leaf,
which is sent to Burma, where it is in extensive demand.”—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—It cannot be doubted that Marco’s serpents here are
crocodiles, in spite of his strange mistakes about their having
only two feet and one claw on each, and his imperfect knowledge of
their aquatic habits. He may have seen only a mutilated specimen.
But there is no mistaking the hideous ferocity of the countenance,
and the “eyes bigger than a fourpenny loaf,” as Ramusio has it.
Though the actual _eye_ of the crocodile does not bear this
comparison, the prominent _orbits_ do, especially in the case of
the _Ghaṛiyál_ of the Ganges, and form one of the most repulsive
features of the reptile’s physiognomy. In fact, its presence on the
surface of an Indian river is often recognisable only by three dark
knobs rising above the surface, viz. the snout and the two orbits.
And there is some foundation for what our author says of the
animal’s habits, for the crocodile does sometimes frequent holes
at a distance from water, of which a striking instance is within
my own recollection (in which the deep furrowed track also was a
notable circumstance).
The Cochin Chinese are very fond of crocodile’s flesh, and there is
or was a regular export of this dainty for their use from Kamboja.
I have known it eaten by certain classes in India. (_J. R. G. S._
XXX. 193.)
The term _serpent_ is applied by many old writers to crocodiles and
the like, _e.g._ by Odoric, and perhaps allusively by Shakspeare
(“_Where’s my Serpent of Old Nile?_”). Mr. Fergusson tells me he
was once much struck with the _snake-like_ motion of a group of
crocodiles hastily descending to the water from a high sand-bank,
without apparent use of the limbs, when surprised by the approach
of a boat.[2]
Matthioli says the gall of the crocodile surpasses all medicines
for the removal of pustules and the like from the eyes. Vincent of
Beauvais mentions the same, besides many other medical uses of the
reptile’s carcass, including a very unsavoury cosmetic. (_Matt._ p.
245; _Spec. Natur._ Lib. XVII. c. 106, 108.)
[“According to Chinese notions, Han Yü, the St. Patrick of China,
having persuaded the alligators in China that he was all-powerful,
induced the stupid saurians to migrate to Ngo Hu or ‘Alligators’
Lake’ in the Kwang-tung province.” (_North-China Herald_, 5th July,
1895, p. 5.)
Alligators have been found in 1878 at Wu-hu and at Chen-kiang
(Ngan-hwei and Kiang-Su). (See _A. A. Fauvel, Alligators in China_,
in _Jour. N. China B. R. A. S._ XIII. 1879, 1–36.)—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—I think the _great_ horses must be an error, though running
through all the texts, and that _grant quantité de chevaus_
was probably intended. Valuable _ponies_ are produced in those
regions, but I have never heard of large horses, and Martini’s
testimony is to like effect (p. 141). Nor can I hear of any race in
those regions in modern times that uses what we should call long
stirrups. It is true that the Tartars rode _very short_—“_brevissimas
habent strepas_,” as Carpini says (643); and the Kirghiz Kazaks now
do the same. Both Burmese and Shans ride what we should call short;
and Major Sladen observes of the people on the western border of
Yun-nan: “Kachyens and Shans ride on ordinary Chinese saddles.
The stirrups are of the usual average length, but the saddles are
so constructed as to rise at least a foot above the pony’s back.”
He adds with reference to another point in the text: “I noticed a
few Shan ponies _with docked tails_. But the more general practice
is to loop up the tail in a knot, the object being to protect the
rider, or rather his clothes, from the dirt with which they would
otherwise be spattered from the flipping of the animal’s tail.”
(_MS. Notes._)
[After Yung-ch’ang, Captain Gill writes (II. p. 356): “The manes
were hogged and the tails cropped of a great many of the ponies
these men were riding; but there were none of the docked tails
mentioned by Marco Polo.”—H. C.]
Armour of boiled leather—“_armes cuiracés de cuir bouilli_”; so
Pauthier’s text; the material so often mentioned in mediæval
costume; _e.g._ in the leggings of Sir Thopas:—
“His jambeux were of cuirbouly,
His swerdës sheth of ivory,
His helme of latoun bright.”
But the reading of the G. Text which is “_cuir de bufal_,” is
probably the right one. Some of the Miau-tzŭ of Kweichau are
described as wearing armour of buffalo-leather overlaid with
iron plates. (_Ritter_, IV. 768–776.) Arblasts or crossbows are
still characteristic weapons of many of the wilder tribes of this
region; _e.g._ of some of the Singphos, of the Mishmis of Upper
Assam, of the Lu-tzŭ of the valley of the Lukiang, of tribes of
the hills of Laos, of the Stiens of Cambodia, and of several of
the Miau-tzŭ tribes of the interior of China. We give a cut copied
from a Chinese work on the Miau-tzŭ of Kweichau in Dr. Lockhart’s
possession, which shows _three_ little men of the Sang-Miau tribe
of Kweichau combining to mend a crossbow, and a chief with _armes
cuiracés_ and _jambeux_ also. [The cut (p. 83) is well explained by
this passage of _Baber’s Travels_ among the Lolos (p. 71): “They
make their own swords, three and a half to five spans long, with
square heads, and have bows which it takes three men to draw, but
no muskets.”—H. C.]
NOTE 5.—I have nowhere met with a _precise_ parallel to this
remarkable superstition, but the following piece of Folk-Lore has a
considerable analogy to it. This extraordinary custom is ascribed
by Ibn Fozlan to the Bulgarians of the Volga: “If they find a man
endowed with special intelligence then they say: ‘This man should
serve our Lord God;’ and so they take him, run a noose round his
neck and hang him on a tree, where they leave him till the corpse
falls to pieces.” This is precisely what Sir Charles Wood did with
the Indian Corps of Engineers;—doubtless on the same principle.
Archbishop Trench, in a fine figure, alludes to a belief prevalent
among the Polynesian Islanders, “that the strength and valour of
the warriors whom they have slain in battle passes into themselves,
as their rightful inheritance.” (_Fraehn, Wolga-Bulgaren_, p. 50;
_Studies in the Gospels_, p. 22; see also _Lubbock_, 457.)
[Illustration: The Sangmiau Tribe of Kweichau, with the Crossbow.
(From a Chinese Drawing.)
“=Ont armes corasés de cuir de bufal, et ont lances et scuz et ont
balestres.=”]
There is some analogy also to the story Polo tells, in the
curious Sindhi tradition, related by Burton, of Bahá-ul-haḳḳ, the
famous saint of Multán. When he visited his disciples at Tatta
they plotted his death, in order to secure the blessings of his
perpetual presence. The people of Multán are said to have murdered
two celebrated saints with the same view, and the Hazáras to “make
a point of killing and burying in their own country any stranger
indiscreet enough to commit a miracle or show any particular sign
of sanctity.” The like practice is ascribed to the rude Moslem of
Gilghit; and such allegations must have been current in Europe, for
they are the motive of _Southey’s St. Romuald_:
“‘But,’ quoth the Traveller, ‘wherefore did he leave
A flock that knew his saintly worth so well?’
• • • • •
“‘Why, Sir,’ the Host replied,
‘We thought perhaps that he might one day leave us;
And then, should strangers have
The good man’s grave,
A loss like that would naturally grieve us;
For he’ll be made a saint of, to be sure.
Therefore we thought it prudent to secure
His relics while we might;
And so we meant to strangle him one night.’”
(See _Sindh_, pp. 86, 388; _Ind. Antiq._ I. 13; _Southey’s
Ballads_, etc., ed. Routledge, p. 330.)
[Captain Gill (I. p. 323) says that he had made up his mind to
visit a place called Li-fan Fu, near Ch’êng-tu. “I was told,”
he writes, “that this place was inhabited by the Man-Tzŭ, or
Barbarians, as the Chinese call them; and Monseigneur Pinchon told
me that, amongst other pleasing theories, they were possessed of
the belief that if they poisoned a rich man, his wealth would
accrue to the poisoner; that, therefore, the hospitable custom
prevailed amongst them of administering poison to rich or noble
guests; that this poison took no effect for some time, but that in
the course of two or three months it produced a disease akin to
dysentery, ending in certain death.”—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] [Mr. E. H. Parker writes (_China Review_, XXIV. p. 106): “Polo’s
Kogatin is _Hukoch’ih_, who was made King of Yun-nan in 1267, with
military command over Ta-li, Shen-shen, Chagan Chang, Golden-Teeth,
etc.”—H. C.]
[2] Though the bellowing of certain American crocodiles is often spoken
of, I have nowhere seen allusion to the roaring of the _ghaṛiyál_,
nor does it seem to be commonly known. I have once only heard it,
whilst on the bank of the Ganges near Rampúr Boliah, waiting for
a ferry-boat. It was like a loud prolonged snore; and though it
seemed to come distinctly from a crocodile on the surface of the
river, I made sure by asking a boatman who stood by: “It is the
ghaṛiyál speaking,” he answered.
CHAPTER L.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ZARDANDAN.
When you have left Carajan and have travelled five days westward, you
find a province called ZARDANDAN. The people are Idolaters and subject
to the Great Kaan. The capital city is called VOCHAN.{1}
The people of this country all have their teeth gilt; or rather every
man covers his teeth with a sort of golden case made to fit them, both
the upper teeth and the under. The men do this, but not the women.{2}
[The men also are wont to gird their arms and legs with bands or
fillets pricked in black, and it is done thus; they take five needles
joined together, and with these they prick the flesh till the blood
comes, and then they rub in a certain black colouring stuff, and this
is perfectly indelible. It is considered a piece of elegance and the
sign of gentility to have this black band.] The men are all gentlemen
in their fashion, and do nothing but go to the wars, or go hunting and
hawking. The ladies do all the business, aided by the slaves who have
been taken in war.{3}
And when one of their wives has been delivered of a child, the infant
is washed and swathed, and then the woman gets up and goes about her
household affairs, whilst the husband takes to bed with the child by
his side, and so keeps his bed for 40 days; and all the kith and kin
come to visit him and keep up a great festivity. They do this because,
say they, the woman has had a hard bout of it, and ’tis but fair the
man should have his share of suffering.{4}
They eat all kinds of meat, both raw and cooked, and they eat rice with
their cooked meat as their fashion is. Their drink is wine made of rice
and spices, and excellent it is. Their money is gold, and for small
change they use pig-shells. And I can tell you they give one weight of
gold for only five of silver; for there is no silver-mine within five
months’ journey. And this induces merchants to go thither carrying a
large supply of silver to change among that people. And as they have
only five weights of silver to give for one of fine gold, they make
immense profits by their exchange business in that country.{5}
These people have neither idols nor churches, but worship the
progenitor of their family, “for ’tis he,” say they, “from whom we
have all sprung.”{6} They have no letters or writing; and ’tis no
wonder, for the country is wild and hard of access, full of great
woods and mountains which ’tis impossible to pass, the air in summer
is so impure and bad; and any foreigners attempting it would die for
certain.{7} When these people have any business transactions with one
another, they take a piece of stick, round or square, and split it,
each taking half. And on either half they cut two or three notches. And
when the account is settled the debtor receives back the other half of
the stick from the creditor.{8}
And let me tell you that in all those three provinces that I have
been speaking of, to wit Carajan, Vochan, and Yachi, there is never a
leech. But when any one is ill they send for their magicians, that is
to say the Devil-conjurors and those who are the keepers of the idols.
When these are come the sick man tells what ails him, and then the
conjurors incontinently begin playing on their instruments and singing
and dancing; and the conjurors dance to such a pitch that at last one
of them shall fall to the ground lifeless, like a dead man. And then
the devil entereth into his body. And when his comrades see him in this
plight they begin to put questions to him about the sick man’s ailment.
And he will reply: “Such or such a spirit hath been meddling with the
man,{9} for that he hath angered the spirit and done it some despite.”
Then they say: “We pray thee to pardon him, and to take of his blood
or of his goods what thou wilt in consideration of thus restoring him
to health.” And when they have so prayed, the malignant spirit that is
in the body of the prostrate man will (mayhap) answer: “The sick man
hath also done great despite unto such another spirit, and that one is
so ill-disposed that it will not pardon him on any account;”—this at
least is the answer they get, an the patient be like to die. But if he
is to get better the answer will be that they are to bring two sheep,
or may be three; and to brew ten or twelve jars of drink, very costly
and abundantly spiced.{10} Moreover it shall be announced that the
sheep must be all black-faced, or of some other particular colour as it
may hap; and then all those things are to be offered in sacrifice to
such and such a spirit whose name is given.{11} And they are to bring
so many conjurors, and so many ladies, and the business is to be done
with a great singing of lauds, and with many lights, and store of good
perfumes. That is the sort of answer they get if the patient is to get
well. And then the kinsfolk of the sick man go and procure all that has
been commanded, and do as has been bidden, and the conjuror who had
uttered all that gets on his legs again.
So they fetch the sheep of the colour prescribed, and slaughter them,
and sprinkle the blood over such places as have been enjoined, in
honour and propitiation of the spirit. And the conjurors come, and the
ladies, in the number that was ordered, and when all are assembled and
everything is ready, they begin to dance and play and sing in honour
of the spirit. And they take flesh-broth and drink and lign-aloes, and
a great number of lights, and go about hither and thither, scattering
the broth and the drink and the meat also. And when they have done this
for a while, again shall one of the conjurors fall flat and wallow
there foaming at the mouth, and then the others will ask if he have
yet pardoned the sick man? And sometimes he shall answer yea! and
sometimes he shall answer no! And if the answer be _no_, they shall be
told that something or other has to be done all over again, and then
he will be pardoned; so this they do. And when all that the spirit has
commanded has been done with great ceremony, then it shall be announced
that the man is pardoned and shall be speedily cured. So when they at
length receive such a reply, they announce that it is all made up with
the spirit, and that he is propitiated, and they fall to eating and
drinking with great joy and mirth, and he who had been lying lifeless
on the ground gets up and takes his share. So when they have all eaten
and drunken, every man departs home. And presently the sick man gets
sound and well.{12}
Now that I have told you of the customs and naughty ways of that
people, we will have done talking of them and their province, and I
will tell you about others, all in regular order and succession.
NOTE 1.—[Baber writes (_Travels_, p. 171) when arriving to the
Lan-tsang kiang (Mekong River): “We were now on the border-line
between Carajan and Zardandan: ‘When you have travelled five days
you find a province called Zardandan,’ says Messer Marco, precisely
the actual number of stages from Tali-fu to the present boundary
of Yung-ch’ang. That this river must have been the demarcation
between the two provinces is obvious; one glance into that deep
rift, the only exit from which is by painful worked artificial
zigzags which, under the most favourable conditions, cannot be
called safe, will satisfy the most sceptical geographer. The exact
statement of distance is a proof that Marco entered the territory
of Yung-ch’ang.” Captain Gill says (II. p. 343–344) that the five
marches of Marco Polo “would be very long ones. Our journey was
eight days, but it might easily have been done in seven, as the
first march to Hsia-Kuan was not worthy of the name. The Grosvenor
expedition made eleven marches with one day’s halt—twelve days
altogether, and Mr. Margary was nine or ten days on the journey.
It is true that, by camping out every night, the marches might be
longer; and, as Polo refers to the crackling of the bamboos in the
fires, it is highly probable that he found no ‘_fine hostelries_’
on this route. This is the way the traders still travel in Tibet;
they march until they are tired, or until they find a nice grassy
spot; they then off saddles, turn their animals loose, light a
fire under some adjacent tree, and halt for the night; thus the
longest possible distance can be performed every day, and the
five days from Ta-li to Yung-Ch’ang would not be by any means an
impossibility.”—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Ramusio says that both men and women use this gold case.
There can be no better instance of the accuracy with which Polo is
generally found to have represented Oriental names, when we recover
his _real_ representation of them, than this name _Zardandan_. In
the old Latin editions the name appeared as _Ardandan_, _Arcladam_,
etc.; in Ramusio as _Cardandan_, correctly enough, only the first
letter should have been printed Ç. Marsden, carrying out his
systematic conversion of the Ramusian spelling, made this into
_Kardandan_, and thus the name became irrecognizable. Klaproth,
I believe, first showed that the word was simply the Persian
ZĂR-DANDÁN, “Gold-Teeth,” and produced quotations from Rashiduddin
mentioning the people in question by that identical name. Indeed
that historian mentions them several times. Thus: “North-west of
China is the frontier of Tibet, and of the ZARDANDAN, who lie
between Tibet and Karájáng. These people cover their teeth with
a gold case, which they take off when they eat.” They are also
frequently mentioned in the Chinese annals about this period under
the same name, viz. _Kin-Chi_, “Gold-Teeth,” and some years after
Polo’s departure from the East they originated a revolt against the
Mongol yoke, in which a great number of the imperial troops were
massacred. (_De Mailla_, IX. 478–479.)
[Baber writes (p. 159): “In Western Yünnan the betel-nut is chewed
with prepared lime, colouring the teeth red, and causing a profuse
expectoration. We first met with the practice near Tali-fu.
“Is it not possible that the red colour imparted to the teeth by
the practice of chewing betel with lime may go some way to account
for the ancient name of this region, ‘Zar-dandan,’ ‘Chin-Ch’ih,’
or ‘Golden-Teeth’? Betel-chewing is, of course, common all over
China; but the use of lime is almost unknown and the teeth are not
necessarily discoloured.
“In the neighbourhood of Tali, one comes suddenly upon a
lime-chewing people, and is at once struck with the strange
red hue of their teeth and gums. That some of the natives used
formerly to cover their teeth with plates of gold (from which
practice, mentioned by Marco Polo, and confirmed elsewhere, the
name is generally derived) can scarcely be considered a myth; but
the peculiarity remarked by ourselves would have been equally
noticeable by the early Chinese invaders, and seems not altogether
unworthy of consideration. It is interesting to find the name
‘Chin-Ch’ih’ still in use.
“When Tu Wên-hsiu sent his ‘Panthay’ mission to England with
tributary boxes of rock from the Tali Mountains, he described
himself in his letter ‘as a humble native of the golden-teeth
country.’”—H. C.]
_Vochan_ seems undoubtedly to be, as Martini pointed out, the city
called by the Chinese YUNG-CH’ANG-FU. Some of the old printed
editions read _Unciam_, _i.e._ Uncham or Unchan, and it is probable
that either this or _Võcian_, _i.e._ VONCHAN, was the true reading,
coming very close to the proper name, which is WUNCHEN. (See
_J. A. S. B._ VI. 547.) [In an itinerary from Ava to Peking, we
read on the 10th September, 1833: “Slept at the city Wun-tsheng
(Chinese Yongtchang fú and Burmese _Wun-zen_).” (_Chin. Rep._ IX.
p. 474.)—Mr. F. W. K. Müller in a study on the Pa-yi language
from a Chinese manuscript entitled _Hwa-i-yi-yü_ found by Dr. F.
Hirth in China, and belonging now to the Berlin Royal Library,
says the proper orthography of the word is _Wan-chang_ in Pa-yi.
(_T’oung Pao_, III. p. 20.) This helps to find the origin of the
name _Vochan_.—H. C.] This city has been a Chinese one for several
centuries, and previous to the late Mahomedan revolt its population
was almost exclusively Chinese, with only a small mixture of Shans.
It is now noted for the remarkable beauty and fairness of the
women. But it is mentioned by Chinese authors as having been in the
Middle Ages the capital of the Gold-Teeth. These people, according
to Martini, dwelt chiefly to the north of the city. They used to
go to worship a huge stone, 100 feet high, at Nan-ngan, and cover
it annually with gold-leaf. Some additional particulars about the
Kin-Chi, in the time of the Mongols, will be found in Pauthier’s
notes (p. 398).
[In 1274, the Burmese attacked Yung ch’ang, whose inhabitants were
known under the name of _Kin-Chi_ (Golden-Teeth). (_E. Rocher,
Princes du Yun-nan_, p. 71.) From the Annals of Momein, translated
by Mr. E. H. Parker (_China Review_, XX. p. 345), we learn that:
“In the year 1271, the General of Ta-li was sent on a mission to
procure the submission of the Burmese, and managed to bring a
Burmese envoy named Kiai-poh back with him. Four years later Fu
A-pih, Chief of the Golden-Teeth, was utilised as a guide, which
so angered the Burmese that they detained Fu A-pih and attacked
Golden-Teeth: but he managed to bribe himself free. A-ho, Governor
of the Golden-Teeth, was now sent as a spy, which caused the
Burmese to advance to the attack once more, but they were driven
back by Twan Sin-cha-jih. These events led to the Burmese war,”
which lasted till 1301.
According to the _Hwang-tsing Chi-kung t’u_ (quoted by Devéria,
_Front._ p. 130), the _Pei-jen_ were _Kin-chi_, of Pa-y race, and
were surnamed Min-kia-tzŭ; the Min-kia, according to F. Garnier,
say that they come from Nan-king, but this is certainly an error
for the Pei-jen. From another Chinese work, Devéria (p. 169) gives
this information: The Piao are the Kin-Chi; they submitted to the
Mongols in the 13th century; they are descended from the people of
Chu-po or Piao Kwo (Kingdom of Piao), ancient Pegu; P’u-p’iao, in
a little valley between the Mekong and the Salwen Rivers, was the
place through which the P’u and the Piao entered China.
The Chinese geographical work _Fang-yu-ki-yao_ mentions the name
of Kin-Chi Ch’eng, or city of Kin-Chi, as the ancient denomination
of Yung-ch’ang. A Chinese Pa-y vocabulary, belonging to Professor
Devéria, translates Kin-Chi by Wan-Chang (Yung-ch’ang). (_Devéria,
Front._ p. 128.)—H. C.]
It has not been determined who are the representatives of these
Gold-Teeth, who were evidently distinct from the Shans, not
Buddhist, and without literature. I should think it probable that
they were _Kakhyens_ or _Singphos_, who, excluding Shans, appear
to form the greatest body in that quarter, and are closely akin to
each other, indeed essentially identical in race.[1] The Singphos
have now extended widely to the west of the Upper Irawadi and
northward into Assam, but their traditions bring them from the
borders of Yunnan. The original and still most populous seat of
the Kakhyen or Singpho race is pointed out by Colonel Hannay in
the Gulansigung Mountains and the valley of the eastern source of
the Irawadi. This agrees with Martini’s indication of the seat of
the Kin-Chi as north of Yung-ch’ang. One of Hannay’s notices of
Singpho customs should also be compared with the interpolation from
Ramusio about tattooing: “The men tattoo their limbs slightly, and
all married females are tattooed on both legs from the ankle to
the knee, in broad horizontal circular bands. Both sexes also wear
rings below the knee of fine shreds of rattan varnished black” (p.
18). These rings appear on the Kakhyen woman in our cut.
[Illustration: Kakhyens. (From a Photograph.)]
The only other wild tribe spoken of by Major Sladen as attending
the markets on the frontier is that of the _Lissus_, already
mentioned by Lieutenant Garnier (_supra_, ch. xlvii. note 6), and
who are said to be the most savage and indomitable of the tribes
in that quarter. Garnier also mentions the Mossos, who are alleged
once to have formed an independent kingdom about Li-kiang fu.
Possibly, however, the Gold-Teeth may have become entirely absorbed
in the Chinese and Shan population.
The characteristic of casing the teeth in gold should identify the
tribe did it still exist. But I can learn nothing of the continued
existence of such a custom among any tribe of the Indo-Chinese
continent. The insertion of gold studs or spots, which Bürck
confounds with it, is common enough among Indo-Chinese races,
but that is quite a different thing. The actual practice of the
Zardandan is, however, followed by some of the people of Sumatra,
as both Marsden and Raffles testify: “The great men sometimes
set their teeth in gold, by casing with a plate of that metal
the under row ... it is sometimes indented to the shape of the
teeth, but more usually quite plain. They do not remove it either
to eat or sleep.” The like custom is mentioned by old travellers
at Macassar, and with the substitution of _silver_ for gold by
a modern traveller as existing in Timor; but in both, probably,
it was a practice of Malay tribes, as in Sumatra. (_Marsden’s
Sumatra_, 3rd ed., p. 52; _Raffles’s Java_, I. 105; _Bickmore’s
Ind. Archipelago_.)
[In his second volume of _The River of Golden Sand_, Captain Gill
has two chapters (viii. and ix.) with the title: _In the footsteps
of Marco Polo and of Augustus Margary_ devoted to _The Land of the
Gold-Teeth_ and _The Marches of the Kingdom of Mien_.—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—This is precisely the account which Lieutenant Garnier
gives of the people of Laos: “The Laos people are very indolent,
and when they are not rich enough to possess slaves they make
over to their women the greatest part of the business of the
day; and ’tis these latter who not only do all the work of the
house, but who husk the rice, work in the fields, and paddle the
canoes. Hunting and fishing are almost the only occupations which
pertain exclusively to the stronger sex.” (_Notice sur le Voyage
d’Exploration_, etc., p. 34.)
NOTE 4.—This highly eccentric practice has been ably illustrated
and explained by Mr. Tylor, under the name of the _Couvade_, or
“Hatching,” by which it is known in some of the Béarn districts of
the Pyrenees, where it formerly existed, as it does still or did
recently, in some Basque districts of Spain. [In a paper on _La
Couvade chez les Basques_, published in the _République Française_,
of 19th January, 1877, and reprinted in _Études de Linguistique et
d’Ethnographie par A. Hovelacque et Julien Vinson_, Paris, 1878,
Prof. Vinson quotes the following curious passage from the poem
in ten cantos, _Luciniade_, by Sacombe, of Carcassonne (Paris and
Nîmes, 1790):
“En Amérique, en Corse, et chez l’Ibérien,
En France même encor chez le Vénarnien,
Au pays Navarrois, lorsqu’une femme accouche,
L’épouse sort du lit et le mari se couche;
Et, quoiqu’il soit très sain et d’esprit et de corps,
Contre un mal qu’il n’a point l’art unit ses efforts.
On le met au régime, et notre faux malade,
Soigné par l’accouchée, en son lit fait _couvade_:
On ferme avec grand soin portes, volets, rideaux;
Immobile, on l’oblige à rester sur le dos,
Pour étouffer son lait, qui gêné dans sa course,
Pourrait en l’étouffant remonter vers sa source.
Un mari, dans sa couche, au médecin soumis,
Reçoit, en cet état, parents, voisins, amis,
Qui viennent l’exhorter à prendre patience
Et font des vœux au ciel pour sa convalescence.”
Professor Vinson, who is an authority on the subject, comes to the
conclusion that it is not possible to ascribe to the Basques the
custom of the _couvade_.
Mr. Tylor writes to me that he “did not quite begin the use of
this good French word in the sense of the ‘man-child-bed’ as they
call it in Germany. It occurs in Rochefort, _Iles Antilles_, and
though Dr. Murray, of the English Dictionary, maintains that it is
spurious, if so, it is better than any genuine word I know of.”—H.
C.] “In certain valleys of Biscay,” says Francisque-Michel, “in
which the popular usages carry us back to the infancy of society,
the woman immediately after her delivery gets up and attends to the
cares of the household, whilst the husband takes to bed with the
tender fledgeling in his arms, and so receives the compliments of
his neighbours.”
The nearest people to the Zardandan of whom I find this custom
elsewhere recorded, is one called _Langszi_,[2] a small tribe of
aborigines in the department of Wei-ning, in Kweichau, but close
to the border of Yun-nan: “Their manners and customs are very
extraordinary. For example, when the wife has given birth to a
child, the husband remains in the house and holds it in his arms
for a whole month, not once going out of doors. The wife in the
mean time does all the work in doors and out, and provides and
serves up both food and drink for the husband, she only giving suck
to the child.” I am informed also that, among the Miris on the
Upper Assam border, the husband on such occasions confines himself
strictly to the house for forty days after the event.
The custom of the Couvade has especially and widely prevailed in
South America, not only among the Carib races of Guiana, of the
Spanish Main, and (where still surviving) of the West Indies, but
among many tribes of Brazil and its borders from the Amazons to
the Plate, and among the Abipones of Paraguay; it also exists or
has existed among the aborigines of California, in West Africa,
in Bouro, one of the Moluccas, and among a wandering tribe of the
Telugu-speaking districts of Southern India. According to Diodorus
it prevailed in ancient Corsica, according to Strabo among the
Iberians of Northern Spain (where we have seen it has lingered to
recent times), according to Apollonius Rhodius among the Tibareni
of Pontus. Modified traces of a like practice, not carried to the
same extent of oddity, are also found in a variety of countries
besides those that have been named, as in Borneo, in Kamtchatka,
and in Greenland. In nearly all cases some particular diet, or
abstinence from certain kinds of food and drink, and from exertion,
is prescribed to the father; in some, more positive and trying
penances are inflicted.
Butler had no doubt our Traveller’s story in his head when he made
the widow in _Hudibras_ allude in a ribald speech to the supposed
fact that
————“Chineses go to bed
And lie in, in their ladies’ stead.”
The custom is humorously introduced, as Pauthier has noticed, in
the Mediæval Fabliau of _Aucassin and Nicolete_. Aucassin arriving
at the castle of Torelore asks for the king and is told he is in
child-bed. Where then is his wife? She is gone to the wars and has
taken all the people with her. Aucassin, greatly astonished, enters
the palace, and wanders through it till he comes to the chamber
where the king lay:—
“En le canbre entre Aucassins
Li cortois et li gentis;
Il est venus dusqu’au lit
Alec ú li Rois se gist.
Pardevant lui s’arestit
Si parla, Oès que dist;
Diva fau, que fais-tu ci?
Dist le Rois, Je gis d’un fil,
Quant mes mois sera complis,
Et ge serai bien garis,
Dont irai le messe oïr
Si comme mes ancessor fist,” etc.
Aucassin pulls all the clothes off him, and cudgels him soundly,
making him promise that never a man shall lie in again in his
country.
This strange custom, if it were unique, would look like a coarse
practical joke, but appearing as it does among so many different
races and in every quarter of the world, it must have its root
somewhere deep in the psychology of the uncivilised man. I must
refer to Mr. Tylor’s interesting remarks on the rationale of the
custom, for they do not bear abridgment. Professor Max Müller
humorously suggests that “the treatment which a husband receives
among ourselves at the time of his wife’s confinement, not only
from mothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and other female relations,
but from nurses, and from every consequential maid-servant in the
house,” is but a “survival,” as Mr. Tylor would call it, of the
_couvade_; or at least represents the same feeling which among
those many uncivilised nations thus drove the husband to his
bed, and sometimes (as among the Caribs) put him when there to
systematic torture.
(_Tylor_, _Researches_, 288–296; _Michel, Le Pays Basque_, p. 201;
_Sketches of the Meau-tsze_, transl. by _Bridgman_ in _J. of North
China Br. of R. As. Soc._, p. 277; _Hudibras_, Pt. III., canto
I. 707; _Fabliaus et Contes par Barbazan, éd. Méon_, I. 408–409;
_Indian Antiq._ III. 151; _Müller’s Chips_, II. 227 _seqq._; many
other references in TYLOR, and in a capital monograph by Dr. H. H.
Ploss of Leipzig, received during revision of this sheet: ‘_Das
Männerkindbett_.’ What a notable example of the German power of
compounding is that title!)
[This custom seems to be considered generally as a survival of
the matriarchate in a society with a patriarchal régime. We may
add to the list of authorities on this subject: _E. Westermarck,
Hist. of Human Marriage_, 106, _seqq._; _G. A. Wilken, De Couvade
bij de Volken v.d. Indischen Archipel, Bijdr. Ind. Inst._, 5th
ser., iv. p. 250. Dr. Ernest Martin, late physician of the French
Legation at Peking, in an article on _La Couvade en Chine_ (_Revue
Scientifique_, 24th March, 1894), gave a drawing representing the
couvade from a sketch by a native artist.
In the _China Review_ (XI. pp. 401–402), “Lao Kwang-tung” notes
these interesting facts: “The Chinese believe that certain
actions performed by the husband during the pregnancy of his wife
will affect the child. If a dish of food on the table is raised
by putting another dish, or anything else below it, it is not
considered proper for a husband, who is expecting the birth of a
child, to partake of it, for fear the two dishes should cause the
child to have two tongues. It is extraordinary that the caution
thus exercised by the Chinese has not prevented many of them from
being double-tongued. This result, it is supposed, however, will
only happen if the food so raised is eaten in the house in which
the future mother happens to be. It is thought that the pasting
up of the red papers containing antithetical and felicitous
sentences on them, as at New Year’s time, by a man under similar
circumstances, and this whether the future mother sees the action
performed or not, will cause the child to have red marks on the
face or any part of the body. The causes producing _naevi materni_
have probably been the origin of such marks, rather than the idea
entertained by the Chinese that the father, having performed an
action by some occult mode, influences the child yet unborn. A
case is said to have occurred in which ill effects were obviated,
or rather obliterated, by the red papers being torn down, after
the birth of the infant, and soaked in water, when as the red
disappeared from the paper, so the child’s face assumed a natural
hue. Lord Avebury also speaks of _la couvade_ as existing among the
Chinese of West Yun-Nan. (_Origin of Civilisation and Primitive
Condition of Man_, p. 18).”
Dr. J. A. H. Murray, editor of the _New English Dictionary_,
wrote, in _The Academy_, of 29th October, 1892, a letter with the
heading of _Couvade, The Genesis of an Anthropological Term_, which
elicited an answer from Dr. E. B. Tylor (_Academy_, 5th November):
“Wanting a general term for such customs,” writes Dr. Tylor, “and
finding statements in books that this male lying-in lasted on
till modern times, in the south of France, and was there called
_couvade_, that is brooding or hatching (_couver_), I adopted this
word for the set of customs, and it has since become established in
English.” The discussion was carried on in _The Academy_, 12th and
19th November, 10th and 17th December; Mr. A. L. Mayhew wrote (12th
November): “There is no doubt whatever that Dr. Tylor and Professor
Max Müller (in a review of Dr. Tylor’s book) share the glory of
having given a new technical sense to an old provincial French
word, and of seeing it accepted in France, and safely enshrined in
the great Dictionary of Littré.”
Now as to the origin of the word; we have seen above that
Rochefort was the first to use the expression _faire la couvade_.
This author, or at least the author (see _Barbier, Ouvrages
anonymes_) of the _Histoire naturelle ... des Iles Antilles_, which
was published for the first time at Rotterdam, in 1658, 4to.,
writes: “C’est qu’au méme tems que la femme est delivrée le mary
se met au lit, pour s’y plaindre et y faire l’acouchée: coutume,
qui bien que Sauvage et ridicule, se trouve neantmoins à ce que
l’on dit, parmy les paysans d’vne certaine Province de France. Et
ils appellent cela _faire la couvade_. Mais ce qui est de fâcheus
pour le pauvre Caraïbe, qui s’est mis au lit au lieu de l’acouchée,
c’est qu’on luy fait faire diéte dix ou douze jours de suite, ne
luy donnant rien par jour qu’vn petit morceau de Cassave, et vn peu
d’eau dans la quelle on a aussi fait boüillir un peu de ce pain de
racine.... Mais ils ne font ce grand jeusne qu’à la naissance de
leur premier enfant....” (II. pp. 607–608).
Lafitau (_Mœurs des Sauvages Ameriquains_, I. pp. 49–50) says on
the authority of Rochefort: “Je la trouve chez les Ibériens ou les
premiers Peuples d’Espagne ... elle est aujourd’hui dans quelques
unes de nos Provinces d’Espagne.”
The word _couvade_, forgotten in the sense of lying-in-bed,
recalled by Sacombe, has been renovated in a happy manner by Dr.
Tylor.
As to the custom itself, there can be no doubt of its existence,
in spite of some denials. Dr. Tylor, in the third edition of his
valuable _Early History of Mankind_, published in 1878 (Murray),
since the last edition of _The Book of Ser Marco Polo_, has added
(pp. 291 _seqq._) many more proofs to support what he had already
said on the subject.
There may be some strong doubts as to the _couvade_ in the south
of France, and the authors who speak of it in Béarn and the Basque
Countries seem to have copied one another, but there is not the
slightest doubt of its having been and of its being actually
practised in South America. There is a very curious account of it
in the _Voyage dans le Nord du Brésil_ made by Father Yves d’Evreux
in 1613 and 1614 (see pp. 88–89 of the reprint, Paris, 1864, and
the note of the learned Ferdinand Denis, pp. 411–412). Compare with
_Durch Central-Brasilien ... im Jahre_ 1884 _von K.v. den Steinen_.
But the following extract from _Among the Indians of Guiana_....
_By Everard im Thurn_ (1883), will settle, I think, the question:
“Turning from the story of the day to the story of the life, we may
begin at the beginning, that is, at the birth of the children. And
here, at once, we meet with, perhaps, the most curious point in
the habits of the Indians; the _couvade_ or male child-bed. This
custom, which is common to the uncivilized people of many parts of
the world, is probably among the strangest ever invented by the
human brain. Even before the child is born, the father abstains
for a time from certain kinds of animal food. The woman works as
usual up to a few hours before the birth of the child. At last she
retires alone, or accompanied only by some other women, to the
forest, where she ties up her hammock; and then the child is born.
Then in a few hours—often less than a day—the woman, who, like all
women living in a very unartificial condition, suffers but little,
gets up and resumes her ordinary work. According to Schomburgk, the
mother, at any rate among the Macusis, remains in her hammock for
some time, and the father hangs his hammock, and lies in it, by her
side; but in all cases where the matter came under my notice, the
mother left her hammock almost at once. In any case, no sooner is
the child born than the father takes to his hammock and, abstaining
from every sort of work, from meat and all other food, except
weak gruel of cassava meal, from smoking, from washing himself,
and, above all, from touching weapons of any sort, is nursed and
cared for by all the women of the place. One other regulation,
mentioned by Schomburgk, is certainly quaint; the interesting
father may not scratch himself with his finger-nails, but he may
use for this purpose a splinter, specially provided, from the
mid-rib of a cokerite palm. This continues for many days, and
sometimes even weeks. _Couvade_ is such a wide-spread institution,
that I had often read and wondered at it; but it was not until I
saw it practised around me, and found that I was often suddenly
deprived of the services of my best hunters or boat-hands, by
the necessity which they felt, and which nothing could persuade
them to disregard, of observing _couvade_, that I realized its
full strangeness. No satisfactory explanation of its origin seems
attainable. It appears based on a belief in the existence of a
mysterious connection between the child and its father—far closer
than that which exists between the child and its mother,—and
of such a nature that if the father infringes any of the rules
of the _couvade_, for a time after the birth of the child, the
latter suffers. For instance, if he eats the flesh of a water-haas
(_Capybara_), a large rodent with very protruding teeth, the teeth
of the child will grow as those of the animal; or if he eats the
flesh of the spotted-skinned labba, the child’s skin will become
spotted. Apparently there is also some idea that for the father to
eat strong food, to wash, to smoke, or to handle weapons, would
have the same result as if the new-born babe ate such food, washed,
smoked, or played with edged tools” (pp. 217–219.)
I have to thank Dr. Edward B. Tylor for the valuable notes he
kindly sent me.—H. C.]
NOTE 5.—“The abundance of gold in Yun-nan is proverbial in China,
so that if a man lives very extravagantly they ask if his father is
governor of Yun-nan.” (_Martini_, p. 140.)
Polo has told us that in Eastern Yun-nan the exchange was 8 of
silver for one of gold (ch. xlviii.); in the Western division of
the province 6 of silver for one of gold (ch. xlix.); and now,
still nearer the borders of Ava, only 5 of silver for one of gold.
Such discrepancies within 15 days’ journey would be inconceivable,
but that in both the latter instances at least he appears to
speak of the rates at which the gold was purchased from secluded,
ignorant, and uncivilised tribes. It is difficult to reconcile with
other facts the reason which he assigns for the high value put
on silver at Vochan, viz., that there was no silver-mine within
five months’ journey. In later days, at least, Martini speaks
of many silver-mines in Yun-nan, and the “Great Silver Mine”
(_Bau-dwen gyi_ of the Burmese) or group of mines, which affords
a chief supply to Burma in modern times, is not far from the
territory of our Traveller’s Zardandan. Garnier’s map shows several
argentiferous sites in the Valley of the Lan-t’sang.
In another work[3] I have remarked at some length on the relative
values of gold and silver about this time. In Western Europe
these seem to have been as 12 to 1, and I have shown grounds for
believing that in India, and generally over civilised Asia, the
ratio was 10 to 1. In Pauthier’s extracts from the _Yuen-shi_ or
Annals of the Mongol Dynasty, there is an incidental but precise
confirmation of this, of which I was not then aware. This states
(p. 321) that on the issue of the paper currency of 1287 the
official instructions to the local treasuries were to issue notes
of the nominal value of two strings, _i.e._ 2000 _wen_ or cash, for
every ounce of flowered silver, and 20,000 cash for every ounce of
gold. Ten to 1 must have continued to be the relation in China down
to about the end of the 17th century if we may believe Lecomte; but
when Milburne states the same value in the beginning of the 19th he
must have fallen into some great error. In 1781 Sonnerat tells us
that _formerly_ gold had been exported from China with a profit of
25 per cent., but at that time a profit of 18 to 20 per cent. was
made by _importing_ it. At present[4] the relative values are about
the same as in Europe, viz. 1 to 15½ or 1 to 16; but in Canton,
in 1844, they were 1 to 17; and Timkowski states that at Peking
in 1821 the finest gold was valued at 18 to 1. And as regards the
precise territory of which this chapter speaks I find in Lieutenant
Bower’s Commercial Report on Sladen’s Mission that the price of
pure gold at Momein in 1868 was 13 times its weight in silver (p.
122); whilst M. Garnier mentions that the exchange at Ta-li in 1869
was 12 to 1 (I. 522).
Does not Shakspeare indicate at least a memory of 10 to 1 as the
traditional relation of gold to silver when he makes the Prince of
Morocco, balancing over Portia’s caskets, argue:—
“Or shall I think in silver she’s immured,
Being ten times undervalued to tried gold?
O sinful thought!”
In Japan, at the time trade was opened, we know from Sir R.
Alcock’s work the extraordinary fact that the proportionate value
set upon gold and silver currency by authority was as 3 to 1.
(_Cathay_, etc., p. ccl. and p. 442; _Lecomte_, II. 91; _Milburne’s
Oriental Commerce_, II. 510; _Sonnerat_, II. 17; _Hedde, Etude,
Pratique_, etc., p. 14; _Williams, Chinese Commercial Guide_, p.
129; _Timkowski_, II. 202; _Alcock_, I. 281; II. 411, etc.)
NOTE 6.—Mr. Lay cites from a Chinese authority a notice of a tribe
of “Western Miautsze,” who “in the middle of autumn sacrifice to
the Great Ancestor or Founder of their Race.” (_The Chinese as they
are_, p. 321.)
NOTE 7.—Dr. Anderson confirms the depressing and unhealthy
character of the summer climate at Momein, though standing between
5000 and 6000 feet above the sea (p. 41).
NOTE 8.—“Whereas before,” says Jack Cade to Lord Say, “our
forefathers had no books but score and tally, thou hast caused
printing to be used.” The use of such tallies for the record of
contracts among the aboriginal tribes of Kweichau is mentioned by
Chinese authorities, and the French missionaries of Bonga speak of
the same as in use among the simple tribes in that vicinity. But,
as Marsden notes, the use of such rude records was to be found in
his day in higher places and much nearer home. They continued to be
employed as records of receipts in the British Exchequer till 1834,
“and it is worthy of recollection that the fire by which the Houses
of Parliament were destroyed was supposed to have originated in the
over-heating of the flues in which the discarded tallies were being
burnt.” I remember often, when a child, to have seen the tallies of
the colliers in Scotland, and possibly among that class they may
survive. They appear to be still used by bakers in various parts
of England and France, in the Canterbury hop-gardens, and locally
in some other trades. (_Martini_, 135; _Bridgman_, 259, 262; _Eng.
Cyclop._ sub v. _Tally_; _Notes and Queries_, 1st ser. X. 485.)
[According to Father Crabouillet (_Missions Cath._ 1873, p. 105),
the Lolos use tallies for their contracts; Dr. Harmand mentions
(_Tour du Monde_, 1877, No. VII.) the same fact among the Khas of
Central Laos; and M. Pierre Lefèvre-Pontalis (_Populations du nord
de l’Indo-Chine_, 1892, p. 22, from the _J. As._) says he saw these
tallies among the Khas of Luang-Prabang.—H. C.]
“In Illustration of this custom I have to relate what follows. In
the year 1863 the Tsaubwa (or Prince) of a Shan Province adjoining
Yun-nan was in rebellion against the Burmese Government. He wished
to enter into communication with the British Government. He sent
a messenger to a British Officer with a letter tendering his
allegiance, and accompanying this letter was a piece of bamboo
about five inches long. This had been split down the middle, so
that the two pieces fitted closely together, forming a tube in
the original shape of the bamboo. A notch at one end included
the edges of both pieces, showing that they were a pair. The
messenger said that if the reply were favourable one of the pieces
was to be returned and the other kept. I need hardly say the
messenger received no written reply, and both pieces of bamboo were
retained.” (_MS. Note by Sir Arthur Phayre._)
NOTE 9.—Compare Mr. Hodgson’s account of the sub-Himalayan Bodos
and Dhimals: “All diseases are ascribed to supernatural agency.
The sick man is supposed to be possessed by one of the deities,
who racks him with pain as a punishment for impiety or neglect of
the god in question. Hence not the mediciner, but the exorcist, is
summoned to the sick man’s aid.” (_J. A. S. B._ XVIII. 728.)
NOTE 10.—Mr. Hodgson again: “Libations of fermented liquor always
accompany sacrifice—_because_, to confess the whole truth,
sacrifice and feast are commutable words, and feasts need to be
crowned with copious potations.” (_Ibid._)
NOTE 11.—And again: “The god in question is asked what sacrifice
he requires? a buffalo, a hog, a fowl, or a duck, to spare the
sufferer; ... anxious as I am fully to illustrate the topic, I will
not try the patience of my readers by describing all that vast
variety of black victims and white, of red victims and blue, which
each particular deity is alleged to prefer.” (_Ibid._ and p. 732.)
NOTE 12.—The same system of devil-dancing is prevalent among the
tribes on the Lu-kiang, as described by the R. C. Missionaries. The
conjurors are there called _Mumos_. (_Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi_,
XXXVI. 323, and XXXVII. 312–313.)
“Marco’s account of the exorcism of evil spirits in cases of
obstinate illness exactly resembles what is done in similar cases
by the Burmese, except that I never saw animals sacrificed on such
occasions.” (_Sir A. Phayre._)
Mouhot says of the wild people of Cambodia called _Stiens_: “When
any one is ill they say that the Evil Spirit torments him; and to
deliver him they set up about the patient a dreadful din which does
not cease night or day, until some one among the bystanders falls
down as if in a syncope, crying out, ‘I have him,—he is in me,—he
is strangling me!’ Then they question the person who has thus
become possessed. They ask him what remedies will save the patient;
what remedies does the Evil Spirit require that he may give up his
prey? Sometimes it is an ox or a pig; but too often it is a human
victim.” (_J. R. G. S._ XXXII. 147.)
See also the account of the Samoyede _Tadibeï_ or Devil-dancer in
Klaproth’s _Magasin Asiatique_ (II. 83).
In fact these strange rites of Shamanism, devil-dancing, or what
not, are found with wonderful identity of character among the
non-Caucasian races over parts of the earth most remote from one
another, not only among the vast variety of Indo-Chinese Tribes,
but among the Tamulian tribes of India, the Veddahs of Ceylon,
the races of Siberia, and the red nations of North and South
America. Hinduism has assimilated these “prior superstitions of the
sons of Tur” as Mr. Hodgson calls them, in the form of Tantrika
mysteries, whilst, in the wild performance of the Dancing Dervishes
at Constantinople, we see perhaps again the infection of Turanian
blood breaking out from the very heart of Mussulman orthodoxy.
Dr. Caldwell has given a striking account of the practice of
devil-dancing among the Shanars of Tinnevelly, which forms a
perfect parallel in modern language to our Traveller’s description
of a scene of which he also had manifestly been an eye-witness:
“When the preparations are completed and the devil-dance is about
to commence, the music is at first comparatively slow; the dancer
seems impassive and sullen, and he either stands still or moves
about in gloomy silence. Gradually, as the music becomes quicker
and louder, his excitement begins to rise. Sometimes, to help him
to work himself up into a frenzy, he uses medicated draughts, cuts
and lacerates himself till the blood flows, lashes himself with
a huge whip, presses a burning torch to his breast, drinks the
blood which flows from his own wounds, or drains the blood of the
sacrifice, putting the throat of the decapitated goat to his mouth.
Then, as if he had acquired new life, he begins to brandish his
staff of bells, and to dance with a quick but wild unsteady step.
Suddenly the afflatus descends; there is no mistaking that glare,
or those frantic leaps. He snorts, he stares, he gyrates. The demon
has now taken bodily possession of him, and though he retains the
power of utterance and motion, both are under the demon’s control,
and his separate consciousness is in abeyance. The bystanders
signalise the event by raising a long shout, attended with a
peculiar vibratory noise, caused by the motion of the hand and
tongue, or the tongue alone. The devil-dancer is now worshipped
as a present deity, and every bystander consults him respecting
his diseases, his wants, the welfare of his absent relatives, the
offerings to be made for the accomplishment of his wishes, and in
short everything for which superhuman knowledge is supposed to be
available.” (_Hodgson, J. R. As. Soc._ XVIII. 397; _The Tinnevelly
Shanars_, by the _Rev. R. Caldwell, B.A._, Madras, 1849, pp. 19–20.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “_Singpho_,” says Colonel Hannay, “signifies in the Kakhyen
language ‘a man,’ and all of this race who have settled in Hookong
or Assam are thus designated; the reason of their change of name I
could not ascertain, but so much importance seems to be attached
to it, that the Singphos, in talking of their eastern and southern
neighbours, call them Kakhyens or Kakoos, and consider it an
insult to be called so themselves.” (_Sketch of the Singphos, or
the Kakhyens of Burma_, Calcutta, 1847, pp. 3–4.) If, however,
the Kakhyens, or _Kachyens_ (as Major Sladen calls them), are
represented by the _Go-tchang_ of Pauthier’s Chinese extracts,
these seem to be distinguished from the Kin-Chi, though associated
with them. (See pp. 397, 411.)
[2] [Mr. E. H. Parker (_China Review_, XIV. p. 359) says that Colonel
Yule’s _Langszi_ are evidently the _Szilang_, one of the six
_Chao_, but turned upside down.—H. C.]
[3] _Cathay_, etc., pp. ccl. _seqq._ and p. 441.
[4] Written in 1870.
CHAPTER LI.
WHEREIN IS RELATED HOW THE KING OF MIEN AND BANGALA VOWED
VENGEANCE AGAINST THE GREAT KAAN.
But I was forgetting to tell you of a famous battle that was fought in
the kingdom of Vochan in the Province of Zardandan, and that ought not
to be omitted from our Book. So we will relate all the particulars.
You see, in the year of Christ, 1272,{1} the Great Kaan sent a large
force into the kingdoms of Carajan and Vochan, to protect them from
the ravages of ill-disposed people; and this was before he had sent
any of his sons to rule the country, as he did afterwards when he made
Sentemur king there, the son of a son of his who was deceased.
Now there was a certain king, called the king of MIEN and of BANGALA,
who was a very puissant prince, with much territory and treasure and
people; and he was not as yet subject to the Great Kaan, though it was
not long after that the latter conquered him and took from him both
the kingdoms that I have named.{2} And it came to pass that when this
king of Mien and Bangala heard that the host of the Great Kaan was at
Vochan, he said to himself that it behoved him to go against them with
so great a force as should insure his cutting off the whole of them,
insomuch that the Great Kaan would be very sorry ever to send an army
again thither [to his frontier].
So this king prepared a great force and munitions of war; and he had,
let me tell you, 2000 great elephants, on each of which was set a tower
of timber, well framed and strong, and carrying from twelve to sixteen
well-armed fighting men.{3} And besides these, he had of horsemen and
of footmen good 60,000 men. In short, he equipped a fine force, as well
befitted such a puissant prince. It was indeed a host capable of doing
great things.
And what shall I tell you? When the king had completed these great
preparations to fight the Tartars, he tarried not, but straightway
marched against them. And after advancing without meeting with anything
worth mentioning, they arrived within three days of the Great Kaan’s
host, which was then at Vochan in the territory of Zardandan, of which
I have already spoken. So there the king pitched his camp, and halted
to refresh his army.
NOTE 1.—This date is no doubt corrupt. (See note 3, ch. lii.)
NOTE 2.—MIEN is the name by which the kingdom of Burma or Ava was
and is known to the Chinese. M. Garnier informs me that _Mien-Kwé_
or _Mien-tisong_ is the name always given in Yun-nan to that
kingdom, whilst the Shans at Kiang Hung call the Burmese _Man_
(pronounced like the English word).
The title given to the sovereign in question of King of BENGAL, as
well as of Mien, is very remarkable. We shall see reason hereafter
to conceive that Polo did more or less confound Bengal with _Pegu_,
which was subject to the Burmese monarchy up to the time of the
Mongol invasion. But apart from any such misapprehension, there
is not only evidence of rather close relations between Burma and
Gangetic India in the ages immediately preceding that of our
author, but also some ground for believing that he may be right in
his representation, and that the King of Burma may have at this
time arrogated the title of “King of Bengal,” which is attributed
to him in the text.
Anaurahta, one of the most powerful kings in Burmese history
(1017–1059), extended his conquests to the frontiers of India,
and is stated to have set up images within that country. He also
married an Indian princess, the daughter of the King of _Wethali_
(_i.e._ _Vaiçali_ in Tirhút).
There is also in the _Burmese Chronicle_ a somewhat confused story
regarding a succeeding king, Kyan-tsittha (A.D. 1064), who desired
to marry his daughter to the son of the King of _Patteik-Kará_, a
part of Bengal.[1] The marriage was objected to by the Burmese
nobles, but the princess was already with child by the Bengal
prince; and their son eventually succeeded to the Burmese throne
under the name of Alaungtsi-thu. When king, he travelled all over
his dominions, and visited the images which Anaurahta had set up in
India. He also maintained intercourse with the King of Patteik-Kará
and married his daughter. Alaungtsi-thu is stated to have lived to
the age of 101 years, and to have reigned 75. Even then his death
was hastened by his son Narathu, who smothered him in the temple
called Shwé-Ku (“Golden Cave”), at Pagán, and also put to death
his Bengali step-mother. The father of the latter sent eight brave
men, disguised as Brahmans, to avenge his daughter’s death. Having
got access to the royal presence through their sacred character,
they slew King Narathu and then themselves. Hence King Narathu is
known in the Burmese history as the _Kalá-Ḳya Meng_, or “King slain
by the Hindus.” He was building the great Temple at Pagán called
_Dhammayangyi_, at the time of his death, which occurred about
the year 1171. The great-grandson of this king was Narathihapade
(presumably _Narasinha-pati_), the king reigning at the time of the
Mongol invasion.
All these circumstances show tolerably close relations between
Burma and Bengal, and also _that the dynasty then reigning in
Burma was descended from a Bengal stock_. Sir Arthur Phayre, after
noting these points, remarks: “From all these circumstances, and
from the conquests attributed to Anaurahta, it is very probable
that, after the conquest of Bengal by the Mahomedans in the 13th
century, the kings of Burma would assume the title of _Kings of
Bengal_. This is nowhere expressly stated in the Burmese history,
but the course of events renders it very probable. We know that the
claim to Bengal was asserted by the kings of Burma in long after
years. In the Journal of the Marquis of Hastings, under the date of
6th September, 1818, is the following passage: ‘The king of Burma
favoured us early this year with the obliging requisition that we
should cede to him Moorshedabad and the provinces to the east of
it, which he deigned to say were all natural dependencies of his
throne.’ And at the time of the disputes on the frontier of Arakan,
in 1823–1824, which led to the war of the two following years,
the Governor of Arakan made a similar demand. We may therefore
reasonably conclude that at the close of the 13th century of the
Christian era the kings of Pagán called themselves kings of Burma
and of Bengala.” (_MS. Note by Sir Arthur Phayre_; see also his
paper in _J. A. S. B._ vol. XXXVII. part I.)
NOTE 3.—It is very difficult to know what to make of the repeated
assertions of old writers as to the numbers of men carried by
war-elephants, or, if we could admit those numbers, to conceive how
the animal could have carried the enormous structure necessary to
give them space to use their weapons. The Third Book of Maccabees
is the most astounding in this way, alleging that a single elephant
carried 32 stout men, besides the Indian _Mahaut_. Bochart indeed
supposes the number here to be a clerical error for 12, but this
would even be extravagant. Friar Jordanus is, no doubt, building
on the Maccabees rather than on his own Oriental experience when
he says that the elephant “carrieth easily more than 30 men.”
Philostratus, in his _Life of Apollonius_, speaks of 10 to 15;
Ibn Batuta of about 20; and a great elephant sent by Timur to the
Sultan of Egypt is said to have carried 20 drummers. Christopher
Borri says that in Cochin China the elephant did ordinarily carry
13 or 14 persons, 6 on each side in two tiers of 3 each, and 2
behind. On the other hand, among the ancients, Strabo and Aelian
speak of _three_ soldiers only in addition to the driver, and
Livy, describing the Battle of Magnesia, of _four_. These last are
reasonable statements.
(_Bochart_, _Hierozoicon_, ed. 3rd, p. 266; _Jord._, p. 26;
_Philost._ trad. par _A. Chassaing_, liv. II. c. ii.; _Ibn Bat._
II. 223; _N. and E._ XIV. 510; _Cochin China_, etc., London, 1633,
ed. 3; _Armandi, Hist. Militaire des Eléphants_, 259 _seqq._ 442.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Sir A. Phayre thinks this may have been _Vikrampúr_, for some
time the capital of Eastern Bengal before the Mahomedan conquest.
Vikrampúr was some miles east of Dacca, and the dynasty in question
was that called _Vaidya_. (See _Lassen_, III. 749.) _Patteik-Kará_
is apparently an attempt to represent some Hindi name such as
_Patthargarh_, “The Stone-Fort.”
CHAPTER LII.
OF THE BATTLE THAT WAS FOUGHT BY THE GREAT KAAN’S HOST AND HIS
SENESCHAL, AGAINST THE KING OF MIEN.
And when the Captain of the Tartar host had certain news that the
king aforesaid was coming against him with so great a force, he waxed
uneasy, seeing that he had with him but 12,000 horsemen. Natheless he
was a most valiant and able soldier, of great experience in arms and
an excellent Captain; and his name was NESCRADIN.{1} His troops too
were very good, and he gave them very particular orders and cautions
how to act, and took every measure for his own defence and that of
his army. And why should I make a long story of it? The whole force
of the Tartars, consisting of 12,000 well-mounted horsemen, advanced
to receive the enemy in the Plain of Vochan, and there they waited to
give them battle. And this they did through the good judgment of the
excellent Captain who led them; for hard by that plain was a great
wood, thick with trees. And so there in the plain the Tartars awaited
their foe. Let us then leave discoursing of them a while; we shall come
back to them presently; but meantime let us speak of the enemy.
After the King of Mien had halted long enough to refresh his troops, he
resumed his march, and came to the Plain of Vochan, where the Tartars
were already in order of battle. And when the king’s army had arrived
in the plain, and was within a mile of the enemy, he caused all the
castles that were on the elephants to be ordered for battle, and the
fighting-men to take up their posts on them, and he arrayed his horse
and his foot with all skill, like a wise king as he was. And when he
had completed all his arrangements he began to advance to engage the
enemy. The Tartars, seeing the foe advance, showed no dismay, but came
on likewise with good order and discipline to meet them. And when they
were near and nought remained but to begin the fight, the horses of the
Tartars took such fright at the sight of the elephants that they could
not be got to face the foe, but always swerved and turned back; whilst
all the time the king and his forces, and all his elephants, continued
to advance upon them.{2}
And when the Tartars perceived how the case stood, they were in great
wrath, and wist not what to say or do; for well enough they saw that
unless they could get their horses to advance, all would be lost. But
their Captain acted like a wise leader who had considered everything
beforehand. He immediately gave orders that every man should dismount
and tie his horse to the trees of the forest that stood hard by, and
that then they should take to their bows, a weapon that they know how
to handle better than any troops in the world. They did as he bade
them, and plied their bows stoutly, shooting so many shafts at the
advancing elephants that in a short space they had wounded or slain the
greater part of them as well as of the men they carried. The enemy also
shot at the Tartars, but the Tartars had the better weapons, and were
the better archers to boot.
And what shall I tell you? Understand that when the elephants felt the
smart of those arrows that pelted them like rain, they turned tail and
fled, and nothing on earth would have induced them to turn and face the
Tartars. So off they sped with such a noise and uproar that you would
have trowed the world was coming to an end! And then too they plunged
into the wood and rushed this way and that, dashing their castles
against the trees, bursting their harness and smashing and destroying
everything that was on them.
So when the Tartars saw that the elephants had turned tail and could
not be brought to face the fight again, they got to horse at once
and charged the enemy. And then the battle began to rage furiously
with sword and mace. Right fiercely did the two hosts rush together,
and deadly were the blows exchanged. The king’s troops were far more
in number than the Tartars, but they were not of such metal, nor so
inured to war; otherwise the Tartars who were so few in number could
never have stood against them. Then might you see swashing blows dealt
and taken from sword and mace; then might you see knights and horses
and men-at-arms go down; then might you see arms and hands and legs
and heads hewn off: and besides the dead that fell, many a wounded
man, that never rose again, for the sore press there was. The din and
uproar were so great from this side and from that, that God might have
thundered and no man would have heard it! Great was the medley, and
dire and parlous was the fight that was fought on both sides; but the
Tartars had the best of it.{3}
In an ill hour indeed, for the king and his people, was that battle
begun, so many of them were slain therein. And when they had continued
fighting till midday the king’s troops could stand against the Tartars
no longer; but felt that they were defeated, and turned and fled. And
when the Tartars saw them routed they gave chase, and hacked and slew
so mercilessly that it was a piteous sight to see. But after pursuing
a while they gave up, and returned to the wood to catch the elephants
that had run away, and to manage this they had to cut down great trees
to bar their passage. Even then they would not have been able to take
them without the help of the king’s own men who had been taken, and
who knew better how to deal with the beasts than the Tartars did. The
elephant is an animal that hath more wit than any other; but in this
way at last they were caught, more than 200 of them. And it was from
this time forth that the Great Kaan began to keep numbers of elephants.
So thus it was that the king aforesaid was defeated by the sagacity and
superior skill of the Tartars as you have heard.
NOTE 1.—_Nescradin_ for Nesradin, as we had _Bascra_ for Basra.
This NÁSRUDDIN was apparently an officer of whom Rashiduddin
speaks, and whom he calls governor (or perhaps commander) in
Karájáng. He describes him as having succeeded in that command to
his father the Sayad Ajil of Bokhara, one of the best of Kúblái’s
chief Ministers. Nasr-uddin retained his position in Yun-nan till
his death, which Rashid, writing about 1300, says occurred five or
six years before. His son Bayan, who also bore the grandfather’s
title of Sayad Ajil, was Minister of Finance under Kúblái’s
successor; and another son, Ḥálá, is also mentioned as one of the
governors of the province of Fu-chau. (See _Cathay_, pp. 265, 268,
and _D’Ohsson_, II. 507–508.)
Nasr-uddin (_Nasulating_) is also frequently mentioned as employed
on this frontier by the Chinese authorities whom Pauthier cites.
[Na-su-la-ding [Nasr-uddin] was the eldest of the five sons of
the Mohammedan Sai-dien-ch’i shan-sze-ding, Sayad Ajil, a native
of Bokhara, who died in Yun-nan, where he had been governor when
Kúblái, in the reign of Mangu, entered the country. Nasr-uddin “has
a separate biography in ch. cxxv of the _Yuen-shi_. He was governor
of the province of Yun-nan, and distinguished himself in the war
against the southern tribes of _Kiao-chi_ (Cochin-China) and _Mien_
(Burma). He died in 1292, the father of twelve sons, the names of
five of which are given in the biography, viz. _Bo-yen-ch’a-rh_
[Bayan], who held a high office, Omar, Djafar, Hussein, and Saadi.”
(_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. 270–271). Mr. E. H. Parker writes
in the _China Review_, February–March, 1901, pp. 196–197, that the
Mongol history states that amongst the reforms of Nasr-uddin’s
father in Yun-nan, was the introduction of coffins for the dead,
instead of burning them.—H. C.]
[NOTE 2.—In his battle near Sardis, Cyrus “collected together all
the camels that had come in the train of his army to carry the
provisions and the baggage, and taking off their loads, he mounted
riders upon them accoutred as horsemen. These he commanded to
advance in front of his other troops against the Lydian horse....
The reason why Cyrus opposed his camels to the enemy’s horse was,
because the horse has a natural dread of the camel, and cannot
abide either the sight or the smell of that animal.... The two
armies then joined battle, and immediately the Lydian war-horses,
seeing and smelling the camels, turned round and galloped off.”
(_Herodotus_, Bk. I. i. p. 220, _Rawlinson’s_ ed.)—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—We are indebted to Pauthier for very interesting
illustrations of this narrative from the Chinese Annalists (p.
410 _seqq._). These latter fix the date to the year 1277, and it
is probable that the 1272 or MCCLXXII of the Texts was a clerical
error for MCCLXXVII. The Annalists describe the people of Mien as
irritated at calls upon them to submit to the Mongols (whose power
they probably did not appreciate, as their descendants did not
appreciate the British power in 1824), and as crossing the frontier
of Yung-ch’ang to establish fortified posts. The force of Mien,
they say, amounted to 50,000 men, with 800 elephants and 10,000
horses, whilst the Mongol Chief had but _seven hundred_ men. “When
the elephants felt the arrows (of the Mongols) they turned tail and
fled with the platforms on their backs into a place that was set
thickly with sharp bamboo-stakes, and these their riders laid hold
of to prick them with.” This threw the Burmese army into confusion;
they fled, and were pursued with great slaughter.
The Chinese author does not mention Nasr-uddin in connection with
this battle. He names as the chief of the Mongol force _Huthukh_
(Kutuka?), commandant of Ta-li fu. Nasr-uddin is mentioned as
advancing, a few months later (about December, 1277), with nearly
4000 men to Kiangtheu (which appears to have been on the Irawadi,
somewhere near Bhamó, and is perhaps the Kaungtaung of the
Burmese), but effecting little (p. 415).
[I have published in the _Rev. Ext. Orient_, II. 72–88, from the
British Museum _Add. MS._ 16913, the translation by Mgr. Visdelou,
of Chinese documents relating to the Kingdom of Mien and the wars
of Kúblái; the battle won by _Hu-tu_, commandant of Ta-li, was
fought during the 3rd month of the 14th year (1277). (Cf. Pauthier,
_supra_.)—H. C.]
These affairs of the battle in the Yung-ch’ang territory, and the
advance of Nasr-uddin to the Irawadi are, as Polo clearly implies
in the beginning of ch. li., quite distinct from the invasion and
conquest of Mien some years later, of which he speaks in ch. liv.
They are not mentioned in the Burmese Annals at all.
Sir Arthur Phayre is inclined to reject altogether the story of
the battle near Yung-ch’ang in consequence of this absence from
the _Burmese Chronicle_, and of its inconsistency with the purely
defensive character which that record assigns to the action of
the Burmese Government in regard to China at this time. With the
strongest respect for my friend’s opinion I feel it impossible
to assent to this. We have not only the concurrent testimony of
Marco and of the Chinese Official Annals of the Mongol Dynasty to
the facts of the Burmese provocation and of the engagement within
the Yung-ch’ang or Vochan territory, but we have in the Chinese
narrative a consistent chronology and tolerably full detail of the
relations between the two countries.
[Baber writes (p. 173): “Biot has it that Yung-ch’ang was first
established by the Mings, long subsequent to the time of Marco’s
visit, but the name was well known much earlier. The mention by
Marco of the Plain of Vochan (Unciam would be a perfect reading),
as if it were a plain _par excellence_, is strikingly consistent
with the position of the city on the verge of the largest plain
west of Yünnan-fu. Hereabouts was fought the great battle between
the ‘valiant soldier and the excellent captain Nescradin,’ with his
12,000 well-mounted Tartars, against the King of Burmah and a large
army, whose strength lay in 2000 elephants, on each of which was
set a tower of timber full of well-armed fighting men.
“There is no reason to suppose this ‘dire and parlous fight’ to
be mythical, apart from the consistency of annals adduced by
Colonel Yule; the local details of the narrative, particularly
the prominent importance of the wood as an element of the Tartar
success, are convincing. It seems to have been the first occasion
on which the Mongols engaged a large body of elephants, and this,
no doubt, made the victory memorable.
“Marco informs us that ‘from this time forth the Great Khan began
to keep numbers of elephants.’ It is obvious that cavalry could not
manœuvre in a morass such as fronts the city. Let us refer to the
account of the battle.
“‘The Great Khan’s host was at Yung-ch’ang, from which they
advanced into the plain, and there waited to give battle. This they
did through the good judgment of the captain, for hard by that
plain was a great wood thick with trees.’ The general’s purpose
was more probably to occupy the dry undulating slopes near the
south end of the valley. An advance of about five miles would
have brought him to that position. The statement that ‘the King’s
army arrived in the plain, and was within a mile of the enemy,’
would then accord perfectly with the conditions of the ground. The
Burmese would have found themselves at about that distance from
their foes as soon as they were fairly in the plain.
“The trees ‘hard by the plain,’ to which the Tartars tied their
horses, and in which the elephants were entangled, were in all
probability in the corner below the ‘rolling hills’ marked in the
chart. Very few trees remain, but in any case the grove would
long ago have been cut down by the Chinese, as everywhere on
inhabited plains. A short distance up the hill, however, groves
of exceptionally fine trees are passed. The army, as it seems to
us, must have entered the plain from its southernmost point. The
route by which we departed on our way to Burmah would be very
embarrassing, though perhaps not utterly impossible, for so great a
number of elephants.”—H. C.]
Between 1277 and the end of the century the Chinese Annals record
three campaigns or expeditions against MIEN; viz. (1) that which
Marco has related in this chapter; (2) that which he relates in
ch. liv.; and (3) one undertaken in 1300 at the request of the
son of the legitimate Burmese King, who had been put to death by
an usurper. The Burmese Annals mention only the two latest, but,
concerning both the date and the main circumstances of these two,
Chinese and Burmese Annals are in almost entire agreement. Surely
then it can scarcely be doubted that the Chinese authority is amply
trustworthy for the _first_ campaign also, respecting which the
Burmese book is silent; even were the former not corroborated by
the independent authority of Marco.
Indeed the mutual correspondence of these Annals, especially as
to chronology, is very remarkable, and is an argument for greater
respect to the chronological value of the Burmese Chronicle and
other Indo-Chinese records of like character than we should
otherwise be apt to entertain. Compare the story of the expedition
of 1300 as told after the Chinese Annals by De Mailla, and after
the Burmese Chronicle by Burney and Phayre. (See _De Mailla_, IX.
476 _seqq._; and _J. A. S. B._ vol. vi. pp. 121–122, and vol.
xxxvii. Pt. I. pp. 102 and 110.)
CHAPTER LIII.
OF THE GREAT DESCENT THAT LEADS TOWARDS THE KINGDOM OF MIEN.
After leaving the Province of which I have been speaking you come to
a great Descent. In fact you ride for two days and a half continually
down hill. On all this descent there is nothing worthy of mention
except only that there is a large place there where occasionally a
great market is held; for all the people of the country round come
thither on fixed days, three times a week, and hold a market there.
They exchange gold for silver; for they have gold in abundance; and
they give one weight of fine gold for five weights of fine silver; so
this induces merchants to come from various quarters bringing silver
which they exchange for gold with these people; and in this way the
merchants make great gain. As regards those people of the country
who dispose of gold so cheaply, you must understand that nobody is
acquainted with their places of abode, for they dwell in inaccessible
positions, in sites so wild and strong that no one can get at them to
meddle with them. Nor will they allow anybody to accompany them so as
to gain a knowledge of their abodes.{1}
After you have ridden those two days and a half down hill, you find
yourself in a province towards the south which is pretty near to India,
and this province is called AMIEN. You travel therein for fifteen days
through a very unfrequented country, and through great woods abounding
in elephants and unicorns and numbers of other wild beasts. There
are no dwellings and no people, so we need say no more of this wild
country, for in sooth there is nothing to tell. But I have a story to
relate which you shall now hear{2}.
NOTE 1.—In all the Shan towns visited by Major Sladen on this
frontier he found markets held _every fifth day_. This custom, he
says, is borrowed from China, and is general throughout Western
Yun-nan. There seem to be traces of this five-day week over
Indo-China, and it is found in Java; as it is in Mexico. The
Kakhyens attend in great crowds. They do _not_ now bring gold for
sale to Momein, though it is found to some extent in their hills,
more especially in the direction of Mogaung, whence it is exported
towards Assam.
Major Sladen saw a small quantity of nuggets in the possession of a
Kakhyen who had brought them from a hill two days north of Bhamó.
(_MS. Notes by Major Sladen._)
NOTE 2.—I confess that the indications in this and the beginning
of the following chapter are, to me, full of difficulty. According
to the general style of Polo’s itinerary, the 2½ days should be
reckoned from Yung-ch’ang; the distance therefore to the capital
city of Mien would be 17½ days. The real capital of Mien or Burma
at this time was, however, Pagán, in lat. 21° 13′, and that city
could hardly have been reached by a land traveller in any such
time. We shall see that something may be said in behalf of the
supposition that the point reached was _Tagaung_ or _Old Pagán_,
on the upper Irawadi, in lat. 23° 28′; and there was perhaps some
confusion in the traveller’s mind between this and the great city.
The descent might then be from Yung-ch’ang to the valley of the
Shwéli, and that valley then followed to the Irawadi. Taking as a
scale Polo’s 5 marches from Tali to Yung-ch’ang, I find we should
by this route make just about 17 marches from Yung-ch’ang to
Tagaung. We have no detailed knowledge of the route, but there _is_
a road that way, and by no other does the plain country approach
so near to Yung-ch’ang. (See _Anderson’s Report on Expedition to
Western Yunnan_, p. 160.)
Dr. Anderson’s remarks on the present question do not in my
opinion remove the difficulties. He supposes the long descent to
be the descent into the plains of the Irawadi near Bhamo; and from
that point the land journey to Great Pagán could, he conceives,
“easily be accomplished in 15 days.” I greatly doubt the latter
assumption. By the scale I have just referred to it would take at
least 20 days. And to calculate the 2½ days with which the journey
commences from an indefinite point seems scarcely admissible. Polo
is giving us a continuous _itinerary_; it would be ruptured if he
left an indefinite distance between his last station and his “long
descent.” And if the same principle were applied to the 5 days
between Carajan (or Tali) and Vochan (Yung-ch’ang), the result
would be nonsense.
[Illustration: Temple of Gaudapalén (in the city of Mien), erected
_circa_ A.D. 1160.]
[_Mien-tien_, to which is devoted ch. vii. of the Chinese work
_Sze-i-kwan-k’ao_, appears to have included much more than Burma
proper. (See the passage _supra_, pp. 70–71, quoted by Devéria from
the _Yuen-shi lei pien_ regarding _Kien-tou_ and _Kin-Chi_.)—H. C.]
The hypothesis that I have suggested would suit better with the
traveller’s representation of the country traversed as wild and
uninhabited. In a journey to Great Pagán the most populous and
fertile part of Burma would be passed through.
[Baber writes (p. 180): “The generally received theory that
‘the great descent which leads towards the Kingdom of Mien,’ on
which ‘you ride for two days and a half continually downhill,’
was the route from Yung-ch’ang to T’eng-Yueh, must be at once
abandoned. Marco was, no doubt, speaking from hearsay, or rather,
from a recollection of hearsay, as it does not appear that he
possessed any notes; but there is good reason for supposing that
he had personally visited Yung-ch’ang. Weary of the interminable
mountain-paths, and encumbered with much baggage—for a magnate of
Marco’s court influence could never, in the East, have travelled
without a considerable state—impeded, in addition, by a certain
quantity of merchandise, for he was ‘discreet and prudent in
every way,’ he would have listened longingly to the report of an
easy ride of two and a half days downhill, and would never have
forgotten it. That such a route exists I am well satisfied. Where
is it? The stream which drains the Yung-ch’ang plain communicates
with the Salwen by a river called the ‘Nan-tien,’ not to be
confounded with the ‘Nan-ting,’ about 45 miles south of that city,
a fair journey of two and a half days. Knowing, as we now do, that
it must descend some 3500 feet in that distance, does it not seem
reasonable to suppose that the valley of this rivulet is the route
alluded to? The great battle on the Yung-ch’ang plain, moreover,
was fought only a few years before Marco’s visit, and seeing that
the king and his host of elephants in all probability entered the
valley from the south, travellers to Burma would naturally have
quitted it by the same route.
“But again, our mediæval Herodotus reports that ‘the country is
wild and hard of access, full of great woods and mountains which
’tis impossible to pass, the air is so impure and unwholesome; and
any foreigners attempting it would die for certain.’
“This is exactly and literally the description given us of the
district in which we crossed the Salwen.
“To insist on the theory of the descent by this route is to make
the traveller ride downhill, ‘over mountains it is impossible to
pass.’
“The fifteen days’ subsequent journey described by Marco need not
present much difficulty. The distance from the junction of the
Nan-tien with the Salwen to the capital of Burma (Pagán) would
be something over 300 miles; fifteen days seems a fair estimate
for the distance, seeing that a great part of the journey would
doubtless be by boat.”
Regarding this last paragraph, Captain Gill says (II. 345): “An
objection may be raised that no such route as this is known to
exist; but it must be remembered that the Burmese capital changes
its position every now and then, and it is obvious that the trade
routes would be directed to the capital, and would change with it.
Altogether, with the knowledge at present available, this certainly
seems the most satisfactory interpretation of the old traveller’s
story.”—H. C.]
CHAPTER LIV.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF MIEN, AND THE TWO TOWERS THAT ARE THEREIN,
ONE OF GOLD AND THE OTHER OF SILVER.
And when you have travelled those 15 days through such a difficult
country as I have described, in which travellers have to carry
provisions for the road because there are no inhabitants, then you
arrive at the capital city of this Province of Mien, and it also is
called AMIEN, and is a very great and noble city.{1} The people are
Idolaters and have a peculiar language, and are subject to the Great
Kaan.
And in this city there is a thing so rich and rare that I must tell you
about it. You see there was in former days a rich and puissant king in
this city, and when he was about to die he commanded that by his tomb
they should erect two towers [one at either end], one of gold and the
other of silver, in such fashion as I shall tell you. The towers are
built of fine stone; and then one of them has been covered with gold
a good finger in thickness, so that the tower looks as if it were all
of solid gold; and the other is covered with silver in like manner so
that it seems to be all of solid silver. Each tower is a good ten paces
in height and of breadth in proportion. The upper part of these towers
is round, and girt all about with bells, the top of the gold tower
with gilded bells and the silver tower with silvered bells, insomuch
that whenever the wind blows among these bells they tinkle. [The tomb
likewise was plated partly with gold, and partly with silver.] The King
caused these towers to be erected to commemorate his magnificence and
for the good of his soul; and really they do form one of the finest
sights in the world; so exquisitely finished are they, so splendid
and costly. And when they are lighted up by the sun they shine most
brilliantly and are visible from a vast distance.
Now you must know that the Great Kaan conquered the country in this
fashion.
You see at the Court of the Great Kaan there was a great number of
gleemen and jugglers; and he said to them one day that he wanted them
to go and conquer the aforesaid province of Mien, and that he would
give them a good Captain to lead them and other good aid. And they
replied that they would be delighted. So the Emperor caused them to
be fitted out with all that an army requires, and gave them a Captain
and a body of men-at-arms to help them; and so they set out, and
marched until they came to the country and province of Mien. And they
did conquer the whole of it! And when they found in the city the two
towers of gold and silver of which I have been telling you, they were
greatly astonished, and sent word thereof to the Great Kaan, asking
what he would have them do with the two towers, seeing what a great
quantity of wealth there was upon them. And the Great Kaan, being well
aware that the King had caused these towers to be made for the good
of his soul, and to preserve his memory after his death, said that he
would not have them injured, but would have them left precisely as
they were. And that was no wonder either, for you must know that no
Tartar in the world will ever, if he can help it, lay hand on anything
appertaining to the dead.{2}
[Illustration: THE CITY OF MIEN
WITH THE GOLD AND SILVER TOWERS]
They have in this province numbers of elephants and wild oxen;{3} also
beautiful stags and deer and roe, and other kinds of large game in
plenty.
Now having told you about the province of Mien, I will tell you about
another province which is called Bangala, as you shall hear presently.
NOTE 1.—The name of the city appears as _Amien_ both in Pauthier’s
text here, and in the G. Text in the preceding chapter. In the Bern
MS. it is _Aamien_. Perhaps some form like _Amien_ was that used by
the Mongols and Persians. I fancy it may be traced in the _Arman_
or _Uman_ of Rashiduddin, probably corrupt readings (in _Elliot_ I.
72).
NOTE 2.—M. Pauthier’s extracts are here again very valuable. We
gather from them that the first Mongol communication with the
King of Mien or Burma took place in 1271, when the Commandant
of Tali-fu sent a deputation to that sovereign to demand an
acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Emperor. This was followed
by various negotiations and acts of offence on both sides, which
led to the campaign of 1277, already spoken of. For a few years no
further events appear to be recorded, but in 1282, in consequence
of a report from Násruddin of the ease with which Mien could be
conquered, an invasion was ordered under a Prince of the Blood
called Siangtaur [called _Siam-ghu-talh_, by Visdelou.—H. C.]. This
was probably _Singtur_, great-grandson of one of the brothers of
Chinghiz, who a few years later took part in the insurrection of
Nayan. (See _D’Ohsson_, II. 461.) The army started from Yun-nan fu,
then called Chung-khing (and the _Yachi_ of Polo) in the autumn of
1283. We are told that the army made use of boats to descend the
River _Oho_ to the fortified city of Kiangtheu (see _supra_, note
3, ch. lii.), which they took and sacked; and as the King still
refused to submit, they then advanced to the “primitive capital,”
_Taikung_, which they captured. Here Pauthier’s details stop. (Pp.
405, 416; see also _D’Ohsson_, II. 444 [and _Visdelou_].)
[Illustration: The Palace of the King of Mien in modern times.]
It is curious to compare these narratives with that from the
Burmese Royal Annals given by Colonel Burney, and again by Sir
A. Phayre in the _J. A. S. B._ (IV. 401, and XXXVII. Pt. I. p.
101.) Those annals afford no mention of transactions with the
Mongols previous to 1281. In that year they relate that a mission
of ten nobles and 1000 horse came from the Emperor to demand gold
and silver vessels as symbols of homage on the ground of an old
precedent. The envoys conducted themselves disrespectfully (the
tradition was that they refused to take off their boots, an old
grievance at the Burmese court), and the King put them all to
death. The Emperor of course was very wroth, and sent an army of
6,000,000 of horse and 20,000,000 of foot (!) to invade Burma.
The Burmese generals had their _point d’appui_ at the city of
_Nga-tshaung-gyan_, apparently somewhere near the mouth of the
Bhamó River, and after a protracted resistance on that river, they
were obliged to retire. They took up a new point of defence on the
Hill of Malé, which they had fortified. Here a decisive battle was
fought, and the Burmese were entirely routed. The King, on hearing
of their retreat from Bhamó, at first took measures for fortifying
his capital Pagán, and destroyed 6000 temples of various sizes to
furnish material. But after all he lost heart, and embarking with
his treasure and establishments on the Irawadi, fled down that
river to Bassein in the Delta. The Chinese continued the pursuit
long past Pagán till they reached the place now called _Tarokmau_
or “Chinese Point,” 30 miles below Prome. Here they were forced
by want of provisions to return. The Burmese Annals place the
abandonment of Pagán by the King in 1284, a most satisfactory
synchronism with the Chinese record. It is a notable point in
Burmese history, for it marked the fall of an ancient Dynasty
which was speedily followed by its extinction, and the abandonment
of the capital. The King is known in the Burmese Annals as
_Tarok-pyé-Meng_, “The King who fled from the _Tarok_.”[1]
In Dr. Mason’s abstract of the Pegu Chronicle we find the notable
statement with reference to this period that “the Emperor of China,
having subjugated Pagán, his troops with the Burmese entered Pegu
and invested several cities.”
We see that the Chinese Annals, as quoted, mention only the
“capitale primitive” _Taikung_, which I have little doubt Pauthier
is right in identifying with _Tagaung_, traditionally the most
ancient royal city of Burma, and the remains of which stand side
by side with those of _Old_ Pagán, a later but still very ancient
capital, on the east bank of the Irawadi, in about lat. 23° 28′.
The Chinese extracts give no idea of the temporary completeness
of the conquest, nor do they mention Great Pagán (lat. 21°
13′), a city whose vast remains I have endeavoured partially to
describe.[2] Sir Arthur Phayre, from a careful perusal of the
Burmese Chronicle, assures me that there can be no doubt that
_this_ was at the time in question the Burmese Royal Residence,
and the city alluded to in the Burmese narrative. M. Pauthier is
mistaken in supposing that Tarok-Mau, the turning-point of the
Chinese Invasion, lay north of this city: he has not unnaturally
confounded it with Tarok-_Myo_ or “China-Town,” a district not far
below Ava. Moreover Malé, the position of the decisive victory of
the Chinese, is itself much to the south of Tagaung (about 22° 55′).
Both Pagán and Malé are mentioned in a remarkable Chinese notice
extracted in _Amyot’s Mémoires_ (XIV. 292): “Mien-Tien ... had
five chief towns, of which the first was _Kiangtheu_ (_supra_, pp.
105, 111), the second _Taikung_, the third _Malai_, the fourth
Ngan-cheng-kwé (? perhaps the _Nga-tshaung gyan_ of the Burmese
Annals), the fifth PUKAN MIEN-WANG (Pagán of the Mien King?).
The Yuen carried war into this country, particularly during the
reign of Shun-Ti, the last Mongol Emperor [1333–1368], who, after
subjugating it, erected at Pukan Mien-Wang a tribunal styled
_Hwen-wei-she-sé_, the authority of which extended over Pang-ya
and all its dependencies.” This is evidently founded on actual
documents, for Panya or Pengya, otherwise styled Vijáyapúra, was
the capital of Burma during part of the 14th century, between the
decay of Pagán and the building of Ava. But none of the translated
extracts from the Burmese Chronicle afford corroboration. From
Sangermano’s abstract, however, we learn that the King of Panya
from 1323 to 1343 was the _son of a daughter of the Emperor of
China_ (p. 42). I may also refer to Pemberton’s abstract of the
Chronicle of the Shan State of Pong in the Upper Irawadi valley,
which relates that about the middle of the 14th century the Chinese
invaded Pong and took Maung Maorong, the capital.[3] The Shan King
and his son fled to the King of Burma for protection, but _the
Burmese surrendered them_ and they were carried to China. (_Report
on E. Frontier of Bengal_, p. 112.)
I see no sufficient evidence as to whether Marco himself visited
the “city of Mien.” I think it is quite clear that his account
of the _conquest_ is from the merest hearsay, not to say gossip.
Of the absurd story of the jugglers we find no suggestion in the
Chinese extracts. We learn from them that Násruddin had represented
the conquest of Mien as a very easy task, and Kúblái may have in
jest asked his gleemen if they would undertake it. The haziness of
Polo’s account of the conquest contrasts strongly with his graphic
description of the rout of the elephants at Vochan. Of the latter
he heard the particulars on the spot (I conceive) shortly after the
event; whilst the conquest took place some years later than his
mission to that frontier. His description of the gold and silver
pagodas with their canopies of tinkling bells (the Burmese _Htí_),
certainly looks like a sketch from the life;[4] and it is quite
possible that some negotiations between 1277 and 1281 may have
given him the opportunity of visiting Burma, though he may not have
reached the capital. Indeed he would in that case surely have given
a distincter account of so important a city, the aspect of which in
its glory we have attempted to realize in the plate of “the city of
Mien.”
It is worthy of note that the unfortunate King then reigning
in Pagán, had in 1274 finished a magnificent Pagoda called
_Mengala-dzedi (Mangala Chaitya)_ respecting which ominous
prophecies had been diffused. In this pagoda were deposited,
besides holy relics, golden images of the Disciples of Buddha,
golden models of the holy places, golden images of the King’s
fifty-one predecessors in Pagán, and of the King and his Family.
It is easy to suspect a connection of this with Marco’s story. “It
is possible that the King’s ashes may have been intended to be
buried near those relics, though such is not now the custom; and
Marco appears to have confounded the custom of depositing relics
of Buddha and ancient holy men in pagodas with the _supposed_
custom of the burial of the dead. Still, even now, monuments are
occasionally erected over the dead in Burma, although the practice
is considered a vain folly. I have known a miniature pagoda with
a _hti_ complete, erected over the ashes of a favourite disciple
by a _P’hungyi_ or Buddhist monk.” The latter practice is common
in China. (_Notes by Sir A. Phayre; J. A. S. B._ IV. _u.s._, also
V. 164, VI. 251; _Mason’s Burmah_, 2nd ed. p. 26; _Milne’s Life in
China_, pp. 288, 450.)
NOTE 3.—The Gaur—_Bos Gaurus_, or _B. (Bibos) Cavifrons_ of
Hodgson—exists in certain forests of the Burmese territory; and,
in the south at least, a wild ox nearer the domestic species,
_Bos Sondaicus_. Mr. Gouger, in his book _The Prisoner in Burma_,
describes the rare spectacle which he once enjoyed in the
Tenasserim forests of a herd of wild cows at graze. He speaks of
them as small and elegant, without hump, and of a light reddish dun
colour (pp. 326–327).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] This is the name now applied in Burma to the Chinese. Sir A. Phayre
supposes it to be _Túrk_, in which case its use probably began at
this time.
[2] In the Narrative of Phayre’s Mission, ch. ii.
[3] Dr. Anderson has here hastily assumed a discrepancy of sixty years
between the chronology of the Shan document and that of the Chinese
Annals. But this is merely because he arbitrarily identifies the
Chinese invasion here recorded with that of Kúblái in the preceding
century. (See _Anderson’s Western Yunnan_, p. 8.) We see in the
quotation above from Amyot that the Chinese Annals also contain an
obscure indication of the later invasion.
[4] Compare the old Chinese Pilgrims Hwui Seng and Seng Yun, in their
admiration of a vast pagoda erected by the great King Kanishka in
Gandhára (at Peshawur in fact): “At sunrise the gilded disks of the
vane are lit up with dazzling glory, whilst the gentle breeze of
morning causes the precious bells to tinkle with a pleasing sound.”
(_Beal_, p. 204.)
CHAPTER LV.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF BANGALA.
Bangala is a Province towards the south, which up to the year 1290,
when the aforesaid Messer Marco Polo was still at the Court of the
Great Kaan, had not yet been conquered; but his armies had gone
thither to make the conquest. You must know that this province has a
peculiar language, and that the people are wretched Idolaters. They are
tolerably close to India. There are numbers of eunuchs there, insomuch
that all the Barons who keep them get them from that Province.{1}
The people have oxen as tall as elephants, but not so big.{2} They
live on flesh and milk and rice. They grow cotton, in which they drive
a great trade, and also spices such as spikenard, galingale, ginger,
sugar, and many other sorts. And the people of India also come thither
in search of the eunuchs that I mentioned, and of slaves, male and
female, of which there are great numbers, taken from other provinces
with which those of the country are at war; and these eunuchs and
slaves are sold to the Indian and other merchants who carry them thence
for sale about the world.
There is nothing more to mention about this country, so we will quit
it, and I will tell you of another province called Caugigu.
NOTE 1.—I do not think it probable that Marco even touched at any
port of Bengal on that mission to the Indian Seas of which we hear
in the prologue; but he certainly never reached it from the Yun-nan
side, and he had, as we shall presently see (_infra_, ch. lix. note
6), a wrong notion as to its position. Indeed, if he had visited it
at all, he would have been aware that it was essentially a part of
India, whilst in fact he evidently regarded it as an _Indo-Chinese_
region, like Zardandan, Mien, and Caugigu.
There is no notice, I believe, in any history, Indian or Chinese,
of an attempt by Kúblái to conquer Bengal. The only such attempt
by the Mongols that we hear of is one mentioned by Firishta, as
made by way of Cathay and Tibet, during the reign of Aláuddin
Masa’úd, king of Delhi, in 1244, and stated to have been defeated
by the local officers in Bengal. But Mr. Edward Thomas tells me
he has most distinctly ascertained that this statement, which has
misled every historian “from Badauni and Firishtah to Briggs and
Elphinstone, is founded purely on an erroneous reading” (and see a
note in Mr. Thomas’s _Pathan Kings of Dehli_, p. 121).
The date 1290 in the text would fix the period of Polo’s final
departure from Peking, if the dates were not so generally corrupt.
The subject of the last part of this paragraph, recurred to in the
next, has been misunderstood and corrupted in Pauthier’s text, and
partially in Ramusio’s. These make the _escuillés_ or _escoilliez_
(vide _Ducange_ in v. _Escodatus_, and _Raynouard, Lex. Rom._
VI. 11) into _scholars_ and what not. But on comparison of the
passages in those two editions with the Geographic Text one cannot
doubt the correct reading. As to the fact that Bengal had an evil
notoriety for this traffic, especially the province of Silhet, see
the _Ayeen Akbery_, II. 9–11, _Barbosa’s _chapter on Bengal, and
_De Barros_ (_Ramusio_ I. 316 and 391).
On the cheapness of slaves in Bengal, see _Ibn Batuta_, IV.
211–212. He says people from Persia used to call Bengal _Dúzakh
pur-i ni’amat_, “a hell crammed with good things,” an appellation
perhaps provoked by the official style often applied to it of
_Jannat-ul-balád_ or “Paradise of countries.”
Professor H. Blochmann, who is, in admirable essays, redeeming
the long neglect of the history and archæology of Bengal Proper
by our own countrymen, says that one of the earliest passages, in
which the name _Bangálah_ occurs, is in a poem of Hafiz, sent from
Shiraz to Sultan Ghiássuddín, who reigned in Bengal from 1367 to
1373. Its occurrence in our text, however, shows that the name
was in use among the Mahomedan foreigners (from whom Polo derived
his nomenclature) nearly a century earlier. And in fact it occurs
(though corruptly in some MSS.) in the history of Rashiduddin, our
author’s contemporary. (See _Elliot_, I. p. 72.)
NOTE 2.—“Big as elephants” is only a _façon de parler_, but Marsden
quotes modern exaggerations as to the height of the _Arna_ or
wild buffalo, more specific and extravagant. The unimpeachable
authority of Mr. Hodgson tells us that the Arna in the Nepal Tarai
sometimes does reach a height of 6 ft. 6 in. at the shoulder, with
a length of 10 ft. 6 in. (excluding tail), and horns of 6 ft. 6 in.
(_J. A. S. B._, XVI. 710.) Marco, however, seems to be speaking
of _domestic_ cattle. Some of the breeds of Upper India are very
tall and noble animals, far surpassing in height any European oxen
known to me; but in modern times these are rarely seen in Bengal,
where the cattle are poor and stunted. The _Aín Akbari_, however,
speaks of Sharífábád in Bengal, which appears to have corresponded
to modern Bardwán, as producing very beautiful white oxen, of
great size, and capable of carrying a load of 15 _mans_, which at
Prinsep’s estimate of Akbar’s _man_ would be about 600 lbs.
CHAPTER LVI.
DISCOURSES OF THE PROVINCE OF CAUGIGU.
Caugigu is a province towards the east, which has a king.{1} The people
are Idolaters, and have a language of their own. They have made their
submission to the Great Kaan, and send him tribute every year. And let
me tell you their king is so given to luxury that he hath at the least
300 wives; for whenever he hears of any beautiful woman in the land, he
takes and marries her.
They find in this country a good deal of gold, and they also have great
abundance of spices. But they are such a long way from the sea that
the products are of little value, and thus their price is low. They
have elephants in great numbers, and other cattle of sundry kinds, and
plenty of game. They live on flesh and milk and rice, and have wine
made of rice and good spices. The whole of the people, or nearly so,
have their skin marked with the needle in patterns representing lions,
dragons, birds, and what not, done in such a way that it can never be
obliterated. This work they cause to be wrought over face and neck
and chest, arms and hands, and belly, and, in short, the whole body;
and they look on it as a token of elegance, so that those who have
the largest amount of this embroidery are regarded with the greatest
admiration.
NOTE 1.—No province mentioned by Marco has given rise to wider and
wilder conjectures than this, _Cangigu_ as it has been generally
printed.
M. Pauthier, who sees in it Laos, or rather one of the states of
Laos called in the Chinese histories _Papesifu_, seems to have
formed the most probable opinion hitherto propounded by any editor
of Polo. I have no doubt that Laos or some part of that region
is meant to be _described_, and that Pauthier is right regarding
the general direction of the course here taken as being through
the regions east of Burma, in a north-easterly direction up into
Kwei-chau. But we shall be able to review the geography of this
tract better, as a whole, at a point more advanced. I shall then
speak of the name CAUGIGU, and why I prefer this reading of it.
I do not believe, for reasons which will also appear further on,
that Polo is now following a route which he had traced in person,
unless it be in the latter part of it.
M. Pauthier, from certain indications in a Chinese work, fixes on
Chiangmai or Kiang-mai, the Zimmé of the Burmese (in about latitude
18° 48′ and long. 99° 30′) as the capital of the Papesifu and of
the Caugigu of our text. It can scarcely however be the latter,
unless we throw over entirely all the intervals stated in Polo’s
itinerary; and M. Garnier informs me that he has evidence that the
capital of the Papesifu at this time was _Muang-Yong_, a little to
the south-east of Kiang-Tung, where he has seen its ruins.[1] That
the people called by the Chinese Papesifu were of the great race of
Laotians, Sháns, or _Thai_, is very certain, from the vocabulary of
their language published by Klaproth.
[Illustration: Script _Pa-pe_.]
Pauthier’s Chinese authority gives a puerile interpretation of
_Papesifu_ as signifying “the kingdom of the 800 wives,” and says
it was called so because the Prince maintained that establishment.
This may be an indication that there were popular stories about
the numerous wives of the King of Laos, such as Polo had heard;
but the interpretation is doubtless rubbish, like most of the
so-called etymologies of proper names applied by the Chinese to
foreign regions. At best these seem to be merely a kind of _Memoria
Technica_, and often probably bear no more relation to the name
in its real meaning than Swift’s _All-eggs-under-the-grate_ bears
to Alexander Magnus. How such “etymologies” arise is obvious
from the nature of the Chinese system of writing. If we also had
to express proper names by combining monosyllabic words already
existing in English, we should in fact be obliged to write the name
of the Macedonian hero much as Swift travestied it. As an example
we may give the Chinese name of Java, _Kwawa_, which signifies
“gourd-sound,” and was given to that Island, we are told, because
the voice of its inhabitants is very like that of a dry gourd
rolled upon the ground! It is usually stated that Tungking was
called _Kiao-chi_, meaning “crossed-toes,” because the people often
exhibit that malformation (which is a fact), but we may be certain
that the syllables were originally a phonetic representation of an
indigenous name which has no such meaning. As another example, less
ridiculous but not more true, _Chin-tan_, representing the Indian
name of China, _Chínasthána_, is explained to mean “Eastern-Dawn”
(_Aurore Orientale_). (_Amyot_, XIV. 101; _Klapr. Mém._ III. 268.)
The states of Laos are shut out from the sea in the manner
indicated; they abound in domestic elephants to an extraordinary
extent; and the people do tattoo themselves in various degrees,
most of all (as M. Garnier tells me) about Kiang Hung. The _style_
of tattooing which the text describes is quite that of the Burmese,
in speaking of whom Polo has omitted to mention the custom: “Every
male Burman is tattooed in his boyhood from the middle to his
knees; in fact he has a pair of breeches tattooed on him. The
pattern is a fanciful medley of animals and arabesques, but it is
scarcely distinguishable, save as a general tint, except on a fair
skin.” (_Mission to Ava_, 151.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Indeed documents in Klaproth’s _Asia Polyglotta_ show that the
_Papé_ state was also called _Muang-Yong_ (pp. 364–365). I observe
that the river running to the east of Pu-eul and Ssemao (Puer and
Esmok) is called _Papien_-Kiang, the name of which is perhaps a
memorial of the Papé.
[The old Laocian kingdom of _Xieng-maï_ [Kiang-mai], called
_Muong-Yong_ by the Pa-y, was inhabited by the _Pa-pe Si-fu_ or
Bát-bá T’úc-phu; the inhabitants called themselves Thaï-niai or
great Thaï. (_Devéria, Frontière_, p. 100.) Ch. ix. of the Chinese
work _Sze-i-kwan-kao_ is devoted to Xieng-maï (_Pa-pe_), which
includes the subdivisions of Laos, Xieng Hung [Kiang Hung] and
Muong-Ken. (_Devéria, Mél. de Harlez_, p. 97.)—H. C.]
CHAPTER LVII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ANIN.
Anin is a Province towards the east, the people of which are subject to
the Great Kaan, and are Idolaters. They live by cattle and tillage, and
have a peculiar language. The women wear on the legs and arms bracelets
of gold and silver of great value, and the men wear such as are even
yet more costly. They have plenty of horses which they sell in great
numbers to the Indians, making a great profit thereby. And they have
also vast herds of buffaloes and oxen, having excellent pastures for
these. They have likewise all the necessaries of life in abundance.{1}
Now you must know that between Anin and Caugigu, which we have left
behind us, there is a distance of [25] days’ journey;{2} and from
Caugigu to Bangala, the third province in our rear, is 30 days’
journey. We shall now leave Anin and proceed to another province which
is some 8 days’ journey further, always going eastward.
NOTE 1.—Ramusio, the printed text of the Soc. de Géographie, and
most editions have _Amu_; Pauthier reads _Aniu_, and considers the
name to represent Tungking or Annam, called also _Nan-yué_. The
latter word he supposes to be converted into _Anyuë_, _Aniu_. And
accordingly he carries the traveller to the capital of Tungking.
Leaving the name for the present, according to the scheme of the
route as I shall try to explain it below, I should seek for Amu
or Aniu or _Anin_ in the extreme south-east of Yun-nan. A part of
this region was for the first time traversed by the officers of the
French expedition up the Mekong, who in 1867 visited Sheu-ping,
Lin-ngan and the upper valley of the River of Tungking on their
way to Yun-nan-fu. To my question whether the description in the
text, of Aniu or Anin and its fine pastures, applied to the tract
just indicated, Lieut. Garnier replied on the whole favourably
(see further on), proceeding: “The population about Sheu-ping is
excessively mixt. On market days at that town one sees a gathering
of wild people in great number and variety, and whose costumes
are highly picturesque, as well as often very rich. There are the
_Pa-is_, who are also found again higher up, the _Ho-nhi_, the
_Khato_, the _Lopé_, the _Shentseu_. These tribes appear to be
allied in part to the Laotians, in part to the Kakhyens.... The
wilder races about Sheuping are remarkably handsome, and you see
there types of women exhibiting an extraordinary regularity of
feature, and at the same time a complexion surprisingly _white_.
The Chinese look quite an inferior race beside them.... I may add
that all these tribes, especially the Ho-nhi and the Pa-ï, wear
large amounts of silver ornament; great collars of silver round the
neck, as well as on the legs and arms.”
Though the _whiteness_ of the people of Anin is not noticed by
Polo, the distinctive manner in which he speaks in the next chapter
of the _dark_ complexion of the tribes described therein seems to
indicate the probable omission of the opposite trait here.
The prominent position assigned in M. Garnier’s remarks to a race
called _Ho-nhi_ first suggested to me that the reading of the text
might be ANIN instead of _Aniu_. And as a matter of fact this
seems to my eyes to be clearly the reading of the Paris _Livre
des Merveilles_ (Pauthier’s MS. B), while the Paris No. 5631
(Pauthier’s A) has _Auin_, and what may be either _Aniu_ or _Anin_.
_Anyn_ is also found in the Latin Brandenburg MS. of Pipino’s
version collated by Andrew Müller, to which, however, we cannot
ascribe much weight. But the two words are so nearly identical
in mediæval writing, and so little likely to be discriminated by
scribes who had nothing to guide their discrimination, that one
need not hesitate to adopt that which is supported by argument.
In reference to the suggested identity of _Anin_ and _Ho-nhi_, M.
Garnier writes again: “All that Polo has said regarding the country
of Aniu, though not containing anything _very_ characteristic, may
apply perfectly to the different indigenous tribes, at present
subject to the Chinese, which are dispersed over the country from
Talan to Sheuping and Lin-ngan. These tribes bearing the names
(given above) relate that they in other days formed an independent
state, to which they give the name of _Muang Shung_. Where this
Muang was situated there is no knowing. These tribes have _langage
par euls_, as Marco Polo says, and silver ornaments are worn by
them to this day in extraordinary profusion; more, however, by
the women than the men. They have plenty of horses, buffaloes and
oxen, and of sheep as well. It was the first locality in which the
latter were seen. The plateau of Lin-ngan affords pasture-grounds
which are exceptionally good for that part of the world.
[Illustration: Ho-nhi and other Tribes in the Department of
Lin-ngan in S. Yun-nan (supposed to be the Anin country of Marco
Polo). (From Garnier’s Work.)]
“Beyond Lin-ngan we find the Ho-nhi, properly so called, no longer.
But ought one to lay much stress on mere names which have undergone
so many changes, and of which so many have been borne in succession
by all those places and peoples?... I will content myself with
reminding you that the town of _Homi-cheu_ near Lin-ngan in the
days of the Yuen bore the name of _Ngo-ning_.”
Notwithstanding M. Garnier’s caution, I am strongly inclined to
believe that ANIN represents either HO-NHI or NGO-NING, if indeed
these names be not identical. For on reference to Biot I see that
the first syllable of the modern name of the town which M. Garnier
writes HO_mí_, is expressed by the same character as the first
syllable of NGO_ning_.
[The Wo-nhi are also called Ngo-ni, Kan-ni, Ho-ni, Lou-mi, No-pi,
Ko-ni and Wa-heh; they descend from the southern barbarians called
Ho-nhi. At the time of the kingdom of Nan-Chao, the Ho-nhi, called
In-yuen, tribes were a dependence of the Kiang (Xieng) of Wei-yuen
(Prefecture of P’u-erh). They are now to be found in the Yunnanese
prefectures of Lin-ngan, King-tung, Chen-yuen, Yuen-kiang and
Yun-nan. (See _Devéria_, p. 135.)—H. C.]
We give one of M. Garnier’s woodcuts representing some of the races
in this vicinity. Their dress, as he notices, has, in some cases,
a curious resemblance to costumes of Switzerland, or of Brittany,
popular at fancy balls.[1] Coloured figures of some of these races
will be found in the Atlas to Garnier’s work; see especially Plate
35.
NOTE 2.—All the French MSS. and other texts except Ramusio’s read
15. We adopt Ramusio’s reading, 25, for reasons which will appear
below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] There is a little uncertainty in the adjustment of names and
figures of some of these tribes, between the illustrations and
the incidental notices in Lieutenant Garnier’s work. But all the
figures in the present cut certainly belong to the tract to which
we point as Anin; and the two middle figures answer best to what is
said of the _Ho-nhi_.
CHAPTER LVIII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF COLOMAN.
Coloman is a province towards the east, the people of which are
Idolaters and have a peculiar language, and are subject to the Great
Kaan. They are a [tall and] very handsome people, though in complexion
brown rather than white, and are good soldiers.{1} They have a good
many towns, and a vast number of villages, among great mountains, and
in strong positions.{2}
When any of them die, the bodies are burnt, and then they take the
bones and put them in little chests. These are carried high up the
mountains, and placed in great caverns, where they are hung up in such
wise that neither man nor beast can come at them.
A good deal of gold is found in the country, and for petty traffic
they use porcelain shells such as I have told you of before. All these
provinces that I have been speaking of, to wit Bangala and Caugigu
and Anin, employ for currency porcelain shells and gold. There are
merchants in this country who are very rich and dispose of large
quantities of goods. The people live on flesh and rice and milk, and
brew their wine from rice and excellent spices.
NOTE 1.—The only MSS. that afford the reading _Coloman_ or
_Choloman_ instead of _Toloman_ or _Tholoman_, are the Bern MS.,
which has _Coloman_ in the initial word of the chapter, Paris
MS. 5649 (Pauthier’s C) which has _Coloman_ in the Table of
Chapters, but not in the text, the Bodleian, and the Brandenburg
MS. quoted in the last note. These variations in themselves have
little weight. But the confusion between _c_ and _t_ in mediæval
MSS., when dealing with strange names, is so constant that I have
ventured to make the correction, in strong conviction that it is
the right reading. M. Pauthier indeed, after speaking of tribes
called _Lo_ on the south-west of China, adds, “on les nommait
_To-lo-man_ (‘les nombreux Barbares Lo’).” Were this latter
statement founded on actual evidence we might retain that form
which is the usual reading. But I apprehend from the manner in
which M. Pauthier produces it, without corroborative quotation,
that he is rather hazarding a conjecture than speaking with
authority. Be that as it may, it is impossible that Polo’s Toloman
or Coloman should have been in the south of Kwangsi, where Pauthier
locates it.
On the other hand, we find tribes of both _Kolo_ and _Kihlau_
Barbarians (_i.e._ _Mán_, whence KOLO-MÁN or _Kihlau-mán_) very
numerous on the frontier of Kweichau. (See _Bridgman’s transl.
of Tract on Meautsze_, pp. 265, 269, 270, 272, 273, 274, 275,
278, 279, 280.) Among these the _Kolo_, described as No. 38 in
that Tract, appear to me from various particulars to be the most
probable representatives of the Coloman of Polo, notwithstanding
the sentence with which the description opens: “_Kolo_ originally
called _Luluh_; the modern designation _Kolo_ is incorrect.”[1]
They are at present found in the prefecture of Tating (one of the
departments of Kweichau towards the Yun-nan side). “They are _tall,
of a dark complexion_, with sunken eyes, aquiline nose, wear long
whiskers, and have the beard shaved off above the mouth. They pay
great deference to demons, and on that account are sometimes called
‘Dragons of Lo.’... At the present time these Kolo are divided
into 48 clans, the elders of which are called Chieftains (lit.
‘Head-and-Eyes’) and are of nine grades.... The men bind their hair
into a tuft with blue cloth and make it fast on the forehead like a
horn. Their upper dresses are short, with large sleeves, and their
lower garments are fine blue. When one of the chieftains dies, all
that were under him are assembled together clad in armour and on
horseback. Having dressed his corpse in silk and woollen robes,
they burn it in the open country; then, invoking the departed
spirit, they inter the ashes. Their attachment to him as their
sole master is such that nothing can drive or tempt them from their
allegiance. Their large bows, long spears, and sharp swords, are
strong and well-wrought. They train excellent horses, love archery
and hunting; and so expert are they in tactics that _their soldiers
rank as the best among all the uncivilized tribes_. There is this
proverb: ‘The Lo Dragons of Shwui-si rap the head and strike the
tail,’ which is intended to indicate their celerity in defence.”
(_Bridgman_, pp. 272–273.)
The character _Lo_, here applied in the Chinese Tract to these
people, is the same as that in the name of the Kwangsi _Lo_ of M.
Pauthier.
I append a cut (opposite page) from the drawing representing these
Kolo-man in the original work from which Bridgman translated, and
which is in the possession of Dr. Lockhart.
[I believe we must read _To-lo-man_. _Man_, barbarian, _T’u-lao_ or
_Shan-tzŭ_ (mountaineers) who live in the Yunnanese prefectures of
Lin-ngan, Cheng-kiang, etc. T’u-la-Man or T’u-la barbarians of the
Mongol Annals. (_Yuen-shi lei-pien_, quoted by Devéria, p. 115.)—H.
C.]
NOTE 2.—Magaillans, speaking of the semi-independent tribes of
Kwei-chau and Kwang-si, says: “Their towns are usually so girt by
high mountains and scarped rocks that it seems as if nature had
taken a pleasure in fortifying them” (p. 43). (See cut at p. 131.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] On the other hand, M. Garnier writes: “I do not know any name at
all like _Kolo_, except _Lolo_, the generic name given by the
Chinese to the wild tribes of Yun-nan.” Does not this look as if
_Kolo_ were really the old name, _Luluh_ or Lolo the later?
CHAPTER LIX.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUIJU.
Cuiju is a province towards the East.{1} After leaving Coloman you
travel along a river for 12 days, meeting with a good number of towns
and villages, but nothing worthy of particular mention. After you have
travelled those twelve days along the river you come to a great and
noble city which is called FUNGUL.
The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan, and live by
trade and handicrafts. You must know they manufacture stuffs of the
bark of certain trees which form very fine summer clothing.{2} They
are good soldiers, and have paper-money. For you must understand that
henceforward we are in the countries where the Great Kaan’s paper-money
is current.
[Illustration: The Koloman, after a Chinese drawing.
“=Coloman est une provence vers levant.... Il sunt mult belles jens
et ne sunt mie bien blances mès brunz. Il sunt bien homes d’armes
...=”]
The country swarms with lions to that degree that no man can venture to
sleep outside his house at night.{3} Moreover, when you travel on that
river, and come to a halt at night, unless you keep a good way from the
bank the lions will spring on the boat and snatch one of the crew and
make off with him and devour him. And but for a certain help that the
inhabitants enjoy, no one could venture to travel in that province,
because of the multitude of those lions, and because of their strength
and ferocity.
But you see they have in this province a large breed of dogs, so fierce
and bold that two of them together will attack a lion.{4} So every man
who goes a journey takes with him a couple of those dogs, and when
a lion appears they have at him with the greatest boldness, and the
lion turns on them, but can’t touch them for they are very deft at
eschewing his blows. So they follow him, perpetually giving tongue, and
watching their chance to give him a bite in the rump or in the thigh,
or wherever they may. The lion makes no reprisal except now and then
to turn fiercely on them, and then indeed were he to catch the dogs
it would be all over with them, but they take good care that he shall
not. So, to escape the dogs’ din, the lion makes off, and gets into the
wood, where mayhap he stands at bay against a tree to have his rear
protected from their annoyance. And when the travellers see the lion
in this plight they take to their bows, for they are capital archers,
and shoot their arrows at him till he falls dead. And ’tis thus that
travellers in those parts do deliver themselves from those lions.
They have a good deal of silk and other products which are carried up
and down, by the river of which we spoke, into various quarters.{5}
You travel along the river for twelve days more, finding a good
many towns all along, and the people always Idolaters, and subject
to the Great Kaan, with paper-money current, and living by trade
and handicrafts. There are also plenty of fighting men. And after
travelling those twelve days you arrive at the city of Sindafu of
which we spoke in this book some time ago.{6}
From Sindafu you set out again and travel some 70 days through the
provinces and cities and towns which we have already visited, and all
which have been already particularly spoken of in our Book. At the end
of those 70 days you come to Juju where we were before.{7}
From Juju you set out again and travel four days towards the south,
finding many towns and villages. The people are great traders and
craftsmen, are all Idolaters, and use the paper-money of the Great Kaan
their Sovereign. At the end of those four days you come to the city
of Cacanfu belonging to the province of Cathay, and of it I shall now
speak.
NOTE 1.—In spite of difficulties which beset the subject (see Note
6 below) the view of Pauthier, suggested doubtingly by Marsden,
that the Cuiju of the text is KWEI-CHAU, seems the most probable
one. As the latter observes, the reappearance of paper money
shows that we have got back into a province of China Proper.
Such, Yun-nan, recently conquered from a Shan prince, could not
be considered. But, according to the best view we can form, the
traveller could only have passed through the extreme west of the
province of Kwei-chau.
The name of _Fungul_, if that be a true reading, is suggestive
of _Phungan_, which under the Mongols was the head of a district
called PHUNGAN-LU. It was founded by that dynasty, and was regarded
as an important position for the command of the three provinces
Kwei-chau, Kwang-si, and Yun-nan. (_Biot_, p. 168; _Martini_, p.
137.) But we shall explain presently the serious difficulties that
beset the interpretation of the itinerary as it stands.
NOTE 2.—Several Chinese plants afford a fibre from the bark, and
some of these are manufactured into what we call _grass-cloths_.
The light smooth textures so called are termed by the Chinese
_Hiapu_ or “summer cloths.” Kwei-chau produces such. But perhaps
that specially intended is a species of hemp (_Urtica Nivea?_)
of which M. Perny of the R. C. Missions says, in his notes
on Kwei-chau: “It affords a texture which may be compared to
_batiste_. This has the notable property of keeping so cool that
many people cannot wear it even in the hot weather. Generally it
is used only for summer clothing.” (_Dict. des Tissus_, VII. 404;
_Chin. Repos._ XVIII. 217 and 529; _Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi_,
XXXI. 137.)
NOTE 3.—Tigers of course are meant. (See _supra_, vol. i. p. 399.)
M. Perny speaks of tigers in the mountainous parts of Kwei-chau.
(_Op. cit._ 139.)
NOTE 4.—These great dogs were noticed by Lieutenant (now General)
Macleod, in his journey to Kiang Hung on the great River Mekong, as
accompanying the caravans of Chinese traders on their way to the
Siamese territory. (See _Macleod’s Journal_, p. 66.)
NOTE 5.—The trade in wild silk (_i.e._ from the oak-leaf silkworm)
is in truth an important branch of commerce in Kwei-chau. But the
chief seat of this is at Tsuni-fu, and I do not think that Polo’s
route can be sought so far to the eastward. (_Ann. de la Prop._
XXXI. 136; _Richthofen_, Letter VII. 81.)
NOTE 6.—We have now got back to Sindafu, _i.e._ Ch’êng-tu fu in
Sze-ch’wan, and are better able to review the geography of the
track we have been following. I do not find it possible to solve
all its difficulties.
The different provinces treated of in the chapters from lv. to lix.
are strung by Marco upon an easterly, or, as we must interpret,
_north-easterly_ line of travel, real or hypothetical. Their names
and intervals are as follows: (1) Bangala; whence 30 marches to
(2) Caugigu; 25 marches to (3) Anin; 8 marches to (4) Toloman or
Coloman; 12 days in Cuiju along a river to the city of (5) Fungul,
Sinugul (or what not); 12 days further, on or along the same river,
to (6) Ch’êng-tu fu. Total from Bangala to Ch’êng-tu fu 87 days.
I have said that the line of travel is real _or hypothetical_, for
no doubt a large part of it was only founded on hearsay. We last
left our traveller at Mien, or on the frontier of Yun-nan and Mien.
_Bangala_ is reached _per saltum_ with no indication of interval,
and its position is entirely misapprehended. Marco conceives of
it, not as in India, but as being, like Mien, a province _on the
confines_ of India, as being under the same king as Mien, as lying
to the south of that kingdom, and as being at the (south) western
extremity of a great traverse line which runs (north) east into
Kwei-chau and Sze-ch’wan. All these conditions point consistently
to one locality; that, however, is not Bengal but _Pegu_. On the
other hand, the circumstances of manners and products, so far as
they go, _do_ belong to Bengal. I conceive that Polo’s information
regarding these was derived from persons who had really visited
Bengal by sea, but that he had confounded what he so heard of the
Delta of the Ganges with what he heard on the Yun-nan frontier of
the Delta of the Irawadi. It is just the same kind of error that is
made about those great Eastern Rivers by Fra Mauro in his Map. And
possibly the name of Pegu (in Burmese _Bagóh_) may have contributed
to his error, as well as the probable fact that the Kings of
Burma did at this time _claim_ to be Kings of Bengal, whilst they
actually _were_ Kings of Pegu.
_Caugigu_.—We have seen reason to agree with M. Pauthier that
the description of this region points to Laos, though we cannot
with him assign it to Kiang-mai. Even if it be identical with the
Papesifu of the Chinese, we have seen that the centre of that
state may be placed at Muang Yong not far from the Mekong; whilst
I believe that the limits of Caugigu must be drawn much nearer the
Chinese and Tungking territory, so as to embrace Kiang Hung, and
probably the _Papien_ River. (See note at p. 117.)
As regards the name, it is _possible_ that it may represent
some specific name of the Upper Laos territory. But I am
inclined to believe that we are dealing with a case of erroneous
geographical perspective like that of Bangala; and that whilst the
_circumstances_ belong to Upper Laos, the _name_, read as I read
it, _Caugigu_ (or Cavgigu), is no other than the _Ḳafchikúe_ of
Rashiduddin, the name applied by him to Tungking, and representing
the KIAOCHI-KWÊ of the Chinese. D’Anville’s Atlas brings Kiaochi
up to the Mekong in immediate contact with Che-li or Kiang Hung. I
had come to the conclusion that Caugigu was _probably_ the correct
reading before I was aware that it is an _actual_ reading of the
Geog. Text more than once, of Pauthier’s A more than once, of
Pauthier’s C _at least_ once and possibly twice, and of the Bern
MS.; all which I have ascertained from personal examination of
those manuscripts.[1]
_Anin_ or _Aniu_.—I have already pointed out that I seek this
in the territory about Lin-ngan and Homi. In relation to this
M. Garnier writes: “In starting from Muang Yong, or even if you
prefer it, from Xieng Hung (Kiang Hung of our maps), ... it would
be physically impossible in 25 days to get beyond the arc which I
have laid down on your map (viz. extending a few miles north-east
of Homi). There are scarcely any roads in those mountains, and
easy lines of communication begin only _after_ you have got to the
Lin-ngan territory. In Marco Polo’s days things were certainly not
better, but the reverse. All that has been done of consequence in
the way of roads, posts, and organisation in the part of Yun-nan
between Lin-ngan and Xieng Hung, dates in some degree from the
Yuen, but in a far greater degree from K’ang-hi.” Hence, even with
the Ramusian reading of the itinerary, we cannot place _Anin_ much
beyond the position indicated already.
[Illustration: Script _thaï_ of Xieng-hung.]
_Koloman_.—We have seen that the position of this region is
probably near the western frontier of Kwei-chau. Adhering to
_Homi_ as the representative of Anin, and to the 8 days’ journey
of the text, the most probable position of Koloman would be about
_Lo-ping_, which lies about 100 English miles in a straight line
north-east from Homi. The first character of the name here is again
the same as the _Lo_ of the Kolo tribes.
Beyond this point the difficulties of devising an interpretation,
consistent at once with facts and with the text as it stands,
become insuperable.
The narrative demands that from Koloman we should reach _Fungul_, a
great and noble city, by travelling 12 days along a river, and that
Fungul should be within twelve days’ journey of Ch’êng-tu fu, along
the same river, or at least along rivers connected with it.
In advancing from the south-west guided by the data afforded by
the texts, we have not been able to carry the position of Fungul
(_Sinugul_, or what not of G. T. and other MSS.) further north than
Phungan. But it is impossible that Ch’êng-tu fu should have been
reached in 12 days from this point. Nor is it possible that a new
post in a secluded position, like Phungan, could have merited to be
described as “a great and noble city.”
Baron v. Richthofen has favoured me with a note in which he shows
that in reality the only place answering the more essential
conditions of Fungul is Siu-chau fu at the union of the two
great branches of the Yang-tzŭ, viz. the Kin-sha Kiang, and the
Min-Kiang from Ch’êng-tu fu. (1) The distance from Siu-chau to
Ch’êng-tu by land travelling is just about 12 days, and the road
is along a river. (2) In approaching “Fungul” from the south Polo
met with a good many towns and villages. This would be the case
along either of the navigable rivers that join the Yang-tzŭ below
Siu-chau (or along that which joins above Siu-chau, mentioned
further on). (3) The large trade in silk up and down the river is a
characteristic that could only apply to the Yang-tzŭ.
These reasons are very strong, though some little doubt must
subsist until we can explain the name (Fungul, or Sinugul) as
applicable to Siu-chau.[2] And assuming Siu-chau to be the city we
must needs carry the position of _Coloman_ considerably further
north than Lo-ping, and must presume the interval between _Anin_
and _Coloman_ to be greatly understated, through clerical or other
error. With these assumptions we should place Polo’s Coloman in the
vicinity of Wei-ning, one of the localities of Kolo tribes.
From a position near Wei-ning it would be quite possible to reach
Siu-chau in 12 days, making use of the facilities afforded by one
or other of the partially navigable rivers to which allusion has
just been made.
[Illustration: Iron Suspension Bridge at Lowatong. (From Garnier.)]
“That one,” says M. Garnier in a letter, “which enters the Kiang
a little above Siu-chau fu, the River of _Lowa-tong_, which was
descended by our party, has a branch to the eastward which is
navigable up to about the latitude of Chao-tong. Is not this
probably Marco Polo’s route? It is to this day a line much
frequented, and one on which great works have been executed; among
others two iron suspension bridges, works truly gigantic for the
country in which we find them.”
An extract from a Chinese Itinerary of this route, which M. Garnier
has since communicated to me, shows that at a point 4 days from
Wei-ning the traveller may embark and continue his voyage to any
point on the great Kiang.
We are obliged, indeed, to give up the attempt to keep to a line of
communicating rivers throughout the whole 24 days. Nor do I see how
it is possible to adhere to that condition literally without taking
more material liberties with the text.
[Illustration: MARCO POLO’S ITINERARIES Nᵒ. V.
Indo Chinese Regions (Book II, Chapˢ. 44–59)]
My theory of Polo’s actual journey would be that he returned from
Yun-nan fu to Ch’êng-tu fu through some part of the province of
Kwei-chau, perhaps only its western extremity, but that he spoke of
Caugigu, and probably of Anin, as he did of Bangala, from report
only. And, in recapitulation, I would identify provisionally the
localities spoken of in this difficult itinerary as follows:
_Caugigu_ with Kiang Hung; _Anin_ with Homi; _Coloman_ with the
country about Wei-ning in Western Kwei-chau; _Fungul_ or Sinugul
with Siu-chau.
[This itinerary is difficult, as Sir Henry Yule says. It takes
Marco Polo 24 days to go from Coloman or Toloman to Ch’êng-tu. The
land route is 22 days from Yun-nan fu to Swi-fu, _viâ_ Tung-ch’wan
and Chao-t’ung. (_J. China B. R. A. S._ XXVIII. 74–75.) From the
Toloman province, which I place about Lin-ngan and Cheng-kiang,
south of Yun-nan fu, Polo must have passed a second time through
this city, which is indeed at the end of all the routes of this
part of South-Western China. He might go back to Sze-ch’wan by the
western route, _viâ_ Tung-ch’wan and Chao-t’ung to Swi-fu, or, by
the eastern, easier and shorter route by Siuen-wei chau, crossing
a corner of the Kwei-chau province (Wei-ning), and passing by
Yun-ning hien to the Kiang; this is the route followed by Mr. A.
Hosie in 1883 and by Mr. F. S. A. Bourne in 1885, and with great
likelihood by Marco Polo; he may have taken the Yun-ning River to
the district city of Na-ch’i hien, which lies on the right bank
both of this river and of the Kiang; the Kiang up to Swi-fu and
thence to Ch’êng-tu. I do not attempt to explain the difficulty
about Fungul.
I fully agree with Sir H. Yule when he says that Polo spoke of
Caugigu and of Bangala, probably of Anin, from report only.
However, I believe that Caugigu is the _Kiao-Chi kwé_ of the
Chinese, that Ani_n_ must be read Ani_u_, that Aniu is but
a transcription of _Nan-yué_, that both Nan-yué and Kiao-Chi
represent Northern Annam, _i.e._ the portion of Annam which we call
Tung-king. Regarding the tattooed inhabitants of Caugigu, let it be
remembered that tattooing existed in Annam till it was prohibited
by the Chinese during the occupation of Tung-king at the beginning
of the 15th century.—H. C.]
NOTE 7.—Here the traveller gets back to the road-bifurcation near
Juju, _i.e._ Chochau (_ante_ p. 11), and thence commences to travel
southward.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] A passing suggestion of the identity of Kafchi Kué and Caugigu is
made by D’Ohsson, and I formerly objected. (See _Cathay_, p. 272.)
[2] Cuiju might be read _Ciuju_—representing _Siuchau_, but the
difficulty about Fungul would remain.
[Illustration: Fortified Villages on Western frontier of Kweichau.
(From Garnier.)
“=Chastiaus ont-il grant quantité en grandismes montagnes et
fortres.=”]
BOOK II.—_Continued_.
PART III.—JOURNEY SOUTHWARD THROUGH EASTERN PROVINCES
OF CATHAY AND MANZI.
CHAPTER LX.
CONCERNING THE CITIES OF CACANFU AND OF CHANGLU.
Cacanfu is a noble city. The people are Idolaters and burn their dead;
they have paper-money, and live by trade and handicrafts. For they
have plenty of silk from which they weave stuffs of silk and gold, and
sendals in large quantities. [There are also certain Christians at this
place, who have a church.] And the city is at the head of an important
territory containing numerous towns and villages. [A great river
passes through it, on which much merchandise is carried to the city of
Cambaluc, for by many channels and canals it is connected therewith.{1}]
We will now set forth again, and travel three days towards the south,
and then we come to a town called CHANGLU. This is another great city
belonging to the Great Kaan, and to the province of Cathay. The people
have paper-money, and are Idolaters and burn their dead. And you must
know they make salt in great quantities at this place; I will tell you
how ’tis done.{2}
A kind of earth is found there which is exceedingly salt. This they
dig up and pile in great heaps. Upon these heaps they pour water in
quantities till it runs out at the bottom; and then they take up this
water and boil it well in great iron cauldrons, and as it cools it
deposits a fine white salt in very small grains. This salt they then
carry about for sale to many neighbouring districts, and get great
profit thereby.
There is nothing else worth mentioning, so let us go forward five days’
journey, and we shall come to a city called Chinangli.
NOTE 1.—In the greater part of the journey which occupies the
remainder of Book II., Pauthier is a chief authority, owing
to his industrious Chinese reading and citation. Most of his
identifications seem well founded, though sometimes we shall be
constrained to dissent from them widely. A considerable number have
been anticipated by former editors, but even in such cases he is
often able to bring forward new grounds.
CACANFU is HO-KIEN FU in Pe Chih-li, 52 miles in a direct line
south by east of Chochau. It was the head of one of the _Lu_ or
circuits into which the Mongols divided China. (_Pauthier_.)
NOTE 2.—Marsden and Murray have identified Changlu with T’SANG-CHAU
in Pe Chih-li, about 30 miles east by south of Ho-kien fu. This
seems substantially right, but Pauthier shows that there was an old
town actually called CH’ANGLU, separated from T’sang-chau only by
the great canal. [Ch’ang-lu was the name of T’sang-chau under the
T’ang and the Kin. (See _Playfair, Dict._, p. 34.)—H. C.]
The manner of obtaining salt, described in the text, is
substantially the same as one described by Duhalde, and by one of
the missionaries, as being employed near the mouth of the Yang-tzŭ
kiang. There is a town of the third order some miles south-east
of T’sang-chau, called _Yen-shan_ or “salt-hill,” and, according
to Pauthier, T’sang-chau is the mart for salt produced there.
(_Duhalde_ in _Astley_, IV. 310; _Lettres Edif._ XI. 267 _seqq._;
_Biot._ p. 283.)
Polo here introduces a remark about the practice of burning the
dead, which, with the notice of the idolatry of the people, and
their use of paper-money, constitutes a formula which he repeats
all through the Chinese provinces with wearisome iteration. It is,
in fact, his definition of the Chinese people, for whom he seems to
lack a comprehensive name.
A great change seems to have come over Chinese custom, since the
Middle Ages, in regard to the disposal of the dead. Cremation
is now entirely disused, except in two cases; one, that of the
obsequies of a Buddhist priest, and the other that in which the
coffin instead of being buried has been exposed in the fields, and
in the lapse of time has become decayed. But it is impossible to
reject the evidence that it was a common practice in Polo’s age.
He repeats the assertion that it was _the_ custom at every stage
of his journey through Eastern China; though perhaps his taking
absolutely no notice of the practice of burial is an instance of
that imperfect knowledge of strictly Chinese peculiarities which
has been elsewhere ascribed to him. It is the case, however, that
the author of the Book of the Estate of the Great Kaan (_circa_
1330) also speaks of cremation as the usual Chinese practice,
and that Ibn Batuta says positively: “The Chinese are infidels
and idolaters, and they burn their dead after the manner of the
Hindus.” This is all the more curious, because the Arab _Relations_
of the 9th century say distinctly that the Chinese bury their dead,
though they often kept the body long (as they do still) before
burial; and there is no mistaking the description which Conti (15th
century) gives of the Chinese mode of sepulture. Mendoza, in the
16th century, alludes to no disposal of the dead except by burial,
but Semedo in the early part of the 17th says that bodies were
occasionally burnt, especially in Sze-ch’wan.
I am greatly indebted to the kindness of an eminent Chinese
scholar, Mr. W. F. Mayers, of Her Majesty’s Legation at Peking,
who, in a letter, dated Peking, 18th September, 1874, sends me the
following memorandum on the subject:—
“_Colonel Yule’s Marco Polo_, II. 97 [First Edition], _Burning of
the Dead_.
“On this subject compare the article entitled _Huo Tsang_, or
‘Cremation Burials,’ in Bk. XV of the _Jih Che Luh_, or ‘Daily
Jottings,’ a great collection of miscellaneous notes on classical,
historical, and antiquarian subjects, by Ku Yen-wu, a celebrated
author of the 17th century. The article is as follows:—
“‘The practice of burning the dead flourished (or flourishes) most
extensively in Kiang-nan, and was in vogue already in the period
of the Sung Dynasty. According to the history of the Sung Dynasty,
in the 27th year of the reign Shao-hing (A.D. 1157), the practice
was animadverted upon by a public official.’ Here follows a long
extract, in which the burning of the dead is reprehended, and it is
stated that cemeteries were set apart by Government on behalf of
the poorer classes.
“In A.D. 1261, Hwang Chên, governor of the district of Wu, in a
memorial praying that the erection of cremation furnaces might
thenceforth be prohibited, dwelt upon the impropriety of burning
the remains of the deceased, for whose obsequies a multitude of
observances were prescribed by the religious rites. He further
exposed the fallacy of the excuse alleged for the practice, to wit,
that burning the dead was a fulfilment of the precepts of Buddha,
and accused the priests of a certain monastery of converting into a
source of illicit gain the practice of cremation.”
[As an illustration of the cremation of a Buddhist priest, I note
the following passage from an article published in the _North-China
Herald_, 20th May, 1887, p. 556, on Kwei Hua Ch’eng, Mongolia:
“Several Lamas are on visiting terms with me and they are very
friendly. There are seven large and eight small Lamaseries, in care
of from ten to two hundred Lamas. The principal Lamas at death
are cremated. A short time ago, a friendly Lama took me to see a
cremation. The furnace was roughly made of mud bricks, with four
fire-holes at the base, with an opening in which to place the body.
The whole was about 6 feet high, and about 5 feet in circumference.
Greased fuel was arranged within and covered with glazed foreign
calico, on which were written some Tibetan characters. A tent was
erected and mats arranged for the Lamas. About 11.30 A.M. a scarlet
covered bier appeared in sight carried by thirty-two beggars. A box
2 feet square and 2½ feet high was taken out and placed near the
furnace. The Lamas arrived and attired themselves in gorgeous robes
and sat cross-legged. During the preparations to chant, some butter
was being melted in a corner of the tent. A screen of calico was
drawn round the furnace in which the cremator placed the body, and
filled up the opening. Then a dozen Lamas began chanting the burial
litany in Tibetan in deep bass voices. Then the head priest blessed
the torches and when the fires were lit he blessed a fan to fan the
flames, and lastly some melted butter, which was poured in at the
top to make the whole blaze. This was frequently repeated. When
fairly ablaze, a few pieces of Tibetan grass were thrown in at the
top. After three days the whole cooled, and a priest with one gold
and one silver chopstick collects the bones, which are placed in a
bag for burial. If the bones are white it is a sign that his sin is
purged, if black that perfection has not been attained.”—H. C.]
And it is very worthy of note that the Chinese envoy to Chinla
(Kamboja) in 1295, an individual who may have personally known
Marco Polo, in speaking of the custom prevalent there of exposing
the dead, adds: “There are some, however, who burn their dead.
_These are all descendants of Chinese immigrants._”
[Professor J. J. M. de Groot remarks that “being of religious
origin, cremation is mostly denoted in China by clerical terms,
expressive of the metamorphosis the funeral pyre is intended to
effect, viz. ‘transformation of man’; ‘transformation of the body’;
‘metamorphosis by fire.’ Without the clerical sphere it bears no
such high-sounding names, being simply called ‘incineration of
corpses.’ A term of illogical composition, and nevertheless very
common in the books, is ‘fire burial.’” It appears that during the
Sung Dynasty cremation was especially common in the provinces of
Shan-si, Cheh-kiang, and Kiang-su. During the Mongol Dynasty, the
instances of cremation which are mentioned in Chinese books are,
relatively speaking, numerous. Professor de Groot says also that
“there exists evidence that during the Mongol domination cremation
also throve in Fuhkien.” (_Religious System of China_, vol. iii.
pp. 1391, 1409, 1410.)—H. C.]
(_Doolittle_, 190; _Deguignes_, I. 69; _Cathay_, pp. 247, 479;
_Reinaud_, I. 56; _India in the XVth Century_, p. 23; _Semedo_, p.
95; _Rém. Mél. Asiat._ I. 128.)
CHAPTER LXI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF CHINANGLI, AND THAT OF TADINFU, AND THE
REBELLION OF LITAN.
Chinangli is a city of Cathay as you go south, and it belongs to the
Great Kaan; the people are Idolaters, and have paper-money. There runs
through the city a great and wide river, on which a large traffic in
silk goods and spices and other costly merchandize passes up and down.
When you travel south from Chinangli for five days, you meet everywhere
with fine towns and villages, the people of which are all Idolaters,
and burn their dead, and are subject to the Great Kaan, and have
paper-money, and live by trade and handicrafts, and have all the
necessaries of life in great abundance. But there is nothing particular
to mention on the way till you come, at the end of those five days, to
TADINFU.{1}
This, you must know, is a very great city, and in old times was the
seat of a great kingdom; but the Great Kaan conquered it by force
of arms. Nevertheless it is still the noblest city in all those
provinces. There are very great merchants here, who trade on a great
scale, and the abundance of silk is something marvellous. They have,
moreover, most charming gardens abounding with fruit of large size.
The city of Tadinfu hath also under its rule eleven imperial cities
of great importance, all of which enjoy a large and profitable trade,
owing to that immense produce of silk.{2}
Now, you must know, that in the year of Christ, 1273, the Great Kaan
had sent a certain Baron called LIYTAN SANGON,{3} with some 80,000
horse, to this province and city, to garrison them. And after the said
captain had tarried there a while, he formed a disloyal and traitorous
plot, and stirred up the great men of the province to rebel against the
Great Kaan. And so they did; for they broke into revolt against their
sovereign lord, and refused all obedience to him, and made this Liytan,
whom their sovereign had sent thither for their protection, to be the
chief of their revolt.
When the Great Kaan heard thereof he straightway despatched two of his
Barons, one of whom was called AGUIL and the other MONGOTAY;{4} giving
them 100,000 horse and a great force of infantry. But the affair was a
serious one, for the Barons were met by the rebel Liytan with all those
whom he had collected from the province, mustering more than 100,000
horse and a large force of foot. Nevertheless in the battle Liytan and
his party were utterly routed, and the two Barons whom the Emperor
had sent won the victory. When the news came to the Great Kaan he was
right well pleased, and ordered that all the chiefs who had rebelled,
or excited others to rebel, should be put to a cruel death, but that
those of lower rank should receive a pardon. And so it was done. The
two Barons had all the leaders of the enterprise put to a cruel death,
and all those of lower rank were pardoned. And thenceforward they
conducted themselves with loyalty towards their lord.{5}
Now having told you all about this affair, let us have done with it,
and I will tell you of another place that you come to in going south,
which is called SINJU-MATU.
NOTE 1.—There seems to be no solution to the difficulties attaching
to the account of these two cities (Chinangli and Tadinfu) except
that the two have been confounded, either by a lapse of memory on
the traveller’s part or by a misunderstanding on that of Rusticiano.
The position and name of CHINANGLI point, as Pauthier has shown,
to T’SI-NAN FU, the chief city of Shan-tung. The second city is
called in the G. Text and Pauthier’s MSS. _Candinfu_, _Condinfu_,
and _Cundinfu_, names which it has not been found possible to
elucidate. But adopting the reading _Tadinfu_ of some of the old
printed editions (supported by the _Tudinfu_ of Ramusio and the
_Tandifu_ of the Riccardian MS.), Pauthier shows that the city now
called _Yen-chau_ bore under the Kin the name of TAI-TING FU, which
may fairly thus be recognised. [Under the Sung Dynasty Yen-chau was
named T’ai-ning and Lung-k’ing. (_Playfair’s Dict._ p. 388.)—H. C.]
It was not, however, Yen-chau, but _T’si-nan fu_, which was “the
noblest city in all those provinces,” and had been “in old times
the seat of a kingdom,” as well as recently the scene of the
episode of Litan’s rebellion. T’si-nan fu lies in a direct line
86 miles south of T’sang-chau (_Changlu_), near the banks of the
Ta-t’sing ho, a large river which communicates with the great canal
near T’si-ning chau, and which was, no doubt, of greater importance
in Polo’s time than in the last six centuries. For up nearly to
the origin of the Mongol power it appears to have been one of the
main discharges of the Hwang-Ho. The recent changes in that river
have again brought its main stream into the same channel, and the
“New Yellow River” passes three or four miles to the north of the
city. T’si-nan fu has frequently of late been visited by European
travellers, who report it as still a place of importance, with much
life and bustle, numerous book-shops, several fine temples, two
mosques, and all the furniture of a provincial capital. It has also
a Roman Catholic Cathedral of Gothic architecture. (_Williamson_,
I. 102.)
[Tsi-nan “is a populous and rich city; and by means of the river
(Ta Tsing ho, Great Clear River) carries on an extensive commerce.
The soil is fertile, and produces grain and fruits in abundance.
Silk of an excellent quality is manufactured, and commands a high
price. The lakes and rivers are well stored with fish.” (_Chin.
Rep._ XI. p. 562.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—The Chinese Annals, more than 2000 years B.C., speak of
silk as an article of tribute from Shan-tung; and evidently it
was one of the provinces most noted in the Middle Ages for that
article. Compare the quotation in note on next chapter from Friar
Odoric. Yet the older modern accounts speak only of the _wild_
silk of Shan-tung. Mr. Williamson, however, points out that there
is an extensive produce from the genuine mulberry silkworm, and
anticipates a very important trade in Shan-tung silk. Silk fabrics
are also largely produced, and some of extraordinary quality.
(_Williamson_, I. 112, 131.)
The expressions of Padre Martini, in speaking of the wild silk of
Shan-tung, strongly remind one of the talk of the ancients about
the origin of silk, and suggest the possibility that this may not
have been mere groundless fancy: “Non in globum aut ovum ductum,
sed in longissimum filum paulatim ex ore emissum, albi coloris,
quæ arbustis dumisque, adhærentia, atque a vento huc illucque
agitata colliguntur,” etc. Compare this with Pliny’s “Seres lanitia
silvarum nobiles, perfusam aqua depectentes frondium caniciem,” or
Claudian’s “Stamine, quod molli tondent de stipite Seres, Frondea
lanigeræ carpentes vellera silvæ; Et longum tenues tractus producit
in aurum.”
NOTE 3.—The title _Sangon_ is, as Pauthier points out, the Chinese
_Tsiang-kiun_, a “general of division,” [or better “Military
Governor”.—H. C.] John Bell calls an officer, bearing the
same title, “Merin _Sanguin_.” I suspect _T’siang-kiun_ is the
_Jang-Jang_ of Baber.
NOTE 4.—AGUL was the name of a distant cousin of Kúblái, who was
the father of Nayan (_supra_, ch. ii. and Genealogy of the House of
Chinghiz in Appendix A). MANGKUTAI, under Kúblái, held the command
of the third Hazara (Thousand) of the right wing, in which he had
succeeded his father Jedi Noyan. He was greatly distinguished in
the invasion of South China under Bayan. (_Erdmann’s Temudschin_,
pp. 220, 455; _Gaubil_, p. 160.)
NOTE 5.—LITAN, a Chinese of high military position and reputation
under the Mongols, in the early part of Kúblái’s reign, commanded
the troops in Shan-tung and the conquered parts of Kiang-nan.
In the beginning of 1262 he carried out a design that he had
entertained since Kúblái’s accession, declared for the Sung
Emperor, to whom he gave up several important places, put
detached Mongol garrisons to the sword, and fortified T’si-nan
and T’sing-chau. Kúblái despatched Prince Apiché and the General
Ssetienché against him. Litan, after some partial success, was
beaten and driven into T’si-nan, which the Mongols immediately
invested. After a blockade of four months, the garrison was reduced
to extremities. Litan, in despair, put his women to death and threw
himself into a lake adjoining the city; but he was taken out alive
and executed. T’sing-chau then surrendered. (_Gaubil_, 139–140; _De
Mailla_, IX. 298 _seqq._; _D’Ohsson_, II. 381.)
Pauthier gives greater detail from the Chinese Annals, which
confirm the amnesty granted to all but the chiefs of the rebellion.
The date in the text is wrong or corrupt, as is generally the case.
CHAPTER LXII.
CONCERNING THE NOBLE CITY OF SINJUMATU.
On leaving Tadinfu you travel three days towards the south, always
finding numbers of noble and populous towns and villages flourishing
with trade and manufactures. There is also abundance of game in the
country, and everything in profusion.
When you have travelled those three days you come to the noble city of
SINJUMATU, a rich and fine place, with great trade and manufactures.
The people are Idolaters and subjects of the Great Kaan, and have
paper-money, and they have a river which I can assure you brings them
great gain, and I will tell you about it.
You see the river in question flows from the South to this city of
Sinjumatu. And the people of the city have divided this larger river
in two, making one half of it flow east and the other half flow west;
that is to say, the one branch flows towards Manzi and the other
towards Cathay. And it is a fact that the number of vessels at this
city is what no one would believe without seeing them. The quantity
of merchandize also which these vessels transport to Manzi and Cathay
is something marvellous; and then they return loaded with other
merchandize, so that the amount of goods borne to and fro on those two
rivers is quite astonishing.{1}
NOTE 1.—Friar Odoric, proceeding by water northward to Cambaluc
about 1324–1325, says: “As I travelled by that river towards the
east, and passed many towns and cities, I came to a certain city
which is called SUNZUMATU, which hath a greater plenty of silk than
perhaps any place on earth, for when silk is at the dearest you
can still have 40 lbs. for less than eight groats. There is in the
place likewise great store of merchandise,” etc. When commenting
on Odoric, I was inclined to identify this city with Lin-t’sing
chau, but its position with respect to the two last cities in
Polo’s itinerary renders this inadmissible; and Murray and Pauthier
seem to be right in identifying it with T’SI-NING CHAU. The affix
_Matu_ (_Ma-t’eu_, a jetty, a place of river trade) might easily
attach itself to the name of such a great depôt of commerce on the
canal as Marco here describes, though no Chinese authority has
been produced for its being so styled. The only objection to the
identification with T’si-ning chau is the difficulty of making 3
days’ journey of the short distance between Yen-chau and that city.
Polo, according to the route supposed, comes first upon the
artificial part of the Great Canal here. The rivers _Wen_ and
_Sse_ (from near Yen-chau) flowing from the side of Shan-tung, and
striking the canal line at right angles near T’si-ning chau, have
been thence diverted north-west and south-east, so as to form the
canal; the point of their original confluence at Nan-wang forming,
apparently, the summit level of the canal. There is a little
confusion in Polo’s account, owing to his describing the river as
coming from the _south_, which, according to his orientation, would
be the side towards Honan. In this respect his words would apply
more accurately to the _Wei_ River at Lin-t’sing (see _Biot_ in _J.
As._ sér. III. tom. xiv. 194, and _J. N. C. B. R. A. S._, 1866, p.
11; also the map with ch. lxiv.) [Father Gandar (_Canal Impérial_,
p. 22, note) says that the remark of Marco Polo: “The river flows
from the south to this city of Sinjumatu,” cannot be applied to
the _Wen-ho_ nor to the _Sse-ho_, which are rivers of little
importance and running from the east, whilst the _Wei-ho_, coming
from the south-east, waters Lin-ts’ing, and answers well to our
traveller’s text.—H. C.] Duhalde calls T’si-ning chau “one of the
most considerable cities of the empire”; and Nieuhoff speaks of its
large trade and population. [Sir John F. Davis writes that Tsi-ning
chau is a town of considerable dimensions.... “The _ma-tow_, or
platforms, before the principal boats had ornamental gateways over
them.... The canal seems to render this an opulent and flourishing
place, to judge by the gilded and carved shops, temples, and public
offices, along the eastern banks.” (_Sketches of China_, I. pp.
255–257.)—H. C.]
CHAPTER LXIII.
CONCERNING THE CITIES OF LINJU AND PIJU.
On leaving the city of Sinju-matu you travel for eight days towards the
south, always coming to great and rich towns and villages flourishing
with trade and manufactures. The people are all subjects of the Great
Kaan, use paper-money, and burn their dead. At the end of those eight
days you come to the city of LINJU, in the province of the same name of
which it is the capital. It is a rich and noble city, and the men are
good soldiers, natheless they carry on great trade and manufactures.
There is great abundance of game in both beasts and birds, and all the
necessaries of life are in profusion. The place stands on the river of
which I told you above. And they have here great numbers of vessels,
even greater than those of which I spoke before, and these transport a
great amount of costly merchandize{1}.
So, quitting this province and city of Linju, you travel three days
more towards the south, constantly finding numbers of rich towns
and villages. These still belong to Cathay; and the people are all
Idolaters, burning their dead, and using paper-money, that I mean of
their Lord the Great Kaan, whose subjects they are. This is the finest
country for game, whether in beasts or birds, that is anywhere to be
found, and all the necessaries of life are in profusion.
At the end of those three days you find the city of PIJU, a great,
rich, and noble city, with large trade and manufactures, and a great
production of silk. This city stands at the entrance to the great
province of Manzi, and there reside at it a great number of merchants
who despatch carts from this place loaded with great quantities of
goods to the different towns of Manzi. The city brings in a great
revenue to the Great Kaan.{2}
NOTE 1.—Murray suggests that Lingiu is a place which appears in
D’Anville’s Map of Shan-tung as _Lintching-y_, and in Arrowsmith’s
Map of China (also in those of Berghaus and Keith Johnston) as
_Lingchinghien_. The position assigned to it, however, on the west
bank of the canal, nearly under the 35th degree of latitude, would
agree fairly with Polo’s data. [_Lin-ch’ing, Lin-tsing_, lat. 37°
03′, _Playfair’s Dict._ No. 4276; _Biot_, p. 107.—H. C.]
In any case, I imagine Lingiu (of which, perhaps, _Lingin_ may
be the correct reading) to be the _Lenzin_ of Odoric, which he
reached in travelling by water from the south, before arriving at
Sinjumatu. (_Cathay_, p. 125.)
NOTE 2.—There can be no doubt that this is PEI-CHAU on the east
bank of the canal. The abundance of game about here is noticed by
Nieuhoff (in _Astley_, III. 417). [See _D. Gandar, Canal Impérial_,
1894.—H. C.]
CHAPTER LXIV.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF SIJU, AND THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN.
When you leave Piju you travel towards the south for two days, through
beautiful districts abounding in everything, and in which you find
quantities of all kinds of game. At the end of those two days you reach
the city of SIJU, a great, rich, and noble city, flourishing with
trade and manufactures. The people are Idolaters, burn their dead, use
paper-money, and are subjects of the Great Kaan. They possess extensive
and fertile plains producing abundance of wheat and other grain.{1} But
there is nothing else to mention, so let us proceed and tell you of the
countries further on.
On leaving Siju you ride south for three days, constantly falling
in with fine towns and villages and hamlets and farms, with their
cultivated lands. There is plenty of wheat and other corn, and of game
also; and the people are all Idolaters and subjects of the Great Kaan.
At the end of those three days you reach the great river CARAMORAN,
which flows hither from Prester John’s country. It is a great river,
and more than a mile in width, and so deep that great ships can
navigate it. It abounds in fish, and very big ones too. You must know
that in this river there are some 15,000 vessels, all belonging to
the Great Kaan, and kept to transport his troops to the Indian Isles
whenever there may be occasion; for the sea is only one day distant
from the place we are speaking of. And each of these vessels, taking
one with another, will require 20 mariners, and will carry 15 horses
with the men belonging to them, and their provisions, arms, and
equipments.{2}
Hither and thither, on either bank of the river, stands a town; the one
facing the other. The one is called COIGANJU and the other CAIJU; the
former is a large place, and the latter a little one. And when you pass
this river you enter the great province of MANZI. So now I must tell
you how this province of Manzi was conquered by the Great Kaan.{3}
NOTE 1.—SIJU can scarcely be other than Su-t’sien (_Sootsin_ of
Keith Johnston’s map) as Murray and Pauthier have said. The latter
states that one of the old names of the place was _Si-chau_, which
corresponds to that given by Marco. Biot does not give this name.
The town stands on the flat alluvial of the Hwang-Ho, and is
approached by high embanked roads. (_Astley_, III. 524–525.)
[Sir J. F. Davis writes: “From _Sootsien Hien_ to the point of
junction with the Yellow River, a length of about fifty miles, that
great stream and the canal run nearly parallel with each other,
at an average distance of four or five miles, and sometimes much
nearer.” (_Sketches of China_, I. p. 265.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—We have again arrived on the banks of the Hwang-Ho, which
was crossed higher up on our traveller’s route to Karájang.
No accounts, since China became known to modern Europe, attribute
to the Hwang-Ho the great utility for navigation which Polo here
and elsewhere ascribes to it. Indeed, we are told that its current
is so rapid that its navigation is scarcely practicable, and the
only traffic of the kind that we hear of is a transport of coal
in Shan-si for a certain distance down stream. This rapidity
also, bringing down vast quantities of soil, has so raised the
bed that in recent times the tide has not entered the river, as
it probably did in our traveller’s time, when, as it would appear
from his account, seagoing craft used to ascend to the ferry north
of Hwai-ngan fu, or thereabouts. Another indication of change is
his statement that the passage just mentioned was only one day’s
journey from the sea, whereas it is now about 50 miles in a direct
line. But the river has of late years undergone changes much more
material.
[Illustration: Sketch Map, exhibiting the VARIATIONS of the TWO
GREAT RIVERS OF CHINA Within the Period of History.]
In the remotest times of which the Chinese have any record, the
Hwang-Ho discharged its waters into the Gulf of Chih-li, by two
branches, the most northerly of which appears to have followed
the present course of the Pei-ho below Tien-tsing. In the time of
the Shang Dynasty (ending B.C. 1078) a branch more southerly than
either of the above flowed towards T’si-ning, and combined with the
_T’si_ River, which flowed by T’si-nan fu, the same in fact that
was till recently called the Ta-t’sing. In the time of Confucius
we first hear of a branch being thrown off south-east towards the
Hwai, flowing north of Hwai-ngan, in fact towards the embouchure
which our maps still display as that of the Hwang-Ho. But, about
the 3rd and 4th centuries of our era, the river discharged
exclusively by the T’si; and up to the Mongol age, or nearly so,
the mass of the waters of this great river continued to flow into
the Gulf of Chih-li. They then changed their course bodily towards
the Hwai, and followed that general direction to the sea; this they
had adopted before the time of our traveller, and they retained
it till a very recent period. The mass of Shan-tung thus forms a
mountainous island rising out of the vast alluvium of the Hwang-Ho,
whose discharge into the sea has alternated between the north and
the south of that mountainous tract. (_See Map opposite_.)
During the reign of the last Mongol emperor, a project was adopted
for restoring the Hwang-Ho to its former channel, discharging into
the Gulf of Chih-li; and discontents connected with this scheme
promoted the movement for the expulsion of the dynasty (1368).
A river whose regimen was liable to such vast changes was
necessarily a constant source of danger, insomuch that the Emperor
Kia-K’ing in his will speaks of it as having been “from the
remotest ages China’s sorrow.” Some idea of the enormous works
maintained for the control of the river may be obtained from the
following description of their character on the north bank, some
distance to the west of Kai-fung fu:
“In a village, apparently bounded by an earthen wall as large as
that of the Tartar city of Peking, was reached the first of the
outworks erected to resist the Hwang-Ho, and on arriving at the top
that river and the gigantic earthworks rendered necessary by its
outbreaks burst on the view. On a level with the spot on which I
was standing stretched a series of embankments, each one about 70
feet high, and of breadth sufficient for four railway trucks to run
abreast on them. The mode of their arrangement was on this wise:
one long bank ran parallel to the direction of the stream; half a
mile distant from it ran a similar one; these two embankments were
then connected by another series exactly similar in size, height,
and breadth, and running at right angles to them right down to the
edge of the water.”
In 1851, the Hwang-Ho burst its northern embankment nearly 30 miles
east of Kai-fung fu; the floods of the two following years enlarged
the breach; and in 1853 the river, after six centuries, resumed
the ancient direction of its discharge into the Gulf of Chih-li.
Soon after leaving its late channel, it at present spreads,
without defined banks, over the very low lands of South-Western
Shan-tung, till it reaches the Great Canal, and then enters the
Ta-t’sing channel, passing north of T’si-nan to the sea. The old
channel crossed by Polo in the present journey is quite deserted.
The greater part of the bed is there cultivated; it is dotted with
numerous villages; and the vast trading town of Tsing-kiang pu
was in 1868 extending so rapidly from the southern bank that a
traveller in that year says he expected that in two years it would
reach the northern bank.
The same change has destroyed the Grand Canal as a navigable
channel for many miles south of Lin-t’sing chau. (_J. R. G. S._
XXVIII. 294–295; _Escayrac de Lauture, Mém. sur la Chine; Cathay_,
p. 125; _Reports of Journeys in China_, etc. [by Consuls Alabaster,
Oxenham, etc., Parl. Blue Book], 1869, pp. 4–5, 14; _Mr. Elias_ in
_J. R. G. S._ XL. p. 1 _seqq._)
[Since the exploration of the Hwang-Ho in 1868 by Mr. Ney Elias and
by Mr. H. G. Hollingworth, an inspection of this river was made in
1889 and a report published in 1891 by the Dutch Engineers J. G. W.
Fijnje van Salverda, Captain P. G. van Schermbeek and A. Visser,
for the improvement of the Yellow River.—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—Coiganju will be noticed below. _Caiju_ does not seem to be
traceable, having probably been carried away by the changes in the
river. But it would seem to have been at the mouth of the canal on
the north side of the Hwang-Ho, and the name is the same as that
given below (ch. lxxii.) to the town (_Kwachau_) occupying the
corresponding position on the Kiang.
“Khatai,” says Rashiduddin, “is bounded on one side by the country
of Máchín, which the Chinese call MANZI.... In the Indian language
Southern China is called Mahá-chín, _i.e._ ‘Great China,’ and
hence we derive the word _Machin_. The Mongols call the same
country _Nangiass_. It is separated from Khatai by the river called
KARAMORAN, which comes from the mountains of Tibet and Kashmir, and
which is never fordable. The capital of this kingdom is the city of
_Khingsai_, which is forty days’ journey from Khanbalik.” (_Quat.
Rashid._, xci.–xciii.)
MANZI (or Mangi) is a name used for Southern China, or more
properly for the territory which constituted the dominion of the
Sung Dynasty at the time when the Mongols conquered Cathay or
Northern China from the Kin, not only by Marco, but by Odoric and
John Marignolli, as well as by the Persian writers, who, however,
more commonly call it _Máchín_. I imagine that some confusion
between the two words led to the appropriation of the latter name,
also to _Southern_ China. The term _Man-tzŭ_ or _Man-tze_ signifies
“Barbarians” (“Sons of Barbarians”), and was applied, it is said,
by the Northern Chinese to their neighbours on the south, whose
civilisation was of later date.[1] The name is now specifically
applied to a wild race on the banks of the Upper Kiang. But it
retains its mediæval application in Manchuria, where _Mantszi_ is
the name given to the Chinese immigrants, and in that use is said
to date from the time of Kúblái. (_Palladius_ in _J. R. G. S._ vol.
xlii. p. 154.) And Mr. Moule has found the word, apparently used in
Marco’s exact sense, in a Chinese extract of the period, contained
in the topography of the famous Lake of Hang-chau (_infra_, ch.
lxxvi.–lxxvii.)
Though both Polo and Rashiduddin call the Karamoran the boundary
between Cathay and Manzi, it was not so for any great distance.
Ho-nan belonged essentially to Cathay.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Magaillans says the Southerns, in return, called the Northerns
_Pe-tai_, “Fools of the North”!
CHAPTER LXV.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN CONQUERED THE PROVINCE OF MANZI.
You must know that there was a King and Sovereign lord of the great
territory of Manzi who was styled FACFUR, so great and puissant a
prince, that for vastness of wealth and number of subjects and extent
of dominion, there was hardly a greater in all the earth except the
Great Kaan himself.{1} But the people of his land were anything rather
than warriors; all their delight was in women, and nought but women;
and so it was above all with the King himself, for he took thought of
nothing else but women, unless it were of charity to the poor.
In all his dominion there were no horses; nor were the people ever
inured to battle or arms, or military service of any kind. Yet the
province of Manzi is very strong by nature, and all the cities are
encompassed by sheets of water of great depth, and more than an
arblast-shot in width; so that the country never would have been lost,
had the people but been soldiers. But that is just what they were not;
so lost it was.{2}
Now it came to pass, in the year of Christ’s incarnation, 1268, that
the Great Kaan, the same that now reigneth, despatched thither a Baron
of his whose name was BAYAN CHINCSAN, which is as much as to say “Bayan
Hundred Eyes.” And you must know that the King of Manzi had found in
his horoscope that he never should lose his Kingdom except through
a man that had an hundred eyes; so he held himself assured in his
position, for he could not believe that any man in existence could have
an hundred eyes. There, however, he deluded himself, in his ignorance
of the name of Bayan.{3}
This Bayan had an immense force of horse and foot entrusted to him by
the Great Kaan, and with these he entered Manzi, and he had also a
great number of boats to carry both horse and food when need should
be. And when he, with all his host, entered the territory of Manzi and
arrived at this city of COIGANJU—whither we now are got, and of which
we shall speak presently—he summoned the people thereof to surrender
to the Great Kaan; but this they flatly refused. On this Bayan went on
to another city, with the same result, and then still went forward;
acting thus because he was aware that the Great Kaan was despatching
another great host to follow him up.{4}
What shall I say then? He advanced to five cities in succession, but
got possession of none of them; for he did not wish to engage in
besieging them and they would not give themselves up. But when he came
to the sixth city he took that by storm, and so with a second, and a
third, and a fourth, until he had taken twelve cities in succession.
And when he had taken all these he advanced straight against the
capital city of the kingdom, which was called KINSAY, and which was the
residence of the King and Queen.
And when the King beheld Bayan coming with all his host, he was in
great dismay, as one unused to see such sights. So he and a great
company of his people got on board a thousand ships and fled to the
islands of the Ocean Sea, whilst the Queen who remained behind in the
city took all measures in her power for its defence, like a valiant
lady.
Now it came to pass that the Queen asked what was the name of the
captain of the host, and they told her that it was Bayan Hundred-Eyes.
So when she wist that he was styled Hundred-Eyes, she called to mind
how their astrologers had foretold that a man of an hundred eyes should
strip them of the kingdom.{5} Wherefore she gave herself up to Bayan,
and surrendered to him the whole kingdom and all the other cities and
fortresses, so that no resistance was made. And in sooth this was a
goodly conquest, for there was no realm on earth half so wealthy.{6}
The amount that the King used to expend was perfectly marvellous; and
as an example I will tell you somewhat of his liberal acts.
In those provinces they are wont to expose their new-born babes; I
speak of the poor, who have not the means of bringing them up. But
the King used to have all those foundlings taken charge of, and had
note made of the signs and planets under which each was born, and then
put them out to nurse about the country. And when any rich man was
childless he would go to the King and obtain from him as many of these
children as he desired. Or, when the children grew up, the King would
make up marriages among them, and provide for the couples from his own
purse. In this manner he used to provide for some 20,000 boys and girls
every year.{7}
I will tell you another thing this King used to do. If he was taking a
ride through the city and chanced to see a house that was very small
and poor standing among other houses that were fine and large, he
would ask why it was so, and they would tell him it belonged to a poor
man who had not the means to enlarge it. Then the King would himself
supply the means. And thus it came to pass that in all the capital of
the kingdom of Manzi, Kinsay by name, you should not see any but fine
houses.
This King used to be waited on by more than a thousand young gentlemen
and ladies, all clothed in the richest fashion. And he ruled his realm
with such justice that no malefactors were to be found therein. The
city in fact was so secure that no man closed his doors at night,
not even in houses and shops that were full of all sorts of rich
merchandize. No one could do justice in the telling to the great riches
of that country, and to the good disposition of the people. Now that I
have told you about the kingdom, I will go back to the Queen.
You must know that she was conducted to the Great Kaan, who gave her
an honourable reception, and caused her to be served with all state,
like a great lady as she was. But as for the King her husband, he never
more did quit the isles of the sea to which he had fled, but died
there. So leave we him and his wife and all their concerns, and let us
return to our story, and go on regularly with our account of the great
province of Manzi and of the manners and customs of its people. And, to
begin at the beginning, we must go back to the city of Coiganju, from
which we digressed to tell you about the conquest of Manzi.
NOTE 1.—_Faghfúr_ or _Baghbúr_ was a title applied by old Persian
and Arabic writers to the Emperor of China, much in the way that we
used to speak of the _Great Mogul_, and our fathers of the _Sophy_.
It is, as Neumann points out, an old Persian translation of the
Chinese title _Tien-tzŭ_, “Son of Heaven”; _Bagh-Púr_ = “The Son
of the Divinity,” as Sapor or _Sháh-Púr_ = “The Son of the King.”
_Faghfur_ seems to have been used as a proper name in Turkestan.
(See _Baber_, 423.)
There is a word, _Takfúr_, applied similarly by the Mahomedans to
the Greek emperors of both Byzantium and Trebizond (and also to the
Kings of Cilician Armenia), which was perhaps adopted as a jingling
match to the former term; Faghfur, the great infidel king in the
East; Takfur, the great infidel king in the West. Defrémery says
this is Armenian, _Tagavor_, “a king.” (_I. B._, II. 393, 427.)
[“The last of the Sung Emperors (1276) ‘Facfur’ (_i.e._ the Arabic
for _Tien Tzŭ_) was freed by Kúblái from the (ancient Kotan)
indignity of surrendering with a rope round his neck, leading a
sheep, and he received the title of Duke. In 1288 he went to Tibet
to study Buddhism, and in 1296 he and his mother, Ts’iuen T’aï How,
became a bonze and a nun, and were allowed to hold 360 _k’ing_ (say
5000 acres) of land free of taxes under the then existing laws.”
(_E. H. Parker, China Review_, February, March 1901, p. 195.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Nevertheless the history of the conquest shows instances
of extraordinary courage and self-devotion on the part of Chinese
officers, especially in the defence of fortresses—virtues often
shown in like degree, under like circumstances, by the same class,
in the modern history of China.
NOTE 3.—Bayan (signifying “great” or “noble”) is a name of very
old renown among the Nomad nations, for we find it as that of the
Khagan of the Avars in the 6th century. The present BAYAN, Kúblái’s
most famous lieutenant, was of princely birth, in the Mongol
tribe called Barin. In his youth he served in the West of Asia
under Hulaku. According to Rashiduddin, about 1265 he was sent to
Cathay with certain ambassadors of the Kaan’s who were returning
thither. He was received with great distinction by Kúblái, who was
greatly taken with his prepossessing appearance and ability, and a
command was assigned him. In 1273, after the capture of Siang-Yang
(_infra_, ch. lxx.) the Kaan named him to the chief command in the
prosecution of the war against the Sung Dynasty. Whilst Bayan was
in the full tide of success, Kúblái, alarmed by the ravages of
Kaidu on the Mongolian frontier, recalled him to take the command
there, but, on the general’s remonstrance, he gave way, and made
him a minister of state (CHINGSIANG). The essential part of his
task was completed by the surrender of the capital _King-szé_
(Lin-ngan, now Hang-chau) to his arms in the beginning of 1276. He
was then recalled to court, and immediately despatched to Mongolia,
where he continued in command for seventeen years, his great
business being to keep down the restless Kaidu. [“The biography of
this valiant captain is found in the _Yuen-shi_ (ch. cxxvii.). It
is quite in accordance with the biographical notices Rashid gives
of the same personage. He calls him _Bayan_.” (_Bretschneider, Med.
Res._ I. p. 271, note).]
[“The inventory, records, etc., of Kinsai, mentioned by Marco Polo,
as also the letter from the old empress, are undoubted facts:
complete stock was taken, and 5,692,656 souls were added to the
population (in the two Chêh alone). The Emperor surrendered in
person to Bayan a few days after his official surrender, which
took place on the 18th day of the 1st moon in 1276. Bayan took the
Emperor to see Kúblái.” (_E. H. Parker, China Review_, XXIV. p.
105.)—H. C.]
In 1293, enemies tried to poison the emperor’s ear against Bayan,
and they seemed to have succeeded; for Kúblái despatched his heir,
the Prince Teimur, to supersede him in the frontier command.
Bayan beat Kaidu once more, and then made over his command with
characteristic dignity. On his arrival at court, Kúblái received
him with the greatest honour, and named him chief minister of state
and commandant of his guards and the troops about Cambaluc. The
emperor died in the beginning of the next year (1294), and Bayan’s
high position enabled him to take decisive measures for preserving
order, and maintaining Kúblái’s disposition of the succession.
Bayan was raised to still higher dignities, but died at the age of
59, within less than a year of the master whom he had served so
well for 30 years (about January, 1295). After his death, according
to the peculiar Chinese fashion, he received yet further accessions
of dignity.
The language of Chinese historians in speaking of this great man
is thus rendered by De Mailla; it is a noble eulogy of a Tartar
warrior:—
“He was endowed with a lofty genius, and possessed in the highest
measure the art of handling great bodies of troops. When he marched
against the Sung, he directed the movements of 200,000 men with
as much ease and coolness as if there had been but one man under
his orders. All his officers looked up to him as a prodigy; and
having absolute trust in his capacity, they obeyed him with entire
submission. Nobody knew better how to deal with soldiers, or to
moderate their ardour when it carried them too far. He was never
seen sad except when forced to shed blood, for he was sparing even
of the blood of his enemy.... His modesty was not inferior to his
ability.... He would attribute all the honour to the conduct of
his officers, and he was ever ready to extol their smallest feats.
He merited the praises of Chinese as well as Mongols, and both
nations long regretted the loss of this great man.” De Mailla gives
a different account from Rashiduddin and Gaubil, of the manner in
which Bayan first entered the Kaan’s service. (_Gaubil_, 145, 159,
169, 179, 183, 221, 223–224; _Erdmann_, 222–223; _De Mailla_, IX.
335, 458, 461–463.)
NOTE 4.—As regards Bayan personally, and the main body under his
command, this seems to be incorrect. His advance took place from
Siang-yang along the lines of the Han River and of the Great Kiang.
Another force indeed marched direct upon Yang-chau, and therefore
probably by Hwai-ngan chau (_infra_, p. 152); and it is noted
that Bayan’s orders to the generals of this force were to spare
bloodshed. (_Gaubil_, 159; _D’Ohsson_, II. 398.)
NOTE 5.—So in our own age ran the Hindu prophecy that Bhartpúr
should never fall till there came a great alligator against it; and
when it fell to the English assault, the Brahmans found that the
name of the leader was COMBERMERE = _Kumhír-Mír_, the Crocodile
Lord!
——“Be those juggling fiends no more believed
That palter with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear
And break it to our hope!”
It would seem from the expression, both in Pauthier’s text and in
the G. T., as if Polo intended to say that _Chincsan_ (Cinqsan)
meant “One Hundred Eyes”; and if so we could have no stronger proof
of his ignorance of Chinese. It is _Pe-yen_, the Chinese form of
_Bayan_, that means, or rather may be punningly rendered, “One
Hundred Eyes.” Chincsan, _i.e._ _Ching-siang_, was the title of the
superior ministers of state at Khanbaligh, as we have already seen.
The title occurs pretty frequently in the Persian histories of the
Mongols, and frequently as a Mongol title in Sanang Setzen. We find
it also disguised as _Chyansam_ in a letter from certain Christian
nobles at Khanbaligh, which Wadding quotes from the Papal archives.
(See _Cathay_, pp. 314–315.)
But it is right to observe that in the Ramusian version the
mistranslation which we have noticed is not so undubitable:
“Volendo sapere come avea nome il Capitano nemico, le fu detto,
_Chinsambaian_, cioè _Cent’occhi_.”
A kind of corroboration of Marco’s story, but giving a different
form to the pun, has been found by Mr. W. F. Mayers, of the
Diplomatic Department in China, in a Chinese compilation dating
from the latter part of the 14th century. Under the heading, “_A
Kiang-nan Prophecy_,” this book states that prior to the fall of
the Sung a prediction ran through Kiang-nan: “If Kiang-nan fall, a
hundred wild geese (_Pê-yen_) will make their appearance.” This,
it is added, was not understood till the generalissimo _Peyen
Chingsiang_ made his appearance on the scene. “Punning prophecies
of this kind are so common in Chinese history, that the above is
only worth noticing in connection with Marco Polo’s story.” (_N.
and Q., China and Japan_, vol. ii. p. 162.)
But I should suppose that the Persian historian Wassáf had also
heard a bungled version of the same story, which he tells in a
pointless manner of the fortress of _Sináfúr_ (evidently a clerical
error for _Saianfu_, see below, ch. lxx.): “Payan ordered this
fortress to be assaulted. The garrison had heard how the capital
of China had fallen, and the army of Payan was drawing near. The
commandant was an experienced veteran who had tasted all the
sweets and bitters of fortune, and had borne the day’s heat and
the night’s cold; he had, as the saw goes, milked the world’s cow
dry. So he sent word to Payan: ‘In my youth’ (here we abridge
Wassáf’s rigmarole) ‘I heard my father tell that this fortress
should be taken by a man called _Payan_, and that all fencing and
trenching, fighting and smiting, would be of no avail. You need
not, therefore, bring an army hither; we give in; we surrender the
fortress and all that is therein.’ So they opened the gates and
came down.” (_Wassáf_, Hammer’s ed., p. 41).
NOTE 6.—There continues in this narrative, with a general truth
as to the course of events, a greater amount of error as to
particulars than we should have expected. The Sung Emperor Tu
Tsong, a debauched and effeminate prince, to whom Polo seems to
refer, had died in 1274, leaving young children only. Chaohien, the
second son, a boy of four years of age, was put on the throne, with
his grandmother Siechi, as regent. The approach of Bayan caused
the greatest alarm; the Sung Court made humble propositions, but
they were not listened to. The brothers of the young emperor were
sent off by sea into the southern provinces; the empress regent
was also pressed to make her escape with the young emperor, but,
after consenting, she changed her mind and would not move. The
Mongols arrived before King-szé, and the empress sent the great
seal of the empire to Bayan. He entered the city without resistance
in the third month (say April), 1276, riding at the head of his
whole staff with the standard of the general-in-chief before him.
It is remarked that he went to look at the tide in the River
Tsien Tang, which is noted for its bore. He declined to meet the
regent and her grandson, pleading that he was ignorant of the
etiquettes proper to such an interview. Before his entrance Bayan
had nominated a joint-commission of Mongol and Chinese officers
to the government of the city, and appointed a committee to take
charge of all the public documents, maps, drawings, records of
courts, and seals of all public offices, and to plant sentinels
at necessary points. The emperor, his mother, and the rest of
the Sung princes and princesses, were despatched to the Mongol
capital. A desperate attempt was made, at Kwa-chau (_infra_, ch.
lxxii.) to recapture the young emperor, but it failed. On their
arrival at Ta-tu, Kúblái’s chief queen, Jamui Khatun, treated them
with delicate consideration. This amiable lady, on being shown
the spoils that came from Lin-ngan, only wept, and said to her
husband, “So also shall it be with the Mongol empire one day!”
The eldest of the two boys who had escaped was proclaimed emperor
by his adherents at Fu-chau, in Fo-kien, but they were speedily
driven from that province (where the local histories, as Mr. G.
Phillips informs me, preserve traces of their adventures in the
Islands of Amoy Harbour), and the young emperor died on a desert
island off the Canton coast in 1278. His younger brother took his
place, but a battle, in the beginning of 1279 finally extinguished
these efforts of the expiring dynasty, and the minister jumped
with his young lord into the sea. It is curious that Rashiduddin,
with all his opportunities of knowledge, writing at least twenty
years later, was not aware of this, for he speaks of the Prince of
Manzi as still a fugitive in the forests between Zayton and Canton.
(_Gaubil; D’Ohsson; De Mailla; Cathay_, p. 272.) [See _Parker_,
_supra_, p. 148 and 149.—H. C.]
There is a curious account in the _Lettres Édifiantes_ (xxiv. 45
_seqq._) by P. Parrenin of a kind of _Pariah_ caste at Shao-hing
(see ch. lxxix. note 1), who were popularly believed to be the
descendants of the great lords of the Sung Court, condemned to that
degraded condition for obstinately resisting the Mongols. Another
notice, however, makes the degraded body rebels against the Sung.
(_Milne_, p. 218.)
NOTE 7.—There is much about the exposure of children, and about
Chinese foundling hospitals, in the _Lettres Édifiantes_,
especially in Recueil xv. 83, _seqq._ It is there stated that
frequently a person not in circumstances to _pay_ for a wife for
his son, would visit the foundling hospital to seek one. The
childless rich also would sometimes get children there to pass
off as their own; _adopted_ children being excluded from certain
valuable privileges.
Mr. Milne (_Life in China_), and again Mr. Medhurst (_Foreigner
in Far Cathay_), have discredited the great prevalence of infant
exposure in China; but since the last work was published, I have
seen the translation of a recent strong remonstrance against the
practice by a Chinese writer, which certainly implied that it was
_very_ prevalent in the writer’s own province. Unfortunately, I
have lost the reference. [See _Father G. Palatre, L’Infanticide et
l’Œuvre de la Ste. Enfance en Chine_, 1878.—H. C.]
CHAPTER LXVI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF COIGANJU.
Coiganju is, as I have told you already, a very large city standing
at the entrance to Manzi. The people are Idolaters and burn their
dead, and are subject to the Great Kaan. They have a vast amount of
shipping, as I mentioned before in speaking of the River Caramoran.
And an immense quantity of merchandize comes hither, for the city
is the seat of government for this part of the country. Owing to its
being on the river, many cities send their produce thither to be again
thence distributed in every direction. A great amount of salt also is
made here, furnishing some forty other cities with that article, and
bringing in a large revenue to the Great Kaan.{1}
NOTE 1.—Coiganju is HWAI-NGAN CHAU, now _-Fu_, on the canal, some
miles south of the channel of the Hwang-Ho; but apparently in
Polo’s time the great river passed close to it. Indeed, the city
takes its name from the River _Hwai_, into which the Hwang-Ho sent
a branch when first seeking a discharge south of Shantung. The city
extends for about 3 miles along the canal and much below its level.
[According to Sir J. F. Davis, the situation of Hwai-ngan “is in
every respect remarkable. A part of the town was so much below the
level of the canal, that only the tops of the walls (at least 25
feet high) could be seen from our boats.... It proved to be, next
to Tien-tsin, by far the largest and most populous place we had yet
seen, the capital itself excepted.” (_Sketches of China_, I. pp.
277–278.)—H. C.]
The headquarters of the salt manufacture of Hwai-ngan is a place
called Yen-ching (“Salt-Town”), some distance to the S. of the
former city (_Pauthier_).
CHAPTER LXVII.
OF THE CITIES OF PAUKIN AND CAYU.
When you leave Coiganju you ride south-east for a day along a causeway
laid with fine stone, which you find at this entrance to Manzi. On
either hand there is a great expanse of water, so that you cannot
enter the province except along this causeway. At the end of the day’s
journey you reach the fine city of PAUKIN. The people are Idolaters,
burn their dead, are subject to the Great Kaan, and use paper-money.
They live by trade and manufactures and have great abundance of silk,
whereof they weave a great variety of fine stuffs of silk and gold. Of
all the necessaries of life there is great store.
When you leave Paukin you ride another day to the south-east, and then
you arrive at the city of CAYU. The people are Idolaters (and so
forth). They live by trade and manufactures and have great store of
all necessaries, including fish in great abundance. There is also much
game, both beast and bird, insomuch that for a Venice groat you can
have three good pheasants.{1}
NOTE 1.—Paukin is PAO-YING-Hien [a populous place, considerably
below the level of the canal (_Davis, Sketches_, I. pp. 279–280)];
Cayu is KAO-YU-chau, both cities on the east side of the canal.
At Kao-yu, the country east of the canal lies some 20 feet below
the canal level; so low indeed that the walls of the city are not
visible from the further bank of the canal. To the west is the
Kao-yu Lake, one of the expanses of water spoken of by Marco, and
which threatens great danger to the low country on the east. (See
_Alabaster’s Journey_ in _Consular Reports_ above quoted, p. 5 [and
_Gandar, Canal Impérial_, p. 17.—H. C.].)
There is a fine drawing of Pao-ying, by Alexander, in the Staunton
collection, British Museum.
CHAPTER LXVIII.
OF THE CITIES OF TIJU, TINJU, AND YANJU.
When you leave Cayu, you ride another day to the south-east through
a constant succession of villages and fields and fine farms until
you come to TIJU, which is a city of no great size but abounding in
everything. The people are Idolaters (and so forth). There is a great
amount of trade, and they have many vessels. And you must know that
on your left hand, that is towards the east, and three days’ journey
distant, is the Ocean Sea. At every place between the sea and the
city salt is made in great quantities. And there is a rich and noble
city called TINJU, at which there is produced salt enough to supply
the whole province, and I can tell you it brings the Great Kaan an
incredible revenue. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Kaan.
Let us quit this, however, and go back to Tiju.{1}
Again, leaving Tiju, you ride another day towards the south-east,
and at the end of your journey you arrive at the very great and noble
city of YANJU, which has seven-and-twenty other wealthy cities under
its administration; so that this Yanju is, you see, a city of great
importance.{2} It is the seat of one of the Great Kaan’s Twelve Barons,
for it has been chosen to be one of the Twelve _Sings_. The people
are Idolaters and use paper-money, and are subject to the Great Kaan.
And Messer Marco Polo himself, of whom this book speaks, did govern
this city for three full years, by the order of the Great Kaan.{3} The
people live by trade and manufactures, for a great amount of harness
for knights and men-at-arms is made there. And in this city and its
neighbourhood a large number of troops are stationed by the Kaan’s
orders.
There is no more to say about it. So now I will tell you about two
great provinces of Manzi which lie towards the west. And first of that
called Nanghin.
NOTE 1.—Though the text would lead us to look for _Tiju_ on the
direct line between Kao-yu and Yang-chau, and like them on the
canal bank (indeed one MS., C. of Pauthier, specifies its standing
on the same river as the cities already passed, _i.e._ on the
canal), we seem constrained to admit the general opinion that this
is TAI-CHAU, a town lying some 25 miles at least to the eastward of
the canal, but apparently connected with it by a navigable channel.
_Tinju_ or _Chinju_ (for both the G. T. and Ramusio read _Cingui_)
cannot be identified with certainty. But I should think it likely,
from Polo’s “geographical style,” that when he spoke of the sea
as three days distant he had this city in view, and that it is
probably TUNG-CHAU, near the northern shore of the estuary of
the Yang-tzŭ, which might be fairly described as three days from
Tai-chau. Mr. Kingsmill identifies it with I-chin hien, the great
port on the Kiang for the export of the Yang-chau salt. This is
possible; but I-chin lies _west_ of the canal, and though the
form _Chinju_ would really represent I-chin as then named, such a
position seems scarcely compatible with the way, vague as it is, in
which Tinju or Chinju is introduced. Moreover, we shall see that
I-chin is spoken of hereafter. (_Kingsmill_ in _N. and Q. Ch. and
Japan_, I. 53.)
NOTE 2.—Happily, there is no doubt that this is YANG-CHAU, one
of the oldest and most famous great cities of China. [Abulfeda
(_Guyard_, II. ii. 122) says that Yang-chau is the capital of the
Faghfûr of China, and that he is called Tamghâdj-khan.—H. C.] Some
five-and-thirty years after Polo’s departure from China, Friar
Odoric found at this city a House of his own Order (Franciscans),
and three Nestorian churches. The city also appears in the Catalan
Map as _Iangio_. Yang-chau suffered greatly in the T’aï-P’ing
rebellion, but its position is an “obligatory point” for commerce,
and it appears to be rapidly recovering its prosperity. It is the
headquarters of the salt manufacture, and it is also now noted for
a great manufacture of sweetmeats (See _Alabaster’s Report_, as
above, p. 6.)
[Illustration: Yang chau: the three Cities Under the Sung.]
[Through the kindness of the late Father H. Havret, S.J., of
Zi-ka-wei, I am enabled to give two plans from the Chronicles of
Yang-chau, _Yang-chau fu ché_ (ed. 1733); one bears the title: “The
Three Cities under the Sung,” and the other: “The Great City under
the Sung.” The three cities are _Pao yew cheng_, built in 1256,
_Sin Pao-cheng_ or _Kia cheng_, built after 1256, and _Tacheng_,
the “Great City,” built in 1175; in 1357, Ta cheng was rebuilt,
and in 1557 it was augmented, taking the place of the three cities;
from 553 B.C. until the 12th century, Yang-chau had no less than
five enclosures; the governor’s yamen stood where a cross is marked
in the Great City. Since Yang-chau has been laid in ruins by the
T’aï-P’ing insurgents, these plans offer now a new interest.—H. C.]
[Illustration: Yang-chau: the Great City under the Sung.]
NOTE 3.—What I have rendered “Twelve _Sings_” is in the G. T.
“douze _sajes_,” and in Pauthier’s text “_sieges_.” It seems to me
a reasonable conclusion that the original word was _Sings_ (see I.
432, _supra_); anyhow that was the proper term for the thing meant.
In his note on this chapter, Pauthier produces evidence that
Yang-chau was the seat of a _Lu_ or circuit[1] from 1277, and also
of a _Sing_ or Government-General, but only for the first year
after the conquest, viz. 1276–1277, and he seems (for his argument
is obscure) to make from this the unreasonable deduction that at
this period Kúblái placed Marco Polo—who could not be more than
twenty-three years of age, and had been but two years in Cathay—in
charge either of the general government, or of an important
district government in the most important province of the empire.
In a later note M. Pauthier speaks of 1284 as the date at which the
_Sing_ of the province of Kiang-ché was transferred from Yang-chau
to Hang-chau; this is probably to be taken as a correction of
the former citations, and it better justifies Polo’s statement.
(_Pauthier_, pp. 467, 492.)
I do not think that we are to regard Marco as having held at any
time the important post of Governor-General of Kiang-ché. The
expressions in the G. T. are: “_Meser Marc Pol meisme, celui de
cui trate ceste livre, seingneurie ceste cité por trois anz._”
Pauthier’s MS. A. appears to read: “_Et ot seigneurie, Marc Pol, en
ceste cité, trois ans._” These expressions probably point to the
government of the _Lu_ or circuit of Yang-chau, just as we find in
ch. lxxiii. another Christian, Mar Sarghis, mentioned as Governor
of Chin-kiang fu for the same term of years, that city being also
the head of a _Lu_. It is remarkable that in Pauthier’s MS. C.,
which often contains readings of peculiar value, the passage runs
(and also in the Bern MS.): “_Et si vous dy que ledit Messire Marc
Pol, cellui meisme de qui nostre livre parle_, sejourna, _en ceste
cité de Janguy_ .iii. _ans accompliz, par le commandement du Grant
Kaan_,” in which the nature of his employment is not indicated
at all (though _séjourna_ may be an error for _seigneura_). The
impression of his having been Governor-General is mainly due to the
Ramusian version, which says distinctly indeed that “_M. Marco Polo
di commissione del Gran Can n’ebbe il governo tre anni continui_
in luogo di un dei detti Baroni,” but it is very probable that
this is a gloss of the translator. I should conjecture his rule at
Yang-chau to have been between 1282, when we know he was at the
capital (vol. i. p. 422), and 1287–1288, when he must have gone on
his first expedition to the Indian Seas.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The _Lu_ or Circuit was an administrative division under the
Mongols, intermediate between the _Sing_ and the _Fu_, or
department. There were 185 _lu_ in all China under Kúblái.
(_Pauth._ 333). [_Mr. E. L. Oxenham, Hist. Atlas Chin. Emp._,
reckons 10 provinces or _sheng_, 39 _fu_ cities, 316 _chau_, 188
_lu_, 12 military governorships.—H. C.]
CHAPTER LXIX.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF NANGHIN.
Nanghin is a very noble Province towards the west. The people are
Idolaters (and so forth) and live by trade and manufactures. They have
silk in great abundance, and they weave many fine tissues of silk and
gold. They have all sorts of corn and victuals very cheap, for the
province is a most productive one. Game also is abundant, and lions
too are found there. The merchants are great and opulent, and the
Emperor draws a large revenue from them, in the shape of duties on the
goods which they buy and sell.{1}
And now I will tell you of the very noble city of Saianfu, which well
deserves a place in our book, for there is a matter of great moment to
tell about it.
NOTE 1.—The name and direction from Yang-chau are probably
sufficient to indicate (as Pauthier has said) that this is
NGAN-KING on the Kiang, capital of the modern province of
Ngan-hwei. The more celebrated city of _Nan-king_ did not bear that
name in our traveller’s time.
Ngan-king, when recovered from the T’aï-P’ing in 1861, was the
scene of a frightful massacre by the Imperialists. They are said to
have left neither man, woman, nor child alive in the unfortunate
city. (_Blakiston_, p. 55.)
CHAPTER LXX.
CONCERNING THE VERY NOBLE CITY OF SAIANFU, AND HOW ITS
CAPTURE WAS EFFECTED.
Saianfu is a very great and noble city, and it rules over twelve
other large and rich cities, and is itself a seat of great trade and
manufacture. The people are Idolaters (and so forth). They have much
silk, from which they weave fine silken stuffs; they have also a
quantity of game, and in short the city abounds in all that it behoves
a noble city to possess.
Now you must know that this city held out against the Great Kaan for
three years after the rest of Manzi had surrendered. The Great Kaan’s
troops made incessant attempts to take it, but they could not succeed
because of the great and deep waters that were round about it, so that
they could approach from one side only, which was the north. And I tell
you they never would have taken it, but for a circumstance that I am
going to relate.
You must know that when the Great Kaan’s host had lain three years
before the city without being able to take it, they were greatly
chafed thereat. Then Messer Nicolo Polo and Messer Maffeo and Messer
Marco said: “We could find you a way of forcing the city to surrender
speedily;” whereupon those of the army replied, that they would be
right glad to know how that should be. All this talk took place in the
presence of the Great Kaan. For messengers had been despatched from
the camp to tell him that there was no taking the city by blockade,
for it continually received supplies of victual from those sides which
they were unable to invest; and the Great Kaan had sent back word that
take it they must, and find a way how. Then spoke up the two brothers
and Messer Marco the son, and said: “Great Prince, we have with us
among our followers men who are able to construct mangonels which shall
cast such great stones that the garrison will never be able to stand
them, but will surrender incontinently, as soon as the mangonels or
trebuchets shall have shot into the town.”{1}
The Kaan bade them with all his heart have such mangonels made as
speedily as possible. Now Messer Nicolo and his brother and his son
immediately caused timber to be brought, as much as they desired, and
fit for the work in hand. And they had two men among their followers,
a German and a Nestorian Christian, who were masters of that business,
and these they directed to construct two or three mangonels capable of
casting stones of 300 lbs. weight. Accordingly they made three fine
mangonels, each of which cast stones of 300 lbs. weight and more.{2}
And when they were complete and ready for use, the Emperor and the
others were greatly pleased to see them, and caused several stones to
be shot in their presence; whereat they marvelled greatly and greatly
praised the work. And the Kaan ordered that the engines should be
carried to his army which was at the leaguer of Saianfu.{3}
And when the engines were got to the camp they were forthwith set up,
to the great admiration of the Tartars. And what shall I tell you? When
the engines were set up and put in gear, a stone was shot from each of
them into the town. These took effect among the buildings, crashing
and smashing through everything with huge din and commotion. And when
the townspeople witnessed this new and strange visitation they were
so astonished and dismayed that they wist not what to do or say. They
took counsel together, but no counsel could be suggested how to escape
from these engines, for the thing seemed to them to be done by sorcery.
They declared that they were all dead men if they yielded not, so
they determined to surrender on such conditions as they could get.{4}
Wherefore they straightway sent word to the commander of the army that
they were ready to surrender on the same terms as the other cities of
the province had done, and to become the subjects of the Great Kaan;
and to this the captain of the host consented.
So the men of the city surrendered, and were received to terms; and
this all came about through the exertions of Messer Nicolo, and Messer
Maffeo, and Messer Marco; and it was no small matter. For this city and
province is one of the best that the Great Kaan possesses, and brings
him in great revenues.{5}
NOTE 1.—Pauthier’s MS. C. here says: “When the Great Kaan, and the
Barons about him, and the messengers from the camp ... heard this,
they all marvelled greatly; for I tell you that in all those parts
they know nothing of mangonels or trebuchets; and they were so far
from being accustomed to employ them in their wars that they had
never even seen them, nor knew what they were.” The MS. in question
has in this narrative several statements peculiar to itself,[1]
as indeed it has in various other passages of the book; and these
often look very like the result of revision by Polo himself. Yet
I have not introduced the words just quoted into our text, because
they are, as we shall see presently, notoriously contrary to fact.
NOTE 2.—The same MS. has here a passage which I am unable to
understand. After the words “300 lbs. and more,” it goes on: “Et
la veoit l’en voler moult loing, desquelles pierres _il en y avoit
plus de_ lx _routes qui tant montoit l’une comme l’autre_.” The Bern
has the same. [Perhaps we might read lx _en routes_, viz. on their
way.—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—I propose here to enter into some detailed explanation
regarding the military engines that were in use in the Middle
Ages.[2] None of these depended for their motive force on _torsion_
like the chief engines used in classic times. However numerous
the names applied to them, with reference to minor variations in
construction or differences in power, they may all be reduced
to two classes, viz. _great slings_ and _great crossbows_. And
this is equally true of all the three great branches of mediæval
civilisation—European, Saracenic, and Chinese. To the first class
belonged the _Trebuchet_ and _Mangonel_; to the second, the
_Winch-Arblast_ (Arbalète à Tour), _Springold_ etc.
Whatever the ancient _Balista_ may have been, the word in mediæval
Latin seems always to mean some kind of crossbow. The heavier
crossbows were wound up by various aids, such as winches, ratchets,
etc. They discharged stone shot, leaden bullets, and short,
square-shafted arrows called _quarrels_, and these with such force
we are told as to pierce a six-inch post (?). But they were worked
so slowly in the field that they were no match for the long-bow,
which shot five or six times to their once. The great machines
of this kind were made of wood, of steel, and very frequently of
horn;[3] and the bow was sometimes more than 30 feet in length.
Dufour calculates that such a machine could shoot an arrow of half
a kilogram in weight to a distance of about 860 yards.
The _Trebuchet_ consisted of a long tapering shaft or beam, pivoted
at a short distance from the butt end on a pair of strong pyramidal
trestles. At the other end of the shaft a sling was applied, one
cord of which was firmly attached by a ring, whilst the other hung
in a loop over an iron hook which formed the extremity of the
shaft. The power employed to discharge the sling was either the
strength of a number of men, applied to ropes which were attached
to the short end of the shaft or lever, or the weight of a heavy
counterpoise hung from the same, and suddenly released.
[Illustration: Mediæval Artillery Engines. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
Chinese; Figs. 6, 7, 8, Saracenic; the rest Frank.]
Supposing the latter force to be employed, the long end of the
shaft was drawn down by a windlass; the sling was laid forward in
a wooden trough provided for it, and charged with the shot. The
counterpoise was, of course, now aloft, and was so maintained by a
detent provided with a trigger. On pulling this, the counterpoise
falls and the shaft flies upwards drawing the sling. When a certain
point is reached the loop end of the sling releases itself from the
hook, and the sling flies abroad whilst the shot is projected in
its parabolic flight.[4] To secure the most favourable result the
shot should have acquired its maximum velocity, and should escape
at an angle of about 45°. The attainment of this required certain
proportions between the different dimensions of the machine and
the weight of the shot, for which, doubtless, traditional rules of
thumb existed among the mediæval engineers.
The ordinary shot consisted of stones carefully rounded. But
for these were substituted on occasion rough stones with fuses
attached,[5] pieces of red-hot iron, pots of fused metal, or casks
full of Greek fire or of foul matter to corrupt the air of the
besieged place. Thus carrion was shot into Negropont from such
engines by Mahomed II. The Cardinal Octavian, besieging Modena in
1249, slings a dead ass into the town. Froissart several times
mentions such measures, as at the siege of Thin l’Evêque on the
Scheldt in 1340, when “the besiegers by their engines flung dead
horses and other carrion into the castle to poison the garrison by
their smell.” In at least one instance the same author tells how a
living man, an unlucky messenger from the Castle of Auberoche, was
caught by the besiegers, thrust into the sling with the letters
that he bore hung round his neck, and shot into Auberoche, where
he fell dead among his horrified comrades. And Lipsius quotes
from a Spanish Chronicle the story of a virtuous youth, Pelagius,
who, by order of the Tyrant Abderramin, was shot across the
Guadalquivir, but lighted unharmed upon the rocks beyond. Ramon
de Muntaner relates how King James of Aragon, besieging Majorca
in 1228, vowed vengeance against the Saracen King because he shot
Christian prisoners into the besiegers’ camp with his trebuchets
(pp. 223–224). We have mentioned one kind of corruption propagated
by these engines; the historian Wassáf tells of another. When
the garrison of Dehli refused to open the gates to Aláuddin
Khilji after the murder of his uncle, Firúz (1296), he loaded his
mangonels with bags of gold and shot them into the fort, a measure
which put an end to the opposition.
Ibn Batuta, forty years later, describes Mahomed Tughlak as
entering Dehli accompanied by elephants carrying small _balistae_
(_ra’ádát_), from which gold and silver pieces were shot among the
crowd. And the same king, when he had given the crazy and cruel
order that the population of Dehli should evacuate the city and
depart to Deogir, 900 miles distant, having found two men skulking
behind, one of whom was paralytic and the other blind, caused the
former to be shot from a mangonel. (_I. B._ III. 395, 315.)
Some old drawings represent the shaft as discharging the shot
from a kind of spoon at its extremity, without the aid of a sling
(_e.g._ fig. 13); but it may be doubted if this was actually used,
for the sling was essential to the efficiency of the engine. The
experiments and calculations of Dufour show that without the sling,
other things remaining the same, the range of the shot would be
reduced by more than a half.
In some of these engines the counterpoise, consisting of a timber
case filled with stones, sand, or the like, was permanently
fixed to the butt-end of the shaft. This seems to have been the
_Trebuchet_ proper. In others the counterpoise hung free on a pivot
from the yard; whilst a third kind (as in fig. 17) combined both
arrangements. The first kind shot most steadily and truly; the
second with more force.
Those machines, in which the force of men pulling cords took the
place of the counterpoise, could not discharge such weighty shot,
but they could be worked more rapidly, and no doubt could be made
of lighter scantling. Mr. Hewitt points out a curious resemblance
between this kind of Trebuchet and the apparatus used on the Thames
to raise the cargo from the hold of a collier.
The Emperor Napoleon deduces from certain passages in mediæval
writers that the _Mangonel_ was similar to the Trebuchet, but
of lighter structure and power. But often certainly the term
Mangonel seems to be used generically for all machines of this
class. Marino Sanudo uses no word but _Machina_, which he appears
to employ as the Latin equivalent of _Mangonel_, whilst the machine
which he describes is a Trebuchet with moveable counterpoise. The
history of the word appears to be the following. The Greek word
μάγγανον, “a piece of witchcraft,” came to signify a juggler’s
trick, an unexpected contrivance (in modern slang “_a jim_”), and
so specially a military engine. It seems to have reached this
specific meaning by the time of Hero the Younger, who is believed
to have written in the first half of the 7th century. From the
form μαγγανικὸν the Orientals got _Manganíḳ_ and _Manjániḳ_,[6]
whilst the Franks adopted _Mangona_ and _Mangonella_. Hence the
verbs _manganare_ and _amanganare_, to batter and crush with such
engines, and eventually our verb “to mangle.” Again, when the use
of gunpowder rendered these warlike engines obsolete, perhaps their
ponderous counterweights were utilised in the peaceful arts of
the laundry, and hence gave us our substantive “the Mangle” (It.
_Mangano_)!
The Emperor Napoleon, when Prince President, caused some
interesting experiments in the matter of mediæval artillery to
be carried out at Vincennes, and a full-sized trebuchet was
constructed there. With a shaft of 33 feet 9 inches in length,
having a permanent counterweight of 3300 lbs. and a pivoted
counterweight of 6600 lbs. more, the utmost effect attained
was the discharge of an iron 24-kilo. shot to a range of 191
yards, whilst a 12½-inch shell, filled with earth, ranged to 131
yards. The machine suffered greatly at each discharge, and it
was impracticable to increase the counterpoise to 8000 kilos.,
or 17,600 lbs. as the Prince desired. It was evident that the
machine was not of sufficiently massive structure. But the
officers in charge satisfied themselves that, with practice in
such constructions and the use of very massive timber, even the
exceptional feats recorded of mediæval engineers might be realised.
Such a case is that cited by Quatremère, from an Oriental author,
of the discharge of stones weighing 400 _mans_, certainly not
less than 800 lbs., and possibly much more; or that of the Men
of Bern, who are reported, when besieging Nidau in 1388, to have
employed trebuchets which shot daily into the town upwards of 200
blocks weighing 12 cwt. apiece.[7] Stella relates that the Genoese
armament sent against Cyprus, in 1373, among other great machines
had one called _Troja_ (_Truia_?), which cast stones of 12 to 18
hundredweights; and when the Venetians were besieging the revolted
city of Zara in 1346, their Engineer, Master Francesco delle
Barche, shot into the city stones of 3000 lbs. weight.[8] In this
case the unlucky engineer was “hoist with his own petard,” for
while he stood adjusting one of his engines, it went off, and shot
him into the town.
With reference to such cases the Emperor calculates that a stone
of 3000 lbs. weight might be shot 77 yards with a counterpoise of
36,000 lbs. weight, and a shaft 65 feet long. The counterpoise,
composed of stone shot of 55 lbs. each, might be contained in a
cubical case of about 5½ feet to the side. The machine would be
preposterous, but there is nothing impossible about it. Indeed
in the Album of Villard de Honnecourt, an architect of the 13th
century, which was published at Paris in 1858, in the notes
accompanying a plan of a trebuchet (from which Professor Willis
restored the machine as it is shown in our fig. 19), the artist
remarks: “It is a great job to heave down the beam, for the
counterpoise is very heavy. For it consists of a chest full of
earth which is 2 great toises in length, 8 feet in breadth, and 12
feet in depth”! (p. 203).
Such calculations enable us to understand the enormous quantities
of material said to have been used in some of the larger mediæval
machines. Thus Abulfeda speaks of one used at the final capture of
Acre, which was entrusted to the troops of Hamath, and which formed
a load for 100 carts, of which one was in charge of the historian
himself. The romance of Richard Cœur de Lion tells how in the
King’s Fleet an entire ship was taken up by one such machine with
its gear:—
“Another schyp was laden yet
With an engyne hyghte Robinet,
(It was Richardys o mangonel)
And all the takyl that thereto fel.”
Twenty-four machines, captured from the Saracens by St. Lewis
in his first partial success on the Nile, afforded material for
stockading his whole camp. A great machine which cumbered the
Tower of St. Paul at Orléans, and was dismantled previous to the
celebrated defence against the English, furnished 26 cart-loads of
timber. (_Abulf. Ann. Muslem_, V. 95–97; _Weber_, II. 56; _Michel’s
Joinville_, App. p. 278; _Jollois, H. du Siège d’Orléans_, 1833, p.
12.)
The _number_ of such engines employed was sometimes very great. We
have seen that St. Lewis captured 24 at once, and these had been
employed in the field. Villehardouin says that the fleet which
went from Venice to the attack of Constantinople carried more than
300 perriers and mangonels, besides quantities of other engines
required for a siege (ch. xxxviii). At the siege of Acre in 1291,
just referred to, the Saracens, according to Makrizi, set 92
engines in battery against the city, whilst Abulfaraj says 300, and
a Frank account, of great and small, 666. The larger ones are said
to have shot stones of “a kantar and even more.” (_Makrizi_, III.
125; _Reinaud, Chroniques Arabes, etc._, p. 570; _De Excidio Urbis
Acconis_, in _Martène and Durand_, V. 769.)
How heavy a _mangonade_ was sometimes kept up may be understood
from the account of the operations on the Nile, already alluded
to. The King was trying to run a dam across a branch of the river,
and had protected the head of his work by “cat-castles” or towers
of timber, occupied by archers, and these again supported by
trebuchets, etc., in battery. “And,” says Jean Pierre Sarrasin, the
King’s Chamberlain, “when the Saracens saw what was going on, they
planted a great number of engines against ours, and to destroy our
towers and our causeway they shot such vast quantities of stones,
great and small, that all men stood amazed. They slung stones,
and discharged arrows, and shot quarrels from winch-arblasts, and
pelted us with Turkish darts and Greek fire, and kept up such a
harassment of every kind against our engines and our men working at
the causeway, that it was horrid either to see or to hear. Stones,
darts, arrows, quarrels, and Greek fire came down on them like
rain.”
The Emperor Napoleon observes that the direct or grazing fire of
the great arblasts may be compared to that of guns in more modern
war, whilst the mangonels represent mortar-fire. And this vertical
fire was by no means contemptible, at least against buildings of
ordinary construction. At the sieges of Thin l’Evêque in 1340,
and Auberoche in 1344, already cited, Froissart says the French
cast stones in, night and day, so as in a few days to demolish all
the roofs of the towers, and none within durst venture out of the
vaulted basement.
The Emperor’s experiments showed that these machines were capable
of surprisingly accurate direction. And the mediæval histories
present some remarkable feats of this kind. Thus, in the attack of
Mortagne by the men of Hainault and Valenciennes (1340), the latter
had an engine which was a great annoyance to the garrison; there
was a clever engineer in the garrison who set up another machine
against it, and adjusted it so well that the first shot fell
within 12 paces of the enemy’s engine, the second fell near the
box, and the third struck the shaft and split it in two.
Already in the first half of the 13th century, a French poet
(quoted by Weber) looks forward with disgust to the supercession of
the feats of chivalry by more mechanical methods of war:—
“Chevaliers sont esperdus,
Cil ont auques leur tens perdus;
Arbalestier et mineor
Et perrier et engigneor
Seront dorenavant plus chier.”
When Gházán Khan was about to besiege the castle of Damascus in
1300, so much importance was attached to this art that whilst his
Engineer, a man of reputation therein, was engaged in preparing
the machines, the Governor of the castle offered a reward of 1000
dinars for that personage’s head. And one of the garrison was
daring enough to enter the Mongol camp, stab the Engineer, and
carry back his head into the castle!
Marino Sanudo, about the same time, speaks of the range of these
engines with a prophetic sense of the importance of artillery in
war:—
“On this subject (length of range) the engineers and experts of the
army should employ their very sharpest wits. For if the shot of one
army, whether engine-stones or pointed projectiles, have a longer
range than the shot of the enemy, rest assured that the side whose
artillery hath the longest range will have a vast advantage in
action. Plainly, if the Christian shot can take effect on the Pagan
forces, whilst the Pagan shot cannot reach the Christian forces,
it may be safely asserted that the Christians will continually
gain ground from the enemy, or, in other words, they will win the
battle.”
The importance of these machines in war, and the efforts made
to render them more effective, went on augmenting till the
introduction of the still more “villanous saltpetre,” even then,
however, coming to no sudden halt. Several of the instances that
we have cited of machines of extraordinary power belong to a time
when the use of cannon had made some progress. The old engines were
employed by Timur; in the wars of the Hussites as late as 1422;
and, as we have seen, up to the middle of that century by Mahomed
II. They are also distinctly represented on the towers of Aden, in
the contemporary print of the escalade in 1514, reproduced in this
volume. (Bk. III. ch. xxxvi.)
(_Etudes sur le Passé et l’Avenir de l’Artillerie_, par _L. N.
Bonaparte_, etc., tom. II.; _Marinus Sanutius_, Bk. II. Pt. 4, ch.
xxi. and xxii.; _Kington’s Fred. II._, II. 488; _Froissart_, I. 69,
81, 182; _Elliot_, III. 41, etc.; Hewitt’s _Ancient Armour_, I.
350; _Pertz, Scriptores_, XVIII. 420, 751; _Q. R._ 135–7; _Weber_,
III. 103; _Hammer, Ilch._ II. 95.)
NOTE 4.—Very like this is what the Romance of Cœur de Lion tells
of the effects of Sir Fulke Doyley’s mangonels on the Saracens of
_Ebedy_:—
“Sir Fouke brought good engynes
Swylke knew but fewe Sarazynes—
* * *
A prys tour stood ovyr the Gate;
He bent his engynes and threw thereate
A great stone that harde droff,
That the Tour al to roff
* * *
And slough the folk that therinne stood;
The other fledde and wer nygh wood,
And sayde it was the devylys dent,” etc.—_Weber_, II. 172.
NOTE 5.—This chapter is one of the most perplexing in the whole
book, owing to the chronological difficulties involved.
SAIANFU is SIANG-YANG FU, which stands on the south bank of the
River Han, and with the sister city of Fan-ch’eng, on the opposite
bank, commands the junction of two important approaches to the
southern provinces, viz. that from Shen-si down the Han, and that
from Shan-si and Peking down the Pe-ho. Fan-ch’eng seems now to be
the more important place of the two.
The name given to the city by Polo is precisely that which
Siang-yang bears in Rashiduddin, and there is no room for doubt as
to its identity.
The Chinese historians relate that Kúblái was strongly advised to
make the capture of Siang-yang and Fan-ch’eng a preliminary to his
intended attack upon the Sung. The siege was undertaken in the
latter part of 1268, and the twin cities held out till the spring
[March] of 1273. Nor did Kúblái apparently prosecute any other
operations against the Sung during that long interval.
Now Polo represents that the long siege of Saianfu, instead of
being a prologue to the subjugation of Manzi, was the protracted
epilogue of that enterprise; and he also represents the fall of
the place as caused by advice and assistance rendered by his
father, his uncle, and himself, a circumstance consistent only
with the siege’s having really been such an epilogue to the war.
For, according to the narrative as it stands in all the texts, the
Polos _could not_ have reached the Court of Kúblái before the end
of 1274, _i.e._ a year and a half after the fall of Siang-yang, as
represented in the Chinese histories.
The difficulty is not removed, nor, it appears to me, abated in any
degree, by omitting the name of Marco as one of the agents in this
affair, an omission which occurs both in Pauthier’s MS. B and in
Ramusio. Pauthier suggests that the father and uncle may have given
the advice and assistance in question when on their first visit to
the Kaan, and when the siege of Siang-yang was first contemplated.
But this would be quite inconsistent with the assertion that the
place had held out three years longer than the rest of Manzi, as
well as with the idea that their aid had abridged the duration of
the siege, and, in fact, with the spirit of the whole story. It is
certainly very difficult in this case to justify Marco’s veracity,
but I am very unwilling to believe that there was no justification
in the facts.
It is a very curious circumstance that the historian Wassáf also
appears to represent Saianfu (see note 5, ch. lxv.) as holding out
after all the rest of Manzi had been conquered. Yet the Chinese
annals are systematic, minute, and consequent, and it seems
impossible to attribute to them such a misplacement of an event
which they represent as the key to the conquest of Southern China.
In comparing Marco’s story with that of the Chinese, we find the
same coincidence in prominent features, accompanying a discrepancy
in details, that we have had occasion to notice in other cases
where his narrative intersects history. The Chinese account runs as
follows:—
In 1271, after Siang-yang and Fan-ch’eng had held out already
nearly three years, an Uighúr General serving at the siege,
whose name was Alihaiya, urged the Emperor to send to the West
for engineers expert at the construction and working of machines
casting stones of 150 lbs. weight. With such aid he assured Kúblái
the place would speedily be taken. Kúblái sent to his nephew Ábáká
in Persia for such engineers, and two were accordingly sent post
to China, _Alawating_ of Mufali and his pupil Ysemain of Huli or
Hiulie (probably _Ala’uddin_ of _Miafaraḳain_ and _Ismael_ of
_Heri_ or Herat). Kúblái on their arrival gave them military rank.
They exhibited their skill before the Emperor at Tatu, and in the
latter part of 1272 they reached the camp before Siang-yang, and
set up their engines. The noise made by the machines, and the crash
of the shot as it broke through everything in its fall, caused
great alarm in the garrison. Fan-ch’eng was first taken by assault,
and some weeks later Siang-yang surrendered.
The shot used on this occasion weighed 125 Chinese pounds (if
_catties_, then equal to about 166 _lbs. avoird._), and penetrated
7 or 8 feet into the earth.
Rashiduddin also mentions the siege of Siang-yang, as we learn
from D’Ohsson. He states that as there were in China none of the
_Manjaníks_ or Mangonels called _Kumghá_, the Kaan caused a certain
engineer to be sent from Damascus or Balbek, and the three sons of
this person, Abubakr, Ibrahim, and Mahomed, with their workmen,
constructed seven great Manjaníks which were employed against
SAYANFU, a frontier fortress and bulwark of Manzi.
We thus see that three different notices of the siege of
Siang-yang, Chinese, Persian, and Venetian, all concur as to the
employment of foreign engineers from the West, but all differ as to
the individuals.
We have seen that one of the MSS. makes Polo assert that till this
event the Mongols and Chinese were totally ignorant of mangonels
and trebuchets. This, however, is quite untrue; and it is not very
easy to reconcile even the statement, implied in all versions of
the story, that mangonels of considerable power were unknown in the
far East, with other circumstances related in Mongol history.
The Persian History called _Tabaḳát-i-Násiri_ speaks of Aikah Nowin
the _Manjaníki Khás_ or Engineer-in-Chief to Chinghiz Khan, and his
corps of ten thousand _Manjaníkis_ or Mangonellers. The Chinese
histories used by Gaubil also speak of these artillery battalions
of Chinghiz. At the siege of Kai-fung fu near the Hwang-Ho, the
latest capital of the Kin Emperors, in 1232, the Mongol General,
Subutai, threw from his engines great quarters of millstones which
smashed the battlements and watch-towers on the ramparts, and
even the great timbers of houses in the city. In 1236 we find the
Chinese garrison of Chinchau (_I-chin-hien_ on the Great Kiang near
the Great Canal) repelling the Mongol attack, partly by means of
their stone shot. When Hulaku was about to march against Persia
(1253), his brother, the Great Kaan Mangku, sent to _Cathay_ to
fetch thence 1000 families of mangonellers, naphtha-shooters,
and arblasteers. Some of the crossbows used by these latter had
a range, we are told, of 2500 paces! European history bears some
similar evidence. One of the Tartar characteristics reported by a
fugitive Russian Archbishop, in Matt. Paris (p. 570 under 1244),
is: “_Machinas habent multiplices, recte et fortiter jacientes_.”
It is evident, therefore, that the Mongols and Chinese _had_
engines of war, but that they were deficient in some advantage
possessed by those of the Western nations. Rashiduddin’s expression
as to their having no _Kumghá_ mangonels, seems to be unexplained.
Is it perhaps an error for _Ḳarábughá_, the name given by the
Turks and Arabs to a kind of great mangonel? This was known also
in Europe as Carabaga, Calabra, etc. It is mentioned under the
former name by Marino Sanudo, and under the latter, with other
quaintly-named engines, by William of Tudela, as used by Simon de
Montfort the Elder against the Albigenses:—
“E dressa sos _Calabres_, et foi _Mal Vezina_
E sas autras pereiras, e _Dona_, e _Reina_;
Pessia les autz murs e la sala peirina.”[9]
(“He set up his _Calábers_, and likewise his _Ill-Neighbours_,
With many a more machine, this the _Lady_, that the _Queen_,
And breached the lofty walls, and smashed the stately Halls.”)
Now, in looking at the Chinese representations of their ancient
mangonels, which are evidently genuine, and of which I have
given some specimens (figs. I, 2, 3), I see none worked by
the counterpoise; all (and there are six or seven different
representations in the work from which these are taken) are shown
as worked by man-ropes. Hence, probably, the improvement brought
from the West was essentially the use of the counterpoised lever.
And, after I had come to this conclusion, I found it to be the view
of Captain Favé. (See _Du Feu Grégeois_, by MM. Reinaud and Favé,
p. 193.)
In Ramusio the two Polos propose to Kúblái to make “_mangani al
modo di Ponente_”; and it is worthy of note that in the campaigns
of Aláuddin Khilji and his generals in the Deccan, _circa_ 1300,
frequent mention is made of the _Western Manjaniks_ and their great
power. (See _Elliot_, III. 75, 78, etc.)
Of the kind worked by man-ropes must have been that huge mangonel
which Mahomed Ibn Kásim, the conqueror of Sind, set in battery
against the great Dagoba of Daibul, and which required 500 men to
work it. Like Simon de Montfort’s it had a tender name; it was
called “The Bride.” (_Elliot_, I. 120.)
Before quitting this subject, I will quote a curious passage from
the History of the Sung Dynasty, contributed to the work of Reinaud
and Favé by M. Stanislas Julien: “In the 9th year of the period
Hien-shun (A.D. 1273) the frontier cities had fallen into the hands
of the enemy (Tartars). The _Pao_ (or engines for shooting) of the
Hwei-Hwei (Mahomedans) were imitated, but in imitating them very
ingenious improvements were introduced, and _pao_ of a different
and very superior kind were constructed. Moreover, an extraordinary
method was invented of neutralising the effects of the enemy’s
_pao_. Ropes were made of rice-straw 4 inches thick, and 34 feet
in length. Twenty such ropes were joined, applied to the tops of
buildings, and covered with clay. In this manner the fire-arrows,
fire-_pao_, and even the pao casting stones of 100 lbs. weight,
could cause no damage to the towers or houses.” (_Ib._ 196; also
for previous parts of this note, _Visdelou_, 188; _Gaubil_, 34,
155 _seqq._ and 70; _De Mailla_, 329; _Pauthier in loco_ and
Introduction; _D’Ohsson_, II. 35, and 391; Notes by _Mr. Edward
Thomas_, F.R.S.; _Q. Rashid._, pp. 132, 136.) [See I. p. 342.]
[Captain Gill writes (_River of Golden Sand_, I. p. 148): “The word
‘P’ao’ which now means ‘cannon,’ was, it was asserted, found in old
Chinese books of a date anterior to that in which gunpowder was
first known to Europeans; hence the deduction was drawn that the
Chinese were acquainted with gunpowder before it was used in the
West. But close examination shows that in all old books the radical
of the character ‘P’ao’ means ‘stone,’ but that in modern books the
radical of the character ‘P’ao’ means ‘fire’; that the character
with the radical ‘fire’ only appears in books well known to have
been written since the introduction of gunpowder into the West; and
that the old character ‘P’ao’ in reality means ‘Balista.’”—H. C.]
[Illustration: Coin from a treasure hidden at Siang-yang during the
siege in 1268–73, lately discovered.]
[“Wheeled boats are mentioned in 1272 at the siege of Siang-yang.
Kúblái did not decide to ‘go for’ Manzi, _i.e._ the southern of
the two Chinese Empires, until 1273. Bayan did not start until
1274, appearing before Hankow in January 1275. Wuhu and Taiping
surrendered in April; then Chinkiang, Kien K’ang (Nanking), and
Ning kwoh; the final crushing blow being dealt at Hwai-chan. In
March 1276, the Manzi Emperor accepted vassaldom. Kiang-nan was
regularly administered in 1278.” (_E. H. Parker, China Review_,
xxiv. p. 105.)—H. C.]
Siang-yang has been twice visited by Mr. A. Wylie. Just before his
first visit (I believe in 1866) a discovery had been made in the
city of a quantity of treasure buried at the time of the siege. One
of the local officers gave Mr. Wylie one of the copper coins, not
indeed in itself of any great rarity, but worth engraving here on
account of its connection with the siege commemorated in the text;
and a little on the principle of Smith the Weaver’s evidence:—“The
bricks are alive at this day to testify of it; therefore deny it
not.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] And to the Bern MS. which seems to be a copy of it, as is also I
think (in substance) the Bodleian.
[2] In this note I am particularly indebted to the researches of the
Emperor Napoleon III. on this subject. (_Études sur le passé et
l’avenir de l’Artillerie_, 1851.)
[3] Thus Joinville mentions the journey of Jehan li Ermin, the king’s
artillerist, from Acre to Damascus, _pour acheter cornes et glus
pour faire arbalestres_—to buy horns and glue to make crossbows
withal (p. 134).
In the final defence of Acre (1291) we hear of balistae _bipedales_
(with a forked rest?) and other _vertiginales_ (traversing on a
pivot?) that shot 3 quarrels at once, and with such force as to
_stitch_ the Saracens to their bucklers—_cum clypeis consutos
interfecerunt_.
The crossbow, though apparently indigenous among various tribes
of Indo-China, seems to have been a new introduction in European
warfare in the 12th century. William of Brittany in a poem called
the _Philippis_, speaking of the early days of Philip Augustus,
says:—
“Francigenis nostris illis ignota diebus
Res erat omnino quid balistarius arcus,
Quid balista foret, nec habebat in agmine toto
Rex quenquam sciret armis qui talibus uti.”
—_Duchesne, Hist. Franc. Script._, V. 115.
Anna Comnena calls it Τζάγρα (which looks like Persian _charkh_),
“a barbaric bow, totally unknown to the Greeks”; and she gives a
very lengthy description of it, ending: “Such then are the facts
about the _Tzagra_, and a truly diabolical affair it is.” (_Alex._
X.—Paris ed. p. 291.)
[4] The construction is best seen in Figs. 17 and 19. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4,
5 in the cut are from Chinese sources; Figs. 6, 7, 8 from Arabic
works; the rest from European sources.
[5] Christine de Pisan says that when keeping up a discharge by night
lighted brands should be attached to the stones in order to observe
and correct the practice. (_Livre des faits_, etc., _du sage Roy
Charles_, Pt. II. ch. xxiv.)
[6] Professor Sprenger informs me that the first mention of the
_Manjanik_ in Mahomedan history is at the siege of Táyif by Mahomed
himself, A.D. 630 (and see _Sprenger’s Mohammed_ [German], III.
330). The _Annales Marbacenses_ in _Pertz_, xvii. 172, say under
1212, speaking of wars of the Emperor Otho in Germany: “Ibi tunc
cepit haberi usus instrumenti bellici quod vulgo _tribok_ appellari
solet.”
There is a ludicrous Oriental derivation of Manjanik, from the
Persian: “_Man chi nek_!” “How good am I!” Ibn Khallikan remarks
that the word must be foreign, because the letters j and ḳ (ج and
ق) never occur together in genuine Arabic words (_Notes_ by _Mr. E.
Thomas_, F.R.S.). It may be noticed that the letters in question
occur together in another Arabic word of foreign origin used by
Polo, viz. _Játhalíḳ_.
[7] Dufour mentions that stone shot of the mediæval engines exist at
Zurich, of 20 and 22 inches diameter. The largest of these would,
however, scarcely exceed 500 lbs. in weight.
[8] _Georg. Stellae Ann._ in _Muratori_, XVII. 1105; and _Daru_, Bk.
viii. § 12.
[9] Shaw, _Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages_, vol. i. No 21.
CHAPTER LXXI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF SINJU AND THE GREAT RIVER KIAN.
You must know that when you leave the city of Yanju, after going 15
miles south-east, you come to a city called SINJU, of no great size,
but possessing a very great amount of shipping and trade. The people
are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan, and use paper-money.{1}
And you must know that this city stands on the greatest river in the
world, the name of which is KIAN. It is in some places ten miles wide,
in others eight, in others six, and it is more than 100 days’ journey
in length from one end to the other. This it is that brings so much
trade to the city we are speaking of; for on the waters of that river
merchandize is perpetually coming and going, from and to the various
parts of the world, enriching the city, and bringing a great revenue to
the Great Kaan.
And I assure you this river flows so far and traverses so many
countries and cities that in good sooth there pass and repass on its
waters a great number of vessels, and more wealth and merchandize than
on all the rivers and all the seas of Christendom put together! It
seems indeed more like a Sea than a River.{2} Messer Marco Polo said
that he once beheld at that city 15,000 vessels at one time. And you
may judge, if this city, of no great size, has such a number, how many
must there be altogether, considering that on the banks of this river
there are more than sixteen provinces and more than 200 great cities,
besides towns and villages, all possessing vessels?
Messer Marco Polo aforesaid tells us that he heard from the officer
employed to collect the Great Kaan’s duties on this river that there
passed up-stream 200,000 vessels in the year, without counting those
that passed down! [Indeed as it has a course of such great length,
and receives so many other navigable rivers, it is no wonder that the
merchandize which is borne on it is of vast amount and value. And the
article in largest quantity of all is salt, which is carried by this
river and its branches to all the cities on their banks, and thence to
the other cities in the interior.{3}]
The vessels which ply on this river are decked. They have but one
mast, but they are of great burthen, for I can assure you they carry
(reckoning by our weight) from 4000 up to 12,000 cantars each.{4}
Now we will quit this matter and I will tell you of another city called
CAIJU. But first I must mention a point I had forgotten. You must know
that the vessels on this river, in going up-stream have to be tracked,
for the current is so strong that they could not make head in any other
manner. Now the tow-line, which is some 300 paces in length, is made
of nothing but cane. ’Tis in this way: they have those great canes of
which I told you before that they are some fifteen paces in length;
these they take and split from end to end [into many slender strips],
and then they twist these strips together so as to make a rope of any
length they please. And the ropes so made are stronger than if they
were made of hemp.{5}
[There are at many places on this river hills and rocky eminences
on which the idol-monasteries and other edifices are built; and you
find on its shores a constant succession of villages and inhabited
places.{6}]
NOTE 1.—The traveller’s diversion from his direct course—_sceloc_
or south-east, as he regards it—towards Fo-kien, in order to notice
Ngan-king (as we have supposed) and Siang-yang, has sadly thrown
out both the old translators and transcribers, and the modern
commentators. Though the G. Text has here “_quant l’en se part de
la cité de_ Angui,” I cannot doubt that _Iangui_ (Yanju) is the
reading intended, and that Polo here comes back to the main line of
his journey.
[Illustration: “=Sono sopraquesto fiumein molti luoghi, colline e
monticelli sassosi, sopra quali sono edificati monasteri d’Idoli, e
altre stanze....=”]
I conceive Sinju to be the city which was then called CHÊN-CHAU,
but now I-CHING HIEN,[1] and which stands on the Kiang as near as
may be 15 miles from Yang-chau. It is indeed south-west instead
of south-east, but those who have noted the style of Polo’s
orientation will not attach much importance to this. I-ching hien
is still the great port of the Yang-chau salt manufacture, for
export by the Kiang and its branches to the interior provinces. It
communicates with the Grand Canal by two branch canals. Admiral
Collinson, in 1842, remarked the great numbers of vessels lying in
the creek off I-ching. (See note 1 to ch. lxviii. above; and _J. R.
G. S._ XVII. 139.)
[“We anchored at a place near the town of _Y-ching-hien_,
distinguished by a pagoda. The most remarkable objects that struck
us here were some enormously large salt-junks of a very singular
shape, approaching to a crescent, with sterns at least thirty feet
above the water, and bows that were two-thirds of that height.
They had ‘bright sides,’ that is, were varnished over the natural
wood without painting, a very common style in China.” (_Davis,
Sketches_, II. p. 13.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—The river is, of course, the Great Kiang or Yang-tzŭ Kiang
(already spoken of in ch. xliv. as the _Kiansui_), which Polo was
justified in calling the greatest river in the world, whilst the
New World was yet hidden. The breadth seems to be a good deal
exaggerated, the length not at all. His expressions about it were
perhaps accompanied by a mental reference to the term _Dalai_, “The
Sea,” which the Mongols appear to have given the river. (See _Fr.
Odoric_, p. 121.) The Chinese have a popular saying, “_Haï vu ping,
Kiang vu ti_,” “Boundless is the Ocean, bottomless the Kiang!”
NOTE 3.—“The assertion that there is a greater amount of tonnage
belonging to the Chinese than to all other nations combined, does
not appear overcharged to those who have seen the swarms of boats
on their rivers, though it might not be found strictly true.”
(_Mid. Kingd._ II. 398.) Barrow’s picture of the life, traffic, and
population on the Kiang, excepting as to specific numbers, quite
bears out Marco’s account. This part of China suffered so long from
the wars of the T’ai-P’ing rebellion that to travellers it has
presented thirty years ago an aspect sadly belying its old fame.
Such havoc is not readily repaired in a few years, nor in a few
centuries, but prosperity is reviving, and European navigation is
making an important figure on the Kiang.
[From the _Returns of Trade for the Year 1900_ of the Imperial
Maritime Customs of China, we take the following figures regarding
the navigation on the Kiang. Steamers entered inwards and cleared
outwards, under General Regulations at _Chung-King_: 1; 331
tons; sailing vessels, 2681; 84,862 tons, of which Chinese, 816;
27,684 tons. At _Ichang_: 314; 231,000 tons, of which Chinese,
118; 66,944 tons; sailing vessels, all Chinese, 5139; 163,320
tons. At _Shasi_: 606; 453,818 tons, of which Chinese, 606;
453,818 tons; no sailing vessels. At _Yochow_: 650; 299,962 tons,
of which Chinese, 458; 148,112 tons; no sailing vessels; under
Inland Steam Navigation Rules, 280 Chinese vessels, 20,958 tons.
At _Hankow_: under General Regulation, Steamers, 2314; 2,101,555
tons, of which Chinese, 758; 462,424 tons; sailing vessels, 1137;
166,118 tons, of which Chinese, 1129; 163,724 tons; under Inland
Steam Navigation Rules, 1682 Chinese vessels, 31,173 tons. At
_Kiu-Kiang_: under General Regulation, Steamers, 2916; 3,393,514
tons, of which Chinese, 478; 697,468 tons; sailing vessels, 163;
29,996 tons, of which Chinese, 160; 27,797 tons; under Inland Steam
Navigation Rules, 798 Chinese vessels; 21,670 tons. At _Wu-hu_:
under General Regulation, Steamers, 3395; 3,713,172 tons, of which
Chinese, 540; 678,362 tons; sailing vessels, 356; 48,299 tons, of
which Chinese, 355; 47,848 tons; under Inland Steam Navigation
Rules, 286 Chinese vessels; 4272 tons. At _Nanking_: under General
Regulation, Steamers, 1672; 1,138,726 tons, of which Chinese, 970;
713,232 tons; sailing vessels, 290; 36,873 tons, of which Chinese,
281; 34,985 tons; under Inland Steam Navigation Rules, 30 Chinese
vessels; 810 tons. At _Chinkiang_: under General Regulation,
Steamers, 4710; 4,413,452 tons, of which Chinese, 924; 794,724
tons; sailing vessels, 1793; 294,664 tons, of which Chinese, 1771;
290,286 tons; under Inland Steam Navigation Rules, 2920; 39,346
tons, of which Chinese, 1684; 22,776 tons.—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—✛12,000 _cantars_ would be more than 500 tons, and this
is justified by the burthen of _Chinese_ vessels on the river; we
see it is more than doubled by that of some British or American
steamers thereon. In the passage referred to under Note 1, Admiral
Collinson speaks of the salt-junks at I-ching as “very remarkable,
being built nearly in the form of a crescent, the stern rising in
some of them nearly 30 feet and the prow 20, whilst the mast is 90
feet high.” These dimensions imply large capacity. Oliphant speaks
of the old rice-junks for the canal traffic as transporting 200 and
300 tons (I. 197).
NOTE 5.—The tow-line in river-boats is usually made (as here
described) of strips of bamboo twisted. Hawsers are also made of
bamboo. Ramusio, in this passage, says the boats are tracked by
horses, ten or twelve to each vessel. I do not find this mentioned
anywhere else, nor has any traveller in China that I have consulted
heard of such a thing.
NOTE 6.—Such eminences as are here alluded to are the Little Orphan
Rock, Silver Island, and the Golden Island, which is mentioned in
the following chapter. We give on the preceding page illustrations
of those three picturesque islands; the Orphan Rock at the top,
Golden Island in the middle, Silver Island below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] See _Gaubil_, p. 93, note 4; _Biot_, p. 275 [and _Playfair’s
Dict._, p. 393].
CHAPTER LXXII.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIJU.
Caiju is a small city towards the south-east. The people are subject to
the Great Kaan and have paper-money. It stands upon the river before
mentioned.{1} At this place are collected great quantities of corn
and rice to be transported to the great city of Cambaluc for the use
of the Kaan’s Court; for the grain for the Court all comes from this
part of the country. You must understand that the Emperor hath caused
a water-communication to be made from this city to Cambaluc, in the
shape of a wide and deep channel dug between stream and stream, between
lake and lake, forming as it were a great river on which large vessels
can ply. And thus there is a communication all the way from this city
of Caiju to Cambaluc; so that great vessels with their loads can go
the whole way. A land road also exists, for the earth dug from those
channels has been thrown up so as to form an embanked road on either
side.{2}
Just opposite to the city of Caiju, in the middle of the River, there
stands a rocky island on which there is an idol-monastery containing
some 200 idolatrous friars, and a vast number of idols. And this Abbey
holds supremacy over a number of other idol-monasteries, just like an
archbishop’s see among Christians.{3}
Now we will leave this and cross the river, and I will tell you of a
city called Chinghianfu.
NOTE 1.—No place in Polo’s travels is better identified by his
local indications than this. It is on the Kiang; it is at the
extremity of the Great Canal from Cambaluc; it is opposite the
Golden Island and Chin-kiang fu. Hence it is KWA-CHAU, as Murray
pointed out. Marsden here misunderstands his text, and puts the
place on the south side of the Kiang.
Here Van Braam notices that there passed in the course of the day
more than fifty great rice-boats, most of which could easily carry
more than 300,000 lbs. of rice. And Mr. Alabaster, in 1868, speaks
of the canal from Yang-chau to Kwa-chau as “full of junks.”
[Sir J. F. Davis writes (_Sketches of China_, II. p. 6): “Two ...
days ... were occupied in exploring the half-deserted town of
_Kwa-chow_, whose name signifies ‘the island of gourds,’ being
completely insulated by the river and canal. We took a long walk
along the top of the walls, which were as usual of great thickness,
and afforded a broad level platform behind the parapet: the parapet
itself, about six feet high, did not in thickness exceed the length
of a brick and a half, and the embrasures were evidently not
constructed for cannon, being much too high. A very considerable
portion of the area within the walls consisted of burial-grounds
planted with cypress; and this alone was a sufficient proof of the
decayed condition of the place, as in modern or fully inhabited
cities no person can be buried within the walls. Almost every spot
bore traces of ruin, and there appeared to be but one good street
in the whole town; this, however, was full of shops, and as busy as
Chinese streets always are.”—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Rashiduddin gives the following account of the Grand Canal
spoken of in this passage. “The river of Khanbaligh had,” he says,
“in the course of time, become so shallow as not to admit the
entrance of shipping, so that they had to discharge their cargoes
and send them up to Khanbaligh on pack-cattle. And the Chinese
engineers and men of science having reported that the vessels
from the provinces of Cathay, from Machin, and from the cities of
Khingsai and Zaitún, could no longer reach the court, the Kaan gave
them orders to dig a great canal into which the waters of the said
river, and of several others, should be introduced. This canal
extends for a distance of 40 days’ navigation from Khanbaligh to
Khingsai and Zaitún, the ports frequented by the ships that come
from India, and from the city of Machin (Canton). The canal is
provided with many sluices ... and when vessels arrive at these
sluices they are hoisted up by means of machinery, whatever be
their size, and let down on the other side into the water. The
canal has a width of more than 30 ells. Kúblái caused the sides of
the embankments to be revetted with stone, in order to prevent the
earth giving way. Along the side of the canal runs the high road
to Machin, extending for a space of 40 days’ journey, and this has
been paved throughout, so that travellers and their animals may get
along during the rainy season without sinking in the mud.... Shops,
taverns, and villages line the road on both sides, so that dwelling
succeeds dwelling without intermission throughout the whole space
of 40 days’ journey.” (_Cathay_, 259–260.)
The canal appears to have been [begun in 1289 and to have been
completed in 1292.—H. C.] though large portions were in use
earlier. Its chief object was to provide the capital with food.
Pauthier gives the statistics of the transport of rice by this
canal from 1283 to the end of Kúblái’s reign, and for some
subsequent years up to 1329. In the latter year the quantity
reached 3,522,163 _shi_ or 1,247,633 quarters. As the supplies of
rice for the capital and for the troops in the Northern Provinces
always continued to be drawn from Kiang-nan, the distress and
derangement caused by the recent rebel occupation of that province
must have been enormous. (_Pauthier_, p. 481–482; _De Mailla_, p.
439.) Polo’s account of the formation of the canal is exceedingly
accurate. Compare that given by Mr. Williamson (I. 62).
NOTE 3.—“On the Kiang, not far from the mouth, is that remarkably
beautiful little island called the ‘Golden Isle,’ surmounted by
numerous temples inhabited by the votaries of Buddha or Fo, and
very correctly described so many centuries since by Marco Polo.”
(_Davis’s Chinese_, I. 149.) The monastery, according to Pauthier,
was founded in the 3rd or 4th century, but the name _Kin-Shan_, or
“Golden Isle,” dates only from a visit of the Emperor K’ang-hi in
1684.
The monastery contained one of the most famous Buddhist libraries
in China. This was in the hands of our troops during the first
China war, and, as it was intended to remove the books, there
was no haste made in examining their contents. Meanwhile peace
came, and the library was restored. It is a pity _now_ that
the _jus belli_ had not been exercised promptly, for the whole
establishment was destroyed by the T’ai-P’ings in 1860, and, with
the exception of the Pagoda at the top of the hill, which was left
in a dilapidated state, not one stone of the buildings remained
upon another. The rock had also then ceased to be an island; and
the site of what not many years before had been a channel with four
fathoms of water separating it from the southern shore, was covered
by flourishing cabbage-gardens. (_Gützlaff_ in _J. R. A. S._ XII.
87; _Mid. Kingd._ I. 84, 86; _Oliphant’s Narrative_, II. 301; _N.
and Q. Ch. and Jap._ No. 5, p. 58.)
CHAPTER LXXIII.
OF THE CITY OF CHINGHIANFU.
Chinghianfu is a city of Manzi. The people are Idolaters and subject
to the Great Kaan, and have paper-money, and live by handicrafts and
trade. They have plenty of silk, from which they make sundry kinds of
stuffs of silk and gold. There are great and wealthy merchants in the
place; plenty of game is to be had, and of all kinds of victual.
There are in this city two churches of Nestorian Christians which
were established in the year of our Lord 1278; and I will tell you how
that happened. You see, in the year just named, the Great Kaan sent a
Baron of his whose name was MAR SARGHIS, a Nestorian Christian, to be
governor of this city for three years. And during the three years that
he abode there he caused these two Christian churches to be built, and
since then there they are. But before his time there was no church,
neither were there any Christians.{1}
[Illustration: West Gate of Chin-kiang fu in 1842.]
NOTE 1.—CHIN-KIANG FU retains its name unchanged. It is one which
became well known in the war of 1842. On its capture on the 21st
July in that year, the heroic Manchu commandant seated himself
among his records and then set fire to the building, making it his
funeral pyre. The city was totally destroyed in the T’ai-P’ing
wars, but is rapidly recovering its position as a place of native
commerce.
[Chên-kiang, “a name which may be translated ‘River Guard,’ stands
at the point where the Grand Canal is brought to a junction with
the waters of the Yang-tzŭ when the channel of the river proper
begins to expand into an extensive tidal estuary.” (_Treaty Ports
of China_, p. 421.) It was declared open to foreign trade by the
Treaty of Tien-Tsin in 1858.—H. C.]
_Mar Sarghis_ (or Dominus Sergius) appears to have been a common
name among Armenian and other Oriental Christians. As Pauthier
mentions, this very name is one of the names of Nestorian priests
inscribed in Syriac on the celebrated monument of Si-ngan fu.
[In the description of Chin-kiang quoted by the Archimandrite
Palladius (see vol. i. p. 187, note 3), a Christian monastery
or temple is mentioned: “The temple _Ta-hing-kuo-sze_ stands
in Chin-kiang fu, in the quarter called _Kia-t’ao h’eang_. It
was built in the 18th year of _Chi-yuen_ (A.D. 1281) by the
_Sub-darugachi, Sie-li-ki-sze_ (Sergius). _Liang Siang_, the
teacher in the Confucian school, wrote a commemorative inscription
for him.” From this document we see that “_Sie-mi-sze-hien_
(Samarcand) is distant from China 100,000 li (probably a mistake
for 10,000) to the north-west. It is a country where the religion
of the _Ye-li-k’o-wen_ dominates.... The founder of the religion
was called _Ma-rh Ye-li-ya_. He lived and worked miracles a
thousand five hundred years ago. _Ma Sie-li-ki-sze_ (Mar Sergius)
is a follower of him.” (_Chinese Recorder_, VI. p. 108).—H. C.]
From this second mention of _three years_ as a term of government,
we may probably gather that this was the usual period for the
tenure of such office. (_Mid. Kingd._, I. 86; _Cathay_, p. xciii.)
CHAPTER LXXIV.
OF THE CITY OF CHINGINJU AND THE SLAUGHTER OF CERTAIN
ALANS THERE.
Leaving the city of Chinghianfu and travelling three days south-east
through a constant succession of busy and thriving towns and villages,
you arrive at the great and noble city of CHINGINJU. The people are
Idolaters, use paper-money, and are subject to the Great Kaan. They
live by trade and handicrafts, and they have plenty of silk. They have
also abundance of game, and of all manner of victuals, for it is a most
productive territory.{1}
Now I must tell you of an evil deed that was done, once upon a time, by
the people of this city, and how dearly they paid for it.
You see, at the time of the conquest of the great province of Manzi,
when Bayan was in command, he sent a company of his troops, consisting
of a people called Alans, who are Christians, to take this city.{2}
They took it accordingly, and when they had made their way in, they
lighted upon some good wine. Of this they drank until they were all
drunk, and then they lay down and slept like so many swine. So when
night fell, the townspeople, seeing that they were all dead-drunk, fell
upon them and slew them all; not a man escaped.
And when Bayan heard that the townspeople had thus treacherously slain
his men, he sent another Admiral of his with a great force, and stormed
the city, and put the whole of the inhabitants to the sword; not a man
of them escaped death. And thus the whole population of that city was
exterminated.{3}
Now we will go on, and I will tell you of another city called Suju.
NOTE 1.—Both the position and the story which follows identify
this city with CHANG-CHAU. The name is written in Pauthier’s MSS.
_Chinginguy_, in the G. T. _Cingiggui_ and _Cinghingui_, in Ramusio
_Tinguigui_.
The capture of Chang-chau by Gordon’s force, 11th May 1864, was the
final achievement of that “Ever Victorious Army.”
Regarding the territory here spoken of, once so rich and densely
peopled, Mr. Medhurst says, in reference to the effects of the
T’ai-P’ing insurrection: “I can conceive of no more melancholy
sight than the acres of ground that one passes through strewn with
remains of once thriving cities, and the miles upon miles of rich
land, once carefully parcelled out into fields and gardens, but now
only growing coarse grass and brambles—the home of the pheasant,
the deer, and the wild pig.” (_Foreigner in Far Cathay_, p. 94.)
NOTE 2.—The relics of the Alans were settled on the northern skirts
of the Caucasus, where they made a stout resistance to the Mongols,
but eventually became subjects of the Khans of Sarai. The name
by which they were usually known in Asia in the Middle Ages was
_Aas_, and this name is assigned to them by Carpini, Rubruquis, and
Josafat Barbaro, as well as by Ibn Batuta. Mr. Howorth has lately
denied the identity of Alans and Aas; but he treats the question as
all one with the identity of Alans and Ossethi, which is another
matter, as may be seen in Vivien de St. Martin’s elaborate paper on
the Alans (_N. Ann. des Voyages_, 1848, tom. 3, p. 129 _seqq._).
The Alans are mentioned by the Byzantine historian, Pachymeres,
among nations whom the Mongols had assimilated to themselves and
adopted into their military service. Gaubil, without being aware
of the identity of the _Asu_ (as the name _Aas_ appears to be
expressed in the Chinese Annals), beyond the fact that they dwelt
somewhere near the Caspian, observes that this people, after they
were conquered, furnished many excellent officers to the Mongols;
and he mentions also that when the Mongol army was first equipt
for the conquest of Southern China, many officers took service
therein from among the Uighúrs, Persians, and Arabs, Kincha (people
of Kipchak), the _Asu_ and other foreign nations. We find also,
at a later period of the Mongol history (1336), letters reaching
Pope Benedict XII. from several Christian Alans holding high
office at the court of Cambaluc—one of them being a _Chingsang_ or
Minister of the First Rank, and another a _Fanchang_ or Minister
of the Second Order—in which they conveyed their urgent request
for the nomination of an Archbishop in succession to the deceased
John of Monte Corvino. John Marignolli speaks of those Alans as
“the greatest and noblest nation in the world, the fairest and
bravest of men,” and asserts that in his day there were 30,000 of
them in the Great Kaan’s service, and all, at least nominally,
Christians.[1] Rashiduddin also speaks of the Alans as Christians;
though Ibn Batuta certainly mentions the _Aas_ as Mahomedans.
We find Alans about the same time (in 1306) fighting well in
the service of the Byzantine Emperors (_Muntaner_, p. 449). All
these circumstances render Marco’s story of a corps of Christian
Alans in the army of Bayan perfectly consistent with probability.
(_Carpini_, p. 707; _Rub._, 243; _Ramusio_, II. 92; _I. B._ II.
428; _Gaubil_, 40, 147; _Cathay_, 314 _seqq._)
[Mr. Rockhill writes (_Rubruck_, p. 88, note): “The Alans or Aas
appear to be identical with the An-ts’ai or A-lan-na of the _Hou
Han shu_ (bk. 88, 9), of whom we read that ‘they led a pastoral
life N.W. of Sogdiana (K’ang-chü) in a plain bounded by great lakes
(or swamps), and in their wanderings went as far as the shores of
the Northern Ocean.’ (Ma Twan-lin, bk. 338.) _Pei-shih_ (bk. 97,
12) refers to them under the name of Su-tê and Wen-na-sha (see also
_Bretschneider, Med. Geog._, 258, _et seq._). Strabo refers to them
under the name of Aorsi, living to the north but contiguous to
the Albani, whom some authors confound with them, but whom later
Armenian historians carefully distinguish from them (_De Morgan,
Mission_, i. 232). Ptolemy speaks of this people as the ‘Scythian
Alans’ (Ἀλανοί Σκύθαι); but the first definite mention of them in
classical authors is, according to Bunbury (ii. 486), found in
Dionysius Periergetes (305), who speaks of the άλκήεντες Ἀλανοί.
(See also _De Morgan_, i. 202, and _Deguignes_, ii. 279 _et seq._)
“Ammianus Marcellinus (xxxi. 348) says, the Alans were a congeries
of tribes living E. of the Tanais (Don), and stretching far
into Asia. ‘Distributed over two continents, all these nations,
whose various names I refrain from mentioning, though separated
by immense tracts of country in which they pass their vagabond
existence, have with time been confounded under the generic
appellation of Alans.’ Ibn Alathir, at a later date, also refers to
the Alans as ‘formed of numerous nations.’ (_Dulaurier_, xiv. 455).
“Conquered by the Huns in the latter part of the fourth century,
some of the Alans moved westward, others settled on the northern
slopes of the Caucasus; though long prior to that, in A.D. 51,
they had, as allies of the Georgians, ravaged Armenia. (See _Yule,
Cathay_, 316; _Deguignes_, I., pt. ii. 277 _et seq._; and _De
Morgan_, I. 217, _et seq._)
“Mirkhond, in the _Tarikhi Wassaf_, and other Mohammedan writers
speak of the Alans _and_ As. However this may be, it is thought
that the Oss or Ossetes of the Caucasus are their modern
representatives (_Klaproth, Tabl. hist._, 180; _De Morgan_, i. 202,
231.)” _Aas_ is the transcription of _A-soo_ (_Yuen-shi_, quoted by
Devéria, _Notes d’épig._, p. 75). (See _Bretschneider, Med. Res._,
II., p. 84.)—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—The Chinese histories do not mention the story of the Alans
and their fate; but they tell how Chang-chau was first taken by the
Mongols about April 1275, and two months later recovered by the
Chinese; how Bayan, some months afterwards, attacked it in person,
meeting with a desperate resistance; finally, how the place was
stormed, and how Bayan ordered the whole of the inhabitants to be
put to the sword. Gaubil remarks that some grievous provocation
must have been given, as Bayan was far from cruel. Pauthier
gives original extracts on the subject, which are interesting.
They picture the humane and chivalrous Bayan on this occasion as
demoniacal in cruelty, sweeping together all the inhabitants of
the suburbs, forcing them to construct his works of attack, and
then butchering the whole of them, boiling down their carcasses,
and using the fat to grease his mangonels! Perhaps there is some
misunderstanding as to the _use_ of this barbarous lubricant. For
Carpini relates that the Tartars, when they cast Greek fire into
a town, shot with it human fat, for this caused the fire to rage
inextinguishably.
Cruelties, like Bayan’s on this occasion, if exceptional with him,
were common enough among the Mongols generally. Chinghiz, at an
early period in his career, after a victory, ordered seventy great
caldrons to be heated, and his prisoners to be boiled therein.
And the “evil deed” of the citizens of Chang-chau fell far short
of Mongol atrocities. Thus Hulaku, suspecting the Turkoman chief
Nasiruddin, who had just quitted his camp with 300 men, sent a
body of horse after him to cut him off. The Mongol officers told
the Turkoman they had been ordered to give him and his men a
parting feast; they made them all drunk and then cut their throats.
(_Gaubil_, 166, 167, 170; _Carpini_, 696; _Erdmann_, 262; _Quat.
Rashid._ 357.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] I must observe here that the learned Professor Bruun has raised
doubts whether these Alans of Marignolli’s could be Alans of
the Caucasus, and if they were not rather _Ohláns_, _i.e._
Mongol Princes and nobles. There are difficulties certainly
about Marignolli’s Alans; but obvious difficulties also in this
explanation.
CHAPTER LXXV.
OF THE NOBLE CITY OF SUJU.
Suju is a very great and noble city. The people are Idolaters, subjects
of the Great Kaan, and have paper-money. They possess silk in great
quantities, from which they make gold brocade and other stuffs, and
they live by their manufactures and trade.{1}
The city is passing great, and has a circuit of some 60 miles; it hath
merchants of great wealth and an incalculable number of people. Indeed,
if the men of this city and of the rest of Manzi had but the spirit of
soldiers they would conquer the world; but they are no soldiers at all,
only accomplished traders and most skilful craftsmen. There are also in
this city many philosophers and leeches, diligent students of nature.
And you must know that in this city there are 6,000 bridges, all of
stone, and so lofty that a galley, or even two galleys at once, could
pass underneath one of them.{2}
In the mountains belonging to this city, rhubarb and ginger grow in
great abundance; insomuch that you may get some 40 pounds of excellent
fresh ginger for a Venice groat.{3} And the city has sixteen other
great trading cities under its rule. The name of the city, Suju,
signifies in our tongue, “Earth,” and that of another near it, of which
we shall speak presently, called Kinsay, signifies “Heaven;” and these
names are given because of the great splendour of the two cities.{4}
Now let us quit Suju, and go on to another which is called VUJU, one
day’s journey distant; it is a great and fine city, rife with trade and
manufactures. But as there is nothing more to say of it we shall go on
and I will tell you of another great and noble city called VUGHIN. The
people are Idolaters, &c., and possess much silk and other merchandize,
and they are expert traders and craftsmen. Let us now quit Vughin and
tell you of another city called CHANGAN, a great and rich place. The
people are Idolaters, &c., and they live by trade and manufactures.
They make great quantities of sendal of different kinds, and they have
much game in the neighbourhood. There is however nothing more to say
about the place, so we shall now proceed.{5}
NOTE 1.—SUJU is of course the celebrated city of SU-CHAU in
Kiang-nan—before the rebellion brought ruin on it, the Paris
of China. “Everything remarkable was alleged to come from it;
fine pictures, fine carved-work, fine silks, and fine ladies!”
(_Fortune_, I. 186.) When the Emperor K’ang-hi visited Su-chau, the
citizens laid the streets with carpets and silk stuffs, but the
Emperor dismounted and made his train do the like. (_Davis_, I.
186.)
[Su-chau is situated 80 miles west of Shang-hai, 12 miles east
of the Great Lake, and 40 miles south of the Kiang, in the plain
between this river and Hang-chau Bay. It was the capital of the
old kingdom of Wu which was independent from the 12th to the 4th
centuries (B.C.) inclusive; it was founded by Wu Tzŭ-sü, prime
minister of King Hoh Lü (514–496 B.C.), who removed the capital of
Wu from Mei-li (near the modern Ch’ang-chau) to the new site now
occupied by the city of Su-chau. “Suchau is built in the form of a
rectangle, and is about three and a half miles from North to South,
by two and a half in breadth, the wall being twelve or thirteen
miles in length. There are six gates.” (_Rev. H. C. Du Bose, Chin.
Rec._, xix. p. 205.) It has greatly recovered since the T’ai-P’ing
rebellion, and its recapture by General (then Major) Gordon on the
27th November 1863; Su-chau has been declared open to foreign trade
on the 26th September 1896, under the provisions of the Japanese
Treaty of 1895.
“The great trade of Soochow is silk. In the silk stores are found
about 100 varieties of satin, and 200 kinds of silks and gauzes....
The weavers are divided into two guilds, the Nankin and Suchau,
and have together about 7000 looms. Thousands of men and women are
engaged in reeling the thread.” (_Rev. H. C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec._,
xix. pp. 275–276.)—H. C.]
[Illustration: NORTH
CITY OF SUCHAU
Lit. Frauenfelder, Palermo
Reduced to ⅒ the scale from a Rubbing of a PLAN incised on MARBLE
A·D·MCCXLVII, & preserved in the GREAT TEMPLE of CONFUCIUS at
SUCHAU.]
NOTE 2.—I believe we must not bring Marco to book for the literal
accuracy of his statements as to the bridges; but all travellers
have noticed the number and elegance of the bridges of cut stone
in this part of China; see, for instance, _Van Braam_, II. 107,
119–120, 124, 126; and _Deguignes_, I. 47, who gives a particular
account of the arches. These are said to be often 50 or 60 feet in
span.
[“Within the city there are, generally speaking, six canals from
North to South, and six canals from East to West, intersecting one
another at from a quarter to half a mile. There are a hundred and
fifty or two hundred bridges at intervals of two or three hundred
yards; some of these with arches, others with stone slabs thrown
across, many of which are twenty feet in length. The canals are
from ten to fifteen feet wide and faced with stone.” (_Rev. H. C.
Du Bose, Chin. Rec._, xix., 1888, p. 207).—H. C.]
[Illustration: South-West Gate and Water-Gate of Su-chau; facsimile
on half the scale from a mediæval Map, incised on Marble, A.D.
1247.]
NOTE 3.—This statement about the abundance of rhubarb in the hills
near Su-chau is believed by the most competent authorities to be
quite erroneous. Rhubarb _is_ exported from Shang-hai, but it is
brought thither from Hankau on the Upper Kiang, and Hankau receives
it from the further west. Indeed Mr. Hanbury, in a note on the
subject, adds his disbelief also that _ginger_ is produced in
Kiang-nan. And I see in the Shang-hai trade-returns of 1865, that
there is _no_ ginger among the exports. [Green ginger is mentioned
in the Shang-hai Trade Reports for 1900 among the exports (p. 309)
to the amount of 18,756 piculs; none is mentioned at Su-chau.—H. C.]
Some one, I forget where, has suggested a confusion with Suh-chau
in Kan-suh, the great rhubarb mart, which seems possible.
[“Polo is correct in giving Tangut as the native country of Rhubarb
(_Rheum palmatum_), but no species of Rheum has hitherto been
gathered by our botanists as far south as Kiang-Su, indeed, not
even in Shan-tung.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._, I. p.
5.)—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—The meanings ascribed by Polo to the names of Su-chau and
King-szé (Hang-chau) show plainly enough that he was ignorant of
Chinese. Odoric does not mention Su-chau, but he gives the same
explanation of Kinsay as signifying the “City of Heaven,” and
Wassáf also in his notice of the same city has an obscure passage
about Paradise and Heaven, which is not improbably a corrupted
reference to the same interpretation.[1] I suspect therefore that
it was a “Vulgar Error” of the foreign residents in China, probably
arising out of a misunderstanding of the Chinese adage quoted by
Duhalde and Davis:—
“_Shang yeu t’ien t’ang, Hia yeu_ SU HANG!”
“There’s Paradise above ’tis true,
But here below we’ve HANG and SU!”
These two neighbouring cities, in the middle of the beautiful
tea and silk districts, and with all the advantages of inland
navigation and foreign trade, combined every source of wealth and
prosperity, and were often thus coupled together by the Chinese.
Both are, I believe, now recovering from the effects of devastation
by T’ai-P’ing occupation and Imperialist recapture; but neither
probably is one-fifth of what it was.
The plan of Su-chau which we give is of high interest. It is
reduced (⅒ the scale) from a rubbing of a plan of the city incised
on marble measuring 6′ 7″ by 4′ 4″, and which has been preserved
in the Confucian Temple in Su-chau since A.D. 1247. Marco Polo’s
eyes have probably rested on this fine work, comparable to the
famous _Pianta Capitolina_. The engraving on page 183 represents
one of the gates traced from the rubbing and reduced to _half_
the scale. It is therefore an authentic representation of Chinese
fortification in or before the 13th century.[2]
[“In the southern part of Su-chau is the park, surrounded by a high
wall, which contains the group of buildings called the Confucian
Temple. This is the Dragon’s head;—the Dragon Street, running
directly North, is his body, and the Great Pagoda is his tail. In
front is a grove of cedars. To one side is the hall where thousands
of scholars go to worship at the Spring and Autumn Festivals—this
for the gentry alone, not for the unlettered populace. There is
a building used for the slaughter of animals, another containing
a map of the city engraved in stone; a third with tablets and
astronomical diagrams, and a fourth containing the Provincial
Library. On each side of the large courts are rooms where are
placed the tablets of the 500 sages. The main temple is 50 by 70
feet, and contains the tablet of Confucius and a number of gilded
boards with mottoes. It is a very imposing structure. On the stone
dais in front, a mat-shed is erected for the great sacrifices at
which the official magnates exercise their sacerdotal functions. As
a tourist beheld the sacred grounds and the aged trees, she said:
‘This is the most venerable-looking place I have seen in China.’ On
the gateway in front, the sage is called ‘The Prince of Doctrine in
times Past and Present.’” (_Rev. H. C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec._, xix.
p. 272).—H. C.]
NOTE 5.—The Geographic Text only, at least of the principal
Texts, has distinctly the _three_ cities, _Vugui, Vughin,
Ciangan_. Pauthier identifies the first and third with HU-CHAU
FU and Sung-kiang fu. In favour of Vuju’s being Hu-chau is the
fact mentioned by Wilson that the latter city is locally called
WUCHU.[3] If this be the place, the Traveller does not seem to be
following a direct and consecutive route from Su-chau to Hang-chau.
Nor is Hu-chau within a day’s journey of Su-chau. Mr. Kingsmill
observes that the only town at that distance is _Wukiang-hien_,
once of some little importance but now much reduced. WUKIANG,
however, is suggestive of VUGHIN; and, in that supposition,
Hu-chau must be considered the object of a digression from which
the Traveller returns and takes up his route to Hang-chau _viâ_
Wukiang. _Kiahing_ would then best answer to _Ciangan_, or
_Caingan_, as it is written in the following chapter of the G. T.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] See Quatremère’s _Rashid._, p. lxxxvii., and Hammer’s _Wassáf_, p.
42.
[2] I owe these valuable illustrations, as so much else, to the
unwearied kindness of Mr. A. Wylie. There were originally four
maps: (1) _The City_, (2) _The Empire_, (3) _The Heavens_, (4) no
longer known. They were drawn originally by one Hwan Kin-shan, and
presented by him to a high official in Sze-ch’wan. Wang Che-yuen,
subsequently holding office in the same province, got possession
of the maps, and had them incised at Su-chau in A.D. 1247. The
inscription bearing these particulars is partially gone, and the
date of the original drawings remains uncertain. (See _List of
Illustrations_.)
[3] _The Ever Victorious Army_, p. 395.
CHAPTER LXXVI.
DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY, WHICH IS THE CAPITAL
OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF MANZI.
When you have left the city of Changan and have travelled for three
days through a splendid country, passing a number of towns and
villages, you arrive at the most noble city of KINSAY, a name which is
as much as to say in our tongue “The City of Heaven,” as I told you
before.{1}
And since we have got thither I will enter into particulars about
its magnificence; and these are well worth the telling, for the city
is beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world. In this
we shall speak according to the written statement which the Queen of
this Realm sent to Bayan the conqueror of the country for transmission
to the Great Kaan, in order that he might be aware of the surpassing
grandeur of the city and might be moved to save it from destruction
or injury. I will tell you all the truth as it was set down in that
document. For truth it was, as the said Messer Marco Polo at a later
date was able to witness with his own eyes. And now we shall rehearse
those particulars.
First and foremost, then, the document stated the city of Kinsay to be
so great that it hath an hundred miles of compass. And there are in it
twelve thousand bridges of stone, for the most part so lofty that a
great fleet could pass beneath them. And let no man marvel that there
are so many bridges, for you see the whole city stands as it were in
the water and surrounded by water, so that a great many bridges are
required to give free passage about it. [And though the bridges be so
high the approaches are so well contrived that carts and horses do
cross them.{2}]
The document aforesaid also went on to state that there were in this
city twelve guilds of the different crafts, and that each guild had
12,000 houses in the occupation of its workmen. Each of these houses
contains at least 12 men, whilst some contain 20 and some 40,—not that
these are all masters, but inclusive of the journeymen who work under
the masters. And yet all these craftsmen had full occupation, for many
other cities of the kingdom are supplied from this city with what they
require.
The document aforesaid also stated that the number and wealth of the
merchants, and the amount of goods that passed through their hands,
was so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof. And
I should have told you with regard to those masters of the different
crafts who are at the head of such houses as I have mentioned, that
neither they nor their wives ever touch a piece of work with their
own hands, but live as nicely and delicately as if they were kings
and queens. The wives indeed are most dainty and angelical creatures!
Moreover it was an ordinance laid down by the King that every man
should follow his father’s business and no other, no matter if he
possessed 100,000 bezants.{3}
Inside the city there is a Lake which has a compass of some 30 miles:
and all round it are erected beautiful palaces and mansions, of the
richest and most exquisite structure that you can imagine, belonging to
the nobles of the city. There are also on its shores many abbeys and
churches of the Idolaters. In the middle of the Lake are two Islands,
on each of which stands a rich, beautiful and spacious edifice,
furnished in such style as to seem fit for the palace of an Emperor.
And when any one of the citizens desired to hold a marriage feast, or
to give any other entertainment, it used to be done at one of these
palaces. And everything would be found there ready to order, such
as silver plate, trenchers, and dishes [napkins and table-cloths],
and whatever else was needful. The King made this provision for the
gratification of his people, and the place was open to every one who
desired to give an entertainment. [Sometimes there would be at these
palaces an hundred different parties; some holding a banquet, others
celebrating a wedding; and yet all would find good accommodation in
the different apartments and pavilions, and that in so well ordered a
manner that one party was never in the way of another.{4}]
The houses of the city are provided with lofty towers of stone in which
articles of value are stored for fear of fire; for most of the houses
themselves are of timber, and fires are very frequent in the city.
The people are Idolaters; and since they were conquered by the Great
Kaan they use paper-money. [Both men and women are fair and comely,
and for the most part clothe themselves in silk, so vast is the supply
of that material, both from the whole district of Kinsay, and from the
imports by traders from other provinces.{5}] And you must know they eat
every kind of flesh, even that of dogs and other unclean beasts, which
nothing would induce a Christian to eat.
Since the Great Kaan occupied the city he has ordained that each of
the 12,000 bridges should be provided with a guard of ten men, in
case of any disturbance, or of any being so rash as to plot treason
or insurrection against him. [Each guard is provided with a hollow
instrument of wood and with a metal basin, and with a time-keeper to
enable them to know the hour of the day or night. And so when one hour
of the night is past the sentry strikes one on the wooden instrument
and on the basin, so that the whole quarter of the city is made aware
that one hour of the night is gone. At the second hour he gives two
strokes, and so on, keeping always wide awake and on the look out. In
the morning again, from the sunrise, they begin to count anew, and
strike one hour as they did in the night, and so on hour after hour.
Part of the watch patrols the quarter, to see if any light or fire is
burning after the lawful hours; if they find any they mark the door,
and in the morning the owner is summoned before the magistrates, and
unless he can plead a good excuse he is punished. Also if they find any
one going about the streets at unlawful hours they arrest him, and in
the morning they bring him before the magistrates. Likewise if in the
daytime they find any poor cripple unable to work for his livelihood,
they take him to one of the hospitals, of which there are many, founded
by the ancient kings, and endowed with great revenues.{6} Or if he be
capable of work they oblige him to take up some trade. If they see
that any house has caught fire they immediately beat upon that wooden
instrument to give the alarm, and this brings together the watchmen
from the other bridges to help to extinguish it, and to save the goods
of the merchants or others, either by removing them to the towers
above mentioned, or by putting them in boats and transporting them
to the islands in the lake. For no citizen dares leave his house at
night, or to come near the fire; only those who own the property, and
those watchmen who flock to help, of whom there shall come one or two
thousand at the least.]
Moreover, within the city there is an eminence on which stands a
Tower, and at the top of the tower is hung a slab of wood. Whenever
fire or any other alarm breaks out in the city a man who stands there
with a mallet in his hand beats upon the slab, making a noise that is
heard to a great distance. So when the blows upon this slab are heard,
everybody is aware that fire has broken out, or that there is some
other cause of alarm.
The Kaan watches this city with especial diligence because it forms
the head of all Manzi; and because he has an immense revenue from the
duties levied on the transactions of trade therein, the amount of which
is such that no one would credit it on mere hearsay.
All the streets of the city are paved with stone or brick, as indeed
are all the highways throughout Manzi, so that you ride and travel in
every direction without inconvenience. Were it not for this pavement
you could not do so, for the country is very low and flat, and after
rain ’tis deep in mire and water. [But as the Great Kaan’s couriers
could not gallop their horses over the pavement, the side of the road
is left unpaved for their convenience. The pavement of the main street
of the city also is laid out in two parallel ways of ten paces in width
on either side, leaving a space in the middle laid with fine gravel,
under which are vaulted drains which convey the rain water into the
canals; and thus the road is kept ever dry.]{7}
You must know also that the city of Kinsay has some 3000 baths, the
water of which is supplied by springs. They are hot baths, and the
people take great delight in them, frequenting them several times a
month, for they are very cleanly in their persons. They are the finest
and largest baths in the world; large enough for 100 persons to bathe
together.{8}
And the Ocean Sea comes within 25 miles of the city at a place called
GANFU, where there is a town and an excellent haven, with a vast
amount of shipping which is engaged in the traffic to and from India
and other foreign parts, exporting and importing many kinds of wares,
by which the city benefits. And a great river flows from the city of
Kinsay to that sea-haven, by which vessels can come up to the city
itself. This river extends also to other places further inland.{9}
Know also that the Great Kaan hath distributed the territory of Manzi
into nine parts, which he hath constituted into nine kingdoms. To each
of these kingdoms a king is appointed who is subordinate to the Great
Kaan, and every year renders the accounts of his kingdom to the fiscal
office at the capital.{10} This city of Kinsay is the seat of one of
these kings, who rules over 140 great and wealthy cities. For in the
whole of this vast country of Manzi there are more than 1200 great and
wealthy cities, without counting the towns and villages, which are
in great numbers. And you may receive it for certain that in each of
those 1200 cities the Great Kaan has a garrison, and that the smallest
of such garrisons musters 1000 men; whilst there are some of 10,000,
20,000 and 30,000; so that the total number of troops is something
scarcely calculable. The troops forming these garrisons are not all
Tartars. Many are from the province of Cathay, and good soldiers too.
But you must not suppose they are by any means all of them cavalry;
a very large proportion of them are foot-soldiers, according to the
special requirements of each city. And all of them belong to the army
of the Great Kaan.{11}
I repeat that everything appertaining to this city is on so vast a
scale, and the Great Kaan’s yearly revenues therefrom are so immense,
that it is not easy even to put it in writing, and it seems past belief
to one who merely hears it told. But I _will_ write it down for you.
First, however, I must mention another thing. The people of this
country have a custom, that as soon as a child is born they write
down the day and hour and the planet and sign under which its birth
has taken place; so that every one among them knows the day of his
birth. And when any one intends a journey he goes to the astrologers,
and gives the particulars of his nativity in order to learn whether
he shall have good luck or no. Sometimes they will say _no_, and in
that case the journey is put off till such day as the astrologer may
recommend. These astrologers are very skilful at their business, and
often their words come to pass, so the people have great faith in them.
They burn the bodies of the dead. And when any one dies the friends and
relations make a great mourning for the deceased, and clothe themselves
in hempen garments,{12} and follow the corpse playing on a variety
of instruments and singing hymns to their idols. And when they come
to the burning place, they take representations of things cut out of
parchment, such as caparisoned horses, male and female slaves, camels,
armour suits of cloth of gold (and money), in great quantities, and
these things they put on the fire along with the corpse, so that they
are all burnt with it. And they tell you that the dead man shall have
all these slaves and animals of which the effigies are burnt, alive in
flesh and blood, and the money in gold, at his disposal in the next
world; and that the instruments which they have caused to be played at
his funeral, and the idol hymns that have been chaunted, shall also be
produced again to welcome him in the next world; and that the idols
themselves will come to do him honour.{13}
Furthermore there exists in this city the palace of the king who
fled, him who was Emperor of Manzi, and that is the greatest palace
in the world, as I shall tell you more particularly. For you must
know its demesne hath a compass of ten miles, all enclosed with lofty
battlemented walls; and inside the walls are the finest and most
delectable gardens upon earth, and filled too with the finest fruits.
There are numerous fountains in it also, and lakes full of fish. In the
middle is the palace itself, a great and splendid building. It contains
20 great and handsome halls, one of which is more spacious than the
rest, and affords room for a vast multitude to dine. It is all painted
in gold, with many histories and representations of beasts and birds,
of knights and dames, and many marvellous things. It forms a really
magnificent spectacle, for over all the walls and all the ceiling you
see nothing but paintings in gold. And besides these halls the palace
contains 1000 large and handsome chambers, all painted in gold and
divers colours.
Moreover, I must tell you that in this city there are 160 _tomans_ of
fires, or in other words 160 _tomans_ of houses. Now I should tell
you that the _toman_ is 10,000, so that you can reckon the total
as altogether 1,600,000 houses, among which are a great number of
rich palaces. There is one church only, belonging to the Nestorian
Christians.
There is another thing I must tell you. It is the custom for every
burgess of this city, and in fact for every description of person in
it, to write over his door his own name, the name of his wife, and
those of his children, his slaves, and all the inmates of his house,
and also the number of animals that he keeps. And if any one dies in
the house then the name of that person is erased, and if any child is
born its name is added. So in this way the sovereign is able to know
exactly the population of the city. And this is the practice also
throughout all Manzi and Cathay.{14}
[Illustration: HANG-CHAU-FU with The LAKE compiled from various Chinese
Sources.
Lit. Frauenfelder, Palermo
Plan of the City of SI-NGAN-FU
Reduced from one published under the MONGOL DYNASTY
_(See Book II. Chap.XLI.)_
“la très nobilissime cité de Quinsay
sans faille la plus noble cité et la
meillor qe soit au monde.”]
And I must tell you that every hosteler who keeps an hostel for
travellers is bound to register their names and surnames, as well
as the day and month of their arrival and departure. And thus the
sovereign hath the means of knowing, whenever it pleases him, who come
and go throughout his dominions. And certes this is a wise order and a
provident.
NOTE 1.—KINSAY represents closely enough the Chinese term
_King-sze_, “capital,” which was then applied to the great city,
the proper name of which was at that time Lin-ngan and is now
HANG-CHAU, as being since 1127 the capital of the Sung Dynasty.
The same term _King-sze_ is now on Chinese maps generally used to
designate Peking. It would seem, however, that the term adhered
long as a quasi-proper name to Hang-chau; for in the Chinese Atlas,
dating from 1595, which the traveller Carletti presented to the
Magliabecchian Library, that city appears to be still marked with
this name, transcribed by Carletti as _Camse_; very near the form
_Campsay_ used by Marignolli in the 14th century.
[Illustration: The ancient Lun-ho-ta Pagoda at Hang-chau.]
NOTE 2.—✛The Ramusian version says: “Messer Marco Polo was
frequently at this city, and took great pains to learn everything
about it, writing down the whole in his notes.” The information
being originally derived from a Chinese document, there might be
some ground for supposing that 100 miles of circuit stood for
100 _li_. Yet the circuit of the modern city is stated in the
official book called _Hang-chau Fu-Chi_, or topographical history
of Hang-chau, at only 35 _li_. And the earliest record of the
wall, as built under the Sui by Yang-su (before A.D. 606), makes
its extent little more (36 _li_ and 90 paces.)[1] But the wall
was reconstructed by Ts’ien Kiao, feudal prince of the region,
during the reign of Chao Tsung, one of the last emperors of the
T’ang Dynasty (892), so as to embrace the Luh-ho-ta Pagoda, on a
high bluff over the Tsien-tang River,[2] 15 _li_ distant from the
present south gate, and had then a circuit of 70 _li_. Moreover, in
1159, after the city became the capital of the Sung emperors, some
further extension was given to it, so that, even exclusive of the
suburbs, the circuit of the city may have been not far short of 100
_li_. When the city was in its glory under the Sung, the Luh-ho-ta
Pagoda may be taken as marking the extreme S.W. Another known point
marks approximately the chief north gate of that period, at a mile
and a half or two miles beyond the present north wall. The S.E.
angle was apparently near the river bank. But, on the other hand,
the _waist_ of the city seems to have been a good deal narrower
than it now is. Old descriptions compare its form to that of a
slender-waisted drum (dice-box or hour-glass shape).
Under the Mongols the walls were allowed to decay; and in the
disturbed years that closed that dynasty (1341–1368) they were
rebuilt by an insurgent chief on a greatly reduced compass,
probably that which they still retain. Whatever may have been the
facts, and whatever the origin of the estimate, I imagine that the
ascription of 100 miles of circuit to Kinsay had become popular
among Westerns. Odoric makes the same statement. Wassáf calls it
24 parasangs, which will not be far short of the same amount.
Ibn Batuta calls the _length_ of the city three days’ journey.
Rashiduddin says the enceinte had a _diameter_ of 11 parasangs,
and that there were three post stages between the two extremities
of the city, which is probably what Ibn Batuta had heard. The
_Masálak-al-Absár_ calls it _one_ day’s journey in length, and half
a day’s journey in breadth. The enthusiastic Jesuit Martini tries
hard to justify Polo in this as in other points of his description.
We shall quote the whole of his remarks at the end of the chapters
on Kinsay.
[Dr. F. Hirth, in a paper published in the _T’oung Pao_, V. pp.
386–390 (_Ueber den Schiffsverkehr von Kinsay zu Marco Polo’s
Zeit_), has some interesting notes on the maritime trade of
Hang-chau, collected from a work in twenty books, kept at the
Berlin Royal Library, in which is to be found a description of
Hang-chau under the title of _Mêng-liang-lu_, published in 1274
by Wu Tzu-mu, himself a native of this city: there are various
classes of sea-going vessels; large boats measuring 5000 _liao_
and carrying from five to six hundred passengers; smaller boats
measuring from 2 to 1000 _liao_ and carrying from two to three
hundred passengers; there are small fast boats called _tsuan-fêng_,
“wind breaker,” with six or eight oarsmen, which can carry easily
100 passengers, and are generally used for fishing; sampans are not
taken into account. To start for foreign countries one must embark
at Ts’wan-chau, and then go to the sea of Ts’i-chau (Paracels),
through the Tai-hsü pass; coming back he must look to Kwen-lun
(Pulo Condor).—H. C.]
The 12,000 bridges have been much carped at, and modern accounts
of Hang-chau (desperately meagre as they are) do not speak of
its bridges as notable. “There is, indeed,” says Mr. Kingsmill,
speaking of changes in the hydrography about Hang-chau, “no trace
in the city of the magnificent canals and bridges described by
Marco Polo.” The number was no doubt in this case also a mere
popular saw, and Friar Odoric repeats it. The sober and veracious
John Marignolli, alluding apparently to their statements, and
perhaps to others which have not reached us, says: “When authors
tell of its ten thousand noble bridges of stone, adorned with
sculptures and statues of armed princes, it passes the belief of
one who has not been there, and yet peradventure these authors tell
us no lie.” Wassáf speaks of 360 bridges only, but they make up in
size what they lack in number, for they cross canals as big as the
Tigris! Marsden aptly quotes in reference to this point excessively
loose and discrepant statements from modern authors as to the
number of bridges in Venice. The great _height_ of the arches of
the canal bridges in this part of China is especially noticed by
travellers. Barrow, quoted by Marsden, says: “Some have the piers
of such an extraordinary height that the largest vessels of 200
tons sail under them without striking their masts.”
[Illustration: Plan of the Imperial City of Hangchow in the 13th
Century. (From the Notes of the Right Rev. G. E. Moule.)
1–17, Gates; 18, _Ta-nuy_; 19, _Woo-Foo_; 20, _T’aï Miao_; 21,
_Fung-hwang shan_; 22, _Shĭh fŭh she_; 23, _Fan t’ien she_; 24,
_Koo-shing Kwo she_.]
Mr. Moule has added up the lists of bridges in the whole department
(or _Fu_) and found them to amount to 848, and many of these even
are now unknown, their approximate sites being given from ancient
topographies. The number _represented_ in a large modern map of the
city, which I owe to Mr. Moule’s kindness, is 111.
NOTE 3.—Though Rubruquis (p. 292) says much the same thing,
there is little trace of such an ordinance in modern China. Père
Parrenin observes: “As to the hereditary perpetuation of trades,
it has never existed in China. On the contrary, very few Chinese
will learn the trade of their fathers; and it is only necessity
that ever constrains them to do so.” (_Lett. Edif._ XXIV. 40.)
Mr. Moule remarks, however, that P. Parrenin is a little too
absolute. Certain trades do run in families, even of the free
classes of Chinese, not to mention the disfranchised boatmen,
barbers, chair-coolies, etc. But, except in the latter cases, there
is no compulsion, though the Sacred Edict goes to encourage the
perpetuation of the family calling.
NOTE 4.—This sheet of water is the celebrated SI-HU, or “Western
Lake,” the fame of which had reached Abulfeda, and which has
raised the enthusiasm even of modern travellers, such as Barrow
and Van Braam. The latter speaks of _three_ islands (and this the
Chinese maps confirm), on each of which were several villas, and
of causeways across the lake, paved and bordered with trees, and
provided with numerous bridges for the passage of boats. Barrow
gives a bright description of the lake, with its thousands of gay,
gilt, and painted pleasure boats, its margins studded with light
and fanciful buildings, its gardens of choice flowering shrubs, its
monuments, and beautiful variety of scenery. None surpasses that of
Martini, whom it is always pleasant to quote, but here he is too
lengthy. The most recent description that I have met with is that
of Mr. C. Gardner, and it is as enthusiastic as any. It concludes:
“Even to us foreigners ... the spot is one of peculiar attraction,
but to the Chinese it is as a paradise.” The Emperor K’ien Lung had
erected a palace on one of the islands in the lake; it was ruined
by the T’ai-P’ings. Many of the constructions about the lake date
from the flourishing days of the T’ang Dynasty, the 7th and 8th
centuries.
Polo’s ascription of a circumference of 30 miles to the lake,
corroborates the supposition that in the compass of the city a
confusion had been made between miles and _li_, for Semedo gives
the circuit of the lake really as 30 _li_. Probably the document to
which Marco refers at the beginning of the chapter was seen by him
in a Persian translation, in which _li_ had been rendered by _míl_.
A Persian work of the same age, quoted by Quatremère (the _Nuzhát
al-Ḳulúb_), gives the circuit of the lake as six parasangs, or some
24 miles, a statement which probably had a like origin.
Polo says the lake was _within_ the city. This might be merely a
loose way of speaking, but it may on the other hand be a further
indication of the former existence of an extensive outer wall. The
Persian author just quoted also speaks of the lake as within the
city. (_Barrow’s Autobiog._, p. 104; _V. Braam_, II. 154; _Gardner_
in _Proc. of the R. Geog. Soc._, vol. xiii. p. 178; _Q. Rashid_,
p. lxxxviii.) Mr. Moule states that popular oral tradition does
enclose the lake within the walls, but he can find no trace of this
in the Topographies.
Elsewhere Mr. Moule says: “Of the luxury of the (Sung) period, and
its devotion to pleasure, evidence occurs everywhere. Hang-chow
went at the time by the nickname of the melting-pot for money.
The use, at houses of entertainment, of _linen and silver plate_
appears somewhat out of keeping in a Chinese picture. I cannot
vouch for the linen, but here is the plate.... ‘The most famous
Tea-houses of the day were the _Pa-seen_ (“8 genii”), the “Pure
Delight,” the “Pearl,” the “House of the Pwan Family,” and the
“Two and Two” and “Three and Three” houses (perhaps rather “Double
honours” and “Treble honours”). In these places they always set
out bouquets of fresh flowers, according to the season.... At
the counter were sold “Precious thunder Tea,” Tea of fritters
and onions, or else Pickle broth; and in hot weather wine of
snow bubbles and apricot blossom, or other kinds of refrigerating
liquor. _Saucers, ladles, and bowls were all of pure, silver_!’
(_Si-Hu-Chi_.)”
[Illustration: Plan of the Metropolitan City of Hangchow in the
13th Century. (From the Notes of the Right Rev. G. E. Moule.)
1–17, Gates; 18, _Ta-nuy_, Central Palace; 19, _Woo-Foo_, The Five
Courts; 20, _T’aï Miao_, The Imperial Temple; 21, _Fung-hwang
shan_, Phœnix Hill; 22, _Shĭh fŭh she_, Monastery of the Sacred
Fruit; 25–30, Gates; 31, _T’ien tsung yen tsang_, T’ien tsung Salt
Depot; 2, _T’ien tsung tsew koo_, T’ien tsung Wine Store; 33,
_Chang she_, The Chang Monastery; 34, _Foo che_, Prefecture; _Foo
hio_, Prefectural Confucian Temple.]
NOTE 5.—This is still the case: “The people of Hang-chow dress
gaily, and are remarkable among the Chinese for their dandyism.
All, except the lowest labourers and coolies, strutted about in
dresses composed of silk, satin, and crape.... ‘Indeed’ (said the
Chinese servants) ‘one can never tell a rich man in Hang-chow, for
it is just possible that all he possesses in the world is on his
back.’” (_Fortune_, II. 20.) “The silk manufactures of Hang-chau
are said to give employment to 60,000 persons within the city
walls, and Hu-chau, Kia-hing, and the surrounding villages, are
reputed to employ 100,000 more.” (_Ningpo Trade Report_, January
1869, comm. by Mr. N. B. Dennys.) The store-towers, as a precaution
in case of fire, are still common both in China and Japan.
NOTE 6.—Mr. Gardner found in this very city, in 1868, a large
collection of cottages covering several acres, which were
“erected, after the taking of the city from the rebels, by a
Chinese charitable society for the refuge of the blind, sick, and
infirm.” This asylum sheltered 200 blind men with their families,
amounting to 800 souls; basket-making and such work was provided
for them; there were also 1200 other inmates, aged and infirm; and
doctors were maintained to look after them. “None are allowed to
be absolutely idle, but all help towards their own sustenance.”
(_Proc. R. G. Soc._ XIII. 176–177.) Mr. Moule, whilst abating
somewhat from the colouring of this description, admits the
establishment to be a considerable charitable effort. It existed
before the rebellion, as I see in the book of Mr. Milne, who gives
interesting details on such Chinese charities. (_Life in China_,
pp. 46 _seqq._)
NOTE 7.—The paved roads of Manzi are by no means extinct yet. Thus,
Mr. Fortune, starting from Chang-shan (see below, ch. lxxix.) in
the direction of the Black-Tea mountains, says: “The road on which
we were travelling was well paved with granite, about 12 feet in
width, and perfectly free from weeds.” (II. 148). Garnier, Sladen,
and Richthofen speak of well-paved roads in Yun-Nan and Sze-ch’wan.
The Topography quoted by Mr. Moule says that in the year 1272
the Governor renewed the pavement of the Imperial road (or Main
Street), “after which nine cars might move abreast over a way
perfectly smooth, and straight as an arrow.” In the Mongol time the
people were allowed to encroach on this grand street.
NOTE 8.—There is a curious discrepancy in the account of these
baths. Pauthier’s text does not say whether they are hot baths
or cold. The latter sentence, beginning, “They are hot baths”
(_estuves_), is from the G. Text. And Ramusio’s account is quite
different: “There are numerous baths of cold water, provided with
plenty of attendants, male and female, to assist the visitors of
the two sexes in the bath. For the people are used from their
childhood to bathe in cold water at all seasons, and they reckon
it a very wholesome custom. But in the bath-houses they have also
certain chambers furnished with hot water, for foreigners who are
unaccustomed to cold bathing, and cannot bear it. The people are
used to bathe daily, and do not eat without having done so.” This
is in contradiction with the notorious Chinese horror of cold water
for any purpose.
A note from Mr. C. Gardner says: “There are numerous public baths
at Hang-chau, as at every Chinese city I have ever been in. In my
experience natives always take _hot_ baths. But only the poorer
classes go to the public baths; the tradespeople and middle classes
are generally supplied by the bath-houses with hot water at a
moderate charge.”
NOTE 9.—The estuary of the Ts’ien T’ang, or river of Hang-chau,
has undergone great changes since Polo’s day. The sea now comes up
much nearer the city; and the upper part of the Bay of Hang-chau is
believed to cover what was once the site of the port and town of
KANP’U, the Ganpu of the text. A modern representative of the name
still subsists, a walled town, and one of the depôts for the salt
which is so extensively manufactured on this coast; but the present
port of Hang-chau, and till recently the sole seat of Chinese
trade with Japan, is at _Chapu_, some 20 miles further seaward.
It is supposed by Klaproth that KANP’U was the port frequented by
the early Arab voyagers, and of which they speak under the name of
_Khánfú_, confounding in their details Hang-chau itself with the
port. Neumann dissents from this, maintaining that the Khanfu of
the Arabs was certainly Canton. Abulfeda, however, states expressly
that Khanfu was known in his day as _Khansá_ (_i.e._ Kinsay),
and he speaks of its lake of fresh water called _Sikhu_ (Si-hu).
[Abulfeda has in fact two Khânqû (Khanfû): Khansâ with the lake
which is Kinsay, and one Khanfû which is probably Canton. (See
_Guyard’s transl._, II., ii., 122–124.)—H. C.] There seems to be an
indication in Chinese records that a southern branch of the Great
Kiang once entered the sea at Kanp’u; the closing of it is assigned
to the 7th century, or a little later.
[Dr. F. Hirth writes (_Jour. Roy. As. Soc._, 1896, pp. 68–69): “For
centuries Canton must have been the only channel through which
foreign trade was permitted; for it is not before the year 999 that
we read of the appointment of Inspectors of Trade at Hang-chou
and Ming-chou. The latter name is identified with Ning-po.” Dr.
Hirth adds in a note: “This is in my opinion the principal reason
why the port of _Khanfu_, mentioned by the earliest Muhammadan
travellers, or authors (Soleiman, Abu Zeid, and Maçoudi), cannot
be identified with Hang-chou. The report of Soleiman, who first
speaks of _Khanfu_, was written in 851, and in those days Canton
was apparently the only port open to foreign trade. Marco Polo’s
_Ganfu_ is a different port altogether, viz. _Kan-fu_, or _Kan-pu_,
near Hang-chou, and should not be confounded with _Khanfu_.”—H. C.]
The changes of the Great Kiang do not seem to have attracted
so much attention among the Chinese as those of the dangerous
Hwang-Ho, nor does their history seem to have been so carefully
recorded. But a paper of great interest on the subject was
published by Mr. Edkins, in the _Journal of the North China Branch
of the R. A. S._ for September 1860 [pp. 77–84], which I know only
by an abstract given by the late Comte d’Escayrac de Lauture. From
this it would seem that about the time of our era the Yang-tzŭ
Kiang had three great mouths. The most southerly of these was the
Che-Kiang, which is said to have given its name to the Province
still so called, of which Hang-chau is the capital. This branch
quitted the present channel at Chi-chau, passed by Ning-Kwé and
Kwang-té, communicating with the southern end of a great group
of lakes which occupied the position of the T’ai-Hu, and so by
Shih-men and T’ang-si into the sea not far from Shao-hing. The
second branch quitted the main channel at Wu-hu, passed by I-hing
(or I-shin) communicating with the northern end of the T’ai-Hu
(passed apparently by Su-chau), and then bifurcated, one arm
entering the sea at Wu-sung, and the other at Kanp’u. The third,
or northerly branch is that which forms the present channel of the
Great Kiang. These branches are represented hypothetically on the
sketch-map attached to ch. lxiv. _supra_.
(_Kingsmill_, u.s. p. 53; _Chin. Repos._ III. 118; _Middle
Kingdom_, I. 95–106; _Bürck._ p. 483; _Cathay_, p. cxciii.; _J.
N. Ch. Br. R. A. S._, December 1865, p. 3 _seqq._; _Escayrac de
Lauture, Mém. sur la Chine, H. du Sol_, p. 114.)
NOTE 10.—Pauthier’s text has: “_Chascun Roy fait chascun an le
compte de son royaume aux comptes du grant siège_,” where I suspect
the last word is again a mistake for _sing_ or _scieng_. (See
_supra_, Bk. II. ch. xxv., note 1.) It is interesting to find
Polo applying the term _king_ to the viceroys who ruled the great
provinces; Ibn Batuta uses a corresponding expression, _sultán_.
It is not easy to make out the nine kingdoms or great provinces
into which Polo considered Manzi to be divided. Perhaps his _nine_
is after all merely a traditional number, for the “Nine Provinces”
was an ancient synonym for China proper, just as _Nau-Khanda_,
with like meaning, was an ancient name of India. (See _Cathay_, p.
cxxxix. _note_; and _Reinaud, Inde_, p. 116.) But I observe that
on the portage road between Chang-shan and Yuh-shan (_infra_, p.
222) there are stone pillars inscribed “Highway (from Che-kiang) to
Eight Provinces,” thus indicating Nine. (_Milne_, p. 319.)
NOTE 11.—We have in Ramusio: “The men levied in the province of
Manzi are not placed in garrison in their own cities, but sent to
others at least 20 days’ journey from their homes; and there they
serve for four or five years, after which they are relieved. This
applies both to the Cathayans and to those of Manzi.
“The great bulk of the revenue of the cities, which enters the
exchequer of the Great Kaan, is expended in maintaining these
garrisons. And if perchance any city rebel (as you often find
that under a kind of madness or intoxication they rise and murder
their governors), as soon as it is known, the adjoining cities
despatch such large forces from their garrisons that the rebellion
is entirely crushed. For it would be too long an affair if troops
from Cathay had to be waited for, involving perhaps a delay of two
months.”
NOTE 12.—“The sons of the dead, wearing hempen clothes as badges of
mourning, kneel down,” etc. (_Doolittle_, p. 138.)
NOTE 13.—These practices have been noticed, _supra_, Bk. I. ch. xl.
NOTE 14.—This custom has come down to modern times. In Pauthier’s
_Chine Moderne_, we find extracts from the statutes of the reigning
dynasty and the comments thereon, of which a passage runs thus: “To
determine the exact population of each province the governor and
the lieutenant-governor cause certain persons who are nominated
as _Pao-kia_, or Tithing-Men, in all the places under their
jurisdiction, to add up the figures inscribed on the wooden tickets
attached to the doors of houses, and exhibiting the number of the
inmates” (p. 167).
Friar Odoric calls the number of fires 89 _tomans_; but says 10 or
12 households would unite to have one fire only!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] In the first edition, my best authority on this matter was a
lecture on the city by the late Rev. D. D. Green, an American
Missionary at Ningpo, which is printed in the November and
December numbers for 1869 of the (Fuchau) _Chinese Recorder and
Missionary Journal_. In the present (second) edition I have on
this, and other points embraced in this and the following chapters,
benefited largely by the remarks of the Right Rev. G. E. Moule
of the Ch. Mission. Soc., now residing at Hang-chau. These are
partly contained in a paper (_Notes on Colonel Yule’s Edition of
Marco Polo’s ‘Quinsay’_) read before the North China Branch of
the R. A. Soc. at Shang-hai in December 1873 [published in New
Series, No. IX. of the _Journal N. C. B. R. A. Soc._], of which
a proof has been most kindly sent to me by Mr. Moule, and partly
in a special communication, both forwarded through Mr. A. Wylie.
[See also _Notes on Hangchow Past and Present_, a paper read in
1889 by Bishop G. E. Moule at a Meeting of the Hangchau Missionary
Association, at whose request it was compiled, and subsequently
printed for private circulation.—H. C.]
[2] The building of the present Luh-ho-ta (“Six Harmonies Tower”),
after repeated destructions by fire, is recorded on a fine tablet
of the Sung period, still standing (_Moule_).
CHAPTER LXXVII.
[FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY.{1}]
[The position of the city is such that it has on one side a lake of
fresh and exquisitely clear water (already spoken of), and on the other
a very large river. The waters of the latter fill a number of canals of
all sizes which run through the different quarters of the city, carry
away all impurities, and then enter the Lake; whence they issue again
and flow to the Ocean, thus producing a most excellent atmosphere. By
means of these channels, as well as by the streets, you can go all
about the city. Both streets and canals are so wide and spacious that
carts on the one and boats on the other can readily pass to and fro,
conveying necessary supplies to the inhabitants.{2}
At the opposite side the city is shut in by a channel, perhaps 40
miles in length, very wide, and full of water derived from the river
aforesaid, which was made by the ancient kings of the country in order
to relieve the river when flooding its banks. This serves also as a
defence to the city, and the earth dug from it has been thrown inwards,
forming a kind of mound enclosing the city.{3}
In this part are the ten principal markets, though besides these there
are a vast number of others in the different parts of the town. The
former are all squares of half a mile to the side, and along their
front passes the main street, which is 40 paces in width, and runs
straight from end to end of the city, crossing many bridges of easy
and commodious approach. At every four miles of its length comes one
of those great squares of 2 miles (as we have mentioned) in compass.
So also parallel to this great street, but at the back of the market
places, there runs a very large canal, on the bank of which towards
the squares are built great houses of stone, in which the merchants
from India and other foreign parts store their wares, to be handy for
the markets. In each of the squares is held a market three days in
the week, frequented by 40,000 or 50,000 persons, who bring thither
for sale every possible necessary of life, so that there is always an
ample supply of every kind of meat and game, as of roebuck, red-deer,
fallow-deer, hares, rabbits, partridges, pheasants, francolins, quails,
fowls, capons, and of ducks and geese an infinite quantity; for so many
are bred on the Lake that for a Venice groat of silver you can have a
couple of geese and two couple of ducks. Then there are the shambles
where the larger animals are slaughtered, such as calves, beeves, kids,
and lambs, the flesh of which is eaten by the rich and the great
dignitaries.{4}
Those markets make a daily display of every kind of vegetables and
fruits; and among the latter there are in particular certain pears of
enormous size, weighing as much as ten pounds apiece, and the pulp of
which is white and fragrant like a confection; besides peaches in their
season both yellow and white, of every delicate flavour.{5}
Neither grapes nor wine are produced there, but very good raisins are
brought from abroad, and wine likewise. The natives, however, do not
much care about wine, being used to that kind of their own made from
rice and spices. From the Ocean Sea also come daily supplies of fish in
great quantity, brought 25 miles up the river, and there is also great
store of fish from the lake, which is the constant resort of fishermen,
who have no other business. Their fish is of sundry kinds, changing
with the season; and, owing to the impurities of the city which pass
into the lake, it is remarkably fat and savoury. Any one who should
see the supply of fish in the market would suppose it impossible that
such a quantity could ever be sold; and yet in a few hours the whole
shall be cleared away; so great is the number of inhabitants who are
accustomed to delicate living. Indeed they eat fish and flesh at the
same meal.
All the ten market places are encompassed by lofty houses, and below
these are shops where all sorts of crafts are carried on, and all sorts
of wares are on sale, including spices and jewels and pearls. Some of
these shops are entirely devoted to the sale of wine made from rice
and spices, which is constantly made fresh and fresh, and is sold very
cheap.
Certain of the streets are occupied by the women of the town, who are
in such a number that I dare not say what it is. They are found not
only in the vicinity of the market places, where usually a quarter
is assigned to them, but all over the city. They exhibit themselves
splendidly attired and abundantly perfumed, in finely garnished houses,
with trains of waiting-women. These women are extremely accomplished
in all the arts of allurement, and readily adapt their conversation
to all sorts of persons, insomuch that strangers who have once tasted
their attractions seem to get bewitched, and are so taken with their
blandishments and their fascinating ways that they never can get these
out of their heads. Hence it comes to pass that when they return home
they say they have been to Kinsay or the City of Heaven, and their only
desire is to get back thither as soon as possible.{6}
Other streets are occupied by the Physicians, and by the Astrologers,
who are also teachers of reading and writing; and an infinity of other
professions have their places round about those squares. In each of the
squares there are two great palaces facing one another, in which are
established the officers appointed by the King to decide differences
arising between merchants, or other inhabitants of the quarter. It
is the daily duty of these officers to see that the guards are at
their posts on the neighbouring bridges, and to punish them at their
discretion if they are absent.
All along the main street that we have spoken of, as running from end
to end of the city, both sides are lined with houses and great palaces
and the gardens pertaining to them, whilst in the intervals are the
houses of tradesmen engaged in their different crafts. The crowd of
people that you meet here at all hours, passing this way and that
on their different errands, is so vast that no one would believe it
possible that victuals enough could be provided for their consumption,
unless they should see how, on every market-day, all those squares are
thronged and crammed with purchasers, and with the traders who have
brought in stores of provisions by land or water; and everything they
bring in is disposed of.
To give you an example of the vast consumption in this city let us
take the article of _pepper_; and that will enable you in some measure
to estimate what must be the quantity of victual, such as meat, wine,
groceries, which have to be provided for the general consumption. Now
Messer Marco heard it stated by one of the Great Kaan’s officers of
customs that the quantity of pepper introduced daily for consumption
into the city of Kinsay amounted to 43 loads, each load being equal to
223 lbs.{7}
The houses of the citizens are well built and elaborately finished; and
the delight they take in decoration, in painting and in architecture,
leads them to spend in this way sums of money that would astonish you.
The natives of the city are men of peaceful character, both from
education and from the example of their kings, whose disposition was
the same. They know nothing of handling arms, and keep none in their
houses. You hear of no feuds or noisy quarrels or dissensions of
any kind among them. Both in their commercial dealings and in their
manufactures they are thoroughly honest and truthful, and there is such
a degree of good will and neighbourly attachment among both men and
women that you would take the people who live in the same street to be
all one family.{8}
And this familiar intimacy is free from all jealousy or suspicion of
the conduct of their women. These they treat with the greatest respect,
and a man who should presume to make loose proposals to a married woman
would be regarded as an infamous rascal. They also treat the foreigners
who visit them for the sake of trade with great cordiality, and
entertain them in the most winning manner, affording them every help
and advice on their business. But on the other hand they hate to see
soldiers, and not least those of the Great Kaan’s garrisons, regarding
them as the cause of their having lost their native kings and lords.
On the Lake of which we have spoken there are numbers of boats and
barges of all sizes for parties of pleasure. These will hold 10, 15,
20, or more persons, and are from 15 to 20 paces in length, with flat
bottoms and ample breadth of beam, so that they always keep their
trim. Any one who desires to go a-pleasuring with the women, or with a
party of his own sex, hires one of these barges, which are always to
be found completely furnished with tables and chairs and all the other
apparatus for a feast. The roof forms a level deck, on which the crew
stand, and pole the boat along whithersoever may be desired, for the
Lake is not more than 2 paces in depth. The inside of this roof and
the rest of the interior is covered with ornamental painting in gay
colours, with windows all round that can be shut or opened, so that the
party at table can enjoy all the beauty and variety of the prospects
on both sides as they pass along. And truly a trip on this Lake is a
much more charming recreation than can be enjoyed on land. For on the
one side lies the city in its entire length, so that the spectators
in the barges, from the distance at which they stand, take in the
whole prospect in its full beauty and grandeur, with its numberless
palaces, temples, monasteries, and gardens, full of lofty trees,
sloping to the shore. And the Lake is never without a number of other
such boats, laden with pleasure parties; for it is the great delight
of the citizens here, after they have disposed of the day’s business,
to pass the afternoon in enjoyment with the ladies of their families,
or perhaps with others less reputable, either in these barges or in
driving about the city in carriages.{9}
Of these latter we must also say something, for they afford one mode
of recreation to the citizens in going about the town, as the boats
afford another in going about the Lake. In the main street of the city
you meet an infinite succession of these carriages passing to and fro.
They are long covered vehicles, fitted with curtains and cushions,
and affording room for six persons; and they are in constant request
for ladies and gentlemen going on parties of pleasure. In these they
drive to certain gardens, where they are entertained by the owners in
pavilions erected on purpose, and there they divert themselves the
livelong day, with their ladies, returning home in the evening in those
same carriages.{10}
(FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE PALACE OF THE KING FACFUR.)
The whole enclosure of the Palace was divided into three parts. The
middle one was entered by a very lofty gate, on each side of which
there stood on the ground-level vast pavilions, the roofs of which were
sustained by columns painted and wrought in gold and the finest azure.
Opposite the gate stood the chief Pavilion, larger than the rest, and
painted in like style, with gilded columns, and a ceiling wrought in
splendid gilded sculpture, whilst the walls were artfully painted with
the stories of departed kings.
On certain days, sacred to his gods, the King Facfur[1] used to hold
a great court and give a feast to his chief lords, dignitaries, and
rich manufacturers of the city of Kinsay. On such occasions those
pavilions used to give ample accommodation for 10,000 persons sitting
at table. This court lasted for ten or twelve days, and exhibited an
astonishing and incredible spectacle in the magnificence of the guests,
all clothed in silk and gold, with a profusion of precious stones; for
they tried to outdo each other in the splendour and richness of their
appointments. Behind this great Pavilion that faced the great gate,
there was a wall with a passage in it shutting off the inner part of
the Palace. On entering this you found another great edifice in the
form of a cloister surrounded by a portico with columns, from which
opened a variety of apartments for the King and the Queen, adorned
like the outer walls with such elaborate work as we have mentioned.
From the cloister again you passed into a covered corridor, six paces
in width, of great length, and extending to the margin of the lake. On
either side of this corridor were ten courts, in the form of oblong
cloisters surrounded by colonnades; and in each cloister or court were
fifty chambers with gardens to each. In these chambers were quartered
one thousand young ladies in the service of the King. The King would
sometimes go with the Queen and some of these maidens to take his
diversion on the Lake, or to visit the Idol-temples, in boats all
canopied with silk.
The other two parts of the enclosure were distributed in groves, and
lakes, and charming gardens planted with fruit-trees, and preserves for
all sorts of animals, such as roe, red-deer, fallow-deer, hares, and
rabbits. Here the King used to take his pleasure in company with those
damsels of his; some in carriages, some on horseback, whilst no man was
permitted to enter. Sometimes the King would set the girls a-coursing
after the game with dogs, and when they were tired they would hie to
the groves that overhung the lakes, and leaving their clothes there
they would come forth naked and enter the water and swim about hither
and thither, whilst it was the King’s delight to watch them; and then
all would return home. Sometimes the King would have his dinner carried
to those groves, which were dense with lofty trees, and there would be
waited on by those young ladies. And thus he passed his life in this
constant dalliance with women, without so much as knowing what _arms_
meant! And the result of all this cowardice and effeminacy was that he
lost his dominion to the Great Kaan in that base and shameful way that
you have heard.{11}
All this account was given me by a very rich merchant of Kinsay when
I was in that city. He was a very old man, and had been in familiar
intimacy with the King Facfur, and knew the whole history of his life;
and having seen the Palace in its glory was pleased to be my guide
over it. As it is occupied by the King appointed by the Great Kaan,
the first pavilions are still maintained as they used to be, but the
apartments of the ladies are all gone to ruin and can only just be
traced. So also the wall that enclosed the groves and gardens is fallen
down, and neither trees nor animals are there any longer.{12}]
NOTE 1.—I have, after some consideration, followed the example
of Mr. H. Murray, in his edition of _Marco Polo_, in collecting
together in a separate chapter a number of additional particulars
concerning the Great City, which are only found in Ramusio. Such
of these as could be interpolated in the text of the older form of
the narrative have been introduced between brackets in the last
chapter. Here I bring together those particulars which could not be
so interpolated without taking liberties with one or both texts.
The picture in Ramusio, taken as a whole, is so much more
brilliant, interesting, and complete than in the older texts, that
I thought of substituting it entirely for the other. But so much
doubt and difficulty hangs over _some_ passages of the Ramusian
version that I could not satisfy myself of the propriety of this,
though I feel that the dismemberment inflicted on that version is
also objectionable.
NOTE 2.—The tides in the Hang-chau estuary are now so furious,
entering in the form of a bore, and running sometimes, by Admiral
Collinson’s measurement, 11½ knots, that it has been necessary to
close by weirs the communication which formerly existed between
the River Tsien-tang on the one side and the Lake Si-hu and
internal waters of the district on the other. Thus all cargoes are
passed through the small city canal in barges, and are subject to
transhipment at the river-bank, and at the great canal terminus
outside the north gate, respectively. Mr. Kingsmill, to whose
notices I am indebted for part of this information, is, however,
mistaken in supposing that in Polo’s time the tide stopped some
20 miles below the city. We have seen (note 6, ch. lxv. _supra_)
that the tide in the river before Kinsay was the object which first
attracted the attention of Bayan, after his triumphant entrance
into the city. The tides reach Fuyang, 20 miles higher. (_N. and
Q., China and Japan_, vol. I. p. 53; _Mid. Kingd._ I. 95, 106; _J.
N. Ch. Br. R. A. S._, December, 1865, p. 6; _Milne_, p. 295; _Note_
by _Mr. Moule_).
[Miss E. Scidmore writes (_China_, p. 294): “There are only
three wonders of the world in China—The Demons at Tungchow, the
Thunder at Lungchow, and the Great Tide at Hangchow, the last,
the greatest of all, and a living wonder to this day of ‘the open
door,’ while its rivals are lost in myth and oblivion.... The Great
Bore charges up the narrowing river at a speed of ten and thirteen
miles an hour, with a roar that can be heard for an hour before it
arrives.”—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—For satisfactory elucidation as to what is or may have been
authentic in these statements, we shall have to wait for a correct
survey of Hang-chau and its neighbourhood. We have already seen
strong reason to suppose that _miles_ have been substituted for
_li_ in the circuits assigned both to the city and to the lake, and
we are yet more strongly impressed with the conviction that the
same substitution has been made here in regard to the canal on the
east of the city, as well as the streets and market-places spoken
of in the next paragraph.
Chinese plans of Hang-chau do show a large canal encircling the
city on the east and north, _i.e._, on the sides away from the
lake. In some of them this is represented like a ditch to the
rampart, but in others it is more detached. And the position of
the main street, with its parallel canal, does answer fairly to
the account in the next paragraph, setting aside the extravagant
dimensions.
The existence of the squares or market-places is alluded to
by Wassáf in a passage that we shall quote below; and the
_Masálak-al-Absár_ speaks of the main street running from end to
end of the city.
On this Mr. Moule says: “I have found no certain account of
market-squares, though the _Fang_,[2] of which a few still exist,
and a very large number are laid down in the Sung Map, mainly
grouped along the chief street, may perhaps represent them.... The
names of some of these (_Fang_) and of the _Sze_ or markets still
remain.”
Mr. Wylie sent Sir Henry Yule a tracing of the figures mentioned
in the footnote; it is worth while to append them, at least in
_diagram_.
No. 1. No 2. No 3.
++ ++
++ ╔═══╦═════╦═══╗
╔═══╦═══╗ ╔═══════════╗ ║ ║ _a_ ║ ║
║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╠═══╬═════╬═══╣
+╠═══╬═══╣+ +╠═══════════╣+ ║ ║ _b_ ║ ║
+║ ║ ║+ +║ ║+ ╠═══╬═════╬═══╣
╚═══╩═══╝ ╚═══════════╝ ║ ║ _c_ ║ ║
++ ╚═══╩═════╩═══╝
++ ++
No. 1. Plan of a _Fang_ or Square.
No. 2. „ „ in the South of the Imperial City of
Si-ngan fu.
No. 3. Arrangement of Two-Fang Square, with four streets and 8
gates.
_a_. The Market place.
_b_. The Official Establishment.
_c_. Office for regulating Weights.
Compare Polo’s statement that in each of the squares at Kinsay,
where the markets were held, there were two great Palaces facing
one another, in which were established the officers who decided
differences between merchants, etc.
The double lines represent streets, and the ‡ are gates.
NOTE 4.—There is no mention of _pork_, the characteristic animal
food of China, and the only one specified by Friar Odoric in his
account of the same city. Probably Mark may have got a little
_Saracenized_ among the Mahomedans at the Kaan’s Court, and doubted
if ’twere good manners to mention it. It is perhaps a relic of the
same feeling, gendered by Saracen rule, that in Sicily pigs are
called _i neri_.
“The larger game, red-deer and fallow-deer, is now never seen
for sale. Hog-deer, wild-swine, pheasants, water-fowl, and every
description of ‘vermin’ and small birds, are exposed for sale, not
now in markets, but at the retail wine shops. Wild-cats, racoons,
otters, badgers, kites, owls, etc., etc., festoon the shop fronts
along with game.” (_Moule_.)
NOTE 5.—Van Braam, in passing through Shan-tung Province, speaks of
very large pears. “The colour is a beautiful golden yellow. Before
it is pared the pear is somewhat hard, but in eating it the juice
flows, the pulp melts, and the taste is pleasant enough.” Williams
says these Shan-tung pears are largely exported, but he is not so
complimentary to them as Polo: “The pears are large and juicy,
sometimes weighing 8 or 10 pounds, but remarkably tasteless and
coarse.” (_V. Braam_, II. 33–34; _Mid. Kingd._, I. 78 and II. 44).
In the beginning of 1867 I saw pears in Covent Garden Market which
I should guess to have weighed 7 or 8 lbs. each. They were priced
at 18 guineas a dozen!
[“Large pears are nowadays produced in Shan-tung and Manchuria,
but they are rather tasteless and coarse. I am inclined to suppose
that Polo’s large pears were Chinese quinces, _Cydonia chinensis_,
Thouin, this fruit being of enormous size, sometimes one foot
long, and very fragrant. The Chinese use it for sweet-meats.”
(_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 2.)—H. C.]
As regards the “yellow and white” peaches, Marsden supposes the
former to be apricots. Two kinds of peach, correctly so described,
are indeed common in Sicily, where I write;—and both are, in their
raw state, equally good food for _i neri_! But I see Mr. Moule also
identifies the yellow peach with “the _hwang-mei_ or clingstone
apricot,” as he knows no yellow peach in China.
NOTE 6.—“_E non veggono mai l’ora che di nuovo possano
ritornarvi;_” a curious Italian idiom. (See _Vocab. It. Univ._ sub.
v. “_vedere_”.)
NOTE 7.—It would seem that the habits of the Chinese in reference
to the use of pepper and such spices have changed. Besides this
passage, implying that their consumption of pepper was large,
Marco tells us below (ch. lxxxii.) that for one shipload of pepper
carried to Alexandria for the consumption of Christendom, a hundred
went to Zayton in Manzi. At the present day, according to Williams,
the Chinese use little spice; pepper chiefly as a febrifuge in
the shape of _pepper-tea_, and that even less than they did some
years ago. (See p. 239, _infra_, and _Mid. Kingd._, II. 46, 408.)
On this, however, Mr. Moule observes: “Pepper is not so completely
relegated to the doctors. A month or two ago, passing a portable
cookshop in the city, I heard a girl-purchaser cry to the cook, ‘Be
sure you put in _pepper and leeks!_’”
NOTE 8.—Marsden, after referring to the ingenious frauds commonly
related of Chinese traders, observes: “In the long continued
intercourse that has subsisted between the agents of the European
companies and the more eminent of the Chinese merchants ...
complaints on the ground of commercial unfairness have been
extremely rare, and on the contrary, their transactions have been
marked with the most perfect good faith and mutual confidence.”
Mr. Consul Medhurst bears similar strong testimony to the upright
dealings of Chinese merchants. His remark that, as a rule, he has
found that the Chinese deteriorate by intimacy with foreigners
is worthy of notice;[3] it is a remark capable of application
wherever the East and West come into habitual contact. Favourable
opinions among the nations on their frontiers of Chinese dealing,
as expressed to Wood and Burnes in Turkestan, and to Macleod and
Richardson in Laos, have been quoted by me elsewhere in reference
to the old classical reputation of the Seres for integrity. Indeed,
Marco’s whole account of the people here might pass for an expanded
paraphrase of the Latin commonplaces regarding the Seres. Mr.
Milne, a missionary for many years in China, stands up manfully
against the wholesale disparagement or Chinese character (p. 401).
NOTE 9.—Semedo and Martini, in the 17th century, give a very
similar account of the Lake Si-hu, the parties of pleasure
frequenting it, and their gay barges. (_Semedo_, pp. 20–21; _Mart._
p. 9.) But here is a Chinese picture of the very thing described
by Marco, under the Sung Dynasty: “When Yaou Shunming was Prefect
of Hangchow, there was an old woman, who said she was formerly a
singing-girl, and in the service of Tung-p’o Seen-sheng.[4] She
related that her master, whenever he found a leisure day in spring,
would invite friends to take their pleasure on the lake. They used
to take an early meal on some agreeable spot, and, the repast over,
a chief was chosen for the company of each barge, who called a
number of dancing-girls to follow them to any place they chose. As
the day waned a gong sounded to assemble all once more at ‘Lake
Prospect Chambers,’ or at the ‘Bamboo Pavilion,’ or some place of
the kind, where they amused themselves to the top of their bent,
and then, at the first or second drum, before the evening market
dispersed, returned home by candle-light. In the city, gentlemen
and ladies assembled in crowds, lining the way to see the return of
the thousand Knights. It must have been a brave spectacle of that
time.” (_Moule_, from the _Si-hu-Chi_, or “Topography of the West
Lake.”) It is evident, from what Mr. Moule says, that this book
abounds in interesting illustration of these two chapters of Polo.
Barges with paddle-wheels are alluded to.
NOTE 10.—Public carriages are still used in the great cities of
the north, such as Peking. Possibly this is a revival. At one time
carriages appear to have been much more general in China than they
were afterwards, or are now. Semedo says they were abandoned in
China just about the time that they were adopted in Europe, viz. in
the 16th century. And this disuse seems to have been either cause
or effect of the neglect of the roads, of which so high an account
is given in old times. (_Semedo; N. and Q. Ch. and Jap._ I. 94.)
Deguignes describes the public carriages of Peking, as “shaped like
a palankin, but of a longer form, with a rounded top, lined outside
and in with coarse blue cloth, and provided with black cushions”
(I. 372). This corresponds with our author’s description, and with
a drawing by Alexander among his published sketches. The present
Peking cab is evidently the same vehicle, but smaller.
NOTE 11.—The character of the King of Manzi here given corresponds
to that which the Chinese histories assign to the Emperor Tu-Tsong,
in whose time Kúblái commenced his enterprise against Southern
China, but who died two years before the fall of the capital. He
is described as given up to wine and women, and indifferent to all
public business, which he committed to unworthy ministers. The
following words, quoted by Mr. Moule from the _Hang-Chau Fu-Chi_,
are like an echo of Marco’s: “In those days the dynasty was holding
on to a mere corner of the realm, hardly able to defend even
that; and nevertheless all, high and low, devoted themselves to
dress and ornament, to music and dancing on the lake and amongst
the hills, with no idea of sympathy for the country.” A garden
called Tseu-king (“of many prospects”) near the Tsing-po Gate, and
a monastery west of the lake, near the Lingin, are mentioned as
pleasure haunts of the Sung Kings.
NOTE 12.—The statement that the palace of Kingszé was occupied
by the Great Kaan’s lieutenant seems to be inconsistent with the
notice in De Mailla that Kúblái made it over to the Buddhist
priests. Perhaps _Kúblái’s_ name is a mistake; for one of Mr.
Moule’s books (_Jin-ho-hien-chi_) says that under _the last_ Mongol
Emperor five convents were built on the area of the palace.
Mr. H. Murray argues, from this closing passage especially,
that Marco never could have been the author of the Ramusian
interpolations; but with this I cannot agree. Did this passage
stand alone we might doubt if it were Marco’s; but the
interpolations must be considered as a whole. Many of them bear to
my mind clear evidence of being his own, and I do not see that the
present one _may_ not be his. The picture conveyed of the ruined
walls and half-obliterated buildings does, it is true, give the
impression of a long interval between their abandonment and the
traveller’s visit, whilst the whole interval between the capture of
the city and Polo’s departure from China was not more than fifteen
or sixteen years. But this is too vague a basis for theorising.
Mr. Moule has ascertained by maps of the Sung period, and by a
variety of notices in the Topographies, that the palace lay to the
south and south-east of the present city, and included a large part
of the fine hills called _Fung-hwang Shan_ or Phœnix Mount,[5] and
other names, whilst its southern gate opened near the Ts’ien-T’ang
River. Its north gate is supposed to have been the Fung Shan Gate
of the present city, and the chief street thus formed the avenue to
the palace.
[Illustration: Stone _Chwang_, or Umbrella Column, on site of
“Brahma’s Temple,” Hang-chau.]
By the kindness of Messrs. Moule and Wylie, I am able to give a
copy of the Sung Map of the Palace (for origin of which see list
of illustrations). I should note that the orientation is different
from that of the map of the city already given. This map elucidates
Polo’s account of the palace in a highly interesting manner.
[Father H. Havret has given in p. 21 of _Variétés Sinologiques_,
No. 19, a complete study of the inscription of a _chwang_, nearly
similar to the one given here, which is erected near Ch’êng-tu.—H. C.]
Before quitting KINSAY, the description of which forms the most
striking feature in Polo’s account of China, it is worth while to
quote other notices from authors of nearly the same age. However
exaggerated some of these may be, there can be little doubt that it
was the greatest city then existing in the world.
_Friar Odoric_ (in China about 1324–1327):—“Departing thence I
came unto the city of CANSAY, a name which signifieth the ‘City of
Heaven.’ And ’tis the greatest city in the whole world, so great
indeed that I should scarcely venture to tell of it, but that I
have met at Venice people in plenty who have been there. It is a
good hundred miles in compass, and there is not in it a span of
ground which is not well peopled. And many a tenement is there
which shall have 10 or 12 households comprised in it. And there
be also great suburbs which contain a greater population than
even the city itself.... This city is situated upon lagoons of
standing water, with canals like the city of Venice. And it hath
more than 12,000 bridges, on each of which are stationed guards,
guarding the city on behalf of the Great Kaan. And at the side
of this city there flows a river near which it is built, like
Ferrara by the Po, for it is longer than it is broad,” and so on,
relating how his host took him to see a great monastery of the
idolaters, where there was a garden full of grottoes, and therein
many animals of divers kinds, which they believed to be inhabited
by the souls of gentlemen. “But if any one should desire to tell
all the vastness and great marvels of this city, a good quire of
stationery would not hold the matter, I trow. For ’tis the greatest
and noblest city, and the finest for merchandize that the whole
world containeth.” (_Cathay_, 113 _seqq._)
[Illustration: South Part of KING-SZÉ with the SUNG PALACE, from
a Chinese reprint of a Plan dated circa A.D. 1270.
Lit. Frauenfelder, Palermo]
_The Archbishop of Soltania_ (_circa_ 1330):—“And so vast is the
number of people that the soldiers alone who are posted to keep
ward in the city of Cambalec are 40,000 men by sure tale. And in
the city of CASSAY there be yet more, for its people is greater in
number, seeing that it is a city of very great trade. And to this
city all the traders of the country come to trade; and greatly it
aboundeth in all manner of merchandize.” (_Ib._ 244–245.)
_John Marignolli_ (in China 1342–1347):—“Now Manzi is a country
which has countless cities and nations included in it, past all
belief to one who has not seen them.... And among the rest is that
most famous city of CAMPSAY, the finest, the biggest, the richest,
the most populous, and altogether the most marvellous city, the
city of the greatest wealth and luxury, of the most splendid
buildings (especially idol-temples, in some of which there are 1000
and 2000 monks dwelling together), that exists now upon the face
of the earth, or mayhap that ever did exist.” (_Ib._ p. 354.) He
also speaks, like Odoric, of the “cloister at Campsay, in that most
famous monastery where they keep so many monstrous animals, which
they believe to be the souls of the departed” (384). Perhaps this
monastery may yet be identified. Odoric calls it _Thebe_. [See _A.
Vissière, Bul. Soc. Géog. Com._, 1901, pp. 112–113.—H. C.]
Turning now to Asiatic writers, we begin with _Wassáf_ (A.D. 1300):—
“KHANZAI is the greatest city of the cities of Chín,
“‘_Stretching like Paradise through the breadth of Heaven._’
“Its shape is oblong, and the measurement of its perimeter is
about 24 parasangs. Its streets are paved with burnt brick and
with stone. The public edifices and the houses are built of wood,
and adorned with a profusion of paintings of exquisite elegance.
Between one end of the city and the other there are three _Yams_
(post-stations) established. The length of the chief streets is
three parasangs, and the city contains 64 quadrangles corresponding
to one another in structure, and with parallel ranges of columns.
The salt excise brings in daily 700 _balish_ in paper-money.
The number of craftsmen is so great that 32,000 are employed at
the dyer’s art alone; from that fact you may estimate the rest.
There are in the city 70 _tomans_ of soldiers and 70 _tomans_ of
_rayats_, whose number is registered in the books of the Dewán.
There are 700 churches (_Kalísíá_) resembling fortresses, and every
one of them overflowing with presbyters without faith, and monks
without religion, besides other officials, wardens, servants of the
idols, and this, that, and the other, to tell the names of which
would surpass number and space. All these are exempt from taxes
of every kind. Four _tomans_ of the garrison constitute the night
patrol.... Amid the city there are 360 bridges erected over canals
ample as the Tigris, which are ramifications of the great river of
Chín; and different kinds of vessels and ferry-boats, adapted to
every class, ply upon the waters in such numbers as to pass all
powers of enumeration.... The concourse of all kinds of foreigners
from the four quarters of the world, such as the calls of trade
and travel bring together in a kingdom like this, may easily be
conceived.” (_Revised on Hammer’s Translation_, pp. 42–43.)
The Persian work _Nuzhát-al-Ḳulúb_:—“KHINZAI is the capital of the
country of Máchín. If one may believe what some travellers say,
there exists no greater city on the face of the earth; but anyhow,
all agree that it is the greatest in all the countries in the East.
Inside the place is a lake which has a circuit of six parasangs,
and all round which houses are built.... The population is so
numerous that the watchmen are some 10,000 in number.” (_Quat.
Rash._ p. lxxxviii.)
The Arabic work _Masálak-al-Absár_:—“Two routes lead from Khanbalik
to KHINSÁ, one by land, the other by water; and either way takes 40
days. The city of Khinsá extends a whole day’s journey in length
and half a day’s journey in breadth. In the middle of it is a
street which runs right from one end to the other. The streets and
squares are all paved; the houses are five-storied (?), and are
built with planks nailed together,” etc. (_Ibid._)
_Ibn Batuta_:—“We arrived at the city of KHANSÁ.... This city is
the greatest I have ever seen on the surface of the earth. It is
three days’ journey in length, so that a traveller passing through
the city has to make his marches and his halts!... It is subdivided
into six towns, each of which has a separate enclosure, while one
great wall surrounds the whole,” etc. (_Cathay_, p. 496 _seqq._)
Let us conclude with a writer of a later age, the worthy Jesuit
Martin Martini, the author of the admirable _Atlas Sinensis_,
one whose honourable zeal to maintain Polo’s veracity, of which
he was one of the first intelligent advocates, is apt, it must
be confessed, a little to colour his own spectacles:—“That the
cosmographers of Europe may no longer make such ridiculous errors
as to the QUINSAI of Marco Polo, I will here give you the very
place. [He then explains the name.] ... And to come to the point;
this is the very city that hath those bridges so lofty and so
numberless, both within the walls and in the suburbs; nor will
they fall much short of the 10,000 which the Venetian alleges,
if you count also the triumphal arches among the bridges, as he
might easily do because of their analogous structure, just as he
calls tigers _lions_; ... or if you will, he may have meant to
include not merely the bridges in the city and suburbs, but in the
whole of the dependent territory. In that case indeed the number
which Europeans find it so hard to believe might well be set
still higher, so vast is everywhere the number of bridges and of
triumphal arches. Another point in confirmation is that lake which
he mentions of 40 Italian miles in circuit. This exists under the
name of _Si-hu_; it is not, indeed, as the book says, inside the
walls, but lies in contact with them for a long distance on the
west and south-west, and a number of canals drawn from it _do_
enter the city. Moreover, the shores of the lake on every side are
so thickly studded with temples, monasteries, palaces, museums,
and private houses, that you would suppose yourself to be passing
through the midst of a great city rather than a country scene.
Quays of cut stone are built along the banks, affording a spacious
promenade; and causeways cross the lake itself, furnished with
lofty bridges, to allow of the passage of boats; and thus you can
readily walk all about the lake on this side and on that. ’Tis no
wonder that Polo considered it to be part of the city. This, too,
is the very city that hath within the walls, near the south side,
a hill called _Ching-hoang_ [6] on which stands that tower with
the watchmen, on which there is a clepsydra to measure the hours,
and where each hour is announced by the exhibition of a placard,
with gilt letters of a foot and a half in height. This is the very
city the streets of which are paved with squared stones: the city
which lies in a swampy situation, and is intersected by a number
of navigable canals; this, in short, is the city from which the
emperor escaped to seaward by the great river Ts’ien-T’ang, the
breadth of which exceeds a German mile, flowing on the south of the
city, exactly corresponding to the river described by the Venetian
at Quinsai, and flowing eastward to the sea, which it enters
precisely at the distance which he mentions. I will add that the
compass of the city will be 100 Italian miles and more, if you
include its vast suburbs, which run out on every side an enormous
distance; insomuch that you may walk for 50 Chinese _li_ in a
straight line from north to south, the whole way through crowded
blocks of houses, and without encountering a spot that is not full
of dwellings and full of people; whilst from east to west you can
do very nearly the same thing.” (_Atlas Sinensis_, p. 99.)
And so we quit what Mr. Moule appropriately calls “Marco’s famous
rhapsody of the Manzi capital”; perhaps the most striking section
of the whole book, as manifestly the subject was that which had
made the strongest impression on the narrator.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] _Fanfur_, in Ramusio.
[2] See the mention of the _I-ning Fang_ at Si-ngan fu, _supra_, p.
28. Mr. Wylie writes that in a work on the latter city, published
during the Yuen time, of which he has met with a reprint, there are
figures to illustrate the division of the city into _Fang_, a word
“which appears to indicate a certain space of ground, not an open
square ... but a block of buildings crossed by streets, and at the
end of each street an open gateway.” In one of the figures a first
reference indicates “the market place,” a second “the official
establishment,” a third “the office for regulating weights.” These
indications seem to explain Polo’s squares. (See Note 3, above.)
[3] _Foreigner in Far Cathay_, pp. 158, 176.
[4] A famous poet and scholar of the 11th century.
[5] Mr. Wylie, after ascending this hill with Mr. Moule, writes: “It
is about two miles from the south gate to the top, by a rather
steep road. On the top is a remarkably level plot of ground, with
a cluster of rocks in one place. On the face of these rocks are a
great many inscriptions, but so obliterated by age and weather that
only a few characters can be decyphered. A stone road leads up from
the city gate, and another one, very steep, down to the lake. This
is the only vestige remaining of the old palace grounds. There is
no doubt about this being really a relic of the palace.... You will
see on the map, just inside the walls of the Imperial city, the
Temple of Brahma. There are still two stone columns standing with
curious Buddhist inscriptions.... Although the temple is entirely
gone, these columns retain the name and mark the place. They date
from the 6th century, and there are few structures earlier in
China.” One is engraved above, after a sketch by Mr. Moule.
[6] See the plan of the city with last chapter.
CHAPTER LXXVIII.
TREATING OF THE GREAT YEARLY REVENUE THAT THE GREAT KAAN HATH
FROM KINSAY.
Now I will tell you about the great revenue which the Great Kaan
draweth every year from the said city of Kinsay and its territory,
forming a ninth part of the whole country of Manzi.
First there is the salt, which brings in a great revenue. For it
produces every year, in round numbers, fourscore _tomans_ of gold; and
the _toman_ is worth 70,000 _saggi_ of gold, so that the total value
of the fourscore tomans will be five millions and six hundred thousand
_saggi_ of gold, each saggio being worth more than a gold florin or
ducat; in sooth, a vast sum of money! [This province, you see, adjoins
the ocean, on the shores of which are many lagoons or salt marshes, in
which the sea-water dries up during the summer time; and thence they
extract such a quantity of salt as suffices for the supply of five of
the kingdoms of Manzi besides this one.]
Having told you of the revenue from salt, I will now tell you of that
which accrues to the Great Kaan from the duties on merchandize and
other matters.
You must know that in this city and its dependencies they make great
quantities of sugar, as indeed they do in the other eight divisions
of this country; so that I believe the whole of the rest of the world
together does not produce such a quantity, at least, if that be true
which many people have told me; and the sugar alone again produces
an enormous revenue.—However, I will not repeat the duties on every
article separately, but tell you how they go in the lump. Well,
all spicery pays three and a third per cent. on the value; and all
merchandize likewise pays three and a third per cent. [But sea-borne
goods from India and other distant countries pay ten per cent.] The
rice-wine also makes a great return, and coals, of which there is a
great quantity; and so do the twelve guilds of craftsmen that I told
you of, with their 12,000 stations apiece, for every article they make
pays duty. And the silk which is produced in such abundance makes an
immense return. But why should I make a long story of it? The silk, you
must know, pays ten per cent., and many other articles also pay ten per
cent.
And you must know that Messer Marco Polo, who relates all this, was
several times sent by the Great Kaan to inspect the amount of his
customs and revenue from this ninth part of Manzi,{1} and he found it
to be, exclusive of the salt revenue which we have mentioned already,
210 _tomans_ of gold, equivalent to 14,700,000 _saggi_ of gold; one of
the most enormous revenues that ever was heard of. And if the sovereign
has such a revenue from one-ninth part of the country, you may judge
what he must have from the whole of it! However, to speak the truth,
this part is the greatest and most productive; and because of the
great revenue that the Great Kaan derives from it, it is his favourite
province, and he takes all the more care to watch it well, and to keep
the people contented.{2}
Now we will quit this city and speak of others.
NOTE 1.—Pauthier’s text seems to be the only one which says that
Marco was sent by the Great Kaan. The G. Text says merely: “_Si qe
jeo March Pol qe plusor foies hoï faire le conte de la rende de
tous cestes couses_,”—“had several times heard the calculations
made.”
NOTE 2.—_Toman_ is 10,000. And the first question that occurs in
considering the statements of this chapter is as to the unit of
these tomans, as intended by Polo. I believe it to have been the
_tael_ (or Chinese ounce) of gold.
We do not know that the Chinese ever made monetary calculations
in gold. But the usual unit of the revenue accounts appears from
Pauthier’s extracts to have been the _ting_, _i.e._ a money of
account equal to ten taels of silver, and we know (_supra_, ch. l.
note 4) that this was in those days the exact equivalent of one
tael of gold.
The equation in our text is 10,000 _x_ = 70,000 saggi of gold,
giving _x_, or the unit sought, = 7 _saggi_. But in both Ramusio
on the one hand, and in the Geog. Latin and Crusca Italian texts
on the other hand, the equivalent of the toman is 80,000 _saggi_;
though it is true that neither with one valuation nor the other
are the calculations consistent in any of the texts, except
Ramusio’s.[1] This consistency does not give any greater weight
to Ramusio’s reading, because we know that version to have been
_edited_, and corrected when the editor thought it necessary: but
I adopt his valuation, because we shall find other grounds for
preferring it. The unit of the _toman_ then is = 8 _saggi_.
The Venice saggio was one-sixth of a Venice ounce. The Venice mark
of 8 ounces I find stated to contain 3681 grains troy;[2] hence the
_saggio_ = 76 grains. But I imagine the term to be used by Polo
here and in other Oriental computations, to express the Arabic
_misḳál_, the real weight of which, according to Mr. Maskelyne, is
74 grains troy. The _misḳál_ of gold was, as Polo says, something
more than a ducat or sequin, indeed, weight for weight, it was to a
ducat nearly as 1·4:1.
Eight _saggi_ or _misḳáls_ would be 592 grains troy. The tael is
580, and the approximation is as near as we can reasonably expect
from a calculation in such terms.
Taking the silver tael at 6_s._ 7_d._, the gold tael, or rather
the _ting_, would be = 3_l._ 5_s._ 10_d._; the _toman_ =
32,916_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._; and the whole salt revenue (80 tomans)
= 2,633,333_l._; the revenue from other sources (210 tomans) =
6,912,500_l._; total revenue from Kinsay and its province (290
tomans) = 9,545,833_l._ A sufficiently startling statement, and
quite enough to account for the sobriquet of Marco Milioni.
Pauthier, in reference to this chapter, brings forward a number of
extracts regarding Mongol finance from the official history of that
dynasty. The extracts are extremely interesting in themselves, but
I cannot find in them that confirmation of Marco’s accuracy which
M. Pauthier sees.
First as to the salt revenue of Kiang-Ché, or the province of
Kinsay. The facts given by Pauthier amount to these: that in
1277, the year in which the Mongol salt department was organised,
the manufacture of salt amounted to 92,148 _yin_, or 22,115,520
_kilos._; in 1286 it had reached 450,000 _yin_, or 108,000,000
_kilos._; in 1289 it fell off by 100,000 _yin_.
The price was, in 1277, 18 _liang_ or taels, in _chao_ or
paper-money of the years 1260–64 (see vol. i. p. 426); in 1282 it
was raised to 22 taels; in 1284 a permanent and reduced price was
fixed, the amount of which is not stated.
M. Pauthier assumes as a mean 400,000 _yin_, at 18 taels, which
will give 7,200,000 _taels_; or, at 6_s._ 7_d._ to the tael,
2,370,000_l._ But this amount being in _chao_ or paper-currency,
which at its highest valuation was worth only 50 per cent. of the
nominal value of the notes, we must _halve_ the sum, giving the
salt revenue on Pauthier’s assumptions = 1,185,000_l._
Pauthier has also endeavoured to present a table of the whole
revenue of Kiang-Ché under the Mongols, amounting to 12,955,710
paper _taels_, or 2,132,294_l._, _including_ the salt revenue. This
would leave only 947,294_l._ for the other sources of revenue,
but the fact is that several of these are left blank, and among
others one so important as the sea-customs. However, even making
the extravagant supposition that the sea-customs and other omitted
items were equal in amount to the whole of the other sources of
revenue, salt included, the total would be only 4,264,585_l._
Marco’s amount, as he gives it, is, I think, unquestionably a
huge exaggeration, though I do not suppose an intentional one. In
spite of his professed rendering of the amounts in gold, I have
little doubt that his tomans really represent paper-currency,
and that to get a valuation in gold, his total has to be divided
_at the very least_ by two. We may then compare his total of 290
tomans of paper _ting_ with Pauthier’s 130 tomans of paper _ting_,
excluding sea-customs and some other items. No nearer comparison is
practicable; and besides the sources of doubt already indicated, it
remains uncertain what in either calculation are the limits of the
province intended. For the bounds of Kiang-Ché seem to have varied
greatly, sometimes including and sometimes excluding Fo-kien.
I may observe that Rashiduddin reports, on the authority of the
Mongol minister Pulad Chingsang, that the whole of Manzi brought in
a revenue of “900 tomans.” This Quatremère renders “nine million
pieces of gold,” presumably meaning dinars. It is unfortunate
that there should be uncertainty here again as to the unit. If
it were the _dinar_ the whole revenue of Manzi would be about
5,850,000_l._, whereas if the unit were, as in the case of Polo’s
toman, the _ting_, the revenue would be nearly 30,000,000 sterling!
It does appear that in China a toman of some denomination of money
near the dinar was known in account. For Friar Odoric states the
revenue of Yang-chau in _tomans_ of _Balish_, the latter unit
being, as he explains, a sum in paper-currency equivalent to a
florin and a half (or something more than a dinar); perhaps,
however, only the _liang_ or tael (see vol. i. pp. 426–7).
It is this calculation of the Kinsay revenue which Marco is
supposed to be expounding to his fellow-prisoner on the title-page
of this volume. [See _P. Hoang, Commerce Public du Sel_, Shanghai,
1898, Liang-tché-yen, pp. 6–7.—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Pauthier’s MSS. A and B are hopelessly corrupt here. His MS. C
agrees with the Geog. Text in making the toman = 70,000 saggi, but
210 tomans = 15,700,000, instead of 14,700,000. The Crusca and
Latin have 80,000 saggi in the first place, but 15,700,000 in the
second. Ramusio alone has 80,000 in the first place, and 16,800,000
in the second.
[2] _Eng. Cyclop., “Weights and Measures.”_
CHAPTER LXXIX.
OF THE CITY OF TANPIJU AND OTHERS.
When you leave Kinsay and travel a day’s journey to the south-east,
through a plenteous region, passing a succession of dwellings and
charming gardens, you reach the city of TANPIJU, a great, rich, and
fine city, under Kinsay. The people are subject to the Kaan, and
have paper-money, and are Idolaters, and burn their dead in the way
described before. They live by trade and manufactures and handicrafts,
and have all necessaries in great plenty and cheapness.{1}
But there is no more to be said about it, so we proceed, and I will
tell you of another city called VUJU at three days’ distance from
Tanpiju. The people are Idolaters, &c., and the city is under Kinsay.
They live by trade and manufactures.
Travelling through a succession of towns and villages that look like
one continuous city, two days further on to the south-east, you find
the great and fine city of GHIUJU which is under Kinsay. The people
are Idolaters, &c. They have plenty of silk, and live by trade and
handicrafts, and have all things necessary in abundance. At this city
you find the largest and longest canes that are in all Manzi; they are
full four palms in girth and 15 paces in length.{2}
When you have left Ghiuju you travel four days S.E. through a beautiful
country, in which towns and villages are very numerous. There is
abundance of game both in beasts and birds; and there are very large
and fierce lions. After those four days you come to the great and fine
city of CHANGSHAN. It is situated upon a hill which divides the River,
so that the one portion flows up country and the other down.[1] It is
still under the government of Kinsay.
I should tell you that in all the country of Manzi they have no
sheep, though they have beeves and kine, goats and kids and swine in
abundance. The people are Idolaters here, &c.
When you leave Changshan you travel three days through a very fine
country with many towns and villages, traders and craftsmen, and
abounding in game of all kinds, and arrive at the city of CUJU. The
people are Idolaters, &c., and live by trade and manufactures. It is a
fine, noble, and rich city, and is the last of the government of Kinsay
in this direction.{3} The other kingdom which we now enter, called
Fuju, is also one of the nine great divisions of Manzi as Kinsay is.
NOTE 1.—The traveller’s route proceeds from Kinsay or Hang-chau
southward to the mountains of Fo-kien, ascending the valley of
the Ts’ien T’ang, commonly called by Europeans the Green River.
The general line, directed as we shall see upon Kien-ning fu in
Fo-kien, is clear enough, but some of the details are very obscure,
owing partly to vague indications and partly to the excessive
uncertainty in the reading of some of the proper names.
No name resembling Tanpiju (G. T., _Tanpigui_; Pauthier, _Tacpiguy,
Carpiguy, Capiguy_; Ram., _Tapinzu_) belongs, so far as has yet
been shown, to any considerable town in the position indicated.[2]
Both Pauthier and Mr. Kingsmill identify the place with Shao-hing
fu, a large and busy town, compared by Fortune, as regards
population, to Shang-hai. Shao-hing is across the broad river, and
somewhat further down than Hang-chau: it is out of the traveller’s
general direction; and it seems unnatural that he should commence
his journey by passing this wide river, and yet not mention it.
For these reasons I formerly rejected Shao-hing, and looked rather
to Fu-yang as the representative of Tanpiju. But my opinion is
shaken when I find both Mr. Elias and Baron Richthofen decidedly
opposed to Fu-yang, and the latter altogether in favour of
Shao-hing. “The journey through a plenteous region, passing a
succession of dwellings and charming gardens; the epithets ‘great,
rich, and fine city’; the ‘trade, manufactures, and handicrafts,’
and the ‘necessaries in great plenty and cheapness,’ appear to
apply rather to the populous plain and the large city of ancient
fame, than to the small Fu-yang hien ... shut in by a spur from
the hills, which would hardly have allowed it in former days to
have been a great city.” (_Note by Baron R._) The after route, as
elucidated by the same authority, points with even more force to
Shao-hing.
[Mr. G. Phillips has made a special study of the route from Kinsay
to Zaytun in the _T’oung Pao_, I. p. 218 _seq._ (_The Identity of
Marco Polo’s Zaitun with Changchau_). He says (p. 222): “Leaving
Hangchau by boat for Fuhkien, the first place of importance is
Fuyang, at 100 _li_ from Hangchau. This name does not in any way
resemble Polo’s Ta Pin Zu, but I think it can be no other.” Mr.
Phillips writes (pp. 221–222) that by the route he describes, he
“intends to follow the highway which has been used by travellers
for centuries, and the greater part of which is by water.” He adds:
“I may mention that the boats used on this route can be luxuriously
fitted up, and the traveller can go in them all the way from
Hangchau to Chinghu, the head of the navigation of the Ts’ien-t’ang
River. At this Chinghu, they disembark and hire coolies and
chairs to take them and their luggage across the Sien-hia pass
to Puching in Fuhkien. This route is described by Fortune in an
opposite direction, in his _Wanderings in China_, vol. ii. p. 139.
I am inclined to think that Polo followed this route, as the one
given by Yule, by way of Shao-hing and Kin-hua by land, would be
unnecessarily tedious for the ladies Polo was escorting, and there
was no necessity to take it; more especially as there was a direct
water route to the point for which they were making. I further
incline to this route, as I can find no city at all fitting in with
Yenchau, Ramusio’s Gengiu, along the route given by Yule.”
In my paper on the Catalan Map (Paris, 1895) I gave the following
itinerary: Kinsay (Hang-chau), Tanpiju (Shao-hing fu), Vuju
(Kin-hwa fu), Ghiuju (K’iu-chau fu), Chan-shan (Sui-chang hien),
Cuju (Ch’u-chau), Ke-lin-fu (Kien-ning fu), Unken (Hu-kwan), Fuju
(Fu-chau), Zayton (Kayten, Hai-t’au), Zayton (Ts’iuen-chau), Tyunju
(Tek-hwa).
Regarding the burning of the dead, Mr. Phillips (_T’oung Pao_, VI.
p. 454) quotes the following passage from a notice by M. Jaubert.
“The town of Zaitun is situated half a day’s journey inland from
the sea. At the place where the ships anchor, the water is fresh.
The people drink this water and also that of the wells. Zaitun is
30 days’ journey from Khanbaligh. The inhabitants of this town burn
their dead either with Sandal, or Brazil wood, according to their
means; they then throw the ashes into the river.” Mr. Phillips
adds: “The custom of burning the dead is a long established one in
Fuh-Kien, and does not find much favour among the upper classes. It
exists even to this day in the central parts of the province. The
time for cremation is generally at the time of the Tsing-Ming. At
the commencement of the present dynasty the custom of burning the
dead appears to have been pretty general in the Fuchow Prefecture;
it was looked upon with disfavour by many, and the gentry
petitioned the Authorities that proclamations forbidding it should
be issued. It was thought unfilial for children to cremate their
parents; and the practice of gathering up the bones of a partially
cremated person and thrusting them into a jar, euphoniously called
a Golden Jar, but which was really an earthen one, was much
commented on, as, if the jar was too small to contain all the
bones, they were broken up and put in, and many pieces got thrown
aside. In the Changchow neighbourhood, with which we have here most
to do, it was a universal custom in 1126 to burn the dead, and was
in existence for many centuries after.” (See note, _supra_, II. p.
134.)
Captain Gill, speaking of the country near the Great Wall, writes
(I. p. 61): [“The Chinese] consider mutton very poor food, and the
butchers’ shops are always kept by Mongols. In these, however, both
beef and mutton can be bought for 3_d._ or 4_d._ a lb., while pork,
which is considered by the Chinese as the greatest delicacy, sells
for double the price.”—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Che-kiang produces bamboos more abundantly than any
province of Eastern China. Dr. Medhurst mentions meeting, on the
waters near Hang-chau, with numerous rafts of bamboos, one of which
was one-third of a mile in length. (_Glance at Int. of China_, p.
53.)
NOTE 3.—Assuming Tanpiju to be Shao-hing, the remaining places as
far as the Fo-kien Frontier run thus:—
3 days to Vuju (P. _Vugui_, G. T. _Vugui, Vuigui_, Ram. _Uguiu_).
2 „ to Ghiuju (P. _Guiguy_, G. T. _Ghingui, Ghengui, Chengui_,
Ram. _Gengui_).
4 „ to Changshan (P. _Ciancian_, G. T. _Cianscian_, Ram.
_Zengian_).
3 „ to Cuju or Chuju (P. _Cinguy_, G. T. _Cugui_, Ram. _Gieza_).
First as regards _Changshan_, which, with the notable circumstances
about the waters there, constitutes the key to the route, I extract
the following remarks from a note which Mr. Fortune has kindly sent
me: “When we get to _Changshan_ the proof as to the route is _very
strong_. This is undoubtedly my _Chang-shan_. The town is near the
head of the Green River (the Ts’ien T’ang) which flows in a N.E.
direction and falls into the Bay of Hang-chau. At Chang-shan the
stream is no longer navigable even for small boats. Travellers
going west or south-west walk or are carried in sedan-chairs
across country in a westerly direction for about 30 miles to a
town named Yuh-shan. Here there is a river which flows westward
(‘the other half goes down’), taking the traveller rapidly in that
direction, and passing _en route_ the towns of Kwansinfu, Hokow
or Hokeu, and onward to the Poyang Lake.” From the careful study
of Mr. Fortune’s published narrative I had already arrived at the
conclusion that this was the correct explanation of the remarkable
expressions about the division of the waters, which are closely
analogous to those used by the traveller in ch. lxii. of this book
when speaking of the watershed of the Great Canal at Sinjumatu.
Paraphrased the words might run: “At Chang-shan you reach high
ground, which interrupts the continuity of the River; from one side
of this ridge it flows up country towards the north, from the other
it flows down towards the south.” The expression “The River” will
be elucidated in note 4 to ch. lxxxii. below.
This route by the Ts’ien T’ang and the Chang-shan portage, which
turns the danger involved in the navigation of the Yang-tzŭ and
the Poyang Lake, was formerly a thoroughfare to the south much
followed; though now almost abandoned through one of the indirect
results (as Baron Richthofen points out) of steam navigation.
The portage from Chang-shan to Yuh-shan was passed by the English
and Dutch embassies in the end of last century, on their journeys
from Hang-chau to Canton, and by Mr. Fortune on his way from Ningpo
to the Bohea country of Fo-kien. It is probable that Polo on some
occasion made the ascent of the Ts’ien T’ang by water, and that
this leads him to notice the interruption of the navigation.
[Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. p. 222): “From Fuyang the next
point reached is Tunglu, also another 100 _li_ distant. Polo
calls this city Ugim, a name bearing no resemblance to Tunglu,
but this name and Ta Pin Zu are so corrupted in all editions that
they defy conjecture. One hundred _li_ further up the river from
Tunglu, we come to Yenchau, in which I think we have Polo’s Gengiu
of Ramusio’s text. Yule’s text calls this city Ghiuju, possibly
an error in transcription for Ghinju; Yenchau in ancient Chinese
would, according to Williams, be pronounced Ngam, Ngin, and
Ngienchau, all of which are sufficiently near Polo’s Gengiu. The
next city reached is Lan Ki Hien or Lan Chi Hsien, famous for its
hams, dates, and all the good things of this life, according to the
Chinese. In this city I recognise Polo’s Zen Gi An of Ramusio. Does
its description justify me in my identification? ‘The city of “Zen
gi an,”’ says Ramusio, ‘is built upon a hill that stands isolated
in the river, which latter, by dividing itself into two branches,
appears to embrace it. These streams take opposite directions:
one of them pursuing its course to the south-east and the other
to the north-west.’ Fortune, in his _Wanderings in China_ (vol.
ii. p. 139), calls Lan-Khi, Nan-Che-hien, and says: ‘It is built
on the banks of the river, and has a picturesque hill behind it.’
Milne, who also visited it, mentions it in his _Life in China_ (p.
258), and says: ‘At the southern end of the suburbs of Lan-Ki the
river divides into two branches, the one to the left on south-east
leading direct to Kinhua.’ Milne’s description of the place is
almost identical with Polo’s, when speaking of the division of the
river. There are in Fuchau several Lan-Khi shopkeepers, who deal in
hams, dates, etc., and these men tell me the city from the river
has the appearance of being built on a hill, but the houses on
the hill are chiefly temples. I would divide the name as follows,
Zen gi an; the last syllable _an_ most probably represents the
modern Hien, meaning District city, which in ancient Chinese was
pronounced _Han_, softened by the Italians into _an_. Lan-Khi was a
Hien in Polo’s day.”—H. C.]
Kin-hwa fu, as Pauthier has observed, bore at this time the name
of WU-CHAU, which Polo would certainly write _Vugiu_. And between
Shao-hing and Kin-hwa there exists, as Baron Richthofen has pointed
out, a line of depression which affords an easy connection between
Shao-hing and Lan-ki hien or Kin-hwa fu. This line is much used by
travellers, and forms just 3 short stages. Hence Kin-hwa, a fine
city destroyed by the T’ai-P’ings, is satisfactorily identified
with _Vugiu_.
The journey from Vugui to Ghiuju is said to be through a succession
of towns and villages, looking like a continuous city. Fortune,
whose journey occurred before the T’ai-P’ing devastations, speaks
of the approach to Kiu-chau as a vast and beautiful garden. And Mr.
Milne’s map of this route shows an incomparable density of towns
in the Ts’ien T’ang valley from Yen-chau up to Kiu-chau. _Ghiuju_
then will be KIU-CHAU. But between Kiu-chau and Chang-shan it is
impossible to make four days: barely possible to make two. My map
(_Itineraries_, No. VI.), based on D’Anville and Fortune, makes the
_direct_ distance 24 miles; Milne’s map barely 18; whilst from his
book we deduce the distance travelled by water to be about 30. On
the whole, it seems probable that there is a mistake in the figure
here.
[Illustration: Marco Polo’s route from Kinsai to ZAITUN,
illustrating Mr. G. Phillips’ theory.]
From the head of the great Che-kiang valley I find two roads
across the mountains into Fo-kien described.
One leads from _Kiang-shan_ (not Chang-shan) by a town called
Ching-hu, and then, nearly due south, across the mountains to
Pu-ch’eng in Upper Fo-kien. This is specified by Martini (p. 113):
it seems to have been followed by the Dutch Envoy, Van Hoorn, in
1665 (see _Astley_, III. 463), and it was travelled by Fortune on
his return _from_ the Bohea country to Ningpo. (II. 247, 271.)
The other route follows the portage spoken of above from
_Chang-shan_ to Yuh-shan, and descends the river on that side to
_Hokeu_, whence it strikes south-east across the mountains to
Tsung-ngan-hien in Fo-kien. This route was followed by Fortune on
his way _to_ the Bohea country.
Both from Pu-ch’eng on the former route, and from near Tsung-ngan
on the latter, the waters are navigable down to Kien-ning fu and so
to Fu-chau.
Mr. Fortune judges the first to have been Polo’s route. There
does not, however, seem to be on this route any place that can
be identified with his Cuju or Chuju. Ching-hu seems to be
insignificant, and the name has no resemblance. On the other route
followed by Mr. Fortune himself from that side we have Kwansin fu,
_Hokeu_, Yen-shan, and (last town passed on that side) _Chuchu_.
The latter, as to both name and position, is quite satisfactory,
but it is described as a small poor town. _Hokeu_ would be
represented in Polo’s spelling as Caghiu or Cughiu. It is now a
place of great population and importance as the entrepôt of the
Black Tea Trade, but, like many important commercial cities in
the interior, not being even a _hien_, it has no place either in
Duhalde or in Biot, and I cannot learn its age.
It is no objection to this line that Polo speaks of Cuju or Chuju
as the last city of the government of Kinsay, whilst the towns just
named are in Kiang-si. For _Kiang-Ché_, the province of Kinsay,
then included the eastern part of Kiang-si. (See _Cathay_, p. 270.)
[Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. 223–224): “Eighty-five _li_
beyond Lan-ki hien is Lung-yin, a place not mentioned by Polo, and
another ninety-five _li_ still further on is Chüchau or Keuchau,
which is, I think, the Gie-za of Ramusio, and the Cuju of Yule’s
version. Polo describes it as the last city of the government of
Kinsai (Che-kiang) in this direction. It is the last Prefectural
city, but ninety _li_ beyond Chü-chau, on the road to Pu-chêng,
is Kiang-shan, a district city which is the last one in this
direction. Twenty _li_ from Kiang-shan is Ching-hu, the head of
the navigation of the T’sien-T’ang river. Here one hires chairs
and coolies for the journey over the Sien-hia Pass to Pu-chêng,
a distance of 215 _li_. From Pu-chêng, Fu-chau can be reached by
water in 4 or 5 days. The distance is 780 _li_.”—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “_Est sus un mont que parte le Flum, que le une moitié ala en sus e
l’autre moitié en jus_” (G. T.).
[2] One of the _Hien_, forming the special districts of Hang-Chau
itself, now called _Tsien-tang_, was formerly called
_Tang-wei-tang_. But it embraces the _eastern_ part of the
district, and can, I think, have nothing to do with _Tanpiju_. (See
_Biot_, p. 257, and _Chin. Repos._ for February, 1842, p. 109.)
CHAPTER LXXX.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF FUJU.
On leaving Cuju, which is the last city of the kingdom of Kinsay, you
enter the kingdom of FUJU, and travel six days in a south-easterly
direction through a country of mountains and valleys, in which are
a number of towns and villages with great plenty of victuals and
abundance of game. Lions, great and strong, are also very numerous.
The country produces ginger and galingale in immense quantities,
insomuch that for a Venice groat you may buy fourscore pounds of good
fine-flavoured ginger. They have also a kind of fruit resembling
saffron, and which serves the purpose of saffron just as well.{1}
And you must know the people eat all manner of unclean things, even the
flesh of a man, provided he has not died a natural death. So they look
out for the bodies of those that have been put to death and eat their
flesh, which they consider excellent.{2}
Those who go to war in those parts do as I am going to tell you. They
shave the hair off the forehead and cause it to be painted in blue like
the blade of a glaive. They all go afoot except the chief; they carry
spears and swords, and are the most savage people in the world, for
they go about constantly killing people, whose blood they drink, and
then devour the bodies.{3}
Now I will quit this and speak of other matters. You must know then
that after going three days out of the six that I told you of you come
to the city of KELINFU, a very great and noble city, belonging to the
Great Kaan. This city hath three stone bridges which are among the
finest and best in the world. They are a mile long and some nine paces
in width, and they are all decorated with rich marble columns. Indeed
they are such fine and marvellous works that to build any one of them
must have cost a treasure.{4}
The people live by trade and manufactures, and have great store of silk
[which they weave into various stuffs], and of ginger and galingale.
{5} [They also make much cotton cloth of dyed thread, which is sent
all over Manzi.] Their women are particularly beautiful. And there
is a strange thing there which I needs must tell you. You must know
they have a kind of fowls which have no feathers, but hair only, like
a cat’s fur.{6} They are black all over; they lay eggs just like our
fowls, and are very good to eat.
In the other three days of the six that I have mentioned above{7}, you
continue to meet with many towns and villages, with traders, and goods
for sale, and craftsmen. The people have much silk, and are Idolaters,
and subject to the Great Kaan. There is plenty of game of all kinds,
and there are great and fierce lions which attack travellers. In the
last of those three days’ journey, when you have gone 15 miles you find
a city called UNKEN, where there is an immense quantity of sugar made.
From this city the Great Kaan gets all the sugar for the use of his
Court, a quantity worth a great amount of money. [And before this city
came under the Great Kaan these people knew not how to make fine sugar;
they only used to boil and skim the juice, which when cold left a black
paste. But after they came under the Great Kaan some men of Babylonia
who happened to be at the Court proceeded to this city and taught the
people to refine the sugar with the ashes of certain trees.{8}]
There is no more to say of the place, so now we shall speak of the
splendour of Fuju. When you have gone 15 miles from the city of Unken,
you come to this noble city which is the capital of the kingdom. So we
will now tell you what we know of it.
NOTE 1.—The vague description does not suggest the root _turmeric_
with which Marsden and Pauthier identify this “fruit like saffron.”
It is probably one of the species of _Gardenia_, the fruits of
which are used by the Chinese for their colouring properties.
Their splendid yellow colour “is due to a body named crocine
which appears to be identical with the polychroite of saffron.”
(_Hanbury’s Notes on Chinese Mat. Medica_, pp. 21–22.) For this
identification, I am indebted to Dr. Flückiger of Bern. [“Colonel
Yule concludes that the fruit of a _Gardenia_, which yields a
yellow colour, is meant. But Polo’s vague description might just
as well agree with the Bastard Saffron, _Carthamus tinctorius_,
a plant introduced into China from Western Asia in the 2nd
century B.C., and since then much cultivated in that country.”
(_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 4.)—H. C.]
[Illustration: Scene in the Bohea Mountains, on Polo’s route
between Kiang-si and Fo-kien. (From Fortune.)
“=Adonc entre l’en en roiaume de Fugiu, et ici comance. Et ala siz
jornée por montangnes e por valés....=”]
NOTE 2.—See vol. i. p. 312.
NOTE 3.—These particulars as to a race of painted or tattooed
caterans accused of cannibalism apparently apply to some aboriginal
tribe which still maintained its ground in the mountains between
Fo-kien and Che-kiang or Kiang-si. Davis, alluding to the Upper
part of the Province of Canton, says: “The Chinese History speaks
of the aborigines of this wild region under the name of _Mân_
(Barbarians), who within a comparatively recent period were subdued
and incorporated into the Middle Nation. Many persons have remarked
a decidedly Malay cast in the features of the natives of this
province; and it is highly probable that the Canton and Fo-kien
people were originally the same race as the tribes which still
remain unreclaimed on the east side of Formosa.”[1] (_Supply. Vol._
p. 260.) Indeed Martini tells us that even in the 17th century this
very range of mountains, farther to the south, in the Ting-chau
department of Fo-kien, contained a race of uncivilised people,
who were enabled by the inaccessible character of the country to
maintain their independence of the Chinese Government (p. 114; see
also _Semedo_, p. 19).
[“Colonel Yule’s ‘pariah caste’ of Shao-ling, who, he says,
rebelled against either the Sung or the Yüan, are evidently the
_tomin_ of Ningpo and _zikas_ of Wênchow. Colonel Yule’s ‘some
aboriginal tribe between Fo-kien and Che-kiang’ are probably the
_zikas_ of Wênchow and the _siapo_ of Fu-kien described by recent
travellers. The _zikas_ are locally called dogs’ heads, which
illustrates Colonel Yule’s allophylian theories.” (_Parker, China
Review_, XIV. p. 359.) Cf. _A Visit to the “Dog-Headed Barbarians”
or Hill People, near Fu-chow, by Rev. F. Ohlinger, Chinese
Recorder_, July, 1886, pp. 265–268.—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—Padre Martini long ago pointed out that this _Quelinfu_ is
KIEN-NING FU, on the upper part of the Min River, an important city
of Fo-kien. In the Fo-kien dialect he notices that _l_ is often
substituted for _n_, a well-known instance of which is _Liampoo_,
the name applied by F. M. Pinto and the old Portuguese to _Ningpo_.
[Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. p. 224): “From Puchêng to
Kien-Ning-Foo the distance is 290 _li_, all down stream. I
consider this to have been the route followed by Polo. His calling
Kien-Ning-Foo, Que-lin-fu, is quite correct, as far as the Ling
is concerned, the people of the city and of the whole southern
province pronounce Ning, Ling. The Ramusian version gives very full
particulars regarding the manufactures of Kien-Ning-Foo, which
are not found in the other texts; for example, silk is said in
this version to be woven into various stuffs, and further: ‘They
also make much cotton cloth of dyed thread which is sent all over
Manzi.’ All this is quite true. Much silk was formerly and is still
woven in Kien-Ning, and the manufacture of cotton cloth with dyed
threads is very common. Such stuff is called Hung Lu Kin ‘red and
green cloth.’ Cotton cloth, made with dyed thread, is also very
common in our day in many other cities in Fuh-Kien.”—H. C.]
In Ramusio the bridges are only “each more than 100 paces long and
8 paces wide.” In Pauthier’s text _each_ is a mile long, and 20
feet wide. I translate from the G. T.
Martini describes _one_ beautiful bridge at Kien-ning fu: the piers
of cut stone, the superstructure of timber, roofed in and lined
with houses on each side (pp. 112–113). If this was over the Min
it would seem not to survive. A recent journal says: “The river is
crossed by a bridge of boats, the remains of a stone bridge being
visible just above water.” (_Chinese Recorder_ (Foochow), August,
1870, p. 65.)
NOTE 5.—_Galanga_ or Galangal is an aromatic root belonging to
a class of drugs once much more used than now. It exists of two
kinds: 1. _Great_ or _Java Galangal_, the root of the _Alpinia
Galanga_. This is rarely imported and hardly used in Europe in
modern times, but is still found in the Indian bazaars. 2. _Lesser_
or _China Galangal_ is imported into London from Canton, and
is still sold by druggists in England. Its botanical origin is
unknown. It is produced in Shan-si, Fo-kien, and Kwang-tung, and is
called by the Chinese _Liang Kiang_ or “Mild Ginger.”
[“According to the Chinese authors the province of Sze-ch’wan
and Han-chung (Southern Shen-si) were in ancient times famed for
their Ginger. Ginger is still exported in large quantities from
Han k’ou. It is known also to be grown largely in the southern
provinces.—Galingale is the Lesser or Chinese Galanga of commerce,
_Alpinia officinarum_ Hance.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._
I. p. 2. See _Heyd, Com. Levant_, II. 616–618.)—H. C.]
Galangal was much used as a spice in the Middle Ages. In a syrup
for a capon, _temp._ Rich. II., we find ground-ginger, cloves,
cinnamon and _galingale_. “Galingale” appears also as a growth in
old English gardens, but this is believed to have been _Cyperus
Longus_, the tubers of which were substituted for the real article
under the name of English Galingale.
The name appears to be a modification of the Arabic _Kulíjan_,
Pers. _Kholinján_, and these from the Sanskrit _Kulanjana_. (_Mr.
Hanbury; China Comm.-Guide_, 120; _Eng. Cycl.; Garcia_, f. 63;
_Wright_, p. 352.)
NOTE 6.—The cat in question is no doubt the fleecy Persian. These
fowls,—but white,—are mentioned by Odoric at Fu-chau; and Mr.
G. Phillips in a MS. note says that they are still abundant in
Fo-kien, where he has often seen them; all that he saw or heard
of were _white_. The Chinese call them “velvet-hair fowls.” I
believe they are well known to poultry-fanciers in Europe. [_Gallus
Lanatus_, Temm. See note, p. 286, of my edition of Odoric.—H. C.]
NOTE 7.—The _times_ assigned in this chapter as we have given them,
after the G. Text, appear very short; but I have followed that
text because it is perfectly consistent and clear. Starting from
the last city of Kinsay government, the traveller goes six days
south-east; _three_ out of those six days bring him to Kelinfu;
he goes on the other three days and at the 15th mile of the 3rd
day reaches Unken; 15 miles further bring him to Fuju. This is
interesting as showing that Polo reckoned his day at 30 miles.
In Pauthier’s text again we find: “_Sachiez que quand on est alé_
six journées, après ces trois que je vous ay dit,” not having
mentioned _trois_ at all “_on treuve la cité de Quelifu_.” And on
leaving Quelinfu: “_Sachiez que_ es autres trois journées oultre
et plus xv. milles _treuve l’en une cité qui a nom Vuguen_.” This
seems to mean from Cugui to Kelinfu six days, and thence to Vuguen
(or Unken) three and a half days more. But evidently there has
been bungling in the transcript, for the _es autre trois journées_
belongs to the same conception of the distance as that in the G.
T. Pauthier’s text does not say how far it is from Unken to Fuju.
Ramusio makes six days to Kelinfu, three days more to Unguem, and
then 15 miles more to Fuju (which he has erroneously as _Cãgiu_
here, though previously given right, _Fugiu_).
The latter scheme looks probable certainly, but the times in the G.
T. are quite admissible, if we suppose that water conveyance was
adopted where possible.
For assuming that _Cugiu_ was Fortune’s Chuchu at the western
base of the Bohea mountains (see note 3, ch. lxxix.), and that
the traveller reached Tsun-ngan-hien, in two marches, I see that
from Tsin-tsun, near Tsun-ngan-hien, Fortune says he could have
reached Fu-chau in four days by boat. Again Martini, speaking of
the skill with which the Fo-kien boatmen navigate the rocky rapids
of the upper waters, says that even from _Pu-ch’eng_ the descent
to the capital could be made in three days. So the thing is quite
possible, and the G. Text may be quite correct. (See _Fortune_,
II. 171–183 and 210; _Mart._ 110.) A party which recently made the
journey seem to have been six days from _Hokeu_ to the Wu-e-shan
and then five and a half days by water (but in stormy weather) to
Fu-chau. (_Chinese Recorder_, as above.)
NOTE 8.—Pauthier supposes Unken, or _Vuguen_ as he reads it, to be
_Hukwan_, one of the _hiens_ under the immediate administration
of Fu-chau city. This cannot be, according to the lucid reading
of the G. T., making Unken 15 miles from the chief city. The only
place which the maps show about that position is _Min-ts’ing hien_.
And the Dutch mission of 1664–1665 names this as “_Binkin_, by some
called Min-sing.” (_Astley_, III. 461.)
[Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. 224–225): “Going down stream
from Kien-Ning, we arrive first at Yen-Ping on the Min Main River.
Eighty-seven _li_ further down is the mouth of the Yiu-Ki River,
up which stream, at a distance of eighty _li_, is Yiu-Ki city,
where travellers disembark for the land journey to Yung-chun and
Chinchew. This route is the highway from the town of Yiu-Ki to the
seaport of Chinchew. This I consider to have been Polo’s route,
and Ramusio’s Unguen I believe to be Yung-chun, locally known as
Eng-chun or Ung-chun, a name greatly resembling Polo’s Unguen.
I look upon this mere resemblance of name as of small moment in
comparison with the weighty and important statement, that ‘this
place is remarkable for a great manufacture of sugar.’ Going south
from the Min River towards Chinchew, this is the first district
in which sugar-cane is seen growing in any quantity. Between
Kien-Ning-Foo and Fuchau I do not know of any place remarkable
for the _great_ manufacture of sugar. Pauthier makes How-Kuan do
service for Unken or Unguen, but this is inadmissible, as there is
no such place as How-Kuan; it is simply one of the divisions of
the city of Fuchau, which is divided into two districts, viz. the
Min-Hien and the How-Kuan-Hien. A small quantity of sugar-cane is,
I admit, grown in the How-Kuan division of Fuchau-foo, but it is
not extensively made into sugar. The cane grown there is usually
cut into short pieces for chewing and hawked about the streets for
sale. The nearest point to Foochow where sugar is made in any great
quantity is Yung-Foo, a place quite out of Polo’s route. The great
sugar manufacturing districts of Fuh-Kien are Hing-hwa, Yung-chun,
Chinchew, and Chang-chau.”—H. C.]
The _Babylonia_ of the passage from Ramusio is Cairo,—Babylon of
Egypt, the sugar of which was very famous in the Middle Ages.
_Zucchero di Bambellonia_ is repeatedly named in Pegolotti’s
Handbook (210, 311, 362, etc.).
The passage as it stands represents the Chinese as not knowing even
how to get sugar in the granular form: but perhaps the fact was
that they did not know how to _refine_ it. Local Chinese histories
acknowledge that the people of Fo-kien did not know how to make
fine sugar, till, in the time of the Mongols, certain men from
the West taught the art.[2] It is a curious illustration of the
passage that in India coarse sugar is commonly called _Chíní_,
“the produce of China,” and sugar candy or fine sugar _Misri_, the
produce of Cairo (_Babylonia_) or Egypt. Nevertheless, fine _Misri_
has long been exported from Fo-kien to India, and down to 1862 went
direct from Amoy. It is now, Mr. Phillips states, sent to India
by steamers _viâ_ Hong-Kong. I see it stated, in a late Report by
Mr. Consul Medhurst, that the sugar at this day commonly sold and
consumed throughout China is excessively coarse and repulsive in
appearance. (See _Academy_, February, 1874, p. 229.) [We note from
the _Returns of Trade for 1900_, of the Chinese Customs, p. 467,
that during that year 1900, the following quantities of sugar were
exported from Amoy: _Brown_, 89,116 _piculs_, value 204,969 Hk.
taels; _white_, 3,708 _piculs_, 20,024 Hk. taels; _candy_, 53,504
_piculs_, 304,970 Hk. taels.—H. C.]
[Dr. Bretschneider (_Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 2) remarks that
“the sugar cane although not indigenous in China, was known to the
Chinese in the 2nd century B.C. It is largely cultivated in the
Southern provinces.”—H. C.]
The fierce lions are, as usual, tigers. These are numerous in this
province, and tradition points to the diversion of many roads,
owing to their being infested by tigers. Tiger cubs are often
offered for sale in Amoy.[3]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “It is not improbable that there is some admixture of aboriginal
blood in the actual population (of Fuh-Kien), but if so, it cannot
be much. The _surnames_ in this province are the same as those in
Central and North China.... The language also is pure Chinese;
actually much nearer the ancient form of Chinese than the modern
Mandarin dialect. There are indeed many words in the vernacular for
which no corresponding character has been found in the literary
style: but careful investigation is gradually diminishing the
number.” (_Note by Rev. Dr. C. Douglas_.)
[2] _Note_ by _Mr. C. Phillips_. I omit a corroborative quotation about
sugar from the Turkish Geography, copied from Klaproth in the
former edition; because the author, Hajji Khalfa, used European
sources; and I have no doubt the passage was derived indirectly
from Marco Polo.
[3] _Note_ by _Mr. G. Phillips_.
CHAPTER LXXXI.
CONCERNING THE GREATNESS OF THE CITY OF FUJU.
Now this city of Fuju is the key of the kingdom which is called CHONKA,
and which is one of the nine great divisions of Manzi.{1} The city is
a seat of great trade and great manufactures. The people are Idolaters
and subject to the Great Kaan. And a large garrison is maintained there
by that prince to keep the kingdom in peace and subjection. For the
city is one which is apt to revolt on very slight provocation.
There flows through the middle of this city a great river, which is
about a mile in width, and many ships are built at the city which
are launched upon this river. Enormous quantities of sugar are made
there, and there is a great traffic in pearls and precious stones. For
many ships of India come to these parts bringing many merchants who
traffic about the Isles of the Indies. For this city is, as I must
tell you, in the vicinity of the Ocean Port of ZAYTON,{2} which is
greatly frequented by the ships of India with their cargoes of various
merchandize; and from Zayton ships come this way right up to the city
of Fuju by the river I have told you of; and ’tis in this way that the
precious wares of India come hither.{3}
The city is really a very fine one and kept in good order, and all
necessaries of life are there to be had in great abundance and
cheapness.
NOTE 1.—The name here applied to Fo-kien by Polo is variously
written as _Choncha, Chonka, Concha, Chouka_. It has not been
satisfactorily explained. Klaproth and Neumann refer it to
_Kiang-Ché_, of which Fo-kien at one time of the Mongol rule formed
a part. This is the more improbable as Polo expressly distinguishes
this province or kingdom from that which was under Kinsay, viz.
Kiang-Ché. Pauthier supposes the word to represent _Kien-Kwé_, “the
Kingdom of Kien,” because in the 8th century this territory had
formed a principality of which the seat was at _Kien-chau_, now
Kien-ning fu. This is not satisfactory either, for no evidence is
adduced that the name continued in use.
One might suppose that _Choncha_ represented _T’swan-chau_, the
Chinese name of the city of Zayton, or rather of the department
attached to it, written by the French _Thsiuan-tchéou_, but by
Medhurst _Chwanchew_, were it not that Polo’s practice of writing
the term _tchéu_ or _chau_ by _giu_ is so nearly invariable, and
that the soft _ch_ is almost always expressed in the old texts by
the Italian _ci_ (though the Venetian does use the soft _ch_).[1]
It is again impossible not to be struck with the resemblance of
_Chonka_ to “CHUNG-KWÉ” “the Middle Kingdom,” though I can suggest
no ground for the application of such a title specially to Fo-kien,
except a possible misapprehension. _Chonkwé_ occurs in the Persian
_Historia Cathaica_ published by Müller, but is there specially
applied to _North China_. (See _Quat. Rashid._, p. lxxxvi.)
The city of course is FU-CHAU. It was visited also by Friar Odoric,
who calls it _Fuzo_, and it appears in duplicate on the Catalan Map
as _Fugio_ and as _Fozo_.
I used the preceding words, “the city of course is Fu-chau,” in the
first edition. Since then Mr. G. Phillips, of the consular staff
in Fo-kien, has tried to prove that Polo’s Fuju is not Fu-chau
(_Foochow_ is his spelling), but T’swan-chau. This view is bound up
with another regarding the identity of Zayton, which will involve
lengthy notice under next chapter; and both views have met with an
able advocate in the Rev. Dr. C. Douglas, of Amoy.[2] I do not in
the least accept these views about Fuju.
In considering the objections made to Fu-chau, it must never be
forgotten that, according to the spelling usual with Polo or his
scribe, Fuju is not merely “a name with a great resemblance in
sound to Foochow” (as Mr. Phillips has it); it _is_ Mr. Phillips’s
word Foochow, just as absolutely as my word Fu-chau is his word
Foochow. (See remarks almost at the end of the Introductory Essay.)
And what has to be proved against me in this matter is, that when
Polo _speaks_ of Fu-chau he does not _mean_ Fu-chau. It must also
be observed that the distances as given by Polo (three days from
Quelinfu to Fuju, five days from Fuju to Zayton) do correspond well
with my interpretations, and do _not_ correspond with the other.
These are very strong fences of my position, and it demands strong
arguments to level them. The adverse arguments (in brief) are these:
(1.) That Fu-chau was not the capital of Fo-kien (“_chief dou
reigne_”).
(2.) That the River of Fu-chau does not flow through the middle of
the city (“_por le mi de cest cité_”), nor even under the walls.
(3.) That Fu-chau was not frequented by foreign trade till
centuries afterwards.
The first objection will be more conveniently answered under next
chapter.
As regards the second, the fact urged is true. But even now a
straggling street extends to the river, ending in a large suburb
on its banks, and a famous bridge there crosses the river to the
south side where now the foreign settlements are. There _may_ have
been suburbs on that side to justify the _por le mi_, or these
words may have been a slip; for the Traveller begins the next
chapter—“When you quit Fuju (to go south) you _cross the river_.”[3]
Touching the question of foreign commerce, I do not see that Mr.
Phillips’s negative evidence would be sufficient to establish
his point. But, in fact, the words of the Geog. Text (_i.e._ the
original dictation), which we have followed, do not (as I now see)
necessarily involve any foreign trade at Fu-chau, the impression
of which has been derived mainly from Ramusio’s text. They appear
to imply no more than that, through the vicinity of Zayton, there
was a great influx of Indian wares, which were brought on from the
great port by vessels (it may be local junks) ascending the river
Min.[4]
[Illustration: Scene on the Min River, below Fu-chau. (From
Fortune.)
“=E sachiés che por le mi de ceste cité vait un grant flun qe bien
est large un mil, et en ceste cité se font maintes nés lesquelz
najent por cel flum.=”]
[Mr. Phillips gives the following itinerary after Unguen: Kangiu =
Chinchew = Chuan-chiu or Ts’wan-chiu. He writes (_T. Pao_, I. p.
227): “When you leave the city of Chinchew for Changchau, which
lies in a south-westerly, not a south-easterly direction, you cross
the river by a handsome bridge, and travelling for five days by way
of Tung-an, locally Tang-oa, you arrive at Changchau. Along this
route in many parts, more especially in that part lying between
Tang-oa and Changchau, very large camphor-trees are met with. I
have frequently travelled over this road. The road from Fuchau to
Chinchew, which also takes five days to travel over, is bleak and
barren, lying chiefly along the sea-coast, and in winter a most
uncomfortable journey. But few trees are met with; a banyan here
and there, but no camphor-trees along this route; but there is one
extremely interesting feature on it that would strike the most
unobservant traveller, viz.: the Loyang bridge, one of the wonders
of China.” Had Polo travelled by this route, he would certainly
have mentioned it. Pauthier remarks upon Polo’s silence in this
matter: “It is surprising,” says he, “that Marco Polo makes no
mention of it.”—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—The G. T. reads _Caiton_, presumably for Çaiton or Zayton.
In Pauthier’s text, in the following chapter, the name of Zayton is
written _Çaiton_ and _Çayton_, and the name of that port appears
in the same form in the Letter of its Bishop, Andrew of Perugia,
quoted in note 2, ch. lxxxii. Pauthier, however, in _this_ place
reads _Kayteu_, which he develops into a port at the mouth of the
River Min.[5]
NOTE 3.—The Min, the River of Fu-chau, “varies much in width and
depth. Near its mouth, and at some other parts, it is not less than
a mile in width, elsewhere deep and rapid.” It is navigable for
ships of large size 20 miles from the mouth, and for good-sized
junks thence to the great bridge. The scenery is very fine, and is
compared to that of the Hudson. (_Fortune_, I. 281; _Chin. Repos._
XVI. 483.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Dr. Medhurst calls the proper name of the city, as distinct from
the _Fu_, _Chinkang_ (_Dict. of the Hok-keen dialect_). Dr. Douglas
has suggested _Chinkang_, and _T’swan-kok_, _i.e._ “Kingdom of
T’swan” (chau), as possible explanations of _Chonka_.
[2] Mr. Phillips’s views were issued first in the _Chinese Recorder_
(published by Missionaries at Fu-Chau) in 1870, and afterwards
sent to the R. Geo. Soc., in whose Journal for 1874 they appeared,
with remarks in reply more detailed than I can introduce here. Dr.
Douglas’s notes were received after this sheet was in proof, and it
will be seen that they modify to a certain extent my views about
Zayton, though not about Fu-chau. His notes, which do more justice
to the question than Mr. Phillips’s, should find a place with the
other papers in the Geog. Society’s Journal.
[3] There is a capital lithograph of Fu-chau in _Fortune’s Three
Years’ Wanderings_ (1847), in which the city shows as on a river,
and Fortune always so speaks of it; _e.g._ (p. 369): “The river
runs through the suburbs.” I do not know what is the worth of the
old engravings in Montanus. A view of Fu-chau in one of these
(reproduced in _Astley_, iv. 33) shows a broad creek from the river
penetrating to the heart of the city.
[4] The words of the G. T. are these: “_Il hi se fait grant mercandies
de perles e d’autres pieres presiose, e ce est por ce que les nés
de Yndie hi vienent maintes con maint merchaant qe usent en les
ysles de Endie, et encore voz di que ceste ville est prés au port
de Caiton en la mer Osiane; et illuec vienent maintes nés de Indie
con maintes mercandies, e puis de cest part vienent les nés por le
grant flum qe je voz ai dit desoure jusque à la cité de Fugui, et
en ceste mainere hi vienent chieres cousse de Indie._”
[5] It is odd enough that Martini (though M. Pauthier apparently was
not aware of it) does show a fort called _Haiteu_ at the mouth of
the Min; but I believe this to be merely an accidental coincidence.
The various readings must be looked at together; that of the G.
T. which I have followed is clear in itself and accounts for the
others.
CHAPTER LXXXII.
OF THE CITY AND GREAT HAVEN OF ZAYTON.
Now when you quit Fuju and cross the River, you travel for five days
south-east through a fine country, meeting with a constant succession
of flourishing cities, towns, and villages, rich in every product. You
travel by mountains and valleys and plains, and in some places by great
forests in which are many of the trees which give Camphor.{1} There
is plenty of game on the road, both of bird and beast. The people are
all traders and craftsmen, subjects of the Great Kaan, and under the
government of Fuju. When you have accomplished those five days’ journey
you arrive at the very great and noble city of ZAYTON, which is also
subject to Fuju.
At this city you must know is the Haven of Zayton, frequented by all
the ships of India, which bring thither spicery and all other kinds
of costly wares. It is the port also that is frequented by all the
merchants of Manzi, for hither is imported the most astonishing
quantity of goods and of precious stones and pearls, and from this
they are distributed all over Manzi.{2} And I assure you that for one
shipload of pepper that goes to Alexandria or elsewhere, destined for
Christendom, there come a hundred such, aye and more too, to this haven
of Zayton; for it is one of the two greatest havens in the world for
commerce.{3}
The Great Kaan derives a very large revenue from the duties paid in
this city and haven; for you must know that on all the merchandize
imported, including precious stones and pearls, he levies a duty of ten
per cent., or in other words takes tithe of everything. Then again the
ship’s charge for freight on small wares is 30 per cent., on pepper 44
per cent., and on lignaloes, sandalwood, and other bulky goods 40 per
cent., so that between freight and the Kaan’s duties the merchant has
to pay a good half the value of his investment [though on the other
half he makes such a profit that he is always glad to come back with a
new supply of merchandize]. But you may well believe from what I have
said that the Kaan hath a vast revenue from this city.
There is a great abundance here of all provision for every necessity
of man’s life. [It is a charming country, and the people are very
quiet, and fond of an easy life. Many come hither from Upper India to
have their bodies painted with the needle in the way we have elsewhere
described, there being many adepts at this craft in the city.{4}]
Let me tell you also that in this province there is a town called
TYUNJU, where they make vessels of porcelain of all sizes, the finest
that can be imagined. They make it nowhere but in that city, and thence
it is exported all over the world. Here it is abundant and very cheap,
insomuch that for a Venice groat you can buy three dishes so fine that
you could not imagine better.{5}
I should tell you that in this city (_i.e._ of Zayton) they have a
peculiar language. [For you must know that throughout all Manzi they
employ one speech and one kind of writing only, but yet there are
local differences of dialect, as you might say of Genoese, Milanese,
Florentines, and Neapolitans, who though they speak different dialects
can understand one another.{6}]
And I assure you that the Great Kaan has as large customs and revenues
from this kingdom of Chonka as from Kinsay, aye and more too.{7}
We have now spoken of but three out of the nine kingdoms of Manzi, to
wit Yanju and Kinsay and Fuju. We could tell you about the other six,
but it would be too long a business; so we will say no more about them.
And now you have heard all the truth about Cathay and Manzi and many
other countries, as has been set down in this Book; the customs of the
people and the various objects of commerce, the beasts and birds, the
gold and silver and precious stones, and many other matters have been
rehearsed to you. But our Book as yet does not contain nearly all that
we purpose to put therein. For we have still to tell you all about the
people of India and the notable things of that country, which are well
worth the describing, for they are marvellous indeed. What we shall
tell is all true, and without any lies. And we shall set down all the
particulars in writing just as Messer Marco Polo related them. And he
well knew the facts, for he remained so long in India, and enquired so
diligently into the manners and peculiarities of the nations, that I
can assure you there never was a single man before who learned so much
and beheld so much as he did.
NOTE 1.—The _Laurus_ (or _Cinnamomum_) _Camphora_, a large timber
tree, grows abundantly in Fo-kien. A description of the manner in
which camphor is produced at a very low cost, by sublimation from
the chopped twigs, etc., will be found in the _Lettres Edifiantes_,
XXIV. 19 _seqq._; and more briefly in _Hedde_ by _Rondot_, p. 35.
Fo-kien alone has been known to send to Canton in one year 4000
_piculs_ (of 133⅓ lbs. each), but the average is 2500 to 3000
(_ib._).
NOTE 2.—When Marco says Zayton is one of the _two_ greatest
commercial ports in the world, I know not if he has another haven
in his eye, or is only using an idiom of the age. For in like
manner Friar Odoric calls Java “the _second best_ of all Islands
that exist”; and Kansan (or Shen-si) the “_second best_ province in
the world, and the best populated.” But apart from any such idiom,
Ibn Batuta pronounces Zayton to be the greatest haven in the world.
Martini relates that when one of the Emperors wanted to make war on
Japan, the Province of Fo-kien offered to bridge the interval with
their vessels!
ZAYTON, as Martini and Deguignes conjectured, is T’SWAN-CHAU FU, or
CHWAN-CHAU FU (written by French scholars _Thsiouan-tchéou-fou_),
often called in our charts, etc., _Chinchew_, a famous seaport of
Fo-kien about 100 miles in a straight line S.W. by S. of Fu-chau.
Klaproth supposes that the name by which it was known to the
Arabs and other Westerns was corrupted from an old Chinese name
of the city, given in the Imperial Geography, viz. TSEU-T’UNG.[1]
_Zaitún_ commended itself to Arabian ears, being the Arabic for
an olive-tree (whence Jerusalem is called _Zaitúniyah_); but the
corruption (if such it be) must be of very old date, as the city
appears to have received its present name in the 7th or 8th century.
Abulfeda, whose Geography was terminated in 1321, had heard the
real name of Zayton: “_Shanju_” he calls it, “known in our time as
Zaitún”; and again: “Zaitún, _i.e._ Shanju, is a haven of China,
and, according to the accounts of merchants who have travelled to
those parts, is a city of mark. It is situated on a marine estuary
which ships enter from the China Sea. The estuary extends fifteen
miles, and there is a river at the head of it. According to some
who have seen the place, the tide flows. It is half a day from the
sea, and the channel by which ships come up from the sea is of
fresh water. It is smaller in size than Hamath, and has the remains
of a wall which was destroyed by the Tartars. The people drink
water from the channel, and also from wells.”
Friar Odoric (in China, _circa_ 1323–1327, who travelled apparently
by land from Chin-kalán, _i.e._ Canton) says: “Passing through many
cities and towns, I came to a certain noble city which is called
Zayton, where we Friars Minor have two Houses.... In this city is
great plenty of all things that are needful for human subsistence.
For example, you can get three pounds and eight ounces of sugar
for less than half a groat. The city is twice as great as Bologna,
and in it are many monasteries of devotees, idol-worshippers every
man of them. In one of those monasteries which I visited there
were 3000 monks.... The place is one of the best in the world....
Thence I passed eastward to a certain city called Fuzo.... The
city is a mighty fine one, and standeth upon the sea.” Andrew of
Perugia, another Franciscan, was Bishop of Zayton from 1322, having
resided there from 1318. In 1326 he writes a letter home, in which
he speaks of the place as “a great city on the shores of the Ocean
Sea, which is called in the Persian tongue _Cayton_ (Çayton); and
in this city a rich Armenian lady did build a large and fine enough
church, which was erected into a cathedral by the Archbishop,”
and so on. He speaks incidentally of the Genoese merchants
frequenting it. John Marignolli, who was there about 1347, calls
it “a wondrous fine sea-port, and a city of incredible size, where
our Minor Friars have three very fine churches; ... and they have
a bath also, and a _fondaco_ which serves as a depôt for all the
merchants.” Ibn Batuta about the same time says: “The first city
that I reached after crossing the sea was ZAITÚN.... It is a great
city, superb indeed; and in it they make damasks of velvet as well
as those of satin (_Kimkhá_ and _Atlás_), which are called from the
name of the city _Zatúníah_; they are superior to the stuffs of
Khansá and Khánbálik. The harbour of Zaitún is one of the greatest
in the world—I am wrong; it is _the_ greatest! I have seen there
about an hundred first-class junks together; as for small ones,
they were past counting. The harbour is formed by an estuary which
runs inland from the sea until it joins the Great River.”
[Mr. Geo. Phillips finds a strong argument in favour of Changchau
being Zayton in this passage of Ibn Batuta. He says (_Jour. China
Br. R. A. Soc._ 1888, 28–29): “Changchow in the Middle Ages was
the seat of a great silk manufacture, and the production of its
looms, such as gauzes, satins and velvets, were said to exceed in
beauty those of Soochow and Hangchow. According to the _Fuhkien
Gazetteer_, silk goods under the name of Kinki, and porcelain were,
at the end of the Sung Dynasty, ordered to be taken abroad and to
be bartered against foreign wares, treasure having been prohibited
to leave the country. In this Kinki I think we may recognise the
Kimkha of IBN BATUTA. I incline to this fact, as the characters
Kinki are pronounced in the Amoy and Changchow dialects Khimkhi
and Kimkhia. Anxious to learn if the manufacture of these silk
goods still existed in Changchow, I communicated with the Rev.
Dr. TALMAGE of Amoy, who, through the Rev. Mr. Ross of the London
Mission, gave me the information that Kinki was formerly somewhat
extensively manufactured at Changchow, although at present it
was only made by one shop in that city. IBN BATUTA tells us that
the King of China had sent to the Sultan, five hundred pieces of
Kamkha, of which one hundred were made in the city of Zaitún. This
form of present appears to have been continued by the Emperors of
the Ming Dynasty, for we learn that the Emperor Yunglo gave to
the Envoy of the Sultan of Quilon, presents of Kinki and Shalo,
that is to say, brocaded silks and gauzes. Since writing the
above, I found that Dr. HIRTH suggests that the characters Kinhua,
meaning literally gold flower in the sense of silk embroidery,
possibly represent the mediæval Khimka. I incline rather to my own
suggestion. In the _Pei-wen-yun-fu_ these characters Kien-ki are
frequently met in combination, meaning a silk texture, such as
brocade or tapestry. Curtains made of this texture are mentioned
in Chinese books, as early as the commencement of the Christian
era.”—H. C.]
Rashiduddin, in enumerating the Sings or great provincial
governments of the empire, has the following: “7th FUCHÚ.—This
is a city of Manzi. The Sing was formerly located at ZAITÚN,
but afterwards established here, where it still remains. Zaitún
is a great shipping-port, and the commandant there is Boháuddin
Ḳandári.” Pauthier’s Chinese extracts show us that the seat of the
_Sing_ was, in 1281, at T’swan-chau, but was then transferred to
Fu-chau. In 1282 it was removed back to T’swan-chau, and in 1283
recalled to Fu-chau. That is to say, what the Persian writer tells
us of Fújú and Zayton, the Chinese Annalists tell us of Fu-chau and
T’swan-chau. Therefore Fuju and Zayton were respectively Fu-chau
and T’swan-chau.
[In the _Yuen-shi_ (ch. 94), _Shi po_, Maritime trade regulations,
it “is stated, among other things, that in 1277, a superintendency
of foreign trade was established in Ts’uän-chou. Another
superintendency was established for the three ports of K’ing-yüan
(the present Ning-po), Shang-hai, and Gan-p’u. These three ports
depended on the province of Fu-kien, the capital of which was
Ts’üan-chou. Farther on, the ports of Hang-chou and Fu-chou are
also mentioned in connection with foreign trade. Chang-chou (in
Fu-kien, near Amoy) is only once spoken of there. We meet further
the names of Wen-chou and Kuang-chou as seaports for foreign
trade in the Mongol time. But Ts’üan-chou in this article on the
sea-trade seems to be considered as the most important of the
seaports, and it is repeatedly referred to. I have, therefore,
no doubt that the port of Zayton of Western mediæval travellers
can only be identified with Ts’uän-chou, not with Chang-chou....
There are many other reasons found in Chinese works in favour of
this view. Gan-p’u of the _Yuen-shi_ is the seaport Ganfu of Marco
Polo.” (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. pp. 186–187.)
In his paper on _Changchow, the Capital of Fuhkien in Mongol
Times_, printed in the _Jour. China B. R. A. Soc._ 1888, pp. 22–30,
Mr. Geo. Phillips from Chinese works has shown that the Port of
Chang-chau did, in Mongol times, alternate with Chinchew and
Fu-chau as the capital of Fuh-kien.—H. C.]
Further, Zayton was, as we see from this chapter, and from the
2nd and 5th of Bk. III., in that age the great focus and harbour
of communication with India and the Islands. From Zayton sailed
Kúblái’s ill-fated expedition against Japan. From Zayton Marco
Polo seems to have sailed on his return to the West, as did John
Marignolli some half century later. At Zayton Ibn Batuta first
landed in China, and from it he sailed on his return.
All that we find quoted from Chinese records regarding
_T’swan-chau_ corresponds to these Western statements regarding
_Zayton_. For centuries T’swan-chau was the seat of the Customs
Department of Fo-kien, nor was this finally removed till 1473.
In all the historical notices of the arrival of ships and
missions from India and the Indian Islands during the reign of
Kúblái, T’swan-chau, and T’swan-chau almost alone, is the port of
debarkation; in the notices of Indian regions in the annals of the
same reign it is from T’swan-chau that the distances are estimated;
it was from T’swan-chau that the expeditions against Japan and Java
were mainly fitted out. (See quotations by Pauthier, pp. 559, 570,
604, 653, 603, 643; _Gaubil_, 205, 217; _Deguignes_, III. 169, 175,
180, 187; _Chinese Recorder_ (Foochow), 1870, pp. 45 _seqq._)
When the Portuguese, in the 16th century, recovered China to
European knowledge, Zayton was no longer the great haven of foreign
trade; but yet the old name was not extinct among the mariners of
Western Asia. Giovanni d’Empoli, in 1515, writing about China from
Cochin, says: “Ships carry spices thither from these parts. Every
year there go thither from Sumatra 60,000 cantars of pepper, and
15,000 or 20,000 from Cochin and Malabar, worth 15 to 20 ducats a
cantar; besides ginger (?), mace, nutmegs, incense, aloes, velvet,
European goldwire, coral, woollens, etc. The Grand Can is the King
of China, and he dwells at ZEITON.” Giovanni hoped to get to Zeiton
before he died.[2]
The port of T’swan-chau is generally called in our modern charts
_Chinchew_. Now _Chincheo_ is the name given by the old Portuguese
navigators to the coast of Fo-kien, as well as to the port which
they frequented there, and till recently I supposed this to be
T’swan-chau. But Mr. Phillips, in his paper alluded to at p.
232, asserted that by _Chincheo_ modern Spaniards and Portuguese
designated (not T’swan-chau but) _Chang-chau_, a great city 60
miles W.S.W. of T’swan-chau, on a river entering Amoy Harbour. On
turning, with this hint, to the old maps of the 17th century, I
found that their Chincheo is really Chang-chau. But Mr. Phillips
also maintains that Chang-chau, or rather its port, a place
formerly called Gehkong and now Haiteng, is _Zayton_. Mr. Phillips
does not adduce any precise evidence to show that this place was
known as a port in Mongol times, far less that it was known as
the most famous haven in the world; nor was I able to attach great
weight to the arguments which he adduced. But his thesis, or a
modification of it, has been taken up and maintained with more
force, as already intimated, by the Rev. Dr. Douglas.
The latter makes a strong point in the magnificent character of
Amoy Harbour, which really is one of the grandest havens in the
world, and thus answers better to the emphatic language of Polo,
and of Ibn Batuta, than the river of T’swan-chau. All the rivers of
Fo-kien, as I learn from Dr. Douglas himself, are rapidly silting
up; and it is probable that the river of Chinchew presented, in
the 13th and 14th centuries, a far more impressive aspect as a
commercial basin than it does now. But still it must have been
far below Amoy Harbour in magnitude, depth, and accessibility.
I have before recognised this, but saw no way to reconcile the
proposed deduction with the positive historical facts already
stated, which absolutely (to my mind) identify the Zayton of Polo
and Rashiduddin with the Chinese city and port of T’swan-chau.
Dr. Douglas, however, points out that the whole northern shore
of Amoy Harbour, with the Islands of Amoy and Quemoy, are within
the Fu or Department of T’swan-chau; and the latter name would,
in Chinese parlance, apply equally to the city and to any part of
the department. He cites among other analogous cases the Treaty
Port Neuchwang (in Liao-tong). That city really lies 20 miles up
the Liao River, but the name of Neuchwang is habitually applied by
foreigners to Ying-tzŭ, which is the actual port. Even now much
of the trade of T’swan-chau merchants is carried on through Amoy,
either by junks touching, or by using the shorter sea-passage to
’An-hai, which was once a port of great trade, and is only 20
miles from T’swan-chau.[3] With such a haven as Amoy Harbour close
by, it is improbable that Kúblái’s vast armaments would have made
_rendezvous_ in the comparatively inconvenient port of T’swan-chau.
Probably then the two were spoken of as one. In all this I
recognise strong likelihood, and nothing inconsistent with recorded
facts, or with Polo’s concise statements. It is even possible that
(as Dr. Douglas thinks) Polo’s words intimate a distinction between
Zayton the City and Zayton the Ocean Port; but for me Zayton the
city, in Polo’s chapters, remains still T’swan-chau. Dr. Douglas,
however, seems disposed to regard it as _Chang-chau_.
The chief arguments urged for this last identity are: (1.) Ibn
Batuta’s representation of his having embarked at Zayton “on
the river,” _i.e._ on the internal navigation system of China,
first for Sin-kalán (Canton), and afterwards for Kinsay. This
could not, it is urged, be T’swan-chau, the river of which has no
communication with the internal navigation, whereas the river at
Chang-chau has such communication, constantly made use of in both
directions (interrupted only by brief portages); (2.) Martini’s
mention of the finding various Catholic remains, such as crosses
and images of the Virgin, at Chang-chau, in the early part of the
17th century, indicating that city as the probable site of the
Franciscan establishments.
[I remember that the argument brought forward by Mr. Phillips in
favour of Changchow which most forcibly struck Sir H. Yule, was
the finding of various Christian remains at this place, and Mr.
Phillips wrote (_Jour. China Br. R. A. Soc._ 1888, 27–28): “We
learn from the history of the Franciscan missions that two churches
were built in Zaitun, one in the city and the other in a forest not
far from the town. MARTINI makes mention of relics being found in
the city of Changchow, and also of a missal which he tried in vain
to purchase from its owner, who gave as a reason for not parting
with it, that it had been in his family for several generations.
According to the history of the Spanish Dominicans in China, ruins
of churches were used in rebuilding the city walls, many of the
stones having crosses cut on them.” Another singular discovery
relating to these missions, is one mentioned by Father VITTORIO
RICCI, which would seem to point distinctly to the remains of the
Franciscan church built by ANDRÉ DE PÉROUSE outside the city of
Zaitun: “The heathen of Changchow,” says RICCI, “found buried in a
neighbouring hill called Saysou another cross of a most beautiful
form cut out of a single block of stone, which I had the pleasure
of placing in my church in that city. The heathen were alike
ignorant of the time when it was made and how it came to be buried
there.”—H. C.]
[Illustration: SKETCH MAP of the GREAT PORTS OF FOKIEN to
illustrate the Identity of Marco Polo’s ZAYTON.]
Whether the application by foreigners of the term Zayton, may, by
some possible change in trade arrangements in the quarter-century
after Polo’s departure from China, have undergone a transfer, is
a question which it would be vain to answer positively without
further evidence. But as regards Polo’s Zayton, I continue in
the belief that this was T’swan-chau _and its haven_, with the
admission that this haven may probably have embraced that great
basin called Amoy Harbour, or part of it.[4]
[Besides the two papers I have already mentioned, the late Mr.
Phillips has published, since the last edition of Marco Polo, in
the _T’oung-Pao_, VI. and VII.: _Two Mediæval Fuh-kien Trading
Ports: Chüan-chow and Chang-chow_. He has certainly given many
proofs of the importance of Chang-chau at the time of the Mongol
Dynasty, and one might well hesitate (I know it was also the
feeling of Sir Henry Yule at the end of his life) between this
city and T’swan-chau, but the weak point of his controversy is his
theory about Fu-chau. However, Mr. George Phillips, who died in
1896, gathered much valuable material, of which we have made use;
it is only fair to pay this tribute to the memory of this learned
consul.—H. C.]
Martini (_circa_ 1650) describes T’swan-chau as delightfully
situated on a promontory between two branches of the estuary which
forms the harbour, and these so deep that the largest ships could
come up to the walls on either side. A great suburb, Loyang, lay
beyond the northern water, connected with the city by the most
celebrated bridge in China. Collinson’s Chart in some points below
the town gives only 1¼ fathom for the present depth, but Dr.
Douglas tells me he has even now occasionally seen large junks come
close to the city.
Chinchew, though now occasionally visited by missionaries and
others, is not a Treaty port, and we have not a great deal of
information about its modern state. It is the head-quarters of the
_T’i-tuh_, or general commanding the troops in Fo-kien. The walls
have a circuit of 7 or 8 miles, but embracing much vacant ground.
The chief exports now are tea and sugar, which are largely grown
in the vicinity, tobacco, china-ware, nankeens, etc. There are
still to be seen (as I learn from Mr. Phillips) the ruins of a fine
mosque, said to have been founded by the Arab traders who resorted
thither. The English Presbyterian Church Mission has had a chapel
in the city for about ten years.
Zayton, we have seen from Ibn Batuta’s report, was famed for
rich satins called _Zaitúníah_. I have suggested in another
work (_Cathay_, p. 486) that this may be the origin of our word
_Satin_, through the _Zettani_ of mediæval Italian (or _Aceytuni_
of mediæval Spanish). And I am more strongly disposed to support
this, seeing that Francisque-Michel, in considering the origin of
_Satin_, hesitates between _Satalin_ from Satalia in Asia Minor
and _Soudanin_ from the Soudan or Sultan; neither half so probable
as _Zaituni_. I may add that in a French list of charges of 1352
we find the intermediate form _Zatony_. _Satin_ in the modern form
occurs in Chaucer:—
“In Surrie whilom dwelt a compagnie
Of chapmen rich, and therto sad and trewe,
That widë where senten their spicerie,
Clothes of gold, and _satins_ riche of hewe.”
—_Man of Lawe’s Tale_, st. 6.
[Hatzfeld (_Dict._) derives _satin_ from the Italian _setino_; and
_setino_ from SETA, pig’s hair, and gives the following example:
“Deux aunes et un quartier de satin vremeil,” in _Caffiaux,
Abattis de maisons à Gommegnies_, p. 17, 14th century. The
Portuguese have _setim_. But I willingly accept Sir Henry Yule’s
suggestion that the origin of the word is Zayton; cf. _zeitun_
زيتون olive.
“The King [of Bijánagar] ... was clothed in a robe of _zaitún_
satin.” (_Elliot_, IV. p. 113, who adds in a note _zaitún_:
Olive-coloured?) And again (_Ibid._ p. 120): “Before the throne
there was placed a cushion of _zaitúni_ satin, round which three
rows of the most exquisite pearls were sewn.”—H. C.]
(_Recherches_, etc., II. 229 _seqq._; _Martini_, _circa_ p. 110;
_Klaproth, Mém._ II. 209–210; _Cathay_, cxciii. 268, 223, 355, 486;
_Empoli_ in _Append._ vol. iii. 87 to _Archivio Storico Italiano;
Douet d’Arcq._ p. 342; _Galv., Discoveries of the World_, Hak.
Soc. p. 129; Marsden, 1st ed. p. 372; _Appendix to Trade Report of
Amoy_, for 1868 and 1900. [_Heyd, Com. Levant_, II. 701–702.])
NOTE 3.—We have referred in a former note (ch. lxxvii. note 7) to
an apparent change in regard to the Chinese consumption of pepper,
which is now said to be trifling. We shall see in the first chapter
of Bk. III. that Polo estimates the tonnage of Chinese junks by
the number of baskets of pepper they carried, and we have seen in
last note the large estimate by Giov. d’Empoli of the quantity that
went to China in 1515. Galvano also, speaking of the adventure of
Fernão Perez d’Andrade to China in 1517, says that he took in at
Pacem a cargo of pepper, “as being the chief article of trade that
is valued in China.” And it is evident from what Marsden says in
his _History of Sumatra_, that in the last century some tangible
quantity was still sent to China. The export from the Company’s
plantations in Sumatra averaged 1200 tons, of which the greater
part came to Europe, _the rest_ went to China.
[Couto says also: “Os portos principaes do Reyno da Sunda são
Banta, Aché, Xacatara, por outro nome Caravão, aos quaes vam
todos os annos mui perto de vinte sommas, que são embarcações do
Chincheo, huma das Provincias maritimas da China, a carregar de
pimenta, porque dá este Reyno todos os annos oito mil bares della,
que são trinta mil quintaes.” (_Decada_ IV. Liv. III. Cap. I. 167.)]
NOTE 4.—These tattooing artists were probably employed mainly
by mariners frequenting the port. We do not know if the Malays
practised tattooing before their conversion to Islam. But most
Indo-Chinese races tattoo, and the Japanese still “have the greater
part of the body and limbs scrolled over with bright-blue dragons,
and lions, and tigers, and figures of men and women tattooed into
their skins with the most artistic and elaborate ornamentation.”
(_Alcock_, I. 191.) Probably the Arab sailors also indulged in the
same kind of decoration. It is common among the Arab women now, and
Della Valle speaks of it as in his time so much in vogue among both
sexes through Egypt, Arabia, and Babylonia, that _he_ had not been
able to escape. (I. 395.)
NOTE 5.—The divergence in Ramusio’s version is here very notable:
“The River which enters the Port of Zayton is great and wide,
running with great velocity, and is a branch of that which flows
by the city of Kinsay. And at the place where it quits the main
channel is the city of Tingui, of which all that is to be said is
that there they make porcelain basins and dishes. The manner of
making porcelain was thus related to him. They excavate a certain
kind of earth, as it were from a mine, and this they heap into
great piles, and then leave it undisturbed and exposed to wind,
rain, and sun for 30 or 40 years. In this space of time the earth
becomes sufficiently refined for the manufacture of porcelain; they
then colour it at their discretion, and bake it in a furnace. Those
who excavate the clay do so always therefore for their sons and
grandsons. The articles are so cheap in that city that you get 8
bowls for a Venice groat.”
Ibn Batuta speaks of porcelain as manufactured at Zayton; indeed he
says positively (and wrongly): “Porcelain is made nowhere in China
except in the cities of Zaitun and Sinkalan” (Canton). A good
deal of China ware in modern times _is_ made in Fo-kien and Canton
provinces, and it is still an article of export from T’swan-chau
and Amoy; but it is only of a very ordinary kind. Pakwiha, between
Amoy and Chang-chau, is mentioned in the _Chinese Commercial
Guide_ (p. 114) as now the place where the coarse blue ware, so
largely exported to India, etc., is largely manufactured; and
Phillips mentions Tung-’an (about half-way between T’swan-chau and
Chang-chau) as a great seat of this manufacture.
Looking, however, to the Ramusian interpolations, which do not
indicate a locality necessarily near Zayton, or even in Fo-kien, it
is possible that Murray is right in supposing the place intended
_in these_ to be really _King-tê chên_ in Kiang-si, the great seat
of the manufacture of genuine porcelain, or rather its chief mart
JAU-CHAU FU on the P’o-yang Lake.
The geographical indication of this city of porcelain, as at the
place where a branch of the River of Kinsay flows off towards
Zayton, points to a notion prevalent in the Middle Ages as to the
interdivergence of rivers in general, and especially of Chinese
rivers. This notion will be found well embodied in the Catalan Map,
and something like it in the maps of the Chinese themselves;[5] it
is a ruling idea with Ibn Batuta, who, as we have seen (in note 2),
speaks of the River of Zayton as connected in the interior with
“the Great River,” and who travels by this waterway accordingly
from Zayton to Kinsay, taking no notice of the mountains of
Fo-kien. So also (_supra_, p. 175) Rashiduddin had been led to
suppose that the Great Canal extended to Zayton. With apparently
the same idea of one Great River of China with many ramifications,
Abulfeda places most of the great cities of China upon “The River.”
The “Great River of China,” with its branches to Kinsay, is alluded
to in a like spirit by Wassáf (_supra_, p. 213). Polo has already
indicated the same idea (p. 219).
Assuming this as the notion involved in the passage from Ramusio,
the position of _Jau-chau_ might be fairly described as that of
Tingui is therein, standing as it does on the P’o-yang Lake, from
which there is such a ramification of internal navigation, _e.g._
to Kinsay or Hang-chau fu directly by Kwansin, the Chang-shan
portage already referred to (_supra_, p. 222), and the Ts’ien T’ang
(and this is the Kinsay River line to which I imagine Polo here to
refer), or circuitously by the Yang-tzŭ and Great Canal; to Canton
by the portage of the Meiling Pass; and to the cities of Fo-kien
either by the Kwansin River or by Kian-chan fu, further south, with
a portage in each case across the Fo-kien mountains. None of our
maps give any idea of the extent of internal navigation in China.
(See _Klaproth, Mém_. vol. iii.)
The story of the life-long period during which the porcelain clay
was exposed to temper long held its ground, and probably was only
dispelled by the publication of the details of the King-tê chên
manufacture by Père d’Entrecolles in the _Lettres Edifiantes_.
NOTE 6.—The meagre statement in the French texts shows merely
that Polo had heard of the Fo-kien dialect. The addition from
Ramusio shows further that he was aware of the unity of the written
character throughout China, but gives no indication of knowledge
of its peculiar principles, nor of the extent of difference in the
spoken dialects. Even different districts of Fo-kien, according to
Martini, use dialects so different that they understand each other
with difficulty (108).
[Mendoza already said: “It is an admirable thing to consider how
that in that kingdome they doo speake manie languages, the one
differing from the other: yet generallie in writing they doo
understand one the other, and in speaking not.” (_Parke’s Transl._
p. 93.)]
Professor Kidd, speaking of his instructors in the Mandarin and
Fo-kien dialects respectively, says: “The teachers in both cases
read the same books, composed in the same style, and attached
precisely the same ideas to the written symbols, but could not
understand each other in conversation.” Moreover, besides these
sounds attaching to the Chinese characters when read in the dialect
of Fo-kien, thus discrepant from the sounds used in reading the
same characters in the Mandarin dialect, yet _another_ class of
sounds is used to express the same ideas in the Fo-kien dialect
when it is used colloquially and without reference to written
symbols! (_Kidd’s China_, etc., pp. 21–23.)
The term _Fokien dialect_ in the preceding passage is ambiguous,
as will be seen from the following remarks, which have been
derived from the Preface and Appendices to the Rev. Dr. Douglas’s
Dictionary of the Spoken Language of Amoy,[6] and which throw a
distinct light on the subject of this note:—
“The vernacular or spoken language of Amoy is not a mere colloquial
dialect or _patois_, it is a _distinct language_—one of the many
and widely differing spoken languages which divide among them
the soil of China. For these spoken languages are not _dialects_
of one language, but cognate languages, bearing to each other a
relation similar to that between Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac, or
between English, Dutch, German, and Danish. The so-called ‘_written
language_’ is indeed uniform throughout the whole country, but that
is rather a _notation_ than a language. And this written language,
as read aloud from books, is not _spoken_ in any place whatever,
under any form of pronunciation. The most learned men never employ
it as a means of ordinary oral communication even among themselves.
It is, in fact, a _dead language_, related to the various spoken
languages of China, somewhat as Latin is to the languages of
Southern Europe.
“Again: Dialects, properly speaking, of the Amoy vernacular
language are found (_e.g._) in the neighbouring districts of
Changchew, Chinchew, and Tungan, and the language with its
subordinate dialects is believed to be spoken by 8 or 10 millions
of people. Of the other languages of China the most nearly related
to the Amoy is the vernacular of Chau-chau-fu, often called ‘the
Swatow dialect,’ from the only treaty-port in that region. The
ancestors of the people speaking it emigrated many years ago from
Fuh-kien, and are still distinguished there by the appellation
_Hok-ló_, _i.e._ people from Hok-kien (or Fuh-kien). This language
differs from the Amoy, much as Dutch differs from German, or
Portuguese from Spanish.
“In the Island of Hai-nan (Hái-lâm), again (setting aside the
central aborigines), a language is spoken which differs from Amoy
more than that of Swatow, but is more nearly related to these two
than to any other of the languages of China.
“In Fuh-chau fu we have another language which is largely spoken
in the centre and north of Fuh-kien. This has many points of
resemblance to the Amoy, but is quite unintelligible to the Amoy
people, with the exception of an occasional word or phrase.
“Hing-hwa fu (Heng-hoà), between Fuh-chau and Chinchew, has also a
language of its own, though containing only two _Hien_ districts.
It is alleged to be unintelligible both at Amoy and at Fuhchau.
“To the other languages of China that of Amoy is less closely
related; yet all evidently spring from one common stock. But that
common stock is _not_ the modern Mandarin dialect, but the ancient
form of the Chinese language as spoken some 3000 years ago. The
so-called _Mandarin_, far from being the original form, is usually
more changed than any. It is in the ancient form of the language
(naturally) that the relation of Chinese to other languages can
best be traced; and as the Amoy vernacular, which very generally
retains the final consonants in their original shape, has been one
of the chief sources from which the ancient form of Chinese has
been recovered, the study of that vernacular is of considerable
importance.”
NOTE 7.—This is inconsistent with his former statements as to the
supreme wealth of Kinsay. But with Marco the subject in hand is
always _pro magnifico_.
Ramusio says that the Traveller will now “begin to speak of the
territories, cities, and provinces of the Greater, Lesser, and
Middle India, in which regions he was when in the service of the
Great Kaan, being sent thither on divers matters of business. And
then again when he returned to the same quarter with the queen of
King Argon, and with his father and uncle, on his way back to his
native land. So he will relate the strange things that he saw in
those Indies, not omitting others which he heard related by persons
of reputation and worthy of credit, and things that were pointed
out to him on the maps of manners of the Indies aforesaid.”
[Illustration: The Kaan’s Fleet leaving the Port of Zayton.]
[Illustration: Marco Polo’s Itineraries Nᵒ. VI. (Book II, Chapters
67–82) Journey through Manzi _Polo’s names thus_ Kinsay]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Dr. C. Douglas objects to this derivation of _Zayton_, that
the place was never called _Tseut’ung_ absolutely, but
_T’seu-t’ung-ching_, “city of prickly T’ung-trees”; and this not as
a name, but as a polite literary epithet, somewhat like “City of
Palaces” applied to Calcutta.
[2] Giovanni did not get to Zayton; but two years later he got to
Canton with Fernão Perez, was sent ashore as Factor, and a few days
after died of fever. (De Barros, III. II. viii.) The way in which
Botero, a compiler in the latter part of the 16th century, speaks
of Zayton as between Canton and Liampo (Ningpo), and exporting
immense quantities of porcelain, salt and sugar, looks as if he
had before him modern information as to the place. He likewise
observes, “All the moderns note the port of Zaiton between Canton
and Liampo.” Yet I know no other modern allusion except Giovanni
d’Empoli’s; and that was printed only a few years ago. (_Botero,
Relazione Universale_, pp. 97, 228.)
[3] Martini says of Ganhai (’An-Hai or Ngan-Hai), “Ingens hic mercium
ac Sinensium navium copia est ... ex his (’Anhai and Amoy) in totam
Indiam merces avehuntur.”
[4] Dr. Douglas assures me that the cut at p. 245 is an _excellent_
view of the entrance to the S. channel of the _Chang-chau
River_, though I derived it from a professed view of the mouth
of the _Chinchew River_. I find he is quite right; see _List of
Illustrations_.
[5] In a modern Chinese geographical work abstracted by Mr. Laidlay, we
are told that the great river of _Tsim-lo_, or Siam, “penetrates to
a branch of the Hwang-Ho.” (_J. A. S. B._ XVII. Pt. I. 157.)
[6] CHINESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY _of the Vernacular or Spoken language of
Amoy, with the principal variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew
Dialects_; _by the_ Rev. Carstairs Douglas, M.A., LL.D., Glasg.,
Missionary of the Presb. Church in England. (Trübner, 1873.) I must
note that I have not access to the book itself, but condense these
remarks from extracts and abstracts made by a friend at my request.
BOOK THIRD.
JAPAN, THE ARCHIPELAGO, SOUTHERN INDIA, AND THE COASTS
AND ISLANDS OF THE INDIAN SEA
[Illustration: The Kaan’s Fleet passing through the Indian Archipelago.
“=Fist aparoiller xiv. nés, lesquels avoit chascune iv. arbres, et
maintes foies aloient à xii. voiles ... et najérent bién iii. mois,
tant k’il vindrent a vne Ysle qui es ver midi ...=”]
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
OF THE MERCHANT SHIPS OF MANZI THAT SAIL UPON THE INDIAN SEAS.
Having finished our discourse concerning those countries wherewith our
Book hath been occupied thus far, we are now about to enter on the
subject of INDIA, and to tell you of all the wonders thereof.
And first let us speak of the ships in which merchants go to and fro
amongst the Isles of India.
These ships, you must know, are of fir timber.{1} They have but one
deck, though each of them contains some 50 or 60 cabins, wherein
the merchants abide greatly at their ease, every man having one to
himself. The ship hath but one rudder, but it hath four masts; and
sometimes they have two additional masts, which they ship and unship at
pleasure.{2}
[Moreover the larger of their vessels have some thirteen compartments
or severances in the interior, made with planking strongly framed, in
case mayhap the ship should spring a leak, either by running on a rock
or by the blow of a hungry whale (as shall betide ofttimes, for when
the ship in her course by night sends a ripple back alongside of the
whale, the creature seeing the foam fancies there is something to eat
afloat, and makes a rush forward, whereby it often shall stave in
some part of the ship). In such case the water that enters the leak
flows to the bilge, which is always kept clear; and the mariners having
ascertained where the damage is, empty the cargo from that compartment
into those adjoining, for the planking is so well fitted that the water
cannot pass from one compartment to another. They then stop the leak
and replace the lading.{3}]
The fastenings are all of good iron nails and the sides are double, one
plank laid over the other, and caulked outside and in. The planks are
not pitched, for those people do not have any pitch, but they daub the
sides with another matter, deemed by them far better than pitch; it
is this. You see they take some lime and some chopped hemp, and these
they knead together with a certain wood-oil; and when the three are
thoroughly amalgamated, they hold like any glue. And with this mixture
they do paint their ships.{4}
Each of their great ships requires at least 200 mariners [some of them
300]. They are indeed of great size, for one ship shall carry 5000 or
6000 baskets of pepper [and they used formerly to be larger than they
are now]. And aboard these ships, you must know, when there is no wind
they use sweeps, and these sweeps are so big that to pull them requires
four mariners to each.{5} Every great ship has certain large barks or
tenders attached to it; these are large enough to carry 1000 baskets of
pepper, and carry 50 or 60 mariners apiece [some of them 80 or 100],
and they are likewise moved by oars; they assist the great ship by
towing her, at such times as her sweeps are in use [or even when she
is under sail, if the wind be somewhat on the beam; not if the wind be
astern, for then the sails of the big ship would take the wind out of
those of the tenders, and she would run them down]. Each ship has two
[or three] of these barks, but one is bigger than the others. There
are also some ten [small] boats for the service of each great ship, to
lay out the anchors, catch fish, bring supplies aboard, and the like.
When the ship is under sail she carries these boats slung to her sides.
And the large tenders have their boats in like manner.
When the ship has been a year in work and they wish to repair her,
they nail on a third plank over the first two, and caulk and pay it
well; and when another repair is wanted they nail on yet another plank,
and so on year by year as it is required. Howbeit, they do this only
for a certain number of years, and till there are six thicknesses of
planking. When a ship has come to have six planks on her sides, one
over the other, they take her no more on the high seas, but make use
of her for coasting as long as she will last, and then they break her
up.{6}
Now that I have told you about the ships which sail upon the Ocean Sea
and among the Isles of India, let us proceed to speak of the various
wonders of India; but first and foremost I must tell you about a number
of Islands that there are in that part of the Ocean Sea where we now
are, I mean the Islands lying to the eastward. So let us begin with an
Island which is called Chipangu.
NOTE 1.—Pine [_Pinus sinensis_] is [still] the staple timber for
ship-building both at Canton and in Fo-kien. There is a very large
export of it from Fu-chau, and even the chief fuel at that city
is from a kind of fir. Several varieties of pine-wood are also
brought down the rivers for sale at Canton. (_N. and Q._, _China
and Japan_, I. 170; _Fortune_, I. 286; _Doolittle_.)
NOTE 2.—Note the _one rudder_ again. (_Supra_, Bk. I. ch. xix.
note 3.) One of the shifting masts was probably a bowsprit, which,
according to Lecomte, the Chinese occasionally use, very slight,
and planted on the larboard bow.
NOTE 3.—The system of water-tight compartments, for the description
of which we have to thank Ramusio’s text, in our own time
introduced into European construction, is still maintained by the
Chinese, not only in sea-going junks, but in the larger river
craft. (See _Mid. Kingd._ II. 25; _Blakiston_, 88; _Deguignes_, I.
204–206.)
NOTE 4.—This still remains quite correct, hemp, old nets, and the
fibre of a certain creeper being used for oakum. The _wood-oil_ is
derived from a tree called _Tong-shu_, I do not know if identical
with the wood-oil trees of Arakan and Pegu (_Dipterocarpus laevis_).
[“What goes under the name of ‘wood-oil’ to-day in China is the
poisonous oil obtained from the nuts of _Elæococca verrucosa_. It
is much used for painting and caulking ships.” (_Bretschneider,
Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 4.)—H. C.]
NOTE 5.—The junks that visit Singapore still use these sweeps. (_J.
Ind. Arch._ II. 607.) Ibn Batuta puts a much larger number of men
to each. It will be seen from his account below that great ropes
were attached to the oars to pull by, the bulk of timber being too
large to grasp; as in the old French galleys wooden _manettes_ or
grips, were attached to the oar for the same purpose.
NOTE 6.—The Chinese sea-going vessels of those days were apparently
larger than was at all common in European navigation. Marco here
speaks of 200 (or in Ramusio up to 300) mariners, a large crew
indeed for a merchant vessel, but not so great as is implied in
Odoric’s statement, that the ship in which he went from India to
China had 700 souls on board. The numbers carried by Chinese junks
are occasionally still enormous. “In February, 1822, Captain Pearl,
of the English ship _Indiana_, coming through Caspar Straits,
fell in with the cargo and crew of a wrecked junk, and saved 198
persons out of 1600, with whom she had left Amoy, whom he landed
at Pontianak. This humane act cost him 11,000_l._” (Quoted by
_Williams_ from _Chin. Rep._ VI. 149.)
The following are some other mediæval accounts of the China
shipping, all unanimous as to the main facts.
_Friar Jordanus_:—“The vessels which they navigate to Cathay be
very big, and have upon the ship’s hull more than one hundred
cabins, and with a fair wind they carry ten sails, and they are
very bulky, being made of three thicknesses of plank, so that the
first thickness is as in our great ships, the second crosswise, the
third again longwise. In sooth, ’tis a very strong affair!” (55.)
_Nicolo Conti_:—“They build some ships much larger than ours,
capable of containing 2000 butts (_vegetes_), with five masts and
five sails. The lower part is constructed with triple planking,
in order to withstand the force of the tempests to which they are
exposed. And the ships are divided into compartments, so formed
that if one part be shattered the rest remains in good order, and
enables the vessel to complete its voyage.”
_Ibn Batuta_:—“Chinese ships only are used in navigating the sea
of China.... There are three classes of these: (1) the Large,
which are called _Jonúk_ (sing. _Junk_); (2) the Middling, which
are called _Zao_; and (3) the Small, called _Kakam_. Each of the
greater ships has from twelve sails down to three. These are made
of bamboo laths woven into a kind of mat; they are never lowered,
and they are braced this way and that as the wind may blow. When
these vessels anchor the sails are allowed to fly loose. Each ship
has a crew of 1000 men, viz. 600 mariners and 400 soldiers, among
whom are archers, target-men, and cross-bow men to shoot naphtha.
Each large vessel is attended by three others, which are called
respectively ‘The Half,’ ‘The Third,’ and ‘The Quarter.’ These
vessels are built only at Zayton, in China, and at Sínkalán or
Sín-ul-Sín (_i.e._ Canton). This is the way they are built. They
construct two walls of timber, which they connect by very thick
slabs of wood, clenching all fast this way and that with huge
spikes, each of which is three cubits in length. When the two walls
have been united by these slabs they apply the bottom planking,
and then launch the hull before completing the construction. The
timbers projecting from the sides towards the water serve the crew
for going down to wash and for other needs. And to these projecting
timbers are attached the oars, which are like masts in size, and
need from 10 to 15 men[1] to ply each of them. There are about 20
of these great oars, and the rowers at each oar stand in two ranks
facing one another. The oars are provided with two strong cords or
cables; each rank pulls at one of these and then lets go, whilst
the other rank pulls on the opposite cable. These rowers have a
pleasant chaunt at their work usually, singing Lá’ la! Lá’ la![2]
The three tenders which we have mentioned above also use oars, and
tow the great ships when required.
“On each ship four decks are constructed; and there are cabins and
public rooms for the merchants. Some of these cabins are provided
with closets and other conveniences, and they have keys so that
their tenants can lock them, and carry with them their wives or
concubines. The crew in some of the cabins have their children,
and they sow kitchen herbs, ginger, etc., in wooden buckets. The
captain is a very great Don; and when he lands, the archers and
negro-slaves march before him with javelins, swords, drums, horns,
and trumpets.” (IV. pp. 91 _seqq._ and 247 _seqq._ combined.)
Comparing this very interesting description with Polo’s, we see
that they agree in all essentials except size and the number of
decks. It is not unlikely that the revival of the trade with India,
which Kúblái stimulated, may have in its development under his
successors led to the revival also of the larger ships of former
times to which Marco alludes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Or even 30 (p. 248).
[2] Corresponding to the “Hevelow and rumbelow” of the Christian
oarsmen. (See _Cœur de Lion_ in _Weber_, II. 99.)
CHAPTER II.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF CHIPANGU, AND THE GREAT KAAN’S
DESPATCH OF A HOST AGAINST IT.
Chipangu is an Island towards the east in the high seas, 1500 miles
distant from the Continent; and a very great Island it is.{1}
The people are white, civilized, and well-favoured. They are Idolaters,
and are dependent on nobody. And I can tell you the quantity of gold
they have is endless; for they find it in their own Islands, [and the
King does not allow it to be exported. Moreover] few merchants visit
the country because it is so far from the main land, and thus it comes
to pass that their gold is abundant beyond all measure.{2}
I will tell you a wonderful thing about the Palace of the Lord of that
Island. You must know that he hath a great Palace which is entirely
roofed with fine gold, just as our churches are roofed with lead,
insomuch that it would scarcely be possible to estimate its value.
Moreover, all the pavement of the Palace, and the floors of its
chambers, are entirely of gold, in plates like slabs of stone, a good
two fingers thick; and the windows also are of gold, so that altogether
the richness of this Palace is past all bounds and all belief.{3}
[Illustration: Ancient Japanese Emperor. (After a Native Drawing; from
Humbert.)]
They have also pearls in abundance, which are of a rose colour, but
fine, big, and round, and quite as valuable as the white ones. [In this
Island some of the dead are buried, and others are burnt. When a body
is burnt, they put one of these pearls in the mouth, for such is their
custom.] They have also quantities of other precious stones.{4}
Cublay, the Grand Kaan who now reigneth, having heard much of the
immense wealth that was in this Island, formed a plan to get possession
of it. For this purpose he sent two of his Barons with a great navy,
and a great force of horse and foot. These Barons were able and valiant
men, one of them called ABACAN and the other VONSAINCHIN, and they
weighed with all their company from the ports of Zayton and Kinsay, and
put out to sea. They sailed until they reached the Island aforesaid,
and there they landed, and occupied the open country and the villages,
but did not succeed in getting possession of any city or castle. And so
a disaster befel them, as I shall now relate.
You must know that there was much ill-will between those two Barons, so
that one would do nothing to help the other. And it came to pass that
there arose a north wind which blew with great fury, and caused great
damage along the coasts of that Island, for its harbours were few. It
blew so hard that the Great Kaan’s fleet could not stand against it.
And when the chiefs saw that, they came to the conclusion that if the
ships remained where they were the whole navy would perish. So they all
got on board and made sail to leave the country. But when they had gone
about four miles they came to a small Island, on which they were driven
ashore in spite of all they could do; and a large part of the fleet was
wrecked, and a great multitude of the force perished, so that there
escaped only some 30,000 men, who took refuge on this Island.
These held themselves for dead men, for they were without food, and
knew not what to do, and they were in great despair when they saw
that such of the ships as had escaped the storm were making full sail
for their own country without the slightest sign of turning back to
help them. And this was because of the bitter hatred between the two
Barons in command of the force; for the Baron who escaped never showed
the slightest desire to return to his colleague who was left upon the
Island in the way you have heard; though he might easily have done so
after the storm ceased; and it endured not long. He did nothing of the
kind, however, but made straight for home. And you must know that the
Island to which the soldiers had escaped was uninhabited; there was not
a creature upon it but themselves.
Now we will tell you what befel those who escaped on the fleet, and
also those who were left upon the Island.
NOTE 1.—✛CHIPANGU represents the Chinese _Jih-pên-kwé_, the kingdom
of Japan, the name Jih-pên being the Chinese pronunciation, of
which the term _Nippon_, _Niphon_ or _Nihon_, used in Japan, is
a dialectic variation, both meaning “the origin of the sun,” or
sun-rising, the place the sun comes from. The name _Chipangu_ is
used also by Rashiduddin. Our _Japan_ was probably taken from the
Malay _Japún_ or _Japáng_.
[“The name _Nihon_ (‘Japan’) seems to have been first officially
employed by the Japanese Government in A.D. 670. Before that time,
the usual native designation of the country was _Yamato_, properly
the name of one of the central provinces. Yamato and _Ō-mi-kuni_,
that is, ‘the Great August Country,’ are the names still preferred
in poetry and _belles-lettres_. Japan has other ancient names, some
of which are of learned length and thundering sound, for instance,
_Toyo-ashi-wara-no-chi-aki-no-naga-i-ho-aki-no-mizu-ho-no-kuni_,
that is ‘the Luxuriant-Reed-Plains-the-Land-of-Fresh-Rice-Ears-of-
a-Thousand-Autumns-of-Long-Five-Hundred-Autumns.’” (_B. H.
Chamberlain_, _Things Japanese_, 3rd ed. p. 222.)—H. C.]
It is remarkable that the name _Nipon_ occurs, in the form of
_Al-Náfún_, in the _Ikhwán-al-Safá_, supposed to date from the 10th
century. (See _J. A. S. B._ XVII. Pt. I. 502.)
[I shall merely mention the strange theory of Mr. George
Collingridge that _Zipangu_ is Java and not Japan in his paper on
_The Early Cartography of Japan_. (_Geog. Jour._ May, 1894, pp.
403–409.) Mr. F. G. Kramp (_Japan or Java?_), in the _Tijdschrift
v. het K. Nederl. Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, 1894, and Mr. H.
Yule Oldham (_Geog. Jour._, September, 1894, pp. 276–279), have
fully replied to this paper.—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—The causes briefly mentioned in the text maintained the
abundance and low price of gold in Japan till the recent opening of
the trade. (See Bk. II. ch. 1. note 5.) Edrisi had heard that gold
in the isles of Sila (or Japan) was so abundant that dog-collars
were made of it.
NOTE 3.—This was doubtless an old “yarn,” repeated from generation
to generation. We find in a Chinese work quoted by Amyot: “The
palace of the king (of Japan) is remarkable for its singular
construction. It is a vast edifice, of extraordinary height; it has
nine stories, and presents on all sides an exterior shining with
the purest gold.” (_Mém. conc. les Chinois_, XIV. 55.) See also a
like story in Kaempfer. (_H. du Japon_, I. 139.)
[Illustration: Ancient Japanese Archer. (From a Native Drawing.)]
NOTE 4.—Kaempfer speaks of pearls being found in considerable
numbers, chiefly about Satsuma, and in the Gulf of Omura, in
Kiusiu. From what Alcock says they do not seem now to be abundant.
(_Ib._ I. 95; _Alcock_, I. 200.) No precious stones are mentioned
by Kaempfer.
Rose-tinted pearls are frequent among the Scotch pearls, and,
according to Mr. King, those of this tint are of late the most
highly esteemed in Paris. Such pearls were perhaps also most highly
esteemed in old India; for red pearls (_Lohitamukti_) form one
of the seven precious objects which it was incumbent to use in
the adornment of Buddhistic reliquaries, and to distribute at the
building of a Dagoba. (_Nat. Hist. of Prec. Stones_, etc., 263;
_Koeppen_, I. 541.)
CHAPTER III.
WHAT FURTHER CAME OF THE GREAT KAAN’S EXPEDITION AGAINST
CHIPANGU.
You see those who were left upon the Island, some 30,000 souls, as I
have said, did hold themselves for dead men, for they saw no possible
means of escape. And when the King of the Great Island got news how the
one part of the expedition had saved themselves upon that Isle, and
the other part was scattered and fled, he was right glad thereat, and
he gathered together all the ships of his territory and proceeded with
them, the sea now being calm, to the little Isle, and landed his troops
all round it. And when the Tartars saw them thus arrive, and the whole
force landed, without any guard having been left on board the ships
(the act of men very little acquainted with such work), they had the
sagacity to feign flight. [Now the Island was very high in the middle,
and whilst the enemy were hastening after them by one road they fetched
a compass by another and] in this way managed to reach the enemy’s
ships and to get aboard of them. This they did easily enough, for they
encountered no opposition.
Once they were on board they got under weigh immediately for the great
Island, and landed there, carrying with them the standards and banners
of the King of the Island; and in this wise they advanced to the
capital. The garrison of the city, suspecting nothing wrong, when they
saw their own banners advancing supposed that it was their own host
returning, and so gave them admittance. The Tartars as soon as they had
got in seized all the bulwarks and drove out all who were in the place
except the pretty women, and these they kept for themselves. In this
way the Great Kaan’s people got possession of the city.
When the King of the great Island and his army perceived that both
fleet and city were lost, they were greatly cast down; howbeit, they
got away to the great Island on board some of the ships which had not
been carried off. And the King then gathered all his host to the siege
of the city, and invested it so straitly that no one could go in or
come out. Those who were within held the place for seven months, and
strove by all means to send word to the Great Kaan; but it was all in
vain, they never could get the intelligence carried to him. So when
they saw they could hold out no longer they gave themselves up, on
condition that their lives should be spared, but still that they should
never quit the Island. And this befel in the year of our Lord 1279.{1}
The Great Kaan ordered the Baron who had fled so disgracefully to lose
his head. And afterwards he caused the other also, who had been left
on the Island, to be put to death, for he had never behaved as a good
soldier ought to do.{2}
But I must tell you a wonderful thing that I had forgotten, which
happened on this expedition.
You see, at the beginning of the affair, when the Kaan’s people had
landed on the great Island and occupied the open country as I told you,
they stormed a tower belonging to some of the islanders who refused to
surrender, and they cut off the heads of all the garrison except eight;
on these eight they found it impossible to inflict any wound! Now this
was by virtue of certain stones which they had in their arms inserted
between the skin and the flesh, with such skill as not to show at all
externally. And the charm and virtue of these stones was such that
those who wore them could never perish by steel. So when the Barons
learned this they ordered the men to be beaten to death with clubs.
And after their death the stones were extracted from the bodies of all,
and were greatly prized.{3}
Now the story of the discomfiture of the Great Kaan’s folk came to pass
as I have told you. But let us have done with that matter, and return
to our subject.
NOTE 1.—Kúblái had long hankered after the conquest of Japan,
or had at least, after his fashion, desired to obtain an
acknowledgment of supremacy from the Japanese sovereign. He had
taken steps in this view as early as 1266, but entirely without
success. The fullest accessible particulars respecting his efforts
are contained in the Japanese Annals translated by Titsing; and
these are in complete accordance with the Chinese histories as
given by Gaubil, De Mailla, and in Pauthier’s extracts, so far as
these three latter enter into particulars. But it seems clear from
the comparison that the Japanese chronicler had the Chinese Annals
in his hands.
In 1268, 1269, 1270, and 1271, Kúblái’s efforts were repeated to
little purpose, and, provoked at this, in 1274, he sent a fleet of
300 vessels with 15,000 men against Japan. This was defeated near
the Island of Tsushima with heavy loss.
Nevertheless Kúblái seems in the following years to have renewed
his attempts at negotiation. The Japanese patience was exhausted,
and, in 1280, they put one of his ambassadors to death.
“As soon as the Moko (Mongols) heard of this, they assembled
a considerable army to conquer Japan. When informed of their
preparations, the Dairi sent ambassadors to Ize and other temples
to invoke the gods. Fosiono Toki Mune, who resided at Kama Kura,
ordered troops to assemble at Tsukuzi (_Tsikouzen_ of Alcock’s
Map), and sent ... numerous detachments to Miyako to guard the
Dairi and the Togou (Heir Apparent) against all danger.... In the
first moon (of 1281) the Mongols named Asikan (Ngo Tsa-han[1]),
Fan-bunko (Fan Wen-hu), Kinto (Hintu), and Kosakio (Hung
Cha-khieu), Generals of their army, which consisted of 100,000 men,
and was embarked on numerous ships of war. Asikan fell ill on the
passage, and this made the second General (Fan Wen-hu) undecided as
to his course.
“_7th Month_. The entire fleet arrived at the Island of Firando
(P’hing-hu), and passed thence to Goriosan (Ulungshan). The troops
of Tsukuzi were under arms. _1st_ of _3rd Month_. A frightful storm
arose; the Mongol ships foundered or were sorely shattered. The
General (Fan Wen-hu) fled with the other Generals on the vessels
that had least suffered; nobody has ever heard what became of them.
The army of 100,000 men, which had landed below Goriosan, wandered
about for three days without provisions; and the soldiers began to
plan the building of vessels in which they might escape to China.
“_7th day_. The Japanese army invested and attacked them with
great vigour. The Mongols were totally defeated. 30,000 of them
were made prisoners and conducted to Fakata (the _Fokouoka_ of
Alcock’s Map, but _Fakatta_ in Kaempfer’s), and there put to death.
Grace was extended to only (three men), who were sent to China
with the intelligence of the fate of the army. The destruction of
so numerous a fleet was considered the most evident proof of the
protection of the gods.” (_Titsingh_, pp. 264–265.) At p. 259 of
the same work Klaproth gives another account from the Japanese
Encyclopædia; the difference is not material.
The Chinese Annals, in De Mailla, state that the Japanese spared
10,000 or 12,000 of the Southern Chinese, whom they retained as
slaves. Gaubil says that 30,000 Mongols were put to death, whilst
70,000 Coreans and Chinese were made slaves.
Kúblái was loth to put up with this huge discomfiture, and in
1283 he made preparations for another expedition; but the project
excited strong discontent; so strong that some Buddhist monks whom
he sent before to collect information, were thrown overboard by the
Chinese sailors; and he gave it up. (_De Mailla_, IX. 409; 418,
428; _Gaubil_, 195; _Deguignes_, III. 177.)
[Illustration: Japanese in fight with Chinese. (After Siebold, from
an ancient Japanese drawing.)
“=Or ensint avint ceste estoire de la desconfiture de les gens dou
Grant Kaan.=”]
The Abacan of Polo is probably the Asikan of the Japanese, whom
Gaubil calls _Argan_. Vonsainchin is _perhaps_ Fan Wen-hu with the
Chinese title of _Tsiang-Kiun_ or General (elsewhere represented in
Polo by _Sangon_),—FAN TSIANG-KIUN.
We see that, as usual, whilst Marco’s account in some of the main
features concurs with that of the histories, he gives a good many
additional particulars, some of which, such as the ill-will
between the Generals, are no doubt genuine. But of the story of the
capture of the Japanese capital by the shipwrecked army we know not
what to make: we can’t accept it certainly.
[The _Korea Review_ publishes a _History of Korea_ based upon
Korean and Chinese sources, from which we gather some interesting
facts regarding the relations of China, Korea, and Japan at the
time of Kúblái: “In 1265, the seed was sown that led to the
attempted invasion of Japan by the Mongols. A Koryŭ citizen, Cho
I., found his way to Peking, and there, having gained the ear of
the emperor, told him that the Mongol powers ought to secure the
vassalage of Japan. The emperor listened favourably and determined
to make advances in that direction. He therefore appointed Heuk
Chŭk and Eun Hong as envoys to Japan, and ordered them to go
by way of Koryŭ and take with them to Japan a Koryŭ envoy as
well. Arriving in Koryŭ they delivered this message to the king,
and two officials, Son Kun-bi and Kim Ch’an, were appointed to
accompany them to Japan. They proceeded by the way of Kŏje Harbor
in Kyŭng-sang Province, but were driven back by a fierce storm,
and the king sent the Mongol envoys back to Peking. The Emperor
was ill satisfied with the outcome of the adventure, and sent Heuk
Chŭk with a letter to the king, ordering him to forward the Mongol
envoy to Japan. The message which he was to deliver to the ruler of
Japan said, ‘The Mongol power is kindly disposed towards you and
desires to open friendly intercourse with you. She does not desire
your submission, but if you accept her patronage, the great Mongol
empire will cover the earth.’ The king forwarded the message with
the envoys to Japan, and informed the emperor of the fact.... The
Mongol and Koryŭ envoys, upon reaching the Japanese capital, were
treated with marked disrespect.... They remained five months, ...
and at last they were dismissed without receiving any answer either
to the emperor or to the king.” (II. pp. 37, 38.)
Such was the beginning of the difficulties with Japan; this is
the end of them: “The following year, 1283, changed the emperor’s
purpose. He had time to hear the whole story of the sufferings
of his army in the last invasion; the impossibility of squeezing
anything more out of Koryŭ, and the delicate condition of home
affairs, united in causing him to give up the project of conquering
Japan, and he countermanded the order for the building of boats and
the storing of grain.” (II. p. 82.)
Japan was then, for more than a century (A.D. 1205–1333), governed
really in the name of the descendants of Yoritomo, who proved
unworthy of their great ancestor “by the so-called ‘Regents’ of the
Hōjō family, while their liege lords, the Shōguns, though keeping a
nominal court at Kamakura, were for all that period little better
than empty names. So completely were the Hōjōs masters of the whole
country, that they actually had their deputy governors at Kyōtō
and in Kyūshū in the south-west, and thought nothing of banishing
Mikados to distant islands. Their rule was made memorable by the
repulse of the Mongol fleet sent by Kúblái Khan with the purpose of
adding Japan to his gigantic dominions. This was at the end of the
13th century, since which time Japan has never been attacked from
without.” (_B. H. Chamberlain_, _Things Japanese_, 3rd ed., 1898,
pp. 208–209.)
The sovereigns (_Mikado_, _Tennō_) of Japan during this period
were: _Kameyama_-Tennō (1260; abdicated 1274; repulse of the
Mongols); _Go-Uda_-Tennō (1275; abdicated 1287); _Fushimi_-Tennō
(1288; abdicated 1298); and _Go-Fushimi_ Tennō. The _shikken_
(prime ministers) were Hōjō _Tokiyori_ (1246); Hōjō _Tokimune_
(1261); Hōjō _Sadatoki_ (1284). In 1266 Prince _Kore-yasu_ and in
1289 _Hisa-akira_, were appointed _shōgun_.—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—_Ram._ says he was sent to a certain island called Zorza
(_Chorcha?_), where men who have failed in duty are put to death
in this manner: They wrap the arms of the victim in the hide of a
newly flayed buffalo, and sew it tight. As this dries it compresses
him so terribly that he cannot move, and so, finding no help,
his life ends in misery. The same kind of torture is reported of
different countries in the East: _e.g._ see _Makrizi_, Pt. III. p.
108, and Pottinger, as quoted by Marsden _in loco_. It also appears
among the tortures of a Buddhist hell as represented in a temple at
Canton. (_Oliphant’s Narrative_, I. 168.)
NOTE 3.—Like devices to procure invulnerability are common in the
Indo-Chinese countries. The Burmese sometimes insert pellets of
gold under the skin with this view. At a meeting of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal in 1868, gold and silver coins were shown, which
had been extracted from under the skin of a Burmese convict who had
been executed at the Andaman Islands. Friar Odoric speaks of the
practice in one of the Indian Islands (apparently Borneo); and the
stones possessing such virtue were, according to him, found in the
bamboo, presumably the siliceous concretions called _Tabashir_.
Conti also describes the practice in Java of inserting such amulets
under the skin. The Malays of Sumatra, too, have great faith in
the efficacy of certain “stones, which they pretend are extracted
from reptiles, birds, animals, etc., in preventing them from being
wounded.” (See _Mission to Ava_, p. 208; _Cathay_, 94; _Conti_, p.
32; _Proc. As. Soc. Beng._ 1868, p. 116; _Anderson’s Mission to
Sumatra_, p. 323.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] These names in parentheses are the Chinese forms; the others, the
Japanese modes of reading them.
CHAPTER IV.
CONCERNING THE FASHION OF THE IDOLS.
Now you must know that the Idols of Cathay, and of Manzi, and of this
Island, are all of the same class. And in this Island as well as
elsewhere, there be some of the Idols that have the head of an ox, some
that have the head of a pig, some of a dog, some of a sheep, and some
of divers other kinds. And some of them have four heads, whilst some
have three, one growing out of either shoulder. There are also some
that have four hands, some ten, some a thousand! And they do put more
faith in those Idols that have a thousand hands than in any of the
others.{1} And when any Christian asks them why they make their Idols
in so many different guises, and not all alike, they reply that just so
their forefathers were wont to have them made, and just so they will
leave them to their children, and these to the after generations. And
so they will be handed down for ever. And you must understand that the
deeds ascribed to these Idols are such a parcel of devilries as it
is best not to tell. So let us have done with the Idols, and speak of
other things.
But I must tell you one thing still concerning that Island (and ’tis
the same with the other Indian Islands), that if the natives take
prisoner an enemy who cannot pay a ransom, he who hath the prisoner
summons all his friends and relations, and they put the prisoner to
death, and then they cook him and eat him, and they say there is no
meat in the world so good!—But now we _will_ have done with that Island
and speak of something else.
You must know the Sea in which lie the Islands of those parts is called
the SEA OF CHIN, which is as much as to say “The Sea over against
Manzi.” For, in the language of those Isles, when they say _Chin_, ’tis
Manzi they mean. And I tell you with regard to that Eastern Sea of
Chin, according to what is said by the experienced pilots and mariners
of those parts, there be 7459 Islands in the waters frequented by the
said mariners; and that is how they know the fact, for their whole
life is spent in navigating that sea. And there is not one of those
Islands but produces valuable and odorous woods like the lignaloe,
aye and better too; and they produce also a great variety of spices.
For example in those Islands grows pepper as white as snow, as well
as the black in great quantities. In fact the riches of those Islands
is something wonderful, whether in gold or precious stones, or in all
manner of spicery; but they lie so far off from the main land that it
is hard to get to them. And when the ships of Zayton and Kinsay do
voyage thither they make vast profits by their venture.{2}
It takes them a whole year for the voyage, going in winter and
returning in summer. For in that Sea there are but two winds that blow,
the one that carries them outward and the other that brings them
homeward; and the one of these winds blows all the winter, and the
other all the summer. And you must know these regions are so far from
India that it takes a long time also for the voyage thence.
Though that Sea is called the Sea of Chin, as I have told you, yet
it is part of the Ocean Sea all the same. But just as in these parts
people talk of the Sea of England and the Sea of Rochelle, so in those
countries they speak of the Sea of Chin and the Sea of India, and so
on, though they all are but parts of the Ocean.{3}
Now let us have done with that region which is very inaccessible and
out of the way. Moreover, Messer Marco Polo never was there. And let me
tell you the Great Kaan has nothing to do with them, nor do they render
him any tribute or service.
So let us go back to Zayton and take up the order of our book from that
point.{4}
NOTE 1.—“Several of the (Chinese) gods have horns on the forehead,
or wear animals’ heads; some have three eyes.... Some are
represented in the Indian manner with a multiplicity of arms. We
saw at Yang-cheu fu a goddess with thirty arms.” (_Deguignes_, I.
364–366.)
The reference to any particular form of idolatry here is vague.
But in Tibetan Buddhism, with which Marco was familiar, all these
extravagances are prominent, though repugnant to the more orthodox
Buddhism of the South.
When the Dalai Lama came to visit the Altun Khan, to secure the
reconversion of the Mongols in 1577, he appeared as a manifest
embodiment of the Bodhisatva Avalokiteçvara, with _four hands_, of
which two were always folded across the breast! The same Bodhisatva
is sometimes represented with eleven heads. Manjushri manifests
himself in a golden body with 1000 hands and 1000 _Pátras_ or
vessels, in each of which were 1000 figures of Sakya visible, etc.
(_Koeppen_, II. 137; _Vassilyev_, 200.)
NOTE 2.—Polo seems in this passage to be speaking of the more
easterly Islands of the Archipelago, such as the Philippines, the
Moluccas, etc., but with vague ideas of their position.
NOTE 3.—In this passage alone Polo makes use of the now familiar
name of CHINA. “_Chin_,” as he says, “in the language of those Isles
means _Manzi_.” In fact, though the form _Chin_ is more correctly
Persian, we do get the exact form _China_ from “the language of
those Isles,” _i.e._ from the _Malay_. _China_ is also used in
Japanese.
What he says about the Ocean and the various names of its parts
is nearly a version of a passage in the geographical Poem of
Dionysius, ending:—
Οὕτωϛ Ὠκεανὸς περιδέδρομε λαῖαν ἅπασαν
Τοῖος ἐὼν καὶ τοῖα μετ’ ἀνδράσιν οὐνόμαθ’ ἔλκων (42–3).
So also Abulfeda: “This is the sea which flows from the Ocean
Sea.... This sea takes the names of the countries it washes. Its
eastern extremity is called the Sea of Chin ... the part west of
this is called the Sea of India ... then comes the Sea of Fárs, the
Sea of Berbera, and lastly the Sea of Kolzum” (Red Sea).
NOTE 4.—The Ramusian here inserts a short chapter, shown by
the awkward way in which it comes in to be a very manifest
interpolation, though possibly still an interpolation by the
Traveller’s hand:—
“Leaving the port of Zayton you sail westward and something
south-westward for 1500 miles, passing a gulf called CHEINAN,
having a length of two months’ sail towards the north. Along
the whole of its south-east side it borders on the province of
Manzi, and on the other side with Anin and Coloman, and many
other provinces formerly spoken of. Within this Gulf there are
innumerable Islands, almost all well-peopled; and in these is found
a great quantity of gold-dust, which is collected from the sea
where the rivers discharge. There is copper also, and other things;
and the people drive a trade with each other in the things that are
peculiar to their respective Islands. They have also a traffic with
the people of the mainland, selling them gold and copper and other
things; and purchasing in turn what they stand in need of. In the
greater part of these Islands plenty of corn grows. This gulf is so
great, and inhabited by so many people, that it seems like a world
in itself.”
This passage is translated by Marsden with much forcing, so as to
describe the China Sea, embracing the Philippine Islands, etc.;
but, as a matter of fact, it seems clearly to indicate the writer’s
conception as of a great gulf running up into the continent between
Southern China and Tong-king for a length equal to two months’
journey.
The name of the gulf, Cheinan, _i.e._ _Heinan_, may either be
that of the Island so called, or, as I rather incline to suppose,
_’An-nan_, _i.e._ Tong-king. But even by Camoens, writing at Macao
in 1559–1560, the Gulf of Hainan is styled an unknown sea (though
this perhaps is only appropriate to the prophetic speaker):—
“Vês, corre a costa, que Champa se chama,
Cuja mata he do pao cheiroso ornada:
Vês, Cauchichina está de escura fama,
_E de Aināo vê a incognita enseada_” (X. 129).
And in Sir Robert Dudley’s _Arcano del Mare_ (Firenze, 1647), we
find a great bottle-necked gulf, of some 5½° in length, running up
to the north from Tong-king, very much as I have represented the
Gulf of Cheinan in the attempt to realise Polo’s Own Geography.
(See map in Introductory Essay.)
CHAPTER V.
OF THE GREAT COUNTRY CALLED CHAMBA.
You must know that on leaving the port of Zayton you sail
west-south-west for 1500 miles, and then you come to a country called
CHAMBA,{1} a very rich region, having a king of its own. The people are
Idolaters and pay a yearly tribute to the Great Kaan, which consists
of elephants and nothing but elephants. And I will tell you how they
came to pay this tribute.
It happened in the year of Christ 1278 that the Great Kaan sent a Baron
of his called Sagatu with a great force of horse and foot against this
King of Chamba, and this Baron opened the war on a great scale against
the King and his country.
Now the King [whose name was Accambale] was a very aged man, nor had
he such a force as the Baron had. And when he saw what havoc the Baron
was making with his kingdom he was grieved to the heart. So he bade
messengers get ready and despatched them to the Great Kaan. And they
said to the Kaan: “Our Lord the King of Chamba salutes you as his
liege-lord, and would have you to know that he is stricken in years
and long hath held his realm in peace. And now he sends you word by
us that he is willing to be your liegeman, and will send you every
year a tribute of as many elephants as you please. And he prays you in
all gentleness and humility that you would send word to your Baron to
desist from harrying his kingdom and to quit his territories. These
shall henceforth be at your absolute disposal, and the King shall hold
them of you.”
When the Great Kaan had heard the King’s ambassage he was moved with
pity, and sent word to that Baron of his to quit that kingdom with his
army, and to carry his arms to the conquest of some other country; and
as soon as this command reached them they obeyed it. Thus it was then
that this King became vassal of the Great Kaan, and paid him every year
a tribute of 20 of the greatest and finest elephants that were to be
found in the country.
But now we will leave that matter, and tell you other particulars about
the King of Chamba.
You must know that in that kingdom no woman is allowed to marry until
the King shall have seen her; if the woman pleases him then he takes
her to wife; if she does not, he gives her a dowry to get her a husband
withal. In the year of Christ 1285, Messer Marco Polo was in that
country, and at that time the King had, between sons and daughters, 326
children, of whom at least 150 were men fit to carry arms.{2}
There are very great numbers of elephants in this kingdom, and they
have lignaloes in great abundance. They have also extensive forests
of the wood called _Bonús_, which is jet-black, and of which chessmen
and pen-cases are made. But there is nought more to tell, so let us
proceed.{3}
NOTE 1.—✛The name CHAMPA is of Indian origin, like the adjoining
Kamboja and many other names in Indo-China, and was probably taken
from that of an ancient Hindu city and state on the Ganges, near
modern Bhágalpúr. Hiuen Tsang, in the 7th century, makes mention of
the Indo-Chinese state as Mahāchampā (_Pèl. Boudd._, III. 83.)
The title of Champa down to the 15th century seems to have been
applied by Western Asiatics to a kingdom which embraced the whole
coast between Tong-king and Kamboja, including all that is now
called Cochin China outside of Tong-king. It was termed by the
Chinese _Chen-Ching_. In 1471 the King of Tong-king, Lê Thanh-tong,
conquered the country, and the genuine people of Champa were
reduced to a small number occupying the mountains of the province
of Binh Thuan at the extreme south-east of the Coch. Chinese
territory. To this part of the coast the name Champa is often
applied in maps. (See _J. A._ sér. II. tom. xi. p. 31, and _J. des
Savans_, 1822, p. 71.) The people of Champa in this restricted
sense are said to exhibit Malay affinities, and they profess
Mahomedanism. [“The Mussulmans of Binh-Thuan call themselves _Bani_
or _Orang Bani_, ‘men mussulmans,’ probably from the Arabic _beni_
‘the sons,’ to distinguish them from the Chams _Djat_ ‘of race,’
which they name also _Kaphir_ or _Akaphir_, from the Arabic word
_kafer_ ‘pagans.’ These names are used in _Binh-Thuan_ to make
a distinction, but Banis and Kaphirs alike are all Chams.... In
Cambodia all Chams are Mussulmans.” (_E. Aymonier, Les Tchames_, p.
26.) The religion of the pagan Chams of Binh-Thuan is degenerate
Brahmanism with three chief gods, Po-Nagar, Po-Romé, and
Po-Klong-Garaï. (_Ibid._, p. 35.)—H. C.] The books of their former
religion they say (according to Dr. Bastian) that they received
from Ceylon, but they were converted to Islamism by no less a
person than ’Ali himself. The Tong-king people received their
Buddhism from China, and this tradition puts Champa as the extreme
flood-mark of that great tide of Buddhist proselytism, which went
forth from Ceylon to the Indo-Chinese regions in an early century
of our era, and which is generally connected with the name of
Buddaghosha.
The prominent position of Champa on the route to China made its
ports places of call for many ages, and in the earliest record of
the Arab navigation to China we find the country noticed under
the identical name (allowing for the deficiencies of the Arabic
Alphabet) of _Ṣanf_ or _Chanf_. Indeed it is highly probable that
the Ζάβα or Ζάβαι of Ptolemy’s itinerary of the sea-route to the
_Sinae_ represents this same name.
[“It is true,” Sir Henry Yule wrote since (1882), “that Champa,
as known in later days, lay to the east of the Mekong delta,
whilst Zabai of the Greeks lay to the west of that and of the μέγα
ακροτήριον—the Great Cape, or C. Cambodia of our maps. Crawford
(_Desc. Ind. Arch._ p. 80) seems to say that the Malays include
under the name _Champa_ the whole of what we call Kamboja. This may
possibly be a slip. But it is certain, as we shall see presently,
that the Arab _Ṣanf_—which is unquestionably Champa—also lay west
of the Cape, _i.e._ within the Gulf of Siam. The fact is that the
Indo-Chinese kingdoms have gone through unceasing and enormous
vicissitudes, and in early days Champa must have been extensive
and powerful, for in the travels of Hiuen Tsang (about A.D. 629)
it is called _Mahâ_-Champa. And my late friend Lieutenant Garnier,
who gave great attention to these questions, has deduced from such
data as exist in Chinese Annals and elsewhere, that the ancient
kingdom which the Chinese describe under the name of _Fu-nan_, as
extending over the whole peninsula east of the Gulf of Siam, was a
kingdom of the _Tsiam_ or Champa race. The locality of the ancient
port of Zabai or Champa is probably to be sought on the west coast
of Kamboja, near the Campot, or the Kang-kao of our maps. On this
coast also was the _Ḳomâr_ and _Ḳamârah_ of Ibn Batuta and other
Arab writers, the great source of aloes-wood, the country then of
the _Khmer_ or Kambojan People.” (_Notes on the Oldest Records of
the Sea-Route to China from Western Asia, Proc. R. G. S._ 1882, pp.
656–657.)
M. Barth says that this identification would agree well with the
testimony of his inscription XVIII. B., which comes from Angkor and
for which _Campā_ is a part of the _Dakshiṇāpatha_, of the southern
country. But the capital of this rival State of Kamboja would thus
be very near the Trêang province where inscriptions have been found
with the names of _Bhavavarman_ and of Īçānavarman. It is true
that in 627, the King of Kamboja, according to the Chinese Annals
(_Nouv. Mél. As._ I. p. 84), had subjugated the kingdom of Fu-nan
identified by Yule and Garnier with _Campā_. Abel Rémusat (_Nouv.
Mél. As._ I. pp. 75 and 77) identifies it with Tong-king and Stan.
Julien (_J. As._ 4ᵉ Sér. X. p. 97) with Siam. (_Inscrip. Sanscrites
du Cambodge_, 1885, pp. 69–70, note.)
Sir Henry Yule writes (_l.c._ p. 657): “We have said that the Arab
_Ṣanf_, as well as the Greek _Zabai_, lay west of Cape Cambodia.
This is proved by the statement that the Arabs on their voyage
to China made a ten days’ run from _Ṣanf_ to Pulo Condor.” But
Abulfeda (transl. by _Guyard_, II. ii. p. 127) distinctly says
that the Komār Peninsula (Khmer) is situated _west_ of the Ṣanf
Peninsula; between Ṣanf and Komār there is not a day’s journey by
sea.
We have, however, another difficulty to overcome.
I agree with Sir Henry Yule and Marsden that in ch. vii. _infra_,
p. 276, the text must be read, “When you leave _Chamba_,” instead
of “When you leave _Java_.” Coming from Zayton and sailing 1500
miles, Polo arrives at Chamba; from Chamba, sailing 700 miles he
arrives at the islands of Sondur and Condur, identified by Yule
with Sundar Fúlát (Pulo Condore); from Sundar Fúlát, after 500
miles more, he finds the country called Locac; then he goes to
Pentam (Bintang, 500 miles), Malaiur, and Java the Less (Sumatra).
Ibn Khordâdhbeh’s itinerary agrees pretty well with Marco Polo’s,
as Professor De Goeje remarks to me: “Starting from Mâit (Bintang),
and leaving on the left Tiyuma (Timoan), in five days’ journey,
one goes to Kimèr (Kmer, Cambodia), and after three days more,
following the coast, arrives to Ṣanf; then to Lukyn, the first
point of call in China, 100 parasangs by land or by sea; from
Lukyn it takes four days by sea and twenty by land to go to
Kanfu.” [Canton, see note, _supra_ p. 199.] (See _De Goeje’s Ibn
Khordâdhbeh_, p. 48 _et seq._) But we come now to the difficulty.
Professor De Goeje writes to me: “It is strange that in the
_Relation des Voyages_ of Reinaud, p. 20 of the text, reproduced by
Ibn al Fakîh, p. 12 _seq._, Sundar Fúlát (Pulo Condore) is placed
between Ṣanf and the China Sea (_Sandjy_); it takes ten days to go
from Ṣanf to Sundar Fúlát, and then a month (seven days of which
between mountains called the Gates of China). In the _Livre des
Merveilles de l’Inde_ (pp. 85, 86) we read: ‘When arrived between
Ṣanf and the China coast, in the neighbourhood of Sundar Fúlát, an
island situated at the entrance of the Sea of Sandjy, which is the
Sea of China....’ It would appear from these two passages that Ṣanf
is to be looked for in the Malay Peninsula. This Ṣanf is different
from the Ṣanf of Ibn Khordâdhbeh and of Abulfeda.” (_Guyard’s
transl._ II. ii. 127.)
It does not strike me from these passages that Ṣanf must be looked
for in the Malay Peninsula. Indeed Professor G. Schlegel, in a
paper published in the _T’oung Pao_, vol. x., seems to prove that
Shay-po (Djava), represented by Chinese characters, which are the
transcription of the Sanskrit name of the China Rose (_Hibiscus
rosa sinensis_), Djavâ or Djapâ, is not the great island of Java,
but, according to Chinese texts, a state of the Malay Peninsula;
but he does not seem to me to prove that Shay-po is Champa, as he
believes he has done.
However, Professor De Goeje adds in his letter, and I quite agree
with the celebrated Arabic scholar of Leyden, that he does not
very much like the theory of two Ṣanf, and that he is inclined
to believe that the sea captain of the _Marvels of India_ placed
Sundar Fúlát a little too much to the north, and that the narrative
of the _Relation des Voyages_ is inexact.
To conclude: the history of the relations between Annam (Tong-king)
and her southern neighbour, the kingdom of Champa, the itineraries
of Marco Polo and Ibn Khordâdhbeh as well as the position given
to Ṣanf by Abulfeda, justify me, I think, in placing Champa in
that part of the central and southern Indo-Chinese coast which the
French to-day call Annam (Cochinchine and Basse-Cochinchine), the
Binh-Thuan province showing more particularly what remains of the
ancient kingdom.
Since I wrote the above, I have received No. 1 of vol. ii. of the
_Bul. de l’Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient_, which contains a
note on _Canf et Campā_, by M. A. Barth. The reasons given in a
note addressed to him by Professor De Goeje and the work of Ibn
Khordâdhbeh have led M. A. Barth to my own conclusion, viz. that
the coast of Champa was situated where inscriptions have been found
on the Annamite coast.—H. C.]
The Sagatu of Marco appears in the Chinese history as _Sotu_, the
military governor of the Canton districts, which he had been active
in reducing.
In 1278 Sotu sent an envoy to Chen-ching to claim the king’s
submission, which was rendered, and for some years he sent his
tribute to Kúblái. But when the Kaan proceeded to interfere in
the internal affairs of the kingdom by sending a Resident and
Chinese officials, the king’s son (1282) resolutely opposed these
proceedings, and threw the Chinese officials into prison. The Kaan,
in great wrath at this insult (coming also so soon after his
discomfiture in Japan), ordered Sotu and others to Chen-ching to
take vengeance. The prince in the following year made a pretence
of submission, and the army (if indeed it had been sent) seems to
have been withdrawn. The prince, however, renewed his attack on the
Chinese establishments, and put 100 of their officials to death.
Sotu then despatched a new force, but it was quite unsuccessful,
and had to retire. In 1284 the king sent an embassy, including
his grandson, to beg for pardon and reconciliation. Kúblái,
however, refused to receive them, and ordered his son Tughan to
advance through Tong-king, an enterprise which led to a still more
disastrous war with that country, in which the Mongols had much the
worst of it. We are not told more.
Here we have the difficulties usual with Polo’s historical
anecdotes. Certain names and circumstances are distinctly
recognisable in the Chinese Annals; others are difficult to
reconcile with these. The embassy of 1284 seems the most likely to
be the one spoken of by Polo, though the Chinese history does not
give it the favourable result which he ascribes to it. The date in
the text we see to be wrong, and as usual it varies in different
MSS. I suspect the original date was MCCLXXXIII.
One of the Chinese notices gives one of the king’s names as
_Sinhopala_, and no doubt this is Ramusio’s _Accambale_ (Açambale);
an indication at once of the authentic character of that
interpolation, and of the identity of Champa and Chen-ching.
[We learn from an inscription that in 1265 the King of Champa was
Jaya-Sinhavarman II., who was named Indravarman in 1277, and whom
the Chinese called _Che li Tseya Sinho phala Maha thiwa_ (Çri Jaya
Sinha varmma maha deva). He was the king at the time of Polo’s
voyage. (_A. Bergaigne, Ancien royaume de Campā_, pp. 39–40; _E.
Aymonier, les Tchames et leurs religions_, p. 14.)—H. C.]
There are notices of the events in De Mailla (IX. 420–422) and
Gaubil (194), but Pauthier’s extracts which we have made use of are
much fuller.
Elephants have generally formed a chief part of the presents or
tribute sent periodically by the various Indo-Chinese states to the
Court of China.
[In a Chinese work published in the 14th century, by an Annamite,
under the title of _Ngan-nan chi lio_, and translated into French
by M. Sainson (1896), we read (p. 397): “Elephants are found only
in Lin-y; this is the country which became Champa. It is the habit
to have burdens carried by elephants; this country is to-day the
Pu-chêng province.” M. Sainson adds in a note that Pu-chêng, in
Annamite Bó chańh quân, is to-day Quang-binh, and that, in this
country, was placed the first capital (Dong-hoi) of the future
kingdom of Champa thrown later down to the south.—H. C.]
[The Chams, according to their tradition, had three capitals:
the most ancient, _Shri-Banœuy_, probably the actual Quang-Binh
province; _Bal-Hangov_, near Hué; and _Bal-Angoué_, in the
Binh-Dinh province. In the 4th century, the kingdom of _Lin-y_ or
_Lâm-âp_ is mentioned in the Chinese Annals.—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—The date of Marco’s visit to Champa varies in the MSS.:
Pauthier has 1280, as has also Ramusio; the G. T. has 1285; the
Geographic Latin 1288. I incline to adopt the last. For we know
that about 1290, Mark returned to Court from a mission to the
Indian Seas, which might have included this visit to Champa.
The large family of the king was one of the stock marvels. Odoric
says: “ZAMPA is a very fine country, having great store of victuals
and all good things. The king of the country, it was said when I
was there [_circa_ 1323], had, what with sons and with daughters, a
good two hundred children; for he hath many wives and other women
whom he keepeth. This king hath also 14,000 tame elephants.... And
other folk keep elephants there just as commonly as we keep oxen
here” (pp. 95–96). The latter point illustrates what Polo says of
elephants, and is scarcely an exaggeration in regard to all the
southern Indo-Chinese States. (See note to Odoric u.s.)
NOTE 3.—Champa Proper and the adjoining territories have been from
time immemorial the chief seat of the production of lign-aloes or
eagle-wood. Both names are misleading, for the thing has nought
to do either with aloes or eagles; though good Bishop Pallegoix
derives the latter name from the wood being speckled like an
eagle’s plumage. It is in fact through _Aquila_, _Agila_, from
_Aguru_, one of the Sanskrit names of the article, whilst that is
possibly from the Malay _Kayu_ (wood)-_gahru_, though the course
of the etymology is more likely to be the other way; and Αλόη is
perhaps a corruption of the term which the Arabs apply to it, viz.
_Al-’Ud_, “The Wood.”
[It is probable that the first Portuguese who had to do with
eagle-wood called it by its Arabic name, _aghāluḥy_, or malayālam,
_agila_; whence _páo de’ aguila_ “aguila wood.” It was translated
into Latin as _lignum aquilae_, and after into modern languages,
as _bois d’aigle_, _eagle-wood_, _adlerholz_, etc. (_A. Cabaton,
les Chams_, p. 50.) Mr. Groeneveldt (_Notes_, pp. 141–142) writes:
“_Lignum aloes_ is the wood of the _Aquilaria agallocha_, and
is chiefly known as _sinking incense_. The _Pen-ts’au Kang-mu_
describes it as follows: ‘_Sinking incense_, also called _honey
incense_. It comes from the heart and the knots of a tree and sinks
in water, from which peculiarity the name _sinking incense_ is
derived.... In the Description of Annam we find it called _honey
incense_, because it smells like honey.’ The same work, as well
as the _Nan-fang Ts’au-mu Chuang_, further informs us that this
incense was obtained in all countries south of China, by felling
the old trees and leaving them to decay, when, after some time,
only the heart, the knots, and some other hard parts remained. The
product was known under different names, according to its quality
or shape, and in addition to the names given above, we find _fowl
bones_, _horse-hoofs_, and _green cinnamon_; these latter names,
however, are seldom used.”—H. C.]
The fine eagle-wood of Champa is the result of disease in a
leguminous tree, _Aloexylon Agallochum_; whilst an inferior kind,
though of the same aromatic properties, is derived from a tree of
an entirely different order, _Aquilaria Agallocha_, and is found as
far north as Silhet.
The _Bonus_ of the G. T. here is another example of Marco’s use,
probably unconscious, of an Oriental word. It is Persian _Abnús_,
Ebony, which has passed almost unaltered into the Spanish _Abenuz_.
We find _Ibenus_ also in a French inventory (_Douet d’Arcq_, p.
134), but the _Bonús_ seems to indicate that the word as used by
the Traveller was strange to Rusticiano. The word which he uses
for pen-cases too, _Calamanz_, is more suggestive of the Persian
_Ḳalamdán_ than of the Italian _Calamajo_.
“Ebony is very common in this country (Champa), but the wood
which is the most precious, and which is sufficiently abundant,
is called ‘Eagle-wood,’ of which the first quality sells for its
weight in gold; the native name is _Kínam_.” (_Bishop Louis_ in J.
A. S. B. VI. 742; _Dr. Birdwood_, in the _Bible Educator_, I. 243;
_Crawford’s Dict._)
CHAPTER VI.
CONCERNING THE GREAT ISLAND OF JAVA.
When you sail from Chamba, 1500 miles in a course between south and
south-east, you come to a great Island called Java. And the experienced
mariners of those Islands who know the matter well, say that it is
the greatest Island in the world, and has a compass of more than 3000
miles. It is subject to a great King and tributary to no one else
in the world. The people are Idolaters. The Island is of surpassing
wealth, producing black pepper, nutmegs, spikenard, galingale, cubebs,
cloves, and all other kinds of spices.
This Island is also frequented by a vast amount of shipping, and by
merchants who buy and sell costly goods from which they reap great
profit. Indeed the treasure of this Island is so great as to be past
telling. And I can assure you the Great Kaan never could get possession
of this Island, on account of its great distance, and the great
expense of an expedition thither. The merchants of Zayton and Manzi
draw annually great returns from this country.{1}
[Illustration: View in the Interior of Java.
“=Une grandissime Ysle qe est apellé Java.... Ceste Ysle est de mout
grant richesse.=”]
NOTE 1.—Here Marco speaks of that Pearl of Islands, Java. The
chapter is a digression from the course of his voyage towards
India, but possibly he may have touched at the island on his
previous expedition, alluded to in note 2, ch. v. Not more, for the
account is vague, and where particulars are given not accurate.
Java does not _produce_ nutmegs or cloves, though doubtless it was
a great mart for these and all the products of the Archipelago. And
if by _treasure_ he means gold, as indeed Ramusio reads, no gold is
found in Java. Barbosa, however, has the same story of the great
amount of gold drawn from Java; and De Barros says that Sunda,
_i.e._ Western Java, which the Portuguese regarded as a distinct
island, produced inferior gold of 7 carats, but that pepper was
the staple, of which the annual supply was more than 30,000 cwt.
(_Ram._ I. 318–319; _De Barros_, Dec. IV. liv. i. cap. 12.)
[Illustration: Ship of the Middle Ages in the Java Seas. (From
Bas-relief at Boro Bodor.)
“=En ceste Ysle vienent grant quantité de nés, e de mercanz qe hi
acatent de maintes mercandies et hi font grant gaagne.=”]
The circuit ascribed to Java in Pauthier’s Text is 5000 miles. Even
the 3000 which we take from the Geog. Text is about double the
truth; but it is exactly the same that Odoric and Conti assign.
No doubt it was a tradition among the Arab seamen. They never
visited the south coast, and probably had extravagant ideas of
its extension in that direction, as the Portuguese had for long.
Even at the end of the 16th century Linschoten says: “Its breadth
is as yet unknown; some conceiving it to be a part of the Terra
Australis extending from opposite the Cape of Good Hope. _However
it is commonly held to be an island_” (ch. xx.). And in the old map
republished in the Lisbon De Barros of 1777, the south side of Java
is marked “Parte incognita de Java,” and is without a single name,
whilst a narrow strait runs right across the island (the supposed
division of Sunda from Java Proper).
The history of Java previous to the rise of the Empire of
Majapahit, in the age immediately following our Traveller’s voyage,
is very obscure. But there is some evidence of the existence
of a powerful dynasty in the island about this time; and in an
inscription of ascertained date (A.D. 1294) the King Uttungadeva
claims to have subjected _five kings_, and to be sovereign of the
whole Island of Java (_Jawa-dvipa_; see Lassen, IV. 482). It is
true that, as our Traveller says, Kúblái had not yet attempted the
subjugation of Java, but he did make the attempt almost immediately
after the departure of the Venetians. It was the result of one
of his unlucky embassies to claim the homage of distant states,
and turned out as badly as the attempts against Champa and Japan.
His ambassador, a Chinese called Meng-K’i, was sent back with
his face branded like a thief’s. A great armament was assembled
in the ports of Fo-kien to avenge this insult; it started about
January, 1293, but did not effect a landing till autumn. After some
temporary success the force was constrained to re-embark with a
loss of 3000 men. The death of Kúblái prevented any renewal of the
attempt; and it is mentioned that his successor gave orders for the
re-opening of the Indian trade which the Java war had interrupted.
(See _Gaubil_, pp. 217 _seqq._, 224.) To this failure Odoric, who
visited Java about 1323, alludes: “Now the Great Kaan of Cathay
many a time engaged in war with this king; but the king always
vanquished and got the better of him.” Odoric speaks in high terms
of the richness and population of Java, calling it “the second
best of all Islands that exist,” and describing a gorgeous palace
in terms similar to those in which Polo speaks of the Palace of
Chipangu. (_Cathay_, p. 87 _seqq._)
[We read in the _Yuen-shi_ (Bk. 210), translated by Mr.
Groeneveldt, that “Java is situated beyond the sea and further away
than Champa; when one embarks at Ts’wan-chau and goes southward, he
first comes to Champa and afterwards to this country.” It appears
that when his envoy Mêng-K’i had been branded on the face, Kúblái,
in 1292, appointed Shih-pi, a native of Po-yeh, district Li-chau,
Pao-ting fu, Chih-li province, commander of the expedition to Java,
whilst Ike-Mese, a Uighúr, and Kau-Hsing, a man from Ts’ai-chau
(Ho-nan), were appointed to assist him. Mr. Groeneveldt has
translated the accounts of these three officers. In the _Ming-shi_
(Bk. 324) we read: “Java is situated at the south-west of Champa.
In the time of the Emperor Kúblái of the Yuen Dynasty, Mêng-K’i was
sent there as an envoy and had his face cut, on which Kúblái sent a
large army which subdued the country and then came back.” (_L.c._
p. 34.) The prince guilty of this insult was the King of Tumapel
“in the eastern part of the island Java, whose country was called
Java par excellence by the Chinese, because it was in this part of
the island they chiefly traded.” (_L.c._ p. 32.)—H. C.]
The curious figure of a vessel which we give here is taken from
the vast series of mediæval sculptures which adorns the great
Buddhist pyramid in the centre of Java, known as Boro Bodor, one of
the most remarkable architectural monuments in the world, but the
history of which is all in darkness. The ship, with its outrigger
and apparently canvas sails, is not Chinese, but it undoubtedly
pictures vessels which frequented the ports of Java in the early
part of the 14th century,[1] possibly one of those from Ceylon or
Southern India.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] 1344 is the date to which a Javanese traditional verse ascribes the
edifice. (_Crawford’s Desc. Dictionary_.)
CHAPTER VII.
WHEREIN THE ISLES OF SONDUR AND CONDUR ARE SPOKEN OF; AND
THE KINGDOM OF LOCAC.
When you leave Chamba{1} and sail for 700 miles on a course between
south and south-west, you arrive at two Islands, a greater and a less.
The one is called SONDUR and the other CONDUR.{2} As there is nothing
about them worth mentioning, let us go on five hundred miles beyond
Sondur, and then we find another country which is called LOCAC. It is
a good country and a rich; [it is on the mainland]; and it has a king
of its own. The people are Idolaters and have a peculiar language, and
pay tribute to nobody, for their country is so situated that no one can
enter it to do them ill. Indeed if it were possible to get at it, the
Great Kaan would soon bring them under subjection to him.
In this country the brazil which we make use of grows in great plenty;
and they also have gold in incredible quantity. They have elephants
likewise, and much game. In this kingdom too are gathered all the
porcelain shells which are used for small change in all those regions,
as I have told you before.
There is nothing else to mention except that this is a very wild
region, visited by few people; nor does the king desire that any
strangers should frequent the country, and so find out about his
treasure and other resources.{3} We will now proceed, and tell you of
something else.
NOTE 1.—All the MSS. and texts I believe without exception read
“_when you leave_ Java,” etc. But, as Marsden has indicated, the
point of departure is really _Champa_, the introduction of Java
being a digression; and the retention of the latter name here
would throw us irretrievably into the Southern Ocean. Certain old
geographers, we may observe, did follow that indication, and the
results were curious enough, as we shall notice in next note but
one. Marsden’s observations are so just that I have followed
Pauthier in substituting Champa for Java in the text.
NOTE 2.—There is no reason to doubt that these islands are the
group now known as that of PULO CONDORE, in old times an important
landmark, and occasional point of call, on the route to China. The
group is termed _Sundar Fúlát_ (_Fúlát_ representing the Malay
_Pulo_ or Island, in the plural) in the Arab _Relations_ of the 9th
century, the last point of departure on the voyage to China, from
which it was a month distant. This old record gives us the name
_Sondor_; in modern times we have it as _Kondór_; Polo combines
both names. [“These may also be the ‘Satyrs’ Islands’ of Ptolemy,
or they may be his _Sindai_; for he has a _Sinda_ city on the
coast close to this position, though his Sindai islands are dropt
far away. But it would not be difficult to show that Ptolemy’s
islands have been located almost at random, or as from a pepper
castor.” (_Yule_, _Oldest Records_, p. 657.)] The group consists of
a larger island about 12 miles long, two of 2 or 3 miles, and some
half-dozen others of insignificant dimensions. The large one is now
specially called Pulo Condore. It has a fair harbour, fresh water,
and wood in abundance. Dampier visited the group and recommended
its occupation. The E. I. Company did establish a post there in
1702, but it came to a speedy end in the massacre of the Europeans
by their Macassar garrison. About the year 1720 some attempt to
found a settlement there was also made by the French, who gave the
island the name of _Isle d’Orléans_. The celebrated Père Gaubil
spent eight months on the island and wrote an interesting letter
about it (February, 1722; see also _Lettres Edifiantes_, Rec.
xvi.). When the group was visited by Mr. John Crawford on his
mission to Cochin China the inhabitants numbered about 800, of
Cochin Chinese descent. The group is now held by the French under
Saigon. The chief island is known to the Chinese as the mountain of
Kunlun. There is another cluster of rocks in the same sea, called
the Seven Cheu, and respecting these two groups Chinese sailors
have a kind of _Incidit-in-Scyllan_ saw:—
“_Shang p’a Tsi-chéu, hia-pa Kun-lun,
Chen mi t’uo shih, jin chuen mo tsun._”[1]
Meaning:—
“With Kunlun to starboard, and larboard the Cheu,
Keep conning your compass, whatever you do,
Or to Davy Jones’ Locker go vessel and crew.”
(_Ritter_, IV. 1017; _Reinaud_, I. 18; _A. Hamilton_, II. 402;
_Mém. conc. les Chinois_, XIV. 53.)
NOTE 3.—Pauthier reads the name of the kingdom _Soucat_, but I
adhere to the readings of the G. T., _Lochac_ and _Locac_, which
are supported by Ramusio. Pauthier’s C and the Bern MS. have _le
chac_ and _le that_, which indicate the same reading.
Distance and other particulars point, as Hugh Murray discerns, to
the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, or (as I conceive) to the
territory now called Siam, including the said coast, as subject or
tributary from time immemorial.
The kingdom of Siam is known to the Chinese by the name of
_Sien-Lo_. The Supplement to Ma Twan-lin’s Encyclopædia describes
Sien-Lo as on the sea-board to the extreme south of Chen-ching. “It
originally consisted of two kingdoms, _Sien_ and _Lo-hoh_. The Sien
people are the remains of a tribe which in the year (A.D. 1341)
began to come down upon the Lo-hoh, and united with the latter into
one nation.... The land of the Lo-hoh consists of extended plains,
but not much agriculture is done.”[2]
In this _Lo_ or LO-HOH, which apparently formed the lower part
of what is now Siam, previous to the middle of the 14th century,
I believe that we have our Traveller’s Locac. The latter half of
the name may be either the second syllable of Lo-Hoh, for Polo’s
_c_ often represents _h_; or it may be the Chinese _Kwŏ_ or _Kwé_,
“kingdom,” in the Canton and Fo-kien pronunciation (_i.e._ the
pronunciation of Polo’s mariners) _kok_; _Lo-kok_, “the kingdom of
Lo.” _Sien_-LO-KOK is the exact form of the Chinese name of Siam
which is used by Bastian.
What was this kingdom of Lo which occupied the northern shores of
the Gulf of Siam? Chinese scholars generally say that _Sien-Lo_
means Siam and _Laos_; but this I cannot accept, if Laos is to bear
its ordinary geographical sense, _i.e._ of a country bordering Siam
on the _north-east and north_. Still there seems a probability that
the usual interpretation may be correct, when properly explained.
[Regarding the identification of Locac with Siam, Mr. G. Phillips
writes (_Jour. China B. R. A. S._, XXI., 1886, p. 34, note): “I can
only fully endorse what Col. Yule says upon this subject, and add
a few extracts of my own taken from the article on Siam given
in the _Wu-pé-ché_. It would appear that previously to 1341 a
country called Lohoh (in Amoy pronunciation Lohok) existed, as
Yule says, in what is now called Lower Siam, and at that date
became incorporated with Sien. In the 4th year of Hung-wu, 1372, it
sent tribute to China, under the name of Sien Lohok. The country
was first called Sien Lo in the first year of Yung Lo, 1403. In
the T’ang Dynasty it appears to have been known as _Lo-yueh_,
pronounced _Lo-gueh_ at that period. This _Lo-yueh_ would seem to
have been situated on the Eastern side of Malay Peninsula, and to
have extended to the entrance to the Straits of Singapore, in what
is now known as Johore.”—H. C.]
In 1864, Dr. Bastian communicated to the Asiatic Society of Bengal
the translation of a long and interesting inscription, brought [in
1834] from Sukkothai to Bangkok by the late King of Siam [Mongkut,
then crown prince], and dated in _a_ year 1214, which in the era of
Salivahana (as it is almost certainly, see _Garnier_, cited below)
will be A.D. 1292–1293, almost exactly coincident with Polo’s
voyage. The author of this inscription was a Prince of _Thai_ (or
Siamese) race, styled Phra Râma Kamhêng (“The Valiant”) [son of Srī
Indratiya], who reigned in Sukkothai, whilst his dominions extended
from Vieng-chan on the Mekong River (lat. 18°), to Pechabur, and
Srī-Thammarat (_i.e._ Ligór, in lat. 8° 18′), on the coast of the
Gulf of Siam. [This inscription gives three dates—1205, 1209, and
1214 śaka = A.D. 1283, 1287 and 1292. One passage says: “Formerly
the Thaïs had no writing; it is in 1205 śaka, year of the goat =
A.D. 1283, that King Râma Kamhêng sent for a teacher who invented
the Thaï writing. It is to him that we are indebted for it to-day.”
(Cf. _Fournereau, Siam ancien_, p. 225; _Schmitt, Exc. et Recon._,
1885; _Aymonier, Cambodge_, II. p. 72.)—H. C.] The conquests of
this prince are stated to have extended eastward to the “Royal
Lake,” apparently the Great Lake of Kamboja; and we may conclude
with certainty that he was the leader of the Siamese, who had
invaded Kamboja shortly before it was visited (in 1296) by that
envoy of Kúblái’s successor, whose valuable account of the country
has been translated by Rémusat.[3] Now this prince Râma Kamhêng
of Sukkothai was probably (as Lieutenant Garnier supposes) of the
_Thai-nyai_, Great Thai, or Laotian branch of the race. Hence the
application of the name Lo-kok to his kingdom can be accounted for.
It was another branch of the Thai, known as _Thai-noi_, or Little
Thai, which in 1351, under another Phra Rama, founded Ayuthia and
the Siamese monarchy, which still exists.
The explanation now given seems more satisfactory than the
suggestions formerly made of the connection of the name _Locac_,
either with Lophāburi (or _Lavó, Louvo_), a very ancient capital
near Ayuthia, or with _Lawék_, _i.e._ Kamboja. Kamboja had at an
earlier date possessed the lower valley of the Menam, but, we see,
did so no longer.[4]
The name _Lawek_ or Lovek is applied by writers of the 16th and
17th centuries to the capital of what is still Kamboja, the ruins
of which exist near Udong. _Laweik_ is mentioned along with
the other Siamese or Laotian countries of Yuthia, Tennasserim,
Sukkothai, Pichalok, Lagong, Lanchang (or Luang Prabang), Zimmé
(or Kiang-mai), and Kiang-Tung, in the vast list of states claimed
by the Burmese Chronicle as tributary to Pagán before its fall. We
find in the _Aín-i-Akbari_ a kind of aloes-wood called _Lawáki_, no
doubt because it came from this region.
The G. T. indeed makes the course from Sondur to Locac _sceloc_ or
S.E.; but Pauthier’s text seems purposely to correct this, calling
it, “_v. c. milles_ oultre _Sandur_.” This would bring us to the
Peninsula somewhere about what is now the Siamese province of
Ligor,[5] and this is the only position accurately consistent with
the next indication of the route, viz. a run of 500 miles _south_
to the Straits of Singapore. Let us keep in mind also Ramusio’s
specific statement that Locac was on _terra firma_.
As regards the products named: (1) gold is mined in the northern
part of the Peninsula and is a staple export of Kalantan, Tringano,
and Pahang, further down. Barbosa says gold was so abundant in
Malacca that it was reckoned by _Bahars_ of 4 cwt. Though Mr. Logan
has estimated the present produce of the whole Peninsula at only
20,000 ounces, Hamilton, at the beginning of last century, says
Pahang alone in some years exported above 8 cwt. (2) Brazil-wood,
now generally known by the Malay term _Sappan_, is abundant on
the coast. Ritter speaks of three small towns on it as entirely
surrounded by trees of this kind. And higher up, in the latitude
of Tavoy, the forests of sappan-wood find a prominent place in
some maps of Siam. In mediæval intercourse between the courts of
Siam and China we find Brazil-wood to form the bulk of the Siamese
present. [“Ma Huan fully bears out Polo’s statement in this matter,
for he says: This Brazil (of which Marco speaks) is as plentiful
as firewood. On Chêng-ho’s chart Brazil and other fragrant woods
are marked as products of Siam. Polo’s statement of the use of
porcelain shells as small change is also corroborated by Ma Huan.”
(_G. Phillips, Jour. China B. R. A. S._, XXI., 1886, p. 37.)—H. C.]
(3) Elephants are abundant. (4) Cowries, according to Marsden
and Crawford, are found in those seas largely only on the Sulu
Islands; but Bishop Pallegoix says distinctly that they are found
_in abundance_ on the sand-banks of the Gulf of Siam. And I see Dr.
Fryer, in 1673, says that cowries were brought to Surat “from Siam
and the Philippine Islands.”
For some centuries after this time Siam was generally known to
traders by the Persian name of _Shahr-i-nao_, or New City. This
seems to be the name generally applied to it in the _Shijarat
Malayu_ (or Malay Chronicle), and it is used also by Abdurrazzák.
It appears among the early navigators of the 16th century, as Da
Gama, Varthema, Giovanni d’Empoli and Mendez Pinto, in the shape
of _Sornau, Xarnau_. Whether this name was applied to the new city
of Ayuthia, or was a translation of that of the older _Lophāburi_
(which appears to be the Sansk. or Pali _Nava pura_ = New-City) I
do not know.
[Reinaud (_Int. Abulfeda_, p. CDXVI.) writes that, according to
the Christian monk of Nadjran, who crossed the Malayan Seas, about
the year 980, at this time, the King of Lukyn had just invaded
the kingdom of Ṣanf and taken possession of it. According to Ibn
Khordâdhbeh (_De Goeje_, p. 49) Lukyn is the first port of China,
100 parasangs distant from Ṣanf by land or sea; Chinese stone,
Chinese silk, porcelain of excellent quality, and rice are to be
found at Lukyn.—H. C.]
(_Bastian_, I. 357, III. 433, and in _J. A. S. B._ XXXIV. Pt. I. p.
27 _seqq._; _Ramus._ I. 318; _Amyot_, XIV. 266, 269; _Pallegoix_,
I. 196; _Bowring_, I. 41, 72; _Phayre_ in _J. A. S. B._ XXXVII.
Pt. I. p. 102; _Aín Akb._ 80; _Mouhot_, I. 70; _Roe and Fryer_,
reprint, 1873, p. 271.)
Some geographers of the 16th century, following the old editions
which carried the travellers south-east or south-west of Java
to the land of _Boeach_ (for Locac), introduced in their maps a
continent in that situation. (See _e.g._ the map of the world by
P. Plancius in Linschoten.) And this has sometimes been adduced to
prove an early knowledge of Australia. Mr. Major has treated this
question ably in his interesting essay on the early notices of
Australia.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] [From the _Hsing-ch’a Shêng-lan_, by Fei Hsin.]
[2] The extract of which this is the substance I owe to the kindness of
Professor J. Summers, formerly of King’s College.
[3] I am happy to express my obligation to the remarks of my
lamented friend Lieutenant Garnier, for light on this subject,
which has led to an entire reform in the present note. (See his
excellent Historical Essay, forming ch. v. of the great “_Voyage
d’Exploration en Indo-Chine_,” pp. 136–137).
[4] The _Ḳakula_ of Ibn Batuta was probably on the coast of Locac. The
_Ḳamárah Ḳomar_ of the same traveller and other Arab writers, I
have elsewhere suggested to be _Khmer_, or Kamboja Proper. (See
_I. B._ IV. 240; _Cathay_, 469, 519.) Ḳakula and Ḳamarah were both
in “_Mul-Java_”; and the king of this undetermined country, whom
Wassáf states to have submitted to Kúblái in 1291, was called _Sri
Rama_. It is possible that this was Phra Rama of Sukkothai. (See
_Cathay_, 519; _Elliot_, III. 27.)
[5] Mr. G Phillips supposes the name Locac to be Ligor, or rather
Lakhon, as the Siamese call it. But it seems to me pretty clear
from what has been said that Lo-kok, though including Ligor, is a
different name from Lakhon. The latter is a corruption of the
Sanskrit, _Nagara_, “city.”
CHAPTER VIII.
OF THE ISLAND CALLED PENTAM, AND THE CITY MALAIUR.
When you leave Locac and sail for 500 miles towards the south, you come
to an island called PENTAM, a very wild place. All the wood that grows
thereon consists of odoriferous trees.{1} There is no more to say about
it; so let us sail about sixty miles further between those two Islands.
Throughout this distance there is but four paces’ depth of water, so
that great ships in passing this channel have to lift their rudders,
for they draw nearly as much water as that.{2}
And when you have gone these 60 miles, and again about 30 more, you
come to an Island which forms a Kingdom, and is called MALAIUR. The
people have a King of their own, and a peculiar language. The city is
a fine and noble one, and there is great trade carried on there. All
kinds of spicery are to be found there, and all other necessaries of
life.{3}
NOTE 1.—_Pentam_, or as in Ram. _Pentan_, is no doubt the Bintang
of our maps, more properly BENTĂN, a considerable Island at the
eastern extremity of the Straits of Malacca. It appears in the
list, published by Dulaurier from a Javanese Inscription, of the
kingdoms conquered in the 15th century by the sovereigns reigning
at Majapahit in Java. (_J. A._ sér. IV. tom. xiii. 532.) Bintang
was for a long time after the Portuguese conquest of Malacca the
chief residence of the Malay Sultans who had been expelled by that
conquest, and it still nominally belongs to the Sultan of Johore,
the descendant of those princes, though in fact ruled by the Dutch,
whose port of Rhio stands on a small island close to its western
shore. It is the _Bintão_ of the Portuguese whereof Camoens speaks
as the persistent enemy of Malacca (X. 57).
[Cf. _Professor Schlegel’s Geog. Notes_, VI. _Ma-it_; regarding the
odoriferous trees, Professor Schlegel remarks (p. 20) that they
were probably santal trees.—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—There is a good deal of confusion in the text of this
chapter. Here we have a passage spoken of between “those two
Islands,” when only one island seems to have been mentioned.
But I imagine the other “island” in the traveller’s mind to be
the continuation of the same Locac, _i.e._ the Malay Peninsula
(included by him under that name), which he has coasted for 500
miles. This is confirmed by Ramusio, and the old Latin editions
(as Müller’s): “between the kingdom of Locac and the Island of
Pentan.” The passage in question is the Strait of Singapore, or as
the old navigators called it, the Straits of Gobernador, having
the mainland of the Peninsula and the Island of Singapore, on the
one side, and the Islands of Bintang and Batang on the other. The
length of the strait is roughly 60 geographical miles, or a little
more; and I see in a route given in the _Lettres Edifiantes_ (II.
p. 118) that the length of navigation is so stated: “Le détroit de
Gobernador a vingt lieues de long, et est fort difficile quand on
n’y a jamais passé.”
The Venetian _passo_ was 5 feet. Marco here alludes to the
well-known practice with the Chinese junks of raising the rudder,
for which they have a special arrangement, which is indicated in
the cut at p. 248.
NOTE 3.—There is a difficulty here about the indications, carrying
us, as they do, first 60 miles through the Strait, and then 30
miles further to the Island Kingdom and city of Malaiur. There
is also a singular variation in the readings as to this city and
island. The G. T. has “_Une isle qe est roiame, et s’apelle_
Malanir e l’isle Pentam.” The Crusca has the same, only reading
_Malavir_. Pauthier: “_Une isle qui est royaume, et a nom_ Maliur.”
The Geog. Latin: “_Ibi invenitur una insula in qua est unus rex_
quem vocant Lamovich. _Civitas et insula vocantur_ Pontavich.”
Ram.: “_Chiamasi la città_ Malaiur, e cosi l’isola Malaiur.”
All this is very perplexed, and it is difficult to trace what may
have been the true readings. The 30 miles beyond the straits,
whether we give the direction _south-east_ as in G. T. or no, will
not carry us to the vicinity of any place known to have been the
site of an important city. As the point of departure in the next
chapter is from _Pentam_ and not from Malaiur, the introduction of
the latter is perhaps a digression from the route, on information
derived either from hearsay or from a former voyage. But there is
not information enough to decide what place is meant by Malaiur.
Probabilities seem to me to be divided between _Palembang_, and
its colony _Singhapura_. Palembang, according to the Commentaries
of Alboquerque, was called by the Javanese MALAYO. The List of
Sumatran Kingdoms in De Barros makes TANA-MALAYU the _next_ to
Palembang. On the whole, I incline to this interpretation.
[In _Valentyn_ (V. 1, _Beschryvinge van Malakka_, p. 317) we find
it stated that the Malay people just dwelt on the River _Malayu_
in the Kingdom of Palembang, and were called from the River _Orang
Malayu.—MS. Note._—H. Y.]
[Professor Schlegel in his _Geog. Notes_, IV., tries to prove by
Chinese authorities that Maliur and Tana-Malayu are two quite
distinct countries, and he says that Maliur may have been situated
on the coast opposite Singapore, perhaps a little more to the S.W.
where now lies Malacca, and that Tana-Malayu may be placed in
Asahan, upon the east coast of Sumatra.—H. C.]
Singhapura was founded by an emigration from Palembang, itself a
Javanese colony. It became the site of a flourishing kingdom, and
was then, according to the tradition recorded by De Barros, the
most important centre of population in those regions, “whither
used to gather all the navigators of the Eastern Seas, from both
East and West; to this great city of Singapura all flocked as to
a general market.” (Dec. II. 6, 1.) This suits the description in
our text well; but as Singhapura was in sight of any ship passing
through the straits, mistake could hardly occur as to its position,
even if it had not been visited.
I omit _Malacca_ entirely from consideration, because the evidence
appears to me conclusive against the existence of Malacca at this
time.
The Malay Chronology, as published by Valentyn, ascribes the
foundation of that city to a king called Iskandar Shah, placing
it in A.D. 1252, fixes the reign of Mahomed Shah, the third King
of Malacca and first Mussulman King, as extending from 1276 to
1333 (not stating _when_ his conversion took place), and gives 8
kings in all between the foundation of the city and its capture by
the Portuguese in 1511, a space, according to those data, of 259
years. As Sri Iskandar Shah, the founder, had reigned 3 years in
Singhapura _before_ founding Malacca, and Mahomed Shah, the loser,
reigned 2 years in Johore _after_ the loss of his capital, we have
264 years to divide among 8 kings, giving 33 years to each reign.
This certainly indicates that the period requires considerable
curtailment.
Again, both De Barros and the Commentaries or Alboquerque ascribe
the foundation of Malacca to a Javanese fugitive from Palembang
called Paramisura, and Alboquerque makes Iskandar Shah (_Xaquem
darxa_) the _son_ of Paramisura, and the first convert to
Mahomedanism. _Four_ other kings reign in succession after him, the
last of the four being Mahomed Shah, expelled in 1511.
[Godinho de Eredia says expressly (Cap. i. _Do Citio Malaca_, p.
4) that Malacca was founded by _Permicuri, primeiro monarcha de
Malayos_, in the year 1411, in the Pontificate of John XXIV.,
and in the reign of Don Juan II. of Castille and Dom Juan I. of
Portugal.]
The historian De Couto, whilst giving the same number of reigns
from the conversion to the capture, places the former event about
1384. And the Commentaries of Alboquerque allow no more than some
ninety years from the foundation of Malacca to his capture of the
city.
There is another approximate check to the chronology afforded by
a Chinese record in the XIVth volume of Amyot’s collection. This
informs us that Malacca first acknowledged itself as tributary to
the Empire in 1405, the king being _Sili-ju-eul-sula_ (?). In 1411
the King of Malacca himself, now called _Peilimisula_ (Paramisura),
came in person to the court of China to render homage. And in 1414
the Queen-Mother of Malacca came to court, bringing her son’s
tribute.
Now this notable fact of the visit of a King of Malacca to the
court of China, and his acknowledgment of the Emperor’s supremacy,
is also recorded in the Commentaries of Alboquerque. This work, it
is true, attributes the visit, not to Paramisura, the founder of
Malacca, but to his son and successor Iskandar Shah. This may be
a question of a _title_ only, perhaps borne by both; but we seem
entitled to conclude with confidence that Malacca was founded by
a prince whose son was reigning, and visited the court of China
in 1411. And the real chronology will be about midway between the
estimates of De Couto and of Alboquerque. Hence Malacca did not
exist for a century, more or less, after Polo’s voyage.
[Mr. C. O. Blagden, in a paper on the Mediæval Chronology of
Malacca (_Actes du XIᵉ Cong. Int. Orient. Paris_, 1897), writes (p.
249) that “if Malacca had been in the middle of the 14th century
anything like the great emporium of trade which it certainly was in
the 15th, Ibn Batuta would scarcely have failed to speak of it.”
The foundation of Malacca by Sri Iskandar Shah in 1252, according
to the _Sejarah Malayu_ “must be put at least 125 years later,
and the establishment of the Muhammadan religion there would then
precede by only a few years the end of the 14th century, instead of
taking place about the end of the 13th, as is generally supposed”
(p. 251). (Cf. _G. Schlegel, Geog. Notes_, XV.)—H. C.]
Mr. Logan supposes that the form _Malayu-r_ may indicate that the
Malay language of the 13th century “had not yet replaced the strong
naso-guttural terminals by pure vowels.” We find the same form in a
contemporary Chinese notice. This records that in the 2nd year of
the Yuen, tribute was sent from Siam to the Emperor. “The Siamese
had long been at war with the _Maliyi_ or MALIURH, but both nations
laid aside their feud and submitted to China.” (_Valentyn_, V. p.
352; _Crawford’s Desc. Dict._ art. _Malacca_; _Lassen_, IV. 541
_seqq._; _Journ. Ind. Archip._ V. 572, II. 608–609; _De Barros_,
Dec. II. 1. vi. c. 1; _Comentarios do grande Afonso d’Alboquerque_,
Pt. III. cap. xvii.; _Couto_, Dec. IV. liv. ii.; _Wade_ in
_Bowring’s Kingdom and People of Siam_, I. 72.)
[From I-tsing we learn that going from China to India, the
traveller visits the country of _Shih-li-fuh-shi_ (_Çrībhôja_
or simply _Fuh-shi_ = Bhôja), then _Mo-louo-yu_, which seems to
Professor Chavannes to correspond to the _Malaiur_ of Marco Polo
and to the modern Palembang, and which in the 10th century formed
a part of Çribhôdja identified by Professor Chavannes with Zabedj.
(_I-tsing_, p. 36.) The Rev. S. Beal has some remarks on this
question in the _Merveilles de l’Inde_, p. 251, and he says that
he thinks “there are reasons for placing this country [Çrībhôja],
or island, on the East coast of Sumatra, and near Palembang, or,
on the Palembang River.” Mr. Groeneveldt (_T’oung Pao_, VII. abst.
p. 10) gives some extracts from Chinese authors, and then writes:
“We have therefore to find now a place for the Molayu of I-tsing,
the Malaiur of Marco Polo, the Malayo of Alboquerque, and the
Tana-Malayu of De Barros, all which may be taken to mean the same
place. I-tsing tells us that it took fifteen days to go from Bhôja
to Molayu and fifteen days again to go from there to Kieh-ch’a.
The latter place, suggesting a native name Kada, must have been
situated in the north-west of Sumatra, somewhere near the present
Atjeh, for going from there west, one arrived in thirty days at
Magapatana, near Ceylon, whilst a northern course brought one in
ten days to the Nicobar Islands. Molayu should thus lie half-way
between Bhôja and Kieh-ch’a, but this indication must not be taken
too literally where it is given for a sailing vessel, and there
is also the statement of De Barros, which does not allow us to go
too far away from Palembang, as he mentions Tana-Malayu _next_ to
that place. We have therefore to choose between the next three
larger rivers: those of Jambi, Indragiri, and Kampar, and there
is an indication in favour of the last one, not very strong, it
is true, but still not to be neglected. I-tsing tells us: ‘Le
roi me donna des secours grâce auxquels je parvins au pays de
_Mo-louo-yu_; j’y séjournai derechef pendant deux mois. Je changeai
de direction pour aller dans le pays de _Kie-tcha_.’ The change
of direction during a voyage along the east coast of Sumatra from
Palembang to Atjeh is nowhere very perceptible, because the course
is throughout more or less north-west, still one may speak of a
change of direction at the mouth of the River Kampar, about the
entrance of the Strait of Malacca, whence the track begins to run
more west, whilst it is more north before. The country of Kampar
is of little importance now, but it is not improbable that there
has been a Hindoo settlement, as the ruins of religious monuments
decidedly Buddhist are still existing on the upper course of the
river, the only ones indeed on this side of the island, it being
a still unexplained fact that the Hindoos in Java have built on a
very large scale, and those of Sumatra hardly anything at all.”—Mr.
Takakusu (_A Record of the Buddhist Religion_, p. xli.) proposes to
place Shih-li-fuh-shi at Palembang and Mo-louo-yu farther on the
northern coast of Sumatra.—(Cf. _G. Schlegel, Geog. Notes_, XVI.;
_P. Pelliot, Bul. Ecole Franç. Ext. Orient_, II. pp. 94–96.)—H. C.]
CHAPTER IX.
CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF JAVA THE LESS. THE KINGDOMS OF
FERLEC AND BASMA.
When you leave the Island of Pentam and sail about 100 miles, you reach
the Island of JAVA THE LESS. For all its name ’tis none so small but
that it has a compass of two thousand miles or more. Now I will tell
you all about this Island.{1}
You see there are upon it eight kingdoms and eight crowned kings. The
people are all Idolaters, and every kingdom has a language of its
own. The Island hath great abundance of treasure, with costly spices,
lign-aloes and spikenard and many others that never come into our
parts.{2}
Now I am going to tell you all about these eight kingdoms, or at least
the greater part of them. But let me premise one marvellous thing, and
that is the fact that this Island lies so far to the south that the
North Star, little or much, is never to be seen!
Now let us resume our subject, and first I will tell you of the kingdom
of FERLEC.
This kingdom, you must know, is so much frequented by the Saracen
merchants that they have converted the natives to the Law of Mahommet—I
mean the townspeople only, for the hill-people live for all the world
like beasts, and eat human flesh, as well as all other kinds of flesh,
clean or unclean. And they worship this, that, and the other thing; for
in fact the first thing that they see on rising in the morning, that
they do worship for the rest of the day.{3}
Having told you of the kingdom of Ferlec, I will now tell of another
which is called BASMA.
When you quit the kingdom of Ferlec you enter upon that of Basma.
This also is an independent kingdom, and the people have a language
of their own; but they are just like beasts without laws or religion.
They call themselves subjects of the Great Kaan, but they pay him no
tribute; indeed they are so far away that his men could not go thither.
Still all these Islanders declare themselves to be his subjects, and
sometimes they send him curiosities as presents.{4} There are wild
elephants in the country, and numerous unicorns, which are very nearly
as big. They have hair like that of a buffalo, feet like those of an
elephant, and a horn in the middle of the forehead, which is black
and very thick. They do no mischief, however, with the horn, but with
the tongue alone; for this is covered all over with long and strong
prickles [and when savage with any one they crush him under their knees
and then rasp him with their tongue]. The head resembles that of a wild
boar, and they carry it ever bent towards the ground. They delight much
to abide in mire and mud. ’Tis a passing ugly beast to look upon, and
is not in the least like that which our stories tell of as being caught
in the lap of a virgin; in fact, ’tis altogether different from what we
fancied.{5} There are also monkeys here in great numbers and of sundry
kinds; and goshawks as black as crows. These are very large birds and
capital for fowling.{6}
I may tell you moreover that when people bring home pygmies which they
allege to come from India, ’tis all a lie and a cheat. For those little
men, as they call them, are manufactured on this Island, and I will
tell you how. You see there is on the Island a kind of monkey which
is very small, and has a face just like a man’s. They take these, and
pluck out all the hair except the hair of the beard and on the breast,
and then they dry them and stuff them and daub them with saffron and
other things until they look like men. But you see it is all a cheat;
for nowhere in India nor anywhere else in the world were there ever men
seen so small as these pretended pygmies.
Now I will say no more of the kingdom of Basma, but tell you of the
others in succession.
NOTE 1.—Java the Less is the Island of SUMATRA. Here there is
no exaggeration in the dimension assigned to its circuit, which
is about 2300 miles. The old Arabs of the 9th century give it a
circuit of 800 parasangs, or say 2800 miles, and Barbosa reports
the estimate of the Mahomedan seamen as 2100 miles. Compare the
more reasonable accuracy of these estimates of Sumatra, which the
navigators knew in its entire compass, with the wild estimates of
Java Proper, of which they knew but the northern coast.
Polo by no means stands alone in giving the name of Java to the
island now called Sumatra. The terms _Jawa, Jawi_, were applied
by the Arabs to the islands and productions of the Archipelago
generally (_e.g._, _Lubán Jawí_, “Java frankincense,” whence by
corruption _Benzoin_), but also specifically to Sumatra. Thus
Sumatra is the _Jáwah_ both of Abulfeda and of Ibn Batuta, the
latter of whom spent some time on the island, both in going to
China and on his return. The Java also of the Catalan Map appears
to be Sumatra. _Javaku_ again is the name applied in the Singalese
chronicles to the Malays in general. _Jáu_ and _Dawa_ are the names
still applied by the Battaks and the people of Nias respectively
to the Malays, showing probably that these were looked on as
Javanese by those tribes who did not partake of the civilisation
diffused from Java. In Siamese also the Malay language is called
_Chawa_; and even on the Malay peninsula, the traditional slang for
a half-breed born from a Kling (or Coromandel) father and a Malay
mother is _Jáwí Păkăn_, “a Jawi (_i.e._ Malay) of the market.” De
Barros says that all the people of Sumatra called themselves by the
common name of _Jauijs_. (Dec. III. liv. v. cap. 1.)
There is some reason to believe that the application of the name
Java to Sumatra is of very old date. For the oldest inscription
of ascertained date in the Archipelago which has yet been read,
a Sanskrit one from Pagaroyang, the capital of the ancient Malay
state of Menang-kabau in the heart of Sumatra, bearing a date
equivalent to A.D. 656, entitles the monarch whom it commemorates,
Adityadharma by name, the king of “the First Java” (or rather
Yava). This Mr. Friedrich interprets to mean Sumatra. It is by no
means impossible that the _Iabadiu_, or Yávadvípa of Ptolemy may be
Sumatra rather than Java.
An accomplished Dutch Orientalist suggests that the Arabs
originally applied the terms Great Java and Little Java to Java
and Sumatra respectively, not because of their imagined relation
in size, but as indicating the former to be Java _Proper_. Thus
also, he says, there is a _Great Acheh_ (Achin) which does not
imply that the place so called is greater than the well-known state
of Achin (of which it is in fact a part), but because it is Acheh
_Proper_. A like feeling may have suggested the Great Bulgaria,
Great Hungary, Great Turkey of the mediæval travellers. These were,
or were supposed to be, the original seats of the Bulgarians,
Hungarians, and Turks. The _Great Horde_ of the Kirghiz Kazaks
is, as regards numbers, not the greatest, but the smallest of the
three. But the others look upon it as the most ancient. The Burmese
are alleged to call the _Rakhain_ or people of Arakan _Mranma Gyí_
or Great Burmese, and to consider their dialect the most ancient
form of the language. And, in like manner, we may perhaps account
for the term of _Little Thai_, formerly applied to the Siamese in
distinction from the _Great Thai_, their kinsmen of Laos.
In after-days, when the name of Sumatra for the Great Island had
established itself, the traditional term “Little Java” sought other
applications. Barbosa seems to apply it to _Sumbawa_; Pigafetta and
Cavendish apply it to _Bali_, and in this way Raffles says it was
still used in his own day. Geographers were sometimes puzzled about
it. Magini says Java Minor is almost _incognita_.
(_Turnour’s Epitome_, p. 45; _Van der Tuuk, Bladwijzer tot de drie
Stukken van het Bataksche Leesboek_, p. 43, etc.; _Friedrich_ in
_Bat. Transactions_, XXVI.; _Levchine, Les Kirghíz Kazaks_, 300,
301.)
NOTE 2.—As regards the _treasure_, Sumatra was long famous for its
produce of gold. The export is estimated in Crawford’s History at
35,530 ounces; but no doubt it was much more when the native states
were in a condition of greater wealth and civilisation, as they
undoubtedly were some centuries ago. Valentyn says that in some
years Achin had exported 80 bahars, equivalent to 32,000 or 36,000
lbs. avoirdupois (!). Of the other products named, lign-aloes or
eagle-wood is a product of Sumatra, and is or was very abundant in
Campar on the eastern coast. The _Ain-i-Akbari_ says this article
was usually brought to India from _Achin_ and Tenasserim. Both this
and _spikenard_ are mentioned by Polo’s contemporary, Kazwini, among
the products of Java (probably Sumatra), viz., _Java lign-aloes
(al-’Ud al-Jáwi)_, camphor _spikenard (Sumbul)_, etc. _Náráwastu_
is the name of a grass with fragrant roots much used as a perfume
in the Archipelago, and I see this is rendered _spikenard_ in
a translation from the Malay Annals in the _Journal of the
Archipelago_.
With regard to the kingdoms of the island which Marco proceeds to
describe, it is well to premise that all the six which he specifies
are to be looked for towards the north end of the island, viz., in
regular succession up the northern part of the east coast, along
the north coast, and down the northern part of the west coast. This
will be made tolerably clear in the details, and Marco himself
intimates at the end of the next chapter that the six kingdoms he
describes were all at _this_ side or end of the island: “_Or vos
avon contée de cesti roiames que sunt de_ ceste _partie de scete
ysle, et des autres roiames de_ l’autre _partie ne voz conteron-noz
rien._” Most commentators have made confusion by scattering them up
and down, nearly all round the coast of Sumatra. The best remarks
on the subject I have met with are by Mr. Logan in his _Journal of
the Ind. Arch._ II. 610.
The “kingdoms” were certainly many more than eight throughout the
island. At a later day De Barros enumerates 29 on the coast alone.
Crawford reckons 15 different nations and languages on Sumatra and
its dependent isles, of which 11 belong to the great island itself.
(_Hist. of Ind. Arch._ III. 482; _Valentyn_, V. (Sumatra), p. 5;
_Desc. Dict._ p. 7, 417; _Gildemeister_, p. 193; _Crawf. Malay
Dict._ 119; _J. Ind. Arch._ V. 313.)
NOTE 3.—The kingdom of PARLÁK is mentioned in the _Shijarat Malayu_
or Malay Chronicle, and also in a Malay History of the Kings of
Pasei, of which an abstract is given by Dulaurier, in connection
with the other states of which we shall speak presently. It is also
mentioned (_Barlak_), as a city of the Archipelago, by Rashiduddin.
Of its extent we have no knowledge, but the position (probably of
its northern extremity) is preserved in the native name, _Tanjong_
(_i.e._ Cape) _Parlák_ of the N.E. horn of Sumatra, called by
European seamen “Diamond Point,” whilst the river and town of
_Perla_, about 32 miles south of that point, indicate, I have
little doubt, the site of the old capital.[1] Indeed in Malombra’s
Ptolemy (Venice, 1574), I find the next city of Sumatra beyond
_Pacen_ marked as _Pulaca_.
The form _Ferlec_ shows that Polo got it from the Arabs, who
having no _p_ often replace that letter by _f_. It is notable that
the Malay alphabet, which is that of the Arabic with necessary
modifications, represents the sound _p_ not by the Persian _pe_
(پ), but by the Arabic _fe_ (ف), with three dots instead of one (ڤ).
A Malay chronicle of Achin dates the accession of the first
Mahomedan king of that state, the nearest point of Sumatra to India
and Arabia, in the year answering to A.D. 1205, and this is the
earliest conversion among the Malays on record. It is doubtful,
indeed, whether there _were_ Kings of _Achin_ in 1205, or for
centuries after (unless indeed _Lambri_ is to be regarded as
Achin), but the introduction of Islam may be confidently assigned
to that age.
The notice of the Hill-people, who lived like beasts and ate human
flesh, presumably attaches to the Battas or Bataks, occupying high
table-lands in the interior of Sumatra. They do not now extend
north beyond lat. 3°. The interior of Northern Sumatra seems to
remain a _terra incognita_, and even with the coast we are far less
familiar than our ancestors were 250 years ago. The Battas are
remarkable among cannibal nations as having attained or retained
some degree of civilisation, and as being possessed of an alphabet
and documents. Their anthropophagy is now professedly practised
according to precise laws, and only in prescribed cases. Thus:
(1) A commoner seducing a Raja’s wife must be eaten; (2) Enemies
taken in battle _outside their village_ must be eaten _alive_;
those taken in storming a village may be spared; (3) Traitors
and spies have the same doom, but may ransom themselves for 60
dollars a-head. There is nothing more horrible or extraordinary in
all the stories of mediæval travellers than the _facts_ of this
institution. (See _Junghuhn_, _Die Battaländer_, II. 158.) And it
is evident that human flesh is also at times kept in the houses
for food. Junghuhn, who could not abide Englishmen but was a great
admirer of the Battas, tells how after a perilous and hungry flight
he arrived in a friendly village, and the food that was offered by
his hosts was the flesh of two prisoners who had been slaughtered
the day before (I. 249). Anderson was also told of one of the most
powerful Batta chiefs who would eat only such food, and took care
to be supplied with it (225).
The story of the Battas is that in old times their communities
lived in peace and knew no such custom; but a Devil, _Nanalain_,
came bringing strife, and introduced this man-eating, at a period
which they spoke of (in 1840) as “three men’s lives ago,” or about
210 years previous to that date. Junghuhn, with some enlargement of
the time, is disposed to accept their story of the practice being
comparatively modern. This cannot be, for their hideous custom
is alluded to by a long chain of early authorities. Ptolemy’s
anthropophagi may perhaps be referred to the smaller islands. But
the Arab _Relations_ of the 9th century speak of man-eaters in
Al-Ramni, undoubtedly Sumatra. Then comes our traveller, followed
by Odoric, and in the early part of the 15th century by Conti, who
names the _Batech_ cannibals. Barbosa describes them without naming
them; Galvano (p. 108) speaks of them by name; as does De Barros.
(Dec. III. liv. viii. cap. 1.)
The practice of worshipping the first thing seen in the morning is
related of a variety of nations. Pigafetta tells it of the people
of Gilolo, and Varthema in his account of Java (which I fear is
fiction) ascribes it to some people of that island. Richard Eden
tells it of the Laplanders. (_Notes on Russia_, Hak. Soc. II. 224.)
NOTE 4.—_Basma_, as Valentyn indicated, seems to be the PASEI of
the Malays, which the Arabs probably called _Basam_ or the like,
for the Portuguese wrote it PACEM. [Mr. J. T. Thomson writes
(_Proc. R. G. S._ XX. p. 221) that of its actual position there can
be no doubt, it being the Passier of modern charts.—H. C.] Pasei is
mentioned in the Malay Chronicle as founded by Malik al-Ṣálih, the
first Mussulman sovereign of Samudra, the next of Marco’s kingdoms.
He assigned one of these states to each of his two sons, Malik
al-Dháhir and Malik al-Mansúr; the former of whom was reigning at
Samudra, and apparently over the whole coast, when Ibn Batuta was
there (about 1346–47). There is also a Malay History of the Kings
of Pasei to which reference has already been made.
Somewhat later Pasei was a great and famous city. Majapahit,
Malacca, and Pasei being reckoned the three great cities of the
Archipelago. The stimulus of conversion to Islam had not taken
effect on those Sumatran states at the time of Polo’s voyage, but
it did so soon afterwards, and, low as they have now fallen, their
power at one time was no delusion. Achin, which rose to be the
chief of them, in 1615 could send against Portuguese Malacca an
expedition of more than 500 sail, 100 of which were galleys larger
than any then constructed in Europe, and carried from 600 to 800
men each.
[Dr. Schlegel writes to me that according to the Malay Dictionary
of Von de Wall and Van der Tuuk, ii. 414–415, Polo’s _Basman_ is the
Arab pronunciation of _Pasĕman_, the modern Ophir in West Sumatra;
_Gūnung Pasĕman_ is Mount Ophir.—H. C.]
[Illustration: The three Asiatic Rhinoceroses; (upper) Indicus,
(middle) Sondaicus, (lower) Sumatranus.[2]]
NOTE 5.—The elephant seems to abound in the forest-tracts
throughout the whole length of Sumatra, and the species is now
determined to be a distinct one (_E. Sumatranus_) from that of
continental India and identical with that of Ceylon.[3] The
Sumatran elephant in former days was caught and tamed extensively.
Ibn Batuta speaks of 100 elephants in the train of Al Dháhir, the
King of Sumatra Proper, and in the 17th century Beaulieu says the
King of Achin had always 900. Giov. d’Empoli also mentions them
at Pedir in the beginning of the 16th century; and see _Pasei
Chronicle_ quoted in _J. As._ sér. IV. tom. ix. pp. 258–259. This
speaks of elephants as used in war by the people of Pasei, and of
elephant-hunts as a royal diversion. The _locus_ of that best of
elephant stories, the elephant’s revenge on the tailor, was at
Achin.
As Polo’s account of the rhinoceros is evidently from nature, it
is notable that he should not only _call_ it unicorn, but speak so
precisely of its one horn, for the characteristic, if not the only,
species on the island, is a two-horned one (_Rh. Sumatranus_),[4]
and his mention of the buffalo-like hair applies only to this one.
This species exists also on the Indo-Chinese continent and, it is
believed, in Borneo. I have seen it in the Arakan forests as high
as 19° 20′; one was taken not long since near Chittagong; and Mr.
Blyth tells me a stray one has been seen in Assam or its borders.
[Ibn Khordâdhbeh says (_De Goeje’s Transl._ p. 47) that rhinoceros
is to be found in Kâmeroun (Assam), which borders on China. It has
a horn, a cubit long, and two palms thick; when the horn is split,
inside is found on the black ground the white figure of a man, a
quadruped, a fish, a peacock or some other bird.—H. C.]
[John Evelyn mentions among the curiosities kept in the Treasury at
St. Denis: “A faire unicorne’s horn, sent by a K. of Persia, about
7 foote long.” _Diary_, 1643, 12th Nov.—H. C.]
What the Traveller says of the animals’ love of mire and mud is
well illustrated by the manner in which the _Semangs_ or Negritoes
of the Malay Peninsula are said to destroy him: “This animal ... is
found frequently in marshy places, with its whole body immersed in
the mud, and part of the head only visible.... Upon the dry weather
setting in ... the mud becomes hard and crusted, and the rhinoceros
cannot effect his escape without considerable difficulty and
exertion. The Semangs prepare themselves with large quantities of
combustible materials, with which they quietly approach the animal,
who is aroused from his reverie by an immense fire over him, which
being kept well supplied by the Semangs with fresh fuel, soon
completes his destruction, and renders him in a fit state to make a
meal of.” (_J. Ind. Arch._ IV. 426.)[5] There is a great difference
in aspect between the one-horned species (_Rh. Sondaicus_ and
_Rh. Indicus_) and the two-horned. The Malays express what that
difference is admirably, in calling the last _Bádak-Karbáu_,
“the Buffalo-Rhinoceros,” and the Sondaicus _Bádak-Gájah_, “the
Elephant-Rhinoceros.”
The belief in the formidable nature of the tongue of the rhinoceros
is very old and wide-spread, though I can find no foundation for
it but the rough _appearance_ of the organ. [“His tongue also is
somewhat of a rarity, for, if he can get any of his antagonists
down, he will lick them so clean, that he leaves neither skin nor
flesh to cover his bones.” (_A. Hamilton_, ed. 1727, II. 24. _M.S.
Note of Yule_.) Compare what is said of the tongue of the Yak, I.
p. 277.—H. C.] The Chinese have the belief, and the Jesuit Lecomte
attests it from professed observation of the animal in confinement.
(_Chin. Repos._ VII. 137; _Lecomte_, II. 406.) [In a Chinese
work quoted by Mr. Groeneveldt (_T’oung Pao_, VII. No. 2, abst.
p. 19) we read that “the rhinoceros has thorns on its tongue and
always eats the thorns of plants and trees, but never grasses or
leaves.”—H. C.]
The legend to which Marco alludes, about the Unicorn allowing
itself to be ensnared by a maiden (and of which Marsden has made
an odd perversion in his translation, whilst indicating the true
meaning in his note), is also an old and general one. It will be
found, for example, in Brunetto Latini, in the _Image du Monde_,
in the _Mirabilia_ of Jordanus,[6] and in the verses of Tzetzes.
The latter represents Monoceros as attracted not by the maiden’s
charms but by her perfumery. So he is inveigled and blindfolded by
a stout young knave, disguised as a maiden and drenched with scent:—
“’Tis then the huntsmen hasten up, abandoning their ambush;
Clean from his head they chop his horn, prized antidote to poison;
And let the docked and luckless beast escape into the jungles.”
—V. 399, _seqq._
In the cut which we give of this from a mediæval source the horn of
the unicorn is evidently the tusk of a _narwhal_. This confusion
arose very early, as may be seen from its occurrence in Aelian,
who says that the horn of the unicorn or _Kartazōnon_ (the Arab
_Karkaddan_ or Rhinoceros) was not straight but twisted (ἐλιγμούς
ἔχον τινάς, Hist. An. xvi. 20). The mistake may also be traced in
the illustrations to Cosmas Indicopleustes from his own drawings,
and it long endured, as may be seen in Jerome Cardan’s description
of a unicorn’s horn which he saw suspended in the church of St.
Denis; as well as in a circumstance related by P. della Valle (II.
491; and Cardan, _de Varietate_, c. xcvii.). Indeed the supporter
of the Royal arms retains the narwhal horn. To this popular error
is no doubt due the reading in Pauthier’s text, which makes the
horn _white_ instead of black.
[Illustration: Monoceros and the Maiden.[7]]
We may quote the following quaint version of the fable from the
Bestiary of Philip de Thaun, published by Mr. Wright (_Popular
Treatises on Science_, etc. p. 81):
“Monosceros est Beste, un corne ad en la teste,
Purceo ad si a nun, de buc ad façun;
Par Pucele est prise; or vez en quel guise.
Quant hom le volt cacer et prendre et enginner,
Si vent hom al forest ù sis riparis est;
Là met une Pucele hors de sein sa mamele,
Et par odurement Monosceros la sent;
Dunc vent à la Pucele, et si baiset la mamele,
En sein devant se dort, issi vent à sa mort
Li hom suivent atant ki l’ocit en dormant
U trestout vif le prent, si fais puis sun talent.
Grant chose signifie.”....
And so goes on to moralise the fable.
NOTE 6.—In the _J. Indian Archip._ V. 285, there is mention of the
_Falco Malaiensis_, black, with a double white-and-brown spotted
tail, said to belong to the ospreys, “but does not disdain to take
birds and other game.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] See _Anderson’s Mission to East Coast of Sumatra_, pp. 229, 233 and
map. The _Ferlec_ of Polo was identified by Valentyn. (_Sumatra_,
in vol. v. p. 21.) Marsden remarks that a terminal _k_ is in
Sumatra always softened or omitted in pronunciation. (_H. of Sum._
1st. ed. p. 163.) Thus we have Perlak, and _Perla_, as we have
Battak and _Batta_.
[2] Since this engraving was made a fourth species has been
established, _Rhin. lasyotis_, found near Chittagong.
[3] The elephant of India has 6 true ribs and 13 false ribs, that of
Sumatra and Ceylon has 6 true and 14 false.
[4] Marsden, however, does say that a one-horned species (_Rh.
sondaicus_?) is also found on Sumatra (3rd ed. of his _H. of
Sumatra_, p. 116).
[5] An American writer professes to have discovered in Missouri
the fossil remains of a bogged mastodon, which had been killed
precisely in this way by human contemporaries. (See _Lubbock, Preh.
Times_, 2d ed. 279.)
[6] _Tresor_, p. 253; _N. and E._, V. 263; _Jordanus_, p. 43.
[7] Another mediæval illustration of the subject is given in _Les
Arts au Moyen Age_, p. 499, from the binding of a book. It is
allegorical, and the Maiden is there the Virgin Mary.
CHAPTER X.
THE KINGDOMS OF SAMARA AND DAGROIAN.
So you must know that when you leave the kingdom of Basma you come
to another kingdom called Samara, on the same Island.{1} And in that
kingdom Messer Marco Polo was detained five months by the weather,
which would not allow of his going on. And I tell you that here again
neither the Pole-star nor the stars of the Maestro{2} were to be seen,
much or little. The people here are wild Idolaters; they have a king
who is great and rich; but they also call themselves subjects of the
Great Kaan. When Messer Mark was detained on this Island five months
by contrary winds, [he landed with about 2000 men in his company;
they dug large ditches on the landward side to encompass the party,
resting at either end on the sea-haven, and within these ditches they
made bulwarks or stockades of timber] for fear of those brutes of
man-eaters; [for there is great store of wood there; and the Islanders
having confidence in the party supplied them with victuals and other
things needful.] There is abundance of fish to be had, the best in the
world. The people have no wheat, but live on rice. Nor have they any
wine except such as I shall now describe.
You must know that they derive it from a certain kind of tree that they
have. When they want wine they cut a branch of this, and attach a great
pot to the stem of the tree at the place where the branch was cut; in a
day and a night they will find the pot filled. This wine is excellent
drink, and is got both white and red. [It is of such surpassing virtue
that it cures dropsy and tisick and spleen.] The trees resemble small
date-palms; ... and when cutting a branch no longer gives a flow of
wine, they water the root of the tree, and before long the branches
again begin to give out wine as before.{3} They have also great
quantities of Indian nuts [as big as a man’s head], which are good to
eat when fresh; [being sweet and savoury, and white as milk. The inside
of the meat of the nut is filled with a liquor like clear fresh water,
but better to the taste, and more delicate than wine or any other drink
that ever existed.]
Now that we have done telling you about this kingdom, let us quit it,
and we will tell you of Dagroian.
When you leave the kingdom of Samara you come to another which is
called DAGROIAN. It is an independent kingdom, and has a language
of its own. The people are very wild, but they call themselves the
subjects of the Great Kaan. I will tell you a wicked custom of
theirs.{4}
When one of them is ill they send for their sorcerers, and put the
question to them, whether the sick man shall recover of his sickness
or no. If they say that he will recover, then they let him alone till
he gets better. But if the sorcerers foretell that the sick man is to
die, the friends send for certain judges of theirs to put to death him
who has thus been condemned by the sorcerers to die. These men come,
and lay so many clothes upon the sick man’s mouth that they suffocate
him. And when he is dead they have him cooked, and gather together all
the dead man’s kin, and eat him. And I assure you they do suck the very
bones till not a particle of marrow remains in them; for they say that
if any nourishment remained in the bones this would breed worms, and
then the worms would die for want of food, and the death of those worms
would be laid to the charge of the deceased man’s soul. And so they eat
him up stump and rump. And when they have thus eaten him they collect
his bones and put them in fine chests, and carry them away, and place
them in caverns among the mountains where no beast nor other creature
can get at them. And you must know also that if they take prisoner a
man of another country, and he cannot pay a ransom in coin, they kill
him and eat him straightway. It is a very evil custom and a parlous.{5}
Now that I have told you about this kingdom let us leave it, and I will
tell you of Lambri.
NOTE 1.—I have little doubt that in Marco’s dictation the name was
really _Samatra_, and it is possible that we have a trace of this
in the _Samarcha_ (for _Samartha_) of the Crusca MS.
The _Shijarat Malayu_ has a legend, with a fictitious etymology, of
the foundation of the city and kingdom of _Samudra_, or SUMATRA,
by Marah Silu, a fisherman near Pasangan, who had acquired great
wealth, as wealth is got in fairy tales. The name is probably
the Sanskrit _Samudra_, “the sea.” Possibly it may have been
imitated from Dwára Samudra, at that time a great state and city of
Southern India. [We read in the Malay Annals, _Salalat al Salatin_,
translated by Mr. J. T. Thomson (_Proc. R. G. S._ XX. p. 216):
“Mara Silu ascended the eminence, when he saw an ant as big as a
cat; so he caught it, and ate it, and on the place he erected his
residence, which he named Samandara, which means Big Ant (_Semut
besar_ in Malay).”—H. C.] Mara Silu having become King of Samudra
was converted to Islam, and took the name of Malik al-Ṣálih. He
married the daughter of the King of _Parlák_, by whom he had two
sons; and to have a principality for each he founded the city and
kingdom of _Pasei_. Thus we have Marco’s three first kingdoms,
Ferlec, Basma, and Samara, connected together in a satisfactory
manner in the Malayan story. It goes on to relate the history of
the two sons Al-Dháhir and Al-Mansúr. Another version is given in
the history of Pasei already alluded to, with such differences as
might be expected when the oral traditions of several centuries
came to be written down.
Ibn Batuta, about 1346, on his way to China, spent fifteen days at
the court of Samudra, which he calls _Sămăthrah_ or _Sămŭthrah_.
The king whom he found there reigning was the Sultan Al-Malik
Al-Dháhir, a most zealous Mussulman, surrounded by doctors of
theology, and greatly addicted to religious discussions, as well
as a great warrior and a powerful prince. The city was 4 miles
from its port, which the traveller calls _Sărha_; he describes the
capital as a large and fine town, surrounded with an enceinte and
bastions of timber. The court displayed all the state of Mahomedan
royalty, and the Sultan’s dominions extended for many days along
the coast. In accordance with Ibn Batuta’s picture, the Malay
Chronicle represents the court of Pasei (which we have seen to be
intimately connected with Samudra) as a great focus of theological
studies about this time.
There can be little doubt that Ibn Batuta’s Malik Al-Dháhir is
the prince of the Malay Chronicle, the son of the first Mahomedan
king. We find in 1292 that Marco says nothing of Mahomedanism; the
people are still wild idolaters; but the king is already a rich
and powerful prince. This may have been Malik al-Ṣálih before his
conversion; but it may be doubted if the Malay story be correct
in representing him as the _founder_ of the city. Nor is this
apparently so represented in the Book of the Kings of Pasei.
Before Ibn Batuta’s time, Sumatra or Samudra appears in the
travels of Fr. Odoric. After speaking of _Lamori_ (to which we
shall come presently), he says: “In the same island, towards
the south, is another kingdom, by name SUMOLTRA, in which is a
singular generation of people, for they brand themselves on the
face with a hot iron in some twelve places,” etc. This looks as if
the conversion to Islam was still (_circa_ 1323) very incomplete.
Rashiduddin also speaks of _Súmútra_ as lying beyond Lamuri.
(_Elliot_, I. p. 70.)
The power attained by the dynasty of Malik al-Ṣálih, and the number
of Mahomedans attracted to his court, probably led in the course
of the 14th century to the extension of the name of Sumatra to the
whole island. For when visited early in the next century by Nicolo
Conti, we are told that he “went to a fine city of the island of
Taprobana, which island is called by the natives _Shamuthera_.”
Strange to say, he speaks of the natives as all idolaters. Fra
Mauro, who got much from Conti, gives us _Isola Siamotra_ over
_Taprobana_; and it shows at once his own judgment and want of
confidence in it, when he notes elsewhere that “Ptolemy, professing
to describe Taprobana, has really only described Saylan.”
We have no means of settling the exact position of the city of
Sumatra, though possibly an enquiry among the natives of that
coast might still determine the point. Marsden and Logan indicate
Samarlanga, but I should look for it nearer Pasei. As pointed out
by Mr. Braddell in the _J. Ind. Arch._, Malay tradition represents
the site of Pasei as selected on a hunting expedition from Samudra,
which seems to imply tolerable proximity. And at the marriage of
the Princess of Parlak to Malik Al-Ṣálih, we are told that the
latter went to receive her on landing at Jambu Ayer (near Diamond
Point), and thence conducted her to the city of Samudra. I should
seek Samudra near the head of the estuary-like Gulf of Pasei,
called in the charts _Telo_ (or Talak) _Samawe_; a place very
likely to have been sought as a shelter to the Great Kaan’s fleet
during the south-west monsoon. Fine timber, of great size, grows
close to the shore of this bay,[1] and would furnish material for
Marco’s stockades.
When the Portuguese first reached those regions Pedir was the
leading state upon the coast, and certainly no state _called_
Sumatra continued to exist. Whether the _city_ continued to exist
even in decay is not easy to discern. The _Aín-i-Akbari_ says that
the best civet is that which is brought from _the seaport town of
Sumatra, in the territory of Achin_, and is called _Sumatra Zabád_;
but this may have been based on old information. Valentyn seems
to recognise the existence of a place of note called _Samadra_ or
_Samotdara_, though it is not entered on his map. A famous mystic
theologian who flourished under the great King of Achin, Iskandar
Muda, and died in 1630, bore the name of Shamsuddín _Shamatráni_,
which seems to point to the city of Sumatra as his birth place.[2]
The most distinct mention that I know of the city so called, in the
Portuguese period, occurs in the _soi-disant_ “Voyage which Juan
Serano made when he fled from Malacca,” in 1512, published by Lord
Stanley of Alderley, at the end of his translation of Barbosa. This
man speaks of the “island of Samatra” as named from “_a city of
this northern part_.” And on leaving Pedir, having gone down the
northern coast, he says, “I drew towards the south and south-east
direction, and reached to another country and city which is called
Samatra,” and so on. Now this describes the position in which the
city of Sumatra should have been if it existed. But all the rest of
the tract is mere plunder from Varthema.[3]
There is, however, a like intimation in a curious letter respecting
the Portuguese discoveries, written from Lisbon in 1515, by a
German, Valentine Moravia, who was probably the same Valentyn
Fernandez, the German, who published the Portuguese edition of
Marco Polo at Lisbon in 1502, and who shows an extremely accurate
conception of Indian geography. He says: “La maxima insula la quale
è chiamata da Marcho Polo Veneto Iava Minor, et al presente si
chiama _Sumotra_, da un _emporie di dicta insula_” (printed by _De
Gubernatis, Viagg. Ita._ etc., p. 170).
Several considerations point to the probability that the states of
Pasei and Sumatra had become united, and that the town of Sumatra
may have been represented by the Pacem of the Portuguese.[4] I have
to thank Mr. G. Phillips for the copy of a small Chinese chart
showing the northern coast of the island, which he states to be
from “one of about the 13th century.” I much doubt the date, but
the map is valuable as showing the town of Sumatra (_Sumantala_).
This seems to be placed in the Gulf of Pasei, and very near where
Pasei itself still exists. An extract of a “Chinese account of
about A.D. 1413” accompanied the map. This states that the town
was situated some distance up a river, so as to be reached in
two tides. There was a village at the mouth of the river called
_Talumangkin_.[5]
[Mr. E. H. Parker writes (_China Review_, XXIV. p. 102): “Colonel
Yule’s remarks about Pasei are borne out by Chinese History (Ming,
325, 20, 24), which states that in 1521 Pieh-tu-lu (Pestrello [for
Perestrello?]) having failed in China ‘went for’ _Pa-si_. Again
‘from Pa-si, Malacca, to Luzon, they swept the seas, and all the
other nations were afraid of them.’”—H. C.]
Among the Indian states which were prevailed on to send tribute (or
presents) to Kúblái in 1286, we find _Sumutala_. The chief of this
state is called in the Chinese record _Tu-‘han-pa-ti_, which seems
to be just the Malay words _Tuan Pati_, “Lord Ruler.” No doubt this
was the rising state of Sumatra, of which we have been speaking;
for it will be observed that Marco says the people of that state
called themselves the Kaan’s subjects. Rashiduddin makes the same
statement regarding the people of Java (_i.e._ the island of
Sumatra), and even of Nicobar: “They are all subject to the Kaan.”
It is curious to find just the same kind of statements about the
princes of the Malay Islands acknowledging themselves subjects of
Charles V., in the report of the surviving commander of Magellan’s
ship to that emperor (printed by Baldelli-Boni, I. lxvii.).
Pauthier has curious Chinese extracts containing a notable passage
respecting the disappearance of Sumatra Proper from history: “In
the years _Wen-chi_ (1573–1615), the Kingdom of Sumatra divided in
two, and the new state took the name of _Achi_ (Achin). After that
Sumatra was no more heard of.” (_Gaubil_, 205; _De Mailla_, IX.
429; _Elliot_, I. 71; _Pauthier_, pp. 605 and 567.)
NOTE 2.—“_Vos di que la Tramontaine ne part. Et encore vos di que
l’estoilles dou Meistre ne aparent ne pou ne grant_” (G. T.). The
_Tramontaine_ is the Pole star:—
“De nostre Père l’Apostoille
Volsisse qu’il semblast l’estoile
Qui ne se muet ...
Par cele estoile vont et viennent
Et lor sen et lor voie tiennent
Il l’apelent la _tres montaigne_.”
—_La Bible Guiot de Provins_ in _Barbazan_, by _Méon_, II. 377.
The _Meistre_ is explained by Pauthier to be Arcturus; but this
makes Polo’s error greater than it is. Brunetto Latini says:
“Devers la tramontane en a il i. autre (vent) plus debonaire, qui a
non _Chorus_. Cestui apelent li marinier MAISTRE _por vij. estoiles
qui sont en celui meisme leu_,” etc. (_Li Tresors_, p. 122).
_Magister_ or _Magistra_ in mediæval Latin, _La Maistre_ in old
French, signifies “the beam of a plough.” Possibly this accounts
for the application of _Maistre_ to the Great Bear, or _Plough_.
But on the other hand the pilot’s art is called in old French
_maistrance_. Hence this constellation may have had the name as the
pilot’s guide,—like our _Lode_-star. The name was probably given
to the N.W. point under a latitude in which the Great Bear sets in
that quarter. In this way many of the points of the old Arabian
_Rose des Vents_ were named from the rising or setting of certain
constellations. (See _Reinaud’s Abulfeda_, Introd. pp. cxcix.–cci.)
NOTE 3.—The tree here intended, and which gives the chief supply of
toddy and sugar in the Malay Islands, is the _Areng Saccharifera_
(from the Javanese name), called by the Malays _Gomuti_, and by the
Portuguese _Saguer_. It has some resemblance to the date-palm, to
which Polo compares it, but it is a much coarser and wilder-looking
tree, with a general raggedness, “_incompta et adspectu tristis_,”
as Rumphius describes it. It is notable for the number of plants
that find a footing in the joints of its stem. On one tree in Java
I have counted thirteen species of such parasites, nearly all
ferns. The tree appears in the foreground of the cut at p. 273.
Crawford thus describes its treatment in obtaining toddy: “One
of the _spathae_, or shoots of fructification, is, on the first
appearance of the fruit, beaten for three successive days with a
small stick, with the view of determining the sap to the wounded
part. The shoot is then cut off, a little way from the root, and
the liquor which pours out is received in pots.... The _Gomuti_
palm is fit to yield toddy at 9 or 10 years old, and continues
to yield it for 2 years at the average rate of 3 quarts a day.”
(_Hist. of Ind. Arch._ I. 398.)
The words omitted in translation are unintelligible to me: “_et
sunt quatre raimes trois cel en_.” (G. T.)
[“Polo’s description of the wine-pots of Samara hung on the trees
‘like date-palms,’ agrees precisely with the Chinese account of
the _shu theu tsiu_ made from ‘coir trees like cocoa-nut palms’
manufactured by the Burmese. Therefore it seems more likely that
Samara is Siam (still pronounced _Shumuro_ in Japan, and _Siamlo_
in Hakka), than Sumatra.” (_Parker_, _China Review_, XIV. p. 359.)
I think it useless to discuss this theory.—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—No one has been able to identify this state. Its position,
however, must have been near PEDIR, and perhaps it was practically
the same. Pedir was the most flourishing of those Sumatran states
at the appearance of the Portuguese.
Rashiduddin names among the towns of the Archipelago _Dalmian_,
which may perhaps be a corrupt transcript of Dagroian.
Mr. Phillips’s Chinese extracts, already cited, state that west of
Sumatra (proper) were two small kingdoms, the first _Nakú-urh_,
the second _Liti_. Nakú-urh, which seems to be the _Ting-’ho-’rh_
of Pauthier’s extracts, which sent tribute to the Kaan, and may
probably be Dagroian as Mr. Phillips supposes, was also called the
_Kingdom of Tattooed Folk_.
[Mr. G. Phillips wrote since (_J. R. A. S._, July 1895, p. 528):
“Dragoian has puzzled many commentators, but on (a) Chinese chart
... there is a country called _Ta-hua-mien_, which in the Amoy
dialect is pronounced _Dakolien_, in which it is very easy to
recognise the Dragoian, or Dagoyam, of Marco Polo.” In his paper of
_The Seaports of India and Ceylon_ (_Jour. China B. R. A. S._, xx.
1885, p. 221), Mr. Phillips, referring to his Chinese Map, already
said: _Ta-hsiao-hua-mien_, in the Amoy dialect _Toa-sio-hoe_ (or
_Ko_)-_bin_, “The Kingdom of the Greater and Lesser Tattooed
Faces.” The Toa-Ko-bin, the greater tattooed-face people, most
probably represents the Dagroian, or Dagoyum, of Marco Polo. This
country was called _Na-ku-êrh_, and Ma Huan says, “the King of
_Na-ku-êrh_ is also called the King of the Tattooed Faces.”—H. C.]
Tattooing is ascribed by Friar Odoric to the people of _Sumoltra_.
(_Cathay_, p. 86.) _Liti_ is evidently the _Lidé_ of De Barros,
which by his list lay immediately east of Pedir. This would place
Nakú-urh about Samarlangka. Beyond _Liti_ was _Lanmoli_ (_i.e._
Lambri). [See _G. Schlegel_, _Geog. Notes_, XVI. Li-taï, Nakur.—H.
C.]
There is, or was fifty years ago, a small port between Ayer Labu
and Samarlangka, called _Darián_-Gadé (_Great_ Darian?). This is
the nearest approach to Dagroian that I have met with. (_N. Ann.
des V._, tom. xviii. p. 16.)
NOTE 5.—Gasparo Balbi (1579–1587) heard the like story of the
Battas under Achin. True or false, the charge against them has come
down to our times. The like is told by Herodotus of the Paddaei in
India, of the Massagetæ, and of the Issedonians; by Strabo of the
Caspians and of the Derbices; by the Chinese of one of the wild
tribes of Kwei-chau; and was told to Wallace of some of the Aru
Island tribes near New Guinea, and to Bickmore of a tribe on the
south coast of Floris, called _Rakka_ (probably a form of Hindu
_Rákshasa_, or ogre-goblin). Similar charges are made against
sundry tribes of the New World, from Brazil to Vancouver Island.
Odoric tells precisely Marco’s story of a certain island called
Dondin. And in “King Alisaunder,” the custom is related of a people
of India, called most inappropriately _Orphani_:—
“Another Folk woneth there beside;
_Orphani_ he hatteth wide.
When her eldrynges beth elde,
And ne mowen hemselven welde
Hy hem sleeth, and bidelve
And,” etc., etc. —_Weber_, I. p. 206.
Benedetto Bordone, in his _Isolario_ (1521 and 1547), makes the
same charge against the _Irish_, but I am glad to say that this
seems only copied from Strabo. Such stories are still rife in the
East, like those of men with tails. I have myself heard the tale
told, nearly as Raffles tells it of the Battas, of some of the
wild tribes adjoining Arakan. (_Balbi_, f. 130; _Raffles_, Mem. p.
427; _Wallace, Malay Archip._ 281; _Bickmore’s Travels_, p. 111;
_Cathay_, pp. 25, 100).
The latest and most authentic statement of the kind refers to
a small tribe called _Birhōrs_, existing in the wildest parts
of Chota Nagpúr and Jashpúr, west of Bengal, and is given by
an accomplished Indian ethnologist, Colonel Dalton. “They were
wretched-looking objects ... assuring me that they had themselves
given up the practice, they admitted that their fathers were in the
habit of disposing of their dead in the manner indicated, viz., by
feasting on the bodies; but they declared that they never shortened
life to provide such feast, and shrunk with horror at the idea of
any bodies but those of their own blood relations being served up
at them!” (_J. A. S. B._ XXXIV. Pt. II. 18.) The same practice has
been attributed recently, but only on hearsay, to a tribe of N.
Guinea called _Tarungares_.
The Battas now bury their dead, after keeping the body a
considerable time. But the people of Nias and the Batu Islands,
whom Junghuhn considers to be of common origin with the Battas, do
not bury, but expose the bodies in coffins upon rocks by the sea.
And the small and very peculiar people of the Paggi Islands expose
their dead on bamboo platforms in the forest. It is quite probable
that such customs existed in the north of Sumatra also; indeed
they may still exist, for the interior seems unknown. We do hear
of pagan hill-people inland from Pedir who make descents upon the
coast. (_Junghuhn_ II. 140; _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal_, etc.,
2nd year, No. 4; _Nouv. Ann. des. V._ XVIII.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] _Marsden_, 1st ed. p. 291.
[2] _Veth’s Atchin_, 1873, p. 37.
[3] It might be supposed that Varthema had stolen from Serano; but the
book of the former was _published_ in 1510.
[4] Castanheda speaks of Pacem as the best port of the land: “standing
on the bank of a river on marshy ground about a league inland;
and at the mouth of the river there are some houses of timber
where a customs collector was stationed to exact duties at the
anchorage from the ships which touched there.” (Bk. II. ch. iii.)
This agrees with Ibn Batuta’s account of Sumatra, 4 miles from its
port. [A village named _Samudra_ discovered in our days near Pasei
is perhaps a remnant of the kingdom of Samara. (_Merveilles de
l’Inde_, p. 234.)—H. C.]
[5] If Mr. Phillips had given particulars about his map and quotations,
as to date, author, etc., it would have given them more value. He
leaves this vague.
CHAPTER XI.
OF THE KINGDOMS OF LAMBRI AND FANSUR.
When you leave that kingdom you come to another which is called LAMBRI.
{1} The people are Idolaters, and call themselves the subjects of the
Great Kaan. They have plenty of Camphor and of all sorts of other
spices. They also have brazil in great quantities. This they sow, and
when it is grown to the size of a small shoot they take it up and
transplant it; then they let it grow for three years, after which they
tear it up by the root. You must know that Messer Marco Polo aforesaid
brought some seed of the brazil, such as they sow, to Venice with him,
and had it sown there; but never a thing came up. And I fancy it was
because the climate was too cold.
Now you must know that in this kingdom of Lambri there are men with
tails; these tails are of a palm in length, and have no hair on them.
These people live in the mountains and are a kind of wild men. Their
tails are about the thickness of a dog’s.{2} There are also plenty of
unicorns in that country, and abundance of game in birds and beasts.
Now then I have told you about the kingdom of Lambri.
You then come to another kingdom which is called FANSUR. The people are
Idolaters, and also call themselves subjects of the Great Kaan; and
understand, they are still on the same Island that I have been telling
you of. In this kingdom of Fansur grows the best Camphor in the world
called _Canfora Fansuri_. It is so fine that it sells for its weight in
fine gold.{3}
The people have no wheat, but have rice which they eat with milk and
flesh. They also have wine from trees such as I told you of. And I
will tell you another great marvel. They have a kind of trees that
produce flour, and excellent flour it is for food. These trees are
very tall and thick, but have a very thin bark, and inside the bark
they are crammed with flour. And I tell you that Messer Marco Polo,
who witnessed all this, related how he and his party did sundry times
partake of this flour made into bread, and found it excellent.{4}
There is now no more to relate. For out of those eight kingdoms we have
told you about six that lie at this side of the Island. I shall tell
you nothing about the other two kingdoms that are at the other side of
the Island, for the said Messer Marco Polo never was there. Howbeit we
have told you about the greater part of this Island of the Lesser Java:
so now we will quit it, and I will tell you of a very small Island that
is called GAUENISPOLA.{5}
NOTE 1.—The name of Lambri is not now traceable on our maps, nor on
any list of the ports of Sumatra that I have met with; but in old
times the name occurs frequently under one form or another, and its
position can be assigned generally to the north part of the west
coast, commencing from the neighbourhood of Achin Head.
De Barros, detailing the twenty-nine kingdoms which divided the
coast of Sumatra, at the beginning of the Portuguese conquests,
begins with _Daya_, and then passes round by the north. He names
as next in order LAMBRIJ, and then _Achem_. This would make Lambri
lie between Daya and Achin, for which there is but little room. And
there is an apparent inconsistency; for in coming round again from
the south, his 28th kingdom is _Quinchel_ (_Singkel_ of our modern
maps), the 29th _Mancopa_, “which _falls upon Lambrij_, which
adjoins Daya, the first that we named.” Most of the data about
Lambri render it very difficult to distinguish it from Achin.
The name of Lambri occurs in the Malay Chronicle, in the account of
the first Mahomedan mission to convert the Island. We shall quote
the passage in a following note.
The position of Lambri would render it one of the first points of
Sumatra made by navigators from Arabia and India; and this seems
at one time to have caused the name to be applied to the whole
Island. Thus Rashiduddin speaks of the very large Island LÁMÚRI
lying beyond Ceylon, and adjoining the country of _Sumatra_; Odoric
also goes from India across the Ocean to a certain country called
LAMORI, where he began to lose sight of the North Star. He also
speaks of the camphor, gold, and lign-aloes which it produced,
and proceeds thence to _Sumoltra_ in the same Island.[1] It is
probable that the _verzino_ or brazil-wood of _Ameri_ (L’Ameri,
_i.e._ Lambri?) which appears in the mercantile details of
Pegolotti was from this part of Sumatra. It is probable also that
the country called _Nanwuli_, which the Chinese Annals report, with
_Sumuntula_ and others, to have sent tribute to the Great Kaan
in 1286, was this same Lambri which Polo tells us called itself
subject to the Kaan.
In the time of the Sung Dynasty ships from T’swan-chau (or Zayton)
bound for _Tashi_, or Arabia, used to sail in forty days to a place
called _Lanli-poï_ (probably this is also Lambri, _Lambri-puri?_).
There they passed the winter, _i.e._ the south-west monsoon,
just as Marco Polo’s party did at Sumatra, and sailing again
when the wind became fair, they reached Arabia in sixty days.
(_Bretschneider_, p. 16.)
[The theory of Sir H. Yule is confirmed by Chinese authors quoted
by Mr. Groeneveldt (_Notes on the Malay Archipelago_, pp. 98–100):
“The country of Lambri is situated due west of Sumatra, at a
distance of three days sailing with a fair wind; it lies near the
sea and has a population of only about a thousand families.... On
the east the country is bordered by Litai, on the west and the
north by the sea, and on the south by high mountains, at the south
of which is the sea again.... At the north-west of this country, in
the sea, at a distance of half a day, is a flat mountain, called
the Hat-island; the sea at the west of it is the great ocean, and
is called the Ocean of Lambri. Ships coming from the west all
take this island as a landmark.” Mr. Groeneveldt adds: “Lambri
[according to his extracts from Chinese authors] must have been
situated on the north-western corner of the island of Sumatra, on
or near the spot of the present Achin: we see that it was bounded
by the sea on the north and the west, and that the Indian Ocean was
called after this insignificant place, because it was considered to
begin there. Moreover, the small island at half a day’s distance,
called Hat-island, perfectly agrees with the small islands Bras
or Nasi, lying off Achin, and of which the former, with its
newly-erected lighthouse, is a landmark for modern navigation, just
what it is said in our text to have been for the natives then.
We venture to think that the much discussed situation of Marco
Polo’s Lambri is definitely settled herewith.” The Chinese author
writes: “The mountains [of Lambri] produce the fragrant wood called
_Hsiang-chên Hsiang_.” Mr. Groeneveldt remarks (_l.c._ p. 143)
that this “is the name of a fragrant wood, much used as incense,
but which we have not been able to determine. Dr. Williams says
it comes from Sumatra, where it is called laka-wood, and is the
product of a tree to which the name of _Tanarius major_ is given by
him. For different reasons, we think this identification subject to
doubt.”
Captain M. J. C. Lucardie mentions a village called Lamreh,
situated at Atjeh, near Tungkup, in the xxvi. Mukim, which might
be a remnant of the country of Lâmeri. (_Merveilles de l’Inde_, p.
235.)—H. C.]
(_De Barros_, Dec. III. Bk. V. ch. i.; _Elliot_, I. 70; _Cathay_,
84, _seqq._; _Pegol._ p. 361; _Pauthier_, p. 605.)
NOTE 2.—Stories of tailed or hairy men are common in the
Archipelago, as in many other regions. Kazwini tells of the hairy
little men that are found in Rámni (Sumatra) with a language like
birds’ chirping. Marsden was told of hairy people called _Orang
Gugu_ in the interior of the Island, who differed little, except
in the use of speech, from the Orang utang. Since his time a
French writer, giving the same name and same description, declares
that he saw “a group” of these hairy people on the coast of
Andragiri, and was told by them that they inhabited the interior
of Menangkabau and formed a small tribe. It is rather remarkable
that this writer makes no allusion to Marsden though his account
is so nearly identical (_L’Océanie_ in _L’Univers Pittoresque_,
I. 24.) [One of the stories of the _Merveilles de l’Inde_ (p.
125) is that there are anthropophagi with tails at Lulu bilenk
between Fansur and Lâmeri.—H. C.] Mr. Anderson says there are “a
few wild people in the Siak country, very little removed in point
of civilisation above their companions the monkeys,” but he says
nothing of hairiness nor tails. For the earliest version of the
tail story we must go back to Ptolemy and the Isles of the Satyrs
in this quarter; or rather to Ctesias who tells of tailed men on an
Island in the Indian Sea. Jordanus also has the story of the hairy
men. Galvano heard that there were on the Island certain people
called _Daraque Dara_ (?), which had tails like unto sheep. And
the King of Tidore told him of another such tribe on the Isle of
Batochina. Mr. St. John in Borneo met with a trader who had seen
and _felt_ the tails of such a race inhabiting the north-east coast
of that Island. The appendage was 4 inches long and very stiff; so
the people all used perforated seats. This Borneo story has lately
been brought forward in Calcutta, and stoutly maintained, on native
evidence, by an English merchant. The Chinese also have their
tailed men in the mountains above Canton. In Africa there have been
many such stories, of some of which an account will be found in the
_Bulletin de la Soc. de Géog._ sér. IV. tom. iii. p. 31. It was a
story among mediæval Mahomedans that the members of the Imperial
House of Trebizond were endowed with short tails, whilst mediæval
Continentals had like stories about Englishmen, as Matthew Paris
relates. Thus we find in the Romance of Cœur de Lion, Richard’s
messengers addressed by the “Emperor of Cyprus”:—
“Out, _Taylards_, of my palys!
Now go, and say your _tayled_ King
That I owe him nothing.”
—_Weber_, II. 83.
The Princes of Purbandar, in the Peninsula of Guzerat, claim
descent from the monkey-god Hanumán, and allege in justification
a spinal elongation which gets them the name of _Púncháriah_,
“Taylards.”
(_Ethé’s Kazwini_, p. 221; _Anderson_, p. 210; _St. John,
Forests of the Far East_, I. 40; _Galvano_, Hak. Soc. 108, 120;
_Gildemeister_, 194; _Allen’s Indian Mail_, July 28, 1869; _Mid.
Kingd._ I. 293; _N. et Ext._ XIII. i. 380; _Mat. Paris_ under A.D.
1250; _Tod’s Rajasthan_, I. 114.)
NOTE 3.—The Camphor called _Fansúrí_ is celebrated by Arab writers
at least as old as the 9th century, _e.g._, by the author of the
first part of the _Relations_, by Mas’udi in the next century,
also by Avicenna, by Abulfeda, by Kazwini, and by Abu’l Fazl,
etc. In the second and third the name is miswritten _Ḳansúr_,
and by the last _Ḳaisúri_, but there can be no doubt of the
correction required. (_Reinaud_, I. 7; _Mas._ I. 338; _Liber
Canonis_, Ven. 1544, I. 116; _Büsching_, IV. 277; _Gildem._ p.
209; _Ain-i-Akb._ p. 78.) In Serapion we find the same camphor
described as that of _Pansor_; and when, leaving Arab authorities
and the earlier Middle Ages we come to Garcias, he speaks of the
same article under the name of camphor of _Barros_. And this is the
name—_Kápúr Bárús_—derived from the port which has been the chief
shipping-place of Sumatran camphor for _at least_ three centuries,
by which the native camphor is still known in Eastern trade, as
distinguished from the _Kápúr Chíná_ or _Kápúr-Japún_, as the
Malays term the article derived in those countries by distillation
from the _Laurus Camphora_. The earliest western mention of camphor
is in the same prescription by the physician Aëtius (_circa_
A.D. 540) that contains one of the earliest mentions of musk.
(_Supra_, I. p. 279.) The prescription ends: “and _if you have a
supply of camphor_ add two ounces of that.” (_Aetii Medici Graeci
Tetrabiblos_, etc., Froben, 1549, p. 910.)
It is highly probable that _Fansúr_ and _Barús_ may be not only the
same locality but mere variations of the same name.[2] The place is
called in the _Shijarat Malayu_, _Pasuri_, a name which the Arabs
certainly made into _Fansúri_ in one direction, and which might
easily in another, by a very common kind of Oriental metathesis,
pass into _Barúsi_. The legend in the Shijarat Malayu relates to
the first Mahomedan mission for the conversion of Sumatra, sent by
the Sherif of Mecca _viâ_ India. After sailing from Malabar the
first place the party arrived at was PASURI, the people of which
embraced Islam. They then proceeded to LAMBRI, which also accepted
the Faith. Then they sailed on till they reached _Haru_ (see on
my map _Aru_ on the East Coast), which did likewise. At this last
place they enquired for SAMUDRA, which seems to have been the
special object of their mission, and found that they had passed
it. Accordingly they retraced their course to PERLAK, and after
converting that place went on to SAMUDRA, where they converted
Mara Silu the King. (See note 1, ch. x. above.) This passage is
of extreme interest as naming _four_ out of Marco’s six kingdoms,
and in positions quite accordant with his indications. As noticed
by Mr. Braddell, from whose abstract I take the passage, the
circumstance of the party having passed Samudra unwittingly is
especially consistent with the site we have assigned to it near the
head of the Bay of Pasei, as a glance at the map will show.
Valentyn observes: “_Fansur_ can be nought else than the famous
_Pantsur_, no longer known indeed by that name, but a kingdom which
we become acquainted with through _Hamza Pantsuri_, a celebrated
Poet, and native of this Pantsur. It lay in the north angle of
the Island, and a little west of Achin: it formerly was rife with
trade and population, but would have been utterly lost in oblivion
had not Hamza Pantsuri made us again acquainted with it.” Nothing
indeed could well be “a little west of Achin”; this is doubtless a
slip for “a little down the west coast from Achin.” Hamza Fantsuri,
as he is termed by Professor Veth, who also identifies Fantsur with
Bárús, was a poet of the first half of the 17th century, who in his
verses popularised the mystical theology of Shamsuddin Shamatrani
(_supra_, p. 291), strongly tinged with pantheism. The works of
both were solemnly burnt before the great mosque of Achin about
1640. (_J. Ind. Arch._ V. 312 _seqq._; _Valentyn_, Sumatra, in Vol.
V., p. 21; _Veth, Atchin_, Leiden, 1873, p. 38.)
Mas’udi says that the Fansur Camphor was found most plentifully in
years rife with storms and earthquakes. Ibn Batuta gives a jumbled
and highly incorrect account of the product, but one circumstance
that he mentions is possibly founded on a real superstition,
viz., that no camphor was formed unless some animal had been
sacrificed at the root of the tree, and the best quality only then
when a human victim had been offered. Nicolo Conti has a similar
statement: “The Camphor is found inside the tree, and if they do
not sacrifice to the gods before they cut the bark, it disappears
and is no more seen.” Beccari, in our day, mentions special
ceremonies used by the Kayans of Borneo, before they commence the
search. These superstitions hinge on the great uncertainty of
finding camphor in any given tree, after the laborious process
of cutting it down and splitting it, an uncertainty which also
largely accounts for the high price. By far the best of the old
accounts of the product is that quoted by Kazwini from Mahomed Ben
Zakaria Al-Rázi: “Among the number of marvellous things in this
Island” (_Zánij_ for Zábaj, _i.e._ Java or Sumatra) “is the Camphor
Tree, which is of vast size, insomuch that its shade will cover a
hundred persons and more. They bore into the highest part of the
tree and thence flows out the camphor-water, enough to fill many
pitchers. Then they open the tree lower down about the middle, and
extract the camphor in lumps.” [This very account is to be found
in Ibn Khordâdhbeh. (_De Goeje’s transl._ p. 45.)—H. C.] Compare
this passage, which we may notice has been borrowed bodily by
Sindbad of the Sea, with what is probably the best modern account,
Junghuhn’s: “Among the forest trees (of Tapanuli adjoining Barus)
the Camphor Tree (_Dryabalanops Camphora_) attracts beyond all the
traveller’s observation, by its straight columnar and colossal
grey trunk, and its mighty crown of foliage, rising high above the
canopy of the forest. It exceeds in dimensions the _Rasamala_,[3]
the loftiest tree of Java, and is probably the greatest tree of
the Archipelago, if not of the world,[4] reaching a height of 200
feet. One of the middling size which I had cut down measured at the
base, where the camphor leaks out, 7½ Paris feet in diameter (about
8 feet English); its trunk rose to 100 feet, with an upper diameter
of 5 feet, before dividing, and the height of the whole tree to the
crown was 150 feet. The precious consolidated camphor is found in
small quantities, ¼ lb. to 1 lb. in a single tree, in fissure-like
hollows in the stem. Yet many are cut down in vain, or split up
the side without finding camphor. The camphor oil is prepared by
the natives by bruising and boiling the twigs.” The oil, however,
appears also to be found in the tree, as Crawford and Collingwood
mention, corroborating the ancient Arab.
It is well known that the Chinese attach an extravagantly superior
value to the Malay camphor, and probably its value in Marco’s day
was higher than it is now, but still its estimate as worth its
weight in gold looks like hyperbole. Forrest, a century ago, says
Barus Camphor was in the Chinese market worth nearly its weight in
_silver_, and this is true still. The price is commonly estimated
at 100 times that of the Chinese camphor. The whole quantity
exported from the Barus territory goes to China. De Vriese reckons
the average annual export from Sumatra between 1839 and 1844 at
less than 400 kilogrammes. The following table shows the wholesale
rates in the Chinese market as given by Rondot in 1848:—
_Qualities of Camphor_. _Per picul of 133⅓ lbs._
Ordinary China, 1st quality 20 dollars.
„ „ 2nd „ 14 „
Formosa 25 „
Japan 30 „
China _ngai_ (ext. from an Artemisia) 250 „
Barus, 1st quality 2000 „
„ 2nd „ 1000 „
The Chinese call the Sumatran (or Borneo) Camphor _Ping-pien_
“Icicle flakes,” and _Lung-nau_ “Dragon’s Brains.” [Regarding Baros
Camphor, Mr. Groeneveldt writes (_Notes_, p. 142): “This substance
is generally called _dragon’s brain perfume_, or _icicles_. The
former name has probably been invented by the first dealers in the
article, who wanted to impress their countrymen with a great idea
of its value and rarity. In the trade three different qualities
are distinguished: the first is called _prune-blossoms_, being the
larger pieces; the second is _rice-camphor_, so called because the
particles are not larger than a rice-kernel, and the last quality
is _golden dregs_, in the shape of powder. These names are still
now used by the Chinese traders on the west coast of Sumatra. The
_Pên-ts’au Kang-mu_ further informs us that the Camphor Baros is
found in the trunk of a tree in a solid shape, whilst from the
roots an oil is obtained called _Po-lut_ (Pa-lut) _incense_, or
_Polut balm_. The name of Polut is said to be derived from the
country where it is found (Baros.)”—H. C.] It is just to remark,
however, that in the _Aín Akbari_ we find the price of the Sumatran
Camphor, known to the Hindus as _Bhím Seni_, varying from 3 rupees
as high as 2 mohurs (or 20 rupees) for a rupee’s weight, which
latter price would be _twice_ the weight in gold. Abu’l Fazl says
the worst camphor went by the name of _Bálús_. I should suspect
some mistake, as we know from Garcias that the fine camphor was
already known as _Barus_. (_Ain-i-Akb._ 75–79.)
(_Mas’udi_, I. 338; _I. B._ IV. 241; _J. A._ sér. IV. tom. viii.
216; _Lane’s Arab. Nights_ (1859), III. 21; _Battaländer_, I.
107; _Crawf. Hist._ III. 218, and _Desc. Dict._ 81; _Hedde et
Rondot, Com. de la Chine_, 36–37; _Chin. Comm. Guide; Dr. F. A.
Flückiger, Zur Geschichte des Camphers_, in _Schweiz. Wochenschr.
für Pharmacie_, Sept., Oct., 1867.)
NOTE 4.—An interesting notice of the Sago-tree, of which Odoric
also gives an account. Ramusio is, however, here fuller and more
accurate: “Removing the first bark, which is but thin, you come
on the wood of the tree which forms a thickness all round of some
three fingers, but all inside this is a pith of flour, like that
of the _Carvolo_ (?). The trees are so big that it will take two
men to span them. They put this flour into tubs of water, and beat
it up with a stick, and then the bran and other impurities come to
the top, whilst the pure flour sinks to the bottom. The water is
then thrown away, and the cleaned flour that remains is taken and
made into _pasta_ in strips and other forms. These Messer Marco
often partook of, and brought some with him to Venice. It resembles
barley bread and tastes much the same. The wood of this tree is
like iron, for if thrown into the water it goes straight to the
bottom. It can be split straight from end to end like a cane. When
the flour has been removed the wood remains, as has been said,
three inches thick. Of this the people make short lances, not long
ones, because they are so heavy that no one could carry or handle
them if long. One end is sharpened and charred in the fire, and
when thus prepared they will pierce any armour, and much better
than iron would do.” Marsden points out that this heavy lance-wood
is not that of the true Sago-palm, but of the _Nibong_ or Caryota
urens; which does indeed give some amount of sago.
[“When sago is to be made, a full-grown tree is selected just
before it is going to flower. It is cut down close to the ground,
the leaves and leaf-stalks cleared away, and a broad strip of the
bark taken off the upper side of the trunk. This exposes the pithy
matter, which is of a rusty colour near the bottom of the tree,
but higher up pure white, about as hard as a dry apple, but with
woody fibres running through it about a quarter of an inch apart.
This pith is cut or broken down into a coarse powder, by means of
a tool constructed for the purpose.... Water is poured on the mass
of pith, which is kneaded and pressed against the strainer till the
starch is all dissolved and has passed through, when the fibrous
refuse is thrown away, and a fresh basketful put in its place.
The water charged with sago starch passes on to a trough, with a
depression in the centre, where the sediment is deposited, the
surplus water trickling off by a shallow outlet. When the trough is
nearly full, the mass of starch, which has a slight reddish tinge,
is made into cylinders of about thirty pounds’ weight, and neatly
covered with sago leaves, and in this state is sold as raw sago.
Boiled with water this forms a thick glutinous mass, with a rather
astringent taste, and is eaten with salt, limes, and chilies.
Sago-bread is made in large quantities, by baking it into cakes
in a small clay oven containing six or eight slits side by side,
each about three-quarters of an inch wide, and six or eight inches
square. The raw sago is broken up, dried in the sun, powdered, and
finely sifted. The oven is heated over a clear fire of embers,
and is lightly filled with the sago powder. The openings are then
covered with a flat piece of sago bark, and in about five minutes
the cakes are turned out sufficiently baked. The hot cakes are
very nice with butter, and when made with the addition of a little
sugar and grated cocoa-nut are quite a delicacy. They are soft, and
something like corn-flour cakes, but have a slight characteristic
flavour which is lost in the refined sago we use in this country.
When not wanted for immediate use, they are dried for several days
in the sun, and tied up in bundles of twenty. They will then keep
for years; they are very hard, and very rough and dry....” (_A. R.
Wallace’s Malay Archipelago_, 1869, II. pp. 118–121.)—H. C.]
NOTE 5.—In quitting the subject of these Sumatran Kingdoms it may
appear to some readers that our explanations compress them too
much, especially as Polo seems to allow only two kingdoms for the
rest of the Island. In this he was doubtless wrong, and we may the
less scruple to say so as he had _not_ visited that other portion
of the Island. We may note that in the space to which we assign
the _six_ kingdoms which Polo visited, De Barros assigns _twelve_,
viz.: Bara (corresponding generally to _Ferlec_), Pacem (_Basma_),
Pirada, Lide, Pedir, Biar, Achin, _Lambri_, Daya, Mancopa,
Quinchel, Barros (_Fansur_). (_Dec._ III. v. 1.)
[Regarding these Sumatrian kingdoms, Mr. Thomson (_Proc. R. G. S._
XX. p. 223) writes that Malaiur “is no other than Singapore ...
the ancient capital of the Malays or Malaiurs of old voyagers,
existent in the times of Marco Polo [who] mentions no kingdom or
city in Java Minor till he arrives at the kingdom of Felech or
Perlak. And this is just as might be expected, as the channel in
the Straits of Malacca leads on the north-eastern side out of
sight of Sumatra; and the course, after clearing the shoals near
Selangore, being direct towards Diamond Point, near which ...
the tower of Perlak is situated. Thus we see that the Venetian
traveller describes the first city or kingdom in the great island
that he arrived at.... [After Basman and Samara] Polo mentions
Dragoian ... from the context, and following Marco Polo’s course,
we would place it west from his last city or Kingdom Samara;
and we make no doubt, if the name is not much corrupted, it may
yet be identified in one of the villages of the coast at this
present time.... By the Malay annalist, Lambri was west of Samara;
consecutively it was also westerly from Samara by Marco Polo’s
enumeration. Fanfur ... is the last kingdom named by Marco Polo
[coming from the east], and the first by the Malay annalist [coming
from the west]; and as it is known to modern geographers, this
corroboration doubly settles the identity and position of all.
Thus all the six cities or kingdoms mentioned by Marco Polo were
situated on the north coast of Sumatra, now commonly known as
the Pedir coast.” I have given the conclusion arrived at by Mr.
J. T. Thomson in his paper, _Marco Polo’s Six Kingdoms or Cities
in Java Minor, identified in translations from the ancient Malay
Annals_, which appeared in the _Proc. R. G. S._ XX. pp. 215–224,
after the second edition of this Book was published and Sir H. Yule
added the following note (_Proc._, _l.c._, p. 224): “Mr. Thomson,
as he mentions, has not seen my edition of _Marco Polo_, nor,
apparently, a paper on the subject of these kingdoms by the late
Mr. J. R. Logan, in his _Journal of the Indian Archipelago_, to
which reference is made in the notes to _Marco Polo_. In the said
paper and notes the quotations and conclusions of Mr. Thomson have
been anticipated; and _Fansúr_ also, which he leaves undetermined,
identified.”—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] I formerly supposed _Al-Ramni_, the oldest Arabic name of Sumatra,
to be a corruption of Lambri; but this is more probably of Hindu
origin. One of the _Dvípas_ of the ocean mentioned in the Puranas
is called _Rámaṇíyaka_, “delightfulness.” (_Williams’s Skt. Dict._)
[2] Van der Tuuk says positively, I find: “Fantsur was the ancient
name of Bárus.” (_J. R. A. S._ n.s. II. 232.) [Professor Schlegel
writes also (_Geog. Notes_, XVI. p. 9): “At all events, _Fansur_ or
_Pantsur_ can be naught but Baros.”—H. C.]
[3] _Liquidambar Altingiana_.
[4] The Californian and Australian giants of 400 feet were not then
known.
CHAPTER XII.
CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF NECUVERAN.
When you leave the Island of Java (the less) and the kingdom of Lambri,
you sail north about 150 miles, and then you come to two Islands, one
of which is called NECUVERAN. In this Island they have no king nor
chief, but live like beasts. And I tell you they go all naked, both men
and women, and do not use the slightest covering of any kind. They are
Idolaters. Their woods are all of noble and valuable kinds of trees;
such as Red Sanders and Indian-nut and Cloves and Brazil and sundry
other good spices.{1}
There is nothing else worth relating; so we will go on, and I will tell
you of an Island called Angamanain.
NOTE 1.—The end of the last chapter and the commencement of this
I have taken from the G. Text. There has been some confusion in
the notes of the original dictation which that represents, and
corrections have made it worse. Thus Pauthier’s text runs: “I will
tell you of two small Islands, one called Gauenispola and the other
Necouran,” and then: “You sail north about 150 miles and find two
Islands, one called Necouran and the other Gauenispola.” Ramusio
does not mention Gauenispola, but says in the former passage: “I
will tell you of a small Island called Nocueran”—and then: “You
find two islands, one called Nocueran and the other Angaman.”
Knowing the position of Gauenispola there is no difficulty
in seeing how the passage should be explained. Something has
interrupted the dictation after the last chapter. Polo asks
Rusticiano, “Where were we?” “Leaving the Great Island.” Polo
forgets the “very small Island called Gauenispola,” and passes to
the north, where he has to tell us of two islands, “one called
Necuveran and the other Angamanain.” So, I do not doubt, the
passage should run.
Let us observe that his point of departure in sailing north to the
Nicobar Islands was the _Kingdom of Lambri_. This seems to indicate
that Lambri included Achin Head or came very near it, an indication
which we shall presently see confirmed.
As regards Gauenispola, of which he promised to tell us and forgot
his promise, its name has disappeared from our modern maps, but
it is easily traced in the maps of the 16th and 17th centuries,
and in the books of navigators of that time. The latest in which
I have observed it is the _Neptune Oriental_, Paris 1775, which
calls it _Pulo Gommes_. The name is there applied to a small
island off Achin Head, outside of which lie the somewhat larger
Islands of Pulo Nankai (or Nási) and Pulo Bras, whilst Pulo Wai
lies further east.[1] I imagine, however, that the name was by the
older navigators applied to the larger Island of Pulo Bras, or to
the whole group. Thus Alexander Hamilton, who calls it _Gomus_ and
_Pulo Gomuis_, says that “from the Island of Gomus and Pulo Wey
... the southernmost of the Nicobars may be seen.” Dampier most
precisely applies the name of Pulo Gomez to the larger island which
modern charts call Pulo Bras. So also Beaulieu couples the islands
of “_Gomispoda_ and Pulo Way” in front of the roadstead of Achin.
De Barros mentions that Gaspar d’Acosta was lost on the Island
of _Gomispola_. Linschoten, describing the course from Cochin to
Malacca, says: “You take your course towards the small Isles of
GOMESPOLA, which are in 6°, near the corner of Achin in the Island
of Sumatra.” And the Turkish author of the _Mohit_, in speaking of
the same navigation, says: “If you wish to reach Malacca, guard
against seeing JÁMISFULAH (جامس فله), because the mountains of
LÁMRI advance into the sea, and the flood is there very strong.”
The editor has misunderstood the geography of this passage, which
evidently means “Don’t go near enough to Achin Head to see even
the islands in front of it.” And here we see again that Lambri is
made to extend to Achin Head. The passage is illustrated by the
report of the first English Voyage to the Indies. Their course was
for the Nicobars, but “by the Master’s fault in not duly observing
the South Star, they fell to the southward of them, _within sight
of the Islands of Gomes Polo_.” (_Nept. Orient._ Charts 38 and 39,
and pp. 126–127; _Hamilton_, II. 66 and Map; _Dampier_, ed. 1699,
II. 122; _H. Gén. des Voyages_, XII. 310; _Linschoten_, Routier, p.
30; _De Barros_, Dec. III. liv. iii. cap. 3; _J. A. S. B._ VI. 807;
_Astley_, I. 238.)
The two islands (or rather groups of islands) _Necuveran_ and
_Angamanain_ are the Nicobar and Andaman groups. A nearer trace of
the form Necuveran, or _Necouran_ as it stands in some MSS., is
perhaps preserved in _Nancouri_, the existing name of one of the
islands. They are perhaps the _Nalo-kilo-chéu_ (_Narikela-dvipa_)
or Coco-nut Islands of which Hiuen Tsang speaks as existing some
thousand _li_ to the south of Ceylon. The men, he had heard,
were but 3 feet high, and had the beaks of birds. They had no
cultivation and lived on coco-nuts. The islands are also believed
to be the _Lanja bálús_ or _Lankha bálús_ of the old Arab
navigators: “These Islands support a numerous population. Both men
and women go naked, only the women wear a girdle of the leaves
of trees. When a ship passes near, the men come out in boats of
various sizes and barter ambergris and coco-nuts for iron,” a
description which has applied accurately for many centuries. [Ibn
Khordâdhbeh says (_De Goeje’s transl._, p. 45) that the inhabitants
of Nicobar (Alankabâlous), an island situated at ten or fifteen
days from Serendib, are naked; they live on bananas, fresh fish,
and coco-nuts; the precious metal is iron in their country; they
frequent foreign merchants.—H. C.] Rashiduddin writes of them
nearly in the same terms under the name of _Lákváram_, but read
NÁKAVÁRAM opposite LAMURI. Odoric also has a chapter on the island
of _Nicoveran_, but it is one full of fable. (_H. Tsang_, III. 114
and 517; _Relations_, p. 8; _Elliot_, I. p. 71; _Cathay_, p. 97.)
[Mr. G. Phillips writes (_J. R. A. S._, July 1895, p. 529) that the
name Tsui-lan given to the Nicobars by the Chinese is, he has but
little doubt, “a corruption of Nocueran, the name given by Marco
Polo to the group. The characters Tsui-lan are pronounced Ch’ui-lan
in Amoy, out of which it is easy to make Cueran. The Chinese
omitted the initial syllable and called them the Cueran Islands,
while Marco Polo called them the Nocueran Islands.”—H. C.]
[The Nicobar Islands “are generally known by the Chinese under the
name of _Râkchas_ or Demons who devour men, from the belief that
their inhabitants were anthropophagi. In A.D. 607, the Emperor of
China, Yang-ti, had sent an envoy to Siam, who also reached the
country of the Râkchas. According to _Tu-yen’s T’ung-tien_, the
Nicobars lie east [west] of Poli. Its inhabitants are very ugly,
having red hair, black bodies, teeth like beasts, and claws like
hawks. Sometimes they traded with _Lin-yih_ (Champa), but then at
night; in day-time they covered their faces.” (_G. Schlegel, Geog.
Notes_, I. pp. 1–2.)—H. C.]
Mr. Phillips, from his anonymous Chinese author, gives a quaint
legend as to the nakedness of these islanders. Sakya Muni, having
arrived from Ceylon, stopped at the islands to bathe. Whilst he
was in the water the natives stole his clothes, upon which the
Buddha cursed them; and they have never since been able to wear any
clothing without suffering for it.
[Professor Schlegel gives the same legend (_Geog. Notes_, I. p.
8) with reference to the _Andaman_ Islands from the _Sing-ch’a
Shêng-lan_, published in 1436 by Fei-sin; Mr. Phillips seems to
have made a confusion between the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
(_Doolittle’s Vocab._ II. p. 556; cf. _Schlegel_, _l.c._ p.
11.)—H. C.]
The chief part of the population is believed to be of race akin to
the Malay, but they seem to be of more than one race, and there
is great variety in dialect. There have long been reports of a
black tribe with woolly hair in the unknown interior of the Great
Nicobar, and my friend Colonel H. Man, when Superintendent of our
Andaman Settlements, received spontaneous corroboration of this
from natives of the former island, who were on a visit to Port
Blair. Since this has been in type I have seen in the _F. of India_
(28th July, 1874) notice of a valuable work by F. A. de Roepstorff
on the dialects and manners of the Nicobarians. This notice speaks
of an aboriginal race called _Shob’aengs_, “purely Mongolian,” but
does not mention negritoes. The natives do not now go quite naked;
the men wear a narrow cloth; and the women a grass girdle. They are
very skilful in management of their canoes. Some years since there
were frightful disclosures regarding the massacre of the crews of
vessels touching at these islands, and this has led eventually to
their occupation by the Indian Government. Trinkat and Nancouri
are the islands which were guilty. A woman of Trinkat who could
speak Malay was examined by Colonel Man, and she acknowledged
having seen nineteen vessels scuttled, after their cargoes had been
plundered and their crews massacred. “The natives who were captured
at Trinkat,” says Colonel Man in another letter, “were a most
savage-looking set, with remarkably long arms, and very projecting
eye-teeth.”
The islands have always been famous for the quality and abundance
of their “Indian Nuts,” _i.e._ cocos. The tree of next importance
to the natives is a kind of Pandanus, from the cooked fruit of
which they express an edible substance called Melori, of which
you may read in Dampier; they have the betel and areca; and they
grow yams, but only for barter. As regards the other vegetation,
mentioned by Polo, I will quote, what Colonel Man writes to me from
the Andamans, which probably is in great measure applicable to the
Nicobars also! “Our woods are very fine, and doubtless resemble
those of the Nicobars. Sapan wood (_i.e._ Polo’s _Brazil_) is in
abundance; coco-nuts, so numerous in the Nicobars, and to the north
in the Cocos, are not found naturally with us, though they grow
admirably when cultivated. There is said to be sandal-wood in our
forests, and camphor, but I have not yet come across them. I do not
believe in _cloves_, but we have lots of the wild nutmeg.”[2] The
last, and cardamoms, are mentioned in the _Voyage of the Novara_,
vol. ii., in which will be found a detail of the various European
attempts to colonise the Nicobar Islands with other particulars.
(See also _J. A. S. B._ XV. 344 _seqq._) [See _Schlegel’s Geog.
Notes_, XVI., _The Old States in the Island of Sumatra._—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] It was a mistake to suppose the name had disappeared, for it is
applied, in the form _Pulo Gaimr_, to the small island above
indicated, in Colonel Versteeg’s map to Veth’s _Atchin_ (1873).
In a map chiefly borrowed from that, in _Ocean Highways_, August,
1873, I have ventured to restore the name as _Pulo Gomus_. The name
is perhaps (Mal.) _Gamás_, “hard, rough.”
[2] Kurz’s _Vegetation of the Andaman Islands_ gives four _myristicae_
(nutmegs); but no sandal-wood nor camphor-laurel. Nor do I find
sappan-wood, though there is another Caesalpinia (_C. Nuga_).
CHAPTER XIII.
CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ANGAMANAIN.
Angamanain is a very large Island. The people are without a king and
are Idolaters, and no better than wild beasts. And I assure you all
the men of this Island of Angamanain have heads like dogs, and teeth
and eyes likewise; in fact, in the face they are all just like big
mastiff dogs! They have a quantity of spices; but they are a most cruel
generation, and eat everybody that they can catch, if not of their
own race.{1} They live on flesh and rice and milk, and have fruits
different from any of ours.
Now that I have told you about this race of people, as indeed it was
highly proper to do in this our book, I will go on to tell you about an
Island called Seilan, as you shall hear.
NOTE 1.—Here Marco speaks of the remarkable population of
the Andaman Islands—Oriental negroes in the lowest state of
barbarism—who have remained in their isolated and degraded
condition, so near the shores of great civilised countries, for so
many ages. “Rice and milk” they have not, and their fruits are only
wild ones.
[From the _Sing-ch’a Shêng-lan_ quoted by Professor Schlegel
(_Geog. Notes_, I. p. 8) we learn that these islanders have neither
“rice or corn, but only descend into the sea and catch fish and
shrimps in their nets; they also plant Banians and Cocoa-trees for
their food.”—H. C.]
I imagine our traveller’s form _Angamanain_ to be an Arabic
(oblique) dual—“The two ANDAMANS,” viz. The Great and The Little,
the former being in truth a chain of three islands, but so close
and nearly continuous as to form apparently one, and to be named as
such.
[Illustration:
_A. Housselin d._
_Michelet sc._
The Borús. (From a Manuscript.)]
[Professor Schlegel writes (_Geog. Notes._ I. p. 12): “This
etymology is to be rejected because the old Chinese transcription
gives _So_—(or _Sun_) _damân_.... The _Pien-i-tien_ (ch. 107, I.
fol. 30) gives a description of Andaman, here called _An-to-man
kwoh_, quoted from the _San-tsai Tu-hwui_.”—H. C.]
The origin of the name seems to be unknown. The only person to my
knowledge who has given a meaning to it is Nicolo Conti, who says
it means “Island of Gold”; probably a mere sailor’s yarn. The name,
however, is very old, and may perhaps be traced in Ptolemy; for he
names an island of cannibals called that of _Good Fortune_, Ἀγαθοῦ
δαίμονος. It seems probable enough that this was Ἀγδαιμόνος Νῆσος,
or the like, “The Angdaman Island,” misunderstood. His next group
of Islands is the _Barussae_, which seems again to be the Lankha
_Bálús_ of the oldest Arab navigators, since these are certainly
the Nicobars. [The name first appears distinctly in the Arab
narratives of the 9th century. (_Yule, Hobson-Jobson_.)]
The description of the natives of the Andaman Islands in the
early Arab _Relations_ has been often quoted, but it is too like
our traveller’s account to be omitted: “The inhabitants of these
islands eat men alive. They are black with woolly hair, and in
their eyes and countenance there is something quite frightful....
They go naked, and have no boats. If they had they would devour
all who passed near them. Sometimes ships that are wind-bound, and
have exhausted their provision of water, touch here and apply to
the natives for it; in such cases the crew sometimes fall into the
hands of the latter, and most of them are massacred” (p. 9).
The traditional charge of cannibalism against these people used
to be very persistent, though it is generally rejected since our
settlement upon the group in 1858. Mr. Logan supposes the report
was cherished by those who frequented the islands for edible birds’
nests, in order to keep the monopoly. Of their murdering the crews
of wrecked vessels, like their Nicobar neighbours, I believe there
is no doubt; and it has happened in our own day. Cesare Federici,
in Ramusio, speaks of the terrible fate of crews wrecked on the
Andamans; all such were killed and eaten by the natives, who
refused all intercourse with strangers. A. Hamilton mentions a
friend of his who was wrecked on the islands; nothing more was ever
heard of the ship’s company, “which gave ground to conjecture that
they were all devoured by those savage cannibals.”
[Illustration: The Cynocephali. (From the _Livre des Merveilles_.)]
They do not, in modern times, I believe, in their canoes, quit
their own immediate coast, but Hamilton says they used, in his
time, to come on forays to the Nicobar Islands; and a paper in the
_Asiatic Researches_ mentions a tradition to the same effect as
existing on the Car Nicobar. They have retained all the aversion to
intercourse anciently ascribed to them, and they still go naked as
of old, the utmost exception being a leaf-apron worn by the women
near the British Settlement.
The Dog-head feature is at least as old as Ctesias. The story
originated, I imagine, in the disgust with which “allophylian”
types of countenance are regarded, kindred to the feeling which
makes the Hindus and other eastern nations represent the aborigines
whom they superseded as demons. The Cubans described the Caribs
to Columbus as man-eaters with dogs’ muzzles; and the old Danes
had tales of Cynocephali in Finland. A curious passage from the
Arab geographer Ibn Said pays an ambiguous compliment to the
forefathers of Moltke and Von Roon: “The _Borús_ (Prussians) are
a miserable people, and still more savage than the Russians....
One reads in some books _that the_ Borús _have dogs’ faces; it is
a way of saying that they are very brave_.” Ibn Batuta describes an
Indo-Chinese tribe on the coast of Arakan or Pegu as having dogs’
mouths, but says the _women_ were beautiful. Friar Jordanus had
heard the same of the dog-headed islanders. And one odd form of
the story, found, strange to say, both in China and diffused over
Ethiopia, represents the males as _actual_ dogs whilst the females
are women. Oddly, too, Père Barbe tells us that a tradition of the
Nicobar people themselves represent them as of canine descent, but
on the female side! The like tale in early Portuguese days was told
of the Peguans, viz. that they sprang from a dog and a Chinese
woman. It is mentioned by Camoens (X. 122). Note, however, that in
Colonel Man’s notice of the wilder part of the Nicobar people the
projecting canine teeth are spoken of.
Abraham Roger tells us that the Coromandel Brahmans used to say
that the _Rákshasas_ or Demons had their abode “on the Island
of Andaman lying on the route from Pulicat to Pegu,” and also
that they were man-eaters. This would be very curious if it were
a genuine old Brahmanical _Saga_; but I fear it may have been
gathered from the Arab seamen. Still it is remarkable that a
strange weird-looking island, a steep and regular volcanic cone,
which rises covered with forest to a height of 2150 feet, straight
out of the deep sea to the eastward of the Andaman group, bears the
name _Narkandam_, in which one cannot but recognise नरक, _Narak_,
“Hell”; perhaps _Naraka-kuṇḍam_, “a pit of hell.” Can it be that
in old times, but still contemporary with Hindu navigation, this
volcano was active, and that some Brahman St. Brandon recognised in
it the mouth of Hell, congenial to the Rakshasas of the adjacent
group?
“Si est de saint Brandon le matère furnie;
Qui fu si près d’enfer, à nef et à galie,
Que déable d’enfer issirent, par maistrie,
Getans brandons de feu, pour lui faire hasquie.”
—_Bauduin de Sebourc_, I. 123.
(_Ramusio_, III. 391; _Ham._ II. 65; _Navarrete_ (Fr. Ed.), II.
101; _Cathay_, 467; _Bullet. de la Soc. de Géog._ sér. IV. tom iii.
36–37; _J. A. S. B._ u.s.; _Reinaud’s Abulfeda_, I. 315; _J. Ind.
Arch._, N.S., III. I. 105; _La Porte Ouverte_, p. 188.) [I shall
refer to my edition of _Odoric_, 206–217, for a long notice on
dog-headed barbarians; I reproduce here two of the cuts.—H. C.]
CHAPTER XIV.
CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SEILAN.
When you leave the Island of Angamanain and sail about a thousand
miles in a direction a little south of west, you come to the Island of
SEILAN,{1} which is in good sooth the best Island of its size in the
world. You must know that it has a compass of 2400 miles, but in old
times it was greater still, for it then had a circuit of about 3600
miles, as you find in the charts of the mariners of those seas. But
the north wind there blows with such strength that it has caused the
sea to submerge a large part of the Island; and that is the reason why
it is not so big now as it used to be. For you must know that, on the
side where the north wind strikes, the Island is very low and flat,
insomuch that in approaching on board ship from the high seas you do
not see the land till you are right upon it.{2} Now I will tell you all
about this Island.
[Illustration: MAP to Illustrate POLO’S Chapters on India.
MAP to Illustrate POLO’S Chapters on the Malay Countries.
_London, John Murray, Albemarle Street._]
They have a king there whom they call SENDEMAIN, and are tributary to
nobody.{3} The people are Idolaters, and go quite naked except that
they cover the middle. They have no wheat, but have rice, and sesamum
of which they make their oil. They live on flesh and milk, and have
tree-wine such as I have told you of. And they have brazil-wood, much
the best in the world.{4}
Now I will quit these particulars, and tell you of the most precious
article that exists in the world. You must know that rubies are found
in this Island and in no other country in the world but this. They find
there also sapphires and topazes and amethysts, and many other stones
of price. And the King of this Island possesses a ruby which is the
finest and biggest in the world; I will tell you what it is like. It
is about a palm in length, and as thick as a man’s arm; to look at, it
is the most resplendent object upon earth; it is quite free from flaw
and as red as fire. Its value is so great that a price for it in money
could hardly be named at all. You must know that the Great Kaan sent an
embassy and begged the King as a favour greatly desired by him to sell
him this ruby, offering to give for it the ransom of a city, or in fact
what the King would. But the King replied that on no account whatever
would he sell it, for it had come to him from his ancestors.{5}
The people of Seilan are no soldiers, but poor cowardly creatures. And
when they have need of soldiers they get Saracen troops from foreign
parts.
[NOTE 1.—Mr. Geo. Phillips gives (_Seaports of India_, p. 216 _et
seqq._) the Star Chart used by Chinese Navigators on their return
voyage from Ceylon to _Su-men-tâ-la_.—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Valentyn appears to be repeating a native tradition when he
says: “In old times the island had, as they loosely say, a good 400
miles (_i.e._ Dutch, say 1600 miles) of compass, but at the north
end the sea has from time to time carried away a large part of it.”
(_Ceylon_, in vol. v., p. 18.) Curious particulars touching the
exaggerated ideas of the ancients, inherited by the Arabs, as to
the dimensions of Ceylon, will be found in _Tennent’s Ceylon_, ch.
i. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang has the same tale. According to
him, the circuit was 7000 _li_, or 1400 miles. We see from Marco’s
curious notice of the old charts (G. T. “_selonc qe se treuve en la
mapemondi des mariner de cel mer_”) that travellers had begun to
find that the dimensions _were_ exaggerated. The real circuit is
under 700 miles!
On the ground that all the derivations of the name SAILAN or CEYLON
from the old _Sinhala_, _Serendib_, and what not, seem forced,
Van der Tuuk has suggested that the name may have been originally
Javanese, being formed (he says) according to the rules of that
language from _Sela_, “a precious stone,” so that _Pulo Selan_
would be the “Island of Gems.” [Professor Schlegel says (_Geog.
Notes_, I. p. 19, note) that “it seems better to think of the
Sanskrit _šila_, ‘a stone or rock,’ or _šaila_, ‘a mountain,’ which
agree with the Chinese interpretation.”—H. C.] The Island was
really called anciently _Ratnadvīpa_, “the Island of Gems” (_Mém.
de H. T._, II. 125, and _Harivansa_, I. 403); and it is termed by
an Arab Historian of the 9th century _Jazírat al Yáḳút_, “The Isle
of Rubies.” [The (Chinese) characters _ya-ku-pao-shih_ are in some
accounts of Ceylon used to express _Yáḳút_. (_Ma-Huan, transl.
by Phillips_, p. 213.)—H. C.] As a matter of fact, we derive
originally from the Malays nearly all the forms we have adopted
for names of countries reached by sea to the _east_ of the Bay of
Bengal, _e.g._ _Awa_, _Barma_, _Paigu_, _Siyam_, _China_, _Japún_,
_Kochi_ (Cochin China), _Champa_, _Kamboja_, _Malúka_ (properly
a place in the Island of Ceram), _Súlúk_, _Burnei_, _Tanasari_,
_Martavan_, etc. That accidents in the history of marine affairs
in those seas should have led to the adoption of the Malay and
Javanese names in the case of Ceylon also is at least conceivable.
But Dr. Caldwell has pointed out to me that the Páli form of
Sinhala was _Sihalan_, and that this must have been colloquially
shortened to _Sîlan_, for it appears in old Tamul inscriptions as
_Ilam_.[1] Hence there is nothing really strained in the derivation
of _Sailán_ from Sinhala. Tennent (_Ceylon_, I. 549) and Crawford
(_Malay Dict._ p. 171) ascribe the name Selan, Zeilan, to the
Portuguese, but this is quite unfounded, as our author sufficiently
testifies. The name _Sailán_ also occurs in Rashiduddin, in Hayton,
and in Jordanus (see next note). (See _Van der Tuuk_, work quoted
above (p. 287), p. 118; _J. As._ sér. IV., tom. viii. 145; _J. Ind.
Arch._ IV. 187; _Elliot_, I. 70.) [_Sinhala_ or _Sihala_, “lions’
abode,” with the addition of “Island,” _Sihala-dvīpa_, comes down
to us in Cosmas Σιελεδίβα (_Hobson-Jobson_).]
NOTE 3.—The native king at this time was Pandita Prakrama Bahu
III., who reigned from 1267 to 1301 at Dambadenia, about 40 miles
north-north-east of Columbo. But the Tamuls of the continent had
recently been in possession of the whole northern half of the
island. The Singhalese Chronicle represents Prakrama to have
recovered it from them, but they are so soon again found in full
force that the completeness of this recovery may be doubted. There
were also two invasions of Malays (_Javaku_) during this reign,
under the lead of a chief called _Chandra Banu_. On the second
occasion this invader was joined by a large Tamul reinforcement.
Sir E. Tennent suggests that this Chandra Banu may be Polo’s
_Sende-main_ or _Sendernaz_, as Ramusio has it. Or he may have been
the Tamul chief in the north; the first part of the name may have
been either _Chandra_ or _Sundara_.
NOTE 4.—Kazwini names the brazil, or sapan-wood of Ceylon. Ibn
Batuta speaks of its abundance (IV. 166); and Ribeyro does the like
(ed. of Columbo, 1847, p. 16); see also _Ritter_, VI. 39, 122; and
_Trans. R. A. S._ I. 539.
Sir E. Tennent has observed that Ibn Batuta is the first to speak
of the Ceylon cinnamon. It is, however, mentioned by Kazwini
(_circa_ A.D. 1275), and in a letter written from Mabar by John of
Montecorvino about the very time that Marco was in these seas. (See
_Ethé’s Kazwini_, 229, and _Cathay_, 213.)
[Mr. G. Phillips, in the _Jour. China B. R. A. Soc._, XX. 1885,
pp. 209–226; XXI. 1886, pp. 30–42, has given, under the title of
_The Seaports of India and Ceylon_, a translation of some parts
of the _Ying-yai-shĕng-lan_, a work of a Chinese Mahomedan,
Ma-Huan, who was attached to the suite of Chêng-Ho, an envoy of
the Emperor Yong-Lo (A.D. 1403–1425) to foreign countries. Mr.
Phillips’s translation is a continuation of the _Notes_ of Mr. W.
P. Groeneveldt, who leaves us at Lambri, on the coast of Sumatra.
Ma-Huan takes us to the _Ts’ui-lan_ Islands (Nicobars) and to
_Hsi-lan-kuo_ (Ceylon), whose “people,” he says (p. 214), “are
abundantly supplied with all the necessaries of life. They go about
naked, except that they wear a green handkerchief round their
loins, fastened with a waist-band. Their bodies are clean-shaven,
and only the hair of their heads is left.... They take no meal
without butter and milk, if they have none and wish to eat, they do
so unobserved and in private. The betel-nut is never out of their
mouths. They have no wheat, but have rice, sesamum, and peas. The
cocoa-nut, which they have in abundance, supplies them with oil,
wine, sugar, and food.” Ma-Huan arrived at Ceylon at Pieh-lo-li, on
the 6th of the 11th moon (seventh year, Süan Têh, end of 1432). Cf.
_Sylvain Lévi, Ceylan et la Chine, J. As._, Mai-juin, 1900, p. 411
_seqq._
Odoric and the Adjaîb do not mention cinnamon among the products
of Ceylon; this omission was one of the arguments of Dr. Schumann
(_Ergänz._ No. 73 zu _Petermann’s Mitt._, 1883, p. 46) against the
authenticity of the Adjaîb. These arguments have been refuted in
the _Livre des Merveilles de l’Inde_, p. 265 _seqq._
Nicolo Conti, speaking of the “very noble island called Zeilan,”
says (p. 7): “Here also cinnamon grows in great abundance. It is a
tree which very much resembles our thick willows, excepting that
the branches do not grow upwards, but are spread out horizontally:
the leaves are very like those of the laurel, but are somewhat
larger. The bark of the branches is the thinnest and best, that
of the trunk of the tree is thicker and inferior in flavour. The
fruit resembles the berries of the laurel; an odoriferous oil is
extracted from it adapted for ointments, which are much used by
the Indians. When the bark is stripped off, the wood is used for
fuel.”—H. C.]
NOTE 5.—There seems to have been always afloat among Indian
travellers, at least from the time of Cosmas (6th century), some
wonderful story about the ruby or rubies of the king of Ceylon.
With Cosmas, and with the Chinese Hiuen Tsang, in the following
century, this precious object is fixed on the top of a pagoda,
“a hyacinth, they say, of great size and brilliant ruddy colour,
as big as a great pine-cone; and when ’tis seen from a distance
flashing, especially if the sun’s rays strike upon it, ’tis a
glorious and incomparable spectacle.” Our author’s contemporary,
Hayton, had heard of the great ruby: “The king of that Island of
Celan hath the largest and finest ruby in existence. When his
coronation takes place this ruby is placed in his hand, and he goes
round the city on horseback holding it in his hand, and thenceforth
all recognise and obey him as their king.” Odoric too speaks of
the great ruby and the Kaan’s endeavours to get it, though by some
error the circumstance is referred to Nicoveran instead of Ceylon.
Ibn Batuta saw in the possession of Arya Chakravarti, a Tamul chief
ruling at Patlam, a ruby bowl as big as the palm of one’s hand.
Friar Jordanus speaks of two great rubies belonging to the king of
SYLEN, each so large that when grasped in the hand it projected
a finger’s breadth at either side. The fame, at least, of these
survived to the 16th century, for Andrea Corsali (1515) says: “They
tell that the king of this island possesses two rubies of colour so
brilliant and vivid that they look like a flame of fire.”
Sir E. Tennent, on this subject, quotes from a Chinese work a
statement that early in the 14th century the Emperor sent an
officer to Ceylon to purchase a carbuncle of unusual lustre. This
was fitted as a ball to the Emperor’s cap; it was upwards of an
ounce in weight and cost 100,000 strings of cash. Every time a
grand levee was held at night the red lustre filled the palace, and
hence it was designated “The Red Palace-Illuminator.” (_I. B._ IV.
174–175; _Cathay_, p. clxxvii.; _Hayton_, ch. vi.; _Jord._ p. 30;
_Ramus._ I. 180; _Ceylon_, I. 568).
[“This mountain [Adam’s Peak] abounds with rubies of all kinds and
other precious stones. These gems are being continually washed
out of the ground by heavy rains, and are sought for and found in
the sand carried down the hill by the torrents. It is currently
reported among the people, that these precious stones are the
congealed tears of Buddha.” (_Ma-Huan, transl. by Phillips_, p.
213.)
In the Chinese work _Cho keng lu_, containing notes on different
matters referring to the time of the Mongol Dynasty, in ch.
vii. entitled _Hwui hwui shi t’ou_ (“Precious Stones of the
Mohammedans”) among the four kinds of red stones is mentioned the
_si-la-ni_ of a dark red colour; _si-la-ni_, as Dr. Bretschneider
observes (_Med. Res._ I. p. 174), means probably “from Ceylon.” The
name for ruby in China is now-a-days _hung pao shi_, “red precious
stone.” (_Ibid._ p. 173.)—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The old Tamul alphabet has no sibilant.
CHAPTER XV.
THE SAME CONTINUED. THE HISTORY OF SAGAMONI BORCAN AND THE
BEGINNING OF IDOLATRY.
Furthermore you must know that in the Island of Seilan there is an
exceeding high mountain; it rises right up so steep and precipitous
that no one could ascend it, were it not that they have taken and fixed
to it several great and massive iron chains, so disposed that by help
of these men are able to mount to the top. And I tell you they say that
on this mountain is the sepulchre of Adam our first parent; at least
that is what the Saracens say. But the Idolaters say that it is the
sepulchre of SAGAMONI BORCAN, before whose time there were no idols.
They hold him to have been the best of men, a great saint in fact,
according to their fashion, and the first in whose name idols were
made.{1}
He was the son, as their story goes, of a great and wealthy king.
And he was of such an holy temper that he would never listen to any
worldly talk, nor would he consent to be king. And when the father saw
that his son would not be king, nor yet take any part in affairs, he
took it sorely to heart. And first he tried to tempt him with great
promises, offering to crown him king, and to surrender all authority
into his hands. The son, however, would none of his offers; so the
father was in great trouble, and all the more that he had no other son
but him, to whom he might bequeath the kingdom at his own death. So,
after taking thought on the matter, the King caused a great palace to
be built, and placed his son therein, and caused him to be waited on
there by a number of maidens, the most beautiful that could anywhere
be found. And he ordered them to divert themselves with the prince,
night and day, and to sing and dance before him, so as to draw his
heart towards worldly enjoyments. But ’twas all of no avail, for none
of those maidens could ever tempt the king’s son to any wantonness, and
he only abode the firmer in his chastity, leading a most holy life,
after their manner thereof. And I assure you he was so staid a youth
that he had never gone out of the palace, and thus he had never seen a
dead man, nor any one who was not hale and sound; for the father never
allowed any man that was aged or infirm to come into his presence. It
came to pass however one day that the young gentleman took a ride, and
by the roadside he beheld a dead man. The sight dismayed him greatly,
as he never had seen such a sight before. Incontinently he demanded of
those who were with him what thing that was? and then they told him it
was a dead man. “How, then,” quoth the king’s son, “do all men die?”
“Yea, forsooth,” said they. Whereupon the young gentleman said never a
word, but rode on right pensively. And after he had ridden a good way
he fell in with a very aged man who could no longer walk, and had not a
tooth in his head, having lost all because of his great age. And when
the king’s son beheld this old man he asked what that might mean, and
wherefore the man could not walk? Those who were with him replied that
it was through old age the man could walk no longer, and had lost all
his teeth. And so when the king’s son had thus learned about the dead
man and about the aged man, he turned back to his palace and said to
himself that he would abide no longer in this evil world, but would go
in search of Him Who dieth not, and Who had created him.{2}
So what did he one night but take his departure from the palace
privily, and betake himself to certain lofty and pathless mountains.
And there he did abide, leading a life of great hardship and sanctity,
and keeping great abstinence, just as if he had been a Christian.
Indeed, an he had but been so, he would have been a great saint of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, so good and pure was the life he led.{3} And when
he died they found his body and brought it to his father. And when the
father saw dead before him that son whom he loved better than himself,
he was near going distraught with sorrow. And he caused an image in the
similitude of his son to be wrought in gold and precious stones, and
caused all his people to adore it. And they all declared him to be a
god; and so they still say.{4}
They tell moreover that he hath died fourscore and four times. The
first time he died as a man, and came to life again as an ox; and then
he died as an ox and came to life again as a horse, and so on until he
had died fourscore and four times; and every time he became some kind
of animal. But when he died the eighty-fourth time they say he became
a god. And they do hold him for the greatest of all their gods. And
they tell that the aforesaid image of him was the first idol that the
Idolaters ever had; and from that have originated all the other idols.
And this befel in the Island of Seilan in India.
The Idolaters come thither on pilgrimage from very long distances and
with great devotion, just as Christians go to the shrine of Messer
Saint James in Gallicia. And they maintain that the monument on the
mountain is that of the king’s son, according to the story I have
been telling you; and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish that
are there were those of the same king’s son, whose name was Sagamoni
Borcan, or Sagamoni the Saint. But the Saracens also come thither on
pilgrimage in great numbers, and _they_ say that it is the sepulchre of
Adam our first father, and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish
were those of Adam.{5}
Whose they were in truth, God knoweth; howbeit, according to the Holy
Scripture of our Church, the sepulchre of Adam is not in that part of
the world.
Now it befel that the Great Kaan heard how on that mountain there was
the sepulchre of our first father Adam, and that some of his hair
and of his teeth, and the dish from which he used to eat, were still
preserved there. So he thought he would get hold of them somehow or
another, and despatched a great embassy for the purpose, in the year
of Christ, 1284. The ambassadors, with a great company, travelled on
by sea and by land until they arrived at the island of Seilan, and
presented themselves before the king. And they were so urgent with
him that they succeeded in getting two of the grinder teeth, which
were passing great and thick; and they also got some of the hair, and
the dish from which that personage used to eat, which is of a very
beautiful green porphyry. And when the Great Kaan’s ambassadors had
attained the object for which they had come they were greatly rejoiced,
and returned to their lord. And when they drew near to the great city
of Cambaluc, where the Great Kaan was staying, they sent him word that
they had brought back that for which he had sent them. On learning this
the Great Kaan was passing glad, and ordered all the ecclesiastics and
others to go forth to meet these reliques, which he was led to believe
were those of Adam.
And why should I make a long story of it? In sooth, the whole
population of Cambaluc went forth to meet those reliques, and the
ecclesiastics took them over and carried them to the Great Kaan, who
received them with great joy and reverence.{6} And they find it written
in their Scriptures that the virtue of that dish is such that if food
for one man be put therein it shall become enough for five men: and the
Great Kaan averred that he had proved the thing and found that it was
really true.{7}
So now you have heard how the Great Kaan came by those reliques; and a
mighty great treasure it did cost him! The reliques being, according to
the Idolaters, those of that king’s son.
NOTE 1.—_Sagamoni Borcan_ is, as Marsden points out, SAKYA-MUNI,
or Gautama-Buddha, with the affix BURKHAN, or “Divinity,” which is
used by the Mongols as the synonym of _Buddha_.
“The Dewa of Samantakúta (Adam’s Peak), Samana, having heard of
the arrival of Budha (in Lanka or Ceylon) ... presented a request
that he would leave an impression of his foot upon the mountain
of which he was guardian.... In the midst of the assembled Dewas,
Budha, looking towards the East, made the impression of his foot,
in length three inches less than the cubit of the carpenter; and
the impression remained as a seal to show that Lanka is the
inheritance of Budha, and that his religion will here flourish.”
(_Hardy’s Manual_, p. 212.)
[Ma-Huan says (p. 212): “On landing (at Ceylon), there is to be
seen on the shining rock at the base of the cliff, an impress of
a foot two or more feet in length. The legend attached to it is,
that it is the imprint of Shâkyamuni’s foot, made when he landed at
this place, coming from the Ts’ui-lan (Nicobar) Islands. There is a
little water in the hollow of the imprint of this foot, which never
evaporates. People dip their hands in it and wash their faces, and
rub their eyes with it, saying: ‘This is Buddha’s water, which will
make us pure and clean.’”—H. C.]
[Illustration: Adam’s Peak.
“=Or est voir qe en ceste ysle a une montagne mout haut et si
degrot de les rocches qe nul hi puent monter sus se ne en ceste
mainere qe je voz dirai=” ...]
“The veneration with which this majestic mountain has been regarded
for ages, took its rise in all probability amongst the aborigines
of Ceylon.... In a later age, ... the hollow in the lofty rock
that crowns the summit was said by the Brahmans to be the footstep
of Siva, by the Buddhists of Buddha, ... by the Gnostics of Ieu,
by the Mahometans of Adam, whilst the Portuguese authorities were
divided between the conflicting claims of St. Thomas and the eunuch
of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia.” (_Tennent_, II. 133.)
[“Near to the King’s residence there is a lofty mountain reaching
to the skies. On the top of this mountain there is the impress of
a man’s foot, which is sunk two feet deep in the rock, and is some
eight or more feet long. This is said to be the impress of the foot
of the ancestor of mankind, a Holy man called _A-tan_, otherwise
P’an-Ku.” (_Ma-Huan_, p. 213.)—H. C.]
Polo, however, says nothing of the _foot_; he speaks only of
the _sepulchre_ of Adam, or of Sakya-muni. I have been unable
to find any modern indication of the monument that was shown by
the Mahomedans as the tomb, and sometimes as the house, of Adam;
but such a structure there certainly was, perhaps an ancient
_Kist-vaen_, or the like. John Marignolli, who was there about
1349, has an interesting passage on the subject: “That exceeding
high mountain hath a pinnacle of surpassing height, which on
account of the clouds can rarely be seen. [The summit is lost in
the clouds. (_Ibn Khordâdhbeh_, p. 43.)—H. C.] But God, pitying
our tears, lighted it up one morning just before the sun rose, so
that we beheld it glowing with the brightest flame. [They say that
a flame bursts constantly, like a lightning, from the Summit of
the mountain.—(_Ibn Khordâdhbeh_, p. 44.)—H. C.] In the way down
from this mountain there is a fine level spot, still at a great
height, and there you find in order: first, the mark of Adam’s
foot; secondly, a certain statue of a sitting figure, with the left
hand resting on the knee, and the right hand raised and extended
towards the west; lastly, there is the house (of Adam), which he
made with his own hands. It is of an oblong quadrangular shape like
a sepulchre, with a door in the middle, and is formed of great
tabular slabs of marble, not cemented, but merely laid one upon
another. (_Cathay_, 358.) A Chinese account, translated in _Amyot’s
Mémoires_, says that at the foot of the mountain is a Monastery of
Bonzes, in which is seen the veritable body of Fo, in the attitude
of a man lying on his side” (XIV. 25). [Ma-Huan says (p. 212):
“Buddhist temples abound there. In one of them there is to be seen
a full length recumbent figure of Shâkyamuni, still in a very good
state of preservation. The dais on which the figure reposes is
inlaid with all kinds of precious stones. It is made of sandalwood
and is very handsome. The temple contains a Buddha’s tooth and
other relics. This must certainly be the place where Shâkyamuni
entered Nirvâna.”—H. C.] Osorio, also, in his history of Emanuel
of Portugal, says: “Not far from it (the Peak) people go to see a
small temple in which are two sepulchres, which are the objects of
an extraordinary degree of superstitious devotion. For they believe
that in these were buried the bodies of the first man and his wife”
(f. 120 _v_.). A German traveller (_Daniel Parthey_, Nürnberg,
1698) also speaks of the tomb of Adam and his sons on the mountain.
(See _Fabricius, Cod. Pseudep. Vet. Test._ II. 31; also _Ouseley’s
Travels_, I. 59.)
It is a perplexing circumstance that there is a double set of
indications about the footmark. The Ceylon traditions, quoted
above from Hardy, call its length 3 inches less than a carpenter’s
cubit. Modern observers estimate it at 5 feet or 5½ feet. Hardy
accounts for this by supposing that the original footmark was
destroyed in the end of the sixteenth century. But Ibn Batuta, in
the 14th, states it at 11 spans, or _more_ than the modern report.
[Ibn Khordâdhbeh at 70 cubits.—H. C.] Marignolli, on the other
hand, says that he measured it and found it to be 2½ palms, or
about half a Prague ell, which corresponds in a general way with
Hardy’s tradition. Valentyn calls it 1½ ell in length; Knox says
2 feet; Herman Bree (De Bry?), quoted by Fabricius, 8½ spans; a
Chinese account, quoted below, 8 feet. These discrepancies remind
one of the ancient Buddhist belief regarding such footmarks, that
they seemed greater or smaller in proportion to the faith of the
visitor! (See _Koeppen_, I. 529, and _Beal’s Fah-hian_, p. 27.)
The chains, of which Ibn Batuta gives a particular account,
exist still. The highest was called (he says) the chain of the
_Shahádat_, or Credo, because the fearful abyss below made pilgrims
recite the profession of belief. Ashraf, a Persian poet of the
15th century, author of an Alexandriad, ascribes these chains to
the great conqueror, who devised them, with the assistance of the
philosopher _Bolinas_,[1] in order to scale the mountain, and reach
_the sepulchre of Adam_. (See _Ouseley_, I. 54 _seqq._) There are
inscriptions on some of the chains, but I find no account of them.
(_Skeen’s Adam’s Peak_, Ceylon, 1870, p. 226.)
NOTE 2.—The general correctness with which Marco has here related
the legendary history of Sakya’s devotion to an ascetic life, as
the preliminary to his becoming the Buddha or Divinely Perfect
Being, shows what a strong impression the tale had made upon him.
He is, of course, wrong in placing the scene of the history in
Ceylon, though probably it was so told him, as the vulgar in all
Buddhist countries do seem to localise the legends in regions known
to them.
Sakya Sinha, Sakya Muni, or Gautama, originally called Siddhárta,
was the son of Súddhodhana, the Kshatriya prince of Kapilavastu, a
small state north of the Ganges, near the borders of Oudh. His high
destiny had been foretold, as well as the objects that would move
him to adopt the ascetic life. To keep these from his knowledge,
his father caused three palaces to be built, within the limits of
which the prince should pass the three seasons of the year, whilst
guards were posted to bar the approach of the dreaded objects. But
these precautions were defeated by inevitable destiny and the power
of the Devas.
When the prince was sixteen he was married to the beautiful
Yasodhara, daughter of the King of Koli, and 40,000 other
princesses also became the inmates of his harem.
“Whilst living in the midst of the full enjoyment of every kind of
pleasure, Siddhárta one day commanded his principal charioteer to
prepare his festive chariot; and in obedience to his commands four
lily-white horses were yoked. The prince leaped into the chariot,
and proceeded towards a garden at a little distance from the
palace, attended by a great retinue. On his way he saw a decrepit
old man, with broken teeth, grey locks, and a form bending towards
the ground, his trembling steps supported by a staff (a Deva had
taken this form).... The prince enquired what strange figure it was
that he saw; and he was informed that it was an old man. He then
asked if the man was born so, and the charioteer answered that he
was not, as he was once young like themselves. ‘Are there,’ said
the prince, ‘many such beings in the world?’ ‘Your highness,’ said
the charioteer, ‘there are many.’ The prince again enquired, ‘Shall
I become thus old and decrepit?’ and he was told that it was a
state at which all beings must arrive.”
The prince returns home and informs his father of his intention to
become an ascetic, seeing how undesirable is life tending to such
decay. His father conjures him to put away such thoughts, and to
enjoy himself with his princesses, and he strengthens the guards
about the palaces. Four months later like circumstances recur, and
the prince sees a leper, and after the same interval a dead body
in corruption. Lastly, he sees a religious recluse, radiant with
peace and tranquillity, and resolves to delay no longer. He leaves
his palace at night, after a look at his wife Yasodhara and the boy
just born to him, and betakes himself to the forests of Magadha,
where he passes seven years in extreme asceticism. At the end of
that time he attains the Buddhahood. (See _Hardy’s Manual_, p. 151
_seqq._) The latter part of the story told by Marco, about the body
of the prince being brought to his father, etc., is erroneous.
Sakya was 80 years of age when he died under the sál trees in
Kusinára.
The strange parallel between Buddhistic ritual, discipline, and
costume, and those which especially claim the name of CATHOLIC
in the Christian Church, has been often noticed; and though the
parallel has never been elaborated as it might be, some of the
more salient facts are familiar to most readers. Still many may be
unaware that Buddha himself, Siddhárta the son of Súddhodhana, has
found his way into the Roman martyrology as a Saint of the Church.
In the first edition a mere allusion was made to this singular
story, for it had recently been treated by Professor Max Müller,
with characteristic learning and grace. (See _Contemporary Review_
for July, 1870, p. 588.) But the matter is so curious and still so
little familiar that I now venture to give it at some length.
The religious romance called the History of BARLAAM and JOSAPHAT
was for several centuries one of the most popular works in
Christendom. It was translated into all the chief European
languages, including Scandinavian and Sclavonic tongues. An
Icelandic version dates from the year 1204; one in the Tagal
language of the Philippines was printed at Manilla in 1712.[2] The
episodes and apologues with which the story abounds have furnished
materials to poets and story-tellers in various ages and of very
diverse characters; _e.g._ to Giovanni Boccaccio, John Gower, and
to the compiler of the _Gesta Romanorum_, to Shakspere, and to the
late W. Adams, author of the _King’s Messengers_. The basis of this
romance is the story of Siddhárta.
The story of Barlaam and Josaphat first appears among the works
(in Greek) of St. John of Damascus, a theologian of the early part
of the 8th century, who, before he devoted himself to divinity had
held high office at the Court of the Khalif Abu Jáfar Almansúr. The
outline of the story is as follows:—
St. Thomas had converted the people of India to the truth; and
after the eremitic life originated in Egypt many in India adopted
it. But a potent pagan King arose, by name ABENNER, who persecuted
the Christians and especially the ascetics. After this King had
long been childless, a son, greatly desired, is born to him, a boy
of matchless beauty. The King greatly rejoices, gives the child
the name of JOSAPHAT, and summons the astrologers to predict his
destiny. They foretell for the prince glory and prosperity beyond
all his predecessors in the kingdom. One sage, most learned of all,
assents to this, but declares that the scene of these glories will
not be the paternal realm, and that the child will adopt the faith
that his father persecutes.
This prediction greatly troubled King Abenner. In a secluded city
he caused a splendid palace to be erected, within which his son
was to abide, attended only by tutors and servants in the flower
of youth and health. No one from without was to have access to the
prince; and he was to witness none of the afflictions of humanity,
poverty, disease, old age, or death, but only what was pleasant, so
that he should have no inducement to think of the future life; nor
was he ever to hear a word of CHRIST or His religion. And, hearing
that some monks still survived in India, the King in his wrath
ordered that any such, who should be found after three days, should
be burnt alive.
The Prince grows up in seclusion, acquires all manner of learning,
and exhibits singular endowments of wisdom and acuteness. At last
he urges his father to allow him to pass the limits of the palace,
and this the King reluctantly permits, after taking all precautions
to arrange diverting spectacles, and to keep all painful objects
at a distance. Or let us proceed in the Old English of the Golden
Legend.[3] “Whan his fader herde this he was full of sorowe, and
anone he let do make redy horses and ioyfull felawshyp to accompany
him, in suche wyse that nothynge dyshonest sholde happen to hym.
And on a tyme thus as the Kynges sone wente he mette a mesell and a
blynde man, and whã he sawe them he was abasshed and enquyred what
them eyled. And his seruaũtes sayd: These ben passions that comen
to men. And he demaunded yf the passyons came to all men. And they
sayd nay. Thã sayd he, ben they knowen whiche men shall suffre....
And they answered, Who is he that may knowe ye aduentures of men.
And he began to be moche anguysshous for ye incustomable thynge
hereof. And another tyme he found a man moche aged, whiche had his
chere froũced, his tethe fallen, and he was all croked for age....
And thã he demaũnded what sholde be ye ende. And they sayd deth....
And this yonge man remembered ofte in his herte these thynges, and
was in grete dyscõforte, but he shewed hỹ moche glad tofore his
fader, and he desyred moche to be enformed and taught in these
thỹges.” [Fol. ccc. lii.]
At this time BARLAAM, a monk of great sanctity and knowledge in
divine things, who dwelt in the wilderness of Sennaritis, having
received a divine warning, travels to India in the disguise of a
merchant, and gains access to Prince Josaphat, to whom he unfolds
the Christian doctrine and the blessedness of the monastic life.
Suspicion is raised against Barlaam, and he departs. But all
efforts to shake the Prince’s convictions are vain. As a last
resource the King sends for a magician called Theudas, who removes
the Prince’s attendants and substitutes seductive girls, but
all their blandishments are resisted through prayer. The King
abandons these attempts and associates his son with himself in the
government. The Prince uses his power to promote religion, and
everything prospers in his hand. Finally King Abenner is drawn to
the truth, and after some years of penitence dies. Josaphat then
surrenders the kingdom to a friend called Barachias, and proceeds
into the wilderness, where he wanders for two years seeking
Barlaam, and much buffeted by the demons. “And whan Balaam had
accõplysshed his dayes, he rested in peas about ye yere of Our
Lorde .cccc. & .lxxx. Josaphat lefte his realme the .xxv. yere of
his age, and ledde the lyfe of an heremyte .xxxv. yere, and than
rested in peas full of vertues, and was buryed by the body of
Balaam.” [Fol. ccc. lvi.] The King Barachias afterwards arrives and
transfers the bodies solemnly to India.
This is but the skeleton of the story, but the episodes and
apologues which round its dimensions, and give it its mediæval
popularity, do not concern our subject. In this skeleton the story
of Siddhárta, _mutatis mutandis_, is obvious.
The story was first popular in the Greek Church, and was embodied
in the lives of the saints, as recooked by Simeon the Metaphrast,
an author whose period is disputed, but was in any case not later
than 1150. A Cretan monk called Agapios made selections from the
work of Simeon which were published in Romaic at Venice in 1541
under the name of the _Paradise_, and in which the first section
consists of the story of Barlaam and Josaphat. This has been
frequently reprinted as a popular book of devotion. A copy before
me is printed at Venice in 1865.[4]
From the Greek Church the history of the two saints passed to the
Latin, and they found a place in the Roman martyrology under the
27th November. When this first happened I have not been able to
ascertain. Their history occupies a large space in the _Speculum
Historiale_ of Vincent of Beauvais, written in the 13th century,
and is set forth, as we have seen, in the Golden Legend of nearly
the same age. They are recognised by Baronius, and are to be found
at p. 348 of “The Roman Martyrology set forth by command of Pope
Gregory XIII., and revised by the authority of Pope Urban VIII.,
translated out of Latin into English by G. K. of the Society of
Jesus ... and now re-edited ... by W. N. Skelly, Esq. London, T.
Richardson & Son.” (Printed at Derby, 1847.) Here in Palermo is a
church bearing the dedication _Divo Iosaphat_.
Professor Müller attributes the first recognition of the identity
of the two stories to M. Laboulaye in 1859. But in fact I find that
the historian de Couto had made the discovery long before.[5] He
says, speaking of _Budão_ (Buddha), and after relating his history:
“To this name the Gentiles throughout all India have dedicated
great and superb pagodas. With reference to this story we have been
diligent in enquiring if the ancient Gentiles of those parts had in
their writings any knowledge of St. Josaphat who was converted by
Barlam, who in his Legend is represented as the son of a great King
of India, and who had just the same up-bringing, with all the same
particulars, that we have recounted of the life of the Budão....
And as a thing seems much to the purpose, which was told us by a
very old man of the Salsette territory in Baçaim, about Josaphat,
I think it well to cite it: As I was travelling in the Isle of
Salsette, and went to see that rare and admirable Pagoda (which we
call the Canará Pagoda[6]) made in a mountain, with many halls cut
out of one solid rock ... and enquiring from this old man about
the work, and what he thought as to who had made it, he told us
that without doubt the work was made by order of the father of St.
Josaphat to bring him up therein in seclusion, as the story tells.
And as it informs us that he was the son of a great King in India,
it may well be, as we have just said, that _he_ was the Budão, of
whom they relate such marvels.” (Dec. V. liv. vi. cap. 2.)
Dominie Valentyn, not being well read in the Golden Legend, remarks
on the subject of Buddha: “There be some who hold this Budhum for a
fugitive Syrian Jew, or for an Israelite, others who hold him for a
Disciple of the Apostle Thomas; but how in that case he could have
been born 622 years before Christ I leave them to explain. Diego de
Couto stands by the belief that he was certainly _Joshua_, which is
still more absurd!” (V. deel, p. 374.)
[Since the days of Couto, who considered the Buddhist legend but
an imitation of the Christian legend, the identity of the stories
was recognised (as mentioned _supra_) by M. Edouard Laboulaye, in
the _Journal des Débats_ of the 26th of July, 1859. About the same
time, Professor F. Liebrecht of Liège, in _Ebert’s Jahrbuch für
Romanische und Englische Literatur_, II. p. 314 _seqq._, comparing
the Book of Barlaam and Joasaph with the work of Barthélemy St.
Hilaire on Buddha, arrived at the same conclusion.
In 1880, Professor T. W. Rhys Davids has devoted some pages
(xxxvi.–xli.) in his _Buddhist Birth Stories; or, Jataka Tales_,
to _The Barlaam and Josaphat Literature_, and we note from them
that: “Pope Sixtus the Fifth (1585–1590) authorised a particular
Martyrologium, drawn up by Cardinal Baronius, to be used throughout
the Western Church.”. In that work are included not only the saints
first canonised at Rome, but all those who, having been already
canonised elsewhere, were then acknowledged by the Pope and the
College of Rites to be saints of the Catholic Church of Christ.
Among such, under the date of the 27th of November, are included
“The holy Saints Barlaam and Josaphat, of India, on the borders of
Persia, whose wonderful acts Saint John of Damascus has described.
Where and when they were first canonised, I have been unable, in
spite of much investigation, to ascertain. Petrus de Natalibus,
who was Bishop of Equilium, the modern Jesolo, near Venice, from
1370 to 1400, wrote a Martyrology called _Catalogus Sanctorum_; and
in it, among the ‘Saints,’ he inserts both Barlaam and Josaphat,
giving also a short account of them derived from the old Latin
translation of St. John of Damascus. It is from this work that
Baronius, the compiler of the authorised Martyrology now in use,
took over the names of these two saints, Barlaam and Josaphat.
But, so far as I have been able to ascertain, they do not occur in
any martyrologies or lists of saints of the Western Church older
than that of Petrus de Natalibus. In the corresponding manual of
worship still used in the Greek Church, however, we find, under
26th August, the name ‘of the holy Iosaph, son of Abenēr, King of
India.’ Barlaam is not mentioned, and is not therefore recognised
as a saint in the Greek Church. No history is added to the simple
statement I have quoted; and I do not know on what authority it
rests. But there is no doubt that it is in the East, and probably
among the records of the ancient church of Syria, that a final
solution of this question should be sought. Some of the more
learned of the numerous writers who translated or composed new
works on the basis of the story of Josaphat, have pointed out
in their notes that he had been canonised; and the hero of the
romance is usually called St. Josaphat in the titles of these
works, as will be seen from the Table of the Josaphat literature
below. But Professor Liebrecht, when identifying Josaphat with the
Buddha, took no notice of this; and it was Professor Max Müller,
who has done so much to infuse the glow of life into the dry
bones of Oriental scholarship, who first pointed out the strange
fact—almost incredible, were it not for the completeness of the
proof—that Gotama the Buddha, under the name of St. Josaphat, is
now officially recognised and honoured and worshipped throughout
the whole of Catholic Christendom as a Christian saint!” Professor
T. W. Rhys Davids gives further a Bibliography, pp. xcv.–xcvii.
M. H. Zotenberg wrote a learned memoir (_N. et Ext._ XXVIII. Pt.
I.) in 1886 to prove that the Greek Text is not a translation
but the original of the Legend. There are many MSS. of the Greek
Text of the Book of Barlaam and Joasaph in Paris, Vienna, Munich,
etc., including ten MSS. kept in various libraries at Oxford.
New researches made by Professor E. Kuhn, of Munich (_Barlaam
und Joasaph. Eine Bibliographisch-literargeschichtliche Studie_,
1893), seem to prove that during the 6th century, in that part
of the Sassanian Empire bordering on India, in fact Afghanistan,
Buddhism and Christianity were gaining ground at the expense of the
Zoroastrian faith, and that some Buddhist wrote in Pehlevi a _Book
of Yûdâsaf_ (Bodhisatva); a Christian, finding pleasant the legend,
made an adaptation of it from his own point of view, introducing
the character of the monk Balauhar (Barlaam) to teach his religion
to Yûdâsaf, who could not, in his Christian disguise, arrive at the
truth by himself like a Bodhisatva. This Pehlevi version of the
newly-formed Christian legend was translated into Syriac, and from
Syriac was drawn a Georgian version, and, in the first half of the
7th century, the Greek Text of John, a monk of the convent of St.
Saba, near Jerusalem, by some turned into St. John of Damascus, who
added to the story some long theological discussions. From this
Greek, it was translated into all the known languages of Europe,
while the Pehlevi version being rendered into Arabic, was adapted
by the Mussulmans and the Jews to their own creeds. (_H. Zotenberg,
Mém. sur le texte et les versions orientales du Livre de Barlaam
et Joasaph, Not. et Ext._ XXVIII. Pt. I. pp. 1–166; _G. Paris,
Saint Josaphat_ in _Rev. de Paris_, 1ᵉʳ Juin, 1895, and _Poèmes et
Légendes du Moyen Age_, pp. 181–214.)
Mr. Joseph Jacobs published in London, 1896, a valuable little
book, _Barlaam and Josaphat, English Lives of Buddha_, in which he
comes to this conclusion (p. xli.): “I regard the literary history
of the Barlaam literature as completely parallel with that of the
Fables of Bidpai. Originally Buddhistic books, both lost their
specifically Buddhistic traits before they left India, and made
their appeal, by their parables, more than by their doctrines. Both
were translated into Pehlevi in the reign of Chosroes, and from
that watershed floated off into the literatures of all the great
creeds. In Christianity alone, characteristically enough, one of
them, the Barlaam book, was surcharged with dogma, and turned to
polemical uses, with the curious result that Buddha became one of
the champions of the Church. To divest the Barlaam-Buddha of this
character, and see him in his original form, we must take a further
journey and seek him in his home beyond the Himalayas.”
[Illustration: Sakya Muni as a Saint of the Roman Martyrology.
“=Wie des Kunigs Sun in dem aufscziechen am ersten sahe in dem Weg
eynen blinden und eyn aufsmörckigen und eynen alten krummen
Man.=”[7]]
Professor Gaston Paris, in answer to Mr. Jacobs, writes (_Poèmes
et Lég. du Moyen Age_, p. 213): “Mr. Jacobs thinks that the Book
of Balauhar and Yûdâsaf was not originally Christian, and could
have existed such as it is now in Buddhistic India, but it is
hardly likely, as Buddha did not require the help of a teacher to
find truth, and his followers would not have invented the person
of Balauhar-Barlaam; on the other hand, the introduction of the
Evangelical Parable of _The Sower_, which exists in the original
of all the versions of our Book, shows that this original was a
Christian adaptation of the Legend of Buddha. Mr. Jacobs seeks
vainly to lessen the force of this proof in showing that this
Parable has parallels in Buddhistic literature.”—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—Marco is not the only eminent person who has expressed
this view of Sakyamuni’s life in such words. Professor Max Müller
(_u.s._) says: “And whatever we may think of the sanctity of
saints, let those who doubt the right of Buddha to a place among
them, read the story of his life as it is told in the Buddhistic
canon. If he lived the life which is there described, few saints
have a better claim to the title than Buddha; and no one either in
the Greek or the Roman Church need be ashamed of having paid to his
memory the honour that was intended for St. Josaphat, the prince,
the hermit, and the saint.”
NOTE 4.—This is curiously like a passage in the _Wisdom of
Solomon_: “Neque enim erant (idola) ab initio, neque erunt in
perpetuum ... acerbo enim luctu dolens pater cito sibi rapti filii
fecit imaginem: et illum qui tunc quasi homo mortuus fuerat nunc
tamquam deum colere cœpit, et constituit inter servos suos sacra et
sacrificia” (xiv. 13–15). Gower alludes to the same story; I know
not whence taken:—
“Of _Cirophanes_, seith the booke,
That he for sorow, whiche he toke
Of that he sigh his sonne dede,
Of comfort knewe none other rede,
But lete do make in remembrance
A faire image of his semblance,
And set it in the market place:
Whiche openly to fore his face
Stood euery day, to done hym ease;
And thei that than wolden please
The Fader, shuld it obeye,
Whan that thei comen thilke weye.”—_Confessio Amantis_.[8]
NOTE 5.—Adam’s Peak has for ages been a place of pilgrimage to
Buddhists, Hindus, and Mahomedans, and appears still to be so. Ibn
Batuta says the Mussulman pilgrimage was instituted in the 10th
century. The book on the history of the Mussulmans in Malabar,
called _Tohfat-ul-Mujáhidín_ (p. 48), ascribes their first
settlement in that country to a party of pilgrims returning from
Adam’s Peak. Marignolli, on his visit to the mountain, mentions
“another pilgrim, a Saracen of Spain; for many go on pilgrimage to
Adam.”
The identification of Adam with objects of Indian worship occurs
in various forms. Tod tells how an old Rajput Chief, as they stood
before a famous temple of Mahádeo near Udipúr, invited him to
enter and worship “Father Adam.” Another traveller relates how
Brahmans of Bagesar on the Sarjú identified Mahadeo and Parvati
with Adam and Eve. A Malay MS., treating of the _origines_ of Java,
represents Brahma, Mahadeo, and Vishnu to be descendants of Adam
through Seth. And in a Malay paraphrase of the Ramáyana, _Nabi
Adam_ takes the place of Vishnu. (_Tod_ I. 96; _J. A. S. B._ XVI.
233; _J. R. A. S._ N.S. II. 102; _J. Asiat._ IV. s. VII. 438.)
NOTE 6.—The _Pâtra_, or alms-pot, was the most valued legacy
of Buddha. It had served the three previous Buddhas of this
world-period, and was destined to serve the future one, Maitreya.
The Great Aṣoka sent it to Ceylon. Thence it was carried off by
a Tamul chief in the 1st century, A.D., but brought back we know
not how, and is still shown in the Malagawa Vihara at Kandy.
As usual in such cases, there were rival reliques, for Fa-hian
found the alms-pot preserved at Pesháwar. Hiuen Tsang says in
his time it was no longer there, but in Persia. And indeed the
_Pâtra_ from Pesháwar, according to a remarkable note by Sir Henry
Rawlinson, is still preserved at Kandahár, under the name of
_Kashkul_ (or the Begging-pot), and retains among the Mussulman
Dervishes the sanctity and miraculous repute which it bore among
the Buddhist _Bhikshus_. Sir Henry conjectures that the deportation
of this vessel, the palladium of the true _Gandhára_ (Pesháwar),
was accompanied by a popular emigration, and thus accounts for
the transfer of that name also to the chief city of Arachosia.
(_Koeppen_, I. 526; _Fah-hian_, p. 36; _H. Tsang_, II. 106; _J. R.
A. S._ XI. 127.)
Sir E. Tennent, through Mr. Wylie (to whom this book owes so
much), obtained the following curious Chinese extract referring to
Ceylon (written 1350): “In front of the image of Buddha there is a
sacred bowl, which is neither made of jade nor copper, nor iron;
it is of a purple colour, and glossy, and when struck it sounds
like glass. At the commencement of the Yuen Dynasty (_i.e._ under
Kúblái) three separate envoys were sent to obtain it.” Sanang
Setzen also corroborates Marco’s statement: “Thus did the Khaghan
(Kúblái) cause the sun of religion to rise over the dark land of
the Mongols; he also procured from India images and reliques of
Buddha; among others the _Pâtra_ of Buddha, which was presented
to him by the four kings (of the cardinal points), and also the
_chandana chu_” (a miraculous sandal-wood image). (_Tennent_, I.
622; _Schmidt_, p. 119.)
The text also says that several _teeth_ of Buddha were preserved in
Ceylon, and that the Kaan’s embassy obtained two molars. Doubtless
the envoys were imposed on; no solitary case in the amazing history
of that relique, for _the_ Dalada, or tooth relique, seems in all
historic times to have been unique. This, “the left canine tooth”
of the Buddha, is related to have been preserved for 800 years at
Dantapura (“_Odontopolis_”), in Kalinga, generally supposed to
be the modern Púri or Jagannáth. Here the Brahmans once captured
it and carried it off to Palibothra, where they tried in vain to
destroy it. Its miraculous resistance converted the king, who sent
it back to Kalinga. About A.D. 311 the daughter of King Guhaśiva
fled with it to Ceylon. In the beginning of the 14th century it
was captured by the Tamuls and carried to the Pandya country on
the continent, but recovered some years later by King Parakrama
III., who went in person to treat for it. In 1560 the Portuguese
got possession of it and took it to Goa. The King of Pegu, who then
reigned, probably the most powerful and wealthy monarch who has
ever ruled in Further India, made unlimited offers in exchange for
the tooth; but the archbishop prevented the viceroy from yielding
to these temptations, and it was solemnly pounded to atoms by the
prelate, then cast into a charcoal fire, and finally its ashes
thrown into the river of Goa.
The King of Pegu was, however, informed by a crafty minister of
the King of Ceylon that only a sham tooth had been destroyed by
the Portuguese, and that the real relique was still safe. This
he obtained by extraordinary presents, and the account of its
reception at Pegu, as quoted by Tennent from De Couto, is a curious
parallel to Marco’s narrative of the Great Kaan’s reception of the
Ceylon reliques at Cambaluc. The extraordinary object still so
solemnly preserved at Kandy is another forgery, set up about the
same time. So the immediate result of the viceroy’s virtue was that
two reliques were worshipped instead of one!
The possession of the tooth has always been a great object of
desire to Buddhist sovereigns. In the 11th century King Anarauhta,
of Burmah, sent a mission to Ceylon to endeavour to procure it, but
he could obtain only a “miraculous emanation” of the relique. A
tower to contain the sacred tooth was (1855), however, one of the
buildings in the palace court of Amarapura. A few years ago the
King of Burma repeated the mission of his remote predecessor, but
obtained only a _model_, and this has been deposited within the
walls of the palace at Mandalé, the new capital. (_Turnour_ in _J.
A. S. B._ VI. 856 _seqq._; _Koeppen_, I. 521; _Tennent_, I. 388,
II. 198 _seqq._; _MS. Note by Sir A. Phayre; Mission to Ava_, 136.)
[Illustration: Teeth of Buddha.
1. At Kandy, after Tennent. 2. At Fu-Chau, from Fortune.]
Of the four eye-teeth of Sakya, one, it is related, passed to the
heaven of Indra; the second to the capital of Gandhára; the third
to Kalinga; the fourth to the snake-gods. The Gandhára tooth was
perhaps, like the alms-bowl, carried off by a Sassanid invasion,
and may be identical with that tooth of Fo, which the Chinese
annals state to have been brought to China in A.D. 530 by a Persian
embassy. A tooth of Buddha is now shown in a monastery at Fu-chau;
but whether this be either the Sassanian present, or that got from
Ceylon by Kúblái, is unknown. Other teeth of Buddha were shown
in Hiuen Tsang’s time at Balkh, at Nagarahára (or Jalálábád), in
Kashmir, and at Kanauj. (_Koeppen_, u.s.; _Fortune_, II. 108; _H.
Tsang_, II. 31, 80, 263.)
NOTE 7.—Fa-hian writes of the alms-pot at Pesháwar, that poor
people could fill it with a few flowers, whilst a rich man should
not be able to do so with 100, nay, with 1000 or 10,000 bushels of
rice; a parable doubtless originally carrying a lesson, like Our
Lord’s remark on the widow’s mite, but which hardened eventually
into some foolish story like that in the text.
The modern Mussulman story at Kandahar is that the alms-pot will
contain any quantity of liquor without overflowing.
This _Pâtra_ is the Holy Grail of Buddhism. Mystical powers of
nourishment are ascribed also to the Grail in the European legends.
German scholars have traced in the romances of the Grail remarkable
indications of Oriental origin. It is not impossible that the
alms-pot of Buddha was the prime source of them. Read the prophetic
history of the _Pâtra_ as Fa-hian heard it in India (p. 161); its
mysterious wanderings over Asia till it is taken up into the heaven
_Tushita_, where Maitreya the Future Buddha dwells. When it has
disappeared from earth the Law gradually perishes, and violence and
wickedness more and more prevail:
——“What is it?
The phantom of a cup that comes and goes?
* * * * * If a man
Could touch or see it, he was heal’d at once,
By faith, of all his ills. But then the times
Grew to such evil that the holy cup
Was caught away to Heaven, and disappear’d.”
—_Tennyson’s Holy Grail._
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] _Apollonia_ (of Macedonia) is made _Bolina_; so _Bolinas_ =
Apollonius (Tyanaeus).
[2] In 1870 I saw in the Libary at Monte Cassino a long French poem on
the story, in a MS. of our traveller’s age. This is perhaps one
referred to by Migne, as cited in _Hist. Litt. de la France_, XV.
484. [It “has even been published in the Spanish dialect used in
the Philippine Islands!” (_Rhys Davids, Jataka Tales_, p. xxxvii.)
In a MS. note, Yule says: “Is not this a mistake?”—H. C.]
[3] Imprynted at London in Flete Strete at the sygne of the Sonne, by
Wynkyn de Worde (1527).
[4] The first Life is thus entitled: Βίος καὶ Πολιτεία τοῦ Ὁσίου Πατρὸς
ἡμῶν καὶ Ἰσαποστόλου Ἰωάσαφ τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς Ἰνδίας. Professor
Müller says all the Greek copies have _Ioasaph_. I have access to
no copy in the ancient Greek.
[5] Also _Migne’s Dict. Légendes_, quoting a letter of C. L. Struve,
Director of Königsberg Gymnasium, to the _Journal Général de
l’Inst. Publ._, says that “an earlier story is entirely reproduced
in the Barlaam,” but without saying what story.
[6] The well-known Kánhari Caves. (See _Handbook for India_, p. 306.)
[7] The quotation and the cut are from an old German version of Barlaam
and Josaphat printed by Zainer at Augsburg, _circa_ 1477. (B. M.,
Grenv. Lib., No. 11,766.)
[8] Ed. 1554, fol. xci. _v_. So also I find in _A. Tostati Hisp.
Comment. in primam ptem. Exodi_, Ven. 1695, pp. 295–296: “Idola
autem sculpta in Aegypto primo inventa sunt per _Syrophenem_ primum
Idolotrarum; ante hoc enim pura elementa ut dii colebantur.” I
cannot trace the tale.
CHAPTER XVI.
CONCERNING THE GREAT PROVINCE OF MAABAR, WHICH IS
CALLED INDIA THE GREATER, AND IS ON THE MAINLAND.
When you leave the Island of Seilan and sail westward about 60 miles,
you come to the great province of MAABAR which is styled INDIA THE
GREATER; it is best of all the Indies and is on the mainland.
You must know that in this province there are five kings, who are own
brothers. I will tell you about each in turn. The Province is the
finest and noblest in the world.
At this end of the Province reigns one of those five Royal Brothers,
who is a crowned King, and his name is SONDER BANDI DAVAR. In his
kingdom they find very fine and great pearls; and I will tell you how
they are got.{1}
You must know that the sea here forms a gulf between the Island of
Seilan and the mainland. And all round this gulf the water has a depth
of no more than 10 or 12 fathoms, and in some places no more than two
fathoms. The pearl-fishers take their vessels, great and small, and
proceed into this gulf, where they stop from the beginning of April
till the middle of May. They go first to a place called BETTELAR, and
(then) go 60 miles into the gulf. Here they cast anchor and shift from
their large vessels into small boats. You must know that the many
merchants who go divide into various companies, and each of these must
engage a number of men on wages, hiring them for April and half of May.
Of all the produce they have first to pay the King, as his royalty,
the tenth part. And they must also pay those men who charm the great
fishes, to prevent them from injuring the divers whilst engaged in
seeking pearls under water, one twentieth part of all that they take.
These fish-charmers are termed _Abraiaman_; and their charm holds good
for that day only, for at night they dissolve the charm so that the
fishes can work mischief at their will. These Abraiaman know also how
to charm beasts and birds and every living thing. When the men have got
into the small boats they jump into the water and dive to the bottom,
which may be at a depth of from 4 to 12 fathoms, and there they remain
as long as they are able. And there they find the shells that contain
the pearls [and these they put into a net bag tied round the waist, and
mount up to the surface with them, and then dive anew. When they can’t
hold their breath any longer they come up again, and after a little
down they go once more, and so they go on all day].{2} The shells are
in fashion like oysters or sea-hoods. And in these shells are found
pearls, great and small, of every kind, sticking in the flesh of the
shell-fish.
In this manner pearls are fished in great quantities, for thence in
fact come the pearls which are spread all over the world. And I can
tell you the King of that State hath a very great receipt and treasure
from his dues upon those pearls.
As soon as the middle of May is past, no more of those pearl-shells are
found there. It is true, however, that a long way from that spot, some
300 miles distant, they are also found; but that is in September and
the first half of October.
NOTE 1.—MAABAR (_Ma’băr_) was the name given by the Mahomedans at
this time (13th and 14th centuries) to a tract corresponding in
a general way to what we call the Coromandel Coast. The word in
Arabic signifies the Passage or Ferry, and may have referred either
to the communication with Ceylon, or, as is more probable, to its
being in that age the coast most frequented by travellers from
Arabia and the Gulf.[1] The name does not appear in Edrisi, nor,
I believe, in any of the older geographers, and the earliest use
of it that I am aware of is in Abdallatif’s account of Egypt, a
work written about 1203–1204. (_De Sacy, Rel. de l’Egypte_, p. 31.)
Abulfeda distinctly names Cape Comorin as the point where Malabar
ended and Ma’bar began, and other authority to be quoted presently
informs us that it extended to _Niláwar_, _i.e._ Nellore.
There are difficulties as to the particular locality of the port
or city which Polo visited in the territory of the Prince whom
he calls Sondar Bandi Davar; and there are like doubts as to the
identification, from the dark and scanty Tamul records, of the
Prince himself, and the family to which he belonged; though he is
mentioned by more than one foreign writer besides Polo.
Thus Wassáf: “Ma’bar extends in length from Kaulam to Niláwar,
nearly 300 parasangs along the sea-coast; and in the language of
that country the king is called Devar, which signifies, ‘the Lord
of Empire.’ The curiosities of Chín and Máchín, and the beautiful
products of Hind and Sind, laden on large ships which they call
_Junks_, sailing like mountains with the wings of the wind on the
surface of the water, are always arriving there. The wealth of the
Isles of the Persian Gulf in particular, and in part the beauty and
adornment of other countries, from ’Irak and Khurásán as far as Rúm
and Europe, are derived from Ma’bar, which is so situated as to be
the key of Hind.
“A few years since the DEVAR was SUNDAR PANDI, who had three
brothers, each of whom established himself in independence in some
different country. The eminent prince, the Margrave (_Marzbán_)
of Hind, Taki-uddin Abdu-r Rahmán, a son of Muhammad-ut-Tíbí,
whose virtues and accomplishments have for a long time been the
theme of praise and admiration among the chief inhabitants of that
beautiful country, was the Devar’s deputy, minister, and adviser,
and was a man of sound judgment. Fattan, Malifattan, and Káil[2]
were made over to his possession.... In the months of the year 692
H. (A.D. 1293) the above-mentioned Devar, the ruler of Ma’bar,
died and left behind him much wealth and treasure. It is related
by Malik-ul-Islám Jamáluddín, that out of that treasure 7000 oxen
laden with precious stones and pure gold and silver fell to the
share of the brother who succeeded him. Malik-i ’Azam Taki-uddin
continued prime minister as before, and in fact ruler of that
kingdom, and his glory and magnificence were raised a thousand
times higher.”[3]
Seventeen years later (1310) Wassáf introduces another king
of Ma’bar called _Kalesa Devar_, who had ruled for forty
years in prosperity, and had accumulated in the treasury of
Shahr-Mandi (_i.e._, as Dr. Caldwell informs me MADURA, entitled
by the Mahomedan invaders Shahr-Pandi, and still occasionally
mispronounced _Shahr-Mandi_) 1200 crores (!) in gold. He had
two sons, SUNDAR BANDI by a lawful wife, and Pirabandi (Vira
Pandi?) illegitimate. He designated the latter as his successor.
Sundar Bandi, enraged at this, slew his father and took forcible
possession of Shahr-Mandi and its treasures. Pirabandi succeeded in
driving him out; Sundar Bandi went to Aláuddin, Sultan of Delhi,
and sought help. The Sultan eventually sent his general Hazárdinári
(_alias_ Malik Káfúr) to conquer Ma’bar.
In the third volume of Elliot we find some of the same main facts,
with some differences and greater detail, as recounted by Amír
Khusru. Bir Pandiya and Sundara Pandiya are the _Rais_ of Ma’bar,
and are at war with one another, when the army of Alaúddin, after
reducing Bilál Deo of Dwára Samudra, descends upon Ma’bar in the
beginning of 1311 (p. 87 _seqq._).
We see here two rulers in Ma’bar, within less than twenty years,
bearing the name of Sundara Pandi. And, strange to say, more than
a century before, during the continental wars of Parákráma Bahu
I., the most martial of Singhalese kings (A.D. 1153–1186), we find
_another Kulasaíkera_ (= _Kalesa_ of Wassáf), King of Madura, with
_another Víra Pandi_ for son, and _another Sundara Pandi_ Rája,
figuring in the history of the _Pandionis Regio_. But let no one
rashly imagine that there is a confusion in the chronology here.
The Hindu Chronology of the continental states is dark and confused
enough, but not that of Ceylon, which in this, as in sundry other
respects, comes under Indo-Chinese rather than Indian analogies.
(See _Turnour’s Ceylonese Epitome_, pp. 41–43; and _J. A. S. B._
XLI. Pt. I. p. 197 _seqq._)
In a note with which Dr. Caldwell favoured me some time before the
first publication of this work, he considers that the Sundar Bandi
of Polo and the Persian Historians is undoubtedly to be identified
with that Sundara Pandi Devar, who is in the Tamul Catalogues
the last king of the ancient Pandya line, and who was (says Dr.
Caldwell,) “succeeded by Mahomedans, by a new line of Pandyas,
by the Náyak Kings, by the Nabobs of Arcot, and finally by the
English. He became for a time a Jaina, but was reconverted to the
worship of Siva, when his name was changed from _Kun_ or _Kubja_,
‘Crook-backed,’ to _Sundara_, ‘Beautiful,’ in accordance with a
change which then took place, the Saivas say, in his personal
appearance. Probably his name, from the beginning, was Sundara....
In the inscriptions belonging to the period of his reign he is
invariably represented, not as a joint king or viceroy, but as
an absolute monarch ruling over an extensive tract of country,
including the Chola country or Tanjore, and Conjeveram, and as the
only possessor for the time being of the title _Pandi Devar_. It
is clear from the agreement of Rashiduddin with Marco Polo that
Sundara Pandi’s power was shared in some way with his brothers, but
it seems certain also from the inscription that there was a sense
in which he alone was king.”
I do not give the whole of Dr. Caldwell’s remarks on this subject,
because, the 3rd volume of Elliot not being then published, he had
not before him the whole of the information from the Mussulman
historians, which shows so clearly that _two_ princes bearing the
name of Sundara Pandi are mentioned by them, and because I cannot
see my way to adopt his view, great as is the weight due to his
opinion on any such question.
Extraordinary darkness hangs over the chronology of the South
Indian kingdoms, as we may judge from the fact that Dr. Caldwell
would have thus placed at the end of the 13th century, on the
evidence of Polo and Rashiduddin, the reign of the last of the
genuine Pandya kings, whom other calculations place earlier even
by centuries. Thus, to omit views more extravagant, Mr. Nelson,
the learned official historian of Madura, supposes it on the whole
most probable that Kun Pandya _alias_ Sundara, reigned in the
latter half of the 11th century. “The Sri Tala Book, which appears
to have been written about 60 years ago, and was probably compiled
from brief Tamil chronicles then in existence, states that the
Pandya race became extinct upon the death of Kún Pandya; and the
children of concubines and of younger brothers who (had) lived in
former ages, fought against one another, split up the country into
factions, and got themselves crowned, and ruled one in one place,
another in another. But none of these families succeeded in getting
possession of Madura, the capital, which consequently fell into
decay. And further on it tells us, rather inconsistently, that up
to A.D. 1324 the kings ‘who ruled the Madura country, were part
of the time Pandyas, at other times foreigners.’” And a variety
of traditions referred to by Mr. Nelson appears to interpose such
a period of unsettlement and shifting and divided sovereignty,
extending over a considerable time, between the end of the genuine
Pandya Dynasty and the Mahomedan invasion; whilst lists of numerous
princes who reigned in this period have been handed down. Now we
have just seen that the Mahomedan invasion took place in 1311, and
we must throw aside the traditions and the lists altogether if we
suppose that the Sundara Pandi of 1292 was the last prince of the
Old Line. Indeed, though the indication is faint, the manner in
which Wassáf speaks of Polo’s Sundara and his brothers as having
established themselves in different territories, and as in constant
war with each other, is suggestive of the state of unsettlement
which the Sri Tala and the traditions describe.
There is a difficulty in co-ordinating these four or five brothers
at constant war, whom Polo found in possession of different
provinces of Ma’bar about 1290, with the Devar Kalesa, of whom
Wassáf speaks as slain in 1310 after a prosperous reign of forty
years. Possibly the brothers were adventurers who had divided the
coast districts, whilst Kalesa still reigned with a more legitimate
claim at Shahr-Mandi or Madura. And it is worthy of notice that the
Ceylon Annals call the Pandi king whose army carried off the sacred
tooth in 1303 _Kulasaikera_, a name which we may easily believe
to represent Wassáf’s Kalesa. (_Nelson’s Madura_, 55, 67, 71–74;
_Turnour’s Epitome_, p. 47.)
As regards the position of the port of Ma’bar visited, but not
named, by Marco Polo, and at or near which his Sundara Pandi seems
to have resided, I am inclined to look for it rather in Tanjore
than on the Gulf of Manar, south of the Rameshwaram shallows. The
difficulties in this view are the indication of its being “60 miles
west of Ceylon,” and the special mention of the Pearl Fishery in
connection with it. We cannot, however, lay much stress upon Polo’s
orientation. When his general direction is from east to west, every
new place reached is for him _west_ of that last visited; whilst
the Kaveri Delta is as near the north point of Ceylon as Ramnad is
to Aripo. The pearl difficulty may be solved by the probability
that the dominion of Sonder Bandi _extended_ to the coast of the
Gulf of Manar.
On the other hand Polo, below (ch. xx.), calls the province of
Sundara Pandi _Soli_, which we can scarcely doubt to be _Chola_
or _Soladesam_, _i.e._ Tanjore. He calls it also “the best and
noblest Province of India,” a description which even with his
limited knowledge of India he would scarcely apply to the coast of
Ramnad, but which might be justifiably applied to the well-watered
plains of Tanjore, even when as yet Arthur Cotton was not. Let it
be noticed too that Polo in speaking (ch. xix.) of Mutfili (or
Telingana) specifies its distance from Ma’bar as if he had made the
run by sea from one to the other; but afterwards when he proceeds
to speak of _Cail_, which stands on the Gulf of Manar, he does
not specify its position or distance in regard to Sundara Pandi’s
territory; an omission which he would not have been likely to make
had _both_ lain on the Gulf of Manar.
Abulfeda tells us that the capital of the Prince of Ma’bar, who was
the great horse-importer, was called _Bíyardáwal_,[4] a name which
now appears in the extracts from Amír Khusru (_Elliot_, III. 90–91)
as _Birdhúl_, the capital of Bir Pandi mentioned above, whilst
Madura was the residence of his brother, the later Sundara Pandi.
And from the indications in those extracts it can be gathered, I
think, that Birdhúl was not far from the Kaveri (called Kánobari),
not far from the sea, and five or six days’ march from Madura.
These indications point to Tanjore, Kombakonam, or some other
city in or near the Kaveri Delta.[5] I should suppose that this
Birdhúl was the capital of Polo’s Sundara Pandi, and that the port
visited was Kaveripattanam. This was a great sea-port at one of
the mouths of the Kaveri, which is said to have been destroyed by
an inundation about the year 1300. According to Mr. Burnell it was
the “_Paṭṭaṇam_ ‘par excellence’ of the Coromandel Coast, and the
great port of the Chola kingdom.”[6]
[Illustration: ADENEY .SC.
Chinese Pagoda (so called) at Negapatam. (From a sketch taken
in 1846 by Sir Walter Elliot.)]
Some corroboration of the supposition that the Tanjore ports were
those frequented by Chinese trade may be found in the fact that
a remarkable Pagoda of uncemented brickwork, about a mile to the
north-west of Negapatam, popularly bears (or bore) the name of
_the Chinese Pagoda_. I do not mean to imply that the building was
Chinese, but that the application of that name to a ruin of strange
character pointed to some tradition of Chinese visitors.[7] Sir
Walter Elliot, to whom I am indebted for the sketch of it given
here, states that this building differed essentially from any type
of Hindu architecture with which he was acquainted, but being
without inscription or sculpture it was impossible to assign to it
any authentic origin. Negapatam was, however, celebrated as a seat
of _Buddhist_ worship, and this may have been a remnant of their
work. In 1846 it consisted of three stories divided by cornices of
stepped brickwork. The interior was open to the top, and showed
the marks of a floor about 20 feet from the ground. Its general
appearance is shown by the cut. This interesting building was
reported in 1859 to be in too dilapidated a state for repair, and
now exists no longer. Sir W. Elliot also tells me that collectors
employed by him picked up in the sand, at several stations on
this coast, numerous Byzantine and _Chinese_ as well as Hindu
coins.[8] The brickwork of the pagoda, as described by him, very
fine and closely fitted but without cement, corresponds to that
of the Burmese and Ceylonese mediæval Buddhist buildings. The
_architecture_ has a slight resemblance to that of Pollanarua in
Ceylon (see _Fergusson_, II. p. 512). (_Abulf._ in _Gildemeister_,
p. 185; _Nelson_, Pt. II. p. 27 _seqq._; _Taylor’s Catalogue
Raisonné_, III. 386–389.)
Ma’bar is mentioned (_Mà-pa-’rh_) in the Chinese Annals as one of
the foreign kingdoms which sent tribute to Kúblái in 1286 (_supra_,
p. 296); and Pauthier has given some very curious and novel
extracts from Chinese sources regarding the diplomatic intercourse
with Ma’bar in 1280 and the following years. Among other points
these mention the “five brothers who were Sultans” (_Suantan_), an
envoy _Chamalating_ (Jumaluddín) who had been sent from Ma’bar to
the Mongol Court, etc. (See pp. 603 _seqq._)
NOTE 2.—Marco’s account of the pearl-fishery is still substantially
correct. _Bettelar_, the rendezvous of the fishery, was, I imagine,
PATLAM on the coast of Ceylon, called by Ibn Batuta _Batthála_.
Though the centre of the pearl-fishery is now at Aripo and Kondachi
further north, its site has varied sometimes as low as Chilaw,
the name of which is a corruption of that given by the Tamuls,
_Salábham_, which means “the Diving,” _i.e._ the Pearl-fishery.
Tennent gives the meaning erroneously as “the Sea of Gain.” I owe
the correction to Dr. Caldwell. (_Ceylon_, I. 440; _Pridham_, 409;
_Ibn Bat._ IV. 166; _Ribeyro_, ed. Columbo, 1847, App. p. 196.)
[Ma Huan (_J. North China B. R. A. S._ XX. p. 213) says that “the
King (of Ceylon) has had an [artificial] pearl pond dug, into which
every two or three years he orders pearl oysters to be thrown, and
he appoints men to keep watch over it. Those who fish for these
oysters, and take them to the authorities for the King’s use,
sometimes steal and fraudulently sell them.”—H. C.]
The shark-charmers do not now seem to have any claim to be called
Abraiaman or Brahmans, but they may have been so in former days.
At the diamond mines of the northern Circars Brahmans are employed
in the analogous office of propitiating the tutelary genii. The
shark-charmers are called in Tamul _Kaḍal-Kaṭṭi_, “Sea-binders,”
and in Hindustani _Hai-banda_ or “Shark-binders.” At Aripo they
belong to one family, supposed to have the monopoly of the charm.
The chief operator is (or was, not many years ago) paid by
Government, and he also received ten oysters from each boat daily
during the fishery. Tennent, on his visit, found the incumbent of
the office to be a Roman Catholic Christian, but that did not seem
to affect the exercise or the validity of his functions. It is
remarkable that when Tennent wrote, not more than one authenticated
accident from sharks had taken place, during the whole period of
the British occupation.
The time of the fishery is a little earlier than Marco mentions,
viz. in March and April, just between the cessation of the
north-east and commencement of the south-west monsoon. His
statement of the depth is quite correct; the diving is carried on
in water of 4 to 10 fathoms deep, and never in a greater depth than
13.
I do not know the site of the other fishery to which he alludes as
practised in September and October; but the time implies shelter
from the south-west Monsoon, and it was probably on the east side
of the island, where in 1750 there was a fishery, at Trincomalee.
(_Stewart_ in _Trans. R. A. S._ III. 456 _seqq._; _Pridham._, u.s.;
_Tennent_, II. 564–565; _Ribeyro_, as above, App. p. 196.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] So the Barbary coast from Tunis westward was called by the Arabs
_Bár-ul-’Adwah_, “Terra Transitûs,” because thence they used to
pass into Spain. (_J. As._ for Jan. 1846, p. 228.)
[2] Wassáf has _Fitan, Mali Fitan, Kábil_, and meant the names so, as he
shows by silly puns. For my justification in presuming to correct
the names, I must refer to an article, in the _J. R. As. Soc._,
N.S. IV. p. 347, on Rashiduddin’s Geography.
[3] The same information is given in almost the same terms by
Rashiduddin. (See _Elliot_, I. 69.) But he (at least in Elliot’s
translation) makes _Shaikh Jumaluddin_ the successor of the Devar,
instead of merely the narrator of the circumstances. This is
evidently a mistake, probably of transcription, and Wassáf gives us
the true version.
The members of the Arab family bearing the surname of At-Thaibí (or
Thíbí) appear to have been powerful on the coasts of the Indian Sea
at this time. (1) The Malik-ul-Islám Jamáluddin Ibrahim At-Thaibí
was Farmer-General of Fars, besides being quasi-independent Prince
of Kais and other Islands in the Persian Gulf, and at the time
of his death (1306) governor of Shiraz. He had the horse trade
with India greatly in his hands, as is mentioned in a note (7) on
next chapter. (2) The son of Jamáluddin, Fakhruddin Ahmed, goes
ambassador to the Great Kaan in 1297, and dies near the coast of
Ma’bar on his way back in 1305. A Fakhruddin Ahmed _Ben Ibrahim_
at-Thaibí also appears in Hammer’s extracts as ruler of Hormuz
about the time of Polo’s return. (See _ante_, vol. i. p. 121); and
though he is there represented as opposed by Shaikh Jumáluddin
(perhaps through one of Hammer’s too frequent confusions), one
should suppose that he must be the son just mentioned. (3)
Takiuddin Abdurrahmán, the Wazír and Marzbàn in Ma’bar; followed
successively in that position by his son Surajuddín, and his
grandson Nizamuddín. (_Ilchan._ II. 49–50, 197–198, 205–206;
_Elliot_, III. 32, 34–35, 45–47.)
[4] بيّرْدَاول
[5] My learned friend Mr. A. Burnell suggests that Birdhúl must
have been Vriddachalam, _Virdachellam_ of the maps, which is in
South Arcot, about 50 miles north of Tanjore. There are old and
well-known temples there, and relics of fortifications. It is a
rather famous place of pilgrimage.
[6] It was also perhaps the Fattan of the Mahomedan writers; but in
that case its destruction must have been after Ibn Batuta’s time
(say middle of 14th century).
[7] I leave this passage as it stood in the first edition. It is a
mistake, but this mistake led to the engraving of Sir W. Elliot’s
sketch (perhaps unique) of a very interesting building which has
disappeared. Dr. Caldwell writes: “The native name was ‘the _Jaina
Tower_,’ turned by the English into _China_ and _Chinese_. This I
was told in Negapatam 30 years ago, but to make sure of the matter
I have now written to Negapatam, and obtained from the Munsiff of
the place confirmation of what I had heard long ago. It bore also
the name of the ‘Tower of the _Malla_.’ The Chalukya Malla kings
were at one time Jainas. The ‘Seven Pagodas’ near Madras bear their
name, Ma-_Mallei_ pûram, and their power may at one time have
extended as far south as Negapatam.” I have no doubt Dr. Caldwell
is right in substance, but the name _China Pagoda_ at Negapatam is
at least as old as Baldaeus (1672, p. 149), and the ascription to
the Chinese is in Valentyn (1726, tom. v. p. 6). It is, I find, in
the Atlas of India, “Jayne Pagoda.”
[8] Colonel Mackenzie also mentions Chinese coins as found on this
coast. (_J. R. A. S._ I. 352–353.)
CHAPTER XVII.
CONTINUES TO SPEAK OF THE PROVINCE OF MAABAR.
You must know that in all this Province of Maabar there is never a
Tailor to cut a coat or stitch it, seeing that everybody goes naked!
For decency only do they wear a scrap of cloth; and so ’tis with men
and women, with rich and poor, aye, and with the King himself, except
what I am going to mention.{1}
It is a fact that the King goes as bare as the rest, only round his
loins he has a piece of fine cloth, and round his neck he has a
necklace entirely of precious stones,—rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and
the like, insomuch that this collar is of great value.{2} He wears also
hanging in front of his chest from the neck downwards, a fine silk
thread strung with 104 large pearls and rubies of great price. The
reason why he wears this cord with the 104 great pearls and rubies, is
(according to what they tell) that every day, morning and evening, he
has to say 104 prayers to his idols. Such is their religion and their
custom. And thus did all the Kings his ancestors before him, and they
bequeathed the string of pearls to him that he should do the like. [The
prayer that they say daily consists of these words, _Pacauta! Pacauta!
Pacauta_! And this they repeat 104 times.{3}]
The King aforesaid also wears on his arms three golden bracelets
thickly set with pearls of great value, and anklets also of like kind
he wears on his legs, and rings on his toes likewise. So let me tell
you what this King wears, between gold and gems and pearls, is worth
more than a city’s ransom. And ’tis no wonder; for he hath great store
of such gear; and besides they are found in his kingdom. Moreover
nobody is permitted to take out of the kingdom a pearl weighing more
than half a _saggio_, unless he manages to do it secretly.{4} This
order has been given because the King desires to reserve all such
to himself; and so in fact the quantity he has is something almost
incredible. Moreover several times every year he sends his proclamation
through the realm that if any one who possesses a pearl or stone of
great value will bring it to him, he will pay for it twice as much as
it cost. Everybody is glad to do this, and thus the King gets all into
his own hands, giving every man his price.
Furthermore, this King hath some five hundred wives, for whenever he
hears of a beautiful damsel he takes her to wife. Indeed he did a
very sorry deed as I shall tell you. For seeing that his brother had
a handsome wife, he took her by force and kept her for himself. His
brother, being a discreet man, took the thing quietly and made no noise
about it. The King hath many children.
And there are about the King a number of Barons in attendance upon him.
These ride with him, and keep always near him, and have great authority
in the kingdom; they are called the King’s Trusty Lieges. And you must
know that when the King dies, and they put him on the fire to burn him,
these Lieges cast themselves into the fire round about his body, and
suffer themselves to be burnt along with him. For they say they have
been his comrades in this world, and that they ought also to keep him
company in the other world.{5}
When the King dies none of his children dares to touch his treasure.
For they say, “as our father did gather together all this treasure, so
we ought to accumulate as much in our turn.” And in this way it comes
to pass that there is an immensity of treasure accumulated in this
kingdom.{6}
Here are no horses bred; and thus a great part of the wealth of the
country is wasted in purchasing horses; I will tell you how. You must
know that the merchants of KIS and HORMES, DOFAR and SOER and ADEN
collect great numbers of destriers and other horses, and these they
bring to the territories of this King and of his four brothers, who are
kings likewise as I told you. For a horse will fetch among them 500
_saggi_ of gold, worth more than 100 marks of silver, and vast numbers
are sold there every year. Indeed this King wants to buy more than 2000
horses every year, and so do his four brothers who are kings likewise.
The reason why they want so many horses every year is that by the end
of the year there shall not be one hundred of them remaining, for they
all die off. And this arises from mismanagement, for those people do
not know in the least how to treat a horse; and besides they have no
farriers. The horse-merchants not only never bring any farriers with
them, but also prevent any farrier from going thither, lest that should
in any degree baulk the sale of horses, which brings them in every year
such vast gains. They bring these horses by sea aboard ship.{7}
They have in this country the custom which I am going to relate. When
a man is doomed to die for any crime, he may declare that he will put
himself to death in honour of such or such an idol; and the government
then grants him permission to do so. His kinsfolk and friends then set
him up on a cart, and provide him with twelve knives, and proceed to
conduct him all about the city, proclaiming aloud: “This valiant man
is going to slay himself for the love of (such an idol).” And when
they be come to the place of execution he takes a knife and sticks it
through his arm, and cries: “I slay myself for the love of (such a
god)!” Then he takes another knife and sticks it through his other arm,
and takes a third knife and runs it into his belly, and so on until
he kills himself outright. And when he is dead his kinsfolk take the
body and burn it with a joyful celebration.{8} Many of the women also,
when their husbands die and are placed on the pile to be burnt, do burn
themselves along with the bodies. And such women as do this have great
praise from all.{9}
The people are Idolaters, and many of them worship the ox, because (say
they) it is a creature of such excellence. They would not eat beef for
anything in the world, nor would they on any account kill an ox. But
there is another class of people who are called _Govy_, and these are
very glad to eat beef, though they dare not kill the animal. Howbeit if
an ox dies, naturally or otherwise, then they eat him.{10}
And let me tell you, the people of this country have a custom of
rubbing their houses all over with cow-dung.{11} Moreover all of them,
great and small, King and Barons included, do sit upon the ground only,
and the reason they give is that this is the most honourable way to
sit, because we all spring from the Earth and to the Earth we must
return; so no one can pay the Earth too much honour, and no one ought
to despise it.
And about that race of _Govis_, I should tell you that nothing on earth
would induce them to enter the place where Messer St. Thomas is—I
mean where his body lies, which is in a certain city of the province
of Maabar. Indeed, were even 20 or 30 men to lay hold of one of these
_Govis_ and to try to hold him in the place where the Body of the
Blessed Apostle of Jesus Christ lies buried, they could not do it! Such
is the influence of the Saint; for it was by people of this generation
that he was slain, as you shall presently hear.{12}
No wheat grows in this province, but rice only.
And another strange thing to be told is that there is no possibility of
breeding horses in this country, as hath often been proved by trial.
For even when a great blood-mare here has been covered by a great
blood-horse, the produce is nothing but a wretched wry-legged weed, not
fit to ride.{13}
The people of the country go to battle all naked, with only a lance and
a shield; and they are most wretched soldiers. They will kill neither
beast nor bird, nor anything that hath life; and for such animal food
as they eat, they make the Saracens, or others who are not of their own
religion, play the butcher.
It is their practice that every one, male and female, do wash the whole
body twice every day; and those who do not wash are looked on much as
we look on the Patarins. [You must know also that in eating they use
the right hand only, and would on no account touch their food with
the left hand. All cleanly and becoming uses are ministered to by the
right hand, whilst the left is reserved for uncleanly and disagreeable
necessities, such as cleansing the secret parts of the body and the
like. So also they drink only from drinking vessels, and every man hath
his own; nor will any one drink from another’s vessel. And when they
drink they do not put the vessel to the lips, but hold it aloft and let
the drink spout into the mouth. No one would on any account touch the
vessel with his mouth, nor give a stranger drink with it. But if the
stranger have no vessel of his own they will pour the drink into his
hands and he may thus drink from his hands as from a cup.]
They are very strict in executing justice upon criminals, and as
strict in abstaining from wine. Indeed they have made a rule that
wine-drinkers and seafaring men are never to be accepted as sureties.
For they say that to be a seafaring man is all the same as to be an
utter desperado, and that his testimony is good for nothing.[1] Howbeit
they look on lechery as no sin.
[They have the following rule about debts. If a debtor shall have been
several times asked by his creditor for payment, and shall have put him
off from day to day with promises, then if the creditor can once meet
the debtor and succeed in drawing a circle round him, the latter must
not pass out of this circle until he shall have satisfied the claim,
or given security for its discharge. If he in any other case presume
to pass the circle he is punished with death as a transgressor against
right and justice. And the said Messer Marco, when in this kingdom on
his return home, did himself witness a case of this. It was the King,
who owed a foreign merchant a certain sum of money, and though the
claim had often been presented, he always put it off with promises.
Now, one day when the King was riding through the city, the merchant
found his opportunity, and drew a circle round both King and horse.
The King, on seeing this, halted, and would ride no further; nor did
he stir from the spot until the merchant was satisfied. And when the
bystanders saw this they marvelled greatly, saying that the King was a
most just King indeed, having thus submitted to justice.{14}]
You must know that the heat here is sometimes so great that ’tis
something wonderful. And rain falls only for three months in the year,
viz. in June, July, and August. Indeed but for the rain that falls
in these three months, refreshing the earth and cooling the air, the
drought would be so great that no one could exist.{15}
They have many experts in an art which they call Physiognomy, by which
they discern a man’s character and qualities at once. They also know
the import of meeting with any particular bird or beast; for such
omens are regarded by them more than by any people in the world. Thus
if a man is going along the road and hears some one sneeze, if he deems
it (say) a good token for himself he goes on, but if otherwise he stops
a bit, or peradventure turns back altogether from his journey.{16}
As soon as a child is born they write down his nativity, that is to
say the day and hour, the month, and the moon’s age. This custom they
observe because every single thing they do is done with reference to
astrology, and by advice of diviners skilled in Sorcery and Magic and
Geomancy, and such like diabolical arts; and some of them are also
acquainted with Astrology.
[All parents who have male children, as soon as these have attained
the age of 13, dismiss them from their home, and do not allow them
further maintenance in the family. For they say that the boys are then
of an age to get their living by trade; so off they pack them with some
twenty or four-and-twenty groats, or at least with money equivalent to
that. And these urchins are running about all day from pillar to post,
buying and selling. At the time of the pearl-fishery they run to the
beach and purchase, from the fishers or others, five or six pearls,
according to their ability, and take these to the merchants, who are
keeping indoors for fear of the sun, and say to them: “These cost me
such a price; now give me what profit you please on them.” So the
merchant gives something over the cost price for their profit. They do
in the same way with many other articles, so that they become trained
to be very dexterous and keen traders. And every day they take their
food to their mothers to be cooked and served, but do not eat a scrap
at the expense of their fathers.]
In this kingdom and all over India the birds and beasts are entirely
different from ours, all but one bird which is exactly like ours,
and that is the Quail. But everything else is totally different. For
example they have bats,—I mean those birds that fly by night and have
no feathers of any kind; well, their birds of this kind are as big as a
goshawk! Their goshawks again are as black as crows, a good deal bigger
than ours, and very swift and sure.
Another strange thing is that they feed their horses with boiled rice
and boiled meat, and various other kinds of cooked food. That is the
reason why all the horses die off.{17}
They have certain abbeys in which are gods and goddesses to whom many
young girls are consecrated; their fathers and mothers presenting them
to that idol for which they entertain the greatest devotion. And when
the [monks] of a convent[2] desire to make a feast to their god, they
send for all those consecrated damsels and make them sing and dance
before the idol with great festivity. They also bring meats to feed
their idol withal; that is to say, the damsels prepare dishes of meat
and other good things and put the food before the idol, and leave it
there a good while, and then the damsels all go to their dancing and
singing and festivity for about as long as a great Baron might require
to eat his dinner. By that time they say the spirit of the idols has
consumed the substance of the food, so they remove the viands to be
eaten by themselves with great jollity. This is performed by these
damsels several times every year until they are married.{18}
[The reason assigned for summoning the damsels to these feasts is, as
the monks say, that the god is vexed and angry with the goddess, and
will hold no communication with her; and they say that if peace be not
established between them things will go from bad to worse, and they
never will bestow their grace and benediction. So they make those girls
come in the way described, to dance and sing, all but naked, before
the god and the goddess. And those people believe that the god often
solaces himself with the society of the goddess.
The men of this country have their beds made of very light canework, so
arranged that, when they have got in and are going to sleep, they are
drawn up by cords nearly to the ceiling and fixed there for the night.
This is done to get out of the way of tarantulas which give terrible
bites, as well as of fleas and such vermin, and at the same time to
get as much air as possible in the great heat which prevails in that
region. Not that everybody does this, but only the nobles and great
folks, for the others sleep on the streets.{19}]
Now I have told you about this kingdom of the province of Maabar, and
I must pass on to the other kingdoms of the same province, for I have
much to tell of their peculiarities.
NOTE 1.—The non-existence of tailors is not a mere figure of
speech. Sundry learned pundits have been of opinion that the
ancient Hindu knew no needle-made clothing, and Colonel Meadows
Taylor has alleged that they had not even a word for the tailor’s
craft in their language. These opinions have been patriotically
refuted by Bábú Rájendralál Mitra. (_Proc. As. Soc. B._ 1871, p.
100.)
Ibn Batuta describes the King of Calicut, the great “Zamorin,”
coming down to the beach to see the wreck of certain Junks;—“his
clothing consisted of a great piece of white stuff rolled about him
from the navel to the knees, and a little scrap of a turban on his
head; his feet were bare, and a young slave carried an umbrella
over him.” (IV. 97.)
NOTE 2.—The necklace taken from the neck of the Hindu King Jaipál,
captured by Mahmúd in A.D. 1001, was composed of large pearls,
rubies, etc., and was valued at 200,000 _dinars_, or a good deal
more than 100,000_l._ (_Elliot_, II. 26.) Compare Correa’s account
of the King of Calicut, in _Stanley’s V. da Gama_, 194.
NOTE 3.—The word is printed in Ramusio _Pacauca_, but no doubt
_Pacauta_ is the true reading. Dr. Caldwell has favoured me with
a note on this: “The word ... was probably _Bagavâ_ or _Pagavâ_,
the Tamil form of the vocative of _Bhagavata_, ‘Lord,’ pronounced
in the Tamil manner. This word is frequently repeated by Hindus of
all sects in the utterance of their sacred formulæ, especially by
Vaishnava devotees, some of whom go about repeating this one word
alone. When I mentioned Marco Polo’s word to two learned Hindus
at different times, they said, ‘No doubt he meant _Bagava_.’[3]
The Saiva Rosary contains 32 beads; the doubled form of the same,
sometimes used, contains 64; the Vaishnava Rosary contains 108.
Possibly the latter may have been meant by Marco.” [Captain Gill
(_River of Golden Sand_, II. p. 341) at Yung-Ch’ang, speaking of
the beads of a necklace, writes: “One hundred and eight is the
regulation number, no one venturing to wear a necklace, with one
bead more or less.”]
Ward says: “The Hindús believe the repetition of the name of God
is an act of adoration.... _Jăpă_ (as this act is called) makes an
essential part of the daily worship.... The worshipper, taking a
string of beads, repeats the name of his guardian deity, or that of
any other god, counting by his beads 10, 28, 108, 208, adding to
every 108 not less than 100 more.” (Madras ed. 1863, pp. 217–218.)
No doubt the number in the text should have been 108, which is
apparently a mystic number among both Brahmans and Buddhists. Thus
at Gautama’s birth 108 Brahmans were summoned to foretell his
destiny; round the great White Pagoda at Peking are 108 pillars
for illumination; 108 is the number of volumes constituting the
Tibetan scripture called _Kahgyur_; the merit of copying this work
is enhanced by the quality of the ink used, thus a copy in red
is 108 times more meritorious than one in black, one in silver
108² times, one in gold, 108³ times; according to the Malabar
Chronicle Parasurama established in that country 108 Iswars, 108
places of worship, and 108 Durga images; there are said to be 108
shrines of especial sanctity in India; there are 108 _Upanishads_
(a certain class of mystical Brahmanical sacred literature); 108
rupees is frequently a sum devoted to alms; the rules of the
Chinese Triad Society assign 108 blows as the punishment for
certain offences;—108, according to Athenaeus, were the suitors of
Penelope! I find a Tibetan tract quoted (by _Koeppen_, II. 284) as
entitled, “The Entire Victor over all the 104 Devils,” and this is
the only example I have met with of 104 as a mystic number.
NOTE 4.—The _Saggio_, here as elsewhere, probably stands for the
_Miṣḳál_.
NOTE 5.—This is stated also by Abu Zaid, in the beginning of the
10th century. And Reinaud in his note refers to Mas’udi, who has a
like passage in which he gives a name to these companions exactly
corresponding to Polo’s _Féoilz_ or Trusty Lieges: “When a King
in India dies, many persons voluntarily burn themselves with him.
These are called _Balánjaríyah_ (sing. _Balánjar_), as if you
should say ‘Faithful Friends’ of the deceased, whose life was life
to them, and whose death was death to them.” (_Anc. Rel._ I. 121
and note; _Mas._ II. 85.)
On the murder of Ajit Singh of Marwar, by two of his sons, there
were 84 _satis_, and “so much was he beloved,” says Tod, “that
even men devoted themselves on his pyre” (I. 744). The same thing
occurred at the death of the Sikh Gúrú Hargovind in 1645. (_H. of
Sikhs_, p. 62.)
Barbosa briefly notices an institution like that described by
Polo, in reference to the King of Narsinga, _i.e._ Vijayanagar.
(_Ram._ I. f. 302.) Another form of the same bond seems to be
that mentioned by other travellers as prevalent in Malabar, where
certain of the Nairs bore the name of _Amuki_, and were bound not
only to defend the King’s life with their own, but, if he fell, to
sacrifice themselves by dashing among the enemy and slaying until
slain. Even Christian churches in Malabar had such hereditary
_Amuki_. (See _P. Vinc. Maria_, Bk. IV. ch. vii., and _Cesare
Federici_ in _Ram._ III. 390, also _Faria y Sousa_, by Stevens,
I. 348.) There can be little doubt that this is the Malay _Amuk_,
which would therefore appear to be of Indian origin, both in name
and practice. I see that De Gubernatis, without noticing the
Malay phrase, traces the term applied to the Malabar champions to
the Sanskrit _Amokhya_, “indissoluble,” and _Amukta_, “not free,
bound.” (_Picc. Encic. Ind._ I, 88.) The same practice, by which
the followers of a defeated prince devote themselves in _amuk_
(_vulgo_ running _á-muck_),[4] is called in the island of Bali
_Bela_, a term applied also to one kind of female Sati, probably
from S. _Bali_, “a sacrifice.” (See _Friedrich_ in _Batavian
Trans._ XXIII.) In the first syllable of the _Balánjar_ of Mas’udi
we have probably the same word. A similar institution is mentioned
by Caesar among the Sotiates, a tribe of Aquitania. The _Féoilz_
of the chief were 600 in number and were called _Soldurii_; they
shared all his good things in life, and were bound to share with
him in death also. Such also was a custom among the Spanish
Iberians, and the name of these _Amuki_ signified “sprinkled
for sacrifice.” Other generals, says Plutarch, might find a few
such among their personal staff and dependents, but Sertorius
was followed by many myriads who had thus devoted themselves.
Procopius relates of the White Huns that the richer among them
used to entertain a circle of friends, some score or more, as
perpetual guests and partners of their wealth. But, when the chief
died, the whole company were expected to go down alive into the
tomb with him. The King of the Russians, in the tenth century,
according to Ibn Fozlán, was attended by 400 followers bound by
like vows. And according to some writers the same practice was
common in Japan, where the friends and vassals who were under
the vow committed _hara kiri_ at the death of their patron. The
_Likamankwas_ of the Abyssinian kings, who in battle wear the same
dress with their master to mislead the enemy—“Six Richmonds in the
field”—form apparently a kindred institution. (_Bell. Gall._ iii.
c. 22; _Plutarch, in Vit. Sertorii; Procop. De B. Pers._ I. 3; _Ibn
Fozlan_ by _Fraehn_, p. 22; _Sonnerat_, I. 97.)
NOTE 6.—However frequent may have been wars between adjoining
states, the south of the peninsula appears to have been for ages
free from foreign invasion until the Delhi expeditions, which
occurred a few years later than our traveller’s visit; and there
are many testimonies to the enormous accumulations of treasure.
Gold, according to the _Masálak-al-Absár_, had been flowing into
India for 3000 years, and had never been exported. Firishta speaks
of the enormous spoils carried off by Malik Káfúr, every soldier’s
share amounting to 25 lbs. of gold! Some years later Mahomed
Tughlak loads 200 elephants and several thousand bullocks with the
precious spoil of a single temple. We have quoted a like statement
from Wassáf as to the wealth found in the treasury of this very
Sundara Pandi Dewar, but the same author goes far beyond this
when he tells that Kales Dewar, Raja of Ma’bar about 1309, had
accumulated 1200 crores of gold, _i.e._ 12,000 millions of dinars,
enough to girdle the earth with a four-fold belt of bezants!
(_N. and E._ XIII. 218, 220–221; _Brigg’s Firishta_, I. 373–374;
_Hammer’s Ilkhans_, II. 205.)
NOTE 7.—Of the ports mentioned as exporting horses to India we have
already made acquaintance with KAIS and HORMUZ; of DOFAR and ADEN
we shall hear further on; _Soer_ is SOHÁR, the former capital of
Oman, and still a place of some little trade. Edrisi calls it “one
of the oldest cities of Oman, and of the richest. Anciently it was
frequented by merchants from all parts of the world; and voyages to
China used to be made from it.” (I. 152.)
Rashiduddin and Wassáf have identical statements about the horse
trade, and so similar to Polo’s in this chapter that one almost
suspects that he must have been their authority. Wassáf says: “It
was a matter of agreement that Malik-ul-Islám Jamáluddín and the
merchants should embark every year from the island of KAIS and land
at MA’BAR 1400 horses of his own breed.... It was also agreed that
he should embark as many as he could procure from all the isles of
Persia, such as Kátif, Lahsá, Bahrein, Hurmuz, and Kalhátú. The
price of each horse was fixed from of old at 220 dinars of red
gold, on this condition, that if any horses should happen to die,
the value of them should be paid from the royal treasury. It is
related by authentic writers that in the reign of Atábek Abu Bakr
of (Fars), 10,000 horses were annually exported from these places
to Ma’bar, Kambáyat, and other ports in their neighbourhood, and
the sum total of their value amounted to 2,200,000 dinars.... They
bind them for 40 days in a stable with ropes and pegs, in order
that they may get fat; and afterwards, without taking measures for
training, and without stirrups and other appurtenances of riding,
the Indian soldiers ride upon them like demons.... In a short time,
the most strong, swift, fresh, and active horses become weak,
slow, useless, and stupid. In short, they all become wretched and
good for nothing.... There is, therefore, a constant necessity of
getting new horses annually.” Amír Khusru mentions among Malik
Kafúr’s plunder in Ma’bar, 5000 Arab and Syrian horses. (_Elliot_,
III. 34, 93.)
The price mentioned by Polo appears to be intended for 500 dinars,
which in the then existing relations of the precious metals in Asia
would be worth just about 100 marks of silver. Wassáf’s price, 220
dinars of red gold, seems very inconsistent with this, but is not
so materially, for it would appear that the _dinar of red gold_ (so
called) was worth _two dinars_.[5]
I noted an early use of the term _Arab chargers_ in the famous
Bodleian copy of the Alexander Romance (1338):
“Alexand’ descent du destrier Arrabis.”
NOTE 8.—I have not found other mention of a condemned criminal
being allowed thus to sacrifice himself; but such suicides in
performance of religious vows have occurred in almost all parts of
India in all ages. Friar Jordanus, after giving a similar account
to that in the text of the parade of the victim, represents him
as _cutting off his own head_ before the idol, with a peculiar
two-handled knife “like those used in currying leather.” And
strange as this sounds it is undoubtedly true. Ibn Batuta witnessed
the suicidal feat at the Court of the Pagan King of Mul-Java
(somewhere on the coast of the Gulf of Siam), and Mr. Ward, without
any knowledge of these authorities, had heard that an instrument
for this purpose was formerly preserved at Kshíra, a village of
Bengal near Nadiya. The thing was called _Karavat_; it was a
crescent-shaped knife, with chains attached to it forming stirrups,
so adjusted that when the fanatic placed the edge to the back of
his neck and his feet in the stirrups, by giving the latter a
violent jerk his head was cut off. Padre Tieffentaller mentions a
like instrument at Prág (or Allahabad). Durgavati, a famous Queen
on the Nerbada, who fell in battle with the troops of Akbar, is
asserted in a family inscription to have “severed her own head with
a scimitar she held in her hand.” According to a wild legend told
at Ujjain, the great king Vikramajit was in the habit of cutting
off his own head _daily_, as an offering to Devi. On the last
performance the head failed to re-attach itself as usual; and it is
now preserved, petrified, in the temple of Harsuddi at that place.
I never heard of anybody in Europe performing this extraordinary
feat except Sir Jonah Barrington’s Irish mower, who made a dig at a
salmon with the butt of his scythe-handle and dropt his own head in
the pool! (_Jord._ 33; _I. B._ IV. 246; _Ward_, Madras ed. 249–250;
_J. A. S. B._ XVII. 833; _Rás Mála_, II. 387.)
NOTE 9.—Satis were very numerous in parts of S. India. In 1815
there were one hundred in Tanjore alone. (_Ritter_, VI. 303; _J.
Cathay_, p. 80.)
NOTE 10.—“The people in this part of the country (Southern Mysore)
consider the ox as a living god, who gives them bread; and in
every village there are one or two bulls to whom weekly or monthly
worship is performed.” (_F. Buchanan_, II. 174.) “The low-caste
Hindus, called _Gavi_ by Marco Polo, were probably the caste now
called _Paraiyar_ (by the English, _Pariahs_). The people of
this caste do not venture to kill the cow, but when they find
the carcase of a cow which has died from disease, or any other
cause, they cook and eat it. The name _Paraiyar_, which means
‘Drummers,’ does not appear to be ancient.”[6] (_Note by the Rev.
Dr. Caldwell_.)
In the history of Sind called _Chach Namah_, the Hindus revile the
Mahomedan invaders as _Chandáls_ and cow-eaters. (_Elliot_, I. 172,
193). The low castes are often styled from their unrestricted diet,
_e.g._ _Halál-Khor_ (P. “to whom all food is lawful”), _Sab-khawá_
(H. “omnivorous”).
Bábú Rájendralál Mitra has published a learned article on _Beef
in ancient India_, showing that the ancient Brahmans were far
from entertaining the modern horror of cow-killing. We may cite
two of his numerous illustrations. _Goghna_, “a guest,” signifies
literally “a cow-killer,” _i.e._ he for whom a cow is killed. And
one of the sacrifices prescribed in the _Sútras_ bears the name of
_Súla-gava_ “spit-cow,” _i.e._ roast-beef. (_J. A. S. B._ XLI. Pt.
I. p. 174 _seqq._)
NOTE 11.—The word in the G. T. is _losci dou buef_, which
Pauthier’s text has converted into _suif de buef_—in reference
to Hindus, a preposterous statement. Yet the very old Latin of
the Soc. Géog. also has _pinguedinem_, and in a parallel passage
about the Jogis (_infra_, ch. xx.), Ramusio’s text describes them as
daubing themselves with powder of ox-_bones_ (_l’ossa_). Apparently
_l’osci_ was not understood (It. _uscito_).
NOTE 12.—Later travellers describe the descendants of St. Thomas’s
murderers as marked by having one leg of immense size, _i.e._ by
_elephantiasis_. The disease was therefore called by the Portuguese
_Pejo de Santo Toma_.
NOTE 13.—Mr. Nelson says of the Madura country: “The horse is a
miserable, weedy, and vicious pony; having but one good quality,
endurance. The breed is not indigenous, but the result of constant
importations and a very limited amount of breeding.” (_The Madura
Country_, Pt. II. p. 94.) The ill success in breeding horses was
exaggerated to impossibility, and made to extend to all India.
Thus a Persian historian, speaking of an elephant that was born in
the stables of Khosru Parviz, observes that “never till then had a
she-elephant borne young in Irán, any more than a lioness in Rúm,
a tabby cat in China (!), or _a mare in India_.” (_J. A. S._ sér.
III. tom. iii. p. 127.)
[Major-General Crawford T. Chamberlain, C.S.I., in a report on Stud
Matters in India, 27th June 1874, writes: “I ask how it is possible
that horses could be bred at a moderate cost in the Central
Division, when everything was against success. I account for the
narrow-chested, congenitally unfit and malformed stock, also
for the creaking joints, knuckle over futtocks, elbows in, toes
out, seedy toe, bad action, weedy frames, and other degeneracy:
1st, to a damp climate, altogether inimical to horses; 2nd, to
the operations being intrusted to a race of people inhabiting a
country where horses are not indigenous, and who therefore have no
taste for them ...; 5th, treatment of mares. To the impure air in
confined, non-ventilated hovels, etc.; 6th, improper food; 7th, to
a chronic system of tall rearing and forcing.” (_MS. Note._—H. Y.)]
NOTE 14.—This custom is described in much the same way by the
Arabo-Persian Zakariah Kazwini, by Ludovico Varthema, and by
Alexander Hamilton. Kazwini ascribes it to Ceylon. “If a debtor
does not pay, the King sends to him a person who draws a line round
him, wheresoever he chance to be; and beyond that circle he dares
not to move until he shall have paid what he owes, or come to an
agreement with his creditor. For if he should pass the circle the
King fines him three times the amount of his debt; one-third of
this fine goes to the creditor and two-thirds to the King.” Père
Bouchet describes the strict regard paid to the arrest, but does
not notice the symbolic circle. (_Gildem._ 197; _Varthema_, 147;
_Ham._ I. 318; _Lett. Edif._ XIV. 370.)
“The custom undoubtedly prevailed in this part of India at a
former time. It is said that it still survives amongst the poorer
classes in out-of-the-way parts of the country, but it is kept up
by schoolboys in a serio-comic spirit as vigorously as ever. Marco
does not mention a very essential part of the ceremony. The person
who draws a circle round another imprecates upon him the name of a
particular divinity, whose curse is to fall upon him if he breaks
through the circle without satisfying the claim.” (_MS. Note by the
Rev. Dr. Caldwell._)
NOTE 15.—The statement about the only rains falling in June, July,
and August is perplexing. “It is entirely inapplicable to every
part of the Coromandel coast, to which alone the name Ma’bar
seems to have been given, but it is quite true of the _western_
coast generally.” (_Rev. Dr. C._) One can only suppose that Polo
inadvertently applied to Maabar that which he knew to be true of
the regions both west of it and east of it. The Coromandel coast
derives its chief supply of rain from the north-east monsoon,
beginning in October, whereas both eastern and western India have
theirs from the south-west monsoon, between June and September.
NOTE 16.—Abraham Roger says of the Hindus of the Coromandel coast:
“They judge of lucky hours and moments also by trivial accidents,
to which they pay great heed. Thus ’tis held to be a good omen to
everybody when the bird _Garuda_ (which is a red hawk with a white
ring round its neck) or the bird _Pala_ flies across the road in
front of the person from right to left; but as regards other birds
they have just the opposite notion.... If they are in a house
anywhere, and have moved to go, and then any one should sneeze,
they will go in again, regarding it as an ill omen,” etc. (_Abr.
Roger_, pp. 75–76.)
NOTE 17.—Quoth Wassáf: “It is a strange thing that when these
horses arrive there, instead of giving them raw barley, they give
them roasted barley and grain dressed with butter, and boiled cow’s
milk to drink:—
“Who gives sugar to an owl or a crow?
Or who feeds a parrot with a carcase?
A crow should be fed with carrion,
And a parrot with candy and sugar.
Who loads jewels on the back of an ass?
Or who would approve of giving dressed almonds to a cow?”
—_Elliot_, III. 33.
“Horses,” says Athanasius Nikitin, “are fed on peas; also on
_Kicheri_, boiled with sugar and oil; early in the morning they get
_shishenivo_.” This last word is a mystery. (_India in the XVth
Century_, p. 10.)
“Rice is frequently given by natives to their horses to fatten
them, and a sheep’s head occasionally to strengthen them.” (_Note
by Dr. Caldwell_.)
The sheep’s head is peculiar to the Deccan, but _ghee_ (boiled
butter) is given by natives to their horses, I believe, all over
India. Even in the stables of Akbar an imperial horse drew daily
2 lbs. of flour, 1½ lb. of sugar, and in winter ½ lb. of _ghee_!
(_Ain. Akb._ 134.)
It is told of Sir John Malcolm that at an English table where he
was present, a brother officer from India had ventured to speak of
the sheep’s head custom to an unbelieving audience. He appealed to
Sir John, who only shook his head deprecatingly. After dinner the
unfortunate story-teller remonstrated, but Sir John’s answer was
only, “My dear fellow, they took you for one Munchausen; they would
merely have taken me for another!”
NOTE 18.—The nature of the institution of the Temple dancing-girls
seems to have been scarcely understood by the Traveller. The like
existed at ancient Corinth under the name of ἰερόδουλοι, which is
nearly a translation of the Hindi name of the girls, _Deva-dási_.
(_Strabo_, VIII. 6, § 20.) “Each (Dási) is married to an idol when
quite young. The female children are generally brought up to the
trade of the mothers. It is customary with a few castes to present
their superfluous daughters to the Pagodas.” (_Nelson’s Madura
Country_, Pt. II. 79.) A full account of this matter appears to
have been read by Dr. Shortt of Madras before the Anthropological
Society. But I have only seen a newspaper notice of it.
NOTE 19.—The first part of this paragraph is rendered by Marsden:
“The natives make use of a kind of bedstead or cot of very light
canework, so ingeniously contrived that when they repose on them,
and are inclined to sleep, _they can draw close the curtains about
them by pulling a string_.” This is not translation. An approximate
illustration of the real statement is found in Pyrard de Laval, who
says (of the Maldive Islanders): “Their beds are hung up by four
cords to a bar supported by two pillars.... The beds of the king,
the grandees, and rich folk are made thus that they may be swung
and rocked with facility.” (_Charton_, IV. 277.) In the _Rás Mála_
swinging cots are several times alluded to. (I. 173, 247, 423.) In
one case the bed is mentioned as suspended to the ceiling by chains.
[Illustration: Pagoda at Tanjore.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “_Audax omnia perpeti_,” _etc._
[2] The G. T. has _nuns_, “_Li nosnain do mostier._” But in Ramusio it
is _monks_, which is more probable, and I have adopted it.
[3] M. Pauthier has suggested the same explanation in his notes.
[4] Running _a-muck_ in the genuine Malay fashion is not unknown among
the Rajpúts; see two notable instances in _Tod_, II. 45 and 315.
[See _Hobson-Jobson_.]
[5] See _Journ. Asiat._ sér. VI. tom. xi. pp. 505 and 512. May not
the _dinár_ of red gold have been the gold _mohr_ of those days,
popularly known as the _red tanga_, which Ibn Batuta repeatedly
tells us was equal to 2½ dinárs of the west. 220 red tangas
would be equivalent to 550 western dinárs, or _saggi_, of Polo.
(_Elliot_, II. 332, III. 582.)
[6] I observe, however, that Sir Walter Elliot thinks it possible that
the _Paraya_ which appears on the oldest of Indian inscriptions as
the name of a nation, coupled with Chola and Kerala (Coromandel and
Malabar), is that of the modern despised tribe. (_J. Ethn. Soc._
n.s. I. 103.)
CHAPTER XVIII.
DISCOURSING OF THE PLACE WHERE LIETH THE BODY OF ST. THOMAS THE
APOSTLE; AND OF THE MIRACLES THEREOF.
[Illustration: Ancient Cross with Pehlevi Inscription on St. Thomas’s
Mount, near Madras. (From Photograph.)]
The Body of Messer St. Thomas the Apostle lies in this province of
Maabar at a certain little town having no great population. ’Tis a
place where few traders go, because there is very little merchandize to
be got there, and it is a place not very accessible.{1} Both Christians
and Saracens, however, greatly frequent it in pilgrimage. For the
Saracens also do hold the Saint in great reverence, and say that he was
one of their own Saracens and a great prophet, giving him the title of
_Avarian_, which is as much as to say “Holy Man.”{2} The Christians
who go thither in pilgrimage take of the earth from the place where the
Saint was killed, and give a portion thereof to any one who is sick of
a quartan or a tertian fever; and by the power of God and of St. Thomas
the sick man is incontinently cured.{3} The earth, I should tell you,
is red. A very fine miracle occurred there in the year of Christ, 1288,
as I will now relate.
A certain Baron of that country, having great store of a certain kind
of corn that is called _rice_, had filled up with it all the houses
that belonged to the church, and stood round about it. The Christian
people in charge of the church were much distressed by his having thus
stuffed their houses with his rice; the pilgrims too had nowhere to lay
their heads; and they often begged the pagan Baron to remove his grain,
but he would do nothing of the kind. So one night the Saint himself
appeared with a fork in his hand, which he set at the Baron’s throat,
saying: “If thou void not my houses, that my pilgrims may have room,
thou shalt die an evil death,” and therewithal the Saint pressed him so
hard with the fork that he thought himself a dead man. And when morning
came he caused all the houses to be voided of his rice, and told
everybody what had befallen him at the Saint’s hands. So the Christians
were greatly rejoiced at this grand miracle, and rendered thanks to God
and to the blessed St. Thomas. Other great miracles do often come to
pass there, such as the healing of those who are sick or deformed, or
the like, especially such as be Christians.
[The Christians who have charge of the church have a great number of
the Indian Nut trees, whereby they get their living; and they pay to
one of those brother Kings six groats for each tree every month.[1]]
Now, I will tell you the manner in which the Christian brethren who
keep the church relate the story of the Saint’s death.
They tell that the Saint was in the wood outside his hermitage saying
his prayers; and round about him were many peacocks, for these are more
plentiful in that country than anywhere else. And one of the Idolaters
of that country being of the lineage of those called _Govi_ that I
told you of, having gone with his bow and arrows to shoot peafowl, not
seeing the Saint, let fly an arrow at one of the peacocks; and this
arrow struck the holy man in the right side, insomuch that he died of
the wound, sweetly addressing himself to his Creator. Before he came to
that place where he thus died he had been in Nubia, where he converted
much people to the faith of Jesus Christ.{4}
The children that are born here are black enough, but the blacker they
be the more they are thought of; wherefore from the day of their birth
their parents do rub them every week with oil of sesamé, so that they
become as black as devils. Moreover, they make their gods black and
their devils white, and the images of their saints they do paint black
all over.{5}
They have such faith in the ox, and hold it for a thing so holy, that
when they go to the wars they take of the hair of the wild-ox, whereof
I have elsewhere spoken, and wear it tied to the necks of their horses;
or, if serving on foot, they hang this hair to their shields, or attach
it to their own hair. And so this hair bears a high price, since
without it nobody goes to the wars in any good heart. For they believe
that any one who has it shall come scatheless out of battle.{6}
NOTE 1.—The little town where the body of St. Thomas lay was
MAILAPÚR, the name of which is still applied to a suburb of Madras
about 3½ miles south of Fort St. George.
NOTE 2.—The title of _Avarian_, given to St. Thomas by the
Saracens, is judiciously explained by Joseph Scaliger to be the
Arabic _Ḥawáriy_ (pl. _Ḥawáriyún_), ‘An Apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ.’ Scaliger somewhat hypercritically for the occasion finds
fault with Marco for saying the word means “a holy man.” (_De
Emendatione Temporum_, Lib. VII., Geneva, 1629, p. 680.)
NOTE 3.—The use of the earth from the tomb of St. Thomas for
miraculous cures is mentioned also by John Marignolli, who was there
about 1348–1349. Assemani gives a special formula of the Nestorians
for use in the application of this dust, which was administered to
the sick in place of the unction of the Catholics. It ends with the
words “_Signatur et sanctificatur hic_ Hanana _(pulvis) cum hac_
Taibutha _(gratiâ) Sancti Thomae Apostoli in sanitatem et medelam
corporis et animae, in nomen P. et F. et S.S._” (III. Pt. 2, 278.)
The Abyssinians make a similar use of the earth from the tomb of
their national Saint Tekla Haimanot. (_J. R. G. S._ X. 483.) And
the Shíahs, on solemn occasions, partake of water in which has been
mingled the dust of Kerbela.
Fa-hian tells that the people of Magadha did the like, for the
cure of headache, with earth from the place where lay the body of
Kasyapa, a former Buddha. (_Beal_, p. 133.)
[Illustration: The Little Mount of St. Thomas, near Madras.]
NOTE 4.—Vague as is Polo’s indication of the position of the Shrine
of St. Thomas, it is the first geographical identification of it
that I know of, save one. At the very time of Polo’s homeward
voyage, John of Monte Corvino on his way to China spent thirteen
months in Maabar, and in a letter thence in 1292–1293 he speaks of
the church of St. Thomas there, having buried in it the companion
of his travels, Friar Nicholas of Pistoia.
But the tradition of Thomas’s preaching in India is very old, so
old that it probably is, in its simple form, true. St. Jerome
accepts it, speaking of the Divine Word as being everywhere present
in His fullness: “_cum Thomâ in India_, cum Petro Romae, cum Paulo
in Illyrico,” etc. (_Scti. Hieron. Epistolae_, LIX., _ad Marcellam_.)
So dispassionate a scholar as Professor H. H. Wilson speaks of the
preaching and martyrdom of St. Thomas in S. India as “occurrences
very far from invalidated by any arguments yet adduced against the
truth of the tradition.” I do not know if the date is ascertainable
of the very remarkable legend of St. Thomas in the apocryphal
Acts of the Apostles, but it is presumably very old, though
subsequent to the translation of the relics (real or supposed) to
Edessa, in the year 394, which is alluded to in the story. And
it is worthy of note that this legend places the martyrdom and
original burial-place of the Saint _upon a mount_. Gregory of
Tours (A.D. 544–595) relates that “in that place in India where
the body of Thomas lay before it was transported to Edessa, there
is a monastery and a temple of great size and excellent structure
and ornament. In it God shows a wonderful miracle; for the lamp
that stands alight before the place of sepulture keeps burning
perpetually, night and day, by divine influence, for neither oil
nor wick are ever renewed by human hands;” and this Gregory learned
from one Theodorus, who had visited the spot.
The apocryphal history of St. Thomas relates that while the Lord
was still upon earth a certain King of India, whose name was
Gondaphorus, sent to the west a certain merchant called Abban
to seek a skilful architect to build him a palace, and the Lord
sold Thomas to him as a slave of His own who was expert in such
work. Thomas eventually converts King Gondaphorus, and proceeds to
another country of India ruled by King _Meodeus_, where he is put
to death by lances. M. Reinaud first, I believe, pointed out the
remarkable fact that the name of the King Gondaphorus of the legend
is the same with that of a King who has become known from the
Indo-Scythian coins, _Gondophares_, Yndoferres, or _Gondaferres_.
This gives great interest to a votive inscription found near
Pesháwar, and now in the Lahore Museum, which appears to bear the
name of the same King. This Professor Dowson has partially read:
“In the 26th year of the great King Guna ... pharasa, on the
seventh day of the month Vaisákha.”... General Cunningham has
read the date with more claim to precision: “In the 26th year of
King Guduphara, in the Samvat year 103, in the month of Vaisákh,
the 4th day.”... But Professor Dowson now comes much closer to
General Cunningham, and reads: “26th year of the King, the year
100 of Samvat, 3rd day of Vaisákha.” (See _Rep. of R. As. Soc._,
18th January, 1875.) In ordinary application of _Samvat_ (to era of
Vikramaditya) A.S. 100 = A.D. 43; but the era meant here is as yet
doubtful. Lassen put Yndoferres about 90 B.C., as Cunningham did
formerly about 26 B.C. The chronology is very doubtful, but the
evidence does not appear to be strong against the synchronism of
the King and the legend. (See _Prinsep’s Essays_, II. 176, 177, and
Mr. Thomas’s remarks at p. 214; _Trübner’s Record_, 30th June, 187;
Cunningham’s _Desc. List of Buddhist Sculptures in Lahore Central
Museum; Reinaud, Inde_, p. 95.)
Here then may be a faint trace of a true apostolic history. But
in the 16th and 17th centuries Roman Catholic ecclesiastical
story-tellers seem to have striven in rivalry who should most
recklessly expand the travels of St. Thomas. According to an
abstract given by P. Vincenzo Maria, his preaching began in
Mesopotamia, and extended through Bactria, etc., to China, “the
States of the Great Mogul” (!) and Siam; he then revisited his
first converts, and passed into Germany, thence to Brazil, “as
relates P. Emanuel Nobriga,” and from that to Ethiopia. After thus
carrying light to the four quarters of the World, the indefatigable
Traveller and Missionary retook his way to India, converting
Socotra as he passed, and then preached in Malabar, and on the
Coromandel Coast, where he died, as already stated.
Some parts of this strange rhapsody, besides the Indian mission,
were no doubt of old date; for the Chaldaean breviary of the
Malabar Church in its office of St. Thomas contains such passages
as this: “By St. Thomas were the Chinese and the Ethiopians
converted to the Truth;” and in an Anthem: “The Hindus, the
Chinese, the Persians, and all the people of the Isles of the Sea,
they who dwell in Syria and Armenia, in Javan and Romania, call
Thomas to remembrance, and adore Thy Name, O Thou our Redeemer!”
The Roman Martyrology calls the city of Martyrdom _Calamina_, but
there is (I think) a fair presumption that the spot alluded to by
Gregory of Tours was Mailapúr, and that the Shrine visited by King
Alfred’s envoy, Sighelm, may have been the same.
Marco, as we see, speaks of certain houses belonging to the church,
and of certain Christians who kept it. Odoric, some thirty years
later, found beside the church, “some 15 houses of Nestorians,”
but the Church itself filled with idols. Conti, in the following
century, speaks of the church in which St. Thomas lay buried, as
large and beautiful, and says there were 1000 Nestorians in the
city. Joseph of Cranganore, the Malabar Christian who came to
Europe in 1501, speaks like our traveller of the worship paid to
the Saint, even by the heathen, and compares the church to that
of St. John and St. Paul at Venice. Certain Syrian bishops sent
to India in 1504, whose report is given by Assemani, heard that
the church had _begun_ to be occupied by some Christian people.
But Barbosa, a few years later, found it half in ruins and in the
charge of a Mahomedan Fakir, who kept a lamp burning.
There are two St. Thomas’s Mounts in the same vicinity, the Great
and the Little Mount. A church was built upon the former by the
Portuguese and some sanctity attributed to it, especially in
connection with the cross mentioned below, but I believe there is
no doubt that the _Little Mount_ was the site of the ancient church.
The Portuguese ignored the ancient translation of the Saint’s
remains to Edessa, and in 1522, under the Viceroyalty of Duarte
Menezes, a commission was sent to Mailapúr, or San Tomé as
they called it, to search for the body. The narrative states
circumstantially that the Apostle’s bones were found, besides
those of the king whom he had converted, etc. The supposed relics
were transferred to Goa, where they are still preserved in the
Church of St. Thomas in that city. The question appears to have
become a party one among Romanists in India, in connection with
other differences, and I see that the authorities now ruling the
Catholics at Madras are strong in disparagement of the special
sanctity of the localities, and of the whole story connecting St.
Thomas with Mailapúr. (_Greg. Turon. Lib. Mirac._ I. p. 85; _Tr. R.
A. S._ I. 761; _Assemani_, III. Pt. II. pp. 32, 450; _Novus Orbis_
(ed. 1555), p. 210; _Maffei_, Bk. VIII.; _Cathay_, pp. 81, 197,
374–377, etc.)
The account of the Saint’s death was no doubt that current among
the native Christians, for it is told in much the same way by
Marignolli and by Barbosa, and was related also in the same manner
by one Diogo Fernandes, who gave evidence before the commission of
Duarte Menezes, and who claimed to have been the first Portuguese
visitor of the site. (See _De Couto_, Dec. V. Liv. vi. cap. 2, and
Dec. VII. Liv. x. cap. 5.)
[Illustration: St. Thomas Localities at Madras.]
As Diogo de Couto relates the story of the localities, in the shape
which it had taken by the middle of the 16th century, both Little
and Great Mounts were the sites of Oratories which the Apostle
had frequented; during prayer on the Little Mount he was attacked
and wounded, but fled to the Great Mount, where he expired. In
repairing a hermitage which here existed, in 1547, the workmen came
upon a stone slab with a cross and inscription carved upon it. The
story speedily developed itself that this was the cross which had
been embraced by the dying Apostle, and its miraculous virtues soon
obtained great fame. It was eventually set up over an altar in the
Church of the Madonna, which was afterwards erected on the Great
Mount, and there it still exists. A Brahman impostor professed to
give an interpretation of the inscription as relating to the death
of St. Thomas, etc., and this was long accepted. The cross seemed
to have been long forgotten, when lately Mr. Burnell turned his
attention to these and other like relics in Southern India. He has
shown the inscription to be _Pehlvi_, and probably of the 7th or
8th century. Mr. Fergusson considers the architectural character to
be of the 9th. The interpretations of the Inscription as yet given
are tentative and somewhat discrepant. Thus Mr. Burnell reads: “In
punishment (?) by the cross (was) the suffering to this (one): (He)
who is the true Christ and God above, and Guide for ever pure.”
Professor Haug: “Whoever believes in the Messiah, and in God above,
and also in the Holy Ghost, is in the grace of Him who bore the
pain of the Cross.” Mr. Thomas reads the central part, between
two small crosses, “✛ In the Name of Messiah ✛.” See _Kircher,
China Illustrata_, p. 55 _seqq._; _De Couto_, u.s. (both of these
have inaccurate representations of the cross); _Academy_, vol. v.
(1874), p. 145, etc.; and Mr. Burnell’s pamphlet “_On some Pahlavi
Inscriptions in South India_.” To his kindness I am indebted for
the illustration (p. 351).
[“E na quelle parte da tranqueira alem, do ryo de Malaca, em hum
citio de Raya Mudiliar, que depois possuyo Dona Helena Vessiva,
entre os Mangueiraes cavando ao fundo quasi 2 braças, descobrirão
hua ✛ floreada de cobre pouco carcomydo, da forma como de cavaleyro
de Calatrava de 3 palmos de largo, e comprido sobre hua pedra de
marmor, quadrada de largura e comprimento da dìtta ✛, entra huas
ruynas de hua caza sobterranea de tijolos como Ermida, e parece
ser a ✛ de algum christão de Meliapor, que veo em companhia de
mercadores de Choromandel a Malaca.” (_Godinho de Eredia_, fol.
15.)—_MS. Note._—H. Y.]
The etymology of the name _Mayiláppúr_, popular among the native
Christians, is “Peacock-Town,” and the peafowl are prominent in
the old legend of St. Thomas. Polo gives it no name; Marignolli
(_circa_ 1350) calls it _Mirapolis_, the Catalan Map (1375)
_Mirapor_; Conti (_circa_ 1440) _Malepor_; Joseph of Cranganore
(1500) _Milapar_ (or _Milapor_); De Barros and Couto, _Meliapor_.
Mr. Burnell thinks it was probably _Malai_-ppuram, “Mount-Town”;
and the same as the Malifatan of the Mahomedan writers; the last
point needs further enquiry.
NOTE 5.—Dr. Caldwell, speaking of the devil-worship of the Shanars
of Tinnevelly (an important part of Ma’bar), says: “Where they
erect an image in imitation of their Brahman neighbours, the devil
is generally of Brahmanical lineage. Such images generally accord
with those monstrous figures with which all over India orthodox
Hindus depict the enemies of their gods, or the terrific forms of
Siva or Durga. They are generally made of earthenware, and _painted
white to look horrible in Hindu eyes_.” (_The Tinnevelly Shanars_,
Madras, 1849, p. 18.)
NOTE 6.—The use of the Yak’s tail as a military ornament had
nothing to do with the sanctity of the Brahmani ox, but is one of
the Pan-Asiatic usages, of which there are so many. A vivid account
of the extravagant profusion with which swaggering heroes in South
India used those ornaments will be found in _P. della Valle_, II.
662.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Should be “year” no doubt.
CHAPTER XIX.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF MUTFILI.
When you leave Maabar and go about 1,000 miles in a northerly direction
you come to the kingdom of MUTFILI. This was formerly under the rule of
a King, and since his death, some forty years past, it has been under
his Queen, a lady of much discretion, who for the great love she bore
him never would marry another husband. And I can assure you that during
all that space of forty years she had administered her realm as well as
ever her husband did, or better; and as she was a lover of justice, of
equity, and of peace, she was more beloved by those of her kingdom than
ever was Lady or Lord of theirs before. The people are Idolaters, and
are tributary to nobody. They live on flesh, and rice, and milk.{1}
It is in this kingdom that diamonds are got; and I will tell you how.
There are certain lofty mountains in those parts; and when the winter
rains fall, which are very heavy, the waters come roaring down the
mountains in great torrents. When the rains are over, and the waters
from the mountains have ceased to flow, they search the beds of the
torrents and find plenty of diamonds. In summer also there are plenty
to be found in the mountains, but the heat of the sun is so great
that it is scarcely possible to go thither, nor is there then a drop
of water to be found. Moreover in those mountains great serpents are
rife to a marvellous degree, besides other vermin, and this owing to
the great heat. The serpents are also the most venomous in existence,
insomuch that any one going to that region runs fearful peril; for many
have been destroyed by these evil reptiles.
Now among these mountains there are certain great and deep valleys, to
the bottom of which there is no access. Wherefore the men who go in
search of the diamonds take with them pieces of flesh, as lean as they
can get, and these they cast into the bottom of a valley. Now there are
numbers of white eagles that haunt those mountains and feed upon the
serpents. When the eagles see the meat thrown down they pounce upon
it and carry it up to some rocky hill-top where they begin to rend
it. But there are men on the watch, and as soon as they see that the
eagles have settled they raise a loud shouting to drive them away. And
when the eagles are thus frightened away the men recover the pieces of
meat, and find them full of diamonds which have stuck to the meat down
in the bottom. For the abundance of diamonds down there in the depths
of the valleys is astonishing, but nobody can get down; and if one
could, it would be only to be incontinently devoured by the serpents
which are so rife there.
There is also another way of getting the diamonds. The people go to
the nests of those white eagles, of which there are many, and in their
droppings they find plenty of diamonds which the birds have swallowed
in devouring the meat that was cast into the valleys. And, when the
eagles themselves are taken, diamonds are found in their stomachs.
So now I have told you three different ways in which these stones are
found. No other country but this kingdom of Mutfili produces them, but
there they are found both abundantly and of large size. Those that are
brought to our part of the world are only the refuse, as it were, of
the finer and larger stones. For the flower of the diamonds and other
large gems, as well as the largest pearls, are all carried to the
Great Kaan and other Kings and Princes of those regions; in truth they
possess all the great treasures of the world.{2}
In this kingdom also are made the best and most delicate buckrams, and
those of highest price; in sooth they look like tissue of spider’s
web! There is no King nor Queen in the world but might be glad to wear
them.{3} The people have also the largest sheep in the world, and great
abundance of all the necessaries of life.
There is now no more to say; so I will next tell you about a province
called Lar from which the Abraiaman come.
NOTE 1.—There is no doubt that the kingdom here spoken of is that
of TELINGANA (_Tiling_ of the Mahomedan writers), then ruled by
the Kákateya or Ganapati dynasty reigning at Warangol, north-east
of Hyderabad. But Marco seems to give the kingdom the name of that
place in it which was visited by himself or his informants. MUTFILI
is, with the usual Arab modification (_e.g._ Perlec, Ferlec—Pattan,
Faitan), a port called MOTUPALLÉ, in the Gantúr district of the
Madras Presidency, about 170 miles north of Fort St. George. Though
it has dropt out of most of our modern maps it still exists, and a
notice of it is to be found in W. Hamilton, and in Milburne. The
former says: “_Mutapali_, a town situated near the S. extremity
of the northern Circars. A considerable coasting trade is carried
on from hence in the craft navigated by natives,” which can
come in closer to shore than at other ports on that coast.—[Cf.
_Hunter_, _Gaz. India_, _Motupalli_, “now only an obscure fishing
village.”—It is marked in _Constable’s Hand Atlas of India_.—H. C.]
The proper territory of the Kingdom of Warangol lay inland, but the
last reigning prince before Polo’s visit to India, by name Kakateya
Pratapa Ganapati Rudra Deva, had made extensive conquests on the
coast, including Nellore, and thence northward to the frontier of
Orissa. This prince left no male issue, and his widow, RUDRAMA
DEVI, daughter of the Raja of Devagiri, assumed the government
and continued to hold it for twenty-eight, or, as another record
states, for thirty-eight years, till the son of her daughter had
attained majority. This was in 1292, or by the other account
1295, when she transferred the royal authority to this grandson
Pratapa Vira Rudra Deva, the “Luddur Deo” of Firishta, and the last
Ganapati of any political moment. He was taken prisoner by the
Delhi forces about 1323. We have evidently in Rudrama Devi the just
and beloved Queen of our Traveller, who thus enables us to attach
colour and character to what was an empty name in a dynastic list.
(Compare _Wilson’s Mackenzie_, I. cxxx.; _Taylor’s Or. Hist. MSS._
I. 18; _Do.’s Catalogue Raisonné_, III. 483.)
Mutfili appears in the _Carta Catalana_ as _Butiflis_, and is there
by some mistake made the site of St. Thomas’s Shrine. The distance
from Maabar is in Ramusio only 500 miles—a preferable reading.
NOTE 2.—Some of the Diamond Mines once so famous under the name of
Golconda are in the alluvium of the Kistna River, some distance
above the Delta, and others in the vicinity of Kaḍapa and Karnúl,
both localities being in the territory of the kingdom we have been
speaking of.
The strange legend related here is very ancient and widely
diffused. Its earliest known occurrence is in the Treatise of St.
Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, concerning the twelve
Jewels in the _Rationale_ or Breastplate of the Hebrew High
Priest, a work written before the end of the 4th century, wherein
the tale is told of the _Jacinth_. It is distinctly referred to
by Edrisi, who assigns its locality to the land of the _Kirkhîr_
(probably Khirghiz) in Upper Asia. It appears in Kazwini’s _Wonders
of Creation_, and is assigned by him to the Valley of the Moon
among the mountains of Serendib. Sindbad the Sailor relates the
story, as is well known, and his version is the closest of all to
our author’s. [So _Les Merveilles de l’Inde_, pp. 128–129.—H. C.]
It is found in the Chinese Narrative of the Campaigns of Hulaku,
translated by both Rémusat and Pauthier. [We read in the _Si Shi
Ki_, of Ch’ang Te, Chinese Envoy to Hulaku (1259), translated by
Dr. Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ I. p. 151): “The _kin-kang tsuan_
(diamonds) come from _Yin-du_ (Hindustan). The people take flesh
and throw it into the great valleys (of the mountains). Then birds
come and eat this flesh, after which diamonds are found in their
excrements.”—H. C.] It is told in two different versions, once of
the Diamond, and again of the Jacinth of Serendib, in the work on
precious stones by Ahmed Taifáshi. It is one of the many stories in
the scrap-book of Tzetzes. Nicolo Conti relates it of a mountain
called Albenigaras, fifteen days’ journey in a northerly direction
from Vijayanagar; and it is told again, apparently after Conti, by
Julius Caesar Scaliger. It is related of diamonds and Balasses in
the old Genoese MS., called that of Usodimare. A feeble form of the
tale is quoted contemptuously by Garcias from one Francisco de
Tamarra. And Haxthausen found it as a popular legend in Armenia.
(_S. Epiph. de_ XIII. _Gemmis_, etc., Romae, 1743; _Jaubert,
Edrisi_, I. 500; _J. A. S. B._ XIII. 657; _Lane’s Ar. Nights_, ed.
1859, III. 88; _Rém. Nouv. Mél. Asiat._ I. 183; _Raineri, Fior di
Pensieri di Ahmed Teifascite_, pp. 13 and 30; _Tzetzes, Chil._ XI.
376; _India in xvth Cent._ pp. 29–30; _J. C. Scal. de Subtilitate_,
CXIII. No. 3; _An. des Voyages_, VIII. 195; _Garcias_, p. 71;
_Transcaucasia_, p. 360; _J. A. S. B._ I. 354.)
The story has a considerable resemblance to that which Herodotus
tells of the way in which cinnamon was got by the Arabs (III. 111).
No doubt the two are ramifications of the same legend.
NOTE 3.—Here _buckram_ is clearly applied to fine cotton stuffs.
The districts about Masulipatam were long famous both for muslins
and for coloured chintzes. The fine muslins of _Masalia_ are
mentioned in the Periplus. Indeed even in the time of Sakya Muni
Kalinga was already famous for diaphanous muslins, as may be seen
in a story related in the Buddhist Annals. (_J. A. S. B._ VI. 1086.)
CHAPTER XX.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF LAR WHENCE THE BRAHMINS COME.
Lar is a Province lying towards the west when you quit the place where
the Body of St. Thomas lies; and all the _Abraiaman_ in the world come
from that province.{1}
You must know that these Abraiaman are the best merchants in the world,
and the most truthful, for they would not tell a lie for anything on
earth. [If a foreign merchant who does not know the ways of the country
applies to them and entrusts his goods to them, they will take charge
of these, and sell them in the most loyal manner, seeking zealously the
profit of the foreigner and asking no commission except what he pleases
to bestow.] They eat no flesh, and drink no wine, and live a life of
great chastity, having intercourse with no women except with their
wives; nor would they on any account take what belongs to another; so
their law commands. And they are all distinguished by wearing a thread
of cotton over one shoulder and tied under the other arm, so that it
crosses the breast and the back.
They have a rich and powerful King who is eager to purchase precious
stones and large pearls; and he sends these Abraiaman merchants into
the kingdom of Maabar called SOLI, which is the best and noblest
Province of India, and where the best pearls are found, to fetch him as
many of these as they can get, and he pays them double the cost price
for all. So in this way he has a vast treasure of such valuables.{2}
These Abraiaman are Idolaters; and they pay greater heed to signs
and omens than any people that exists. I will mention as an example
one of their customs. To every day of the week they assign an augury
of this sort. Suppose that there is some purchase in hand, he who
proposes to buy, when he gets up in the morning takes note of his own
shadow in the sun, which he says ought to be on that day of such and
such a length; and if his shadow be of the proper length for the day
he completes his purchase; if not, he will on no account do so, but
waits till his shadow corresponds with that prescribed. For there is a
length established for the shadow for every individual day of the week;
and the merchant will complete no business unless he finds his shadow
of the length set down for that particular day. [Also to each day in
the week they assign one unlucky hour, which they term _Choiach_. For
example, on Monday the hour of Half-tierce, on Tuesday that of Tierce,
on Wednesday Nones, and so on.{3}]
Again, if one of them is in the house, and is meditating a purchase,
should he see a tarantula (such as are very common in that country) on
the wall, provided it advances from a quarter that he deems lucky, he
will complete his purchase at once; but if it comes from a quarter that
he considers unlucky he will not do so on any inducement. Moreover,
if in going out, he hears any one sneeze, if it seems to him a good
omen he will go on, but if the reverse he will sit down on the spot
where he is, as long as he thinks that he ought to tarry before going
on again. Or, if in travelling along the road he sees a swallow fly
by, should its direction be lucky he will proceed, but if not he will
turn back again; in fact they are worse (in these whims) than so many
Patarins!{4}
These Abraiaman are very long-lived, owing to their extreme abstinence
in eating. And they never allow themselves to be let blood in any part
of the body. They have capital teeth, which is owing to a certain herb
they chew, which greatly improves their appearance, and is also very
good for the health.
There is another class of people called _Chughi_, who are indeed
properly Abraiaman, but they form a religious order devoted to the
Idols. They are extremely long-lived, every man of them living to 150
or 200 years. They eat very little, but what they do eat is good; rice
and milk chiefly. And these people make use of a very strange beverage;
for they make a potion of sulphur and quicksilver mixt together and
this they drink twice every month. This, they say, gives them long
life; and it is a potion they are used to take from their childhood.{5}
There are certain members of this Order who lead the most ascetic life
in the world, going stark naked; and these worship the Ox. Most of
them have a small ox of brass or pewter or gold which they wear tied
over the forehead. Moreover they take cow-dung and burn it, and make a
powder thereof; and make an ointment of it, and daub themselves withal,
doing this with as great devotion as Christians do show in using Holy
Water. [Also if they meet any one who treats them well, they daub a
little of this powder on the middle of his forehead.{6}]
They eat not from bowls or trenchers, but put their victuals on leaves
of the Apple of Paradise and other big leaves; these, however, they
use dry, never green. For they say the green leaves have a soul in
them, and so it would be a sin. And they would rather die than do what
they deem their Law pronounces to be sin. If any one asks how it comes
that they are not ashamed to go stark naked as they do, they say, “We
go naked because naked we came into the world, and we desire to have
nothing about us that is of this world. Moreover, we have no sin of
the flesh to be conscious of, and therefore we are not ashamed of our
nakedness, any more than you are to show your hand or your face. You
who are conscious of the sins of the flesh do well to have shame, and
to cover your nakedness.”
They would not kill an animal on any account, not even a fly, or a
flea, or a louse,{7} or anything in fact that has life; for they
say these have all souls, and it would be sin to do so. They eat no
vegetable in a green state, only such as are dry. And they sleep on
the ground stark naked, without a scrap of clothing on them or under
them, so that it is a marvel they don’t all die, in place of living so
long as I have told you. They fast every day in the year, and drink
nought but water. And when a novice has to be received among them they
keep him awhile in their convent, and make him follow their rule of
life. And then, when they desire to put him to the test, they send for
some of those girls who are devoted to the Idols, and make them try
the continence of the novice with their blandishments. If he remains
indifferent they retain him, but if he shows any emotion they expel him
from their society. For they say they will have no man of loose desires
among them.
They are such cruel and perfidious Idolaters that it is very devilry!
They say that they burn the bodies of the dead, because if they were
not burnt worms would be bred which would eat the body; and when no
more food remained for them these worms would die, and the soul
belonging to that body would bear the sin and the punishment of their
death. And that is why they burn their dead!
Now I have told you about a great part of the people of the great
Province of Maabar and their customs; but I have still other things to
tell of this same Province of Maabar, so I will speak of a city thereof
which is called Cail.
NOTE 1.—The form of the word _Abraiaman, -main or -min_, by which
Marco here and previously denotes the Brahmans, probably represents
an incorrect Arabic plural, such as _Abráhamín_; the correct Arabic
form is _Baráhimah_.
What is said here of the Brahmans coming from “_Lar_, a province
west of St. Thomas’s,” of their having a special King, etc., is all
very obscure, and that I suspect through erroneous notions.
LAR-DESA, “The Country of Lár,” properly _Láṭ-desa_, was an
early name for the territory of Guzerat and the northern Konkan,
embracing _Saimur_ (the modern Chaul, as I believe), Tana, and
Baroch. It appears in Ptolemy in the form _Larike_. The sea to the
west of that coast was in the early Mahomedan times called the Sea
of Lár, and the language spoken on its shores is called by Mas’udi
_Lári_. Abulfeda’s authority, Ibn Said, speaks of Lár and Guzerat
as identical. That position would certainly be very ill described
as lying west of Madras. The kingdom most nearly answering to
that description in Polo’s age would be that of the Bellál Rajas
of Dwara Samudra, which corresponded in a general way to modern
Mysore. (_Mas’udi_, I. 330, 381; II. 85; _Gildem._ 185; _Elliot_,
I. 66.)
That Polo’s ideas on this subject were incorrect seems clear
from his conception of the Brahmans as a class of _merchants_.
Occasionally they may have acted as such, and especially as agents;
but the only case I can find of Brahmans as a class adopting
trade is that of the Konkani Brahmans, and they are said to have
taken this step when expelled from Goa, which was their chief
seat, by the Portuguese. Marsden supposes that there has been
confusion between Brahmans and Banyans; and, as Guzerat or Lár
was the country from which the latter chiefly came, there is much
probability in this.
The high virtues ascribed to the Brahmans and Indian merchants were
perhaps in part matter of tradition, come down from the stories
of Palladius and the like; but the eulogy is so constant among
mediæval travellers that it must have had a solid foundation.
In fact it would not be difficult to trace a chain of similar
testimony from ancient times down to our own. Arrian says no Indian
was ever accused of falsehood. Hiuen Tsang ascribes to the people
of India eminent uprightness, honesty, and disinterestedness. Friar
Jordanus (_circa_ 1330) says the people of Lesser India (Sind
and Western India) were true in speech and eminent in justice;
and we may also refer to the high character given to the Hindus
by Abu’l Fazl. After 150 years of European trade indeed we find
a sad deterioration. Padre Vincenzo (1672) speaks of fraud as
greatly prevalent among the Hindu traders. It was then commonly
said at Surat that it took three Jews to make a Chinaman, and
three Chinamen to make a Banyan. Yet Pallas, in the last century,
noticing the Banyan colony at Astrakhan, says its members were
notable for an upright dealing that made them greatly preferable to
Armenians. And that wise and admirable public servant, the late Sir
William Sleeman, in our own time, has said that he knew no class
of men in the world more strictly honourable than the mercantile
classes of India.
We know too well that there is a very different aspect of the
matter. All extensive intercourse between two races far asunder
in habits and ideas, seems to be demoralising in some degrees
to both parties, especially to the weaker. But can we say that
deterioration has been all on one side? In these days of lying
labels and plastered shirtings does the character of English trade
and English goods stand as high in Asia as it did half a century
ago! (_Pèl. Boudd._ II. 83; _Jordanus_, p. 22; _Ayeen Akb._ III. 8;
_P. Vincenzo_, p. 114; _Pallas, Beyträge_, III. 85; _Rambles and
Recns._ II. 143.)
NOTE 2.—The kingdom of Maabar called _Soli_ is CHOLA or SOLADESAM,
of which Kanchi (Conjeveram) was the ancient capital.[1] In the
Ceylon Annals the continental invaders are frequently termed
_Solli_. The high terms of praise applied to it as “the best and
noblest province of India,” seem to point to the well-watered
fertility of Tanjore; but what is said of the pearls would extend
the territory included to the shores of the Gulf of Manár.
NOTE 3.—Abraham Roger gives from the Calendar of the Coromandel
Brahmans the character, lucky or unlucky, of every hour of every
day of the week; and there is also a chapter on the subject in
_Sonnerat_ (I. 304 _seqq._). For a happy explanation of the term
_Choiach_ I am indebted to Dr. Caldwell: “This apparently difficult
word can be identified much more easily than most others. Hindu
astrologers teach that there is an unlucky hour every day in the
month, _i.e._ during the period of the moon’s abode in every
_nákshatra_, or lunar mansion, throughout the lunation. This
inauspicious period is called _Tyâjya_, ‘rejected.’ Its mean length
is one hour and thirty-six minutes, European time. The precise
moment when this period commences differs in each nákshatra, or
(which comes to the same thing) in every day in the lunar month.
It sometimes occurs in the daytime and sometimes at night;—see
_Colonel Warren’s Kala Sankatila_, Madras, 1825, p. 388. The Tamil
pronunciation of the word is _tiyâcham_, and when the nominative
case-termination of the word is rejected, as all the Tamil
case-terminations were by the Mahomedans, who were probably Marco
Polo’s informants, it becomes _tiyâch_, to which form of the word
Marco’s _Choiach_ is as near as could be expected.” (_MS. Note._)[2]
The phrases used in the passage from Ramusio to express the time
of day are taken from the canonical hours of prayer. The following
passage from _Robert de Borron’s Romance of Merlin_ illustrates
these terms: Gauvain “quand il se levoit le matin, avoit la force
al millor chevalier del monde; et quant vint à heure de prime si
li doubloit, et à heure de tierce aussi; et quant il vint à eure
de midi si revenoit à sa première force ou il avoit esté le matin;
et quant vint à eure de nonne et à toutes les seures de la nuit
estoit-il toudis en sa première force.” (Quoted in introd. to
_Messir Gauvain_, etc., edited by _C. Hippeau_, Paris, 1862, pp.
xii.–xiii.) The term _Half-Tierce_ is frequent in mediæval Italian,
_e.g._ in Dante:—
“_Lèvati su, disse’l Maestro, in piede:
La via è lunga, e’l cammino è malvagio:
E già il Sole a_ mezza terza _riede._” (Inf. xxxiv,)
_Half-prime_ we have in Chaucer:—
“Say forth thy tale and tary not the time
Lo Depëford, and it is half way prime.”
—(_Reeve’s Prologue._)
Definitions of these terms as given by Sir H. Nicolas and Mr.
Thomas Wright (_Chron. of Hist._ p. 195, and _Marco Polo_, p. 392)
do not agree with those of Italian authorities; perhaps in the
north they were applied with variation. Dante dwells on the matter
in two passages of his _Convito_ (Tratt. III. cap. 6, and Tratt.
IV. cap. 23); and the following diagram elucidates the terms in
accordance with his words, and with other Italian authority, oral
and literary:—
│ “_Te lucis ante terminum._” │
│ │
│ † 12 6 │
│ . │
│ Compieta. . │
│ . │
│ * 11 5 │
│ . │
│ Mezza-Vespro. . │
│ . │
│ * 10 4 │
│ . │
│ . │
│ . │
│ Vespro. † 9 3 │
│ . │
│ . E │
│ . c P.M. │
│ * 8 c 2 │
│ . l │
│ Mezza-Nona. . e C │
│ . s i │
│ * 7 i 1 v │
│ . a i │
│ Nona. . s l │
│ . t │
│ ⚜ 6 i 12 H │
│ . c o │
│ Sesta. . a u │
│ . l r │
│ * 5 11 s │
│ . H │
│ . o │
│ . u A.M. │
│ * 4 r 10 │
│ . s │
│ . │
│ . │
│ Terza. † 3 9 │
│ . │
│ . │
│ . │
│ * 2 8 │
│ . │
│ Mezza-Terza. . │
│ . │
│ * 1 7 │
│ . │
│ Prima. . │
│ . │
│ † 12 6 │
│ │
│ “_Jam Lucis orto Sidere._” │
NOTE 4.—Valentyn mentions among what the Coromandel Hindus
reckon unlucky rencounters which will induce a man to turn back
on the road: an empty can, buffaloes, donkeys, a dog or he-goat
_without_ food in his mouth, a monkey, a loose hart, a goldsmith, a
carpenter, a barber, a tailor, a cotton-cleaner, a smith, a widow,
a corpse, a person coming from a funeral without having washed or
changed, men carrying butter, oil, sweet milk, molasses, acids,
iron, or weapons of war. Lucky objects to meet are an elephant, a
camel, a laden cart, an unladen horse, a cow or bullock laden with
water (if unladen ’tis an ill omen), a dog or he-goat _with_ food
in the mouth, a cat on the right hand, one carrying meat, curds, or
sugar, etc., etc. (p. 91). (See also _Sonnerat_, I. 73.)
NOTE 5.—_Chughi_ of course stands for JOGI, used loosely for any
Hindu ascetic. Arghun Khan of Persia (see Prologue, ch. xvii.),
who was much given to alchemy and secret science, had asked of the
Indian Bakhshis how they prolonged their lives to such an extent.
They assured him that a mixture of sulphur and mercury was the
Elixir of Longevity. Arghun accordingly took this precious potion
for eight months;—and died shortly after! (See _Hammer_, _Ilkhans_,
I. 391–393, and _Q. R._ p. 194.) Bernier mentions wandering Jogis
who had the art of preparing mercury so admirably that one or two
grains taken every morning restored the body to perfect health (II.
130). The _Mercurius Vitae_ of Paracelsus, which, according to
him, renewed youth, was composed chiefly of mercury and antimony.
(_Opera_, II. 20.) Sulphur and mercury, combined under different
conditions and proportions, were regarded by the Alchemists both
of East and West as the origin of all the metals. Quicksilver
was called the mother of the metals, and sulphur the father.
(See _Vincent. Bellov. Spec. Natur._ VII. c. 60, 62, and _Bl.
Ain-i-Akbari_, p. 40.)
[We read in Ma Huan’s account of Cochin (_J. R. A. S._ April, 1896,
p. 343): “Here also is another class of men, called Chokis (Yogi),
who lead austere lives like the Taoists of China, but who, however,
are married. These men from the time they are born do not have
their heads shaved or combed, but plait their hair into several
tails, which hang over their shoulders; they wear no clothes, but
round their waists they fasten a strip of rattan, over which they
hang a piece of white calico; they carry a conch-shell, which they
blow as they go along the road; they are accompanied by their
wives, who simply wear a small bit of cotton cloth round their
loins. Alms of rice and money are given to them by the people whose
houses they visit.”
(See _F. Bernier_, _Voy._, ed. 1699, II., _Des Gentils de
l’Hindoustan_, pp. 97, _seqq._)
We read in the _Nine Heavens_ of Amír Khusrú (_Elliot_, III.
p. 563): “A _jogí_ who could restrain his breath in this way
(diminishing the daily number of their expirations of breath) lived
in an idol to an age of more than three hundred and fifty years.”
“I have read in a book that certain chiefs of Turkistán sent
ambassadors with letters to the Kings of India on the following
mission, viz.: that they, the chiefs, had been informed that
in India drugs were procurable which possessed the property of
prolonging human life, by the use of which the King of India
attained to a very great age ... and the chiefs of Turkistán
begged that some of this medicine might be sent to them, and also
information as to the method by which the Ráís preserved their
health so long.” (_Elliot_, II. p. 174.)—H. C.]
“The worship of the ox is still common enough, but I can find no
trace of the use of the effigy worn on the forehead. The two Tam
Pundits whom I consulted, said that there was no trace of the
custom in Tamil literature, but they added that the usage was
so truly Hindu in character, and was so particularly described,
that they had no doubt it prevailed in the time of the person who
described it.” (_MS. Note by the Rev. Dr. Caldwell._)
I may add that the _Jangams_, a Linga-worshipping sect of Southern
India, wear a copper or silver _linga_ either round the neck _or on
the forehead_. The name of Jangam means “movable,” and refers to
their wearing and worshipping the portable symbol instead of the
fixed one like the proper Saivas. (_Wilson, Mack. Coll._ II. 3; _J.
R. A. S._ N.S. V. 142 _seqq._)
NOTE 6.—In G. T. _proques_, which the Glossary to that edition
absurdly renders _porc_; it is some form apparently of _pidocchio_.
NOTE 7.—It would seem that there is no eccentricity of man in any
part of the world for which a close parallel shall not be found
in some other part. Such strange probation as is here spoken of,
appears to have had too close a parallel in the old Celtic Church,
and perhaps even, at an earlier date, in the Churches of Africa.
(See _Todd’s Life of St. Patrick_, p. 91, note and references, and
_Saturday Review_ of 13th July, 1867, p. 65.) The latter describes
a system absolutely like that in the text, but does not quote
authorities.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] From Sola was formed apparently _Sola-mandala_ or _Chola-mandala_,
which the Portuguese made into Choromandel and the Dutch into
Coromandel.
[2] I may add that possibly the real reading may have been _thoiach_.
CHAPTER XXI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIL.
Cail is a great and noble city, and belongs to ASHAR, the eldest of
the five brother Kings. It is at this city that all the ships touch
that come from the west, as from Hormos and from Kis and from Aden, and
all Arabia, laden with horses and with other things for sale. And this
brings a great concourse of people from the country round about, and so
there is great business done in this city of Cail.{1}
The King possesses vast treasures, and wears upon his person great
store of rich jewels. He maintains great state and administers his
kingdom with great equity, and extends great favour to merchants and
foreigners, so that they are very glad to visit his city.{2}
This King has some 300 wives; for in those parts the man who has most
wives is most thought of.
As I told you before, there are in this great province of Maabar five
crowned Kings, who are all own brothers born of one father and of one
mother, and this king is one of them. Their mother is still living.
And when they disagree and go forth to war against one another, their
mother throws herself between them to prevent their fighting. And
should they persist in desiring to fight, she will take a knife and
threaten that if they will do so she will cut off the paps that suckled
them and rip open the womb that bare them, and so perish before their
eyes. In this way hath she full many a time brought them to desist. But
when she dies it will most assuredly happen that they will fall out and
destroy one another.{3}
[All the people of this city, as well as of the rest of India, have
a custom of perpetually keeping in the mouth a certain leaf called
_Tembul_, to gratify a certain habit and desire they have, continually
chewing it and spitting out the saliva that it excites. The Lords and
gentlefolks and the King have these leaves prepared with camphor and
other aromatic spices, and also mixt with quicklime. And this practice
was said to be very good for the health.{4} If any one desires to offer
a gross insult to another, when he meets him he spits this leaf or its
juice in his face. The other immediately runs before the King, relates
the insult that has been offered him, and demands leave to fight the
offender. The King supplies the arms, which are sword and target, and
all the people flock to see, and there the two fight till one of them
is killed. They must not use the point of the sword, for this the King
forbids.]{5}
NOTE 1.—KAIL, now forgotten, was long a famous port on the coast
of what is now the Tinnevelly District of the Madras Presidency.
It is mentioned as a port of Ma’bar by our author’s contemporary
Rashiduddin, though the name has been perverted by careless
transcription into _Báwal_ and _Kábal_. (See _Elliot_, I. pp.
69, 72.) It is also mistranscribed as _Kábil_ in Quatremère’s
publication of Abdurrazzák, who mentions it as “a place situated
opposite the island of Serendib, otherwise called Ceylon,” and as
being the extremity of what he was led to regard as Malabar (p.
19). It is mentioned as _Cahila_, the site of the pearl-fishery,
by Nicolo Conti (p. 7). The _Roteiro_ of Vasco da Gama notes it as
_Caell_, a state having a Mussulman King and a Christian (for which
read _Káfir_) people. Here were many pearls. Giovanni d’Empoli
notices it (_Gael_) also for the pearl-fishery, as do Varthema and
Barbosa. From the latter we learn that it was still a considerable
seaport, having rich Mahomedan merchants, and was visited by many
ships from Malabar, Coromandel, and Bengal. In the time of the last
writers it belonged to the King of Kaulam, who generally resided at
Kail.
The real site of this once celebrated port has, I believe, till
now never been identified in any published work. I had supposed
the still existing Káyalpaṭṭanam to have been in all probability
the place, and I am again indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Dr.
Caldwell for conclusive and most interesting information on this
subject. He writes:
“There are no relics of ancient greatness in Káyalpaṭṭanam, and no
traditions of foreign trade, and it is admitted by its inhabitants
to be a place of recent origin, which came into existence after
the abandonment of the true Káyal. They state also that the
name of Káyalpaṭṭanam has only recently been given to it, as a
reminiscence of the older city, and that its original name was
Sônagarpaṭṭanam.[1] There is another small port in the same
neighbourhood, a little to the north of Káyalpaṭṭanam, called Pinna
Cael in the maps, properly Punnei-Káyal, from _Punnei_, the Indian
Laurel; but this is also a place of recent origin, and many of the
inhabitants of this place, as of Káyalpaṭṭanam, state that their
ancestors came originally from Káyal, subsequently to the removal
of the Portuguese from that place to Tuticorin.
“The Cail of Marco Polo, commonly called in the neighbourhood _Old
Káyal_, and erroneously named _Koil_ in the Ordnance Map of India,
is situated on the Tâmraparnî River, about a mile and a half from
its mouth. The Tamil word _káyal_ means ‘a backwater, a lagoon,’
and the map shows the existence of a large number of these _káyals_
or backwaters near the mouth of the river. Many of these kayals
have now dried up more or less completely, and in several of them
salt-pans have been established. The name of Káyal was naturally
given to a town erected on the margin of a _káyal_; and this
circumstance occasioned also the adoption of the name of Punnei
Káyal, and served to give currency to the name of Káyalpaṭṭanam
assumed by Sônagarpaṭṭanam, both those places being in the vicinity
of kayals.
“KAYAL stood originally on or near the sea-beach, but it is now
about a mile and a half inland, the sand carried down by the river
having silted up the ancient harbour, and formed a waste sandy
tract between the sea and the town. It has now shrunk into a petty
village, inhabited partly by Mahommedans and partly by Roman
Catholic fishermen of the Parava caste, with a still smaller hamlet
adjoining inhabited by Brahmans and Vellalars; but unlikely as
the place may now seem to have been identical with ‘the great and
noble city’ described by Marco Polo, its identity is established by
the relics of its ancient greatness which it still retains. Ruins
of old fortifications, temples, storehouses, wells and tanks, are
found everywhere along the coast for two or three miles north of
the village of Kayal, and a mile and a half inland; the whole plain
is covered with broken tiles and remnants of pottery, chiefly of
China manufacture, and several mounds are apparent, in which,
besides the shells of the pearl-oyster and broken pottery, mineral
drugs (cinnabar, brimstone, etc.), such as are sold in the bazaars
of sea-port towns, and a few ancient coins have been found. I send
you herewith an interesting coin discovered in one of those mounds
by Mr. R. Puckle, collector of Tinnevelly.[2]
“The people of the place have forgotten the existence of any trade
between Kayal and China, though the China pottery that lies all
about testifies to its existence at some former period; but they
retain a distinct tradition of its trade with the Arabian and
Persian coasts, as vouched for by Marco Polo, that trade having
in some degree survived to comparatively recent times.... Captain
Phipps, the Master Attendant at Tuticorin, says: ‘The roadstead of
Old Cael (Káyal) is still used by native craft when upon the coast
and meeting with south winds, from which it is sheltered. The depth
of water is 16 to 14 feet; I fancy years ago it was deeper....
There is a surf on the bar at the entrance (of the river), but
boats go through it at all times.’
* * * * *
“I am tempted to carry this long account of Kayal a little further,
so as to bring to light the _Kolkhoi_ [κόλχοι ἐμπόριον] of the
Greek merchants, the situation of the older city being nearly
identical with that of the more modern one. _Kolkhoi_, described
by Ptolemy and the author of the Periplus as an emporium of the
pearl-trade, as situated on the sea-coast to the east of Cape
Comorin, and as giving its name to the Kolkhic Gulf or Gulf of
Manaar, has been identified by Lassen with Keelkarei; but this
identification is merely conjectural, founded on nothing better
than a slight apparent resemblance in the names. Lassen could not
have failed to identify Kolkhoi with KORKAI, the mother-city of
Kayal, if he had been acquainted with its existence and claims.
Korkai, properly KOLKAI (the _l_ being changed into _r_ by a
modern refinement—it is still called _Kolka_ in Malayalam), holds
an important place in Tamil traditions, being regarded as the
birthplace of the Pandyan Dynasty, the place where the princes
of that race ruled previously to their removal to Madura. One of
the titles of the Pandyan Kings is ‘Ruler of Korkai.’ Korkai is
situated two or three miles inland from Kayal, higher up the river.
It is not marked in the Ordnance Map of India, but a village in
the immediate neighbourhood of it, called _Mâramangalam_, ‘the
Good-fortune of the Pandyas,’ will be found in the map. This
place, together with several others in the neighbourhood, on both
sides of the river, is proved by inscriptions and relics to have
been formerly included in Korkai, and the whole intervening space
between Korkai and Kayal exhibits traces of ancient dwellings. The
people of Kayal maintain that their city was originally so large
as to include Korkai, but there is much more probability in the
tradition of the people of Korkai, which is to the effect that
Korkai itself was originally a sea-port; that as the sea retired it
became less and less suitable for trade, that Kayal rose as Korkai
fell, and that at length, as the sea continued to retire, Kayal
also was abandoned. They add that the trade for which the place was
famous in ancient times was the trade in pearls.” In an article
in the _Madras Journal_ (VII. 379) it is stated that at the great
Siva Pagoda at Tinnevelly the earth used ceremonially at the annual
festival is brought from Korkai, but no position is indicated.
NOTE 2.—Dr. Caldwell again brings his invaluable aid:—
“Marco Polo represents Kayal as being governed by a king whom he
calls _Asciar_ (a name which you suppose to be intended to be
pronounced _Ashar_), and says that this king of Kayal was the elder
brother of Sonderbandi, the king of that part of the district of
Maabar where he landed. There is a distinct tradition, not only
amongst the people now inhabiting Kayal, but in the district
of Tinnevelly generally, that Kayal, during the period of its
greatness, was ruled by a king. This king is sometimes spoken of as
one of ‘the Five Kings’ who reigned in various parts of Tinnevelly,
but whether he was independent of the King of Madura, or only a
viceroy, the people cannot now say.... The tradition of the people
of Kayal is that ... _Sûr-Raja_ was the name of the last king of
the place. They state that this last king was a Mahommedan, ...
but though Sûr-Raja does not sound like the name of a Mahommedan
prince, they all agree in asserting that this was his name.... Can
this Sûr be the person whom Marco calls Asciar? Probably not, as
Asciar seems to have been a Hindu by religion. I have discovered
what appears to be a more probable identification in the name of
a prince mentioned in an inscription on the walls of a temple at
Sri-Vaikuntham, a town on the Tamraparni R., about 20 miles from
Kayal. In the inscription in question a donation to the temple
is recorded as having been given in the time of ‘_Asaḍia-deva
called also Surya-deva_.’ This name ‘Asaḍia’ is neither Sanskrit
nor Tamil; and as the hard _ḍ_ is often changed into _r_, Marco’s
_Ashar_ may have been an attempt to render this _Asaḍ_. If this
Asaḍia or Surya-deva were really Sundara-pandi-deva’s brother, he
must have ruled over a narrow range of country, probably over Kayal
alone, whilst his more eminent brother was alive; for there is an
inscription on the walls of a temple at Sindamangalam, a place only
a few miles from Kayal, which records a donation made to the place
‘in the reign of Sundara-pandi-deva.’”[3]
NOTE 3.—[“O aljofar, e perolas, que me manda que lha enuie, nom
as posso auer, que as ha em Ceylão e Caille, que são as fontes
dellas: compralashia do meu sangue, a do meu dinheiro, que o
tenho porque vós me daes.” (Letter of the Viceroy Dom Francisco
to the King, Anno de 1508). (_G. Correa, Lendas da India_, I. pp.
908–909.)—_Note by Yule_.]
NOTE 4.—_Tembúl_ is the Persian name for the betel-leaf or _pán_,
from the Sanskrit _Támbúla_. The latter is also used in Tamul,
though _Vettilei_ is the proper Tamul word, whence _Betel_ (_Dr.
Caldwell_). Marsden supposes the mention of camphor among the
ingredients with which the pán is prepared to be a mistake, and
suggests as a possible origin of the error that _kápúr_ in the
Malay language means not only camphor but quicklime. This is
curious, but in addition to the fact that the lime is mentioned in
the text, there seems ample evidence that his doubt about camphor
is unfounded.
Garcia de Orta says distinctly: “In chewing _betre_ ... they mix
areca with it and a little lime.... Some add _Licio_ (_i.e._
catechu), _but the rich and grandees add some Borneo camphor_,
and some also lign-aloes, musk, and ambergris” (31 v. and 32).
Abdurrazzák also says: “The manner of eating it is as follows:
They bruise a portion of _faufel_ (areca), otherwise called
_sipari_, and put it in the mouth. Moistening a leaf of the betel,
together with a grain of lime, they rub the one upon the other,
roll them together, and then place them in the mouth. They thus
take as many as four leaves of betel at a time and chew them.
_Sometimes they add camphor to it_” (p. 32). And Abu’l Fazl: “They
also put some betel-nut and _kath_ (catechu) on one leaf, and some
lime-paste on another, and roll them up; this is called _a berah.
Some put camphor and musk into it_, and tie both leaves with a silk
thread,” etc. (See _Blochmann’s Transl._ p. 73.) Finally one of the
Chinese notices of Kamboja, translated by Abel Rémusat, says: “When
a guest comes it is usual to present him with _areca, camphor, and
other aromatics_.” (_Nouv. Mél._ I. 84.)
NOTE 5.—This is the only passage of Ramusio’s version, so far as
I know, that suggests interpolation from a recent author, as
distinguished from mere editorial modification. There is in Barbosa
a description of the _duello_ as practised in Canara, which is
rather too like this one.
[Illustration: Map showing the position of the Kingdom of ELY in
MALABAR.
Sketch showing the position of KÁYAL in TINNEVELLY.
Lit. Frauenfelder, Palermo]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “Sônagar or Jônagar is a Tamil corruption of _Yavanar_, the
Yavanas, the name by which the Arabs were known, and is the name
most commonly used in the Tamil country to designate the mixed race
descended from Arab colonists, who are called _Mâpillas_ on the
Malabar coast, and _Lubbies_ in the neighbourhood of Madras.” (Dr.
C.’s note)
[2] I am sorry to say that the coin never reached its destination. In
the latter part of 1872 a quantity of treasure was found near Káyal
by the labourers on irrigation works. Much of it was dispersed
without coming under intelligent eyes, and most of the coins
recovered were Arabic. One, however, is stated to have been a coin
of “Joanna of Castille, A.D. 1236.” (_Allen’s India Mail_, 5th
January, 1874.) There is no such queen. Qu. Joanna I. of _Navarre_
(1274–1276)? or Joanna II. of _Navarre_ (1328–1336)?
[3] See above, p. 334, as to Dr. Caldwell’s view of Polo’s Sonderbandi.
May not _Ashar_ very well represent _Áśháḍha_, “invincible,” among
the applications of which Williams gives “N. of a prince”? I
observe also that _Áśchar_ (Sansk. _Áśchariya_ “marvellous”) is the
name of one of the objects of worship in the dark _Sakti_ system,
once apparently potent in S. India. (See _Taylor’s Catalogue
Raisonné_, II. 414, 423, 426, 443, and remark p. xlix.)
[“Ils disent donc que Dieu qu’ils appellent _Achar_, c’est-à-dire,
immobile ou immuable.” (_F. Bernier, Voy._, ed. 1699, II. p.
134.)—_MS. Note._—H. Y.]
CHAPTER XXII.
OF THE KINGDOM OF COILUM.
When you quit Maabar and go 500 miles towards the south-west you come
to the kingdom of COILUM. The people are Idolaters, but there are also
some Christians and some Jews. The natives have a language of their
own, and a King of their own, and are tributary to no one.{1}
A great deal of brazil is got here which is called _brazil Coilumin_
from the country which produces it; ’tis of very fine quality.{2}
Good ginger also grows here, and it is known by the same name of
_Coilumin_ after the country.{3} Pepper too grows in great abundance
throughout this country, and I will tell you how. You must know that
the pepper-trees are (not wild but) cultivated, being regularly planted
and watered; and the pepper is gathered in the months of May, June,
and July. They have also abundance of very fine indigo. This is made
of a certain herb which is gathered, and [after the roots have been
removed] is put into great vessels upon which they pour water and then
leave it till the whole of the plant is decomposed. They then put this
liquid in the sun, which is tremendously hot there, so that it boils
and coagulates, and becomes such as we see it. [They then divide it
into pieces of four ounces each, and in that form it is exported to our
parts.]{4} And I assure you that the heat of the sun is so great there
that it is scarcely to be endured; in fact if you put an egg into one
of the rivers it will be boiled, before you have had time to go any
distance, by the mere heat of the sun!
The merchants from Manzi, and from Arabia, and from the Levant come
thither with their ships and their merchandise and make great profits
both by what they import and by what they export.
There are in this country many and divers beasts quite different from
those of other parts of the world. Thus there are lions black all over,
with no mixture of any other colour; and there are parrots of many
sorts, for some are white as snow with red beak and feet, and some are
red, and some are blue, forming the most charming sight in the world;
there are green ones too. There are also some parrots of exceeding
small size, beautiful creatures.{5} They have also very beautiful
peacocks, larger than ours, and different; and they have cocks and
hens quite different from ours; and what more shall I say? In short,
everything they have is different from ours, and finer and better.
Neither is their fruit like ours, nor their beasts, nor their birds;
and this difference all comes of the excessive heat.
Corn they have none but rice. So also their wine they make from
[palm-]sugar; capital drink it is, and very speedily it makes a man
drunk. All other necessaries of man’s life they have in great plenty
and cheapness. They have very good astrologers and physicians. Man and
woman, they are all black, and go naked, all save a fine cloth worn
about the middle. They look not on any sin of the flesh as a sin. They
marry their cousins german, and a man takes his brother’s wife after
the brother’s death; and all the people of India have this custom.{6}
There is no more to tell you there; so we will proceed, and I will tell
you of another country called Comari.
NOTE 1.—Futile doubts were raised by Baldelli Boni and Hugh Murray
as to the position of COILUM, because of Marco’s mentioning it
before Comari or Cape Comorin; and they have insisted on finding
a Coilum to the _east_ of that promontory. There is, however, in
reality, no room for any question on this subject. For ages Coilum,
Kaulam, or, as we now write it, Quilon, and properly Kollam, was
one of the greatest ports of trade with Western Asia.[1] The
earliest mention of it that I can indicate is in a letter written
by the Nestorian Patriarch, Jesujabus of Adiabene, who died A.D.
660, to Simon Metropolitan of Fars, blaming his neglect of duty,
through which he says, not only is India, “which extends from
the coast of the Kingdom of Fars to COLON, a distance of 1200
parasangs, deprived of a regular ministry, but Fars itself is
lying in darkness.” (_Assem._ III. pt. ii. 437.) The same place
appears in the earlier part of the Arab _Relations_ (A.D. 851) as
_Kaulam-Malé_, the port of India made by vessels from Maskat, and
already frequented by great Chinese Junks.
Abulfeda defines the position of Kaulam as at the extreme end of
_Balad-ul-Falfal_, _i.e._ the Pepper country or Malabar, as you
go eastward, standing on an inlet of the sea, in a sandy plain,
adorned with many gardens. The brazil-tree grew there, and the
Mahomedans had a fine mosque and square. Ibn Batuta also notices
the fine mosque, and says the city was one of the finest in
Malabar, with splendid markets and rich merchants, and was the
chief resort of the Chinese traders in India. Odoric describes it
as “at the extremity of the Pepper Forest towards the south,” and
astonishing in the abundance of its merchandise. Friar Jordanus
of Séverac was there as a missionary some time previous to 1328,
in which year he was at home; [on the 21st of August, 1329, he]
was nominated Bishop of the See of Kaulam, Latinised as _Columbum_
or _Columbus_ [created by John XXII. on the 9th of August of the
same year—H. C.]. Twenty years later John Marignolli visited “the
very noble city of Columbum, where the whole world’s pepper is
produced,” and found there a Latin church of St. George, probably
founded by Jordanus.[2] Kaulam or Coilon continued to be an
important place to the beginning of the 16th century, when Varthema
speaks of it as a fine port, and Barbosa as “a very great city,”
with a very good haven, and with many great merchants, Moors and
Gentoos, whose ships traded to all the Eastern ports as far as
Bengal, Pegu, and the Archipelago. But after this its decay must
have been rapid, and in the following century it had sunk into
entire insignificance. Throughout the Middle Ages it appears to
have been one of the chief seats of the St. Thomas Christians.
Indeed both it and Káyal were two out of the seven ancient churches
which Indo-Syrian tradition ascribed to St. Thomas himself.[3]
I have been desirous to give some illustration of the churches
of that interesting body, certain of which must date from a very
remote period, but I have found unlooked-for difficulties in
procuring such illustration. Several are given in the Life of Dr.
Claudius Buchanan from his own sketches, and a few others in the
Life of Bishop D. Wilson. But nearly all represent the churches
as they were perverted in the 17th century and since, by a coarse
imitation of a style of architecture bad enough in its genuine
form. I give, after Buchanan, the old church at Parúr, not far from
Cranganore, which had escaped masquerade, with one from Bishop
Wilson’s Life, showing the quasi-Jesuit deformation alluded to,
and an interior also from the latter work, which appears to have
some trace of genuine character. Parúr church is probably _Pálúr_,
or _Pázhúr_, which is one of those ascribed to St. Thomas; for Dr.
Buchanan says it bears the name of the Apostle, and “is supposed to
be the oldest in Malabar.” (_Christ. Res._ p. 113.)
[Illustration: Ancient Christian Church at Parúr, on the Malabar
coast. (After Claudius Buchanan.)]
[Quilon is “one of the oldest towns on the coast, from whose
re-foundation in 1019 A.D., Travancore reckons its era.” (_Hunter_,
_Gaz._, xi., p. 339.)—H. C.]
_How_ Polo comes to mention Coilum before Comari is a question that
will be treated further on, with other misplacements of like kind
that occur in succeeding chapters.
[Illustration: Syrian Church at Caranyachirra (from “Life of Bp.
D. Wilson”), showing the quasi-Jesuit façade generally adopted in
modern times.]
[Illustration: Interior of Syrian Church at Kötteiyam in
Travancore. (From “Life of Bp. D. Wilson.”)]
Kúblái had a good deal of diplomatic intercourse of his usual
kind with Kaulam. De Mailla mentions the arrival at T’swan-chau
(or Zayton) in 1282 of envoys from KIULAN, an Indian State,
bringing presents of various rarities, including a black ape as
big as a man. The Emperor had three times sent thither an officer
called Yang Ting-pi (IX. 415). Some rather curious details of
these missions are extracted by Pauthier from the Chinese Annals.
The royal residence is in these called _A-pu-’hota_.[4] The king
is styled _Pinati_. I may note that Barbosa also tells us that
the King of Kaulam was called Benate-deri (_devar_?). And Dr.
Caldwell’s kindness enables me to explain this title. _Pinati_
or _Benate_ represents _Venáḍan_, “the Lord of the Venáḍu,” or
_Venaṭṭu_, that being the name of the district to which belonged
the family of the old kings of Kollam, and _Venáḍan_ being their
regular dynastic name. The Rajas of Travancore who superseded the
Kings of Kollam, and inherit their titles, are still poetically
styled Venáḍan. (_Pauthier_, p. 603 _seqq._; _Ram._ I. f. 304.)
NOTE 2.—The brazil-wood of Kaulam appears in the Commercial
Handbook of Pegolotti (_circa_ 1340) as _Verzino Colombino_, and
under the same name in that of Giov. d’Uzzano a century later.
Pegolotti in one passage details kinds of brazil under the names
of _Verzino salvatico_, _dimestico_, and _columbino_. In another
passage, where he enters into particulars as to the respective
values of different qualities, he names three kinds, as _Colomni_,
_Ameri_, and _Seni_, of which the _Colomni_ (or Colombino) was
worth a sixth more than the _Ameri_ and three times as much as
the _Seni_. I have already conjectured that _Ameri_ may stand for
_Lameri_ referring to Lambri in Sumatra (_supra_ ch. xi., note 1);
and perhaps _Seni_ is _Sini_ or Chinese, indicating an article
brought to India by the Chinese traders, probably from Siam.
We have seen in the last note that the Kaulam brazil is spoken of
by Abulfeda; and Ibn Batuta, in describing his voyage by the back
waters from Calicut to Kaulam, says: “All the trees that grow by
this river are either cinnamon or brazil trees. They use these
for firewood, and we cooked with them throughout our journey.”
Friar Odoric makes the same hyperbolic statement: “Here they burn
brazil-wood for fuel.”
It has been supposed popularly that the brazil-wood of commerce
took its name from the great country so called; but the _verzino_
of the old Italian writers is only a form of the same word, and
_bresil_ is in fact the word used by Polo. So Chaucer:—
“Him nedeth not his colour for to dien
With _brazil_, ne with grain of Portingale.”
—_The Nun’s Priest’s Tale_.
The _Eastern_ wood in question is now known in commerce by its
Malay name of _Sappan_ (properly _Sapang_), which again is
identical with the Tamil name _Sappangi_. This word properly means
_Japan_, and seems to have been given to the wood as a supposed
product of that region.[5] It is the wood of the _Caesalpinia
Sapan_, and is known in Arabic (and in Hindustani) as _Băḳăm_.
It is a thorny tree, indigenous in Western India from Goa to
Trevandrum, and growing luxuriantly in South Malabar. It is
extensively used by native dyers, chiefly for common and cheap
cloths, and for fine mats. The dye is precipitated dark-brown with
iron, and red with alum. It is said, in Western India, to furnish
the red powder thrown about on the Hindu feast of the _Húli_. The
tree is both wild and cultivated, and is grown rather extensively
by the Mahomedans of Malabar, called _Moplahs_ (_Mapillas_, see p.
372), whose custom it is to plant a number of seeds at the birth of
a daughter. The trees require fourteen or fifteen years to come to
maturity, and then become the girl’s dowry.
Though to a great extent superseded by the kindred wood from
Pernambuco, the sappan is still a substantial object of importation
into England. That American dye-stuff which _now_ bears the name
of brazil-wood is believed to be the produce of at least two
species of Caesalpinia, but the question seems to partake of the
singular obscurity which hangs over the origin of so many useful
drugs and dye-stuffs. The variety called _Braziletto_ is from _C.
bahamensis_, a native of the Bahamas.
The name of Brazil has had a curious history. Etymologists refer it
to the colour of _braise_ or hot coals, and its first application
was to this dye-wood from the far East. Then it was applied to a
newly-discovered tract of South America, perhaps because producing
a kindred dye-wood in large quantities: finally the original wood
is robbed of its name, which is monopolised by that imported from
the new country. The Region of Brazil had been originally styled
_Santa Cruz_, and De Barros attributes the change of name to the
suggestion of the Evil One, “as if the name of a wood for colouring
cloth were of more moment than that of the Wood which imbues the
Sacraments with the tincture of Salvation.”
There may perhaps be a doubt if the Land of Brazil derived its
name from the dye-wood. For the Isle of Brazil, long before the
discovery of America, was a name applied to an imaginary Island
in the Atlantic. This island appears in the map of Andrea Bianco
and in many others, down at least to Coronelli’s splendid Venetian
Atlas (1696); the Irish used to fancy that they could see it from
the Isles of Arran; and the legend of this Island of Brazil still
persisted among sailors in the last century.[6] The story was no
doubt the same as that of the green Island, or Island of Youth,
which Mr. Campbell tells us the Hebrideans see to the west of their
own Islands. (See _Pop. Tales of West Highlands_, IV. 163. For
previous references, _Della Decima_, III. 298, 361; IV. 60; _I. B._
IV. 99; _Cathay_, p. 77; _Note by Dr. H. Gleghorn_; _Marsh’s ed. of
Wedgwood’s Etym. Dict._ I. 123; _Southey, H. of Brazil_, I. 22.)
NOTE 3.—This is the _Colombine_ ginger which appears not
unfrequently in mediæval writings. Pegolotti tells us that
“ginger is of several sorts, to wit, _Belledi_, _Colombino_,
and _Mecchino_. And these names are bestowed from the producing
countries, at least this is the case with the _Colombino_ and
_Mecchino_, for the _Belledi_ is produced in many districts of
India. The Colombino grows in the Island of Colombo of India, and
has a smooth, delicate, ash-coloured rind; whilst the Mecchino
comes from the districts about Mecca and is a small kind, hard
to cut,” etc. (_Della Dec._ III. 359.) A century later, in G. da
Uzzano, we still find the _Colombino_ and _Belladi_ ginger (IV.
111, 210, etc.). The _Baladi_ is also mentioned by Rashiduddin
as an export of Guzerat, and by Barbosa and others as one of
Calicut in the beginning of the 16th century. The _Mecchino_ too
is mentioned again in that era by a Venetian traveller as grown
in the Island of Camran in the Red Sea. Both Columbine (_gigembre
columbin_) and Baladi ginger (_gig. baladit_) appear among the
purchases for King John of France, during his captivity in England.
And we gather from his accounts that the price of the former was
13_d._ a pound, and of the latter 12_d._, sums representing three
times the amount of silver that they now indicate, with a higher
value of silver also, and hence equivalent to about 4_s._ and 4_s._
4_d._ a pound. The term _Baladi_ (Ar.), Indigenous or “Country”
ginger, indicated ordinary qualities of no particular repute. The
word _Baladi_ seems to have become naturalised in Spanish with the
meaning “of small value.” We have noticed on a former occasion the
decay of the demand for pepper in China. Ginger affords a similar
example. This spice, so highly prized and so well known throughout
Europe in the Middle Ages, I have found to be quite unknown by
name and qualities to servants in Palermo of more than average
intelligence. (_Elliot_, I. 67; _Ramusio_, I. f. 275, v. 323; _Dozy
and Engelm._ pp. 232–233; _Douet d’Arcq_, p. 218; _Philobiblon Soc.
Miscellanies_, vol. ii. p. 116.)
NOTE 4.—In Bengal Indigo factories artificial heat is employed
to promote the drying of the precipitated dye; but this is not
essential to the manufacture. Marco’s account, though grotesque in
its baldness, does describe the chief features of the manufacture
of Indigo by fermentation. The branches are cut and placed stem
upwards in the vat till it is three parts full; they are loaded,
and then the vat is filled with water. Fermentation soon begins and
goes on till in 24 hours _the contents of the vat are so hot that
the hand cannot be retained in it_. This is what Marco ascribes to
the sun’s heat. The liquor is then drawn off to another cistern
and there agitated; the indigo separates in flakes. A quantity of
lime-water then is added, and the blue is allowed to subside. The
clear water is drawn off; the sediment is drained, pressed, and cut
into small squares, etc. (See _Madras Journal_, vol. viii. 198.)
Indigo had been introduced into Sicily by the Jews during the time
of Frederick II., in the early part of Polo’s century. Jews and
Indigo have long vanished from Sicily. The dye is often mentioned
in Pegolotti’s Book; the finest quality being termed _Indaco
Baccadeo_, a corruption of _Bághdádi_. Probably it came from India
by way of Baghdad. In the Barcelona Tariffs it appears as Indigo de
_Bagadel_. Another quality often mentioned is Indigo _di Golfo_.
(See _Capmany, Memorias_, II. App. p. 73.) In the bye-laws of the
London Painters’ Guild of the 13th century, quoted by Sir F.
Palgrave from the _Liber Horne_, it is forbidden to paint on gold
or silver except with fine (mineral) colours, “_e nient de_ brasil,
_ne de_ inde de Baldas, _ne de nul autre mauveise couleur_.” (_The
Merchant and the Friar_, p. xxiii.) There is now no indigo made
or exported at Quilon, but there is still some feeble export of
sappanwood, ginger, and pepper. These, and previous particulars
as to the present Quilon, I owe to the kindness of Mr. Ballard,
British Resident at Trevandrum.
NOTE 5.—Black Tigers and black Leopards are not very rare in
Travancore (See _Welsh’s Mil. Reminiscences_, II. 102.)
NOTE 6.—Probably founded on local or caste customs of marriage,
several of which in South India are very peculiar; _e.g._, see
_Nelson’s Madura_, Pt. II. p. 51.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The etymology of the name seems to be doubtful. Dr. Caldwell tells
me it is an error to connect it (as in the first edition) with
the word for a Tank, which is _Kuḷam_. The apparent meaning of
_Kollam_ is “slaughter,” but he thinks the name is best explained
as “Palace” or “Royal Residence.”
[2] There is still a _Syrian_ church of St. George at Quilon, and
a mosque of some importance;—the representatives at least of
those noted above, though no actual trace of antiquity of any
kind remains at the place. A vague tradition of extensive trade
with China yet survives. The form _Columbum_ is accounted for
by an inscription, published by the Prince of Travancore (_Ind.
Antiq._ II. 360), which shows that the city was called in Sanskrit
_Kolamba_. May not the real etymology be Sansk. _Kolam_, “Black
Pepper”?
On the suggestion ventured in this note Dr. Caldwell writes:
“I fancy _Kôla_, a name for pepper in Sanskrit, may be derived from
the name of the country _Kôlam_, North Malabar, which is much more
celebrated for its pepper than the country around Quilon. This
_Kôlam_, though resembling _Kollam_, is really a separate word,
and never confounded with the latter by the natives. The prince
of Kôlam (North Malabar) is called _Kolastri_ or _Kolattiri_[A].
Compare also _Kôlagiri_, the name of a hill in the Sanskrit
dictionaries, called also the _Kôlla giri_. The only possible
derivations for the Tamil and Malayalim name of Quilon that I am
acquainted with are these: (1.) From _Kolu_, the ‘Royal Presence’
or presence-chamber, or hall of audience. _Kollam_ might naturally
be a derivation of this word; and in confirmation I find that
other residences of Malabar kings were also called Kollam, _e.g._
Kodungalur or Cranganore. (2.) From _Kolu_, the same word, but with
the meaning ‘a height’ or ‘high-ground.’ Hence _Kollei_, a very
common word in Tamil for a ‘dry grain field, a back-yard.’ _Kolli_
is also, in the Tamil poets, said to be the name of a hill in the
Chera country, _i.e._ the Malabar coast. _Kôlam_ in Tamil has not
the meaning of pepper; it means ‘beauty,’ and it is said also to
mean the fruit of the jujuba. (3.) It might possibly be derived
from _Kol_, to slay;—_Kollam_, slaughter, or a place where some
slaughter happened ... in the absence, however, of any tradition to
this effect, this derivation seems improbable.”
[3] Burnell.
[4] The translated passage about _’Apuhota_ is a little obscure. The
name looks like _Kapukada_, which was the site of a palace north of
_Calicut_ (not in Kaulam), the _Capucate_ of the Portuguese.
[5] _Dr. Caldwell_.
[6] Indeed, Humboldt speaks of Brazil Isle as appearing to the west of
Ireland in a modern English map—_Purdy’s_; but I do not know its
date. (See _Examen_, etc., II. 244–245.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[A] see II. 387.
CHAPTER XXIII.
OF THE COUNTRY CALLED COMARI.
Comari is a country belonging to India, and there you can see something
of the North Star, which we had not been able to see from the Lesser
Java thus far. In order to see it you must go some 30 miles out to sea,
and then you see it about a cubit above the water.{1}
This is a very wild country, and there are beasts of all kinds there,
especially monkeys of such peculiar fashion that you would take them
for men! There are also _gatpauls_{2} in wonderful diversity, with
bears, lions, and leopards, in abundance.
NOTE 1.—_Kumári_ is in some versions of the Hindu cosmography the
most southerly of the nine divisions of Jambodvipa, the Indian
world. Polo’s Comari can only be the country about Cape COMORIN,
the κομάρια ἄκρον of Ptolemy, a name derived from the Sanskrit
_Kumári_, “a Virgin,” an appellation of the goddess Durgá. The
monthly bathing in her honour, spoken of by the author of the
_Periplus_, is still continued, though now the pilgrims are few.
Abulfeda speaks of _Rás Kumhări_ as the limit between Malabar and
Ma’bar. _Kumări_ is the Tamul pronunciation of the Sanskrit word
and probably _Comări_ was Polo’s pronunciation.
At the beginning of the Portuguese era in India we hear of a small
Kingdom of COMORI, the prince of which had succeeded to the kingdom
of Kaulam. And this, as Dr. Caldwell points out, must have been the
state which is now called Travancore. Kumari has been confounded by
some of the Arabian Geographers, or their modern commentators, with
_Kumár_, one of the regions supplying aloes-wood, and which was
apparently _Khmer_ or Kamboja. (_Caldwell’s Drav. Grammar_, p. 67;
_Gildem._ 185; _Ram._ I. 333.)
The cut that we give is, as far as I know, the first genuine view
of Cape Comorin ever published.
[Mr. Talboys Wheeler, in his _History of India_, vol. iii. (p.
386), says of this tract:
“The region derives its name from a temple which was erected there
in honour of Kumárí, ‘the Virgin’; the infant babe who had been
exchanged for Krishna, and ascended to heaven at the approach of
Kansa.” And in a note:
“Colonel Yule identifies Kumárí with Durgá. This is an error. The
temple of Kumárí was erected by Krishna Raja of Narsinga, a zealous
patron of the Vaishnavas.”
Mr. Wheeler quotes Faria y Souza, who refers the object of worship
to what is meant for this story (II. 394), but I presume from Mr.
Wheeler’s mention of the builder of the temple, which does not
occur in the Portuguese history, that he has other information.
The application of the Virgin title connected with the name of
the place, may probably have varied with the ages, and, as there
is no time to obtain other evidence, I have removed the words
which identified the _existing temple_ with that of Durgá. But
my authority for identifying the _object of worship_, in whose
honour the pilgrims bathe monthly at Cape Comorin, with Durgá, is
the excellent one of Dr. Caldwell. (See his _Dravidian Grammar_
as quoted in the passage above.) Krishna Raja of whom Mr. Wheeler
speaks, reigned after the Portuguese were established in India, but
it is not probable that the Krishna stories of that class were even
known in the Peninsula (or perhaps anywhere else) in the time of
the author of the _Periplus_, 1450 years before; and ’tis as little
likely that the locality owed its name to Yasoda’s Infant, as that
it owed it to the Madonna in St. Francis Xavier’s Church that
overlooks the Cape.
Fra Paolino, in his unsatisfactory way (_Viaggio_, p. 68), speaks
of Cape Comorin, “which the Indians call _Canyamuri_, _Virginis
Promontorium_, or simply _Comarí_ or _Cumarí_ ‘a Virgin,’ because
they pretend that anciently the goddess _Comari_ ‘the Damsel,’ who
is the Indian Diana or Hecate, used to bathe” etc. However, we can
discover from his book elsewhere (see pp. 79, 285) that by the
Indian Diana he means Párvatí, _i.e._ Durgá.
Lassen at first[1] identified the Kumárí of the Cape with Párvatí;
but afterwards connected the name with a story in the Mahábhárata
about certain _Apsarases_ changed into Crocodiles.[2] On the whole
there does not seem sufficient ground to deny that Párvatí was the
_original_ object of worship at Kumárí, though the name may have
lent itself to various legends.]
[Illustration: Cape Comorin. (From a sketch by Mr. Foote, of the
Geological Survey of India.)]
NOTE 2.—I have not been able to ascertain with any precision what
animal is meant by _Gat-paul_. The term occurs again, coupled with
monkeys as here, at p. 240 of the Geog. Text, where, speaking of
Abyssinia, it is said: “_Il ont_ gat paulz _et autre gat-maimon
si divisez_,” etc. _Gatto maimone_, for an ape of some kind, is
common in old Italian, the latter part of the term, from the Pers.
_Maimún_, being possibly connected with our _Baboon_. And that the
_Gat-paul_ was also some kind of ape is confirmed by the Spanish
Dictionaries. Cobarrubias gives: “_Gato-Paus_, a kind of tailed
monkey. _Gato-paus, Gato pablo_; perhaps as they call a monkey
‘Martha,’ they may have called this particular monkey ‘Paul,’” etc.
(f. 431 v.). So also the _Diccion. de la Lengua Castellana comp.
por la Real Academia_ (1783) gives: “_Gato Paul_, a kind of monkey
of a grey colour, black muzzle and very broad tail.” In fact, the
word is used by Columbus, who, in his own account of his third
voyage, describes a hill on the coast of Paria as covered with a
species of _Gatos Paulos_. (See _Navarrete_, Fr. ed. III. 21, also
147–148.) It also occurs in _Marmol, Desc. General de Affrica_,
who says that one kind of monkeys has a black face; “_y estas
comunemente se llaman en España_ Gatos Paules, _las quales se crian
en la tierra de los Negros_” (I. f. 27). It is worth noting that
the revisers of the text adopted by Pauthier have not understood
the word. For they substitute for the “_Il hi a_ gat paul _si
divisez qe ce estoit mervoille_” of the Geog. Text, “_et si a moult
de_ granz paluz _et moult grans pantains à merveilles_”—wonderful
swamps and marshes! The Pipino Latin has adhered to the correct
reading—“_Ibi sunt_ cati qui dicuntur pauli, _valde diversi ab
aliis_.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] _Ind. Alt._ 1st ed. I. 158.
[2] _Id._ 564; and 2nd ed. I. 103.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF ELI.
Eli is a kingdom towards the west, about 300 miles from Comari. The
people are Idolaters and have a king, and are tributary to nobody; and
have a peculiar language. We will tell you particulars about their
manners and their products, and you will better understand things now
because we are drawing near to places that are not so outlandish.{1}
There is no proper harbour in the country, but there are many great
rivers with good estuaries, wide and deep.{2} Pepper and ginger grow
there, and other spices in quantities.{3} The King is rich in treasure,
but not very strong in forces. The approach to his kingdom however is
so strong by nature that no one can attack him, so he is afraid of
nobody.
And you must know that if any ship enters their estuary and anchors
there, having been bound for some other port, they seize her and
plunder the cargo. For they say, “You were bound for somewhere else,
and ’tis God has sent you hither to us, so we have a right to all your
goods.” And they think it no sin to act thus. And this naughty custom
prevails all over these provinces of India, to wit, that if a ship be
driven by stress of weather into some other port than that to which
it was bound, it is sure to be plundered. But if a ship come bound
originally to the place they receive it with all honour and give it due
protection.{4} The ships of Manzi and other countries that come hither
in summer lay in their cargoes in 6 or 8 days and depart as fast as
possible, because there is no harbour other than the river-mouth, a
mere roadstead and sandbanks, so that it is perilous to tarry there.
The ships of Manzi indeed are not so much afraid of these roadsteads as
others are, because they have such huge wooden anchors which hold in
all weather.{5}
There are many lions and other wild beasts here and plenty of game,
both beast and bird.
NOTE 1.—No city or district is now known by the name of ELY, but
the name survives in that of Mount _Dely_, properly Monte d’ELY,
the _Yeli-mala_ of the Malabar people, and called also in the
legends of the coast _Sapta-shaila_, or the Seven Hills. This is
the only spur of the Gháts that reaches the sea within the Madras
territory. It is an isolated and very conspicuous hill, or cluster
of hills, forming a promontory some 16 miles north of Cananore, the
first Indian land seen by Vasco da Gama, on that memorable August
morning in 1498, and formerly very well known to navigators, though
it has been allowed to drop out of some of our most ambitious
modern maps. Abulfeda describes it as “a great mountain projecting
into the sea, and descried from a great distance, called _Ras
Haili_”; and it appears in Fra Mauro’s map as _Cavo de Eli_.
Rashiduddin mentions “the country of Hili,” between _Manjarúr_
(Mangalore) and Fandaraina (miswritten in Elliot’s copy _Sadarsa_).
Ibn Batuta speaks of Hili, which he reached on leaving Manjarúr,
as “a great and well-built city, situated on a large estuary
accessible to great ships. The vessels of China come hither; this,
Kaulam, and Kalikut, are the only ports that they enter.” From
Hili he proceeds 12 miles further down the coast to _Jor-fattan_,
which probably corresponds to Baliapatan. ELLY appears in the
Carta Catalana, and is marked as a Christian city. Nicolo Conti
is the last to speak distinctly of the city. Sailing from Cambay,
in 20 days he arrived at two cities on the sea-shore, _Pacamuria_
(_Faknúr_, of Rashid and Firishta, _Baccanor_ of old books, and
now _Bárkúr_, the Malayálim _Vákkanúr_) and HELLI. But we read
that in 1527 Simon de Melo was sent to burn ships in the River of
_Marabia_ and at _Monte d’Elli_.[1] When Da Gama on his second
voyage was on his way from Baticala (in Canara) to Cananor, a
squall having sprung his mainmast just before reaching Mt. d’Ely,
“the captain-major anchored in the Bay of Marabia, because he saw
there several Moorish ships, in order to get a mast from them.” It
seems clear that this was the bay just behind Mt. d’Ely.
Indeed the name of Marabia or _Máráwí_ is still preserved in
_Mádávi_ or Mádái, corruptly termed _Maudoy_ in some of our maps,
a township upon the river which enters the bay about 7 or 8 miles
south-east of Mt. d’Ely, and which is called by De Barros the
_Rio Marabia_. Mr. Ballard informs me that he never heard of
ruins of importance at Madai, but there is a place on the river
just mentioned, and within the Madai township, called _Payangádi_
(“Old Town”), which has the remains of an old fort of the Kolastri
(or Kolatiri) Rajas. A _palace_ at Madai (perhaps this fort) is
alluded to by Dr. Gundert in the _Madras Journal_, and a Buddhist
Vihara is spoken of in an old Malayalim poem as having existed
at the same place. The same paper speaks of “the famous emporium
of Cachilpatnam near Mt. d’Ely,” which may have been our city of
Hili, as the cities Hili and Marawi were apparently separate though
near.[2]
[Illustration: Mount d’Ely, from the Sea, in last century.]
The state of _Hílí-Máráwi_ is also mentioned in the Arabic
work on the early history of the Mahomedans in Malabar, called
_Tuhfat-al-Mujáhidín_, and translated by Rowlandson; and as the
Prince is there called _Kolturee_, this would seem to identify him
either in family or person with the Raja of Cananor, for that old
dynasty always bore the name of _Kolatiri_.[3]
The Ramusian version of Barbosa is very defective here, but in
Stanley’s version (Hak. Soc. _East African and Malabar Coasts_,
p. 149) we find the topography in a passage from a Munich MS.
clear enough: “After passing this place” (the river of Nirapura or
Nileshwaram) “along the coast is the mountain Dely (of Ely) on the
edge of the sea; it is a round mountain, very lofty, in the midst
of low land; all the ships of the Moors and Gentiles that navigate
in this sea of India sight this mountain when coming from without,
and make their reckoning by it; ... after this, at the foot of the
mountain to the south, is a town called _Marave_, very ancient and
well off, in which live Moors and Gentiles and Jews; these Jews are
of the language of the country; it is a long time that they have
dwelt in this place.”
(_Stanley’s Correa_, Hak. Soc. pp. 145, 312–313; _Gildem._ p. 185;
_Elliot_, I. 68; _I. B._ IV. 81; _Conti_, p. 6; _Madras Journal_,
XIII. No. 31, pp. 14, 99, 102, 104; _De Barros_, III. 9, cap. 6,
and IV. 2, cap. 13; _De Couto_, IV. 5, cap. 4.)
NOTE 2.—This is from Pauthier’s text, and the map with ch. xxi.
illustrates the fact of the many wide rivers. The G. T. has “a good
river with a very good estuary” or mouth. The latter word is in the
G. T. _faces_, afterwards more correctly _foces_, equivalent to
_fauces_. We have seen that Ibn Batuta also speaks of the estuary
or inlet at Hili. It may have been either that immediately east of
Mount d’Ely, communicating with Kavváyi and the Nileshwaram River,
or the Madai River. Neither could be entered by vessels now, but
there have been great littoral changes. The land joining Mt. d’Ely
to the main is mere alluvium.
NOTE 3.—Barbosa says that throughout the kingdom of Cananor the
pepper was of excellent quality, though not in great quantity.
There was much ginger, not first-rate, which was called _Hely_ from
its growing about Mount d’Ely, with cardamoms (names of which,
_Elá_ in Sanskrit, _Hel_ in Persian, I have thought might be connected
with that of the hill), mirobolans, cassia fistula, zerumbet, and
zedoary. The two last items are two species of _curcuma_, formerly
in much demand as aromatics; the last is, I believe, the _setewale_
of Chaucer:—
“There was eke wexing many a spice,
As clowe gilofre and Licorice,
Ginger and grein de Paradis,
Canell and setewale of pris,
And many a spice delitable
To eaten when men rise from table.”—_R. of the Rose_.
The Hely ginger is also mentioned by Conti.
NOTE 4.—This piratical practice is noted by Abdurrazzák also: “In
other parts (than Calicut) a strange practice is adopted. When
a vessel sets sail for a certain point, and suddenly is driven
by a decree of Divine Providence into another roadstead, the
inhabitants, under the pretext that the wind has driven it thither,
plunder the ship. But at Calicut every ship, whatever place it
comes from, or wherever it may be bound, when it puts into this
port, is treated like other vessels, and has no trouble of any kind
to put up with” (p. 14). In 1673 Sivaji replied to the pleadings
of an English embassy, that it was “against the Laws of Conchon”
(Ptolemy’s _Pirate Coast_!) “to restore any ships or goods that
were driven ashore.” (_Fryer_, p. 261.)
NOTE 5.—With regard to the anchors, Pauthier’s text has just the
opposite of the G. T. which we have preferred: “_Les nefs du Manzi
portent si grans ancres de fust_, que il seuffrent moult _de grans
fortunes aus plajes_.” De Mailla says the Chinese consider their
ironwood anchors to be much better than those of iron, because the
latter are subject to strain. (_Lett. Edif._ XIV. 10.) Capt. Owen
has a good word for wooden anchors. (_Narr. of Voyages, etc._, I.
385.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The Town of Monte d’Ely appears (_Monte Dil_) in Coronelli’s Atlas
(1690) from some older source. Mr. Burnell thinks Baliapatan
(properly _Vaḷarpaṭṭanam_) which is still a prosperous Máppila
town, on a broad and deep river, must be Hili. I see a little
difficulty in this. [Marabia at Monte Dely is often mentioned in
_Correa_, as one of the ports of the Kingdom of Cananor.]
[2] Mr. Burnell thinks _Kachchil_paṭṭanam must be an error (easy in
Malayálim) for _Kavvil_paṭṭanam, _i.e._ Kavváyi (Kanwai in our map).
[3] As _printed_ by Rowlandson, the name is corrupt (like many others
in the book), being given as _Hubaee Murawee_. But suspecting what
this pointed to, I examined the MS. in the R. A. Society’s Library.
The knowledge of the Arabic _character_ was quite sufficient to
enable me to trace the name as هيلي ماراوي, _Hílí Máráwi_. (See
_Rowlandson_, pp. 54, 58–59, and MS. pp. 23 and 26; also _Indian
Antiquary_, III. p. 213.)
CHAPTER XXV.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF MELIBAR.
Melibar is a great kingdom lying towards the west. The people are
Idolaters; they have a language of their own, and a king of their own,
and pay tribute to nobody.{1}
In this country you see more of the North Star, for it shows two cubits
above the water. And you must know that from this kingdom of Melibar,
and from another near it called Gozurat, there go forth every year more
than a hundred corsair vessels on cruize. These pirates take with them
their wives and children, and stay out the whole summer. Their method
is to join in fleets of 20 or 30 of these pirate vessels together, and
then they form what they call a sea cordon,{2} that is, they drop off
till there is an interval of 5 or 6 miles between ship and ship, so
that they cover something like an hundred miles of sea, and no merchant
ship can escape them. For when any one corsair sights a vessel a signal
is made by fire or smoke, and then the whole of them make for this, and
seize the merchants and plunder them. After they have plundered them
they let them go, saying: “Go along with you and get more gain, and
that mayhap will fall to us also!” But now the merchants are aware of
this, and go so well manned and armed, and with such great ships, that
they don’t fear the corsairs. Still mishaps do befall them at times.{3}
There is in this kingdom a great quantity of pepper, and ginger, and
cinnamon, and turbit, and of nuts of India.{4} They also manufacture
very delicate and beautiful buckrams. The ships that come from the
east bring copper in ballast. They also bring hither cloths of silk
and gold, and sendels; also gold and silver, cloves and spikenard, and
other fine spices for which there is a demand here, and exchange them
for the products of these countries.
Ships come hither from many quarters, but especially from the great
province of Manzi.{5} Coarse spices are exported hence both to Manzi
and to the west, and that which is carried by the merchants to Aden
goes on to Alexandria, but the ships that go in the latter direction
are not one to ten of those that go to the eastward; a very notable
fact that I have mentioned before.
Now I have told you about the kingdom of Melibar; we shall now proceed
and tell you of the kingdom of Gozurat. And you must understand that
in speaking of these kingdoms we note only the capitals; there are
great numbers of other cities and towns of which we shall say nothing,
because it would make too long a story to speak of all.
NOTE 1.—Here is another instance of that confusion which dislocates
Polo’s descriptions of the Indian coast; we shall recur to it under
ch. xxx.
Malabar is a name given by the Arabs, and varies in its form:
Ibn Batuta and Kazwini write it المليبار, _al-Malíbár_, Edrisi
and Abulfeda المنيبار, _al-Maníbár_, etc., and like variations
occur among the old European travellers. The country so-called
corresponded to the _Kerala_ of the Brahmans, which in its very
widest sense extended from about lat. 15° to Cape Comorin. This,
too, seems to be the extension which Abulfeda gives to Malabar,
viz., from Hunáwar to Kumhári; Rashiduddin includes Sindábúr,
_i.e._ Goa. But at a later date a point between Mt. d’Ely and
Mangalore on the north, and Kaulam on the south, were the limits
usually assigned to Malabar.
NOTE 2.—“_Il font_ eschiel _en la mer_” (G. T.). _Eschiel_ is
the equivalent of the Italian _schera_ or _schiera_, a troop or
squadron, and thence applied to order of battle, whether by land or
sea.
NOTE 3.—The northern part of Malabar, Canara, and the Konkan, have
been nests of pirates from the time of the ancients to a very
recent date. Padre Paolino specifies the vicinity of Mt. d’Ely as a
special haunt of them in his day, the latter half of last century.
Somewhat further north Ibn Batuta fell into their hands, and was
stripped to his drawers.
NOTE 4.—There is something to be said about these Malabar spices.
The cinnamon of Malabar is what we call cassia, the _canella
grossa_ of Conti, the _canela brava_ of the Portuguese. Notices
of it will be found in _Rheede_ (I. 107) and in _Garcia_ (f.
26 _seqq._). The latter says the Ceylon cinnamon exceeded it in
value as 4:1. Uzzano discriminates _canella_ lunga, _Salami_, and
_Mabari_. The _Salami_, I have no doubt, is _Sailani_, Ceylonese;
and as we do not hear of any cassia from Mabar, probably the last
was _Malabar_ cinnamon.
_Turbit: Radex Turpethi_ is still known in pharmacy, at least
in some parts of the Continent and in India, though in England
obsolete. It is mentioned in the _Pharmacopœia of India_ (1868) as
derived from _Ipomœa Turpethum_.
But it is worthy of note that Ramusio has _cubebs_ instead of
_turbit_. The former does not seem now to be a product of Western
India, though Garcia says that a small quantity grew there, and
a Dutch report of 1675 in Valentyn also mentions it as an export
of Malabar. (_V., Ceylon_, p. 243.) There is some ambiguity in
statements about it, because its popular name _Kábab-chíní_ seems
to be also applied to the cassia bud. Cubeb pepper was much used in
the Middle Ages as a spice, and imported into Europe as such. But
the importation had long practically ceased, when its medical uses
became known during the British occupation of Java, and the demand
was renewed.
Budaeus and Salmasius have identified this drug with the
κώμακον, which Theophrastus joins with cinnamomum and cassia as
an ingredient in aromatic confections. The inducement to this
identification was no doubt the singular resemblance which the word
bears to the Javanese name of cubeb pepper, viz., _Kumukus_. If
the foundation were a little firmer this would be curious evidence
of intercourse and trade with Java in a time earlier than that of
Theophrastus, viz., the 4th century B.C.
In the detail of 3 cargoes from Malabar that arrived at Lisbon in
September 1504 we find the following proportions: Pepper, 10,000
_cantars_; cinnamon, 500; cloves, 450; zz. (_i.e._ _zenzaro_,
ginger), 130; lac and brazil, 750; camphor, 7; cubebs, 191; mace,
2½; spikenard, 3; lign-aloes, 1⅓.
(_Buchanan’s Mysore_, II. 31, III. 193, and App. p. v.; _Garcia_,
Ital. version, 1576, f. 39–40; _Salmas. Exerc. Plin._ p. 923; _Bud.
on Theoph._ 1004 and 1010; _Archiv. St. Ital._, Append. II. p. 19.)
NOTE 5.—We see that Marco speaks of the merchants and ships of
Manzi, or Southern China, as frequenting Kaulam, Hili, and now
Malabar, of which Calicut was the chief port. This quite coincides
with Ibn Batuta, who says those were the three ports of India which
the Chinese junks frequented, adding Fandaraina (_i.e._ Pandarani,
or Pantaláni, 16 miles north of Calicut), as a port where they
used to moor for the winter when they spent that season in India.
By the winter he means the rainy season, as Portuguese writers
on India do by the same expression (IV. 81, 88, 96). I have been
unable to find anything definite as to the date of the cessation
of this Chinese navigation to Malabar, but I believe it may be
placed about the beginning of the 15th century. The most distinct
allusion to it that I am aware of is in the information of Joseph
of Cranganore, in the _Novus Orbis_ (Ed. of 1555, p. 208). He says:
“These people of Cathay are men of remarkable energy, and formerly
drove a first-rate trade at the city of Calicut. But the King of
Calicut having treated them badly, they quitted that city, and
returning shortly after inflicted no small slaughter on the people
of Calicut, and after that returned no more. After that they began
to frequent Mailapetam, a city subject to the king of Narsingha; a
region towards the East, ... and there they now drive their trade.”
There is also in Gaspar Correa’s account of the Voyages of Da Gama
a curious record of a tradition of the arrival in Malabar more than
four centuries before of a vast merchant fleet “from the parts
of Malacca, and China, and the Lequeos” (Lewchew); many from the
company on board had settled in the country and left descendants.
In the space of a hundred years none of these remained; but their
sumptuous idol temples were still to be seen. (_Stanley’s Transl.,
Hak. Soc._, p. 147.)[1] It is probable that both these stories
must be referred to those extensive expeditions to the western
countries with the object of restoring Chinese influence which
were despatched by the Ming Emperor Ch’êng-Tsu (or Yung-lo), about
1406, and one of which seems actually to have brought _Ceylon_
under a partial subjection to China, which endured half a century.
(See _Tennent_, I. 623 _seqq._; and _Letter of P. Gaubil_ in _J.
A._ sér. II. tom. x. pp. 327–328.) [“So that at this day there is
great memory of them in the ilands Philippinas, and on the cost
of Coromande, which is the cost against the kingdome of Norsinga
towards the sea of Cengala: whereas is a towne called unto this
day the soile of the Chinos, for that they did reedifie and make
the same. The like notice and memory is there in the kingdom of
Calicut, whereas be many trees and fruits, that the naturals of
that countrie do say, were brought thither by the Chinos, when
that they were lords and gouernours of that countrie.” (_Mendoza,
Parke’s transl._ p. 71.)] De Barros says that the famous city of
Diu was built by one of the Kings of Guzerat whom he calls in
one place _Dariar Khan_, and in another _Peruxiah_, in memory of
victory in a sea-fight with the Chinese who then frequented the
Indian shores. It is difficult to identify this King, though he is
represented as the father of the famous toxicophagous Sultan Mahmúd
Begara (1459–1511). De Barros has many other allusions to Chinese
settlements and conquests in India which it is not very easy to
account for. Whatever basis of facts there is must probably refer
to the expeditions of Ch’êng-Tsu, but not a little probably grew
out of the confusion of _Jainas_ and _Chinas_ already alluded to;
and to this I incline to refer Correa’s “sumptuous idol-temples.”
There must have been some revival of Chinese trade in the last
century, if P. Paolino is correct in speaking of Chinese vessels
frequenting Travancore ports for pepper. (_De Barros_, Dec. II.
Liv. ii. cap. 9, and Dec. IV. Liv. v. cap. 3; _Paolino_, p. 74.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] It appears from a paper in the Mackenzie MSS. that down to Colonel
Mackenzie’s time there was a tribe in Calicut whose ancestors were
believed to have been Chinese. (See _Taylor’s Catal. Raisonné_,
III. 664.) And there is a notable passage in Abdurrazzák which
says the seafaring population of Calicut were nicknamed _Chíní
bachagán_, “China boys.” (_India in XVth Cent._ p. 19.)
CHAPTER XXVI.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOZURAT.
Gozurat is a great kingdom. The people are Idolaters and have a
peculiar language, and a king of their own, and are tributary to no
one. It lies towards the west, and the North Star is here still more
conspicuous, showing itself at an altitude of about 6 cubits.{1}
The people are the most desperate pirates in existence, and one
of their atrocious practices is this. When they have taken a
merchant-vessel they force the merchants to swallow a stuff called
_Tamarindi_ mixed in sea-water, which produces a violent purging.{2}
This is done in case the merchants, on seeing their danger, should have
swallowed their most valuable stones and pearls. And in this way the
pirates secure the whole.
In this province of Gozurat there grows much pepper, and ginger, and
indigo. They have also a great deal of cotton. Their cotton trees are
of very great size, growing full six paces high, and attaining to an
age of 20 years. It is to be observed however that, when the trees
are so old as that, the cotton is not good to spin, but only to quilt
or stuff beds withal. Up to the age of 12 years indeed the trees give
good spinning cotton, but from that age to 20 years the produce is
inferior.{3}
[Illustration: Mediæval Architecture in Guzerat. (From Fergusson.)]
They dress in this country great numbers of skins of various kinds,
goat-skins, ox-skins, buffalo and wild ox-skins, as well as those of
unicorns and other animals. In fact so many are dressed every year as
to load a number of ships for Arabia and other quarters. They also work
here beautiful mats in red and blue leather, exquisitely inlaid with
figures of birds and beasts, and skilfully embroidered with gold and
silver wire. These are marvellously beautiful things; they are used by
the Saracens to sleep upon, and capital they are for that purpose. They
also work cushions embroidered with gold, so fine that they are worth
six marks of silver a piece, whilst some of those sleeping-mats are
worth ten marks.{4}
NOTE 1.—Again we note the topographical confusion. Guzerat is
mentioned as if it were a province adjoining Malabar, and before
arriving at Tana, Cambay, and Somnath; though in fact it includes
those three cities, and Cambay was then its great mart. Wassáf,
Polo’s contemporary, perhaps acquaintance, speaks of Gujarat which
is commonly called Kambáyat. (_Elliot_, III. 31.)
NOTE 2.—[“The origin of the name [_Tamarina_] is curious. It is Ar.
_tamar-u’l-Hind_, ‘date of India,’ or perhaps rather, in Persian
form, _tamar-i-Hindī_. It is possible that the original name may
have been _thamar_, (‘fruit’) of India, rather than _tamar_,
(‘date’).” (_Hobson-Jobson_.)]
NOTE 3.—The notice of pepper here is hard to explain. But Hiuen
Tsang also speaks of Indian pepper and incense (see next chapter)
as grown at _’Ochali_ which seems to be some place on the northern
border of Guzerat (II. 161).
Marsden, in regard to the cotton, supposes here some confused
introduction of the silk-cotton tree (_Bombax_ or _Salmalia_,
the Semal of Hindustan), but the description would be entirely
inapplicable to that great forest tree. It is remarkable that
nearly the same statement with regard to Guzerat occurs in
Rashiduddin’s sketch of India, as translated in Sir H. Elliot’s
_History of India_ (_ed. by Professor Dowson_, I. 67): “Grapes
are produced twice during the year, and the strength of the soil
is such that cotton-plants grow like willows and plane-trees, and
yield produce ten years running.” An author of later date, from
whom extracts are given in the same work, viz., Mahommed Masúm in
his _History of Sind_, describing the wonders of Síwí, says: “In
Korzamin and Chhatur, which are districts of Siwi, cotton-plants
grow as large as trees, insomuch that men pick the cotton mounted”
(p. 237).
These would appear to have been plants of the species of true
cotton called by Royle _Gossipium arboreum_, and sometimes termed
_G. religiosum_, from its being often grown in South India near
temples or abodes of devotees; though the latter name has been
applied also to the nankeen cotton. That of which we speak is,
however, according to Dr. Cleghorn, termed in Mysore _Deo kapás_,
of which _G. religiosum_ would be a proper translation. It is
grown in various parts of India, but generally rather for ornament
than use. It is stated, however, to be specially used for the
manufacture of turbans, and for the Brahmanical thread, and
probably afforded the groundwork of the story told by Philostratus
of the _wild_ cotton which was used only for the sacred vestments
of the Brahmans, and refused to lend itself to other uses. One of
Royle’s authorities (Mr. Vaupell) mentions that it was grown near
large towns of Eastern Guzerat, and its wool regarded as the finest
of any, and only used in delicate muslins. Tod speaks of it in
Bikanír, and this kind of cotton appears to be grown also in China,
as we gather from a passage in _Amyot’s Mémoires_ (II. 606), which
speaks of the “Cotonniers arbres, qui ne devoient être fertiles
qu’après un bon nombre d’années.”
The height appears to have been a difficulty with Marsden, who
refers to the _G. arboreum_, but does not admit that it could be
intended. Yet I see in the _English Cyclopædia_ that to this
species is assigned a height of 15 to 20 feet. Polo’s six paces
therefore, even if it means 30 feet as I think, is not a great
exaggeration. (_Royle, Cult. of Cotton_, 144, 145, 152; _Eng.
Cycl._ art. _Gossypium_.)
NOTE 4.—Embroidered and Inlaid leather-work for bed-covers,
palankin mats and the like, is still a great manufacture in Rajkot
and other places of Kattiawár in Peninsular Guzerat, as well as in
the adjoining region of Sind. (Note from _Sir Bartle Frere_.) The
_embroidery_ of Guzerat is highly commended by Barbosa, Linschoten,
and A. Hamilton.
The G. T. adds at the end of this passage: “E qe voz en diroi?
Sachíés tout voiremant qe en ceste reingne se labore _roiaus
dereusse_ de cuir et plus sotilment que ne fait en tout lo monde, e
celz qe sunt de greingnors vailance.”
The two words in Roman type I cannot explain; qu. _royaux devises_?
CHAPTER XXVII.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF TANA.
Tana is a great kingdom lying towards the west, a kingdom great both in
size and worth. The people are Idolaters, with a language of their own,
and a king of their own, and tributary to nobody.{1} No pepper grows
there, nor other spices, but plenty of incense; not the white kind
however, but brown.{2}
There is much traffic here, and many ships and merchants frequent the
place; for there is a great export of leather of various excellent
kinds, and also of good buckram and cotton. The merchants in their
ships also import various articles, such as gold, silver, copper, and
other things in demand.
With the King’s connivance many corsairs launch from this port to
plunder merchants. These corsairs have a covenant with the King that
he shall get all the horses they capture, and all other plunder shall
remain with them. The King does this because he has no horses of his
own, whilst many are shipped from abroad towards India; for no ship
ever goes thither without horses in addition to other cargo. The
practice is naughty and unworthy of a king.
NOTE 1.—The town of THÁNA, on the landward side of the island
of Salsette, still exists, about 20 miles from Bombay. The Great
Peninsular Railroad here crosses the strait which separates
Salsette from the Continent.
The _Konkan_ is no doubt what was intended by the kingdom of
Thána. Albiruni speaks of that city as the capital of Konkan;
Rashiduddin calls it _Konkan-Tána_, Ibn Batuta _Kúkin-Tána_, the
last a form which appears in the Carta Catalana as _Cucintana_.
Tieffentaller writes _Kokan_, and this is said (_Cunningham’s Anc.
Geog._ 553) to be the local pronunciation. Abulfeda speaks of it as
a very celebrated place of trade, producing a kind of cloth which
was called _Tánasi_, bamboos, and _Tabashír_ derived from the ashes
of the bamboo.
As early as the 16th year of the Hijra (A.D. 637) an Arab fleet
from Oman made a hostile descent on the Island of Thána, _i.e._
Salsette. The place (_Sri Sthánaka_) appears from inscriptions to
have been the seat of a Hindu kingdom of the Konkan, in the 11th
century. In Polo’s time Thána seems to have been still under a
Hindu prince, but it soon afterwards became subject to the Delhi
sovereigns; and when visited by Jordanus and by Odoric some thirty
years after Polo’s voyage, a Mussulman governor was ruling there,
who put to death four Franciscans, the companions of Jordanus.
Barbosa gives it the compound name of TANA-MAIAMBU, the latter part
being the first indication I know of the name of Bombay (_Mambai_).
It was still a place of many mosques, temples, and gardens, but
the trade was small. Pirates still did business from the port, but
on a reduced scale. Botero says that there were the remains of an
immense city to be seen, and that the town still contained 5000
velvet-weavers (p. 104). Till the Mahrattas took Salsette in 1737,
the Portuguese had many fine villas about Thána.
Polo’s dislocation of geographical order here has misled Fra Mauro
into placing Tana to the west of Guzerat, though he has a duplicate
Tana nearer the correct position.
NOTE 2.—It has often been erroneously supposed that the
frankincense (_olibanum_) of commerce, for which Bombay and the
ports which preceded it in Western India have for centuries
afforded the chief mart, was an Indian product. But Marco is not
making that mistake; he calls the incense of Western India _brown_,
evidently in contrast with the _white_ incense or olibanum, which
he afterwards assigns to its true locality (_infra._ ch. xxxvii.,
xxxviii.). Nor is Marsden justified in assuming that the brown
incense of Tana must needs have been _Benzoin_ imported from
Sumatra, though I observe Dr. Birdwood considers that the term
_Indian Frankincense_ which occurs in Dioscorides must have
_included_ Benzoin. Dioscorides describes the so-called Indian
Frankincense as _blackish_; and Garcia supposes the name merely to
refer to the colour, as he says the Arabs often gave the name of
Indian to things of a dark colour.
There seems to be no proof that Benzoin was known even to the
older Arab writers. Western India supplies a variety of aromatic
gum-resins, one of which was probably intended by our traveller:
I. BOSWELLIA THURIFERA of Colebrooke, whose description led to
a general belief that this tree produced the Frankincense of
commerce. The tree is found in Oudh and Rohilkhand, in Bahár,
Central India, Khandesh, and Kattiawár, etc. The gum-resin is used
and sold locally as an incense, but is soft and sticky, and is
_not_ the olibanum of commerce; nor is it collected for exportation.
The Coromandel _Boswellia glabra_ of Roxburgh is now included (see
Dr. Birdwood’s Monograph) as a variety under the _B. thurifera_.
Its gum-resin is a good deal used as incense, in the Tamul regions,
under the name of _Kundrikam_, with which is apparently connected
_Kundur_, one of the Arabic words for _olibanum_ (see ch. xxxviii.,
note 2).
II. _Vateria Indica_ (Roxb.), producing a gum-resin which when
recent is known as _Piney Varnish_, and when hardened, is sold
for export under the names of _Indian Copal_, _White Dammar_, and
others. Its northern limit of growth is North Canara; but the
gum is exported from Bombay. The tree is the _Chloroxylon Dupada_
of Buchanan, and is, I imagine, the _Dupu_ or Incense Tree of
Rheede. (_Hort. Malab._ IV.) The tree is a fine one, and forms
beautiful avenues in Malabar and Canara. The Hindus use the resin
as an incense, and in Malabar it is also made into candles which
burn fragrantly and with little smoke. It is, or was, also used
as pitch, and is probably the _thus_ with which Indian vessels,
according to Joseph of Cranganore (in _Novus Orbis_), were payed.
Garcia took it for the ancient _Cancamum_, but this Dr. Birdwood
identifies with the next, viz.:—
III. _Gardenia lucida_ (Roxb.). It grows in the Konkan districts,
producing a fragrant resin called _Dikamáli_ in India, and by the
Arabs _Kankham_.
IV. _Balsamodendron Mukul_, growing in Sind, Kattiawár and the
Deesa District, and producing the Indian _Bdellium_, _Muḳl_ of the
Arabs and Persians, used as an incense and as a cordial medicine.
It is believed to be the Βδέλλα mentioned in the _Periplus_ as
exported from the Indus, and also as brought down with _Costus_
through _Ozene_ (Ujjain) to _Barygaza_ (Baroch—see Müller’s _Geog.
Græc. Minor._ I. 287, 293). It is mentioned also (_Muḳl_) by
Albiruni as a special product of Kachh, and is probably the incense
of that region alluded to by Hiuen Tsang. (See last chapter, note
3.) It is of a yellow, red, or brownish colour. (_Eng. Cyc._ art.
_Bdellium_; _Dowson’s Elliot_, I. 66; _Reinaud_ in _J. As._ sér.
IV. tom. iv. p. 263).
V. _Canarium strictum_ (Roxb.), of the Western Ghats, affording the
_Black Dammar_ of Malabar, which when fresh is aromatic and yellow
in colour. It abounds in the country adjoining Tana. The natives
use it as incense, and call the tree _Dhúp_ (incense) and _Gugul_
(Bdellium).
Besides these resinous substances, the _Costus_ of the Ancients may
be mentioned (Sansk. _Kushṭh_), being still exported from Western
India, as well as from Calcutta, to China, under the name of
_Putchok_, to be burnt as incense in Chinese temples. Its identity
has been ascertained in our own day by Drs. Royle and Falconer, as
the root of a plant which they called _Aucklandia Costus_. But the
identity of the _Pucho_ (which he gives as the Malay name) with
Costus was known to Garcia. Alex. Hamilton, at the beginning of
last century, calls it _Ligna Dulcis_ (_sic_), and speaks of it as
an export from Sind, as did the author of the _Periplus_ 1600 years
earlier.
My own impression is that _Muḳl_ or _Bdellium_ was the brown
incense of Polo, especially because we see from Albiruni that this
was regarded as a staple export from neighbouring regions. But Dr.
Birdwood considers that the Black Dammar of _Canarium strictum_ is
in question. (_Report on Indian Gum-Resins_, by _Mr. Dalzell_ of
Bot. Gard. Bombay, 1866; _Birdwood’s Bombay Products_, 2nd ed. pp.
282, 287, etc.; _Drury’s Useful Plants of India_, 2nd ed.; _Garcia;
A. Hamilton_, I. 127; _Eng. Cyc._, art. _Putchuk; Buchanan’s
Journey_, II. 44, 335, etc.)
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF CAMBAET.
Cambaet is a great kingdom lying further west. The people are
Idolaters, and have a language of their own, and a king of their own,
and are tributary to nobody.{1}
The North Star is here still more clearly visible; and henceforward
the further you go west the higher you see it.
There is a great deal of trade in this country. It produces indigo in
great abundance; and they also make much fine buckram. There is also a
quantity of cotton which is exported hence to many quarters; and there
is a great trade in hides, which are very well dressed; with many other
kinds of merchandize too tedious to mention. Merchants come here with
many ships and cargoes, but what they chiefly bring is gold, silver,
copper [and tutia].
There are no pirates from this country; the inhabitants are good
people, and live by their trade and manufactures.
NOTE 1.—CAMBAET is nearer the genuine name of the city than our
CAMBAY. Its proper Hindu name was, according to Colonel Tod,
_Khambavati_, “the City of the Pillar.” The inhabitants write it
_Kambáyat_. The ancient city is 3 miles from the existing Cambay,
and is now overgrown with jungle. It is spoken of as a flourishing
place by Mas’udi, who visited it in A.D. 915. Ibn Batuta speaks
of it also as a very fine city, remarkable for the elegance and
solidity of its mosques, and houses built by wealthy foreign
merchants. _Cambeth_ is mentioned by Polo’s contemporary Marino
Sanudo, as one of the two chief Ocean Ports of India; and in the
15th century Conti calls it 14 miles in circuit. It was still in
high prosperity in the early part of the 16th century, abounding
in commerce and luxury, and one of the greatest Indian marts. Its
trade continued considerable in the time of Federici, towards the
end of that century; but it has now long disappeared, the local
part of it being transferred to Gogo and other ports having deeper
water. Its chief or sole industry now is in the preparation of
ornamental objects from agates, cornelians, and the like.
The Indigo of Cambay was long a staple export, and is mentioned by
Conti, Nikitin, Santo Stefano, Federici, Linschoten, and Abu’l Fazl.
The independence of Cambay ceased a few years after Polo’s visit;
for it was taken in the end of the century by the armies of
Aláuddín Khilji of Delhi, a king whose name survived in Guzerat
down to our own day as _Aláuddín Khúní_—Bloody Alauddin. (_Rás
Málá_, I. 235.)
CHAPTER XXIX.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF SEMENAT.
Semenat is a great kingdom towards the west. The people are Idolaters,
and have a king and a language of their own, and pay tribute to nobody.
They are not corsairs, but live by trade and industry as honest people
ought. It is a place of very great trade. They are forsooth cruel
Idolaters.{1}
[Illustration: “The Gates of Somnath,” preserved in the British Arsenal
at Agra, from a photograph (converted into elevation).]
NOTE 1.—SOMNATH is the site of the celebrated Temple on the coast
of Sauráshtra, or Peninsular Guzerat, plundered by Mahmúd of Ghazni
on his sixteenth expedition to India (A.D. 1023). The term “great
kingdom” is part of Polo’s formula. But the place was at this time
of some importance as a commercial port, and much visited by the
ships of Aden, as Abulfeda tells us. At an earlier date Albiruni
speaks of it both as the seat of a great Mahadeo much frequented
by Hindu pilgrims, and as a port of call for vessels on their way
from Sofala in Africa to China,—a remarkable incidental notice
of departed trade and civilisation! He does not give Somnath so
good a character as Polo does; for he names it as one of the
chief pirate-haunts. And Colonel Tod mentions that the sculptured
memorial stones on this coast frequently exhibit the deceased as a
pirate in the act of boarding. In fact, piratical habits continued
in the islands off the coast of Kattiawár down to our own day.
Properly speaking, three separate things are lumped together as
Somnáth: (1) The Port, properly called Veráwal, on a beautiful
little bay; (2) the City of Deva-Pattan, Somnáth-Pattan, or
Prabhás, occupying a prominence on the south side of the bay,
having a massive wall and towers, and many traces of ancient Hindu
workmanship, though the vast multitude of tombs around shows the
existence of a large Mussulman population at some time; and among
these are dates nearly as old as our Traveller’s visit; (3) The
famous Temple (or, strictly speaking, the object of worship in that
Temple) crowning a projecting rock at the south-west angle of the
city, and close to the walls. Portions of columns and sculptured
fragments strew the soil around.
Notwithstanding the famous story of Mahmúd and the image stuffed
with jewels, there is little doubt that the idol really termed
Somnáth (Moon’s Lord) was nothing but a huge columnar emblem of
Mahadeo. Hindu authorities mention it as one of the twelve most
famous emblems of that kind over India, and Ibn Ásir’s account,
the oldest extant narrative of Mahmúd’s expedition, is to the same
effect. Every day it was washed with water newly brought from the
Ganges. Mahmúd broke it to pieces, and with a fragment a step was
made at the entrance of the Jámi’ Mosque at Ghazni.
The temples and idols of Pattan underwent a second visitation at
the hands of Aláuddin’s forces a few years after Polo’s visit
(1300),[1] and this seems in great measure to have wiped out the
memory of Mahmúd. The temple, as it now stands deserted, bears
evident tokens of having been converted into a mosque. A good
deal of old and remarkable architecture remains, but mixed with
Moslem work, and no part of the building as it stands is believed
to be a survival from the time of Mahmúd; though part may belong
to a reconstruction which was carried out by Raja Bhima Deva of
Anhilwara about twenty-five years after Mahmúd’s invasion. It is
remarkable that Ibn Ásir speaks of the temple plundered by Mahmúd
as “built upon 56 pillars of teak-wood covered with lead.” Is it
possible that it was a wooden building?
In connection with this brief chapter on Somnáth we present a
faithful representation of those Gates which Lord Ellenborough
rendered so celebrated in connection with that name, when he caused
them to be removed from the Tomb of Mahmúd, on the retirement of
our troops from Kabul in 1842. His intention, as announced in that
once famous _pæan_ of his, was to have them carried solemnly to
Guzerat, and there restored to the (long desecrated) temple. Calmer
reflection prevailed, and the Gates were consigned to the Fort of
Agra, where they still remain.
Captain J. D. Cunningham, in his _Hist. of the Sikhs_ (p. 209),
says that in 1831, when Sháh Shúja treated with Ranjít Singh for
aid to recover his throne, one of the Mahárája’s conditions was the
restoration of the Gates to Somnáth. This probably put the scheme
into Lord Ellenborough’s head. But a remarkable fact is, that the
Sháh reminded Ranjít of _a prophecy that foreboded the downfall of
the Sikh Empire on the removal of the Ghazni Gates_. This is quoted
from a report of Captain Wade’s, dated 21st November, 1831. The
gates were removed to India in the end of 1842. The “Sikh Empire”
practically collapsed with the murder of Sher Singh in September,
1843.
It is not probable that there was any _real_ connection between
these Gates, of Saracenic design, carved (it is said) in Himalayan
cedar, and the Temple of Somnáth. But tradition did ascribe to
them such a connection, and the eccentric prank of a clever man in
high place made this widely known. Nor in any case can we regard
as alien to the scope of this book the illustration of a work
of mediæval Asiatic art, which is quite as remarkable for its
own character and indisputable history, as for the questionable
origin ascribed to it. (_Tod’s Travels_, 385, 504; _Burgess,
Visit to Somnath_, etc.; _Jacob’s Report on Kattywar_, p. 18;
_Gildemeister_, 185; _Dowson’s Elliot_, II. 468 _seqq._; _Asiatic
Journal_, 3rd series, vol. I.).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] So in _Elliot_, II. 74. But Jacob says there is an inscription of a
Mussulman Governor in Pattan of 1297.
CHAPTER XXX.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF KESMACORAN.
Kesmacoran is a kingdom having a king of its own and a peculiar
language. [Some of] the people are Idolaters, [but the most part
are Saracens]. They live by merchandize and industry, for they are
professed traders, and carry on much traffic by sea and land in all
directions. Their food is rice [and corn], flesh and milk, of which
they have great store. There is no more to be said about them.{1}
And you must know that this kingdom of Kesmacoran is the last in
India as you go towards the west and north-west. You see, from Maabar
on, this province is what is called the GREATER INDIA, and it is the
best of all the Indies. I have now detailed to you all the kingdoms
and provinces and (chief) cities of this India the Greater, that are
upon the seaboard; but of those that lie in the interior I have said
nothing, because that would make too long a story.{2}
And so now let us proceed, and I will tell you of some of the Indian
Islands. And I will begin by two Islands which are called Male and
Female.
NOTE 1.—Though M. Pauthier has imagined objections there is no
room for doubt that _Kesmacoran_ is the province of MEKRAN, known
habitually all over the East as KIJ-MAKRÁN, from the combination
with the name of the country of that of its chief town, just as we
lately met with a converse combination in _Konkan-tana_. This was
pointed out to Marsden by his illustrious friend Major Rennell. We
find the term _Kij Makrán_ used by Ibn Batuta (III. 47); by the
Turkish Admiral Sidi ’Ali (_J. As._, sér. I. tom. ix. 72; and _J.
A. S. B._ V. 463); by Sharifuddin (_P. de la Croix_, I. 379, II.
417–418); in the famous Sindian Romeo-and-Juliet tale of Sassi and
Pannún (_Elliot_, I. 333); by Pietro della Valle (I. 724, II. 358);
by Sir F. Goldsmid (_J. R. A. S._, N.S., I. 38); and see for other
examples, _J. A. S. B._ VII. 298, 305, 308; VIII. 764; XIV. 158;
XVII. pt. ii. 559: XX. 262, 263.
The argument that Mekrán was not a province of India only amounts
to saying that Polo has made a mistake. But the fact is that it
often _was_ reckoned to belong to India, from ancient down to
comparatively modern times. Pliny says: “Many indeed do not reckon
the Indus to be the western boundary of India, but include in that
term also four satrapies on this side the river, the Gedrosi,
the Arachoti, the Arii, and the Parapomisadae (_i.e._ Mekrán,
Kandahar, Herat, and Kabul) ... whilst others class all these
together under the name of Ariana” (VI. 23). Arachosia, according
to Isidore of Charax, was termed by the Parthians “White India.”
Aelian calls Gedrosia a part of India. (_Hist. Animal._ XVII.
6.) In the 6th century the Nestorian Patriarch Jesujabus, as we
have seen (_supra_, ch. xxii. note 1), considered all to be India
from the coast of Persia, _i.e._ of Fars, beginning from near the
Gulf. According to Ibn Khordâdhbeh, the boundary between Persia
and India was seven days’ sail from Hormuz and eight from Daibul,
or less than half-way from the mouth of the Gulf to the Indus.
(_J. As._ sér. VI. tom. v. 283.) Beladhori speaks of the Arabs in
early expeditions as invading Indian territory about the Lake of
Sijistan; and Istakhri represents this latter country as bounded
on the north and _partly on the west_ by portions of India. Kabul
was still reckoned in India. Chach, the last Hindu king of Sind
but one, is related to have marched through Mekrán to a river
which formed the limit between Mekrán and Kermán. On its banks he
planted date-trees, and set up a monument which bore: _“This was
the boundary of_ HIND in the time of Chach, the son of Síláij, the
son of Basábas.” In the Geography of Bakui we find it stated that
“Hind is a great country which begins at the province of Mekrán.”
(_N. and E._ II. 54.) In the map of Marino Sanuto India begins from
Hormuz; and it is plain from what Polo says in quitting that city
that he considered the next step from it south-eastward would have
taken him to India (_supra_, i. p. 110).
[“The name Mekran has been commonly, but erroneously, derived from
Mahi Khoran, _i.e._ the fish-eaters, or _ichthyophagi_, which was
the title given to the inhabitants of the Beluchi coast-fringe by
Arrian. But the word is a Dravidian name, and appears as Makara
in the _Bṛhat Sanhita_ of Varaha Mihira in a list of the tribes
contiguous to India on the west. It is also the Μακαρήνη of Stephen
of Byzantium, and the Makuran of Tabari, and Moses of Chorene. Even
were it not a Dravidian name, in no old Aryan dialect could it
signify fish-eaters.” (_Curzon, Persia_, II. p. 261, note.)
“It is to be noted that Kesmacoran is a combination of Kech or Kej
and Makrán, and the term is even to-day occasionally used.” (_Major
P. M. Sykes, Persia_, p. 102.)—H. C.]
We may add a Romance definition of India from _King Alisaunder_:—
“Lordynges, also I fynde,
_At Mede so bigynneth Ynde:_
Forsothe ich woot, it stretcheth ferest
Of alle the Londes in the Est,
And oth the South half sikerlyk,
To the cee taketh of Affryk;
And the north half to a Mountayne,
That is yclepèd Caucasayne.”—L 4824–4831.
It is probable that Polo merely coasted Mekrán; he seems to know
nothing of the Indus, and what he says of Mekrán is vague.
NOTE 2.—As Marco now winds up his detail of the Indian coast, it
is proper to try to throw some light on his partial derangement of
its geography. In the following columns the first shows the _real_
geographical order from east to west of the Indian provinces as
named by Polo, and the second shows the order as _he_ puts them.
The Italic names are brief and general identifications.
_Real order_. _Polo’s order_.
1. Mutfili (_Telingana_). 1. Mutfili.
{ 2. St. Thomas’s (_Madras_). 2. St. Thomas’s
MAABAR, { 3. Maabar Proper, Kingdom of (Lar, west of do.).
including { Sonder Bandi (_Tanjore_). 3. Maabar proper, or Soli.
{ 4. Cail (_Tinnevelly_). 4. Cail.
5. Comari (_C. Comorin_). 5. Coilum.
MELIBAR, { 6. Coilum (_Travancore_). 6. Comari.
including { 7. Eli (_Cananore_). 7. Eli.
GUZERAT, { 8. Tana (_Bombay_). 8. (MELIBAR).
or LAR, { 9. Canbaet (_Cambay_). 9. (GOZURAT).
including {10. Semenat (_Somnath_). 10. Tana.
11. Kesmacoran (_Mekran_). 11. Canbaet.
12. Semenat.
13. Kesmacoran.
It is difficult to suppose that the fleet carrying the bride of
Arghun went out of its way to Maabar, St. Thomas’s, and Telingana.
And on the other hand, what is said in chapter xxiii. on Comari,
about the North Star not having been visible since they approached
the Lesser Java, would have been grossly inaccurate if in the
interval the travellers had been north as far as Madras and
Motupalle. That passage suggests to me strongly that Comari was
the first Indian land made by the fleet on arriving from the
Archipelago (exclusive _perhaps_ of Ceylon). Note then that the
position of Eli is marked by its distance of 300 miles from Comari,
evidently indicating that this was a run made by the traveller _on
some occasion_ without an intermediate stoppage. Tana, Cambay,
Somnath, would follow naturally as points of call.
In Polo’s order, again, the positions of Comari and Coilum are
transposed, whilst Melibar is introduced as if it were a country
_westward_ (as Polo views it, northward we should say)[1] of Coilum
and Eli, instead of including them, and Gozurat is introduced as a
country lying _eastward_ (or southward, as we should say) of Tana,
Cambaet, and Semenat, instead of including them, or at least the
two latter. Moreover, he names no cities in connection with those
two countries.
The following hypothesis, really not a complex one, is the most
probable that I can suggest to account for these confusions.
I conceive, then, that Cape Comorin (Comari) was the first Indian
land made by the fleet on the homeward voyage, and that Hili, Tana,
Cambay, Somnath, were touched at successively as it proceeded
towards Persia.
I conceive that in a former voyage to India on the Great Kaan’s
business Marco had visited Maabar and Kaulam, and gained partly
from actual visits and partly from information the substance of the
notices he gives us of Telingana and St. Thomas’s on the one side
and of Malabar and Guzerat on the other, and that in combining into
one series the results of the information acquired on two different
voyages he failed rightly to co-ordinate the material, and thus
those dislocations which we have noticed occurred, as they very
easily might, in days when maps had practically no existence; to
say nothing of the accidents of dictation.
The expression in this passage for “the cities that lie in the
interior,” is in the G. T. “_celz qe sunt_ en fra terres”; see I.
43. Pauthier’s text has “_celles qui sont_ en ferme terre,” which
is nonsense here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Abulfeda’s orientation is the same as Polo’s.
CHAPTER XXXI.
DISCOURSETH OF THE TWO ISLANDS CALLED MALE AND FEMALE, AND WHY
THEY ARE SO CALLED.
When you leave this kingdom of Kesmacoran, which is on the mainland,
you go by sea some 500 miles towards the south; and then you find the
two Islands, MALE and FEMALE, lying about 30 miles distant from one
another. The people are all baptized Christians, but maintain the
ordinances of the Old Testament; thus when their wives are with child
they never go near them till their confinement, or for forty days
thereafter.
In the Island however which is called Male, dwell the men alone,
without their wives or any other women. Every year when the month of
March arrives the men all set out for the other Island, and tarry there
for three months, to wit, March, April, May, dwelling with their wives
for that space. At the end of those three months they return to their
own Island, and pursue their husbandry and trade for the other nine
months.
They find on this Island very fine ambergris. They live on flesh and
milk and rice. They are capital fishermen, and catch a great quantity
of fine large sea-fish, and these they dry, so that all the year they
have plenty of food, and also enough to sell to the traders who go
thither. They have no chief except a bishop, who is subject to the
archbishop of another Island, of which we shall presently speak, called
SCOTRA. They have also a peculiar language.
As for the children which their wives bear to them, if they be girls
they abide with their mothers; but if they be boys the mothers bring
them up till they are fourteen, and then send them to the fathers. Such
is the custom of these two Islands. The wives do nothing but nurse
their children and gather such fruits as their Island produces; for
their husbands do furnish them with all necessaries.{1}
NOTE 1.—It is not perhaps of much use to seek a serious
identification of the locality of these Islands, or, as Marsden
has done, to rationalise the fable. It ran from time immemorial,
and as nobody ever found the Islands, their locality shifted with
the horizon, though the legend long hung about Socotra and its
vicinity. Coronelli’s Atlas (Venice, 1696) identifies these islands
with those called Abdul Kuri near Cape Gardafui, and the same
notion finds favour with Marsden. No islands indeed exist in the
position indicated by Polo if we look to his direction “south of
Kesmacoran,” but if we take his indication of “half-way between
Mekrán and Socotra,” the Kuria Muria Islands on the Arabian coast,
in which M. Pauthier longs to trace these veritable Male and Female
Isles, will be nearer than any others. Marco’s statement that they
had a bishop subject to the metropolitan of Socotra certainly looks
as if certain concrete islands had been associated with the tale.
Friar Jordanus (p. 44) also places them between India the Greater
and India Tertia (_i.e._ with him Eastern Africa). Conti locates
them not more than 5 miles from Socotra, and yet 100 mile distant
from one another. “Sometimes the men pass over to the women, and
sometimes the women pass over to the men, and each return to their
own respective island before the expiration of six months. Those
who remain on the island of the others beyond this fatal period die
immediately” (p. 21). Fra Mauro places the islands to the south of
Zanzibar, and gives them the names of _Mangla_ and _Nebila_. One is
curious to know whence came these names, one of which seems to be
Sanskrit, the other (also in Sanudo’s map) Arabic; (_Nabílah_, Ar.,
“Beautiful”; _Mangala_, Sansk. “Fortunate”).
A savour of the story survived to the time of the Portuguese
discoveries, and it had by that time attached itself to Socotra.
(_De Barros_, Dec. II. Liv. i. cap. 3; _Bartoli, H. della Comp. di
Gesù_, Asia, I. p. 37; _P. Vincenzo_, p. 443.)
The story was, I imagine, a mere ramification of the ancient and
wide-spread fable of the Amazons, and is substantially the same
that Palladius tells of the Brahmans; how the men lived on one side
of the Ganges and the women on the other. The husbands visited
their wives for 40 days only in June, July, and August, “those
being their cold months, as the sun was then to the north.” And
when a wife had once borne a child the husband returned no more.
(_Müller’s Ps. Callisth._ 105.) The Mahábhárata celebrates the
Amazon country of Ráná Paramitá, where the regulations were much as
in Polo’s islands, only male children were put to death, and men if
they overstayed a month. (_Wheeler’s India_, I. 400.)
Hiuen Tsang’s version of the legend agrees with Marco’s in placing
the Woman’s Island to the south of Persia. It was called the
_Kingdom of Western Women_. There were none but women to be seen.
It was under _Folin_ (the Byzantine Empire), and the ruler thereof
sent husbands every year; if boys were born, the law prohibited
their being brought up. (_Vie et Voyages_, p. 268.) Alexander, in
Ferdúsi’s poem, visits the City of Women on an island in the sea,
where no man was allowed.
The Chinese accounts, dating from the 5th century, of a remote
Eastern Land called Fusang, which Neumann fancied to have been
Mexico, mention that to the east of that region again there was a
Woman’s Island, with the usual particulars. (_Lassen_, IV. 751.)
[Cf. _G. Schlegel, Niu Kouo, T’oung Pao_, III. pp. 495–510.—H. C.]
Oddly enough, Columbus heard the same story of an island called
Matityna or Matinino (apparently Martinique) which he sighted on
his second voyage. The Indians on board “asserted that it had no
inhabitants but women, who at a certain time of the year were
visited by the Cannibals (Caribs); if the children born were boys
they were brought up and sent to their fathers, if girls they were
retained by the mothers. They reported also that these women had
certain subterranean caverns in which they took refuge if any one
went thither except at the established season,” etc. (_P. Martyr_
in _Ramusio_, III. 3 _v._ and see 85.) Similar Amazons are placed
by Adam of Bremen on the Baltic Shores, a story there supposed to
have originated in a confusion between Gwenland, _i.e._ Finland,
and a land of _Cwens_ or Women.
Mendoza heard of the like in the vicinity of Japan (perhaps the
real Fusang story), though he opines judiciously that “this is
very doubtful to be beleeved, although I have bin certified by
religious men that have talked with persons that within these two
yeares have beene at the saide ilands, and have seene the saide
women.” (_H. of China_, II. 301.) Lane quotes a like tale about a
horde of Cossacks whose wives were said to live apart on certain
islands in the Dnieper. (_Arab. Nights_, 1859, III. 479.) The
same story is related by a missionary in the _Lettres Édifiantes_
of certain unknown islands supposed to lie south of the Marian
group. Pauthier, from whom I derive this last instance, draws the
conclusion: “On voit que le récit de Marc Pol est loin d’être
imaginaire.” Mine from the premises would be different!
Sometimes the fable took another form; in which the women are
entirely isolated, as in that which Mela quotes from Hanno (III.
9). So with the Isle of Women which Kazwini and Bakui place to the
South of China. They became enceinte by the Wind, or by eating a
particular fruit [or by plunging into the sea; cf. _Schlegel_,
_l.c._—H. C.], or, as in a Chinese tradition related by Magaillans,
by looking at their own faces in a well! The like fable is
localised by the Malays in the island of Engano off Sumatra, and
was related to Pigafetta of an island under Great Java called
Ocoloro, perhaps the same.
(_Magail._ 76; _Gildem._ 196; _N. et Ex._ II. 398; _Pigafetta_,
173; _Marsden’s Sumatra_, 1st ed. p. 264.)
CHAPTER XXXII.
CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SCOTRA.
When you leave those two Islands and go about 500 miles further towards
the south, then you come to an Island called SCOTRA. The people are
all baptized Christians; and they have an Archbishop. They have a
great deal of ambergris; and plenty also of cotton stuffs and other
merchandize; especially great quantities of salt fish of a large and
excellent kind. They also eat flesh and milk and rice, for that is
their only kind of corn; and they all go naked like the other Indians.
[The ambergris comes from the stomach of the whale, and as it is a
great object of trade, the people contrive to take the whales with
barbed iron darts, which, once they are fixed in the body, cannot
come out again. A long cord is attached to this end, to that a small
buoy which floats on the surface, so that when the whale dies they
know where to find it. They then draw the body ashore and extract the
ambergris from the stomach and the oil from the head.{1}]
There is a great deal of trade there, for many ships come from all
quarters with goods to sell to the natives. The merchants also purchase
gold there, by which they make a great profit; and all the vessels
bound for Aden touch at this Island.
Their Archbishop has nothing to do with the Pope of Rome, but is
subject to the great Archbishop who lives at Baudas. He rules over the
Bishop of that Island, and over many other Bishops in those regions of
the world, just as our Pope does in these.{2}
A multitude of corsairs frequent the Island; they come there and encamp
and put up their plunder to sale; and this they do to good profit,
for the Christians of the Island purchase it, knowing well that it is
Saracen or Pagan gear.{3}
And you must know that in this Island there are the best enchanters in
the world. It is true that their Archbishop forbids the practice to the
best of his ability; but ’tis all to no purpose, for they insist that
their forefathers followed it, and so must they also. I will give you
a sample of their enchantments. Thus, if a ship be sailing past with a
fair wind and a strong, they will raise a contrary wind and compel her
to turn back. In fact they make the wind blow as they list, and produce
great tempests and disasters; and other such sorceries they perform,
which it will be better to say nothing about in our Book.{4}
NOTE 1.—Mr. Blyth appears to consider that the only whale met with
nowadays in the Indian Sea _north of the line_ is a great Rorqual
or _Balaenoptera_, to which he gives the specific name of _Indica_.
(See _J. A. S. B._ XXVIII. 481.) The text, however (from Ramusio),
clearly points to the Spermaceti whale; and Maury’s Whale-Chart
consists with this.
“The best ambergris,” says Mas’udi, “is found on the islands and
coasts of the Sea of Zinj (Eastern Africa); it is round, of a pale
blue, and sometimes as big as an ostrich egg.... These are morsels
which have been swallowed by the fish called _Awál_. When the sea
is much agitated it casts up fragments of amber almost like lumps
of rock, and the fish swallowing these is choked thereby, and
floats on the surface. The men of Zinj, or wherever it be, then
come in their canoes, and fall on the creature with harpoons and
cables, draw it ashore, cut it up, and extract the ambergris” (I.
134).
Kazwini speaks of whales as often imprisoned by the ebb tide in the
channels about Basra. The people harpooned them, and got much oil
_out of the brain_, which they used for lamps, and smearing their
ships. This also is clearly the sperm whale. (_Ethé_, p. 268.)
After having been long doubted, scientific opinion seems to have
come back to the opinion that ambergris is an excretion from the
whale. “Ambergris is a morbid secretion in the intestines of the
cachalot, deriving its origin either from the stomach or biliary
ducts, and allied in its nature to gall-stones, ... whilst the
masses found floating on the sea are those that have been voided
by the whale, or liberated from the dead animal by the process of
putrefaction.” (_Bennett, Whaling Voyage Round the Globe_, 1840,
II. 326.)
[“The _Pen ts’ao_, ch. xliii. fol. 5, mentions ambergris under
the name _lung sien hiang_ (dragon’s saliva perfume), and
describes it as a sweet-scented product, which is obtained from
the south-western sea. It is greasy, and at first yellowish
white; when dry, it forms pieces of a yellowish black colour. In
spring whole herds of dragons swim in that sea, and vomit it out.
Others say that it is found in the belly of a large fish. This
description also doubtless points to ambergris, which in reality is
a pathological secretion of the intestines of the spermaceti whale
(_Physeter macrocephalus_), a large cetaceous animal. The best
ambergris is collected on the Arabian coast. In the _Ming shi_ (ch.
cccxxvi.) _lung sien hiang_ is mentioned as a product of _Bu-la-wa_
(_Brava_, on the east coast of Africa), and _an-ba-rh_ (evidently
also ambergris) amongst the products of _Dsu-fa-rh_ (_Dsahfar_, on
the south coast of Arabia).” (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. p. 152,
note.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—_Scotra_ probably represented the usual pronunciation
of the name SOCOTRA, which has been hypothetically traced to a
Sanskrit original, _Dvípa-Sukhádhára_, “the Island Abode of Bliss,”
from which (contracted _Diuskadra_) the Greeks made “the island of
_Dioscorides_.”
So much painful interest attaches to the history of a people once
Christian, but now degenerated almost to savagery, that some detail
maybe permitted on this subject.
The _Periplus_ calls the island very large, but desolate; ... the
inhabitants were few, and dwelt on the north side. They were of
foreign origin, being a mixture of Arabs, Indians, and Greeks, who
had come thither in search of gain.... The island was under the
king of the Incense Country.... Traders came from _Muza_ (near
Mocha) and sometimes from _Limyrica_ and _Barygaza_ (Malabar and
Guzerat), bringing rice, wheat, and Indian muslins, with female
slaves, which had a ready sale. Cosmas (6th century) says there
was in the island a bishop, appointed from Persia. The inhabitants
spoke Greek, having been originally settled there by the Ptolemies.
“There are clergy there also, ordained and sent from Persia to
minister among the people of the island, and a multitude of
Christians. We sailed past the island, but did not land. I met,
however, with people from it who were on their way to Ethiopia, and
they spoke Greek.”
The ecclesiastical historian Nicephorus Callistus seems to allude
to the people of Socotra, when he says that among the nations
visited by the missionary Theophilus, in the time of Constantius,
were “the Assyrians on the verge of the outer ocean towards the
East ... whom Alexander the Great, after driving them from Syria,
sent thither to settle, and to this day they keep their mother
tongue, though all of the blackest, through the power of the sun’s
rays.” The Arab voyagers of the 9th century say that the island was
colonised with Greeks by Alexander the Great, in order to promote
the culture of the Socotrine aloes; when the other Greeks adopted
Christianity these did likewise, and they had continued to retain
their profession of it. The colonising by Alexander is probably a
fable, but invented to account for facts.
[Edrisi says (_Jaubert’s transl._ pp. 47, _seqq._) that the chief
produce of Socotra is aloes, and that most of the inhabitants
of this island are Christians; for this reason: when Alexander
had subjugated Porus, his master Aristotle gave him the advice
to seek after the island producing aloes; after his conquest of
India, Alexander remembered the advice, and on his return journey
from the Sea of India to the Sea of Oman, he stopped at Socotra,
which he greatly admired for its fertility and the pleasantness
of its climate. Acting on the advice of Aristotle, Alexander
removed the inhabitants from their island, and established in
their place a colony of Ionians, to whom he entrusted the care of
cultivating aloes. These Greeks were converted when the Christian
religion was preached to them, and their descendants have remained
Christians.—H. C.]
In the list of the metropolitan Sees of the Nestorian Church
we find one called _Kotrobah_, which is supposed to stand for
Socotra. According to Edrisi, Kotrobah was an island inhabited by
Christians; he speaks of Socotra separately, but no island suits
his description of Kotrobah but Socotra itself; and I suspect that
we have here geography in duplicate, no uncommon circumstance.
There is an epistle extant from the Nestorian Patriarch Jesujabus
(A.D. 650–660), _ad Episcopos Catarensium_, which Assemani
interprets of the Christians in Socotra and the adjacent coasts
of Arabia (III. 133).[1] Abulfeda says the people of Socotra were
Nestorian Christians and pirates. Nicolo Conti, in the first half
of the 15th century, spent two months on the island (_Sechutera_).
He says it was for the most part inhabited by Nestorian Christians.
[Professor W. R. Smith, in a letter to Sir H. Yule, dated
Cambridge, 15th June, 1886, writes: “The authorities for Kotrobah
seem to be (1) Edrisi, (2) the list of Nestorian Bishops in
Assemani. There is no trace of such a name anywhere else that I
can find. But there is a place called Ḳaṭar about which most of
the Arab Geographers know very little, but which is mentioned in
poetry. Bekri, who seems best informed, says that it lay between
Bahrain and Oman.... Iṣṭakhri and Ibn Ḥaukal speak of the Ḳaṭar
pirates. Their collective name is the Ḳaṭaríya.”]
Some indications point rather to a connection of the island’s
Christianity with the Jacobite or Abyssinian Church. Thus they
practised circumcision, as mentioned by Maffei in noticing the
proceedings of Alboquerque at Socotra. De Barros calls them
Jacobite Christians of the Abyssinian stock. Barbosa speaks of them
as an olive-coloured people, Christian only in name, having neither
baptism nor Christian knowledge, and having for many years lost all
acquaintance with the Gospel. Andrea Corsali calls them Christian
shepherds of Ethiopian race, like Abyssinians. They lived on dates,
milk, and butter; some rice was imported. They had churches like
mosques, but with altars in Christian fashion.
When Francis Xavier visited the island there were still distinct
traces of the Church. The people reverenced the cross, placing it
on their altars, and hanging it round their necks. Every village
had its minister, whom they called _Kashís_ (_Ar._ for a Christian
Presbyter), to whom they paid tithe. No man could read. The Kashís
repeated prayers antiphonetically in a forgotten tongue, which De
Barros calls Chaldee, frequently scattering incense; a word like
_Alleluia_ often recurred. For bells they used wooden rattles.
They assembled in their churches four times a day, and held St.
Thomas in great veneration. The Kashíses married, but were very
abstemious. They had two Lents, and then fasted strictly from meat,
milk, and fish.
The last vestiges of Christianity in Socotra, so far as we know,
are those traced by P. Vincenzo, the Carmelite, who visited the
island after the middle of the 17th century. The people still
retained a profession of Christianity, but without any knowledge,
and with a strange jumble of rites; sacrificing to the moon;
circumcising; abominating wine and pork. They had churches which
they called _Moquame_ (_Ar. Maḳám_, “Locus, Statio”?), dark, low,
and dirty, daily anointed with butter. On the altar was a cross
and a candle. The cross was regarded with ignorant reverence, and
carried in processions. They assembled in their churches three
times in the day, and three times in the night, and in their
worship burned much incense, etc. The priests were called _Odambo_,
elected and consecrated by the people, and changed every year. Of
baptism and other sacraments they had no knowledge.
There were two races: one, black with crisp hair; the other, less
black, of better aspect, and with straight hair. Each family had
a cave in which they deposited their dead. They cultivated a few
palms, and kept flocks; had no money, no writing, and kept tale of
their flocks by bags of stones. They often committed suicide in
age, sickness, or defeat. When rain failed they selected a victim
by lot, and placing him within a circle, addressed prayers to the
moon. If without success they cut off the poor wretch’s hands. They
had many who practised sorcery. The women were all called _Maria_,
which the author regarded as a relic of Christianity; this De
Barros also notices a century earlier.
Now, not a trace of former Christianity can be discovered—unless it
be in the name of one of the villages on the coast, _Colesseeah_,
which looks as if it faintly commemorated both the ancient religion
and the ancient language (ἐκκλησία). The remains of one building,
traditionally a place of worship, were shown to Wellsted; he could
find nothing to connect it with Christianity.
The social state of the people is much as Father Vincenzo described
it; lower it could scarcely be. Mahomedanism is now the universal
profession. The people of the interior are still of distinct race,
with curly hair, Indian complexion, regular features. The coast
people are a mongrel body, of Arab and other descent. Probably in
old times the case was similar, and the civilisation and Greek may
have been confined to the littoral foreigners. (_Müller’s Geog.
Gr. Minores_, I. pp. 280–281; _Relations_, I. 139–140; _Cathay_,
clxxi., ccxlv., 169; _Conti_, 20; _Maffei_, lib. III.; _Büsching_,
IV. 278; _Faria_, I. 117–118; _Ram._ I. f. 181 v. and 292; _Jarric,
Thes. Rer. Indic._ I. 108–109; _P. Vinc._ 132, 442; _J. R. G. S._
V. 129 _seqq._)
NOTE 3.—As far back as the 10th century Socotra was a noted
haunt of pirates. Mas’udi says: “Socotra is one of the stations
frequented by the Indian corsairs called _Bawárij_, which chase the
Arab ships bound for India and China, just as the Greek galleys
chase the Mussulmans in the sea of Rúm along the coasts of Syria
and Egypt” (III. 37). The _Bawárij_ were corsairs of Kach’h and
Guzerat, so called from using a kind of war-vessel called _Bárja_.
(_Elliot_, I. 65.) Ibn Batuta tells a story of a friend of his,
the Shaikh Sa’íd, superior of a convent at Mecca, who had been
to India and got large presents at the court of Delhi. With a
comrade called Hajji Washl, who was also carrying a large sum to
buy horses, “when they arrived at the island of Socotra ... they
were attacked by Indian corsairs with a great number of vessels....
The corsairs took everything out of the ship, and then left it to
the crew with its tackle, so that they were able to reach Aden.”
Ibn Batuta’s remark on this illustrates what Polo has said of the
Malabar pirates, in ch. xxv. _supra_: “The custom of these pirates
is not to kill or drown anybody when the actual fighting is over.
They take all the property of the passengers, and then let them go
whither they will with their vessel” (I. 362–363).
NOTE 4.—We have seen that P. Vincenzo alludes to the sorceries
of the people; and De Barros also speaks of the _feiticeria_ or
witchcraft by which the women drew ships to the island, and did
other marvels (u.s.).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] [Assemani, in his corrections (III. p. 362), gives up _Socotra_ in
favour of _Bactria_.]
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF MADEIGASCAR.
Madeigascar is an Island towards the south, about a thousand miles from
Scotra. The people are all Saracens, adoring Mahommet. They have four
_Esheks_, _i.e._ four Elders, who are said to govern the whole Island.
And you must know that it is a most noble and beautiful Island, and one
of the greatest in the world, for it is about 4000 miles in compass.
The people live by trade and handicrafts.
In this Island, and in another beyond it called ZANGHIBAR, about which
we shall tell you afterwards, there are more elephants than in any
country in the world. The amount of traffic in elephants’ teeth in
these two Islands is something astonishing.
In this Island they eat no flesh but that of camels; and of these
they kill an incredible number daily. They say it is the best and
wholesomest of all flesh; and so they eat of it all the year round.{1}
They have in this Island many trees of red sanders, of excellent
quality; in fact, all their forests consist of it.{2} They have also a
quantity of ambergris, for whales are abundant in that sea, and they
catch numbers of them; and so are _Oil-heads_, which are a huge kind of
fish, which also produce ambergris like the whale.{3} There are numbers
of leopards, bears, and lions in the country, and other wild beasts in
abundance. Many traders, and many ships go thither with cloths of gold
and silk, and many other kinds of goods, and drive a profitable trade.
You must know that this Island lies so far south that ships cannot go
further south or visit other Islands in that direction, except this
one, and that other of which we have to tell you, called Zanghibar.
This is because the sea-current runs so strong towards the south that
the ships which should attempt it never would get back again. Indeed,
the ships of Maabar which visit this Island of Madeigascar, and that
other of Zanghibar, arrive thither with marvellous speed, for great as
the distance is they accomplish it in 20 days, whilst the return voyage
takes them more than 3 months. This (I say) is because of the strong
current running south, which continues with such singular force and in
the same direction at all seasons.{4}
’Tis said that in those other Islands to the south, which the ships are
unable to visit because this strong current prevents their return, is
found the bird _Gryphon_, which appears there at certain seasons. The
description given of it is however entirely different from what our
stories and pictures make it. For persons who had been there and had
seen it told Messer Marco Polo that it was for all the world like an
eagle, but one indeed of enormous size; so big in fact that its wings
covered an extent of 30 paces, and its quills were 12 paces long, and
thick in proportion. And it is so strong that it will seize an elephant
in its talons and carry him high into the air, and drop him so that he
is smashed to pieces; having so killed him the bird gryphon swoops down
on him and eats him at leisure. The people of those isles call the bird
_Ruc_, and it has no other name.{5} So I wot not if this be the real
gryphon, or if there be another manner of bird as great. But this I can
tell you for certain, that they are not half lion and half bird as our
stories do relate; but enormous as they be they are fashioned just like
an eagle.
The Great Kaan sent to those parts to enquire about these curious
matters, and the story was told by those who went thither. He also
sent to procure the release of an envoy of his who had been despatched
thither, and had been detained; so both those envoys had many wonderful
things to tell the Great Kaan about those strange islands, and about
the birds I have mentioned. [They brought (as I heard) to the Great
Kaan a feather of the said Ruc, which was stated to measure 90 spans,
whilst the quill part was two palms in circumference, a marvellous
object! The Great Kaan was delighted with it, and gave great presents
to those who brought it.{6}] They also brought two boars’ tusks, which
weighed more than 14 lbs. a-piece; and you may gather how big the boar
must have been that had teeth like that! They related indeed that there
were some of those boars as big as a great buffalo. There are also
numbers of giraffes and wild asses; and in fact a marvellous number of
wild beasts of strange aspect.{7}
NOTE 1.—Marco is, I believe, the first writer European or Asiatic,
who unambiguously speaks of MADAGASCAR; but his information about
it was very incorrect in many particulars. There are no elephants
nor camels in the island, nor any leopards, bears, or lions.
Indeed, I have no doubt that Marco, combining information from
different sources, made some confusion between _Makdashau_
(Magadoxo) and _Madagascar_, and that particulars belonging to
both are mixed up here. This accounts for Zanghibar being placed
entirely _beyond_ Madagascar, for the entirely Mahomedan character
given to the population, for the hippopotamus-teeth and staple
trade in ivory, as well as for the lions, elephants, and other
beasts. But above all the camel-killing indicates Sumáli Land and
Magadoxo as the real locality of part of the information. Says Ibn
Batuta: “After leaving Zaila we sailed on the sea for 15 days,
and arrived at Makdashau, an extremely large town. The natives
keep camels in great numbers, _and they slaughter several hundreds
daily_” (II. 181). The slaughter of camels for food is still a
Sumáli practice. (See _J. R. G. S._ VI. 28, and XIX. 55.) Perhaps
the _Shaikhs_ (_Esceqe_) also belong to the same quarter, for the
Arab traveller says that the Sultan of Makdashau had no higher
title than _Shaikh_ (183); and Brava, a neighbouring settlement,
was governed by 12 shaikhs. (_De Barros_, I. viii. 4.) Indeed, this
kind of local oligarchy still prevails on that coast.
We may add that both Makdashau and Brava are briefly described in
the Annals of the Ming Dynasty. The former, _Mu-ku-tu-su_, lies on
the sea, 20 days from _Siao-Kolan_ (Quilon?), a barren mountainous
country of wide extent, where it sometimes does not rain for years.
In 1427 a mission came from this place to China. _Pu-la-wa_ (Brava,
properly Baráwa) adjoins the former, and is also on the sea. It
produces olibanum, myrrh, and _ambergris_; and among animals
elephants, camels, rhinoceroses, spotted animals like asses, etc.[1]
It is, however, true that there are traces of a considerable
amount of ancient Arab colonisation on the shores of Madagascar.
Arab descent is ascribed to a class of the people of the province
of Matitánana on the east coast, in lat. 21°–23° south, and the
Arabic writing is in use there. The people of the St. Mary’s Isle
of our maps off the east coast, in lat. 17°, also call themselves
the children of Ibrahim, and the island _Nusi-Ibrahim_. And on the
north-west coast, at Bambeluka Bay, Captain Owen found a large Arab
population, whose forefathers had been settled there from time
immemorial. The number of tombs here and in Magambo Bay showed that
the Arab population had once been much greater. The government of
this settlement, till conquered by Radama, was vested in three
persons: one a Malagash, the second an Arab, the third as guardian
of strangers; a fact also suggestive of Polo’s four sheikhs
(_Ellis_, I. 131; _Owen_, II. 102, 132. See also _Sonnerat_, II.
56.) Though the Arabs were in the habit of navigating to Sofala,
in about lat. 20° south, in the time of Mas’udi (beginning of
10th century), and must have then known Madagascar, there is no
intelligible indication of it in any of their geographies that have
been translated.[2]
[M. Alfred Grandidier, in his _Hist. de la Géog. de Madagascar_,
p. 31, comes to the conclusion that Marco Polo has given a very
exact description of Magadoxo, but that he did not know the island
of Madagascar. He adds in a note that Yule has shown that the
description of Madeigascar refers partly to Magadoxo, but that
notwithstanding he (Yule) believed that Polo spoke of Madagascar
when the Venetian traveller does not. I must say that I do not see
any reason why Yule’s theory should not be accepted.
M. G. Ferrand, formerly French Agent at Fort Dauphin, has devoted
ch. ix. (pp. 83–90) of the second part of his valuable work
_Les Musulmans à Madagascar_ (Paris, 1893), to the “Etymology
of Madagascar.” He believes that M. Polo really means the great
African Island. I mention from his book that M. Guët (_Origines
de l’île Bourbon_, 1888) brings the Carthaginians to Madagascar,
and derives the name of this island from _Madax-Aschtoret_ or
_Madax-Astarté_, which signifies _Isle of Astarté_ and _Isle of
Tanit_! Mr. I. Taylor (_The origin of the name_ ‘Madagascar,’ in
_Antananarivo Annual_, 1891) gives also some fancy etymologies;
it is needless to mention them. M. Ferrand himself thinks that
very likely Madagascar simply means _Country of the Malagash_
(Malgaches), and is only a bad transcription of the Arabic
_Madagasbar_.—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—There is, or used to be, a trade in sandal-wood from
Madagascar. (See _Owen_, II. 99.) In the map of S. Lorenzo (or
Madagascar) in the _Isole_ of Porcacchi (1576), a map evidently
founded on fact, I observe near the middle of the Island: _quivi
sono boschi di sandari rossi_.
NOTE 3.—“The coast of this province” (Ivongo, the N.E. of the
Island) “abounds with whales, and during a certain period of the
year Antongil Bay is a favourite resort for whalers of all nations.
The inhabitants of Titingue are remarkably expert in spearing the
whales from their slight canoes.” (_Lloyd_ in _J. R. G. S._ XX.
56.) A description of the whale-catching process practised by the
Islanders of St. Mary’s, or Nusi Ibrahim, is given in the _Quinta
Pars Indiae Orientalis_ of _De Bry_, p. 9. Owen gives a similar
account (I. 170).
The word which I have rendered _Oil-heads_ is _Capdoilles_ or
_Capdols_, representing _Capidoglio_, the appropriate name still
applied in Italy to the Spermaceti whale. The _Vocab. Ital. Univ._
quotes Ariosto (VII. 36):—
—“_I_ Capidogli _co’ vecchi marini_
_Vengon turbati dal lor pigro sonno_.”
The Spermaceti-whale is described under this name by Rondeletius,
but from his cut it is clear he had not seen the animal.
NOTE 4.—De Barros, after describing the dangers of the Channel of
Mozambique, adds: “And as the Moors of this coast of Zanguebar make
their voyages in ships and sambuks sewn with coir, instead of being
nailed like ours, and thus strong enough to bear the force of the
cold seas of the region about the Cape of Good Hope, ... they never
dared to attempt the exploration of the regions to the westward
of the Cape of Currents, although they greatly desired to do so.”
(Dec. I. viii. 4; and see also IV. i. 12.) Kazwini says of the
Ocean, quoting Al Biruni: “Then it extends to the sea known as
that of Berbera, and stretches from Aden to the furthest extremity
of Zanjibar; beyond this goes no vessel on account of the great
current. Then it extends to what are called the Mountains of the
Moon, whence spring the sources of the Nile of Egypt, and thence to
Western Sudan, to the Spanish Countries and the (Western) Ocean.”
There has been recent controversy between Captain A. D. Taylor
and Commodore Jansen of the Dutch navy, regarding the Mozambique
currents, and (incidentally) Polo’s accuracy. The currents in the
Mozambique Channel vary with the monsoons, but from Cape Corrientes
southward along the coast runs the permanent Lagullas current,
and Polo’s statement requires but little correction. (_Ethé_ pp.
214–215; see also _Barbosa_ in _Ram._ I. 288; _Owen_, I. 269;
_Stanley’s Correa_, p. 261; _J. R. G. S._ II. 91; _Fra Mauro_ in
_Zurla_, p. 61; see also _Reinaud’s Abulfeda_, vol. i. pp. 15–16;
and _Ocean Highways_, August to November, 1873.)
[Illustration: The Rukh (from Lane’s “Arabian Nights”), after a
Persian drawing.]
NOTE 5.—The fable of the RUKH was old and widely spread, like
that of the Male and Female Islands, and, just as in that case,
one accidental circumstance or another would give it a local
habitation, now here now there. The _Garuda_ of the Hindus, the
_Simurgh_ of the old Persians, the _’Angka_ of the Arabs, the _Bar
Yuchre_ of the Rabbinical legends, the _Gryps_ of the Greeks, were
probably all versions of the same original fable.
Bochart quotes a bitter Arabic proverb which says, “Good-Faith,
the Ghul, and the Gryphon (_’Angka_) are three names of things
that exist nowhere.” And Mas’udi, after having said that whatever
country he visited he always found that the people believed these
monstrous creatures to exist in regions as remote as possible from
their own, observes: “It is not that our reason absolutely rejects
the possibility of the existence of the _Nesnás_ (see vol. i. p.
206) or of the _’Angka_, and other beings of that rare and wondrous
order; for there is nothing in their existence incompatible with
the Divine Power; but we decline to believe in them because their
existence has not been manifested to us on any irrefragable
authority.”
[Illustration: Frontispiece showing the Bird _Rukh_.]
The circumstance which for the time localized the Rukh in the
direction of Madagascar was perhaps some rumour of the great fossil
_Aepyornis_ and its colossal eggs, found in that island. According
to Geoffroy St. Hilaire, the Malagashes assert that the bird which
laid those great eggs still exists, that it has an immense power
of flight, and preys upon the greater quadrupeds. Indeed the
continued existence of the bird has been alleged as late as 1861
and 1863!
On the great map of Fra Mauro (1459) near the extreme point of
Africa which he calls _Cavo de Diab_, and which is suggestive of
the Cape of Good Hope, but was really perhaps Cape Corrientes,
there is a rubric inscribed with the following remarkable story:
“About the year of Our Lord 1420 a ship or junk of India in
crossing the Indian Sea was driven by way of the Islands of Men
and Women beyond the Cape of Diab, and carried between the Green
Islands and the Darkness in a westerly and south-westerly direction
for 40 days, without seeing anything but sky and sea, during which
time they made to the best of their judgment 2000 miles. The gale
then ceasing they turned back, and were seventy days in getting to
the aforesaid Cape Diab. The ship having touched on the coast to
supply its wants, the mariners beheld there the egg of a certain
bird called _Chrocho_, which egg was as big as a butt.[3] And the
bigness of the bird is such that between the extremities of the
wings is said to be 60 paces. They say too that it carries away an
elephant or any other great animal with the greatest ease, and does
great injury to the inhabitants of the country, and is most rapid
in its flight.”
G.-St. Hilaire considered the Aepyornis to be of the Ostrich
family; Prince C. Buonaparte classed it with the _Inepti_ or Dodos;
Duvernay of Valenciennes with aquatic birds! There was clearly
therefore room for difference of opinion, and Professor Bianconi
of Bologna, who has written much on the subject, concludes that it
was most probably a bird of the vulture family. This would go far,
he urges, to justify Polo’s account of the Ruc as a bird of prey,
though the story of its _lifting_ any large animal could have had
no foundation, as the feet of the vulture kind are unfit for such
efforts. Humboldt describes the habit of the condor of the Andes
as that of worrying, wearying, and frightening its four-footed
prey until it drops; sometimes the condor drives its victim over a
precipice.
Bianconi concludes that on the same scale of proportion as the
condor’s, the great quills of the Aepyornis would be about 10 feet
long, and the spread of the wings about 32 feet, whilst the height
of the bird would be at least four times that of the condor. These
are indeed little more than conjectures. And I must add that in
Professor Owen’s opinion there is no reasonable doubt that the
Aepyornis was a bird allied to the Ostriches.
We gave, in the first edition of this work, a drawing of the great
Aepyornis egg in the British Museum of its true size, as the
nearest approach we could make to an illustration of the _Rukh_
from nature. The actual contents of this egg will be about 2·35
gallons, which may be compared with Fra Mauro’s _anfora_! Except in
this matter of size, his story of the ship and the egg may be true.
A passage from Temple’s Travels in Peru has been quoted as
exhibiting exaggeration in the description of the condor surpassing
anything that can be laid to Polo’s charge here; but that is, in
fact, only somewhat heavy banter directed against our traveller’s
own narrative. (See _Travels in Various Parts of Peru_, 1830, II.
414–417.)
Recently fossil bones have been found in New Zealand, which seem
to bring us a step nearer to the realization of the Rukh. Dr.
Haast discovered in a swamp at Glenmark in the province of Otago,
along with remains of the _Dinornis_ or Moa, some bones (femur,
ungual phalanges, and rib) of a gigantic bird which he pronounces
to be a bird of prey, apparently allied to the Harriers, and calls
_Harpagornis_. He supposes it to have preyed upon the Moa, and
as that fowl is calculated to have been 10 feet and upwards in
height, we are not so very far from the elephant-devouring Rukh.
(See _Comptes Rendus, Ac. des Sciences_ 1872, p. 1782; and _Ibis_,
October 1872, p. 433.) This discovery may possibly throw a new
light on the traditions of the New Zealanders. For Professor Owen,
in first describing the _Dinornis_ in 1839, mentioned that the
natives had a tradition that the bones belonged _to a bird of the
eagle kind_. (See _Eng. Cyc._ Nat. Hist. sub. v. _Dinornis_.) And
Sir Geo. Grey appears to have read a paper, 23rd October 1872,[4]
which was the description by a Maori of the _Hokiol_, an extinct
gigantic bird of prey of which that people have traditions come
down from their ancestors, said to have been a black hawk of great
size, as large as the Moa.
I have to thank Mr. Arthur Grote for a few words more on that
most interesting subject, the discovery of a real fossil _Ruc_ in
New Zealand. He informs me (under date 4th December 1874) that
Professor Owen is now working on the huge bones sent home by Dr.
Haast, “and is convinced that they belonged to a bird of prey,
probably (as Dr. Haast suggested) a Harrier, _double the weight of
the Moa_, and quite capable therefore of preying on the young of
that species. Indeed, he is disposed to attribute the extinction of
the Harpagornis to that of the Moa, which was the only victim in
the country which could supply it with a sufficiency of food.”
One is tempted to add that if the Moa or Dinornis of New Zealand
had its _Harpagornis_ scourge, the still greater Aepyornis of
Madagascar may have had a proportionate tyrant, whose bones (and
quills?) time may bring to light. And the description given by Sir
Douglas Forsyth on page 542, of the action of the Golden Eagle of
Kashgar in dealing with a wild boar, illustrates how such a bird
as our imagined _Harpagornis Aepyornithōn_ might master the larger
pachydermata, even the elephant himself, without having to treat
him precisely as the Persian drawing at p. 415 represents.
Sindbad’s adventures with the Rukh are too well known for
quotation. A variety of stories of the same tenor hitherto
unpublished, have been collected by M. Marcel Devic from an Arabic
work of the 10th century on the “_Marvels of Hind_,” by an author
who professes only to repeat the narratives of merchants and
mariners whom he had questioned. A specimen of these will be found
under Note 6. The story takes a peculiar form in the Travels of
Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela. He heard that when ships were in danger
of being lost in the stormy sea that led to China the sailors were
wont to sew themselves up in hides, and so when cast upon the
surface they were snatched up by great eagles called gryphons,
which carried their supposed prey ashore, etc. It is curious that
this very story occurs in a Latin poem stated to be _at least_
as old as the beginning of the 13th century, which relates the
romantic adventures of a certain Duke Ernest of Bavaria; whilst
the story embodies more than one other adventure belonging to the
History of Sindbad.[5] The Duke and his comrades, navigating in
some unknown ramification of the Euxine, fall within the fatal
attraction of the Magnet Mountain. Hurried by this augmenting
force, their ship is described as crashing through the rotten
forest of masts already drawn to their doom:—
“Et ferit impulsus majoris verbere montem
Quam si diplosas impingat machina turres.”
There they starve, and the dead are deposited on the lofty poop to
be carried away by the daily visits of the gryphons:—
——“Quae grifae membra leonis
Et pennas aquilae simulantes unguibus atris
Tollentes miseranda suis dant prandia pullis.”
When only the Duke and six others survive, the wisest of the party
suggests the scheme which Rabbi Benjamin has related:—
——“Quaeramus tergora, et armis
Vestiti prius, optatis volvamur in illis,
Ut nos tollentes mentita cadavera Grifae
Pullis objiciant, a queis facientibus armis
Et cute dissutâ, nos, si volet, Ille Deorum
Optimus eripiet.”
Which scheme is successfully carried out. The wanderers then make
a raft on which they embark on a river which plunges into a cavern
in the heart of a mountain; and after a time they emerge in the
country of Arimaspia inhabited by the Cyclopes; and so on. The
Gryphon story also appears in the romance of Huon de Bordeaux, as
well as in the tale called ‘Hasan of el-Basrah’ in Lane’s Version
of the _Arabian Nights_.
It is in the China Seas that Ibn Batuta beheld the Rukh, first like
a mountain in the sea where no mountain should be, and then “when
the sun rose,” says he, “we saw the mountain aloft in the air, and
the clear sky between it and the sea. We were in astonishment at
this, and I observed that the sailors were weeping and bidding each
other adieu, so I called out, ‘What is the matter?’ They replied,
‘What we took for a mountain is “the Rukh.” If it sees us, it will
send us to destruction.’ It was then some 10 miles from the junk.
But God Almighty was gracious unto us, and sent us a fair wind,
which turned us from the direction in which the Rukh was; so we did
not see him well enough to take cognizance of his real shape.” In
this story we have evidently a case of abnormal refraction, causing
an island to appear suspended in the air.[6]
The Archipelago was perhaps the legitimate habitat of the Rukh,
before circumstances localised it in the direction of Madagascar.
In the Indian Sea, says Kazwini, is a bird of size so vast that
when it is dead men take the half of its bill and make a ship
of it! And there too Pigafetta heard of this bird, under its
Hindu name of _Garuda_, so big that it could fly away with an
elephant.[7] Kazwini also says that the ’Angka carries off an
elephant as a hawk flies off with a mouse; his flight is like the
loud thunder. Whilom he dwelt near the haunts of men, and wrought
them great mischief. But once on a time it had carried off a bride
in her bridal array, and Hamd Allah, the Prophet of those days,
invoked a curse upon the bird. Wherefore the Lord banished it to an
inaccessible Island in the Encircling Ocean.
The Simurgh or ’Angka, dwelling behind veils of Light and Darkness
on the inaccessible summits of Caucasus, is in Persian mysticism an
emblem of the Almighty.
In Northern Siberia the people have a firm belief in the former
existence of birds of colossal size, suggested apparently by the
fossil bones of great pachyderms which are so abundant there. And
the compressed sabre-like horns of _Rhinoceros tichorinus_ are
constantly called, even by Russian merchants, _birds’ claws_. Some
of the native tribes fancy the vaulted skull of the same rhinoceros
to be the bird’s head, and the leg-bones of other pachyderms to
be its quills; and they relate that their forefathers used to
fight wonderful battles with this bird. Erman ingeniously suggests
that the Herodotean story of the Gryphons, _from under which_ the
Arimaspians drew their gold, grew out of the legends about these
fossils.
I may add that the name of our _rook_ in chess is taken from that
of this same bird; though first perverted from (Sansk.) _rath_, a
chariot.
Some Eastern authors make the _Rukh_ an enormous beast instead
of a bird. (See _J. R. A. S._ XIII. 64, and _Elliot_, II. 203.)
A Spanish author of the 16th century seems to take the same view
of the Gryphon, but he is prudently vague in describing it, which
he does among the animals of Africa: “The _Grifo which some call_
CAMELLO PARDAL ... is called by the Arabs _Yfrit_ (!), and is made
just in that fashion in which we see it painted in pictures.”
(_Marmol, Descripcion General de Africa_, Granada, 1573, I. f. 30.)
The _Zorafa_ is described as a different beast, which it certainly
is!
(_Bochart, Hierozoica_, II. 852 _seqq._; _Mas’udi_, IV. 16; _Mem.
dell’Acad. dell’Instit. di Bologna_, III. 174 _seqq._, V. 112
_seqq._; _Zurla_ on _Fra Mauro_, p. 62; _Lane’s Arabian Nights_,
Notes on Sindbad; _Benj. of Tudela_, p. 117; _De Varia Fortuna
Ernesti Bavariae Ducis_, in _Thesaurus Novus Anecdotorum_ of
Martene and Durand, vol. III. col. 353 _seqq._; _I. B._ IV. 305;
_Gildem._ p. 220; _Pigafetta_, p. 174; _Major’s Prince Henry_, p.
311; _Erman_, II. 88; _Garcin de Tassy, La Poésie philos. etc.,
chez les Persans_, 30 _seqq._)
[In a letter to Sir Henry Yule, dated 24th March 1887, Sir (then
Dr.) John Kirk writes: “I was speaking with the present Sultan of
Zanzibar, Seyyed Barghash, about the great bird which the natives
say exists, and in doing so I laughed at the idea. His Highness
turned serious and said that indeed he believed it to be quite true
that a great bird visited the Udoe country, and that it caused a
great shadow to fall upon the country; he added that it let fall
at times large rocks. Of course he did not pretend to know these
things from his own experience, for he has never been inland, but
he considered he had ample grounds to believe these stones from
what he had been told of those who travelled. The Udoe country lies
north of the River Wami opposite the island of Zanzibar and about
two days going inland. The people are jealous of strangers and
practise cannibalism in war. They are therefore little visited, and
although near the coast we know little of them. The only members
of their tribe I have known have been converted to Islam, and not
disposed to say much of their native customs, being ashamed of
them, while secretly still believing in them. The only thing I
noticed was an idea that the tribe came originally from the West,
from about Manyema; now the people of that part are cannibals, and
cannibalism is almost unknown except among the _Wadoe_, nearer the
east coast. It is also singular that the other story of a gigantic
bird comes from near Manyema and that the _whalebone_ that was
passed off at Zanzibar as the wing of a bird, came, they said, from
Tanganyika. As to rocks falling in East Africa, I think their idea
might easily arise from the fall of meteoric stones.”]
[M. Alfred Grandidier (_Hist. de la Géog. de Madagascar_, p. 31)
thinks that the Rukh is but an image; it is a personification of
water-spouts, cyclones, and typhoons.—H. C.]
NOTE 6.—Sir Thomas Brown says that if any man will say he desires
before belief to behold such a creature as is the _Rukh_ in
Paulus Venetus, for his own part he will not be angry with his
incredulity. But M. Pauthier is of more liberal belief; for he
considers that, after all, the dimensions which Marco assigns to
the wings and quills of the Rukh are not so extravagant that we
should refuse to admit their possibility.
Ludolf will furnish him with corroborative evidence, that of Padre
Bolivar, a Jesuit, as communicated to Thévenot; the assigned
position will suit well enough with Marco’s report: “The bird
condor differs in size in different parts of the world. The greater
species was seen by many of the Portuguese in their expedition
against the Kingdoms of Sofala and Cuama and the Land of the
Caffres from Monomotapa to the Kingdom of Angola and the Mountains
of Teroa. In some countries I have myself seen the wing-feathers
of that enormous fowl, although the bird itself I never beheld.
The feather in question, as could be deduced from its form, was
one of the middle ones, and it was 28 palms in length and three in
breadth. The quill part, from the root to the extremity, was five
palms in length, of the thickness of an average man’s arm, and of
extreme strength and hardness. [M. Alfred Grandidier (_Hist. de la
Géog. de Madagascar_, p. 25) thinks that the quill part of this
feather was one of the bamboo shoots formerly brought to Yemen to
be used as water-jars and called there _feathers of Rukh_, the
Arabs looking upon these bamboo shoots as the quill part of the
feathers of the Rukh.—H. C.] The fibres of the feather were equal
in length and closely fitted, so that they could scarcely be parted
without some exertion of force; and they were jet black, whilst
the quill part was white. Those who had seen the bird stated that
it was bigger than the bulk of a couple of elephants, and that
hitherto nobody had succeeded in killing one. It rises to the
clouds with such extraordinary swiftness that it seems scarcely
to stir its wings. _In form it is like an eagle_. But although
its size and swiftness are so extraordinary, it has much trouble
in procuring food, on account of the density of the forests with
which all that region is clothed. Its own dwelling is in cold and
desolate tracts such as the Mountains of Teroa, _i.e._ of the
Moon; and in the valleys of that range it shows itself at certain
periods. Its black feathers are held in very high estimation, and
it is with the greatest difficulty that one can be got from the
natives, for _one_ such serves to fan ten people, and to keep
off the terrible heat from them, as well as the wasps and flies”
(_Ludolf, Hist. Aethiop._ Comment. p. 164.)
Abu Mahomed, of Spain, relates that a merchant arrived in Barbary
who had lived long among the Chinese. He had with him the quill of
a chick Rukh, and this held nine skins of water. He related the
story of how he came by this,—a story nearly the same as one of
Sindbad’s about the Rukh’s egg. (_Bochart_, II. 854.)
Another story of a seaman wrecked on the coast of Africa is among
those collected by M. Marcel Devic. By a hut that stood in the
middle of a field of rice and _durra_ there was a trough. “A man
came up leading a pair of oxen, laden with 12 skins of water, and
emptied these into the trough. I drew near to drink, and found the
trough to be polished like a steel blade, quite different from
either glass or pottery. ‘It is the hollow of a quill,’ said the
man. I would not believe a word of the sort, until, after rubbing
it inside and outside, I found it to be transparent, and to retain
the traces of the barbs.” (_Comptes Rendus_, _etc._, _ut supra_;
and _Livre des Merveilles de l’Inde_, p. 99.)
Fr. Jordanus also says: “In this _India Tertia_ (Eastern Africa)
are certain birds which are called _Roc_, so big that they easily
carry an elephant up into the air. I have seen a certain person who
said that he had seen one of those birds, one wing only of which
stretched to a length of 80 palms” (p. 42).
The Japanese Encyclopædia states that in the country of the
_Tsengsz’_ (Zinjis) in the South-West Ocean, there is a bird called
_pheng_, which in its flight eclipses the sun. It can swallow a
camel; and its quills are used for water-casks. This was probably
got from the Arabs. (_J. As._, sér. 2, tom. xii. 235–236.)
I should note that the _Geog. Text_ in the first passage where
the feathers are spoken of says: “_e ce qe je en vi voz dirai en
autre leu, por ce qe il convient ensi faire à nostre livre_,”—“that
which _I have seen_ of them I will tell you elsewhere, as it suits
the arrangement of our book.” No such other detail is found in
that text, but we have in Ramusio this passage about the quill
brought to the Great Kaan, and I suspect that the phrase, “as I
have heard,” is an interpolation, and that Polo is here telling _ce
qe il en vit_. What are we to make of the story? I have sometimes
thought that possibly some vegetable production, such as a great
frond of the _Ravenala_, may have been cooked to pass as a Rukh’s
quill. [See _App._ L.]
NOTE 7.—The giraffes are an error. The _Eng. Cyc._ says that wild
asses and zebras (?) do exist in Madagascar, but I cannot trace
authority for this.
The great boar’s teeth were indubitably hippopotamus-teeth, which
form a considerable article of export from Zanzibar[8] (not
Madagascar). Burton speaks of their reaching 12 lbs in weight. And
Cosmas tells us: “The hippopotamus I have not seen indeed, but I
had some great teeth of his _that weighed thirteen pounds_, which
I sold here (in Alexandria). And I have seen many such teeth in
Ethiopia and in Egypt.” (See _J. R. G. S._ XXIX. 444; _Cathay_, p.
clxxv.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Bretschneider, _On the knowledge possessed by the Ancient Chinese
of the Arabs_, etc. London, 1871, p. 21.
[2] Mas’udi speaks of an island _Ḳanbălú_, well cultivated and
populous, one or two days from the Zinj coast, and the object
of voyages from Oman, from which it was about 500 parasangs
distant. It was conquered by the Arabs, who captured the whole
Zinj population of the island, about the beginning of the Abasside
Dynasty (_circa_ A.D. 750). Barbier de Meynard thinks this may
be Madagascar. I suspect it rather to be _Pemba_. (See _Prairies
d’Or_, I. 205, 232, and III. 31.)
[3] “_De la grandeza de una bota d’anfora_.” The lowest estimate that
I find of the Venetian anfora makes it equal to about 108 imperial
gallons, a little less than the English butt. This seems intended.
The _ancient_ amphora would be more reasonable, being only 5·66
gallons.
[4] The friend who noted this for me, omitted to name the Society.
[5] I got the indication of this poem, I think, in Bochart. But I have
since observed that its coincidences with Sindbad are briefly
noticed by Mr. Lane (ed. 1859, III. 78) from an article in the
“_Foreign Quarterly Review_.”
[6] An intelligent writer, speaking of such effects on the same sea,
says: “The boats floating on a calm sea, at a distance from the
ship, were magnified to a great size; the crew standing up in them
appeared as masts or trees, and their arms in motion as the wings
of windmills; whilst the surrounding islands (especially at their
low and tapered extremities) seemed to be suspended in the air,
some feet above the ocean’s level.” (_Bennett’s Whaling Voyage_,
II. 71–72.)
[7] An epithet of the _Garuda_ is _Gajakúrmásin_,
“elephant-cum-tortoise-devourer,” because said to have swallowed
both when engaged in a contest with each other.
[8] The name as pronounced seems to have been _Zangibár_ (hard _g_),
which polite Arabic changed into _Zanjibár_, whence the Portuguese
made _Zanzibar_.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ZANGHIBAR. A WORD ON INDIA IN GENERAL.
Zanghibar is a great and noble Island, with a compass of some 2000
miles.{1} The people are all Idolaters, and have a king and a language
of their own, and pay tribute to nobody. They are both tall and stout,
but not tall in proportion to their stoutness, for if they were, being
so stout and brawny, they would be absolutely like giants; and they are
so strong that they will carry for four men and eat for five.
They are all black, and go stark naked, with only a little covering
for decency. Their hair is as black as pepper, and so frizzly that
even with water you can scarcely straighten it. And their mouths are
so large, their noses so turned up, their lips so thick, their eyes so
big and bloodshot, that they look like very devils; they are in fact so
hideously ugly that the world has nothing to show more horrible.
Elephants are produced in this country in wonderful profusion. There
are also lions that are black and quite different from ours. And their
sheep and wethers are all exactly alike in colour; the body all white
and the head black; no other kind of sheep is found there, you may rest
assured.{2} They have also many giraffes. This is a beautiful creature,
and I must give you a description of it. Its body is short and somewhat
sloped to the rear, for its hind legs are short whilst the fore-legs
and the neck are both very long, and thus its head stands about three
paces from the ground. The head is small, and the animal is not at all
mischievous. Its colour is all red and white in round spots, and it is
really a beautiful object.{3}
** The women of this Island are the ugliest in the world, with their
great mouths and big eyes and thick noses; their breasts too are four
times bigger than those of any other women; a very disgusting sight.
The people live on rice and flesh and milk and dates; and they make
wine of dates and of rice and of good spices and sugar. There is a
great deal of trade, and many merchants and vessels go thither. But
the staple trade of the Island is in elephants’ teeth, which are very
abundant; and they have also much ambergris, as whales are plentiful.{4}
They have among them excellent and valiant warriors, and have little
fear of death. They have no horses, but fight mounted on camels and
elephants. On the latter they set wooden castles which carry from ten
to sixteen persons, armed with lances, swords, and stones, so that
they fight to great purpose from these castles. They wear no armour,
but carry only a shield of hide, besides their swords and lances, and
so a marvellous number of them fall in battle. When they are going to
take an elephant into battle they ply him well with their wine, so that
he is made half drunk. They do this because the drink makes him more
fierce and bold, and of more service in battle.{5}
As there is no more to say on this subject I will go on to tell you
about the Great Province of ABASH, which constitutes the MIDDLE
INDIA;—but I must first say something about India in general.
You must understand that in speaking of the Indian Islands we have
described only the most noble provinces and kingdoms among them; for no
man on earth could give you a true account of the whole of the Islands
of India. Still, what I have described are the best, and as it were the
Flower of the Indies. For the greater part of the other Indian Islands
that I have omitted are subject to those that I have described. It is
a fact that in this Sea of India there are 12,700 Islands, inhabited
and uninhabited, according to the charts and documents of experienced
mariners who navigate that Indian Sea.{6}
INDIA THE GREATER is that which extends from Maabar to Kesmacoran; and
it contains 13 great kingdoms, of which we have described ten. These
are all on the mainland.
INDIA THE LESSER extends from the Province of Champa to Mutfili, and
contains eight great kingdoms. These are likewise all on the mainland.
And neither of these numbers includes the Islands, among which also
there are very numerous kingdoms, as I have told you.{7}
NOTE 1.—ZANGIBAR, “the Region of the Blacks,” known to the ancients
as _Zingis_ and _Zingium_. The name was applied by the Arabs,
according to De Barros, to the whole stretch of coast from the
Kilimanchi River, which seems to be the Jubb, to Cape Corrientes
beyond the Southern Tropic, _i.e._ as far as Arab traffic extended;
Burton says now from the Jubb to Cape Delgado. According to
Abulfeda, the King of Zinjis dwelt at Mombasa. In recent times the
name is by Europeans almost appropriated to the Island on which
resides the Sultan of the Maskat family, to whom Sir B. Frere
lately went as envoy. Our author’s “Island” has no reference to
this; it is an error simply.
Our traveller’s information is here, I think, certainly at second
hand, though no doubt he had seen the negroes whom he describes
with such disgust, and apparently the sheep and the giraffes.
NOTE 2.—These sheep are common at Aden, whither they are imported
from the opposite African coast. They have hair like smooth goats,
no wool. Varthema also describes them (p. 87). In the Cairo Museum,
among ornaments found in the mummy-pits, there is a little figure
of one of these sheep, the head and neck in some blue stone and the
body in white agate. (_Note by Author of the sketch on next page._)
NOTE 3.—A giraffe—made into a _seraph_ by the Italians—had been
frequently seen in Italy in the early part of the century, there
being one in the train of the Emperor Frederic II. Another was sent
by Bibars to the Imperial Court in 1261, and several to Barka Khan
at Sarai in 1263; whilst the King of Nubia was bound by treaty in
1275 to deliver to the Sultan three elephants, three giraffes, and
five she-panthers. (_Kington_, I. 471; _Makrizi_, I. 216; II. 106,
108.) The giraffe is sometimes wrought in the patterns of mediæval
Saracenic damasks, and in Sicilian ones imitated from the former.
Of these there are examples in the Kensington Collection.
I here omit a passage about the elephant. It recounts an old and
long-persistent fable, exploded by Sir T. Brown, and indeed before
him by the sensible Garcia de Orta.
NOTE 4.—The port of Zanzibar is probably the chief ivory mart in
the world. Ambergris is mentioned by Burton among miscellaneous
exports, but it is not now of any consequence. Owen speaks of it as
brought for sale at Delagoa Bay in the south.
NOTE 5.—Mas’udi more correctly says: “The country abounds with wild
elephants, but you don’t find a single tame one. The Zinjes employ
them neither in war nor otherwise, and if they hunt them ’tis only
to kill them” (III. 7). It is difficult to conceive how Marco could
have got so much false information. The only beast of burden in
Zanzibar, at least north of Mozambique, is the ass. His particulars
seem jumbled from various parts of Africa. The camel-riders suggest
the _Bejas_ of the Red Sea coast, of whom there were in Mas’udi’s
time 30,000 warriors so mounted, and armed with lances and bucklers
(III. 34). The elephant stories may have arisen from the occasional
use of these animals by the Kings of Abyssinia. (See Note 4 to next
chapter.)
[Illustration: Ethiopian Sheep.]
NOTE 6.—An approximation to 12,000 as a round number seems to have
been habitually used in reference to the Indian Islands; John of
Montecorvino says they are many more than 12,000; Jordanus had
heard that there were 10,000 _inhabited_. Linschoten says some
estimated the Maldives at 11,100. And we learn from Pyrard de Laval
that the Sultan of the Maldives called himself Ibrahim Sultan of
Thirteen Atollons (or coral groups) and of 12,000 Islands! This is
probably the origin of the proverbial number. Ibn Batuta, in his
excellent account of the Maldives, estimates them at only about
2000. But Captain Owen, commenting on Pyrard, says that he believes
the actual number of islands to be treble or fourfold of 12,000.
(_P. de Laval_ in _Charton_, IV. 255; _I. B._ IV. 40; _J. R. G. S._
II. 84.)
NOTE 7.—The term “India” became very vague from an early date. In
fact, Alcuin divides the whole world into three parts, Europe,
Africa, and India. Hence it was necessary to discriminate different
Indias, but there is very little agreement among different authors
as to this discrimination.
The earliest use that I can find of the terms India Major and Minor
is in the _Liber Junioris Philosophi_ published by Hudson, and
which is believed to be translated from a lost Greek original of
the middle of the 4th century. In this author India Minor adjoins
Persia. So it does with Friar Jordanus. His India Minor appears to
embrace Sind (possibly Mekran), and the western coast exclusive of
Malabar. India Major extends from Malabar indefinitely eastward.
His _India Tertia_ is Zanjibar. The Three Indies appear in a map
contained in a MS. by Guido Pisanus, written in 1118. Conti
divides India into three: (1) From Persia to the Indus (_i.e._
Mekran and Sind); (2) From the Indus to the Ganges; (3) All that is
beyond Ganges (Indo-China and China).
In a map of Andrea Bianco at Venice (No. 12) the divisions are—(1)
India Minor, extending westward to the Persian Gulf; (2) India
Media, “containing 14 regions and 12 nations;” and (3) India
Superior, containing 8 regions and 24 nations.
Marino Sanuto places immediately east of the Persian Gulf “India
Minor _quae et Ethiopia_.”
John Marignolli again has three Indias: (1) Manzi or India Maxima
(S. China); (2) Mynibar (Malabar); (3) Maabar. The last two with
Guzerat are Abulfeda’s divisions, exclusive of Sind.
We see that there was a traditional tendency to make out _Three
Indies_, but little concord as to their identity. With regard
to the expressions _Greater_ and _Lesser_ India, I would recall
attention to what has been said about Greater and Lesser Java
(_supra_, chap. ix. note 1). Greater India was originally intended,
I imagine, for the _real_ India, what our maps call Hindustan. And
the threefold division, with its inclination to place one of the
Indies in Africa, I think may have originated with the Arab _Hind_,
_Sind_, and _Zinj_. I may add that our vernacular expression “the
Indies” is itself a vestige of the twofold or threefold division of
which we have been speaking.
The partition of the Indies made by King Sebastian of Portugal
in 1571, when he constituted his eastern possessions into three
governments, recalled the old division into Three Indias. The
first, INDIA, extending from Cape Gardafui to Ceylon, stood in a
general way for Polo’s India Major; the second MONOMOTAPA, from
Gardafui to Cape Corrientes (India Tertia of Jordanus); the third
MALACCA, from Pegu to China (India Minor). (_Faria y Souza_, II.
319.)
Polo’s knowledge of India, _as a whole_, is so little exact
that it is too indefinite a problem to consider which are the
three kingdoms that he has _not_ described. The ten which he has
described appear to be—(1) Maabar, (2) Coilum, (3) Comari, (4) Eli,
(5) Malabar, (6) Guzerat, (7) Tana, (8) Canbaet, (9) Semenat, (10)
Kesmacoran. On the one hand, this distribution in itself contains
serious misapprehensions, as we have seen, and on the other there
must have been many dozens of kingdoms in India Major instead
of 13, if such states as Comari, Hili, and Somnath were to be
separately counted. Probably it was a common saying that there were
12 kings in India, and the fact of his having himself described
so many, which he knew did not nearly embrace the whole, may have
made Polo convert this into 13. Jordanus says: “In this Greater
India are 12 idolatrous kings and more;” but his Greater India is
much more extensive than Polo’s. Those which he names are _Molebar_
(probably the kingdom of the Zamorin of Calicut), _Singuyli_
(Cranganor), _Columbum_ (Quilon), _Molephatan_ (on the east
coast, uncertain, see above pp. 333, 391), and _Sylen_ (Ceylon),
_Java_, three or four kings, _Telenc_ (Polo’s Mutfili), _Maratha_
(Deogir), _Batigala_ (in Canara), and in _Champa_ (apparently put
for all Indo-China) many kings. According to Firishta there were
about a dozen _important_ principalities in India at the time of
the Mahomedan conquest of which he mentions _eleven_, viz.: (1)
_Kanauj_, (2) _Mírat_ (or Delhi), (3) _Mahávan_ (Mathra), (4)
_Lahore_, (5) _Malwa_, (6) _Guzerat_, (7) _Ajmir_, (8) _Gwalior_,
(9) _Kalinjar_, (10) _Multán_, (11) _Ujjain_. (_Ritter_, V.
535.) This omits Bengal, Orissa, and all the Deccan. _Twelve_ is
a round number which constantly occurs in such statements. Ibn
Batuta tells us there were 12 princes in Malabar alone. Chinghiz,
in Sanang-Setzen, speaks of his vow to subdue the _twelve_ kings
of the human race (91). Certain figures in a temple at Anhilwara
in Guzerat are said by local tradition to be the effigies of the
_twelve_ great kings of Europe. (_Todd’s Travels_, p. 107.) The
King of Arakan used to take the title of “Lord of the 12 provinces
of Bengal” (_Reinaud, Inde_, p. 139.)
The _Masálak-al-Absár_ of Shihabuddin Dimishki, written some
forty years after Polo’s book, gives a list of the provinces
(twice twelve in number) into which India was then considered to
be divided. It runs—(1) _Delhi_, (2) _Deogír_, (3) _Multán_, (4)
_Kehran_ (_Kohrám_, in Sirhind Division of Province of Delhi?),
(5) _Sámán_ (Samána, N.W. of Delhi?), (6) _Siwastán_ (Sehwán),
(7) _Ujah_ (Uchh), (8) _Hási_ (Hansi), (9) _Sarsati_ (Sirsa),
(10) _Ma’bar_, (11) _Tiling_, (12) _Gujerat_, (13) _Badáún_,
(14) _Audh_, (15) _Kanauj_, (16) _Laknaoti_ (Upper Bengal), (17)
_Bahár_, (18) _Karráh_ (in the Doáb), (19) _Maláwa_, (Málwa),
(20) _Lahaur_, (21) _Kálánúr_ (in the Bári Doáb, above Lahore),
(22) _Jájnagar_ (according to Elphinstone, Tipura in Bengal),
(23) _Tilinj_ (a repetition or error), (24) _Dursamand_ (Dwara
Samudra, the kingdom of the Belláls in Mysore). Neither Malabar nor
Orissa is accounted for. (See _Not. et Ext._ XIII. 170). Another
list, given by the historian Zíá-uddín Barni some years later,
embraces again only _twelve_ provinces. These are (1) Delhi, (2)
Gujerat, (3) Málwah, (4) Deogír, (5) Tiling, (6) Kampilah (in the
Doáb, between Koil and Farakhábád), (7) Dur Samandar, (8) Ma’bar,
(9) _Tirhut_, (10) Lakhnaoti, (11) _Satgánw_, (12) _Sunárgánw_
(these two last forming the Western and Eastern portions of Lower
Bengal).[1]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] _E. Thomas_, Chronicles of the Pathán Kings of Delhi, p. 203.
CHAPTER XXXV.
TREATING OF THE GREAT PROVINCE OF ABASH WHICH IS MIDDLE INDIA,
AND IS ON THE MAINLAND.
Abash is a very great Province, and you must know that it constitutes
the MIDDLE INDIA; and it is on the mainland. There are in it six great
Kings with six great Kingdoms; and of these six Kings there are three
that are Christians and three that are Saracens; but the greatest of
all the six is a Christian, and all the others are subject to him.{1}
The Christians in this country bear three marks on the face;{2} one
from the forehead to the middle of the nose, and one on either cheek.
These marks are made with a hot iron, and form part of their baptism;
for after that they have been baptised with water, these three marks
are made, partly as a token of gentility, and partly as the completion
of their baptism. There are also Jews in the country, and these bear
two marks, one on either cheek; and the Saracens have but one, to wit,
on the forehead extending halfway down the nose.
The Great King lives in the middle of the country, the Saracens towards
Aden. St. Thomas the Apostle preached in this region, and after he had
converted the people he went away to the province of Maabar, where he
died; and there his body lies, as I have told you in a former place.
The people here are excellent soldiers, and they go on horseback, for
they have horses in plenty. Well they may; for they are in daily war
with the Soldan of ADEN, and with the Nubians, and a variety of other
nations.{3} I will tell you a famous story of what befel in the year
of Christ, 1288.
You must know that this Christian King, who is the Lord of the Province
of Abash, declared his intention to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to
adore the Holy Sepulchre of Our Lord God Jesus Christ the Saviour. But
his Barons said that for him to go in person would be to run too great
a risk; and they recommended him to send some bishop or prelate in his
stead. So the King assented to the counsel which his Barons gave, and
despatched a certain Bishop of his, a man of very holy life. The Bishop
then departed and travelled by land and by sea till he arrived at the
Holy Sepulchre, and there he paid it such honour as Christian man is
bound to do, and presented a great offering on the part of his King who
had sent him in his own stead.
And when he had done all that behoved him, he set out again and
travelled day by day till he got to Aden. Now that is a Kingdom
wherein Christians are held in great detestation, for the people are
all Saracens, and their enemies unto the death. So when the Soldan of
Aden heard that this man was a Christian and a Bishop, and an envoy of
the Great King of Abash, he had him seized and demanded of him if he
were a Christian? To this the Bishop replied that he was a Christian
indeed. The Soldan then told him that unless he would turn to the Law
of Mahommet he should work him great shame and dishonour. The Bishop
answered that they might kill him ere he would deny his Creator.
When the Soldan heard that he waxed wroth, and ordered that the Bishop
should be circumcised. So they took and circumcised him after the
manner of the Saracens. And then the Soldan told him that he had been
thus put to shame in despite to the King his master. And so they let
him go.
The Bishop was sorely cut to the heart for the shame that had been
wrought him, but he took comfort because it had befallen him in holding
fast by the Law of Our Lord Jesus Christ; and the Lord God would
recompense his soul in the world to come.
So when he was healed he set out and travelled by land and by sea till
he reached the King his Lord in the Kingdom of Abash. And when the King
beheld him, he welcomed him with great joy and gladness. And he asked
him all about the Holy Sepulchre; and the Bishop related all about
it truly, the King listening the while as to a most holy matter in
all faith. But when the Bishop had told all about Jerusalem, he then
related the outrage done on him by the Soldan of Aden in the King’s
despite. Great was the King’s wrath and grief when he heard that; and
it so disturbed him that he was like to die of vexation. And at length
his words waxed so loud that all those round about could hear what he
was saying. He vowed that he would never wear crown or hold kingdom if
he took not such condign vengeance on the Soldan of Aden that all the
world should ring therewithal, even until the insult had been well and
thoroughly redressed.
And what shall I say of it? He straightway caused the array of his
horse and foot to be mustered, and great numbers of elephants with
castles to be prepared to accompany them;{4} and when all was ready
he set out with his army and advanced till he entered the Kingdom of
Aden in great force. The Kings of this province of Aden were well aware
of the King’s advance against them, and went to encounter him at the
strongest pass on their frontier, with a great force of armed men, in
order to bar the enemy from entering their territory. When the King
arrived at this strong pass where the Saracens had taken post, a battle
began, fierce and fell on both sides, for they were very bitter against
each other. But it came to pass, as it pleased our Lord God Jesus
Christ, that the Kings of the Saracens, who were three in number, could
not stand against the Christians, for they are not such good soldiers
as the Christians are. So the Saracens were defeated, and a marvellous
number of them slain, and the King of Abash entered the Kingdom of Aden
with all his host. The Saracens made various sallies on them in the
narrow defiles, but it availed nothing; they were always beaten and
slain. And when the King had greatly wasted and destroyed the kingdom
of his enemy, and had remained in it more than a month with all his
host, continually slaying the Saracens, and ravaging their lands (so
that great numbers of them perished), he thought it time to return to
his own kingdom, which he could now do with great honour. Indeed he
could tarry no longer, nor could he, as he was aware, do more injury
to the enemy; for he would have had to force a way by still stronger
passes, where, in the narrow defiles, a handful of men might cause him
heavy loss. So he quitted the enemy’s Kingdom of Aden and began to
retire. And he with his host got back to their own country of Abash in
great triumph and rejoicing; for he had well avenged the shame cast
on him and on his Bishop for his sake. For they had slain so many
Saracens, and so wasted and harried the land, that ’twas something to
be astonished at. And in sooth ’twas a deed well done! For it is not to
be borne that the dogs of Saracens should lord it over good Christian
people! Now you have heard the story.{5}
I have still some particulars to tell you of the same province. It
abounds greatly in all kinds of victual; and the people live on flesh
and rice and milk and sesame. They have plenty of elephants, not that
they are bred in the country, but they are brought from the Islands of
the other India. They have however many giraffes, which are produced
in the country; besides bears, leopards, lions in abundance, and many
other passing strange beasts. They have also numerous wild asses; and
cocks and hens the most beautiful that exist, and many other kind of
birds. For instance, they have ostriches that are nearly as big as
asses; and plenty of beautiful parrots, with apes of sundry kinds, and
baboons and other monkeys that have countenances all but human.{6}
There are numerous cities and villages in this province of Abash, and
many merchants; for there is much trade to be done there. The people
also manufacture very fine buckrams and other cloths of cotton.
There is no more to say on the subject; so now let us go forward and
tell you of the province of Aden.
NOTE 1.—_Abash_ (Abasce) is a close enough representation of the
Arabic _Ḥabsh_ or _Ḥabash_, _i.e._ Abyssinia. He gives as an
alternative title _Middle_ India. I am not aware that the term
India is applied to Abyssinia by any Oriental (Arabic or Persian)
writer, and one feels curious to know where our Traveller got the
appellation. We find nearly the same application of the term in
Benjamin of Tudela:
“Eight days from thence is Middle India, which is Aden, and in
Scripture Eden in Thelasar. This country is very mountainous, and
contains many independent Jews who are not subject to the power
of the Gentiles, but possess cities and fortresses on the summits
of the mountains, from whence they descend into the country of
Maatum, with which they are at war. Maatum, called also Nubia, is
a Christian kingdom and the inhabitants are called Nubians,” etc.
(p. 117). Here the Rabbi seems to transfer Aden to the west of the
Red Sea (as Polo also seems to do in this chapter); for the Jews
warring against Nubian Christians must be sought in the Falasha
strongholds among the mountains of Abyssinia. His Middle India is
therefore the same as Polo’s or nearly so. In Jordanus, as already
mentioned, we have _India Tertia_, which combines some characters
of Abyssinia and Zanjibar, but is distinguished from the Ethiopia
of Prester John, which adjoins it.
But for the occurrence of the name in R. Benjamin I should have
supposed the use of it to have been of European origin and
current at most among Oriental Christians and Frank merchants. The
_European_ confusion of India and Ethiopia comes down from Virgil’s
time, who brings the Nile from India. And Servius (4th century)
commenting on a more ambiguous passage—
——“_Sola India nigrum
Fert ebenum_,”
says explicitly “_Indiam omnem plagam Æthiopiæ accipimus_.”
Procopius brings the Nile into Egypt ἐξ Ἰνδῶν; and the
Ecclesiastical Historians Sozomen and Socrates (I take these
citations, like the last, from Ludolf), in relating the conversion
of the Abyssinians by Frumentius, speak of them only as of the
Ἰνδῶν τῶν ἐνδοτέρω, “Interior Indians,” a phrase intended to imply
_remoter_, but which might perhaps give rise to the term _Middle
India_. Thus Cosmas says of China: “ἧς ἐνδοτέρω, there is no other
country”; and Nicolo Conti calls the Chinese _Interiores Indi_,
which Mr. Winter Jones misrenders “natives of Central India.”[1]
St. Epiphanius (end of 4th century) says _India_ was formerly
divided into nine kingdoms, viz., those of the (1) _Alabastri_,
(2) _Homeritae_, (3) _Azumiti_, and _Dulites_, (4) _Bugaei_, (5)
_Taiani_, (6) _Isabeni_, and so on, several of which are manifestly
provinces subject to Abyssinia.[2] Roger Bacon speaks of the
“Ethiopes de Nubiâ et ultimi illi _qui vocantur Indi, propter
approximationem ad Indiam_.” The term _India Minor_ is applied to
some Ethiopic region in a letter which Matthew Paris gives under
1237. And this confusion which prevailed more or less till the 16th
century was at the bottom of that other confusion, whatever be its
exact history, between Prester John in remote Asia, and Prester
John in Abyssinia. In fact the narrative by Damian de Goës of the
Embassy from the King of Abyssinia to Portugal in 1513, which
was printed at Antwerp in 1532, bears the title “_Legatio Magni_
Indorum _Imperatoris_,” etc. (_Ludolf, Comment._ p. 2 and 75–76;
_Epiph. de Gemmis_, etc., p. 15; _R. Bacon, Opus Majus_, p. 148;
_Matt. Paris_, p. 372.)
Wadding gives a letter from the Pope (Alex. II.) under date 3rd
Sept. 1329, addressed to the _Emperor of Ethiopia_, to inform him
of the appointment of a Bishop of Diagorgan. As this place is
the capital of a district near Tabriz (Dehi-Khorkhán); the papal
geography looks a little hazy.
NOTE 2.—The allegation against the Abyssinian Christians, sometimes
extended to the whole Jacobite Church, that they accompanied the
rite of Baptism by branding with a hot iron on the face, is pretty
old and persistent.
The letter quoted from Matt. Paris in the preceding note relates
of the Jacobite Christians “who occupy the kingdoms between Nubia
and India,” that some of them brand the foreheads of their children
before Baptism with a hot iron (p. 302). A quaint Low-German
account of the East, in a MS. of the 14th century, tells of the
Christians of India that when a Bishop ordains a priest he fires
him with a sharp and hot iron from the forehead down the nose,
and the scar of this wound abides till the day of his death. And
this they do for a token that the Holy Ghost came on the Apostles
with fire. Frescobaldi says those called the Christians of the
Girdle were the sect which baptized by branding on the head and
temples. Clavijo says there is such a sect among the Christians
of India, but they are despised by the rest. Barbosa, speaking
of the Abyssinians, has this passage: “According to what is
said, their baptism is threefold, viz., by blood, by fire, and
by water. For they use circumcision like the Jews, they brand on
the forehead with a hot iron, and they baptize with water like
Catholic Christians.” The respectable Pierre Belon speaks of the
Christians of Prester John, called Abyssinians, as baptized with
fire and branded in three places, _i.e._ between the eyes and on
either cheek. Linschoten repeats the like, and one of his plates
is entitled _Habitus Abissinorum quibus loco Baptismatis frons
inuritur_. Ariosto, referring to the Emperor of Ethiopia, has:—
“_Gli è, s’io non piglio errore, in questo loco
Ove al battesimo loro usano il fuoco._”
As late as 1819 the traveller Dupré published the same statement
about the Jacobites generally. And so sober and learned a man as
Assemani, himself an Oriental, says: “Æthiopes vero, seu Abissini,
praeter circumcisionem adhibent etiam ferrum candens, quo pueris
notam inurunt.”
Yet Ludolf’s Abyssinian friend, Abba Gregory, denied that there
was any such practice among them. Ludolf says it is the custom of
various African tribes, both Pagan and Mussulman, to cauterize
their children in the veins of the temples, in order to inure them
against colds, and that this, being practised by some Abyssinians,
was taken for a religious rite. In spite of the terms “Pagan and
Mussulman,” I suspect that Herodotus was the authority for this
practice. He states that many of the nomad Libyans, when their
children reached the age of four, used to burn the veins at the top
of the head with a flock of wool; others burned the veins about
the temples. And this they did, he says, to prevent their being
troubled with rheum in after life.
Indeed Andrea Corsali denies that the branding had aught to do
with baptism, “but only to observe Solomon’s custom of marking
his slaves, the King of Ethiopia claiming to be descended from
him.” And it is remarkable that Salt mentions that most of the
people of Dixan had a cross marked (_i.e._ branded) on the breast,
right arm, or forehead. This he elsewhere explains as a mark of
their attachment to the ancient metropolitan church of Axum, and
he supposes that such a practice may have originated the stories
of fire-baptism. And we find it stated in Marino Sanudo that
“some of the Jacobites and Syrians _who had crosses branded on
them_ said this was done for the destruction of the Pagans, and
out of reverence to the Holy Rood.” Matthew Paris, commenting on
the letter quoted above, says that many of the Jacobites _before
baptism_ brand their children on the forehead with a hot iron,
whilst others brand a cross upon the cheeks or temples. He had seen
such marks also on the arms of both Jacobites and Syrians who dwelt
among the Saracens. It is clear, from Salt, that such branding
_was_ practised by many Abyssinians, and that to a recent date,
though it may have been entirely detached from baptism. A similar
practice is followed at Dwárika and Koteswar (on the old Indus
mouth, now called Lakpat River), where the Hindu pilgrims to these
sacred sites are branded with the mark of the god.
(_Orient und Occident_, Göttingen, 1862, I. 453; _Frescob._ 114;
_Clavijo_, 163; _Ramus._ I. f. 290, v., f. 184; _Marin. Sanud._
185, and Bk. iii. pt. viii. ch. iv.; _Clusius, Exotica_, pt. ii.
p. 142; _Orland. Fur._ XXXIII. st. 102; _Voyage en Perse, dans les
Années_ 1807–1809; _Assemani_, II. c.; _Ludolf_, iii. 6, § 41;
_Salt_, in _Valentia’s Trav._ II. p. 505, and his _Second Journey_,
French Tr., II. 219; _M. Paris_, p. 373; _J. R. A. S._ I. 42.)
NOTE 3.—It is pretty clear from what follows (as Marsden and others
have noted) that the narrative requires us to conceive of the
Sultan of Aden as dominant over the territory between Abyssinia and
the sea, or what was in former days called ADEL, between which and
_Aden_ confusion seems to have been made. I have noticed in Note 1
the appearance of this confusion in R. Benjamin; and I may add that
also in the Map of Marino Sanudo Aden is represented on the western
shore of the Red Sea. But is it not possible that in the origin of
the Mahomedan States of Adel the Sultan of Aden had some power over
them? For we find in the account of the correspondence between the
King of Abyssinia and Sultan Bibars, quoted in the next Note but
one, that the Abyssinian letters and presents for Egypt were sent
to the Sultan of Yemen or Aden to be forwarded.
NOTE 4.—This passage is not authoritative enough to justify us
in believing that the mediæval Abyssinians or Nubians did use
elephants in war, for Marco has already erred in ascribing that
practice to the Blacks of Zanjibar.
There can indeed be no doubt that elephants from the countries
on the west of the Red Sea were caught and tamed and used for
war, systematically and on a great scale, by the second and third
Ptolemies, and the latter (Euergetes) has commemorated this, and
his own use of _Troglodytic_ and _Ethiopic_ elephants, and the
fact of their encountering the elephants of India, in the Adulitic
Inscription recorded by Cosmas.
This author however, who wrote about A.D. 545, and had been at the
Court of Axum, then in its greatest prosperity, says distinctly:
“The Ethiopians do not understand the art of taming elephants;
but if their King should want one or two for show they catch them
young, and bring them up in captivity.” Hence, when we find a few
years later (A.D. 570) that there was one great elephant, and some
say _thirteen_ elephants,[3] employed in the army which Abraha, the
Abyssinian Ruler of Yemen led against Mecca, an expedition famous
in Arabian history as the War of the Elephant, we are disposed to
believe that these must have been elephants imported from India.
There is indeed a notable statement quoted by Ritter, which if
trustworthy would lead to another conclusion: “Already in the 20th
year of the Hijra (A.D. 641) had the _Nubas_ and _Bejas_ hastened
to the help of the Greek Christians of Oxyrhynchus (_Bahnasa_ of
the Arabs) ... against the first invasion of the Mahommedans,
and according to the exaggerated representations of the Arabian
Annalists, the army which they brought consisted of 50,000 men and
1300 _war-elephants_.”[4] The Nubians certainly must have tamed
elephants _on some scale_ down to a late period in the Middle Ages,
for elephants,—in one case three annually,—formed a frequent part
of the tribute paid by Nubia to the Mahomedan sovereigns of Egypt
at least to the end of the 13th century; but the passage quoted
is too isolated to be accepted without corroboration. The only
approach to such a corroboration that I know of is a statement by
Poggio in the matter appended to his account of Conti’s Travels. He
there repeats some information derived from the Abyssinian envoys
who visited Pope Eugenius IV. about 1440, and one of his notes
is: “They have elephants very large and in great numbers; some
kept for ostentation or pleasure, some as useful in war. They are
hunted; the old ones killed, the young ones taken and tamed.” But
the facts on which this was founded probably amounted to no more
than what Cosmas had stated. I believe no trustworthy authority
since the Portuguese discoveries confirms the use of the elephant
in Abyssinia;[5] and Ludolf, whose information was excellent,
distinctly says that the Abyssinians did not tame them. (_Cathay_,
p. clxxxi.; _Quat., Mém. sur l’Égypte_, II. 98, 113; _India in
XVth Century_, 37; _Ludolf_, I. 10, 32; _Armandi, H. Militaire des
Éléphants_, p. 548.)
NOTE 5.—To the 10th century at least the whole coast country of the
Red Sea, from near Berbera probably to Suákin, was still subject
to Abyssinia. At this time we hear only of “Musalman families”
residing in Zaila’ and the other ports, and tributary to the
Christians (see _Mas’udi_, III. 34).
According to Bruce’s abstract of the Abyssinian chronicles, the
royal line was superseded in the 10th century by Falasha Jews,
then by other Christian families, and three centuries of weakness
and disorder succeeded. In 1268, according to Bruce’s chronology,
Icon Amlac of the House of Solomon, which had continued to rule in
Shoa, regained the empire, and was followed by seven other princes
whose reigns come down to 1312. The history of this period is very
obscure, but Bruce gathers that it was marked by civil wars, during
which the Mahomedan communities that had by this time grown up
in the coast-country became powerful and expelled the Abyssinians
from the sea-ports. Inland provinces of the low country also, such
as Ifat and Dawaro, had fallen under Mahomedan governors, whose
allegiance to the Negush, if not renounced, had become nominal.
One of the principal Mahomedan communities was called _Adel_, the
name, according to modern explanation, of the tribes now called
Danákíl. The capital of the Sultan of Adel was, according to Bruce
at Aussa, some distance inland from the port of Zaila’, which also
belonged to Adel.
Amda Zion, who succeeded to the Abyssinian throne, according to
Bruce’s chronology, in 1312, two or three years later, provoked
by the Governor of Ifat, who had robbed and murdered one of his
Mahomedan agents in the Lowlands, descended on Ifat, inflicted
severe chastisement on the offenders, and removed the governor. A
confederacy was then formed against the Abyssinian King by several
of the Mahomedan States or chieftainships, among which Adel is
conspicuous. Bruce gives a long and detailed account of Amda Zion’s
resolute and successful campaigns against this confederacy. It
bears a strong general resemblance to Marco’s narrative, always
excepting the story of the Bishop, of which Bruce has no trace, and
always admitting that our traveller has confounded Aden with Adel.
But the chronology is obviously in the way of identification of
the histories. Marco could not have related in 1298 events that
did not occur till 1315–16. Mr. Salt however, in his version of
the chronology, not only puts the accession of Amda Zion eleven
years earlier than Bruce, but even then has so little confidence in
its accuracy, and is so much disposed to identify the histories,
that he suggests that the Abyssinian dates should be carried back
further still by some 20 years, on the authority of the narrative
in our text. M. Pauthier takes a like view.
I was for some time much disposed to do likewise, but after
examining the subject more minutely, I am obliged to reject this
view, and to abide by Bruce’s Chronology. To elucidate this I must
exhibit the whole list of the Abyssinian Kings from the restoration
of the line of Solomon to the middle of the 16th century, at which
period Bruce finds a check to the chronology in the record of a
solar eclipse. The chronologies have been extracted independently
by Bruce, Rüppell, and Salt; the latter using a different version
of the Annals from the other two. I set down all three.
-------------------------------+--------+------------------------------
BRUCE. | RÜPPEL.| SALT.
------------+--------+---------|--------|-----------+--------+---------
Reigns. |Duration| Dates. |Duration| Reigns. |Duration| Dates.
| of | | of | | of |
| reign. | | reign. | | reign. |
------------|--------|---------|--------|-----------|--------|---------
| Years. | | Years. | | Years. |
Icon Amlac | 15 |1268–1283| 15 | .. .. | 14 |1255–1269
Igba Zion | 9 |1283–1292| 9 |Woudem Arad| 15 |1269–1284
Bahar Segued|} | | |Kudma Asgud| |
Tzenaff „ |} | | |Asfa „ | 3 |1284–1287
Jan „ |} 5 |1292–1297| 5 |Sinfa „ | |
Hazeb Araad |} | | |Bar „ | 5 |1287–1292
Kedem Segued|} | | |Igba Zion | 9 |1292–1301
Wedem Arad | 15 |1297–1312| 15 | .. .. | .. | ..
Amda Zion | 30 |1312–1342| 30 | .. .. | 30 |1301–1331
Saif Arad | 28 |1342–1370| 28 | .. .. | 28 |1331–1359
Wedem Asferi| 10 |1370–1380| 10 | .. .. | 10 |1359–1369
David II | 29 |1380–1409| 29 | .. .. | 32 |1369–1401
Theodorus | 3 |1409–1412| 3 | .. .. | 1 |1401–1402
Isaac | 17 |1412–1429| 15 | .. .. | 15 |1402–1417
Andreas | 0⁷⁄₁₂| 1429 | 0⁷⁄₁₂| .. .. | 7 |1417–1424
Haseb Nanya | 4 |1429–1433| 4 | .. .. | 5 |1424–1429
Sarwe Yasus |} 1¹⁄₁₂|1433–1434| 1 | .. .. | 5 |1429–1434
Ameda Yasus |} | | | | |
Zara Jacob | 34 |1434–1468| 34⅙ | .. .. | 34 |1434–1468
Beda Mariam | 10 |1468–1478| 10 | .. .. | 10 |1468–1478
Iskander |} 17 |1478–1495| 17⁷⁄₁₂| .. .. | 16 |1478–1494
Ameda Zion |} | | | | |
Naod | 13 |1495–1508| 13 | .. .. | 13 |1494–1507
David III | 32 |1508–1540| 32 | .. .. | 32 |1507–1536
Claudius | .. | 1540 | .. | .. .. | .. | ..
------------+--------+---------+--------+-----------+--------+---------
Bruce checks his chronology by an eclipse which took place in
1553, and which the Abyssinian chronicle assigns to the 13th year
of Claudius. This alone would be scarcely satisfactory as a basis
for the retrospective control of reigns extending through nearly
three centuries; but we find some other checks.
Thus in Quatremère’s Makrizi we find a correspondence between
Sultan Bibars and the King of Habasha, or of Amhara, _Maḥar_ AMLÁK,
which occurred in A.H. 672 or 673, _i.e._ A.D. 1273–1274. This
would fall within the reign of Icon AMLAK according to Bruce’s
chronology, but not according to Salt’s, and _à fortiori_ not
according to any chronology throwing the reigns further back still.
In Quatremère’s _Égypte_ we find another notice of a letter which
came to the Sultan of Egypt from the King of Abyssinia, IAKBA SIUN,
in Ramadhan 689, _i.e._ in the end of A.D. 1289.
Again, this is perfectly consistent with Bruce’s order and dates,
but not with Salt’s.
The same work contains a notice of an inroad on the Mussulman
territory of Assuan by David (II.), the son of Saif Arad, in the
year 783 (A.D. 1381–1382).
In Rink’s translation of a work of Makrizi’s it is stated that
this same King David died in A.H. 812, _i.e._ A.D. 1409; that he
was succeeded by Theodorus, whose reign was very brief, and he
again by Isaac, who died in Dhulkada 833, _i.e._ July–August 1430.
These dates are in close or substantial agreement with Bruce’s
chronology, but not at all with Salt’s or any chronology throwing
the reigns further back. Makrizi goes on to say that Isaac was
succeeded by Andreas, who reigned only four months, and then by
Hazbana, who died in Ramadhan 834, _i.e._ May–June 1431. This last
date does not agree, but we are now justified in suspecting an
error in the Hijra date,[6] whilst the 4 _months’_ reign ascribed
to Andreas shows that Salt again is wrong in extending it to 7
_years_, and Bruce presumably right in making it 7 _months_.
These coincidences seem to me sufficient to maintain the
substantial accuracy of Bruce’s chronology, and to be fatal to the
identification of Marco’s story with that of the wars of Amda Zion.
The general identity in the duration of reigns as given by Rüppell
shows that Bruce did not tamper with these. It is remarkable that
in Makrizi’s report of the letter of Igba Zion in 1289 (the very
year when according to the text this anti-Mahomedan war was going
on), that Prince tells the Sultan that he is a protector of the
Mahomedans in Abyssinia, acting in that respect _quite differently
from his Father who had been so hostile to them_.
I suspect therefore that _Icon Amlak_ must have been the true hero
of Marco’s story, and that the date must be thrown back, probably
to 1278.
Rüppell is at a loss to understand where Bruce got the long story
of Amda Zion’s heroic deeds, which enters into extraordinary
detail, embracing speeches after the manner of the Roman historians
and the like, and occupies some 60 pages in the French edition of
Bruce which I have been using. The German traveller could find
no trace of this story in any of the versions of the Abyssinian
chronicle which he consulted, nor was it known to a learned
Abyssinian whom he names. Bruce himself says that the story,
which he has “a little abridged and accommodated to our manner of
writing, was derived from a work written in very pure Gheez, in
Shoa, under the reign of Zara Jacob”; and though it is possible
that his amplifications outweigh his abridgments, we cannot doubt
that he had an original groundwork for his narrative.
The work of Makrizi already quoted speaks of seven kingdoms in
Zaila’ (here used for the Mahomedan low country) originally
tributary to the Hati (or Negush) of Amhara, viz., _Aufat_,[7]
_Dawaro_, Arababni, _Hadiah_, Shirha, Bali, Darah. Of these Ifat,
Dawaro, and Hadiah repeatedly occur in Bruce’s story of the war.
Bruce also tells us that Amda Zion, when he removed _Hakeddin_,
the Governor of Ifat, who had murdered his agent, replaced him by
his brother _Sabreddin_. Now we find in Makrizi that _about_ A.H.
700, the reigning governor of Aufat under the Hati was _Sabreddin_
Mahomed Valahui; and that it was ’Ali, the son of this Sabreddin,
who first threw off allegiance to the Abyssinian King, then Saif
Arad (son of Amda Zion). The latter displaces ’Ali and gives the
government to his son Ahmed. After various vicissitudes Hakeddin,
the son of Ahmed, obtains the mastery in Aufat, defeats Saif
Arad completely, and founds a city in Shoa called Vahal, which
superseded Aufat or Ifat. Here the _Sabreddin_ of Makrizi appears
to be identical with Amda Zion’s governor in Bruce’s story, whilst
the _Hakeddins_ belong to two different generations of the same
family. But Makrizi does not notice the wars of Amda Zion any more
than the Abyssinian Chronicles notice the campaign recorded by
Marco Polo.
(_Bruce_, vol. III. and vol. IV., pp. 23–90, and _Salt’s Second
Journey to Abyssinia_, II. 270, etc.; both these are quoted from
French versions which are alone available to me, the former by
_Castera_, Londres, 1790, the latter by _P. Henry_, Paris, 1816;
_Fr. Th. Rink, Al Macrisi, Hist. Rerum Islamiticarum in Abyssinia_,
etc., Lugd. Bat. 1798; _Rüppell_, Dissert. on Abyss. Hist. and
Chronology in his work on that country; _Quat. Makr._ II. 122–123;
_Quat. Mém. sur l’Égypte_, II. 268, 276.)
NOTE 6.—The last words run in the G. T.: “_Il ont singles de
plosors maineres. Il ont_ gat paulz (see note 2, ch. xxiii.
_supra_), _et autre gat maimon si devisez qe pou s’en faut de tiel
hi a qe ne senblent a vix d’omes._” The beautiful cocks and hens
are, I suppose, Guinea fowl.
[We read in the _Si Shi ki_: “There is (in Western Asia) a
large bird, above 10 feet high, with feet like a camel, and of
bluish-grey colour. When it runs it flaps the wings. It eats fire,
and its eggs are of the size of a _sheng_ (a certain measure
for grain).” (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._, I. pp. 143–144.) Dr.
Bretschneider gives a long note on the ostrich, called in Persian
_shutur-murg_ (camel-bird), from which we gather the following
information: “The ostrich, although found only in the desert of
Africa and Western Asia, was known to the Chinese in early times,
since their first intercourse with the countries of the far west.
In the History of the Han (_T’sien Han shu_, ch. xcvi.) it is
stated that the Emperor _Wu-ti_, B.C. 140–86, first sent an
embassy to _An-si_, a country of Western Asia, which, according to
the description given of it, can only be identified with ancient
_Parthia_, the empire of the dynasty of the Arsacides. In this
country, the Chinese chronicler records, a large bird from 8 to 9
feet high is found, the feet, the breast, and the neck of which
make it resemble the camel. It eats barley. The name of this bird
is _ta ma tsio_ (the bird of the great horse). It is further
stated that subsequently the ruler of An-si sent an embassy to the
Chinese emperor, and brought as a present the eggs of this great
bird. In the _Hou Han shu_, ch. cxviii., an embassy from An-si is
mentioned again in A.D. 101. They brought as presents a lion and
a large bird. In the History of the _Weí_ Dynasty, A.D. 386–558,
where for the first time the name of _Po-sz’_ occurs, used to
designate Persia, it is recorded that in that country there is a
large bird resembling a camel and laying eggs of large size. It has
wings and cannot fly far. It eats grass and flesh, and swallows
men. In the History of the _T’ang_ (618–907) the camel-bird is
again mentioned as a bird of Persia. It is also stated there
that the ruler of _T’u-huo-lo_ (Tokharestan) sent a camel-bird
to the Chinese emperor. The Chinese materia medica, _Pen ts’ao
Kang mu_, written in the 16th century, gives (ch. xlix.) a good
description of the ostrich, compiled from ancient authors. It is
said, amongst other things, to eat copper, iron, stones, etc., and
to have only two claws on its feet. Its legs are so strong that
it can dangerously wound a man by jerking. It can run 300 _li_
a day. Its native countries are _A-dan_ (Aden) _Dju-bo_ (on the
Eastern African coast). A rude but tolerably exact drawing of the
camel-bird in the Pen-ts’ao proves that the ostrich was well known
to the Chinese in ancient times, and that they paid great attention
to it. In the History of the _Ming_ Dynasty, ch. cccxxvi., the
country of _Hu-lu-mo-sz’_ (Hormuz on the Persian Gulf) is mentioned
as producing ostriches.”—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Reinaud (_Abulf._ I. 81) says the word _Interior_ applied by the
Arabs to a country, is the equivalent of _citerior_, whilst by
_exterior_ they mean _ulterior_. But the truth is just the reverse,
even in the case before him, where _Bolghár-al-Dakhila_, ‘Bulgari
Interiores,’ are the Volga Bulgars. So also the Arabs called
Armenia on the Araxes _Interior_, Armenia on Lake Van _Exterior_
(_St. Martin_, I. 31).
[2] Thus (2) the Homeritae of Yemen, (3) the people of Axum, and Adulis
or Zulla, (5) the _Bugaei_ or Bejahs of the Red Sea coast, (6)
_Taiani_ or Tiamo, appear in Salt’s Axum Inscription as subject to
the King of Axum in the middle of the 4th century.
[3] _Muir’s Life of Mahomet_, I. cclxiii.
[4] _Ritter, Africa_, p. 605. The statement appears to be taken from
Burckhardt’s _Nubia_, but the reference is not quite clear. There
is nothing about this army in Quatremère’s _Mém. sur la Nubie_.
(_Mém. sur l’Égypte_, vol. ii.)
[5] Armandi indeed quotes a statement in support of such use from a
Spaniard, _Marmol_, who travelled (he says) in Abyssinia in the
beginning of the 16th century. But the author in question, already
quoted at pp. 368 and 407, was no traveller, only a compiler;
and the passage cited by Armandi is evidently made up from the
statement in Poggio and from what our traveller has said about
Zanjibar. (_Supra_, p. 422. See _Marmol, Desc. de Affrica_, I. f.
27, v.)
[6] 834 for 836.
[7] On Aufat, see De Sacy, _Chrestom. Arabe_, I. 457.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ADEN.
You must know that in the province of ADEN there is a Prince who is
called the Soldan. The people are all Saracens and adorers of Mahommet,
and have a great hatred of Christians. There are many towns and
villages in the country.
This Aden is the port to which many of the ships of India come with
their cargoes; and from this haven the merchants carry the goods a
distance of seven days further in small vessels. At the end of those
seven days they land the goods and load them on camels, and so carry
them a land journey of 30 days. This brings them to the river of
ALEXANDRIA, and by it they descend to the latter city. It is by this
way through Aden that the Saracens of Alexandria receive all their
stores of pepper and other spicery; and there is no other route equally
good and convenient by which these goods could reach that place.{1}
And you must know that the Soldan of Aden receives a large amount in
duties from the ships that traffic between India and his country,
importing different kinds of goods; and from the exports also he gets a
revenue, for there are despatched from the port of Aden to India a very
large number of Arab chargers, and palfreys, and stout nags adapted for
all work, which are a source of great profit to those who export them.
{2} For horses fetch very high prices in India, there being none bred
there, as I have told you before; insomuch that a charger will sell
there for 100 marks of silver and more. On these also the Soldan of
Aden receives heavy payments in port charges, so that ’tis said he is
one of the richest princes in the world.{3}
And it is a fact that when the Soldan of Babylon went against the city
of Acre and took it, this Soldan of Aden sent to his assistance 30,000
horsemen and full 40,000 camels, to the great help of the Saracens and
the grievous injury of the Christians. He did this a great deal more
for the hate he bears the Christians than for any love he bears the
Soldan of Babylon; for these two do hate one another heartily.{4}
Now we will have done with the Soldan of Aden, and I will tell you of a
city which is subject to Aden, called Esher.
NOTE 1.—This is from Pauthier’s text, which is here superior to
the G. T. The latter has: “They put the goods in small vessels,
which proceed _on a river_ about seven days.” _Ram._ has, “in other
smaller vessels, with which they make a voyage on a gulf of the
sea for 20 days, more or less, as the weather may be. On reaching
a certain port they load the goods on camels, and carry them a 30
days’ journey by land to the River Nile, where they embark them
in small vessels called _Zerms_, and in these descend the current
to Cairo, and thence by an artificial cut, called _Calizene_,
to Alexandria.” The last looks as if it had been _edited_; Polo
never uses the name _Cairo_. The canal, the predecessor of the
_Mahmúdíah_, is also called _Il Caligine_ in the journey of Simon
Sigoli (_Frescobaldi_, p. 168). Brunetto Latini, too, discoursing of
the Nile, says:—
“Così serva su’ filo,
Ed è chiamato Nilo.
D’un su’ ramo si dice,
Ch’è chiamato _Calice_.”
—_Tesoretto_, pp. 81–82.
Also in the _Sfera_ of Dati:—
——“Chiamasi il _Caligine_
Egion e Nilo, e non si sa l’origine.” P. 9.
The word is (Ar.) _Khalíj_, applied in one of its senses specially
to the canals drawn from the full Nile. The port on the Red Sea
would be either Suákin or Aidháb; the 30 days’ journey seems to
point to the former. Polo’s contemporary, Marino Sanudo, gives the
following account of the transit, omitting _entirely_ the Red Sea
navigation, though his line correctly represented would apparently
go by Kosseir: “The fourth haven is called AHADEN, and stands on a
certain little island joining, as it were, to the main, in the land
of the Saracens. The spices and other goods from India are landed
there, loaded on camels, and so carried by a journey of nine days
to a place on the River Nile, called _Chus_ (_Kús_, the ancient
_Cos_ below Luqsor), where they are put into boats and conveyed in
15 days to Babylon. But in the month of October and thereabouts the
river rises to such an extent that the spices, etc., continue to
descend the stream from Babylon and enter a certain long canal, and
so are conveyed over the 200 miles between Babylon and Alexandria.”
(Bk. I. pt. i. ch. i.)
Makrizi relates that up to A.H. 725 (1325), from time immemorial
the Indian ships had discharged at Aden, but in that year the
exactions of the Sultan induced a shipmaster to pass on into the
Red Sea, and eventually the trade came to Jidda. (See _De Sacy,
Chrest. Arabe_, II. 556.)
✛Aden is mentioned (_A-dan_) in ch. cccxxxvi. of the Ming History
as having sent an embassy to China in 1427. These embassies were
subsequently often repeated. The country, which lay 22 days’ voyage
west of _Kuli_ (supposed Calicut, but perhaps Káyal), was devoid of
grass or trees. (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._, II. pp. 305–306.)
[Ma-huan (transl. by Phillips) writes (_J. R. A. S._, April 1896):
“In the nineteenth year of Yung-lo (1422) an Imperial Envoy, the
eunuch Li, was sent from China to this country with a letter
and presents to the King. On his arrival he was most honourably
received, and was met by the king on landing and conducted by him
to his palace.”—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—The words describing the horses are (P.’s text): “_de bons
destriers Arrabins et chevaux et grans roncins_ à ij selles.” The
meaning seems to be what I have expressed in the text, fit either
for saddle or pack-saddle.
[_Roncins à deux selles_. Littré’s great Dictionary supplies an apt
illustration of this phrase. A contemporary _Eloge de Charles VII._
says: “_Jamais il chevauchoit mule ne haquenée, mais_ un bas cheval
trotier entre deux selles” (a cob?).]
In one application the _Deux selles_ of the old riding-schools were
the two styles of riding, called in Spanish _Montar á la Gineta_
and _Montar á la Brida_. The latter stands for the old French
style, with heavy bit and saddle, and long stirrups just reached
by the toes; the former the Moorish style, with short stirrups and
lighter bit. But the phrase would also seem to have meant _saddle
and pack-saddle_. Thus Cobarruvias explains the phrase _Hombre de
dos sillas_, “Conviene saber de la gineta y brida, _ser de silla y
albarda_ (pack-saddle), _servir de todo_,” and we find the converse
expression, _No ser para silla ni para albarda_, good for nothing.
But for an example of the exact phrase of the French text I am
indebted to P. della Valle. Speaking of the Persian horses, he
says: “Few of them are of any great height, and you seldom see
thoroughbreds among them; probably because here they have no liking
for such and don’t seek to breed them. For the most part they are
of that very useful style that we call horses for both saddles
(_che noi chiamiamo da due selle_),” etc. (See _Cobarruvias_, under
_Silla_ and _Brida; Dicc. de la Lengua Castellana por la Real
Academia Española_, under _Silla, Gineta, Brida; P. della Valle_,
Let. XV. da Sciraz, § 3, vol. ii, p. 240.)
NOTE 3.—The supposed confusion between Adel and Aden does not
affect this chapter.
The “Soldan of Aden” was the Sultan of Yemen, whose chief residence
was at Ta’izz, North-East of Mokha. The prince reigning in Polo’s
day was Malik Muzaffar Shamsuddín Abu’l Mahasen Yusuf. His father,
Malik Mansúr, a retainer of the Ayubite Dynasty, had been sent by
Saladin as Wazir to Yemen, with his brother Malik Muazzam Turan
Shah. After the death of the latter, and of his successor, the
Wazir assumed the government and became the founder of a dynasty.
Aden was the chief port of his dominions. It had been a seat of
direct trade with China in the early centuries of Islam.
Ibn Batuta speaks of it thus correctly: “It is enclosed by
mountains, and you can enter by one side only. It is a large town,
but has neither corn nor trees, nor fresh water, except from
reservoirs made to catch the rain-water; for other drinking water
is at a great distance from the town. The Arabs often prevent the
townspeople coming to fetch it until the latter have come to terms
with them, and paid them a bribe in money or cloths. The heat at
Aden is great. It is the port frequented by the people from India,
and great ships come thither from Kunbáyat, Tána, Kaulam, Ḳaliḳúṭ,
Fandaráina, Sháliát, Manjarúr, Fákanúr, Hinaur, Sindábúr,[1] etc.
There are Indian merchants residing in the city, and Egyptian
merchants as well.”
The tanks of which the Moor speaks had been buried by débris; of
late years they have been cleared and repaired. They are grand
works. They are said to have been formerly 50 in number, with a
capacity of 30 million gallons.
[Illustration: _Attempted Escalade of ADEN, by the Portuguese under
ALBOQUERQUE, in 1513._
_(Reduced Facsimile of a large Contemporary Wood-Engraving, in the
Map Department of the BRITISH MUSEUM, supposed to have been
executed at Antwerp)._
_Size of the Original (in 6 Sheets) 42½ Inches by 19⅛ Inches._
[Illustration: View of Aden in 1840.]
This cut, from a sketch by Dr. Kirk, gives an excellent idea of
Aden as seen by a ship approaching from India. The large plate
again, reduced from a grand and probably unique contemporary
wood-engraving of great size, shows the impression that the city
made upon European eyes in the beginning of the 16th century. It
will seem absurd, especially to those who knew Aden in the early
days of our occupation, and no doubt some of the details are
extravagant, but the general impression is quite consonant with
that derived from the description of De Barros and Andrea Corsali:
“In site and aspect from the seaward,” says the former, “the city
forms a beautiful object, for besides the part which lies along the
shore with its fine walls and towers, its many public buildings and
rows of houses rising aloft in many stories, with terraced roofs,
you have all that ridge of mountain facing the sea and presenting
to its very summit a striking picture of the operations of Nature,
and still more of the industry of man.” This historian says that
the prosperity of Aden increased on the arrival of the Portuguese
in those seas, for the Mussulman traders from Jidda and the Red
Sea ports now dreaded these western corsairs, and made Aden an
entrepôt, instead of passing it by as they used to do in days
of unobstructed navigation. This prosperity, however, must have
been of very brief duration. Corsali’s account of Aden (in 1517)
is excellent, but too long for extract. (_Makrizi_, IV. 26–27;
_Playfair, H. of Yemen_, p. 7; _Ibn Batuta_, II. 177; _De Barros_,
II. vii. 8; _Ram._ I. f. 182.)
NOTE 4.—I have not been able to trace any other special notice of
the part taken by the Sultan of Yemen in the capture of Acre by the
Mameluke Sultan, Malik Ashraf Khalil, in 1291. Ibn Ferat, quoted
by Reinaud, says that the Sultan sent into all the provinces the
most urgent orders for the supply of troops and machines; and there
gathered from all sides the warriors of Damascus, of Hamath, and
the rest of Syria, of Egypt, and of _Arabia_. (_Michaud, Bibl. des
Croisades_, 1829, IV. 569.)
“I once” (says Joinville) “rehearsed to the Legate two cases of sin
that a priest of mine had been telling me of, and he answered me
thus: ‘No man knows as much of the heinous sins that are done in
Acre as I do; and it cannot be but God will take vengeance on them,
in such a way that the city of Acre shall be washed in the blood
of its inhabitants, and that another people shall come to occupy
after them.’ The good man’s prophecy hath come true in part, for of
a truth the city hath been washed in the blood of its inhabitants,
but those to replace them are not yet come: may God send them good
when it pleases Him!” (p. 192).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] All ports of Western India: Pandarani, Shalia (near Calicut),
Mangalore, Baccanore, Onore, Goa.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF ESHER.
Esher is a great city lying in a north-westerly direction from the
last, and 400 miles distant from the Port of Aden. It has a king, who
is subject to the Soldan of Aden. He has a number of towns and villages
under him, and administers his territory well and justly.
The people are Saracens. The place has a very good haven, wherefore
many ships from India come thither with various cargoes; and they
export many good chargers thence to India.{1}
A great deal of white incense grows in this country, and brings in a
great revenue to the Prince; for no one dares sell it to any one else;
and whilst he takes it from the people at 10 livres of gold for the
hundredweight, he sells it to the merchants at 60 livres, so his profit
is immense.{2}
Dates also grow very abundantly here. The people have no corn but rice,
and very little of that; but plenty is brought from abroad, for it
sells here at a good profit. They have fish in great profusion, and
notably plenty of tunny of large size; so plentiful indeed that you may
buy two big ones for a Venice groat of silver. The natives live on meat
and rice and fish. They have no wine of the vine, but they make good
wine from sugar, from rice, and from dates also.
And I must tell you another very strange thing. You must know that
their sheep have no ears, but where the ear ought to be they have a
little horn! They are pretty little beasts.{3}
And I must not omit to tell you that all their cattle, including
horses, oxen, and camels, live upon small fish and nought besides,
for ’tis all they get to eat. You see in all this country there is no
grass or forage of any kind; it is the driest country on the face of
the earth. The fish which are given to the cattle are very small, and
during March, April, and May, are caught in such quantities as would
astonish you. They are then dried and stored, and the beasts are fed on
them from year’s end to year’s end. The cattle will also readily eat
these fish all alive and just out of the water.{4}
The people here have likewise many other kinds of fish of large size
and good quality, exceedingly cheap; these they cut in pieces of about
a pound each, and dry them in the sun, and then store them, and eat
them all the year through, like so much biscuit.{5}
NOTE 1.—_Shiḥr_ or _Sheḥr_, with the article, ES-SHEḤR, still
exists on the Arabian coast, as a town and district about 330 m.
east of Aden. In 1839 Captain Haines described the modern town
as extending in a scattered manner for a mile along the shore,
the population about 6000, and the trade considerable, producing
duties to the amount of 5000_l._ a year. It was then the residence
of the Sultan of the Hamúm tribe of Arabs. There is only an open
roadstead for anchorage. Perhaps, however, the old city is to be
looked for about ten miles to the westward, where there is another
place bearing the same name, “once a thriving town, but now a
desolate group of houses with an old fort, formerly the residence
of the chief of the _Kaṣaidi_ tribe.” (_J. R. G. S._ IX. 151–152.)
Sheḥr is spoken of by Barbosa (_Xaer_ in Lisbon ed.; _Pecher_ in
Ramusio; _Xeher_ in Stanley; in the two last misplaced to the
east of Dhofar): “It is a very large place, and there is a great
traffic in goods imported by the Moors of Cambaia, Chaul, Dabul,
Batticala, and the cities of Malabar, such as cotton-stuffs ...
strings of garnets, and many other stones of inferior value; also
much rice and sugar, and spices of all sorts, with coco-nuts; ...
their money they invest in horses for India, which are here very
large and good. Every one of them is worth in India 500 or 600
ducats.” (_Ram._ f. 292.) The name Sheḥr in some of the Oriental
geographies, includes the whole coast up to Omán.
NOTE 2.—The hills of the Sheḥr and Dhafár districts were the great
source of produce of the Arabian frankincense. Barbosa says of
Sheḥr: “They carry away much incense, which is produced at this
place and in the interior; ... it is exported hence all over the
world, and here it is used to pay ships with, for on the spot it
is worth only 150 farthings the hundredweight.” See note 2, ch.
xxvii. _supra_; and next chapter, note 2.
NOTE 3.—This was no doubt a breed of four-horned sheep, and Polo,
or his informant, took the lower pair of horns for abnormal ears.
Probably the breed exists, but we have little information on
details in reference to this coast. The Rev. G. P. Badger, D.C.L.,
writes: “There are sheep on the eastern coast of Arabia, and as
high up as Mohammerah on the Shatt-al-Arab, _with very small ears
indeed_; so small as to be almost imperceptible at first sight near
the projecting horns. I saw one at Mohammerah having _six_ horns.”
And another friend, Mr. Arthur Grote, tells me he had for some time
at Calcutta a 4-horned sheep from Aden.
NOTE 4.—This custom holds more or less on all the Arabian coast
from Sheḥr to the Persian Gulf, and on the coast east of the Gulf
also. Edrisi mentions it at Sheḥr (printed _Shajr_, I. 152), and
the Admiral Sidi ’Ali says: “On the coast of Shehr, men and animals
all live on fish” (_J. A. S. B._ V. 461). Ibn Batuta tells the
same of Dhafár, the subject of next chapter: “The fish consist
for the most part of sardines, which are here of the fattest. The
surprising thing is that all kinds of cattle are fed on these
sardines, and sheep likewise. I have never seen anything like that
elsewhere” (II. 197). Compare Strabo’s account of the Ichthyophagi
on the coast of Mekran (XV. 11), and the like account in the life
of Apollonius of Tyana (III. 56).
[Burton, quoted by Yule, says (_Sind Revisited_, 1877, I. p. 33):
“The whole of the coast, including that of Mekrán, the land of
the _Máhi Khárán_ or Ichthyophagi.” Yule adds: “I have seen this
suggested also elsewhere. It seems a highly probable etymology.”
See note, p. 402.—H. C.]
NOTE 5.—At Hásik, east of Dhafár, Ibn Batuta says: “The people here
live on a kind of fish called _Al-Lukham_, resembling that called
the sea-dog. They cut it in slices and strips, dry it in the sun,
salt it, and feed on it. Their houses are made with fish-bones, and
their roofs with camel-hides” (II. 214).
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF DUFAR.
Dufar is a great and noble and fine city, and lies 500 miles to the
north-west of Esher. The people are Saracens, and have a Count for
their chief, who is subject to the Soldan of Aden; for this city still
belongs to the Province of Aden. It stands upon the sea and has a very
good haven, so that there is a great traffic of shipping between this
and India; and the merchants take hence great numbers of Arab horses to
that market, making great profits thereby. This city has under it many
other towns and villages.{1}
Much white incense is produced here, and I will tell you how it grows.
The trees are like small fir-trees; these are notched with a knife in
several places, and from these notches the incense is exuded. Sometimes
also it flows from the tree without any notch; this is by reason of the
great heat of the sun there.{2}
NOTE 1.—_Dufar_. The name ظفار is variously pronounced Dhafár,
DHOFAR, Zhafár, and survives attached to a well-watered and fertile
plain district opening on the sea, nearly 400 miles east of Sheḥr,
though according to Haines there is now no _town_ of the name.
Ibn Batuta speaks of the city as situated at the extremity of
Yemen (“the province of Aden”), and mentions its horse-trade, its
unequalled dirt, stench, and flies, and consequent diseases. (See
II. 196 _seqq._) What he says of the desert character of the tract
round the town is not in accordance with modern descriptions of
the plain of Dhafár, nor seemingly with his own statements of the
splendid bananas grown there, as well as other Indian products,
betel, and coco-nut. His account of the Sultan of Zhafár in his
time corroborates Polo’s, for he says that prince was the son of a
cousin of the King of Yemen, who had _been chief of Zhafár under
the suzeraineté of that King and tributary to him_. The only ruins
mentioned by Haines are extensive ones near Haffer, towards the
_western_ part of the plain; and this Fresnel considers to be the
site of the former city. A lake which exists here, on the landward
side of the ruins, was, he says, formerly a gulf, and formed the
port, “the very good haven,” of which our author speaks.
A quotation in the next note however indicates Merbát, which is
at the eastern extremity of the plain, as having been the port of
Dhafár in the Middle Ages. Professor Sprenger is of opinion that
the city itself was in the eastern part of the plain. The matter
evidently needs further examination.
This Dhafár, or the bold mountain above it, is supposed to be
the _Sephar_ of Genesis (x. 30). But it does not seem to be the
_Sapphara metropolis_ of Ptolemy, which is rather an inland city of
the same name: “Dhafár was the name of _two_ cities of Yemen, one
of which was near Sana’á ... it was the residence of the Himyarite
Princes; some authors allege that it is identical with Sana’á”
(_Maráṣid-al-Ittila’_, in Reinaud’s Abulfeda, I. p. 124).
_Dofar_ is noted by Camoens for its fragrant incense. It was
believed in Malabar that the famous King Cheram Perumal, converted
to Islám, died on the pilgrimage to Mecca and was buried at Dhafár,
where his tomb was much visited for its sanctity.
The place is mentioned (_Tsafarh_) in the Ming Annals of China
as a Mahomedan country lying, with a fair wind, 10 days N.W. of
_Kuli_ (_supra_, p. 440). Ostriches were found there, and among
the products are named drugs which Dr. Bretschneider renders as
_Olibanum_, _Storax liquida_, _Myrrh_, _Catechu_ (?), _Dragon’s
blood_. This state sent an embassy (so-called) to China in
1422. (_Haines_ in _J. R. G. S._ XV. 116 _seqq._; _Playfair’s
Yemen_, p. 31; _Fresnel_ in _J. As._ sér. 3, tom. V. 517 _seqq._;
_Tohfut-ul-Mujahideen_, p. 56; _Bretschneider_, p. 19.)
NOTE 2.—Frankincense presents a remarkable example of the obscurity
which so often attends the history of familiar drugs; though in
this case the darkness has been, like that of which Marco spoke in
his account of the Caraonas (vol. i. p. 98), much of man’s making.
This coast of Hadhramaut is the true and ancient χώρα λιβανοφόρος
or λιβανωτοφόρος, indicated or described under those names by
Theophrastus, Ptolemy, Pliny, Pseudo-Arrian, and other classical
writers; _i.e._ the country producing the fragrant gum-resin called
by the Hebrews _Lebonah_, by the Brahmans apparently _Kundu_
and _Kunduru_, by the Arabs _Lubán_ and _Kundur_, by the Greeks
_Libanos_, by the Romans _Thus_, in mediæval Latin _Olibanum_, and
in English _Frankincense_, _i.e._ I apprehend, “Genuine incense,”
or “Incense Proper.”[1] It is still produced in this region and
exported from it: but the larger part of that which enters the
markets of the world is exported from the roadsteads of the
opposite Sumálí coast. In ancient times also an important quantity
was exported from the latter coast, immediately west of Cape
Gardafui (_Aromatum Prom._), and in the Periplus this frankincense
is distinguished by the title _Peratic_, “from over the water.”
The _Maráṣid-al-Ittila’_, a Geog. Dictionary of the end of the 14th
century, in a passage of which we have quoted the commencement
in the preceding note, proceeds as follows: “The other Dhafár,
which still subsists, is on the shore of the Indian Sea, distant 5
parasangs from Mérbáth in the province of Shehr. Mérbáth lies below
Dhafár, and serves as its port. Olibanum is found nowhere except
in the mountains of Dhafár, in the territory of Shehr; in a tract
which extends 3 days in length and the same in breadth. The natives
make incisions in the trees with a knife, and the incense flows
down. This incense is carefully watched, and can be taken only
to Dhafár, where the Sultan keeps the best part for himself; the
rest is made over to the people. But any one who should carry it
elsewhere than to Dhafár would be put to death.”
The elder Niebuhr seems to have been the first to disparage the
Arabian produce of olibanum. He recognises indeed its ancient
celebrity, and the fact that it was still to some extent exported
from Dhafár and other places on this coast, but he says that the
Arabs preferred foreign kinds of incense, especially benzoin; and
also repeatedly speaks of the superiority of that from India (_des
Indes_ and _de l’Inde_), by which it is probable that he meant the
same thing—viz., benzoin from the Indian Archipelago. Niebuhr did
not himself visit Hadhramaut.
Thus the fame of Arabian olibanum was dying away, and so was our
knowledge of that and the opposite African coast, when Colebrooke
(1807) published his Essay on Olibanum, in which he showed that a
gum-resin, identical as he considered with frankincense, and so
named (_Kundur_), was used in India, and was the produce of an
indigenous tree, _Boswellia serrata_ of Roxburgh, but thereafter
known as _B. thurifera_. This discovery, connecting itself, it
may be supposed, with Niebuhr’s statements about Indian olibanum
(though probably misunderstood), and with the older tradition
coming down from Dioscorides of a so-called Indian _libanos_
(_supra_ p. 396), seems to have induced a hasty and general
assumption that the Indian resin was the olibanum of commerce;
insomuch that the very existence of Arabian olibanum came to be
treated as a matter of doubt in some respectable books, and that
down to a very recent date.
In the Atlas to Bruce’s Travels is figured a plant under the
name of _Angoua_, which the Abyssinians believed to produce true
olibanum, and which Bruce says did really produce a gum resembling
it.
In 1837 Lieut. Cruttenden of the Indian Navy saw the frankincense
tree of Arabia on a journey inland from Merbát, and during the
ensuing year the trees of the Sumálí country were seen, and
partially described by Kempthorne, and Vaughan of the same service,
and by Cruttenden himself. Captain Haines also in his report of the
Survey of the Hadhramaut coast in 1843–1844,[2] speaks, apparently
as an eye-witness, of the frankincense trees about Dhafár as
extremely numerous, and adds that from 3000 to 10,000 _maunds_
were annually exported “from Merbát and Dhafár.” “3 to 10” is vague
enough; but as the kind of _maund_ is not specified it is vaguer
still. Maunds differ as much as _livres Français_ and _livres
sterling_. In 1844 and 1846 Dr. Carter also had opportunities of
examining olibanum trees on this coast, which he turned to good
account, sending to Government cuttings, specimens, and drawings,
and publishing a paper on the subject in the Journal of the Bombay
Branch of the R. As. Society (1847).
[Illustration: The Harvest of Frankincense in Arabia. Facsimile
of an engraving in Thevet’s _Cosmographie Universelle_ (1575),
reproduced from the _Bible Educator_.[3]]
But neither Dr. Carter’s paper and specimens, nor the previous
looser notices of the naval officers, seemed to attract any
attention, and men of no small repute went on repeating in their
manuals the old story about Indian olibanum. Dr. G. Birdwood
however, at Bombay, in the years following 1859, took up the
subject with great zeal and intelligence, procuring numerous
specimens of the Sumálí trees and products; and his monograph of
the genus _Boswellia_ in the Linnaean Transactions (read April
1869), to which this note is very greatly indebted, is a most
interesting paper, and may be looked on, I believe, as embodying
the most correct knowledge as yet attainable. The species as ranked
in his table are the following:
[Illustration: _J.D. COOPER. SC_
Boswellia Frereana (_Birdw._).]
1. _Boswellia Carterii_ (Birdw.), including the Arabian tree of
Dhafár, and the larger variety called _Mohr Madau_ by the Sumálís.
2. _B. Bhau-dajiana_ (Birdw.), _Mohr A’d_ of the Sumálís.
3. _B. papyrifera_ (Richard). Abyssinian species.
4. _B. thurifera_ (Colebr.), see p. 396 _supra_.
5. _B. Frereana_ (Birdw.), _Yegár_ of the Sumálís—named after Mr.
William Frere, Member of Council at Bombay. No. 2 was named from
Bhau Dáji, a very eminent Hindu scholar and physician at Bombay
(Birdw.).
No. 1 produces the Arabian olibanum, and Nos. 1 and 2 together the
bulk of the olibanum exported from the Sumálí coast under the name
_Lubán-Shehri_. Both are said to give an inferior kind besides,
called _L. Bedawi_. No. 3 is, according to Birdwood, the same as
Bruce’s _Angoua_. No. 5 is distinctly a new species, and affords a
highly fragrant resin sold under the name of _Lubán Méti_.
Bombay is now the great mart of frankincense. The quantity exported
thence in 1872–1873 was 25,000 _cwt._, of which nearly one quarter
went to China.
Frankincense when it first exudes is milky white; whence the name
“White Incense” by which Polo speaks of it. And the Arabic name
_lúbán_ apparently refers to milk. The Chinese have so translated,
calling it _Ju-siang_ or Milk-perfume.
Polo, we see, says the tree was like a fir tree; and it is
remarkable that a Chinese Pharmacology quoted by Bretschneider
says the like, which looks as if their information came from a
common source. And yet I think Polo’s must have been oral. One of
the meanings of _Lubán_, from the Kámús, is _Pinus_ (_Freytag_).
This may have to do with the error. Dr. Birdwood, in a paper in
_Cassell’s Bible Educator_, has given a copy of a remarkable
wood engraving from Thevet’s _Cosmographie Universelle_ (1575),
representing the collection of Arabian olibanum, and this through
his kind intervention I am able to reproduce here. The text
(probably after Polo) speaks of the tree as resembling a fir, but
in the cut the firs are in the background; the incense trees have
some real suggestion of _Boswellia_, and the whole design has
singular spirit and verisimilitude.
Dr. Birdwood thus speaks of the _B. Frereana_, the only species
that he has seen in flower: “As I saw the plant in Playfair’s
garden at Aden ... in young leaf and covered with bloom, I was
much struck by its elegant singularity. The long racemes of green
star-like flowers, tipped with the red anthers of the stamens (like
aigrettes of little stars of emerald set with minute rubies),
droop gracefully over the clusters of glossy, glaucous leaves; and
every part of the plant (bark, leaves, and flowers) gives out the
most refreshing lemon-like fragrance.” (_Birdwood_ in Linnaean
Transactions for 1869, pp. 109 _seqq._; _Hanbury_ and _Flückiger’s
Pharmacographia_, pp. 120 _seqq._; _Ritter_, xii. 356 _seqq._;
_Niebuhr, Desc. de l’Arabie_, I. p. 202, II. pp. 125–132.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “_Drogue franche_:—Qui a les qualités requises sans mélange”
(_Littré_). “_Franc_.... Vrai, véritable” (_Raynouard_).
The mediæval _Olibanum_ was probably the Arabic _Al-lubán_, but was
popularly interpreted as _Oleum Libani_. Dr. Birdwood saw at the
Paris Exhibition of 1867 samples of frankincense solemnly labelled
as the produce of Mount Lebanon!
“Professor Dümichen, of Strasburg, has discovered at the Temple of
Daïr-el-Báhri, in Upper Egypt, paintings illustrating the traffic
carried on between Egypt and Arabia, as early as the 17th century
B.C. In these paintings there are representations, not only of
bags of olibanum, but also of olibanum-trees planted in tubs or
boxes, being conveyed by ship from Arabia to Egypt.” (_Hanbury_ and
_Flückiger_, _Pharmacographia_, p. 121.)
[2] Published in _J. R. G. S._, vol. XV. (for 1845).
[3] By courtesy of the publishers, Messrs. Cassell, Petter, & Galpin.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
CONCERNING THE GULF OF CALATU AND THE CITY SO CALLED.
Calatu is a great city, within a gulf which bears the name of the Gulf
of Calatu. It is a noble city, and lies 600 miles from Dufar towards
the north-west, upon the sea-shore. The people are Saracens, and are
subject to Hormos. And whenever the Melic of Hormos is at war with
some prince more potent than himself, he betakes himself to this city
of Calatu, because it is very strong, both from its position and its
fortifications.{1}
They grow no corn here, but get it from abroad; for every
merchant-vessel that comes brings some. The haven is very large and
good, and is frequented by numerous ships with goods from India, and
from this city the spices and other merchandize are distributed among
the cities and towns of the interior. They also export many good Arab
horses from this to India.{2} For, as I have told you before, the
number of horses exported from this and the other cities to India
yearly is something astonishing. One reason is that no horses are bred
there, and another that they die as soon as they get there, through
ignorant handling; for the people there do not know how to take care of
them, and they feed their horses with cooked victuals and all sorts of
trash, as I have told you fully heretofore; and besides all that they
have no farriers.
This City of Calatu stands at the mouth of the Gulf, so that no ship
can enter or go forth without the will of the chief. And when the Melic
of Hormos, who is Melic of Calatu also, and is vassal to the Soldan
of Kerman, fears anything at the hand of the latter, he gets on board
his ships and comes from Hormos to Calatu. And then he prevents any
ship from entering the Gulf. This causes great injury to the Soldan of
Kerman; for he thus loses all the duties that he is wont to receive
from merchants frequenting his territories from India or elsewhere; for
ships with cargoes of merchandize come in great numbers, and a very
large revenue is derived from them. In this way he is constrained to
give way to the demands of the Melic of Hormos.
This Melic has also a castle which is still stronger than the city, and
has a better command of the entry to the Gulf.{3}
The people of this country live on dates and salt fish, which they have
in great abundance; the nobles, however, have better fare.
There is no more to say on this subject. So now let us go on and speak
of the city of Hormos, of which we told you before.
NOTE 1.—_Ḳalhát_, the _Calaiate_ of the old Portuguese writers,
is about 500 m. by shortest _sea-line_ north-east of Dhafár. “The
city of Kalhát,” says Ibn Batuta, “stands on the shore; it has
fine bazaars, and one of the most beautiful mosques that you could
see anywhere, the walls of which are covered with enamelled tiles
of Káshán.... The city is inhabited by merchants, who draw their
support from Indian import trade.... Although they are Arabs, they
don’t speak correctly. After every phrase they have a habit of
adding the particle _no_. Thus they will say ‘You are eating,— no?’
‘You are walking,—no?’ ‘You are doing this or that,—no?’ Most of
them are schismatics, but they cannot openly practise their tenets,
for they are under the rule of Sultan Kutbuddin Tehemten Malik, of
Hormuz, who is orthodox” (II. 226).
_Calaiate_, when visited by d’Alboquerque, showed by its buildings
and ruins that it had been a noble city. Its destruction was
ascribed to an earthquake. (_De Barros_, II. ii. 1.) It seems to
exist no longer. Wellsted says its remains cover a wide space; but
only one building, an old mosque, has escaped destruction. Near the
ruins is a small fishing village, the people of which also dig for
gold coins. (_J. R. G. S_. VII. 104.)
What is said about the Prince of Hormuz betaking himself to Kalhát
in times of trouble is quite in accordance with what we read
in Teixeira’s abstract of the Hormuz history. When expelled by
revolution at Hormuz or the like, we find the princes taking refuge
at Kalhát.
NOTE 2.—“Of the interior.” Here the phrase of the G. T. is again
“en fra tere _a mainte cité et castiaus_.” (See _supra_, Bk. I. ch.
i. note 2.)
There was still a large horse-trade from Kalhát in 1517, but the
Portuguese compelled all to enter the port of Goa, where according
to Andrea Corsali they had to pay a duty of 40 _saraffi_ per head.
If these _ashrafis_ were pagodas, this would be about 15_l._ a
head; if they were _dinárs_, it would be more than 20_l._ The term
is _now_ commonly applied in Hindustan to the gold mohr.
NOTE 3.—This no doubt is Maskat.
CHAPTER XL.
RETURNS TO THE CITY OF HORMOS WHEREOF WE SPOKE FORMERLY.
When you leave the City of Calatu, and go for 300 miles between
north-west and north, you come to the city of Hormos; a great and noble
city on the sea.{1} It has a _Melic_, which is as much as to say a
King, and he is under the Soldan of Kerman.
There are a good many cities and towns belonging to Hormos, and the
people are Saracens. The heat is tremendous, and on that account their
houses are built with ventilators to catch the wind. These ventilators
are placed on the side from which the wind comes, and they bring the
wind down into the house to cool it. But for this the heat would be
utterly unbearable.{2}
I shall say no more about these places, because I formerly told you in
regular order all about this same city of Hormos, and about Kerman as
well. But as we took one way to go, and another to come back, it was
proper that we should bring you a second time to this point.
Now, however, we will quit this part of the world, and tell you about
Great Turkey. First, however, there is a point that I have omitted; to
wit, that when you leave the City of Calatu and go between west and
north-west, a distance of 500 miles, you come to the city of Kis.{3} Of
that, however, we shall say no more now, but pass it with this brief
mention, and return to the subject of Great Turkey, of which you shall
now hear.
NOTE 1.—The distance is very correct; and the bearing fairly so
for the first time since we left Aden. I have tried in my map of
Polo’s Geography to realise what seems to have been his idea of the
Arabian coast.
NOTE 2.—These ventilators are a kind of masonry windsail, known
as _Bád-gír_, or “wind-catchers,” and in general use over Oman,
Kerman, the province of Baghdad, Mekrán, and Sind. A large and
elaborate example, from Hommaire de Hell’s work on Persia, is given
in the cut above. Very particular accounts of these ventilators
will be found in P. della Valle, and in the embassy of Don Garcias
de Silva Figueroa. (_Della Val._ II. 333–335; _Figueroa_, Fr.
Trans. 1667, p. 38; _Ramus._ I. 293 v.; _Macd. Kinneir_, p. 69.) A
somewhat different arrangement for the same purpose is in use in
Cairo, and gives a very peculiar character to the city when seen
from a moderate height.
[“The structures [at Gombroon] are all plain atop, only
_Ventoso’s_, or Funnels, for to let in the Air, the only thing
requisite to living in this fiery Furnace with any comfort;
wherefore no House is left without this contrivance; which shews
gracefully at a distance on Board Ship, and makes the Town appear
delightful enough to Beholders, giving at once a pleasing Spectacle
to Strangers, and kind Refreshment to the Inhabitants; for they are
not only elegantly Adorned without, but conveniently Adapted for
every Apartment to receive the cool Wind within.” (_John Fryer,
Nine Years’ Travels_, Lond., 1698, p. 222.)]
NOTE 3.—On _Kish_ see Book I. ch. vi. note 2.
[Chao Ju-kua (transl. in German by Dr. F. Hirth, _T’oung
Pao_, V. Supp. p. 40), a Chinese Official of the Sung Dynasty,
says regarding Kish: “The land of _Ki-shih_ (Kish) lies upon a
rocky island in the sea, in sight of the coast of Ta-shih, at
half-a-day’s journey. There are but four towns in its territories.
When the King shows himself out of doors, he rides a horse under
a black canopy, with an escort of 100 servants. The inhabitants
are white and of a pure race and eight Chinese feet tall. They
wear under a Turban their hair loose partly hanging on their neck.
Their dress consists of a foreign jacket and a light silk or cotton
overcoat, with red leather shoes. They use gold and silver coins.
Their food consists of wheaten bread, mutton, fish and dates;
they do not eat rice. The country produces pearls and horses of a
superior quality.”—H. C.]
[Illustration: A Persian Wind-Catcher.]
The Turkish Admiral Sidi ’Ali, who was sent in 1553 to command
the Ottoman fleet in the Persian Gulf, and has written an
interesting account of his disastrous command and travels back to
Constantinople from India, calls the Island Ḳais, or “_the old
Hormuz_.” This shows that the traditions of the origin of the
island of Hormuz had grown dim. _Kish_ had preceded Hormuz as the
most prominent port of Indian trade, but old Hormuz, as we have
seen (Bk. I. ch. xix.), was quite another place. (_J. As._ sér. 1,
tom. ix. 67.)
BOOK FOURTH.
WARS AMONG THE TARTAR PRINCES
AND
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES
_Note_.—A considerable number of the quasi-historical chapters in
this section (which I have followed M. Pauthier in making into a
Fourth Book) are the merest verbiage and repetition of narrative
formulæ without the slightest value. I have therefore thought it
undesirable to print all at length, and have given merely the gist
(marked thus ⚜), or an extract, of such chapters. They will be
found entire in English in H. Murray’s and Wright’s editions, and
in the original French in the edition of the Société de Géographie,
in Bartoli, and in Pauthier.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
CONCERNING GREAT TURKEY.
In GREAT TURKEY there is a king called CAIDU, who is the Great Kaan’s
nephew, for he was the grandson of CHAGATAI, the Great Kaan’s own
brother. He hath many cities and castles, and is a great Prince. He and
his people are Tartars alike; and they are good soldiers, for they are
constantly engaged in war.{1}
Now this King Caidu is never at peace with his uncle the Great Kaan,
but ever at deadly war with him, and he hath fought great battles with
the Kaan’s armies. The quarrel between them arose out of this, that
Caidu demanded from the Great Kaan the share of his father’s conquests
that of right belonged to him; and in particular he demanded a share of
the Provinces of Cathay and Manzi. The Great Kaan replied that he was
willing enough to give him a share such as he gave to his own sons, but
that he must first come on summons to the Council at the Kaan’s Court,
and present himself as one of the Kaan’s liegemen. Caidu, who did not
trust his uncle very far, declined to come, but said that where he was
he would hold himself ready to obey all the Kaan’s commands.
In truth, as he had several times been in revolt, he dreaded that
the Kaan might take the opportunity to destroy him. So, out of this
quarrel between them, there arose a great war, and several great
battles were fought by the host of Caidu against the host of the Great
Kaan, his uncle. And the Great Kaan from year’s end to year’s end keeps
an army watching all Caidu’s frontier, lest he should make forays on
his dominions. He, natheless, will never cease his aggressions on the
Great Kaan’s territory, and maintains a bold face to his enemies.{2}
Indeed, he is so potent that he can well do so; for he can take the
field with 100,000 horse, all stout soldiers and inured to war. He
has also with him several Barons of the imperial lineage; _i.e._,
of the family of Chinghis Kaan, who was the first of their lords,
and conquered a great part of the world, as I have told you more
particularly in a former part of this Book.
Now you must know that Great Turkey lies towards the north-west
when you travel from Hormos by that road I described. It begins on
the further bank of the River JON,[1] and extends northward to the
territory of the Great Kaan.
Now I shall tell you of sundry battles that the troops of Caidu fought
with the armies of the Great Kaan.
NOTE 1.—We see that Polo’s error as to the relationship between
Kúblái and Kaidu, and as to the descent of the latter (see Vol.
I. p. 186) was not a slip, but persistent. The name of Kaidu’s
grandfather is here in the G. T. written precisely Chagatai
(_Ciagatai_).
Kaidu was the son of Kashin, son of Okkodai, who was the third son
of Chinghiz and his successor in the Kaanate. Kaidu never would
acknowledge the supremacy of Kúblái, alleging his own superior
claim to the Kaanate, which Chinghiz was said to have restricted to
the house of Okkodai as long as it should have a representative.
From the vicinity of Kaidu’s position to the territories occupied
by the branch of Chaghatai he exercised great influence over
its princes, and these were often his allies in the constant
hostilities that he maintained against the Kaan. Such circumstances
may have led Polo to confound Kaidu with the house of Chaghatai.
Indeed, it is not easy to point out the mutual limits of their
territories, and these must have been somewhat complex, for we find
Kaidu and Borrak Khan of Chaghatai at one time exercising a kind of
joint sovereignty in the cities of Bokhara and Samarkand. Probably,
indeed, the limits were in a great measure _tribal_ rather than
territorial. But it may be gathered that Kaidu’s authority extended
over Kashgar and the cities bordering the south slopes of the
Thian Shan as far east as Kara Khoja, also the valley of the Talas
River, and the country north of the Thian Shan from Lake Balkhash
eastward to the vicinity of Barkul, and in the further north the
country between the Upper Yenisei and the Irtish.
Kaidu died in 1301 at a very great age. He had taken part, it
was said, in 41 pitched battles. He left 14 sons (some accounts
say 40), of whom the eldest, called Shabar, succeeded him. He
joined Dua Khan of Chaghatai in making submission to Teimur Kaan,
the successor of Kúblái; but before long, on a quarrel occurring
between the two former, Dua seized the territory of Shabar, and as
far as I can learn no more is heard of the house of Kaidu. Vámbéry
seems to make the Khans of Khokand to be of the stock of Kaidu; but
whether they claim descent from Yúnus Khán, as he says, or from a
son of Baber left behind in his flight from Ferghána, as Pandit
Manphúl states, the genealogy would be from Chaghatai, not from
Kaidu.
NOTE 2.—“To the N.N.W. a desert of 40 days’ extent divides the
states of Kúblái from those of Kaidu and Dua. This frontier extends
for 30 days’ journey from east to west. From point to point,” etc.;
see continuation of this quotation from Rashíduddín, in vol. i. p.
214.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The Jaihún or Oxus.
CHAPTER II.
OF CERTAIN BATTLES THAT WERE FOUGHT BY KING CAIDU AGAINST THE
ARMIES OF HIS UNCLE THE GREAT KAAN.
Now it came to pass in the year of Christ’s incarnation, 1266, that
this King Caidu and another prince called YESUDAR, who was his cousin,
assembled a great force and made an expedition to attack two of the
Great Kaan’s Barons who held lands under the Great Kaan, but were
Caidu’s own kinsmen, for they were sons of Chagatai who was a baptized
Christian, and own brother to the Great Kaan; one of them was called
CHIBAI, and the other CHIBAN.{1}
Caidu with all his host, amounting to 60,000 horse, engaged the Kaan’s
two Barons, those cousins of his, who had also a great force amounting
to more than 60,000 horsemen, and there was a great battle. In the end
the Barons were beaten, and Caidu and his people won the day. Great
numbers were slain on both sides, but the two brother Barons escaped,
thanks to their good horses. So King Caidu returned home swelling the
more with pride and arrogance, and for the next two years he remained
at peace, and made no further war against the Kaan.
However, at the end of those two years King Caidu assembled an army
composed of a vast force of horsemen. He knew that at Caracoron was
the Great Kaan’s son NOMOGAN, and with him GEORGE, the grandson of
Prester John. These two princes had also a great force of cavalry. And
when King Caidu was ready he set forth and crossed the frontier. After
marching rapidly without any adventure, he got near Caracoron, where
the Kaan’s son and the younger Prester John were awaiting him with
their great army, for they were well aware of Caidu’s advance in force.
They made them ready for battle like valiant men, and all undismayed,
seeing that they had more than 60,000 well-appointed horsemen. And
when they heard Caidu was so near they went forth valiantly to meet
him. When they got within some 10 miles of him they pitched their
tents and got ready for battle, and the enemy who were about equal in
numbers did the same; each side forming in six columns of 10,000 men
with good captains. Both sides were well equipped with swords and maces
and shields, with bows and arrows, and other arms after their fashion.
You must know that the practice of the Tartars going to battle is to
take each a bow and 60 arrows. Of these, 30 are light with small sharp
points, for long shots and following up an enemy, whilst the other 30
are heavy, with large broad heads which they shoot at close quarters,
and with which they inflict great gashes on face and arms, and cut the
enemy’s bowstrings, and commit great havoc. This every one is ordered
to attend to. And when they have shot away their arrows they take to
their swords and maces and lances, which also they ply stoutly.
So when both sides were ready for action the Naccaras began to sound
loudly, one on either side. For ’tis their custom never to join battle
till the Great Naccara is beaten. And when the Naccaras sounded, then
the battle began in fierce and deadly style, and furiously the one
host dashed to meet the other. So many fell on either side that in an
evil hour for both it was begun! The earth was thickly strewn with the
wounded and the slain, men and horses, whilst the uproar and din of
battle was so loud you would not have heard God’s thunder! Truly King
Caidu himself did many a deed of prowess that strengthened the hearts
of his people. Nor less on the other side did the Great Kaan’s son
and Prester John’s grandson, for well they proved their valour in the
medley, and did astonishing feats of arms, leading their troops with
right good judgment.
And what shall I tell you? The battle lasted so long that it was one of
the hardest the Tartars ever fought. Either side strove hard to bring
the matter to a point and rout the enemy, but to no avail. And so the
battle went on till vesper-tide, and without victory on either side.
Many a man fell there; many a child was made an orphan there; many a
lady widowed; and many another woman plunged in grief and tears for the
rest of her days, I mean the mothers and the _araines_ of those who
fell.{2}
So when they had fought till the sun was low they left off, and retired
each side to its tents. Those who were unhurt were so dead tired that
they were like to drop, and the wounded, who were many on both sides,
were moaning in their various degrees of pain; but all were more fit
for rest than fighting, so gladly they took their repose that night.
And when morning approached, King Caidu, who had news from his scouts
that the Great Kaan was sending a great army to reinforce his son,
judged that it was time to be off; so he called his host to saddle and
mounted his horse at dawn, and away they set on their return to their
own country. And when the Great Kaan’s son and the grandson of Prester
John saw that King Caidu had retired with all his host, they let them
go unpursued, for they were themselves sorely fatigued and needed rest.
So King Caidu and his host rode and rode, till they came to their own
realm of Great Turkey and to Samarcand; and there they abode a long
while without again making war.{3}
NOTE 1.—The names are uncertain. The G. T. has “one of whom was
called Tibai or Ciban”; Pauthier, as in the text.
The phrase about their being Kaidu’s kinsmen is in the G. T., “_qe_
zinzinz (?) _meisme estoient de Caidu roi_.”
NOTE 2.—_Araines_ for _Haríms_, I presume. In the narrative of a
merchant in Ramusio (II. 84, 86) we find the same word represented
by _Arin_ and _Arino_.
NOTE 3.—The date at the beginning of the chapter is in G. T.,
and Pauthier’s MS. A, as we have given it. Pauthier substitutes
1276, as that seems to be the date approximately connecting Prince
Numughan with the wars against Kaidu. In 1275 Kúblái appointed
Numughan to the command of his N.W. frontier, with Ngantung
or ’Antung, an able general, to assist him in repelling the
aggressions of Kaidu. In the same year Kaidu and Dua Khan entered
the Uighúr country (W. and N.W. of Kamul), with more than 100,000
men. Two years later, viz., in 1277, Kaidu and Shireghi, a son of
Mangu Khan, engaged near Almalik (on the Ili) the troops of Kúblái,
commanded by Numughan and ’Antung, and took both of them prisoners.
The invaders then marched towards Karakorum. But Bayan, who was in
Mongolia, marched to attack them, and completely defeated them in
several engagements. (_Gaubil_, 69, 168, 182.)
Pauthier gives a little more detail from the Chinese annals, but
throws no new light on the discrepancies which we see between
Polo’s account and theirs. ’Antung, who was the grandson of Mokli,
the Jelair, one of Chinghiz’s Orlok or Marshals, seems here to take
the place assigned to Prester John’s grandson, and Shireghi perhaps
that of Yesudar. The only prince of the latter name that I can find
is a son of Hulaku’s.
The description of the battle in this chapter is a mere formula
again and again repeated. The armies are always exactly or nearly
equal, they are always divided into corps of 10,000 (_tomans_),
they always halt to prepare for action when within ten miles of one
another, and the terms used in describing the fight are the same.
We shall not inflict these tiresome repetitions again on the reader.
CHAPTER III.
WHAT THE GREAT KAAN SAID TO THE MISCHIEF DONE BY KAIDU
HIS NEPHEW.
⚜ (That were Caidu not of his own Imperial blood, he would make an
utter end of him, &c.)
CHAPTER IV.
OF THE EXPLOITS OF KING CAIDU’S VALIANT DAUGHTER.
Now you must know that King Caidu had a daughter whose name was
AIJARUC, which in the Tartar is as much as to say “The Bright Moon.”
This damsel was very beautiful, but also so strong and brave that in
all her father’s realm there was no man who could outdo her in feats
of strength. In all trials she showed greater strength than any man of
them.{1}
Her father often desired to give her in marriage, but she would none
of it. She vowed she would never marry till she found a man who could
vanquish her in every trial; him she would wed and none else. And when
her father saw how resolute she was, he gave a formal consent in their
fashion, that she should marry whom she list and when she list. The
lady was so tall and muscular, so stout and shapely withal, that she
was almost like a giantess. She had distributed her challenges over all
the kingdoms, declaring that whosoever should come to try a fall with
her, it should be on these conditions, viz., that if she vanquished him
she should win from him 100 horses, and if he vanquished her he should
win her to wife. Hence many a noble youth had come to try his strength
against her, but she beat them all; and in this way she had won more
than 10,000 horses.
Now it came to pass in the year of Christ 1280 that there presented
himself a noble young gallant, the son of a rich and puissant king, a
man of prowess and valiance and great strength of body, who had heard
word of the damsel’s challenge, and came to match himself against her
in the hope of vanquishing her and winning her to wife. That he greatly
desired, for the young lady was passing fair. He, too, was young and
handsome, fearless and strong in every way, insomuch that not a man in
all his father’s realm could vie with him. So he came full confidently,
and brought with him 1000 horses to be forfeited if she should vanquish
him. Thus might she gain 1000 horses at a single stroke! But the
young gallant had such confidence in his own strength that he counted
securely to win her.
Now ye must know that King Caidu and the Queen his wife, the mother of
the stout damsel, did privily beseech their daughter to let herself be
vanquished. For they greatly desired this prince for their daughter,
seeing what a noble youth he was, and the son of a great king. But the
damsel answered that never would she let herself be vanquished if she
could help it; if, indeed, he should get the better of her then she
would gladly be his wife, according to the wager, but not otherwise.
So a day was named for a great gathering at the Palace of King Caidu,
and the King and Queen were there. And when all the company were
assembled, for great numbers flocked to see the match, the damsel
first came forth in a strait jerkin of sammet; and then came forth the
young bachelor in a jerkin of sendal; and a winsome sight they were to
see. When both had taken post in the middle of the hall they grappled
each other by the arms and wrestled this way and that, but for a long
time neither could get the better of the other. At last, however, it
so befel that the damsel threw him right valiantly on the palace
pavement. And when he found himself thus thrown, and her standing
over him, great indeed was his shame and discomfiture. He gat him up
straightway, and without more ado departed with all his company, and
returned to his father, full of shame and vexation, that he who had
never yet found a man that could stand before him should have been thus
worsted by a girl! And his 1000 horses he left behind him.
As to King Caidu and his wife they were greatly annoyed, as I can tell
you; for if they had had their will this youth should have won their
daughter.
And ye must know that after this her father never went on a campaign
but she went with him. And gladly he took her, for not a knight in all
his train played such feats of arms as she did. Sometimes she would
quit her father’s side, and make a dash at the host of the enemy, and
seize some man thereout, as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird, and
carry him to her father; and this she did many a time.
Now I will leave this story and tell you of a great battle that Caidu
fought with Argon the son of Abaga, Lord of the Tartars of the Levant.
NOTE 1.—The name of the lady is in Pauthier’s MSS. _Agiaint,
Agyanie_; in the Bern, _Agyanic_; in the MS. of the G. T.,
distinctly _Aigiaruc_, though printed in the edition of 1824 as
_Aigiarm_. It is Oriental Turkish, AI-YÁRÚḲ, signifying precisely
_Lucent Lune_, as Marco explains it. For this elucidation I am
indebted to the kindness of Professor Vámbéry, who adds that the
name is in actual use among the Uzbek women.
Kaidu had many sons, but only one daughter, whom Rashiduddin (who
seems to be Hammer’s authority here) calls _Kutulun_. Her father
loved her above all his sons; she used to accompany him to the
field, and aid in state affairs. Letters were exchanged between
her and Gházán Khan, in which she assured him she would marry no
one else; but her father refused her hand to all suitors. After
Kaidu’s death, this ambitious lady made some attempt to claim the
succession. (_Hammer’s Ilkhans_, II. 143–144.)
The story has some resemblance to what Ibn Batuta relates of
another warlike Princess, Urdúja, whom he professes to have visited
in the questionable kingdom of Tawálisi on his way to China: “I
heard ... that various sons of kings had sought Urduja’s hand,
but she always answered, ‘I will marry no one but him who shall
fight and conquer me’; so they all avoided the trail, for fear of
the shame of being beaten by her.” (_I. B._ IV. 253–254.) I have
given reasons (_Cathay_, p. 520) for suspecting that this lady
with a Turkish name in the Indian Archipelago is a bit of fiction.
Possibly Ibn Batuta had heard the legend of King Kaidu’s daughter.
The story of Kaidu’s daughter, and still more the parallel one from
Ibn Batuta, recall what Herodotus tells of the Sauromatae, who
had married the Amazons; that no girl was permitted to marry till
she had killed an enemy (IV. 117). They recall still more closely
Brunhild, in the Nibelungen:—
——“a royal maiden who reigned beyond the sea:
From sunrise to the sundown no paragon had she.
All boundless as her beauty was her strength was peerless too,
And evil plight hung o’er the knight who dared her love to woo.
For he must try three bouts with her; the whirling spear to fling;
To pitch the massive stone; and then to follow with a spring;
And should he beat in every feat his wooing well has sped,
But he who fails must lose his love, and likewise lose his head.”
CHAPTER V.
HOW ABAGA SENT HIS SON ARGON IN COMMAND AGAINST KING CAIDU.
Abaga the Lord of the Levant had many districts and provinces bordering
on King Caidu’s territories. These lay in the direction of the _Arbre
Sol_, which the Book of Alexander calls the _Arbre Sec_, about which
I have told you before. And Abaga, to watch against forays by Caidu’s
people sent his son Argon with a great force of horsemen, to keep the
marches between the Arbre Sec and the River Jon. So there tarried Argon
with all his host.{1}
Now it came to pass that King Caidu assembled a great army and made
captain thereof a brother of his called Barac, a brave and prudent man,
and sent his host under his brother to fight with Argon.{2}
⚜ (Barac and his army cross the Jon or Oxus and are totally routed by
Argon, to whose history the traveller now turns.)
NOTE 1.—The Government of this frontier, from Kazwin or Rei to
the banks of the Oxus, was usually, under the Mongol sovereigns
of Persia, confided to the heir of the throne. Thus, under Hulaku
it was held by Ábáká, under Ábáká by Arghún, and under Arghún by
Gházán. (See _Hammer, passim._)
We have already spoken amply of the Arbre Sol (vol. i. p. 128
_seqq._).
NOTE 2.—Barac or Borrak, who has been already spoken of in ch. iii.
of the Prologue (vol. i. p. 10), was no brother of Kaidu’s. He was
the head of the house of Chaghatai, and in alliance with Kaidu.
The invasion of Khorasan by Borrak took place in the early part
of 1269. Arghún was only about 15, and his father Ábáká came to
take the command in person. The battle seems to have been fought
somewhere near the upper waters of the Murghab, in the territory of
the Badghís (north of Herat). Borrak was not long after driven from
power, and took refuge with Kaidu. He died, it is said from poison,
in 1270.
CHAPTER VI.
HOW ARGON AFTER THE BATTLE HEARD THAT HIS FATHER WAS DEAD,
AND WENT TO ASSUME THE SOVEREIGNTY AS WAS HIS RIGHT.
After Argon had gained this battle over Caidu’s brother Barac and his
host, no long time passed before he had news that his father Abaga was
dead, whereat he was sorely grieved.{1} He made ready his army and set
out for his father’s Court to assume the sovereignty as was his right;
but he had a march of 40 days to reach it.
Now it befel that an uncle of Argon’s whose name was ACOMAT SOLDAN (for
he had become a Saracen), when he heard of the death of his brother
Abaga, whilst his nephew Argon was so far away, thought there was a
good chance for him to seize the government. So he raised a great force
and went straight to the Court of his late brother Abaga, and seized
the sovereignty and proclaimed himself King; and also got possession of
the treasure, which was of vast amount. All this, like a crafty knave,
he divided among the Barons and the troops to secure their hearts and
favour to his cause. These Barons and soldiers accordingly, when they
saw what large spoil they had got from him, were all ready to say he
was the best of kings, and were full of love for him, and declared they
would have no lord but him. But he did one evil thing that was greatly
reprobated by all; for he took all the wives of his brother Abaga, and
kept them for himself.{2}
Soon after he had seized the government, word came to him how Argon
his nephew was advancing with all his host. Then he tarried not, but
straightway summoned his Barons and all his people, and in a week had
fitted out a great army of horse to go to meet Argon. And he went forth
light of heart, as being confident of victory, showing no dismay, and
saying on all occasions that he desired nought so much as to take
Argon, and put him to a cruel death.{3}
NOTE 1.—Ábáḳá died at Hamadan 1st April 1282, twelve years after
the defeat of Borrak.
NOTE 2.—This last sentence is in Pauthier’s text, but not in the G.
T. The thing was a regular Tartar custom (vol. i. pp. 253, 256),
and would scarcely be “reprobated by all.”
NOTE 3.—Acomat Soldan is AHMAD, a younger son of Hulaku, whose
Mongol name was Tigúdar, and who had been baptized in his youth by
the name of Nicolas, but went over to Islam, and thereby gained
favour in Persia. On the death of his brother Ábáká he had a strong
party and seized the throne. Arghún continued in sullen defiance,
gathering means to assist his claim.
CHAPTER VII.
HOW ACOMAT SOLDAN SET OUT WITH HIS HOST AGAINST HIS NEPHEW WHO
WAS COMING TO CLAIM THE THRONE THAT BELONGED TO HIM.
⚜ (Relates how Acomat marches with 60,000 horse, and on hearing of the
approach of Argon summons his chiefs together and addresses them.)
CHAPTER VIII.
HOW ARGON TOOK COUNSEL WITH HIS FOLLOWERS ABOUT ATTACKING HIS
UNCLE ACOMAT SOLDAN.
⚜ (Argon, uneasy at hearing of Acomat’s approach, calls together his
Barons and counsellors and addresses them.)
CHAPTER IX.
HOW THE BARONS OF ARGON ANSWERED HIS ADDRESS.
⚜ (An old Baron, as the spokesman of the rest, expresses their zeal and
advises immediate advance. On coming within ten miles of Acomat, Argon
encamps and sends two envoys to his uncle.)
CHAPTER X.
THE MESSAGE SENT BY ARGON TO ACOMAT.
⚜ (A remonstrance and summons to surrender the throne.)
CHAPTER XI.
HOW ACOMAT REPLIED TO ARGON’S MESSAGE.
And when Acomat Soldan had heard the message of Argon his nephew, he
thus replied: “Sirs and envoys,” quoth he, “my nephew’s words are vain;
for the land is mine, not his, and I helped to conquer it as much as
his father did. So go and tell my nephew that if he will I will make
him a great Prince, and give him ample lands, and he shall be as my
son, and the greatest lord in the land after myself. But if he will
not, let him be assured that I will do my best to bring him to his
death! That is my answer to my nephew, and nought else of concession
or covenant shall you ever have from me!” With that Acomat ceased, and
said no word more. And when the Envoys had heard the Soldan’s words
they asked again: “Is there no hope that we shall find you in different
mind?” “Never,” quoth he, “never whilst I live shall ye find my mind
changed.”
⚜ (Argon’s wrath at the reply. Both sides prepare for battle.)
CHAPTER XII.
OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN ARGON AND ACOMAT, AND THE CAPTIVITY
OF ARGON.
⚜ (There is a prolix description of a battle almost identical with
those already given in Chapter II. of this Book and previously. It ends
with the rout of Argon’s army, and proceeds:)
And in the pursuit Argon was taken. As soon as this happened they gave
up the chase, and returned to their camp full of joy and exultation.
Acomat first caused his nephew to be shackled and well guarded, and
then, being a man of great lechery, said to himself that he would go
and enjoy himself among the fair women of his Court. He left a great
Melic{1} in command of his host, enjoining him to guard Argon like his
own life, and to follow to the Court by short marches, to spare the
troops. And so Acomat departed with a great following, on his way to
the royal residence. Thus then Acomat had left his host in command of
that Melic whom I mentioned, whilst Argon remained in irons, and in
such bitterness of heart that he desired to die.{2}
NOTE 1.—This is in the original _Belic_, for Melic, _i.e._ Ar.
_Malik_, chief or prince.
NOTE 2.—In the spring of 1284 Ahmad marched against his nephew
Arghún, and they encountered in the plain of Aḳ Khoja, near Kazwin.
Arghún’s force was very inferior in numbers, and he was defeated.
He fled to the Castle of Kala’at beyond Tús, but was persuaded
to surrender. Ahmad treated him kindly, and though his principal
followers urged the execution of the prisoner, he refused, having
then, it is said, no thought for anything but the charms of his new
wife Tudai.
CHAPTER XIII.
HOW ARGON WAS DELIVERED FROM PRISON.
Now it befel that there was a great Tartar Baron, a very aged man, who
took pity on Argon, saying to himself that they were doing an evil
and disloyal deed in keeping their lawful lord a prisoner, wherefore
he resolved to do all in his power for his deliverance. So he tarried
not, but went incontinently to certain other Barons and told them his
mind, saying that it would be a good deed to deliver Argon and make him
their lord, as he was by right. And when the other Barons had heard
what he had to put before them, then both because they regarded him
as one of the wisest men among them, and because what he said was the
truth, they all consented to his proposal and said that they would
join with all their hearts. So when the Barons had assented, BOGA
(which was he who had set the business going), and with him ELCHIDAI,
TOGAN, TEGANA, TAGACHAR, ULATAI, and SAMAGAR,—all those whom I have now
named,—proceeded to the tent where Argon lay a prisoner. When they had
got thither, Boga, who was the leader in the business, spoke first, and
to this effect: “Good my Lord Argon,” said he, “we are well aware that
we have done ill in making you a prisoner, and we come to tell you that
we desire to return to Right and Justice. We come therefore to set you
free, and to make you our Liege Lord as by right you are!” Then Boga
ceased and said no more.
CHAPTER XIV.
HOW ARGON GOT THE SOVEREIGNTY AT LAST.
When Argon heard the words of Boga he took them in truth for an
untimely jest, and replied with much bitterness of soul: “Good my
Lord,” quoth he, “you do ill to mock me thus! Surely it suffices that
you have done me so great wrong already, and that you hold me, your
lawful Lord, here a prisoner and in chains! Ye know well, as I cannot
doubt, that you are doing an evil and a wicked thing, so I pray you
go your way, and cease to flout me.” “Good my Lord Argon,” said Boga,
“be assured we are not mocking you, but are speaking in sober earnest,
and we will swear it on our Law.” Then all the Barons swore fealty to
him as their Lord, and Argon too swore that he would never reckon it
against them that they had taken him prisoner, but would hold them as
dear as his father before him had done.
And when these oaths had passed they struck off Argon’s fetters, and
hailed him as their lord. Argon then desired them to shoot a volley
of arrows into the tent of the Melic who had held them prisoners, and
who was in command of the army, that he might be slain. At his word
they tarried not, but straightway shot a great number of arrows at the
tent, and so slew the Melic. When that was done Argon took the supreme
command and gave his orders as sovereign, and was obeyed by all. And
you must know that the name of him who was slain, whom we have called
the Melic, was SOLDAN; and he was the greatest Lord after Acomat
himself. In this way that you have heard, Argon recovered his authority.
CHAPTER XV.
HOW ACOMAT WAS TAKEN PRISONER.
⚜ (A messenger breaks in upon Acomat’s festivities with the news that
Soldan was slain, and Argon released and marching to attack him. Acomat
escapes to seek shelter with the Sultan of Babylon, _i.e._ of Egypt,
attended by a very small escort. The Officer in command of a Pass by
which he had to go, seeing the state of things, arrests him and carries
him to the Court (probably Tabriz), where Argon was already arrived.)
CHAPTER XVI.
HOW ACOMAT WAS SLAIN BY ORDER OF HIS NEPHEW.
And so when the Officer of the Pass came before Argon bringing Acomat
captive, he was in a great state of exultation, and welcomed his uncle
with a malediction,[1] saying that he should have his deserts. And he
straightway ordered the army to be assembled before him, and without
taking counsel with any one, commanded the prisoner to be put to death,
and his body to be destroyed. So the officer appointed to this duty
took Acomat away and put him to death, and threw his body where it
never was seen again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “_Il dit à son ungle qe il soit le mau-venu_” (see _supra_, p. 21).
CHAPTER XVII.
HOW ARGON WAS RECOGNISED AS SOVEREIGN.
And when Argon had done as you have heard, and remained in possession
of the Throne and of the Royal Palace, all the Barons of the different
Provinces, who had been subject to his father Abaga, came and performed
homage before him, and obeyed him, as was his due.{1} And after Argon
was well established in the sovereignty he sent CASAN, his son, with
30,000 horse to the _Arbre Sec_, I mean to the region so-called, to
watch the frontier. Thus then Argon got back the government. And
you must know that Argon began his reign in the year 1286 of the
Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Acomat had reigned two years, and Argon
reigned six years; and at the end of those six years he became ill and
died; but some say ’twas of poison.{2}
NOTE 1.—Arghún, a prisoner (see last note), and looking for the
worst, was upheld by his courageous wife BULUGHÁN (see Prologue,
ch. xvii.), who shared his confinement. The order for his
execution, as soon as the camp should next move, had been issued.
BUKA the Jelair, who had been a great chief under Ábáká, and had
resentments against Ahmad, got up a conspiracy in favour of Arghún,
and effected his release as well as the death of ALINAK, Ahmad’s
commander-in-chief. Ahmad fled towards Tabriz, pursued by a band
of the Karaunas, who succeeded in taking him. When Arghún came
near and saw his uncle in their hands, he called out in exultation
_Morio!_—an exclamation, says Wassáf, which the Mongols used when
successful in archery,—and with a gesture gave the signal for the
prisoner’s death (10th August 1284).
Buka is of course the _Boga_ of Polo; Alinak is his _Soldan_. The
conspirators along with Buka, who are named in the history of
Wassáf, are _Yesubuka_, _Gurgán_, _Aruk_, _Kurmishi_, and _Arkasun
Noian_. Those named by Polo are not mentioned on this occasion,
but the names are all Mongol. TAGÁJAR, ILCHIDAI, TUGHAN, SAMAGHAR,
all appear in the Persian history of those times. Tagajar appears
to have had the honour of a letter from the Pope (Nicolas IV.) in
1291, specially exhorting him to adopt the Christian faith; it was
sent along with letters of like tenor addressed to Arghún, Gházán,
and other members of the imperial family. Tagajar is also mentioned
by the continuator of Abulfaraj as engaged in the conspiracy to
dethrone Kaikhátú. ULATAI was probably the same who went a few
years later as Arghún’s ambassador to Cambaluc (see Prologue, ch.
xvii.); and Polo may have heard the story from him on board ship.
(_Assem._ III. pt. 2, 118; _Mosheim_, p. 80; _Ilchan._, passim.)
Abulfaragius gives a fragment of a letter from Arghún to Kúblái,
reporting the deposition of Ahmad by the princes because he had
“apostatized from the law of their fathers, and adopted that of the
Arabs.” (_Assemani_, _u.s._ p. 116.) The same historian says that
Ahmad was kind and liberal to the Christians, though Hayton speaks
differently.
NOTE 2.—Arghún obtained the throne on Ahmad’s death, as just
related, and soon after named his son Gházán (born in 1271) to
the Government of Khorasan, Mazanderan, Kumis, and Rei. Buka was
made Chief Minister. The circumstances of Arghún’s death have been
noticed already (_supra_, p. 369).
[Illustration: Facsimile of the Letters sent to Philip the Fair,
King of France, by Arghún Khan in A.D. 1289, and by Oljaïtu, in
A.D. 1305.]
CHAPTER XVIII.
HOW KIACATU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER ARGON’S DEATH.
And immediately on Argon’s death, an uncle of his who was own
brother[1] to Abaga his father, seized the throne, as he found it easy
to do owing to Casan’s being so far away as the _Arbre Sec_. When Casan
heard of his father’s death he was in great tribulation, and still
more when he heard of KIACATU’S seizing the throne. He could not then
venture to leave the frontier for fear of his enemies, but he vowed
that when time and place should suit he would go and take as great
vengeance as his father had taken on Acomat. And what shall I tell you?
Kiacatu continued to rule, and all obeyed him except such as were along
with Casan. Kiacatu took the wife of Argon for his own, and was always
dallying with women, for he was a great lechour. He held the throne for
two years, and at the end of those two years he died; for you must know
he was poisoned.{1}
NOTE 1.—KAIKHÁTÚ, of whom we heard in the Prologue (vol. i. p.
35), was the brother, not the uncle, of Arghún. On the death of
the latter there were three claimants, viz., his son Gházán, his
brother Kaikhátú, and his cousin Baidu, the son of Tarakai, one
of Hulaku’s sons. The party of Kaikhátú was strongest, and he was
raised to the throne at Akhlath, 23rd July 1291. He took as wives
out of the Royal Tents of Arghún the Ladies Bulughán (the 2nd,
not her named in the Prologue) and Uruk. All the writers speak
of Kaikhátú’s character in the same way. Hayton calls him “a man
without law or faith, of no valour or experience in arms, but
altogether given up to lechery and vice, living like a brute beast,
glutting all his disordered appetites; for his dissolute life hated
by his own people, and lightly regarded by foreigners.” (_Ram._
II. ch. xxiv.) The continuator of Abulfaraj, and Abulfeda in his
Annals, speak in like terms. (_Assem._ III. Pt. 2nd, 119–120;
_Reiske_, _Ann. Abulf._ III. 101.)
Baidu rose against him; most of his chiefs abandoned him, and he
was put to death in March–April, 1295. He reigned therefore nearly
four years, not _two_ as the text says.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] _Frer carnaus_ (I. p. 187).
CHAPTER XIX.
HOW BAIDU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER THE DEATH OF KIACATU.
When Kiacatu was dead, BAIDU, who was his uncle, and was a Christian,
seized the throne.{1} This was in the year 1294 of Christ’s
Incarnation. So Baidu held the government, and all obeyed him, except
only those who were with Casan.
And when Casan heard that Kiacatu was dead, and Baidu had seized the
throne, he was in great vexation, especially as he had not been able to
take his vengeance on Kiacatu. As for Baidu, Casan swore that he would
take such vengeance on him that all the world should speak thereof; and
he said to himself that he would tarry no longer, but would go at once
against Baidu and make an end of him. So he addressed all his people,
and then set out to get possession of his throne.
And when Baidu had intelligence thereof he assembled a great army and
got ready, and marched ten days to meet him, and then pitched his camp,
and awaited the advance of Casan to attack him; meanwhile addressing
many prayers and exhortations to his own people. He had not been halted
two days when Casan with all his followers arrived. And that very day a
fierce battle began. But Baidu was not fit to stand long against Casan,
and all the less that soon after the action began many of his troops
abandoned him and took sides with Casan. Thus Baidu was discomfited
and put to death, and Casan remained victor and master of all. For as
soon as he had won the battle and put Baidu to death, he proceeded to
the capital and took possession of the government; and all the Barons
performed homage and obeyed him as their liege lord. Casan began to
reign in the year 1294 of the Incarnation of Christ.
Thus then you have had the whole history from Abaga to Casan, and I
should tell you that Alaü, the conqueror of Baudac, and the brother
of the Great Kaan Cublay, was the progenitor of all those I have
mentioned. For he was the father of Abaga, and Abaga was the father of
Argon, and Argon was the father of Casan who now reigns.{2}
Now as we have told you all about the Tartars of the Levant, we will
quit them and go back and tell you more about Great Turkey— But in good
sooth we _have_ told you all about Great Turkey and the history of
Caidu, and there is really no more to tell. So we will go on and tell
you of the Provinces and nations in the far North.
NOTE 1.—The Christian writers often ascribe Christianity to
various princes of the Mongol dynasties without any good grounds.
Certain coins of the Ilkhans of Persia, up to the time of Gházán’s
conversion to Islam, exhibit sometimes Mahomedan and sometimes
Christian formulæ, but this is no indication of the religion of
the prince. Thus coins not merely of the heathen Khans Ábáká and
Arghún, but of Ahmad Tigudar, the fanatical Moslem, are found
inscribed “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
Raynaldus, under 1285, gives a fragment of a letter addressed by
Arghún to the European Powers, and dated from Tabriz, “in the year
of the Cock,” which begins “_In Christi Nomen, Amen!_” But just in
like manner some of the coins of Norman kings of Sicily are said
to bear the Mahomedan profession of faith; and the copper money of
some of the Ghaznevide sultans bears the pagan effigy of the bull
_Nandi_, borrowed from the coinage of the Hindu kings of Kabul.
The European Princes could not get over the belief that the Mongols
were necessarily the inveterate enemies of Mahomedanism and all its
professors. Though Gházán was professedly a zealous Mussulman, we
find King James of Aragon, in 1300, offering _Cassan Rey del Mogol_
amity and alliance with much abuse of the infidel Saracens; and the
same feeling is strongly expressed in a letter of Edward II. of
England to the “Emperor of the Tartars,” which apparently was meant
for Oljaitu, the successor of Gházán. (_Fraehn de Ilchan. Nummis_,
vi. and _passim_; _Raynald._ III. 619; _J. A. S. B._ XXIV. 490;
_Kington’s Frederick II._ I. 396; _Capmany_, _Antiguos Tratados_,
etc. p. 107; _Rymer_, 2d Ed. III. 34; see also p. 20.)
There are other assertions, besides our author’s, that Baidu
professed Christianity. Hayton says so, and asserts that he
prohibited Mahomedan proselytism among the Tartars. The continuator
of Abulfaraj says that Baidu’s long acquaintance with the Greek
_Despina Khatun_, the wife of Ábáká, had made him favourable to
Christians, so that he willingly allowed a church to be carried
about with the camp, and bells to be struck therein, but he never
openly professed Christianity. In fact at this time the whole body
of Mongols in Persia was passing over to Islam, and Baidu also, to
please them, adopted Mahomedan practices. But he would only employ
Christians as Ministers of State. His rival Gházán, on the other
hand, strengthened his own influence by adopting Islam, Baidu’s
followers fell off from him, and delivered him into Gházán’s power.
He was put to death 4th of October, 1295, about seven months
after the death of his predecessor. D’Ohsson’s authorities seem
to mention no battle such as the text speaks of, but Mirkhond, as
abridged by Teixeira, does so, and puts it at Nakshiwán on the
Araxes (p. 341).
NOTE 2.—Hayton testifies from his own knowledge to the remarkable
personal beauty of Arghún, whilst he tells us that the son Gházán
was as notable for the reverse. After recounting with great
enthusiasm instances which he had witnessed of the daring and
energy of Gházán, the Armenian author goes on, “And the most
remarkable thing of all was that within a frame so small, and ugly
almost to monstrosity, there should be assembled nearly all those
high qualities which nature is wont to associate with a form of
symmetry and beauty. In fact among all his host of 200,000 Tartars
you should scarcely find one of smaller stature or of uglier and
meaner aspect than this Prince.”
[Illustration: Tomb of Oljaïtu Khan, the brother of Polo’s “Casan,”
at Sultaniah. (From Fergusson.)]
Pachymeres says that Gházán made Cyrus, Darius, and Alexander
his patterns, and delighted to read of them. He was very fond of
the mechanical arts; “no one surpassed him in making saddles,
bridles, spurs, greaves, and helmets; he could hammer, stitch, and
polish, and in such occupations employed the hours of his leisure
from war.” The same author speaks of the purity and beauty of his
coinage, and the excellence of his legislation. Of the latter, so
famous in the East, an account at length is given by D’Ohsson.
(_Hayton_ in _Ramus._ II. ch. xxvi.; _Pachym. Andron. Palaeol._ VI.
1; _D’Ohsson_, vol iv.)
Before finally quitting the “Tartars of the Levant,” we give a
representation of the finest work of architecture that they have
left behind them, the tomb built for himself by Oljaïtu (see on
this page), or, as his Moslem name ran, Mahomed Khodabandah, in the
city of Sultaniah, which he founded. Oljaïtu was the brother and
successor of Marco Polo’s friend Gházán, and died in 1316, eight
years before our traveller.
CHAPTER XX.
CONCERNING KING CONCHI WHO RULES THE FAR NORTH.
You must know that in the far north there is a King called CONCHI.
He is a Tartar, and all his people are Tartars, and they keep up the
regular Tartar religion. A very brutish one it is, but they keep it up
just the same as Chinghis Kaan and the proper Tartars did, so I will
tell you something of it.
You must know then that they make them a god of felt, and call him
NATIGAI; and they also make him a wife; and then they say that these
two divinities are the gods of the Earth who protect their cattle and
their corn and all their earthly goods. They pray to these figures, and
when they are eating a good dinner they rub the mouths of their gods
with the meat, and do many other stupid things.
The King is subject to no one, although he is of the Imperial lineage
of Chinghis Kaan, and a near kinsman of the Great Kaan.{1} This King
has neither city nor castle; he and his people live always either in
the wide plains or among great mountains and valleys. They subsist on
the milk and flesh of their cattle, and have no corn. The King has
a vast number of people, but he carries on no war with anybody, and
his people live in great tranquillity. They have enormous numbers of
cattle, camels, horses, oxen, sheep, and so forth.
You find in their country immense bears entirely white, and more than
20 palms in length. There are also large black foxes, wild asses, and
abundance of sables; those creatures I mean from the skins of which
they make those precious robes that cost 1000 bezants each. There are
also vairs in abundance; and vast multitudes of the Pharaoh’s rat, on
which the people live all the summer time. Indeed they have plenty of
all sorts of wild creatures, for the country they inhabit is very wild
and trackless.{2}
And you must know that this King possesses one tract of country which
is quite impassable for horses, for it abounds greatly in lakes and
springs, and hence there is so much ice as well as mud and mire, that
horses cannot travel over it. This difficult country is 13 days in
extent, and at the end of every day’s journey there is a post for
the lodgment of the couriers who have to cross this tract. At each
of these post-houses they keep some 40 dogs of great size, in fact
not much smaller than donkeys, and these dogs draw the couriers over
the day’s journey from post-house to post-house, and I will tell you
how. You see the ice and mire are so prevalent, that over this tract,
which lies for those 13 days’ journey in a great valley between two
mountains, no horses (as I told you) can travel, nor can any wheeled
carriage either. Wherefore they make sledges, which are carriages
without wheels, and made so that they can run over the ice, and also
over mire and mud without sinking too deep in it. Of these sledges
indeed there are many in our own country, for ’tis just such that are
used in winter for carrying hay and straw when there have been heavy
rains and the country is deep in mire. On such a sledge then they lay
a bear-skin on which the courier sits, and the sledge is drawn by six
of those big dogs that I spoke of. The dogs have no driver, but go
straight for the next post-house, drawing the sledge famously over ice
and mire. The keeper of the post-house however also gets on a sledge
drawn by dogs, and guides the party by the best and shortest way. And
when they arrive at the next station they find a new relay of dogs and
sledges ready to take them on, whilst the old relay turns back; and
thus they accomplish the whole journey across that region, always drawn
by dogs.{3}
The people who dwell in the valleys and mountains adjoining that tract
of 13 days’ journey are great huntsmen, and catch great numbers of
precious little beasts which are sources of great profit to them. Such
are the Sable, the Ermine, the Vair, the _Erculin_, the Black Fox, and
many other creatures from the skins of which the most costly furs are
prepared. They use traps to take them, from which they can’t escape.{4}
But in that region the cold is so great that all the dwellings of the
people are underground, and underground they always live.{5}
There is no more to say on this subject, so I shall proceed to tell you
of a region in that quarter, in which there is perpetual darkness.
NOTE 1.—There are two KUWINJIS, or KAUNCHIS, as the name, from
Polo’s representation of it, probably ought to be written,
mentioned in connection with the Northern Steppes, if indeed there
has not been confusion about them; both are descendants of Juji,
the eldest son of Chinghiz. One was the twelfth son of Shaibani,
the 5th son of Juji. Shaibani’s Yurt was in Siberia, and his
family seem to have become predominant in that quarter. Arghún,
on his defeat by Ahmad (_supra_ p. 470), was besought to seek
shelter with Kaunchi. The other Kaunchi was the son of Sirtaktai,
the son of Orda, the eldest son of Juji, and was, as well as his
father and grandfather, chief of the White Horde, whose territory
lay north-east of the Caspian. An embassy from this Kaunchi is
mentioned as having come to the court of Kaikhátú at Siah-Kuh
(north of Tabriz) with congratulations, in the summer of 1293. Polo
may very possibly have seen the members of this embassy, and got
some of his information from them. (See _Gold. Horde_, 149, 249;
_Ilkhans_, I. 354, 403; II. 193, where Hammer writes the name of
_Kandschi_.)
It is perhaps a trace of the lineage of the old rulers of Siberia
that the old town of Tyuman in Western Siberia is still known to
the Tartars as _Chinghiz Tora_, or the Fort of Chinghiz. (_Erman_,
I. 310.)
NOTE 2.—We see that Polo’s information in this chapter extends
over the whole latitude of Siberia; for the great White Bears and
the Black Foxes belong to the shores of the Frozen Ocean; the Wild
Asses only to the southern parts of Siberia. As to the Pharaoh’s
Rat, see vol. i. p. 254.
NOTE 3.—No dog-sledges are now known, I believe, on this side of
the course of the Obi, and there not south of about 61° 30′. But
in the 11th century they were in general use between the Dwina
and Petchora. And Ibn Batuta’s account seems to imply that in the
14th they were in use far to the south of the present limit: “It
had been my wish to visit the Land of Darkness, which can only
be done from Bolghar. There is a distance of 40 days’ journey
between these two places. I had to give up the intention however
on account of the great difficulty attending the journey and the
little fruit that it promised. In that country they travel only
with small vehicles drawn by great dogs. For the steppe is covered
with ice, and the feet of men or the shoes of horses would slip,
whereas the dogs having claws their paws don’t slip upon the ice.
The only travellers across this wilderness are rich merchants, each
of whom owns about 100 of these vehicles, which are loaded with
meat, drink, and firewood. In fact, on this route there are neither
trees nor stones, nor human dwellings. The guide of the travellers
is a dog who has often made the journey before! The price of such
a beast is sometimes as high as 1000 dinárs or thereabouts. He
is yoked to the vehicle by the neck, and three other dogs are
harnessed along with him. He is the chief, and all the other dogs
with their carts follow his guidance and stop when he stops. The
master of this animal never ill-uses him nor scolds him, and at
feeding-time the dogs are always served before the men. If this be
not attended to, the chief of the dogs will get sulky and run off,
leaving the master to perdition” (II. 399–400).
[Illustration: The Siberian Dog-Sledge.
“=E sus ceste treies hi se mete sus un cuir d’ors, e puis hi monte
sus un mesaje; e ceste treies moinent six chienz de celz grant qe
je vos ai contés; et cesti chienz ne les moine nulz, mès il vont
tout droit jusque à l’autre poste, et trainent la treies mout
bien.=”]
[Mr. Parker writes (_China Review_, xiv. p. 359), that dog-sledges
appear to have been known to the Chinese, for in a Chinese poem
occurs the line: “Over the thick snow in a dog-cart.”—H. C.]
The bigness attributed to the dogs by Polo, Ibn Batuta, and
Rubruquis, is an imagination founded on the work ascribed to them.
Mr. Kennan says they are simply half-domesticated Arctic wolves.
Erman calls them the height of European spaniels (qu. setters?),
but much slenderer and leaner in the flanks. A good draught-dog,
according to Wrangell, should be 2 feet high and 3 feet in length.
The number of dogs attached to a sledge is usually greater than the
old travellers represent,—none of whom, however, had _seen_ the
thing.
Wrangell’s account curiously illustrates what Ibn Batuta says of
the Old Dog who guides: “The best-trained and most intelligent
dog is often yoked in front.... He often displays extraordinary
sagacity and influence over the other dogs, _e.g._ in keeping them
from breaking after game. In such a case he will sometimes turn
and bark in the opposite direction; ... and in crossing a naked
and boundless _taundra_ in darkness or snow-drift he will guess
his way to a hut that he has never visited but once before” (I.
159). Kennan also says: “They are guided and controlled entirely
by the voice and by a lead-dog, who is especially trained for the
purpose.” The like is related of the Esquimaux dogs. (_Kennan’s
Tent Life in Siberia_, pp. 163–164; _Wood’s Mammalia_, p. 266.)
NOTE 4.—On the _Erculin_ and _Ercolin_ of the G. T., written
Arculin in next chapter, _Arcolino_ of Ramusio, _Herculini_ of
Pipino, no light is thrown by the Italian or other editors. One
supposes of course some animal of the ermine or squirrel kinds
affording valuable fur, but I can find no similar name of any
such animal. It may be the Argali or Siberian Wild Sheep, which
Rubruquis mentions: “I saw another kind of beast which is called
_Arcali_; its body is just like a ram’s, and its horns spiral like
a ram’s also, only they are so big that I could scarcely lift a
pair of them with one hand. They make huge drinking-vessels out of
these” (p. 230). [See I. p. 177.]
_Vair_, so often mentioned in mediæval works, appears to have
been a name appropriate to the fur as prepared rather than to the
animal. This appears to have been the Siberian squirrel called in
French _petit-gris_, the back of which is of a fine grey and the
belly of a brilliant white. In the _Vair_ (which is perhaps only
_varius_ or variegated) the backs and bellies were joined in a kind
of checquer; whence the heraldic checquer called by the same name.
There were two kinds, _menu-vair_ corrupted into _minever_, and
_gros-vair_, but I cannot learn clearly on what the distinction
rested. (See _Douet d’Arcq_, p. xxxv.) Upwards of 2000 _ventres de
menuvair_ were sometimes consumed in one complete suit of robes
(_ib._ xxxii.).
The traps used by the Siberian tribes to take these valuable
animals are described by Erman (I. 452), only in the English
translation the description is totally incomprehensible; also in
Wrangell, I. 151.
NOTE 5.—The country chiefly described in this chapter is probably
that which the Russians, and also the Arabian Geographers, used to
term _Yugria_, apparently the country of the Ostyaks on the Obi.
The winter-dwellings of the people are not, strictly speaking,
underground, but they are flanked with earth piled up against the
walls. The same is the case with those of the Yakuts in Eastern
Siberia, and these often have the floors also sunk 3 feet in the
earth. Habitations really subterranean, of some previous race, have
been found in the Samoyed country. (_Klaproth’s Mag. Asiatique, II.
66._)
CHAPTER XXI.
CONCERNING THE LAND OF DARKNESS.
Still further north, and a long way beyond that kingdom of which I have
spoken, there is a region which bears the name of DARKNESS, because
neither sun nor moon nor stars appear, but it is always as dark as
with us in the twilight. The people have no king of their own, nor are
they subject to any foreigner, and live like beasts. [They are dull of
understanding, like half-witted persons.{1}]
The Tartars however sometimes visit the country, and they do it in this
way. They enter the region riding mares that have foals, and these
foals they leave behind. After taking all the plunder that they can get
they find their way back by help of the mares, which are all eager to
get back to their foals, and find the way much better than their riders
could do.{2}
Those people have vast quantities of valuable peltry; thus they have
those costly Sables of which I spoke, and they have the Ermine, the
Arculin, the Vair, the Black Fox, and many other valuable furs. They
are all hunters by trade, and amass amazing quantities of those furs.
And the people who are on their borders, where the Light is, purchase
all those furs from them; for the people of the Land of Darkness carry
the furs to the Light country for sale, and the merchants who purchase
these make great gain thereby, I assure you.{3}
The people of this region are tall and shapely, but very pale and
colourless. One end of the country borders upon Great Rosia. And as
there is no more to be said about it, I will now proceed, and first I
will tell you about the Province of Rosia.
NOTE 1.—In the Ramusian version we have a more intelligent
representation of the facts regarding the _Land of Darkness_:
“Because for most part of the winter months the sun appears not,
and the air is dusky, as it is just before the dawn when you see
and yet do not see;” and again below it speaks of the inhabitants
catching the fur animals “in summer when they have continuous
daylight.” It is evident that the writer of this version _did_
and the writer of the original French which we have translated
from _did not_ understand what he was writing. The whole of the
latter account implies belief in the perpetuity of the darkness.
It resembles Pliny’s hazy notion of the northern regions:[1] “pars
mundi damnata a rerum naturâ et densâ mersa caligine.” Whether the
fault is due to Rustician’s ignorance or is Polo’s own, who can
say? We are willing to debit it to the former, and to credit Marco
with the improved version in Ramusio. In the _Masálak-al-Absár_,
however, we have the following passage in which the conception is
similar: “Merchants do not ascend (the Wolga) beyond Bolghar; from
that point they make excursions through the province of Julman
(supposed to be the country on the Kama and Viatka). The merchants
of the latter country penetrate to Yughra, which is the extremity
of the North. Beyond that you see no trace of habitation except
a great Tower built by Alexander, after which there is nothing
but Darkness.” The narrator of this, being asked what he meant,
said: “It is a region of desert mountains, where frost and snow
continually reign, where the sun never shines, no plant vegetates,
and no animal lives. Those mountains border on the Dark Sea, on
which rain falls perpetually, fogs are ever dense, and the sun
never shows itself, and on tracts perpetually covered with snow.”
(_N. et Ex._ XIII. i. 285.)
NOTE 2.—This is probably a story of great antiquity, for it occurs
in the legends of the mythical _Ughuz_, Patriarch of the Turk and
Tartar nations, as given by Rashiduddin. In this hero’s campaign
towards the far north, he had ordered the old men to be left behind
near Almalik; but a very ancient sage called Bushi Khwaja persuaded
his son to carry him forward in a box, as they were sure sooner or
later to need the counsel of experienced age. When they got to the
land of _Kará Hulun_, Ughuz and his officers were much perplexed
about finding their way, as they had arrived at the Land of
Darkness. The old Bushi was then consulted, and his advice was that
they should take with them 4 mares and 9 she-asses that had foals,
and tie up the foals at the entrance to the Land of Darkness, but
drive the dams before them. And when they wished to return they
would be guided by the scent and maternal instinct of the mares and
she-asses. And so it was done. (See _Erdmann Temudschin_, p. 478.)
Ughuz, according to the Mussulman interpretation of the Eastern
Legends, was the great-grandson of Japhet.
The story also found its way into some of the later Greek forms
of the Alexander Legends. Alexander, when about to enter the Land
of Darkness, takes with him only picked young men. Getting into
difficulties, the King wants to send back for some old sage who
should advise. Two young men had smuggled their old father with
them in anticipation of such need, and on promise of amnesty they
produce him. He gives the advice to use the mares as in the text.
(See _Müller’s ed._ of _Pseudo-Callisthenes_, Bk. II. ch. xxxiv.)
NOTE 3.—Ibn Batuta thus describes the traffic that took place with
the natives of the Land of Darkness: “When the Travellers have
accomplished a journey of 40 days across this Desert tract they
encamp near the borders of the Land of Darkness. Each of them then
deposits there the goods that he has brought with him, and all
return to their quarters. On the morrow they come back to look at
their goods, and find laid beside them skins of the Sable, the
Vair, and the Ermine. If the owner of the goods is satisfied with
what is laid beside his parcel he takes it, if not he leaves it
there. The inhabitants of the Land of Darkness may then (on another
visit) increase the amount of their deposit, or, as often happens,
they may take it away altogether and leave the goods of the foreign
merchants untouched. In this way is the trade conducted. The people
who go thither never know whether those with whom they buy and sell
are men or goblins, for they never see any one!” (II. 401.)
[“Ibn Batuta’s account of the market of the ‘Land of Darkness’ ...
agrees almost word for word with Dr. Mirth’s account of the ‘Spirit
Market, taken from the Chinese.’” (_Parker, China Review_, XIV. p.
359.)—H. C.]
Abulfeda gives exactly the same account of the trade; and so
does Herberstein. Other Oriental writers ascribe the same custom
to the _Wisu_, a people three months’ journey from Bolghar.
These Wisu have been identified by Fraehn with the _Wesses_, a
people spoken of by Russian historians as dwelling on the shores
of the Bielo Osero, which Lake indeed is alleged by a Russian
author to have been anciently called _Wüsu_, misunderstood into
_Weissensee_, and thence rendered into Russian Bielo Osero (“White
Lake”). (_Golden Horde_, App. p. 429; _Büsching_, IV. 359–360;
_Herberstein_ in _Ram._ II. 168 v.; _Fraehn, Bolghar_, pp. 14,
47; Do., _Ibn Fozlan_, 205 _seqq._, 221.) Dumb trade of the same
kind is a circumstance related of very many different races and
periods, _e.g._, of a people beyond the Pillars of Hercules by
Herodotus, of the Sabaean dealers in frankincense by Theophrastus,
of the Seres by Pliny, of the Sasians far south of Ethiopia by
Cosmas, of the people of the Clove Islands by Kazwini, of a region
beyond Segelmessa by Mas’udi, of a people far beyond Timbuctoo
by Cadamosto, of the Veddas of Ceylon by Marignolli and more modern
writers, of the Poliars of Malabar by various authors, by Paulus
Jovius of the Laplanders, etc. etc.
Pliny’s attribution, surely erroneous, of this custom to the
Chinese [see _supra_, H. C.], suggests that there may have been a
misunderstanding by which this method of trade was confused with
that other curious system of dumb higgling, by the pressure of the
knuckles under a shawl, a masonic system in use from Peking to
Bombay, and possibly to Constantinople.
The term translated here “Light,” and the “Light Country,” is in
the G. T. “_a la Carte_,” “_a la Cartes_.” This puzzled me for a
long time, as I see it puzzled Mr. Hugh Murray, Signor Bartoli, and
Lazari (who passes it over). The version of Pipino, “_ad_ Lucis
_terras finitimas deferunt_,” points to the true reading;—_Carte_
is an error for _Clarté_.
The reading of this chapter is said to have fired Prince Rupert
with the scheme which resulted in the establishment of the Hudson’s
Bay Company.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] That is, in one passage of Pliny (iv. 12); for in another passage
from his multifarious note book, where Thule is spoken of, the
Arctic day and night are much more distinctly characterised (IV.
16).
CHAPTER XXII.
DESCRIPTION OF ROSIA AND ITS PEOPLE. PROVINCE OF LAC.
Rosia is a very great province, lying towards the north. The people are
Christians, and follow the Greek doctrine. There are several kings in
the country, and they have a language of their own. They are a people
of simple manners, but both men and women very handsome, being all very
white and [tall, with long fair hair]. There are many strong defiles
and passes in the country; and they pay tribute to nobody except to a
certain Tartar king of the Ponent, whose name is TOCTAI; to him indeed
they pay tribute, but only a trifle. It is not a land of trade, though
to be sure they have many fine and valuable furs, such as Sables,
in abundance, and Ermine, Vair, Ercolin, and Fox skins, the largest
and finest in the world [and also much wax]. They also possess many
Silver-mines, from which they derive a large amount of silver.{1}
There is nothing else worth mentioning; so let us leave Rosia,
and I will tell you about the Great Sea, and what provinces and
nations lie round about it, all in detail; and we will begin with
Constantinople.—First, however, I should tell you of a province that
lies between north and north-west. You see in that region that I have
been speaking of, there is a province called LAC, which is conterminous
with Rosia, and has a king of its own. The people are partly Christians
and partly Saracens. They have abundance of furs of good quality,
which merchants export to many countries. They live by trade and
handicrafts.{2}
There is nothing more worth mentioning, so I will speak of other
subjects; but there is one thing more to tell you about Rosia that I
had forgotten. You see in Rosia there is the greatest cold that is to
be found anywhere, so great as to be scarcely bearable. The country
is so great that it reaches even to the shores of the Ocean Sea, and
’tis in that sea that there are certain islands in which are produced
numbers of gerfalcons and peregrine falcons, which are carried in many
directions. From Russia also to OROECH it is not very far, and the
journey could be soon made, were it not for the tremendous cold; but
this renders its accomplishment almost impossible.{3}
Now then let us speak of the Great Sea, as I was about to do. To be
sure many merchants and others have been there, but still there are
many again who know nothing about it, so it will be well to include it
in our Book. We will do so then, and let us begin first with the Strait
of Constantinople.
NOTE 1.—Ibn Fozlan, the oldest Arabic author who gives any detailed
account of the Russians (and a very remarkable one it is), says
he “never saw people of form more perfectly developed; they were
tall as palm-trees, and ruddy of countenance,” but at the same
time “the most uncleanly people that God hath created,” drunken,
and frightfully gross in their manners. (_Fraehn’s Ibn Fozlan_,
p. 5 _seqq._) Ibn Batuta is in some respects less flattering; he
mentions the silver-mines noticed in our text: “At a day’s distance
from Ukak[1] are the hills of the Russians, who are Christians.
They have red hair and blue eyes; ugly to look at, and crafty to
deal with. They have silver-mines, and it is from their country
that are brought the _saum_ or ingots of silver with which buying
and selling is carried on in this country (Kipchak or the Ponent of
Polo). The weight of each _saumah_ is 5 ounces” (II. 414). Mas’udi
also says: “The Russians have in their country a silver-mine
similar to that which exists in Khorasan, at the mountain of
Banjhir” (_i.e._ _Panjshir_; II. 15; and see _supra_, vol. I. p.
161). These positive and concurrent testimonies as to Russian
silver-mines are remarkable, as modern accounts declare that no
silver is found in Russia. And if we go back to the 16th century,
Herberstein says the same. There was no silver, he says, except
what was imported; silver money had been in use barely 100 years;
previously they had used oblong ingots of the value of a ruble,
without any figure or legend. (_Ram._ II. 159.)
But a welcome communication from Professor Bruun points out that
the statement of Ibn Batuta identifies the silver-mines in question
with certain mines of argentiferous lead-ore near the River Mious
(a river falling into the sea of Azof, about 22 miles west of
Taganrog); an ore which even in recent times has afforded 60 per
cent. of lead, and ¹⁄₂₄ per cent. of silver. And it was these
mines which furnished the ancient Russian _rubles_ or ingots. Thus
the original _ruble_ was the _saumah_ of Ibn Batuta, the _sommo_
of Pegolotti. A ruble seems to be still called by some term like
_saumah_ in Central Asia; it is printed _soom_ in the Appendix to
Davies’s Punjab Report, p. xi. And Professor Bruun tells me that
the silver ruble is called _Som_ by the Ossethi of Caucasus.[2]
Franc.-Michel quotes from Fitz-Stephen’s Desc. of London (_temp._
Henry II.):—
“_Aurum mittit Arabs_ ...
_Seres purpureas vestes; Galli sua vina;_
_Norwegi_, Russi, varium, grysium, sabelinas.”
Russia was overrun with fire and sword as far as Tver and Torshok
by Batu Khan (1237–1238), some years before his invasion of Poland
and Silesia. Tartar tax-gatherers were established in the Russian
cities as far north as Rostov and Jaroslawl, and for many years
Russian princes as far as Novgorod paid homage to the Mongol Khans
in their court at Sarai. Their subjection to the Khans was not
such a trifle as Polo seems to imply; and at least a dozen Russian
princes met their death at the hands of the Mongol executioner.
[Illustration: Mediæval Russian Church. (From Fergusson.)]
NOTE 2.—The _Lac_ of this passage appears to be WALLACHIA. Abulfeda
calls the Wallachs _Aulák_; Rubruquis _Illac_, which he says is the
same word as _Blac_ (the usual European form of those days being
_Blachi, Blachia_), but the Tartars could not pronounce the B (p.
275). Abulghazi says the original inhabitants of Kipchak were the
_Urús_, the Olaks, _the Majars_, and the _Bashkirs_.
Rubruquis is wrong in placing _Illac_ or Wallachs in Asia; at
least the people near the Ural, who he says were so-called by the
Tartars, cannot have been Wallachs. Professor Bruun, who corrects
my error in following Rubruquis, thinks those Asiatic _Blac_ must
have been _Polovtzi_, or Cumanians.
[Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 130, note) writes: “A branch of the
Volga Bulgars occupied the Moldo-Vallach country in about A.D. 485,
but it was not until the first years of the 6th century that a
portion of them passed the Danube under the leadership of Asparuk,
and established themselves in the present Bulgaria, Friar William’s
‘Land of Assan.’”—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—_Oroech_ is generally supposed to be a mistake for
_Noroech_, NORWEGE or Norway, which is probable enough. But
considering the Asiatic sources of most of our author’s
information, it is also possible that _Oroech_ represents WAREG.
The _Waraegs_ or _Warangs_ are celebrated in the oldest Russian
history as a race of warlike immigrants, of whom came Rurik, the
founder of the ancient royal dynasty, and whose name was long
preserved in that of the Varangian guards at Constantinople. Many
Eastern geographers, from Al Biruni downwards, speak of the Warag
or Warang as a nation dwelling in the north, on the borders of
the Slavonic countries, and on the shores of a great arm of the
Western Ocean, called the _Sea of Warang_, evidently the Baltic.
The Waraegers are generally considered to have been Danes or
Northmen, and Erman mentions that in the bazaars of Tobolsk he
found Danish goods known as _Varaegian_. Mr. Hyde Clark, as I learn
from a review, has recently identified the Warangs or Warings with
the _Varini_, whom Tacitus couples with the Angli, and has shown
probable evidence for their having taken part in the invasion of
Britain. He has also shown that many points of the laws which they
established in Russia were purely Saxon in character. (_Bayer_ in
_Comment. Acad. Petropol._ IV. 276 _seqq._; _Fraehn_ in App. to
_Ibn Fozlan_, p. 177 _seqq._; _Erman_, I. 374; _Sat. Review_, 19th
June, 1869; _Gold. Horde_, App. p. 428.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] This Ukak of Ibn Batuta is not, as I too hastily supposed (vol.
i. p. 8) the _Ucaca_ of the Polos on the Volga, but a place of
the same name on the Sea of Azof, which appears in some mediæval
maps as _Locac_ or _Locaq_ (_i.e._ _l’Ocac_), and which Elie de
Laprimaudaie in his Periplus of the Mediæval Caspian, locates at
a place called Kaszik, a little east of Mariupol. (_Et. sur le
Comm. au Moyen Age_, p. 230.) I owe this correction to a valued
correspondent, Professor Bruun, of Odessa.
[2] The word is, however, perhaps Or. Turkish; _Som_, “pure, solid.”
(See _Pavet de Courteille_, and _Vámbéry_, s.v.)
CHAPTER XXIII.
HE BEGINS TO SPEAK OF THE STRAITS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, BUT
DECIDES TO LEAVE THAT MATTER.
At the straits leading into the Great Sea, on the west side, there is a
hill called the FARO.—But since beginning on this matter I have changed
my mind, because so many people know all about it, so we will not put
it in our description, but go on to something else. And so I will tell
you about the Tartars of the Ponent, and the lords who have reigned
over them.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CONCERNING THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT AND THEIR LORDS.
The first lord of the Tartars of the Ponent was SAIN, a very great and
puissant king, who conquered ROSIA and COMANIA, ALANIA, LAC, MENJAR,
ZIC, GOTHIA, and GAZARIA; all these provinces were conquered by King
Sain. Before his conquest these all belonged to the Comanians, but
they did not hold well together nor were they united, and thus they
lost their territories and were dispersed over divers countries; and
those who remained all became the servants of King Sain.{1}
After King Sain reigned King PATU, and after Patu BARCA, and after
Barca MUNGLETEMUR, and after Mungletemur King TOTAMANGUL, and then
TOCTAI the present sovereign.{2}
Now I have told you of the Tartar kings of the Ponent, and next I shall
tell you of a great battle that was fought between Alau the Lord of the
Levant and Barca the Lord of the Ponent.
So now we will relate out of what occasion that battle arose, and how
it was fought.
NOTE 1.—✛The COMANIANS, a people of Turkish race, the _Polovtzi_ [or
“Dwellers of the Plain” of Nestor, the Russian Annalist] of the old
Russians, were one of the chief nations occupying the plains on
the north of the Black Sea and eastward to the Caspian, previous
to the Mongol invasion. Rubruquis makes them identical with the
KIPCHAK, whose name is generally attached to those plains by
Oriental writers, but Hammer disputes this. [See a note, pp. 92–93
of _Rockhill’s Rubruck_.—H. C.]
ALANIA, the country of the Alans on the northern skirts of the
Caucasus and towards the Caspian; LAC, the Wallachs as above.
MENJAR is a subject of doubt. It may be _Májar_, on the Kuma
River, a city which was visited by Ibn Batuta, and is mentioned by
Abulfeda as _Kummájar_. It was in the 14th century the seat of a
Franciscan convent. Coins of that century, both of Majar and New
Majar, are given by Erdmann. The building of the fortresses of
Kichi Majar and Ulu Majar (little and great) is ascribed in the
_Derbend Nameh_ to Naoshirwan. The ruins of Majar were extensive
when seen by Gmelin in the last century, but when visited by
Klaproth in the early part of the present one there were few
buildings remaining. Inscriptions found there are, like the coins,
Mongol-Mahomedan of the 14th century. Klaproth, with reference to
these ruins, says that _Majar_ merely means in “old Tartar” a stone
building, and denies any connection with the _Magyars_ as a nation.
But it is possible that the Magyar country, _i.e._ Hungary, is here
intended by Polo, for several Asiatic writers of his time, or near
it, speak of the Hungarians as _Majár_. Thus Abulfeda speaks of the
infidel nations near the Danube as including Aulák, Majárs, and
Serbs; Rashiduddin speaks of the Mongols as conquering the country
of the Bashkirds, the Majárs, and the Sassan (probably Saxons of
Transylvania). One such mention from Abulghazi has been quoted in
note 2 to ch. xxii.; in the _Masálak-al-Absár_, the _Cherkes_,
_Russians_, _Aas_ (or Alans), and Majar are associated; the Majar
_and Alán_ in Sharifuddin. Doubts indeed arise whether in some
of these instances a people located in Asia be not intended.[1]
(_Rubr._ p. 246; _D’Avezac_, p. 486 _seqq._; _Golden Horde_, p.
5; _I. B._ II. 375 _seqq._; _Büsching_, IV. 359; _Cathay_, p. 233;
_Numi Asiatici_, I. 333, 451; _Klaproth’s Travels_, ch. xxxi.;
_N. et Ex._ XIII. i. 269, 279; _P. de la Croix_, II. 383; _Rein.
Abulf._ I. 80; _D’Ohsson_, II. 628.)
[“The author of the _Tarikh Djihan Kushai_, as well as Rashid and
other Mohammedan authors of the same period, term the Hungarians
_Bashkerds_ (Bashkirs). This latter name, written also _Bashkurd_,
appears for the first time, it seems, in Ibn Fozlan’s narrative
of an embassy to the Bulgars on the Volga in the beginning of the
10th century (translated by Fraehn, ‘De Bashkiris,’ etc., 1822)....
The Hungarians arrived in Europe in the 9th century, and then
called themselves _Magyar_ (to be pronounced Modjor), as they do
down to the present time. The Russian Chronicler Nestor mentions
their passing near Kiev in 898, and terms them _Ugry_. But the
name Magyar was also known to other nations in the Middle Ages.
Abulfeda (ii. 324) notices the _Madjgars_; it would, however,
seem that he applies this name to the Bashkirs in Asia. The name
_Madjar_ occurs also in Rashid’s record. In the Chinese and Mongol
annals of the 13th century the Hungarians are termed _Madja-rh_.”
(_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. pp. 326–327.)—H. C.]
ZIC is Circassia. The name was known to Pliny, Ptolemy, and other
writers of classic times. Ramusio (II. 196 _v_) gives a curious
letter to Aldus Manutius from George Interiano, “_Della vita de’_
Zychi _chiamati Circassi_,” and a great number of other references
to ancient and mediæval use of the name will be found in D’Avezac’s
Essay, so often quoted (p. 497).
GOTHIA is the southern coast of the Crimea from Sudak to Balaklava
and the mountains north of the latter, then still occupied by a
tribe of the Goths. The Genoese officer who governed this coast
in the 15th century bore the title of _Capitanus Gotiae_; and a
remnant of the tribe still survived, maintaining their Teutonic
speech, to the middle of the 16th century, when Busbeck, the
emperor’s ambassador to the Porte, fell in with two of them,
from whom he derived a small vocabulary and other particulars.
(_Busbequii Opera_, 1660, p. 321 _seqq._; _D’Avezac_, pp. 498–499;
_Heyd_, II. 123 _seqq._; _Cathay_, pp. 200–201.)
GAZARIA, the Crimea and part of the northern shore of the Sea of
Azov, formerly occupied by the _Khazars_, a people whom Klaproth
endeavours to prove to have been of Finnish race. When the Genoese
held their settlements on the Crimean coast the Board at Genoa
which administered the affairs of these colonies was called _The
Office of Gazaria_.
NOTE 2.—The real list of the “Kings of the Ponent,” or Khans of
the Golden Horde, down to the time of Polo’s narrative, runs thus:
BATU, _Sartaḳ, Ulagchi_ (these two almost nominal), BARKA, MANGKU
TIMUR, TUDAI MANGKU, _Tulabugha_, _Tuktuka_ or TOKTAI. Polo here
omits Tulabugha (though he mentions him below in ch. xxix.), and
introduces before Batu, as a great and powerful conqueror, the
founder of the empire, a prince whom he calls _Sain_. This is in
fact Batu himself, the leader of the great Tartar invasion of
Europe (1240–1242), whom he has split into two kings. Batu bore
the surname of _Sain Khan_, or “the _Good_ Prince,” by which name
he is mentioned, _e.g._, in Makrizi (_Quatremère’s Trans._ II.
45), also in Wassáf (_Hammer’s Trans._ pp. 29–30). Plano Carpini’s
account of him is worth quoting: “Hominibus quidem ejus satis
benignus; timetur tamen valde ab iis; sed crudelissimus est in
pugnâ; sagax est multum; et etiam astutissimus in bello, quia longo
tempore jam pugnavit.” This Good Prince was indeed _crudelissimus
in pugnâ_. At Moscow he ordered a general massacre, and 270,000
right ears are said to have been laid before him in testimony to
its accomplishment. It is odd enough that a mistake like that in
the text is not confined to Polo. The chronicle of Kazan, according
to a Russian writer, makes _Sain_ succeed _Batu_. (_Carpini_, p.
746; _J. As._ sér. IV. tom. xvii. p. 109; _Büsching_, V. 493; also
_Golden Horde_, p. 142, note.)
Batu himself, in the great invasion of the West, was with the
southern host in Hungary; the northern army which fought at
Liegnitz was under Baidar, a son of Chaghatai.
According to the _Masálak-al-Absár_, the territory of Kipchak,
over which this dynasty ruled, extended in length from the Sea
of Istambul to the River Irtish, a journey of 6 months, and in
breadth from Bolghar to the Iron Gates, 4 (?) months’ journey. A
second traveller, quoted in the same work, says the empire extended
from the Iron Gates to _Yughra_ (see p. 483 _supra_), and from
the Irtish to the country of the _Nemej_. The last term is very
curious, being the Russian _Niemicz_, “Dumb,” a term which in
Russia is used as a proper name of the Germans; a people, to wit,
unable to speak Slavonic. (_N. et Ex._ XIII. i. 282, 284.)
[“An allusion to the Mongol invasion of Poland and Silesia is
found in the _Yuen-shi_, ch. cxxi., biography of Wu-liang-ho t’ai
(the son of Su-bu-t’ai). It is stated there that Wu-liang-ho t’ai
[Uriangcadai] accompanied Badu when he invaded the countries of
_Kin-ch’a_ (Kipchak) and _Wu-la-sz’_ (Russia). Subsequently he
took part also in the expedition against the _P’o-lie-rh_ and
_Nie-mi-sze_.” (_Dr. Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. p. 322.) With
reference to these two names, Dr. Bretschneider says, in a note,
that he has no doubt that the Poles and Germans are intended. “As
to its origin, the Russian linguists generally derive it from
_nemoi_, ‘dumb,’ _i.e._, unable to speak Slavonic. To the ancient
Byzantine chroniclers the Germans were known under the same name.
Cf. _Muralt’s Essai de Chronogr. Byzant., sub anno_ 882: ‘Les
Slavons maltraités par les guerriers _Nemetzi_ de Swiatopolc’ (King
of Great Moravia, 870–894). Sophocles’ Greek Lexicon of the Roman
and Byzantine periods from B.C. 146 to A.D. 1100: ‘_Nemitzi_’
Austrians, Germans. This name is met also in the Mohammedan
authors. According to the Masálak-al-Absár, of the first half of
the 14th century (transl. by Quatremère, _N. et Ext._ XXII. 284),
the country of the Kipchaks extended (eastward) to the country of
the _Nemedj_, which separates the Franks from the Russians. The
Turks still call the Germans _Niemesi_; the Hungarians term them
_Nemet_.”—H. C.]
[Illustration: Figure of a Tartar under the feet of Henry II., Duke
of Silesia, Cracow, and Poland, from the tomb at Breslau of that
Prince, killed in battle with the Tartar host at Liegnitz, 9th
April, 1241.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] This doubt arises also where Abulfeda speaks of _Majgaria_ in the
far north, “the capital of the country of the _Madjgars_, a Turk
race” of pagan nomads, by whom he seems to mean the _Bashkirs_.
(_Reinaud’s Abulf._ I. 324.) For it is to the Bashkir country
that the Franciscan travellers apply the term Great Hungary,
showing that they were led to believe it the original seat of the
_Magyars_. (_Rubr._ 274, _Plan. Carpin._ 747; and in same vol.,
_D’Avezac_, p. 491.) Further confusion arises from the fact that,
besides the Uralian Bashkirs, there were, down to the 13th century,
Bashkirs recognised as such, and as distinct from the Hungarians
though akin to them, dwelling in _Hungarian territory_. Ibn Said,
speaking of Sebennico (the cradle of the Polo family), says that
when the Tartars advanced under its walls (1242?) “the Hungarians,
the Bashkirs, and the Germans united their forces near the city”
and gave the invaders a signal defeat. (_Reinaud’s Abulf._ I. 312;
see also 294, 295.) One would gladly know what are the real names
that M. Reinaud renders _Hongrois_ and _Allemands_. The Christian
Bashkirds of Khondemir, on the borders of the Franks, appear to be
Hungarians. (See _J. As._, sér. IV. tom. xvii. p. 111.)
CHAPTER XXV.
OF THE WAR THAT AROSE BETWEEN ALAU AND BARCA, AND THE BATTLES
THAT THEY FOUGHT.
It was in the year 1261 of Christ’s incarnation that there arose a
great discord between King Alau the Lord of the Tartars of the Levant,
and Barca the King of the Tartars of the Ponent; the occasion whereof
was a province that lay on the confines of both.{1}
⚜ (They exchange defiances, and make vast preparations.)
And when his preparations were complete, Alau the Lord of Levant set
forth with all his people. They marched for many days without any
adventure to speak of, and at last they reached a great plain which
extends between the IRON GATES and the SEA OF SARAIN.{2} In this plain
he pitched his camp in beautiful order; and I can assure you there was
many a rich tent and pavilion therein, so that it looked indeed like
a camp of the wealthy. Alau said he would tarry there to see if Barca
and his people would come; so there they tarried, abiding the enemy’s
arrival. This place where the camp was pitched was on the frontier of
the two kings. Now let us speak of Barca and his people.{3}
NOTE 1.—“_Que_ marcesoit _à le un et à le autre_;” in Scotch
phrase, “which _marched_ with both.”
NOTE 2.—Respecting the Iron Gates, see vol. i. p. 53. The Caspian
is here called the Sea of _Sarain_, probably for _Sarai_, after the
great city on the Volga. For we find it in the Catalan Map of 1375
termed the Sea of _Sarra_. Otherwise _Sarain_ might have been taken
for some corruption of _Shirwán_. (See vol. i. p. 59, note 8.)
NOTE 3.—The war here spoken of is the same which is mentioned in
the very beginning of the book, as having compelled the two Elder
Polos to travel much further eastward than they had contemplated.
Many jealousies and heart-burnings between the cousins Hulaku and
Barka had existed for several years. The Mameluke Sultan Bibars
seems also to have stimulated Barka to hostility with Hulaku. War
broke out in 1262, when 30,000 men from Kipchak, under the command
of Nogai, passed Derbend into the province of Shirwan. They were
at first successful, but afterwards defeated. In December, Hulaku,
at the head of a great army, passed Derbend, and routed the forces
which met him. Ábáká, son of Hulaku, was sent on with a large
force, and came upon the opulent camp of Barka beyond the Terek.
They were revelling in its plunder, when Barka rallied his troops
and came upon the army of Ábáká, driving them southward again,
across the frozen river. The ice broke and many perished. Ábáká
escaped, chased by Barka to Derbend. Hulaku returned to Tabriz and
made great preparations for vengeance, but matters were apparently
never carried further. Hence Polo’s is anything but an accurate
account of the matter.
The following extract from Wassáf’s History, referring to this war,
is a fine sample of that prince of rigmarole:
“In the winter of 662 (A.D. 1262–1263) when the Almighty Artist had
covered the River of Derbend with plates of silver, and the Furrier
of the Winter had clad the hills and heaths in ermine; the river
being frozen hard as a rock to the depth of a spear’s length, an
army of Mongols went forth at the command of Barka Aghul, filthy as
Ghúls and Devils of the dry-places, and in numbers countless as the
rain-drops,” etc. etc. (_Golden Horde_, p. 163 _seqq._; _Ilchan._
I. 214 _seqq._; _Q. R._ p. 393 _seqq._; _Q. Makrizi_, I. 170;
_Hammer’s Wassáf_, p. 93.)
CHAPTER XXVI.
HOW BARCA AND HIS ARMY ADVANCED TO MEET ALAU.
⚜ (Barca advances with 350,000 horse, encamps on the plain within 10
miles of Alau; addresses his men, announcing his intention of fighting
after 3 days, and expresses his confidence of success as they are in
the right and have 50,000 men more than the enemy.)
CHAPTER XXVII.
HOW ALAU ADDRESSED HIS FOLLOWERS.
⚜ (Alau calls together “a numerous parliament of his worthies”[1] and
addresses them.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “_Il asenble encore sez parlemant de grand quantités des buens
homes_.”
CHAPTER XXVIII.
OF THE GREAT BATTLE BETWEEN ALAU AND BARCA.
⚜ (Description of the Battle in the usual style, with nothing
characteristic. Results in the rout of Barca and great slaughter.)
CHAPTER XXIX.
HOW TOTAMANGU WAS LORD OF THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT.
You must know there was a Prince of the Tartars of the Ponent called
MONGOTEMUR, and from him the sovereignty passed to a young gentleman
called TOLOBUGA. But TOTAMANGU, who was a man of great influence, with
the help of another Tartar King called NOGAI, slew Tolobuga and got
possession of the sovereignty. He reigned not long however, and at his
death TOCTAI, an able and valiant man, was chosen sovereign in the
place of Totamangu. But in the meantime two sons of that Tolobuga who
was slain were grown up, and were likely youths, able and prudent.
So these two brothers, the sons of Totamangu, got together a goodly
company and proceeded to the court of Toctai. When they had got
thither they conducted themselves with great discretion, keeping on
their knees till Toctai bade them welcome, and to stand up. Then the
eldest addressed the Sovereign thus: “Good my Lord Toctai, I will tell
you to the best of my ability why we be come hither. We are the sons
of Totamangu, whom Tolobuga and Nogai slew, as thou well knowest.
Of Tolobuga we will say no more, since he is dead, but we demand
justice against Nogai as the slayer of our Father; and we pray thee as
Sovereign Lord to summon him before thee and to do us justice. For this
cause are we come!”{1}
(Toctai agrees to their demand and sends two messengers to summon
Nogai, but Nogai mocks at the message and refuses to go. Whereupon
Toctai sends a second couple of messengers.)
NOTE 1.—I have not attempted to correct the obvious confusion here;
for in comparing the story related here with the regular historians
we find the knots too complicated for solution.
In the text as it stands we first learn that Totamangu by help of
Nogai kills _Tolobuga_, takes the throne, dies, and is succeeded by
Toctai. But presently we find that it is the sons of _Totamangu_
who claim vengeance from Toctai against Nogai for having aided
Tolobuga to slay their father. Turning back to the list of princes
in chapter xxiv. we find Totamangu indeed, but Tolobuga omitted
altogether.
The outline of the history as gathered from Hammer and D’Ohsson is
as follows:—
NOGHAI, for more than half a century one of the most influential of
the Mongol Princes, was a great-great-grandson of Chinghiz, being
the son of Tatar, son of Tewal, son of Juji. He is first heard of
as a leader under Batu Khan in the great invasion of Europe (1241),
and again in 1258 we find him leading an invasion of Poland.
In the latter quarter of the century he had established himself
as practically independent, in the south of Russia. There is
much about him in the Byzantine history of Pachymeres; Michael
Palaeologus sought his alliance against the Bulgarians (of the
south), and gave him his illegitimate daughter Euphrosyne to wife.
Some years later Noghai gave a daughter of his own in marriage to
Feodor Rostislawitz, Prince of Smolensk.
Mangu- or Mangku-Temur, the great-nephew and successor of Barka,
died in 1280–81 leaving nine sons, but was succeeded by his brother
TUDAI-MANGKU (Polo’s _Totamangu_). This Prince occupied himself
chiefly with the company of Mahomedan theologians and was averse to
the cares of government. In 1287 he abdicated, and was replaced by
TULABUGHA (_Tolobuga_), the son of an elder brother, whose power,
however, was shared by other princes. Tulabugha quarrelled with old
Noghai and was preparing to attack him. Noghai however persuaded
him to come to an interview, and at this Tulabugha was put to
death. TOKTAI, one of the sons of Mangku-Temur, who was associated
with Noghai, obtained the throne of Kipchak. This was in 1291. We
hear nothing of sons of Tudai-Mangku or Tulabugha.
Some years later we hear of a symbolic declaration of war sent by
Toktai to Noghai, and then of a great battle between them near the
banks of the Don, in which Toktai is defeated. Later, they are
again at war, and somewhere south of the Dnieper Noghai is beaten.
As he was escaping with a few mounted followers, he was cut down by
a Russian horseman. “I am Noghai,” said the old warrior, “take me
to Toktai.” The Russian took the bridle to lead him to the camp,
but by the way the old chief expired. The horseman carried his head
to the Khan; its heavy grey eyebrows, we are told, hung over and
hid the eyes. Toktai asked the Russian how he knew the head to be
that of Noghai. “He told me so himself,” said the man. And so he
was ordered to execution for having presumed to slay a great Prince
without orders. How like the story of David and the Amalekite in
Ziklag! (2 Samuel, ch. i.).
The chronology of these events is doubtful. Rashiduddin seems to
put the defeat of Toktai near the Don in 1298–1299, and a passage
in Wassáf extracted by Hammer seems to put the defeat and death of
Noghai about 1303. On the other hand, there is evidence that war
between the two was in full flame in the beginning of 1296; Makrizi
seems to report the news of a great defeat of Toktai by Noghai as
reaching Cairo in _Jumadah_ I. A.H. 697 or February–March, 1298.
And Novairi, from whom D’Ohsson gives extracts, appears to put
the defeat and death of Noghai in 1299. If the battle on the Don
is that recounted by Marco it cannot be put later than 1297, and
he must have had news of it at Venice, perhaps from relations at
Soldaia. I am indeed reluctant to believe that he is not speaking
of events of which he had cognizance _before_ quitting the East;
but there is no evidence in favour of that view. (_Golden Horde_,
especially 269 _seqq._; _Ilchan_. II. 347, and also p. 35;
_D’Ohsson_, IV. Appendix; _Q. Makrizi_, IV. 60.)
The symbolical message mentioned above as sent by Toktai to Noghai,
consisted of a hoe, an arrow, and a handful of earth. Noghai
interpreted this as meaning, “If you hide in the earth, I will dig
you out! If you rise to the heavens I will shoot you down! Choose
a battle-field!” What a singular similarity we have here to the
message that reached Darius 1800 years before, on this very ground,
from Toktai’s predecessors, alien from him in blood it may be, but
identical in customs and mental characteristics:—
“At last Darius was in a great strait, and the Kings of the
Scythians having ascertained this, sent a herald bearing, as gifts
to Darius, a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows.... Darius’s
opinion was that the Scythians meant to give themselves up to
him.... But the opinion of Gobryas, one of the seven who had
deposed the Magus, did not coincide with this; he conjectured that
the presents intimated: ‘Unless, O Persians, ye become birds, and
fly into the air, or become mice and hide yourselves beneath the
earth, or become frogs and leap into the lakes, ye shall never
return home again, but be stricken by these arrows.’ And thus the
other Persians interpreted the gifts.” (_Herodotus_, by Carey,
IV. 131, 132.) Again, more than 500 years after Noghai and Toktai
were laid in the steppe, when Muraview reached the court of Khiva
in 1820, it happened that among the Russian presents offered to
the Khan were two loaves of sugar on the same tray with a quantity
of powder and shot. The Uzbegs interpreted this as a symbolical
demand: Peace or War? (_V. en Turcomanie_, p. 165.)
CHAPTER XXX.
OF THE SECOND MESSAGE THAT TOCTAI SENT TO NOGAI, AND HIS REPLY.
⚜ (They carry a threat of attack if he should refuse to present himself
before Toctai. Nogai refuses with defiance. Both sides prepare for war,
but Toctai’s force is the greater in numbers.)
CHAPTER XXXI.
HOW TOCTAI MARCHED AGAINST NOGAI.
⚜ (The usual description of their advance to meet one another. Toctai is
joined by the two sons of Totamangu with a goodly company. They encamp
within ten miles of each other in the Plain of NERGHI.)
CHAPTER XXXII.
HOW TOCTAI AND NOGAI ADDRESS THEIR PEOPLE, AND THE NEXT
DAY JOIN BATTLE.
⚜ (The whole of this is in the usual formula without any circumstances
worth transcribing. The forces of Nogai though inferior in numbers are
the better men-at-arms. King Toctai shows great valour.)
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE VALIANT FEATS AND VICTORY OF KING NOGAI.
⚜ (The deeds of Nogai surpass all; the enemy scatter like a flock, and
are pursued, losing 60,000 men, but Toctai escapes, and so do the two
sons of Totamangu.)
CHAPTER XXXIV. AND LAST
CONCLUSION.[1]
And now ye have heard all that we can tell you about the Tartars and
the Saracens and their customs, and likewise about the other countries
of the world as far as our researches and information extend. Only we
have said nothing whatever about the GREATER SEA and the provinces
that lie round it, although we know it thoroughly. But it seems to me
a needless and useless task to speak about places which are visited by
people every day. For there are so many who sail all about that sea
constantly, Venetians, and Genoese, and Pisans, and many others, that
everybody knows all about it, and that is the reason that I pass it
over and say nothing of it.
Of the manner in which we took our departure from the Court of the
Great Kaan you have heard at the beginning of the Book, in that chapter
where we told you of all the vexation and trouble that Messer Maffeo
and Messer Nicolo and Messer Marco had about getting the Great Kaan’s
leave to go; and in the same chapter is related the lucky chance that
led to our departure. And you may be sure that but for that lucky
chance, we should never have got away in spite of all our trouble, and
never have got back to our country again. But I believe it was God’s
pleasure that we should get back in order that people might learn about
the things that the world contains. For according to what has been
said in the introduction at the beginning of the Book, there never
was a man, be he Christian or Saracen or Tartar or Heathen, who ever
travelled over so much of the world as did that noble and illustrious
citizen of the City of Venice, Messer Marco the son of Messer Nicolo
Polo.
=Thanks be to God! Amen! Amen!=
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] This conclusion is not found in any copy except in the Crusca
Italian, and, with a little modification, in another at Florence,
belonging to the Pucci family. It is just possible that it was the
embellishment of a transcriber or translator; but in any case it is
very old, and serves as an epilogue.
[Illustration: Asiatic Warriors of Polo’s Age. (From a contemporary
Persian Miniature.)]
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A.—_Geneaology of the House of Chinghiz,
to end of Thirteenth Century_.
Supreme KAANS in large capitals.
KHANS of KIPCHAK, CHAGATAI, and PERSIA in small capitals.
Numerals indicate order of succession.
* For other sons of Kúblái, see Book II., chapter ix.
Those who are mentioned by Marco Polo have a
_line_ under their names.
Seniority runs from right to left.
Yesugai
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
Uchegin or I. _CHINGIZ KAAN._
Pilgutai. │
│ ┌─────────────────────────┼─────────────┬──┐
│ │ │ │ │
Jintu. TULI. II. OKKODAI KAAN. │ │
│ │ └──────────┐ │ │
│ ┌──────────┼────────────┬───────────┐ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Tagajar. Arikbuga I. _HULAKU._ V. _KÚBLÁI* IV._MANGKU │ │ │
│ │ KAAN._ KAAN._ │ │ │
│ ┌─────────────┼──────┐ └────────┐ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Agul. 3. _TIGUDAR Tara- 2. _ABAKA._ _Chingkim._ │ │ │
│ AHMAD._ kai. │ ┌────────┴─────┬───┐ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ ┌─────────┘ │ VI. _TEMUR KAAN._ │ Kanbala. │ │ │
│ │ ┌───┴──────┐ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Tarmabala. │ │ │
_Nayan._ 6. _BAIDU._ 5. _KAI- 4. _ARGHUN._ │ │ │
KHATU._ │ │ │ │
┌──────┴───┐ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
8. OLJAITU. 7._GHAZAN._ │ │ │
│ │ │
Khans of PERSIA. │ │ │
│ │ │
┌────────┬─────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
Shiregi. Kashin. III. _KUYUK_KAAN._ │ │
│ │ │
_Kaidu._ │ │
│ │ │
Chapar │ │
or │ │
Shabar. │ │
┌────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
_CHAGATAI._ │
│ │
┌─────────┬─────────┬────┴──────┬────────────┬─────────┐ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
Kadami. Sarban. Paidar. 2. YESSU- Muwatukan. Juji. │
│ │ │ MANGKU, │ │ │
│ │ │ followed by │ │ │
│ │ │ Kara─Hulaku’s │ │ │
│ │ │ widow, 3. ARGUNA. │ │ │
│ │ │ ┌────────────┤ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
8. TUKA 7. NIK- ALGHUL. Yesan- 1. KARA- _Nigudar- │
(or BUKA) PAI. Tewa. HULAKU. Aghul._ │
TEMUR. │ │ │
6. _BORRAK._ 5. MUBARIK │
│ SHAH. │
│ │
9. TEWA or DUA. │
│
Khans of ULUS CHAGATAI. │
│
┌────────┬────────────┬─────────────────────┬─────────┘
│ │ │ │
Tewal. Shaiban. 4. _BARKA._ 7. _BATU._
│ │ │
│ │ ┌───────────┬─────┴──────┐
│ │ │ │ │
Tatar. Kaunchi. 3. ULAGHJI. Toghan. 2. SARTAK.
│ │
│ ┌──────────────┼───────┐
│ │ │ │
_Noghai._ 6. _TUDAI- 5. _MANGKU Bartu.
MANGKU._ TEMUR._ │
│ │
┌──────────────┬─┘ │
│ │ │
8. _TOKTAI._ Abaji. 7. _TULABUGA._
Khans of KIPCHAK or ULUS JUJI.
APPENDIX B.—_The Polo Families_.
(I.) GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF MARCO POLO THE TRAVELLER.
_Seniority runs from left to right._
Andrea Polo,
of
S. Felice.
│
Fiordelisa=Felice Polo, │
called Cousins, │
1280, 1300. │
┌──────────────────────────┬─┴────────────────────────────┐
│ │ │
MARCO, 1. (Marco’s = Nicolò, = 2. (Mother Maffeo,
made will, Mother, of S. Giov. of Maffeo. made will in
1280. Name Grisostomo _Fiordelisa Feb. 1309;
│ unknown.) married twice, Trevisan_?) was dead
└───┐ d. before 1300. before 1318.
│ │
┌──┴─────────┬─────────┐ └──────────────┬────────────────────┐
│ │ │ │ │
Antonio. Nicolò. Maroca. Donata = MARCO, │
(_Illegitimate_) │ ——(?) │ of S. Giov. │
│ died after │ Grisostomo, │
Marco, known as 1333 and │ 1254–1324. │
_Marcolino_ (1328) before 1336.│ │
S. Giov. Grisostomo. │ │
│ │ │
┌───────┴─────┐ │ │
│ │ │ │
Matteo, Agnesina. │ │
married Caterina, │ │
daughter of │ │
Giandomenico. │ │
│ │
┌───────────────┬─────┴──────┐ │
│ │ │ │
Marco Bragadin = Fantina, Bellella, Moreta, = Renuzzo │
of S. Geminiano │ married married married Delfin. │
│ before 1324; to ———— after 1324; │
│ alive in 1379. before 1324; alive in │
│ died before 1336. │
│ 1333. │
Pietro Bragadin │
of S. Giov. Grisostomo, │
was alive in 1388. │
│
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
└────┬─────────────────────────┬─────────────┐
│ │ │
Maffeo = Catarina, Stefano Giovannino
made a will, │ d. of Nic. (_Illeg._) (_Illeg._)
1300. │ Sagredo. alive in alive in
│ │ 1321. 1321.
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
Pasqua. Fiordelisa.
(_Illeg._)
APPENDIX B.—_continued_.
(II.) THE POLOS OF SAN GEREMIA.
The preceding Table gives the Family of our Traveller as far as I have
seen sound data for tracing it, either upwards or downwards.
I have expressed, in the introductory notices, my doubts about the
Venetian genealogies, which continue the family down to 1418 or 19,
because it seems to me certain that all of them do more or less
confound with our Polos of S. Giovanni Grisostomo, members of the other
Polo Family of S. Geremia. It will help to disentangle the subject if
we put down what is ascertained regarding the S. Geremia family.
To the latter with tolerable certainty belonged the following:—
1302. MARCO Polo of Cannareggio, see vol. i. pp. _64–67_. (The Church
of S. Geremia stands on the canal called Cannareggio.)
Already in 1224, we find a Marco Polo of S. Geremia and
Cannareggio. (See _Liber Plegiorum_, published with _Archivio
Veneto_, 1872 pp. 32, 36).
1319. (Bianca, widow of GIOVANNI Polo?)[1]
1332. 24th March. Concession, apparently of some privilege in
connection with the State Lake in San Basilio, to DONATO and
HERMORAO (= Hermolaus or Almorò) Paulo (Document partially
illegible).[2]
1333. 23rd October. Will of Marchesina Corner, wife of Marino Gradenigo
of S. Apollinare, who chooses for her executors “my mother Dona
Fiordelisa Cornaro, and my uncle (_Barba_) Ser Marco Polo.”[3]
Another extract apparently of the same will mentions “_mia
cusina_ MARIA Polo,” and “_mio cusin_ MARCO Polo” three times.[4]
1349. MARINO Polo and Brothers.[5]
1348. About this time died NICOLO Polo of S. Geremia,[6] who seems to
have been a Member of the Great Council.[7] He had a brother
MARCO, and this Marco had a daughter AGNESINA. Nicolo also
leaves a sister BARBARA (a nun), a son GIOVANNINO (apparently
illegitimate[7]), of age in 1351,[6] a nephew GHERARDO, and a
niece FILIPPA,[6] Abbess of Sta. Catarina in Mazzorbo.
The executors of Nicolo are GIOVANNI and DONATO Polo.[6] We have
not their relationship stated.
DONATO must have been the richest Polo we hear of, for in the
Estimo or forced Loan of 1379 for the Genoese War, he is assessed
at 23,000 _Lire_.[8] A history of that war also states that he
(“Donado Polo del Canareggio”) presented the Government with 1000
ducats, besides maintaining in arms himself, his son, and seven
others.[9] Under 1388 we find Donato still living, and mention of
CATARUZZA, d. of Donato:[10] and under 1390 of Elena, widow of
Donato.[10]
The Testamentary Papers of Nicolo also speak of GIACOMO [or
Jacopo] Polo. He is down in the _Estimo_ of 1379 for 1000
_Lire_;[11] and in 1371 an inscription in Cicogna shows him
establishing a family burial-place in Sta. Maria de’ Servi:[12]
[M°CCC°LXXI. Die primo mensis ... S. Dn̄i IACHOBI. PAVLI. DE
CFINIO. SANCTI. IEREMIE. ET. SVOR. HEREDVM.]
(1353. 2nd June. Viriola, widow of ANDREA or Andrinolo Polo of Sta.
Maria Nuova?)[13]
1379. In addition to those already mentioned we have NICOLO assessed at
4000 _lire_.[11]
1381. And apparently this is the NICOLO, son of Almorò (_Hermolaus_),
who was raised to the Great Council, for public service rendered,
among 30 elected to that honour after the war of Chioggia.[14]
Under 1410 we find ANNA, relict of Nicolo Polo.[15]
1379. In this year also, ALMORÒ, whether father or brother of the last,
contributes 4000 _lire_ to the Estimo.[11]
1390. CLEMENTE Polo (died before 1397)[15] and his wife MADDALUZIA.[15]
Also in this year PAOLO Polo, son of Nicolo, gave his daughter in
marriage to Giov. Vitturi.[16]
1408 and 1411. CHIARA, daughter of Francesco Balbi, and widow of
ERMOLAO (or Almorò) Polo, called of _Sta. Trinità_.[15]
1416. GIOVANNI, perhaps the Giovannino mentioned above.[15]
1420. 22nd November. BARTOLO, son of Ser ALMORÒ and of the Nobil Donna
CHIARA Orio.(?)[17] This couple probably the same as in the
penultimate entry.
1474, _seqq._ Accounts belonging to the Trust Estate of BARTOLOMEO Polo
of S. Geremia.[15]
There remains to be mentioned a MARCO POLO, member of the Greater
Council, chosen _Auditor Sententiarum_, 7th March, 1350, and named
among the electors of the Doges Marino Faliero (1354) and Giovanni
Gradenigo (1355). The same person appears to have been sent as
_Provveditore_ to Dalmatia in 1355. As yet it is doubtful to what
family he belonged, and it is _possible_ that he may have belonged to
our traveller’s branch, and have continued that branch according to the
tradition. But I suspect that he is identical with the Marco, brother
of Nicolo Polo of S. Geremia, mentioned above, under 1348. (See also
vol. i. p. _74_.) Cappellari states distinctly that this Marco was the
father of the Lady who married Azzo Trevisan. (See Introd. p. _78_.)
We have intimated the probability that he was the Marco mentioned twice
in connection with the Court of Sicily. (See vol. i. p. _79_, note.)
A later Marco Polo, in 1537, distinguished himself against the Turks
in command of a ship called the _Giustiniana_; forcing his way past
the enemy’s batteries into the Gulf of Prevesa, and cannonading that
fortress. But he had to retire, being unsupported.
It may be added that a Francesco Paulo appears among the list of those
condemned for participation in the conspiracy of Baiamonte Tiepolo in
1310. (_Dandulo_ in _Mur._ XII. 410, 490.)
[I note from the MS. of _Priuli, Genealogie delle famiglie nobili
di Venesia_, kept in the Rᵒ. Archivio di Stato at Venice, some
information, pp. 4376–4378, which permit me to draw up the following
Genealogy which may throw some light on the Polos of San Geremia:—
ANDREA, of San Felice
│
┌─────────────┼────────────┐
│ │ │
Marco Nicolò Maffio
of S. Grisostomo,
buried at S. Lorenzo.
│
┌────────────┬────────┴───┬────────────┐
│ │ │ │
Marco Steffano Giovanni Maffio
(Milioni) │
┌───────────┬────────┴──┬───────────┐
│ │ │ │
Almorò of Maffio Marco Nicolò
San Geremia
│
Nicolò of San Geremia
made a Nobleman, 4th Sept. 1381
│
┌────────────────┼────────────────┐
│ │ │
Maffio Marco Marin
│ │
Marco + 1418
Governor of Castel Vecchio,
at Verona.
Sir Henry Yule writes above (II. p. 507) that Nicolo Polo of S. Geremia
had a brother Marco, and this Marco had a daughter Agnesina. I find in
the Acts of the Notary Brutti, in the Will of Elisabetta Polo, dated
14th March, 1350:—
BETA = MARCO POLO [MARCOLINO?]
of S. Grisostomo
│
┌──────────────────┼─────────────────┐
│ │ │
Agnesina Christina Marina
= Nicoleto. = Michaleto in the Monastery
of S. Lorenzo.
The Maffio, son of Nicolò of S. Giov. Grisostomo, and father of Pasqua
and Fiordelisa, married probably after his will (1300) and had his four
sons: Almorò of S. Geremia, Maffio, Marco, Nicolò. Indeed, Cicogna
writes (_Insc. Ven._ II. p. 390):—“Non apparisce che Maffeo abbia avuto
figliuoli maschi da questo testamento [1300]; ma per altro non è cosa
assurda il credere che posteriormente a questo testamento 1300 possa
avere avuti figliuoli maschi; ed in effetto le Genealogie gliene danno
quatro, cioè _Ermolao, Maffio, Marco, Nicolò_. Il Ramusio anzi glien dà
cinque, senza nominarli, uno de’ quali _Marco_, e una femmina di nome
_Maria_; e Marco Barbaro gliene dà sei, cioè _Nicolò, Maria, Pietro,
Donado, Marco, Franceschino_.”—H. C.]
[Sig. Ab. Cav. Zanetti gives (_Archivio Veneto_, XVI. 1878, p. 110).
See our _Int._, p. _78_.
MATTEO, son of MARCOLINO
│
┌────────────────────┴─────────────────────┐
│ │
Maria? Marco
married Benedetto died at Verona
Cornaro in 1401, and in 1417, 1418, or 1425.]
Azzo Trevisan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Document in _Archivio_ of the _Casa di Ricovero_, Bundle LXXVII.,
No. 209.
[2] _Registro di Grazie_, 4ᵒ c. Comm. by Comm. Berchet.
[3] _Arch. Gen. dei Giudici del Proprio_, Perg. No. 82, 1st July, 1342,
cites this. (Comm. Berchet.)
[4] _Arch. dei Procuratori di San Marco_, with Testam. 1327, January,
marked “N. H. Ser Marco Gradenigo.” (Comm. Berchet.)
[5] Document in _Archivio_ of the _Casa di Ricovero_, Bundle LXXIV.,
No. 651.
[6] List (extracted in 1868–9) of Documents in the above Archivio, but
which seem to have been since mislaid.
[7] Parchment in the possession of Cav. F. Stefani, containing a
decision, dated 16th September, 1355, signed by the Doge and two
Councillors, in favour of Giovannino Polo, natural son of the Noble
Nicoletto of S. Geremia (_qu. Nobilis Viri Nicoleti Paulo_).
[8] In _Gallicciolli, Delle Mem. Ven. Antiche_, Ven. 1795, II. p. 136.
In the MS. of _Cappellari Campidoglio Veneto_, in the Marciana, the
sum stated is 3000 only.
[9] _Della Presa di Chiozza_ in _Muratori, Script._ xv. 785.
[10] Documents seen by the Editor in the Arch. of the _Casa di
Ricovero_.
[11] In _Gallicciolli Delle Mem. Ven. Antiche_, Ven. 1795, II. p. 136.
[12] _Cicogna_, I. p. 77.
[13] _Arch. Gen. dei Giud._ Perg. No. 120.
[14] _Cappellari_, MS.; _Sanuto, Vite de’ Duchi di Ven._ in _Muratori_,
XXII. 730.
[15] Documents seen by the Editor in the Arch. of the _Casa di
Ricovero_.
[16] _Cappellari_.
[17] _Libro d’Oro_ from 1414 to 1497 in Museo Correr. Comm. by Comm.
Berchet.
APPENDIX C.—_Calendar of Documents Relating to
Marco Polo and his Family_.
1.—(1280).
Will of Marco Polo of S. Severo, uncle of the Traveller, executed at
Venice, 5th August, 1280. An Abstract given in vol. i. pp. _23–24_.
The originals of this and the two other Wills (Nos. 2 and 8) are
in St. Mark’s Library. They were published first by Cicogna,
_Iscrizioni Veneziane_, and again more exactly by Lazari.
2.—(1300).
Will of Maffeo Polo, brother of the Traveller, executed at Venice, 31st
August, 1300. Abstract given at pp. _64–65_ of vol. i.
3.—(1302).
_Archivio Generale—Maggior Consiglio—Liber Magnus_, p. 81.[1]
1392. 13 Aprilis. (Capta est): Quod fit gratia provido viro MARCO
PAULO quod ipse absolvatur a penâ incursâ pro eo quod non fecit
circari unam suam conductam cum ignoraverit ordinem circa hoc.
Ego MARCUS MICHAEL consiliarius m. p. s.
Ego PAULUS DELPHINUS consiliarius m. p. s.
Ego MARCUS SIBOTO de mandato ipsorum cancellavi.
4—(1305).
Resolution of the _Maggior Consiglio_, under date 10th April, 1305, in
which Marco Polo is styled Marcus Paulo Milioni. (See p. _67_ of
vol. i.) In the _Archivio Generale, Maggior Cons. Reg. M.S._, Carta
82.[2]
“Item quod fiat gratia Bonocio de Mestre de illis Libris centum
quinquaginta duobus, in quibus extitit condempnatus per Capitaneos
Postarum, occasione vini per eum portati contra bampnum, isto
modo _videlicet_ quod solvere debeat dictum debitum hinc ad
annos quatuor, solvendo annuatim quartum dicti debiti per hunc
modum, _scilicet_ quod dictus Bonocius ire debeat cum nostris
Ambaxiatoribus, et soldum quod ei competet pro ipsis viis debeat
scontari, et it quod ad solvendum dictum quartum deficiat per eum
vel suos plegios integre persolvatur. Et sunt plegii _Nobiles Viri_
PETRUS MAUROCENO et MARCHUS PAULO MILION̄ et plures alii qui sunt
scripti ad Cameram Capitaneorum Postarum.”
5.—(1311).
Decision in Marco Polo’s suit against Paulo Girardo, 9th March 1311,
for recovery of the price of musk sold on commission, etc. (From
the Archives of the _Casa di Ricovero_ at Venice, _Filza_ No. 202.
See vol. i. p. _70_.)
“In nomine Dei Eterni Amen. Anno ab Incarnatione Domini Nostri Jesu
Christi millesimo trecentesimo undecimo, Mensis Marci die nono,
intrante Indicione Nona, Rivoalti ...
“Cum coram nobilibus viris Dominis CATHARINO DALMARIO et MARCO
LANDO, Judicibus Peticionum, Domino LEONARDO DE MOLINO, tercio
Judice curie, tunc absente, inter Nobilem Virum MARCUM POLO de
confinio Sancti Johannis Grisostomi ex unâ parte, et PAULUM
GIRARDO de confinio Sancti Apollinaris ex altera parte, quo ex suo
officio verteretur occasione librarum trium _denariorum grossorum
Venetorum_ in parte unâ, quas sibi PAULO GIRARDO petebat idem
MARCUS POLO pro dimidia libra muscli quam ab ipso MARCO POLO ipse
PAULUS GIRARDO habuerat, et vendiderat precio suprascriptarum
Librarum trium _den. Ven. gros._ et occasione _den. Venet. gross._
viginti, quos eciam ipse MARCUS POLO eidem POLO Girardo pectebat
pro manchamento unius sazii de musclo, quem dicebat sibi defficere
de librâ unâ muscli, quam simul cum suprascriptâ dimidiâ ipse
Paulus Girardo ab ipso MARCO POLO habuerat et receperat, in parte
alterâ de dicta, Barbaro advocatori (_sic_) curie pro suprascripto
MARCO POLO sive JOHANNIS (_sic_) POLO[3] de Confinio Sancti
Johannis Grisostomi constitutus in Curiâ pro ipso MARCO POLO sicut
coram suprascriptis Dominis Judicibus legitimum testificatum
extiterat ... legi fecit quamdam cedulam bambazinam scriptam manu
propriâ ipsius PAULI GIRARDI, cujus tenor talis, videlicet: ...
“_de avril recevi io_ Polo Girardo _da_ Missier Marco Polo _libre
½ de musclo metemelo libre tre de grossi. Ancora recevi io_ Polo
_libre una de musclo che me lo mete libre sei de grossi, et va a
so risico et da sua vintura et damelo in choleganza a la mitade de
lo precio._” * * * * “Quare cum ipse Paulus noluerit satisfacere
de predictis, nec velit ad presens * * * * * * Condempnatum ipsum
PAULUM GIRARDO in expensis pro parte dicti MARCI PAULO factis
in questione, dando et assignando sibi terminum competentem pro
predictis omnibus et singulis persolvendis, in quem terminum si
non solveret judicant ipsi domini judices quod capi debetur ipse
PAULUS GERARDO et carceribus Comunis Venetiarum precludi, de quibus
exire non posset donec sibi MARCO PAULO omnia singula suprascripta
exolvenda dixisset, non obstante absenciâ ipsius PAULI GERARDO cum
sibi ex parte Domini Ducis proministeriale Curie Palacii preceptum
fuisset ut hodie esset ad Curiam Peticionum.
* * * * *
“Ego KATHARINUS DALMARIO Judex Peticionum manu meâ subscripsi
“Ego MARCUS LANDO Judex Peticionum manu meâ subscripsi
“Ego NICOLAUS, Presbiter Sancti Canciani notarius complevi et
roboravi.”
6.—(1319).
In a list of documents preserved in the Archives of the _Casa di
Ricovero_, occurs the entry which follows. But several recent
searches have been made for the document itself in vain.
* “No 94 MARCO GALETTI _investe della proprietâ dei beni che si
trovano in S. Giovanni Grisostomo_ MARCO POLO _di Nicolo_. 1319,
10 _Settembre, rogato dal notaio Nicolo Prete di S. Canciano_.”
The notary here is the same who made the official record of the
document last cited.
[This document was kept in the Archives of the _Istituto degli
Esposti_, now transferred to the _Archivio di Stato_, and was
found by the Ab. Cav. V. Zanetti, and published by him in the
_Archivio Veneto_, XVI., 1878, pp. 98–100; parchment, 1157, filza
I.; Marco Polo the traveller, according to a letter of the 16th
March, 1306, had made in 1304, a loan of 20 _lire di grossi_ to his
cousin Nicolo, son of Marco the elder; the sum remaining unpaid
at the death of Nicolo, his son and heir Marcolino became the
debtor, and by order of the Doge Giovanni Soranzo, Marco Galetti,
according to a sentence of the _Giudici del Mobile_, of the 2nd
July, transferred to the traveller Marco on the 10th September,
1319, _duas proprietates que sunt hospicia et camere posite in ...
confinio sancti Ihoanis grisostomi que fuerunt Nicolai Paulo_. This
Document is important, as it shows the exact position of Marcolino
in the family.—H. C.]
7.—(1323).
Document concerning House Property in S. Giovanni Grisostomo, adjoining
the Property of the Polo Family, and sold by the Lady Donata to her
husband Marco Polo. Dated May, 1323.
See No. 16 below.
8.—(1324).
Will of MARCO POLO. (In St. Mark’s Library.)[4]
In Nomine Dei Eterni Amen. Anno ab Incarnatione Dni. Nri. Jhu. Xri.
millesimo trecentesimo vige-
simo tertio, mensis Januarii die nono,[5] intrante Indictione septima,
Rivoalti.
Divine inspiracionis donum est et provide mentis arbitrium ut antequam
superve-
niat mortis iudicium quilibet sua bona sit ordinare sollicitus ne ipsa
sua bona inordinata remaneant. Quapropter ego quidem MARCUS PAULO
de confinio Sancti Johannis Chrysostomi, dum cotidie debilitarer
propter infirmitatem cor-
poris, sanus tamen per Dei gratiam mente, integroque consilio et
sensu, timens ne ab in-
testato decederem, et mea bona inordinata remanerent, vocari ad me
feci JOHANEM JUSTINIANUM presbiterum Sancti Proculi et Notarium,
ipsumque rogavi quatenus hoc meum
scriberet testamentum per integrum et compleret. In quo meas
fidecommissarias etiam con-
stituo DONATAM dilectam uxorem meam, et FANTINAM et BELLELAM atque
MORETAM
peramabiles filias meas, ut secundum quod hic ordinavero darique
jussero,
ita ipse post obitum meum adimpleant. Primiter enim omnium volo et
ordi-
no dari rectam decimam et volo et ordino distribui libras
_denariorum_
_venetorum_ duo millia ultra decimam, de quibus dimitto soldos viginti
_denariorum_
_Venet. grossorum_ Monasterio Sancti Laurentii ubi meam eligo
sepulturam. Item di-
mitto libras trecentas _den. Venet._ YSABETE QUIRINO cognate mee quas
mihi dare tenetur. Item soldos quadraginta cuilibet monasteriorum et
hospi-
taliorum a Gradu usque ad Capud Aggeris. Item dimitto conventui
sanctorum Johanis
et Pauli Predicatorum illud quod mihi dare tenetur, et libras decem
Fratri RENERIO
et libras quinque Fratri BENVENUTO Veneto Ordinis Predicatorum, ultra
illud
quod mihi dare tenetur. Item dimitto libras quinque cuilibet
Congregationi Rivoalti
et libras quattuor cuilibet Scolarum sive fraternitatum in quibus sum.
Item dimitto
soldos viginti _denariorum Venetorum grossorum_ Presbitero JOHANNI
JUSTINIANO notario pro labore
istius mei testamenti et ut Dominum pro me teneatur deprecare. Item
absolvo
PETRUM famulum meum de genere Tartarorum ab omni vinculo servitutis ut
Deus absolvat animam meam ab omni culpâ et peccato. Item sibi remitto
omnia
que adquisivit in domo suâ labore, et insuper dimitto libras
_denariorum Venetorum_ centum. Residuum vero dictarum duarum millia
librarum absque decimâ
distribuatur pro animâ meâ secundum bonam discreptionem commissariarum
mearum.
De aliis meis bonis dimitto suprascripte DONATE uxori et commissarie
mee
libras octo _denariorum Venetorum grossorum_, omni anno dum ipsa
vixerit, pro suo usu, ultra
suam repromissam et stracium et omne capud massariciorum cum tribus
lectis
corredatis. Omnia uero alia bona mobilia et immobilia inordinata, et
si
de predictis ordinatis aliqua inordinata remanerent, quocumque modo
jure et
formâ mihi spectantia, seu que expectare vel pertinere potuerunt vel
possent, tam ju-
re successorio et testamentario ac hereditario aut paterno fraterno
materno et
ex quâcumque aliâ propinquitate sive ex lineâ ascendenti et
descendenti vel ex colaterali
vel aliâ quâcumque de causâ mihi pertinencia seu expectancia et de
quibus secundum for-
mam statuti Veneciarum mihi expectaret, plenam et specialem facere
mentionem seu dis-
posicionem et ordinacionem quamquam in hoc et in omni casu ex formâ
statuti
specificater facio specialiter et expresse dimitto suprascriptis
filiabus meis FANTINE,
BELLELE, et MORETE, libere et absolute inter eas equaliter dividenda,
ipsasque
mihi heredes instituo in omnibus et singulis meis bonis mobilibus et
immobilibus
juribus et actionibus, tacitis et expressis qualitercumque ut
predicitur michi pertinentibus et expec-
tantibus. Salvo quod MORETA predicta filia mea habere debeat ante
partem de mo-
re tantum quantum habuit quelibet aliarum filiarum mearum pro dote et
corredis
suis. Tamen volo quod si que in hoc meo testamento essent contra
statuta et consilia
Communis Veneciarum corrigantur et reducantur ad ipsa statuta et
consilia. Preterea do
et confero suprascriptis commissariabus meis post obitum meum plenam
virtutem et po-
testatem dictam meam commissariam intromittendi administrandi et
furniendi, inquirendi inter-
pellandi placitandi respondendi ad vocationem interdicta et placita
tollendi, legem petendi
et consequendi si opus fuerit, in anima mea jurandi, sententiam
audiendi et prosequendi,
vendendi et alienandi, intromittendi et interdicendi petendi et
exigendi sive excuciendi
omnia mea bona, et habere a cunctis personis ubicumque et apud
quemcumque ea
vel ex eis poterint invenire, cum cartâ et sine cartâ, in curiâ et
extra curiâ, et
omnes securitatis cartas et omnes alias cartas necessarias faciendi,
sicut egomet presens
vivens facere possem et deberem. Et ita hoc meum Testamentum firmum
et sta-
bille esse iudico in perpetuum. Si quis ipsum frangere vel violare
presumpserit male-
dicionem Omnipotentis Dei incurrat, et sub anathemate trecentorum
decem et octo
Patrum constrictus permaneat, et insuper componat ad suprascriptas
meas fidecommissarias
aureas libras quinque, et hec mei Testamenti Carta in suâ permaneat
firmitate.
Signum suprascripti Domini Marci Paulo qui hec rogavit fieri.
“Ego PETRUS GRIFO testis presbiter.
Ego NUFRIUS BARBERIUS testis.
Ego JOHANES JUSTINIANUS presbiter Sancti Proculi et notarius
complevi et roboravi.”
9.—(1325).
Release, dated 7th June, 1325, by the Lady Donata and her three
daughters, Fantina, Bellella, and Marota, as Executors of the
deceased Marco Polo, to Marco Bragadino. (From the _Archivio
Notarile_ at Venice.)
“In nomine Dei Eterni Amen. Anno ab Inc. Dni. Ntri. Jhu. Xri.
Millesimo trecentesimo vigesimo quinto, mensis Junii die septimo,
exeunte Indictione octavâ, Rivoalti.
“Plenam et irrevocabilem securitatem facimus nos DONATA relicta,
FANTINA, BELLELLA et MAROTA quondam filie, et nunc omnes
commissarie MARCI POLO de confinio Sancti Joannis Grisostomi cum
nostris successoribus, tibi MARCO BRAGADINO quondam de confinio
Sancti Geminiani nunc de confinio Sancti Joannis Grisostomi,
quondam genero antedicti MARCI POLO et tuis heredibus, de omnibus
bonis mobillibus quondam suprascripti MARCI POLO seu ipsius
commissarie per te dictum MARCHUM BRAGADINO quoque modo et formâ
intromissis habitis et receptis, ante obitum, ad obitum, et post
obitum ipsius MARCI POLO, et insuper de tota colleganciâ quam
a dicti quondam MARCO POLO habuisti, et de ejus lucro usque ad
presentem diem * * * * * * si igitur contra hanc securitatis cartam
ire temptaverimus tunc emendare debeamus cum nostris successoribus
tibi et tuis heredibus auri libras quinque, et hec securitatis
carta in sua permaneat firmitate. Signum suprascriptarum DONATE
relicte, FANTINE, BELLELLE et MAROTE, omnium filiarum et nunc
commissarie, que hec rogaverunt fieri.
“Ego PETRUS MASSARIO clericus Ecclesie Scti. Geminiani testis
subscripsi.
“Ego SIMEON GORGII de Jadra testis subscripsi.
“Ego DOMINICUS MOZZO presbiter plebanus Scti. Geminiani et
notarius complevi et roboravi.
“MARCUS BARISANO presbiter Canonicus et notarius ut vidi in
matre testis sum in filliâ.
“Ego JOANNES TEUPULLO Judex Esaminatorum ut vidi in matre testis
sum in filliâ.
“(L. S. N.) Ego magister ALBERTINUS DE MAYIS Notarius Veneciarum
hoc exemplum exemplari anno ab incarnatione domini nostri
Jesu Christi Millesimo trecentesimo quinquagesimo quinto
mensis Julii die septimo, intrante indictione octava,
Rivoalti, nil addens nec minuens quod sentenciam mutet vel
sensum tollat, complevi et roboravi.”[6]
10.—(1326).
Resolution of Counsel of XL. condemning Zanino Grioni for insulting
Donna Moreta Polo in Campo San Vitale.
(_Avvogaria di Comun._ Reg. I. Raspe, 1324–1341, Carta 23 del 1325.)*
“MCCCXXV. Die xxvi. Februarii.
“Cum ZANINUS GRIONI quondam Ser LIONARDI GRIONI contrate Sancte
Heustachii diceretur intulisse iniuriam Domine MORETE qm. Dni.
MARCI POLO, de presente mense in Campo Sancti Vitalis et de verbis
iniuriosis et factis.... Capta fuit pars hodie in dicto consilio de
XL. quod dictus ZANINUS condemnatus sit ad standum duobus mensibus
in carceribus comunis, scilicet in quarantia.
“Die eodem ante prandium dictus ZANINUS GRIONI fuit consignatus
capitaneo et custodibus quarantie,” etc.
11.—(1328).
(_Maj. Cons. Delib. Brutus_, c. 77.)*
“MCCXXVII. Die 27 Januarii.
“Capta. Quod quoddam instrumentum vigoris et roboris processi et
facti a quondam Ser MARCO PAULO contra Ser HENRICUM QUIRINO et
Pauli dictum dictum Sclavo [_sic_] JOHANNI et PHYLIPPO et ANFOSIO
QUIRINO, scriptum per presbyterum Johannem Taiapetra, quod est
adheo corosum quod legi non potest, relevetur et fiat,” etc.
12.—(1328).
Judgment on a Plaint lodged by Marco Polo, called Marcolino, regarding
a legacy from Maffeo Polo the Elder. (See I. p. _77_.)
(_Avvogaria di Comun._ Raspe Reg. i. 1324–1341, c. 14 tergo, del
1329.)*
“1328. Die xv. Mensis Marcii.
“Cum coram dominis Advocatoribus Comunis per D. MARCUM, dictum
MARCOLINUM PAULO sancti Johannis Grisostomi fuisset querela
depositata de translatione et alienatione imprestitorum olim
Domini MAPHEI PAULO majoris Scti. Joh. Gris., facta domino MARCO
PAULO de dicto confinio in MCCCXVIII mense Maii, die xi, et postea
facta heredibus ejusdem dni. MARCI PAULO post ejus mortem, ... cum
videretur eisdem dominis Advocatoribus quod dicte translationes
et alienationes imprestitorum fuerint injuste ac indebite facte,
videlicet in tantum quantum sunt libre mille dimisse MARCO dicto
MARCOLINO PAULO predicto in testamento dicti olim dni. MATHEI
PAULO maioris, facti in anno domini MCCCVIII mense Februarii die
vi intrante indictione viiiᵃ.... Capta fuit pars in ipso consilio
de XLᵗᵃ quod dicta translactio et alienatio imprestitorum ...
revocentur, cassentur, et annulentur, in tantum videlicet quantum
sunt dicte mille libre,” etc.
13.—(1328).
Grant of citizenship to Marco Polo’s old slave Peter the Tartar. (See
vol. i. p. _72_.)
(_Maj. Conc. Delib. Brutus_, Cart. 78 t.)*
“MCCCXXVIII, die vii Aprilis.
“(Capta) Quod fiat gratia PETRO S. Marie Formose, olim sclavorum
Ser MARCI PAULI Sancti Joh. Gris., qui longo tempore fuit Venetiis,
pro suo bono portamento, de cetero sit Venetus, et pro Venetus
[_sic_] haberi et tractari debeat.”
14.—(1328).
Process against the Lady Donata Polo for a breach of trust. See vol. i.
p. _77_ (as No. 12, c. 8, del 1328).*
“MCCCXXVIII. Die ultimo Maii.
“Cum olim de mandato ... curie Petitionum, ad petitionem Ser
BERTUTII QUIRINO factum fuerit apud Dominam DONATAM PAULO Sancti
Job. Gris., quoddam sequestrum de certis rebus, inter quas erant
duo sachi cum Venetis grossis intus, legati et bullati, et postea
in una capsellâ sigillatâ repositi, prout in scripturis dicti
sequestri plenius continetur. Et cum diceretur fuisse subtractam
aliquam pecunie quantitatem, non bono modo, de dictis sachis, post
dictum sequestrum, et dictâ de causâ per dictos dominos Advocatores
... fuerit hodie in conscilio de XL. placitata dicta Dna. DONATA
PAULO, penes quam dicta capsella cum sachis remansit hucusque.
“... cum per certas testimonias ... habeatur quod tempore sequestri
facti extimata fuit pecunia de dictis sacchis esse libras lxxx
grossorum vel circha,[7] et quando postea numerata fuit inventam
esse solummodo libras xlv grossorum et grossos xxii, quod dicta
Dna. Donata teneatur et debeat restituere et consignare in saculo
seu saculis, loco pecunie que ut predicitur deficit et extrata, et
ablata est libras xxv [_sic_] grossorum. Et ultra hoc pro penâ ut
ceteris transeat in exemplum condempnetur in libris ducentis et
solvat eas.”
15.—(1330).
Remission of fine incurred by an old servant of Marco Polo’s.
(Reg. Grazie 3°, c. 40.)*
“MCCCXXX. iiii Septembris.
“Quod fiat gratia MANULLI familiari Ser MARCI POLO sancti Joh. Gris.
quod absolvatur a penâ librarum L pro centenariis, quam dicunt
officiales Levantis incurrisse pro eo quod ignorans ordines et
pure non putans facere contra aliqua nostra ordinamenta cum galeis
que de Ermeniâ venerunt portavit Venecias tantum piperis et lanæ
quod constitit supra soldos xxv grossorum tanquam forenses (?). Et
officiales Levantis dicunt quod non possunt aliud dicere nisi quod
solvat. Sed consideratis bonitate et legalitate dicti Manulli, qui
mercatores cum quibus stetit fideliter servivit, sibi videtur pecatum
quod debeat amittere aliud parum quod tam longo tempore cum magnis
laboribus adquisivit, sunt contenti quod dicta gratia sibi fiat.”
16.—(1333).
Attestation by the Gastald and Officer of the Palace Court of his
having put the Lady Donata and her daughters in possession of two
tenements in S. Giovanni Grisostomo. Dated 12th July, 1333.
(From the _Archivio_ of the _Istituto degli Esposti_, No. 6.)[8]
The document begins with a statement, dated 22nd August, 1390, by
MORANDUS DE CAROVELLIS, parson of St. Apollinaris and Chancellor of
the Doge’s Aula, that the original document having been lost, he,
under authority of the Doge and Councils, had formally renewed it
from the copy recorded in his office.
In nomine Dei Eterni Amen. Anno ab Incarn. D. N. J. C. millesimo
trecentesimo tregesimo tertio mensis Julii die duodecimo,
intrantis indicione primâ Rivoalti. Testificor Ego DONATUS
Gastaldio Dni. nostri Dni. Francisci Dandulo Dei gratiâ inclyti
Venetiarum Ducis, et Ministerialis Curie Palacii, quod die tercio
intrante suprascripti mensis Julii, propter preceptum ejusdem
Dni. Ducis, secundum formam statuti Veneciarum, posui in tenutam et
corporalem possessionem DONATAM quondam uxorem, FANTINAM et MORETAM
quondam filias, omnes commissarias Nobilis Viri MARCI PAULO de
confinio Scti. Johannis Grisostomi, nomine ipsius Commissarie, cum
BELELLA olim filiâ et similiter nominatâ commissariâ dicti MARCI
PAULO * * * de duabus proprietatibus terrarum et casis copertis et
discopertis positis in dicto confinio Scti. Johannis Grisostomi,
que firmant prout inferius in infrascripte notitie cartâ continetur
* * * * ut in eâ legitur:
“Hec est carta fata anno ab Inc. D. N. J. C. millesimo trecentesimo
vigesimo tercio, mensis Maij die nono, exeunte Indictione sextâ,
Rivoalti, quam fieri facit Dnus. Johannes Superantio D. G.
Veneciarum Dalmacie atque Croacie olim Dux, cum suis judicibus
examinatorum, suprascripto Marco Paulo postquam venit ante suam
suorumque judicum examinatorum presenciam ipse MARCUS PAULO de
confinio Scti. Johannis Grisostomi, et ostendit eis duas cartas
completas et roboratas, prima quarum est venditionis et securitatis
carta, facta anno ab Inc. D. N. J. C. (1321) mensis Junii die
decimo, intrante indictione quintâ, Rivoalti; quâ manifestum
fecit ipsa DONATA uxor MARCI PAULO de confinio Scti. Johannis
Grisostomi cum suis successoribus quia in Dei et Christi nomine
dedit, vendidit, atque transactavit sibi MARCO PAULO viro suo de
eodem confinio et suis heredibus duas suas proprietates terre, et
casas copertas et discopertas, que sunt hospicia, videlicet camere
et camini, simul conjuncta versus Rivum ... secundum quod dicta
proprietas sive hospicium firmat ab uno suo capite, tam superius
quam inferius, in muro comuni huic proprietati et proprietati
MARCI PAULO et STEPHANI PAULO. Et ab alio suo capite firmat in uno
alio muro comuni huic proprietati et predictorum MARCI et STEPHANI
PAULO. Ab imo suo latere firmat in supradicto Rivo. Et alio suo
latere firmat tam superius quam inferius in salis sive porticis
que sunt comunes huic proprietati et proprietati suprascriptorum
MARCI et STEPHANI PAULO fratrum. Unde hec proprietas sive hospicia
habent introitum et exitum per omnes scalas positas a capite
dictarum salarum sive porticuum usque ad curiam et ad viam comunem
discurrentem ad Ecclesiam Scti. Johannis Grisostomi et alio. Et
est sciendum quod curia, puthei, gradate, et latrine sunt comunes
huic proprietati et proprietati suprascriptorum MARCI et STEPHANI
PAULO fratrum. * * * *
[The definition of the second tenement—_una cusina_—follows,
and then a long detail as to a doubt regarding common rights to
certain _sale sive porticus magne que respiciunt et sunt versus
Ecclesiam Scti. Johannis Grisostomi_, and the discussion by a
commission appointed to report; and, again, similar detail as
to stairs, wells, etc.]—“declaraverunt et determinaverunt omnes
suprascripti cancellarii in concordiâ quod tam putheus qui est in
dictâ curiâ, quam etiam putheus qui est extra curiam ad quem itur
per quamdam januam que est super calle extra januam principalem
tocius proprietatis de CHA POLO, sunt communes supradictis duabus
proprietatibus MARCI PAULO et toti reliquo dicte proprietatis
quod est indivisum.” * * * * Et ego suprascriptus DONATUS
Gastaldio supradicti Dni. Ducis secundum predictas declarationes
et determinationes posui suprascriptas commissarias dicti
MARCI PAULO die suprascripto tercio intrante mensis Julii in
tenutam et possessionem de suprascriptis duabus proprietatibus
confiniatis in cartâ noticie supradicte. Et hoc per verum dico
testimonium. Signum supradicti DONATI Gastaldionis Dni. Ducis, et
Ministerialis Curie Palacii, qui hec rogavit fieri.[9]
17.—(1336).
Release granted by Agnes Lauredano, sister, and by Fantina Bragadino
and Moreta Dolphyno, daughters, and all three Trustees of the late
Domina Donata, relict of Dominus Marcus Polo of S. Giov.
Grisostomo, to Dominus Raynuzo Dolphyno of the same, on account of
24 _lire of grossi_[10] which the Lady Donata Polo had advanced to
him on pledge of many articles. Dated 4th March, 1336. The
witnesses and notary are the same as in the next.
(In the _Archivio Generale; Pacta, Serie_ T, No. 144.)
18.—(1336).
Release by the Ladies Fantina and Moreta to their aunt Agnes Lauredano
and themselves, as Trustees of the late Lady Donata, on account of
a legacy left them by the latter.[11] Dated 4th March, 1336.
(In the _Archivio Generale; Pacta, Serie_ T, No. 143.)
“Plenam et irrevocabilem securitatem facimus nos FANTINA uxor
MARCI BRAGADINO de confinio Scti. Johannis Grisostomi et Moreta
uxor RENUZI DELFINO de dicto confinio Scti. Johannis Grisostomi,
ambe sorores, et filie comdam DONATE relicte Domini MARCI POLLO de
dicto confinio Scti. J. G. cum nostris successoribus, vobis AGNETI
LAUREDANO, comdam sorori, ac nobis preditis FANTINE et MORETE
olim filiabus (predicte DONATE) omnibus commissariabus predicte
DONATE relicte dicti Domini MARCI POLO de predicto confinio S.
J. G. et vestris ac nostris successoribus de libris _denariorum
Veneciarum Grossorum_ quadraginta quinque, que libre _den. Ven.
gros._ quadraginta quinque sunt pro parte librarum _den. Ven.
gros._ quadraginta octo quas suprascripta Domina Donata olim
mater nostra secundum formam sui testamenti cartam nobis dimisit,
in quibus libris ... sententiam obtinuimus ... anno ab Inc. D. N.
J. C. Millesimo trecentesimo trigesimo quinto mensis febbruarij die
ultimo (29th February, 1336) indictione, quartâ Rivoalti.
* * * * *
“Signum suprascriptarum Fantine et Morete que hec rogaverunt
fieri.
“Ego MARCUS LOVARI Canonicus Sancti Marci testis subscripsi.
“Ego NICOLETUS DE BONOMO Canonicus Sancti Marci testis
subscripsi.
“(L. S. N.) Ego Presbiter GUIDO TREVISANO Canonicus Sancti Marcij
et Notarius complevi et roboravi.”
19.—(1388).
[Document dated 15th May, 1388, found at the Archives _degli Esposti_,
now at the _Archivio di Stato_, by the Ab. Cav. V. Zanetti,
containing a sentence of the _Giudici della Curia del Procuratore_
in favour of Pietro Bragadin against _Agnesina_, sister, and
_Catarinuzza_, widow of _Matteo Polo di S. Giovanni Grisostomo_,
for work done. This document is interesting, as it shows that this
Matteo was a son of Marcolino. Published partly in the _Archivio
Veneto_, XVI., 1878, pp. 102–103.—H. C.]
20.—(1388).
[Document dated 15th May, 1388, found in the Archives _degli Esposti_,
now at the _Archivio di Stato_, by the Ab. Cav. V. Zanetti, and
mentioned by him in the _Archivio Veneto, XVI._, 1878, pp. 104–105,
containing a sentence of the _Giudici della Curia del Procuratore_
in favour of Pietro Bragadin against the Commissaries of the late
Matteo Polo.—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] For this and for all the other documents marked with an ‘*’ I am
under obligation to Comm. Berchet. There is some doubt if this
refers to our Marco Polo. (See vol. i. p. _66_.)
[2] For the indication of this I was indebted to Professor Minotto.
[3] This perhaps indicates that Marco’s half-brother Giovannino was in
partnership with him.
[4] This is printed line for line with the original; it was printed in
the first edition, ii. pp. 440–441, but was omitted in the second.
The translation is given in the Introductory Essay, vol. i. pp.
_70–73_, _seqq._; with a facsimile.
[5] _I.e._, 9th January, 1324.
[6] This was printed in the First Edition (ii. p 442), but was omitted
in the Second.
[7] About 300_l._ sterling.
[8] For this I was indebted to Comm. Barozzi.
[9] See i. p. _31_.—Reprinted from the First Edition.
[10] About 90_l._
[11] Of 48 lire of grossi, or about 180_l._
APPENDIX D.—_Comparative Specimens of Different
Recensions of Polo’s Text._
FRENCH.
1. MS. PARIS LIBRARY, 7367 (now Fr. 1116).
(_Geographic Text._)
Quant l’en se part de le isle de PENTAM e l’en ala por ysceloc entor
cent miles, adonc treuve le ysle de JAVA LA MENOR; mès si sachiés q’ele
ne est pas si peitite q’ele ne gire environ plus de deus mille miles,
et de ceste ysle voz conteron toute la virité. Or sachiés qe sor ceste
ysle ha huit roiames et huit rois coronés en ceste ysle, e sunt tuit
ydres et ont langajes por elles. Car sachiés che chascun des roiames
ont langajes por eles. En ceste ysle a mout grandisme habundance de
trezor et de toutes chieres especes e leingn aloe et espi, et de
maintes autres especes que unques n’en vienent en nostre pais. Or vos
voil conter la maineres de toutes cestes jens, cascune por soi, e vos
dirai primermant une cousse qe bien senblera à cascun mervoilliose
cousse. Or sachiés tout voirmant qe ceste ysle est tant à midi qe la
stoille de tramontaine ne apert ne pou ne grant. Or noz retorneron à la
mainere des homes, e voz conteron toute avant dou rouiame de FERLEC.
2. MS. OF PARIS LIBRARY, 10260 (Fr. 5631)
(_Pauthier’s MS._ A.)
Quant on se part de l’isle de MALIUR, et on nage quatre vingt dix
milles, adonc treuve en l’isle de Javva la Meneur; mais elle n’est mie
si petite qu’elle n’ait de tour ii. milles. Et si vous conteray de
cette isle l’affaire.
Sachiez que sus ceste isle a viij. royaumes et viij. rois courronnés.
Ilz sont tuit ydolastres; et si a, chascun royaume, son langaige par
soy. Il y a en ceste isle grant quantité d’espiceries. Et si vous
conteray la maniere de la plus grant partie de ces huit royaumes. Mais
je vous diray avant une chose. Et sachiez que ceste isle est si vers
midi que l’estoille tremontainne n’y apert.
Or nous retournerons à notre matiere, et vous conterons tout avant du
royaume de FALEC.
3. BERN MS.
(_T. de Cepoy’s Type_.)
Quant l’en se part de l’isle de MALAIUR, et l’en a nagie par seloc
environ iiiiˣˣ et x milles, il dont treuve l’en la petite Isle de JAVA,
mais elle n’est pas si petite qu’elle ne dure bien environ ijᶜ milles.
Et si vous conterons de ceste isle tout l’affaire et verité.
Ore sachiez que sous ceste isle y a viij. royaumes et viii. roys
couronnez, car chascun roy si a couronne par soy. Il sont tout ydres et
chascun royaume par soy a son langage. Il y a en ceste isle moult grant
tresor, et si y a moult despeceries de moult de manieres. [Et si vous
conteray la maniere][1] de la plus grant part de ces viii. royaumes
chascun par soy, mais avant vous diray une chose qui moult samblera
estrange à chascun. Sachiez que l’estoille de Tramontane apert ne pou
ne assez.
Ore retournons nous a nostre manière.
ITALIAN.
4. CRUSCA.
Quando l’uomo si parte dell’isola di PETAM, e l’uomo va per isciroc da
c miglia, trova l’isola di IAVA LA MINORE, ma ella non è si piccola
ch’ella non giri ii. M miglia: e di questa isola vi conterò tutto il
vero. Sappiate che in su questa isola hae viii. re coronati, e sono
tutti idoli, e ciascuno di questi reami ha lingua per sè. Qui ha
grande abbondanza di tesoro e di tutte care ispezierie. Or vi conterò
la maniera di tutti questi reami di ciascuno per sè; e dirovvi una
cosa che parrà maraviglia ad ogni uomo, che questa isola è tanto verso
mezzodì, che la tramontana non si vede nè poco nè assai. Or torneremo
alla maniera degli uomeni, e dirovvi del reame di FERBET.
5. BERN ITALIAN.
Se lo homo se parte da PENTAN e navicha per sirocho c. mia, trova
l’isola de IANA MINORE che volze ben piu de iiᵐ. mia. In la qˡᵉ isola è
viii. regnami, e ciascun regname ha uno re. La zente de questa isola ha
linguazo per si e sono idolatri e ge grande habundantia de specie che
non sono mai in nostre contrade.
Questa isola è tanto verso mezodi chel non se po veder la stella
tramontana ne pocho ne assai. Jo non fui in tutti li regnami de questa
provincia ma fui in solo lo regname de FORLETTI e in quel de BASARON
e in quello de SAMARA e in quello de GROIAN e in quel de LAMBRIN e in
quello de FANFIRO. In li altri dui non fui. E pero io ne diro pur de
questi dove sum stado.
6. RAMUSIO’S PRINTED TEXT.
Quando si parte dall’Isola PENTAN, e che s’è navigato circa a cento
miglia per Scirocco, si truova l’Isola di GIAUA MINORE. Ma non è però
cosi picciola, che non giri circa due mila miglia a torno a torno. Et
in quest’isola son’otto reami, et otto Re. Le genti della quale adorano
gl’idoli, & in ciascun regno v’è linguaggio da sua posta, diverso dalla
favella de gli altri regni. V’è abbondanza di thesoro, & di tutte le
specie, & di legno d’aloe, verzino, ebano, & di molte altri sorti di
specie, che alla patria nostra per la longhezza del viaggio, & pericoli
del navigare non si portano, ma si portan’alla provincia di Mangi, &
del Cataio.
Hor vogliamo dire della maniera di questi genti di ciascuna
partitamente per se, ma primamente è da sapere, che quest’isola è posta
tanto verso le parti di mezo giorno, che quivi la stella Tramontana non
si puo vedere, & M. Marco fu in sei reami di quest’isola, de’ quali,
qui se ne parlerà, lasciando gli altri due che non vidde.
LATIN.
7. MS. OF PARIS LIBRARY, 3195. (Geographic Latin.)
Quando homo recedit de insula de PENTAY et vadit per silochum sentum
miliaria, invenit insulam minorem de JAVA, et est ista insula parva et
durat duo millia miliaria; et de istâ insulâ computabo vobis omnia.
Super istâ insulâ sunt octo regna, in sex quorum ego Marcus fui,
scilicet in regnis Ferlech, Basman, Samara, Dragoiam, Lambri et Fanfur.
In aliis autem duobus non fui; et secundum quod sunt octo regna, ita
sunt octo reges coronati, et sunt omnes idolatrae. Et quodlibet istorum
regnorum habet linguam per se. Ibi est magna abundantia thesauri et de
omnibus caris speciebus; et dicam vobis de istâ insulâ quaedam quae
videbuntur mirabilia. Ista insula est tantum versus meridiem quod
tramontana non videtur ibi nec parvum nec multum. Postquam diximus
vobis de insulâ et de regnis ipsius, nunc computemus de moribus hominum
ipsius insulae, et primo de regno Ferlech.
8. PIPINO’S VERSION (British Museum, King’s Libr. 14 c. xiii.).
Ultra insulam Pentham per Syrocum post miliaria centum invenit insulam
quæ dicitur JAUA MINOR quæ in suo ambitu continet miliaria duo milia.
Ibi sunt octo regna cum singulis regibus et est ibi propria lingua.
Et omnis habitatores insulæ ydolatrie sectatores sunt. Ibi est omnium
aromatum copia, quarum similitudinem nunquam vidimus citra mare. Hec
insula in tantum est ad meridiem posita, quod de ipsâ insula Polus
Articus videri non poterit stella seu illa quæ vulgariter dicitur
Tramontana. Ego autem Marcus fui in sex regnis hujus insulæ, sc. in
regnis FERLECH, BASMAN, SAMARA, DRAGOIAN, LAMBRI et FAMSUR. In aliis
autem duobus non fui. Et primo dicam de regno Ferlech.
9. VERSION OF CICOGNA MS. in Museo Civico, Venice.
Ab ynsulâ Pentain cerca 100 mil. versus Syroch est ynsula JAUA que
licet Minor dicatur per respectum alterius supradicte est in circuitus
[_sic_] 2000 mil. et plus. In ipsâ enim sunt 8 regna singuli[2] et
reges, et habet quodlibet regnum per se proprium ydeoma, et est in ipsâ
tesaurus multus valde et species magni valoris multe, et lignum aloes
et spica, et multe diverse species que nunquam in nostris partibus
apportantur. Et est hec ynsula in tantum versus meridiem possita quod
Polus Articus breviter non apparet.
10. VERSION PRINTED IN THE NOVUS ORBIS OF GRYNÆUS.
Ultra insulam PETAN, per Sirochum navigando, est JAUA MINOR, centum
distans milliaribus à PETAN: et hæc in circuitu continere dicitur
circiter duo millia milliarium. Dividitur insula in octo regna,
habetque linguam propriam. Producit etiam varia aromata, qualia in his
nostris partibus nunquam visa sunt.... Protenditur hæc insula in tantum
ad Austrum, ut Polus Articus, et stelle ejus minime videri possent.
Ego Marcus fui in hâc insula, lustravique sex ejus regna, nempe regnum
Ferlech, Basman, Samara, Dragoiam, Lambri, et Fansur. In aliis vero
duobus non fui.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Omitted in MS. or at least in my transcript.
[2] Word doubtful.
APPENDIX E.—_The Preface of Friar Pipino to his
Latin Version of Marco Polo._
(Circa 1315–1320.)
“The Book of that prudent, honourable, and most truthful gentleman,
MESSER MARCO POLO of Venice, concerning the circumstances and manners
of the Regions of the East, which he conscientiously wrote and put
forth in the Vulgar Tongue, I, FRIAR FRANCESCO PIPINO of Bologna,
of the Order of the Preaching Friars, am called upon by a number
of my Fathers and Masters to render faithfully and truthfully out
of the vulgar tongue into the Latin. And this, not merely because
they are themselves persons who take more pleasure in Latin than
in vernacular compositions, but also that those who, owing to the
diversity of languages and dialects, might find the perusal of the
original difficult or impossible, may be able to read the Book with
understanding and enjoyment.
“The task, indeed, which they have constrained me to undertake, is one
which they themselves could have executed more competently, but they
were averse to distract their attention from the higher contemplations
and sublime pursuits to which they are devoted, in order to turn their
thoughts and pens to things of the earth earthy. I, therefore, in
obedience to their orders, have rendered the whole substance of the
Book into such plain Latin as was suited to its subject.
“And let none deem this task to be vain and unprofitable; for I am
of opinion that the perusal of the Book by the Faithful may merit
an abounding Grace from the Lord; whether that in contemplating the
variety, beauty, and vastness of God’s Creation, as herein displayed in
His marvellous works, they may be led to bow in adoring wonder before
His Power and Wisdom; or, that, in considering the depths of blindness
and impurity in which the Gentile Nations are involved, they may be
constrained at once to render thanks to God Who hath deigned to call
His faithful people out of such perilous darkness into His marvellous
Light, and to pray for the illumination of the hearts of the Heathen.
Hereby, also, the sloth of undevout Christians may be put to shame,
when they see how much more ready the nations of the unbelievers are
to worship their Idols, than are many of those who have been marked
with Christ’s Token to adore the True God. Moreover, the hearts of
some members of the religious orders may be moved to strive for the
diffusion of the Christian Faith, and by Divine Aid to carry the Name
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, forgotten among so vast multitudes, to those
blinded nations, among whom the harvest is indeed so great, and the
labourers so few.
“But lest the inexperienced Reader should regard as beyond belief the
many strange and unheard of things that are related in sundry passages
of this Book, let all know MESSER MARCO POLO, the narrator of these
marvels, to be a most respectable, veracious, and devout person, of
most honourable character, and receiving such good testimony from all
his acquaintance, that his many virtues claim entire belief for that
which he relates. His Father, Messer Nicolo, a man of the highest
respectability, used to relate all these things in the same manner. And
his uncle, Messer Maffeo, who is spoken of in the Book, a man of ripe
wisdom and piety, in familiar conversation with his Confessor when on
his death-bed, maintained unflinchingly that the whole of the contents
of this Book were true.
“Wherefore I have, with a safer conscience, undertaken the labour of
this Translation, for the entertainment of my Readers, and to the
praise of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of all things visible and
invisible.”
APPENDIX F.—_Note of MSS. of Marco Polo so far as they are known._
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF MSS.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Latin | French |Italian | German | Irish |Total |
+-----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+
| GREAT BRITAIN | | | | | | |
| and IRELAND | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 16 |
| Cambridge | 3 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| Dublin | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| Lismore Castle| ... | ... | ... | ... | 1 | |
| Glasgow | 2 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| London | 4 | 2 | 1 | ... | ... | |
| Oxford | 1 | 1 | ... | ... | ... | |
| | | | | | | |
| FRANCE | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 12 |
| Paris | 4 | 7 | 1 | ... | ... | |
| | | | | | | |
| LUXEMBURG | 1 | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 1 |
| | | | | | | |
| BELGIUM | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 1 |
| Brussels | ... | 1 | ... | ... | ... | |
| | | | | | | |
| ITALY | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 29 |
| Venice | 4 | ... | 2 | ... | ... | |
| Ferrara | ... | ... | 1 | ... | ... | |
| Milan | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| Modena | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| Florence | 1 | ... | 8 | ... | ... | |
| Lucca | ... | ... | 1 | ... | ... | |
| Siena | ... | ... | 1 | ... | ... | |
| Rome | 4 | 1 | 4 | ... | ... | |
| | | | | | | |
| SPAIN | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 3 |
| Escurial | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| Toledo | 1 | ... | 1 | ... | ... | |
| | | | | | | |
| SWITZERLAND | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 3 |
| Bern | ... | 1 | 1 | ... | ... | |
| Vevey | ... | 1 | ... | ... | ... | |
| | | | | | | |
| GERMANY | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 16 |
| Munich | 4 | ... | ... | 4 | ... | |
| Wolfenbüttel | 2 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| Berlin | 1 | ... | ... | 1 | ... | |
| Würzburg | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| Giessen | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| Jena | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| Mentz | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| | | | | | | |
| AUSTRIA | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 2 |
| Prague | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | |
| Vienna | ... | ... | ... | 1 | ... | |
| | | | | | | |
| SWEDEN | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 2 |
| Stockholm | ... | 2 | ... | ... | ... | |
+-----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+
| | 41 | 16 | 21 | 6 | 1 | 85 |
+-----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+
I add Lists of the Miniatures in two of the finer MSS. as noted from
examination.
LIST OF MINIATURES IN THE GREAT VOLUME OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL LIBRARY,
COMMONLY KNOWN AS ‘LE LIVRE DES MERVEILLES’ (Fr. 2810) WHICH BELONG
TO THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO.
1. Frontispiece. “Comment les deux freres se partirent de
Constantinople pour cherchier du monde.”
2. Conversation with the Ambassadors at Bokhara (fol. 2).
3. The Brothers before the G. Kaan (f. 2 _v._).
4. The Kaan giving them Letters (f. 3).
5. „ „ „ „ a Golden Tablet (f. 3 _v._).
6. The Second Departure from Venice (f. 4).
7. The Polos before Pope Gregory (f. 4 _v._).
8. The two elder Polos before the Kaan presenting Book and Cross
(f. 5).
9. The Polos demand _congé_ (f. 6).
10. (Subject obscure) (f. 7).
11. Georgians, and Convent of St. Leonard (f. 8).
12. The Calif shut up in his Treasury (f. 9).
13. The Calif ordering Christians to move the Mountain (f. 10).
14. Miracle of the Mountain (God is seen pushing it) (f. 10 _v._).
15. The three Kings _en route_ (f. 11 _v._).
16. „ „ „ adoring the Fire (f. 12).
17. (Subject obscure—Travelling in Persia?) (f. 12 _v._).
18. Cattle of Kerman (f. 13 _v._).
19. Ship from India arriving at Hormus (f. 14 _v._).
20. Travelling in a Wood, with Wild Beasts (f. 15 _v._).
21. The Old Man’s Paradise (f. 16 _v._).
22. The Old Man administering the Potion (f. 17).
23. Hunting Porcupines in Badashan (f. 18).
24. Digging for Rubies in Badashan (f. 18).
25. Kashmir—the King maintaining Justice (_i.e._, seeing a Man’s head
cut off) (f. 19 _v._).
26. Baptism of Chagatai (f. 20 _v._).
27. People of Charchan in the Desert (f. 21 _v._).
28. Idolaters of Tangut with Ram before Idol (f. 22 _v._).
29. Funeral Festivities of Tangut (f. 23).
30. (Subject obscure) (f. 24).
31. Coronation of Chinghiz (f. 25 _v._).
32. Chinghiz sends to Prester John (f. 26).
33. Death of Chinghiz (f. 27).
34. (Subject obscure) (f. 28).
35. Some of Pliny’s Monsters (_à propos de bottes_) (f. 29 _v._).
36. A Man herding White Cattle (?) (f. 30 _v._).
37. Kúblái hawking, with Cheeta _en croupe_ (f. 31 _v._).
38. Kaan on Elephant, in Battle with Nayan (f. 33).
39. Nayan with his wife surprised by the enemy (f. 34).
40. The Kaan’s four Queens (f. 36).
41. The Kaan’s Palace, with the Lake and Green Mount (f. 37).
42. The Kaan’s Son’s Palace (f. 38).
43. The Kaan’s Banquet (f. 39).
44. „ worship of Idols (f. 40).
45. The Kaan travelling in Horse-litter (f. 41).
46. „ hunting (f. 42).
47. „ in Elephant-litter (f. 42 _v._).
48. The White Feast (f. 44).
49. The Kaan gives Paper for Treasure (f. 45).
50. Couriers arrive before Kaan (f. 46 _v._).
51. The Kaan transplants big Trees (f. 47 _v._).
52. The Bridge Pulisangin (f. 49).
53. The Golden King as a Cow-herd (f. 50).
54. Trade on the Caramoran (f. 51).
55. The Girls of Tibet (f. 52 _v._).
56. Fishing Pearls in Caindu (f. 54).
57. Dragons of Carajan (f. 55 _v._).
58. Battle of Vochan (f. 58).
59. The Forests of Mien, Elephants in the Wood (f. 59).
60. „ „ and Unicorns, etc. (f. 59 _v._).
61. Lion hunting in Coloman (f. 61).
62. Return from the Chase (f. 62 _v._).
63. The Queen of Manzi surrenders (f. 64).
64. The City of Quinsai (f. 67).
65. The Receipt of Custom at Quinsai (f. 69).
66. Curiosities brought from India to Great Kaan (f. 71).
67. War with Chipangu (f. 72).
68. Scene at Sea (an Expedition to Chipangu?) (f. 73 _v._).
69. Cannibals of Sumatra (f. 74 _v._).
70. Cynocephali (rather Alopecocephali!) (f. 76 _v._).
71. The folk of Ma’abar, without raiment (f. 78).
72. Idol worship of Indian girls (f. 80).
73. The Valley of Diamonds (f. 82).
74. Brahmin Merchants (f. 83).
75. Pepper gathering (f. 84).
76. Wild Beasts (f. 85).
77. City of Cambaia (f. 86 _v._).
78. Male and Female Islands (f. 87).
79. Madagascar (f. 88).
80. Battle of the Abyssinian Kings (f. 89 _v._)
81. City of the Ichthyophagi (f. 91).
82. Arab horses at Calatu (f. 92).
83. Wars of Caidu (f. 93 _v._).
84. Prowess of Caidu’s daughter (f. 95 _v._).[1]
LIST OF MINIATURES IN THE BODLEIAN MS. OF MARCO POLO.[2]
1. _Frontispiece_ (f. 218).
2. The Kaan giving the Golden Tablet.
3. Presentation of Pope’s Letter.
4. Taking of Baudas.
5. The Bishop before the Calif.
6. The Three Kings at Bethlehem.
7. White Oxen of Kerman.
8. Paradise of the Old Man.
9. River of Balashan.
10. City of Campichu.
11. Battle with Prester John.
12. Tartars and their Idols.
13. The Kaan in his Park at Chandu.
14. Idol Worship.
15. Battle with Nayan.
16. Death of the Rebels.
17. Kaan rewarding his Officers.
18. „ at Table.
19. „ hunting.
20. The Kaan and his Barons.
21. The Kaan’s alms.
22. City of Kenjanfu.
23. „ „ Sindinfu.
24. People of Carajan.
25. The Couvade.
26. Gold and Silver Towers of Mien.
27. Funeral Customs.
28. The Great River Kian?
29. The Attack of Saianfu (with a Cannon, a Mangonel, and a Crossbow).
30. City of Quinsay.
31. Palace of Facfur.
32. Port of Zayton.
33. Cynocephali.
34. „
35. Idolaters of Little Java.
36. Pearl Divers.
37. Shrine of St. Thomas.
38. The Six Kings, subject to Abyssinia.
Part of the Frontispiece is engraved in vol. i. p. _18_ of the present
work; the whole of the Frontispiece representing the Piazzetta reduced
has been poorly reproduced in Mrs. Oliphant’s _The Makers of Venice_,
London, 1887, p. 134.
APPENDIX F.—_List of MSS. of Marco Polo’s Book so far as
they are known._[3]
The MSS. marked thus * are spoken of after Personal Inspection
by the Editor.
NO.
LOCALITIES.
INDICATIONS.
LANGUAGE.
DESCRIPTION OF MSS.
AUTHORITIES.
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
1
British Museum Library
Harleian MSS., No. 5115
_Latin_
Pipino’s Version; with the work of Hayton the Armenian; Parchment;
written about A.D. 1400, in a careful hand.—152 ff.—folio.
*
2
British Museum Library
Arundel, XIII., Plut. 163 c.
_Latin_
Pipino’s; followed by Odoric in same hand, but more carelessly
written. Parchment.
[4to; 51 fol., 14th century.—_H. Cordier, Odoric de Pordenone_,
p. lxix.].
*
3
British Museum Library
Bibl. Reg. XIV., c. 13.—Plut. 12 f.
_Latin_
Pipino’s. A well-written folio [311 ff.] on parchment, containing
_Ranulf of Chester; Praefationes Historiographorum; Gyraldus Camb.
de Conq. Hyberniae; Libellus de Mirab. Sanctae Terrae; Odoric;
Rubruquis; Polo; Verses of Master Michael of Cornwall_; etc.—[_H.
Cordier, Odoric_, pp. lxviii–lxix.].
*
4
British Museum Library
Bib. Reg. XIX., D. I.
_French_
[Contains eight works: _Le livre d’Alexandre_; Jehan le Venelais, la
_Vengeance d’Alexandre_; Marc Pol; Odoric; Ascelin, _Mission chez
les Tartares_; _le Directoire_; Primat, _Chronique des règnes de
Louis IX. et de Philippe III.; Extraits de la Bible_; Translation
of Jean de Vignay. (See _H. Cordier, Odoric_, pp. cv.–cvi.; 14th
century.)].
_Paul Meyer, Doc. ms. de l’ancienne litt. de la France_, 1871,
pp. 69–80.
5
British Museum Library
Additional MSS., No. 19, 952 Plut. cxcii. B.
_Latin_
Pipino’s.
Paper, small 4to.—111 ff.
Appended, f. 85 _et seqq._, is a notice of Mahommed and the Koran:
_Incipit Noticia de Machometo et de Libro Legis Sarracenorum_, etc.
Appears to be the work of William of Tripoli. (See vol. i. p. 23.).
Purchased of D. Henry Wolff, 12th August, 1854.
*
6
British Museum Library
Sloane MSS., No. 251
_Italian dialect_
Paper, small fol. 39 ff. A good deal abridged, and in a desperately
difficult handwriting; but notable as being the only MS. besides
the Geog. Text which contains the war of Toctai and Nogai at the
end of the Book. It does not, however, contain the majority of the
historical chapters forming our Book IV.
At the end, f. 39 _v._, is “_Esplizzit Liber Milionis Ziuis Veneziani
Questo libro scrissi Saluador Paxuti (?) del=1457 a viazo di Baruti_
[Patron Misser Cabual Volanesso, chapit. Misser Polo Barbarigo].”
(The latter words [in part.—H. C.] from Marsden; being to me
illegible).
*
7
British Museum Library
_Egerton_, 2176
_French_
Translated from the Latin version of Pipino.
Parchment, 103 folio, 4to. Illuminated Capital Letters. Purchased of
R. Townley Nordman, 22nd June, 1872.
Yule, 2nd ed., II. p. 517.
8
OXFORD
Bodleian, No. 264
_French_
This is bound up with the celebrated Alexander MS. It is a beautiful
work, embellished with thirty-eight miniatures, some of which
are exquisite, _e.g._, the Frontispiece, a large piece of about
9½ in. × 9 in., forming a sort of condensed view of the Field
of Travel; a large part of it occupied by VENICE, of which our
cut (_The Piazzetta_) in vol. i., p. _18, Introduction_, is an
extract. Another fine work (f. 220) represents the three Polos
presenting the Pope’s Letter to the Khan. The embroidered hands
on the Khan’s robe form an inscription, in which is legible
“_Johannes me fecit_.” This Mr. Coxe attributes to John of Cologne,
a known artist of the 14th century. He considers the MS. to be of
about 1380. The Alexander is dated 1338, and its illuminations as
finished in 1344 by Jehan de Grise. [See _supra_, p. 528, _note_.]
A comparison of a good many readings, as well as of the point where
the version breaks off, and the words: “_Explicit le Livre nommé
du Grant Cann de la Graunt Cité de Cambaluc, Dieux ayde Amen_,”
indicate that this MS. is of the same type as Pauthier’s C (No. 20
in this List) and the Bern. MS. (No 63).
The name given in the colophon as above has caused the work to be
entered in the old Printed Catalogue under a wrong title. Hence the
MS., as one of Marco Polo, has been overlooked.
[_P. Meyer, Romania_, XI., 1882, pp. 290–301. _E. W. B. Nicholson_;
Personal.—H. C.]
9
OXFORD
Merton College, No. 312
_Latin_
Pipino’s; followed by Hayton, and Palladius _de Agriculturâ_.
_Coxe, Catal. Codd. MSS. Oxon_. Pt. I., p. 123.
10
CAMBRIDGE
University Library, D. d. I. 17, No. 12
_Latin_
Pipino’s.
The same folio contains Jacques de Vitry, Hayton, several works on
Mahommedanism, among others that of William of Tripoli (vol. i. p.
23), Piers Plowman, etc., etc.
_Catal. of MSS. in Lib. of Camb. University_, I. 22.
11
CAMBRIDGE
University Library, D. d. VIII. 7
_Latin_
Fragment of _Marci Pauli Veneti Historia Tartarorum_ (probably
Pipino’s.).
_Catal. of MSS. in Lib. of Camb. University_, I. 22.
12
CAMBRIDGE
Gonville and Caius College, No. 162
_Latin_
Pipino’s; with Odoric, and other works relating to Asia. [_H.
Cordier_, _Odoric_, p. lxviii.]
_Catal. of MSS. of Gonville and Caius Coll. Library, by Rev. J. J.
Smith_, 1849.
13
GLASGOW
Hunterian Collection, S. 5. 7
_Latin_
Pipino’s Version, with illuminated initials, in a volume containing
_Guido Colonna’s Hist. destruct. Trojæ; De Gestis Alex. Magni;
Turpinus de Gestis Caroli Magni;_ M.P.V.; _Oderichus de Mirabilibus
Tartariæ._ Parchment, 4to.
_Note by Rev. Prof. W. P. Dickson, D.D._
14
GLASGOW
Hunterian Collection, Q. 6. 21
_Latin_
Pipino’s also with illuminated initials, and also followed by Odoric.
Parchment, 4to.
_Note by Rev. Prof. W. P. Dickson, D.D._
15
IRELAND
Lismore Castle, and a transcript in Library of Royal Irish Academy,
Dublin
_Irish_
See vol. i., _Introduction, Irish Version_, pp. _102–103_.
_O’Curry’s Lectures, and special Note by Mr. J. Long, Dublin_.
16
Dublin
Trinity College, No. 632
_Latin_
Marco Polo: Itinerarium (ff. 43), 4to; 15th century. In a collection
of “Historical and Miscellaneous Treatises” comprising: _Leges
S. Edwardi per Will. Conq. confirmatæ_; _De Fundatoribus Eccles.
quarundam in Anglia_, etc.
_Cat. of the MSS. in the Lib. Trinity College, Dublin, ... by T. K.
Abbott_, 1900, p. 105.
FRANCE.
17
PARIS
Bib. nationale, No. 7367 (now Fr. 1116)
_French_
This is the most precious of all MSS. of Polo. It has been fully
spoken of (vol. i., _Int., The Old French Text_) under the name of
the _Geographic Text_ (or G. T.), because it was printed by the
Société de Géographie in 1824. [See I, p. _83_]
A large 4to of thick parchment; 112 ff.; very clearly though not very
neatly written in Gothic text.—14th century.
A facsimile of this MS. has been made this year (1902) at Karlsruhe.
(See _App._ H. p. 569.)
*
18
PARIS
Bib. nationale, No. 8329 (now Fr. 2810)
_French_
“Ce Liure est des // Merueilles du Monde. Cest assavoir de la Terre
// Saincte. Du Grant Kaan Empereur des tartars. // Et du pays
Dynde. Le Quel // Liure Jehan Duc de Bourgoingne donna // a son
oncle Jehan fils de Roy de // France duc de Berry et Dauviergne,
Conte // de Poitou, Detampes. de Bouloingne. et Dauvergne. // Et
contient le dit Liure six // Livres. Cest assavoir. Marc Pol. Frere
Odric de lordre des // Freres meneurs. Le Liure fait à la requeste
du Cardinal Taleran de // Pierregort. L’Estat du Grant Kaan. Le
Liure de Messire Guillaume // de Mandeville. Le Liure de Frere
Jehan Hayton de lordre de premonstre. // Le Liure de Frere Bicul de
lordre des Freres Prescheurs //—Et sont en ce dit Liure Deux cens
soixante six // hystoires.”
_Signed by_ N. Flamel.
Then follows.
1° _Marco Polo_: “Cy après commence le liure de Marc Paule des
merveilles daise la grant et dinde la maiour et mineur Et des
diuerses regions du monde.”—_Begins_: “Pour sauoir la pure
verite de diuerses regions du monde. Si prenez ce liure cy et le
faictes lire. Si y trouuerez les grandismes merueilles qui y sont
escriptes....”
_Ends_ (Fol. 96 verso): “Et a tant fine messire marc pol son liure de
la diuision du monde et des merueilles dicelluy.”
Of the 266 _histoires_ or miniatures in this splendid book, 84 belong
to the story of Polo. We have given engravings of several of them.
Its value is estimated in the catalogue of the Library of the Duc
de Berry in 1416 (quoted by Pauthier) at 125 _livres_, equivalent
(if _parisis_) to about 115_l._ This is Pauthier’s MS. B. See vol.
i., _Int._, _Various Types of the Text_.
Large folio on vellum.
[_H. Cordier, Odoric_, pp. cviii–cxiii.].
*
19
PARIS
Bib. Nationale, No. 10260 (now Fr. 5631)
_French_
“Ci commencent les rebriches de cest Livre qui est appelez le
Deuisement du Monde, lequel je Grigoires contrefais du Livre de
Messire Marc Pol le meilleur citoien de Venisse creant Crist.”
At the beginning of the Text is a coarse drawing of Kúblái on his
_bretesche_, carried by four elephants (vol. i., p. 337); and after
the prologue another apparently representing the Princess Aijaruc
wrestling with her wooer (vol. ii. p. 465).
This is Pauthier’s MS. A. (vol. i, _Int., Various Types of the
Text_), and also was in the Duc de Berry’s Library, valued at 6
_livres 5 sols_. [Second half of the 14th cent.].
*
20
PARIS
Bib. nationale, No. 10,270 (now Fr. 5649)
_French_
This is Pauthier’s MS. C. (See as before.) It is that which has the
certificate about the original presented to the Seigneur de Cepoy;
see _Int._, p. _69_.
At the end is _Bertran Pichart scripsit hoc_. Small 4to, parchment,
in a clear enough half-current hand; 134 ff.
Came from the library of the Archb. of Rheims. [Middle of the 15th
century.]
*
21
PARIS
Bib. nationale (675)?
_French_
I know nothing of this MS. except its readings of names given in the
Table appended to the Geographic Text. It then belonged to the
Comte d’Artois. Lazari has it entered as belonging to the Bibl.
Imp., I know not if correctly. [I have been unable to find it in
the Bibliothèque nationale.—H. C.]
See _preceding column_.
22
PARIS
Bib. nationale, Fr. nouv. acq. 1880
_French_
This is a copy of the time of King Louis XII., made apparently for
Admiral Louis Malet de Graville, Governor of Honfleur, who died
in 1516; it bears the arms of the Urfé family; it is at times
modernized, but less is suppressed in it than in MSS. 5631 and
2810. The MS. ends: “_Et se aucuns disoint qui a luy_ ...” about
the middle of ch. cxcix. of Pauthier’s ed., p. 738, line 4. These
are also the last words of the Stockholm MS. of which it is a copy.
Purchased in 1870.
_L. Delisle, Bib. Ec. Chartes_, xliii. p. 219.
23
PARIS
Bib. de l’Arsenal, No. 5219
_French_
Translated by Robert Frescher.—Fol. 1. “_Prologue du present livre,
par maistre Robert Frescher, bachelier formé en theologie
translateur.—Berose, ainsi que Jozephe nous a laissé par escript,
fut natif de la cité de Babilone_....”—Fol. 9. Begins: “_Pour
scavoir la pure verité des diverses regions du monde, lisés ou
faictes lire ce livre_....” Incomplete; ends: “... _Argon fut filz
de Abaga mon frere, et se aucun disoit que a luy_.” (See Pauthier’s
ed., p. 738.)
Parchment; ff. 168; end of the 15th or beginning of 16th century.
From the libraries of Charles Adrien Picard and de Paulmy. With
miniatures some of which are engraved in _Mœurs, Usages et
Costumes du Moyen Age, par le Bibliophile Jacob_, pp. 411–413.
_Cat. des MSS. de l’Arsenal_, V. p. 163.
24
PARIS
Bib. nationale, No. 3195
_Latin_
This is the old Latin version, published by the Soc. de Géog., and
which I have cited as _Geographic Latin_ or G. L. (See vol. i.,
_Int., Various Types of the Text_.) [Contains: _Petri Amphusi
clericalis disciplina; Odoric; Marco Polo; Bernardi cujusdam ad
Raymundum Castri Ambrosii epistola de modo rei familiaris utilius
gubernandae_. Cf. _Cat. Cod. MSS. Bib. Reg. Pars tertia_., t. iii.
Paris, 1744, p. 385. Parchment, small fol., 15th century.—_H.
Cordier, Odoric_, p. lxxxiii—H. C.].
_Printed Text.—H. Cordier_.
25
PARIS
Bib. nationale, No. 1616
_Latin_
Pipino’s. [Paper; fol. cccvii. _et seqq._].
_Table in the G. T._
26
PARIS
Bib. nationale, No. 6244 A.
_Latin_
Pipino’s. [Paper.]
_Table in the G. T._
27
PARIS
Bib. Nationale, Codd. Ital., No. 10,259 [now 434]
_Italian_
Paper, 4to, of 14th century. Seen, but not examined with any care,
which I regret, as the readings suggest that it may have been that
text from which Pipino translated [pp. 100.].
[Begins f. 2 recto: “_Signori Imperadori Re e Duci e tutte altre
gienti che // uolete sapere le diuerse gienerationi delle gienti //
elle diuersità delle regioni del mondo leggiete que // sto libro
doue retrouerrete tutte le grandissime marauigle_,” etc.
Ends: “_Explicit Liber de Milione per Messe Marcho Polo di Vinegia.
Deo gratias._”]
_I Manoscritti Italiani ... della R. Bib. Parigina ... dal Ant.
Marsand_, 1835, 4to.
28
PARIS
Former Library of Baron C. Walckenaer
_Latin_
A miscellaneous volume, containing an imperfect copy of Pipino’s
version. Present locality not known.
_Table in the G. T._
LUXEMBURG.
29
LUXEMBURG
City Library, No. 50
_Latin_
Volume containing several works; and among them _Marchi_ (Pauli)
_Veneti Liber Narrationum Morum_, etc.
Paper; written 1448 by Tilman Pluntsch, “canonicus ecclesie SS.
Chresanti et Darie monasterii Eyfflie.”
_Pertz, Archiv_, viii. 594.
BELGIUM.
30
BRUSSELS
Royal Library, No. 9309
_French_
Derives from the Paris 5631 and 2810 and the Stockholm MS., 14th
century.
_G. Raynaud, Romania_, xi. pp. 429–430.
ITALY.
31
VENICE
St. Mark’s Library, Cl. X. Codd. Lat. 72
_Latin_
Pipino’s.
Formerly belonged to the Monastery of St. John’s _in Viridario_ at
Padua, to which it was presented by John Marchanova, Doctor of Arts
and Medicine, 1467. Paper, 4to. (It is mentioned by Marsden as at
Padua, p. lv.)
_Lazari_.
32
VENICE
St. Mark’s Library, Cl. X. Codd. Lat. 128
_Latin_
Another of Pipino’s. Paper, 4to, of 15th century.
_Lazari_.
33
VENICE
St. Mark’s Library, Cl. VI. Codd. Ital., 56
_Italian (Ven. dialect)_
A rude translation of Pipino’s version, written late in the 15th
century.
Also contains a translation of the same Pipino’s Tract, _De Locis
Terrae Sanctae_. Belonged to T. G. Farsetti. Paper, folio.
_Lazari_.
34
VENICE
St. Mark’s Library, Cl. VI. Codd. Ital., 208
_Italian (Ven. dialect)_
Corresponds to the Venetian edition of 1496, but even more
inaccurate, with absurd interpolations.
The volume contains also Odoric, A. Ca’ da Mosto, V. da Gama,
Columbus, etc., being of the beginning of the 16th century.
Paper, 4to. Belonged to Morelli.
* _Lazari_.
35
VENICE
Museo Civico, _Coll. Cicogna_, No. 2389, now 2408.
_Latin_
✛Paper, large 4to; belonged to Gian-Giuseppe Liruti, and after to E.
A. Cicogna; contains also Odoric, published by G. Venni in 1761,
and other matter.
This is the MS. noticed at vol. i. _Int., Ramusio’s Italian Version_,
p. _102_, as containing several passages found in no other text
except Ramusio’s Italian. Written in 1401 by the Notary Philip, son
of Pietro Muleto of Fodan (or Fogan?)[4] in Friuli, whilst studying
Rhetoric at Padua.
* [_H. Cordier_, _Odoric_, pp. xci.–xcii.]
36
VENICE
Library of Count Donà delle Rose
_Italian, with a Venetian tinge_
It begins: “Quegli che desiderano d’entendere le maraviglose chose
del mondo de l’Asia de Armenia persia e tartaria dell indie et
diverse parti del mondo legano questo libro et intenderano quello
chel nobelle citadino Veneciano Miss. Marcho Polo,” etc., and ends:
“Explicit liber Millionis civis Veneciarum. Expleto ad CCCCXLVI
mensis setembris die vigesimo-octavo.”
These extracts indicate that it belongs to the same type as the
Sloane MS. No. 6, in our list.
Note by Comm. Nicolò Barozzi, Director of the Museo Civico at Venice.
37
FERRARA
Public Library, No. 35n (336, N.B. 5)
_Italian, with a Venetian tinge_
_Incipit prologus Libri qui vulgari hominum dicitur “El Milione.”_
This looks as if it were _not_ Pipino’s.
_Note by the Abate S. B. Mondino_.
38
MILAN
Ambrosian Library, M. 526, Sc. D.
_Latin_
Fragments extracted from Pipino’s version inserted at end of 2nd part
of the _Cronica Libri Ymaginis Mundi_ of Fr. Jacopo d’Acqui. (Vol.
i. _Int., Captivity of M. Polo_.)
Paper, folio. 14th century.
_Lazari_.
39
MODENA
Este Library
_Latin_
Pipino’s Parchment of 14th century. Muratori speaks of this.
(_Script._ VII.) as “_fortassis autographum._”
_Muratori;_ and _Prof. Bianconi, Degli Scritta di Marco Polo, etc._
40
FLORENCE
Bib. Magliabecchiana (now Nationale), Cl. XIII., Plut. IV. c. 104
_Italian (Tuscan)_
The Crusca MS., of which an account has been given, vol. i. _Int.,
Original Language of the Book_.
Paper, folio, early in 14th century.
*
41
FLORENCE
Bib. Magliabecchiana (now Nazionale), Cl. XIII., Plut. IV. c. 73
_Italian_
Many liberties taken with the text, and much abridged and
disarranged. Thus, after the Prologue it proceeds: “_Al nome di Dio
io Marcho Polo Veneziano racconterò tutte le maravigliose chose
ch’io trovai e vidi_, etc. etc.” It ends at the chapter on Russia
with the following impertinence: “_E se volete sapere più innanzi
dimandatene un altro ch’io Marcho Polo non cercai più avanti._”
The Khalif is called _Largaliffe_; Reobarles, _Reubarbe_, with a
marginal note in an old hand, “_Reubarbe_ città di Persia, donde
viene il reubarbero herba medicinale.” Completed by Dolfo Spini,
16th July, 1425. Paper. Belonged to the Strozzi Collection.
*
42
FLORENCE
Bib. Magliabecchiana (now Nazionale), Cl. XIII., Plut. IV., c. 61
_Italian_
This corresponds to the _Pucci_ MS. noted below (No. 47). It contains
the colophon quoted at vol. i. _Int., Some Estimate of Polo and his
Book_, p. _115_, _note_.
Paper, folio, 1392, 100 ff. of which the first 40 contain _Polo_. Not
well written.
Ex. Bibl. Gaddianâ.
* _Baldelli-Boni_.
43
FLORENCE
Bib. Magliabecchiana (now Nazionale), Cl. XIII., Plut. IV., c. 136
_Italian_
Both beginning and end are missing. Slightly different from the
Crusca.
14th century.
* _Baldelli-Boni_.
44
FLORENCE
Riccardian Library
_Italian_
Ends with chapter on Russia. Followed by an extract of Mandevile and
a valuable coll. of geographical documents of 15th century and
beginning of 16th.
Paper 4to, 16th century.
*
45
FLORENCE
Riccardian Library
_Latin_
Pipino’s; but reaching only to Bk. III. ch. 31.
Paper, 14th century.
*
46
FLORENCE
Riccardian Library
_Italian (Ven. dialect)_, No. 1924
Partial and defective transcript under the title of _Itinerario di
Levante_.
_G. Uzielli, Note_.
47
FLORENCE
Library of Pucci family
_Italian_
See remarks at vol. i. _Int., Various Types of the Text_. Completed
20th Nov. 1391.
*
48
FLORENCE
Bib. Palatina (now united to Nazionale), Cod. 572
_Italian_
The language differs slightly from that of the Crusca, and, where I
have compared it, is less compressed. Ends with _Rossia_.
Paper, small 4to, 14th century.
Written somewhat roughly in a very old hand. Rustician is _Messer
Restazo da Pisa_. The Grand Kaan gives the Polo’s a “tovaglia
_d’Oro_.”
*
49
LUCCA
Bib. governativa, Coll. (Lucchesini, Giacomo), No. 26 (now No. 296)
_Italian (Ven. dialect)_
Corresponds to the corrupt Venice epitome published in 1496.
Contains also Odorico.
[Ends:—“_Complito el libro de le cosse mirabile vedute per lo nobile
homo Messer Marcho Polo gientelomo de Venesia a di 12 de Marzo 1465
per mi Daniele da Verona in sul Ponte de’ Berettari al onore e
laude dell’Omnipotente._”
Paper, 4to, 75 ff.
_H. Cordier_, _Odoric_, pp. xcvi.–xcviii.]
_Baldelli-Boni_.
50
SIENA
Public Library, c. V. 14
_Italian_
This is a miscellaneous MS. which, among other things, contains a
fragment of Polo, “Qui comīcio ellibro di Missere Mācho Polo da
Vinegia de le cose māuiglose che trovo p̄ lo mondo,” etc. It calls
Rusticiano _Missere Stacio da Pisa.—N.B._—Baldelli gives a very
similar description of a fragment at Sienna, but under press mark
A. IV. 8. I assume that it is the same that I saw.
*
51
ROME
Vatican Library, Cod. 2207, _Ottoboniano_
_French_
A fragment, going no further than the chapter on Georgia, and ending
thus: “Autre chose ne vous en scay dire parquoi je vous fois fin en
ce livre; le nom de notre Seigneur soi benoist et de sa benoiste
Mere. Amen. Loys de Luxembourg.”
Parchment, 14 cent.
_Baldelli-Boni_.
52
ROME
Vatican Library, No. 2935
_Latin_
An old Latin abridgment of Polo, entitled _De Mirabilibus Mundi_. The
same volume contains a tract, _De Mirabilibus Romae_, to which also
Polo’s name is given.
Paper, 14th cent.
_Baldelli-Boni_ and _Lazari_.
53
ROME
Vatican Library, No. 3153
_Latin_
Pipino’s. Very neat and clean; apparently of 14th cent.
Parchment.
*
54
ROME
Vatican Library, No. 5260
_Latin_
Pipino’s. Very clearly and regularly written. Apparently 15th cent.
*
55
ROME
Barberini Library, XXXIV. 4
_Latin_
A MS. volume, containing Ricold of Monte Croce; Tractatus divisionis
et ambitûs Orbis Terrarum, etc.; Liber de divisione Orbis Terrarum;
Libellus de Mirabilibus Urbis Romae; and “_Incipit de Morum et
Gentium Varietatibus editus a Marcho Polo Veneto._” It is very
cramply written, much compressed, and has no division into books
or chapters. Ends with “_Roscia, provincia maxima._” “_Explicit
libellus editus a Dno. Marcho Polo de Venetiis de diversis
provinciis et gentibus mundi, et earum ritibus et moribus diversis
et artibus._”
Parchment, large thin 4to, 14th cent.
*
56
ROME
Barberini Library, LVIII. 40
_Italian (Venetian dial.)_
This is the fragment spoken of, vol. i. p. _101_, note. It is a
transcript made apparently in the 17th cent., from a MS. written in
1465.
*
57
ROME
Barberini Library, No. 934
_Italian_
I give this on Baldelli’s authority. I did not see it on my visit
to the Barberini.
_Baldelli-Boni_.
58
ROME
Corsini Library, No. 1111
_Italian_ (?)
. . .
_Baldelli-Boni_.
59
ROME
Chigi Library, M. VI. 140
_Italian_
Bears a note in the handwriting of Pope Alexander VII. (Fabio
Chigi of Sienna, 1655–1667), which draws attention to Sienese
peculiarities in the language, and assigns the date about 1420
Sm. 4to, paper
_Baldelli-Boni_.
SPAIN.
60
ESCURIAL
Library
_Latin_
Pipino’s
(?)
61
TOLEDO
Cathedral Library
_Latin_
Seems to be different from any of the other Latin versions. It has
the prefatory address to _Domini Imperatores, Reges, Duces_, etc.
8vo, paper. Of 15th century.
_Baldelli-Boni_.
62
TOLEDO
Cathedral Library
_Italian (Venetian)_
This is a copy of the Soranzo MS., of which Marsden has given an
ample notice after Apostolo Zeno, and which has disappeared from
knowledge.
_Baldelli-Boni_.
SWITZERLAND.
63
BERN
Canton Library, No. 125
_French_
I have examined this MS. minutely, and am satisfied that it is a copy
of Pauthier’s C. _i.e._, No. 20, in our List. Like that (and no
other), it bears the certificate regarding the Seigneur de Cepoy.
(Vol. i., _Int., Notices of Marco in later life._) The MS. is fully
described in Sinner’s Catalogue. It is in very beautiful condition,
very clearly written on parchment, with all the initials filled up
in gold and colours, and with numerous flowered scrolls.
It belonged to Bongars, whose autograph is on it: “_Bongars—l’a de la
courtoisie de Mr. de Superville._”
[Parchment, fol., ff. 286, 14th century.—_H. Cordier_, _Odoric_, pp.
cxiv.–cxv.]
*
64
BERN
Canton Library
_Italian (Venetian)_
In a neat running hand resembling italic type. It is much abridged,
especially in the latter part.
Small Paper 4to. It is inscribed: “_Bongars, de la courtoisie de
Mr. Aurel, tiré de la biblioteque de Mr. de Vutron_(?).”
*
65
VEVEY
City Museum
_French_
[A double sheet; parchment, and of 14th century. Fragment: 1st sheet,
end of chap. 121 and greater part of chap. 122; 2nd sheet, end of
chap. 134, chaps. 135, 136, 137, and beginning of chap. 138 of
Pauthier’s ed. Very similar to the text of the Stockholm MS. Our
No. 84.—H. C.]
_Ernest Muret, Romania_, t. xxx. 1901.
GERMANY.
66
MUNICH
Royal Library, Codd. Lat. 249
_Latin_
Pipino’s.
Folio, paper, 15th century.
Also Pipino’s tract, _De Locis Terrae Sctae._, and Boccacio’s _De
Casibus Virorum Illustrium_.
_Lazari_.
67
MUNICH
Royal Library, Codd. Lat. 850
_Latin_
Pipino’s.
Paper, 4to, 15th cent.
Also Pipino’s tract, _De Locis Terrae Sctae._, etc.
_Lazari_.
68
MUNICH
Royal Library?
_Latin_
_Excerpta de ejus Historia, principaliter Orientalis_
_Private Memo_.
69
MUNICH
Royal Library?
_Latin_
_Narrationes ex ejus libro de partibus transmarinis_
_Private Memo_.
70
MUNICH
Royal Library, Cod. Germ. 696
_German_
The version published at Nuremberg in 1477.
Paper, 4to. [See _Bibliography_, p. 554.]
_Lazari_.
71
MUNICH
Royal Library, 252
_German_
Fragment.
_Lazari_.
72
MUNICH
?
_German_
The whole.
_Private Memo_.
73
MUNICH
?
_German_
Translated for Duke William of Bavaria, 1582.
_Private Memo_.
74
WOLFENBÜTTEL
Ducal Library, No. 40, Weissemburg
_Latin_
[Contains: Polo (Pipino’s version) f. 1–57 verso; Odoric;
Ricold; Boldensel.—Ricold was published by Mr. J. C. Laurent:
_Peregrinatores Medii Aevi Quatuor_. Lipsiae, 1864. Paper, 15th
cent., fol., ff. 110.]
_H. Cordier, Odoric_, pp. lxxiv.–lxxv.
75
WOLFENBÜTTEL
Ducal Library, No. 41, Weissemburg
_Latin_
[Contains: _Ciceronis orationes in Verrem; Chronicon Flandriae; R.
Bacon, de regionibus ad papam Clementem_; Marco Polo, ff. 122–160
verso; Ricold; Jacques de Vitry; Odoric; Plano Carpini.
Paper 15th cent, fol., ff. 253.]
_H. Cordier, Odoric_, pp. lxxv.–vi.
76
BERLIN
Royal Library
_Latin_
Pipino’s. Also contains _Mappa-Mundi, Expositio Libri Mateorum_, etc.
I believe this is the Codex Brandenburgensis collated by Andreas
Müller in his edition (1671).
_Private Memo._
77
BERLIN
Royal Library
_German_
A modern MS., said to be a copy of the _Wiener MS. _(?).
_Private Memo._
78
WÜRZBURG
Royal Library
_Latin_
_Marcus Paulus de Mirabilibus Mundi_. Paper.
_Pertz, Archiv._, viii. 100.
79
GIESSEN
University Library, No. 218
_Latin_
_M. Paulus de Venetiis de Regionibus Orientis_ (with other matter),
probably Pipino’s.
Paper, folio, 15th cent.
I know not if it is a second, which is cited by Mr. Major (_Notes on
Russia_) from _Catalogus Codd. MSS. Academ. Gissenses_, by _J. V.
Adrian_, Frankfort, 1840, as bound up with Eusebius and entitled
_M. P. de Ven. de condit. et consuet. Orient. Regionum_.
_Pertz, Archiv._, ix. 576.
80
JENA
University Library
_Latin_
Pipino’s. Followed by H. of Alexander
_Pertz, Archiv._, viii. 698.
81
MENTZ
Metropolitan Chapter, No. 52
_Latin_
Pipino’s. A collection containing in Latin, besides Polo, Odoric,
Ricold, and Boldensel. [_H. Cordier_, _Odoric_, pp. lxxii.–iv.]
_V. F. de Gudenus, Sylloge I. Variorum Diplomatariorum, etc._,
Frankf. 1728, p. 381.
AUSTRIA.
82
PRAGUE
Chapter of St. Vitus
_Latin_
Pipino’s
_Pertz, Archiv._, ix. 474.
83
VIENNA
. . .
_German?_
There appears to be a MS. at Vienna; for above I have registered
(No. 77) one at Berlin, which is called a copy of the Vienna MS.,
but I have not been able to get any particulars regarding it.
*
SWEDEN.
84
STOCKHOLM
Royal Library, French, No. 37
_French_
This MS., published in facsimile by Baron A. E. Nordenskiöld,
belongs to the “Cepoy” type of MSS. Yule wrote in _The Athenæum_
(17th June, 1882): “I gather that it has been produced by partial
abridgement from one of the earlier MSS. of the type in question.”
And again (p. 766): “It will be seen that though the publication is
a beautiful example of facsimile, it contributes, as far as I have
been able to examine it, nothing to the amelioration or elucidation
of the text or narrative.”
The changes and suppressions are much less considerable than in the
Paris MSS., 5631 and 2810. Cf _L. Delisle, Bib. de l’Ecole des
Chartes_, XLIII., 1882, pp. 226–235, 424.
It is incomplete, and ends: “_Et se aucuns disoit quí a luí._”—Cf.
Paris MS., 1880. [Our No. 22.]
It belonged to the Library of the French King, Charles V.
(1364–1380), and later, as marked on the recto of the last
folio, “Pour Symon du Solier demorant à Honnefleu,” who was
“procureur-syndic des manants et habitants de la ville de Honfleur.”
_H. Cordier_.
85
STOCKHOLM
Royal Library, French, No. 38
_French_
Translated from the Latin version.
_G. Raynaud, Romania_, XI.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] ✛ This MS. Fr. 2810 (formerly 8392), known as the _Livre des
Merveilles_, belonged to the Library of John, Duke of Berry, at
the Château of Mehun-sur-Yevre, 1416, No. 116 of the catalogue;
also No. 196, p. 186, of _Le Cabinet des Manuscrits de la Bibl.
Nationale_, par. L. Delisle, III. Count A. de Bastard began
publishing some of the miniatures, but did not finish the work. Of
the miniatures, Nos. 1, 12, 19, 35, 41, 37, 45, 47, 52, 56, 57, 60,
66, 70, 75, 78, 81 are engraved, pp. 258, 273, 282, 310, 316, 317,
328, 332, 340, 348, 350, 354, 381, 392, 406, 411, 417 in _Charton’s
Voyageurs du Moyen Age_, vol. ii., besides two others, pp. 305,
395, not identified; [in my edition of Odoric, I reproduced Nos.
33, 41, 70, pp. 439, 377, 207.—H. C.]; in the present work, Nos 5,
31, 41, 52, 70 are engraved, vol. i. pp. 15, 244, 369; Nos. 52, 70,
vol. ii. pp. 5, 311. Nos. 60 and 75 have been reproduced, pp. 97
and 98 of _Faguet’s Hist. de la Littérature Française_, 2nd ed.,
Paris, 1900.
[2] [Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson, who thought at first that this MS. was
written at the end of the 14th century, in his Introduction to
_Early Bodleian Music_, by J. F. R. Stainer and C. Stainer, London,
1901, has come to the conclusion (p. xviii.) that it belongs to the
first half of the 15th century. I agree with him. Mr. Nicholson
thinks that the writing is English, and that the miniatures are by
a Flemish artist; Mr. Holmes, the King’s Librarian, believes that
both writing and miniatures are English. This MS. came into the
Bodleian Library between 1598 and 1605, and was probably given by
Sir Thomas Bodley himself.—H. C.]
[3] [This List was printed in vol. ii. pp. 449–462 of the first
edition of the Book, but was omitted in the second edition. My
own experience has shown me the usefulness of this table, which
contains 85 MSS. instead of 75, and some additional particulars.—H.
C.]
[4] [Ser Petri de Faganea (Fagagna, in Friuli).—H. C.]
APPENDIX G.—_Diagram showing Filiation of Chief MSS. and
Editions of Marco Polo._
N.B.—Such MSS. as are not enclosed in Cartouches are hypothetical, or
not known now to exist, but are recognized or demonstrable as links
in the series. Nos. refer to List of MSS. in App. F. Printed Editions
are in small capitals.
MARCO POLO
dictates at Genoa, 1298
│
┌───────┴───────┐
│Rude French MS.│
│ (No. 17), │
┌────────────────┤ undivided. ├─────────────────┐
│ │Printed 1824 by│ │
│ │ Soc. de Géog. │ │
│ └───────┬───────┘ │
Italian A few Notes │ Supplementary Revised
(undivided). by M. Polo. │ Notes by M. Polo. French,
┌────┴──┬────────┐ │ │ │ made for
│ │ ┌─────┴────┐ │ ┌─┴─────────┐ │ ┌─── Marco Polo
Italian │ │ Italian │ │ │ Venetian │ │ │ before 1307.
divided in │ │Crusca MS.│ │ │ (type of │ │ │ │
3 Books. │ │(No. 40). │ │ │Sloane MS.)│ │ │ French Copy
│ │ │ │Undivided.│ │ │ (No. 6.) │ │ │ given to T.
│ │ │ └──────────┘ │ └───────────┘ │ │ de Cepoy,
│ │ └─────────┐ │ │ │ 1307.
│ └───────────┐ │ │ ┌──┘ │ │
┌───┴───────────┐ │ │ ┌───┴────────────┐ │ │ │
│Latin (MS. No. │ │ │ │Latin, Cicogna’s│ │ │ │
│ 24) Printed │ │ └──┤ MS. (No. 35). │ │ │ │
│1824 by Soc. de│ │ │ Abridged, but │ │ │ │
│Géog. 3 Books. │ │ │with new matter.│ │ │ │
└───────────────┘ │ └───────┬────────┘ │ │ │
┌───┴──────┐ │ │ ┌────┴───┐ ┌───┴─────┐
│Latin of │ │ │ │ French │ │ French │
┌────────┤Pipino, in│ │ │ │ MSS. │ │ MS. C, │
│ │ 3 Books. │ │ │ │ A & B │ │Bern, and│
Italian └──────────┘ │ │ │(Nos. 19│ │Bodleian │
or │ │ │ & 18). │ │(Nos. 20,│
PORTUGUESE. ┌────┴────┐ │ └───┬────┘ │63, & 8).│
│ │RAMUSIO’S│ │ │ └──┬──────┘
┌───┴─────┐ │ PRINTED ├─────┘ │ │
│GRYNÆUS’S│ │ITALIAN, │ │ │
│ LATIN, │ │ 1559. │ │ │
│ 1532. │ └────┬────┘ │ │
└────┬────┘ │ │ │
│ │ │ │
┌─────┴──────┐ ┌────┴────┐ │ ┌───────┴──┐
│ FRENCH │ │MARSDEN’S│ │ │PAUTHIER’S│
│ PRINTED │ │ENGLISH, │ └──┤ FRENCH, │
│ EDITIONS, │ │ 1818. │ │ 1865. │
│OF 1556, &c.│ └─────────┘ └──────────┘
└────────────┘
APPENDIX H.—_Bibliography of Marco Polo’s Book_.
I.—PRINCIPAL EDITIONS.
We attempt a list of all the editions of Polo; a task for which Sir
Henry Yule had no advantages, and which will be found well done for the
time in Lazari’s Appendix, based on Marsden. It may be also useful to
mention the chief Editions, with their dates.
1477. The first Printed Edition is in German. We give a reduced
Facsimile of its Frontispiece. (See p. 555.)
1481. A reproduction of the preceding at Augsburg, in the same volume
with the _History of Duke Leopold and his Son William of Austria_.
About 1490. Pipino’s Latin; the only printed edition of that version.
Without place, date, or printer’s name. (See p. 558.)
1496. Edition in Venetian Dialect, printed by J. B. da Sessa.
1500. The preceding reproduced at Brescia (often afterwards in Italy).
1502. Portuguese version from Pipino, along with the Travels of Nicolo
Conti. Printed at Lisbon by Valentym Fernandez Alemao (see vol.
ii. of this work, p. 295). Stated to have been translated from
the MS. presented by Venice to Prince Pedro (vol. i. p. _135_.)
1503. Spanish version by Rodrigo de Santaella. _Sevilla_.
1529. Ditto. Reprinted at Logroño.
1532. Novus Orbis—Basileæ. (See vol. i. p. _95_.)
1556. French version from the _Novus Orbis_.
1559. Ramusio’s 2nd volume, containing his version of Polo, of which we
have spoken amply.
1579. First English Version, made by John Frampton, according to
Marsden, from the Spanish version of Seville or Logroño.
1625. Purchas’s _Pilgrims_, vol. iii. contains a very loose translation
from Ramusio.
1664. Dutch Version, from the _Novus Orbis. Amsterdam_.
1671. Andreas Müller of Greiffenhagen reprints the Latin of the _Novus
Orbis_, with a collation of readings from the Pipino MS. at
Berlin; and with it the book of Hayton, and a disquisition _De
Chataiâ_. The Editor appears to have been an enthusiast in his
subject, but he selected his text very injudiciously. (See vol.
i. p. _96_.)
1735. Bergeron’s interesting collection of Mediæval Travels in Asia,
published in French at the Hague. The _Polo_ is a translation
from Müller, and hence is (as we have already indicated) at 6th
hand.
1747. In Astley’s Collection, IV. 580 _seqq._, there is an abstract of
Polo’s book, with brief notes, which are extremely acute, though
written in a vulgar tone, too characteristic of the time.
1818. Marsden’s famous English Edition.
1824. The Publication of the most valuable MS. and most genuine form of
the text, by the Soc. de Géographie of Paris. (See vol. i. p.
_83_.) It also contains the Latin Text (No. 24 in our list of
MSS. App. F.).
1827. Baldelli-Boni published the Crusca MS. (No. 40), and republished
the Ramusian Version, with numerous notes, and interesting
dissertations. The 2 volumes are cumbered with 2 volumes more
containing, as a Preliminary, a History of the Mutual Relations
of Europe and Asia, which probably no man ever read. _Florence_.
1844. Hugh Murray’s Edition. It is, like the present one, eclectic as
regards the text, but the Editor has taken large liberties with
the arrangement of the Book.
1845. Bürck’s German Version, Leipzig. It is translated from Ramusio,
with copious notes, chiefly derived from Marsden and Ritter.
There are some notes at the end added by the late Karl Friedrich
Neumann, but as a whole these are disappointing.
1847. Lazari’s Italian edition was prepared at the expense of the late
Senator T. Pasini, in commemoration of the meeting of the Italian
Scientific Congress at Venice in that year, to the members of
which it was presented. It is a creditable work, but too hastily
got up.
1854. Mr. T. Wright prepared an edition for Bohn’s _Antiq. Library_.
The notes are in the main (and professedly) abridged from
Marsden’s, whose text is generally followed, but with
the addition of the historical chapters, and a few other
modifications from the Geographic Text.
1854–57. _Voyageurs Anciens et Modernes, &c. Par M. Ed. Charton.
Paris._ An interesting and creditable popular work. Vol. ii.
contains Marco Polo, with many illustrations, including copies
from miniatures in the _Livre des Merveilles_. (See list in App.
F. p. 528.)
1863. Signor Adolfo Bartoli reprinted the Crusca MS. from the original,
making a careful comparison with the Geographic Text. He has
prefixed a valuable and accurate Essay on Marco Polo and the
Literary History of his Book, by which I have profited.
1865. M. Pauthier’s learned edition.
1871. First edition of the present work.
1873. First publication of Marco Polo in Russian.
1875. Second edition of this work.
1882. Facsimile of the French Stockholm MS. by Baron A. E. Nordenskiöld.
II.—BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PRINTED EDITIONS.[1]
A.—GERMAN EDITIONS.
1.—1. Nuremberg ... 1477.
The first translation of Marco Polo’s Book was printed in German, at
Nuremberg, in 1477.
Collation: 58 ff. folio without pagination and without signatures.
_Verso f._ 1: Frontispiece: Portrait of Marco Polo with this
inscription round the border: [Top] Das ist der edel Ritter. Marcho
polo von [right] Venedig der grost landtfarer. der vns beschreibt die
grossen wunder der welt [Foot] die er selber gesehenn hat. Von dem
auffgang [left] pis zu dem nydergãg der sunnẽ. der gleychẽ vor nicht
meer gehört seyn. [See p. 555.]
_Recto f._ 2, begins:
⍧ Hie hebt sich an das puch dés edelñ Ritters vñ landtfarers ‖
Marcho polo. In dem er schreibt die grossen wunderlichen ‖ ding
dieser welt. Sunderlichen von den grossen kũnigen vnd ‖ keysern
die da herschen in den selbigen landen | vnd von irem ‖ volck vnd
seiner gewonheit da selbs.
_Verso f._ 58: ⍧ Hie endet sich das puch des edelñ Ritters und
lañdtfarerz ‖ Marcho polo | das do sagt võ mangerley wunder der landt
‖ vñ lewt | vñ wie er die selbigen gesehen vñ durch faren hat ‖ von dẽ
auffgang pisz zu dem nydergang der sũnẽ Seliglich.
⍧ Disz hat gedruckt Fricz Creũszner zu Nurm̃berg Nach cristi ‖ gepurdt
Tausent vierhundert vñ im siben vñ sibenczigtē iar.
[Illustration: Frontispiece of the first German Edition.]
The copy which I have examined is in the Grenville Library, No. 6787.
(Vide _Bib. Grenvilliana_, Part II. p. 305.) When Marsden edited his
_Marco Polo_, Grenville did not possess this edition. The only known
copy was in the Vienna Imperial Library, but was without the portrait.
Grenville had made a transcript spoken of by Marsden, pp. lxx.–lxxi.,
which we describe _infra_. “When Mr. Marsden,” says Grenville in a MS.
note at the beginning of this fine volume, “published his translation
of this work, the only known copy of this first German Edition was in
the Imperial Library at Vienna, and I had a literal transcript made
from it: Since that time a second copy was found and sold by Payne and
Foss to Lord Spencer: and now I have purchased from Leipsick a third
[the present] beautiful copy. I know of no fourth copy. The copy at
Vienna wants the portrait.”
Vide _Bib. Spenceriana_, vol. vi. p. 176.
Other copies are to be found at the Imperial Library, Vienna, the Royal
Library, Berlin, the _Germanisches Museum_, Nuremberg; a sixth copy
was in the Crawford Collection (London, June, 1887, 1359) with the
portrait, and was purchased by B. Quaritch. [See _H. Cordier, Cent. of
Marco Polo_, p. 41.]
—The copy we just spoke of has No. LII. in the Grenville collection,
British Museum; it is a folio of 114 pages numbered with a pencil;
bound with the arms of the Rᵗ. Honbˡᵉ. Thoˢ. Grenville. Page 114, the
exactness of this copy is thus certified: “Apographum collatum cum
prototypo, quod in Bibliotheca Palatina Vindobonensi adservatur. Illo
quidem, qui descripsit, recitante ex prototypo, me vero hoc apographum
inspectante. Respondet pagina paginae, versui versus & syllaba
syllabae. Vindobonae die 29. Augusti 1817. B. Kopitar, Biblioth.
Palatinae Vindobon. scriptor.”
With this manuscript is bound a letter addressed to Mr. Grenville
by the Chevalier Scotti, who had the copy made; it is dated “Vienne
20 nmbre 1817,” and ends with this post-scriptum: “N. B. Comme cette
Edition fort peu connue du 477. est une édition non seulement
précieuse, mais à la vérité fort rare aussi, elle avoit été prise
par les François et portée à Paris la dernière fois qu’ils ont été à
Vienne. Elle y a été rendue avec tout le reste qu’on avoit emporté à la
suite des heureux succès des Coilisés, auxquels L’immortel Wellington
a tant contribué en y mettant la dernière couronne dont les lauriers
resteront à jamais inflétrissables.”
2.—2. Augsburg ... 1481.
—The second German edition of Marco Polo has been reprinted at Augsburg
in 1481; it is as scarce as the first edition; I have examined the copy
in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg.
Collation: 60 ff. folio, without pagination nor signatures.
_Recto f._ 1: End of the story of William of Austria, after which is
printed Marco Polo.
_Verso f._ 1: Frontispiece: Portrait of Marco Polo coloured with this
inscription round the border: [Top] Das ist der edel ritter Marcho polo
von Venedig. [right] der grõst landfarer. der vns beschreibt die grossen
wunder der welt die er selber gese [foot] hen hat. Von dem auffgang
biss zu dem nidergang der [left] sunnen | der geleich vor nit meer
gehört seind.
_Recto f._ 2, begins:
Hie hept sich an das buch des edlẽ ritters vñ landtfarers Marcho
polo. in dem er schreibt die grossen wunderlichen ding diser
welt. sunderlichen võ den grossen künigen vnd keisern | die da
herschen in den selbigen landen vnd von jrem volck vnnd seiner
gewonheÿt da selbs.
_Recto f._ 60: Hie enndet sich herczog Wilhalm von österreich vñ das
buch des edeln ritters vñ landtfarers Marcho polo | das da sagt von
mengerleÿ wunder der land vnd leüt. vnd wie er die selbigẽ gesehen
vñ durch faren hat von dem auffgang biss zu dem nÿdergang d’sunnen
Seligklich. Diss hat gedruckt Anthonius Sorg zu Augspurg Nach xp̃i
gepurt tausent vier hundert vnd jm lxxxj. jare.
No. fig. in the text.
3.—3. Die New Welt der landschaften vnnd Insulen ... gedruckt zu
Strassburg durch Georgen Vlricher ... An. M.D.XXXIIII, folio.
Ff. 103–133; Marr Paulen des Venedigers Erst Buch | von den
Morgenlandern.—Ff. 134–152: Haithon des Armeniers Premonstratensis
ordens | von den Tartern.
Translated from the _Novus Orbis Regionvm_.—See 11–12.
4.—4.* M. Polus. Reise in die Tartarey und zum Grossen Chan von Chatai,
uebersetzt. v. H. Megisser. Altenburg, 1609, 8vo.
H. Ternaux-Compans, _Bibliothèque asiatique et africaine_, No.
1031.—[Notwithstanding all my researches, I could not find this edition
in any private or public library in Germany.—H. C.]
5.—5. Chorographia Tartariæ: ‖ Oder ‖ Warhafftige Beschreibung der
‖ vberaus wunderbahrlichen Reise | ‖ welche der Edle vnd weit
erfahrne Venedigi—‖ sche GENTILHUOMO MARCUS POLUS, mit dem ‖
zunahmen MILLION, noch vor vierthalb hundert Jah=‖ren | in die
Oriental vnd Morgenlãnder | Sonderlich aber in ‖ die Tartarey |
zu dem grossen Can von Cathai | zu ‖ Land vnd Wasser Persönlich
verrichtet: ‖ Darinnen ausführlich vnd vmbständ=‖lich erzehlet
werden | viel zuvor vnbekandte Landschaff=‖ten | Königreich vnd
Städt | sampt dero Sitten vnd ‖ Gebräuchen | vnd andern seltzamen
Sachen: ‖ Die Er | als der erste Erfinder der newen Welt | gegen
‖ Orient | oder den Ost Indien | gesehen vnd erfahren. ‖ In drey
vnterschiedliche Bücher abge=‖[t]heilet: sampt einem Discurs
Herrn Johan Bapti=‖stae Rhamnusij | der Herrschafft zu Vene=‖dig
geheimen Secretarij | von dem ‖ Leben des Autoris. ‖ Alles
aus dem Original | so in Italianischer ‖ Sprach beschrieben |
treulich vnd mit fleis ver=‖ teutschet | auch mit Kupfferstücken
‖ geziehret | durch ‖ HIERONYMUM MEGISERUM.—‖ Anno M. DC. XI. ‖
Leipzig | in vorlegung Henning Grossen des Jüngern. Small 8vo.
pp. 354 (last page numbered by mistake 351) + 36 prel. ff. for
the tit., preface, etc., and 7 ff. at the end for the table.
Plates.—See p. 350: _Alphabetum Tartaricúm_, et _Oratio Dominica
Tartaricé_.
6.—6. Die Reisen des Marco Polo, oder Marcus Paulus, eines Venetianers,
in die Tartarey, im Jahre 1272. (_Allgemeine Historie der
Reisen_, Leipzig, 1750, VII, pp. 423 _et seq._)
7.—7. Marco Paolo’s ‖ Reise in den Orient | ‖ während der Jahre
1272 bis 1295. ‖—Nach den ‖ vorzüglichsten Original=Ausgaben
verdeutscht, ‖ und ‖ mit einem Kommentar begleitet ‖ von ‖ Felix
Peregrin.‖—Ronneburg und Leipzig, ‖ bei August Schumann, 1802,
8vo., pp. vi–248.
P. 248: Eisenberg, gedruckt bei Johann Wilhelm Schöne.
8.—8. Die Reisen des Venezianers Marco Polo im dreizehnten
Jahrhundert.—Zum ersten Male vollständig nach den besten
Ausgaben Deutsch mit einem Kommentar von August Bürck.—Nebst
Zusätzen und Verbesserungen von Karl Friedrich Neumann. Leipzig,
B. G. Teubner, 1845, 8vo, pp. xvi–631.
—Di un frammento inedito di Marco Foscarini intorno ai Viaggiatori
Veneziani e di una nuova traduzione in tedesco dei Viaggi di Marco
Polo. [By Tommaso Gar] (_Archivio Storico Italiano_, Appendice, T. IV,
Firenze, 1847, pp. 89 _et seq._)
9.—9. Die Reisen des Venezianers Marco Polo im dreizehnten
Jahrhundert.—Zum ersten Male vollständig nach den besten
Ausgaben Deutsch mit einem Kommentar von August Bürck. Nebst
Zusätzen und Verbesserungen von Karl Friedrich Neumann. Zweite
unveränderte Ausgabe.—Leipzig, Druck und Verlag von B. G.
Teubner, 1855, 8vo, pp. xvi–631.
B.—LATIN EDITIONS.
10.—1. _Commence_; ⍧ In nomine dn̄i nri ihū xp̄i filij dei viui et
veri amen. Incipit plogus ī libro dn̄i marci pauli de venecijs de
cōsuetudinibus et cōdicionibus orientaliū regionū.
Then the declaration of “Frater franciscus pepur. de bononia frm̃
p̄dicatorū” who translated the work from the vulgar language into Latin.
End p. 147: Explicit liber dn̄i marci de venecijs Deo gracias.
Collation: 74 f. or 148 pages; the last is blank, 4to, no title, no
pagination; signatures p. 1, a. 1 = p. 141, k. 3 (_a-h_, par 8; _i_, by
4; _k_, by 6); maximum 33 lines by page; [1485?].
It is interesting to note that Christopher Columbus had a copy of
this edition of Marco Polo, now kept in the Colombina at Seville. The
margins of the following folios contain the autograph notes of the
great navigator:
9 v. 31 r. & v. 46 v. 55 r. & v. 66 r. & v.
13 v. 36 v. 47 r. & v. 57 r. & v. 67 r. & v.
15 r. & v. 38 v. 48 r. & v. 59 r. & v. 68 r. & v.
17 v. 39 r. 49 r. & v. 60 r. & v. 69 r. & v.
18 r. & v. 40 r. & v. 50 r. & v. 61 r. & v. 70 r. & v.
19 r. 41 r. 51 r. & v. 62 r. & v. 71 r. & v.
23 r. & v. 42 r. & v. 52 r. & v. 63 r. 72 r. & v.
24 r. & v. 43 r. & v. 53 r. & v. 64 v. 73 r. & v.
25 r. 44 r. & v. 54 r. 65 r. & v. 74 r.
Cf. Simón de la Rosa y Lopéz, pp. XXIII, XLIII–XLIV of vol. II,
Sevilla, 1891, 4to: _Biblioteca Colombina_.—Catálogo de sus libros
impresos publicado por primera vez en virtud de acuerdo del Excmo.
é Ilmo. Sr. Déan y Cabildo de la Santa Metropolitana y Patriarcal
Iglesia de Sevilla bajo la immediata dirección de su Bibliotecario
el Ilmo. Sr. Dr. D. Servando Arbolí y Faraudo Dignidad de Capellán
Mayor de San Fernando.—See also H. Harrisse, _Bibl. americana
vetustissima_.—Additions, p. XII.
“Edition fort rare, dit Brunet, et la plus ancienne que l’on ait de
cette version latine de Marco Polo, faite par Pipino, vers 1320.
Elle est imprimée avec les mêmes caractères, que l’_Itinerarium_ de
Joan. de Mandeville, c’est-à-dire par Gerard de Leeu, à Anvers, vers
1485, et non pas à Rome et à Venise, comme on l’avait supposé. Vend.
4 liv. 14 sh. 6d. Hanrott; 7 liv. Libri en 1859. (_Choicer portion_,
1562.)” Brunet writes elsewhere (cf. _Mandeville_ par H. Cordier) about
Mandeville from the same press: “... La souscription que nous allons
rapporter semble prouver qu’elle a été imprimée à Venise; cependant
Panzer, IX, 200, la croit sortie des presses de Theodoric Martin, à
Aloste, et M. Grenville en trouvait les caractères conformes à ceux
que Gérard Leeu a employés à Anvers, de 1484–1485. M. Campbell (_Ann.
de la typ. néerlandaise_) la donne à Gérard Leeu, et fixe la date de
l’impression à la première année du séjour de ce typographe à Anvers,
après son départ de Gouda.”
It is certain from the use of the signatures =a=, =aa=, =a=, and the
similitude of the type of the three works, that the _Mandeville_, the
_Ludolphe_, and the _Marco Polo_ come from the same printing office,
and have been printed together as it seems to be proved by the copy
of the Sunderland Library, which was complete and contained the three
works.
Lazari, p. 460, writes: “Jo. de Mandeville itineraria: Dom. Ludolph.
de itinere ad Terram Sanctam: M. Paul. Venet. de regionibus
orientalibus. Liber rariss. Zwollis, 1483, in–4.
“Leggiamo questa nota nell’opera _Bibliotheca Beauclerkiana or Sale
catalogue of the books of Topham Beauclerk’s Library_, London, 1781, P.
II., p. 15, n. 430. Marsden però ritiene celarsi sotto quell’erronea
indicazione la seguente prima edizione [s. a., 4to] latina de’ viaggi
di M. Polo. Egli istitui molte ricerche per rinvenire in Inghilterra
quell’esemplare, ma non gli è stato possibile di averne traccia.”
11.—2. Marci Pavli Veneti, de Regionibvs orientalibvs Libri III.
(_Novus Orbis Regionum_).
Editions of 1532, 1537, 1555.—See 3-3.
12.—3. Marci Pavli ‖ Veneti Itinerarivm, ‖ seu de rebus Orientalibus ‖
Libri tres. ‖ Helmaestadii, ‖ M.D. LXXXV, 4to.
Part of the Collection of Reineccius:
—Reineri Reinecii ‖ Polyhistoris clarissimi ‖ Historia O—‖ rientalis:
‖ Hoc est ‖ Rerum in oriente à Christianis, Saracenis, Tur-‖cis &
Tartaris gestarum diuersorum ‖ Auctorum. ‖ Totum opus in duas partes
tribulum est, ‖ contenta in singulis sequens ‖ pagina indicat. ‖
Helmaestadii, ‖ Typis Iacobi Lucij, impensis heredum Ludolphi ‖
Brandes. Anno 1602, 4to.
Verso of the title:
_Primus Tomus continet:_
—Chronicon Hierosolomytanum, cum appen-‖dice Reineri Reineccij &
Chronologia ‖ Henr. Meibomij.
_In Altero sunt:_
—Vita Henrici VII. Imp. auctore Conrado Vec—‖erio.
—Vita Caroli IIII. Imp. ab ipso Carolo con-‖scripta.
—Historia Orientalis Haythoni Armenij.
—Pauli Veneti Itinerarium.
—Fragmentum de reb. orientalibus ex Speculo ‖ Historiali Vincentij
Beluacensis.
—Appendix ad Expositiones Haythoni auctore ‖ Rein. Reineccio.
The colophon at the end of the first part has the date of 1584; at the
end of the second part, 1585.
—This Marco Polo was reprinted according to Lazari, p. 465, in 1602.
13.—4. MARCI PAULI VENETI, ‖ Historici fidelissimi juxta ac
praestantissimi, ‖ de ‖ REGIONIBUS ‖ orientalibus ‖ libri
III. ‖ Cum Codice Manuscripto Biblio-‖thecae Electoralis
Brandenburgicae collati, exq’; ‖ eo adjectis Notis plurimùm
tum suppleti ‖ tum illustrati. ‖ Accedit, propter cognationem
materiae, ‖ HAITHONI ARMENI HISTORIA ‖ orientalis: quae &
de Tartaris ‖ inscribitur; ‖ Itemque ‖ ANDREAE MÜLLERI,
Greiffenhagii, ‖ de CHATAJA, cujus praedictorum Auctorum uter-‖
que mentionem facit, DISQUISITIO; inq́ue ipsum ‖ Marcum Paulum
Venetum PRAEFATIO, & ‖ locupletissimi INDICES. ‖ Coloniae
Brandenburgicae, ‖—Ex Officina Georgii Schulzii, Typogr. Elect. ‖
Anno M. DC. LXXI. 4to.
Contains:
Engraved frontispiece.
Dedicatory Epistle, 3 ff. not numbered.
Andreæ MÜLLERI Greiffenhagii, in Marci Pauli Veneti Chorographiam,
Praefatio, pp. 26.
Doctorum Virorum De hoc Marci Pauli Veneti Opere Testimonia, ac
Judicia ... (Franciscus Pipinus, etc.) 8 ff. n. ch.
MARCI PAULI Veneti De Regionibus orientalibus Libri III, pp. 167.
Index primus Historicus, Sive alphabetica Recensio omnium eorum, quae
Autor passim observavit, atque aliàs memoranda reliquit, 22 ff. not
numbered.
Index secundus Chronographicus, qui Annos & cujuslibet anni NOTABILIA
(quae quidem Autor designavit) continet, 1 page.
Index tertius Itinerarius, Ubi Loca recensentur, quae auctor
pertransiit, & Distantiae Locorum, quas ipse annotavit, 2 ff. not
numbered.
Index quartus Glossarius, Estq́ue vocum exoticarum, quas Autor ipse
interpretatus est, 1 half p.
Emendanda in Marco Paulo Veneto, quaeq́; ad hunc pertinent: aut ad eadem
Addenda, 1 f. not numbered.
HAITHONI Armeni ‖ Historia ori-‖entalis: ‖ Qvae eadem & De Tartaris ‖
inscribitur. ‖ Anno ‖ CIↃ. IↃC. LXXI, 2 ff. not numbered + pp. 107.
[Errata] 2 pp. not numbered.
Index, 7 pp. not numbered.
Andreae MÜLLERI, ‖ Greiffenhagii, ‖ DISQUISITIO ‖ Geographica &
Historica, ‖ De ‖ CHATAJA, ‖ In Quâ ‖ I. Praecipuè Geographorum nobilis
‖ illa Controversia: Quaenam CHATAJA sit, & an ‖ sit idem ille terrarum
tractus, quem Sinas, & vul-‖ gó Chinam vocant, aut pars ejus aliqua? ‖
latissimè tractatur; ‖ 2. Eâdem verò operâ pleraque rerum, quae unquam
‖ de Chataja, deq́ue Sinis memorabilia ‖ fuerunt, atque etiam nunc
sunt, compendiosè ‖ enarrantur. ‖—Ecclesiastae I. v. 15. ‖: לתסטת תסות
לא יוכל ‖ Senec. de Beneficiis VI. I. ‖ _Etiam quod discere supervacuum
est prodest_ ‖ cognoscere. ‖ —Berolini, Typis Rungianis. ‖ Anno M. DC.
LXX, 2 ff. not numbered + pp. 115 on 2 col.
C.—ITALIAN EDITIONS.
14.—1. Marco Polo da Venie ‖ sia de le merauegliose ‖ cose del Mondo.
Below this title the mark of the printer SESSA: a cat holding a mouse
in its mouth with the initials I and B on the right and on the left of
the coat of arms (with a ducal crown above) which exhibits this group,
and S at foot. Verso of f. 83:
_Finisse lo libro de Marco Polo da Venie ‖ sia dele merauegliose cose
del mōdo Im ‖ presso in Venetia per zoanne Baptista ‖ da Sessa
Milanese del M. ccccxcvi. ‖ adi. xiii. del mese de Iunio regnā
‖ do lo Illustrissimo Principe Au ‖ gustino Barbadico inclyto ‖
Duce di Venetia_.
Recto of folio 84: “Registro. a b c d e f g h i k l Tutti questi sono
quaderni excepto l chie duerno”; audessous le monogramme de l’imprimeur
en blanc sur fond noir.—Verso of folio 84 is blank.
The copy which I have examined is in the Grenville Library, No.
6666. It is in fine condition and complete, notwithstanding what the
Sobolewski Sale Catalogue says to the contrary (No. 1730): it is
a small 8vo ff. 84; each quire containing, as is indicated by the
register, eight sheets, except quire l, which has but four.
Grenville added to his copy the following note: “This appears to be the
first edition printed in the original Italian.—The Abbé Morelli who
sent me this book from Venice had found great difficulty in procuring a
copy for the Library of St. Marc.—Panzer III. 396, refers only to the
mention made of it by Denis. Supp. I, pᵉ 415. I know of no other copy
in England....”
Lazari, p. 460, says: “Prima e rarissima edizione del compendio
veneziano. Un capitolo che parla di Trebisonda, tratto dal viaggio di
Fr. Odorico, precede il testo del Polo mutilo e scorrettissimo: quel
capitolo non forma però parte d’esso, come nelle molte ristampe di
questo compendio.”
See _Odoric de Pordenone_, par Henri Cordier, p. 9.
Ternaux-Compans (29) mentions an edition of Sessa of 1486, which does
not seem to exist.
15—2. Marco Polo da Vene ‖ sia de le maraueliose ‖ cose del Mondo. ‖
Small 8vo.; 64 ff. non chif., sig. _a—i: a—g_ by 8 = 56 ff., _h_
and _i_ by 4 = 8 ff., total 64 ff.
Collation:
_Recto 1st f._: border; vignette; above the vig. title ut supra.
_Verso 1st f. begins_: Tractato delle più maraueliose cose e delle piu
notabile: che si ri ‖ trouano nelle ꝑte del mōdo. Re ‖ dutte & racolte
sotto breuita ...
_Recto f. 64_: Impressa la presente opera per el Venerabile mi ‖ ser
pre Batista da Farfengo nella Magnifica cita de ‖ Bressa. adi. xx.
December. M. CCCCC. ‖
“Ristampa dell’edizione 1496, leggiermente modificata nella
introduzione. Rarissima.” (Lazari, p. 460.)
16.—3. Marco Polo da Veniesia ‖ de le marauegliose co= ‖ se del Mondo.
small 8vo, 56 ff. not numbered, sig. _a—g_ by 8.
Collation: title ut supra: _Printer’s mark_: a cat holding a mouse in
its mouth, M O on the sides; S at foot.—Ends, recto f. 56; ¶ _Impresso
in Venetia per Melchior Sessa. An‖no Dñi._ M. CCCCC VIII. _Adi._ xxi.
_zugno_.
17.—4. Marco Polo ‖ Venetiano ‖ in CVI si tratta le meravi‖gliose
cose del mondo per lui uedute: del costu=‖me di uarij paesi,
dello stranio uiuere di ‖ quelli; della descrittione de diuersi
‖ animali, e del trouar dell’o=‖ro, dell’argento, e delle ‖
pietre preciose, co=‖sa non men uti‖le, che bel‖la. [Vignette.] ‖
In Venetia, 8vo; 56 ff. n. ch., sig. _a—g_ by 8.
At the end: _Finite é lo libro de Marco Polo da Venetia delle: ‖
marauegliose cose del mondo. ‖ In Venetia per Matthio Pagan, in
Frezaria, ‖ al segno della Fede._ 1555.
“Ristampa dell’edizione 1496. La edizione 1555 fu riprodotta dello
stesso _Mathio Pagan_ senza data.” (Lazari, p. 463.)
A copy _s. d._ exists in the Grenville Library (304. a. 23), this is the
title of it:
18.—5. Marco Polo ‖ Venetiano. ‖ In cvi si tratta le meravi‖gliose cose
del mondo per lui uedute, del costu‖me di uarij paesi, dello
stranio uiuere di ‖ quelli; della descrittione de diuersi ‖
animali, e del trouar dell’oro ‖ dell’argento, e delle pie‖tre
preciose, cosa ‖ non men utile, ‖ che bel‖la. In Venetia. s. d.,
8vo., 56 ff. not numbered, sig. _a—g_ by 8. At the end: _In
Venetia per Mathio Pagan, in Freza‖ria, al Segno della Fede._—On
the title M. Pagan’s mark.
19.—6. ¶ Opera stampata nouamē‖te delle marauigliose co=‖se del mondo:
comin=‖ciādo da Leuante a ponente fin al me‖zo di. El mondo nouo
& isole & lo=‖chi incogniti & siluestri abondā‖ti e sterili &
doue abōda loro ‖ & largento & Zoglie & p̄ie ‖ tre p̄ciose &
animali & ‖ mōstri spaurosi & do‖ue manzano car=‖ne humana e ‖
i gesti & vi=‖uer & co=‖stumi ‖ de quelli paesi cosa certamēte
molto cu=‖riosa de intendere & sapere.
Small 8vo, 56 ff. not numbered, sig. _a—g_ by 8. At foot of recto f.
56: ¶_Finito lo libro de Marco Polo da Venetia de le ‖ marauegliose
cose del mondo. ‖ ¶ Stampata in Venetia per Paulo Danza Anno._ ‖ _Dñi_
M. D. xxxiij. _Adi 10 Febraro_. ‖
Reprint of the 1496 edition.
20.—7. De i Viaggi di Messer Marco Polo Gentil’hvomo Venetiano
(Ramusio, II, 1606.)
See the former editions of Ramusio.
21.—8. Marco Polo ‖ Venetiano, ‖ Delle Merauiglie del Mondo ‖ per lui
vedute; ‖ Del Costume di varij Paesi, & dello stranio ‖ viuer di
quelli. ‖ Della Descrittione de diuersi Animali. ‖ Del trouar
dell’Oro, & dell’Argento. ‖ Delle Pietre Preciose. ‖ _Cosa
non meno vtile, che bella_. ‖ Di nouo Ristampato, & osseruato
l’ordine ‖ suo vero nel dire. ‖ In Treuigi, Ad instantia di
Aurelio Reghet‖tini Libraro. M DXC. 8vo, 57 ff. numbered, _a−g_ ✕
8 = 56 ff. + _h_ ✕ 1 = 57 ff.; vignette on the title; 1 wood-cut,
not inserted in the text.
The wood-cut is not to be found in the copy of the British Museum, G
bbb 8.
22.—9. Marco Polo Venetiano, Delle Merauiglie del Mondo per lui vedute;
Del costume di varij Paesi, & dello stranio viuer di quelli.
Della Descrittione de diuersi Animali. Del trouar Dell’Oro, &
dell’Argento. Delle Pietre Preciose. _Cosa non meno vtile, che
bella_, Di nouo Ristampato, & Osseruato l’ordine suo vero nel
dire. In Venetia, Appresso Marco Claseri, M DXCVII, 8vo, pp. 128;
no cut.
23.—10. Marco Polo ‖ Venetiano, ‖ Delle Maraviglie del Mondo ‖ per lui
vedute. ‖ Del costume di varij Paesi, & dello stranio viuer ‖ di
quelli. ‖ Della Descrittione de diuersi Animali. ‖ Del trouar
dell’Oro, & dell’Argento. ‖ Delle Pietre Pretiose. ‖ _Cosa
non meno vtile, che bella_. ‖ Di nuouo ristampato, & osseruato
l’ordine suo ‖ vero nel dire. ‖ [fleuron] In Venetia, M DCII. ‖
Appresso Paolo Vgolino, small 8vo pp. 104; no cut.
Page 104: _Finito è lo Libro di Marco Polo da Venetia delle ‖
Marauigliose cose del Mondo_.
This edition differs from the following bearing the same date:
24.—11. Marco Polo Venetiano, Delle Merauiglie del Mondo per lui
vedute. Del costume di varij Paesi, & dello stranio viuere di
quelli. Della Descritione de diuersi Animali. Del trouar
Dell’oro, & dell’Argento. Delle Pietre Preciose. _Cosa non meno
vtile, che bella_. Di nouo Risstampato, & osseruato l’ordine suo
vero nel dire. In Venetia. M DCII. Appresso Paulo Vgolino, 8vo,
pp. 128; on the title, vig. exhibiting David carrying the head of
Goliath; no cut.
25.—12. Marco Polo Venetiano, Delle Merauiglie del Mondo per lui
vedute. Del costume di varij Paesi, & dello stranio viuer di
quelli. Della Descrittione de diuersi Animali. Dell trouar
dell’Oro, & dell’Argento. Delle Pietre Preciose. _Cosa non meno
vtile, che bella_. Di nuouo ristampato, & osseruato l’ordine
suo vero nel dire. Con licenza de’ Superiori, & Priuilegio. In
Venetia, M.DC. XXVI. Appresso Ghirardo, & Iseppo Imberti, small
8vo, pp. 128; 1 wood-cut, not inserted in the text.
26.—13. Marco Polo ‖ Venetiano. ‖ Delle Merauiglie del Mondo per ‖ lui
vedute. ‖ Del costume di varij Paesi, & dello stranio viuer di
quelli. ‖ De la Descrittione de diuersi Animali. ‖ Del trouar
dell’Oro, & de l’Argento. ‖ Delle Pietre preciose. ‖ _Cosa
non meno utile, che bella_. ‖ Di nuouo ristampato, & osseruato
l’ordine ‖ suo vero nel dire. ‖ In Venetia, & poi in Treuigi per
Angelo Righettini. 1267 [read 1627]. ‖ Con Licenza de’ Superiori,
small 8vo, pp. 128; 1 wood-cut, not inserted in the text.
27.—14. Marco Polo ‖ Venetiano. ‖ Delle Merauiglie del Mondo per ‖ lui
vedute. ‖ Del costume di varij Paesi, & dello stranio viuer di
quelli. ‖ De la Descrittione de diuersi Animali. ‖ Del trouar
dell’Oro, & de l’Argento. ‖ Delle Pietre preciose. ‖ _Cosa non
meno utile, che bella_. Di nuouo ristampato, & osseruato l’ordine
suo ‖ vero nel dire. ‖ In Treuigi, Appresso Girolamo Righettini:
1640. ‖ _Con Licenza de’ Superiori_, small 8vo, 128 pages with a
vignette on the title, printer’s mark; wood-cut f. 2 _verso_.
28.—15.—* In Trevigi M. DC. LVII., appresso Girolamo Righettini, 8vo.
29.—16. Marco Polo Venetiano. Delle Merauiglie del Mondo per lui
vedute. I. Del costume di varij Paesi, & dello strano viuer di
quelli. II. De la Descrittione de diuersi Animali. III. Del
trouar dell’Oro, & dell’Argento. IV. Delle Pietre pretiose.
_Cosa non meno vtile, che bella_. Si nuouo ristampato, &
osseruato l’ordine suo vero nel dire. In Trevigi, Per il
Righettini. M. DC. LXV. Con Licenza de’ Svperiori, small 8vo, 128
pp. with a wood-cut.
30.—17. Marco Polo Venetiano Delle Merauiglie del Mondo per lui vedute.
I. Del costume di varij Paesi, & dello strano viuer di quelli.
II. Della Descrittione de diuersi Animali. III. Del trouar
dell’Oro, & dell’Argento. IV. Delle Pietre pretiose. _Cosa non
meno vtile, che bella_. Di nuouo ristampato, & osseruato l’ordine
suo vero nel dire. In Trevigi, Per il Reghettini. M. DC. LXXII.
Con Licenza de’ Svperiori, small 8vo. pp. 128; 1 cut not inserted
in the text.
These various editions are reprints of the text of 1496.
31.—18. Il Milione ‖ di Marco Polo ‖ Testo di lingua ‖ del secolo
decimoterzo ‖ ora per la prima volta ‖ pubblicato ed illustrato
‖ dal Conte ‖ Gio. Batt. Baldelli Boni. ‖ Tomo primo ‖ Firenze
‖ Da’ Torchi di Giuseppe Pagani ‖ M. DCCCXXVII. ‖ Con approv. e
privilegio, 4to, pp. XXXII.−CLXXV.−234 + 1 f. not numbered for
the index.
INDICE: Vita di Marco Polo, P. I.—Sommario Cronologico della Vita
del Polo, P. XXV.—Storia del Milione, P. I.—Illustrazione della Tela
del Salone dello Scudo, P. CV.—Descrizione dell’Atlante Cinese,
posseduto dalla Magliabechiana, P. CIX.—Schiarimento relativo all’età
dell’Atlante Cinese, P. CXXI.—Notizia dei Manoscritti del _Milione_,
di cui si è fatto uso nell’Opera, o veduti, o fatti riscontrare, P.
CXXIII.—Della Porcellana. Discorso, P. CXXXVII.—Del Portulano Mediceo,
e delle Scoperte dei Genovesi nell’Atlantico. Discorso, P. CLIII.—Voci
del Milione di Marco Polo, citate dal Vocabolario della Crusca, P.
CLXXIII.—Voci tratte dal Testo del Polo, e da citarsi dal Vocabolario
della Crusca, P. CLXXIV. —_Il Milione_ di Marco Polo, TESTO DELLA
CRUSCA, P. I.
—Il Milione ‖ di ‖ Messer Marco Polo ‖ Viniziano ‖ Secondo la lezione
Ramusiana ‖ illustrato e comentato ‖ dal Conte ‖ Gio. Batt.
Baldelli Boni ‖ Tomo Secondo ‖ Firenze ‖ Da’ Torchi di Giuseppe
Pagani ‖ M DCCC XXVII. ‖ Con approv. e privilegio, 4to, pp.
XXVI.–514 + 2 ff. n. ch.
INDICE: Dichiarazione al Libro Primo, P. 1.—Proemio di Fra Pipino
al Milione, P. 3.—TESTO RAMUSIANO del _Milione_. Libro Primo, P.
5—Dichiarazione al Libro Secondo, per rischiarare le Legazioni di
Marco Polo, P. 147.—Libro Secondo, P. 153.—Dichiarazione alla parte
seconda del Libro Secondo. Delia Lingua Cinese, P. 223.—Libro Terzo, P.
357.—Aggiunte e Correzioni, P. 481.
—Storia ‖ delle ‖ Relazioni vicendevoli ‖ Dell’Europa e dell’Asia ‖
dalla Decadenza di Roma ‖ fino alla ‖ distruzione del Califfato
‖ del Conte ‖ Gio. Batt. Baldelli Boni. ‖ Parte Prima ‖ Firenze
‖ Da’ Torchi di Giuseppe Pagani ‖ M DCCC XXVII. ‖ Con approv. e
privilegio, 4to, 4 ff. n. c. for the tit. and the ded.: “A Sua
Altezza Imperiale e Reale Leopoldo Secondo Principe Imperiale
d’Austria ...” + pp. 466.
—Parte Seconda ‖ Firenze ‖ Da’ Torchi di Giuseppe Pagani ‖ M DCCC
XXVII. ‖ Con approv. e privilegio, 4to, pp. 467 to 1004 + 1 f. n.
ch.
Eighty copies of Baldelli-Boni’s work were printed on large paper, and
two on vellum.
Two maps generally bound apart accompany the work.
32.—19. I Viaggi in Asia in Africa, nel mare dell’Indie descritti nel
secolo XIII da Marco Polo Veneziano. Testo di lingua detto _Il
Milione_ illustrato con annotazioni. Venezia, dalla tipografia di
Alvisopoli, M DCCC XXIX, 2 parts, 8vo, pp. xxi + 1–189, 195–397.
“Ristampa del Testo di Crusca procurata da B. Gamba il quale vi appose
piccole note a pie di pagina.” (Lazari, p. 470.)
“Il en a été tiré 100 exemplaires, in-8, auxquels est jointe la carte
géographique qui fait partie de l’ouvrage de Zurla. Il y en a aussi des
exemplaires in-8, très grand Pap., et sur des papiers de différentes
couleurs.” (Brunet.)
33.—20. Il Libro di Marco Polo intitolato il Milione. (_Relazioni di
Viaggiatori_, Venezia, co’ tipi del Gondoliere, M DCCC XLI, I,
pp. 1–231.)
Reprint of the Crusca Text.—See Baldelli-Boni, _supra_ 31–18.
Gondoliere’s Collection form vol. i. and ii. of the class XI. of the
_Biblioteca classica italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti disposta e
illustrata da Luigi Carrer_.
34.—21. I Viaggi in Asia in Africa, nel mare dell’Indie descritti
nel secolo XIII da Marco Polo Veneziano testo di lingua detto
Il Milione illustrato con annotazioni. Volume unico. Parma, per
Pietro Fiaccadori, M DCCC XLIII, Small 8vo, pp. IV.–308.
Reprint of the Crusca Text.
35.—22. I Viaggi in Asia, in Africa, nel mare dell’Indie descritti nel
secolo XIII da Marco Polo Veneziano. Testo di lingua detto Il
_Milione_. Udine, Onofrio Turchetto, Tip. edit. 1851, 16mo, pp.
X.–207.
36.—23. I Viaggi ‖ di ‖ Marco Polo ‖ Veneziano ‖ tradotti per la
prima volta dall’originale francese ‖ di Rusticiano di Pisa ‖
e corredati d’illustrazioni e di documenti ‖ da Vincenzo Lazari
‖ pubblicati per cura ‖ di Ludovico Pasini ‖ membro eff. e
segretario dell’I. R. Istituto Veneto. ‖ Venezia ‖ M DCCC XLVII,
8vo, pp. LXIV.–484, map.
Verso of the title: “Coi Tipi di Pietro Naratovitch.”
See pp. 447–471, _Bibliografia_.—Pp. 473–484, Indice Alfabetico delle
Materie.
37.—24. I Viaggi di Marco Polo secondo la lezione del Codice
Magliabechiano più antico reintegrati col testo francese a stampa
per cura di Adolfo Bartoli. Firenze, Felice Le Monnier, 1863,
small 8vo, pp. LXXXIII.–439.
38.—25. Il Milione ossia Viaggi in Asia, in Africa e nel Mar delle
Indie descritti nel secolo XIII da Marco Polo Veneziano. Torino,
Tip. dell’oratorio di S. Franc. di Sales, 1873, 32mo, pp. 280.
_Biblioteca della Gioventù Italiana_.
39.—26. Giulio Verne. I Viaggi di Marco Polo unica versione originale
fedelmente riscontrata sub codice Magliabeccano e sulle opere di
Charton per cura di Ezio Colombo. Volume Unico. Milano, Serafino
Muggiani e Comp., 1878, 16mo, pp. 143.
The frontispiece is a coarse wood-cut exhibiting Marco Polo; this vol.
is part of a popular Collection of Travels.
40.—27. Marco Polo.—I Viaggi secondo la lezione del codice
Magliabechiano più antico. Milano, Sonzogno, 1886, 16mo.
See _supra_ 37–24.
D.—PORTUGUESE EDITION.
41.—1. MARCO ‖ PAULO. ¶ Ho liuro de Nycolao veneto. ¶ O trallado da
carta de huũ genoues das ditas terras. ¶ Cõ priuilegio del Rey
nosso senhor q̃ nenhuũ faça a impres ‖ sam deste liuro. nẽ ho
venda em todollos se’ regnos & senho=‖rios sem liçẽça de Valentim
fernãdez so pena cõteuda na car ‖ ta do seu preuilegio. Ho preço
delle. Cento & dez reaes. folio of 106 ff.
Collation: 8 prel. ff. n. chiff., and 98 ff. numbered.
_Recto 1ˢᵗ f.:_ Titre ut supra.—Vignette showing a sphere.
_Verso 2ᵈ f.:_ ¶ Começase a epistola sobre a tralladaça do liuro de ‖
Marco paulo. Feita per Valẽtym fernãdez escudey ‖ ro da excellentissima
Raynha Dona Lyanor. Ende ‖ rençada ao Serenissimo & Inuictissimo Rey
& Sen ‖hor Dom Emanuel o primeiro. Rey de Portugal & ‖ dos Alguarues.
daquẽ & alem mar em Africa. Sen ‖ hor de Buynee. E da conquista da
nauegaçom & co‖mercio de Ethiopia. Arabia. Persia. & da India.
_Recto 7ᵗʰ f.:_ Começase a tauoa dos capitulos do liuro Primeyro.
_Recto 1ˢᵗ f. chif.:_ ¶ Começase ho Liuro Primeiro de Marco paulo
‖ de Veneza das condiçoões & custumes das gẽtes ‖ & das terras &
prouincias orientaes. E prime y ra‖mente de como & em que maneyra Dom
Marco=‖ paulo de Veneza & Dom Maffeo seu irmaão se pas‖sarom aas partes
do oriente; vig. repres. a galley; border.
_Verso f. 77:_ End of Marco Polo.
_Recto f. 78:_ Nicolo Conti.
_Verso f. 95:_ End of Nicolo Conti.
_Recto f. 96:_ A Carta do genoues.
_Verso f. 98:_ ¶ Acabase ho liuro de Marco paulo. cõ ho liuro de
Nicolao ve=‖neto ou veneziano. & assi mesmo ho trallado de hũa carta de
huũ ‖ genoues mercador. que todos escreuerõ das Indias. a seruiço ‖ de
d’s. & auisamẽto daquelles q̃ agora vam pera as ditas Indias ‖ Aos quaes
rogo & peço humilmente q̃ benignamẽte queirã emẽ‖dar & correger ho que
menos acharẽ no escreuer. s. nos vocabul’ ‖ das prouincias. regnos.
çidades. ylhas. & outras cousas muytas ‖ & nõ menos em a distãcia das
legoas de hũa terra p̱a outra. _Im=‖ primido per Valentym fernãdez
alemaão. Em a muy nobre çida ‖ de Lyxboa. Era de Mil & quinhentos
& dous annos. Aos. qua‖tro dias do mes de Feureyro_.—At the top,
printer’s mark.
A detailed description of this edition is to be found in Figanière’s
_Bibliographia_, No. 947.
E.—SPANISH EDITIONS.
42.—1. Cosmographia ‖ breue introdu‖ctoria en el libro ‖ d’ Marco
paulo. ‖—El libro del famoso Marco paulo ‖ veneciano d’las cosas
marauillosas ‖ q̃ vido enlas partes oriẽtales. cõuie ‖ ne saber
enlas Indias. Armenia. A‖rabia. Persia & Tartaria. E d’l pode ‖
rio d’l grã Cā y otros reyes. Cō otro ‖ tratado de micer Pogio
florētino q̄ ‖ trata delas mesmas tierras & yslas.
Folio; 2 col.; 34 ff. numbered and 4 prel. ff. not numbered.
On the title page 4 woodcuts exhibiting:
Marc paulo.
Micer pogio.
S. Domingo, ēla ysla Isabela.
Calicu.
—The 4 prelim. ff. contain:
—_Recto 1 f._: Title.
—_Verso 1 f._: Prologo primero.
—_F. 2 and 3_: Maestre Rodrigo al lector.
—_F. 4_: Tabla de los capitulos.
—Marco Polo, ff. ¹⁄₂₆.
—Tratado de Micer Pogio, ff. 27-recto f. 27 [read 34].
—Last f. _v._ [numbered xxvij erroneously for xxxiv.]
“Acabase el libro del famoso Marco paulo vene‖ciano el q̃l cuēta de
todas las tierras prouīcias & islas delas Indias. Arabia ‖ Persia
Armenia y Tartaria y d’las cosas marauillosas que enellas se ha‖llan
assi mesmo el grā señorio y riquezas del gran Can de Catayo se‖ñor
delos tartaros | añadido en fin vn tratado breue de micer Pogio ‖
florentino el qual el mesmo escriuio por mandado de eugenio papa ‖
quarto deste nombre por relacion de vn Nicolao [Conti] veneciano el
‖ qual assi mesmo auia andado las ꝑtidas oriẽtales & de otros ‖
testigos dinos d’ fe como por el parece fiel mēte trasladado ‖ en
lengua castellana por el reuerēdo señor maestre Rodri‖go de santa ella
| Arcediano de reyna y canonigo ēla sā ‖ ta yglesia de Seuilla. El q̄l
se ēprimio por Lā [?] alao ‖ polono y Jacome Crōberger alemano ēla muy
‖ noble y muy leal ciudad d’Seuilla. Año de ‖ mil & q’ niẽtos y tres a.
xxviij. dias d’mayo.”
43.—2. ⍧ Libro del famoso Marco ‖ Polo veneciano delas cosas
maraui‖llosas q̄ vido enlas partes orien=‖tales: conuiene saber
enlas ‖ Indias | Armenia | Ara‖bia | Persia | & Tarta‖ria. Edel
poderio ‖ del gran Can y ‖ otros reyes. ‖ Con otro ‖ tratado ‖
de mi‖cer ‖ Pogio Florentino & trata ‖ delas mesmas tie=‖rras &
islas. s. l. n. d., fol.; 2 col. [Logroño, 1529].
Collation: 4 prel. ff. not numbered + signatures _a—d_ × 8 = 32 ff.; in
all 36 ff.
F. 1. _v._: Prologo del Interprete.—f. 2 _r._ Cosmographia
introductoria.—f. 3. _v._: Tabla—f. 4 _v._: Fin dela Tabla.—32
numbered f. follow: _F. i.—Begins:_ Libro de Marco Polo Veneciano ‖
(col. 1.) ¶ Aqui comiença vn ‖ libro que trata delas cosas marauillosas
‖ que el noble varon micer Marco Polo de ‖ Venecia vido enlas partes de
Oriente.
_Ends: recto f. xxxij_: La presente obra del famoso Marco ‖ Polo
veneciano q̃ fue traduzida fielmẽte de lengua veneciana en ‖ castellano
por el reuerẽdo señor maestre Rodrigo Arcedia‖no de reyna y canonigo
enla yglesia de Seuilla. ‖ Fue impressa y corregida de nueuo enla ‖ muy
constante y leal civdad de ‖ Logroño en casa d’Mi‖guel de eguia ‖ a
treze ‖ de junio de mill & qui‖nientos y. xx. & nueue. ‖
“Cette édition de 1529, says Brunet est fort rare: 2 liv. 9 sh. Heber;
210 flor. Butsch, et 130 fr. en 1859.—Il y en a une plus ancienne de
_Séville, Cromberger_, 1520 in-fol., que cite Panzer d’après Vogt.”
Lazari says of this edition of 1520, p. 461: “Di estrema rarità. Questa
traduzione è tratta da un antico testo italiano: l’autore n’é Maestro
Rodrigo de Santaella.”
44.—3. Historia ‖ de las Gran-‖dezas y Cosas ‖ marauillosas de las
Prouin-‖cias Orientales. ‖ Sacada de Marco Pavlo ‖ Veneto, y
traduzida de Latin en Romance, y aña-‖ dida en muchas partes por
Don Martin de Bolea ‖ y Castro, Varon de Clamosa, ‖ señor de la
Villa de ‖ Sietamo. ‖ Dirigida a Don Beltran de ‖ la Cueba, Duque
de Alburquerque, Marques de ‖ Cuellar, Conde de Ledesma y Guelma,
Lugar-‖ teniente, y Capitan General por su Ma-‖gestad, en el
Reyno de ‖ Aragon. ‖ Con Licencia, en Caragoça. ‖ Por Angelo
Tauano, Año. M. DCI, 8vo, 8 ff. n. ch. + 163 ff. + 8 ff. n. ch.
for the tab. and errata. Last f. n. ch. _verso_: En Caragoça ‖
Por Angelo Tauano ‖ Año. 1601.
45.—4. Biblioteca universal. Coleccion de los Mejores autores antiguos
y modernos, nacionales y extranjeros. Tomo LXVI. Los Viages de
Marco Polo veneciano. Madrid. Direccion y administracion, 1880,
16mo, pp. 192.
“La edicion que hemos tenido principalmente à la vista, para formar
este volúmen de nuestra _Biblioteca_, es la de Ludovico Pasini,
Venecia 1847.”
F.—FRENCH EDITIONS.
46.—1. La ‖ description geo-‖graphiqve des Provinces ‖ & villes
plus fameuses de l’Inde Orientale, meurs, ‖ loix, & coustumes
des habitans d’icelles, mesme-‖ment de ce qui est soubz la
domination du grand ‖ Cham Empereur des Tartares. ‖ Par Marc
Paule gentilhomme Venetien, ‖ Et nouuellement reduict en ‖
vulgaire François. ‖ [_mark_] A Paris, ‖ Pour Vincent Sertenas
tenant sa boutique au Palais en la gallerie par ‖ ou on va a la
Chacellerie. Et en larue neuue Nostre dame à ‖ l’image sainct
Iehan l’Euangeliste. ‖ 1556. ‖ Avec Privilege dv Roy, ‖ 4to, 10
prel. f. not numbered + 123 ff. numbered + 1 f. not numbered.
Sommaire dv Privilege du Roy (verso of title).—Epistle “A Adrian de
Lavnay sei‖gneur de sainct Germain le Vieil, Viconte de ‖ sainct
Siluain, Notaire & Secretaire ‖ du Roy.” F. G. L. S.—De Paris ce
xviii. iour d’Aoust 1556, 3 pages.—Preface av lectevr par F. G. L., 5
pages.—Table, 8 pages.—Pièces de vers 2 pages at the beginning and an
advertisement (1 page) at the end.
_Begins page 1:_ “Lors que Bauldoyn Prince Chre‖stien tãt fameux &
renommé tenoit ‖ l’Empire de Constãtinople, assavoir ‖ en l’an de
l’incarnation de nostre ‖ Saulueur mil deux cens soixante & ‖ neuf,
deux nobles & prudẽs citoyẽs ‖ de Venise....”
Verso of last f. not numbered, the mark of Vincent Sertenas.
Oldest edition in French.
Marsden and Yule believe that it has been translated from the Latin of
the _Novus Orbis_.
47.—2. Same title. A Paris, ‖ Pour Estienne Groulleau, demourant en la
rue neuue Nostre ‖ dame, à l’image sainct Iehan Baptiste. ‖ 1556.
‖ Avec privilege dv Roy, 4to.
Same edition with a different bookseller.
48.—3. La Description geographique ... de l’Inde Orientale ... Par Marc
Paule ... ‖ A Paris, ‖ Pour Jehan Longis tenant sa boutique au
Palais en la gallerie par ‖ ou on va à la Chancellerie. ‖ 1556.‖
Auec Priuilege du Roy. 4to.
Same edition as Sertenas’ with the privilege of this bookseller. A copy
is marked in the _Catalogue des livres ... de ... James de Rothschild_,
II, Paris, 1887, No. 1938. M. E. Picot remarks that the Preface by F.
G. L., as well as the motto _Inter utrumque_ belong to FRANÇOIS GRUGET,
_Lochois_, who in the same year edited with the same booksellers the
_Dodechedron de Fortune_.
49.—4. Les ‖ Voiages ‖ très-curieux & fort remarquables, ‖ Achevées par
toute ‖ l’Asie, Tartarie, Mangi, Japon, ‖ les ‖ Indes orientales,
iles adjacentes, ‖ & l’Afrique, ‖ Commencées l’An 1252. ‖ Par
Marc Paul, Venitien, ‖ Historien recommandable pour sa fidelité.
‖ Qui contiennent une Relation très-exacte des Païs Orientaux: ‖
Dans laquelle il décrit très exactement plusieurs Païs & Villes,
lesquelles ‖ Lui même a Voiagées & vües la pluspart: & où il nous
enseigne briévement ‖ les Mœurs & Coutumes de ces Peuples, avant
ce tems là inconnues aux ‖ Européens; ‖ Comme aussi l’origine
de la puissance des Tartares, quand à leurs Conquêtes ‖ de
plusieurs Etats ou Païs dans la Chine, ici clairement proposée
& expliquée. ‖ Le tout divisé en III. Livres, ‖ Conferé avec un
Manuscrit de la Bibliotheque de S. A. E. de Brandebourg, ‖ &
enrichi de plusieurs Notes & Additions tirées du dit Manuscrit,
‖ de l’Edition de Ramuzio, de celle de Purchas, ‖ & de celle de
Vitriare.
Form a part of 43 and 185 col. in vol. ii. of _Voyages faits
principalement en Asie_ ... par Pierre Bergeron. A la Haye, Chez Jean
Neaulme M. DCC. XXXV, in-4.
After André Müller Greiffenhag.
Remark on the title-page the date of the voyage 1252! In the text, col.
6, it is marked 1272.
50.—5. Marco Polo—Un Vénitien chez les Chinois avec étude biographique
et littéraire par Charles Simond. Paris, Henri Gautier, s. d.
[1888], ppᵗ. 8vo, pp. 32.
Forms No. 122 of _Nouvelle Bibliothèque populaire_ à 10 Cent. Besides a
short biographical notice, it contains Bergeron’s Text.
51.—6. Voyages de Marco Polo. Première partie. Introduction, Texte.
Glossaire et Variantes.
Introduction, pp. xi.–liv. [by Roux.]
Voyage de Marc Pol, pp. 1–288—Table des Chapitres, pp. 289–296.
[Published from MS. 7367 of the Bibliothèque nationale.]
Peregrinatio Marci Pauli. Ex Manuscripto Bibliothecae Regiae, Nᵒ 3195
f°, pp. 297–494—Index Capitum, pp. 495–502.
Glossaire des mots hors d’usage, pp. 503–530 [by Méon].
Errata, pp. 531–532.
Variantes et Tableau comparatif des noms propres et des noms de lieux
cités dans les voyages de Marco Polo, pp. 533–552.
(Vol. i. 1824, of the _Recueil de Voyages_, de la Société de géographie
de Paris.)
—Rapport sur la Publication des Voyages de Marco Polo, fait au nom de
la section de publication, par M. Roux, rapporteur. (_Bull. de la
Soc. de Géog._, I. 1822, pp. 181–191.)
—Itinéraires à Jérusalem et Descriptions de la Terre Sainte rédigés
en français aux xiᵉ, xiiᵉ, & xiiiᵉ siècles publiés par Henri
Michelant & Gaston Raynaud. Genève, Fick, 1882, in-8.
Voyage des Polo, pp. xxviii.–xxix.—Ext. of MS. fr. 1116 are given, pp.
201–212, et of the version called after Thiébault de Cépoy, pp. 213–226.
The Fr. MS. 1116, late 7367, has been reproduced by photography
(including the binding, a poor modern one in calf!) at Karlsruhe this
year (1902) under the title:
—Le divisiment dou monde de Messer March Pol de Venece.—Die
Handschrift Fonds Français No. 1116 der National bibliothek
zu Paris photographisch aufgenommen auf der Gr. Hof- und
Landesbibliothek zu Karlsruhe von Dr. A. Steiner.—Karlsruhe.
Hof-Buchdruckerei Friedrich Gutsch. 1902, in-4.
Has No. Impr. 5210 in the National Library, Paris.
52.—7. Marco Polo. (Charton, _Voy. anc. et mod._, II. pp. 252–440.)
Modernized Text of the Geographical Society.—Notes, Bibliography, etc.
53.—8. 忽必烈樞密副使博羅本書
—Le livre ‖ de ‖ Marco Polo ‖ citoyen de Venise ‖ Conseiller privé et
commissaire impérial ‖ de ‖ Khoubilaï-Khaân; ‖ rédigé en français
sous sa dictée en 1298 ‖ par Rusticien de Pise; ‖ Publié pour la
première fois d’après trois manuscrits inédits de la Bibliothèque
impériale de Paris, ‖ présentant la rédaction primitive du
Livre, revue par Marc Pol lui-même et donnée par lui, en
1307, à Thiébault de Cépoy, ‖ accompagnée des _variantes_, de
_l’explication des mots hors d’usage_, et de _Commentaires
géographiques et historiques_, ‖ tirés des écrivains orientaux,
principalement chinois, avec une Carte générale de l’Asie; ‖ par
‖ M. G. Pauthier. ‖—Paris ‖ Librairie de Firmin Didot.... M.
DCCC. LXV, 2 parts, large 8vo.
—Polo (Marco) par G. Pauthier.
Extrait de la _Nouvelle Biographie générale_, publiée par MM. Firmin
Didot frères et fils. Ppt. 8vo, on 2 col.
—A Memoir of Marco Polo, the Venetian Traveller to Tartary and China
[translated from the French of M. G. Pauthier]. (_Chin. & Jap.
Rep._, Sept. & Oct. 1863.)
54.—9. Les Récits de Marco Polo citoyen de Venise sur l’histoire, les
mœurs et les coutumes des Mongols, sur l’empire Chinois et ses
merveilles; sur Gengis-Khan et ses hauts faits; sur le Vieux de
la Montagne; le Dieu des idolâtres, etc. Texte original français
du XIIIᵉ siècle rajeuni et annoté par Henri Bellenger. Paris,
Maurice Dreyfous, s. d., 18mo, pp. iv–280.
55.—10. Le Livre de Marco Polo—Facsimile d’un manuscrit du XIVᵉ siècle
conservé à la Bibliothèque royale de Stockholm, 4to, 4 ff. n. c.
for the title ut supra and preface + 100 ff. n. c. [200 pages]
of text facsimile.
We read on the verso of the title-page: “Photolithographie par
l’Institut lithographique de l’Etat-Major—Typographie par l’Imprimerie
centrale—Stockholm, 1882.”—We learn from the preface by the celebrated
A. E. Nordenskiöld, that 200 copies, two of which on parchment have
been printed. In the preface is printed a letter, Paris, 22nd Nov.
1881, written by M. Léopold Delisle, which shows that the Stockholm
MS. belonged to the library of the King of France, Charles V. (who had
five copies of Polo’s Book) and had No. 317 in the Inventory of 1411;
it belonged to the Louvre, to Solier of Honfleur, to Paul Petau when it
was purchased by King Christina.
—Le “Livre de Marco Polo.” Facsimile d’un manuscrit du XIVᵉ
siècle conservé à la Bibliothèque royale de Stockholm. Stockholm,
1882, in-4 (Signed: LÉOPOLD DELISLE)—Nogent-le-Rotrou, imp. de
Daupeley-Gouverneur. [1882], pp. 8vo.
Extrait de la _Bibliothèque de l’École des Chartes_. t. xliii. 1882.—
This is a reprint of an article by M. Delisle in the _Bib. de l’Éc.
des Chartes_, xliii. 1882, pp. 226–235.—see also p. 434.—M. G. Raynaud
has also given a notice of this edition of Stockholm in _Romania_, xl.
1882, pp. 429–430, and Sir Henry Yule, in _The Athenæum_, 17th June,
1882, pp. 765–766.
—Il libro di Marco Polo facsimile d’un manoscritto del XIV secolo. Nota
del prof. G. Pennesi. (_Bol. Soc. Geog. Ital._, 1882, pp. 949–950.)
—See MURET, Ernest, pp. 547 and 582.
G.—ENGLISH EDITIONS.
56.—1. The most noble ‖ and famous trauels of ‖ _Marcus Paulus, one_ ‖
of the nobilitie of the state of ‖ Venice, into the East partes
‖ of the world, as _Armenia, Per‖sia, Arabia, Tartary_, with ‖
many other kingdoms ‖ and Prouinces. ‖ No lesse pleasant, than
‖ profitable, as appeareth ‖ by the Table, or Contents ‖ of
this Booke. ‖ Most necessary for all sortes ‖ of Persons, and
especially ‖ for Trauellers. ‖ _Translated into English_. ‖ At
London, ‖ Printed by Ralph Nevvbery, ‖ _Anno._ 1579. Small 4to.
pp. [28] + 167 + [1]. Sig. *-**** A—X.
Pp. 167 without the 28 first pages which contain the title (2 p.), the
epistle of the translator, Iohn Frampton (2 p.). Maister Rothorigo to
the Reader: An introduction into Cosmographie (10 pages), the Table of
the Chapters (6 p.). The Prologue (8 p.).
57.—2. The first Booke of Marcvs Pavlvs Venetvs, or of Master Marco
Polo, a Gentleman of Venice, his Voyages. (Purchas, _His
Pilgrimes_. London, Printed by William Stansby for Henrie
Fetherstone, ... 1625, Lib. I. Ch. IIII. pp. 65–108.)
After Ramusio.
58.—3. The Travels of Marco Polo, or Mark Paul, the Venetian, into
Tartary, in 1272. (Astley’s _Collection of Travels_, IV. pp.
580–619).
French translation in _l’Hist. Gén. des Voyages_.
59.—4. Harris’s _Navigantium atque Itin. Bib._, ed. of 1715 and of 1744.
60.—5. The curious and remarkable Voyages and Travels of Marco Polo, a
Gentleman of Venice who in the Middle of the thirteenth Century
passed through a great part of Asia, all the Dominions of the
Tartars, and returned Home by Sea through the Islands of the East
Indies. [Taken chiefly from the accurate Edition of Ramusio,
compared with an original Manuscript in His Prussian Majesty’s
Library and with most of the Translations hitherto published.]
(_Pinkerton_, VII. p. 101.)
61.—6. Marco Polo. Travels into China and the East, from 1260 to 1295.
(Robert Kerr, _A General History and Collection of Voyages and
Travels_.... Edinburgh, 1811–1824, vol. i.)
62.—7. The ‖ Travels ‖ of ‖ Marco Polo, ‖ a Venetian, ‖ in the
Thirteenth Century: ‖ being a ‖ Description, by that early
traveller, ‖ of ‖ remarkable places and things, ‖ in ‖ the ‖
Eastern Parts of the World. ‖ Translated from the Italian, ‖ with
‖ Notes, ‖ by William Marsden, F.R.S., &c. ‖ With a Map. ‖
London: ‖ M. DCCC. XVIII., large 4to, pp. lxxx.–782 + 1 f. n. ch.
for the er.
The first 80 pages are devoted to a remarkable _Introduction_, in
which are treated of various subjects enumerated on p. 782: _Life of
Marco Polo; General View of the Work; Choice of Text for Translation;
Original Language_, etc. There is an index, pp. 757–781.
63.—8. The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian. The Translation of
Marsden revised, with a Selection of his Notes. Edited by Thomas
Wright, Esq., M.A., etc. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854, small 8vo,
pp. xxviii.–508.
64.—9. The Travels of Marco Polo ... By Hugh Murray ... Edinburgh:
Oliver & Boyd ... M. DCCC. XLIV, 8vo, pp. 368.
Vol. 38 of the _Edinburgh Cabinet Library_, published at 5s.
—Second Edition, ... Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd ... M DCCC XLIV, 8vo.
—The Travels of Marco Polo, greatly amended and enlarged from valuable
early manuscripts recently published by the French Society of
Geography, and in Italy by Count Baldelli Boni. With copious
Notes, illustrating the routes and observations of the author and
comparing them with those of more recent Travellers. By Hugh
Murray, F.R.S.E. Two Maps and a Vignette. New York, Harper, 1845,
12mo, pp. vi–326.
—4th ed., Edinburg, s.a.
65.—10. The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, Concerning the
Kingdoms and Marvels of the East. Newly Translated and edited,
with Notes. By Colonel Henry Yule, C.B., late of the Royal
Engineers (Bengal), Hon. Fellow of the Geographical Society
of Italy. In two volumes. With Maps, and other Illustrations.
London, John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1871, 2 vol. 8vo.
66.—11. The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, Concerning the
Kingdoms and Marvels of the East. Newly translated and edited,
with Notes, Maps, and other Illustrations. By Colonel Henry Yule,
C.B., late of the Royal Engineers (Bengal) ... In two volumes.
Second edition, revised. With the addition of new matter and many
new illustrations. London: John Murray, 1875, 2 vols. 8vo.
—Marco Polo e il suo Libro del Colonnello Henry Yule, C.B. Por
Guglielmo Berchet. (_Archivio Veneto_, II. 1871, pp. 124–174,
259–350.)
Contains a Translation of the _Introductory Essay_, etc.
—The Story of Marco Polo. With Illustrations. London, John Murray,
1898, 8vo, pp. xiv.–247.
Preface by Noah Brooks. “In his comments ... the author has made use of
the erudite notes of Colonel Henry Yule....”
67.—12. Voyages and Travels of Marco Polo.—London, Cassell, 1886, 16mo,
pp. 192.
The Preface is signed H. M[osley].—From Pinkerton.—Popular Edition.
_Cassell’s National Library_.
H.—DUTCH EDITIONS.
—Die nieuvve vveerelt der Landtschappen ende Eylanden ... Gheprint
Thantwerpen ... Anno. M.D. LXIII. folio.
Marcus Pauwels, f. xxvii.
68.—1. MARKUS PAULUS VENETUS ‖ Reisen, ‖ En ‖ Beschryving ‖ Der
‖ oostersche ‖ Lantschappen; ‖ Daar in hy naaukeuriglijk
veel Landen en Steden, die hy zelf ten meestendeel ‖ bereist
en bezichtigt heeft, beschrijft, de zeden en gewoonten van
die Vol-‖ken, tot aan die tijt onbekent, ten toon stelt, en
d’opkoomst van de Heer-‖schappy der Tartaren, en hun verövering
van verscheide landen in Sina, ‖ met ander namen genoemt,
bekent maakt. ‖ Beneffens de ‖ Historie ‖ Der ‖ oostersche
Lantschappen, ‖ Door HAITHON van ARMENIEN te zamen gestelt. ‖
Beide nieuwelijks door J. H. GLAZEMAKER vertaalt. ‖ Hier is noch
by gevoegt _De Reizen van Nicolaas Venetus_, en ‖ _Jeronymus
van St. Steven_ naar d’oostersche Landen, en ‖ naar d’Indien.
Door P.P. _vertaalt_. ‖ Als ook een _Verhaal van de verovering
van ’t Eilant Formosa, door ‖ de Sinezen_; door J. V. K. B.
vertaalt. ‖ Met Kopere Platen verciert. ‖ t’ Amsterdam, ‖ Voor
Abraham Wolfgang, Boekverkoper, aan d’Opgang van de ‖ Beurs, by
de Beurstooren, in ’t Geloof, 1664. 4to, 6 ff. not numbered for
the tit., prf. + pp. 99 + 4 ff. not numbered for the tab. etc. of
Marco Polo.
The other works have a special pagination.
I.—TCHÈQUE EDITION.
69.—1. Million Marka Pavlova. Fragment of the tchèque translation of
the Berlin Museum. Prague, No. 3 F. 26, xvth cent., by an Anonym,
Moravian? (_Výbor z Literatury české_, II. v Praze, 1868.)
70.—2. Pohledy do Velkorise mongolské v čas nejmocnejšího rozkvetu
jejího za Kublaje kána. Na základe čestopisu Marka Polova podává
A. J. Vrtatko. (Výnato z Časopisu Musea král. Českého 1873.) V
Praze, J. Otto, 1873, 8vo, pp. 71.
M. A. Jarosl. Vrtatko has translated the whole of Marco Polo, but he
has published only this fragment.
J.—RUSSIAN EDITIONS.
71.—1. Марко Поло путешествіе въ 1286 году по Татаріи и другимъ
странамь востока венеціанскаго дворянина Марко Поло, прозваннаго
Милліонеромъ.—Три части.—St. Petersburg, 1873, 8vo, pp. 250.
72.—2. И. П. Минаевъ.—Путешествіе Марко Поло переводъ старофранцузскаго
текста.—Изданіе Имп. Русскаго Геог. Общества подъ редакціей
дѣйствительнаго члена В. В. Бартольда.—St. Petersburg, 1902, 8vo,
pp. xxix + 1 f. + pp. 355.
Vol. xxvi. of the _Zapiski_ of the Russian Geog. Society, translated
from the French.
K.—IRISH EDITION.
73.—The Gaelic Abridgment of the Book of Ser Marco Polo. By Whitley
Stokes. (_Zeit. f. Celtische Philologie_, 1 Bd., 2 & 3 Hft. Halle
a. S. 1896–7, 8vo, pp. 245–273, 362–438.)
Book of Lismore.—See our _Introduction_, I. p. _103_, _note_.
L.—VARIOUS EDITIONS.
74.—1. The edition of Marco Polo in preparation by Klaproth is
announced in the part of June, 1824 of the _Journal Asiatique_,
pp. 380–381.
“M. Klaproth vient de terminer son travail sur _Marco Polo_, qui l’a
occupé depuis plusieurs années....
“La nouvelle édition de _Marco Polo_, que notre confrère prépare,
contiendra l’italien de Ramusio, complété, et des Notes explicatives en
bas des pages. Elle sera accompagnée d’une Carte représentant les pays
visités ou décrits par le célèbre Vénitien.”
—See also on this edition of Klaproth, the _Bulletin des Sciences
historiques, antiquités_ etc., juin 1824, art. 580; the _Jour. des
Savans_, juillet 1824, pp. 446–447, and the _Jour. As._ of 1824–1828:
_Recherches sur les Ports de Gampou_. Klaproth’s materials for this
edition were sold after his death Fr.200 to the bookseller Duprat; see
_Cat. des Livres composant la Bib. de M. K._, IIᵉ Partie, No. 292.
75.—2. Marco Polos Beskrivelse af det ostlige asiatiske Hoiland,
forklaret ved C. V. Rimestad. Forste Afdeling, indeholdende
Indledningen og Ost-Turkestan. Indbydelseskrift til den aarlige
offentlige Examen i Borgerdydskolen i Kjobenhavn i Juli 1841.
Kjobenhavn, Trykt hos Bianco Luno. 1841, 8vo, pp. 80.
76.—3. Marco Polo’s Resa i Asien.
Small ppt. square 12mo, pp. 16; on p. 16 at foot: Stockholm, tryckt hos
P. G. Berg, 1859.
On the title-page a cut illustrating a traveller in a chariot drawn by
elephants.
III.—TITLES OF SUNDRY BOOKS AND PAPERS WHICH TREAT OF MARCO POLO
AND HIS BOOK.
1. SALVIATI, Cavalier LIONARDO. _Degli Avvertimenti della Lingua
sopra ’l Decamerone_. In Venezia, 1584.
Has some brief remarks on Texts of Polo, and on references to him or
his story in Villani and Boccaccio.
2. MARTINI, MARTINO. _Novus Atlas Sinensis_. Amstelodami, 1655.
The Maps are from Chinese sources, and are surprisingly good. The
Descriptions, also from Chinese works but interspersed with information
of Martini’s own, have, in their completeness, never been superseded.
This estimable Jesuit often refers to Polo with affectionate zeal,
identifying his localities, and justifying his descriptions. The
edition quoted in this book forms a part of Blaeu’s Great Atlas (1663).
It was also reprinted in Thévenot’s Collection.
3. KIRCHER, ATHANASIUS. _China Illustrata_. Amstelodami, 1667.
He also often refers to Polo, but chiefly in borrowing from Martini.
4. MAGAILLANS, GABRIEL DE (properly _Magalhaens_). _Nouvelle
Description de la Chine, contenant la description des
Particularités les plus considérables de ce Grand Empire_. Paris,
1688, 4to.
Contains many excellent elucidations of Polo’s work.
5. CORONELLI, VINCENZO. _Atlante Veneto_. Venezia, 1690.
Has some remarks on Polo, and the identity of Cathay and Cambaluc with
China and Peking.
6. MURATORI, LUD. ANT. _Perfetta Poesia, con note di_ SALVINI.
Venezia, 1724.
In vol. ii. p. 117, Salvini makes some remarks on the language in which
he supposes Polo to have composed his Book.
7. FOSCARINI, MARCO. _Della Letteratura Veneziana_. Padova, 1752.
Vol. i. 414 _seqq._
8. FOSCARINI, MARCO. _Frammento inedito di, intorno ai Viaggiatori
Veneziani_; accompanied by Remarks on Bürck’s German edition
of Marco Polo, by TOMMASO GAR (late Director of the Venice
Archives). In _Archivio Storico Italiano_, Append. tom. iv. p. 89
_seqq._ [See _Bibliography_, _supra_ 8–8, p. 557.]
9. ZENO, APOSTOLO, _Annotazioni sopra la Biblioteca dell’Eloquenza
Italiana di Giusto Fontanini_. Venezia, 1753.
See Marsden’s Introduction, _passim_.
10. TIRABOSCHI, GIROLAMO. _Storia della Letteratura Italiana_.
Modena, 1772–1783.
There is a disquisition on Polo, with some judicious remarks (iv. pp.
68–73).
11. TOALDO, GIUSEPPE. _Saggi di Studi Veneti nell’Astronomia e nella
Marina_. Ven. 1782.
This work, which I have not seen, is stated to contain some remarks on
Polo’s Book. The author had intended to write a Commentary thereon,
and had collected books and copies of MSS. with this view, and read an
article on the subject before the Academy of Padua, but did not live to
fulfil his intention (d. 1797).
[See _Cicogna_, II. p. 386; vi. p. 855.]
12. LESSING. _Marco Polo, aus einer Handschrift ergănzt, und aus
einer andern sehr zu verbessern: (Zur Geschichte und Literatur_
... von G. E. Lessing. II. _Beytrag_. Braunschweig, 1773, 8vo,
pp. 259–298.)
13. FORSTER, J. REINHOLD. _H. des Découvertes et des Voyages faits
dans le Nord_. French Version. Paris, 1788.
14. SPRENGEL, MATHIAS CHRISTIAN. _Geschichte der wichtigsten
geographischen Entdeckungen_, &c. 2nd Ed. Halle, 1792.
This book, which is a marvel for the quantity of interesting matter
which it contains in small space, has much about Polo.
15. ZURLA, Abate PLACIDO. Life of Polo, in _Collezione di Vite e
Ritratti d’Illustri Italiani_. Padova, 1816.
This book is said to have procured a Cardinal’s Hat for the author. It
is a respectable book, and Zurla’s exertions in behalf of the credit
of his countrymen are greatly to be commended, though the reward seems
inappropriate.
16. ———, ———. _Dissertazioni di Marco Polo e degli altri Viaggiatori
Veneziani, &c._ Venezia, 1818–19, 4to.
17. 18, 19. QUARTERLY REVIEW, vol. xxi. (1819), contains an Article
on Marsden’s Edition, written by John Barrow, Esq.; that for
July, 1868, contains another on Marco Polo and his Recent
Editors, written by the present Editor; and that for Jan. 1872,
one on the First Edition of this work, by R. H. Major, Esq.
20. ASIA, _Hist. Account of Discovery and Travels in_. By HUGH MURRAY.
Edinburgh, 1820.
21. STEIN, C. G. D. Rede des Herrn Professor Dr. Christian Gottfried
Daniel Stein. (Gesprochen den 29sten September, 1819.) _Ueber
den Venetianer Marco Polo_. Pages 8–19 of _Einladung zur
Gedächtniszfeier der Wohlthăter des Berlinisch-Köllnischen
Gymnasiums_ ... von dem Direktor Johann Joachim Bellermann. Sm.
8vo, s. d. [1821].
22. KLAPROTH, JULIUS. A variety of most interesting articles in the
_Journal Asiatique_ (see sér. I. tom. iv., tom. ix.; sér. II.
tom. i. tom. xi. etc.), and in his _Mémoires Relatifs à l’Asie_.
Paris, 1824.
Klaproth speaks more than once as if he had a complete Commentary on
Marco Polo prepared or in preparation (_e.g._, see _J. As._, sér. i.
tom. iv. p. 380). But the examination of his papers after his death
produced little or nothing of this kind.—[Cf. _supra_, p. 573.]
23. CICOGNA, EMMANUELE ANTONIO. _Delle Iscrizioni Veneziane, Raccolte
ed Illustrate._ Venezia, 1824–1843.
Contains valuable notices regarding the Polo family, especially in vol.
ii.
24. RÉMUSAT, JEAN PIERRE ABEL. _Mélanges Asiatiques_. Paris, 1825.
_Nouveaux Mélanges As._ Paris, 1829.
The latter contains (i. 381 _seqq._) an article on Marsden’s _Marco
Polo_, and one (p. 397 _seqq._) upon Zurla’s Book.
25. ANTOLOGIA, edited by VIEUSSIEUX. Tom. xix. B. pp. 92–124.
Firenze, 1825.
A review of the publication of the old French Text by the Soc. de
Géographie.
26. ANNALI UNIVERSALI DI STATISTICA. Vol. xvi. p. 286. Milano. 1828.
Article by F. CUSTODI.
27. WALCKENAER, Baron C. _Vies de plusieurs Personnages Célèbres des
temps anciens et modernes_. Laon, 1830, 2 vol. 8vo.
This contains a life of Marco Polo, vol. ii. pp. 1–34.
28. ST. JOHN, JAMES AUGUSTUS. _Lives of Celebrated Travellers_.
London (_circa_ 1831).
Contains a life of Marco Polo, which I regret not to have seen.
29. COOLEY, W. D. _Hist. of Maritime and Inland Discovery_. London
(_circa_ 1831).
This excellent work contains a good chapter on Marco Polo.
30. RITTER, CARL. _Die Erdkunde von Asien_. Berlin, 1832, _seqq._
This great work abounds with judicious comments on Polo’s Geography,
most of which have been embodied in Bürck’s edition.
31. DELECLUZE, M. Article on Marco Polo in the _Revue des Deux
Mondes_ for 1st July, 1832. Vol. vii. 8vo, pp. 24.
32. PAULIN PARIS. Papers of much value on the MSS. of Marco Polo,
etc., in _Bulletin de la Soc. de Géographie_ for 1833, tom. xix.
pp. 23–31; as well as in _Journal Asiatique_, sér. II. tom. xii.
pp. 244–54; _L’Institut, Journal des Sciences, &c._, Sect. II.
tom. xvi. Jan. 1851.
33. MALTE-BRUN. _Précis de la Géog. Universelle_, 4^{iéme} Ed. par
HUOT. Paris, 1836.
Vol. i. (pp. 551 _seqq._) contains a section on Polo, neither good nor
correct.
34. DE MONTÉMONT, ALBERT. _Bibliothèque Universelle des voyages_.
In vol. xxxi. pp. 33–51 there is a Notice of Marco Polo.
35. PALGRAVE, Sir FRANCIS. _The Merchant and the Friar_. London, 1837.
The Merchant is Marco Polo, who is supposed to visit England, after
his return from the East, and to become acquainted with the Friar
Roger Bacon. The book consists chiefly of their conversations on many
subjects.
It does not affect the merits of this interesting book that Bacon is
believed to have died in 1292, some years before Marco’s return from
the East.
36. D’AVEZAC, M. Remarks in his most valuable _Notice sur les Anciens
Voyages de Tartarie, &c._, in the _Recueil de Voyages et de
Mémoires publié par la Société de Géographie_, tom. iv. pp. 407
_seqq._ Paris, 1839. Also article in the _Bulletin de la Soc. de
Géog., &c._, for August, 1841; and in _Journal Asiat._ sér. II.
tom. xvi. p. 117.
37. PARAVEY, Chev. DE. Article in _Journ. Asiatique_, sér. II. tom.
xvi. 1841, p. 101.
38. HAMMER-PURGSTALL, in _Bull. de la Soc. de Géog._, tom. iii. No.
21, p. 45.
39. QUATREMÈRE, ÉTIENNE. His translations and other works on Oriental
subjects abound in valuable indirect illustrations of M. Polo;
but in _Notices et Extraits des MSS. de la Bibliothèque du
Roi_, tom. xvi. Pt. i. pp. 281–286, Paris, 1843, there are some
excellent remarks both on the work itself and on Marsden’s
Edition of it.
40. MACFARLANE, CHARLES. _Romance of Travel_. London, C. Knight. 1846.
A good deal of intelligent talk on Marco Polo.
41. MEYER, ERNST H. F. _Geschichte der Botanik_. Königsberg, 1854–57.
In vol. iv, there is a special chapter on Marco Polo’s notices of
plants.
42. THOMAS, Professor G. M. _Zu Marco Polo, aus einem Cod. ital.
Monacensis_ in the _Sitzungsberichten der Münchner Akademie_, 4th
March, 1862, pp. 261–270.
43. KHANIKOFF, NICOLAS DE. _Notice sur le Livre de Marco Polo, édité
et commenté par M. G. Pauthier_. Paris, 1866. Extracted from
the _Journal Asiatique_. I have frequently quoted this with
advantage, and sometimes have ventured to dissent from it.
44. CAHIER, Père. Criticism of Pauthier’s _Marco Polo_, and reply by
G. Pauthier, in _Études Littéraires et Religieuses_ of 1866 and
1867. Paris.
45. BARTHÉLEMY ST. HILAIRE. A series of articles on Marco Polo in the
_Journal des Savants_ of January–May, 1867, chiefly consisting of
a reproduction of Pauthier’s views and deductions.
46. DE GUBERNATIS, Prof. ANGELO. _Memoria intorno ai Viaggiatori
Italiani nelle Indie Orientali, dal secolo XIII. a tutto il XVI_.
Firenze, 1867.
47. BIANCONI, Prof. GIUSEPPE. _Degli Scritti di Marco Polo e
dell’Uccello_ RUC _da lui menzionato._ 2 parts large 8vo.
Bologna, 1862 and 1868, pp. 64, 40.
A meritorious essay, containing good remarks on the comparison of
different Texts.
48. KINGSLEY, HENRY. _Tales of Old Travel renarrated_. London, 1869.
This begins with Marco Polo. The work has gone through several
editions, but I do not know whether the author has corrected some
rather eccentric geography and history that were presented in the
first. Mr. Kingsley is the author of another story about Marco Polo in
a Magazine, but I cannot recover the reference.
49. NOTES AND QUERIES for CHINA AND JAPAN. This was published from
January, 1867, to November, 1870, at Hong-Kong under able
editorship, and contained some valuable notes connected with
Marco Polo’s chapters on China.
50. GHIKA, Princess ELENA (_Dora d’Istria_). _Marco Polo, Il
Cristoforo Colombo dell’Asia_. Trieste, 1869, 8vo, pp. 39.
51. BUFFA, Prof. GASPARE. _Marco Polo, Orazione commemorativa, Letta
nel R. Liceo Cristoforo Colombo il 24 marzo 1872_. Genova, 8vo,
pp. 18.
52. EDINBURGH REVIEW, January, 1872, pp. 1–36. A review of the first
edition of the present work, acknowledged by SIR HENRY RAWLINSON,
and full of Oriental knowledge. (See also No. 19 _supra_.)
53. OCEAN HIGHWAYS, for December, 1872, p. 285. An interesting letter
on Marco Polo’s notices of Persia, by Major OLIVER ST. JOHN, R.E.
54. RICHTHOFEN, Baron F. VON. _Das Land und die Stadt Caindu von
Marco Polo_, a valuable paper in the _Verhandlungen der
Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin_. No. 1 of 1874, p. 33.
55. BUSHELL, Dr. S. W., Physician to H.M.’s Legation at Peking.
_Notes of a Journey outside the Great Wall of China_, embracing
an account of the first modern visit to the site of Kúblái’s
Palace at Shang-tu. Appeared in _J. R. G. S._ vol. xliv. An
abstract was published in the _Proc. R. G. S._ xviii., 1874, pp.
149–168.
56. PHILLIPS, GEORGE, of H.M.’s Consular Service in China.—_Marco
Polo and Ibn Batuta in Fookien_ (_Chinese Recorder_, III.,
1870–1871, pp. 12, 44, 71, 87, 125); _Notices of Southern Mangi,
with Remarks by_ COLONEL HENRY YULE, C.B. (from the _Journal of
the Royal Geographical Society_); _Notices of Southern Mangi_
[Abridgment] (_Proc. R. Geog. Soc._, XVIII., 1873–1874, pp.
168–173); _Zaitun Researches_ (_Chin. Rec._, V. pp. 327–339; VI.
31–42; VII. pp. 330–338, 404–418; VIII. 117–124); _Changchow, the
Capital of Fuhkien in Mongol Times_, read before the Society,
19th November, 1888 (_Jour. C. B. R. A. S._, XXIII. N.S., nᵒ
1, 1888, pp. 23–30); _The Identity of Marco Polo’s Zaitun with
Chang-chau, with a sketch-map of Marco-Polo’s route_ (_T’oung
Pao_, I., Oct. 1890, pp. 218–238); _Two Mediæval Fuh-kien
Trading Ports, Chüan-chow and Chang-chow_.—Part I. _Chang-chow_
(_T’oung-Pao_, VI. No. 5, déc. 1895, pp. 449/463).—Part II.
_Chüan-Chow_ (_Ibid._, VII. No. 3, Juillet 1896, pp. 223/240,
with 3 photog.).
57. WHEELER, J. TALBOYS. _History of India_ (vol. iii. pp. 385–393)
contains a résumé of, and running comment on, Marco Polo’s
notices of India.
Mr. Wheeler’s book says; “His travels appear _to have been written_ at
Comorin, the most southerly point of India” (p. 385). The words that I
have put in Italics are evidently a misprint, though it is not clear
how to correct them.
58. DE SKATTSCHKOFF, CONSTANTIN. _Le Vénitien_ Marco Polo, _et les
services qu’il a rendus en faisant connaître l’Asie_. Read before
the _Imp. Geog. Society_ at St. Petersburg, ⁶⁄₁₈ October, 1865;
translated by M. Emile Durand in the _Journ. Asiatique_, sér.
VII. tom. iv. pp. 122–158 (September, 1874).
The Author expresses his conviction that Marco Polo had described a
number of localities after Chinese written authorities; for in the old
Chinese descriptions of India and other transmarine countries are found
precisely the same pieces of information, neither more nor fewer, that
are given by Marco Polo. Though proof of this would not be proof of
the writer’s deduction that Marco Polo was acquainted with the Chinese
language, it would be very interesting in itself, and would explain
some points to which we have alluded (_e.g._, in reference to the
frankincense plant, p. 396, and to the confusion between Madagascar and
Makdashau, p. 413). And Mr. G. Phillips has urged something of the same
kind. But M. de Skattschkoff adduces no proof at all; and for the rest
his Essay is full of inaccuracy.
59. CANTÙ, CESARE. _Italiani Illustri Ritratti_, 1873, vol. i. p. 147.
60. MARSH, JOHN B. _Stories of Venice and the Venetians ...
illustrated by_ C. Berjeau. London, 1873, 8vo, pp. vii.–418.
Chaps. VI., VII. and VIII. are devoted to Marco Polo.
61. KINGSMILL, THOS. W. _Notes on the Topography of some of the
Localities in Manji, or Southern China mentioned by Marco Polo_.
(_Notes and Queries on China and Japan_, vol. i. pp. 52–54.)
—————————— _Notes on Marco Polo’s Route from Khoten to China_. (_Chin.
Recorder_, VII. 1876, pp. 338–343.)
62. PAQUIER, J. B. _Itinéraire de Marco Polo à travers la région du
Pamir au_ XIIIᵉ _siècle_. (_Bull. Soc. Géog._, 1876, août, pp.
113–128.)
63. PALLADIUS, ARCHIMANDRITE. _Elucidations of Marco Polo’s Travels
in North-China, drawn from Chinese Sources_. (_Jour. N. C. Br. R.
As. Soc._, x. 1876, pp. 1–54.)
Translated into English by A. Wylie and E. Bretschneider. The Russian
text has just been published (T. xxxviii. 1902, of the _Isviestiya_) by
the Imp. Russian Geog. Society.
Sir Henry Yule wrote in the _Addenda_ of the second edition:
“And I learn from a kind Russian correspondent, that an early number
of the _J. N. China Branch R. Asiatic Society_ will contain a more
important paper, viz.: _Remarks on Marco Polo’s Travels to the North of
China, derived from Chinese Sources; by the_ ARCHIMANDRITE PALLADIUS.
This celebrated traveller and scholar says (as I am informed): ‘I have
followed up the indications of Marco Polo from Lobnor to Shangdu,
and in part to Peking.... It would seem that I have been so fortunate
as to clear up the points that remained obscure to Yule.’ I deeply
regret that my book cannot now profit by these promised remarks. I
am not, however, without hope, that in the present edition, with its
Appendices, some at least of the Venerable Traveller’s identifications
may have been anticipated.”
The greater part of the notes of my late friend, the Archimandrite
Palladius Katharov, have been incorporated in the present edition of
Marco Polo.—H. C.
64. JIREČEK, JOSEF. _Báseň o pobití Tataruv a “Million” Marka
Pavlova_, (_Časopis Musea království českého_, 1877, pp. 103–119).
65. GEBAUER, J. _Ein Beitrag zur Erklärung der Königinhofer
Handschrift_. (J. Gebauer, in _Archiv für Slavische Philologie_,
Berlin, 1877, ii. pp. 143–155.)
66. ZANETTI, V. Quattro Documenti inediti dell’Archivio degli
Esposti in Venezia (Marco Polo e la sua Famiglia—Marin Falier).
Por V. Zanetti. (_Archivio Veneto_, xvi. 1878, pp. 95–110.)
See _Calendar_, Nos. 6, 19, and 20 for the three Documents relating to
the Polo Family.
—Marco Polo e la sua famiglia. (_Ibid._, xvii. 1879, pp. 359–362.)
Letters of Comm. G. Berchet and Yule regarding these documents.
67. HOUTUM-SCHINDLER, Gen. _Notes on Marco Polo’s Itinerary in
Southern Persia_ (_Chapters xvi. to xxi., Col. Yule’s
Translation_). (_Jour. R. As. Soc._, N.S., vol. xiii. Art. XX.
Oct. 1881, pp. 490–497.)
—————————— _Marco Polo’s Camadi_. (_Ibid._, Jan. 1898, pp. 43–46.)
68. THOMSON, J. T. _Marco Polo’s Six Kingdoms or Cities in Java
Minor_, identified in translations from the ancient Malay Annals,
by J. T. T., Commissioner of Crown Lands, Otago, 1875. (_Proc. R.
G. Soc._, XX. 1875–1876, pp. 215–224.)
Translation from the “Salafat al Salatin perturan segala rajaraja,” or
Malay Annals.
69. K. C. AMREIN. _Marco Polo: Oeffentlicher Vortrag, gehalten in der
Geographisch-Kommerziellen Gesellschaft in St. Gallen_. Zurich,
1879, 8vo.
70. VIDAL-LABLACHE, PAUL. _Bibliothèque des Écoles et des
Familles.—Marco Polo, son temps et ses voyages_. Paris, 1880,
8vo, pp. 192.
There is a second edition.
71. G. M. URBANI DE GHELTOF. _III. Congresso Geografico Internazionale
in Venezia.—La Collezione del Doge Marin Faliero e i tesori di
Marco Polo_. Venezia, 1881, 8vo, pp. 8.
From the _Bulletino di Arti, industrie e curiosità veneziane_ III. pp.
98–103.—See _Int._ p. _79_.
72. SEGUSO, L. _La Casa dei Milioni o l’abitazione di Marco Polo_.
(_Venezia e il Congresso_, 1881.)
73. CORDIER, HENRI. _Maison de Marco Polo_ [_à Venise._] (_Revue de
l’Extrême-Orient_, i. No. 1, p. 157); _Statue de Marco Polo_.
(_Revue de l’Extrême-Orient_, i. No. 1, pp. 156–157.)
74. _Illustrazione Italiana_, No. 38, Sept. 18, 1881.
75. YULE, Sir HENRY. _Marco Polo_. (_Encyclopædia Britannica_, 1885,
9th ed., xix. pp. 404–409.)
76. SCHUMANN, Dr. K. Marco Polo, ein Weltreisender des XIII.
Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1885. 8vo, pp. 32.
_Sammlung gemeinverständlicher wissenschaftlicher Vorträge_,
herausgegeben von Rud. Virchow und Fr. von Holtzendorff. XX. Serie.
Heft 460.
77. _Marco Polo_. (_Blackwood’s Mag._, clxii. Sept. 1887, pp.
373–386.)
(Rep. in _Littell’s Living Age_, Boston, CLXXV., p. 195.)
78. EDKINS, JOSEPH. _Kan Fu_. (_China Review_, xv. pp. 310–331.)
79. OLIPHANT, Mrs.—_The Makers of Venice_. London, 1887, 8vo.
Part II.—Chap. i. The Travellers: Niccolo, Matteo, and Marco Polo, pp.
134–157.
80. DUCLAU, S.—_La Science populaire—Marco Polo, sa Vie et ses
Voyages_. Par S. Duclau. Limoges, Eugène Ardant, s. d. [1889],
8vo, pp. 192.
81. PARKER, E. H. _Charchan_. (_China Review_, xviii. p. 261);
_Hunting Lodges_ (_Ibid._, p. 261); _Barscol._ (_Ibid._); _Life
Guards_ (p. 262); _Canfu or Canton_ (_Ibid._, xiv. pp. 358–359);
_Kaunchis_ (_Ibid._, p. 359); _Polo_ (_Ibid._, xv., p. 249);
_Marco Polo’s Transliterations_ (_Ibid._, xvi., p. 125); _Canfu_
(_Ibid._, p. 189).
82. SCHALLER, M.—_Marco Polo und die Texte seiner “Reisen”.—Programm
der Kgl. Studien—Anstalt Burghausen für das Studienjahr 1889–90
von_ Michael Schaller, Kgl. Studienlehrer f.n. Sprachen.
Burghausen, Russy, 8vo, pp. 57.
83. SEVERTZOW, Dr. NICOLAS. _Etudes de Géographie historique sur les
anciens itinéraires à travers le Pamir, Ptolémée, Hiouen-Thsang,
Song-yuen, Marco Polo_. (_Bul. Soc. Géog._, 1890, pp. 417–467,
553–610.)
(Marco Polo, pp. 583 _seqq._)
84. AMENT, W. S. _Marco Polo in Cambaluc: A Comparison of foreign and
native Accounts_. (_Journ. Peking Orient. Soc._, III. No. 2,
1892, pp. 97–122.)
85. COLLINGRIDGE, GEORGE. _The Early Cartography of Japan. By
George Collingridge_. (_Geographical Journal_, May, 1894, pp.
403–409.)—_Japan or Java? An Answer to Mr. George Collingridge’s
Article on_ “The Early Cartography of Japan,” _by F. G. Kramp_.
Overgedrukt uit het “Tijdschrift van het Koninklijk Nederlandsch
Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, Jaargang 1894.” Leiden, E. J. Brill,
1894, 8vo, pp. 14. _The Early Cartography of Japan. By H. Yule
Oldham._ (_Geographical Journal_, Sept. 1894, pp. 276–279.)
86. HIRTH, FRIED. _Ueber den Schiffsverkehr von Kinsay zu Marco
Polo’s Zeit_. (_T’oung Pao_, Dec. 1894, pp. 386–390.)
87. DRAPEYRON, LUDOVIC.—_Le Retour de Marco Polo en 1295. Cathay et
Sypangu_. (_Revue de Géographie_, Juillet, 1895, pp. 3–8.)
88. CORDIER, HENRI. _Centenaire de Marco Polo_. Paris, 1896, 8vo.
A Lecture with a Bibliography which is the basis of the list of this
edition of Marco Polo.
89. MANLY.—_Marco Polo and the Squire’s Tale_. By John Matthews
Manly. (_Publications of the Modern Language Association of
America_, vol. xi. 1896, pp. 349–362.)
Cf. our Introduction, p. _128_.
90. SUEZ, IUMING C. _Marco Polo_. (_St. John’s Echo_, Shanghaï, Nov.
1899.)
91. NORDENSKIÖLD, A. E.—_Om det inflytande Marco Polos reseberättelse
utöfvat på Gastaldis kartor öfver Asien_. (_ur Ymer, Tidskrift
utgifven af Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi_,
Årg. 1899, H. 1, pp. 33 to 42).
—————————— _The Influence of the “Travels of Marco Polo” on Jacobo
Gastaldi’s Map of Asia_. (_Geog. Journal_, April, 1899, pp. 396
to 406.)
See _Introduction_, p. _137_.
92. CHAIX, PAUL. _Marco Polo_. (_Le Globe_, Soc. Géog. Genève,
fév.–avril, 1900, pp. 84–94.)
93. LE STRANGE, GUY. _The Cities of Kirmān in the time of Hamd-Allah
Mustawfi and Marco Polo_. (_J. R. As. Soc._, April, 1901, pp.
281–290.)
94. MURET, ERNEST. _Un fragment de Marco Polo_. Paris, 1901, 8vo.,
pp. 8.
From _Romania_, tom. xxx. See p. 547, _App. F._, 65.
95. GREAT EXPLORERS.—Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan, Mungo Park, Sir
John Franklin, David Livingstone, Christopher Columbus, etc.,
etc. Thomas Nelson, London, 1902, 8vo, pp. 224.
Marco Polo, pp. _7–21_.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] [Sir Henry Yule expressed his regret to me that he had not the
facility at Palermo to undertake this Bibliography which I consider
as a legacy from the first and illustrious editor of this
book.—H. C.]
APPENDIX I.—_Titles of Works which are cited by abbreviated
References in this Book_.
ABDALLATIF. _Relation de l’Egypte_. Trad. par M. Silvestre de Sacy.
Paris, 1810.
ABULPHARAGIUS. _Hist. Compend. Dynastiarum_, etc., _ab_ Ed. Pocockio.
Oxon. 1663.
ABR. ROGER. See _La Porte ouverte_.
ACAD. _Mém. de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres_.
AIN-I-AKBARI or AIN. AKB. BL. refers to Blochmann’s Translation in
_Bibliotheca Indica_. Calcutta, 1869, _seqq._
ALEXANDRIADE, _ou Chanson de Geste d’Alexandre-le-Grand, de_ Lambert Le
Court _et_ Alex. de Bernay. Dinan et Paris, 1861, 12mo.
ALPHABETUM TIBETANUM _Missionum Apostolicarum commodo editum_; A. A.
Georgii. Romae, 1762, 4to.
AM. EXOT. Engelbert Kaempfer’s _Amoenitatum Exoticarum Fasciculi V_.
Lemgoviae, 1712.
AMYOT. _Mémoires concernant les Chinois_, etc. Paris v. y.
ARABS., ARABSHAH. _Ahmedis Arabsiadis Vitae ... Timuri ... Historia.
Latine vertit ... _S. H. Manger. Franequerae, 1767.
ARCH. STOR. ITAL. _Archivio Storico Italiano_. Firenze, v. y.
ASSEMANI, _Bibliotheca Orientalis_. Romae, 1719–28.
ASTLEY. _A New General Collection of Voyages, etc._ London, 1745–1747.
AVA, MISSION TO, Narrative of Major Phayre’s. By Capt. H. Yule.
London, 1858.
AYEEN AKBERY refers to Gladwin’s Transl., Calcutta, 1787.
BABER, Memoir of. Transl. by Leyden and Erskine. London, 1826.
BABER, E. COLBORNE. _Travels and Researches in Western China_. London,
1882, 8vo.
Vol. i. Pt. I. _Supp. Papers R. Geog. Society_.
BACON, ROGER. _Opus Majus_. Venet. 1750.
BAER UND HELMERSEN. _Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Russischen Reiches,
etc._ St. Petersburg, 1839, _seqq._
BAUDUIN DE SEBOURC. _Li Romans de Bauduin de S., IIIᵉ Roy de
Jherusalem_. Valenciennes, 1841, 2 vol. large 8vo.
BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. Quoted from T. Wright’s _Early Travels in
Palestine_. Bohn, London, 1848.
BRETSCHNEIDER, DR. E. _Notes on Chinese Mediaeval Travellers to the
West_. Shanghai, 1875, 8vo.
———————— _Archaeological and Historical Researches on Peking and its
Environs_. Shanghai, 1876, 8vo.
———————— _Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources_. London,
1888, 2 vol. 8vo.
———————— _History of European Botanical Discoveries in China_. London
[St. Petersburg], 1898, 2 Pts. 8vo. Begins with _Marco Polo_,
pp. 1–5.
All these works are most valuable.
BRIDGMAN, Rev. Dr. _Sketches of the Meaou-tszé_, transl. by. In _J. N.
Ch. Br. R. As. Soc._ for Dec. 1859.
BROWNE’S _Vulgar Errors_, in Bohn’s Ed. of his Works. London, 1852.
BUCHON. _Chroniques Étrangères relatives aux Expéditions Françaises
pendant le XIIIᵉ Siècle_. Paris, 1841.
BURNES, ALEX. _Travels into Bokhara_. 2nd Ed. London, 1835.
BÜSCHING’S _Magazin für die neue Historie und Geographie_. Halle, 1779,
_seqq._
CAHIER ET MARTIN. _Mélanges d’Archéologie_. Paris, v. y.
CAPMANY, ANTONIO. _Memorias Historicas sobre la marina ... de
Barcelona_. Madrid, 1779–1792.
CARP., CARPINI. As published in _Recueil de Voyages et de Mémoires de
la Soc. de Géog._ Tom. iv. Paris, 1839.
CATHAY AND THE WAY THITHER. By Col. H. Yule. Hakluyt Society, 1866.
CHARDIN, _Voyages en Perse de_. Ed. of Langlès. Paris, 1811.
CHAVANNES, EDOUARD. _Mémoire composé à l’époque de la grande dynastie
T’ang sur les Religieux éminents qui allèrent chercher la loi
dans les Pays d’Occident par_ I-TSING. Paris, 1894, 8vo.
CHINA ILLUSTRATA. See _Kircher_.
CHINE ANCIENNE. By Pauthier, in _L’Univers Pittoresque_. Paris, 1837.
—— MODERNE. By do. and Bazin, in do. Paris, 1853.
CHIN. REP. _Chinese Repository_. Canton, 1832, _seqq._
CLAVIJO. Transl. by C. R. Markham. Hak. Society, 1859.
CONSULAR REPORTS. (See this vol. p. 144.)
CONTI, _Travels of Nicolo_. In _India in the XVth Century_. Hak.
Society, 1857.
CORDIER, HENRI. _Les Voyages en Asie au XIVᵉ Siècle du Bienheureux
Frère Odoric de Pordenone_. Paris, 1891, 8vo.
———————— _L’Extrême-Orient dans l’Atlas catalan de Charles V., Roi de
France_. Paris, 1895, 8vo.
CURZON, GEORGE N. _Persia and the Persian Question_. London, 1892, 2
vol. 8vo.
D’AVEZAC. See App. H., III., No. 36.
DAVIES’S REPORT. _Rep. on the Trade and Resources of the Countries on
the N.W. Boundary of Br. India_ (By R. H. Davies, now (1874)
Lieut.-Governor of the Panjáb).
DEGUIGNES. _Hist. Gén. des Huns, etc._ Paris, 1756.
—————— (the Younger). _Voyage à Peking, etc._ Paris, 1808.
DELLA DECIMA, etc. Lisbone e Lucca (really Florence) 1765–1766. The 3rd
volume of this contains the Mercantile Handbook of _Pegolotti_
(_circa_ 1340), and the 4th volume that of _Uzzano_ (1440).
DELLA PENNA. _Breve Notizia del Regno del Thibet_. An extract from the
_Journal Asiatique_, sér. II. tom. xiv. (pub. by Klaproth).
DELLA VALLE, P. _Viaggi_. Ed. Brighton, 1843.
DE MAILLA. _H. Générale de la Chine, etc._ Paris, 1783.
DEVÉRIA, G. _La Frontière Sino-Annamite_. Paris, 1886, 8vo.
—————— _Notes d’Épigraphie mongole-chinoise_. Paris, 1897, 8vo. From
the _Jour. As._
—————— _Musulmans et Manichéens chinois_. Paris, 1898, 8vo. From the
_Jour. As._
—————— _Stèle Si-Hia de Leang-tcheou_. Paris, 1898, 8vo. From the
_Jour. As._
DICT. DE LA PERSE. _Dict. Géog. Hist. et Litt. de la Perse, etc._; par
Barbier de Meynard. Paris, 1861.
D’OHSSON. _H. des Mongols_. La Haye et Amsterdam, 1834.
DOOLITTLE, Rev. J. _The Social Life of the Chinese_. Condensed Ed.
London, 1868.
DOUET D’ARCQ. _Comptes de l’Argenterie des Rois de France au XVᵉ
Siècle_. Paris, 1851.
DOZY AND ENGELMANN. _Glossaire des Mots Espagnols et Portugais dérivés
de l’Arabe_. 2de. Ed. Leyde, 1869.
DUCHESNE, ANDRÉ. _Historiae Francorum Scriptores_. Lut. Par. 1636–1649.
EARLY TRAVELS in Palestine, ed. by T. Wright, Esq. Bohn, London, 1848.
EDRISI. _Trad. par_ Amédée Jaubert; in _Rec. de Voy. et de Mém._, tom.
v. et vi. Paris, 1836–1840.
ÉLIE DE LAPRIMAUDAIE. _Études sur le Commerce au Moyen Age_. Paris,
1848.
ELLIOT. _The History of India as told by its own Historians_. Edited
from the posthumous papers of Sir H. M. Elliot, by Prof. Dowson.
1867, _seqq._
ERDMANN, Dr. FRANZ v. _Temudschin der Unerschütterliche_. Leipzig, 1862.
ERMAN. _Travels in Siberia_. Transl. by W. D. Cooley. London, 1848.
ESCAYRAC DE LAUTURE. _Mémoires sur la Chine_. Paris, 1865.
ÉTUDE PRATIQUE, etc. See _Hedde_.
FARIA Y SOUZA. _History of the Discovery and Conquest of India by the
Portuguese_. Transl. by Capt. J. Stevens. London, 1695.
FERRIER, J. P. _Caravan Journeys, etc._ London, 1856.
FORTUNE. _Two Visits to the Tea Countries of China_. London, 1853.
FRANCISQUE-MICHEL. _Recherches sur le Commerce, la fabrication, et
l’usage des étoffes de Soie, etc._ Paris, 1852.
FRESCOB. _Viaggi in Terra Santa di_ L. Frescobaldi, etc. (1384).
Firenze, 1862.
GARCIA DE ORTA. _Garzia dall’Horto, Dell’Istoria dei semplici ed
altre cose che vengono portate dall’Indie Orientali, etc._ Trad.
dal Portughese da Annib. Briganti. Venezia, 1589.
GARNIER, FRANCIS. _Voyage d’Exploration en Indo-Chine_. Paris, 1873.
GAUBIL. _H. de Gentchiscan et de toute la Dinastie des Mongous_. Paris,
1739.
GILDEM., GILDEMEISTER. _Scriptorum Arabum de Rebus Indicis, etc._ Bonn,
1838.
GILL, CAPT. WILLIAM. _The River of Golden Sand.... With an Introductory
Essay by Col._ HENRY YULE.... London, 1880, 2 vol. 8vo.
GODINHO DE EREDIA. _Malaca l’Inde méridionale et le Cathay reproduit en
facsimile et traduit par M._ LÉON JANSSEN. Bruxelles, 1882, 4to.
GOLD. HORDE. See _Hammer_.
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—————————— _Supplementary Jottings to the Notes. T’oung Pao, VII._,
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J. R. G. S. _Journal of the Royal Geographical Society_.
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KHANIKOFF, NOTICE. See App. H., III., No. 43.
—————— MÉMOIRE _sur la Partie Méridionale de l’Asie Centrale_, Paris,
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KLAP. MÉM. See App. H., III., No. 22.
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MATTHIOLI, P. A. _Commentarii in libros VI. Pedacii Dioscoridis de
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MAUNDEVILE. Halliwell’s Ed. London, 1866.
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MENDOZA. _H. of China_. Ed. of Hak. Society, 1853–54.
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N. & Q. C. & J. _Notes and Queries for China and Japan_.
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APPENDIX K.—_Values of certain Moneys, Weights, and Measures,
occurring in this Book_.
FRENCH MONEY.
The +Livre Tournois+ of the period may be taken, on
the mean of five valuations cited in a footnote at p.
87 of vol. i., as equal in _modern silver value_ to ... 18·04 _francs._
Say English money ... 14_s._ 3·8_d._
The +Livre Parisis+ was worth one-fourth more than the
_Tournois_,[1] and therefore equivalent in silver value
to ... 22·55 _francs._
Say English money ... 17_s._ 10·8_d._
(Gold being then to silver in relative value about 12:1 instead of
about 15:1 as now, one-fourth has to be added to the values based on
silver in equations with the gold coin of the period, and one-fifth to
be deducted in values based on gold value. By oversight, in vol. i. p.
87, I took 16:1 as the present gold value, and so exaggerated the value
of the livre Tournois as compared with gold.)
M. Natalis de Wailly, in his recent fine edition of Joinville,
determines the valuation of these _livres_, in the reign of St. Lewis,
by taking a mean between a value calculated on the present value of
silver, and a value calculated on the present value of gold,[2] and his
result is:
+Livre Tournois+ = ... 20·26 _francs._
+Livre Parisis+ = ... 25·33 „
Though there is something arbitrary in this mode of valuation, it is,
perhaps, on the whole the best; and its result is extremely handy for
the memory (as somebody has pointed out) for we thus have
One +Livre Tournois+ = One Napoleon.
„ „ +Parisis+ = One Sovereign.
VENETIAN MONEY.
The +Mark+ of Silver all over Europe may be taken fairly at 2_l._ 4_s._
of our money in modern value; the Venetian mark being a fraction more,
and the marks of England, Germany and France fractions less.[3]
The Venice +Gold Ducat+ or +Zecchin+, first coined
in accordance with a Law of 31st October 1283, was,
_in our gold value_, worth ... 11·82 _francs._[4]
or English ... 9_s._ 4·284_d._
The Zecchin when first coined was fixed as equivalent to 18 _grossi_,
and on this calculation the +Grosso+ should be a little less than 5_d._
sterling.[5] But from what follows it looks as if there must have been
another _grosso_, perhaps only of account, which was only ¾ of the
former, therefore equivalent to 3¾_d._ only. This would be a clue to
difficulties which I do not find dealt with by anybody in a precise or
thorough manner; but I can find no evidence for it.
Accounts were kept at Venice not in ducats and grossi, but in _Lire_,
of which there were several denominations, _viz._:
1. +Lira dei Grossi+, called in Latin Documents _Libra denariorum
Venetorum grosorum_.[6] Like every _Lira_ or Pound, this
consisted of 20 _soldi_, and each _soldo_ of 12 _denari_ or
_deniers_.[7] In this case the Lira was equivalent to 10 golden
ducats; and its Denier, as the name implies, was the _Grosso_.
The Grosso therefore here was ¹⁄₂₄₀ of 10 ducats or ¹⁄₂₄ of a
ducat, instead of ¹⁄₁₈.
2. +Lira ai Grossi+ (_L. den. Ven. ad grossos_). This by decree of
2nd June, 1285, went two to the ducat. In fact it is the _soldo_
of the preceding _Lira_, and as such the _Grosso_ was, as we have
just seen, its denier; which is perhaps the reason of the name.
3. +Lira dei Piccoli+ (_L. den. Ven. parvulorum_). The ducat is
alleged to have been at first equal to three of these _Lire_
(_Romanin_, I. 321); but the calculations of Marino Sanudo
(1300–1320) in the _Secreta Fidelium Crucis_ show that he reckons
the Ducat equivalent to 3·2 _lire_ of _piccoli_.[8]
In estimating these _Lire_ in modern English money, on the basis of
their relation to the ducat, we must reduce the apparent value by ⅕. We
then have:
1. +Lira dei Grossi+ equivalent to nearly 3_l._ 15_s._ 0_d._
(therefore exceeding by nearly 10_s._ the value of the Pound
sterling of the period, or _Lira di Sterlini_, as it was called
in the appropriate Italian phrase).[9]
2. +Lira ai Grossi+ ... 3_s._ 9_d._
3. +Lira dei Piccoli+ ... 2_s._ 4_d._
The +Tornese+ or +Tornesel+ at Venice was, according to Romanin (III.
343) = 4 Venice deniers: and if these are the _deniers_ of the _Lira ai
Grossi_, the coin would be worth a little less than ¾_d._, and nearly
the equivalent of the denier Tournois, from which it took its name.[10]
* * * * *
The term +Bezant+ is used by Polo always (I believe) as it is by
Joinville, by Marino Sanudo, and by Pegolotti, for the Egyptian gold
dínár, the intrinsic value of which varied somewhat, but can scarcely
be taken at less than 10_s._ 6_d._ or 11_s._ (See _Cathay_, pp.
440–441; and see also _J. As._ sér. VI. tom. xi. pp. 506–507.) The
exchange of Venice money for the Bezant or Dinar in the Levant varied
a good deal (as is shown by examples in the passage in _Cathay_ just
cited), but is always in these examples a large fraction (⅙ up to ⅓)
more than the Zecchin. Hence, when Joinville gives the equation of St.
Lewis’s ransom as 1,000,000 _bezants_ or 500,000 _livres_, I should
have supposed these to be _livres Parisis_ rather than _Tournois_, as
M. de Wailly prefers.
There were a variety of coins of lower value in the Levant called
Bezants,[11] but these do not occur in our Book.
* * * * *
The Venice +Saggio+, a weight for precious substances was ⅙ of an
ounce, corresponding to the weight of the Roman gold _solidus_, from
which was originally derived the Arab +Misḳál+. And Polo appears to
use _saggio_ habitually as the equivalent of _Misḳál_. His +pois+ or
+peso+, applied to gold and silver, seems to have the same sense, and
is indeed a literal translation of _Misḳál_. (See vol. ii. p. 41.)
* * * * *
For measures Polo uses the _palm_ rather than the foot. I do not find
a value of the Venice palm, but over Italy that measure varies from 9½
inches to something over 10. The Genoa Palm is stated at 9·725 inches.
_Jal_ (_Archéologie Nav._ I. 271) cites the following Table of
_Old Venice Measures of Length_.
4 fingers = 1 handbreadth.
4 handbreadths = 1 foot.
5 feet = 1 pace.
1000 paces = 1 mile.
4 miles = 1 league.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] See (_Dupré de St. Maur_) _Essai sur les Monnoies, &c._ Paris,
1746, p. xv; and _Douet d’Arcq_, pp. 5, 15, &c.
[2] He takes the _silver value_ of the gros Tournois (the _sol_ of the
system) at 0·8924 _fr._, whence the Livre = 17·849 _fr._ And the
_gold value_ of the golden _Agnel_, which passed for 12½ _sols
Tournois_, is 14·1743 _fr._ Whence the Livre = 22·6789 _fr._ Mean =
20·2639 _fr._
[3] The Mark was ⅔ of a pound. The English +Pound Sterling+ of the
period was in silver value = 3_l._ 5_s._ 2_d._ Hence the +Mark+
= 2_l._ 3_s._ 5·44_d._ The Cologne Mark, according to Pegolotti,
was the same, and the Venice Mark of silver was = 1 English Tower
Mark + 3½ sterlings (_i.e._ pence of the period), = therefore to
2_l._ 4_s._ 4·84_d._ The French Mark of Silver, according to Dupré
de St. Maur, was about 3 Livres, presumably Tournois, and therefore
2_l._ 2_s._ 11½_d._
[4] _Cibrario, Pol. Ec. del Med. Evo._ III. 228. The +Gold Florin+ of
Florence was worth a fraction more = 9_s._ 4·85_d._
Sign. Desimoni, of Genoa, obligingly points out that the changed
relation of Gold ducat and silver _grosso_ was due to a general
rise in price of gold between 1284 and 1302, shown by notices of
other Italian mints which raise the equation of the gold florin in
the same ratio, viz. from 9 _sols tournois_ to 12.
[5] For ¹⁄₁₈ of the florin will be 6·23_d._, and deducting ⅕, as
pointed out above, we have 4·99_d._ as the value of the _grosso_.
I have a note that the _grosso_ contained 42⁶⁸⁄₁₄₄ Venice grains of
pure silver. If the Venice grain be the same as the old Milan grain
(·051 _grammes_) this will give exactly the same value of 5_d._
[6] Also called, according to Romanin, _Lira d’imprestidi_. See Introd.
Essay in vol. i. p. _66_.
[7] It is not too universally known to be worth noting that our £. s.
d. represents _Livres, sois, deniers_.
[8] He also states the grosso to have been worth 32 _piccoli_, which
is consistent with this and the two preceding statements. For at
3·2 _lire_ to the ducat the latter would = 768 piccoli, and ¹⁄₂₄ of
this = 32 piccoli. Pegolotti also assigns 24 grossi to the ducat
(p. 151).
The tendency of these _Lire_, as of pounds generally, was to
degenerate in value. In Uzzano (1440) we find the Ducat equivalent
to 100 _soldi_, _i.e._ to 5 _lire_.
Everybody seems to be tickled at the notion that the Scotch Pound
or Livre was only 20 Pence. Nobody finds it funny that the French
or Italian Pound is only 20 halfpence, or less!
[9] _Uzzano_ in _Della Decima_, IV. 124.
[10] According to Gallicciolli (II. 53) _piccoli_ (probably in the vague
sense of small copper coin) were called in the Levant τορνέσια.
[11] Thus in the document containing the autograph of King Hayton,
presented at p. _13_ of Introductory Essay, the King gives with
his daughter, “Damoiselle Femie,” a dowry of 25,000 _besans
sarrazinas_, and in payment 4 of his own bezants _staurats_
(presumably so called from bearing a _cross_) are to count as one
Saracen Bezant. (_Cod. Diplomat. del S. Mil. Ord. Gerosolim_. I.
134.)
APPENDIX L.—_Sundry Supplementary Notes on Special
Subjects_.—(H. C.)
1.—_The Polos at Acre_. 8.—_La Couvade_.
2.—_Sorcery in Kashmir_. 9.—_Alacan_.
3.—PAONANO PAO. 10.—_Champa_.
4.—_Pamir_. 11.—_Ruck Quills_.
5.—_Number of Pamirs_. 12.—_A Spanish Edition of Marco Polo_.
6.—_Site of Pein_. 13.—_Sir John Mandeville_.
7.—_Fire-arms_.
1.—THE POLOS AT ACRE. (Vol. i. p. _19. Int._)
M. le Comte Riant (_Itin. à Jérusalem_, p. xxix.) from various data
thinks the two sojourns of the Polos at Acre must have been between
the 9th May, 1271, date of the arrival of Edward of England and of
Tedaldo Visconti, and the 18th November, 1271, time of the departure of
Tedaldo. Tedaldo was still in Paris on the 28th December, 1269, and he
appears to have left for the Holy Land after the departure of S. Lewis
for Tunis (2nd July, 1270).—H. C.
2.—SORCERY IN KASHMIR. (Vol. i. p. 166.)
In _Kalhaṇa’s Rājataraṅgiṇī, A Chronicle of the Kings of Kásmīr
translated by M. A. Stein_, we read (Bk. IV. 94, p. 128): “Again
the Brahman’s wife addressed him: ‘O king, as he is famous for his
knowledge of charms (_Khārkhodavidyā_), he can get over an ordeal with
ease.’” Dr. Stein adds the following note: “The practice of witchcraft
and the belief in its efficiency have prevailed in Kásmir from early
times, and have survived to some extent to the present day; comp.
_Bühler, Report_, p. 24.... The term _Khārkhoda_, in the sense of a
kind of deadly charm or witchcraft, recurs in v. 239, and is found also
in the _Vijayésvaramāh_ (Adipur.), xi. 25. In the form _Khārkoṭa_ it
is quoted by the _N. P. W._ from _Caraka_, vi. 23. _Khārkhoṭa_ appears
as the designation of a sorcerer or another kind of uncanny persons in
_Haracar_., ii. 125, along with Kṛtyās and Vetālas....”
3.—PAONANO PAO. (Vol. i. p. 173.)
In his paper on _Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythians’ Coins_
(_Babylonian and Oriental Record_, August, 1887, pp. 155–166; rep. in
the _Indian Antiquary_, 1888), Dr. M. A. Stein has demonstrated that
the legend PAONANO PAO on the coins of the Yue-Chi or Indo-Scythian
Kings (Kanishka, Huvishka, Vasudeva), is the exact transcription of the
old Iranian title _Shāhanān Shāh_ (Persian _Shāhan-shāh_), “King of
Kings”; the letter P, formerly read as P(_r_), has since been generally
recognised, in accordance with his interpretation as a distinct
character expressing the sound _sh_.
4.—PAMIR. (Vol. i. pp. 174–175.)
I was very pleased to find that my itinerary agrees with that of Dr.
M. A. Stein; this learned traveller sends me the following remarks:
“The remark about the absence of birds (pp. 174–175) _might_ be a
reflex of the very ancient legend (based probably on the name zend
_Upairi-saena_, pehlevi _Apārsīn_, ‘higher than the birds’) which
represents the _Híndu Kush_ range proper as too high for birds to fly
over. The legend can be traced by successive evidence in the case
of the range north of Kabul.”—Regarding the route (p. 175) from
the _Wakhjir_ (sic) Pass down the Taghdum-bash Pamir, then _viâ_
Tāsh-kurghan, Little Karakul, Bulun Kul, Gez Daria to Tashmalik and
Kashgar, Dr. Stein says that he surveyed it in July, 1900, and he
refers for the correct phonetic spelling of local names along it to his
map to be published in _J. R. G. S._, in December, 1902. He says in
his _Prel. Report_, p. 10: “The _Wakhjīr_ Pass, only some 12 miles to
the south-west of _Kök-török_, connects the Tāghdumbāsh Pamir and the
Sarīkol Valleys with the head-waters of the Oxus. So I was glad that
the short halt, which was unavoidable for survey purposes, permitted
me to move a light camp close to the summit of the Wakhjīr Pass (circ.
16,200 feet). On the following day, 2nd July, I visited the head of
_Ab-i-Panja_ Valley, near the great glaciers which Lord Curzon first
demonstrated to be the true source of the River Oxus. It was a strange
sensation for me in this desolate mountain waste to know that I had
reached at last the eastern threshold of that distant region, including
Bactria and the Upper Oxus Valley, which as a field of exploration
had attracted me long before I set foot in India. Notwithstanding its
great elevation, the Wakhjīr Pass and its approaches both from west and
east are comparatively easy. Comparing the topographical facts with
Hiuen-Tsiang’s account in the _Si yu-ki_, I am led to conclude that
the route followed by the great Chinese Pilgrim, when travelling about
A.D. 649 from Badakshān towards Khotan, through ‘the valley of Po-mi-lo
(Pamir)’ into Sarīkol, actually traversed this Pass.”
Dr. Stein adds in his notes to me that “Marco Polo’s description of the
forty days’ journey to the E.N.E. of _Vokhan_ as _through tracts of
wilderness_ can well be appreciated by any one who has passed through
the Pamir Region, in the direction of the valleys W. and N. of Muztagh
Ata. After leaving Táshkurghan and Tagharma, where there is some
precarious cultivation, there is no local produce to be obtained until
the oasis of Tashmalik is reached in the open Kashgar plains. In the
narrow valley of the Yamanyar River (Gez Defile) there is scarcely any
grazing; its appearance is far more desolate than that of the elevated
Pamirs.”—“Marco Polo’s praise (p. 181) of the gardens and vine-yards of
Kashgar is well deserved; also the remark about the trading enterprise
of its merchants still holds good, if judged by the standard of Chinese
Turkestan. Kashgar traders visit Khotan far more frequently than _vice
versa_. It is strange that no certain remains of Nestorian worship
can be traced now.”—“My impression [Dr. Stein’s] of the people of the
Khotan oasis (p. 188) was that they are certainly a meeker and more
docile race than _e.g._ the average ‘Kashgarlik’ or Yarkandi. The very
small number of the Chinese garrison of the districts Khotan and Keria
(only about 200 men) bears out this impression.”
We may refer for the ancient sites, history, etc., of Khotan to the
_Preliminary Report_ of Dr. Stein and to his paper in the _Geographical
Journal_ for December, 1902, actually in the press.
5.—NUMBER OF PAMIRS. (Vol. i. p. 176.)
Lord Curzon gives the following list of the “eight claimants to the
distinction and title of a Pamir”: (1) Taghdumbash, or Supreme Head of
the Mountains Pamir, lying immediately below and to the north of the
Kilik Pass. (2) The Pamir-i-Wakhan. (3) The Pamir-i-Khurd, or Little
Pamir. (4) The Pamir-i-Kalan, or Great Pamir. (5) The Alichur Pamir.
(6) The Sarez Pamir. (7) The Rang Kul Pamir. (8) The Khargosh or Hare
Pamir, which contains the basin of the Great Kara Kul. See this most
valuable paper, _The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus_, reprinted from
the _Geographical Journal_ of 1896, in 1896, 1898, and 1899.
[Illustration: Some of the objects found by Dr. M. A. Stein in Central
Asia.]
6.—PEIN. (Vol. i. p. 192.)
Dr. M. A. Stein, of the Indian Educational Service, appears to have
exactly identified the site of Pein, during his recent archæological
researches in Central Asia; he writes (_Prel. Report on a Journey of
Archæological and Topog. Exploration in Chinese Turkestan_, Lond.,
1901, pp. 58–59): “Various antiquarian and topographical considerations
made me anxious to identify the position of the town of _Pi-mo_, which
Hiuen-Tsiang describes as some 300 _li_ to the east of the Khotan
capital. It was probably the same place as the _Pein_, visited by Marco
Polo. After marching back along the Keriya River for four days, I
struck to the south-west, and, after three more marches, arrived in the
vicinity of Lachin-Ata Mazar, a desolate little shrine in the desert to
the north of the Khotan-Keriya route. Though our search was rendered
difficult by the insufficiency of guides and the want of water, I
succeeded during the following few days in tracing the extensive
ruined site which previous information had led me to look for in that
vicinity. ‘Uzun-Tati’ (‘the distant Tati,’) as the _débris_-covered
area is locally designated, corresponds in its position and the
character of its remains exactly to the description of Pi-mo. Owing to
far-advanced erosion and the destruction dealt by treasure-seekers, the
structural remains are very scanty indeed. But the _débris_, including
bits of glass, pottery, china, small objects in brass and stone, etc.,
is plentiful enough, and in conjunction with the late Chinese coins
found here, leaves no doubt as to the site having been occupied up to
the Middle Ages.”
Our itinerary should therefore run from Khotan to Uzun Tati, and thence
to Nia, leaving Kiria to the south; indeed Kiria is _not_ an ancient
place.—H. C.
[Illustration: MARCO POLO’S ITINERARY CORRECTED]
Mr. E. J. Rapson, of the British Museum, with the kind permission of
Dr. Stein, has sent me a photograph (which we reproduce) of coins and
miscellaneous objects found at Uzun Tati. Coin (1) bears the _nien-hao_
(title of reign) _Pao Yuen_ (1038–1040) of the Emperor Jen Tsung, of
the Sung Dynasty; Coin (2) bears the _nien-hao_, _K’ien Yuen_ (758–760)
of the Emperor Su Tsung of the T’ang Dynasty; Coin (3) is of the time
of the Khan of Turkestan, Muhammad Arslān Khan, about 441 A.H. = 1049
A.D. From the description sent to me by Mr. Rapson and written by Mr.
Andrews, I note that the miscellaneous objects include: “Two fragments
of fine Chinese porcelain, highly glazed and painted with Chinese
ornament in blue. That on the left is painted on both sides, and
appears to be portion of rim of a bowl. Thickness ³⁄₃₂ of an inch. That
to the right is slightly coarser, and is probably portion of a larger
vessel. Thickness ¼ inch (nearly). A third fragment of porcelain, shown
at bottom of photo, is decorated roughly in a neutral brown colour,
which has imperfectly ‘fluxed.’ It, also, appears to be Chinese.
Thickness ⅛ inch (nearly).—A brass or bronze object, cast. Probably
portion of a clasp or buckle.—A brass finger ring containing a piece of
mottled green glass held loosely in place by a turned-over denticulated
rim. The metal is very thin.”—H. C.
7.—FIRE-ARMS. (Vol. i. p. 342.)
From a paper on _Siam’s Intercourse with China_, published by
Lieutenant-Colonel Gerini in the _Asiatic Quarterly Review_ for
October, 1902, it would appear that fire-arms were mentioned for the
first time in Siamese Records during the Lāu invasion and the siege
of Swankhalôk (from 1085 to 1097 A.D.); it is too early a date for
the introduction of fire-arms, though it would look “much more like
an anachronism were the advent of these implements of warfare [were]
placed, in blind reliance upon the _Northern Chronicles_, still a few
centuries back. The most curious of it all is, however, the statement
as to the weapons in question having been introduced into the country
from China.” Following W. F. Mayers in his valuable contributions to
the _Jour. North-China B. R. A. S._, 1869–1870, Colonel Gerini, who, of
course, did not know of Dr. Schlegel’s paper, adds: “It was not until
the reign of the Emperor Yung Lê, and on occasion of the invasion of
Tonkin in A.D. 1407, that the Chinese acquired the knowledge of the
propulsive effect of gunpowder, from their vanquished enemies.”
8.—LA COUVADE. (Vol. ii. p. 91.)
Mr. H. Ling Roth has given an interesting paper entitled _On the
Signification of Couvade_, in the _Journ. Anthropological Institute_,
XXII. 1893, pp. 204–243. He writes (pp. 221–222):—“From this survey
it would seem in the first place that we want a great deal more
information about the custom in the widely isolated cases where it
has been reported, and secondly, that the authenticity of some of the
reported cases is doubtful in consequence of authors repeating their
predecessors’ tales, as Colquhoun did Marco Polo’s, and V. der Haart
did Schouten’s. I should not be at all surprised if ultimately both
Polo’s and Schouten’s accounts turned out to be myths, both these
travellers making their records at a time when the Old World was full
of the tales of the New, so that in the end, we may yet find the custom
is not, nor ever has been, so widespread as is generally supposed to
have been the case.”
I do not very well see how Polo, in the 13th and 14th centuries could
make his _record at a time when the Old World was full of the tales
of the New_, discovered at the end of the 15th century! Unless Mr.
Ling Roth supposes the Venetian Traveller acquainted with the various
theories of the Pre-Columbian discovery of America!!
9.—ALACAN. (Vol. ii. pp. 255 and 261.)
Dr. G. Schlegel writes, in the _T’oung Pao_ (May, 1898, p. 153):
“_Abakan_ or _Abachan_ ought to be written _Alahan_. His name is
written by the Chinese _Ats’zehan_ and by the Japanese _Asikan_; but
this is because they have both confounded the character _lah_ with the
character _ts’ze_; the old sound of [the last] character [of the name]
was _kan_ and is always used by the Chinese when wanting to transcribe
the title _Khan_ or _Chan_. Marco Polo’s A_b_acan is a clerical error
for A_l_acan.”
10.—CHAMPA. (Vol. ii. p. 268.)
In Ma Huan’s account of the Kingdom of Siam, transl. by Mr. Phillips
(_Jour. China B. R. A. S._, XXI. 1886, pp. 35–36) we read: “Their
marriage ceremonies are as follows:—They first invite the priest to
conduct the bridegroom to the bride’s house, and on arrival there the
priest exacts the ‘droit seigneurial,’ and then she is introduced to
the bridegroom.”
11.—RUCK QUILLS. (Vol. ii. p. 421.)
Regarding Ruck Quills, Sir H. Yule wrote in the _Academy_, 22nd March,
1884, pp. 204–405:—
“I suggested that this might possibly have been some vegetable
production, such as a great frond of the Ravenala (_Urania speciosa_)
cooked to pass as a ruc’s quill. (_Marco Polo_, first edition, ii.
354; second edition, ii. 414.) Mr. Sibree, in his excellent book on
Madagascar (_The Great African Island_, 1880) noticed this, but said:
“‘It is much more likely that they [the ruc’s quills] were the
immensely long midribs of the leaves of the rofia palm. These are from
twenty to thirty feet long, and are not at all unlike an enormous quill
stripped of the feathering portion’” (p. 55).
In another passage he describes the palm, _Sagus ruffia_ (_? raphia_):
“The _rofia_ has a trunk of from thirty to fifty feet in height, and at
the head divides into seven or eight immensely long leaves. The midrib
of these leaves is a very strong, but extremely light and straight
pole.... These poles are often twenty feet or more in length, and
the leaves proper consist of a great number of fine and long pinnate
leaflets, set at right angles to the midrib, from eighteen to twenty
inches long, and about one and a half broad,” etc. (pp. 74, 75).
When Sir John Kirk came home in 1881–1882, I spoke to him on the
subject, and he felt confident that the _rofia_ or _raphia_ palm-fronds
were the original of the ruc’s quills. He also kindly volunteered to
send me a specimen on his return to Zanzibar. This he did not forget,
and some time ago there arrived at the India Office not one, but four
of these ruc’s quills. In the letter which announced this despatch Sir
John says:—
“I send to-day per s.s. _Arcot_ ... four fronds of the Raphia palm,
called here ‘Moale.’ They are just as sold and shipped up and down the
coast. No doubt they were sent in Marco Polo’s time in exactly the same
state, _i.e._ stripped of their leaflets, and with the tip broken off.
They are used for making stages and ladders, and last long if kept dry.
They are also made into doors, by being cut into lengths, and pinned
through. The stages are made of three, like tripods, and used for
picking cloves from the higher branches.”
The largest of the four midribs sent (they do not differ much) is 25
feet 4 inches long, measuring 12 inches in girth at the butt, and 5
inches at the upper end. I calculate that if it originally came to a
point the whole length would be 45 feet, but, as this would not be so,
we may estimate it at 35 to 40 feet. The thick part is deeply hollowed
on the upper (?) side, leaving the section of the solid butt in form a
thick crescent. The leaflets are all gone, but when entire, the object
must have strongly resembled a Brobdingnagian feather. Compare this
description with that of Padre Bolivar in Ludolf, referred to above.
“In aliquibus ... regionibus vidi pennas alae istius avis prodigiosae,
licet avem non viderim, Penna illa, prout ex formâ colligebatur, erat
ex mediocribus, longitudine 28 palmorum, latitudine trium. Calamus vero
a radice usque ad extremitatem longitudine quinque palmorum, densitatis
instar brachii moderati, robustissimus erat et durus. Pennulae inter
se aequales et bene compositae, ut vix ab invicem nisi cum violentiâ
divellerentur. Colore erant valdê nigro, calamus colore albo.”
(_Ludolfi, ad suam Hist. Aethiop., Comment._, p. 164.)
The last particular, as to colour, I am not able to explain: the others
correspond well. The _palmus_ in this passage may be anything from 9 to
10 inches.
I see this tree is mentioned by Captain R. F. Burton in his volume on
the Lake Regions (vol. xxix. of the _Journal_ of the Royal Geographical
Society, p. 34),[1] and probably by many other travellers.
I ought to mention here that some other object has been shown at
Zanzibar as part of the wings of a great bird. Sir John Kirk writes
that this (which he does not describe particularly) was in the
possession of the Roman Catholic priests at Bagamoyo, to whom it had
been given by natives of the interior, who declared that they had
brought it from Tanganyika, and that it was part of the wing of a
gigantic bird. On another occasion they repeated this statement,
alleging that this bird was known in the Udoe (?) country near the
coast. These priests were able to communicate directly with their
informants, and certainly believed the story. Dr. Hildebrand, also, a
competent German naturalist, believed in it. But Sir John Kirk himself
says that “what the priests had to show was most undoubtedly the
whalebone of a comparatively small whale.”
12.—A SPANISH EDITION OF MARCO POLO.
As we go to press we receive the newly published volume, _El Libro
de Marco Polo—Aus dem vermächtnis des_ Dr. Hermann Knust _nach der
Madrider Handschrift herausgegeben von_ Dr. R. Stuebe. Leipzig, Dr.
Seele & Co., 1902, 8vo., pp. xxvi.–114. It reproduces the old Spanish
text of the manuscript Z-I-2 of the Escurial Library from a copy made
by Señor D. José Rodriguez for the Society of the Spanish Bibliophiles,
which, being unused, was sold by him to Dr. Hermann Knust, who made a
careful comparison of it with the original manuscript. This copy, found
among the papers of Dr. Knust after his death, is now edited by Dr.
Stuebe. The original 14th century MS., written in a good hand on two
columns, includes 312 leaves of parchment, and contains several works;
among them we note: 1°, a Collection entitled _Flor de las Ystorias de
Oriente_ (fol. 1–104), made on the advice of Juan Fernandez de Heredia,
Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (1377), of which
_Marco Polo_ (fol. 50–104) is a part; 2° and _Secretum Secretorum_
(fol. 254 _r_-fol. 312 _v._); this MS. is not mentioned in our List,
_App. F._, II. p. 546, unless it be our No. 60.
The manuscript includes 68 chapters, the first of which is devoted
to the City of Lob and Sha-chau, corresponding to our Bk. I., ch.
39 and 40 (our vol. i. pp. 196 _seqq._); ch. 65 (p. 111) corresponds
approximatively to our ch. 40, Bk. III. (vol. ii. p. 451); chs. 66,
67, and the last, 68, would answer to our chs. 2, 3, and 4 of Bk. I.
(vol i., pp. 45 _seqq._). A concordance of this Spanish text, with
Pauthier’s, Yule’s, and the Geographic Texts, is carefully given at the
beginning of each of the 68 chapters of the Book.
Of course this edition does not throw any new light on the text, and
this volume is but a matter of curiosity.
13.—SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE.
One of the last questions in which Sir Henry Yule[2] took an interest
in, was the problem of the authorship of the book of Travels which
bears the name of SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE, the worthy Knight, who, after
being for a long time considered as the “Father of English Prose” has
become simply “the name claimed by the compiler of a singular book of
Travels, written in French, and published between 1357 and 1371.”[3]
It was understood that “JOHAN MAUNDEUILLE, chiualer, ia soit ceo qe ieo
ne soie dignes, neez et norriz Dengleterre de la ville Seint Alban,”
crossed the sea “lan millesme cccᵐᵉ vintisme et secund, le iour de
Seint Michel,”[4] that he travelled since across the whole of Asia
during the 14th century, that he wrote the relation of his travels as a
rest after his fatiguing peregrinations, and that he died on the 17th
of November, 1372, at Liège, when he was buried in the Church of the
Guillemins.
No work has enjoyed a greater popularity than Mandeville’s; while
we describe but eighty-five manuscripts of Marco Polo’s, and I gave
a list of seventy-three manuscripts of Friar Odoric’s relation,[5]
it is by hundreds that Mandeville’s manuscripts can be reckoned. As
to the printed editions, they are, so to speak, numberless; Mr. Carl
Schönborn[6] gave in 1840, an incomplete bibliography; Tobler in his
_Bibliographia geographica Palestinae_ (1867),[7] and Röhricht[8] after
him compiled a better bibliography, to which may be added my own lists
in the _Bibliotheca Sinica_[9] and in the _T’oung-Pao_.[10]
Campbell, _Ann. de la Typog. néerlandaise_, 1874, p. 338, mentions a
Dutch edition: _Reysen int heilighe lant_, s.l.n.d., folio, of which
but two copies are known, and which must be dated as far back as 1470
[see p. 600]. I believed hitherto (I am not yet sure that Campbell
is right as to his date) that the first printed edition was German,
s.l.n.d., very likely printed at Basel, about 1475, discovered by
Tross, the Paris Bookseller.[11] The next editions are the French of
the 4th April, 1480,[12] and 8th February of the same year,[13] Easter
being the 2nd of April, then the Latin,[14] Dutch,[15] and Italian[16]
editions, and after the English editions of Pynson and Wynkin de Worde.
In what tongue was Mandeville’s Book written?
The fact that the first edition of it was printed either in German
or in Dutch, only shows that the scientific progress was greater and
printing more active in such towns as Basel, Nuremberg and Augsburg
than in others. At first, one might believe that there were three
original texts, probably in French, English, and vulgar Latin; the
Dean of Tongres, Radulphus of Rivo, a native of Breda, writes indeed
in his _Gesta Pontificum Leodiensium_, 1616, p. 17: “Hoc anno Ioannes
Mandeuilius natione Anglus vir ingenio, & arte medendi eminens, qui
toto fere terrarum orbe peragrato, _tribus linguis_ peregrinationem
suam doctissime _conscripsit_, in alium orbê nullis finibus clausum,
lōgeque hoc quietiorem, & beatiorem migrauit 17. Nouembris. Sepultus
in Ecclesia Wilhelmitarum non procul à moenibus Ciuitatis Leodiensis.”
The Dean of Tongres died in 1483;[17] Mr. Warner, on the authority of
the _Bulletin de l’Inst. Archéol. Liégeois_, xvi. 1882, p. 358, gives
1403 as the date of the death of Radulphus. However, Mandeville himself
says (_Warner, Harley_, 4383) at the end of his introduction, p. 3:—“Et
sachez qe ieusse cest escript mis en latyn pur pluis briefment deuiser;
mes, pur ceo qe plusours entendent mieltz romantz qe latin, ieo lay
mys en romance, pur ceo qe chescun lentende et luy chiualers et les
seignurs et lez autres nobles homes qi ne sciuent point de latin ou
poy, et qount estee outre meer, sachent et entendent, si ieo dye voir
ou noun, et si ieo erre en deuisant par noun souenance ou autrement,
qils le puissent adresser et amender, qar choses de long temps passez
par la veue tornent en obly, et memorie de homme ne puet mye tot
retenir ne comprendre.” From this passage and from the Latin text:
“Incipit itinerarius a terra Angliæ ad partes Iherosolimitanas et in
ulteriores transmarinas, editus primo in lingua gallicana a milite suo
autore anno incarnacionis Domini m. ccc. lv, in civitate Leodiensi, et
paulo post in eadem civitate translatus in hanc formam latinam.” (P.
33 of the _Relation des Mongols ou Tartars par le frère Jean du Plan
de Carpin_, Paris, 1838). D’Avezac long ago was inclined to believe
in an unique French version. The British Museum, English MS. (Cott.,
Titus. C. xvi.), on the other hand, has in the Prologue (cf. ed. 1725,
p. 6): “And zee schulle undirstonde, that I have put this Boke out of
_Latyn_ into _Frensche_, and translated it azen out of _Frensche_ into
_Englyssche_, that every Man of my Nacioun may undirstonde it....”[18]
But we shall see that—without taking into account the important passage
in French quoted above, and probably misunderstood by the English
translator—the English version, a sentence of which, not to be found in
the Latin manuscripts, has just been given, is certainly posterior to
the French text, and therefore that the abstract of Titus C. xvi, has
but a slight value. There can be some doubt only for the French and the
Latin texts.
Dr. Carl Schönborn[19] and Herr Eduard Mätzner,[20] “respectively seem
to have been the first to show that the current Latin and English texts
cannot possibly have been made by Mandeville himself. Dr. J. Vogels
states the same of unprinted Latin versions which he has discovered
in the British Museum, and he has proved it as regards the Italian
version.”[21]
“In Latin, as Dr. Vogels has shown, there are five independent
versions. Four of them, which apparently originated in England (one
manuscript, now at Leyden, being dated in 1390) have no special
interest; the fifth, or vulgate Latin text, was no doubt made at Liège,
and has an important bearing on the author’s identity. It is found in
twelve manuscripts, all of the 15th century, and is the only Latin
version as yet printed.”[22]
The universal use of the French language at the time would be an
argument in favour of the original text being in this tongue, if
corrupt proper names, abbreviations in the Latin text, etc., did not
make the fact still more probable.
The story of the English version, as it is told by Messrs. Nicholson
and Warner, is highly interesting: The English version was made from a
“mutilated archetype,” in French (Warner, p. x.) of the beginning of
the 15th century, and was used for all the known English manuscripts,
with the exception of the Cotton and Egerton volumes—and also for
all the printed editions until 1725. Mr. Nicholson[23] pointed out
that it is defective in the passage extending from p. 36, l. 7: “And
there were to ben 5 Soudans,” to p. 62, l. 25: “the Monkes of the
Abbeye of ten tyme,” in Halliwell’s edition (1839) from Titus C. xvi.
which corresponds to Mr. Warner’s Egerton text, p. 18, l. 21: “for
the Sowdan,” and p. 32, l. 16, “synges oft tyme.” It is this bad text
which, until 1725,[24] has been printed as we just said, with numerous
variants, including the poor edition of Mr. Ashton[25] who has given
the text of East instead of the Cotton text under the pretext that the
latter was not legible.[26]
Two revisions of the English version were made during the first quarter
of the 15th century; one is represented by the British Museum Egerton
MS. 1982 and the abbreviated Bodleian MS. e. Mus. 116; the other by the
Cotton MS. Titus C. xvi. This last one gives the text of the edition
of 1725 often reprinted till Halliwell’s (1839 and 1866).[27] The
Egerton MS. 1982 has been reproduced in a magnificent volume edited
in 1889 for the Roxburghe Club par Mr. G. F. Warner, of the British
Museum;[28] this edition includes also the French text from the Harley
MS. 4383 which, being defective from the middle of chap. xxii. has
been completed with the Royal MS. 20 B. X. Indeed the Egerton MS. 1982
is the only complete English manuscript of the British Museum,[29] as,
besides seven copies of the defective text, three leaves are missing in
the Cotton MS. after f. 53, the text of the edition of 1725 having been
completed with the Royal MS. 17 B.[30]
Notwithstanding its great popularity, Mandeville’s Book could not
fail to strike with its similarity with other books of travels, with
Friar Odoric’s among others. This similarity has been the cause that
occasionally the Franciscan Friar was given as a companion to the
Knight of St. Albans, for instance, in the manuscripts of Mayence
and Wolfenbüttel.[31] Some Commentators have gone too far in their
appreciation and the Udine monk has been treated either as a plagiary
or a liar! Old Samuel Purchas, in his address to the Reader printed
at the beginning of Marco Polo’s text (p. 65), calls his countryman!
Mandeville the greatest Asian traveller next (if next) to Marco Polo,
and he leaves us to understand that the worthy knight has been pillaged
by some priest![32] Astley uses strong language; he calls Odoric a
_great liar!_[33]
Others are fair in their judgment, Malte-Brun, for instance, marked
what Mandeville borrowed from Odoric, and La Renaudière is also very
just in the _Biographie Universelle_. But what Malte-Brun and La
Renaudière showed in a general manner, other learned men, such as
Dr. S. Bormans, Sir Henry Yule, Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson,[34] Dr. J.
Vogels,[35] M. Léopold Delisle, Herr A. Bovenschen,[36] and last, not
least, Dr. G. F. Warner, have in our days proved that not only has
the book bearing Mandeville’s name been compiled from the works of
Vincent of Beauvais, Jacques of Vitry, Boldensel, Carpini, Odoric,
etc., but that it was written neither by a Knight of St. Albans, by
an Englishman, or by a Sir John Mandeville, but very likely by the
physician John of Burgundy or John a Beard.
In a repertory of _La Librairie de la Collégiale de Saint Paul à
Liège au XVᵉ. Siècle_, published by Dr. Stanislas Bormans, in the
_Bibliophile Belge_, Brussels, 1866, p. 236, is catalogued under No.
240: _Legenda de Joseph et Asseneth ejus uxore, in papiro. In eodem
itinerarium Johannis de Mandevilla militis, apud guilhelmitanos
Leodienses sepulti_.
Dr. S. Bormans has added the following note: “Jean Mandeville, ou
Manduith, théologien et mathématicien, était né à St. Alban en
Angleterre d’une famille noble. On le surnomma pour un motif inconnu,
_ad Barbam_ et _magnovillanus_. En 1322, il traversa la France pour
aller en Asie, servit quelque temps dans les troupes du Sultan d’Egypte
et revint seulement en 1355 en Angleterre. Il mourut à Liège chez
les Guilhemins, le 17th Novembre, 1372. Il laissa au dit monastère
plusieurs MSS. de ses œuvres fort vantés, tant de ses voyages que de
la médecine, écrits de sa main; il y avait encore en ladite maison
plusieurs meubles qu’il leur laissa pour mémoire. Il a laissé quelques
livres de médecine qui n’ont jamais été imprimés, des _tabulae
astronomicae_, de _chorda recta et umbra, de doctrina theologica_. La
relation de son voyage est en latin, français et anglais; il raconte,
en y mêlant beaucoup de fables, ce qu’il a vu de curieux en Egypte, en
Arabie et en Perse.”
Then is inserted, an abstract from Lefort, _Liège Herald_, at the end
of the 17th century, from _Jean d’Outremeuse_, which we quote from
another publication of Dr. Bormans’ as it contains the final sentence:
“Mort enfin, etc.” not to be found in the paper of the _Bibliophile
Belge_.
In his introduction to the _Chronique et geste de Jean des Preis dit
d’Outremeuse_, Brussels, F. Hayez, 1887 (_Collection des Chroniques
belges inédites_), Dr. Stanislas Bormans writes, pp. cxxxiii.–cxxxiv.:
“L’an M.CCC.LXXII, mourut à Liège, le 12 Novembre, un homme fort
distingué par sa naissance, avant de s’y faire connoître sous le
nom de Jean de Bourgogne dit à la Barbe. Il s’ouvrit néanmoins au
lit de la mort à Jean d’Outremeuse, son compère, et institué son
exécuteur testamentaire. De vrai il se titra, dans le précis de sa
dernière volonté, messire _Jean de Mandeville, chevalier, comte de
Montfort en Angleterre, et seigneur de l’isle de Campdi et du château
Perouse_. Ayant cependant eu le malheur de tuer, en son pays, un comte
qu’il ne nomme pas, il s’engagea à parcourir les trois parties du
monde. Vint à Liège en 1343. Tout sorti qu’il étoit d’une noblesse
très-distinguée, il aima de s’y tenir caché. Il étoit, au reste, grand
naturaliste, profond philosophe et astrologue, y joint en particulier
une connoissance très singulière de la physique, se trompant rarement
lorsqu’il disoit son sentiment à l’égard d’un malade, s’il en
reviendroit ou pas. Mort enfin, on l’enterra aux F. F. Guillelmins, au
faubourg d’Avroy, comme vous avez vu plus amplement cydessous.”
It is not the first time that the names _Jean de Mandeville_ and _Jean
à la Barbe_ are to be met with, as Ortelius, in his description of
Liège, included in his Itinerary of Belgium, has given the epitaph of
the knightly physician:[37(1)]
“Leodium primo aspectu ostentat in sinistra ripa (nam dextra vinetis
plena est,) magna, & populosa suburbia ad collium radices, in quorum
iugis multa sunt, & pulcherrima Monasteria, inter quae magnificum
illud ac nobile D. Laurentio dicatum ab Raginardo episcopo, vt habet
Sigebertus, circa ann. sal. M.XXV aedificatum est in hac quoq. regione
Guilelmitarū Coenobium in quo epitaphiū hoc Ioannis à Mandeuille
excepimus: _Hic iacet vir nobilis Dn̄s Ioēs de Mandeville al Dcvs ad
barbam miles dn̄s de Cāpdi natvs de Anglia medicīe pfessor devotissimvs
orator et bonorvm largissimvs paupribus erogator qvi toto qvasi
orbe lvstrato leodii diem vite sve clavsit extremvm āno Dni M CCC°
LXXI°[37(2)] mēnsis novēbr die XVII_.[37(3)]
“Haec in lapide, in quo caelata viri armati imago, leonem calcantis,
barba bifurcata, ad caput manus benedicens, & vernacula haec verba:
_vos ki paseis sor mi pour lamovr deix proies por mi_. Clypeus erat
vacuus, in quo olim laminam fuisse dicebant æream, & eius in ea itidem
caelata insignia, leonem videlicet argenteum, cui ad pectus lunula
rubea, in campo caeruleo, quem limbus ambiret denticulatus ex auro,
eius nobis ostendebāt & cultros, ephippiaque, & calcaria, quibus vsum
fuisse asserebat in peragrando toto fere terrarum orbe, vt clarius eius
testatur itinerarium, quod typis etiam excusum passim habetur.”[37]
Dr. Warner writes in the _National Biography_:
“There is abundant proof that the tomb of the author of the _Travels_
was to be seen in the Church of the Guillemins or Guillelmites at
Liège down to the demolition of the building in 1798. The fact of his
burial there, with the date of his death, 17th November, 1372, was
published by Bale in 1548 (_Summarium_, f. 149 _b_), and was confirmed
independently by Jacob Meyer (_Annales rerum Flandric_., 1561, p. 165)
and Lud. Guicciardini. (_Paesi Bassi_, 1567, p. 281.)”
In a letter dated from Bodley’s Library, 17th March, 1884, to _The
Academy_, 12th April, 1884, No. 623, Mr. Edward B. Nicholson drew
attention to the abstract from Jean d’Outremeuse, and came to the
conclusion that the writer of Mandeville’s relation was a _profound
liar_, and that he was the Liège Professor of Medicine, John of
Burgundy or _à la Barbe_. He adds: “If, in the matter of literary
honesty, John a Beard was a bit of a knave, he was very certainly no
fool.”
On the other hand, M. Léopold Delisle,[38] has shown that two
manuscripts, Nouv. acq. franç. 4515 (Barrois, 24) and Nouv. acq. franç.
4516 (Barrois, 185), were part formerly of one volume copied in 1371 by
Raoulet of Orleans and given in the same year to King Charles V. by his
physician Gervaise Crestien, _viz._ one year before the death of the
so-called Mandeville; one of these manuscripts—now separate—contains
the Book of Jehan de Mandeville, the other one, a treatise of “la
preservacion de epidimie, minucion ou curacion d’icelle faite de
maistre Jehan de Bourgoigne, autrement dit à la Barbe, professeur en
médicine et cytoien du Liège,” in 1365. This bringing together is
certainly not fortuitous.
Sir Henry Yule traces thus the sources of the spurious work: “Even
in that part of the book which may be admitted with probability to
represent some genuine experience, there are distinct traces that
another work has been made use of, more or less, as an aid in the
compilation, we might almost say, as a framework to fill up. This is
the itinerary of the German knight William of Boldensele, written
in 1336 at the desire of Cardinal Talleyrand de Perigord. A cursory
comparison of this with Mandeville leaves no doubt of the fact that
the latter has followed its thread, using its suggestions, and on
many subjects its expressions, though digressing and expanding on
every side, and too often eliminating the singular good sense of the
German traveller. After such a comparison we may indicate as examples
Boldensele’s account of Cyprus (_Mandeville, Halliwell’s_ ed. 1866, p.
28, and p. 10), of Tyre and the coast of Palestine (_Mandeville_, 29,
30, 33, 34), of the journey from Gaza to Egypt (34), passages about
Babylon of Egypt (40), about Mecca (42), the general account of Egypt
(45), the pyramids (52), some of the particular wonders of Cairo, such
as the slave-market, the chicken-hatching stoves, and the apples of
Paradise, _i.e._ plantains (49), the Red Sea (57), the convent on Sinai
(58, 60), the account of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (74–76), etc.”
He adds: “It is curious that no passage in Mandeville can be plausibly
traced to Marco Polo, with one exception. This is (_Halliwell’s_
ed., p. 163) where he states that at Ormus the people, during the
great heat, lie in water,—a circumstance mentioned by Polo, though
not by Odoric. We should suppose it most likely that this fact had
been interpolated in the copy of Odoric used by Mandeville; for, if
he had borrowed it direct from Polo, he would have borrowed more.”
(_Encyclopædia Britannica_, p. 474.)
“Leaving this question, there remains the more complex one whether the
book contains, in any measure, facts and knowledge acquired by actual
travels and residence in the East. We believe that it may, but only as
a small portion of the whole, and that confined entirely to the section
of the work which treats of the Holy Land, and of the different ways
of getting thither, as well as of Egypt, and in general of what we
understand by the Levant.” (_Ibid._ p. 473.)
Dr. Warner deals the final blow in the _National Biography_: “The
alphabets which he gives have won him some credit as a linguist, but
only the Greek and the Hebrew (which were readily accessible) are what
they pretend to be, and that which he calls Saracen actually comes from
the _Cosmographia_ of Æthicus! His knowledge of Mohammedanism and its
Arabic formulæ impressed even Yule. He was, however, wholly indebted
for that information to the _Liber de Statu Saracenorum_ of William of
Tripoli (_circa_ 1270), as he was to the _Historiæ Orientis_ of Hetoum,
the Armenian (1307), for much of what he wrote about Egypt. In the last
case, indeed, he shows a rare sign of independence, for he does not,
with Hetoum, end his history of the sultanate about 1300, but carries
it onto the death of En-Násir (1341), and names two of his successors.
Although his statements about them are not historically accurate, this
fact and a few other details suggest that he may really have been in
Egypt, if not at Jerusalem, but the proportion of original matter is so
very far short of what might be expected that even this is extremely
doubtful.”
With this final quotation, we may take leave of John of Mandeville,
aliàs John a Beard.
H. C.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “The _raphia_, here called the ‘Devil’s date,’ is celebrated as
having the largest leaf in the vegetable Kingdom,” etc. In his
translation of Lacerda’s journey he calls it _Raphia vinifera_.
[2] MANDEVILLE, Jehan de [By Edward Byron Nicholson, M.A., and Colonel
Henry Yule, C.B.] Ext. from the _Encyclopæd. Britan._ 9th ed., xv.
1883, ppt. 4to., pp. 4.
[3] _Encyclop. Brit._ xv. p. 473.
[4] British Museum, Harley, 4383, f. 1 _verso_.
[5] _Les Voyages en Asie au XIVᵉ siècle du Bienheureux frère Odoric de
Pordenone_. Paris, 1891, p. cxvi.
[6] Bibliographische Untersuchungen über die Reise-Beschreibung des Sir
John Maundeville.—Dem Herrn Samuel Gottfried Reiche, Rector und
Professor des Gymnasiums zu St. Elisabet in Breslau und Vice-Präses
der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für Vaterländische Cultur, Ritter
des rothen Adlerordens, zur Feier Seines Amts-Jubelfestes
am 30. October 1840 im Namen des Gymnasiums zu St. Maria
Magdalena gewidmet von Dr. Carl. Schönborn, Director, Rector und
Professor.—Breslau, gedruckt bei Grass, Barth und Comp., ppt. 4to.
pp. 24.
[7] Bibliographia geographica Palaestinae. Zunächst kritische
Uebersicht gedruckter und ungedruckter Beschreibungen der Reisen
ins heilige Land. Von Titus Tobler.—Leipzig, Verlag von S. Hirzel.
1867, 8vo., pp. iv.–265.=: C. 1336 (1322–1356). Der englische ritter
John Maundeville, pp. 36–39.
[8] Bibliotheca geographica Palestinae. Chronologisches Verzeichniss
der auf die Geographie des Heiligen Landes bezüglichen Literatur
von 333 bis 1878 und Versuch einer Cartographie. Herausgegeben von
Reinhold Röhricht. Berlin, H. Reuther, 1890, 8vo, pp. xx–742.
[9] _Bibliotheca Sinica_.—Dictionnaire bibliographique des ouvrages
relatifs à l’empire chinois par Henri Cordier. Paris, Ernest
Leroux, 1878–1895, 3 vol. 8vo. col. 943–959, 1921–1927, 2201.
[10] Jean de Mandeville. Ext. du _T’oung Pao_, vol. ii. No. 4, Leide,
E. J. Brill, 1891, 8vo, pp. 38.
[11] Jch Otto von diemeringen ein ‖ Thůmherre zů Metz in Lothoringen .
han dises bůch verwandelvsz ‖ welschs vnd vsz latin zů tütsch durch
das die tütschen lüte ouch moegent ‖ dar inne lesen von menigen
wunderlichen sachen die dor inne geschribe ‖ sind . von fremden
landen vn̄ fremden tieren von fremden lüten vnd von ‖ irem glouben
. von iren wesen von iren kleidern . vnd vō vil andern wun ‖ deren
als hie noch in den capitelen geschriben stat. Und ist das bůch
in ‖ fünf teil geteilt vnd saget das erst bůch von den landen vnd
von den we ‖ gen vsz tütschen nider landen gen Jerusalem zů varen
. vnd zů sant Ka | ‖ therinē grab vnd zů dem berg Synai . vnd von
den landen vnd von den ‖ wundern die man vnterwegen do zwischen
vinden mag. Jtem von des ‖ herren gewalt vnd herrschafft der do
heisset der Soldan vnd von sinem ‖ wesen. Das ander bůch saget ob
ymant wolt alle welt vmbfaren was ‖ lands vnd was wunders er vinden
moecht. Jn manchen steten vn in vil ‖ insulen dor inne er kame .
vnd saget ouch von den wegen vnd von den lā ‖ den vn̄ lüten was
in des grossen herrē land ist. d̄ ȣ do heisset zů latin Ma ‖ gnus
canis | das ist zů tütsch der grosz hunt. der ist so gar gewaltig
vnd ‖ so rich das im vff erden an gold an edlem gestein vn̄an
anderm richtům ‖ niemant gelichen mag . on allein priester Johann
von Jndia. Das drit ‖ bůch saget von des vor genanten herren des
grossen hůnds glowben vn̄ ‖ gewonheit vnd wie er von erst her komen
ist vnd von andern sachen vil ‖ Das vierde bůch saget von jndia vnd
von priester Johann vnd von siner ‖ herschafft . von sinem vrsprung
vnd von siner heiligkeit von sinem glou | ‖ ben von siner gewonheit
vnd vil andern wundern die in sinem lande sind ‖ Das fünfft bůch
saget von manchen heydischen glouben vnd ir gewon | ‖ heit vn̄ ouch
von menigerlei cristen glouben die gensit mers sint die doch ‖ nit
gar vnsern glouben hand. Jtem von menigerlei Jüden glouben vnd ‖
wie vil cristen land sint vnd doch nicht vnsern glouben haltend
noch re | ‖ chte cristen sind. Folio; black letter.
[12] Ce liure est eppelle ma // deuille et fut fait i compose // par
monsieur iehan de man // deuille cheualier natif dāgle // terre de
la uille de saīct aleī // Et parle de la terre de pro // mission
cest assavoir de ieru // salem et de pluseurs autres // isles de
mer et les diuerses i // estranges choses qui sont es // dites
isles.
_Ends recto_ fᵒ. 88: Cy finist ce tres plaisant // liure nome
Mandeville par // lanc moult autentiquement // du pays et terre
d’oultre mer // Et fut fait Lā Mil cccc // lxxx le 1111 iour
dauril, s.l., without any printer’s name; small folio; ff. 88; sig.
_a_ (7 ff.)—l. (9 ff.); others 8 ff.—Grenville Library, 6775.
[13] F. 1 _recto_: Ce liure est appelle // mandeuille et fut fait et
// compose par monsieur // iehan de mandeuille che // ualier natif
dangleterre // de la uille de sainct alein // Et parle de la terre
de // promission cest assauoir // de iherusalem et de plu // seurs
autres isles de mer // et les diuerses et estran // ges choses qui
sont esd’ // isles.—_Ends verso_ f. 93: Cy finist ce tresplay //
sant liure nōme Mande // uille parlāt moult anté // tiquement du
pays r t’re // doultre mer Jmprime a // lyō sur le rosne Lan Mil
cccclxxx le viii iour de // freuier a la requeste de // Maistre
Bartholomieu // Buyer bourgoys du dit // lyon. Small folio.
[14] F. 1 _recto_. Jtinerarius domi//ni Johānis de mā//deville
militis.—F. 2 _recto_: Tabula capitulorum in // itinerarium ad
partes Jhe=// rosolimitanas. ⁊ ad vlterio // res trāsmarinas
domini Jo//hannis de Mandeville mili//tis Jncipit feliciter.—F. 4.
_recto_: Jncipit Itinerarius a ter//ra Anglie in ptes Jherosoli
=//mitanas. ⁊ in vlteriores trās//marinas. editus primo in lī//gua
gallicana a milite suo au//tore Anno incarnatōnis dn̄i //M. ccc.
lv. in ciuitate Leodi // ensi. ⁊ paulo post in eadē ciui//tate
trāslatus in hanc formā // latinam. //
_Ends_ f. 71 _verso_: Explicit itinerarius domini // Johannis de
Mandeville // militis. Small 4to, black letter, ff. 71 on a col.,
sig. _a–i_ iij; _a–h_ by 8 = 64 ff.; _i_, 7 ff.
[15] Reysen.—s.l.n.d., without printer’s name; fol. 108 ff. on 2 col.
black letter, without sig., etc.
F. 1 _recto_: Dit is die tafel van // desen boecke // (D)at eerste
capittel van // desen boeck is Hoe dat Jan vā//mandauille schyet wt
enghe//lāt.... f. 108 vᵒ 26th line: regneert in allen tiden // Amen
// ¶ _Laus deo in altissimo_ //.
See Campbell, _supra_, p. 599.
[16] F. 1 _verso_: Tractato de le piu marauegliose cosse e piu notabile
che // se trouano in le parte del mōdo redute ⁊ collecte soto
bre//uita in el presente cōpēdio dal strenuissimo caualẽr sperō //
doro Johanne de Mandauilla anglico nato ne la Citā // de sancto
albano el quale secōdo dio prñcialmente uisi // tato quali tute
le parte habitabel de el mōdo cossi fidelm̄ // te a notato tute
quelle piu degne cosse che la trouato e ve//duto in esse parte ⁊
chi bene discorre q̃sto libro auerra p // fecta cognitione de tuti
li reami p̱uincie natione e popu//li gente costumi leze hystorie ⁊
degne antiquitate cō bre//uitade le quale ꝑte da altri non sono
tractate ⁊ parte piu // cōsusamēte dalchū gran ualente homini son
state tocate ⁊ amagiore fede el p̃sato auctore in ꝑsona e stato nel
1322. in//yerusalem Jn Asia menore chiamata Turchia i Arme//nia
grande e in la picola. Jn Scythia zoe in Tartaria in // persia Jn
Syria o uero suria Jn Arabia in egipto alto // ⁊ in lo inferiore
in libia in la parte grande de ethiopia in // Caldea in amazonia
in india mazore in la meza ⁊ in la // menore in div’se sette de
latini greci iudei e barbari chri//stiani ⁊ infideli ⁊ i molte
altre prouincie como appare nel // tractato de sotto.—_Ends_ f. 114
_verso_: Explicit Johannes d’Mādeuilla impressus Medio//lani ductu
⁊ auspicijs Magistri Petri de corneno pri // die Callendas augusti
M.CCCCLXXX. Joha//ne Galeazo Maria Sfortia Vicecomitte Duce no //
stro inuictissimo ac principe Jucondissimo. Small 4to; ff. 114;
sig. _a-o_ × 8 = 112 ff.; 1 f. between _a_ and _b_.
[17] _Gesta Pont. Leodiensium_.—Vita Radvlphi de Rivo ex eius scriptis:
“Obijt Radulphus anno, 1483.”
[18] This passage is not to be found in the Egerton MS. 1982, nor in
the Latin versions.
[19] _Bib. Untersuchungen_.
[20] Altenglische Sprachproben nebst einem Wörterbuche unter Mitwirkung
von Karl Goldbeck herausgegeben von Eduard Mätzner. Erster Band:
Sprachproben. Zweite Abtheilung: Prosa. Berlin. Weidmannsche
Buchhandlung. (Vol. i. 1869, large 8vo, pp. 415; vol. i., _John
Maundeville_, pp. 152–221.)
[21] _Encyclopædia. Brit._, p. 475.
[22] _Nat. Biog._ p. 23–24.
[23] _The Academy_, x. p. 477.—_Encyclopædia Britannica_, 9th ed., XV.,
p. 475.
[24] The // Voiage // and // Travaile // of // Sir John Maundevile, kt.
// Which Treateth of the // Way to Hierusalem; and of // Marvayles
of Inde, // With other // Ilands and Countryes. //—Now publish’d
entire from an Original MS. // in the Cotton Library. //—London:
// Printed for J. Woodman, and D. Lyon, in // Russel-Street,
Covent-Garden, and C. Davis, // in Hatton-Garden. 1725, 8vo, 5. ff.
n. c. + pp. xvi.—384 + 4 ff. n. c.
[25] The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight which
treateth of the way towards Hierosallun and of marvayles of Inde
with other ilands and countreys. Edited, Annotated, and Illustrated
in Facsimile by John Ashton.... London, Pickering & Chatto, 1887,
large 8vo., pp. xxiv.–289.
[26] _L.c._ p. vi.
[27] The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundevile, Kt. which treateth
of the way to Hierusalem; and of Marvayles of Inde, with other
ilands and countryes. Reprinted from the Edition of A.D. 1725.
With an introduction, additional notes, and Glossary. By J. O.
Halliwell, Esq., F.S.A., F.R.A.S. London: Published by Edward
Lumley, M.D.CCC.XXXIX., 8vo, pp. xvii.–xii.–326.
The Voiage and Travaille of Sir John Maundevile ... By J. O.
Halliwell, London: F. S. Ellis, MDCCCLXVI., 8vo, pp xxxi.–326.
[28] The Buke of John Maundeuill being the Travels of sir John
Mandeville, knight 1322–1356 a hitherto unpublished English version
from the unique copy (Egerton Ms. 1982) in the British Museum
edited together with the French text, notes, and an introduction
by George F. Warner, M.A., F.S.A., assistant-keeper of Manuscripts
in the British Museum. Illustrated with twenty-eight miniatures
reproduced in facsimile from the additional MS. 24,189. Printed for
the Roxburghe Club. Westminster, Nichols and Sons.... MDCCCLXXXIX.,
large 4to, pp. xlvi. + 232 + 28 miniatures.
[29] There are in the British Museum twenty-nine MSS. of Mandeville, of
which ten are French, nine English, six Latin, three German, and
one Irish. Cf. _Warner_, p. x.
[30] Cf. _Warner_, p. 61.
[31] Mayence, Chapter’s Library: “Incipit Itinerarius fidelis Fratris
ODERICI, _socii Militis Mendavil_, per Indiam.”—Wolfenbüttel, Ducal
Library, No. 40, Weissemburg: “Incipit itinerarius fratris ODERICI
socii militis Mandauil per Indiam.”—HENRI CORDIER, _Odoric de
Pordenone_, p. lxxii. and p. lxxv.
[32] _Purchas, His Pilgrimes_, 3rd Pt., London, 1625: “and, O that it
were possible to doe as much for our Countriman Mandeuil, who next
(if next) was the greatest Asian Traueller that euer the World had,
& hauing falne amongst theeues, neither Priest, nor Leuite can know
him, neither haue we hope of a Samaritan to releeue him.”
[33] _Astley_ (iv. p. 620): “The next Traveller we meet with into
_Tartary_, and the Eastern Countries, after _Marco Polo_, is Friar
_Odoric_, of _Udin_ in Friuli, a _Cordelier_; who set-about the
Year 1318, and at his Return the Relation of it was drawn-up,
from his own Mouth, by Friar _William_ of _Solanga_, in 1330.
_Ramusio_ has inserted it in _Italian_, in the second Volume of his
Collection; as _Hakluyt_, in his Navigations, has done the _Latin_,
with an _English_ Translation. This is a most superficial Relation,
and full of _Lies_; such as People with the Heads of Beasts, and
Valleys haunted with Spirits: In one of which he pretends to have
entered, protected by the Sign of the Cross; yet fled for Fear,
at the Sight of a Face that grinned at him. In short, though he
relates some Things on the _Tartars_ and _Manci_ (as he writes
_Manji_) which agree with _Polo’s_ Account; yet it seems plain,
from the Names of Places and other Circumstances, that he never was
in those Countries, but imposed on the Public the few Informations
he had from others, mixed with the many Fictions of his own. He
set out again for the East in 1331; but warned, it seems, by an
Apparition a few Miles from _Padua_, he returned thither, and
died.” And a final blow in the index: “_Oderic, Friar, Travels of_,
iv. 620 a. _A great liar!!_”
[34] E. B. Nicholson.—Letters to the _Academy_, 11th November, 1876;
12th February, 1881. E. B. N. and Henry Yule, MANDEVILLE, in
_Encyclopædia Britannica_, 9th ed., 1883, pp. 472–475.
[35] Die ungedruckten Lateinischen Versionen Mandeville’s. (Beilage zum
Programm des Gymnasiums zu Crefeld.) 1886.
[36] Untersuchungen über Johan von Mandeville und die Quellen seiner
Reisebeschreibung. Von Albert Bovenschen. (_Zeitschrift d. Ges.
für Erdkunde zu Berlin_, XXIII. Bd., 3 u. 4 Hft. No. 135, 136, pp.
177–306.)
[37] (1) Itinerarivm // per nonnv. las // Galliæ Belgicæ partes, //
Abrahami Ortelii et // Ioannis Viviani. // Ad Gerardvm Mercatorem,
// Cosmographvm. // Antverpiæ, // Ex officina Christophori
Plantini. // clↄ. lↄ. lxxxiv. // small 8vo, pp. 15–16.
(2) Read 1372.
(3) _Purchas, His Pilgrimes_, 3rd Pt., Lond., 1625, reproduces it
on p. 128: “Hic jacet vir nobilis, D. _Ioannes de Mandeville_,
aliter dictus ad Barbam, Miles, Dominus de Campdi, natus de Anglia,
Medicinæ Professor, deuotissimus, orator, & bonorum largissimus
pauperibus erogator qui toto quasi orbe lustrato, _Leodij_ diem
vitæ suæ clausit extremum. Anno Dom. 1371, Mensis Nouembris, die
17.”
[38] _Bibliothèque nationale:—Catalogue des manuscrits des fonds Libri
et Barrois_. Paris, 1888. 8vo. cf. pp. 251–253.
INDEX
Transcriber’s Note:
Numbers in _italics_ refer to Prefatory Material in volume I
‘i.’ and ‘ii.’ indicate volume referred to
‘n’ indicates item is in Notes on that page
Aas, Asu, _see_ Alans
Abacan, a Tartar general, ii. 255, 261n, 596n
Ábah, _see_ Ávah
Abaji, Kúblái’s son, i. 361n
Ábáká (Abaga), Khan of Persia, i. 33n, 36n, 91n, 103n, ii. 465–467,
474, 475, 477n, 495n
Abano, Pietro of, his notice of Polo, _119_
Abash (Ḥabsh), _see_ Abyssinia
Abba Gregory, ii. 433n
Abbás, Sháh, i. 90n
Abbott, Consul Keith E., i. 81n, 82n, 89n, 92n, 96n, 99n, 106n, 111n,
113n, 114n, 125n
Abdul Kuri islands, ii. 405n
—— Mejid, i. 175n
Abeskun (Baxon), on the Caspian, i. 59n
Abher, i. 38n, 82n
Abkashian forests, boxwood of the, i. 57n
_Abnús_, ebony, ii. 272n
Abraha, ruler of Yemen, ii. 434n
Abraiaman, _see_ Brahmans
Abubakr, Atabeg of Fars, i. 85n, ii. 348n
—— Ibrahim, and Mahomed, engineers employed by Kúblái, ii. 168n
Abu’l Abbas Ahmed VII., Khalif of Baghdad, i. 69n
—— Fázl, i. 103n, 168n, 169n, ii. 367, 374n
Abulfeda, his geography, _4_, i. 3n, 6n, 9n, 53n, 57n, 58n, 75n, 81n,
110n, 385n, ii. 237n, 286n, 367n, 377n, 486n, 489n;
at the siege of Acre, 165n
Abulfiez Khan, king of Bokhara, i. 88n
Abu Nasr Mohammed IX., Khalif of Baghdad, i. 69n
—— Saïd, i. 86n, ii. 347n
Abyssinia (Abash), ii. 427 _seqq._, 431n;
its king’s punishment of Soldan of Aden, 428–430;
dominion on the coast, mediæval history and chronology, 434n–437n;
table of kings, 435n;
wars with Mahomedan states, 436n
Acbalec Manzi, “White City of the Manzi frontier,” ii. 33, 34n, 35n
Acbalec or Acbaluc (Cheng-ting fu), ii. 13, 14n
Accambale, king of Champa, ii. 267, 270n
Achan, i. 66n
Achin, Acheh, Achem, ii. 283n, 286n, 295n, 296n, 300n, 303n, 305n,
307n;
its gold and lign-aloes, 287n;
conversion of, 288n;
its great power at one time, 289n;
elephants at, 289n
—— Head, ii. 300n, 307n
Achmath, the Bailo, _see_ Ahmad
Acomat Soldan (Ahmad Sultan), seizes throne of Tabriz, ii. 467;
goes to encounter Argon, 468;
rejects his remonstrance, 469;
defeats and takes him, 470;
hears of Argon’s escape, is taken and put to death, 473;
notes on the history, 470n, 474n
Acorn bread, i. 122n
Acqui, Friar Jacopo d’, his notice of Polo, _54_, _67_, _119_
Acre, i. 17, 22;
Broils at, between Venetians and Genoese, _42_;
plan of, 18n;
captured by Saracens, ii. 165n, 441n;
wickedness of, 442n;
Polos at, 593n
Adam, Bishop and Pope of China, ii. 28n
—— Seth, and the Tree of Life, legend of, i. 135n
Adamodana, Castle of, i. 58n
Adam’s Apple, i. 99n
—— sepulchre on mountain (Adam’s Peak) in Ceylon, ii. 316, 328n;
rubies, 316n;
his teeth, hair, etc., 319–320;
the footmark, 321n–322n
Adel, apparently confused with Aden, ii. 433n, 435n, 440n
Aden, Horse and other Trade with India, ii. 340, 348n, 390, 407, 427,
431, 438;
Soldan’s treatment of a bishop, 428;
Vengeance of King of Abyssinia on him, 430;
confused with Adel, 433n;
account of Kingdom, 438, 439n–440n;
the Sultan, 438–439, 440n;
intercourse and trade with China, tanks, 440n;
view of, 441
Adoration of the Emperor, i. 391
_Adulis_, ii. 432n;
inscription of, 434n
Aegae, Ayas on the site of ancient, i. 16n
Aepyornis and its eggs, ii. 416n–417n
Aëtius, his prescription of musk, i. 279n, ii. 302n;
of camphor, 302n
Afghans, their use of the fat-tailed sheep, i. 100n
Africa, Sea surrounding to the South, ii. 415n
Agassiz, Professor, i. 100n
Agathocles, Coins of, i. 163n
Ἀγαθοῦ δαίμονος, island, ii. 310n
Agha Ali Sháh, present representative of the Old Man of the Mountain,
i. 148n
—— Khan Meheláti, late representative of the Old Man, i. 147n
Aghrukji or Ukuruji, Kúblái’s son, i. 361n
Agricola, Governor of Cappadocia, etc., i. 45n
Aguil, Mongol general, ii. 136, 138n
Ahmad (Achmath), the Bailo, of Fenaket, his power, oppressions,
death, etc., i. 415 _seqq._, 421n
—— Sultan, Khan of Persia, _see_ Acomat
Ahwaz, province, i. 65n
Aidháb, ii. 439n
Aidhej, or Mal-Amir, i. 85n
Aijaruc, Kaidu’s daughter, ii. 463;
her strength and prowess, 463 _seqq._;
her name, 463
Aikah Nowin, Engineer in Chief of Chinghiz, ii. 168n
Ai-lao (afterwards Nan-chao), ancient name of the Shans, ii. 79n
_Aín Akbari_ (_Ayeen Akbery_), i. 65n, 99n, 101n, 103n, 409n, ii.
116n
Ajmir, ii. 426n
Akbar and Kúblái, a parallel, i. 349n
Ak Bulák salt mines, i. 154n
Akhaltziké (Western Georgia), i. 58n
Akhtuba River, i. 5n, 6n
Ak-khoja, ii. 470n
Aksarai, or Ghori River, i. 152n
Aksu River, i. 172n, 175n
Aktár, i. 96n
Aktásh Valley, i. 172n, 175n
_Alabastri_, ii. 432n
Alacou, _see_ Hulákú
_Aladja_, striped cotton cloth, i. 44n
Alamút, Castle of the Ismailites, i. 141n, 142n, 145n, 148n
Alan country, Alania, i. 57n, ii. 490, 491n
Alans, or Aas, massacre at Chang-chau of, ii. 178;
employed under Mongols, 179n
Alaone, the name, _56_
Alarm Tower, at Cambaluc, i. 375, 378n;
at Kinsay, ii. 189
_Alatcha_, cotton stuff with blue and red stripes, i. 190n
Alau, _see_ Hulákú
Aláuddin (Alaodin), _see_ Old Man of the Mountain
—— (Alawating of Mufali), an engineer in Kúblái’s service, ii. 167n
—— Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, i. 104n, ii. 163n, 169n, 333n, 398n, 400n
Albenigaras, Mt., ii. 362n
Al Biruni, i. 104n, 174n, ii. 400n
Alboquerque, _see_ D’Alboquerque.
Alchemy, Kúblái’s, i. 423
Aleppo, i. 23n
Alexander the Great, allusions to legends and romances about, _113_,
i. 14n, 129n–133n, ii. 322n, 485n;
his rampart (Iron Gate), i. 50, 53n, 56n, 57n;
the curtains at a banquet given by, 66n;
and the _ferrum candidum_, 93n;
site of his battle with Darius, 128, 138n;
his wife Roxana, 151;
kills a lion, 152n;
Princes claiming descent from (Zulcarniain), 157, 160n;
his horse Bucephalus, 158;
fixes chains on Adam’s Peak, ii. 322n;
said to have colonised Socotra, 409n;
his tower on the border of Darkness, 485n
Alexander III., Pope, i. 231n
Alexander IV., Pope, i. 8n
Alexandria, _9_, ii. 235;
trade from India to, 390, 438
_Alhinde_, _Alfinde_, _Alinde_, _Al-hint_, i. 93n
’Ali and Aliites, i. 140n–141n
Alidada, i. 452n
Alihaiya, Kúblái’s general, ii. 167n
Alinak, ii. 474n
Alligator, in Carajan, ii. 76, 81n;
mode of killing, 77;
eaten, 78, 81n;
prophecy of Bhartpúr about, 149n
Almalik, ii. 462n
Almanacs, Chinese (Tacuin), i. 447, 448n
Almonds, i. 153, 155n
Aloes, Socotrine, ii. 409n
—— wood, _see_ Lign-aloes
_Alor_, war cry, _43_
Al-Ramni, Al-Ramin, _see_ Sumatra
Altai (Altay) Mountains, i. 212, 215n;
the Khan’s burial-place, 246, 269;
used for the Khingan range, 247n, 306n
Altun-Khan, Mountain, i. 247n
—— sovereign, ii. 19n
Amazons, fable of, ii. 405n
Ambergris, ii. 308n, 406, 411, 423, 424n;
how got, 408n
_Amber-rosolli_, i. 114n
Amda Zion, king of Abyssinia, his wars _v._ Mahomedans, ii. 435n
_seqq._;
not the king mentioned by Polo, 436n
Ament, Rev. W. S., i. 361n, 421n, ii. 6, 11, 12
_Ameri_, a kind of Brazil wood, ii. 301n, 380n
Amhara, ii. 436n
Amien, Mien (Burma), ii. 98, 99n
Amita Buddha, i. 460n
Ammianus Marcellinus, ii. 180n
Amoy, ii. 231n, 232n;
harbour, ii. 240n, 241n;
languages, 244n
_Amphora_, _Anfora_, ii. 417n
Amu, Aniu, _see_ Anin
_Amuki_, devoted comrades of the king, ii. 347n
_Anamis_ (Minao) River, i. 114n
Ananda, Kúblái’s grandson, ii. 29n, 31n
Anár, i. 90n
Anaurahta, king of Burma, ii. 99n, 329n
Ancestor Worship, ii. 85, 96n
Anchors, Wooden, ii. 386, 388n
_Andaine_, _andena_, _andanicum_, _see_ Ondanique
Andaman (Angamanain) islands, ii. 306;
described, 307n, 309–312n;
people, 308n, 309, 311n;
form of the word, 310n
_Andan_, _andun_, Wotiak for steel, i. 94n
Andragiri, ii. 301n
Andreas, king of Abyssinia, ii. 435n, 436n
Andrew, Bishop of Zayton, ii. 237n
—— Grand Duke of Rostof and Susdal, i. 7n
_Andromeda ovalifolia_, poisonous, i. 218n
Angamanain, _see_ Andaman
Angan, or Hanjám, i. 115n
_’Angka_, gryphon, _see_ Ruc
Angkor, ruins of, _13_
Ani in Armenia, i. 234n
Animal Patterns, _see_ Patterns
Anin, province, ii. 119, 120n, 121n, 123, 128n, 129n, 266n
Annals of the Indo-Chinese States, ii. 106n
’An-nam, or Tong-king, ii. 120n
Anselmo, Friar, i. 131n
_Anthropoides Virgo_, the demoiselle, i. 297n
Antioch, i. 24n
Antongil Bay, Madagascar, ii. 414n
Aotonomoff, Spasski, his ascent of Ararat, i. 49n
_Apostoille_, word used for Pope, i. 12n
Apples of Paradise (Konars), i. 97, 99n, ii. 365
Apricots, ii. 210n
_’Apuhota_ (Kapukada?), ii. 380n
Apushka (Apusca), Tartar envoy from Persia, i. 32, 33n
Arababni, ii. 436n
Arab geography, _132_
—— colonies in Madagascar, ii. 414n
—— horses, early literary recognition of, ii. 349n;
trade in, _see_ Horses
—— merchants, in Southern India, ii. 376
—— Seamen’s Traditions about Java, ii. 274n
Arabi (Arabs), i. 60
Arabia, ii. 438–451
Arabic character, i. 29n
_Arachosia, arachoti_, ii. 329n, 402n
_Araines_, ii. 461, 462n
Arakan, ii. 100n, 286n, 290n, 298n
Aram (Harám), Place of the, i. 139, 141n
Ararat, Mount, i. 46;
ascents of, 49n
Arblasts, crossbows, ii. 78, 82n, 161n
Arbre Sol, or Arbre Sec, Region of the (Khorasan), _113_, i. 38n, 83,
127, 128n–139n, ii. 466, 474, 475;
tree described—_Chínár_ or Oriental plane, i. 127, 128n–138n;
various readings, 129n;
_Arbre seul_, a wrong reading, i. 129n, 138n;
Tree of the Sun legend, 129n–131n;
Christian legend of the Dry Tree, 131n;
engrafted on legends of Alexander, 132n;
Trees of Grace in Persia, 134n;
Dry Trees in Mahomedan legend, 135n;
in Rabbinical and Buddhist stories, and legends of the Wood of the
Cross, 135n–136n;
Polo’s _Arbre Sec_ to be sought near Damghan, 138n;
Sabaean apologue, 138n;
clue to the term _Arbre Sec_, 148n
Arcali, Arculin, _see_ Erculin
Architectural remains in Indo-China, _13_
Ardeshír Bábekán, first Sassanian king, i. 91n
Ardeshír, last sovereign of Shabánkára, i. 86n
Areca, ii. 309n, 374n
_Areng Saccharifera_, ii. 297n
Arezzo, i. 21n
Argaeus, Mount, i. 44n
Argali, ii. 483n
Arghún, Khan of Persia (Polo’s Argon, Lord of the Levant), _23–24_,
i. 14n, ii. 50, 466–467;
sends an embassy to Kúblái for a wife, i. 32, 33n;
is dead when she arrives, 35, 36n, 38n, 101n;
his unhappy use of the elixir vitae, ii. 369n;
advances against his uncle Ahmad, 467;
harangues his chiefs, 468;
sends Ahmad a remonstrance, 469;
is taken prisoner, 470;
released by certain chiefs, 471;
obtains sovereignty, 472;
his death, 474;
his beauty, 478n
Argons (Arghún), half-breeds, i. 101n, 284, 290n
Arii, Ariana, ii. 402n
Arikbuga, Kúblái’s brother, i. 334n
Arimaspia, ii. 419n
Arimaspian gold, ii. 419n
Ariora-Keshimur, i. 86n, 98, 104n;
meaning of _Ariora_, 104n
Ariosto, i. 17n
Aripo, ii. 335n, 337n
Aristotle, _130_, i. 87n, 130n, ii. 409n
Arjish (Arzizi), i. 45, 49n
Arkasun Noian, ii. 474n
_Arkhaiun_, applied to Oriental Christians or their Clergy, i. 290n
Armenia, Greater, i. 45, 98
Armenia (Hermenia), Lesser or Cilician, _10_, i. 16, 20, 22, 23n, 41
Armenian Christians, i. 290n
Armenians, i. 43, 45, 75
Armillary Zodiacal Sphere, i. 450n
Armour of boiled leather, _see_ Cuirbouly
Arms of Kerman, i. 90, 96n;
of the Tartars, i. 260, 263n, ii. 460
Arredon River, i. 54n
Arrow Divination, i. 243n
Arrows, Tartar, ii. 460
Artacki, i. 281n
Arts, the Seven, i. 13, 14n
Aru, Cumahā, ii. 303n
Arucki, i. 281n
Aruk, ii. 474n
Arulun Tsaghan Balghasun (Chagan-Nor), i. 297n, 306n
Arya Chakravarti, ii. 316n
Aryavartta, the Holy Lands of Indian Buddhism, i. 104n
Arzinga (Erzingan), i. 45, 46n
Arziron (Erzrum), i. 45, 48n
Arzizi (Arjish), i. 45, 49n
Asbestos, and the Salamander, i. 212, 216n–217n
Asceticism of the Sensin, i. 303;
of the Jogis, ii. 365
Asedin Soldan (Ghaiassuddin Balban, Sultan of Delhi), i. 99, 104n,
105n
Ashar (Asciar), king of Cail, ii. 370, 373n
Ashishin, _see_ Assassins
Ashod, founder of the Bagratid dynasty, i. 53n
Ashurada, i. 59n
Asikan, Mongol general, ii. 260n
Aṣoka, ii. 328
_Asper_, or _akché_, about a groat, ii. 22, 23n
Assai River, i. 54n
Assassins (Ashishin, Hashíshin), Ismailites, i. 84n, 140;
how the Old Man trained them, 142;
murders by, 144n;
their destruction, 145;
survival and recent circumstances of the sect, 146n
Asses, in Persia, i. 83, 87n, 88, 89n, 123, 225n;
in Mongolia, 224, 225n, 397;
in Madagascar, ii. 413, 421n;
in Abyssinia, 431;
in Far North, 479, 481n
Asterius, Bishop of Amasia in Pontus, i. 66n
Astrakhan (Gittarchan), i. 5n, 6n
Astrolabe, i. 446
Astrology, -ers, in Tangut, i. 205;
of Chinghiz, 241;
at Kúblái’s Court, 301, 391;
at Cambaluc, 446;
of Tibet, ii. 49;
at Kinsay, 191, 203;
in Maabar, 344;
in Coilum, 376
Astronomical instruments, ancient Chinese, i. 378n, 449n–454n
Atabegs, of Mosul, i. 61n;
of Lúr, 85n;
of Fars, 85n, 121n;
of Yezd, 88;
of Kerman, 91n
Atjeh, _see_ Achin
Atkinson’s Narratives, and their credibility, i. 214n, 215n
Atlas, Chinese, in Magliabecchian Library, ii. 193n
Ἀτταγὰς (Black Partridge), i. 99
Attalus, King, i. 66n
At-Thaibi family, i. 121n
Auberoche, Siege of, ii. 163n, 165n
Audh (Oudh), ii. 427n
Aufat, Ifat, ii. 435n
Augury, _see_ Omens
Aung Khan (Unc Can), _see_ Prester John
Aurangzíb, i. 168n
Aurora, Ibn Fozlán’s account of, i. 8n
Aussa, ii. 435n
Ávah, Abah, Ava, one of the cities of the Magi, i. 80, 81n
Avarian, epithet of S. Thomas, ii. 353, 355n–356n
Avebury, Lord, on _couvade_, ii. 93n
Avicenna’s classification of Iron, i. 94n
_Avigi, ′afçi (falco montanus)_, i. 50, 57n
Axum, Inscription, ii. 432n;
Church of, 433n;
Court of, 434n
Ayas (Layas, Aiazzo, etc.), port of
Cilician Armenia, _19_, i. 16, 17n, 20, 22, 41;
Sea fight at, _43_, _46_, _54_
Ayuthia, _13_, ii. 278n, 279n
_Azumiti_, ii. 432n
Azure, Ultramarine (_lapis armenus_) Mines in Badakhshan, i. 157,
162n;
in Tenduc, 284;
ore, 365, 370n
Baba Buzurg, worshipped by the Lurs, i. 85n
Baber, E. C., on Ch’êng-tú, ii. 38n;
on wild oxen of Tibet, 52n;
Lolos, 61n–63n;
Gold River (Brius), 67n;
the word Caindu, 70n;
Talifu, 80n;
Mekong River 88n;
Zardandan, 89n;
site of battle between Kúblái and king of Mien, 105n;
descent of Mien, 108n
Baboons, etymology, ii. 385n, 431
Báb-ul-abwáh, “The Gate of Gates,” Pass of Derbend, i. 53n
Babylon, Babylonia (Cairo or Egypt), i. 22, 24n, ii. 226, 230n;
Sultan of, i. 22, ii. 439, 473
Babylonish garments, i. 66n
_Baccadeo_, indigo, ii. 382n
Baccanor, ii. 386n
Bacon, Roger, i. 94n, 426n;
as geographer, _114_, _131_
Bacsi, _see_ Bakhshi
Bactria, its relation to Greece, i. 160n
Bacu, Sea of (Caspian), i. 59n
Badakhshan (Badashan), i. 98, 104n, 154, 157;
its population, 155n, 160n;
capitals of, 156n;
Mirs of, 156n, 160n;
legend of Alexandrian pedigree of its kings, 157, 160n;
depopulation of, 156n, 163n;
scenery, 158n;
dialects, 160n;
forms of the name, 161n;
great river of (Upper Oxus), 170
Badáún, ii. 427n
Badger, Rev. Dr. G. P., i. 65n, ii. 444n
Badghís, i. 150n, ii. 467
_Badgír_, Wind-catchers, ii. 452, 453n
Badruddín Lúlú, last Atabeg of Mosul, i. 61n
_Báfk_ (Báft), i. 89n, 111n, 122n
Baghdad (Baudas), Baldac, taken by Alaü, Hulákú, i. 63;
its Khalif, 63, 64;
the miracle of the mountain, 69
—— Archbishop of, ii. 407
—— its indigo (_baccadeo_), ii. 382n
Bagratidae, of Armenia, i. 42n;
of Georgia, 52n
Bagration-Mukransky, Prince, i. 53n
Bahár, ii. 427n
Bahárak, plain, i. 156n
Bahá-uddin Ayaz, Wazir of Kalhát, i. 120n
Bahá-ul-hakh, the Saint of Multán, ii. 82n
Bahrámábád, i. 90n, 122n
Bahrámjird Village, i. 113n
Bahrein, ii. 348n
Baiberdon, i. 49n
Baiburt (Paipurth), Castle of, i. 48n, 49n
Baidu Khan, i. 14n, ii. 475n;
seizes throne of Persia, 476;
displaced and killed by Gházán, 476;
alleged to be a Christian, 476, 477n
Bailo, the title, i. 417;
etymology of, 421n
Bakhshi (Bacsi), Lamas, i. 414, 445;
their enchantments, 301, 302, 314n–318n;
various meanings of the word, 314n
Bakhtyáris of Luristán, the, i. 87n
Baku, oil fields of, i. 46, 49n;
Sea of (Caspian), i. 59n
_Balad-ul-Falfal_ (Malabar), ii. 377n
_Baladi_, ii. 381n
_Balalaika_, a two-stringed Tartar instrument, i. 339n
_Balánjaríyah, devoted lieges_, ii. 347n
Bala-Sagun, i. 232n
Balas rubies, i. 157, 161n, ii. 362n
Baldac, _see_ Baghdad
_Baldacchini_ (_Baudekins_), brocades made at Baghdad, i. 63, 65n
Baldwin II. (de Courtenay), last Latin Emperor of Constantinople, i.
2, 3n
Bali, Island of, ii. 287n
—— in Abyssinia, ii. 436n
_Balios_, i. 421n
_Balish_ (a money of account), ii. 218n
_Balista_, always a crossbow in mediæval times, ii. 161n
Balkh (Balc), i. 151
Balkhash Lake, ii. 459n
Ballads, Genoese, on sea-fights at Ayas and Curzola, _43_ _seqq._
Ballard, Mr., ii. 382n, 387n
Balor, Balaur, Bilaur, Malaur, Bolor, i. 172, 178n–179n
_Bâlos_, Malacca boats with two rudders, i. 119n
_Balsamodendron Mukul_, ii. 397n
Balthazar, of the Magi, i. 78, 82n
Bálti, i. 160n, 178n
_Balustrade_, etymology of the word, _38_
Bamboo (always called canes by Polo), its multifarious uses, i. 299,
307n;
Kúblái’s Chandu Palace made of, 299, 306n;
great, on banks of Caramoran river, ii. 220;
explode loudly when burning, 42, 43, 46n;
large in Tibet, 48n;
ropes of, 171, 174n;
in Che kiang, 221n
Bamian, caves at, i. 156n;
huge recumbent image at, 221n
_Bám-i-Duniah_, “Roof of the World,” i. 171, 174n
Bamm, i. 113n
Bandar Abbás (Bandar-Abbási), i. 86n, 89n, 106n, 122n
Bandith, i. 98, 100n, 151
Bangala, _see_ Bengal
Banzaroff, Dorji, on Shamanism, i. 258n
Baptism, accompanied by branding, in Abyssinia, ii. 427, 432n
Bara, ii. 305n
Barac (Borrak), Khan of Chagatai, i. 9, 10n, 103n;
his war with Arghún, ii. 458n, 467
Baradaeus, Jacob, or James Zanzale, Bishop of Edessa, i. 61n
Barbaro, Josafat, i. 49n, 53n, 100n, 426n, 427n
Barbarossa, Frederic, _36_, i. 82n
Barberino, Francesco da, _36_, _118_, i. 117n
_Barda’at_, saddle-cloths, i. 61n
Bardesir, i. 112n
Bardshír, Bardsír, Bard-i-Ardeshír, i. 92n
Bargu (Barguchin Tugrum, or Barguti), plain, i. 269, 270n
_Barguerlac, Syrrhaptes Pallasii_, a kind of sand grouse, i. 269,
272n;
its migration into England, 273n
Barguzinsk, i. 270n
Barin, Mongol tribe, ii. 148n
Bark, money made from, _108_, i. 423;
fine clothes from, ii. 124, 127n
Barka (Barca), Khan, ruler of Kipchak, i. 4, 5n, 103n, ii. 491;
his war with Hulákú, i. 4, ii. 494 _seqq._
Barkul, i. 345n
_Barkút, búrgút (bearcoote)_, eagle trained to the chase, i. 397,
399n
Barlaam and Josaphat, Story of Saints, from Legend of Buddha, ii.
323n _seqq._
Barley, huskless, i. 158, 162n
Baroch, ii. 367n
_Baron-tala_, name applied by Mongols to Tibet, i. 214n
Barons (Shieng or Sing), Kaan’s twelve, ii. 430
Barozzi, Nicolo, _30_, _70_
Barros, John de, i. 110n, 120n;
geography of, _3_
Barsauma (St. Barsamo), i. 77
Barskul (Barscol), “Leopard Lake,” i. 343, 345n
Bartizan, Kúblái’s wooden, i. 337, 339n
Barus, Barros (Sumatra), its camphor, ii. 302n–303n, 304n
_Barussae insulae_, ii. 310n
_Barygaza_, ii. 397n, 408n
Bashai (Pashai), i. 165n
Bashkirds (Hungarians), i. 57n, ii. 492n
Bashpah, Lama, and the Mongol character called after him, i. 28n,
353n, ii. 46n
Basma, _see_ Pasei
_Basmuls_ (Guasmuls), half-breeds, i. 284, 292n
Basra (Bastra), noted for its date-groves, i. 63, 65n
Bathang, ii. 45n, 48n, 56n, 67n, 70n
Baths, natural hot, near Hormuz, i. 110–122n;
in Cathay, 442;
public at Kinsay, ii. 189, 198n
Batigala, Batticalla, ii. 426n, 443n
Batochina, ii. 302n
Bats, large, in India, ii. 345
Battas of Sumatra, and cannibalism, ii. 288n, 298n
Batthála, Bettelar (Patlam in Ceylon), ii. 337n
Battles, Kúblái _v._ Nayan, i. 336;
Tartars _v._ king of Mien, ii. 101;
Caidu _v._ Khan’s forces, 461;
Borrak and Arghún, 467;
Arghún and Ahmad, 470n;
Hulákú and Barka, 496;
Toktai and Nogai, 499
Bátú, Khan of Kipchak, founder of Sarai, _11_, i. 5n, 6n, 245, 247n;
invades Russia, 490, 493n;
made by Polo into two kings—Sain and Patu, 491, 492n;
his character and cruelty, 492n
Baudas, _see_ Baghdad
_Baudekins_ (baldacchini), brocades made at Baghdad, i. 63, 65n
_Bauduin de Sebourc_, _121_ _seqq._, ii. 141, 144, 189, 216
Bavaria, Duke Ernest of, a mediæval Romance, ii. 418n
Bawárij, corsairs, ii. 410n
Bayan Chingsian, Kúblái’s greatest Captain, i. 10n, 334n, 361n, ii.
138n, 208n, 462n;
prophecy connected with his name, 145, 150n;
his conquest of Manzi or South China, 146;
his history and character, 148n, 149n;
his exceptional cruelty at Chang-chau, 179, 180n
Bayan, Khagan of the Avars, ii. 148n
Bayan (Baian), Kúblái’s Master of the Hounds, i. 400, 401n
Bayan, son of Násruddin, ii. 104n
Bayezid Ilderim, i. 45n
Bdellium, ii. 397n
Beads, Hindu, ii. 338, 347n
Bears, i. 396, 397, 401, ii. 31, 37, 42, 78, 382, 411, 431;
white in Far North, 479, 481n
Beast and bird patterns, _see_ Patterns
Beaten gold, i. 387, 388n
Beaujeu, William de, Master of the Temple, i. 25n
Beauty of—Georgians, i. 50, 53n;
Khorasan women, 128;
Kashmir women, 166;
Sinju women, 276;
_Argons_, or half-breeds, 284;
the Ungrat or Kungurat tribe, 357;
people of Coloman, ii. 122;
Kinsay women, 186;
Kaidu’s daughter, 463;
Arghún Khan, 478;
the Russians, 487
Beds, their arrangement in India, ii. 346, 352n
Beef, not eaten in Maabar, except by the Govi, ii. 341, 350n;
formerly eaten in India, 350n
Bejas of the Red Sea Coast, ii. 425, 432n, 434n
Belgutai, Chinghiz’s stepbrother, i. 334n
“Belic” for “Melic,” ii. 470n
Bell at Cambaluc, great, i. 375, 378n, 414
Bellál Rajas, ii. 367n
_Belledi, balladi_, ginger so called, ii. 381n;
Spanish use of the word, _ib._
Benares, brocades of, i. 66n
Bendocquedar, _see_ Bundúkdári, Bíbars
Benedict XII., Pope, ii. 179n
Bengal (Bangala), _12_;
king of Mien (Burma) and, ii. 98;
why Polo couples these, 99n;
relations between Burma and, 99n, 114;
claim asserted by king of Burma to, 100n;
alleged Mongol invasion of, 115n;
its distance from Caugigu, 120;
its currency, 123;
confused with Pegu by Polo, 128n, 131n
Beni Búya dynasty, i. 91n
Benjamin of Tudela, on Alexander’s Rampart, i. 54n;
on the Gryphon, ii. 418n
Benzoin, etymology of, ii. 286n, 396n
Berard, Thos., Master of the Temple, i. 23, 24n
Berbera, Sea of, ii. 415n
Berchet, G., _27_, ii. 507n
Bereké, Bátu Khan’s brother, i. 5n
Bernier, on Kashmir women’s beauty, i. 169n
_Berrie_, the Arabic Băríya, a desert, i. 237n
Bettelar, rendezvous of Pearl Fishers, ii. 331, 337n
_Beyamini_, wild oxen of Tibet, ii. 50, 52n
Bezant, i. 405, 424, 425, 426n, 427n, 444, ii. 41n, 186, 218n, 346n,
349n, 479;
value of, 592n
_Bhagavata_, ii. 346n
Bhamó, and River of, ii. 70n, 105n, 107n, 108n, 113n
Bhartpúr, prophecy about, ii. 149n
Bhattis, the, i. 104n
Bháwalpúr, i. 104n
“Bhim’s Baby,” colossal idol at Dhamnár caves, i. 221n
Bianco’s, Andrea, maps, i. 133n
Biar, ii. 305n
Bibars Bundúkdári, _see_ Bundúkdári
Bielo Osero, ii. 486n
_Bigoncio_, a firkin, i. 384n
Bilúchis, i. 101n;
their robber raids, 106n;
Lumri or Numri, 114n
Binh Thuan (Champa), ii. 268n
Binkin, ii. 230n
Bintang (Pentam), ii. 280, 284
Birch-bark vessels, i. 309n;
books, ii. 124, 127n
Bír-dhúl, or Bujardawal, cap. of Ma’bar, ii. 335n
Bird-hunts, i. 269, 272n
Birdwood, Sir G., ii. 396n, 446n, 449n
Birhōrs of Chuta Nagpúr, ii. 298n
Bir-Pandi, or Pira-Bandi, ii. 333n, 334n
Birthday, celebration of Kúblái’s, i. 387
Bishbalik (Urumtsi), i. 214n, 440n
Bishop, of Male Island, ii. 404;
story of an Abyssinian, 428
Bitter bread, i. 110, 122n
—— water, i. 110, 122n, 194
Blac, Blachia (Lac, Wallach), ii. 489n
_Black-bone_, Chinese name for Lolos, ii. 63n
Black Crane (Kará Togorü), i. 296, 297n
—— Saints, White Devils in India, ii. 355, 359n
—— Sea, M. Maurum _v._ Nigrum, i. 2, 3n, 57n
—— Sect of Tibet, i. 324n
Blacker, the more beautiful, ii. 355
Blaeuw, map, i. 102n
Blochmann, Professor H., i. 114n, ii. 116n
Block-books, supposed to have been introduced from China, _139_
Block-printing in Persia, i. 429n
Blood-sucking, Tartar, i. 261, 264n
_Blous, bloies_, i. 327n
Boar’s tusks, huge (Hipp.), ii. 413
_Boccassini_, i. 62n
Bode, Baron de, i. 85n
Bodhisatva Avalok., ii. 265n
Bodleian MS. of Polo, _18_, _92_, _94_;
list of miniatures in, ii. 528n
Boeach, mistake for Locac, and its supposed position, ii. 280n
Boemond, Prince of Antioch and Tripoli, letter of Bibar to, i. 24n
Boga (Bukā), a great Mongol officer, delivers Arghún, ii. 471, 472,
474n
Boghra Khan, i. 188n
Bohea country, ii. 222n, 224n
Bohra, sect of W. India, i. 148n
Boikoff, Russian Envoy, i. 218n
Bokhara (Bocara), i. 9, 10
Boleyn, Anne, her use of buckram, i. 47n
Bolgana, Queen, _see_ Bulughán
Bolgarskoye (called also Uspenskoye), i. 7n
_Bolghar_, _borgal_, _borghal_, Russia leather, i. 6n, 394, 395n
Bolghar (Bolgara), on the Volga, i. 4, 6n, ii. 481n, 486n, 493n;
ruins of, i. 7n;
court of, 384n
Bolivar, Padre, S. J., his account of the Condor (_Rukh_) of Africa,
ii. 420n, 597n
Bolor, i. 172, 178n, 179n
Bombay, ii. 396n, 449n
Bonaparte, Prince Roland, _Recueil des Documents de l’Époque
Mongole_, i. 14n, 28n
Bonga, ii. 96n
Bonheur, Rosa, i. 277n
Boniface VIII., Pope, _44_, _52_, _54_, i. 23n
Bonin, C. E., i. 203n, 249n, 276n, 282n, 286n
Bonocio di Mestro, _67_
Bonpos, old Tibetan Sect, i. 314n, 321n, 323n
Bonús, ebony, ii. 268, 272n
Bonvalot, i. 200n
Book of Marco Polo, its contents, _80_;
original language, French, _81_;
oldest Italian MS., _82_;
“Geographic Text,” in rude French, _83_ _seqq._;
various types of Text—(1) “Geographic,” _90_;
(2) Pauthier’s MSS., _92_;
(3) Pipino s Latin, _95_;
Preface to, ii. 525n;
Grynæus’ Latin, _95_;
Müller’s reprint, _96_;
(4) Ramusio’s Italian edition, its peculiarities, _96–101_;
probable truth about it, _99_;
bases of it, _100_;
MS. and some of its peculiarities, _101_;
general view of the relations of the texts, _101_;
notice of an old Irish version, 102;
geographical data, _109_;
how far influenced in form by Rustician, _112_;
perhaps in description of battles, _113_;
diffusion and number of MSS., _116_;
basis of present version, _141_ _seqq._;
specimens of different recensions of text, ii. 522n–524n;
distribution of MSS., 526n;
miniatures in, 527n, 529n;
list of MSS., 532n–552n;
Tabular view of the filiation of chief MSS., 552;
Bibliography, 553n–582n;
titles of works cited, 582n–590n;
Spanish edition, 598n
Bore in Hang-chau Estuary, ii. 208n
_Borgal_, _see_ _Bolghar_
Bormans, Stanislas, ii. 602n, 603n
Born, Bertram de, _44_
Borneo, camphor, _see_ Camphor
—— tailed men of, ii. 302n
Boro Bodor, Buddhist Monument, Java, _13_, ii. 275n
Borrak, Amir, Prince of Kerman (Kutlugh Sultan?), i. 91n
—— Khan of Chaghatai, _see_ Barac
Borús, the, ii. 310n
Bostam, i. 138n.
_Boswellia thurifera_, ii. 396n, 446n, 448n;
_serrata_, 446n;
_Carterii_, 448n;
_Bhauda-jiana_, 448n;
_papyrifera_, 448n;
_Frereana_, 448n;
_glabra_, 396n
Bouqueran, _see_ Buckram
Bourne, F. S. A., ii. 60n, 131n
Boxwood forests in Georgia, i. 50, 57n
_Bozzí_, i. 212n
Bra, the word, _45_
Bracelets, in Anin, ii. 119
Bragadino, Marco, husband of Marco Polo’s daughter, Fantina, _76_
—— Pietro, _76_
Brahmanical thread, ii. 363
Brahmans (Abraiaman), fish-charmers to the pearl fishery, ii. 332,
337n;
their character and virtues, 363, 367n;
their king, 364;
their omens, 364, 368n, 369n;
longevity, 365;
_Chughi_, 365;
Palladian legend of, 405n
Brahma’s temple, Hang-chau, ii. 212n, 213n
Brahuis, i. 101n
Brakhimof, early capital of Bulgaria, i. 7n
Brambanan, ruins at, _13_
Bran (Tibetan _tsamba_), parched barley, i. 303, 321n
Brazil wood, in Locac, ii. 276, 279n;
in Sumatra, 299;
manner of growth, _ib._, 309n;
in Ceylon, 313, 315n;
in Coilum (_Coilumin_), 375, 380n;
different kinds, _ib._;
vicissitudes of the word, 380n;
its use prohibited by Painters’ Guild, 382n
Bread, bitter, i. 110, 122n
Brephung monastery, i. 319n
_Bretesche_, i. 339n
Bretschneider, Dr. Emil (_Medical Researches_), ruins of Bolghar,
i. 7n;
the Uíghúr character, 28n;
Caucasian Wall, 54n;
use of muslin in Samarkand, 62n;
on _nakh_ and _nachetti_, 65n;
Hulákú’s expedition to West Asia, 66n, 85n, 146n, 148n;
an extract from the _Yüan Si_, 115n;
Badakhshan, 161n;
Kashgar, 183n;
Shachau, 206n;
Kamul, 211n;
Chingintalas, 214n;
the _Stipa inebrians_, 219n;
the Utikien Uigúrs, 227n;
Erdenidso Monastery, 228n;
Belasagun, 232n;
death of Chinghiz, 248n;
_tung lo_ or _kumiz_, 259n;
Kúblái’s death, 334n;
Peking, 366n, 368n, 370n, 372n, 376n–378n, ii. 5n, 6n, 8n;
_verniques_, i. 384n;
clepsydra, 385n;
the Bularguchi, 408n;
Achmath’s biography, 421n;
paper-money, 430n;
post stations, 437n;
Chinese intoxicating drinks, 441n;
regulations for time of dearth, 444n;
Lu-Ku-K’iao Bridge, ii. 8n;
introduction of plants from Asia into China, 16n;
_morus alba_, 25n;
Tibet, 46n;
bamboo explosions, 46n;
the Si-fans, 60n;
Cara-jang and Chagan-jang, 73n;
Nasr-uddin, 104n;
the Alans, 180n;
rhubarb in Tangut, 183n;
Polo’s “large pears,” 210n;
on galangal, 229n;
on sugar, 230n;
on Zayton, 238n;
on wood-oil, 252n;
on ostrich, 437n;
on Si-la-ni, 316n;
on frankincense, 449n;
on Magyars, 492n;
on Mongol invasion of Poland and Silesia, 493n
Brichu (Brius, the Upper Kiang), ii. 67n
Bridges of Pulisanghin, ii. 3;
Sindafu (Ch’êngtu), 37;
Suchau, 181;
Kinsay, 185, 187, 194n, 201, 212;
Kien-ning fu, 225, 228n;
Fuchau, 233n, 234n;
Zayton, or Chinchau, 241n
Brine-wells, _see_ Salt
Brius River (Kin-sha Kiang, Gold River), ii. 36, 40n, 56, 67n
Brown, G. G., ii. 35n
—— Sir Thomas, ii. 420n, 424n;
on Polo, _115_
Bruce’s Abyssinian Chronology, ii. 435n _seqq._
Brunetto Latini’s Book, _Li Tresor_, _88_, _117_
Brunhilda, ii. 466n
Bruun, Professor Ph., of Odessa, i. 6n, 54n, 232n–235n
Bucephala, of Alexander, i. 105n
Bucephalus, breed of, i. 158, 162n
Buckrams, of Arzinga, i. 45;
described, 47n;
etymology, 48n;
at Mardin, 61, 62n;
in Tibet, ii. 45;
at Mutfili, 361, 363n;
Malabar, 389, 395, 398, 431
Buddha, _see_ Sakya Muni
Buddhism, Buddhists, _see_ Idolatry, Idolaters
Buddhist Decalogue, i. 170n
Buffaloes in Anin, ii. 119
Buffet and vessels of Kúblái’s table, i. 382, 384n
_Bugaei_, ii. 432n
Buka (Boga), a great Mongol chief, ii. 471, 472, 474n
Buka Bosha, 1st Mongolian Governor of Bokhara, i. 10n
Búkú Khan, of the Hoei-Hu, or Uighúrs, i. 227n
Bularguji (Bularguchi), “The Keeper of Lost Property,” i. 403, 407n
Bulgaria, Great, ii. 286n
Bulughán (Bolgana), Queen, _23_, i. 32, 33n, 38n, ii. 474n
—— another, ii. 475n
Bundúkdár, Amír Aláuddín Aidekín (“The Arblaster”), i. 24n
Bundúkdári, Malik Dáhir Ruknuddín Bíbars (Bendocquedar), Mameluke
Sultan of Egypt, i. 22, 23n–25n, 145n, ii. 424n, 433n, 436n, 494n;
killed by kumiz, 259n
Buraets, or Burgats, the, i. 258n, 283n
Búrkán Káldún, i. 247n
Burma (or Ava), King of, ii. 98, 99n.
(_See_ also Mien.)
Burnell, Arthur, ii. 335n, 359n, 386n
Burning the Dead, _see_ Cremation
—— heretical books, i. 321n
—— paper-money, etc., at funerals, i. 204, 208n, 267, 268n, ii. 191
—— Widows in South India, ii. 341, 349n
Burrough, Christopher, i. 9n
Burton, Captain R. F., ii. 597n
Bushell, Dr. S. W., his visit to Shang-tu, i. 26n, 304n, 305n, 412n;
on the Khitan Scripts, 28n;
Tangut rulers, 205n;
orders for post-horses, 353n
Butchers, in Kashmir, i. 167;
Tibet, 170n;
S. India, ii. 342
Butiflis (Mutfili), ii. 362n
Butler, _Hudibras_, ii. 92n
Buyid dynasty, i. 86n
Ca’ Polo, Ca’ Milion, Corte del Millioni, the house of the Polos at
Venice, _4_, _26_ _seqq._, _53_, _70_, _77_
Caaju, castle of, i. 244
Cabs, Peking, ii. 211n
Cacanfu (Hokiang-fu), ii. 127, 132
Cachanfu (P’uchau-fu, Ho-chung-fu), ii. 22, 25n
Cachar Modun, i. 404, 408n
Cachilpatnam, ii. 387n
_Cadmia_, i. 126n
Caesalpinia, ii. 380n;
and _see_ Brazil
Caesarea of Cappadocia (Casaria, Kaisaríya), i. 43, 44n
Caichu, castle of (Kiai-chau, or Hiai-chau?), ii. 17, 19n, 26n
Caidu, _see_ Kaidu
Caiju, on the Hwang-Ho, ii. 142
—— on the Kiang, Kwachau, ii. 171, 174
Cail (Káyal), ii. 370, 372n–373n;
a great port of Commerce, 370, 373n;
the king, _ib._;
identified, 372;
meaning of name, _ib._;
remains of, _ib._
Caindu (K’ien-ch’ang), a region of Eastern Tibet, ii. 53, 70n
Caingan (Ciangan, Kiahing), ii. 184n, 185n
Cairo, ii. 439n;
museum at, 424n;
ventilators at, 452n.
(_See_ Babylon.)
Caiton, _see_ Zayton
Cala Ataperistan (Kala’ Atishparastán), “Castle of the Fire
Worshippers,” i. 78
Calachan (Kalaján), i. 281, 282n
Calaiate, Calatu, _see_ Kalhát
Calamanz, the word, ii. 272n
Calamina, city, ii. 357n
Caldwell, Rev. Dr. R., on devil-dancing among the Shanars, ii. 97n;
on name of Ceylon, 314n;
on Shahr-Mandi and Sundara Pandi, 333n;
on the Tower at Negapatam, 336n;
etymology of Chilaw, 337n;
on Pacauta, 346n;
Govis, 349n;
singular custom of arrest, 350n–351n;
rainy season, 351n;
food of horses, _ib._;
Shanar devil-images, 359n;
_choiach_, 368n;
Cail, or Kayál city, 372n, 373n;
_Kolkhoi_, 373n;
King Ashar of Cail, _ib._;
_Kollam_ 377n;
_Pinati_, 380n;
etymology of Sapong, _ib._;
Cape Comorin, 383n
Calendar, Ecclesiastical Buddhist, i. 220, 222n;
the Tartar, 447, 448n;
of Brahmans, ii. 368n–369n;
of Documents relating to Marco Polo and his family, 505n _seqq._
Calicut, ii. 380n, 381n, 388n, 391n, 440n;
King of, and his costume, 346n
Calif, _see_ Khalif
Caligine, Calizene (Khálij, a canal from Nile), ii. 439n
Camadi (City of Dakiánús), ruined, i. 97, 113n
Cambaluc (Khanbaligh, or Peking), capital of Cathay, _12_, i. 38n,
ii. 3, 132, 213n, 320;
Kúblái’s return thither after defeating Nayan, i. 348;
the palace, 362;
the city, 374;
its size, walls, gates, and streets, the Bell Tower, etc.,
375n–378n;
period of khan’s stay there, 411;
its suburbs and hostelries, 412;
cemeteries, women, patrols, 414;
its traffic, 415;
the Emperor’s Mint, 423;
palace of the Twelve Barons, 431;
roads radiating from, 433;
astrologers of, 446
Cambay (Cambaet, Cambeth, Kunbáyat), kingdom of, ii. 394n, 397, 398n,
403n, 426n, 440n, 443n
Cambuscan, of Chaucer, corruption of Chinghiz, i. 247n
Camel-bird, _see_ Ostrich
Camels, mange treated with oil, i. 46;
camlets from wool of, 281, 284;
white, 281, 283n;
incensing, 309n;
alleged to be eaten in Madagascar, ii. 411;
really eaten in Magadoxo, 413n;
ridden in war, 423, 425n
Camexu, Kamichu, _see_ Campichu
Camlets (cammellotti), i. 281, 283n, 284
Camoens, ii. 266n
Camphor (_Laurus Camphora_) trees in Fo-kien, ii. 234, 237n
—— of Sumatra, ii. 287n;
Fansuri, 299, 302n;
earliest mention of, 302n;
superstitions regarding, 303n;
description of the tree, _Dryabalanops Camphora_, 303n–304n;
value attached by Chinese to, 304n;
recent prices of, _ib._;
its use with betel, 371, 374n
—— oil, ii. 304n
Campichu (Kanchau), city of, i. 219, 220n
Camul (Kamul), province, i. 209, 211n, 214n
_Camut_, fine shagreen leather, i. 394, 395n
Canal, Grand, of China, ii. 132, 139, 140, 141n, 143n, 152n, 154n,
209n, 222n;
construction of, 174, 175n
Canale, Cristoforo, MS. by, _34_, _37_
—— Martino da, French Chronicle of Venice by, _88_
Cananor, kingdom, ii. 388n
Cananore, ii. 386n, 387n
Canara, ii. 390n, 397n
Cancamum, ii. 397n
_Canela brava_, ii. 390n
Canes, Polo’s name for bamboos, _q.v._
Cannibalism, ii. 293, 294, 298n, 311n, 312n;
ascribed to Tibetans, Kashmiris, etc., i. 301, 312n, 313n;
to Hill-people in Fo-kien, ii. 225, 228n;
to islanders in Seas of China and India, 264;
in Sumatra, 284, 288n;
regulations of the Battas, 288n;
ascribed to Andaman islanders, 309, 311n
Cannibals, _i.e._ Caribs, ii. 311n, 405n
Canonical Hours, ii. 368–369n
Cansay, _see_ Kinsay
Canton, _3_, ii. 199n, 237n
Cape Comorin, _see_ Comari, Temple at, _76_
—— Corrientes (of Currents), ii. 415n, 417n, 426n
—— Delgado, ii. 424n
—— of Good Hope, ii. 417n
_Capidoglio_ (_Capdoille_), sperm-whale, ii. 414n
Cappadocian horses, i. 44n
Capus, G., i. 129n 162n
Caracoron (Kará Korum), i. 66n, 226, 227n, 269, ii. 460, 462n
Carajan (Caraian, Karájang, or Yun-nan), province, _21_, ii. 64, 66,
67n, 72n, 76, 86
Caramoran River (Hwang-Ho), ii. 142, 143n, 144n, 151
Carans, or Scarans, i. 100n
Caraonas (Karaunahs), a robber tribe, i. 98, 101n, 121n
Carats, i. 359n
_Carbine_, etymology of, i. 101n
Cardinal’s Wit, i. 21n
Caribs, _i.e._ cannibals, ii. 311n, 405n
Carpets, of Turcomania (Turkey), i. 43, 44n;
Persian, 66n;
Kerman, 96n
Carriages, at Kinsay, ii. 205, 206;
Chinese, 211n
Carrion, shot from engines, ii. 163n
_Carta Catalana_, Catalan Map of 1375, _134_, i. 57n, 59n, 82n, 161n,
ii. 221n, 243n, 286n, 362n, 386, 396n, 494n
_Carte_, _à la_, ii. 486n
Carts, Mongol, i. 254n
Casan, _see_ Gházán Khan
Casaria (Caesarea of Cappadocia), i. 43, 44n
Cascar (Kashgar), i. 180, 182n;
_Chaukans_ of, 193n
Casem, _see_ Kishm
Caspian Sea (Sea of Ghel or Ghelan), ancient error about, _2_, _129_;
its numerous names, i. 52, 58n, 59n, ii. 494n
Cassay, _see_ Kinsay
Cassia, ii. 59n, 60n, 390n, 391n
—— buds, ii. 59n, 391n
—— fistula, ii. 398n
Castaldi, Panfilo, his alleged invention of movable types, _139–140_
Castambol, i. 45n
Castelli, P. Cristoforo di, i. 52n, 53n
Casvin (Kazvín), a kingdom of Persia, i. 83, 84n, 101n, 141n
Catalan Navy, _38–39_
Cathay (Northern China), _3_;
origin of name, _11_, _15_, i. 60, 76n, 285, 414, 418, 441, ii. 10,
127, 132, 135, 139, 140, 192, 391n, 457;
coal in, i. 442;
idols, ii. 263;
Cambaluc, the capital of, _see_ Cambaluc
Cathayans, _v_. Ahmad, i. 415 _et seqq._;
their wine, 441;
astrologers, 446;
religion, 456;
politeness, filial duty, gaol deliveries, gambling, 457
Catholics, ii. 407;
Catholicos, of Sis, i. 42n;
of the Nestorians, 61n, 62n
Cators (_chakors_), great partridges, i. 296, 297n
Cat’s Head Tablet, i. 356n
Cats in China, ii. 350n
Caucasian Wall, i. 53n, 54n
Caugigu, province, ii. 116, 120, 123, 128n, 131n
Caulking, of Chinese ships, ii. 250, 251n
Cauly, Kauli (Corea), i. 343, 345n
Causeway, south of the Yellow River, ii. 153n
Cauterising children’s heads, ii. 432n
Cave-houses, i. 154, 156n, ii. 150n
Cavo de Eli, ii. 386n
—— de Diab, ii. 417n
Cayu (Kao-yu), ii. 152
Celtic Church, ii. 370n
Census, of houses in Kinsay, ii. 192;
tickets, _ib._
Ceremonial of Mongol Court, _see_ Etiquette
Ceylon (Seilan), ii. 312–314;
circuit of, 310n;
etymology of, 314n;
customs of natives, 315;
mountain of Adam’s (_alias_ Sagamoni Borcan’s) Sepulchre, 316,
321n;
history of Buddha, 317;
origin of idolatry, 318 _seqq._;
subject to China, 392n
Ceylon, King of, his pearl-ponds, ii. 337n
Chachan (Charchan, Charchand), i. 192n, 194, 195n, 196n
Chagatai (Sigatay), Kúblái’s uncle, son of Chinghiz, _10_, i. 10n,
14n, 98, 102n, 183, 186n, ii. 457, 458n, 459
Chaghán-Jáng, ii. 72n, 73n
Chaghan-Kuren, ii. 23n
Chaghan-Nor (“White Lake”), N.E. of Kamul, i. 214n
—— (Chaghan, or Tsaghan Balghasun), site of Kúblái’s palace, i. 296,
297n, 306n, 422n, ii. 14n
Chairs, silver, i. 351, 355n
_Chakor_ (_cator_), great partridges, i. 296, 297n
Chalcedony and jasper, i. 191, 193n
Chalukya Malla kings, ii. 336n
Champa (Chamba), kingdom of, ii. 266, 268n, 424, 426n, 596n;
Kúblái’s expedition _v._, 267;
the king and his wives, 268, 271n;
products, 268, 271n–272n;
locality, 269–270n;
invaded by king of Lukyn, 279n
Chandra Banu, ii. 315n
Chandu (Shangtu), city of peace of Kúblái, i. 25, 298, 304n, 410–411,
435
Changan, ii. 182, 184n
Chang-chau (Chinginju), ii. 178, 179n
—— in Fo-kien, ii. 233n, 238n;
Zayton(?), 238n;
Christian remains at, 240n–241n
Ch’ang Ch’un, _travels_, i. 62n
Changgan (Chang-ngan), ii. 27–29n
_Chang-kia-Kau_, the gate in the Great Wall, i. 56n
Chang K’ien, ii. 16n
Chang-shan (Changshan), ii. 198n, 199n, 219, 221n, 222n, 224n
Ch’ang Te (the Chinese traveller), _Si Shi Ki_, i. 64n, 66n
Chang Te-hui, a Chinese teacher, i. 309n
Chang-y (Chenchu), i. 417–419, 422n
Chang Yao, Chinese general, i. 211n
_Cháo de Bux_ (_Cavo di Bussi_), boxwood, i. 57n
Chaohien, Sung Prince, ii. 150n
_Cháo-Khánahs_, bank-note offices in Persia, i. 429n
Cháo Naiman Sumé Khotan, or Shangtu, “city of the 108 temples,”
i. 304n
_Cháo_, paper-money, i. 426n, 429n
_Cháo_, title of Siamese and Shan Princes, ii. 73n
Chaotong, ii. 130n
Chapu, ii. 199n
Characters, written, four acquired by Marco Polo, i. 27;
one in Manzi, but divers spoken dialects, ii. 236
Charchan (Chachan of Johnson, Charchand), i. 192n, 194, 195n, 196n
Charcoal, store in Peking, palace garden of, i. 370n
Charities, Kúblái’s, i. 439, 443, 444;
Buddhistic and Chinese, 446n;
at Kinsay, ii. 188, 198n
Charles VIII., of France, i. 398n
Chau dynasty, i. 347n
Chaucer, quoted, i. 3n, 5n, 17n, 161n, 247n, 386n, ii. 11n
_Chaukans_, temporary wives at Kashgar, i. 193
Chaul, ii. 367n
Cheapness in China, ii. 202
Cheetas, or hunting leopards, i. 397, 398n
Cheh-kiang, cremation common during Sung dynasty in, ii. 135n;
roads into Fo-kien from, 224n
Cheinan, Gulf of, ii. 266
Chenchau, or Iching hien, ii. 173n, 174n
Chenching (Cochin-China), ii. 268n–269n, 277n
Chenchu (Chang-y), conspires with Vanchu _v._ Ahmad, i. 417–419, 422n
Ch’eng-ting fu, ii. 13, 14n
Ch’êng-Tsu (Yung-lo), Emperor, ii. 392n
Ch’êng-tu (Sze-ch’wan), ii. 32n, 34n, 35n
Ch’êngtu-fu (Sindafu), ii. 36, 37n
Cheu, the Seven, ii. 277n
Chibai and Chiban, ii. 459, 462n
Chichiklik Pass, i. 172n, 175n
Chien-ch’ang (Caindu), ii. 70n.
(_See_ K’ien ch’ang.)
Chihli, plain of, ii. 14n
Chilaw, ii. 337n
Chiliánwála, battlefield of, i. 105n
Chilu-ku, last Karakhitai king, ii. 20n
Chin, Sea of, ii. 264, 265, 266n, 270n
China, _134_;
_Imperial Maritime Customs Returns for 1900_, ii. 173n;
Dominicans in, 240n;
paved roads in, 189, 198n;
relations with Korea and Japan, 262n;
the name, 265n;
king of Malacca at Court of, 282n;
trade from Arabia to, 348n;
from Sofala in Africa, 400n.
(_See_ also Cathay and Manzi.)
Chinangli (T’sinan-fu), ii. 133, 135, 137n
_Chínár_, Oriental planes, i. 128n, 138n
Chinchau, Chincheo, Chinchew, Chwanchew, Tswanchau, _see_ Zayton
Chinese, Polo ignorant of the languages, _110_, i. 29n;
epigrams, 170n;
funeral and mourning customs, 207n, ii. 191;
feeling towards Kúblái, i. 421n;
religion and irreligion, 456, 458n;
their politeness and filial piety, 457, 462n;
gambling, 457;
character for integrity, ii. 204, 210n;
written character and varieties of dialect, 236;
ships, 249 _seqq._;
pagodas at Negapatam and elsewhere, 336n;
coins found in Southern India, 337n;
pottery, 372n–373n;
trade and intercourse with Southern India, 373n, 378n, 386, 390,
392n
Chinghian-fu (Chinkiang-fu), ii. 175, 176, 177n
Chinghiz Khan, _10_, _11_, i. 5n, 10n, 12n, ii. 458n, 479, 481n;
reported to be a Christian, i. 14n;
Aung Khan’s saying of, 27n;
his use of Uíghúr character, 28n;
Erzrum taken by, 49n;
harries Balkh, 151n;
captures Talikan, 154n;
ravages Badakhshan, 163n;
his respect for Christians, 186n, 242n, 243n;
subjugates Kutchluk Khân, 189n;
his campaigns in Tangut, 206n, 218n, 225n, 281n;
Rubruquis’ account of, 237n, 239n;
made king of the Tartars, 238;
his system of conquests, 238;
and Prester John, 239–241;
divining by twigs—presage of victory, 241;
defeats and slays Prester John, 244;
his death and burial-place, 244, 245n, 249n;
his aim at conquest of the world, 245n;
his funeral, 250n;
his army, 262, 265n;
defeats the Merkits, 270n;
relations between Prester John’s and his families, 284, 288n;
the Horiad tribe, 300, 308n;
his prophecy about Kúblái, 331n;
rewards his captains, 351n;
captures Peking, ii. 8n;
defeats and slays Taiyang Khan, 20n;
his alleged invasion of Tibet, 46n;
his mechanical artillery, 168n;
his cruelty, 181n;
Table of Genealogy of his House, 505n
Chinghiz Tora, ii. 481n
Ching-hoang tower at Hangchau-fu, ii. 214n
Chinginju (Chang-chau), ii. 178
Chingintalas, province, i. 212;
its identification, 214n, 215n
Chingkim, Chinkin, Chimkin, Kúblái’s favourite son and heir-apparent,
i. 38n, 359, 360n, 418, 422n;
his palace, 366, 372n
Chingsang, Ching-siang (Chinisan), title of a Chief Minister of
State, i. 432n, ii. 145, 148n, 150n, 218n
Chingting-fu (Acbaluc), ii. 13, 14n
Chingtsu, or Yung-lo, Emperor, ii. 392n
_Chíní_, coarse sugar, ii. 230n
Chinju (Tinju), ii. 153, 154n
_Chin-tan_, or _Chínasthána_, Chinese etymology of, ii. 119n
Chinuchi, Cunichi, Kúblái’s Masters of the Hounds, i. 400, 401n
Chipangu (Japan), ii. 253, 256n;
account of Kúblái’s expedition _v._, 255, 258;
its disasters, 255–256;
history of expedition, 260n _seqq._;
relations with China and Korea, 262n
Chitral, i. 154n, 160n, 165n, 166n
_Chloroxylon Dupada_, ii. 397n
Cho-chau (Juju), ii. 10, 11n, 131n
_Choiach_, the term, ii. 364, 368n
Chola, or Sola-desam (Soli, Tanjore), ii. 335n, 336n, 364, 368n
Chonka (Fo-kien), kingdom of, ii. 231, 232n, 236;
explanation of name, 232n
Chonkwé, ii. 232n
Chorcha, _see_ Churchin
Christian, astrologers, i. 241, 446;
churches in China, early, ii. 27n;
inscription of Singanfu, 28n;
Alans in the Mongol service, ii. 178, 179n
Christianity, attributed to Chinghizide princes, i. 14n, ii. 476,
477n;
Kúblái’s views on, i. 344n
—— former, of Socotra, ii. 410n
Christians, of the Greek rite, Georgians, i. 50;
and Russians, ii. 486;
Jacobite and Nestorian, at Mosul, i. 46, 60, 61n;
among the Kurds, 60, 62n;
and the Khalif of Baghdad—the miracle of the mountain and the
one-eyed cobbler, 68–73;
Kashgar, 182, 183n;
in Samarkand, 183, 186n;
the miracle of the stone removed, 185;
Yarkand, 187;
Tangut, 203, 207n;
Chingintalas, 212;
Suh-chau, 217;
Kan-chau, 219;
in Chinghiz’s camp, 241;
Erguiul and Sinju, 274;
Egrigaia, 281;
Tenduc, 285;
Nayan and the Khan’s decision, 339, 344;
at Kúblái’s Court, 388;
in Yun-nan, ii. 66, 74n;
Cacanfu, 132;
Yang-chau, 154n;
churches at Chin-kiang fu, 177;
at Kinsay, 192;
St. Thomas’, 353–354;
Coilum, 375;
Male and Female Islands, 404;
Socotra, 406;
Abyssinia and fire baptism, 427, 432n;
of the Girdle, 432n;
in Lac (Wallachia), 487
_Chrocho_, the Rukh (_q.v._), ii. 415n _seqq._
Chronology and chronological data discussed, first journey of the
Polos, i. 3n;
war between Barka and Hulákú, 8n;
Polos’ stay at Bokhara, 10n;
their departure and their second journey from Acre, 23n;
their return voyage and arrival in Persia, 38n;
story of Nigudar, 103n;
Hormuz princes, 120n;
destruction of Ismailites, 146n;
history of Chinghiz, 239n, 242n, 247n;
Kúblái’s birth and accession, 334n;
Nayan’ rebellion, 334n, 346n;
Polo’s visit to Yun-nan, ii. 81n;
battle with the king of Mien, 104n;
wars between China and Burma, 104n–106n, 111n, 114n;
value of Indo-Chinese, 106n;
conquest of S. China, 148n, 149n;
capture of Siang-yang, 167n;
Kúblái’s dealings with Japan, 260n–261n;
with Champa, 270n;
Marco’s visit to Japan, 271n;
Kúblái’s Java expedition, 275n;
review of the Malay, 282n;
events in Ma’bar, 333n;
King Gondophares, 357n;
cessation of Chinese navigation to India, 391n;
Abyssinia, 434n _seqq._;
Kaidu’s wars, 462n, 467n;
Mongol revolutions in Persia, notes from, 470n–475n;
wars of Toktai and Noghai, 497.
(_See_ also _Dates_.)
Chrysostom, i. 81n
Chuchu, in Kiang-si, ii. 224n, 229n
Chughis, _see_ Jogis
Chung-Kiang, ii. 40n
Chungkwé, “Middle Kingdom,” ii. 232n
Chung-tu, or Yen-King (Peking, _see_ Cambaluc)
_Ch’ura_, i. 265n
Churches, Christian, in Kashgar, i. 182;
Samarkand, 185;
Egrigaia, 281;
Tenduc, 287n;
early, in China, ii. 27n;
Yang-chau, 154n;
Chin-kiang fu, 177;
Kinsay, 192;
Zayton, 238n, 240n;
St. Thomas’s, 354–355, 356n;
Coilum, 377n;
Socotra, 409n–410n
Churchin, or Niuché, Churché, Chorcha (the Manchu Country), i. 231n,
343, 344n
Cielstan, Suolstan (Shúlistán), i. 83, 85n
Cinnamon, Tibet, ii. 49, 52n;
Caindu, 56, 59n;
Ceylon, 315n;
story in Herodotus of, 363n; Malabar, 389, 390n
Circumcision of Socotrans, ii. 409n;
forcible, of a bishop, 429;
of Abyssinians, 432n
Cirophanes, or Syrophenes, story of, ii. 328n
Civet, of Sumatra, ii. 295n
Clement IV., Pope, i. 17, 18n, 21n
_Clepsydra_, i. 378n, 385n, ii. 214
Cloves, ii. 272, 306;
in Caindu, 56, 59n
Coal (Polo’s blackstone), i. 442;
in Scotland in Middle Ages, 443n;
in Kinsay, ii. 216
Cobbler, the one-eyed, and the miracle of the mountain, i. 70
Cobinan (Koh-Banán), i. 125
Cocachin (Kúkáchin), the Lady, _23–24_, i. 32, 33n, 36, 38n
Cochin-China, the mediæval Champa (_q.v._)
Coco-nut (Indian nut), i. 108, ii. 293, 306, 308n, 309n, 354, 389
Coco Islands, of Hiuen T’sang, ii. 307n
Cocos Islands, ii. 309n
Cœur de Lion, his mangonels, ii. 165n, 166n
Coffins, Chinese, in Tangut, i. 205, 209n
Cogachin (Hukaji), Kúblái’s son, King of Carajan, i. 361n, ii. 76
Cogatai, i. 419
Cogatal, a Tartar envoy to the Pope, i. 13, 15
Coiganju (Hwaingan-fu), ii. 142, 148, 151
Coilum (Kollam, Kaulam, Quilon), kingdom of, ii. 375, 382n, 403n,
413n, 426n, 440n;
identity of meaning of name, 377n;
Church of St. George at, 377n;
modern state of, 377n;
Kúblái’s intercourse with, 378n
Coilumin, _columbino_, _colomní_, so-called Brazil-wood, ii. 375;
ginger, 375, 381n
Coins of Cilician Armenia, i. 42n;
of Mosul, 61n;
Agathocles and Pantaleon, 163n;
Seljukian with Lion and Sun, 352n;
found at Siang-Yang, ii. 169n;
King Gondophares, 357n;
Tartar heathen princes with Mahomedan and Christian formulæ, 477n
Coja (Koja), Tartar envoy from Persia to the Khan, i. 32–33n, 38n
Cold, intense, in Kerman, i. 91, 111n, 113n;
in Russia, ii. 487
“Cold Mountains,” i. 114n
Coleridge, verses on Kúblái’s Paradise, i. 305n
Coloman, province, ii. 122, 128n–131n
_Colombino_, _see_ Coilumin
Colon, _see_ Coilum
Colossal Buddhas, recumbent, i. 219, 221n
Columbum, _see_ Coilum
Columbus, Polo paralleled with, _3_;
remarks on, _105–106_
Comania, Comanians, i. 50, ii. 382, 383n, 490, 491n
Comari, Comori (Cape Comorin, Travancore), ii. 333n, 382, 384, 385,
403n, 426n;
temple at, 383n
Combermere, Lord, prophecy applied to, ii. 149n
_Comercque_, Khan’s custom-house, ii. 37, 41n
Compartments, in hulls of ships, ii. 249, 251n
Compass, Mariner’s, _138_
Competitive Examinations in beauty, i. 359n
Conchi, King of the North, ii. 479
Concubines, how the Khan selects, i. 357
Condor, its habits, ii. 417n;
Temple’s account of, 417n;
Padre Bolivar’s of the African, 420n
Condur and Sondur, ii. 276, 277n
_Condux_, sable or beaver, i. 410n
Conia, Coyne (Iconium), i. 43
Conjeveram, ii. 334n
Conjurers, the Kashmirian, i. 166, 168n;
weather-, 98, 105n, 166, 168n, 301, 309n–311n;
Lamas’ ex-feats, 315n–318n.
(_See_ also Sorcerers.)
Conosalmi (Kamasal), i. 99, 106n
Constantinople, i. 2, 19n, 36, ii. 165n, 487;
Straits of, 488, 490
Convents, _see_ Monasteries
Cookery, Tartar horse-, i. 264n
Cooper, T. T., traveller on Tibetan frontier, ii. 45n, 48n, 52n, 59n,
67n
Copper, token currency of Mahomed Tughlak, i. 429n;
imported to Malabar, ii. 390;
to Cambay, 398
Coral, valued in Kashmir, Tibet, etc., i. 167, 170n, ii. 49, 52n
Corea (Kauli), i. 343, 345n
Corn, Emperor’s store and distribution of, i. 443
Coromandel (Maabar), _see_ Mabar
Corsairs, _see_ Pirates
Corte del Milione, _see_ Ca’ Polo
—— Sabbionera at Venice, _27_ _seqq._
Cosmography, mediæval, _130_
_Costus_, ii. 397n
Cotan, _see_ Khotan
Cotton, stuffs of, i. 44n, 45, 47n, 48n, 60, ii. 225, 228n, 361,
363n, 395, 398, 431;
at Merdin, i. 60;
in Persia, 84;
at Kashgar, 181;
Yarkand, 187;
Khotan, 188, 190n;
Pein, 191;
Bengal, ii. 115;
bushes of gigantic size, 393, 394n
Counts in Vokhan, i. 171, 173n;
at Dofar, ii. 444
Courts of Justice, at Kinsay, ii. 203
_Couvade_, custom of, ii. 85, 91n–95n, 596n
Cow-dung, its use in Maabar, ii. 341, 365
Cowell, Professor, i. 105n
Cowries (porcelain shells, pig shells), used for money, etc., ii. 66,
74n, 76, 123;
procured from Locac, 276, 279n
_Cralantur_, its meaning(?), i. 71n
Cramoisy (quermesis), i. 44n, 63, 65n
Cranes, five kinds of, i. 296, 297n
Crawford, John, ii. 277n
Cremation, i. 204, 208n, ii. 122, 132, 134n, 135, 140, 141, 151, 152,
191, 218, 221n;
in Middle Ages, ii. 133n
Cremesor, Hot Region (Garmsir), i. 75, 99n, 112n, 114n
Çrībhôja (Çribhôdja), country, ii. 283n
Crocodiles, _see_ Alligators
Cross, legend of the Tree of the, i. 135;
gibes against, on Nayan’s defeat, 343;
on monument at Singanfu, ii. 27n
Crossbows, ii. 78, 82n, 161n
Cruelties, Tartar, i. 151n, 265n, 266n, ii. 180n
_Crusca MS._ of Polo, _82_, i. 18n, 38n, 85n, 297n, 358n, 384n,
ii. 34n, 72n
Cubeb pepper, ii. 272, 391n
Cubits, astronomical altitude estimated by, ii. 382, 389, 392
Cublay, _see_ Kúblái
Cucintana, ii. 396n
Cudgel, Tartars’ use of, i. 266, 267n, 414
Cuiju (Kwei-chau), province, ii. 124, 127n
Cuinet, Vital, on Turkman villages, i. 44n;
on Mosul Kurds, 62n
Cuirbouly, i. 260, 263n, ii. 78, 82n
Cuju, ii. 219, 221n, 224n
Cuncun (Han-Chung) province, ii. 31, 32n
Cunningham, General A., i. 12n, 104, 156n, 173n, 178n, 283n, 290n,
ii. 357n
Cups, flying, i. 301, 314n, 349n
Curds and Curdistan, i. 9n, 60, 62n, 83n, 84n, 85n, 102n, 143n, 145n
Currency, copper token, in India, i. 429n;
salt, ii. 45, 54, 57n;
leather, i. 429n;
Cowrie, _see_ Cowries
Currency, paper, in China, i. 423, 426n;
attempt to institute in Persia, 428n;
alluded to, ii. 124, 127, 132, 135, 138, 140, 141, 152, 154, 170,
174, 176, 178, 181, 187, 218
Current, strong south along East Coast of Africa, ii. 412, 415n
Currents, Cape of, or Corrientes, ii. 415n, 417n, 426n
Curtains, Persian, i. 66n
Curzola Island, Genoese victory at, _6_, _45_ _seqq._;
Polo’s galley at, _49_;
map of, _50_
Curzon, Lord, i. 64n, 84n, 86n, 128n;
list of Pamirs, ii. 594n
—— Hon. R., on invention of printing, _138_, _139_
Customs, Custom-houses, ii. 37, 41n, 170, 204, 215, 216
Cutch pirates, ii. 410n
Cuxstac, Kuhestec, i. 110n
Cuy Khan (Kuyuk), i. 14n, 245, 247n
Cycle, Chinese, i. 447, 454n
_Cynocephali_, the, ii. 228n, 309, 311n
Cypresses, sacred, of the Magians, i. 131n
Cyprus, i. 65n
Cyrus, his use of camels in battle near Sardis, ii. 104n
Dabul, ii. 443n
_Dadian_, title of Georgian kings, i. 53n
Da Gama, ii. 386n, 391n
Dagroian, kingdom of, in Sumatra, ii. 293;
probable position of, 297n
Dailiu (Tali), ii. 81n
Daïtu, Taidu, Tatu (Peking), Kúblái’s new city of Cambaluc, i. 305n,
306n, 374, 375n
Dakiánús, city of (Camadi), i. 113n
_Dalada_, tooth relique of Buddha, ii. 329n–330n
Dalai Lama, with four hands, ii. 265n
D’Alboquerque, ii. 281n, 382n, 409n, 451n
Dalivar, Dilivar, Diláwar (Lahore), a province of India, i. 99, 104n,
105n
Dalmian, ii. 297n
Damas, i. 65n
Damascus, i. 23n, 143;
siege of, ii. 166n
Damasks, with _cheetas_ in them, i. 398n;
with giraffes, ii. 424n.
(_See_ also Patterns.)
Damghan, i. 138n, 148n
Dancing dervishes, ii. 97n
Dancing girls, in Hindu temples, ii. 345, 351n
Dandolo, Andrea, Admiral of Venetian fleet at Curzola, _6_, _46_;
his captivity and suicide, _48_;
funeral at Venice, _50_
D’Anghieria, Pietro Martire, _36_, _120_
Dantapura, ii. 329n
Dante, number of MSS., _117_;
does not allude to Polo, _118_;
_Convito_, i. 14n
D’Anville’s Map, i. 25n, 88n, 155n, 224n, 228n, 297n, 408n, ii. 69n,
72n, 141n
Darábjird, i. 86n
Darah, ii. 436n
Dárápúr, i. 104n, 105n
_Dardas_, stuff embroidered in gold, i. 65n
Dariel, Pass of (Gate of the Alans), i. 53n, 54n
Darius, i. 128, 138n, 151, 157;
the Golden King, ii. 17
Dark Ocean of the South, ii. 417n
Darkness, magical, i. 98, 105n, 166
—— land of, ii. 484, 485n;
how the Tartars find their way out, 484;
the people and their peltry, 484;
Alexander’s legendary entrance into, 485;
Dumb trade of, 486n
_Darráj_, black partridge, its peculiar call, i. 99n
Darúná, salt mines, i. 154n
Darwáz, i. 160n
Dasht, or Plain, of Bahárak, i. 156n
Dashtáb, hot springs, i. 122n
Dasht-i-Lut (Desert of Lút), i. 124n, 127, 128n
Dashtistan tribe and district, i. 86n
Dates (chronology) in Polo’s book, generally erroneous, i. 2, 17, 36,
63, 145, 238, 332, ii. 98, 114, 145, 177, 259, 267, 268, 319,
354, 428, 459, 464, 474, 494
—— (trees or fruit), Basra, 63, 65n;
Báfk, 88, 89n;
Reobarles, province, 97, 111n;
Formosa Plain, 107;
Hormos, 109, 116n;
wine of, 107, 115n;
diet of fish, etc., 107, 116n, ii. 450
Daughters of Marco Polo, _69_, _71_, _73_, _76_, ii. 506n
D’Avezac, M., i. 23n, 48n, 66n, 231n, 271n
David, king of Abyssinia, ii. 435n, 436n
David, king of Georgia (Dawith), i. 50, 53n
Davids, Professor T. W. Rhys, _Buddhist Birth Stories_, ii. 326n
Davis, Sir John F., ii. 139n, 142n, 152n, 173n, 175n, 176n, 182n
Dawaro, ii. 435n, 436n
Daya, ii. 300n, 305n
Dead, disposal of the, in Tangut, i. 205, 209n;
at Cambaluc, 414;
in Coloman, ii. 122;
in China, 133n;
in Dagroian, 293;
by the Battas, 298n
—— burning of the, _see_ Cremation;
eating the, _see_ Cannibalism
De Barros, ii. 239n, 283n, 287n, 300n, 410n;
on Java, 274n;
Singhapura, 281n;
Janifs, 286n
Debt, singular arrest for, ii. 343, 350n
_Decima_, or Tithe on bequest, _71_
Decimal organisation of Tartar armies, i. 261, 264n
Decius, Emperor, i. 113n
Degháns, Dehgáns, i. 152n
Dehánah, village, i. 152n
Deh Bakri, i. 111n, 112n
De la Croix, Pétis, i. 9n, 155n, 183n, 239n, 243n, 281n, 410n
Delhi, Sultans of, _12_, ii, 426n
D’Ely, Mount, _see_ Eli
Demoiselle Crane, _anthropoides virgo_, i. 297n
Deogir, ii. 426n
Derbend, Wall of, i. 53n, ii. 495.
(_See_ also Iron Gate of.)
Deserts, haunted, i. 197, 201n, 274
Deserts of Kerman or of Lút, i. 123, 124n;
of Khorasan, 149;
of Charchan, 194;
Lop (Gobi), 196, 197, 198n–203n, 210, 212, 214n, 223;
Karakorum, 224, 226, 237n
Desgodins, Abbé, ii. 57n
Despina Khatun, ii. 477n
Devadási, ii. 351n
Devapattan, ii. 400n
Devéria, G., i. 29n, 225n, 291n, ii. 60n, 63n, 70n, 89n, 108n, 122n,
124n
Devil-dancing, i. 315n, ii. 86, 97n
Devil trees, i. 136n
Devils, White, ii. 355, 359n
D’Evreux, Father Yves, ii. 94n
Dhafar (Dofar, Thafar), ii. 340, 348n, 444;
its incense, 445;
two places of the name, 445n–446n
_Dhárani_, mystic charms, i. 315
Dhúlkarnain (Alex.), _see_ Zulkarnain
Dialects, Chinese, ii. 236, 243n–244n
Diamonds in India, how found, ii. 360–361;
mines of, 362n;
diffusion of legend about, _ib._
“Diex Terrien,” i. 141n
Diláwar, Polo’s Dihar, i. 104n
Dimitri II., Thawdadebuli, king of Georgia, i. 53n
Dínár, _see_ Bezant
Dinar of Red Gold, ii. 348n, 349n
Dinh Tiên-hwàng, king of An-nam, i. 264n
Diocletian, i. 14n
_Dioscorides insula_, ii. 408n
Dir, chief town of Panjkora, i. 104n, 164n, 165n
Dirakht-i-Fazl, i. 135n, 138n
Dirakht-i-Kush, i. 135n
Diráwal, ancient capital of the Bhattis, i. 104n
Dirhem-Kub, Shah Mahomed, founder of Hormuz dynasty, i. 115n, 121n
Dish of Sakya or of Adam, ii. 328n, 330n
Diu City, ii. 392n
Diul-Sind, Lower Sind, i. 86n
Divination by twigs or arrows, i. 241, 242n
Dixan, branding with cross at, ii. 433n
Dizabulus, pavilion of, i. 384n
Dizfúl River, i. 85n
Djao (Chao) Namian Sumé (Kaipingfu), i. 25n
Djaya, turquoises, ii. 56n
Doctors at Kinsay, ii. 203
Dofar, _see_ Dhafar
Dogana, i. 151; conjectures as to, 152n, 156n
Doghábah River, i. 152n
Dog-headed races, ii. 309, 311n
Dogs, the Khan’s mastiffs, i. 400;
of Tibet, ii. 45, 49, 52n;
fierce in Cuiju, 126
Dog-sledging in Far North, ii. 480, 481n, 482;
notes on dogs, 483n
Dolfino, Ranuzzo, husband of Polo’s daughter, Moreta, _76_
Dolonnúr, i. 26n
Dominicans, sent with Polos but turn back, i. 22, 23
_D’or plain_, the expression, i. 269n
Doráh Pass, i. 165n
Doria, family at Meloria, _56_
—— Lampa, _6_;
Admiral of Genoese Fleet sent to Adriatic, _45_;
his victory, _48_;
his tomb and descendants, _51_;
at Meloria with six sons, _56_
—— Octaviano, death of, _48_
—— Tedisio, exploring voyage of, _51_
Dorjé, i. 360n
D’Orléans, Prince Henri, i. 200n, 277n
Douglas, Rev. Dr. C., ii. 232n, 237n, 240n, 241n, 244n
Doyley, Sir Fulke, ii. 166n
Dragoian (Ta-hua-Mien), ii. 297n, 306n
_Draps entaillez_, i. 392
Drawers, enormous, of Badakhshan women, i. 160, 163n
Dreams, notable, i. 305n
Drums, sound of in certain sandy districts, 197, 202n
_Dryabalanops Camphora_, ii. 303n
Dua Khan, i. 121n, ii. 459n, 462n
Du Bose, Rev. H. C., ii. 182n–184n
Ducat, or sequin, i. 426n, ii. 591n
Dudley, _Arcano del Mare_, ii. 266n
Duel, mode in S. India of, ii. 371
Dufour, on mediæval artillery, ii. 161n, 163n
Duhalde, Plan of Ki-chau, ii. 26n;
or T’si-ning chau, ii. 139n
Duḳuz Khatun, i. 288n
Dulcarnon (Zulkarnain), i. 161n
Dulites, ii. 432n
Dumas, Alexander, i. 53n
Dumb trade, ii. 486n
Duncan, Rev. Moir, ii. 28n
_Dungen_ (_Tungăni_), or converts, i. 291n
Duplicates in geography, ii. 409n
_Dupu_, ii. 397n
Dürer’s Map of Venice, so-called, _29_, _30_
Durga Temple, ii. 383n
Dursamand, ii. 427n
_Dúsháb_, sweet liquor or syrup, i. 87n
Dust-storms, i. 105n
Duties, on Great Kiang, ii. 170;
on goods at Kinsay and Zayton, 189, 215, 216, 235;
on horses, 438;
at Hormuz, 450.
(_See_ also Customs.)
Dutthagamini, king of Ceylon, i. 169n
Dwara Samudra, ii. 294n, 367n, 427n
Dzegun-tala, name applied to Mongolia, i. 214n
Dzungaria, i. 214n
Eagle mark on shoulder of Georgian kings, i. 50
Eagles, trained to kill large game, i. 397, 399n
—— white, in the Diamond Country, ii. 360–361
Eagle-wood, origin of the name, ii. 271n.
(_See_ Lign-aloes.)
Earth honoured, ii. 341
East, its state, _circa_ 1260, _8_ _et seqq._
Ebony (bonus), ii. 268, 272n
Edkins, Rev., ii. 199n
Edward I., _59_, _62_, _63_, i. 21n, ii. 593n
Edward II., correspondence with Tartar princes, i. 36n, ii. 477n
Effeminacy, in Chinese palaces, ii. 17, 20n, 145, 207, 208
Eggs of Ruc and Aepyornis, ii. 416n, 417n
Egrigaia, province, i. 281, 282n
Ela (cardamom), ii. 388n
Elchidai, ii. 471, 474n
Elenovka, i. 58n
Elephantiasis, i. 187, 188n, ii. 350n
Elephants, Kúblái carried on a timber bartizan by four, i. 337, 404,
408n;
Kúblái’s, 391, 392n, ii. 104;
the king of Mien’s, 99;
numbers of men alleged to be carried by, 100n;
how the Tartars routed, 102;
wild, 107, 111, 117, 119n;
in Caugigu, 117;
Champa, 268, 271n;
Locac, 276, 279n;
Sumatra, 285, 289n, 290n;
Madagascar and Zanghibar, 411, 422;
trade in teeth of, _ib._;
carried off by the Ruc, 412, 417n, 419n, 421n;
in Zanghibar, 422, 423;
used in war, 429, 433n–434n;
an error, 433n;
Nubian, 424n;
fable about, _ib._;
not bred in Abyssinia, 431;
training of African, 434n;
war of the, _ib._
Eli, Ely, Elly (Hili), kingdom of, ii. 385, 386n _seqq._, 403n, 426n
Elias, Ney, i. 215n, 225n, 278n, 288n, 291n, ii. 23n, 144n
Elixir vitae of the Jogis, ii. 365, 369n
Elliot, Sir Walter, i. 38n, 48n, 56n, 65n, 96n, 102n, 104n, 105n,
121n, 165n, 265n, ii. 295n, 333n, 334n, 336n, 350n, 367n, 369n,
370n, 372n, 400n, 410n, 419n
Emad, Ed-din Abu Thaher, founder of the Kurd dynasty, i. 85n
Embroidery of silk at Kerman, i. 90, 96n;
leather in Guzerat, ii. 394, 395n
Empoli, Giovanni d’, ii. 239n
_Empusa_, the Arabian Nesnás, i. 202n
Enchanters, at Socotra, ii. 407
Enchantments, of the Caraonas, i. 98.
(_See_ also Conjurers, Sorcerers.)
Engano Island, legend, ii. 406n
Engineering feat, _50_
Engineers, their growing importance in Middle Ages, ii. 166n
England, Kúblái’s message to king of, i. 34;
correspondence of Tartar princes with kings of, 36n, ii. 477n
English trade and character in Asia, ii. 368n
Enlightenment, Land of, i. 460n
_Erba_, poisonous plant or grass, i. 217, 218n
Erculin, Arculin (an animal), ii. 481, 483n, 484, 487
Erdeni Tso (Erdenidsu), or Erdeni Chao Monastery, i. 228n–230n
Eremites (Rishis), of Kashmir, i. 166, 169n
Erguiul, province, i. 274, 282n
Erivan, i. 58n
_Erkeun_ (_Ye li ke un_), Mongol for Christians, i. 291n
Ermine, i. 257, 405, 410n, ii. 481, 484, 487
Erzinjan, Erzinga, Eriza (Arzinga), i. 45
Erzrum (Arziron), i. 45, 48n
_Eschiel_, the word, ii. 390n
Esher (Shehr, Es-shehr), ii. 442;
trade with India, incense, Ichthyophagi, 442, 443, 444n;
singular sheep, 443, 444n
Essentemur (Isentimur), Kúblái’s grandson, king of Carajan, ii. 64,
80n, 98
_Estimo_, Venetian, or forced loan, _47_, _76_
Etchmiadzin Monastery, i. 61n
Ethiopia and India, confused, ii. 432n
Ethiopian sheep, ii. 422, 424n
Etiquette of the Mongol Court, i. 382, 385n, 391, 393n, 457
Etymologies, _Balustrade_, _38_;
buckram, i. 47n–48n;
Avigi, 57n;
Geliz (Ghellé), 59n;
Jatolic, 61n;
muslin, 62n;
baudekins, 65n;
cramoisy, 65n;
ondanique, 93n;
zebu, 99n;
carbine, 101n;
Dulcarnon, 161n;
balas, 161n;
azure and lazuli, 162n;
None, 173n;
Mawmet and Mummery, 189n;
salamander, 216n;
berrie, 237n;
barguerlac, 272n;
S’ling, 276n, 283n;
siclatoun, 283n;
Argon, 290n;
Tungani, 291;
Guasmul, 292n;
chakór, 297n;
Jádú and Yadah, 309n–310n;
Tafur, 313n;
Bacsi, 314n;
Sensin, 321n;
P’ungyi, 325n;
_carquois_, 366n;
Keshikán, 380n;
vernique, 384n;
camut, borgal, shagreen, 395n;
Chinuchi or Chunichi, 401n;
Toscaol, 407n;
Bularguchi, 407n;
Fondaco, 415n;
Bailo, 421n;
comercque, ii. 41n;
porcelain, 74n;
Sangon, 138n;
Faghfúr, 148n;
Manjanik, mangonel, mangle, etc., 163n–164n;
galingale, 229n;
Chini and Misri, 230n;
Satin, 241n, 242n;
eagle-wood, aloes-wood, 271n–272n;
Bonús, Calamanz, _ib._;
benzoni, 286n;
china pagoda, 336n;
Pacauca, 346n;
Balánjar, a-muck, 347n–348n;
Pariah, 349n;
Govi, _ib._;
Avarian, 355n–356n;
Abraiaman, 367n;
Choiach, 368n;
proques, 370n;
Tembul and Betel, 374n;
Sappan and Brazil, 380n–381n;
Balladi, _ib._;
Belledi, 381n;
Indigo baccadeo, 382n;
Gatpaul, baboon, 383n–385n;
Salami cinnamon, 391n;
κώμακον, _ib._;
rook (in chess), 419n;
Aranie, 462n;
Erculin and Vair, 483n;
Misḳál, 592n
—— (of Proper Names), Curd, i. 62n;
Dzungaria, 214n;
Chingintalas, _ib._;
Cambuscan, 247n;
Oirad, 308n;
Kungurat, 358n;
Manzi, ii. 144n;
Bayan, 148n;
Kinsay, 193n;
Japan, 256n;
Sornau, 279n;
Narkandam, 312n;
Ceylon, 314n;
Ma’bar, 332n;
Chilaw, 337n;
Mailapúr, 359n;
Sônagarpaṭṭanam, 372n;
Punnei-Káyal, Káyal, _ib._;
Kollam (Coilum), 377;
Hili (Ely), 386n;
Cambaet, 398n;
Mangla and Nebila, 405n;
Socotra, 408n;
Colesseeah, 410n;
Caligine, 439n;
Aijaruc, 463;
Nemej, 493n
—— Chinese, ii. 119n
Etzina, i. 223
Eunuchs, i. 356;
procured from Bengal, ii. 115n
Euphrates, i. 43n;
said to flow into the Caspian, 52, 59n
_Euphratesia_, i. 43n
Euxine, _see_ Black Sea
Evelyn’s _Diary_, i. 136n
Execution of Princes of the Blood, mode of, i. 67n, 343, 344n
Eyircayá, i. 281n
Facen, Dr. J., _139_
Faghfur (Facfur, Emperor of Southern China), ii. 145;
meaning of title, 148n;
his effeminate diversions, 207;
decay of his palace, 208
Faizabad in Badakhshan, i. 156n, 163n, 173n, 175n
Fákanúr, ii. 440n
Fakata, ii. 260n
Fakhruddin Ahmad, Prince of Hormuz, i. 121n, ii. 333n
Falconers, Kúblái’s, i. 335, 402, 407n
Falcons, of Kerman, i. 90, 96n;
Saker and Lanner, 158, 162n;
peregrine, 269;
Kúblái’s, 402
Famine, horrors, i. 313n
_Fanchán_, _P’ing-chang_, title of a second class Cabinet Minister,
i. 432n, ii. 179n
Fanchan Lake, ii. 29n
Fan-ching, siege of, ii. 167n
Fandaraina, ii. 386n, 391n, 440n
_Fang_, _see_ Squares
Fansur, in Sumatra, kingdom of, ii. 299, 302n
Fansuri camphor, ii. 299, 302n
Fan Wen-hu, or Fan-bunko, a General in Japanese Expedition, ii. 260n,
261n
Fariáb, or Pariáb, i. 106n
Faro of Constantinople, ii. 490
Farriers, none in S. India, ii. 340, 450
Fars, province, i. 85n, 92n, ii. 333n, 348n, 377n, 402n
Fashiyah, Atabeg dynasty, i. 85n, 86n
Fassa, i. 86n
Fasting days, Buddhist, i. 220, 222n
Fattan, in Ma’bar, ii. 333n, 336n
Fatteh, ’Ali Sháh, i. 146n, 179n
Fausto, Vettor, his Quinquereme, _33_
Fazl, Ibn Hassan (Fazluïeh-Hasunïeh), i. 86n
Feili, Lurs dynasty, i. 84n
Female attendants on Chinese Emperors, ii. 17, 20n, 147, 207, 208
Ferlec, in Sumatra, kingdom of (Parlák), ii. 284, 287n, 294n, 295n,
305n;
Hill people, 284, 288n
Fernandez, or Moravia, Valentine, ii. 295n
Ferrier, General, i. 68n, 100n, 106n
Festivals, Order of the Kaan’s, i. 386, 388n
Fiag, or Pog River, i. 54n
_Ficus Vasta_, i. 129n
_Fidáwí_, Ismailite adepts, i. 144n, 145n
Filial Piety in China, i. 457, 462n
Filippi, Professor F. de, Silk industry in Ghílán, i. 59n
Finn, i. 122n
Fiordelisa, daughter of younger Maffeo Polo, _17_, _65_
—— supposed to be Nicolo Polo’s second wife, _17_, _26_, _27_
—— wife of Felice Polo, _27_, _65_
Firando Island, ii. 260n
Firdús, Ismailite Castle, i. 148n
Firdúsí, i. 93n, 130n
Fire, affected by height of Pamir Plain, i. 171, 178n;
regulations at Kinsay, ii. 189
Fire-baptism, ascribed to Abyssinians, ii. 427, 432n
Fire-_Pao_ (cannon?), i. 342n, ii. 596n
Fire-worship, or rockets, in Persia, i. 78, 80;
by the Sensin in Cathay, 303, 325n
Firishta, the historian, i. 104n, 169n
Fish miracle in Georgia, i. 52, 57n, 58n;
in the Caspian, 59n;
and date diet, 107, 116n, ii. 450;
supply at Kinsay, 202;
food for cattle, 443, 444n;
stored for man and beast, 443
Fish-oil, used for rubbing ships, i. 108, 117n
Florin, or ducat, ii. 215, 591n
Flour (Sago), trees producing, ii. 300, 304n, 305n
Flückiger, Dr., ii. 226n
Fog, dry, i. 105n
Fo-kien, _see_ Fu-chau
Folin (Byzantine Empire), ii. 405n
Fondaco, i. 415n, ii. 238n
Foot-mark on Adam’s Peak, _q.v._
Foot-posts in Cathay, i. 435
Forg, i. 86n
Formosa, Plain (Harmuza), i. 107, 115n
Forsyth, Sir T. Douglas, i. 193n, 194n, 216n, 400n
Fortune, R., ii. 182n, 198, 220n, 222n, 224n, 229n, 233n
Foundlings, provision for, ii. 147, 151n
Four-horned sheep, ii. 443, 444n
Fowls with hair, ii. 126, 129n
Foxes, black, ii. 479, 481n, 484, 487
Fozlán, Ibn, i. 7n, 8n, ii. 348n, 488n
_Fra terre_ (Interior), i. 43n
Fracastoro, Jerome, _2_
Franciscan converts, in Volga region, i. 5n, 9n, ii. 491n;
at Yang-chau, 154n;
Zayton, 237n
Francolin (darráj of the Persians), black partridge, i. 97, 99n, 107,
297n
Frankincense, _see_ Incense
Frederic II., Emperor, his account of the Tartars, i. 56n;
story of implicit obedience, 144n;
his _cheetas_, 398n;
his leather money, 429n;
his giraffe, ii. 424n
French, the original language of Polo’s Book, _81_ _seqq._;
its large diffusion in that age, _86_ _seqq._, _122_
French Expedition up the Kamboja River, ii. 57n, 67n, 80n, 120n
Frenchmen, riding long like, ii. 78
French mission and missionaries in China, ii. 38n, 48n, 52n, 57n,
63n, 96n, 97n, 127n
_Frère charnel_, i. 187n
Frere, Sir B., i. 96n, 117n, 147n, ii. 395n, 424n
Froissart, i. 17n, 42n, 68n
Fu-chau (Fo-kien, Fuju), ii. 220n–222n, 224n, 226, 230, 231, 232n,
233n, 238n, 251n;
paper-money at, i. 428n;
wild hill people of, 225, 228n;
its identity, 232n, 238n;
language of, 243n;
tooth relique at, 330n
Fuen (Fen) ho River, ii. 17n
Funeral rites, Chinese, in Tangut, i. 204;
of the Kaans, 246, 250n;
at Kinsay, ii. 191.
(_See_ also Dead.)
Fungul, city of, ii. 124, 127n
Furs, of the Northern Regions, i. 257, 405, 410n, ii. 481, 483n, 484,
487
Fusang, Mexico(?), ii. 405n
Fuyang, ii. 220n
Fuzo, _see_ Fu-chau
Gabala, Bishop of, i. 231n
Gagry, maritime defile of, i. 54n
Gaisue, officer of Kúblái’s Mathematical Board, i. 449n
_Galeasse_, Venetian gallery, _36_, i. 119n
Galingale, ii. 225, 229n, 272
Galletti, Marco, _27_, ii. 512n
Galleys of the Middle Ages, war, _31_ _seqq._;
arrangement of rowers, _31–32_;
number of oars, _32_, _33_;
dimensions, _33_, _34_;
tactics in fight, _38_;
toil in rowing, _ib._;
strength and cost of crew, _39_;
staff of fleet, _39–40_;
Joinville’s description of, _40_;
customs of, _41_
Galley-slaves not usual in Middle Ages, _39_
Gambling, prohibited by Kúblái, i. 457
Game, _see_ Sport
Game Laws, Mongol, i. 396, 406, ii. 13
Game, supplied to Court of Cambaluc, i. 396, 401
Ganapati Kings, ii. 362n
Gandar, Father, ii. 139n, 153n
Gandhára, ii. 114n, 329n, 330n;
Buddhist name for Yun-nan, ii. 73n
Ganfu, port of Kinsay, ii. 189
Ganja, gate of, i. 57n
Gan-p’u, ii. 238n
Gantanpouhoa, Kúblái’s son, i. 361n
Gantûr, ii. 362n
Gardenia, fruit and dyes, ii, 226n
Gardiner’s (misprinted Gardner’s) _Travels_, i. 160n, 179n
Gardner, C., ii. 196n, 198n
Garmsir, Ghermseer (Cremesor), Hot Region, i. 75n, 99n, 112n, 114n
Garnier, Lieut. Francis (journey to Talifu), ii. 38n, 48n, 57n, 58n,
60n, 64n, 67n, 74n, 80n, 90n, 91n, 95n, 99n, 117n, 120n, 122n,
123n, 128n, 130n, 198n, 278n
Garrisons, Mongol, in Cathay and Manzi, i. 336n, ii. 190, 200n;
disliked the people, 205
_Garuda_, ii. 351n, 415n, 419n
Gate of Iron, ascribed to Derbend, i. 57n
Gates, of Kaan’s palace, i. 363, 368n;
of Cambaluc, 374, 377n;
of Somnath, ii. 400–401
Gat-pauls, Gatopaul, Gatos-paulas, ii. 382, 383n, 385n
_Gatto maimone_, ii. 383n
Gauenispola Island, ii. 300, 307n
Gaur (_Bos Gaurus_, _etc._), ii. 114n
Gauristan, i. 86n
Gavraz, village, i. 45n
Gazaria, ii. 490, 492n
Gedrosi, ii. 402n
Gelath in Imeretia, Iron Gate at, i. 57n
_Geliz_, Spanish for silk dealer, i. 59n
Genealogy of Polos, _13_;
errors as given by Barbaro, etc., in, _77–78_;
tabular, ii. 506n;
of House of Chinghiz, 505n
Genoa, Polo’s captivity at, _6_, _48–55_
—— and Pisa, rivalry, and wars of, _41_, _56_ _seqq._
—— and Venice, rivalry and wars of, _41_ _seqq._
Genoese, their growth in skill and splendour, _42_;
character as seamen by poet of their own, _43_;
character by old Italian author, _48_;
capture of Soldaia, i. 4n;
their navigation of the Caspian, 52, 59n;
trade in box-wood, 57n;
their merchants at Tabriz, 75;
in Fo-kien, ii. 238n
Gentile Plural names converted into local singulars, i. 58n
Geographical Text of Polo’s Book constantly quoted, its language,
_83_;
proofs that it is the original, _84_ _seqq._;
tautology, _85_;
source of other texts, _ib._
George (Jirjis, Yurji, Gurgán), king of Tenduc, of the time of
Prester John, i. 284, 287n;
a possible descendant of, 288n, ii. 460
Georgia (Georgiana), beauty of, and its inhabitants, i. 50–53n;
their kings, 50, 52n
Gerfalcons (Shonkár), i. 270, 273n, 299, 402, 404;
tablets engraved with, 35, 351, 355n, ii. 487
Gerini, Colonel, ii. 596n
German Follower of the Polos, ii. 159
Ghaiassuddin Balban (Asedin Soldan), Sultan of Delhi, i. 99, 104n,
105n
Gháran country, ruby mines in, i. 161n
Gházán (Casan) Khan of Persia, son of Arghún, i. 14n, 29n, 88n, 103n,
121n, 138n, 429n, ii. 50, 166n, 466n;
his regard for the Polos, i. 35;
marries the Lady Kukachin, 36, 38n, ii. 465n;
his mosque at Tabriz, i. 76n;
set to watch the Khorasan frontier, ii. 474, 475n;
obtains the throne, 476;
his object and accomplishments, 478n
Ghel, or Ghelan (Ghel-u-chelan), Sea of, Caspian Sea, i. 52, 58n
Ghellé (Gílí), silk of the Gíl province, i. 52, 59n
Ghes, or Kenn (formerly Kish or Kais), i. 63, 64n
_Ghez_ tree, i. 89n
Ghiuju, ii. 219, 221n, 222n
Ghiyas ed-din, last Prince of Kurd dynasty, i. 85n
Ghori, or Aksarai River, i. 152n
_Ghúls_, goblins, i. 202n
Ghúr, i. 102n
Giglioli, Professor H., _51_
Gíl, or Gílán, province, i. 59n
Gilgit, i. 160n
Gill, Captain (_River of Golden Sand_), i. 408n, ii. 40n, 57n, 59n,
80n–82n, 84n, 88n, 91n, 109n, 169n, 221n
Ginao, Mt. and Hot Springs, i. 122n
Gindanes of Herodotus, ii. 48
Ginger, ii. 22;
Shan-si, 33;
Caindu, 56;
alleged to grow in Kiangnan, 181, 183n;
Fuju, 224, 325;
Coilum, 375, 381n;
different qualities and prices of, 381n;
Ely, 385, 388n;
Malabar, 389;
Guzerat, 393
Giraffes, ii. 413, 421n, 422, 431;
mediæval notices of, 424n
Girardo, Paul, _70_, ii. 511n
Girdkuh, an Ismailite fortress, its long defence, i. 146n, 148n
Girls, consecrated to idols in India, ii. 345–346
Gittarchan, _see_ Astrakhan
Glaza (Ayas, _q.v._), _54_
Gleemen and jugglers, conquer Mien, ii. 110
Goa, ii. 358n, 451n
Gobernador, Straits of, ii. 281n
Goës, Benedict, _20_, i. 175n, 218n
Gog and Magog (Ung and Mungul), legend of, i. 56n, 57n;
rampart of, 57n;
country of, 285;
name suggested by Wall of China, 292n
Gogo, ii. 398n
Goître at Yarkand, i. 187, 188n
Golconda diamond mines, ii. 362n
Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, their mystic meaning, i. 79, 81n
Gold dust in Tibet, ii. 49, 52n;
exchanged for salt in Caindu, 54, 57n;
Brius River, 56;
in Kin-shia-Kiang, 72n;
and nuggets in Carajan, 76;
abundant in Yun-nan, 95n, 106;
Caugigu, 116;
Coloman, 123;
infinite in Chipangu, 253, 256;
in Sea of Chin Islands, 264;
dust in Gulf of Cheinan Islands, 266;
not found in Java, 274n;
in Locac, 276;
the Malayo-Siamese territories, 179n;
Sumatra, 284, 287n;
vast accumulations in South India, _12_, 340, 348n;
imported into Malabar, 390;
and into Cambay, 398;
purchased in Socotra, 407
Gold and silver towers of Mien, ii. 110
—— cloths of, i. 41, 50, 60, 63, 65n, 75, 84, 285, 387, ii. 23.
(_See_ Silk and Gold.)
—— of the Gryphons in Herodotus, ii. 419n
—— Teeth (Zardandan), Western Yunnan, ii. 84, 88n–91n
—— to silver, relative value of, i. 426n, ii. 95n, 256n, 591n
Golden King and Prester John, tale of the, ii. 17–22
—— Island, ii. 174n, 175, 176n, 310n
—— Horde (kings of the Ponent), ii. 486n, 492n
_Golfo, Indigo di_, ii. 382n
Gomispola, Gomispoda, _see_ Gauenispola
Gomushtapah, Wall of, i. 57n
Gomuti palm, ii. 297n
Gondophares, a king in the St. Thomas legends, ii. 357n
Gordon’s “Ever Victorious Army,” ii. 179n
Gordun Sháh, i. 120n
Göring, F., i. 74n
Goriosan, ii. 260n
_Gor Khar_, wild ass, i. 89n
Goshawks, i. 50, 57n, 96n, 252, 402;
black, ii. 285, 345
Gothia (Crimean), ii. 490;
its limit and language, 492n
Govy, a low caste in Maabar, ii. 341, 349n, 355
Goza, i. 38n
Gozurat, _see_ Guzerat
Grail, Buddhist parallel to the Holy, ii. 328n, 330n
Granaries, Imperial, i. 443
Grapes in Shan-si, ii. 13, 15n, 16n
Grass-cloths, ii. 127n
Grasso, Donato, _25_
Great Bear (Meistre), ii. 292, 296n;
and Little, force of, and application of these epithets, 286n
Great, or Greater Sea (Black Sea), i. 3n, ii. 487, 488, 490
Greece, Bactria’s relation to, i. 160n
Greek fire, _38_, ii. 165n
Greeks, in Turcomania, i. 43;
and Greek tongue in Socotra, ii. 408n, 409n;
possible relic of, 410n
Green, Rev. D. D., ii. 193n
—— Island, legendary, ii. 381n
—— Islands, ii. 417n
—— Mount, Cambaluc, i. 365, 370n
—— R., _see_ Tsien Tang
Gregorieff, his excavations at Sarai, i. 6n
Gregory X., Pope, _see_ Theobald of Piacenza
Grenard, i. 189n, 190n, 193n, 195n, 200n, 203n, 276n, 310n, 324n,
409n, ii. 5n, 27n
Grioni, Zanino, ii. 517n
_Griut_ (_kurut_), sour-curd, i. 265n
Groat, Venetian _grosso_, i. 424, 426n, ii. 22, 66, 153, 181, 201,
225, 236, 354, 591n
Groot, Professor, J. J. M. de, i. 209n, 251n, 268n, ii. 135n
Grote, Arthur, ii. 444n
Grueber and Dorville, Jesuit travellers, i. 276n
_Grus_, _cinerea_, _antigone_, _leucogeranus_, _monachus_, i. 297n
Gryphon, _see_ Ruc
Guasmul (Basmul), half-breeds, i. 284, 292n
Guchluk, i. 161n
Gudar (village), i. 113n
_Gudderi_, musk animals, Tibet, ii. 45, 49n
Gudran, i. 126n
Guebers, the, i. 88n, 96n
Gujáh, Hulákú’s chief secretary, i. 33n
_Gugal_, bdellium, ii. 397n
Guilds of craftsmen at Kinsay, ii. 186
—— Venetian, _72_
Guinea-fowl, ii. 431, 437n
Guions, a quasi-Tibetan tribe, ii. 60n
Gumish-Khánah, silver mines, i. 49n
Gunpowder, _138_
Gurgán, a Tartar chief, ii. 474n
_Gurgán_, son-in-law, a title, i. 288n
Gur-Khan of Karacathay, i. 233n
Gutturals, Mongol elision of, i. 8n, 64n
Guz = 100, i. 261, 263n
Guzerat (Gozurat), ii. 389, 390, 392, 394n;
products, mediæval architecture and dress, 393;
work, 393–394, 395n
Haast, Dr., discovers a fossil Ruc, ii. 417n
Habíb-ullah of Khotan, i. 189n
Ḥabsh (Abash), _see_ Abyssinia
Hadhramaut (_Sessania Adrumetorum_), i. 82n
Hadiah, ii. 436n
Haffer, ii. 445n
Hai-nan, Gulf of, ii. 266n
—— language of, ii. 244n
Hairy men in Sumatra, ii. 301n
Hajji Mahomed, i. 211n, 221n
Hakeddin, ii. 436n
Half-breeds, _see_ Argons
Hamd Allah Mastaufi, the geographer, i. 76n, 81n, 84n, 92n, 135n
Hamilton, Captain Alexander, i. 106n, 122n
Hammer-Purgstall on Marco Polo, _115_
Hamúm Arabs, ii. 443n
Hamza of Ispahan, i. 101n
Hamza Pantsuri, or Fantsuri, ii. 303n
Hanbury, D., ii. 183n, 226n, 229n
Han-chung (Cuncun), ii. 31, 32n, 34n, 35n
Hang-chau fu, _see_ Kinsay
Han dynasty, i. 193n, 347n, ii. 32n, 35n, 70n
—— River, ii. 34n, 35n, 149n, 167n
Hanjám, i. 115n
Han-kau, ii. 183n
Hansi, ii. 427n
Han Yü, ii. 81n
_Harám_, i. 141n
Harhaura, W. Panjáb, i. 104n
Harlez, Mgr. de, i. 305n
_Harmozeia_, i. 114n
_Harpagornis_, fossil Ruc, ii. 417n
Harran, i. 23n
Harshadeva, king of Kashmir, i. 169n
Harsuddi, temple of, ii. 349n
Haru, or Aru, ii. 303n
Hashíshín, _see_ Assassins
Hásik, ii. 444n
Hassán Kalá, hot springs at, i. 47n
Hassan, son of Sabah, founder of the Ismailites, i. 141n
Hastings, Warren, letter of, i. 57n
Hatan, rebellion of, i. 346n
Haunted deserts, i. 197, 201n, 274
Havret, Father H., ii. 155n, 212n
_Ḥawáríy_ (Avarian), the term, ii. 356n
Hawks, hawking in Georgia, i. 50, 57n;
Yezd and Kerman, 88, 90, 96n;
Badakhshan, 158, 162n;
Etzina, 223;
among the Tartars, 252;
on shores and islands of Northern Ocean, 269, 273n;
Kúblái’s sport at Chagannor, 296;
in mew at Chandu, 299;
trained eagles, 397, 399n;
Kúblái’s establishment of, 402, 403, 407n, ii. 13;
in Tibet, 50;
Sumatra, 285;
Maabar, 345
Hayton I. (Hethum), king of Lesser Armenia, _11_, i. 25n, 42n,
ii. 592n;
his autograph, _13_
Hazáras, the, Mongol origin of, i. 102n;
lax custom ascribed to, 212n, ii. 56n
Hazbana, king of Abyssinia, ii. 436n
Heat, great at Hormuz, i. 108, 109, 119n, ii. 452;
in India, 343, 375–376
Heaven, City of (Kinsay), ii. 182, 184n, 185, 203
Hedin, Dr. Sven, i. 188n, 190n, 193n,
198n, 203n, 225n, 276n
Heibak, caves at, i. 156n
Height, effects on fire of great, i. 171, 178n
Heikel, Professor Axel, on Buddhist monasteries in the Orkhon,
i. 228n
Hei-shui (Mongol Etsina) River, i. 225n
Hel, Ela (Cardamom), ii. 388n
Helena, Empress, i. 82n
Helli, _see_ Eli
He-lung Kiang, ii. 35n
Hemp of Kwei-chau, ii. 127
Henry II., Duke of Silesia, ii. 493n
Henry III., i. 27n, 56n
Heraclius, Emperor, said to have loosed the shut-up nations, i. 56n
Herat, i. 150n, ii. 402n
Hereditary trades, ii. 186, 196n
Hereford, Map, _132_, i. 134n
Hermenia, _see_ Armenia
Hermits of Kashmir, i. 166, 169n
Herodotus, i. 135n, ii. 104n, 109n
Hethum, _see_ Hayton
Hiai- or Kiai-chau (Caichu?), ii. 19n
Hides, ii. 398.
(_See_ Leather.)
Hili, Hili-Marawi, _see_ Ely
Hill-people of Fo-kien, wild, ii. 225, 228n
Hinaur, _see_ Hunáwar
Hind, ii. 402n
Hindu character, remarks on frequent eulogy of, ii. 367
—— Kush, i. 104n, 164n, 165n, ii. 594n
Hindus, their steel and iron, i. 93n
—— in Java, ii. 283n
Hing-hwa, language of, ii. 244n
Hippopotamus’ teeth, ii. 413, 421n
Hips, admiration of large, i. 160
Hirth, Dr. F., ii. 27n, 28n, 89n, 194n, 199n
Hiuan-Tsung, Emperor, ii. 28n
Hiuen Tsang, Dr., a Buddhist monk, i. 164n–165n, 169n, 174n,
189n–193n, 197n, 202n, 221n, 222n, 306n, 446n, ii. 28n, 60n,
594n, 595n
Hochau, in Sze-chwan, Mangku Khan’s death at, i. 245n
—— in Kansuh, ii. 29n
Hochung-fu (Cachanfu), ii. 25n
Hodgson, Mr., ii. 116n
Hoernle, Dr., i. 190n
Hōjōs, ii. 262n
Hokien-fu (Cacanfu), ii. 133n
Hokow, or Hokeu, ii. 224n
Holcombe, Rev. C., on Hwai-lu, ii. 15n;
on Yellow River, 23n;
on Pia-chau fu, 25n;
on road from T’ung-kwan to Si-ngan fu, 27n
Hollingworth, H. G., ii. 144n
Holy Sepulchre, ii. 429;
oil from lamp of, i. 14, 19, 26
Homeritae, ii. 432n
Homi-cheu, or Ngo-ning, ii. 122n, 128n, 129n, 131n
_Homme_, its technical use, i. 27n, 342n
Hondius map, i. 102n
Ho-nhi, or Ngo-ning (Anin) tribe, ii. 120n, 121n.
(_See_ Homi-cheu.)
Hooker, Sir Joseph, on bamboo explosion, ii. 46n
Horiad (Oirad, or Uirad) tribe, i. 300, 308n
Hormuz (Hormos, Curmosa), i. 83, 107, 110n, ii. 340, 348n, 370, 402n,
449, 451;
trade with India, a sickly place, the people’s diet, i. 107,
ii. 450;
ships, 108;
great heat and fatal wind, 108, 109, 119n, 120n;
crops, mourning customs, i. 109;
the king of, 110;
another road to Kerman from, 110, 122n;
route from Kerman to, 110n;
site of the old city, _ib._;
foundation of, 115n;
history of, 120n;
merchants, ii. 340;
horses exported to India from, 348n;
the Melik of, 449, 450, 451
—— Island, or Jerun, i. 110n, 111n, ii. 451n;
Organa of Arian, i. 115n, 121n
Hormuzdia, i. 111n
Horns of _Ovis Poli_, i. 171, 176n
Horoscopes, in China, i. 447, ii. 191;
in Maabar, 344
Horse-posts and Post-houses, i. 433, 437n
Horses, Turkish, i. 43, 44n;
Persian, 83, 86n;
of Badakhshan, strain of Bucephalus, 158, 162n;
sacrificed at Kaans’ tombs, 246;
Tartar, 260, 264n;
and white mares, 300, 308n;
presented to Kaan on New Year’s Day, 390;
of Carajan, ii. 64, 78, 81n;
their tails docked, 82n;
of Anin, 119;
tracking by, 174n;
decorated with Yaks’ tails, 355;
now bred in S. India, 340, 342, 348n, 350n, 438, 450
—— great trade and prices in importing to India from Persia, i. 83,
86n;
modes of shipment, 108, 117n;
from Carajan, ii. 78;
from Anin, 119;
from Kis, Hormuz, Dofar, Soer, and Aden, 340, 348n, 370, 395, 438;
Esher, 442;
Dofar, 444;
Calatu, 450, 451n
—— duty on, 438;
captured by pirates, 395;
their extraordinary treatment and diet in India, 340, 345,
348n–349n, 351n, 450
Horse-stealing, Tartar laws _v._, i. 266
Hosie, A., ii. 131n; on Ch’êng-tu, 40n;
brine-wells of Pai-yen-ching, 58n;
on the Si-fan, 60n, 61n;
on Caindu Lake, 72n
Hospitals, Buddhist, i. 446n
Hostelries, at Cambaluc, i. 412;
on the Cathay post-roads, 434, ii. 32n;
at Kinsay, 193
Hot springs in Armenia, i. 45, 46n;
near Hormuz, 110, 122n
Hounds, Masters of Kaan’s, i. 400–401n
Hours, struck from Cambaluc bell-tower, i. 373, 414; at Kinsay, ii.
188;
unlucky, 364, 368n;
canonical, 368n, 369n
Hsi Hsia dynasty, i. 205n
_Hsiang-Chên_, _Hsiang_, wood, ii. 301n
Hu-chau fu (Vuju), ii. 184n
Hui-hui, white and black capped, two Mohammedan sects, ii. 30n,
Hukaji (Hogáchi, Cogachin), Kúblái’s son, i. 361n, ii. 76, 80n
Hukwan-hien, ii. 230n
Hulákú Khan (Alau, Alacon), Kúblái’s brother, and founder of Mongol
dynasty in Persia, _10_, i. 5, 10, 61n, 64n, 334n;
war with Barka Khan, 8n, 103n;
takes Baghdad and puts Khalif to death, 63, 66n, 85n, 86n;
the Ismailites and the Old Man, 145, 245, 247n
—— his treachery, ii. 181n;
his descendants, 477;
battle with Barca, 494;
his followers, 495
Hullukluk, village, near Sivas, i. 45n
Human fat, used for combustion in war, ii. 180n
—— sacrifices, i. 208n
Humáyún, Emperor, i. 155n, 277n
Humboldt, _106_, _107_, _110_, _120_, i. 178n
Hunáwar (Onore, Hinaur), ii. 390n, 440n
Hundred Eyes, prophecy of the, ii. 145, 146, 149n
_Hundwáníy_ (ondanique), Indian steel, i. 93n
Hungary, Hungarians, ii. 286n, 492n
Hung Hao, Chinese author, i. 212n
Hun-ho (Sanghin River), ii. 5n, 6n
Hunting equipment and Expedition, Kúblái’s, i. 397, 398n, 404;
Kang-hi’s, 407n
—— preserves, ii. 13.
(_See_ also Sport.)
Hutton, Captain, i. 100n
Hwa-chau, ii. 29n
Hwai-lu, or Hwo-lu-h’ien (Khavailu), the Birmingham of N. Shansi,
ii. 15n
Hwai-ngan-fu (Coiganju), ii. 152n
Hwai River, ii. 143n, 152n
Hwang-ho (Yellow River), i. 245n, 282n, 286n, ii. 23n, 25n, 27n;
changes in its courses, 137n, 142n, 143n;
its embankments, 143n
Hwan-ho, ii. 6n
Hyena, i. 378n
Hyrcania, king of, i. 57n
Iabadiu, ii. 286n
Ibn-al-Furāt, i. 67n
Ibn Batuta (Moorish traveller, _circa_ A.D. 1330–1350), i. 4n–9n,
37n, 44n, 46n, 65n, 75n, 76n, 85n, 101n, 110n, 111n, 116n, 120n,
148n, 150n, 151n, 161n, 165n, 202n, 247n, 294n, 346n, 396n–410n,
ii. 116n, 163n, 214n, 282n, 286n, 312n, 322n, 337n, 346n, 380n,
391n, 413n, 440n, 444n, 445n, 465n;
his account of Chinese juggling, i. 316n;
his account of Khansá (Kinsay), 214n;
of Zayton, 238n;
in Sumatra, 289n, 294n;
on Camphor, 303n;
in Ceylon, 315n, 322n, 337n;
at Kaulam, 377n, 380n;
in Malabar, 391n;
sees Rukh, 419n;
his account of Maldives, 425n;
dog-sledges, ii. 481n, 483n;
Market in Land of Darkness, 486n;
on Silver Mines of Russia, 488n
Ibn Fozlán, _see_ Fozlán
Ichin-hien, ii. 154n, 168n, 173n
Ichthyophagous cattle and people, ii. 442, 443, 444n
Icon Amlac, king of Abyssinia, ii. 434n–436n
Iconium (Kuniyah, Conia), i. 43, 44n
Idolatry (Buddhism) and Idolaters, in Kashmir, i. 166, 168n;
their decalogue, 167, 170n;
Pashai, 172;
Tangut, 203, 207n;
Kamul, 210;
Kanchau, 219, 221n;
Chingintalas, 212;
Suhchau, 217;
Etzina, their fasting days, 220, 222n, 223;
Tartars and Cathayans, 263, 343, 445, 456;
Erguiul, 274;
Egrigaia, 281;
Tenduc, 284, 285;
Chandu, 300–303;
at Kúblái’s birthday feast, 387;
Cachanfu, ii. 23;
Kenjanfu, 24;
Acbalec Manzi, 33;
Sindafu, 37;
Tibet, 45, 49;
Caindu, 53;
Yachi, 66;
Carajan, 76;
Zardandan, 84;
Mien, 109;
Caugigu, 116;
Coloman, 122;
Cuiju, 124;
Cacanfu, 132;
Chinangli, 135;
Sinjumatu, 138;
Coiganju, 151;
Paukin, 152;
Tiju, 153;
Nanghin, 157;
Chinghianfu, 176;
Tanpiju, 218;
Chipangu, 253;
Chamba, 266;
Sumatra, 284, 292, 299;
Nicobars, 306;
Mutfili, 360;
Coilum, 375;
Eli, 385;
Malabar, 389;
Tana, 395;
Cambaet, 397;
Semenat, 398;
Far North, 479
—— Origin of, ii. 318, 319;
of Brahmans, 364;
of Jogis, 365
Idols, Tartar, i. 257, 258n, 456, ii. 479;
Tangut, 203–207n;
colossal, 219, 221n;
of Cathay, 263;
of Bacsi or Lamas, 302;
of Sensin, 303, 323n–326n;
of East generally, 263, 265n;
in India, 340, 345
Ιερόδουλοι, ii. 351n
Ieu, Gnostics of, ii. 321n
Ifat, Aufat, ii. 435n
Ig, Ij, or Irej, capital of the Shawánkárs, i. 86
Igba Zion, Iakba Siun, king of Abyssinia, ii. 435n
_Ilchi_, commissioner, i. 30n
Ilchi, modern capital of Khotan, i. 189n, 190n
Ilchigadai Khan, i. 186n
Ilija, hot springs at, i. 47n
Ilkhan, the title, _10_
Ilyáts, nomads of Persia, i. 85
Imáms of the Ismailites, i. 146n
Im Thurn, Everard, on _Couvade_, ii. 94n
Incense, Sumatran, ii. 286;
brown in West India, 395, 396n;
white (_i.e._ frankincense), in Arabia, 396n, 442, 443n, 445,
446n–449n
India, _12_, i. 1, 107, 109, 167, 414, ii. 76, 78, 107, 115, 119,
236, 249;
horse trade to, i. 83, 86n;
trade to Manzi or China from, ii. 190, 216, 390, 395;
believed to breed no horses, 340, 342, 438, 450;
trade with Persia and Arabia, 370;
western limits of, 401, 402n;
islands of, 423, 425n;
division of, 424;
sundry lists of States, 426n–427n;
trade with Aden and Egypt, 438;
with Arabian ports, 442, 444, 450;
confusion of Ethiopia and, 432n
India, the Greater, ii. 331 _seqq._, 401, 424
—— its extent, ii. 425n, 426n
—— the Lesser, ii. 424, 425n–426n
—— Middle (Abyssinia), ii. 423, 427
—— remarks on this title, ii. 431n
—— Maxima, ii. 426n
—— Tertia, ii. 425n
—— Superior, ii. 426n
—— Sea of, i. 35, 63, 108, 166, ii. 265, 424
Indian drugs to prolong life, ii. 370n
—— geography, dislocation of Polo’s, ii. 377n, 390n, 396n, 403n, 426n
—— nuts, _see_ Cocoa-nuts
—— steel (ondanique), i. 93n
Indies, the Three, and their distribution, ii. 424, 426n
Indifference, religious, of Mongol Emperors, i. 14n, 349n
Indigo, mode of manufacture at Coilum, ii. 375, 381n, 382n;
in Guzerat, 393;
Cambay, 398;
prohibited by London Painters’ Guild, 382n
Indo-China, ii. 426n
Indragiri River, ii. 283n
Infants, exposure of, ii. 147, 151n
Ingushes of Caucasus, i. 268n
Innocent IV., Pope, i. 62n
Inscription, Jewish, at Kaifungfu, i. 346n
Insult, mode of, in South India, ii. 371
Intramural interment prohibited, i. 414
Invulnerability, devices for, ii. 259, 263n
’Irák, i. 74, 84n, 86n, 145n
Irghai, i. 281n
Irish, accused of eating their dead kin, ii. 298n
—— M.S. version of Polo’s Book, _102–103_
Iron, in Kerman, i. 90, 92n, 93n, 94n;
in Cobinan, 125
Iron Gate (Derbend Pass), said to have been built by Alexander,
i. 53n, 54n;
gate ascribed to, 57n, ii. 494
Irtish River, ii. 493n
Isaac, king of Abyssinia, ii. 432n, 433n
Isabel, queen of Little Armenia, i. 42n
Isabeni, ii. 432n
Isentemur (Sentemur, Essentemur), Kúblái’s grandson, ii. 64, 80n
Ish, the prefix, i. 156n
’Ishin, i. 119n
Ish-Káshm, i. 156n, 172n;
dialect, 160n, 173n
Iskandar, Shah of Malacca, ii. 282n
Islands, of the Indian Sea, ii. 249, 424, 426n;
of China, 251, 264;
in the Gulf of Cheinan, 266n;
Male and Female, 404 _seqq._
Isle d’Orléans, ii. 277n
Isle of Rubies (Ceylon), ii. 314n
Ismaïl, Shah of Persia, i. 61n
Ismailites, _see_ Assassins
Ispahan (Istanit, Istan, Spaan), kingdom of Persia, i. 83n, 85n
Israel in China, _see_ Jews
Iteration, wearisome, ii. 133n
I-tsing, ii. 283n
Ivongo, ii. 414n
Ivory trade, ii. 423, 424n
’Izzuddín Muzaffar, suggests paper-money in Persia, i. 428n, 429n
Jacinth, ii. 362n
Jacobite Christians, at Mosul, i. 46, 60, 61n, ii. 409n, 432n–433n;
at Tauris, i. 75, 77n;
Yarkand, 187;
perhaps in China, 291n
Jacobs, Joseph, Barlaam and Josaphat, ii. 327n
_Jadah_, or _Yadah-Tásh_, i. 309n
Jade stone (jasper) of Khotan, i. 191, 193n, 194
Jaeschke, Rev. H. A., i. 209n, 243n, 314n, 324n
Jaffa, Count of, his galley, _40_, _49_
Jaipál, Raja, ii. 346n
Jájnagar, ii. 427n
Jaláluddín of Khwarizm, i. 91n, 236n
Jamáluddín-al-Thaibi, Lord of Kais, i. 65n, ii. 333n, 348n
Jamáluddin, envoy from Ma’bar to Khanbaligh, ii. 337n
Jambi River, ii. 283n
James of Aragon, king, i. 273n, ii. 163n
Jámisfulah (Gauenispola), ii. 307n
Jamúi Khátún, Kúblái’s favourite Queen, her kindness to the captured
Chinese princesses, i. 38n, 358n, ii. 151n
Jangama sect, ii. 370n
Janibeg, Khan of Sarai, i. 6n, 264n, 352n
Japan, _see_ Chipangu
Japanese paper-money, i. 428n
Jaroslawl, ii. 489n
_Jase_, stitched vessel, i. 117n
Jaspar (Gaspar), one of the Magi, i. 78, 82n
Jasper and chalcedony, i. 191, 193n
Jatolic, Játhalík, Jaselic, Gáthalík (καθολικός), i. 60, 61n
Jauchau, ii. 243n
Jaúzgún, former captain of Badakhshan, i. 156n
Java, the Great, _13_;
described, ii. 272;
circuit, empires in, 275n;
Kúblái’s expedition against, _ib._
Java, the Greater and Lesser, meaning of these terms, ii. 286n
Java, the Less, _see_ Sumatra
Jawa, Jáwi, applied by Arabs to islands and products of the
Archipelago generally, ii. 286n
Jaya-Sinhavarman II., king of Champa, ii. 271n
Jazirah, i. 61n
Jehangír (Jehan, Shah), i. 168n
Jenkinson, Anthony, i. 9n, 218n
Jerún (Zarun), island, site of the later Hormuz, i. 110n, 111n, 115n,
121n
Jerusalem, _130_, i. 19
Jesuit maps, i. 408n
Jesujabus, Nestorian Patriarch, ii. 377n, 409n
Jews, their test of Mahommed’s prophetic character, i. 56n;
shut up by Alexander, _ib._;
their connection with the Tartars, 57n;
in China, their inscription at Kaifungfu, 343, 346n, 347n;
in Coilum, ii. 375;
in Abyssinia, 427, 431n, 434n
Jibal, i. 81n
—— Naḳús, or “Hill of the Bell,” Sinai desert, i. 202n
Jibal-ul-Thabúl, “Hill of Drums,” near Mecca, i. 202n
Jiruft, i. 92n, 106n, 111n, 112n
Jogis (Chughi), ii. 365, 369n
John XXII., Pope, i. 4n, 5n, 186n
Johnson, his visit to Khotan, i. 189n, 190n, 192n, 195n, 198n
Johnston, Keith, i. 81n, ii. 67n
Johore, Sultan of, ii. 281n, 282n
Jon (Jihon, or Oxus) River, ii. 458, 466
Jordanus, Friar, i. 37n
Jor-fattan (Baliapatan), ii. 386n
Josephus, i. 49n, 57n, 66n
Jubb River, ii. 424n
Judi, Mount, i. 62n
Jugglers, at Khan’s feasts, i. 383, 386n, 392;
and gleemen conquer Mien, ii. 110, 114n
Juggling extraordinary, i. 316n, 318 _et seq._
Juji, eldest son of Chinghiz, _10_, i. 5n, 239n
Juju (Cho-chau), ii. 10, 11n, 127, 131n
Julman, ii. 485n
Junghuhu, on Batta cannibalism, ii. 288n;
on camphor trees, 303n
Junks, ii. 252n, 333n.
(_See_ also Ships.)
Jupár, i. 113n
Justice, administration of Tartar, i. 266
Justinian, Emperor, i. 49n
Juzgána (Dogana), i. 152n
Kaan, and Khan, the titles, _10_
Kaan, the Great, _see_ Kúblái
Kaans, the series of, and their burial place, i. 245, 247n–250n;
massacre of all met by funeral party, 246, 250n
Kabul, i. 104n, 165n, ii. 402n
_Kachkár_ (_Ovis Vignei_), wild sheep, i. 158, 163n
Kadapah, ii. 362n
Ḳafchikúe, ii. 128n
Káfirs of Hindu Kush, i. 165n;
their wine, 87n, 155n
_Kahgyur_, Tibetan Scripture, ii. 347n
Kahn-i-Panchur, i. 106n
Kaidu (Caidu) Khan, Kúblái’s cousin and life-long opponent, _11_,
i. 183, 186n, 187, 214n, ii. 148n;
plots with Nayan, i. 333, 334n, 348;
his differences with Kúblái, ii. 457;
and constant aggressions, 457–458;
his death, 459n;
his victorious expedition _v._ Kúblái, 459;
Kúblái’s resentment, 463;
his daughter’s valour, 463 _seqq._, 465n;
sends a host _v._ Abaga, 467
Kaifung-fu, Jews and their synagogues there, i. 346n, 347n;
siege of, ii. 158n
Kaikhátú (Kiacatu), Khan of Persia, seizes throne, i. 35, 38n;
his paper-money scheme, 428n;
his death, 428, ii. 475;
his dissolute character, i. 91n, ii. 475
Kaïkhosru I. and III., Seljukian dynasty, i. 44n
Kaïkobad I. and III., i. 44n
Kaikus, Izz ed-din, i. 44n
Káil, _see_ Cail
Kaïn (Gháín), a city of Persia, i. 86n, 124n, 141n
Kaipingfu (Keibung, Kaiminfu, Kemenfu), i. 25, 227n, 304n, 306n
Kairat-ul-Arab, i. 112n
Kais, _see_ Kish
Kaisaríya (Caesaræa, Casaria), i. 43, 44n, 49n
Kajjala, or Khajlak, a Mongol leader, i. 104n
Kakateya, dynasty, ii. 362n
Kakhyens, Kachyens, tribe in Western Yun-nan, ii. 74n, 82n, 90n, 120n
Ḳakula, ii. 279n
Kala’ Atishparastán (Cala Ataperistan), “The Castle of the
Fire-Worshippers”), i. 78, 82n
Kala’ Safed, i. 85n
Kalaján (Calachan), i. 281, 282n
Kalámúr, ii. 427n
Kalantan, ii. 279n
Ḳalchi, Ḳalaḳchi, i. 380n
Kales Devar, king of Ma’bar, ii. 333n, 335n;
his enormous wealth, 333n
Kalgan, or Chang-kia-keu, i. 295n
Kalhát (Kalhátú, Calatu, Calaiate), i. 120n, ii. 348n;
described, 449–450, 451n;
idiom of, 451n
Kalidása, the poet, on the Yak, i. 278n
Kalikut, ii. 386n, 391n, 440n
_Ḳálín_, marriage prices, i. 256n, 392n
Kalinga, ii. 329n, 330n
Kalinjar, ii. 426n
_Kalmia angustifolia_, poisonous, i. 219n
Kamál Malik, i. 68n
Ḳamárah, Ḳomár, ii. 279n
Kamasal (Conosalmi), Kahn-i-asal, “The honey canal,” i. 99, 106n
Kambala, Kúblái’s grandson, i. 361n
Kambáyat (Cambay), ii. 398n
Kamboja (Chinla), ii. 134n, 278n, 374n
Kampar, district and River, Buddhist ruins, ii. 283n
Kamul (Komal, Camul), the Mongol Khamil, Chinese Hami, i. 209, 211n,
214n
_Kanát_, or _Kárez_, underground stream, i. 123, 124n
Kanát-ul-Shám (Conosalmi), i. 106n
Kanauj, ii. 427n
Kanbalu Island, ii. 414n
Kanchau (Campichu), i. 219, 220n
Ḳandahár, Ḳandar, Gandhára, ii. 72n, 73n, 329n, 402n
Kandy, ii. 328n
Kanerkes, or Kanishka, king, i. 168n;
coins of, 173n
Kang-hi, Emperor, i. 251n, 407n, ii. 8n, 182n
Kank, i. 194n, 195n
Kanp’u (Ganpu), old Port of Hang-chau, ii. 198n, 199n
Kansan, _see_ Shen-si
Kansuh, i. 206n, 220n
Kao Hoshang, i. 422n
Kao-Tsung, Emperor, ii. 28n
Kao-yu (Cayu), ii. 153n
Kapilavastu, ii. 322n
Kapukada, Capucate, ii. 380n
_Ḳarábughá_, _Carabya_, _Calabra_, a military engine, ii. 168n
Kará Hulun, ii. 485n
Karájáng (Carajan, or Yun-nan), ii. 64, 67n, 72n, 73n, 80n
Karákásh (“black jade”) River, i. 193n
Karákhitaian Empire, i. 231n
—— Princes of Kerman, i. 91n
Kará Khoja, i. 214n
Karakorum (Caracoron), i. 66n, 226, 227n, 269, ii. 460
_Kara Kumiz_, special kind of _Kumiz_, i. 259n
Karámúren (Caramoran) River, Mongol name for the Hwang-ho, or Yellow
River, i. 245n, 282n, 286n, ii. 22, 23n
_Karana_, meaning of, i. 101n
Karáni (vulgo Cranny), i. 101n
Karanút, a Mongol sept, i, 101n
Ḳaraún Jidun, or Khidun, i. 101n
Karaunahs (Caraonas), a robber tribe, i. 98, 101n, 121n
_Karavat_, an instrument for self-decollation, ii. 349n
Karens, ii. 74n
Karmathian, heretics, i. 187n
Karnúl, ii. 362n
Karráh, ii. 427n
Karra-Mánikpúr, i. 86n
Kartazōnon, Karkaddan, rhinoceros, ii. 291n
Kaṣaidi Arabs, ii. 443n
_Kash_, jade, i. 193n
Kashan, i. 81n
Káshgar (Cascar), i. 180, 182n;
Chankans of, 193n, ii. 594n
_Kashísh_ (_Casses_), i. 70n, ii. 409n
Kashmír (Keshimur), i. 104n, 164n, 166;
Buddhism, 166, 168n;
beauty of the women, 166, 169n;
conjurers, 166, 168n;
the language of, 168n;
sorcery in, ii. 593
Kashmiris, i. 76n, 166
Kasia, people and hills, ii. 59n
Kasyapa Buddha, ii. 356n
Kataghan, breed of horses, i. 162n
Ḳaṭar pirates, ii. 409n
Kátif, ii. 348n
Kattiawár, ii. 395n;
pirates, 400n
Kaulam, _see_ Coilum
Kaulam-Malé, ii. 377n
Kauli (Cauly), Corea, i. 343, 345n
Kaunchi (Conchi), Khan, ii. 479, 481n
Káveripattanam, ii. 335n
Káveri River, delta of, ii. 335n
_Kavir_, saline swamp, i. 124n
Kavváyi, ii. 388n
Káyal, Káil, _see_ Cail
—— Pattanam, ii. 372n
—— Punnei-, ii. 372n
Kayten, ii. 234n
Kazan, i. 6n, 7n
Kazáwinah, i. 101n
Kazbek, i. 54n
Kazvín (Casvin), i. 83, 84n, 101n, 141n
Keary, C. F., i. 429n
_Kebteul_, night-watch, i. 381n
Kehran, ii. 426n
Keiaz tribe, i. 179n
Keibung (Kaipingfu), i. 25, 227n, 304n, 306n
Kelinfu (Kienning-fu), City, its bridges, ii. 225, 228n, 229n, 234n
Kemenfu, _see_ Kaipingfu
Kenjanfu (Si-ngan fu), ii. 24, 25n, 27n–29n
Keraits, a great Tartar tribe, i. 236n,
237n, 271n, 287n, 288n
Kerala, ii. 390n
Keria, _see_ Kiria
Keriza River, ii. 595n
Kermán, i. 89n, 90, 109, 110, ii. 452;
route to Hormus from, i. 91, 107, 110;
steel manufacture, its industries, 96n;
king of, Atabeg of, 107, 110;
stitched vessels of, 117n;
desert of, 123, 124n
Kerulen (K’i-lien) valley, the Khans’ burial-ground, i. 248n
Keshican (Keshikten), Kúblái’s life-guard, i. 379, 380n, 381n, 394n
Kesmacoran (Kij-Makrán), i. 86n, ii. 401, 402n;
Kij-Makrán, 402n
Keuyung Kwan, village, i. 28n
Khakán, the word, _10_
Khalif (Calif) Mosta’Sim Billah of Baghdad, i. 63;
taken by Hulákú and starved to death, 64;
plot _v._ the Christians laid by a former—the miracle of the
mountain, 69–73;
becomes secretly a Christian, 73
_Khálij_, ii. 439n
_Khàm_, stuff made with cotton thread, i. 190n
Khambavati (Cambay), ii. 398n
Khanabad (Dogana?), i. 156n
Khán Bádshah of Khotan, i. 189n
Khánbalík, _see_ Cambaluc
Khanfu, ii. 199n
Khanikoff, N. de (travels in Persia), i. 49n, 53n, 58n, 74n, 89n,
91n, 92n, 96n, 101n, 106n, 114n, 121n, 124n, 141n, 150n, 193n
_Khanjár-i-Hundwán_, hanger of Indian steel, i. 93n
_Khán-khánán_, a title, _10_
Khanoolla (Mount Royal), site of Chinghiz’s tomb, i. 247n
Khansâ, ii. 199n, 214n
Kharesem, Mount, i. 155n
Khato-tribe, ii. 120n
Khátún-gol, or “Lady’s River,” _i.e._ Hwang-ho, i. 245n, 249n
_Khatun_, title of Khan’s wives, _10_
Khavailu (Hwo-lu h’ien), ii. 15n
Khazars, the, i. 7n, ii. 492n
Khilak, i. 54n
Khimka, ii. 238n
Khinsa, Khingsai, Khinzai, ii. 144n, 175n, 214n.
(_See_ Kinsay.)
Khitan, Khitai, _11_
—— character, i. 28n
—— dynasty of Liao, i. 232n, 288n, ii. 20n
Khmer, ii. 279n
Khodabanda, Ilkhan of Kermán, i. 91n, 103n
Khojas, name of modern Ismailite sect, i. 146n, 163n
Khorasan, province, i. 38n, 128n, 131n, 135n, 150n, ii. 467n, 474n;
turquoises of, i. 92n
Khormuzda, supreme deity of the Tartars, i. 257n
Khotan (Cotan), i. 188, 195n, 197n, ii. 594n, 595n;
fruits, i. 190n;
routes between China and, 191n;
buried cities of, 192n;
its jade, 193n
Khumbavati (Cambay), ii. 398n
Khumdán, ii. 27n
Khusrú, Amír, Indian poet, i. 48n, 96n, 104n
Khutuktai Setzen, Prince of the Ordos, i. 257n
Khwarizm, i. 9n
Kiacatu, _see_ Kaikhátú
Kiahing (Ciangan, Canigan), ii. 185n
Kiai- or Hiai-chau (Caichu), ii. 19n
Kiakhta, i. 56n, 218n
Kia-k’ing, Emperor, ii. 143n
Kiang, the Great (Kian and Kian-Suy, and in its highest course Brius,
the Kinsha Kiang), ii. 36, 56, 59n, 60n, 64, 67n, 69n, 70n, 72n,
129n–131n, 149n, 154n;
its vastness, and numerous craft, 170, 171, 173n;
steamers on, 173n, 174n;
its former debouchure to the south, and changes, i. 199n
Kiang-Ché, ii. 157n, 217n, 224n;
limits of, 218n
Kiang-Hung, Xieng-Hung, ii. 117n, 127n–129n, 131n
Kiangka, ii. 48n
Kiang-mai, Xieng-mai, Zimmé, ii. 117n, 128n, 279n
Kiangshan, ii. 224n
Kiangsi, ii. 228n
Kiang-su, ii. 135n
Kiang-suy (-shui) River, ii. 36, 40n
Kiangtheu, ii. 105n, 111n, 113n
Kiang-Tung, ii. 117n, 279n
Kiao-chi (Tungking), Chinese etymology of, ii. 119n, 128n
Kia Tsing, Emperor, a great bridge builder, ii. 6n
Ki-chau Castle, ii. 26n
Kieh-Ch’a, ii. 283n
K’ien-ch’ang, Kiung-tu (Caindu), ii. 70n–72n
Kien-chau, ii. 232n
Kien-Kwé, ii. 232n
Kien-lung, Emperor, ii. 8n, 196n
Kien-ning fu (Kelinfu), ii. 228n
Kiepert, _Map of Asia_, i. 197n
Kij-Makrán (Kesmacoran), i. 86n
Kila’-i-Gabr, “Gueber Castle,” i. 81n, 82n
Kilimanchi River, ii. 424n
Kiming shan Mountains, gold and silver mines, i. 295n
_Kimiz_, _kumiz_ (_kemiz_), mare’s milk,
—Tartar beverage, i. 257, 259n
Kin, or Golden Dynasty in N. China, _12_, i. 28n, 231n, 288n, ii. 8n,
19n, 168n, 190n;
their paper-money, i. 426n, 430n;
story of their Golden King, ii. 17–22
Kincha, Chinese name for Kipchak, ii. 179n
Kin-Chi, or Gold-Teeth (Zardandan), 84–90n
King of the Abraiaman, ii. 364
—— of England, Kúblái’s message to, i. 34;
intercourse with Mongol princes, 36n, ii. 177n
—— of France, Kúblái’s message to, i. 34
—— of Spain, Kúblái’s message to, i. 34, ii. 477n
—— Rev. C. W., i. 370n
Kings of Maabar, the five brothers, ii. 331, 333n, 334n, 337n,
338–339, 370, 371;
their mother’s efforts to check their broils, 371
—— subordinate, or Viceroys, in China, i. 360, 361n, ii. 24, 64, 76,
79n, 190, 199n
—— Tartar, of the Ponent, ii. 490, 492n
Kingsmill, T. W., ii. 154n, 184n, 194n, 220n
King-tê-chên, porcelain manufacture, ii. 243n
K’ing-yüan (Ning-po), ii. 238n
Kin-hwa fu, ii. 222n
Kinki, Kimkhá, ii. 238n
Kinsay (King-szé, or “Capital,” Khansá, Khinsá, Khingsai, Khanzai,
Cansay, Campsay), formerly Lin-ngan now Hang-chau fu, _11_,
ii. 146, 149n, 193n;
its surrender to Bayan, 146, 149n;
extreme public security, 147;
alleged meaning of the name, 182, 184n, 185;
described, 185–208;
bridges, 185, 187, 194n;
hereditary trades, guilds and wealthy craftsmen and their dainty
wives, 186, 196n;
the lake, islands and garden-houses, 186, 187, 196n;
stone-towers—inhabitants’ clothing and food, 187, 197n–198n;
guards and police regulations, 187–188;
fires, 188;
alarm towers, paved streets, 189;
revenue, 189, 190, 215, 216, 217n, 218n;
pavements, public baths, port of Ganfu, 189, 198n, 199n;
the province and other provinces of Manzi, garrisons, 190, 200n;
horoscopes, funeral rites, 191, 200n;
palace of the expelled king, 192;
church, house registers, 192, 200n;
hostel regulations, 193;
canals, 200;
markets and squares, 201, 209n;
fruits and fish shops, 202, 210n;
women of the town, physicians and astrologers, courts of justice,
203;
vast consumption of pepper, 204, 210n;
inhabitants’ character—their behaviour to women and foreigners,
204, 210n, 211n;
hatred of soldiers, 205;
pleasures on the lake and in carriage excursions, 205, 211n;
palace of the king, 206;
the king’s effeminacy and ruin, 207–208, 211n;
tides, 208n;
plan of, 209n;
notices by various writers of, 213n;
wealth of, 245n;
ships, 255, 260n
Kin-sha Kiang, “River of Golden Sands” (upper branch of Great Kiang,
Brius), ii. 36, 56, 64, 67n, 69n, 70n, 72n
Kinshan, _see_ Golden Island
Kinto, or Hintu, Mongol general, ii. 260n
Kipchak (Ponent), Southern Russia, events related by Polo in, _23_,
i. 5, 6n, ii. 490 _seqq._;
sovereigns, 492n;
people of, 493n;
extent of empire, _ib._
Kirghiz Kazak, i. 313n
Kirghiz, the, i. 162n, 176n, 309n, ii. 362n
Kiria, i. 192n, 195n, ii. 595n
Kirk, Sir John, and Raphia palm, ii. 597n
Kis, Kish, or Kais (Kisi), now Ghes, or Krm, island in Persian Gulf,
i. 63, 64n, 83, 452;
merchants, ii. 340;
described, 453n
Kishik, Kishikan, Kizik, Keshikchi, _see_ Keshican
Kishm (Casem), i. 153, 155n, 156n, 173n
—— or Brakht (Oaracta), island in the Persian Gulf, i. 115n, 121n
Kistna River, ii. 362n
Kitubuka, General, i. 85n
Kiu-chau, ii. 222n
Kiulan (Quilon), _see_ Coilum
Kizil Irmak, the, i. 45n
Kizil River, i. 54n
Kneeling oxen, i. 97, 99n
Kobad, the Sassanian, i. 53n
Kobdo, i. 215n
Koh-Banán (Cobinan), i. 125
Koja (Coja), a Tartar envoy from Persia, i. 32, 33n, 38n
Kokcha River, i. 154n–156n, 162n
_Kok-Tash_, greenstone of Samarkand, i. 187n
Kolastri, or Kolatiri Rajas, ii. 387n
Ko-li-ki-sze, i. 289n
Kolkhoi of Ptolemy, identified, ii. 373n
Kollam, _see_ Coilum
Koloman, _see_ Coloman
Kolyma, bird-hunting at, i. 272n
Κώμακον, ii. 391n
Ḳomár, ii. 279n, 383n
Κομάρια ἄκρον, ii. 382n
Konár tree, Marco Polo’s apples of Paradise, i. 99n
Kondachi, 337n
Konkan, Konkan-Tána, ii. 367n, 390n, 396n
_Korano_, epithet on Indo-Scythic coins, i. 101n
_Korea_, _History of_, ii. 262n
Koresh king, i. 82n
_Kornish_, or K’o-tow (Khén-théu), i. 391, 393n
Kosakio, a general against Japan, ii. 260n
Kosseir, ii. 439n
Kotcheres, Kurds of Mosul, i. 62n
Kotlogh, or Kutlugh, Sultan of Kerman, i. 91n
Kotlogh Shah, the Chaghataian prince, i. 104n, 121n
Kotrobah Island, ii. 409n
Kouyunjik, sculptures at, i. 100n
Kozlov, Lieutenant K. P., on the Lob-nor, i. 199n
Kuang-chou, ii. 239n
Kúbenán (Cobinan), a Kuh-banán “Hill of the Terebinths or Wild
Pistachios,” i. 123, 124n
Kúblái (Cublay), Káán, the Great Khán, i. 8n, 10, 11, 12, 15;
his envoys meet the two elder Polos, 10;
receives and questions the Polos, 11, 12;
sends them as envoys to the Pope, 13;
his desire for Christian teachers, and for oil from the lamp in the
Holy Sepulchre, 13, 14;
gives them a Golden Tablet, 15;
his reception of the three Polos, 26;
sends Marco on an embassy, 27;
Marco grows in favour, 30;
allows the Polos to depart with Tablets of Authority, 33–35;
rumour of his death, 38n;
sends a napkin of asbestos to the Pope, 213;
his greatness and power, 246, 247n, 331;
his milk libations, 300;
his inscription at Shangtu, 304n;
Chinghiz’s prophecy, 331n;
his lineage, age, and accession, 332;
Nayan’s revolt, 333;
Nayan’s defeat and death, 336–343;
rebukes anti-Christian gibes, 344;
returns to Cambaluc, 348;
treats four religions with equal respect, 348n;
his views on Christianity, 349n;
how he rewards his captains, 350;
his personal appearance, 356;
his wives and ladies-in-waiting, 356–358;
his palace at Cambaluc, 362;
builds Cambaluc city, 374;
his bodyguard, 379;
order of his feasts, 381;
celebration of his birthday, 387;
his distribution of robes, 387, 394;
his New Year’s feast, 390;
his elephants, 391;
the _K’o-tow_, 391, 393n;
adopts Chinese ancestor-worship, 392n;
his game laws, 396;
his hunting establishment, 397;
his masters of hounds, 400;
how he goes a-hunting, 402;
how his year is spent, 410;
Ahmad’s influence, oppression, and death, 416–420;
his treatment of Mahomedans, 422n;
his mint and paper-money, 423;
his purchase of valuables, 425;
his twelve great Barons, 430;
his posts and runners, 433;
remission of taxes, 439, 443;
his justice, 440n;
a tree planter, 440;
his store of corn, 443;
charity to the poor, 445;
his astrologers, 446;
gaol deliveries, and prohibition of gambling, 457;
his early campaign in Yun-nan, ii. 46n, 79, 80n;
and the king of Mien and Bangala, 98, 110, 114n;
Litan’s plot, 136;
sends Bayan to invade Manzi, 145;
his dealings with Bayan, 148n, 149n;
satisfied with the Polo’s mangonels, 159;
appoints Mar Sarghis governor of Chinghian-fu, 177;
the city of Kinsay, 186–190;
his revenue from Kinsay, 215;
from Zayton, 235;
his expedition against Chipangu (Japan), 255;
sends force against Chamba, 267, 270n;
attempts to gain Java, 272, 275n;
his death, 275n;
sends to buy Ceylon ruby, 313, 315n;
sends for religions of Sakya, 319;
testifies to miraculous powers of Sakya’s dish, 320;
intercourse with Ma’bar, 337n;
with Kaulam, 378n;
missions to Madagascar, 412–413;
Kaidu’s wars with him, 457 _seqq._
—— Khan, territories and people subject to (Turkistan), i. 180, 188,
191, 196;
(Tangut and Mongolia), 203, 212, 217, 269, 274, 281, 284, 285;
(Tibetan frontier and Yun-nan), ii. 50, 53, 64, 109, 116, 119, 122;
(Western China), 124, 127;
(N. Eastern China), 132, 135, 138, 140, 141;
(Manzi), 151–153;
(Sinju), 170;
(Caiju), 174;
Chinghian-fu, 176;
(Chinginju), 178;
(Suju), 181;
(Tanpigu), 218;
(Chonka), 231;
(Zayton), 234;
(Chamba), 267;
(Sumatra), 272, 285, 292, 299
Kuché character, i. 211n
_Kudatku Bilik_, an Uíghúr poem, i. 28n
Kuhistan, or Hill country of Persia, i. 86n
Kúkachin, _see_ Cocachin
Kúkin-Tána, ii. 396n
Kukju (Genkju), Kúblái’s son, i. 361n
Kuku-Khotan (Blue Town), depôt for Mongolian trade with China,
i. 278n, 286n, 287n
Ku-kwan, Customs’ Barrier, ii. 14n
Kuláb, lions in, i. 152n;
Salt Mines, 154n
Kulan, _Asinus Onager_, the Gor Khar of Persia, i. 89n
Kulasaikera, ii. 335n
Kumár, _see_ Ḳomár
Kumhări, Kumari, _see_ Comari
Kumiz, kimiz (kemiz), Mare’s milk, Tartar beverage, i. 257, 259n,
300;
sprinkling of, 308n, 309n, 385n, 411
Kummájar, ii. 491n
Kúnbúm Monastery, i. 319n
Kunduz, i. 152n, 154n
_Kunduz_ (beaver or sable), i. 410n
Kunduz-Baghlán, i. 86n
Kung-ki-cheng (Fei-ch’eng), ii. 6n, 8n
Kunguráts, Kunkuráts (Ungrat), a Mongol tribe, i. 38n, 101n, 359n,
360
_Kunichi_ (Cunichi, or Chinuchi), “The Keepers of the Mastiff Dogs,”
i. 400
Kuniyah (Conia), Iconium, Koniah, i. 43, 44n 356n
Kunlun (Pulo Condore), ii. 277n
Kurd dynasty, i. 85n
Kurdistan (Curdistan), i. 9n, 62n, 83, 84n
Kurds, the, i. 60, 62n, 85n
Kúreh-i-Ardeshír (Kuwáshír), i. 91n
Kuria Maria Islands, ii. 405n
Kuridai, Kúblái’s son, i. 361n
_Kúrkah_, great drum, i. 340n, 341n
Kurmishi, ii. 474n
Kurshids of Lúristán, i. 85n
_Kurut_ (Curd), i. 262, 265n
Kus, Cos (in Egypt), ii. 439n
Kushluk, the Naiman, ii. 20n
Kutan, son of Okkodai, ii. 32n
Kutchluk Khan (Buddhist), Chief of the Naïmans, i. 188n
Kutuktemur, Kúblái’s son, i. 361n
Kutulun, Princess, ii. 465n
Kuwinji, _see_ Kaunchi
Kuyuk Khan, i. 14n, 245, 247n
Kwa-chau (Caiju), at mouth of Great Canabon Yang-tse-Kiang, ii. 144n,
175n
Kwan Hsien, ii. 41n
Kwansinfu, ii. 221n, 224n
Kwawa, _i.e._ Java, etymology, ii. 119n
Kwei-chau (Cuiju), ii. 82n, 124n, 127n, 129n
Kwei-hwa-ch’eng, or Kuku Khotan, i. 278n, 286n, 287n
Kweilei River, i. 345n
Kyŭng-sang province, ii. 262n
Lac (Wallachia), Lacz, i. 54n, ii. 487, 489n, 490, 491n
Ladies’ dresses in Badakhshan, i. 160, 163n
Ladies of Kinsay, ii. 186
Lagong, ii. 279n
Lahore (Dalivar, Dilivar), i. 99, 104n, 105n, ii. 426n, 427n
Lahsá, ii. 348n
Lájwurd mines, i. 162n
Lake, Caindu, ii. 53, 72n
—— Fanchau, ii. 29n
—— Kinsay, ii. 186, 196n, 200, 214n
—— of Palace at Cambaluc, i. 365, 370n
—— Pleasure parties on, ii. 205, 211n
—— Talifu, ii. 80
—— Yunnan-fu, ii. 66
Laknaoti, ii. 427n
Lakshamana Deva, king of Kashmir, i. 104n
Lamas of Tibetan Buddhism, i. 28n;
their superstitions and rites, 204, 207n, 220, 221n–223n, 301, 302,
314n, 315n;
their monasteries, 303, 319n;
marriage, 303, 319n.
(_See_ also Bakhshi.)
Lambri, kingdom of, ii. 299, 300n, 306, 307n;
situation of, 301n
Lances of Sago Palm, ii. 305n
Lanchang, ii. 279n
Land of Darkness, ii. 484 _seqq._;
market in, 486n
Langdarma, i. 168n, 170n
Langting Balghasun, i. 306n
Languages used in Mongol Court and administration, i. 27, 28n–30n
Lan-Ho, i. 305
Lanja Bálús, or Lankha bálús, ii. 308n
Lanka (Ceylon), ii. 320n
Lan Ki Hien (Nan-Che-hien), ii. 222n, 224n
Lanner Falcons, i. 158, 162n, ii. 50
Lan-tsang kiang (Mekong) River, ii. 88n, 128n
Lao-Kiun, or Lao-Tseu, the Philosopher, i. 322n, 325n, 326n
Laos, people of, ii. 91n, 117n, 120n, 128n
Lar, or Láṭ-desa, ii. 367n
—— province, ii. 363, 367n, 403n
Latin version of Polo’s Book, _63_, _81_, _90_, _95_, _100_
Latins, the term, i. 10, 12, 32
Latsé, Tibetan for musk, i. 279n
Lauredano, Agnes, ii. 520n
_Laurus Camphora_, ii. 237n
Lawek, _Lawáki_, ii. 278n–279n
Laxities of marriage customs, _see_ Marriage
Layard, Mr., i. 85n
Layas, _see_ Ayas
—— Gulf of, i. 17n
Leather, i. 395, 398;
embroidered mats of Guzerat, 393–394, 395n
Leaves, used for plates, ii. 365;
green leaves said to have a soul, 366
Lecomte on Chinese war vessels, i. 37n
Lembeser, Ismaelite fortress, i. 146n
Lenzin, ii. 141n
Leon I., king of Lesser Armenia, i. 42n
Leon II., king of Lesser Armenia, i. 44n
Leon III., king of Lesser Armenia, i. 25n
Leon VI., last king of Lesser Armenia, i. 42n
Leopards, ii. 282, 411, 431;
taught to sit on horseback, i. 299;
(Cheetas) kept for the Chase by Kúblái, 397
Lepechin, Professor, i. 9n
Le Strange, Guy, i. 67n, 92n
Leung Shan, i. 245n
Levant, term applied by Polo to the kingdom of the Mongol Khans,
i. 1, 5, 8n, 10, 32, 36, 44, 63, 84, 246, 270, ii. 50, 376, 466,
477, 491, 494
Lewchew, ii. 391n
Lewis, _see_ St. Lewis
Lewis XI. and XII. (France), i. 398n
Lew-sha, old Chinese name for Lop Desert, i. 198n, 201n
Leyes, _see_ Ayas
Lhása, ii. 45n, 70n, 74n;
_Labrang_ Monastery at, i. 319n
_Li_, Chinese measure, supposed to be confounded with miles,
ii. 193n, 194n, 209n
Liampo (Ningpo), ii. 228n, 239n
Liang, or tael, i. 426n, 427n
Liang-chau in Kansuh, i. 29n, 276n, 281n
Liao dynasty, _12_, i. 232n, 288n
Liao-tong, i. 289n, 334n, 345n
Libanos, Λιβανοφόρος and Λιβανωτοφόρος χώρα, ii. 445n–446n
_Libro d’Oro_, _14_
Licinius, Emperor, i. 45n
Lidé (Liti), ii. 297n, 305n
Lieuli Ho, ii. 6n
Lign-aloes (eagle-wood), ii. 87, 268;
etymology, 271n;
in Sumatra, 284, 287n
Ligor, ii. 278n
_Ligurium_, the precious stone, _Liguire_, i. 398n
Li H’ien, Tartar ruler of Tangut, i. 206n
_Likamankwas_ of Abyssinian kings, ii. 348n
Li-kiang fu, ii. 73n, 90n
_Limyrica_, ii. 408n
Lindley, i. 99n
Lindsay, Hon. R., ii. 46n, 74n
_Linga_, ii. 370n
Linju, ii. 140, 141n
Lin-ngan (Hang-chau), ii. 149n, 195n
Lin-ngan in Yun-nan, ii. 120n, 121n, 129n
Lintching-y, or Linchinghien, ii. 141n
Lin-t’sing chau, ii. 139n
Lion and Sun, i. 352n
Lions, black, ii. 376, 382n, 422
—— on the Oxus, i. 151;
Chinese notion of, i. 399n
—— (apparently for tigers) kept for the chase by Kúblái, i. 397,
ii. 31, 42, 56, 214, 219;
skins of striped, i. 405;
how hunted with dogs, ii. 126.
(_See_ also Tigers.)
Lion’s Head Tablets, i. 35, 350, 352n
_Lire_, various Venetian, _66_, _71_, ii. 591n–592n
—— of gold, _73_
Lisbon, ii. 391n
Lissu, or Lisau tribe, ii. 60n, 90n
Litai, ii. 301n
Litan, rebellion of, i. 313n, ii. 136, 138n
Lithang, ii. 48n, 56n, 67n
Little Orphan Rock, ii. 174n
Liu Pang, founder of 1st Han dynasty, ii. 32n
Liu Pei (Luo Pé), of the Han dynasty, ii. 32n, 38n
_Livre des Merveilles_, _121_, ii. 527n
Livres of gold, ii. 442
—— Parisis, _90_, ii. 590n
—— Tournois, i. 83, 86n, ii. 590n
Li Yuan-hao, founder of the Hsi Hsia dynasty, Tangut, i. 206n
Lo, tribes of S.W. China so-called, ii. 123n, 124n, 129n
—— Chinese name of part of Siam, ii. 278n
Lob, _see_ Lop
Locac, kingdom of, ii. 276, 277n–280n
Lockhart, Dr. W., i. 372n, 377n, ii. 8n, 27n, 82n, 124n
_Lokok_, ii. 278n—280n
Lolo tribes, ii. 60n—63n, 69n, 70n, 123n
Longevity of Brahmins and Jogis, ii. 365, 369n
Longfellow, i. 67n
Lop, city and lake, i. 194, 196;
desert, 196, 197
Lophāburi, ii. 278n
Loping, ii. 129n, 130
Lor, _see_ Lúristan
Lord, Dr. Percival, i. 160n
Löss, brownish-yellow loam, ii. 14n
Loups cerviers (lynx), i. 398n
Low castes, ii. 349—350n
Lowatong River, ii. 130n
Loyang, Bridge of, ii. 241n
Lubán, ii. 446n, 449n
Lubán-Jáwi, ii. 286n
Lubán-Shehri, ii. 449n
Lubbies, ii. 372n
Lucky and unlucky hours and days, ii. 364, 368n
Luddur Deo, ii. 362n
Luh-ho-ta Pagoda, Hang-chau, ii. 193n, 194n
Lukon-Kiao (Hun-ho, Pulisanghin River), ii. 5n, 6n, 8n
Lukyn Port, ii. 279n, 280n
Lung-yin ii. 224n
Lúristan (Lor, Lur), kingdom of Persia, i. 83, 84n;
Great and Little, 85n;
character of Lurs or people of, 87n
Lusignan, John de, i. 42n
Lút, Desert of (Dasht-i-Lut), i. 124n, 127, 128n
Lu-tzŭ tribe, ii. 82n
Lynxes, trained to hunt, i. 397, 398n;
in Cuncun, ii. 31
Ma Twan-lin, the Chinese Pliny, i.
100n, 201n
Maaden, turquoise mines at, i. 92n
Maatum, or Nubia, ii. 431n
Ma’bar (Maabar, _i.e._ Coromandel coast), province of India, ii. 331,
332n, 338;
its brother kings, 331, 333n, 335n, 370, 371;
pearl fishery, 331, 335n, 337n;
etymology, 332n;
limits, 333n;
obscurity of history, 334n;
port visited by Polo, 335n;
nakedness of people, king, his jewels, 338–346;
his wives, “Trusty Lieges,” treasure, 339, 347n;
horses imported, 340;
superstitious customs, 340;
ox-worship, 341;
Govis, _ib._;
no horses bred, 342, 350n;
other customs, 342;
mode of arrest for debt, 343, 350n;
great heat, 343;
regard for omens, 344, 351n;
astrology, treatment of boys, 344;
birds, girls consecrated to idols, 345, 351n;
customs in sleeping, 346, 352n;
ships at Madagascar, 412
Macartney’s Map, i. 173n, 292n
Macgregor, Sir C., “Journey through Khorasan,” i. 86n, 89n
Máchin, city of (Canton), ii. 175n
Máchin, Maháchin (Great China), used by Persian writers as synonymous
with Manzi, ii. 35n, 144n, 175n
Maclagan, Major-General (R.E.), i. 105n, 155n
Madagascar (Madeigascar), ii. 411, 413n;
confused with Magadoxo, 414n;
etymology, 414n;
traces of ancient Arab colonisation, 414n
Mádái, Madavi, Maudoy, ii. 387n, 388n
Madjgars, ii. 491n–492n
Madar-Des, Eastern Panjáb, i. 104n
Madras, ii. 355n, 403n
Madura, ii. 333n, 334n, 335n
Maestro, or Great Bear, said to be invisible in Sumatra, ii. 292,
296n
Magadha, ii. 356n
Magadoxo, confused with Madagascar, ii. 414n
Magapatana, near Ceylon, ii. 283n
Magi, the three, i. 78–80;
legend as told by Mas’udi, 82n;
source of fancies about, 82n;
names assigned to, 83n
Magic, of Udyana, i. 164n;
Lamaitic, 301, 314n.
(_See_ also Sorcerers.)
Magical darkness (dry fog and dust storms), i. 98, 105n
Magnet, Mount, ii. 418n
Magyars, ii. 491n–492n
Mahar Amlak, king of Abyssinia, ii. 436n
Mahávan, ii. 426n
Mahmúd Kalháti, prince of Hormuz, i. 121n
Mahmúd of Ghazni, i. 106n
Mahmudiah Canal, ii. 439n
Mahomed (Mahommet), his account of Gog and Magog, i. 56n;
his Paradise, 140;
his alleged prophecy of the Mongols, 265n;
his use of mangonels, ii. 164n
Mahomed, supposed worship of idols of, i. 189n
—— II., uses the old engines of war, ii. 163n, 166n
—— Tarabi, 106n
—— Tughlak of Delhi, his copper token currency, 429n
—— Shah of Malacca, ii. 282n
Mahomedan revolts in China, ii. 29n, 74n, 80n
—— conversion of Malacca, 282n
—— conversion of states in Sumatra, 284, 288n, 294n, 295n, 300n–303n
—— butchers in Kashmir, i. 167
—— butchers in Maabar, ii. 342
—— king of Kayal, 374n
—— merchants at Kayal, 372n
—— settlements on Abyssinian coast, 434n
Mahomedans (Saracens), i. 414, 418;
in Turcomania, 43;
in and near Mausul, 60;
their universal hatred of Christians, 68, 72;
in Tauris, 75;
in Persia, 84;
their hypocrisy about wine, 87n;
at Yezd, 88;
Hormuz, 108;
Cobinan, 125;
Tonocain, 128;
Sapurgan, 149;
Taican, 153;
Badakhshan, 157;
Wakhan, etc., 170;
Kashgar, 180;
strife with Christians in Samarkand, 183;
Yarkand, 187;
Khotan, 188;
Pein, 191;
Charchan, 194;
Lop, 196;
Tangut, 203;
Chingintalas, 212;
Kanchau, 219, 263;
Sinju, 274;
Egrigaia, 281;
Tenduc, their half-breed progeny, 284;
in northern frontier of China, alleged origin of, 288n;
their gibes at Christians, 343;
Kúblái’s dislike of, 420, 422n;
in Yun-nan, ii. 66, 67n, 74n;
in Champa, 268n;
in Sumatra, 284, 288n, 294n, 295n, 300n, 303n;
troops in Ceylon, 314;
pilgrims to Adam’s Peak, 319;
honour St. Thomas, 353;
in Kesmacoran, 401;
in Madagascar, 411;
in Abyssinia, 427;
in Aden, 428, 438;
outrage by, 428 _seqq._;
at Esher, 442;
Dufar, 444;
Calatu, 449;
Hormuz, 452;
Ahmad Sultan one, 467
Mailapúr (Shrine of St. Thomas), ii. 355n
Maiman, i. 86n
_Maistre_, the word, ii. 296n
Maitreya Buddha, ii. 330n
Majapahit, empire of (Java), ii. 275n
Majar (Menjar), ii. 491n
Major, R. H., on Australia, ii. 280n
Makdashan, _see_ Magadoxo
Malabar, Melibar, Malibar, Manibar, ii. 389, 390;
fleets, 389;
products, 389, 390n;
imports, Chinese ships in, 390, 391n
Malacca, ii. 281n;
foundation of, 282n;
chronology, 282n
Malacca, Straits of, ii. 281n
Malaiur, island and city, ii. 280, 281n,
283n, 305–306n
Mal-Amir, or Aidhej, i. 85n
Malasgird, i. 145n
Malay Peninsula, ii. 277n;
invasion of Ceylon, 215n;
chronicle, 279n, 282n, 287n, 288n, 294n, 300n;
language, 286n;
origin of many geographical names, 314n
Malayo, or Tana Malayu, ii. 281n, 283n
Malcolm, Sir John, ii. 351n
Maldive Islands, ii. 425n
Malé in Burma, ii. 113n
Male and Female Islands, ii. 401, 404 _seqq._;
legend widely diffused, 405n–406n, 415n
Malifattan, ii. 333n
Malik al Dháhir, king of Samudra, ii. 288n, 294n
—— al Mansúr, ii. 288n, 294n
—— al Sálih, king of Samudra, ii. 288n, 294n, 295n
—— Kafur, ii. 333n
Malli, the, i. 93n
Malpiero, Gasparo, _4_
Malte-Brun, _112_, i. 86n, ii. 602n
Malwa, ii. 426n, 427n
Mamaseni, i. 85n
Mamre, tree of, i. 131n, 132n, 135n
Mán, barbarians, ii. 60n, 123n, 144n, 228n
Man, Col. Henry, ii. 308n, 312n
Manchu dynasty, i. 29n
Mancopa, ii. 300n, 305n
Mandalé in Burma, ii. 329n
Mandarin language, ii. 243n
Mangalai, third son of Kúblái, _21_, i. 361n, ii. 24;
his palace, 24, 25, 31n
Mangalore, ii. 386n
Mangla and Nebila Islands, ii. 405n
Mangonels made by Polos for attack of Saianfu, ii. 159;
etymology, 164n;
account of, 168n;
a barbarous lubricant for, 180n
Mangu (Mangku, Mongu) Khan, Kúblái’s elder brother, _10_, _11_,
i. 8n, 14n, 61n, 103n, 146n, 210, 227n, ii. 32n, 42, 46n;
his death, i. 245n;
reign, massacre at his funeral, 246, 250n, 334n
Mangu-Temur (Mungultemur), ii. 491, 496, 497n
Manjániḳ (Manjaniki), ii. 164n
—— Kumghá, ii. 168n
Manjaníkis (Mangonellers), ii. 168n.
(_See_ Mangonels.)
Manji, _see_ Manzi
Manjushri, Bodhisatva, ii. 265n
Manphul, Pandit, i. 154n, 156n, 160n, 162n, 163n
Mansur Shah, i. 25n
Mantzé, Man-tzŭ, Mantszi, Aborigines, ii. 60n, 64n, 144n
Manuel, Comnenus, Emperor, i. 82n
Manufactures, Kúblái’s, i. 412, 415n
Manuscripts of Polo’s Book, _81_ _seqq._, _90_ _seqq._ ii. 526n–552n
Manzi (Facfur), king of, i. 36, ii. 145, 148;
his flight, 146;
his charity, 147, 207–208;
his effeminacy, 147;
his death, 148;
his palace at Kinsay, 191–192, 206–207.
(_See_ Faghfúr.)
—— (Mangi) province, _3_, ii. 10;
White City of the Frontier, 33, 34n, 36, 49, 139, 141, 144n, 151,
176;
entrance to, 142, 152;
conquest of, 145–146, 148, 158, 178;
character of the people, 181, 204;
its nine kingdoms, 1200 cities and squares, 190, 213;
its bamboos, 219;
no sheep in, 219;
dialects, 236, 243n;
called Chin, 264, 265n;
ships and merchants in India, 386, 390, 391n
—— queen of, surrenders, ii. 146, 150n;
her report of Kinsay, 185
Map, constructed on Polo’s data, _109_, _110_;
Hereford, _127_;
Roger Bacon’s, _132_;
Marino Sanudo’s, _133_;
Medicean, _134_;
Catalan, _135_, _136_;
Fra Mauro’s, _135_;
Ruysch’s, _135_;
Mercator’s, _137_;
Sanson’s, _137_
Mapillas, or Moplahs, ii. 372n, 380n
Maps, allusions to, in Polo’s book, ii. 245n, 312, 424;
early mediæval, _132_;
of the Arabs, _132_;
in the palace at Venice, _110_
Marabia, Maravia, Maravi, ii. 386n–387n
Marah Silu, ii. 294n
Mâramangalam, site of Kolkhoi, ii, 373n
Marash, i. 23n
Maratha, ii. 426n
Mardin (Merdin), i. 60, 62n
Mare’s milk, _see_ Kumiz
Margaritone, i. 22n
Marignolli, John, ii. 23n, 144n, 180n, 193n, 194n, 213n, 239n, 321n,
356n, 358n
Market days, i. 154n, ii. 106, 107n
Markets in Kinsay, ii. 201, 202
—— Squares in Kinsay, ii. 201, 210n, 213n
Marks of Silver, i. 83, ii. 394, 591n
Marriage customs in Khotan, i. 191, 193n
—— customs in Kanchau, i. 220, 223n
—— customs of the Tartars, 252—253, 256n
—— (posthumous) amongst Tartars, 267, 268n
—— laxities of different peoples, i. 191, 193n
—— laxities in Thibet, ii. 44, 48n, 53–54, 56n, 66, 76n
Mar Sarghis, ii. 157n, 177
Marsden’s edition of Polo, _115_ and _passim_
Martin, Dr. Ernest, of French Legation at Pekin, ii. 93n
Martini, ii. 5n, 15n, 29n, 32n, 35n, 137n, 211n, 228n, 229n, 237n;
his _Atlas Sinensis_, i. 42n, ii. 69n;
his account of Kinsay, ii. 214n and _passim_
Martyrs, Franciscan, ii. 396n
_Masálak-al-Absár_, i. 5n, 86n, ii. 214, 348n
Musa’úd, Prince of Hormuz, i. 120n, 121n
Mashhad (Meshed), or Varsach River, i. 150n, 155n, 156n, 193n
Mashiz, i. 92n
Maskat, ii. 451n
Mastiff Dogs, Keepers of the, i. 400, 401n
Mastiffs of Tibet, _see_ Dogs
Mastodon, bogged, ii. 290n
Mas’ud II., Ghiath ed-din-Seljuk dynasty, i. 44n
Mas’udi, i. 53n, 59n, 62n, 82n, 99n
Masulipatam, ii. 363n
Matchlocks, manufacture at Kerman, i. 90;
at Taianfu, ii. 15n
Ma-t’eu (Matu), ii. 139n
Mati Dhivaja, _see_ Bashpah Lama
Matitánana, ii. 414n
Matityna (Martinique), ii. 405n
Mätzner, Eduard, ii. 601n
Maundevile, Sir John (John a Beard), on lying in water, i. 119n,
ii. 604n;
Cloths of Tartary, 295n;
Trees of the Sun, 130n;
Dry Tree, 131n;
his Book of Travels, ii. 598n, 605n;
English version, 601n;
his tomb, 604n
Maung Maorong, or Pong, Shan kingdom, ii. 79n, 113n
Mauro, Fra, his map, i. 6, 133, ii. 128n
Mausul (Mosul), kingdom of, i. 46, 60, 61n, 62n
_Mauvenu_ (Malvennez), the phrase, ii. 21n, 473n
Mayers, W. F., ii. 150n, 596n
Mayhew, A. L., on _Couvade_, ii. 93n
Mazandéran, province, i. 59n
_Mecchino_, Ginger, ii. 381n
Medressehs at Sivas, i. 45n
Mekhitar, i. 45n
Mekong River (Lan-tsang kiang), ii. 88n, 128n, 278n
Mekrán, often reckoned part of India, ii. 402n, 403n, 405n
Mekranis, i. 106n
Melchior, one of the Magi, i. 78, 82n
Melibar, _see_ Malabar
Melic, the title, ii. 449, 450, 470n
Melons, dried, of Shibrgán, i. 149, 150n
Menangkabau, ii. 286n, 301n
Mendoza, i. 8n
Menezes, Duarte, ii. 358n
Mengki, envoy to Java, ii. 75n
Menjar (Májar?), ii. 490, 491n
Menuvair and Grosvair, ii. 483n
Merghuz Boirúk Khan, ii. 19n
Merkit (Mecrit, Mescript), a Tartar tribe, i. 236n, 269, 271n
Meshid (more correctly Mashhad), i. 150n, 155n, 156n, 193n
Messengers, Royal Mongol, i. 36n
Mexico, ii. 405n
Meyer, Paul, _Alexandre le Grand_, i. 56n
Miafaraḳain, i. 68n
Miau-tzu, ii. 82n
Mien, Amien, Ava (Burma), king of, his battle with Tartars, ii. 98n;
City of, 99n, 109;
its gold and silver towers, 110;
how it was conquered, 110, 111n;
communications and war with Mongols, 104;
Chinese notices, 104n
Mikado, ii. 262
Military engines of the Middle Ages, dissertation on, ii. 161n;
two classes, 161n;
_Trébuchets_, 161n, 163n, 164n;
Balista, 161n;
shot used, carrion, live men, bags of gold, 163n;
_Mangonel_, 163n, 169n;
Napoleon’s experiments with heavy shot, 164n, 165n;
size and accuracy, 165n;
length of range (Sanudo on), 166n;
effect of Mangonel on Saracens, 166n;
procured by Kúblái for siege of Siang-yang, 167n;
Chinese and Persian histories on, 167n–169n;
known to Mongols and Chinese, 168n;
the _Ḳarábughá_, or _Calabra_, 168n;
the _P’ao_, 169n
Milk, portable, or curd, i. 262, 265n
Milk, rite of sprinkling Mare’s, i. 300, 309n, 411
Million, use of the numeral, _67_, ii. 215, 217n
Millione, Millioni, nickname for Polo and his book, _6_, _54_, _119_,
ii. 217n
Millioni, Corte del, _4_
Milne, ii. 222n
Minao district, i. 110n, 114n
Mines and Minerals, _see_ Iron, Silver, etc.
Minever, _see_ Menuvair
Ming, the Chinese dynasty which ousted the Mongols, A.D. 1368,
i. 29n, ii. 15n, 238n;
their changes in Peking, i. 342n;
their paper-money, 427n;
their effeminate customs, ii. 20;
expeditions to India, 392n;
annals, 413n, 439n, 445n
Mingan, Khan’s Master of Hounds, i. 400
Ming-ti, Emperor i. 347n
Minján, dialect of, i. 160n
Minotto, Professor A. S., _6_, ii. 511n
Min River (in Fokien), ii. 228n, 230n, 233n, 234n
—— River (in Sze-ch’wan), ii. 40n, 70n, 130n
Mint, the Khan’s, i. 423
Mintsing-hien, ii. 230n
Mious River, ii. 488n
Miracle Stories, fish in Lent, i. 52–57n;
Mountain moved, 68–73;
St. Barsamo’s girdles, 77;
Holy Fire, 80;
Stone at Samarkand, 185;
at St. Thomas’ Shrine, ii. 354, 356n, 358n
Mírat, ii. 426n
_Mire_, French for leech, i. 81n
Mirkhond, ii. 180n
Mirobolans, ii. 388n
_Misḳál_, a weight, i. 353n, ii. 41n, 217n, 592n.
(_See_ also Saggio.)
_Misri_, sugar-candy, ii. 230n
Missionary Friars, powers conferred on, i. 22, 23n;
in China in 14th century, _140_, ii. 154n, 237n, 240n
—— Martyrs, i. 312n, ii. 396n
Moa of New Zealand, ii. 417n, 418n
Modhafferians, the, i. 86n
Modun Khotan (“Wood-ville”), i. 408n
Moghistan, i. 110n
Mohammed, son of Yusuf Kelefi, founder of Shíráz, i. 85n
Mohammerah, ii. 444n
Mohiuddin, i. 24n
Mokli, the Jelair, ii. 462n
Molayu, ii. 283n
Molebar, _see_ Malabar
Molephatan, ii. 426n
Molière, _Pastorale Comique_, i. 341n
Moluccas, ii. 265n
Mombasa, ii. 424n
Momein, ii. 57n, 80n, 81n
Monasteries of Idolaters (Buddhists), i. 167, 219, 286n, 303, 319n,
ii. 171, 174n, 175, 176n, 213n
Money, paper, i. 423–425, 426n–430n
—— values, i. 426n, ii. 590n–592n
Mongol conquests, _9_, _10_; capture Soldaia, i. 4n;
Bolghar, 7n, 8n;
treachery and cruelty, 61n, 151n, 265n, ii. 181n;
their inroads, i. 105n;
Balkh city, 151n;
invade Balakhshán, 161n;
invasion of Poland and Silesia, ii. 493n
Mongon Khan, _see_ Mangu
Mongotay (Mangkutai), a Mongol officer, ii. 136, 138n
Monkeys, ii. 285, 382, 431;
passed off as pygmies, 285, 383n–385n
Monks, idolatrous, i. 303.
(_See_ Monasteries.)
Monnier, Marcel, his visit to Karakorum, i. 230n;
on the Ch’êng-tu Suspension Bridge, ii. 41n
Monoceros and Maiden, legend of, ii. 285, 291n
Monophysitism, i. 61n
Monsoons, _23_, ii. 264–265
Montecorvino, John, Archbishop of Cambaluc, i. 117n, 287n, 289n,
346n, ii. 180n
Monte d’Ely, ii. 386n, 387n
Montgomerie, Major T. G. (R.E.) (Indian Survey), on fire at great
altitudes, i. 178n;
position of Kashgar and Yarkund, 182n
Monument at Si-ngan fu, Christian, ii. 27n, 28n
Moon, Mountains of the, ii. 415n, 420n, 421n
Moore, _Light of the Harem_, i. 115n
Moplahs, _see_ Mapillas
Morgan, E. Delmar, i. 176n, 198n, 207n
Mortagne, siege of, ii. 165n
_Morus alba_, silk-worm tree, ii. 25n
Moscow, Tartar Massacre at, ii. 493n
Mosolin, or Muslin (Mosolini), _Mo-sze_,
Arab Mauçili, i. 60, 62n, ii. 363n, 408n
Mossos, a tribe, ii. 60n, 63n
Mosta’sim Billah, last Abbaside Khalif of Baghdad, story of his
avarice and death, i. 63–64, 67n
_Mostocotto_, i. 87n
Mosul (Mausul), i. 46, 60, 61n, 62n
Motapallé, _see_ Mutfili
Motawakkil, Khalif, i. 131n
Moule, Bishop G. E., ii. 194n–198n, 209n–213n, 215n
Mount, Green, in Palace grounds at Peking, i. 365, 370n, 372n
—— St. Thomas, ii. 356n, 358n
—— D’Ely, _see_ Monte d’Ely
Mountain, Old Man of the, _see_ Old Man of the
—— Miracle of the, i. 68–73
—— Road in Shensi, extraordinary, ii. 32n
Mourning customs, at Hormuz, i. 109;
in Tangut, 204;
at Kinsay, ii. 191
Mozambique Channel, ii. 415n
Muang, term applied in Shan countries (Laos and W. Yunnan) to
fortified towns, as:—
Muang-Chi, ii. 67n
Muang, or Maung Maorong, ii. 79n, 113n
Muang Shung, ii. 120n
Muang Yong, ii. 57n, 117n, 128n
Muláhidah (Mulehet, Alamút, Chinese Mulahi), epithet of Ismaelites,
i. 139, 141n, 142n, 146n
Mulberry Trees, i. 423, ii. 13, 24
Mul-Java, ii. 349n
Müller, F. W. K., ii. 89n
Müller, Professor Max, i. 65n;
on _Couvade_, ii. 93n;
on stories of Buddha and St. Josafat, 323n, 325n, 326n, 328n
Multán, ii. 426n
Múnál pheasant (_Lophophorus impeyanus_), described by Ælian, i. 280n
Mung (_Nicaea_), i. 104n
Mungasht, hill fort, stronghold of the Atabegs, i. 85n
Mungul, name applied to Tartars, i. 285.
(_See_ Mongol.)
Mungul-Temur and Mongo-Temur, see Mangu-Temur
Murad Beg, of Kunduz, i. 156n, 161n, 163n
Murghab River, i. 172n, 175n
Murray, Dr. J. A. H., on _Couvade_, ii. 93n
—— Hugh, ii. 133n, 141n, 175n, 208n, 212n, 486n
Murus Ussu (Brius, Upper Kiang), ii. 67n
Mus, Merdin (Mush, Mardin), i. 60, 62n
Musk, animal (Moschus), i. 275, 279n, 364, ii. 34, 35n, 45, 54
—— earliest mention of and use in medicine, i. 279n
Muslin, _see_ Mosolin
Mutfili (Motapallé for Telingana), ii. 359, 362n, 403n, 424;
its diamonds, 360–361, 362n;
identified, 362n
Muza, ii. 408n
Mynibar, ii. 426n
Mysore, ii. 427n
Mystic number, _see_ Numbers
Nac, Nasich, Naques (Nakh), a kind of brocade, i. 63, 65n, 285, 295n
_Nachetti_, silk stuff interwoven with gold, i. 65n
_Nakhut_, gold brocade, i. 65n
Nakkára (Naccara, Nacaires), the great kettledrum signalling action,
i. 338, 339n–341n, ii. 461
Nákshatra, ii. 368n
Nalanda, i. 306n
Nan-Chao, formerly Ai-Lao, Shan dynasty in Yun-nan, ii. 73n, 79n
Nancouri, ii. 308n
Nanghin (Ngan-king), ii. 154, 157, 171n
Nangiass, Mongol name of Manzi, ii. 144n
Nankau, archway in Pass of, with polyglot inscription, i. 28n
Nanking, not named by Polo, ii. 158n
Nanwuli, ii. 301n
Naobanján, i. 85n
Naoshirwan, i. 53n
Naphtha in the Caucasian country, i. 46, 49
—— Fire used in war by the Karaunahs, i. 101n
Napier, Sir C., i. 147n
Napoleon III., his researches and experiments on mediæval engines of
war, ii. 164n, 165n
Narikela-Dvipa, ii. 307n
Narin-Kaleh, fortress, i. 53n
Narkandam, volcanic island, ii. 312n
Narsinga, King of, ii. 347n
Narwhal tusk, mediæval Unicorn’s Horn, ii. 291n
Nasich, _see_ Nac
Nasruddin (Nescradin), officer in the Mongol Service, ii. 101, 104n,
111n, 114n
Nassir-uddin, Mahmud, Sultan of Delhi, _12_
Natigay, Tartar idol, i. 257, 258n, 456, ii. 479
Nava-Khanda, or Nine Divisions of Ancient India, i. 104n
Navapa (Lop?), i. 197n
Naversa (ancient Anazarbus), in Cilicia, under Taurus, i. 58n
Nayan, Kúblái’s kinsman, his revolt, i. 333, 334n;
Kúblái marches against, 335;
routed in battle, 337;
put to death by Kúblái, 343
Nearchus at Hormuz, i. 114n
Nebila and Mangla islands, ii. 405n
Nebuchadnezzar, i. 52n
Necklaces, precious, ii. 338, 346n
Necuveran, _see_ Nicobar
Negapatam, Chinese Pagoda at, ii. 336n
Negroes described, ii. 422
Negropont, i. 18, 19n, 36
Nellore, ii. 333n
Nemej, Niemicz (“Dumb”), applied to Germans by Slavs, ii. 493n
Nerghi, Plain of, ii. 499
_Neri_ (pigs), ii. 210n
Nescradin, _see_ Nasruddin
_Nesnás_ (a goblin), i. 202n
Nestorian Christians, at Mosul, i. 46, 60, 61n;
Tauris, 75, 77n;
Kashgar, 182;
Samarkand, 182, 186n;
Yarkand, 187;
Tangut, 203, 207n;
Kamul, 211n;
Chingintalas, 212;
Sukchur, 217;
Kampichu, Kan-chau, 219;
their diffusion in Asia, 237n;
among the Mongols, 241, 243n;
Erguiul and Sinju, 274;
Egrigaia, 281;
Tenduc, 284, 285, 287n;
China, 291n;
Yachi, or Yun-nan fu, ii. 66, 74n;
Cacanfu, 132;
Yang-chau, 154n;
one in Polo’s suite, 159;
churches at Chinghianfu, 177;
church at Kinsay, 192;
at St. Thomas, 358n;
Patriarch of, 377n, 407;
Metropolitan, 377n, 409n
Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, i. 61n
Nevergún Pass, i. 112n
New Year Festival at Kúblái’s Court, i. 390
Neza Tash Pass, i. 172n
Ngan-king (Nanghin), ii. 154, 157, 171n
Ngan-ning-ho River, ii. 69n
Ngantung, Mongol general, ii. 462n
Ngo-ning, or Ho-nhi, ii. 120n, 121n
Nia (ancient Ni-jang), in Khotan, i. 195n
Nias Island, ii. 298n
Nibong Palm, ii. 305n
Nicaea of Alexander, i. 105n
Nicholson, Edward B., ii. 604n
Nicobar (Necuveran) Islands, ii. 306, 307n, 315n;
etymology and people, 308n
Nicolas of Pistoia, ii. 356n
Nicolas, Christian name of Ahmad Sultan, ii. 468n
—— Friar, of Vicenza, i. 22
Nicolas IV., Pope, ii. 474n
Nieuhoff, ii. 139n, 141n
Nigudar (Nogodar), Mongol princes, i. 98, 102n
Nigudarian bands, i. 98, 102n, 121n, 164n
Nilawár (Nellore), ii. 333n
Nile, sources of, ii. 415n, 438, 439n
Nileshwaram, ii. 388n
_Nímchah Musulmán_, “Half-and-Halfs,” i. 155n
Nine, auspicious number among Tartars, i. 390, 392n
Nine Provinces (India), i. 104n;
(China), ii. 190, 199n
Ning-hsia, or hia (Egrigaia), i. 282n, ii. 23n
Ningpo, ii. 224n
Ning-yuan fu, ii. 69n, 70n
Niriz, steel mines of, i. 86n, 92n
Nirvana, figures of Buddha in, i. 221n
Nishapúr, i. 150n
Niuché (Yuché), Chinese name for the Churchés or race of Kin Empire,
_12_, i. 28n, 231n
Noah’s Ark in Armenia, i. 46, 49n
Nobles of Venice, _14_;
Polo’s claim to be one, _ib._
Nochdarizari, mountains north of Kabul, i. 102n
Nogai Khan, ii. 496;
his intrigues and wars, 496–497;
his history, 497n;
wars with Toctai, 498
Nogodar (Nigudar), King of the Caraonas, story of, i. 98
Nomad tribes of Persia, i. 87n
Nomogan (Numughan), Kúblái’s son, i. 361n, ii. 460, 462n
None, _Nona_, _Nuna_, title given to younger brothers or subordinate
princes, i. 171, 173n
North, regions of the Far, ii. 479
North Star, _see_ Pole-Star
Note Book, Polo’s, ii. 193n
Novgorod, ii. 489n
Nubia, St. Thomas in, ii. 355;
alleged use of elephants in, 434n
Nukdaris, tribe west of Kabul, i. 102n
Nuksán Pass, i. 165n
Numbers, mystic or auspicious, ii. 108n, 347n;
Nine, i. 390, 392n;
one hundred and eight, ii. 347n
_Nuna_, _see_ None
Nusi-Ibrahim, ii. 414n
Nutmegs, ii. 272, 309n
Nyuché, or Churché, race of Kin Emperors, _see_ Niuché.
Oak of Hebron, _see_ Terebinth
Oaracta (Kishm, or Brakht), i. 115n
Obedience of Ismaelites, extraordinary, i. 144n
Obi River, ii. 481n, 484n
Observatory at Peking, i. 378n, 449n
Ocean Sea, i. 107, 270, ii. 3, 22, 36, 56, 146, 153, 189, 237n, 251,
487;
other seas, parts of, 265
Ocoloro Island, ii. 406n
Odoric, Friar, _117_, i. 49n, 59n, 76n, 81n, 89n, 110n, 117n, 202n,
288n, 314n, 370n, 375n, 384n, 385n, 426n, 437n, 441n, ii. 237n,
599n, 602n, 604n;
on Kinsay, 212n;
on Fuchau, 232n;
Zayton, 237n;
Java, 263n, 275n;
Champa, 271n;
Sumatra, 294n, 297n;
on sago tree, 304n;
on products of Ceylon, 315n;
St. Thomas’s, 358n;
Pepper Forest, 377n;
brazil-wood, 380n;
Thána, 396n
Oger, the Dane, i. 131n
Ogotai Khan, _see_ Okkodai
Oil from the Holy Sepulchre, i. 14, 19, 26;
fountain of (Naphtha) at Baku, 46, 49n;
whale, 108, 117n
—— head (Capidoglio, or Sperm whale), ii. 411, 414n
—— walnut and Sesamé, i. 158, 162n
Oirad, or Uirad (Horiad), a great Tartar tribe, i. 300, 308n
Okkodai Khan, third son of Chinghiz, _10_, i. 65n, 206n, 227n, 228n,
236n, 247n, 437n
Olak, Illuk, Aulák, _see_ Lac
Old Man of the Mountain (Aloadin), _124_, _127_, i. 139–146;
his envoys to St. Lewis, 47n;
account of, 139;
how he trained his Assassins, 142;
the Syrian, 144;
his subordinate chiefs, 143, 145n;
his end, 145;
modern representative, 147n
Oljaitu Khan, his correspondence with European princes, i. 14n, 36n,
362n;
his tomb, ii. 478n
Oman, ii. 348n, 452n
Omens, much regarded in Maabar, ii. 344, 351n;
by the Brahmans, 364, 368n, 369n
Onan Kerule, near Baikal, i. 236n
Ondanique (fine kind of steel), Andaine,
Andanicum, Hundwáníy, i. 90, 93n, 125n;
in Kerman, 90;
Chingintalas, 212, 215n
Oppert, Dr. Gustavus, Book on Prester John, _Der Presbyter Johannes
in Sage and Geschichte_, i. 231n–233n, 235n, 236n, 245n, 288n
Orang Gugu, ii. 301n
Orang Malayu River, ii. 281n
_Or Batuz_, i. 388n
Orbelian, John, identified by Bruun with Prester John, i. 233n–235n
Ordos, the Mongols of, i. 249n
Organa (Jerún), Persian Gerún, i. 115n
Oriental phrases in Polo’s dictation, _84_
Orissa, ii. 426n
Orkhon River, i. 227n
Orléans, defence of, ii. 165n
—— Isle d’, 277n
_Orloks_, or Marshals of the Mongol Host, i. 263, ii. 462n
Oroech, ii. 487, 489n
_Oron_, Mongol for a region or realm, i. 104n
_Orphani_, strange customs of the, ii. 298n
_Osci_, the word, ii. 350n
Ostriches, ii. 431, 437n
Ostyaks, ii. 484n
Otto, Bishop of Freisingen, i. 233n, 234n
Oulatay (Uladai), Tartar envoy from Persia, i. 32, 33n
_Ovis Poli_, _see_ Sheep
_Oweke_, _see_ Ucaca
Owen, Professor, ii. 417n
Owen, Rev. Gray, on the Lolos, ii. 69n
_Owo_, Mongol for Musk, i. 279n
Oxen, humped, in Kerman, i. 97, 99n;
wild, shaggy (Yaks), 274, 277n
—— wild (_Beyamini_), in East Tibet, ii. 50;
Burma, 111, 114n;
in Bengal, 115, 116n;
Anin, 119;
worshipped, 341, 365, 370n;
figures of, worn, 365, 370n
Oxenham, _Atlas_, i. 433n, ii. 12n, 14n, 67n, 157n
Oxydracae, the, i. 93n
_Oxyrhynchus_, ii. 434n
Oxus Valley and River, i. 152n, 161n, 172n, 173n, ii. 594n
_Ozene_, ii. 397n
Pacamuria (Baccanor), ii. 386n
Pacauta! (an invocation), ii. 338, 346n
Pacem, _see_ Pasei
Paddle-wheel barges, ii. 211n
Paderin, Mr., visits Karákorum, i. 228n
Pádishah Khátún of Kerman, i. 91n
Padma Sambhava, i. 164n
Pagán (in Burma), ii. 100n, 107n, 109n, 113n, 114n;
ruins at, _13_;
empire of, ii. 279n
—— Old (Tagaung), ii. 107n, 113n
Pagaroyang, inscriptions from, ii. 286n
Paggi Islands, ii. 298n
Pagodas, Burmese, ii. 110, 114n;
alleged Chinese in India, 336n–337n, 391n
Pahang, ii. 279n
Paï, or Peyih tribe, ii. 60n, 120n
Paipurth (Baiburt), i. 46, 49n
Pai-yen-ching, ii. 58n
_Paizah_, or Golden Tablet of Honour, i. 352n, 353n
—— and _Yarligh_, i. 322n, 352n
Pakwiha, China ware, ii. 243n
_Pala_, a bird, ii. 351n
Palace of Khan at Chagannor, i. 296;
at Chandu (Shangtu), 298;
of cane, 299;
at Langtin, 306;
Cambaluc, 362;
on Green Mount, 370;
at Kenjanfu (Si-ngan fu), ii. 24, 29n;
of the Empire of Manzi at Kinsay, 191, 192, 206, 212n;
in Chipangu, paved and roofed with gold, 253, 256n, 275n
Palembang, ii. 281n, 283n
_Paliolle_, _Or de_, for gold dust, ii. 52n
Palladius, the Archimandrite, i. 187n, 198n, 215n, 225n, 227n, 248n,
251n, 256n, 270n, 276n, 279n, 282n, 287n, 288n, 291n, 304n,
306n, 308n, 310n, 319n, 327n, 334n, 336n, 344n–347n, 358n, 389n,
397n, 402n, 407n, 408n, 430n, 456n, 461n, ii. 178n
Palm (Measure), ii. 592n
Palm Wine, _see_ Wine of Palm
Pamier (Pamir), Plain of, i. 171;
its wild sheep, 171, 176n;
great height, 174n;
pasture, etc., 174n, 175n;
described by Hiuen Tsang, Wood, Goës, Abdul Mejid, Colonel Gordon
and others, 174n–176n;
Dr. M. A. Stein on, ii. 593n–594n;
Lord Curzon on number of, 594n
Pan-Asiatic usages, i. 324n, 326n, ii. 359n
Pandarani, or Fandaraina, ii. 386n, 391n
Pandit Manphul, i. 162n, 163n, 173n, 154n–156n, 160n, 161n, 422n, 438n
Pandrethan in Kashmir, Buddhist temple at, i. 167
Pandyan kings, ii. 333n–335n, 373n–374n
Panja River, or Upper Oxus, i. 170, 172n–174n
Panjáb, i. 104n
Panjkora, i. 104n
Panjshir, i. 162n, 165n, ii. 488n
Pantaleon, coins of, i. 163n
Panthé, or Mahomedan Kingdom in
Yun-nan, ii. 80n
Panya (or Pengya), in Burma, ii. 113n
Pao-ki h’ien, ii. 32n, 34n
Paonano Pao, i. 173n, ii. 593n
Papé, Papesifu, ii. 117n, 128n
Paper-money (Chao), Kúblái’s made from bark, i. 423–425, 426n–430n;
modern, 428n.
(_See_ also Currency.)
Papien River, ii. 128n
Paquier, Professor, i. 172n, 183n
Paradise, Apples of, i. 97, 99n
—— in legend of the Cross, 136n
—— of Persia, 114n
—— of the Old Man of the Mountain, i. 140, 142;
destroyed, 145
—— Rivers of, 9n
Parákráma Bahu I., ii. 334n
Paramisura, founder of Malacca, ii. 282n
_Parapomisadae_, ii. 402n
_Parasol_, i. 354n
Paravas, ii. 372n
Parez, Pariz, turquoise mines of, i. 92n
—— falcons of, 96n
Pariahs (_Paraiyar_), ii. 228n;
etymology of, ii. 349n
Parker, E. H., i. 263n, 291n, 312n, 345n, 360n, 381n, 433n, ii. 60n,
74n, 88n, 104n, 148n, 151n, 169n, 207n;
on Pasei, 296n
Parlák, or Perlak, _see_ Ferlec
—— Tanjong, ii. 287n
Parliament, Tartar, ii. 495
Parpa iron mines, i. 93n
Parrot, Professor, first to ascend Mount Ararat, i. 49n
Parrots, ii. 376, 431
Partridges, i. 88;
black, 99n;
Jirufti, 111n;
great (Chakors), 296, 297n;
in mew, 298n.
(_See_ also Francolin.)
Parwana, a traitor eaten by the Tartars, i. 312n
Paryán silver mines, i. 162n
Pascal of Vittoria, Friar, i. 9n
Pasei, Pacem (Basma), a kingdom of Sumatra, ii. 284–285, 288n–289n,
292, 296n, 305n
—— Bay of, 296n
—— History of, 288n–289n
Pasha-Afroz, i. 165n
Pasha and Pashagar tribes, i. 165n
Pashai, i. 164;
what region intended, 164, 165n
—— Dir, i. 98, 104n
Passo (or Pace), Venetian, ii. 280, 281n, 592n
Patarins, heretics, _108_, i. 303, 321n, ii. 342n
_Patera_, debased Greek, from Badakhshán, i. 159, 160n
Patlam, ii. 337n
_Pâtra_, or Alms-dish of Buddha, ii. 320, 328n;
miraculous properties, 330n;
Holy Grail of Buddhism, 330n
Patriarchs of Eastern Christians, i. 60, 61n, ii. 407, 409n.
(_See_ also Catholicos and Nestorian.)
Patteik-Kará, ii. 99n, 100n
Patterns, beast and bird, on silk, etc., i. 66n, 90, 95, 96n, 398n,
ii. 424n
Patu, _see_ Batu
Paukin (Pao-ying), ii. 152
Pauthier, G., remarks on text of Polo, _92_ _seqq._, _et passim_
Paved roads in China, ii. 189, 198n
—— streets of Kinsay, ii. 189
Payan, _see_ Bayan
Payangádi, ii. 387n
Pa-yi writing, specimen of, ii. 65n
Peaches, yellow and white (apricots), ii. 202, 210
Peacocks at St. Thomas’s, ii. 355;
special kind in Coilum, ii. 376
Pearls, i. 60, 107, 350, 387, 390, 394, 424, ii. 338, 373n;
in Caindu, 53, 56n, 231, 235;
rose-coloured in Chipangu, 254, 257n;
fishery of, 331, 332, 337n, 344, 372n;
pearls and precious stones of kingdom of Maabar, 338, 364, 368n
Pears, enormous, ii. 202, 210n
Pedir, ii. 289n
Pedro, Prince of Portugal, _110_, _135_
Pegu and Bengal confounded, ii. 99n, 115n, 128n
Pei-chau (Piju), ii. 141
Pein (Pim), province, i. 191, 192n;
site of, ii. 595n
Peking, white pagoda at, ii. 347n.
(_See_ Cambaluc.)
Pelly, Col. Sir Lewis, British Resident at Bushire, i. 85n, 86n,
110n, 114n, 117n
Pema-ching, ii. 35n
Pemberton, Captain R., ii. 79n
Pentam (Bintang), ii. 280n, 284
Pepper, daily consumption of, at Kinsay, ii. 204;
change in Chinese use of, 210n;
great importation at Zayton, duty on, 235, 242n;
white and black, 264, 272;
in Coilum, 375;
Eli and Cananore, 385, 388n;
Melibar, 389;
Guzerat, 393, 394n;
trade in, to Alexandria, 235, 389, 438
Pepper Country, ii. 377n
Peregrine falcons, i. 269, ii. 487
Perla (Ferlec), ii. 287n
Persia, extent of name to Bokhara, i. 10n;
spoken of, 75, 78;
three Magi of 78;
its eight kingdoms, 83
Persia and India, boundary of, ii. 402n
Persian applied to language of foreigners at Mongol Court, i. 380n,
ii. 5n
Persian Gulf (Sea of India?), i. 63, 64n
Pesháwar, ii. 330n
Peter, Tartar slave of Marco Polo’s, _72_
Pharaoh’s rats (Gerboa), i. 252, 254n, ii. 480, 517n
Phayre, Major-General Sir Arthur, ii. 100n, 105n, 113n, 114n
Pheasants, large and long tailed, i. 275, ii. 22, 153;
Reeves’s, i. 280n
Pheng (the Rukh), ii. 421n
Philip the Fair, i. 14n, 87n
Philip III. and IV. of France, i. 87n
Philippine Islands, ii. 265n, 266n
Phillips, G., ii. 220n–222n, 224n, 228n, 230n, 232n, 233n, 238n,
239n, 240n–241n, 278n, 279n, 296n, 297n, 308n, 314n, 315n, 596n
Phipps, Captain, ii. 373n
Phra Râma, Siamese kings so-called, ii. 278n
Phungan, Phungan-lu (Fungul?), ii. 127n, 129n
Physician, a virtuous, i. 461n
Physicians, ii. 203, 376
Pianfu (P’ing-yang fu), ii. 13, 16n, 25n
_Piccoli_, ii. 66, 74n
Pichalok, ii. 279n
Pievtsov, General, i. 188n;
expedition, 200n
Pigeon posts, i. 438n
Pig-shells, ii. 85
Piju (Pei-chau), ii. 141
Pilgrimage, to Adam’s Sepulchre in Ceylon, ii. 319;
to Shrine of St. Thomas, 353
“Pillar Road,” ii. 32n
Pima (Pim), i. 191, 192n
Pinati, king of Kaulam, ii. 380n
Pine woods in Mongolian desert, i. 224
—— in South China, ii. 251n
P’ing-chang, Fanchán, or second class Minister, i. 432n
P’ing-yang fu (Pianfu), ii. 13, 16n, 25n
Pinna-Cael (Punnei-Káyal), ii. 372n
Pipino, Friar Francesco, _66_, _81_, _95_, _103_, i. 19n, 22n, 23n,
144n, 156n, 395n, ii. 120n, 517n
Pirabandi or Bir Pandi (Vira Pandi), ii. 333n–335n
Pirada, ii. 305n
Pirates of Malabar, ii. 389–390n;
Guzerat 392;
Tana, 395;
Somnath, 400n;
Socotra, 407, 410n
Piratical customs at Eli, ii. 385, 390n
Pistachioes, i. 97, 114n, 125n, 153, 155n
Plane, Oriental or Chínár, i. 127, 128n, 131n, 135n, 138n
Plano Carpini, _15_, _passim_
Pog, or Fiag River, i. 54n
Poison, antidote to, ii. 79
Poisoning guests, custom of, ii. 84n
Poisonous pasturage, i. 217, 218n
Poison wind, i. 108, 120n
Poland, Mongol invasion of, ii. 493n
Pole, or Jackdaw on Polo’s scutcheon, _7_
Pole-star, invisible in Java the Less, ii. 284, 292;
visible again in India, 382, 389, 392, 397
Police, of Cambaluc, i. 414;
Kinsay, 187, 188
Politeness of Chinese, i. 457, 462n
Polo, Andrea, grandfather of Marco, _8_, _14_, _26_
—— Antonio, illegitimate son of Elder Marco, _26_
—— Bellela, second daughter, _69_, _71_;
died before 1333, _76_, ii. 506n
—— Donata, wife of Traveller, _69_, _71_;
sale of property to her husband, _30_, ii. 507, 512;
death between 1333–1336, _76_;
before Council, _77_;
may have been Loredano, _69_, _77_, ii. 510n, 512n, 518n, 520n
—— or Bragadino, Fantina, eldest daughter of Traveller, _69_, _71_,
_76_, ii. 506n, 513n
—— Felice, a cousin, _25_, _64_
—— Fiordelisa, wife of last, _25_, _65_
Polo, Fiordelisa, daughter of Maffeo the Younger, _17_, _64_
—— Maffeo, brother of Nicolo, _14_, _15_, _64_;
in Kan-chau, i. 220;
time of death between 1309 and 1318, _66_
—— Maffeo, brother of Traveller, _15_, _16_;
probabilities as to birth, _17_, _18_, _25_;
will of, _26_, ii. 510n;
abstract from, _64–66_
—— Marco, the elder son of Andrea,
Uncle of the Traveller, _14_;
his will, _17_, _25_, _26_, i. 4, ii. 510n
—— Marco, the Traveller, veracity, perplexities in his biography, _1_;
Ramusio’s notices, extracts from, _2_ _seqq._;
recognition of his names of places, paralleled with Columbus, _3_,
_105_;
nicknamed _Millioni_, _6_, _67_;
story of his capture at Curzola, _6_;
writes his book in prison at Genoa, _6_;
release and marriage, _7_;
arms, _7_;
claim to nobility, _14_;
supposed autograph, _ib._;
his birth, circumstances of, _15_;
is taken to East, _18_;
employed by Kúblái, mentioned in Chinese Records, _21_, _see_
i. 420;
mission to Yun-nan, _21_;
governor of Yang-chau, _22_;
employed at Kan-chau, Kara Korum, Champa and Indian Seas, _22_;
returns home, _23–24_;
mentioned in his Uncle Marco’s will, _25_;
commands a galley at Curzola, _46_;
taken prisoner and carried to Genoa, _48_;
his imprisonment there, _52_;
dictates his book to Rusticiano, _52_;
release and return to Venice, _52_;
evidence as to story of capture, _53–55_;
dying vindication of his book, _54_;
executor to his brother Maffeo, _64_;
record of exemption from municipal penalty, _66_;
gives copy of book to T. de Cepoy, _68_;
marriage and daughters, _69_;
lawsuit with Paulo Girardo, proceeding regarding house property,
_70_;
illness and last will, _70–74_;
probable date of death, _74_;
place of burial, _74_;
professed portraits of, _75–76_;
alleged wealth, _77_;
estimate of him and of his book, _104_ _seqq._;
true claims to glory, _106_;
faint indications of personality, _107_;
rare indications of humour, _108_;
absence of scientific notions, _109_;
geographical data in book, _109_;
his acquisition of languages, ignorance of Chinese, deficiencies in
Chinese notices, _110_;
historical notices, _111_;
allusions to Alexander, _113_;
incredulity about his stories, _115_;
contemporary recognition, _116_ _seqq._;
by T. de Cepoy, Friar Pipino, _118_;
J. d’Acqui, Giov. Villani, and P. d’Abano, _119_;
notice by John of Ypres, _121_;
borrowings in poem of Bauduin de Sebourc, _121_ _seqq._;
Chaucer and, _128_;
influence on geography, obstacles to its effect, _129_;
character of mediæval cosmography, _130_;
Roger Bacon as geographer, _131_;
Arab maps, _132_;
Marino Sanudo’s map, _133_;
Medicean, _134_;
Carta Catalana largely based on Polo’s, _134_;
increased appreciation of Polo’s book, _135_;
confusions of nomenclature, _136_;
introduction of block-printing into Europe and Polo, _138–141_;
dictates his narrative, i. 2;
found at Venice, 18;
his age, 19n, 22, 26;
noticed and employed by Kúblái, 27;
grows in favour, many missions, 30, 31;
returns from one to India, 32;
escapes from the Karaunas, 99, 106n;
hears of breed of Bucephalus, 158;
recovers from illness in hill climate, 159;
hears from Zulficar about Salamander, 213;
at Kan-chau, 220;
brings home hair of yak, 274;
and head and feet of musk deer, 275;
witnesses events connected with Ahmad’s death, 420, 422n;
noticed in Chinese annals, 422n;
whether he had to do with Persian scheme of paper currency in 1294,
428n;
sent by Khan into Western provinces, ii. 3;
governor of Yang-chau, 154;
probable extent of his authority, 157n;
aids in constructing engines for siege of Siang-yang, 159 _seqq._;
difficulties as to this statement, 167n _seqq._;
on number of vessels on Great Kiang, 170;
ignorant of Chinese, 183;
on greatness of Kinsay, 185;
his notes, 193n;
sent to inspect amount of revenue from Kinsay, 216;
his great experience, 236;
never in islands of Sea of Chin, 265;
in kingdom of Chamba, 268, 271n;
historical anecdotes, 270n;
detained five months in Sumatra, stockade party against wild
people, 292;
brings Brazil seed to Venice, 299;
partakes of tree-flour (sago), 300;
takes some to Venice, 305n;
in six kingdoms of Sumatra, 300;
witnesses arrest for debt in Maabar, 343;
his erroneous view of Arabian coast, _110_, ii. 452n;
Indian geography, 403n;
his unequalled travels, 501;
Venetian documents about him, 510n–521n
—— Marco, called Marcolino, son of Nicolo the Younger, _65_, _77_,
_78_, ii. 510n
—— Marco, last male survivor, _8_, _78_, _79_, ii. 510n
—— Marco, others of this name, _66_, _79_, _80_, ii. 508n, 509n
—— Maroca, sister of Nicolo the Younger, _15_, _25_, i. 4n
—— or Delfino, Moreta, youngest daughter, _69_, _71_, _76_, ii. 506n,
513n
Polo, Nicolo and Maffeo, sons of Andrea, their first journey, _15_
_seqq._;
cross Black Sea to Soldaia, i. 2;
visit Volga country, etc., 4;
go to Bokhara, 9;
join envoys to Khan’s Court, 10;
Kúblái’s reception of, 11;
sent back as envoys to Pope, 13;
receive a Golden Tablet, 15;
reach Ayas, 16;
Acre, 17;
Venice, 18;
find young Marco there, _ib._
—— Nicolo, Maffeo and Marco, proceed to Acre, i. 19;
set out for East, recalled from Ayas, 20;
set out again with Pope’s letters, etc., 22;
reach Kúblái’s Court, 25;
are welcomed, 26;
_see_ on their journey outward, _19_;
their alleged service in capture of Siang-yang, _22_, ii. 158, 159;
Khan refuses them permission to return home, i. 32;
allowed to go with ambassadors, 33;
receive Golden Tablets, 34;
on return _see_ also _23_, _24_;
story of their arrival at Venice, _4_;
scheme to assert their identity, _5_
—— Nicolo, his alleged second marriage and sons, _7_, _15_;
probable truth as to time of, _17_;
his illegitimate sons, _25_;
approximate time of his death, _64_;
his tomb, _7_, _74_
—— Nicolo the Younger, cousin of
traveller, _15_, _25_, _65_, i. 4n
—— Stefano and Giovannino, illegitimate brothers of Traveller, _25_,
_30_, _65_
—— (?), or Trevisano(?), Fiordelisa, perhaps second wife of Nicolo
Polo the Elder, and mother of Maffeo the Younger, _17_, _25_, _27_
—— or Trevisano, Maria, last survivor of the family, _8_, _78_, _79_;
doubts as to her kindred, 79, ii. 510n
—— Family, its duration and end, according to Ramusio, _7–8_;
origin, _13_;
last notices of, _76_ _seqq._ (For relationship of different Polos,
_see_ table, ii. 506n.)
—— Family, branch of S. Geremia, _14_, _66_, ii. 507n–509n
_Po-lut_ (Pa-lut), _incense_, ii. 304n
Polygamy, i. 220, 252, 276, ii. 371;
supposed effect on population, i. 437n–438n, ii. 268, 339
_Pomilo_ (Pamir), i. 174n
_Pompholyx_, i. 126n
Ponent, or West, term applied by Polo to Kipchak, the Mongol Khanate
of the Volga, _see_ Kipchak
Pong (Mediæval Shan State), ii. 79n, 113n
Poods, Russian, i. 162n
Popinjays, i. 107
Population, vast, of Cathay, i. 437n–438n
Porcelain manufacture, ii. 235, 242n;
fragments found at Kayál, 373n;
Chinese, 595n
—— shells, _see_ Cowries
Porcupines, i. 154, 156n
Pork, mention of, omitted, ii. 210n
_Postín_, sheep-skin coat, i. 153, 155n
Posts, post-houses and runners, i. 433 _et seqq._, 438n;
in Siberia, ii. 480
Po-sz’ (Persia), ii. 437n
Potala at L’hasa, i. 319n
Pottinger, i. 94n, 96n
Poultry, kind of, in Coilum, ii. 376;
in Abyssinia (guinea-fowl?), 431, 437n
Pound, sterling, _71_, ii. 591n
_Pourpre_, or _Purpura_, i. 66n, 389n
P’o-yang Lake, ii. 243n
Pozdneiev, Professor, i. 228n
Precious stones or gems, _5_, i. 75, 76n, 107, 350, 390, 394, 424,
ii. 202, 231, 235, 236, 254, 264, 313, 315n, 338, 361, 362n;
how discovered by pirates, 392
Prester John (Unc Can, Aung or Ung Khan), i. 27n, 239;
Tartar tribute to, 226;
account of, 231n–237n;
marriage relations with Chinghiz, 239;
insults Chinghiz’ envoys, 239;
“these be no soldiers,” 240;
marches to meet Chinghiz, 241;
real site of battle with Chinghiz, 242;
his real fate, _ib._;
slain in battle, 244;
his lineage in Tenduc, 284, 288n;
and the Golden King, ii. 17–22
Prices of horses, _see_ Horses
Printing, imaginary connection of Polo’s name with introduction of
_139_ _seqq._
Private names supposed, i. 361n
Prjevalsky, Colonel N. M., i. 198n, 206n, 216n, 249n, 276n, 277n,
ii. 23n, 29n, 61n
Probation of Jogis, ii. 366;
parallel, 370n
Prophecy regarding Bayan, ii. 145, 149n
_Proques_, the word, ii. 370n
Prostitutes, at Cambaluc, i. 414;
Kinsay, ii. 202–203
Provinces, thirty-four of Kúblái’s Empire, i. 430
Pseudo-Callisthenes, _113_, i. 56n, 57n
Ptolemies’ trained African elephants, ii. 434n
Ptolemy, _2_, _129_, _131_, i. 24n, 88n, 91n;
Sarmatic Gates, i. 53n
P’u-chau fu, ii. 25n, 26n
Pu-ch’eng, ii. 224n
Puer and Esmok, ii. 57n, 117n
Pukan Mien-Wang, ii. 113n
Pulad Chingsang, ii. 218n
Pulisanghin, River and Bridge, _111_, _136_, ii. 3–4, 5n
Pulo Bras, ii. 307n
Pulo Condore (Sondur and Condur), ii. 276, 277n
Pulo Gommes (Gauenispola), ii. 307n
Pulo Nankai, or Nási, ii. 307n
Pulo Wé, Wai, or Wey, ii. 307
Punnei-Káyal, ii. 372n
Puránas, the, i. 58n
_Purpura_, _see_ _Pourpre_
Putchok, ii. 397n
Putu-ho, “Grape R.,” ii. 16n
Pygmies, factitious(?), ii. 285
Qal’ah Asgher, hot springs at, i. 122n
Qara Arslán Beg, king of Kermán, i. 92n
Quails in India, ii. 345
Queen of Mutfili, ii. 360
Quicksilver and sulphur potion, ii. 365, 369n
—— as regarded by alchemists, 369n
Quills of the Ruc, _see_ Ruc
Quilon, Kaulam, etc., _see_ Coilum
Qumādin (Camadi), i. 113n
Rabelais, i. 100n
Rabbanta, a Nestorian monk, i. 243n
Radloff, Dr. W., i. 28n;
map, 229n, 230n
Ráin, i. 113n
Rainald, of Dassel, Archbishop, i. 82n
Rain-makers, _see_ Conjurers
Rainy season, ii. 343, 351n
Rajkot leather-work, ii. 395
Rakka, Rákshasas, ii. 298n, 308n, 312n
Râma Kamhêng, king, ii. 278n
Rameshwaram, ii. 335n
Ramnad, ii. 335n
Rampart of Gog and Magog, i. 57n, 292n
Ramusio, Giov. Battista, _passim_;
his biographical notices of Polo, _2_ _et seqq._, _52_;
his edition of Polo, _96–101_, ii. 208n, 212n, 374n
Ráná Paramitá’s Woman Country, ii. 405n
Ranking, John, i. 339n
Raonano-Rao, i. 173n, ii. 593n
Rapson, E. J., ii. 595n
Ras Haili, ii. 386n
—— Kumhări, ii. 383n
Rashíduddín, _alias_ Fazl-ulla Rashid, Persian statesman and
historian of the Mongols, _121_;
frequently quoted in the Notes.
Ravenala tree (_Urania speciosa_), ii. 421n, 597n
Raw meat eaten, ii. 66, 76n, 85
Rawlinson, Sir H., i. 58n, 82n, 85n, 87n, 114n, 115n, 152n, 166n,
192n, 195n
Reclus, _Asie russe_, i. 54n;
on Caspian Sea fisheries, 59n
Red gold and red Tangas, ii. 349n
_Re Dor_, ii. 19n
Red Sea, trade from India to Egypt by, ii. 438;
described in some texts as a river, 439n;
possible origin of mistake _93_
Red sect of Lamas, i. 315n, 319n
Refraction, abnormal, ii. 419n
_Reg Ruwán_, of Kabul, i. 202n
—— of Seistán, i. 202n
Reindeer ridden, i. 269, 271n
Religion, indifference of Chinghizide Princes to, i. 14n, 349n,
ii. 477n;
occasional power of among Chinese, i. 460n _seqq._
Remission of taxation by Kúblái, i. 439
Rennell, Major James, ii. 402n
Reobarles (Rúdbár, etc.), i. 97, 109, 111n, 114n
Revenue of Kinsay, ii. 189, 190, 215 _et seqq._
Rhinoceros (Unicorn), in Sumatra, ii. 285, 290n;
habits, 290n;
four Asiatic species, 289n
—— _Tichorinus_, ii. 419n
Rhins, Dutreuil de, i. 190n, 192n, 276n
Rhubarb, _Rheum palmatum_, i. 217, 218n, 279n, ii. 181, 183n
Riant, Comte, ii. 593n
Ricci, Matteo, i. 347n, 451n, 454n
Rice, ii. 33, 56, 85, 115, 117, 123, 174, 202, 292, 300, 313, 342,
354, 360, 401, 404, 423, 431
Rice-wine, i. 441n;
at Yachi, ii. 66
—— trade on Grand Canal, ii. 174
Richard II., i. 42n
Richthofen, Baron F. von, i. 106n, 198n, 218n, 295n, ii. 14n–16n, 19n,
23n, 26n, 27n, 29n, 32n, 34n, 35n, 38n, 40n, 42n, 45n, 48n, 57n,
60n, 67n, 80n;
on Fungul, 129n;
on Tanpiju, 220n
Right and Left, ministers of the, i. 432n
Rio Marabia, ii. 387n
_Rishis_ (Eremites) of Kashmir, i. 166, 169n
“River of China,” ii. 222n, 243n
Roads radiating from Cambaluc, i. 433
Robbers in Persia, i. 84, 87n, 98, 99, 101n
Robbers’ River, i. 114n
Robes distributed by Kúblái, i. 387, 388n, 394
Roborovsky, Lieutenant, i. 188n
Rochefort, “faire la couvade,” ii. 94n
Rockets, i. 342n
Rockhill (_Rubruck_ and _Diary of a Journey_), i. 5n, 8n, 9n, 277n,
279n, 282n, 283n, 294n, 295n, 306n, 308n–310n, 312n, 319n, 321n,
324n, 325n, 353n, 354n, 384n, 385n, 389n, 393n, 429n, 437n,
ii. 491n;
on the titles Khan, Khatun, etc., _10_;
on horn horse-shoes, i. 177n;
earliest mention of name Mongol in Oriental works, 294n;
Mongol storm-dispellers, 310n;
charge of cannibalism against Tibetans, 312n;
on Bönbo Lamas, 325n;
Tablets (_hu_), 354n;
mechanical contrivances at E. Court, 385n;
Mongol etiquette, 393n;
Chinese leather-money, 429n;
Mongol post-stations, 437n;
pocket-spitoons, 462n;
from Peking to Si-ngan fu, ii. 5n;
descent of Yellow River, 23n;
road between T’ung-kwan and Si-ngan fu, 27n;
two famous Uigur Nestorians, 28n;
on the word Salar, 29n;
on the Hui-hui sects, 30n;
on the Alans, 180n;
on branch of Volga Bulgars, 489n
Rofia palm _(sagus ruffia_), ii. 597n
_Roiaus dereusse_(?), ii. 395n
Rome, the Sudarium at, i. 213
_Rondes_, ingenious but futile explanation of, i. 410n
_Rook_, in Chess, ii. 419n
Rori-Bakkar, Sepoy name for Upper Sind, i. 86n
Rosaries, Hindu, ii. 338, 347n
Rostof and Susdal, Andrew, Grand Duke of, i. 7n
Roth, H. Ling, on _couvade_, ii. 596n
Rouble, ii. 488n
Roxana, daughter of Darius, wife of Alexander, i. 151, 152n, 157
Roze de l’Açur, i. 370n
Rubies, Balas, _5_, i. 157, 161n;
of Ceylon, ii. 313, 315n;
of Adam’s Peak, 316n
Rubruquis, or Rubruc, Friar William de, _15_, _104_, _132_, i. 57n,
65n, 227n, 230n, 239n, 242n, 253n, 264n, 278n, 308n, 309n, 354n,
384n, 385n, 389n, 426n, 437n
Ruby mines in Badakhshan, i. 161n
Ruc (Rukh), or Gryphon, bird called, described, ii. 412–413;
its feathers and quills, 413, 420n, 596n–598n;
wide diffusion and various forms of fable, 415n;
eggs of the Aepyornis, 416n;
Fra Mauro’s story, 417n;
genus of that bird, condor, 417n, 420n;
discovery of bones of _Harpagornis_ in New Zealand, 418n;
Sindbad, Rabbi Benjamin, romance of Duke Ernest, 418n;
Ibn Batuta’s sight of Ruc, 419n;
rook in chess, 419n;
various notices of, 420n–421n
Rúdbár-i-Laṣṣ, Robbers’ River, i. 114n
—— (Reobarles), district and River, i. 97, 109, 111n, 114n
Rudder, single, noted by Polo as peculiar, i. 108;
double, used in Mediterranean, 117n
Rúdkhánah-i-Duzdi (Robbers’ River), i. 114n
Rúdkhánah-i-Shor (Salt River), i. 111n
Rudra Deva, King of Telingana, ii. 362n
Rudrama Devi, Queen of Telingana, ii. 362n
Rukh, Shah, i. 86n, 191n, 211n, 218n, 392n, 396n
Ruknuddin, Mahmud, Prince of Hormuz, i. 120n
—— Masa’úd, i. 120n
—— Khurshah, son of Alaodin, Prince of the Ismaelites, i. 146n
Rúm, i. 44n
Runiz, i. 86n
Ruomedam-Ahomet, King of Hormuz, i. 110, 121n
Rupen, Bagratid, founder of Armenian State in Cilicia, i. 42n
Rupert, Prince, ii. 486n
Rüppell’s Table of Abyssinian kings, ii. 435n
Russia (Rosia), annexes Georgia, i. 53n, ii. 486;
great cold, Arab accounts of, 487;
silver mines, 488n;
subject to Tartars, 489n;
conquered by Batu, 489n
—— leather, i. 6n, 394, 395n;
clothes of, 295n
Russians, trusty lieges of king, ii. 348n
Rusták, i. 173n
Rusticiano of Pisa, introduces himself in prologue, i. 1, 141n, 263n;
writes down Polo’s book, _52_, _55_ _seqq._, _84_, _112_;
extracts and character of his compilation, _61_ _seqq._, _143_;
his real name, _61_;
his other writings, _89_
Ruysch’s map, _135_
Saadi, i. 85n
Saba (Sava, Savah), city of the Magi, i. 78, 80, 81n
Sabaste, _see_ Sivas
Sable, its costliness, i. 405, 409n–410n, ii. 479, 481, 484, 486n, 487
Sabreddin, ii. 437n
Sabzawur, i. 150n
Sachiu (Sha-chau), i. 203, 206n
Sacrifices of people of Tangut, i. 204
—— human, i. 208n, ii. 303n
_Sadd-i-Iskandar_, rampart of Alexander, i. 53n, 54n, 57n
Saffron, fruit-serving purposes of, ii. 225, 226n
Sagacity of sledge-dogs, ii. 483n
Sagamon Borcan, _see_ Sakya Muni Buddha
Sagatu, general of Kúblái’s, ii. 267, 270n
Saggio (⅙ oz.), i. 350, 353n, ii. 54, 57n, 76, 215, 216, 217n, 339,
347n, 592n
Sago, ii. 300, 304n, 305n
Saianfu, _see_ Siang-yang-fu
Saif Arad, king of Abyssinia, ii. 437n
Saifuddin Nazrat, ruler of Hormuz, i. 120n
Saimur (Chaul), ii. 367n
Sain Khan (or Batu), ii. 490, 491
St. Anno of Cologne, i. 130n
St. Barlaam and St. Josafat, story of a Buddhist christianised,
ii. 323n _seqq._
St. Barsauma (Barsamo, Brassamus), and monastery of, i. 77
St. Blasius (Blaise), Church at Sivas, i. 43, 45n
St. Brandon, ii. 312n
St. Buddha! ii. 325n _seqq._
St. Epiphanius, ii. 362n
St. George, Church of, in Sivas, i. 45n;
at Quilon, ii. 377n
St. Helena, i. 58n
St. James’ Shrine, Gallicia, ii. 319
St. John the Baptist, Church of, in Samarkand, i. 185
—— Major Oliver, i. 57n, 92n, 96n, 105n, 112n, 114n, 120n
St. Leonard’s Convent in Georgia, and the fish miracle, i. 52, 58n
St. Lewis, i. 27n, 47n, 67n, 87n;
his campaign on the Nile, ii. 165n, 593n
St. Martin, Vivien de, Map, i. 164n, 192n
St. Mary’s Island, Madagascar, ii. 414n
St. Matthew, Monastery near Mosul, i. 61n
St. Matthew’s Gospel, story of the Magi, i. 82n
St. Nina, i. 58n
St. Sabba’s at Acre, _42_
St. Thomas, the Apostle, ii. 321n, 323n, 325n;
his shrine in India, 341, 353, 355n;
his murderers, and their hereditary curse, 350n;
reverenced by Saracens and heathen, 353;
miracles in India, 354, 356n;
story of his death, 355, 357n;
tradition of his preaching in India, 356n;
translation of remains to Edessa, 357n;
King Gondopharus of legend a real king, 357n;
Roman Martyrology, 357n;
the localities, 358n;
alleged discovery of reliques, 358n _seqq._;
the Cross, 358n;
church ascribed to, 378n;
in Abyssinia, 427
St. Thomas’s Isle, ii. 403n
—— Mounts, ii. 358n
Saker falcons, i. 158, 162n, 223, ii. 50
Sakta doctrines, i. 323n
Sakya Muni (Sagamon Borcan) Buddha, i. 164n, 324n, 348n, ii. 265n,
308n;
death of, i. 170n;
recumbent figures of, 219, 221n;
story of, ii. 316 _seqq._;
his footmark on Adam’s Peak, 321n;
Alms dish, Holy Grail, 328n–330n;
tooth relique, 319–320, 330n
Salamander, the, i. 213, 216n
Salar (Ho-chau), ii. 29n
Salem, dragoman, explores Rampart of Gog, i. 57n
Salghur, Atabegs of Fars, i. 85n, 121n
Sálih, Malik, son of Badruddín Lúlú, i. 61n
Salsette Island, ii. 325n, 396n
Salt, H., his version of Abyssinian chronology, ii. 435n
—— rock, in Badakhshan, i. 153, 154n;
used for currency, ii. 45, 54, 57n;
extracted from deep wells, 58n, 66, 76n;
in Carajan province, 66, 76n;
manufactured in Eastern China, 133;
manufacture, revenue and traffic in, 152, 153, 155n, 215, 216, 217n;
trade on the Kiang, 171;
junks employed therein, 174n
—— stream, i. 124n
Salwen River, or Lu-Kiang, i. 323n
Samagar, ii. 471, 474n
Samána, ii. 427n
Samara, kingdom of, _see_ Sumatra
Samarkand (Samarcan), i. 57n, 62n, ii. 458, 462;
story of a miracle at, i. 183, 186n;
colony near Peking from, 291n
Sampson, Theos., on grapes in China, ii. 16n
_Sámsúnji Báshi_, i. 401n
Samudra, _see_ Sumatra
Samuel, his alleged tomb at Sávah, i. 81n
San Giovanni Grisostomo, parish in Venice where the Ca’ Polo was,
_4_, _26_, _53_, _70_, _71_, _76_;
theatre, _28_
San Lorenzo, Venice, burial place of Marco and his father, _7_, _71_,
_74_
Sandu, _see_ Chandu
Ṣanf, _see_ Champa
Sangín, Sangkan River, ii. 5n, 6n
Sanglich, dialect of, i. 160n
Sang-Miau, tribe of Kwei-chau, ii. 82n
Sangon, the Title (Tsiang-kiun), ii. 136, 138n
Sanitary effects of Mountain air, i. 158
Sanjar, sovereigns of Persia, i. 233n
Sankin Hoto, Dalai, i. 215n
Sanuto of Torcelli, Marino, _118_, i. 17n, 23n, 24n, 42n, 59n, 67n,
77n, 144n;
his World Map, _133_;
on long range, ii. 166n
Sappan wood, _see_ Brazil
Sapta-Shaila, ii. 386n
Sapurgan (Sabúrḳán, Shabúrḳán, Shibrgán), i. 149, 150n
_Saputa_, _Sçue_, peculiar use of, i. 437n
Saracanco (Saraichik), on the Yaik, i. 6n
Saracens, _see_ Mahomedans
Sarai (Sara), capital of Kipchak, i. 4;
city and its remains, 5n;
perhaps occupied successive sites, 6n
—— Sea of (Caspian), i. 59n, ii. 494
_Sáras_, crane (_grus Antigone_), i. 297n
Saratov, i. 9n
Sarbizan Pass, i. 113n
Sardines, ii. 444n
Sárdú Pass, i. 113n
Sarghalan River, i. 156n
Sărha, Port of Sumatra, ii. 294n
Sarhadd River, i. 175n
Sar-i-kol, Lakes, i. 163n, 172n
Sarsati, ii. 427n
Sartak, the Great Khan’s ambassador to Hulákú, i. 10n, 14n
Sassanian dynasty, i. 61n
Sati, _see_ Suttee
Satin, probable origin of word, ii. 241n
_Saum_, _Sommo_, silver ingots used in Kipchak, ii. 488n;
apparently the original rouble, 488n
_Sauromatae_, ii. 466n
Sávah (Saba), i. 78, 80, 81n
Savast (Siwas), i. 43, 44n
Scanderoon, Gulf of, i. 16n
Scasem, i. 156n
Scherani, bandits, i. 101n
Schiltberger, Hans, i. 131n
Schindler, General Houtum-, i. 89n, 96n, 99n, 100n, 105n, 106n,
112n–115n, 122n, 126n, 308n, 310n, 314n
Schlegel, Dr. G., i. 342n, 437n, 441n, ii. 281n, 596n
Schmidt, Professor I. J., i. 201n, 294n
Schönborn, Carl, ii. 601n
Schuyler, Eugene, i. 54n
Scidmore, Miss E., on the Tide, ii. 209n
Scotra, _see_ Socotra
Sea of Chin, ii. 264, 265, 266n, 270n
—— England, ii. 265
—— Ghel, or Ghelan, i. 52
—— India, i. 35, 63, 108, 166, ii. 265, 424
—— Rochelle, ii. 265
—— Sarain, i. 59, ii. 494
Seal, Imperial, i. 366, 424
Sebaste, _see_ Sivas
Sebourc, Bauduin de, _see_ _Bauduin de Sebourc_
Sees of Latin Church, i. 186n, ii. 237n, 377n
—— Nestorian Church, i. 91n, 183n, 186n, 207n, 211n
Sefavíehs, the, i. 90n
Seilan, _see_ Ceylon
Self-decapitation, ii. 349n
Selitrennoyé Gorodok (Saltpetre Town), i. 5n, 6n
Seljukian dynasty, i. 44n
—— Turks, i. 91n
_Selles, chevaux à deux_, the phrase, ii. 440n
Semal tree, ii. 394n
Semedo, ii. 211n
Semenat, _see_ Somnath
Sempad, Prince, High Constable of Armenia, i. 186n, 352n
Sendal, a silk texture, ii. 10n, 37, 132, 182, 390, 464
_Sendaus_, generally Taffetas, ii. 10n
Sendemain, king of Seilan, ii. 313
Seneca, _Epistles_, i. 14n
Senecherim, king of Armenia, i. 45n
Seni, Verzino, ii. 380n
_Senshing_, i. 332n
Sensin, ascetics, devotees living on bran, i. 303, 321n–327n
Sentemur, ii. 98
Sepulchre of Adam, _see_ Adam’s Sepulchre
—— of our Lord, i. 19;
oil from, 14, 19, 26
Serano, Juan de, ii. 295n
Serazi (Shíráz), kingdom of Persia, i. 83, 85n
Serendib, ii. 314n
_Seres_, _Sinae_, _12_;
their tree wool, ii. 137n;
ancient character of the, 211n
Serpents, great, _i.e._ alligators, ii. 76 _seqq._, 81n, 360
Sertorius, ii. 348n
Sesamé, i. 158, 162n, ii. 431
_Sesnes_, mediæval form of _cygnes_, _cigni_, i. 297n
_Seta Ghella_, _seta Leggi_ (Ghellé), silk, i. 59n
Seth’s mission to Paradise, i. 136n
Sevan Lake, i. 58n
Seven Arts, the, i. 13, 14n
Severtsof, shoots the _Ovis Poli_, i. 175n, 177n;
on the name Bolor, 179n
Seyyed Barghash, Sultan of Zanzibar, ii. 420n
Shabánkára, or Shawánkára (Soncara), i. 83, 85n–86n
Shabar, son of Kaidu, ii. 459n
Sha-chau (Sachin), “Sand-district,” i. 203, 206n
Shadow, augury from length of, ii. 364
Sháh Abbás, i. 310n;
his Court, 385n
—— Jahan, i. 168n
Shahr-i-Babek, turquoise mine at, i. 92n
Shahr-i-Nao (Siam), ii. 279n
Shahr Mandi, or Pandi, ii. 333n
Shah Werdy, last of the Kurshid dynasty, i. 85n
Shaibani Khan, ii. 481n
_Shaikh-ul-Jibal_, i. 142n, 144n, 145n
Shaikhs (Esheks), in Madagascar, ii. 411, 413n
Shakespeare, on relation of gold to silver, ii. 95n
Sháliát, ii. 440n
Shamanism, i. 257n, 315n, 324n, 325n, ii. 97n.
(_See_ also Devil-Dancing.)
Shampath, ancestor of Georgian kings, i. 52n
Shamsuddin Shamatrani, ii. 303n
Shamuthera, _see_ Sumatra
Shan (Laotian, or _Thai_), ii. 74n, 90n, 96n, 113n, 278n
—— race and country, ii. 117n, 128n
—— dynasty in Yun-nan, ii. 73n, 79n
—— ponies, ii. 82n
—— state of Pong, _see_ Pong
Shanars of Tinnevelly, ii. 97n;
their devil-worship, 359n
Shang-hai, ii. 238n
Shangking-Fungking, i. 345n
Shangtu, Shangdu (Chandu), i. 25n;
Kúblái’s City and Summer Palace, 298, 304n;
Dr. Bushell’s description of, 304n;
Kúblái’s annual visit to, 308n, 410
Shangtu Keibung, i. 306n, 308n
Shan-hai-kwan, i. 407n
Shankárah, Shabankára (Soncara), i. 83, 85n, 86n
Shan-si, ii. 12n, 14n, 15n, 23n, 25n, 32n, 135n, 143n, 167n
Shan-tung, ii. 137n, 141n, 143n;
silk in, 136, 137n;
pears from, 210n
Shao-hing-fu, ii. 220n–222n
Shao-ling, pariah caste of, ii. 228n
Sharakhs, i. 149n
Shara-ul-buks (Forest of box on the Black Sea), i. 57n
Sharks and shark charmers, ii. 332–337n
Shauls, or Shúls, the, i. 85n, 87n
Shawánkára (Soncara), i. 83, 85n, 86n
Shaw, R. B., i. 169n, 178n, 195n, 276n, 315n, ii. 16n
Shawls of Kerman, i. 96n
Sheep, fat-tailed in Kerman, i. 97, 100n
—— four-horned at Shehr, ii. 443, 494n
—— large Indian, ii. 361
—— none in Manzi, ii. 219
—— of Pamir (_Ovis Poli_), i. 171, 176n
—— wild, of Badakhshan (Kachkar, _Ovis Vignei_), i. 158, 162n
—— with trucks behind, 100n
—— Zanghibar, ii. 422, 424n
Sheep’s head given to horses, ii. 351n
Shehr, or Shihr, _see_ Esher
Shehrizor (Kerkuk), i. 62n
Shenrabs, i. 324n
Shen-si, ii. 23n, 25n, 26n, 31n, 32n, 167n, 237n
Shentseu tribe, ii. 120n
Sheuping, ii. 120n
Shewá, cool plateau of, i. 163n
Shibrgán (Sapurgan), i. 149, 150n
Shieng, Sheng, or Sing, the Supreme Board of Administration, i. 431,
432n, ii. 154, 157n
_Shien-sien_, _Shin-sien_, i. 322n
Shighnan (Syghinan), ruby mines, i. 157, 161n, 172n
_Shijarat Malayu_, or Malay Chronicle, ii. 287n, 288n, 294n, 296n,
300n, 302n
Shikárgáh, applied to animal pattern textures, Benares brocades,
i. 66n
Shing-king, or Mukden, i. 345n
Ships, of the Great Khan, ii. 142;
of India at Fuju, 231;
of Manzi described, 249–251;
mediæval, accounts of, 252n–253n;
in Japan, 264;
in Java Seas, 274n;
at Eli, 386
Shíráz (Cerazi), i. 83, 85n
Shireghi, ii. 462n
Shirha, ii. 436n
Shirwan, ii. 495n
Shi-tsung, Emperor, i. 310n
Shoa, ii. 434n, 436n
Shob’aengs of Nicobar, ii. 308n
Shodja ed-din Kurshid, Kurd, i. 85n
Shor-Rud (Salt River), i. 124n
Shot of Military Engines, ii. 159, 163n, 164n–168n
Shpilevsky, i. 8n
Shúlistán (Suolstan), i. 83, 85n
Shúls or Shauls, people of Persia, i. 83n, 85n
Shut up nations, legend of the, _114_, _136_, i. 57n
Shwéli River, ii. 107n
Siam, ii. 277n–280n;
king of, 278n
Siang-yang-fu (Saianfu), Kúblái’s siege of, Polo’s aid in taking,
_22_, _112_, ii. 158, 159;
difficulties in Polo’s account, 167n;
not removed by Pauthier, notice by Wassáf, Chinese account,
Rashiduddin’s, 168n;
treasure buried, 169n
Siberia, ii. 479–481n
Sibree, on rofia palm, ii. 597n
Sick men put to death and eaten by their friends, ii. 293, 298n
_Siclatoun_, kind of texture, i. 283n
Siddhárta, ii. 322n
Sidi Ali, i. 152n, 165n, 277n, ii. 5n, 402n, 444n, 453n
Sien, Sien-Lo, Sien-Lo-Kok (Siam, Lo-cac), ii. 277n–280n
Sifan, ii. 60n, 61n, 70n
Sigatay, _see_ Chagatai
Sighelm, envoy from King Alfred to India, ii. 357n
Si Hia, language of Tangut, i. 29n
Si-hu, Lake of Kinsay or Hang-chau, ii. 186, 196n, 205n–207n, 211n,
214n
Sijistán, i. 102n
Siju (Suthsian), ii. 141
Sikintinju (Kien-chow), i. 343, 345n
Silesia, Mongol invasion of, ii. 493n
Silk, called Ghellé (of Gilan), i. 52;
manufacture at Yezd, 88n;
at Taianfu, ii. 13;
in Shan-si and Shen-si, 22, 23n;
in Kenjanfu, 24;
Cuncun, 31;
Sindafu, 42n;
Kwei-chau, 126, 128n;
Tasinfu, 136, 137n;
Piju, 141;
Pao-ying-Hien, 152;
Nanghin, 157;
Chinhiang-fu, 176;
Chinginju, 178;
Suju, 181n;
Vughin, 182;
Kinsay, 187, 198n, 216;
Ghiuju, 219
—— cotton tree, ii. 394n
—— duty on, ii. 216
—— and gold stuffs, i. 41, 60, 63, 75, 107, 257, 285, 383, 387, 415,
ii. 10, 24, 132, 152, 157, 176, 181, 206, 238n, 390, 411
—— stuffs and goods, Turcomania, i. 43;
Georgia, 50;
Baghdad, 63;
Yezd, 88;
Kerman, 90;
Tenduc province, 285;
Cambaluc, 415;
Juju, ii. 10;
Sindafu, 37;
Cacanfu, 132;
Chinangli, 135;
Suju, 181;
Vughin, 182;
Kinsay, 187;
in animal patterns, 63, 90;
with Cheetas, i. 398n;
of Kelinfu, ii. 225;
with giraffes, 424n
Silk, tent ropes, i. 405;
bed furniture, 434
—— trade at Cambaluc, i. 415;
at Kinsay, ii. 187
—— worms, ii. 13, 24
Silver chairs, i. 351, 355n
—— imported into Malabar, ii. 390;
Cambay, 398
—— Island, ii. 174n
—— mines at Baiburt, i. 46;
Gumish-Khánah, 49n;
in Badakhshan, 157;
in N. Shansi, 285, 295n;
Yun-nan, ii. 95n;
Russian, 487, 488n
—— plate in Chinese taverns, ii. 187, 196n
Simon, Metropolitan of Fars, ii. 377n
—— Magus, i. 314n
Simúm, effects of, i. 109, 120n
Simurgh, ii. 415n, 419n
Sinbad, his story of the diamonds, ii. 362n;
of the Rukh, 418n
Sind (Sindhu-Sauvira), _12_, i. 104n, 105n
Sindábúr (Goa), ii. 390n, 440n
Sindachu (Siuen-hwa fu), i. 285, 295n
Sindafu (Chengtu-fu), ii. 36, 38n, 127, 128n
Sindhu-Sauvira (Sindh-Ságor), i. 104n
Si-ngan fu (Kenjanfu), ii. 24n, 25n, 29n, 34n;
Christian inscription at, 27n, 29n
Singapore, Singhapura, i. 37n, ii. 279n, 281n, 305n
Singkel, ii. 300n
Singphos, ii. 82n, 90n
Sings, ii. 238n
Singtur, Mongol Prince, ii. 111n
Singuyli (Cranganor), ii. 426n
Sinhopala (Accambale), king of Chamba, ii. 267
Sinju (Si-ning fu), i. 274, 276n
—— (Ichin-hien), ii. 170
Sinju-matu, ii. 137, 138
Sínkalán, Sín-ul-Sín, Mahá-chin, or Canton, i. 294n, ii. 175n, 243n,
252n
Sinope, i. 45n
Síráf (Kish, or Kais?), i. 65n
Sir-i-Chashma, i. 58n
Sirikol, Lake and River, i. 174n, 176n, 182n
Sírján or Shirján, i. 92n, 122n
Sis, i. 42n
Sístán, i. 61n
Sitting in air, i. 315n, 316n
Siu-chau, ii. 129n–131n
Siuen-hwa-fu, _see_ Sindachu
Siva, ii. 321n, 334n
Sivas, Siwas, Sebaste, Sevasd (Savast), i. 43, 44n, 45n
Siwastán, ii. 427n
Siwi, gigantic cotton in, ii. 394n
Sixtus V., Pope, ii. 326n
_Siya-gosh_, or lynx, i. 399n
Siyurgutmish, i. 91n
Sladen, Major, ii. 82n, 90n, 95n, 107n, 198n
Slaves in Bengal, ii. 115
Sledges, dog-, ii. 480, 481n–483n
Sleeping-mats, leather, ii. 394, 395n
Sluices of Grand Canal, ii. 175n
Smith, G., Bishop of Hongkong, i. 347n
Smith (R.E.), Major R. M., i. 89n, 96n,
99n, 106n, 111n–114n
Sneezing, omen from, ii. 364n
Socotra (Scotra), island of, ii. 404, 406, 408n;
history of, 408n–410n;
Christian Archbishop, 406;
aloes of, 409n
Soer (Suhar), ii. 340, 348n
Sofala, trade to China from, ii. 400n
Sogoman Borcan, _see_ Sakya Muni
Sol, Arbre, _see_ Arbre
Soldaia, Soldachia, Sodaya (the Oriental Sudák), _15_, _26_, i. 2,
3n, 4
Soldan, a Melic, ii. 470, 472
Soldurii, trusty lieges of Celtic kings, ii. 348n
Soli, Solli (_Chola_, or Tanjore), kingdom of, ii. 335n, 364, 368n,
403n
Solomon, house of, in Abyssinia, ii. 434n
Soltania, Archbishop of, ii. 213n.
(_See_ Sultaniah.)
Somnath (Semenat), ii. 398, 400n;
gates of, 399, 400n–401n
Sonagar-pattanam, ii. 372n
Soncara (Shawankára), i. 83, 85n
Sonder Bandi Davar, _see_ Sundara Pandi
Sondur and Condur (Pulo Condore Group), ii. 276, 277n
Sorcerers, sorceries of Pashai (Udyana), i, 164;
Kashmir, 166, 168n, 301, ii. 593n;
Lamas and Tibetans, _ib._, 314n–318n
—— Dagroian, ii. 293, 298n;
Socotra, 407, 410n.
(_See_ also Conjurers.)
Sornau (Shahr-i-Nau), Siam, ii. 279n
Sotiates, tribe of Aquitania, ii. 348n
Soucat, ii. 277
Southey, _St Romuald_, ii. 84n
Spaan, Ispahan, i. 85n
Sposk, district, i. 7n
_Spezerie_, i. 43n
Spice, Spicery, i. 41, 60, 107, 205, 302, 382, 441, ii. 49, 56, 66,
115, 116, 123, 202, 216, 234, 264, 272, 284, 389, 390n, 423, 438,
450
Spice wood, i. 405, 409n
Spices in China, duty on, ii. 216
Spikenard, ii. 115, 272, 284, 287n, 390
Spinello Aretini, fresco by, i. 118n
Spirit drawings and spiritual flowers, i. 460n
Spirits haunting deserts, i. 197, 209n, 274
Spiritualism in China, i. 325n
Spitoons, pocket, i. 458, 462n
Spodium (Spodos), i. 125, 126n
Sport and game, i. 41, 88, 91, 149, 151, 153, 158, 160, 171, 223,
252, 260, 275, 285, 296, 299, 397, 400–406, 411;
in Shan-si, ii. 22;
Cachanfu, 24;
Cuncun, 31;
Acbalec Manzi, 34;
Tibet, 50;
Caindu, 56;
Zardandan, 85;
Mien, 111;
Linju, 140;
Cagu, 153;
Nanghin, 157;
Saianfu, 158;
Ching-hiang-fu, 176;
Chinginju, 178;
Changan, 182;
Kinsay, 201, 207, 219;
Fuju, 225, 226, 234;
Lambri, 299;
Maabar, 345;
Comari, 382;
Eli, 386
Springolds, ii. 161n
Springs, hot, i. 110, 122n
Sprinkling of drink, a Tartar rite, i. 300, 308n
Squares at Kinsay, ii. 201, 209n
Sri-Thammarat, ii. 278n
Sri-Vaikuntham, ii. 374n
Sse River, ii. 139n
Stack, E., visits Kuh Banan, i. 126n
Star Chart, ii. 314n
Star of Bethlehem, traditions about, i. 82n
Steamers on Yangtse-kiang, ii. 173n
Steel mines at Kermán, i. 90, 92n;
in Chingintalas, 212;
Indian, 93n, 94n;
Asiatic view of, 94n
Stefani, Signor, i. 7, ii. 507n
Stein, Dr. M. A., on Sorcery in Kashmir, ii. 593n;
on Paonano Pao, 593n;
on Pamirs, 593n–594n;
on site of Pein, 595n
Stiens of Cambodia, ii. 82n, 97n
Stirrups, short and long, ii. 78, 82n
Stitched vessels, i. 108, 117n
Stockade erected by Polo’s party in Sumatra, ii. 292
Stone, miracle of the, at Samarkand, i. 185, 187n
—— the green, i. 187n
—— towers in Chinese cities, ii. 189
—— umbrella column, ii. 212n
Stones giving invulnerability, ii. 259, 263n
Suákin, ii. 439n
Submersion of part of Ceylon, ii. 313, 314n
Subterraneous irrigation, i. 89n, 123, 124n
Suburbs of Cambaluc, i. 412
Subutai, Mongol general, i. 8n, ii. 168n
Su-chau (Suju), ii. 179, 181, 199n;
plan of, 183n, 184n
Suchnan River, i. 172n
Sudarium, the Holy, i. 213
Súddhodhana, ii. 322n
Sugar, Bengal, ii. 115;
manufactured, 215, 231;
art of refining, 226, 230n;
of Egypt and China, 231
Suh-chau (Sukchur), i. 217, 218n, 282n
Suicides before an idol, ii. 340, 349n
Sukchur, province Sukkothai, i. 217
Sukkothai, ii. 278n, 279n
_Suḳlát_, broadcloth, i. 283n
Sukum Kala’, i. 57n
Suleiman, Sultan, i. 17n, 44n, ii. 74n, 80n
Sulphur and quicksilver, potion of longevity, ii. 365, 369n
Sultaniah, Monument at, ii. 478n.
(See Soltania.)
Sultan Shah, of Badakhshan, i. 163n
Sumatra (Java the Less), _23_, _120_, i. 34, ii. 288n, 300n–301n;
described, its kingdoms, 284, 286n, 287n;
circuit, 284, 286n
Sumatra, Samudra, city and kingdom of (Samara for Samatra), ii. 292,
306n;
legend of origin, 294n;
Ibn Batuta there, 294n;
its position, 295n;
latest mention of, 296n;
wine-pots, 297n
Sumbawa, ii. 287n
Summers, Professor, ii. 277n
Sumutala, Sumuntala, _see_ Sumatra
Sun and moon, trees of the, i. 130n
Sundara Pandi Devar (Sondar Bandi Davar), king in Ma’bar, ii. 331;
his death, 333n;
Dr. Caldwell’s views about, 333n, 334n
Sundar Fúlát (Pulo Condore Group), ii. 277n
Sung, a native dynasty reigning in S. China till Kúblái’s conquest,
_12_, i. 38n, ii. 135, 151n, 194n;
their paper-money, effeminacy, 20n, 150n, 207, 208, 211n;
cremation, 135n;
Kúblái’s war against, 148n, 149n;
end of them, 167n, 168n
Sunnis and Shias, i. 160n
Suolstan (Shulistan), a kingdom in Persia, i. 83, 85n
Superstitions in Tangut, the devoted sheep or ram (_Tengri Tockho_),
i. 204, 207n;
the dead man’s door, 205, 209n;
as to chance shots, 439;
in Carajan, ii. 79, 82n, 84n;
devil-dancing, 86;
property of the dead, 111;
Sumatran, 293, 298n;
Malabar, 339 _seqq._;
as to omens, 343–344, 364–365
Sûr-Raja, ii. 374n
Survival, instances of, ii. 93n
Sushun, Regent of China, execution of (1861), i. 428n
Su-tásh, the Jadek, i. 193n
Suttees in S. India, ii. 341, 349n;
of men, 340
_Svastika_, sacred symbol of the Bonpos, i. 324n
Swans, wild, at Chagan-Nor, i. 296
Swat, i. 178n
—— River, i. 164n
Swi-fu, ii. 131n
Sword blades of India, i. 93n, 96n
Syghinan, _see_ Shighnan
Sykes, Major P. Molesworth, i. 102n, 106n, 113n, 114n, 119n, 124n,
126n, 127n, 128n
Sylen (Ceylon), ii. 426n
Symbolical messages, Scythian and Tartar, ii. 497n–498n
Syrian Christians, ii. 377n _seqq._, 433n
_Syrrhaptes Pallasii_, _see_ Barguerlac
Szechényi, Count, i. 207n
Sze-ch’wan (Ch’êng-tu), ii. 32n, 34n, 35n, 37n, 40n, 42n, 45n, 46n,
48n, 58n, 60n, 69n, 128n, 131n, 134n;
aborigines, 60n
Tabashir, ii. 263n, 396n
Tabbas, i. 124n
Table of the Great Khan, i. 381
Tables, how disposed at Mongol feasts, i. 384n
Tablet, Emperor’s, adored with incense, i. 391, 393n
Tablets of Authority, Golden (_Páizah_), presented by Khan to Polos,
i. 15, 16, 34, 35;
lion’s head and gerfalcon, 35, 351;
bestowed on distinguished captains, inscription, 350, 351n–354n;
cat’s head, 356n;
granted to governors of different rank, 431
—— worshipped by Cathayans, i. 456, 458n
Tabriz (Tauris), i. 17n, 74, 76n
Tachindo, _see_ Ta-t’sien-lu
Tacitus, _Claustra Caspiorum_, Pass of Derbend, i. 53n
Tactics, Tartar, i. 262, 265n, ii. 460
Tacuin, i. 447, 448n
Tadinfu, ii. 136
Taeping Insurrection and Devastations, ii. 154n, 158n, 173n, 176n,
177n, 179n, 184n, 196n, 222n
Taeping, or Taiping, Sovereigns’ effeminate customs, ii. 20n
Taffetas, ii. 10n
Taft, near Yezd, turquoise at, i. 92n
Tafurs, i. 313n
Tagachar, ii. 471, 474n
Tagaung, ii. 107n, 111n, 113n
Tagharma Pass, i. 172n, ii. 594n
Tághdúngbásh River, i. 175n
Taianfu (T’ai-yuan-fu), king of N. China, ii. 12, 14n, 15n
Taiani, ii. 432n
Taican, _see_ Talikan
Taichau (Tigu), ii. 154n
T’aiching-Kwan, ii. 26n
Taidu, Daitu, Tatu, Kúblái’s new city of Cambaluc, i. 305n, 306n,
374, 375n
Taikung, _see_ Tagaung
Tailed men, in Sumatra, ii. 299, 301n;
elsewhere, 301n–302n;
English, 302n
Tailors, none in Maabar, ii. 338
Taimúni tribe, i. 100n
Taiting-fu (Tadinfu), or Yenchau, ii. 137n
Taitong-fu, _see_ Tathung
Tai-tsu, Emperor, i. 428n
T’ai Tsung, Emperor, ii. 15n, 28n
Taiyang Khan (Great King), king of the Naimans, ii. 20n
Tajiks of Badakhshan, great topers, i. 153, 155n
Takfúr, ii. 148n
Takhtapul, i. 152n
Táki-uddin, Abdu-r Rahmán, ii. 333n
Takla-Makan, i. 190n
Talains, ii. 74n
Talas River, ii. 459n
Tali, gold mines, ii. 81n
Talifu (Carajan), ii. 67n, 76n, 79n, 80n, 105n, 107n, 111n
Talikan, Thaikan (Taican), i. 153, 154n, 163n
Tallies, record by, ii. 86, 96n
Tamarind, pirates’ use of, ii. 392, 394n
Tamerlan, i. 8n
Tana (Azov), _9_, _43_, _72_, i. 4n, 6n, 19n
—— near Bombay, kingdom of, ii. 395, 396n, 403n, 426n, 440n
Tana-Maiambu, ii. 396n
Tana-Malayu, ii. 281n, 283n
Tánasi cloth, ii. 396n
Tanduc, _see_ Tenduc
T’ang dynasty, ii. 28n, 194n, 278n
Tangnu Oola, branch of Altai, i. 215n
Tangut province, Chinese Si Hia, or Ho Si, i. 29n, 203, 214n, 217,
219, 220n, 223, 224n, 245n, 274, 276n, 281;
five invasions of, 281n
Tangutan, term applied to Tibetan speaking people round the Koko-nor,
i. 206n
Tanjore, ii. 334n, 335n;
Suttee at, 349n;
Pagoda at, 352n;
fertility of, 368n
Tánkíz Khan, applied to Chinghiz, i. 247n
Tanpiju (Shaohing?), ii. 218
Tantras, Tantrika, Tantrists, i. 315n, 323n, 326n
Tao-lin, a Buddhist monk, i. 165n
Tao-sze (Taossé), sect, i. 321n–325n;
female idols of the, 303, 327n
Ta-pa-Shan range, ii. 34n, 35n
Taprobana, mistakes about, ii. 295n
Tarakai, ii. 475n
Tarantula, ii. 346, 364
_Tarcasci_, i. 366n
Tarem, or Tárum, i. 86n, 122n
Tares of the parable, i. 122n
Taríkh-i-Rashídí, i. 194n
Tarmabala, Kúblái’s grandson, i. 361n
_Tarok_, Burmese name for Chinese, ii. 113n
Tarok Man and Tarok Myo, ii. 113n
Tartar language, i. 12;
on Tartar, its correct form, 12n;
misuse by Ramusio, 458n
Tartars, i. 1, 4, 5, 10, 13, 50, 90, 97, 99, 110n, 121n, 151;
different characters used by, 28n;
identified with Gog and Magog, 57n;
ladies, 76n;
their first city, 226;
original country, tributary to Prester John, _ib._;
revolt and migration, 227;
earliest mention of the word, 230n;
make Chinghiz their king, 238;
his successors, 245;
their customs and religion, 249n, 251, 256;
houses, 252, 253n;
waggons, 252, 254n;
chastity of their women, 252, 256n;
polygamy, etc., 252, 256n;
their gods and idols, 256;
their drink (Kumiz), 257, 259n;
cloths, 257, 295n;
arms, horses, and war customs, 260–263;
military organization, 261, 263n;
sustenance on rapid marches, 261;
blood-sucking, 261, 264n;
portable curd, 262, 265n;
tactics in war, 262, 265n;
degeneracy, 263, 266n;
administration of justice, 266;
laws against theft, 266, 268n;
posthumous marriage, 267, 268n;
the cudgel, 266, 267n;
Rubruquis’ account of, 236n;
Joinville’s, 237n;
custom before a fight, 337;
want of charity to the poor, 445;
conquerors of China, history of, ii. 20;
excellence in archery, 102;
objection to meddling with things pertaining to the dead, 111;
admiration of the Polo mangonels, 160;
employment of military engines, 168n;
their cruelties, 180n;
arrows, 460;
marriage customs, i. 33n, 252–253, ii. 467
—— in the Far North, ii. 479
—— of the Levant, _see_ Levant
—— of the Ponent, _see_ Ponent
Tartary cloths, i. 257, 295n
Tarungares, tribe, ii. 298n
Tásh Kurgán, i. 172n, ii. 594n
Tataríya coins, i. 12n
Tathung, or Taitongfu, i. 245n, 286n, 289n
Ta-t’sien-lu, or Tachindo, Tartsédo, ii. 45n, 48n, 49n, 52n, 60n,
67n, 70n
Ta Tsing River, ii. 137n, 143n
Tattooing, ii. 84, 90n, 117, 119n, 131n, 235, 242n, 297n;
artists in, 235, 242n
Tatu (Taichu), i. 374
—— River, ii. 61n
Tauris, _see_ Tabriz
Taurizi, Torissi, i. 74, 75n
Tawálisi, ii. 465n
Taxes, _see_ Customs, Duties
Tchakiri Mondou (Modun), i. 404, 408n
_Tchekmen_, thick coarse cotton stuff, i. 190n
Tea-houses at Kingszé, ii. 196n
Tea trees in E. Tibet, ii. 59n
Tebet, _see_ Tibet
Tedaldo, _see_ Theobald
Teeth, custom of casing in gold, ii. 84, 88n–91n
—— of Adam or of Buddha, ii. 319, 329n–330n
—— conservation of, by Brahmans, ii. 365
Tegana, ii. 471
Teghele, Atabeg of Lúr, i. 85n
Teimur (Temur), Kúblái’s grandson and successor, i. 360, ii. 149, 459n
Tekla, Hamainot, ii. 356
Tekrit, i. 61n
Telingana, _see_ Tilinga
Telo Samawe, ii. 295n
Tembul (Betel), chewing, ii. 371, 374n
Temkan, Kúblái’s son, i. 361n
Temple, connection of Cilician Armenia with Order of, i. 24n
—— Master of the, i. 23, 24n
Temple’s account of the Condor, ii. 417n
Temujin, _see_ Chinghiz
Tenduc, or Tanduc, plain of, i. 240, 241;
province of, 284, 286n
Tengri, Supreme deity of Tartars, i. 257n–258n
Tennasserim, ii. 279n;
(Tanasari), 314n
Tents, the Khan’s, i. 404, 409n
Terebinth, i. 125n;
of Mamre, 132n, 135n
_Terlán_, goshawk, i. 57n
Teroa Mountains, ii. 420n
Terra Australis, ii. 274n
Te-Tsung, Emperor, ii. 28n
Thai, Great and Little, ii. 287n;
race, 278n
Thaigin, ii. 25n, 26n
Thai-yuanfu (Taianfu), ii. 12, 14n–17n
_Thard-wahsh_, _see_ Patterns, Beast and Bird
Theft, Tartar punishment of, i. 266, 268n
Theistic worship, i. 456, 458n
Thelasar, ii. 431n
Theobald, or Tedaldo of Piacenza, i. 17, 20, 21n, ii. 593n;
chosen Pope as Gregory X., i. 20;
sends friars with the Polos and presents, 22, 23n
Theodorus, king of Abyssinia, ii. 436n
Theodosius the Great, i. 49n
Theophilus, Emperor of Constantinople, i. 385n
—— missionary, ii. 409n
Thévenot, _Travels_, i. 81n
Thian Shan, i. 175n, 177n, 191n
Thianté-Kiun, i. 286n
Thin l’Evêque, siege of, ii. 163n, 165n
_Thinae_ of Ptolemy, ii. 27n
Tholoman, _see_ Coloman
Thomas, Edward, i. 87n, ii. 115n, 164n
—— of Mancasola, Bishop of Samarcand, i. 186n
Thread, Brahmanical, ii. 363
Three kingdoms (San-Kwé), ii. 38n
Threshold, a great offence to step on the, i. 383, 385n
Thurán Shah’s History of Hormuz, i. 120n
Tibet (Tebet) province, ii. 42, 49;
boundary of, 49, 52n;
its acquisition by Mongols, 46n;
organisation under Kúblái, 46n;
dogs of, 45, 49, 52n
Tibetan language and character, i. 29n;
origin of the Yue-chi, 174n
Tibetans, i. 165n;
superstitions of, 208n, 209n;
and Kashmiris (Tebet and Keshimur), sorceries of, 301, 315n;
accused of cannibalism, 301, 312n
Tides in Hang-chau estuary, ii. 150n, 208n
Tierce, half-tierce, etc., hours of, ii. 364, 368n
Tiflis, i. 49n, 57n, 58n
Tigado, Castle of, i. 148n
Tigers (called lions by Polo), ii. 225, 231n, 411;
trained to the chase, i. 397, 399n;
in Cuncun, ii. 31;
in Caindu, 56;
Kwei-chau, 127n.
(_See_ also Lions.)
Tigris River (Volga), i. 5, 9n;
at Baghdad, 63, 64n
Tigúdar (Acomat Soldan), ii. 468n
Tiju, ii. 153, 154n
Tiles, enamelled, i. 364, 370n
Tilinga, Telingana, Tiling, Telenc, ii. 362n, 427n
Tiling, ii. 427n
Timur of Toumen, chief of the Nikoudrians, i. 102n
Timur the Great, i. 5n, 9n, 45n, 49n, 52n, 61n, 86n, 152n, 155n,
187n, ii. 166n
Timurids, the, i. 85n
Ting, 10 taels of silver = tael of gold, i. 427n, ii. 217n, 218n
Tinju, ii. 153, 154n
Tinnevelly, ii. 359n, 373n, 403n
Tithe on clothing material, i. 445
Tithing men, Chinese (_Pao-kia_), ii. 200n
Titus, Emperor, i. 66n
Tjajya, _see_ Choiach
Toba race, i. 205n
Toctai, king, _see_ Toktai
Tod, Colonel James, i. 104n, 114n, 169n, 183n
Toddy, _see_ Wine of Palm
Togan, ii. 471, 474n
Toghrul I., i. 49n
—— Shah of Kermán, i. 113n
Toghon Temur, last Mongol Emperor, i. 228n;
his wail, 305n
Togrul Wang Khan, _see_ Prester John
Toka Tumir, i. 8n
Tokat, i. 45n
Toktai Khan (Toctai, Lord of the Ponent), _72_, ii. 487, 491, 496;
wars with Noghai, 499;
his symbolic message, 497n, 498n
Tolan-nur (Dolonnúr), i. 26n
Toleto, John de, Cardinal Bishop of Portus, i. 21n
Tolobuga, ii. 496, 497n
Toman (Tuman, etc.), Mongol word for 10,000, i. 261, 263n, ii. 192,
200n, 217n, 218n, 462n
Tongking, Tungking, ii. 119n, 120n, 128n, 131n
Tooth-relique of Buddha, ii. 319–320;
history of, 329n–330n
Torchi, Dorjé, Kúblái’s first-born, i. 361n
Tornesel, i. 423, 426n
Torro River, i. 345n
Torshok, ii. 489n
Torture by constriction in raw hide, i. 262n
_Toscaul_, _tosḳáúl_ (_toscaol_), watchman, i. 403, 407n
Tournefort, on cold at Erzrum, i. 49n
Tower and Bell Alarm at Peking, i. 375, 378n;
at Kinsay, ii. 189
Toyan (Tathung?), i. 286n
Trade at Layas, i. 41;
by Baghdad, 63;
at Tauris, 75;
at Cambaluc, 415;
in Shan-si, ii. 22;
on the Great Kiang, 36, 170;
at Chinangli, 135;
at Sinju Matu, 138;
Kinsay, 187, 190, 202, 216;
Fu-chau 231;
Zayton 234;
Java, 272;
Malaiur, 280;
Cail, 370;
Coilum, 375;
Melibar, 389;
Tana, 395;
Cambaet, 398;
Kesmacoran, 401;
Socotra, 407
—— of India with Hormuz, i. 107;
with Egypt by Aden, ii. 438, 439n;
with Esher, 442;
with Dofar, 444;
with Calatu, 450
Trades in Manzi, alleged to be hereditary, ii. 186, 196n
_Tramontaine_, ii. 296n
Transmigration, i. 456, ii. 213n, 318–319
Traps for fur animals, ii. 481, 483n
Travancore, ii. 383n, 403n;
Rajas of, 380n
Treasure of Maabar kings, ii. 340, 348n–349n
Trebizond, _43_, i. 19n, 36, 46;
Emperors of, and their tails, ii. 302n
Trebuchets, ii. 159, 160n, 161n
Trees, of the Sun and Moon, i. 129n, 130n;
superstitions about, 131n–135n;
by the highways, 440;
camphor, ii. 234, 237n;
producing wine, 292, 297n, 300, 313;
producing flour (sago), 300, 304n–305n
_Tregetoures_, i. 386n
Trench, Archbishop, i. 201n, ii. 82n
Trevisano, Azzo, _8_, _17_, _25_, _65_
—— Marc’Antonio, Doge, _8_, _78_
Trincomalee, ii. 337n
Tringano, ii. 279n
Trinkat, ii. 308n
‘Trusty lieges,’ devoted comrades of king of Maabar, ii. 339, 347n
T’sang-chau, ii. 133n, 137n
_T’siang-kiun_ (‘General’), ii. 138n, 261n
Ts’ien-T’ang River, ii. 194n, 198n, 208n, 214n, 220n–222n;
bore in, 150n, 208n
T’si-nan-fu (Chinangli), ii. 137n, 138n
T’sing-chau, ii. 138n
T’sing-ling range, ii. 35n
T’si-ning-chau, ii. 137n, 139n
Tsin-tsun, ii. 229n
Tsiuan-chau, T’swanchau, _see_ Zayton
Tsongkhapa, Tibetan Reformer, i. 315n
Ts’uan-chou, _see_ Zayton
Tsukuzi in Japan, ii. 260n
Tsung-ngan-hien, ii. 224n
Tsushima, Island, ii. 260n
Tuan, Prince, chief of the Boxers, i. 282n
_Tuc_, _tuk_, _tugh_, commanders of 100,000, horse-tail or yak-tail
standard, i. 261, 263n
Tudai, Ahmad Khan’s wife, ii. 471n
Tudai-Mangku (Totamangu or Totamangul), ii. 491, 492n, 496, 497n, 499
Tu-fan, ancient name of Tibet, ii. 46n
Tughan, Tukan, Kúblái’s son, i. 361n, ii. 270n
Tughlak Shah, of Delhi (a Karaunah), i. 101n
Tuktugai Khan, i. 9n
Tu-ku-hun, i. 193n
Tuli, or Tulin, fourth son of Chinghiz, ii. 32n
Tuman, _see_ Toman
Tumba, Angelo di, _25_;
Marco di, _65_
Tún, city of E. Persia, i. 86n, 124n
Tung-’an in Fokien, ii. 243n
_Tungani_, or Converts, Mahomedans in N. China and Chinese Turkestan,
i. 291n
Tung-chau (Tinju), ii. 154n
Tung-hwang-hien, ancient Shachau, i. 206n
Tung-kwan, fortress of the Kin sovereigns, ii. 14n, 25n, 27n
_Tung-lo_ (Kumiz), i. 259n
Tunguses, i. 271n
Tunny fish, i. 108, 416n, ii. 442
Tun-o-kain (Tunocain), kingdom of Persia, i. 83, 86n, 127, 128n,
138n, 145n
Turbit (radex Turpethi), ii. 389, 391n
Turcomania (Anatolian Turkey), i. 43
Turgaut, day-watch, i. 381n
Turkey, Great (Turkestan), i. 191, ii. 286n, 452, 457, 458, 462, 477
Turkistan chiefs send mission to kings of India, ii. 370n
Turkmans and Turks, distinction between, i. 44n, 101n;
horses, 43, 44n
Turks, ancient mention of, i. 56;
friend of Polo’s, 213;
and Mongols, 294n
Turmeric, ii. 226n
Turner, Lieutenant Samuel, describes Yak of Tartary, i. 277n
Turquans, Turkish horses, i. 43
Turquoises in Kermán, i. 90, 92n;
in Caindu, ii. 53
Turtle doves, i. 97, 99n
Turumpak, Hormuz, i. 111n
Tutia (Tutty), preparation of, i. 125, 126n, ii. 398
Tuticorin, ii. 372n
Tu T’song, Sung Emperor of China, ii. 150n, 211n
Tver, ii. 489n
Twelve, a favourite round number, ii. 426n
—— Barons over Khan’s Administration, i. 430, ii. 154
Twigs or arrows, divination by, i. 241, 242n
Tyuman, ii. 481n
Tyunju, porcelain manufacture, ii. 235, 242n
Tylor, Dr. E. B., on _Couvade_, ii. 93n, 94n
Tzarev, i. 6n
Tzaritzyn, i. 6n, 57n
Ucaca (Ukak, Ukek, Uwek), i. 5, 8n, 9n;
Ukák of Ibn Batuta, a different place, ii. 488n
Uch-baligh, _134_
Uch-Multán, i. 86n
Udoe country, ii. 42, 598n
Udong, ii. 279n
Udyána, i. 164n
Ughuz, legend of, ii. 485n
Uighúr character, parent of present Mongol writing, i. 14n, 28n,
160n, 353n
Uighúrs, the, i. 76n, 214n, 227n, ii. 179n, 462n
Uiraca, i. 282n
Uirad, _see_ Oirad
Ujjain, legend of, ii. 349n;
(_Ozene_), 397n, 426n
Ukak, ii. 488n.
(_See_ Ucaca.)
Ulatai (Oulatay), Tartar envoy from Persia, i. 32, 33n, ii. 471, 474n
Ulakhai, i. 282n
Ulan Muren (Red River), i. 250n
Ulugh Bagh, on Badakhshan border, i. 154n
—— Mohammed, i. 8n
Ulús, the, i. 10n
U-man and Pe-man (Black and White Barbarians), ii. 73n
Umbrellas, i. 351, 354n, 355n
Unc Can (Aung Khan), _see_ Prester John
Ung (Ungkút), Tartar tribe, i. 285, 294n
Ungrat (Kungurat), Tartar tribe, i. 357, 358n
Unicorn (Rhinoceros), in Burma, ii. 107;
Sumatra, 285, 289, 299;
legend of Virgin and, 285, 290n;
horns of, 291n
Unken, City, ii. 226, 229n, 230n, 233n
Unlucky hours, ii. 364
U-nya-Mwezi superstition, i. 130n
Urduja, Princess, ii. 465n
Uriangkadai, ii. 46n
Uriangkut (Tunguses), i. 271n
Urianhai, the, i. 271n
Urumtsi, i. 201n, 214n
Urzú, i. 122n
Uspenskoye (called also Bolgarskoye), i. 7n
Uttungadeva, king of Java, ii. 275n
Uwek, _see_ Ucaca
Uzbeg Khan of Sarai, i. 4n, 6n, 352n
Uzbegs of Kunduz, i. 156n, 163n
Uzun Tati, coins, Chinese porcelain from, ii. 595n
Vair, the fur and animal, i. 257, ii. 479, 483n, 484n, 486n, 487
—— as an epithet of eyes, _124_
Valaghir district, i. 54n
Vámbéry, Prof. Hermann, i. 10n, 28n, 54n, 57n, 170n, 214n, 237n,
401n, ii. 465
Vanchu (Wangchu), conspires with Chenchu against Ahmad, i. 417–419,
422n
Van Lake, i. 57n
Varaegian, Varangian, ii. 490n
Varaha Mihira, astronomer, i. 104n
Vardoj River, i. 156n, 172n
_Varini_, ii. 490n
Varsach, or Mashhad River, i. 155n, 156n
_Vasmulo_, i. 292n
_Vateria Indica_, ii. 396n
Veil of the Temple, πέπλος βαβυλώνιος, i. 66
Vellalars, ii. 372n
Venádan, title of king of Kaulam, ii. 380n
Venetians, factory at Soldaia, i. 4n;
expelled from Constantinople, 19n
Venice, _2_, _15_, _16_, i. 2, 18, 19, 36, 41;
return of Polos to, _4_, _24_, _54_, i. 36;
its exaltation after Latin conquest of Constantinople, _9_;
its nobles, _14_;
Polo’s mansion at, _23_ _seqq._;
galleys, _32_ _seqq._;
archives at, _70_ _seqq._;
articles brought from East by Marco to, i. 274, ii. 299, 305n
Ventilators at Hormuz, ii. 452, 453n
Verlinden, Belgian missionary, i. 249n
_Verniques_, i. 382, 384n
_Verzino Colombino_, ii. 380n.
(_See_ also Brazil.)
Vessels, war, i. 34, 37n;
stitched of Kermán (πλοιάρια ῥαπτά), i. 108, 117n, ii. 415n;
on the Kiang, 170, 171, 173n.
(_See_ also Ships.)
Vial, Paul, French missionary, ii. 63n
Vijayanagar, 362n
Vikramajit, legend of, ii. 349n
Vikrampúr, ii. 99n
Villard de Honnecourt, Album of, ii. 164n
Vincent of Beauvais, ii. 325n
Vincenzo, P., ii. 410n
Vineyards, in Taican, i. 153;
Kashgar, 181;
Khotan, 188;
in N. China, ii. 10, 11n, 13, 15n
Vinson, Prof., on _Couvade_, ii. 91n
Virgin of Cape Comorin, ii. 382n
Visconti, Tedaldo, or Tebaldo, _see_ Theobald of Piacenza
Vissering, on _Chinese Currency_, i. 428n, 429n
Vochan (Unchan, Yungchan), ii. 84, 86, 89n;
battle there, 98, 101, 104n–106n
Vogels, J., ii. 601n, 602n
Vokhan, _see_ Wakhán
Volga, called Tigris, i. 5, 7n, 9n, ii. 485n, 488n
Vos, Belgian Missionary, i. 249n
Vughin, ii. 182
Vuju in Kiangnan, ii. 182
—— in Che-kiang, ii. 219
Wadoe tribe, ii. 420n
Wakf, i. 67n
Wakhán (Vokhan), dialect, i. 162n, 171, 173n
—— Mountains, i. 162n, 175n
Wakhjīr Pass, i. 175n, ii. 594n
Wakhijrui Pass, _see_ Wakhjīr Pass
Wakhsh, branch of the Oxus, ii. 5n
Wakhtang II. king of Georgia, i. 53n
Walashjird, i. 106n
Wallachs, ii. 489n, 491n
Wall of Alexander (or Caucasian), i. 50, 53n
—— of Gog and Magog (_i.e._ China), _111_, i. 285, 292n
Walnut-oil, i. 158, 162n
Wami River, ii. 420n
_Wang_, Chinese silk, i. 237n, 361n, ii. 113n
Wang, king of Djungar, i. 250n
Wangchu, _see_ Vanchu
Wapila, i. 54n
Warangol Ku, ii. 362n
Warangs, ii. 490n
Warner, Dr., ii. 604n
War vessels, Chinese, i. 34, 37n
Wassáf, the historian, i. 68n;
his character of the Karaunahs, 101n;
notices of Hormuz, 120n, 121n;
eulogy of Kúblái, 332n;
story of Kúblái, 440n;
his style, ii. 150n;
account of taking of Siang-yang, 150n, 167n;
of Kinsay, 213n;
Maabar, 333n;
horse trade to India, 348n;
treatment of them there, 351n;
extract from his history, 495n
Water, bitter, i. 110, 122n, 194
—— custom of lying in, i. 108, 119n;
consecration by Lamas, 309n
—— Clock, i. 378n
Wathek, Khalif, i. 57n
Wa-tzŭ, Lolo slaves, ii. 63n
Weather-conjuring, i. 301, 309n–311n
Wei dynasty, i. 205n, ii. 437n
Weights and measures, ii. 590n–592n
Wei-ning, ii. 130n
Wei River in Shen-si, ii. 27n, 29n, 35n
—— in Shan-tung, ii. 139n
Wen River, ii. 139n
Wen-chow, ii. 239n
Westermarck, _Human Marriage_, ii. 48n, 93n
Whale oil, including spermaceti, i. 108,
117n, ii. 407, 408n
Whales, ii. 249; in Socotra, 407;
Madagascar, 411, 414n;
species of Indian Ocean, 408n;
sperm (Capdoille), 411, 414n
Wheaten bread not eaten, i. 438n;
at Yachi, ii. 66, 74n
White bears, ii. 479
—— bone, Chinese for Lolos, ii. 63n
—— camels, i. 281
—— City, meaning of term among Tartars, i. 297n, ii. 14n
—— City, of Manzi frontier, ii. 34n
—— Devils, ii. 355, 359n
—— Feast at Kúblái’s City, i. 390, 392n
—— Horde, ii. 481n
—— horses and mares, i. 300, 390;
offered to Khan, 308n
Whittington and his cat in Persia, i. 65n
Wild asses and oxen, _see_ Asses and Oxen
William of Tripoli, Friar, i. 22;
his writings, 23n, 24n
Williams, Dr. S. W., on the Chinese year, i. 388n;
on elephants at Peking, 392n
Williamson, Rev. A., i. 135n, 217n, ii. 8n, 11n, 12n, 15n, 16n, 137n
Wilson, General Sir C., i. 45n
Wind, poison (Simúm), i. 108, 120n;
monsoons, ii. 264–265
Wine, of the vine, Persians lax in abstaining from, i. 84, 87n, 96n
—— boiled, i. 84, 87n, 153n, 155n
—— of ancient Kapisa, i. 155n; Khotan, 188;
at Taianfu, ii. 13, 16n;
imported at Kinsay, 202
—— rice (_Samshu_ or _darásún_), i. 441;
and of wheat, ii. 56, 59n;
at Yachi, 66, 85;
spices, etc., in Caindu, 56;
Kien-ch’ang, 59n, 85;
Cangigu, 117;
Coloman 123;
Kinsay, 202, 204, 216
—— Palm (toddy), ii. 292, 297n, 376
—— from sugar, ii. 376, 442
—— date, i. 107, 115n, ii. 292, 297n, 442
—— (unspecified), at Khan’s table, i. 382;
not used in Ma’bar, ii. 342;
nor by Brahmans, 363
“Winter” used for “rainy season,” ii. 391n
Wo-fo-sze, “Monastery of the lying Buddha,” i. 221n
Wolves in Pamir, i. 171, 176n
Women, Island of, ii. 405n–406n
Women, of Kerman, their embroidery, i. 90;
mourners, 109;
of Khorasan, their beauty, 128;
of Badakhshan, 160;
Kashmir, 166;
Khotan, 191;
Kamul, fair and wanton, 210;
Tartar good and loyal, 252;
Erguiul, pretty creatures, 276;
of the town, 414, ii. 202;
of Tibet, evil customs, 44;
Caindu, 53;
Carajan, 66;
Zardandan, _couvade_, 85;
Anin, 116;
Kinsay, charming, 186;
respectful treatment of, 204;
Kelinfu, beautiful, 225;
Zanghibar, frightful, 423
Wonders performed by the Bacsi, i. 314 _et seqq._
Wood, Lieutenant John, Indian Navy, _20_, i. 156n;
his elucidations of Polo in Oxus regions, i. 174n
Wood-oil, ii. 251n, 252n
Wool, Salamander’s, i. 213, 216n
Worship of Mahomet (supposed), i. 188, 189n
—— of fire, 303;
Tartar, 256, 257;
Chinese, 456
—— of first object seen in the day, ii. 284, 288n
Worshipping the tablets, i. 391, 392n
Wu-chau (Vuju), ii. 222n
Wukiang-hien (Vughin), ii. 184n
Wüsus, or Wesses, people of Russia, ii. 486n
Wu-ti, Emperor, ii. 437n
Wylie, Alexander, _76_, i. 2n, 8n, 322n, 377n, 451n, 454n, ii. 19n,
28n, 38n, 169n, 184n, 194n, 209n, 212n
_Xanadu_, i. 305n
Xavier, at Socotra, ii. 409n
Xerxes, i. 135n
Ya-chau, ii. 45n, 48n, 70n
Yachi (Yun-nan-fu), city, ii. 66, 67n, 72n, 74n, 80n, 111n
_Yadah_, _Jadagari_, _Jadah-tásh_, science and stone of
weather-conjurer, i. 309n
Yaik River, i. 6n
Yájúj, and Májúj, _see_ Gog and Magog
Yak (dong), i. 274, 277n;
their tails carried to Venice, 274;
used in India for military decorations, ii. 355, 359n
Ya’kúb Beg of Kasghar, i. 189n
Yakuts, i. 309n, 446n, ii. 484n
Yalung River, ii. 67n, 69n, 72n
Yam, or Yamb (a post-stage or post-house), i. 433, 437n, ii. 213n
Yamgán, i. 162n
Yang-chau (Yanju), city, i. 29n, 432n, ii. 154n, 173n;
Marco’s government there, _22_, ii. 154, 157n
Yarbeg of Badakhshan, i. 156n
Yarkand (Yarcan), i. 187
_Yarligh_ and _P’aizah_, i. 322n, 352n
Yasdi (Yezd), i. 88
—— silk tissue, i. 88
_Yashm_, jade, i. 193n
Yasodhara, bride of Sakya Sinha, ii. 323n
Yavanas, ii. 372n
Yazdashír, i. 92n
Ydifu, i. 285, 295n
Year, Chinese, i. 388;
Mongol and Chinese cycle, 447, 454n
Yelimala, _see_ Monté d’Ely
Yeliu Chutsai, statesman and astronomer, ii. 17n
Yellow, or orthodox Lamas, i. 315n, 324n
Yemen, ii. 432n, 433n, 440n, 441n, 445n.
(_See_ also Aden.)
Yeng-chau (in Shan-tung), ii. 137n, 139n
—— (in Che-kiang), ii. 222n
Yen-king (Old Peking), i. 375n, 376n
Yen-Ping, ii. 230n
Yenshan, ii. 224n
Yesubuka, ii. 474n
Yesudar, ii. 459
Yesugai, father of Chinghiz, i. 237n
Yetsina (Etzina), i. 223
Yezd (Yasdi), i. 88;
silk fabrics of, ii. 11
Yiu-ki River, ii. 230n
Yoritomo, descendants of, ii. 262n
Yonting Ho River, ii. 6n
Yotkàn, village, i. 190n
Youth, Island of, ii. 381n
Yrac, province, i. 74
Ysemain of Hiulie, western engineer, ii. 167n
Yu, _see_ Jade
Yuan Ho, i. 29n
Yu-chow, gold and silver mines, i. 295n
Yue-chi, i. 174n
Yuen, Mongol Imperial dynasty, so styled, i. 29n, 377n
Yuen-hao, kingdom of Tangut, i. 282n
Yuen ming-yuen, palace, i. 307n
Yuen shi, History of Mongol Dynasty in China, i. 115n, 248n, 295n,
ii. 95n
Yugria, or Yughra, in the Far North, ii. 483n, 485n, 493n
Yuh-shan, ii. 222n, 224n
Yule, Sir Henry, ii. 602n;
on Ravenala, 597n;
on Maundeville, 604n
Yun-Hien, a Buddhist Abbot, i. 304n
Yung-chang fu (Shen-si), i. 276n
—— (Yun-nan, Vochan), ii. 84, 89n, 104n, 105n, 107n–109n
Yung Lo, Emperor, ii. 596n
Yun-nan (Carajan), province, ii. 40n, 45n, 56n, 57n, 59n–62n, 64,
67n, 72n, 80n, 81n, 82n, 90n, 95n, 104n, 107n, 115n, 120n, 124n,
127n–129n;
conquerors of, 46n, 80n;
Mahomedans, 74n
Yun-nan-fu city, _see_ Yachi
Yurungkásh (white Jade) River, i. 193n
Yusuf Kekfi, i. 85n
Yuthia, Ayuthia (Ayodhya), mediæval capital of Siam, _13_, ii. 278n,
279n
Yvo of Narbonne, i. 12n
Zabedj, ii. 283n
Zaila, ii. 413n, 435n, 436n
Zaitúníah, probable origin of satin, ii. 241n
Zampa, _see_ Champa
Zanghibar (Zangibar, Zanjibar, Zanzibar), ii. 405n, 412, 422, 424n;
currents off, 415n;
Ivory trade, 423, 424n;
its blacks, women, 423, 424n
Zanton (Shantung?), _3_
Zanzale, James, or Jacob Baradaeus, Bishop of Edessa, i. 61n
Zapharan, monastery near Baghdad, i. 61n
Zardandan, or “Gold Teeth,” a people of W. Yun-nan, ii. 84, 98;
identity doubtful, 88n;
characteristic customs, 90n
Zarncke, Fr., i. 139n
Zayton, Zaitún, Zeiton, Cayton (T’swan-chau, Chwan-chau, or Chinchew
of modern charts), the great mediæval port of China, ii. 175n,
231, 232n–233n, 234, 237n–243n;
Khan’s revenue from, 235;
porcelain, 235, 242n;
language, 236n, 243n–244n;
etymology, 237n;
mediæval notices, 237 _seqq._;
identity, 239n, 240n;
Chinchew, a name misapplied, 239n;
Christian churches at, 240n, 241n;
ships of, 264
Zayton, Andrew, Bishop of, ii. 237n
Zebák Valley, i. 165n
Zebu, humped oxen, i. 99n
Zedoary, ii. 388n
Zenghi, i. 61n
Zerms (Jerms), ii. 439n
Zerumbet, ii. 388n
Zettani, ii. 241n
Zhafar, _see_ Dhafar
Zic (Circassia), ii. 490, 492n
Zikas, ii. 228n, 309n, 311n
Zimmé, _see_ Kiang-mai
Zinc, i. 126n
Zinj, Zinjis, ii. 424n, 426n
Zobeidah, the lady, i. 156n
Zorza, _see_ Chorcha
Zu-’lḳarnain (Zulcarniain), “the Two Horned,” an epithet of
Alexander, i. 56n, 157, 160n
Zurficar (Zúrpica, Zulficar), a Turkish friend of Marco Polo’s, i. 213
[Illustration: THE LO-HAN SHAN-CHU TSUN CHE. No. 100 IN THE SERIES OF
THE FIVE HUNDRED LO-HAN.]
SER MARCO POLO
NOTES AND ADDENDA TO SIR HENRY
YULE’S EDITION, CONTAINING THE
RESULTS OF RECENT RESEARCH
AND DISCOVERY
BY HENRI CORDIER
PREFACE
There is no need of a long Preface to this small book. When the
third edition of the _Book of Ser Marco Polo_ was published in 1903,
criticism was lenient to the Editor of YULE’S grand work, and it was
highly satisfactory to me that such competent judges as Sir Aurel
STEIN and Sven HEDIN gave their approval to the remarks I made on
the itineraries followed in Central Asia by the celebrated Venetian
Traveller.
Nevertheless occasional remarks having been made by some of the
reviewers, proper notice was taken of them; moreover, it was impossible
to avoid some mistakes and omissions in a work including several
hundreds of pages. As years went on, extensive voyages were undertaken
by travellers like Sir Aurel STEIN, Sven HEDIN, PELLIOT, KOZLOV, and
others, who brought fresh and important information. I had myself
collected material from new works as they were issued and from old
works which had been neglected. In the mean time I had given a second
edition of _Cathay and the Way Thither_, having thus an opportunity to
explore old ground again and add new commentaries to the book.
All this material is embodied in the present volume which is to be
considered but as a supplementary volume of “Addenda” and “Corrigenda”
to the Book itself. I have gathered matter for a younger editor when
a fourth edition of the _Book of Ser Marco Polo_ is undertaken, age
preventing the present editor to entertain the hope to be able to do
the work himself.
To many who lent their aid have I to give my thanks: all are named in
the following pages, but I have special obligation to Sir Aurel STEIN,
to Dr. B. LAUFER, of Chicago, to Sir Richard TEMPLE, and to Prof. Paul
PELLIOT, of the College de France, Paris, who furnished me with some of
the more important notes. A paper by Prof. E. H. PARKER in the _Asiatic
Quarterly Review_ proved also of considerable help.
HENRI CORDIER.
PARIS, 8, RUE DE SIAM,
11_th of November_, 1919.
A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SIR HENRY YULE’S WRITINGS.
—— Notes [miscellaneous] by H. Yule, Palermo, August 28th, 1872.
(_Indian Antiquary_, I. 1872, pp. 320–321.)
—— “Discovery of Sanskrit.” By H. Yule, Palermo, Dec. 26th, 1872.
(_Indian Antiquary_, II. 1873, p. 96.)
—— “Sopeithes, King of the Κηκεοί.” By H. Yule. (_Indian Antiquary_,
II. 1873, p. 370.)
—— The Geography of Ibn Batuta’s Travels in India. By Col. H. Yule,
Palermo. (_Indian Antiquary_, III. 1874, pp. 114–117, 209–212.)
—— The Geography of Ibn Batuta’s Travels. By Col. H. Yule, C.B.
(_Ibid._ pp. 242–244.)
—— Mediæval Ports of Western and Southern India, etc., named in the
Tohfat-al-Majâhidîn. By Col. H. Yule, C.B., Palermo. (_Indian
Antiquary_, III. 1874, pp. 212–214.)
—— Malifattan. By Col. H. Yule, C.B., Palermo. (_Indian Antiquary_,
IV. 1875, pp. 8–10.)
—— Champa. By H. Yule. (_Indian Antiquary_, VI. 1877, pp. 228–230.)
From the _Geog. Mag._, March, 1877, IV. pp. 66–67. Written for
the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, but omitted.
—— Specimen of a Discursive Glossary of Anglo-Indian Terms. By H. Y.
and A. C. B. (_Indian Antiquary_, VIII. 1879, pp. 52–54, 83–86,
173–176, 201–204, 231–233.)
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE v
A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SIR HENRY YULE’S WRITINGS vii
MARCO POLO AND HIS BOOK
INTRODUCTORY NOTICES 3
PROLOGUE 13
Sarai—Shang tu—Khitán inscription
BOOK I. ACCOUNT OF REGIONS VISITED OR HEARD OF ON THE JOURNEY
FROM THE LESSER ARMENIA TO THE COURT OF THE GREAT KAAN AT
CHANDU 15
Baudas—Nasich—Death of Mostas’im—Tauris—Cala Ataperistan—
Persia—Fat-tailed sheep—The Caraunas Robbers—Pashai—Hormos—
Tun-o-Kain—Tutia—Arbre sec—Old Man of the Mountain—Road to
Sapurgan—Dogana—Badakhshan—Wakhan—Plateau of Pamir—Paonano
Pao—Yue Chi—Bolor— Khotan—Pein—City of Lop—Great Desert—
Camul—Chingintalas—Sukchur—Campichu—Etzina—Tatar—
Karacathayans—Keraits—Death of Chingiz Khan—Táilgan—Marriage—
_Tengri_—Coats of Mail—Reindeer— Sinju—Gurun—King George—
Tenduc—Christians.
BOOK II. PART I. THE KAAN, HIS COURT AND CAPITAL 65
Nayan—_P’ai Tzŭ_—Mongol Imperial Family—Hunting Leopard—
Cachar Modun—Bark of Trees—Value of Gold—_Ch’ing siang_—
Cycle of Twelve—Persian.
BOOK II. PART II. JOURNEY TO THE WEST AND SOUTH-WEST OF CATHAY 75
Wine and Vines—Christian Monument at Si-ngan fu—Khumdan—
Mubupa—_Chien tao_—Sindafu—Tibet—Wild Oxen—Kiung tu—Karajang—
Zardandan—Couvade—King of Mien—Burma—Nga-tshaung-gyan—Caugigu.
BOOK II. PART III. JOURNEY SOUTHWARD THROUGH EASTERN PROVINCES
OF CATHAY AND MANZI 91
Ch’ang Lu Salt—_Sangon_—Li T’an—Sinjumatu—Great Canal—Caiju—
Lin Ngan—Yanju—Yang Chau—Siege of Saianfu—_P’ao_—Alans—Vuju—
Kinsay—Silky Fowls—Sugar—Zaitun.
BOOK III. JAPAN, THE ARCHIPELAGO, SOUTHERN INDIA, AND THE COASTS
AND ISLANDS OF THE INDIAN SEA 101
Náfún—Japanese War—Chamba—Pulo Condore—Locac—Lawaki—Pentam—
Tana-Malayu—Malacca—Sumatra—Ferlec—Sago Tree—Angamanain—Dog-
headed Barbarians—Ceylon—Sagamoni Borcan—Barlaam and Josaphat—
Tanjore—Chinese Pagoda at Negapatam—Suttees in India—Maabar—
St. Thomas—Calamina—Cail—Sappan—Fandaraina—Gozurat—Two Islands
called Male and Female—Scotra—The Rukh—Giraffes—Zanghibar—
Aden— Esher—Dufar—Frankincense.
BOOK IV. WARS AMONG THE TARTAR PRINCES AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
NORTHERN COUNTRIES 127
Russia
APPENDICES 131
LIST OF MSS. OF MARCO POLO’S BOOK SO FAR AS THEY ARE KNOWN 133
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MARCO POLO’S BOOK 137
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PRINTED EDITIONS 137
TITLES OF SUNDRY BOOKS AND PAPERS WHICH TREAT OF MARCO POLO
AND HIS BOOK 139
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE 144
ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS 144
INDEX 151
MARCO POLO AND HIS BOOK.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICES.
Introduction, p. _6_.
Speaking of Pashai, Sir Aurel Stein (_Geog. Journ._), referring to
the notes and memoranda brought home by the great Venetian traveller,
has the following remarks: “We have seen how accurately it reproduces
information about territories difficult of access at all times, and far
away from his own route. It appears to me quite impossible to believe
that such exact data, learned at the very beginning of the great
traveller’s long wanderings, could have been reproduced by him from
memory alone close on thirty years later when dictating his wonderful
story to Rusticiano during his captivity at Genoa. Here, anyhow, we
have definite proof of the use of those ‘notes and memoranda which he
had brought with him,’ and which, as Ramusio’s ‘Preface’ of 1553 tells
us (see Yule, _Marco Polo_, I., Introduction, p. _6_), Messer Marco,
while prisoner of war, was believed to have had sent to him by his
father from Venice. How grateful must geographer and historical student
alike feel for these precious materials having reached the illustrious
prisoner safely!”
Introduction, p. _10 n_.
KHAKHAN.
“Mr. Rockhill’s remarks about the title _Khakhan_ require
supplementing. Of course, the Turks did not use the term before 560
(552 was the exact year), because neither they nor their name ‘Turk’
had any self-assertive existence before then, and until that year they
were the ‘iron-working slaves’ of the Jou-jan. The Khakhan of those
last-named Tartars naturally would not allow the petty tribe of Turk to
usurp his exclusive and supreme title. But even a century and a half
before this, the ruler of the T’u-kuh-hun nomads had already borne the
title of Khakhan, which (the late Dr. Bretschneider agreed with me in
thinking) was originally of Tungusic and not of Turkish origin. The
T’u-kuh-hun were of the same race as the half-Mongol, half-Tungusic
Tobas, who ruled for two centuries over North China.... The title of
Khakhan, in various bastard forms, was during the tenth century used by
the Kings of Khoten and Kuche, as well as by the petty Ouigour Kings of
Kan Chou, Si Chou, etc.” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan.,
1904, pp. 139–140.)
Introduction, p. _19_. [The] second start [of the Venetians] from Acre
took place about November, 1271.
M. Langlois remarks that the last stay of the Polos at Acre was
necessarily before the 18th November, 1271, date of the departure of
Gregory X. for the West. Cf. _Itinéraires à Jérusalem et Descriptions
de la Terre-Sainte rédigés en français aux XIᵉ, XIIᵉ et XIIIᵉ siècles_,
publ. par H. MICHELANT et G. RAYNAUD (Genève, 1882), pp. xxviii–xxix:
“La date de 1269, donnée seulement par un des manuscrits de la
rédaction de Thibaut de Cépoy, pour le premier séjour à Acre des Polo
et leur rencontre avec Tedaldo Visconti, qui allait être élu pape et
prendre le nom de Grégoire X., date préférée par tous les éditeurs à
celles évidemment erronées de Rusticien de Pise (1260) et des huit
autres manuscrits de Thibaut de Cépoy (1250 et 1260), n’est pas hors
de toute discussion. M. G. Tononi, archiprêtre de Plaisance, qui
prépare une histoire et une édition des œuvres de Grégoire X., me fait
remarquer que les chroniqueurs ne placent le départ de Tedaldo pour la
Terre-Sainte qu’après celui de S. Louis pour Tunis (2 juillet 1270),
et que, d’après un acte du _Trésor des Chartes_, Tedaldo était encore
à Paris le 28 décembre 1269. Il faudrait donc probablement dater de
1271 le premier et le deuxième séjour des Polo à Acre, et les placer
tous deux entre le 9 mai, époque de l’arrivée en Terre-Sainte d’Edouard
d’Angleterre,—avec lequel, suivant _l’Eracles_, aborda Tedaldo—et le 18
novembre, date du départ du nouveau pape pour l’Occident.” (Cf. _Hist.
litt. de la France_, XXXV, _Marco Polo_.)
Introduction, p. _19 n_.
I have here discussed Major Sykes’ theory of Polo’s itinerary
in Persia; the question was raised again by Major Sykes in the
_Geographical Journal_, October, 1905, pp. 462–465. I answered again,
and I do not think it necessary to carry on farther this controversy.
I recall that Major Sykes writes: “To conclude, I maintain that Marco
Polo entered Persia near Tabriz, whence he travelled to Sultania,
Kashan, Yezd, Kerman, and Hormuz. From that port, owing to the
unseaworthiness of the vessels, the presence of pirates, the fact
that the season was past, or for some other reason, he returned by a
westerly route to Kerman, and thence crossed the Lut to Khorasan.”
I replied in the _Geographical Journal_, Dec., 1905, pp. 686–687:
“Baghdad, after its fall in 1258, did not cease immediately to be
‘rather off the main caravan route.’ I shall not refer Major Sykes
to what I say in my editions of ‘Odorico’ and ‘Polo’ on the subject,
but to the standard work of Heyd, _Commerce du Levant_, Vol. 2, pp.
77, 78. The itinerary, Tabriz, Sultania, Kashan, Yezd, was the usual
route later on, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and it
was followed, among others, by Fra Odorico, of Pordenone. Marco Polo,
on his way to the Far East—you must not forget that he was at Acre
in 1271—could not have crossed Sultania, which _did not exist_, as
its building was commenced by Arghún Khan, who ascended the throne in
1284, and was continued by Oeljaitu (1304–1316), who gave the name
of Sultania to the city.” Cf. Lieut.-Col. P. M. SYKES, _A History of
Persia_, 1915, 2 vols., 8vo; II., p. 181 n.
Introduction, p. _21_. M. Pauthier has found a record in the Chinese
Annals of the Mongol dynasty, which states that in the year 1277,
a certain POLO was nominated a second-class commissioner or agent
attached to the Privy Council, a passage which we are happy to believe
to refer to our young traveller.
Prof. E. H. Parker remarks (_Asiatic Quart. Review_, 3rd Series, Vol.
XVII., Jan., 1904, pp. 128–131): “M. Pauthier has apparently overlooked
other records, which make it clear that the identical individual in
question had already received honours from Kúblái many years before
Marco’s arrival in 1275. Perhaps the best way to make this point
clear would be to give all the original passages which bear upon the
question. The number I give refer to the chapter and page (first half
or second half of the double page) of the _Yuan Shï_:—
A. Chap. 7, p. 1²⁄₂: 1270, second moon. Kúblái inspects a court pageant
prepared by Puh-lo and others.
B. Chap. 7, p. 6¹⁄₂: 1270, twelfth moon. The _yü-shï chung-ch’êng_
(censor) Puh-lo made also President of the _Ta-sz-nung_ department.
One of the ministers protested that there was no precedent for a
censor holding this second post. Kúblái insisted.
C. Chap. 8, p. 16¹⁄₂: 1275, second moon. Puh-lo and another sent to look
into the Customs taxation question in Tangut.
D. Chap. 8, p. 22¹⁄₂: 1275, fourth moon. The _Ta-sz-nung_ and _yü-shï
chung-ch’êng_ Puh-lo promoted to be _yü-shï ta-fu_.
E. Chap. 9, p. 11²⁄₂: 1276, seventh moon. The Imperial Prince Puh-lo
given a seal.
F. Chap. 9, p. 16²⁄₂: 1277, second moon. The _Ta-sz-nung_ and _yü-shï
ta-fu_, Puh-lo, being also _süan-wei-shï_ and Court Chamberlain,
promoted to be _shu-mih fu-shï_, and also _süan-hwei-shï_ and Court
Chamberlain.
“The words _shu-mih fu-shï_, the Chinese characters for which are given
on p. 569 of M. Cordier’s second volume, precisely mean ‘Second-class
Commissioner attached to the Privy Council,’ and hence it is clear that
Pauthier was totally mistaken in supposing the censor of 1270 to have
been Marco. Of course the Imperial Prince Puh-lo is not the same person
as the censor, nor is it clear who the (1) pageant and (2) Tangut
Puh-los were, except that neither could possibly have been Marco, who
only arrived in May—the third moon—at the very earliest.
“In the first moon of 1281 some gold, silver, and bank-notes were
handed to Puh-lo for the relief of the poor. In the second moon of
1282, just before the assassination of Achmed, the words ‘Puh-lo the
Minister’ (_ch’êng-siang_) are used in connection with a case of fraud.
In the seventh moon of 1282 (after the fall of Achmed) the ‘Mongol
man Puh-lo’ was placed in charge of some gold-washings in certain
towers of the then Hu Pêh (now in Hu Nan). In the ninth moon of the
same year a commission was sent to take official possession of all the
gold-yielding places in Yün Nan, and Puh-lo was appointed _darugachi_
(= governor) of the mines. In this case it is not explicitly stated
(though it would appear most likely) that the two gold superintendents
were the same man; if they were, then neither could have been Marco,
who certainly was no ‘Mongol man.’ Otherwise there would be a great
temptation to identify this event with the mission to ‘_una città,
detta Carazan_’ of the Ramusio Text.
“There is, however, one man who may possibly be Marco, and that is the
Poh-lo who was probably with Kúblái at Chagan Nor when the news of
Achmed’s murder by Wang Chu arrived there in the third moon of 1282.
The Emperor at once left for Shang-tu (_i.e._ _K’ai-p’ing Fu_, north
of Dolonor), and ‘ordered the _shu-mih fu-shï_ Poh-lo [with two other
statesmen] to proceed with all speed to Ta-tu (_i.e._ to Cambalu).
On receiving Poh-lo’s report, the Emperor became convinced of the
deceptions practised upon him by Achmed, and said: “It was a good thing
that Wang Chu _did_ kill him.”’ In 1284 Achmed’s successor is stated
(chap. 209, p. 9½) to have recommended Poh-lo, amongst others, for
minor Treasury posts. The same man (chap. 209, p. 12½) subsequently
got Poh-lo appointed to a salt superintendency in the provinces; and
as Yang-chou is the centre of the salt trade, it is just possible that
Marco’s ‘governorship’ of that place may resolve itself into this.
“There are many other Puh-lo and Poh-lo mentioned, both before Marco’s
arrival in, and subsequently to Marco’s departure in 1292 from, China.
In several cases (as, for instance, in that of P. Timur) both forms
occur in different chapters for the same man; and a certain Tartar
called ‘Puh-lan Hi’ is also called ‘Puh-lo Hi.’ One of Genghis Khan’s
younger brothers was called Puh-lo Kadei. There was, moreover, a
Cathayan named Puh-lo, and a Naiman Prince Poh-lo. Whether ‘Puh-lo the
Premier’ or ‘one of the Ministers,’ mentioned in 1282, is the same
person as ‘Poh-lo the _ts’an chêng_,’ or ‘Prime Minister’s assistant’
of 1284, I cannot say. Perhaps, when the whole _Yüan Shï_ has been
thoroughly searched throughout in all its editions, we may obtain more
certain information. Meanwhile, one thing is plain: Pauthier is wrong,
Yule is wrong in that particular connection; and M. Cordier gives us
no positive view of his own. The other possibilities are given above,
but I scarcely regard any of them as probabilities. On p. 99 of his
Introduction, Colonel Yule manifestly identifies the Poh-lo of 1282
with Marco; but the identity of his title with that of Puh-lo in 1277
suggests that the two men are one, in which case neither can be Marco
Polo. On p. 422 of vol. i. Yule repeats this identification in his
notes. I may mention that much of the information given in the present
article was published in Vol. XXIV. of the _China Review_ two or three
years ago. I notice that M. Cordier quotes that volume in connection
with other matters, but this particular point does not appear to have
caught his eye.
“As matters now stand, there is a fairly strong presumption that Marco
Polo is _once_ named in the Annals; but there is no irrefragable
evidence; and in any case it is only this once, and not as Pauthier has
it.”
Cf. also note by Prof. E. H. Parker, _China Review_, XXV. pp. 193–4,
and, according to Prof. Pelliot (_Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_,
July-Sept., 1904, p. 769), the biography of Han Lin-eul in the _Ming
shi_, k. 122, p. 3.
Prof. Pelliot writes to me: “Il faut renoncer une bonne fois à
retrouver Marco Polo dans le Po-lo mêlé à l’affaire d’Ahmed. Grâce
aux titulations successives, nous pouvons reconstituer la carrière
administrative de ce Po-lo, au moins depuis 1271, c’est-à-dire depuis
une date antérieure à l’arrivée de Marco Polo à la cour mongole.
D’autre part, Rashid-ud-Din mentionne le rôle joué dans l’affaire
d’Ahmed par le Pulad-aqa, c’est-à-dire Pulad Chinsang, son informateur
dans les choses mongoles, mais la forme mongole de ce nom de _Pulad_
est _Bolod_, en transcription chinoise _Po-lo_. J’ai signalé (_T’oung
Pao_, 1914, p. 640) que des textes chinois mentionnent effectivement
que Po-lo (Bolod), envoyé en mission auprès d’Arghún en 1285, resta
ensuite en Perse. C’est donc en définitive le Pulad (= Bolod) de
Rashid-ud-Din qui serait le Po-lo qu’à la suite de Pauthier on a trop
longtemps identifié à Marco Polo.”
Introduction, p. _23_.
“The _Yüan Shï_ contains curious confirmation of the facts which led
up to Marco Polo’s conducting a wife to Arghún of Persia, who lost his
spouse in 1286. In the eleventh moon of that year (say January, 1287)
the following laconic announcement appears: ‘T’a-ch’a-r Hu-nan ordered
to go on a mission to A-r-hun.’ It is possible that Tachar and Hunan
may be two individuals, and, though they probably started overland,
it is probable that they were in some way connected with Polo’s first
and unsuccessful attempt to take the girl to Persia.” (E. H. PARKER,
_Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 136.)
Introduction, p. _76 n_.
With regard to the statue of the Pseudo-Marco Polo of Canton, Dr. B.
Laufer, of Chicago, sends me the following valuable note:—
THE ALLEGED MARCO POLO LO-HAN OF CANTON.
The temple _Hua lin se_ (in Cantonese _Fa lum se_, _i.e._ Temple of
the Flowery Grove) is situated in the western suburbs of the city of
Canton. Its principal attraction is the vast hall, the Lo-han t’ang,
in which are arranged in numerous avenues some five hundred richly
gilded images, about three feet in height, representing the 500 Lo-han
(Arhat). The workmanship displayed in the manufacture of these
figures, made of fine clay thickly covered with burnished gilding,
is said to be most artistic, and the variety of types is especially
noticeable. In this group we meet a statue credited with a European
influence. Two opinions are current regarding this statue: one refers
to it as representing the image of a Portuguese sailor, the other sees
in it a portrait of Marco Polo.
The former view is expressed, as far as I see, for the first time,
by MAYERS and DENNYS (_The Treaty Ports of China and Japan_, London
and Hong Kong, 1867, p. 162). “One effigy,” these authors remark,
“whose features are strongly European in type, will be pointed out
as the image of a Portuguese seaman who was wrecked, centuries ago,
on the coast, and whose virtues during a long residence gained him
canonization after death. This is probably a pure myth, growing from
an accidental resemblance of the features.” This interpretation of
a homage rendered to a Portuguese is repeated by C. A. MONTALTO DE
JESUS, _Historic Macao_ (Hong Kong, 1902, p. 28). A still more positive
judgment on this matter is passed by MADROLLE (_Chine du Sud et de
l’Est_, Paris, 1904, p. 17). “The attitudes of the Venerable Ones,” he
says, “are remarkable for their life-like expression, or sometimes,
singularly grotesque. One of these personalities placed on the right
side of a great altar wears the costume of the 16th century, and we
might be inclined to regard it as a Chinese representation of Marco
Polo. It is probable, however, that the artist, who had to execute
the statue of a Hindu, that is, of a man of the West, adopted as the
model of his costume that of the Portuguese who visited Canton since
the commencement of the 16th century.” It seems to be rather doubtful
whether the 500 Lo-han of Canton are really traceable to that time.
There is hardly any huge clay statue in China a hundred or two hundred
years old, and all the older ones are in a state of decay, owing to
the brittleness of the material and the carelessness of the monks.
Besides, as stated by Mayers and Dennys (_l.c._, p. 163), the Lo-han
Hall of Canton, with its glittering contents, is a purely modern
structure, having been added to the Fa-lum Temple in 1846, by means of
a subscription mainly supported by the Hong Merchants. Although this
statue is not old, yet it may have been made after an ancient model.
Archdeacon Gray, in his remarkable and interesting book, _Walks in the
City of Canton_ (Hong Kong, 1875, p. 207), justly criticized the Marco
Polo theory, and simultaneously gave a correct identification of the
Lo-han in question. His statement is as follows: “Of the idols of the
five hundred disciples of Buddha, which, in this hall, are contained,
there is one, which, in dress and configuration of countenance, is said
to resemble a foreigner. With regard to this image, one writer, if we
mistake not, has stated that it is a statue of the celebrated traveller
Marco Polo, who, in the thirteenth century, visited, and, for some
time, resided in the flowery land of China. This statement, on the part
of the writer to whom we refer, is altogether untenable. Moreover, it
is an error so glaring as to cast, in the estimation of all careful
readers of his work, no ordinary degree of discredit upon many of his
most positive assertions. The person, whose idol is so rashly described
as being that of Marco Polo, was named Shien-Tchu. He was a native of
one of the northern provinces of India, and, for his zeal as an apostle
in the service of Buddha, was highly renowned.”
Everard Cotes closes the final chapter of his book, _The Arising East_
(New York, 1907), as follows: “In the heart of Canton, within easy
reach of mob violence at any time, may be seen to-day the life-size
statue of an elderly European, in gilt clothes and black hat, which
the Chinese have cared for and preserved from generation to generation
because the original, Marco Polo, was a friend to their race. The
thirteenth-century European had no monopoly of ability to make himself
loved and reverenced. A position similar to that which he won as
an individual is open to-day to the Anglo-Saxon as a race. But the
Mongolian was not afraid of Marco Polo, and he is afraid of us. It can
be attained, therefore, only by fair dealing and sympathy, supported by
an overwhelming preponderance of fighting strength.”
[Dr. Laufer reproduces here the note in _Marco Polo_, I., p. _76_. I
may remark that I never said nor believed that the statue was Polo’s.
The mosaic at Genoa is a fancy portrait.]
The question may be raised, however, Are there any traces of foreign
influence displayed in this statue? The only way of solving this
problem seemed to me the following: First to determine the number
and the name of the alleged Marco Polo Lo-han at Canton, and then by
means of this number to trace him in the series of pictures of the
traditional 500 Lo-han (the so-called _Lo han t’u_).
The alleged Marco Polo Lo-han bears the number 100, and his name
is Shan-chu tsun-che (_tsun-che_ being a translation of Sanskrit
_ārya_, “holy, reverend”). The name Shan-chu evidently represents the
rendering of a Sanskrit name, and does not suggest a European name.
The illustration here reproduced is Lo-han No. 100 from a series of
stone-engravings in the temple T’ien-ning on the West Lake near Hang
Chau. It will be noticed that it agrees very well with the statue
figured by M. Cordier. In every respect it bears the features of an
Indian Lo-han, with one exception, and this is the curious hat. This,
in fact, is the only Lo-han among the five hundred that is equipped
with a headgear; and the hat, as is well known, is not found in India.
This hat must represent a more or less arbitrary addition of the
Chinese artist who created the group, and it is this hat which led
to the speculations regarding the Portuguese sailor or Marco Polo.
Certain it is also that such a type of hat does not occur in China;
but it seems idle to speculate as to its origin, as long as we have
no positive information on the intentions of the artist. The striped
mantle of the Lo-han is by no means singular, for it occurs with
seventeen others. The facts simply amount to this, that the figure in
question does not represent a Portuguese sailor or Marco Polo or any
other European, but solely an Indian Lo-han (Arhat), while the peculiar
hat remains to be explained.
Introduction, p. _92_.
THIBAUT DE CHEPOY.
Thibaut de Chepoy (Chepoy, canton of Breteuil, Oise), son of the knight
Jean de Chepoy, was one of the chief captains of King Philip the
Fair. He entered the king’s service in 1285 as squire and valet; went
subsequently to Robert d’Artois, who placed him in charge of the castle
of Saint Omer, and took him, in 1296, to Gascony to fight the English.
He was afterwards grand master of the cross-bow men. He then entered
the service of Charles de Valois, brother of Philip the Fair, who sent
him to Constantinople to support the claims to the throne of his wife,
Catherine of Courtenay. Thibaut left Paris on the 9th Sept., 1306,
passed through Venice, where he met Marco Polo who gave him a copy of
his manuscript. Thibaut died between 22nd May, 1311, and 22nd March,
1312. (See Joseph PETIT, in _Le Moyen Age_, Paris, 1897, pp. 224–239.)
THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO.
PROLOGUE
II., p. _6_.
SARAI.
“Cordier (Yule) identifiziert den von Pegolotti gewählten Namen
Säracanco mit dem jüngeren Sarai oder Zarew (dem Sarai grande Fra
Mauros), was mir vollkommen untunlich erscheint; es wäre dann die Route
des Reisenden geradezu ein Zickzackweg gewesen, der durch nichts zu
rechtfertigen wäre.” (Dr. Ed. FRIEDMANN, _Pegolotti_, p. 14.)
Prof. Pelliot writes to me: “Il n’y a aucune possibilité de retrouver
dans _Saracanco, Sarai + Ḳúnk_. Le mot _Ḳúnk_ n’est pas autrement
attesté, et la construction mongole ou turque exigerait _ḳunḳ-sarai_.”
XIII., pp. 25–26.
SHANG TU.
See also A. POZDNEIEV, _Mongoliya i Mongoly_, II., pp. 303 _seq._
XV., pp. 27, 28–30. Now it came that Marco, the son of Messer Nicolo,
sped wondrously in learning the customs of the Tartars, as well as
their language, their manner of writing, and their practice of war—in
fact he came in a brief space to know several languages, and four
sundry written characters.
On the linguistic office called _Sse yi kwan_, cf. an interesting note
by H. MASPERO, p. 8, of _Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, XII., No. 1,
1912.
XV., p. 28 n. Of the Khitán but one inscription was known and no key.
Prof. Pelliot remarks, _Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, IV.,
July-Sept., 1904: “In fact a Chinese work has preserved but five
k’i-tan characters, however with the Chinese translation.” He writes
to me that we do not know _any_ k’itan inscription, but half a dozen
characters reproduced in a work of the second half of the fourteenth
century. The Uíghúr alphabet is of Aramean origin through Sogdian; from
this point of view, it is not necessary to call for Estranghelo, nor
Nestorian propaganda. On the other hand we have to-day documents in
Uíghúr writing older than the _Kudatku Bilik_.
BOOK FIRST.
ACCOUNT OF REGIONS VISITED OR HEARD OF ON THE JOURNEY FROM THE LESSER
ARMENIA TO THE COURT OF THE GREAT KAAN AT CHANDU.
BOOK I.
VI., p. 63. “There is also on the river, as you go from Baudas to Kisi,
a great city called Bastra, surrounded by woods, in which grow the best
dates in the world.”
“The products of the country are camels, sheep and dates.” (At
Pi-ssï-lo, Basra. CHAU JU-KWA, p. 137.)
VI., pp. 63, 65. “In Baudas they weave many different kinds of silk
stuffs and gold brocades, such as _nasich_, and _nac_, and _cramoisy_,
and many other beautiful tissue richly wrought with figures of beasts
and birds.”
In the French text we have _nassit_ and _nac_.
“S’il faut en croire M. Defrémery, au lieu de _nassit_, il faut
évidemment lire _nassij_ (nécidj), ce qui signifie un tissu, en
général, et désigne particulièrement une étoffe de soie de la même
espèce que le _nekh_. Quant aux étoffes sur lesquelles étaient figurés
des animaux et des oiseaux, le même orientaliste croit qu’il faut y
reconnaître le _thardwehch_, sorte d’étoffe de soie qui, comme son nom
l’indique, représentait des scènes de chasse. On sait que l’usage de
ces représentations est très ancien en Orient, comme on le voit dans
des passages de Philostrate et de Quinte-Curce rapportés par Mongez.”
(FRANCISQUE-MICHEL, _Recherches sur le Commerce_, I., p. 262.)
VI., p. 67.
DEATH OF MOSTAS’IM.
According to Al-Fakhri, translated by E. Amar (_Archives marocaines_,
XVI., p. 579), Mostas’im was put to death with his two eldest sons on
the 4th of safar, 656 (3rd February, 1258).
XI., p. 75. “The [the men of Tauris] weave many kinds of beautiful and
valuable stuffs of silk and gold.”
Francisque-Michel (I., p. 316) remarks: “De ce que Marco Polo se
borne à nommer Tauris comme la ville de Perse où il se fabriquait
maints draps d’or et de soie, il ne faudrait pas en conclure que cette
industrie n’existât pas sur d’autres points du même royaume. Pour n’en
citer qu’un seul, la ville d’Arsacie, ancienne capitale des Parthes,
connue aujourd’hui sous le nom de Caswin, possédait vraisemblablement
déjà cette industrie des beaux draps d’or et de soie qui existait
encore au temps de Huet, c’est-à-dire au XVIIᵉ siècle.”
XIII., p. 78. “Messer Marco Polo found a village there which goes by
the name of CALA ATAPERISTAN, which is as much as to say, ‘The Castle
of the Fire-worshippers.’”
With regard to Kal’ah-i Atashparastān, Prof. A. V. W. Jackson writes
(_Persia_, 1906, p. 413): “And the name is rightly applied, for the
people there do worship fire. In an article entitled _The Magi in Marco
Polo (Journ. Am. Or. Soc._, 26, 79–83) I have given various reasons for
identifying the so-called ‘Castle of the Fire-Worshippers’ with Kashan,
which Odoric mentions or a village in its vicinity, the only rival to
the claim being the town of Naïn, whose Gabar Castle has already been
mentioned above.”
XIV., p. 78.
PERSIA.
Speaking of Saba and of Cala Ataperistan, Prof. E. H. Parker (_Asiatic
Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 134) has the following remarks: “It is not
impossible that certain unexplained statements in the Chinese records
may shed light upon this obscure subject. In describing the Arab
Conquest of Persia, the Old and New T’ang Histories mention the city of
Hia-lah as being amongst those captured; another name for it was _Sam_
(according to the Chinese initial and final system of spelling words).
A later Chinese poet has left the following curious line on record:
‘All the priests venerate Hia-lah.’ The allusion is vague and undated,
but it is difficult to imagine to what else it can refer. The term
_sêng_, or ‘bonze,’ here translated ‘priests,’ was frequently applied
to Nestorian and Persian priests, as in this case.”
XIV., p. 80. “Three Kings.”
Regarding the legend of the stone cast into a well, cf. F. W. K.
MÜLLER, _Uigurica_, pp. 5–10 (Pelliot).
XVII., p. 90. “There are also plenty of veins of steel and _Ondanique_.”
“The _ondanique_ which Marco Polo mentions in his 42nd chapter is
almost certainly the _pin t’ieh_ or ‘pin iron’ of the Chinese, who
frequently mention it as coming from Arabia, Persia, Cophene, Hami,
Ouigour-land and other High Asia States.” (E. H. PARKER, _Journ. North
China Br. Roy. Asiatic Soc._, XXXVIII., 1907, p. 225.)
XVIII., pp. 97, 100. “The province that we now enter is called
REOBARLES.... The beasts also are peculiar.... Then there are sheep
here as big as asses; and their tails are so large and fat, that one
tail shall weight some 30 lbs. They are fine fat beasts, and afford
capital mutton.”
Prof. E. H. PARKER writes in the _Journ. of the North China Branch
of the Royal Asiatic Soc._, XXXVII., 1906, p. 196: “Touching the
fat-tailed sheep of Persia, the _Shan-haï-king_ says the Yuëh-chï or
Indo-Scythy had a ‘big-tailed sheep,’ the correct name for which is
_hien-yang_. The Sung History mentions sheep at Hami with tails so
heavy that they could not walk. In the year 1010 some were sent as
tribute to China by the King of Kuché.”
“Among the native products [at Mu lan p’i, Murābit, Southern Coast of
Spain] are foreign sheep, which are several feet high and have tails as
big as a fan. In the spring-time they slit open their bellies and take
out some tens of catties of fat, after which they sew them up again,
and the sheep live on; if the fat were not removed, (the animal) would
swell up and die.” (CHAU JU-KWA, pp. 142–3.)
“The Chinese of the T’ang period had heard also of the trucks put
under these sheep’s tails. ‘The Ta-shï have a foreign breed of sheep
(_hu-yang_) whose tails, covered with fine wool, weigh from ten to
twenty catties; the people have to put carts under them to hold them
up. Fan-kuo-chï as quoted in Tung-si-yang-k’au.” (HIRTH and ROCKHILL,
p. 143.)
Leo Africanus, _Historie of Africa_, III., 945 (Hakluyt Soc. ed.), says
he saw in Egypt a ram with a tail weighing eighty pounds!:
OF THE AFRICAN RAMME.
“There is no difference betweene these rammes of Africa and others,
saue onely in their tailes, which are of a great thicknes, being by so
much the grosser, but how much they are more fatte, so that some of
their tailes waigh tenne, and other twentie pounds a peece, and they
become fatte of their owne naturall inclination: but in Egypt there
are diuers that feede them fatte with bran and barly, vntill their
tailes growe so bigge that they cannot remooue themselves from place to
place: insomuch that those which take charge of them are faine to binde
little carts vnder their tailes, to the end they may haue strength to
walke. I my selfe saw at a citie in Egypt called Asiot, and standing
vpon Nilus, about an hundred and fiftie miles from Cairo, one of the
saide rams tailes that weighed fowerscore pounds, and others affirmed
that they had seene one of those tailes of an hundred and fiftie pounds
weight. All the fatte therefore of this beast consisteth in his taile;
neither is there any of them to be founde but onely in Tunis and in
Egypt.” (LEO AFRICANUS, edited by Dr. Robert BROWN, III., 1896, Hakluyt
Society, p. 945.)
XVIII., pp. 97, 100 n.
Dr. B. Laufer draws my attention to what is probably the oldest mention
of this sheep from Arabia, in Herodotus, Book III., Chap. 113:
“Concerning the spices of Arabia let no more be said. The whole country
is scented with them, and exhales an odour marvellously sweet. There
are also in Arabia two kinds of sheep worthy of admiration, the like
of which is nowhere else to be seen; the one kind has long tails, not
less than three cubits in length, which, if they were allowed to trail
on the ground, would be bruised and fall into sores. As it is, all the
shepherds know enough of carpentering to make little trucks for their
sheep’s tails. The trucks are placed under the tails, each sheep having
one to himself, and the tails are then tied down upon them. The other
kind has a broad tail, which is a cubit across sometimes.”
Canon G. Rawlinson, in his edition of Herodotus, has the following note
on this subject (II., p. 500):—
“Sheep of this character have acquired among our writers the name of
Cape Sheep, from the fact that they are the species chiefly affected by
our settlers at the Cape of Good Hope. They are common in Africa and
throughout the East, being found not only in Arabia, but in Persia,
Syria, Affghanistan, Egypt, Barbary, and even Asia Minor. A recent
traveller, writing from Smyrna, says: ‘The sheep of the country are the
Cape sheep, having a kind of apron tail, entirely of rich marrowy fat,
extending to the width of their hind quarters, and frequently trailing
on the ground; the weight of the tail is often more than six or eight
pounds’ (FELLOWS’S _Asia Minor_, p. 10). Leo Africanus, writing in the
15th century, regards the broad tail as the great difference between
the sheep of Africa and that of Europe. He declares that one which _he
had seen_ in Egypt weighed 80 lbs. He also mentions the use of trucks
which is still common in North Africa.”
XVIII., p. 98. “Camadi.—Reobarles.—In this plain there are a number of
villages and towns which have lofty walls of mud, made as a defence
against the banditti, who are very numerous, and are called CARAONAS.
This name is given them because they are the sons of Indian mothers by
Tartar fathers.”
Mirzá Haïdar writes (_Tárikh-i-Rashidi_, p. 148): “The learned Mirzá
Ulugh Beg has written a history which he has called _Ulus Arbaa_. One
of the ‘four hordes’ is that of the Moghul, who are divided into two
branches, the Moghul and the Chaghatái. But these two branches, on
account of their mutual enmity, used to call each other by a special
name, by way of depreciation. Thus the Chaghatái called the Moghul
_Jatah_, while the Moghul called the Chaghatái _Karáwánás_.”
Cf. Ney ELIAS, _l.c._, pp. 76–77, and App. B, pp. 491–2, containing an
inquiry made in Khorasán by Mr. Maula Bakhsh, Attaché at the Meshed
Consulate General, of the families of Kárnás, he has heard or seen; he
says: “These people speak Turki now, and are considered part of the
Goklán Turkomans. They, however, say they are Chingiz-Kháni Moghuls,
and are no doubt the descendants of the same Kárnás, or Karávanás, who
took such a prominent part in the victories in Persia.
“The word Kárnás, I was told by a learned Goklan Mullah, means
_Tirandáz_, or _Shikári_ (_i.e._ Archer or Hunter), and was applied
to this tribe of Moghuls on account of their professional skill in
shooting, which apparently secured them an important place in the
army. In Turki the word Kárnás means _Shikamparast_—literally, ‘belly
worshippers,’ which implies avarice. This term is in use at present,
and I was told, by a Kázi of Bujnurd, that it is sometimes used by way
of reproach.... The Kárnás people in Mána and Gurgán say it is the name
of their tribe, and they can give no other explanation.”
XVIII., pp. 98, 102, 165. “The King of these scoundrels is called
NOGODAR.”
Sir Aurel Stein has the following regarding the route taken by this
Chief in _Serindia_, I., pp. 11–12:—
“To revert to an earlier period it is noteworthy that the route in
Marco Polo’s account, by which the Mongol partisan leader Nigūdar,
‘with a great body of horsemen, cruel unscrupulous fellows,’ made his
way from Badakhshān ‘through another province called PASHAI-DIR, and
then through another called ARIORA-KESHEMUR’ to India, must have led
down the Bashgol Valley. The name of _Pashai_ clearly refers to the
Kāfirs among whom this tribal designation exists to this day, while the
mention of Dīr indicates the direction which this remarkable inroad had
taken. That its further progress must have lain through Swāt is made
probable by the name which, in Marco Polo’s account, precedes that of
‘Keshemur’ or Kashmīr; for in the hitherto unexplained _Ariora_ can be
recognized, I believe, the present Agrōr, the name of the well-known
hill-tract on the Hazāra border which faces Bunēr from the left bank of
the Indus. It is easy to see from any accurate map of these regions,
that for a mobile column of horsemen forcing its way from Badakhshān
to Kashmīr, the route leading through the Bashgol Valley, Dīr, Talāsh,
Swāt, Bunēr, Agrōr, and up the Jhelam Valley, would form at the present
day, too, the most direct and practicable line of invasion.”
In a paper on _Marco Polo’s Account of a Mongol inroad into Kashmir_
(_Geog. Jour._, August, 1919), Sir Aurel Stein reverts again to the
same subject. “These [Mongol] inroads appear to have commenced from
about 1260 A.D., and to have continued right through the reign of
Ghiasuddin, Sultan of Delhi (1266–1286), whose identity with Marco’s
_Asedin Soldan_ is certain. It appears very probable that Marco’s story
of Nogodar, the nephew of Chaghatái, relates to one of the earliest of
these incursions which was recent history when the Poli passed through
Persia about 1272–73 A.D.”
Stein thinks, with Marsden and Yule, that _Dilivar_ (pp. 99, 105) is
really a misunderstanding of “_Città_ di Livar” for _Lahawar_ or Lahore.
_Dir_ has been dealt with by Yule and Pauthier, and we know that it is
“the mountain tract at the head of the western branch of the Panjkora
River, through which leads the most frequented route from Peshawar and
the lower Swāt valley to Chītral” (Stein, _l.c._). Now with regard to
the situation of _Pashai_ (p. 104):
“It is clear that a safe identification of the territory intended
cannot be based upon such characteristics of its people as Marco
Polo’s account here notes obviously from hearsay, but must reckon
in the first place with the plainly stated bearing and distance. And
Sir Henry Yule’s difficulty arose just from the fact that what the
information accessible to him seemed to show about the location of the
name _Pashai_ could not be satisfactorily reconciled with those plain
topographical data. Marco’s great commentator, thoroughly familiar as
he was with whatever was known in his time about the geography of the
western Hindukush and the regions between Oxus and Indus, could not
fail to recognize the obvious connection between our _Pashai_ and the
tribal name _Pashai_ borne by Muhammanized Kafirs who are repeatedly
mentioned in mediæval and modern accounts of Kabul territory. But all
these accounts seemed to place the Pashais in the vicinity of the great
Panjshir valley, north-east of Kabul, through which passes one of the
best-known routes from the Afghan capital to the Hindukush watershed
and thence to the Middle Oxus. Panjshir, like Kabul itself, lies to the
_south-west_ of Badakshān, and it is just this discrepancy of bearing
together with one in the distance reckoned to Kashmir which caused Sir
Henry Yule to give expression to doubts when summing up his views about
Nogodar’s route.”
From Sir George Grierson’s _Linguistic Survey of India_ we learn that
to the south of the range of the Hindukush “the languages spoken from
Kashmir in the east to Kafiristan in the west are neither of Indian
nor of Iranian origin, but form a third branch of the Aryan stock of
the great Indo-European language family. Among the languages of this
branch, now rightly designated as ‘Dardic,’ the Kafir group holds a
very prominent place. In the Kafir group again we find the _Pashai_
language spoken over a very considerable area. The map accompanying Sir
George Grierson’s monograph on ‘The Pisaca Languages of North-Western
India’ [Asiatic Society Monographs, VIII., 1906], shows _Pashai_ as the
language spoken along the right bank of the Kunar river as far as the
Asmar tract as well as in the side valleys which from the north descend
towards it and the Kabul river further west. This important fact makes
it certain that the tribal designation of Pashai, to which this Kafir
language owes its name, has to this day an application extending much
further east than was indicated by the references which travellers,
mediæval and modern, along the Panjshir route have made to the Pashais
and from which alone this ethnic name was previously known.”
Stein comes to the conclusion that “the Mongols’ route led across the
Mandal Pass into the great Kafir valley of Bashgol and thus down to
Arnawai on the Kunar. Thence Dir could be gained directly across the
Zakhanna Pass, a single day’s march. There were alternative routes,
too, available to the same destination either by ascending the Kunar to
Ashreth and taking the present ‘Chitral Road’ across the Lowarai, or
descending the river to Asmar and crossing the Binshi Pass.”
From Dir towards Kashmir for a large body of horsemen “the easiest
and in matter of time nearest route must have led them as now down
the Panjkora Valley and beyond through the open tracts of Lower Swāt
and Buner to the Indus about Amb. From there it was easy through
the open northern part of the present Hazara District (the ancient
Urasa) to gain the valley of the Jhelam River at its sharp bend near
Muzzaffarabad.”
The name of _Agror_ (the direct phonetic derivative of the Sanskrit
_Atyugrapura_) = _Ariora_; it is the name of the hill-tract on the
Hazara border which faces Buner on the east from across the left bank
of the Indus.
XVIII., p. 101.
Line 17, Note 4. _Korano_ of the Indo-Scythic Coins is to be read
_Košano_. (PELLIOT.)
XVIII., p. 102.
On the Mongols of Afghanistān, see RAMSTEDT, _Mogholica_, in _Journ. de
la Soc. Finno-Ougrienne_, XXIII., 1905. (PELLIOT.)
XIX., p. 107. “The King is called RUOMEDAN AHOMET.”
About 1060, Mohammed I. Dirhem Kub, from Yemen, became master of
Hormuz, but his successors remained in the dependency of the sovereigns
of Kermán until 1249, when Rokn ed-Din Mahmud III. Kalhaty (1242–1277)
became independent. His successors in Polo’s time were Seïf ed-Din
Nusrat (1277–1290), Mas’ud (1290–1293), Beha ed-Din Ayaz Seyfin
(1293–1311).
XIX., p. 115.
HORMOS.
The Travels of Pedro Teixeira, a Portuguese traveller, probably of
Jewish origin, certainly not a Jesuit, have been published by the
Hakluyt Society:
The Travels of Pedro Teixeira; with his “Kings of Harmuz,” and extracts
from his “King of Persia.” Translated and annotated by William F.
Sinclair, Bombay Civil Service (Rtd.); With further Notes and an
Introduction by Donald Ferguson, London: Printed for the Hakluyt
Society, MDCCCCII, 8 vo. pp. cvii–292.
See Appendix A. A Short Narrative of the Origin of the Kingdom of
Harmusz, and of its Kings, down to its Conquest by the Portuguese;
extracted from its History, written by Torunxa, King of the Same, pp.
153–195. App. D. Relation of the Chronicle of the Kings of Ormuz,
taken from a Chronicle composed by a King of the same Kingdom, named
Pachaturunza, written in Arabic, and summarily translated into the
Portuguese language by a friar of the order of Saint Dominick, who
founded in the island of Ormuz a house of his order, pp. 256–267.
See Yule, _Hobson-Jobson_, s.v. _Ormus_.
Mr. Donald Ferguson, in a note, p. 155, says: “No dates are given
in connection with the first eleven rulers of Hormuz; but assuming
as correct the date (1278) given for the death of the twelfth, and
allowing to each of his predecessors an average reign of thirteen
years, the foundation of the kingdom of Hormuz would fall in A.D.
1100. Yule places the founding somewhat earlier; and Valentyn, on
what authority I know not, gives A.D. 700 as the date of the founder
Muhammad.”
XIX., I., p. 116; II., p. 444.
DIET OF THE GULF PEOPLE.
Prof. E. H. Parker says that the T’ang History, in treating of the Arab
conquests of Fuh-lin [or Frank] territory, alludes to the “date and dry
fish diet of the Gulf people.” The exact Chinese words are: “They feed
their horses on dried fish, and themselves subsist on the _hu-mang_, or
Persian date, as Bretschneider has explained.” (_Asiatic Quart. Rev._,
Jan., 1904, p. 134.)
Bretschneider, in _Med. Researches_, II., p. 134, n. 873, with regard
to the dates writes: “_Wan nien tsao_, ‘ten thousand years’ jujubes’;
called also _Po-sze tao_, or ‘Persian jujubes.’ These names and
others were applied since the time of the T’ang dynasty to the dates
brought from Persia. The author of the _Pen ts’ao kang mu_ (end of the
sixteenth century) states that this fruit is called _k’u-lu-ma_ in
Persia. The Persian name of the date is _khurma_.”
Cf. CHAU JU-KWA, p. 210.
XXII., p. 128 n.
TUN-O-KAIN.
Major Sykes had adopted Sir Henry Yule’s theory of the route from
Kuh-benan to Tun. He has since altered his opinion in the _Geographical
Journal_, October, 1905, p. 465: “I was under the impression that
a route ran direct from Kubunán to Tabas, but when visiting this
latter town a few months ago I made careful inquiries on the subject,
which elicited the fact that this was not the case, and that the
route invariably followed by Kubunán-Tabas caravans joined the
Kermán-Rávar-Naiband route at Cháh-Kuru, 12 miles south of Darbana.
It follows this track as far as Naiband, whence the route to Tabas
branches off; but the main caravan route runs _viâ_ Zenagan and Duhuk
to Tun. This new information, I would urge, makes it almost certain
that Ser Marco travelled to Tun, as Tabas falls to the west of the main
route. Another point is that the district of Tabas only grows four
months’ supplies, and is, in consequence, generally avoided by caravans
owing to its dearness.
“In 1893 I travelled from Tun to the south across the Lut as far as
Cháh Kuru by this very route, and can testify to the general accuracy
of Ser Marco’s description,[1] although there are now villages at
various points on the way. Finally, as our traveller especially
mentions Tonocain, or Tun va Kain, one is inclined to accept this as
evidence of first-rate importance, especially as it is now corroborated
by the information I gained at Tabas. The whole question, once again,
furnishes an example of how very difficult it is to make satisfactory
inquiries, except on the spot.”
It was also the opinion (1882) of Colonel C. E. Stewart, who says: “I
was much interested in hearing of Kuh Banan, as it is one of the places
mentioned by Marco Polo as on his route. Kuh Banan is described as a
group of villages about 26 miles from the town of Rawar, in the Kárman
district. I cannot help thinking the road travelled by Marco Polo from
Kárman to Kain is the one by Naiband. Marco Polo speaks of Tun-o-Cain,
which, Colonel Yule has pointed out, undoubtedly means Tun and Kain.
At present Tun does not belong to the Kain district, but to the Tabbas
district, and is always spoken of as Tun-o-Tabbas; and if it belonged,
as I believe it formerly did, to the Kain district, it would be spoken
of as Tun-o-Kain, exactly as Marco Polo does. Through Naiband is the
shortest and best road to either Tun or Kain.” (_Proc. Royal Geog.
Soc._, VIII., 1886, p. 144.)
Support to Yule’s theory has been brought by Sven Hedin, who devotes
a chapter to Marco Polo in his _Overland to India_, II., 1910, Chap.
XL., and discusses our traveller’s route between Kuh-benan and Tabbas,
pp. 71 _seq._:
“As even Sykes, who travelled during several years through Persia in
all directions, cannot decide with full certainty whether Marco Polo
travelled by the western route through Tebbes or the eastern through
Naibend, it is easy to see how difficult it is to choose between the
two roads. I cannot cite the reasons Sir Henry Yule brings forward in
favour of the western route—it would take us too far. I will, instead,
set forth the grounds of my own conviction that Marco Polo used the
direct caravan road between Kuh-benan and Tebbes.
“The circumstance that the main road runs through Naibend is no proof,
for we find that Marco Polo, not only in Persia but also in Central
Asia, exhibited a sovereign contempt for all routes that might be
called convenient and secure.
“The distance between Kerman and Kuh-benan in a direct line amounts to
103 miles. Marco Polo travelled over this stretch in seven days, or
barely 15 miles a day. From Kuh-benan to Tebbes the distance is 150
miles, or fully 18 miles a day for eight days. From Kuh-benan _viâ_
Naibend to Tun, the distance is, on the other hand, 205 miles, or more
than 25 miles a day. In either case we can perceive from the forced
marches that after leaving Kuh-benan he came out into a country where
the distances between the wells became much greater.
“If he travelled by the eastern route he must have made much longer
day’s journeys than on the western. On the eastern route the distances
between the wells were greater. Major Sykes has himself travelled this
way, and from his detailed description we get the impression that it
presented particular difficulties. With a horse it is no great feat
to ride 25 miles a day for eight days, but it cannot be done with
camels. That I rode 42½ miles a day between Hauz-i-Haji-Ramazan and
Sadfe was because of the danger from rain in the Kevir, and to continue
such a forced march for more than two days is scarcely conceivable.
Undoubtedly Marco Polo used camels on his long journeys in Eastern
Persia, and even if he had been able to cover 205 miles in eight days,
he would not be obliged to do so, for on the main road through Naibend
and Duhuk to Tun there are abundant opportunities of procuring water.
Had he travelled through Naibend, he would in any case have had no need
to hurry on so fast. He would probably keep to the same pace as on
the way from Kerman to Kuh-benan, and this length he accomplished in
seven days. Why should he have made the journey from Kuh-benan to Tun,
which is exactly double as far, in only eight days instead of fourteen,
when there was no necessity? And that he actually travelled between
Kuh-benan and Tunocain in eight days is evident, because he mentions
this number twice.
“He also says explicitly that during these eight days neither fruits
nor trees are to be seen, and that you have to carry both food and
water. This description is not true of the Naibend route, for in
Naibend there are excellent water, fine dates, and other fruits. Then
there is Duhuk, which, according to Sykes, is a very important village
with an old fort and about 200 houses. After leaving Duhuk for the
south, Sykes says: ‘We continued our journey, and were delighted to
hear that at the next stage, too, there was a village, proving that
this section of the Lut is really quite thickly populated.’ [_Ten
Thousand Miles in Persia_, p. 35.] This does not agree at all with
Marco Polo’s description.
“I therefore consider it more probable that Marco Polo, as Sir Henry
Yule supposes, travelled either direct to Tebbes, or perhaps made
a trifling détour to the west, through the moderate-sized village
Bahabad, for from this village a direct caravan road runs to Tebbes,
entirely through desert. Marco Polo would then travel 150 miles in
eight days compared with 103 miles in seven days between Kerman and
Kuh-benan. He therefore increased his speed by only 4 miles a day, and
that is all necessary on the route in question.
“Bahabad lies at a distance of 36 miles from Kubenan—all in a straight
line. And not till beyond Bahabad does the real desert begin.
“To show that a caravan road actually connects Tebbes with Bahabad, I
have inserted in the first and second columns of the following table
the data I obtained in Tebbes and Fahanunch, and in the third the names
marked on the ‘Map of Persia (in six sheets) compiled in the Simla
Drawing Office of the Survey of India, 1897.’
_From Tebbes to Bahabad._ | _From Fahanunch to Bahabad._
1. Kurit 4 | 2. Moghu 4½
2. Moghu 9 | 3. Sefid-ab 6
3. Sefid-ab 6 | 4. Belucha 5
4. Burch 5 | 5. God-i-shah-taghi 6
5. God 5 | 6. Rizab 5
6. Rizab 6 | 7.{Teng-i-Tebbes 4½
7. Pudenum 8 | {Pudenun 4½
8. Ser-i-julge 4 | 8. Kheirabad 4
9. Bahabad 4 | 9. Bahabad 4
—— | ——
Farsakh 51 | Farsakh 43½
_Map of Persia._
2. Maga Salt well.
3. Chasma Sufid „ „
4.{Khudafrin Sweet spring.
{Pir Moral Salt well.
5. God Hashtaki „ „
6. Rezu „ „
“These details are drawn from different authorities, but are in
excellent agreement. That the total distances are different in the
first two columns is because Fahanunch lies nearer than Tebbes to
Bahabad. Two or three discrepancies in the names are of no importance.
Burch denotes a castle or fort; Belucha is evidently Cha-i-beluch or
the well of the Baluchi, and it is very probable that a small fort was
built some time or other at this well which was visited by raiders from
Baluchistan. Ser-i-julge and Kheirabad may be two distinct camping
grounds very near each other. The Chasma Sufid or ‘white spring’ of the
English map is evidently the same place as Sefid-ab, or ‘white water.’
Its God Hashtaki is a corruption of the Persian God-i-shah-taghi, or
the ‘hollow of the royal saxaul.’ Khudafrin, on the other hand, is
very apocryphal. It is no doubt Khuda-aferin or ‘God be praised!’—an
ejaculation very appropriate in the mouth of a man who comes upon a
sweet spring in the midst of the desert. If an Englishman travelled
this way he might have mistaken this ejaculation for the name of the
place. But then ‘Unsurveyed’ would hardly be placed just in this part
of the Bahabad Desert.
“The information I obtained about the road from Tebbes to Bahabad was
certainly very scanty, but also of great interest. Immediately beyond
Kurit the road crosses a strip of the Kevir, 2 farsakh broad, and
containing a river-bed which is said to be filled with water at the end
of February. Sefid-ab is situated among hillocks and Burch in an upland
district; to the south of it follows Kevir barely a farsakh broad,
which may be avoided by a circuitous path. At God-i-shah-taghi, as the
name implies, saxaul grows (_Haloxylon Ammodendron_). The last three
halting-places before Bahabad all lie among small hills.
“This desert route runs, then, through comparatively hilly country,
crosses two small Kevir depressions, or offshoots of one and the
same Kevir, has pasturage at at least one place, and presents no
difficulties of any account. The distance in a direct line is 113
miles, corresponding to 51 Persian farsakh—the farsakh in this district
being only about 2·2 miles long against 2·9 in the great Kevir. The
caravans which go through the Bahabad desert usually make the journey
in ten days, one at least of which is a rest day, so that they cover
little more than 12 miles a day. If water more or less salt were not to
be found at all the eight camping-grounds, the caravans would not be
able to make such short marches. It is also quite possible that sweet
water is to be found in one place; where saxaul grows driftsand usually
occurs, and wells digged in sand are usually sweet.
“During my stay in Tebbes a caravan of about 300 camels, as I have
mentioned before, arrived from Sebsevar. They were laden with _naft_
(petroleum), and remained waiting till the first belt of Kevir was
dried after the last rain. As soon as this happened the caravan would
take the road described above to Bahabad, and thence to Yezd. And this
caravan route, Sebsevar, Turshiz, Bajistan, Tun, Tebbes, Bahabad, and
Yezd, is considered less risky than the somewhat shorter way through
the great Kevir. I myself crossed a part of the Bahabad desert where we
did not once follow any of the roads used by caravans, and I found this
country by no means one of the worst in Eastern Persia.
“In the above exposition I believe that I have demonstrated that it is
extremely probable that Marco Polo travelled, not through Naibend to
Tun, but through Bahabad to Tebbes, and thence to Tun and Kain. His
own description accords in all respects with the present aspect and
peculiarities of the desert route in question. And the time of eight
days he assigns to the journey between Kuh-benan and Tonocain renders
it also probable that he came to the last-named province at Tebbes,
even if he travelled somewhat faster than caravans are wont to do at
the present day. It signifies little that he does not mention the name
Tebbes; he gives only the name of the province, adding that it contains
a great many towns and villages. One of these was Tebbes.”
XXII., p. 126.
TUTIA.
“It seems that the word is ‘the Arabicized word _dúdhá_, being
Persian for “smokes.”’ There can be little doubt that we have direct
confirmation of this in the Chinese words _t’ou-t’ieh_ (still, I
think, in use) and _t’ou-shih_, meaning ‘_tou_-iron’ and ‘_t’ou_-ore.’
The character _T’ou_ 鍮 does not appear in the old dictionaries; its
first appearance is in the History of the Toba (Tungusic) Dynasty of
North China. This History first mentions the name ‘Persia’ in A.D.
455 and the existence there of this metal, which, a little later on,
is also said to come from a State in the Cashmeer region. K’ang-hi’s
seventeenth-century dictionary is more explicit: it states that Termed
produces this ore, but that ‘the true sort comes from Persia, and looks
like gold, but on being heated it turns carnation, and _not_ black.’
As the Toba Emperors added 1000 new characters to the Chinese stock,
we may assume this one to have been invented, for the specific purpose
indicated.’” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, pp.
135–6.) Prof. Parker adds the following note, _l.c._, p. 149: “Since
writing the above, I have come across a passage in the ‘History of
the Sung Dynasty’ (chap. 490, p. 17) stating that an Arab junk-master
brought to Canton in A.D. 990, and sent on thence to the Chinese
Emperor in Ho Nan, ‘one vitreous bottle of _tutia_.’ The two words
mean ‘metropolis-father,’ and are therefore without any signification,
except as a foreign word. According to Yule’s notes (I., p. 126),
_tútiá_, or _dudhá_, in one of its forms was used as an eye-ointment or
collyrium.”
XXII., pp. 127–139. The Province of Tonocain “contains an immense plain
on which is found the ARBRE SOL, which we Christians call the _Arbre
Sec_; and I will tell you what it is like. It is a tall and thick tree,
having the bark on one side green and the other white; and it produces
a rough husk like that of a chestnut, but without anything in it. The
wood is yellow like box, and very strong, and there are no other trees
near it nor within a hundred miles of it, except on one side, where you
find trees within about ten miles distance.”
In a paper published in the _Journal of the R. As. Soc._, Jan., 1909,
Gen. Houtum-Schindler comes to the conclusion, p. 157, that Marco
Polo’s tree is not the “Sun Tree,” but the Cypress of Zoroaster; “Marco
Polo’s _arbre sol_ and _arbre seul_ stand for the Persian _dirakht i
sol_, _i.e._ the cypress-tree.” If General Houtum Schindler had seen the
third edition of the _Book of Ser Marco Polo_, I., p. 113, he would
have found that I read his paper of the _J. R. A. S._, of January,
1898.”
XXII., p. 132, l. 22. The only current coin is millstones.
Mr. T. B. CLARKE-THORNHILL wrote to me in 1906: “Though I can hardly
imagine that there can be any connection between the Caroline Islands
and the ‘Amiral d’Outre l’Arbre Sec,’ still it may interest you to know
that the currency of ‘millstones’ existed up to a short time ago, and
may do so still, in the island of Yap, in that group. It consisted of
various-sized discs of quartz from about 6 inches to nearly 3 feet in
diameter, and from ½ an inch to 3 or 4 inches in thickness.”
XXV., p. 146.
OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN.
Regarding the reduction of the Ismaelites, the _Yuän Shï_ tells us that
in 1222, on his way back after the taking of Nishapur, Tuli, son of
Genghis, plundered the State of Mu-la-i, captured Herat, and joined his
father at Talecan. In 1229 the King of Mu-lei presented himself at the
Mongol Court.... The following statement is also found in the Mongol
Annals: “In the seventh moon [1252] the Emperor ordered K’i-t’ah-t’êh
Pu-ha to carry war against the Ma-la-hi.’” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic
Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 136.)
XXVI., p. 149. “On leaving the Castle [of the Old Man], you ride over
fine plains and beautiful valleys, and pretty hill-sides producing
excellent grass pasture, and abundance of fruits, and all other
products.... This kind of country extends for six days’ journey,
with a goodly number of towns and villages, in which the people are
worshippers of Mahommet. Sometimes also you meet with a tract of desert
extending for 50 or 60 miles, or somewhat less, and in these deserts
you find no water, but have to carry it along with you.... So after
travelling for six days as I have told you, you come to a city called
Sapurgan....”
Sven Hedin remarks: “From this it is apparent that the six days’
journey of fine country were traversed immediately before Marco Polo
reached Sapurgan. Sir Henry Yule says in a note: ‘Whether the true
route be, as I suppose, by Nishapur and Meshed, or, as Khanikoff
supposes, by Herat and Badghis, it is strange that no one of those
famous cities is mentioned. And we feel constrained to assume that
something has been misunderstood in the dictation, or has dropped out
of it.’ Yule removes the six days of fine country to the district
between Sebsevar and Meshed, and considers that for at least the first
day’s marches beyond Nishapur Marco Polo’s description agrees admirably
with that given by Fraser and Ferrier.
“I travelled between Sebsevar and Meshed in the autumn of 1890, and
I cannot perceive that Marco Polo’s description is applicable to the
country. He speaks of six days’ journey through beautiful valleys
and pretty hillsides. To the east of Sebsevar you come out into
desert country, which, however passes into fertile country with many
villages.[2] Then there comes a boundless dreary steppe to the south.
At the village Seng-i-kal-i-deh you enter an undulating country with
immense flocks of sheep. ‘The first stretch of the road between Shurab
and Nishapur led us through perfect desert ...; but the landscape soon
changed its aspect; the desert passed by degrees into cultivated
lands, and we rode past several villages surrounded by fields and
gardens.... We here entered the most fertile and densely peopled region
in Khorasan, in the midst of which the town of Nishapur is situated.’
Of the tract to the east of Nishapur I say: ‘Here are found innumerable
villages. The plain and slopes are dotted with them. This district
is extraordinarily densely inhabited and well cultivated.’ But then
all this magnificence comes to an end, and of the last day’s journey
between Kademgah and Meshed I write: ‘The country rose and we entered a
maze of low intricate hillocks.... The country was exceedingly dreary
and bare. Some flocks of sheep were seen, however, but what the fat
and sleek sheep lived on was a puzzle to me.... This dismal landscape
was more and more enlivened by travellers.... To the east stretched an
undulating steppe up to the frontier of Afghanistan.’
“The road between Sebsevar and Meshed is, in short, of such a character
that it can hardly fit in with Marco Polo’s enthusiastic description
of the six days. And as these came just before Sapurgan, one cannot
either identify the desert regions named with the deserts about the
middle course of the Murgab which extend between Meshed and Shibirkhan.
He must have crossed desert first, and it may be identified with the
nemek-sar or salt desert east of Tun and Kain. The six days must have
been passed in the ranges Paropamisus, Firuz-kuh, and Bend-i-Turkestan.
Marco Polo is not usually wont to scare his readers by descriptions
of mountainous regions, but at this place he speaks of mountains and
valleys and rich pastures. As it was, of course, his intention to
travel on into the heart of Asia, to make a détour through Sebsevar
was unnecessary and out of his way. If he had travelled to Sebsevar,
Nishapur, and Meshed, he would scarcely call the province of Tun-o-Kain
the extremity of Persia towards the north, even as the political
boundaries were then situated.
“From Balkh his wonderful journey proceeded further eastwards, and
therefore we take leave of him. Precisely in Eastern Persia his
descriptions are so brief that they leave free room for all kinds
of speculations. In the foregoing pages it has been simply my desire
to present a few new points of view. The great value of Marco Polo’s
description of the Persian desert consists in confirming and proving
its physical invariableness during more than six hundred years. It had
as great a scarcity of oases then as now, and the water in the wells
was not less salt than in our own days.” (_Overland to India_, II., pp.
75–77.)
XXVII., p. 152 n.
DOGANA.
“The country of Dogana is quite certain to be the Chinese T’u-ho-lo or
Tokhara; for the position suits, and, moreover, nearly all the other
places named by Marco Polo along with Dogana occur in Chinese History
along with Tokhara many centuries before Polo’s arrival. Tokhara being
the most important, it is inconceivable that Marco Polo would omit it.
Thus, Poh-lo (Balkh), capital of the Eptals; Ta-la-kien (Talecan),
mentioned by Hiuan Tsang; Ho-sim or Ho-ts’z-mi (Casem), mentioned in
the _T’ang History_; Shik-nih or Shï-k’i-ni (Syghinan) of the _T’ang
History_; Woh-k’an (Vochan), of the same work; several forms of Bolor,
etc. (see also my remarks on the Pamir region in the _Contemporary
Review_ for Dec., 1897).” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan.,
1904, p. 142.)
XXIX., p. 160.
BADAKHSHAN.
“The Chinese name for ‘Badakhshan’ never appears before the Pa-ta-shan
of Kúblái’s time.” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p.
143.)
XXX., pp. 164–166. “You must know that ten days’ journey to the south
of Badashan there is a province called PASHAI, the people of which have
a peculiar language, and are Idolaters, of a brown complexion. They are
great adepts in sorceries and the diabolic arts. The men wear earrings
and brooches of gold and silver set with stones and pearls. They are a
pestilent people and a crafty; and they live upon flesh and rice. Their
country is very hot.”
Sir A. STEIN writes (_Ancient Khotan_, I., pp. 14–15 n.): “Sir Henry
Yule was undoubtedly right in assuming that Marco Polo had never
personally visited these countries and that his account of them, brief
as it is, was derived from hearsay information about the tracts which
the Mongol partisan leader Nigūdar had traversed, about 1260 A.D.,
on an adventurous incursion from Badakhshān towards Kashmīr and the
Punjāb. In Chapter XVIII., where the Venetian relates that exploit (see
Yule, _Marco Polo_, I., p. 98, with note, p. 104), the name of Pashai
is linked with _Dīr_, the territory on the Upper Panjkōra river, which
an invader, wishing to make his way from Badakhshān into Kashmīr by the
most direct route, would necessarily have to pass through.
“The name _Pashai_ is still borne to this day by a Muhamadanized tribe
closely akin to the Siāh-pōsh, settled in the Panjshīr Valley and
in the hills on the west and south of Kāfiristān. It has been very
fully discussed by Sir Henry Yule (_Ibid._, I., p. 165), who shows
ample grounds for the belief that this tribal name must have once
been more widely spread over the southern slopes of the Hindu kúsh as
far as they are comprised in the limits of Kāfiristān. If the great
commentator nevertheless records his inability to account for Marco
Polo’s application of ‘the name Pashai to the country south-east of
Badakhshan,’ the reason of the difficulty seems to me to lie solely in
Sir Henry Yule’s assumption that the route heard of by the traveller,
led ‘by the Doráh or the Nuksán Pass, over the watershed of Hindu kúsh
into Chitrál and so to Dir.’
“Though such a route _viâ_ Chitrāl would, no doubt, have been
available in Marco Polo’s time as much as now, there is no indication
whatever forcing us to believe that it was the one really meant by
his informants. When Nigūdar ‘with a great body of horsemen, cruel
unscrupulous fellows’ went off from Badakhshān towards Kashmīr, he may
very well have made his way over the Hindu kúsh by the more direct
line that passes to Dīr through the eastern part of Kāfiristān. In
fact, the description of the Pashai people and their country, as
given by Marco Polo, distinctly points to such a route; for we have
in it an unmistakable reflex of characteristic features with which
the idolatrous Siāh-pōsh Kāfirs have always been credited by their
Muhammadan neighbours.
“It is much to be regretted that the Oriental records of the period, as
far as they were accessible to Sir Henry Yule, seemed to have retained
only faint traces of the Mongol adventurer’s remarkable inroad. From
the point of view of Indian history it was, no doubt, a mere passing
episode. But some details regarding it would possess special interest
as illustrating an instance of successful invasion by a route that so
far has not received its due share of attention.” [See _supra_, pp. 4,
22–24.]
XXX., p. 164.
“The Chinese Toba Dynasty History mentions, in company with Samarcand,
_K’a-shī-mih_ (Cashmeer), and Kapisa, a State called _Pan-shê_, as
sending tribute to North China along with the Persian group of States.
This name _Pan-shê_ 半社 does not, to the best of my belief, occur a
second time in any Chinese record.” (PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._,
Jan., 1904, p. 135.)
XXX., p. 164. “Now let us proceed and speak of another country which is
seven day’s journey from this one [Pashai] towards the south-east, and
the name of which is KESHIMUR.”
This short estimate has perplexed Sir Henry Yule, _l.c._, p. 166. Sir
Aurel Stein remarks in a note, _Serindia_, I., p. 12: “The route above
indicated [Nigudar’s route] permits an explanation. Starting from some
point like Arnawal on the Kūnār River which certainly would be well
within ‘Pashai,’ lightly equipped horsemen could by that route easily
reach the border of Agrōr on the Indus within seven days. Speaking
from personal knowledge of almost the whole of the ground I should be
prepared to do the ride myself by the following stages: Dīr, Warai,
Sado, Chakdara, Kin kargalai, Bājkatta, Kai or Darband on the Indus. It
must be borne in mind that, as Yule rightly recognized, Marco Polo is
merely reproducing information derived from a Mongol source and based
on Nigudar’s raid; and further that Hazāra and the valley of the Jhelam
were probably then still dependent on the Kashmīr kingdom, as they were
certainly in Kalhana’s time, only a century earlier. As to the rate
at which Mongols were accustomed to travel on ‘Dak,’ cf. Yule, _Marco
Polo_, I., pp. 434 _seq._”
XXXII., pp. 170, 171. “The people [of Badashan] are Mahommetans, and
valiant in war.... They [the people of Vokhan] are gallant soldiers.”
In Afghan Wakhan, Sir Aurel Stein writes:
“On we cantered at the head of quite a respectable cavalcade to where,
on the sandy plain opposite to the main hamlet of Sarhad, two companies
of foot with a squad of cavalry, close on two hundred men in all, were
drawn up as a guard of honour. Hardy and well set up most of them
looked, giving the impression of thoroughly serviceable human material,
in spite of a manifestly defective drill and the motley appearance of
dress and equipment. They belonged, so the Colonel explained to me
afterwards, to a sort of militia drafted from the local population
of the Badakhshan valleys and Wakhan into the regiments permanently
echeloned as frontier guards along the Russian border on the Oxus.
Apart from the officers, the proportion of true Pathans among them
was slight. Yet I could well believe from all I saw and heard, that,
properly led and provided for, these sturdy Iranian hillmen might give
a good account of themselves. Did not Marco Polo speak of the people of
‘Badashan’ as ‘valiant in war’ and of the men of ‘Vokhan’ as gallant
soldiers?” (_Ruins of Desert Cathay_, I., p. 66.)
XXXII., pp. 170 _seq._
In Chap. III., pp. 64–66, of his _Serindia_, Sir Aurel Stein has the
following on Marco Polo’s account of Wakhan:—
“After Wu-k’ung’s narrative of his journey the Chinese sources of
information about the Pāmīrs and the adjoining regions run dry for
nearly a thousand years. But that the routes leading across them
from Wakhān retained their importance also in Muhammedan times is
attested by the greatest of mediæval travellers, Marco Polo. I have
already, in _Ancient Khotan_ [pp. 41 _seq._], discussed the portion
of his itinerary which deals with the journey across the Pāmīrs to
‘the kingdom of Cascar’ or Kāshgar, and it only remains here to note
briefly what he tells us of the route by which he approached them from
Badakhshan: ‘In leaving Badashan you ride twelve days between east and
north-east, ascending a river that runs through land belonging to a
brother of the Prince of Badashan, and containing a good many towns and
villages and scattered habitations. The people are Mahommetans, and
valiant in war. At the end of those twelve days you come to a province
of no great size, extending indeed no more than three days’ journey in
any direction, and this is called VOKHAN. The people worship Mahommet,
and they have a peculiar language. They are gallant soldiers, and they
have a chief whom they call NONE, which is as much as to say _Count_,
and they are liegemen to the Prince of Badashan.’ [Polo, I., pp.
170–171.]
“Sir Henry Yule was certainly right in assuming that ‘the river along
which Marco travels from Badakhshan is no doubt the upper stream of
the Oxus, locally known as the Panja.... It is true that the river
is reached from Badakhshan Proper by ascending another river (the
Vardoj) and crossing the Pass of Ishkáshm, but in the brief style
of our narrative we must expect such condensation.’ [Polo, I., pp.
172–3.] Marco’s great commentator was guided by equally true judgment
when he recognized in the indications of this passage the same system
of government that prevailed in the Oxus valleys until modern times.
Under it the most of the hill tracts dependent from Badakhshan,
including Ishkāshim and Wakhān, were ruled not direct by the Mir, but
by relations of his or hereditary chiefs who held their districts on
a feudal tenure. The twelve days’ journey which Marco records between
Badashan and ‘Vokhan’ are, I think, easily accounted for if it is
assumed that the distance from capital to capital is meant; for twelve
marches are still allowed for as the distance from Bahārak, the old
Badakhshan capital on the Vardoj, to Kila Panja.
“That the latter was in Marco’s days, as at present, the chief place
of Wakhān is indicated also by his narrative of the next stage of his
journey. ‘And when you leave this little country, and ride three days
north-east, always among mountains, you get to such a height that
’tis said to be the highest place in the world! And when you have got
to this height you find [a great lake between two mountains, and out
of it] a fine river running through a plain.... The plain is called
PAMIER.’ The bearing and descriptive details here given point clearly
to the plain of the Great Pāmir and Victoria Lake, its characteristic
feature. About sixty-two miles are reckoned from Langar-kisht, the last
village on the northern branch of the Āb-i-Panja and some six miles
above Kila Panja, to Mazār-tapa where the plain of the Great Pamīr may
be said to begin, and this distance agrees remarkably well with the
three marches mentioned by Marco.
“His description of Wakhān as ‘a province of no great size, extending
indeed no more than three days’ journey in any direction’ suggests that
a portion of the valley must then have formed part of the chiefship
of Ishkāshim or Zebak over which we may suppose ‘the brother of the
Prince of Badashan’ to have ruled. Such fluctuations in the extent of
Wakhān territory are remembered also in modern times. Thus Colonel
Trotter, who visited Wakhān with a section of the Yarkand Mission in
1874, distinctly notes that ‘Wakhān formerly contained three “sads”
or hundreds, _i.e._, districts, containing 100 houses each’ (_viz._
Sad-i-Sar-hadd, Sad Sipang, Sad Khandūt). To these Sad Ishtragh, the
tract extending from Dīgargand to Ishkāshim, is declared to have
been added in recent times, having formerly been an independent
principality. It only remains to note that Marco was right, too, in
his reference to the peculiar language of Wakhān; for Wakhī—which is
spoken not only by the people of Wakhān but also by the numerous Wakhī
colonists spread through Mastūj, Hunza Sarikol, and even further east
in the mountains—is a separate language belonging to the well-defined
group of Galcha tongues which itself forms the chief extant branch of
Eastern Iranian.”
XXXII., pp. 171 _seq._, 175, 182.
THE PLATEAU OF PAMIR.
“On leaving Tāsh-kurghān (July 10, 1900), my steps, like those of
Hiuan-tsang, were directed towards Kāshgar.... In Chapters V.–VII.
of my Personal Narrative I have given a detailed description of this
route, which took me past Muztāgh-Ata to Lake Little Kara-kul, and
then round the foot of the great glacier-crowned range northward into
the Gez defile, finally debouching at Tāshmalik into the open plain of
Kāshgari. Though scarcely more difficult than the usual route over the
Chichiklik Pass and by Yangi-Hīsar, it is certainly longer and leads
for a considerably greater distance over ground which is devoid of
cultivation or permanent habitations.
“It is the latter fact which makes me believe that Professor H. Cordier
was right in tracing by this very route Marco Polo’s itinerary from
the Central Pamirs to Kāshgar. The Venetian traveller, coming from
Wakhān, reached, after three days, a great lake which may be either
Lake Victoria or Lake Chakmak, at a ‘height that is said to be the
highest place in the world.’ He then describes faithfully enough the
desert plain called ‘Pamier,’ which he makes extend for the distance
of a twelve days’ ride, and next tells us: ‘Now, if we go on with our
journey towards the east-north-east, we travel a good forty days,
continually passing over mountains and hills, or through valleys, and
crossing many rivers and tracts of wilderness. And in all this way you
find neither habitation of man, nor any green thing, but must carry
with you whatever you require.’
“This reference to continuous ‘tracts of wilderness’ shows clearly
that, for one reason or another, Marco Polo did not pass through the
cultivated valleys of Tāsh-kurghān or Tagharma, as he would necessarily
have done if his route to Kāshgar, the region he next describes, had
lain over the Chichiklik Pass. We must assume that, after visiting
either the Great or Little Pāmīr, he travelled down the Ak-su river for
some distance, and then crossing the watershed eastwards by one of the
numerous passes struck the route which leads past Muztāgh-Ata and on
towards the Gez defile. In the brief supplementary notes contributed to
Professor Cordier’s critical analysis of this portion of Marco Polo’s
itinerary, I have pointed out how thoroughly the great Venetian’s
description of the forty days’ journey to the E.N.E. of the Pāmīr Lake
can be appreciated by any one who has passed through the Pāmīr region
and followed the valleys stretching round the Muztāgh-Ata range on the
west and north (cf. Yule, _Marco Polo_, II., pp. 593 _seq._). After
leaving Tāsh-kurghān and Tagharma there is no local produce to be
obtained until the oasis of Tāshmalik is reached. In the narrow valley
of the Yamān-yār river, forming the Gez defile, there is scarcely any
grazing; its appearance down to its opening into the plain is, in fact,
far more desolate than that of the elevated Pāmīr regions.
“In the absence of any data as to the manner and season in which Marco
Polo’s party travelled, it would serve no useful purpose to hazard
explanations as to why he should assign a duration of forty days to
a journey which for a properly equipped traveller need not take more
than fifteen or sixteen days, even when the summer floods close the
passage through the lower Gez defile, and render it necessary to follow
the circuitous track over the Tokuk Dawān or ‘Nine Passes.’ But it is
certainly worth mention that Benedict Goëz, too, speaks of the desert
of ‘Pāmech’ (Pāmīr) as taking forty days to cross if the snow was
extensive, a record already noted by Sir H. Yule (_Cathay_, II., pp.
563 _seq._). It is also instructive to refer once more to the personal
experience of the missionary traveller on the alternative route by
the Chichiklik Pass. According to the record quoted above, he appears
to have spent no less than twenty-eight days in the journeys from
the hamlets of ‘Sarcil’ (Sarīkol, _i.e._ Tāsh-kurghān) to ‘Hiarchan’
(Yarkand)—a distance of some 188 miles, now reckoned at ten days’
march.” (Stein, _Ancient Khotan_, pp. 40–42.)
XXXII., p. 171. “The Plain is called PAMIER, and you ride across it for
twelve days together, finding nothing but a desert without habitations
or any green thing, so that travellers are obliged to carry with them
whatever they have need of.”
At Sarhad, Afghan Wakhan, Stein, _Ruins of Desert Cathay_, I., p.
69, writes: “There was little about the low grey houses, or rather
hovels, of mud and rubble to indicate the importance which from early
times must have attached to Sarhad as the highest place of permanent
occupation on the direct route leading from the Oxus to the Tarim
Basin. Here was the last point where caravans coming from the Bactrian
side with the products of the Far West and of India could provision
themselves for crossing that high tract of wilderness ‘called Pamier’
of which old Marco Polo rightly tells us: ‘You ride across it...’ And
as I looked south towards the snow-covered saddle of the Baroghil,
the route I had followed myself, it was equally easy to realize why
Kao Hsien-chih’s strategy had, after the successful crossing of the
Pamirs, made the three columns of his Chinese Army concentrate upon the
stronghold of Lien-yün, opposite the present Sarhad. Here was the base
from which Yasin could be invaded and the Tibetans ousted from their
hold upon the straight route to the Indus.”
XXXII., p. 174.
“The note connecting Hiuan Tsang’s Kieh sha with Kashgar is probably
based upon an error of the old translators, for the Sita River was in
the Pamir region, and _K’a sha_ was one of the names of Kasanna, or
Kieh-shwang-na, in the Oxus region.” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart.
Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 143.)
XXXII., I. p. 173; II. p. 593.
PAONANO PAO.
Cf. _The Name Kushan_, by J. F. Fleet, _Jour. Roy. As. Soc._, April,
1914, pp. 374–9; _The Shaonano Shao Coin Legend;_ and a Note on the
name Kushan by J. Allan, _Ibid._, pp. 403–411. PAONANO PAO. Von Joh.
Kirste. (_Wiener Zeit. f. d. Kunde d. Morg._, II., 1888, pp. 237–244.)
XXXII., p. 174.
YUE CHI.
“The old statement is repeated that the Yüeh Chi, or Indo-Scyths
(_i.e._ the Eptals), ‘are said to have been of Tibetan origin.’ A long
account of this people was given in the _Asiatic Quart. Rev._ for July,
1902. It seems much more likely that they were a branch of the Hiung-nu
or Turks. Albiruni’s ‘report’ that they were of Tibetan origin is
probably founded on the Chinese statement that some of their ways were
like Tibetan ways, and that polyandry existed amongst them; also that
they fled from the Hiung-nu westwards along the _north edge_ of the
Tibetan territory, and some of them took service as Tibetan officials.”
(E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 143.)
XXXII., pp. 178–179.
BOLOR.
We read in the _Tarikh-i-Rashidi_ of Mirza Haidar (Notes by Ney Elias;
translated by E. D. Ross, 1895), p. 135, that Sultán Said Khán, son
of Mansur Khán, sent the writer in the year 934 (1528), “with Rashid
Sultán, to Balur, which is a country of infidels [_Káfiristán_],
between Badakhshan and Kashmir, where we conducted successfully a holy
war [_ghazát_], and returned victorious, loaded with booty and covered
with glory.”
Mirza Haidar gives the following description of Bolor (pp. 384–5):
“Balur is an infidel country [_Káfiristán_], and most of its
inhabitants are mountaineers. Not one of them has a religion or a
creed. Nor is there anything which they [consider it right to] abstain
from or to avoid [as impure]; but they do whatever they list, and
follow their desires without check or compunction. Baluristán is
bounded on the east by the province of Káshgar and Yárkand; on the
north by Badakhshán; on the west by Kábul and Lumghán; and on the
south by the dependencies of Kashmir. It is four months’ journey in
circumference. Its whole extent consists of mountains, valleys, and
defiles, insomuch that one might almost say that in the whole of
Baluristán, not one _farsákh_ of level ground is to be met with. The
population is numerous. No village is at peace with another, but there
is constant hostility, and fights are continually occurring among them.”
From the note to this passage (p. 385) we note that “for some twenty
years ago, Mr. E. B. Shaw found that the Kirghiz of the Pamirs called
Chitrál by the name of _Pálor_. To all other inhabitants of the
surrounding regions, however, the word appears now to be unknown....
“The Balur country would then include Hunza, Nagar, possibly Tásh
Kurghán, Gilgit, Panyál, Yasin, Chitrál, and probably the tract now
known as Kafiristan: while, also, some of the small states south of
Gilgit, Yasin, etc., may have been regarded as part of Balur....
“The conclusions arrived at [by Sir H. Yule], are very nearly borne
out by Mirza Haidar’s description. The only differences are (1) that,
according to our author, Baltistán cannot have been included in Balur,
as he always speaks of that country, later in his work, as a separate
province with the name of _Balti_, and says that it bordered on Balur;
and (2) that _Balur_ was confined almost entirely, as far as I am
able to judge from his description in this passage and elsewhere, to
the southern slopes of the Eastern Hindu Kush, or Indus water-parting
range; while Sir H. Yule’s map makes it embrace Sárigh-Kul and the
greater part of the eastern Pamirs.”
XXXIII., p. 182. “The natives [of Cascar] are a wretched, niggardly set
of people; they eat and drink in miserable fashion.”
The people of Kashgar seem to have enjoyed from early times a
reputation for rough manners and deceit (Stein, _Ancient Khotan_, p.
49 n). Stein, p. 70, recalls Hiuan Tsang’s opinion: “The disposition
of the men is fierce and impetuous, and they are mostly false and
deceitful. They make light of decorum and politeness, and esteem
learning but little.” Stein adds, p. 70, with regard to Polo’s
statement: “Without being able to adduce from personal observation
evidence as to the relative truth of the latter statement, I believe
that the judgements recorded by both those great travellers may be
taken as a fair reflex of the opinion in which the ‘Kāshgarliks’ are
held to this day by the people of other Turkestān districts, especially
by the Khotanese. And in the case of Hiuan Tsang at least, it seems
probable from his long stay in, and manifest attachment to, Khotan that
this neighbourly criticism might have left an impression upon him.”
XXXVI., p. 188.
KHOTAN.
Sir Aurel Stein writes (_Ancient Khotan_, I., pp. 139–140): “Marco
Polo’s account of Khotan and the Khotanese forms an apt link between
these early Chinese notices and the picture drawn from modern
observation. It is brief but accurate in all details. The Venetian
found the people ‘subject to the Great Kaan’ and ‘all worshippers of
Mahommet.’ ‘There are numerous towns and villages in the country,
but Cotan, the capital, is the most noble of all and gives its name
to the kingdom. Everything is to be had there in plenty, including
abundance of cotton [with flax, hemp, wheat, wine, and the like]. The
people have vineyards and gardens and estates. They live by commerce
and manufactures, and are no soldiers.’ Nor did the peculiar laxity of
morals, which seems always to have distinguished the people of the
Khotan region, escape Marco Polo’s attention. For of the ‘Province of
Pein,’ which, as we shall see, represents the oases of the adjoining
modern district of Keriya, he relates the custom that ‘if the husband
of any woman go away upon a journey and remain away for more than
twenty days, as soon as that term is past the woman may marry another
man, and the husband also may then marry whom he pleases.’
“No one who has visited Khotan or who is familiar with the modern
accounts of the territory, can read the early notices above extracted
without being struck at once by the fidelity with which they reflect
characteristic features of the people at the present day. Nor is it
necessary to emphasize the industrial pre-eminence which Khotan still
enjoys in a variety of manufactures through the technical skill and
inherited training of the bulk of its population.”
Sir Aurel Stein further remarks (_Ancient Khotan_, I., p. 183): “When
Marco Polo visited Khotan on his way to China, between the years 1271
and 1275, the people of the oasis were flourishing, as the Venetian’s
previously quoted account shows. His description of the territories
further east, Pein, Cherchen, and Lop, which he passed through before
crossing ‘the Great Desert’ to Sha-chou, leaves no doubt that the route
from Khotan into Kan-su was in his time a regular caravan road. Marco
Polo found the people of Khotan ‘all worshippers of Mahommet’ and the
territory subject to the ‘Great Kaan’, _i.e._ Kúblái, whom by that time
almost the whole of the Middle Kingdom acknowledged as emperor. While
the neighbouring Yarkand owed allegiance to Kaidu, the ruler of the
Chagatai dominion, Khotan had thus once more renewed its old historical
connexion with China.”
XXXVI., p. 190.
“A note of Yule’s on p. 190 of vol. I. describes Johnson’s report
on the people of Khoten (1865) as having ‘a slightly Tartar cast
of countenance.’ The Toba History makes the same remark 1300 years
earlier: ‘From Kao-ch’ang (Turfan) westwards the people of the various
countries have deep eyes and high noses; the features in only this one
country (Khoten) are not very _Hu_ (Persian, etc.), but rather like
Chinese.’ I published a tolerably complete digest of Lob Nor and Khoten
early history from Chinese sources, in the _Anglo-Russian Society’s
Journal_ for Jan. and April, 1903. It appears to me that the ancient
capital Yotkhan, discovered thirty-five years ago, and visited in 1891
by MM. de Rhins and Grenard, probably furnishes a clue to the ancient
Chinese name of Yu-t’ien.” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan.,
1904, p. 143.)
XXXVII., p. 190 n.
Stein has devoted a whole chapter of his _Sand-buried Ruins of Khotan_,
Chap. XVI., pp. 256 _seq._ to _Yotkan, the Site of the Ancient Capital_.
XXXVII., p. 191, n. 1.
PEIN.
“It is a mistake to suppose that the earlier pilgrim Fa-hien (A.D. 400)
followed the ‘directer route’ from China; he was obliged to go to Kao
ch’ang, and then turn sharp south to Khoten.” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic
Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 143.)
XXXVII., p. 192.
I have embodied, in Vol. II., p. 595, of Marco Polo, some of the
remarks of Sir Aurel Stein regarding Pein and Uzun Tati. In _Ancient
Khotan_, I., pp. 462–3, he has given further evidence of the identity
of Uzun Tati and P’i mo, and he has discussed the position of
Ulūg-Ziārat, probably the Han mo of Sung Yun.
XXXVII., p. 191; II., p. 595.
“Keriya, the Pein of Marco Polo and Pimo of Hwen Tsiang, writes
Huntington, is a pleasant district, with a population of about fifteen
thousand souls.” Huntington discusses (p. 387) the theory of Stein:
“Stein identifies Pimo or Pein, with ancient Kenan, the site ... now
known as Uzun Tetti or Ulugh Mazar, north of Chira. This identification
is doubtful, as appears from the following table of distances given by
Hwen Tsiang, which is as accurate as could be expected from a casual
traveller. I have reckoned the ‘li,’ the Chinese unit of distance, as
equivalent to 0·26 of a mile.
Distance according
Names of Places. True Distance. to Hwen Tsiang.
Khotan (Yutien) to Keriya (Pimo) 97 miles. 330 li. 86 miles.
Keriya (Pimo) to Niya (Niyang) 64 „ 200 „ 52 „
Niya (Niyang) to Endereh (Tuholo) 94 „ 400 „ 104 „
Endereh (Tuholo) to Kotāk Sheri?
(Chemotona) 138? „ 600 „ 156 „
Kotak Sheri (Chemotona) to Lulan
(Nafopo) 264? „ 1000 „ 260 „
“If we use the value of the ‘li’ 0·274 of a mile given by Hedin, the
distances from Khotān to Keriya and from Keriya to Niya, according to
Hwen Tsiang, become 91 and 55 miles instead of 86 and 52 as given in
the table, which is not far from the true distances, 97 and 64.
“If, however, Pimo is identical with Kenan, as Stein thinks,
the distances which Hwen Tsiang gives as 86 and 52 miles become
respectively 60 and 89, which is evidently quite wrong.
“Strong confirmation of the identification of Keriya with Pimo is
found in a comparison of extracts from Marco Polo’s and Hwen Tsiang’s
accounts of that city with passages from my note-book, written long
before I had read the comments of the ancient travellers. Marco Polo
says that the people of Pein, or Pima, as he also calls it, have the
peculiar custom ‘that if a married man goes to a distance from home
to be about twenty days, his wife has a right, if she is so inclined,
to take another husband; and the men, on the same principle, marry
wherever they happen to reside.’ The quotation from my notes runs as
follows: ‘The women of the place are noted for their attractiveness and
loose character. It is said that many men coming to Keriya for a short
time become enamoured of the women here, and remain permanently, taking
new wives and abandoning their former wives and families.’
“Hwen Tsiang observed that thirty ‘li,’ seven or eight miles, west
of Pimo, there is ‘a great desert marsh, upwards of several acres in
extent, without any verdure whatever. The surface is reddish black.’
The natives explained to the pilgrim that it was the blood-stained site
of a great battle fought many years before. Eighteen miles north-west
of Keriya bazaar, or ten miles from the most westerly village of the
oasis, I observed that ‘some areas which are flooded part of the year
are of a deep rich red colour, due to a small plant two or three inches
high.’ I saw such vegetation nowhere else and apparently it was an
equally unusual sight to Hwen Tsiang.
“In addition to these somewhat conclusive observations, Marco Polo says
that jade is found in the river of Pimo, which is true of the Keriya,
but not of the Chira, or the other rivers near Kenan.” (Ellsworth
HUNTINGTON, _The Pulse of Asia_, pp. 387–8.)
XXXVIII., p. 194. “The whole of the Province [of Charchan] is sandy, and
so is the road all the way from Pein, and much of the water that you
find is bitter and bad. However, at some places you do find fresh and
sweet water.”
Sir Aurel Stein remarks (_Ancient Khotan_, I., p. 436): “Marco Polo’s
description, too, ‘of the Province of Charchan’ would agree with the
assumption that the route west of Charchan was not altogether devoid of
settlements even as late as the thirteenth century.... [His] account
of the route agrees accurately with the conditions now met with
between Niya and Charchan. Yet in the passage immediately following,
the Venetian tells us how ‘when an army passes through the land, the
people escape with their wives, children, and cattle a distance of two
or three days’ journey into the sandy waste; and, knowing the spots
where water is to be had, they are able to live there, and to keep
their cattle alive, while it is impossible to discover them.’ It seems
to me clear that Marco Polo alludes here to the several river courses
which, after flowing north of the Niya-Charchan route, lose themselves
in the desert. The jungle belt of their terminal areas, no doubt,
offered then, as it would offer now, safe places of refuge to any small
settlements established along the route southwards.”
XXXIX., P. 197.
OF THE CITY OF LOP.
Stein remarks, _Ruins of Desert Cathay_, I., p. 343: “Broad
geographical facts left no doubt for any one acquainted with local
conditions that Marco Polo’s Lop, ‘a large town at the edge of the
Desert’ where ‘travellers repose before entering on the Desert’ _en
route_ for Sha chou and China proper, must have occupied the position
of the present Charklik. Nor could I see any reason for placing
elsewhere the capital of that ‘ancient kingdom of Na-fo-po, the same as
the territory of Lou-lan,’ which Hiuan Tsang reached after ten marches
to the north-east of Chü-mo or Charchan, and which was the pilgrim’s
last stage before his return to Chinese soil.”
In his third journey (1913–1916), Stein left Charchan on New Year’s
Eve, 1914, and arrived at Charkhlik on January 8, saying: “It was from
this modest little oasis, the only settlement of any importance in the
Lop region, representing Marco Polo’s ‘City of Lop,’ that I had to
raise the whole of the supplies, labour, and extra camels needed by the
several parties for the explorations I had carefully planned during the
next three months in the desert between Lop-nor and Tunhuang.”
“The name of LOB appears under the form _Lo pou_ in the _Yuan-shi_,
_s.a._ 1282 and 1286. In 1286, it is mentioned as a postal station
near those of K’ie-t’ai, Che-ch’an and Wo-tuan. Wo-tuan is Khotan.
Che-ch’an, the name of which reappears in other paragraphs, is
Charchan. As to K’ie-t’ai, a postal station between those of
Lob and Charchan, it seems probable that it is the Kätäk of the
_Tarikh-i-Rashidi_.” (PELLIOT.)
See in the _Journ. Asiatique_, Jan.–Feb., 1916, pp. 117–119, Pelliot’s
remarks on _Lob, Navapa_, etc.
XXXIX., pp. 196–7.
THE GREAT DESERT.
After reproducing the description of the Great Desert in Sir Henry
Yule’s version, Stein adds, _Ruins of Desert Cathay_, I., p. 518:
“It did not need my journey to convince me that what Marco here tells
us about the risks of the desert was but a faithful reflex of old
folklore beliefs he must have heard on the spot. Sir Henry Yule has
shown long ago that the dread of being led astray by evil spirits
haunted the imagination of all early travellers who crossed the desert
wastes between China and the oases westwards. Fa-hsien’s above-quoted
passage clearly alludes to this belief, and so does Hiuan Tsang, as we
have seen, where he points in graphic words the impressions left by his
journey through the sandy desert between Niya and Charchan.
“Thus, too, the description we receive through the Chinese
historiographer, Ma Tuan-lin, of the shortest route from China towards
Kara-shahr, undoubtedly corresponding to the present track to Lop-nor,
reads almost like a version from Marco’s book, though its compiler, a
contemporary of the Venetian traveller, must have extracted it from
some earlier source. ‘You see nothing in any direction but the sky and
the sands, without the slightest trace of a road; and travellers find
nothing to guide them but the bones of men and beasts and the droppings
of camels. During the passage of this wilderness you hear sounds,
sometimes of singing, sometimes of wailing; and it has often happened
that travellers going aside to see what these sounds might be have
strayed from their course and been entirely lost; for they were voices
of spirits and goblins.’...
“As Yule rightly observes, ‘these Goblins are not peculiar to the
Gobi.’ Yet I felt more than ever assured that Marco’s stories about
them were of genuine local growth, when I had travelled over the whole
route and seen how closely its topographical features agree with the
matter-of-fact details which the first part of his chapter records.
Anticipating my subsequent observations, I may state here at once
that Marco’s estimate of the distance and the number of marches on
this desert crossing proved perfectly correct. For the route from
Charklik, his ‘town of Lop,’ to the ‘City of Sachiu,’ _i.e._ Sha-chou
or Tun-huang, our plane-table survey, checked by cyclometer readings,
showed an aggregate marching distance of close on 380 miles.”
XXXIX., p. 196.
OF THE CITY OF LOP AND THE GREAT DESERT.
“In the hope of contributing something toward the solution of these
questions [contradictory statements of Prjevalsky, Richthofen, and Sven
Hedin],” writes Huntington, “I planned to travel completely around
the unexplored part of the ancient lake, crossing the Lop desert in
its widest part. As a result of the journey, I became convinced that
two thousand years ago the lake was of great size, covering both the
ancient and the modern locations; then it contracted, and occupied
only the site shown on the Chinese maps; again, in the Middle Ages, it
expanded; and at present it has contracted and occupies the modern site.
“Now, as in Marco Polo’s days, the traveller must equip his caravan for
the desert at Charklik, also known as Lop, two days’ journey south-west
of the lake.” (Ellsworth HUNTINGTON, _The Pulse of Asia_, pp. 240–1.)
XXXIX., pp. 197, 201.
NOISES IN THE GREAT DESERT.
As an answer to a paper by C. TOMLINSON, in _Nature_, Nov. 28, 1895,
p. 78, we find in the same periodical, April 30, 1896, LIII., p. 605,
the following note by KUMAGUSU MINAKATA:
“The following passage in a Chinese itinerary of Central Asia—Chun
Yuen’s _Si-yih-kien-wan-luh_, 1777 (British Museum, No. 15271, b. 14),
tom. VII., fol. 13 b.—appears to describe the icy sounds similar to
what Ma or Head observed in North America (see _supra_, _ibid._, p. 78).
“Muh-süh-urh-tah-fan (= Muzart), that is Ice Mountain [_Snowy_
according to Prjevalsky], is situated between Ili and Ushi.... In case
that one happens to be travelling there close to sunset, he should
choose a rock of moderate thickness and lay down on it. In solitary
night then, he would hear the sounds, now like those of gongs and
bells, and now like those of strings and pipes, which disturb ears
through the night: these are produced by multifarious noises coming
from the cracking ice.”
Kumagusu Minakata has another note on remarkable sounds in Japan in
_Nature_, LIV., May 28, 1896, p. 78.
Sir T. Douglas Forsyth, _Buried Cities in the Shifting Sands of the
Great Desert of Gobi, Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc._, Nov. 13, 1876, says,
p. 29: “The stories told by Marco Polo, in his 39th chapter, about
shifting sands and strange noises and demons, have been repeated by
other travellers down to the present time. Colonel Prjevalsky, in pp.
193 and 194 of his interesting _Travels_, gives his testimony to the
superstitions of the Desert; and I find, on reference to my diary,
that the same stories were recounted to me in Kashgar, and I shall be
able to show that there is some truth in the report of treasures being
exposed to view.”
P. 201, Line 12. Read the Governor of Urumtsi _founded_ instead of
_found_.
XL., p. 203. Marco Polo comes to a city called Sachiu belonging to a
province called Tangut. “The people are for the most part Idolaters....
The Idolaters have a peculiar language, and are no traders, but live by
their agriculture. They have a great many abbeys and minsters full of
idols of sundry fashions, to which they pay great honour and reverence,
worshipping them and sacrificing to them with much ado.”
Sachiu, or rather Tun Hwang, is celebrated for its “Caves of Thousand
Buddhas”; Sir Aurel Stein wrote the following remarks in his _Ruins of
Desert Cathay_, II., p. 27: “Surely it was the sight of these colossal
images, some reaching nearly a hundred feet in height, and the vivid
first impressions retained of the cult paid to them, which had made
Marco Polo put into his chapter on ‘Sachiu,’ _i.e._ Tun-huang, a long
account of the strange idolatrous customs of the people of Tangut....
Tun-huang manifestly had managed to retain its traditions of Buddhist
piety down to Marco’s days. Yet there was plentiful antiquarian
evidence showing that most of the shrines and art remains at the
Halls of the Thousand Buddhas dated back to the period of the T’ang
Dynasty, when Buddhism flourished greatly in China. Tun-huang, as the
westernmost outpost of China proper, had then for nearly two centuries
enjoyed imperial protection both against the Turks in the north and
the Tibetans southward. But during the succeeding period, until the
advent of paramount Mongol power, some two generations before Marco
Polo’s visit, these marches had been exposed to barbarian inroads of
all sorts. The splendour of the temples and the number of the monks
and nuns established near them had, no doubt, sadly diminished in the
interval.”
XL., p. 205.
Prof. Pelliot accepts as a Mongol plural _Tangut_, but remarks that
it is very ancient, as _Tangut_ is already to be found in the Orkhon
inscriptions. At the time of Chingiz, _Tangut_ was a singular in
Mongol, and _Tangu_ is nowhere to be found.
XL., p. 206.
The Tangutans are descendants of the Tang-tu-chüeh; it must be
understood that they are descendants of _T’u Kiueh_ of the T’ang
Period. (PELLIOT.)
Lines 7 and 8 from the foot of the page: instead of T’ung hoang, read
Tun hoang; Kiu-kaan, read Tsiu tsüan.
XL., p. 207, note 2. The “peculiar language” is si-hia (PELLIOT).
XLI., pp. 210, 212, n. 3.
THE PROVINCE OF CAMUL.
See on the discreditable custom of the people of Qamul, a long note in
the second edition of _Cathay_, I., pp. 249–250.
XLI., p. 211.
Prof. Parker remarks (_Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 142) that:
“The Chinese (Manchu) agent at Urga has not (nor, I believe, ever
had) any control over the Little Bucharia Cities. Moreover, since the
reconquest of Little Bucharia in 1877–1878, the whole of those cities
have been placed under the Governor of the New Territory (Kan Suh
Sin-kiang Sün-fu), whose capital is at Urumtsi. The native Mohammedan
Princes of Hami have still left to them a certain amount of home rule,
and so lately as 1902 a decree appointing the rotation of their visits
to Peking was issued. The present Prince’s name is _Shamu Hust_, or
_Hussot_.”
XLII., p. 215.
THE PROVINCE OF CHINGINTALAS.
Prof. E. H. PARKER writes in the _Journ. of the North China Branch of
the Royal As. Soc._, XXXVII., 1906, p. 195: “On p. 215 of Yule’s Vol.
I. some notes of Palladius’ are given touching Chingkintalas, but it
is not stated that Palladius supposed the word _Ch’ih kin_ to date
after the Mongols, that is, that Palladius felt uncertain about his
identification. But Palladius is mistaken in feeling thus uncertain: in
1315 and 1326 the Mongol History twice mentions the garrison starts at
_Ch’ih kin_, and in such a way that the place must be where Marco Polo
puts it, _i.e._ west of Kia-yüh Kwan.”
OF THE PROVINCE OF SUKCHUR.
XLIII., p. 217. “Over all the mountains of this province rhubarb is
found in great abundance, and thither merchants come to buy it, and
carry it thence all over the world. Travellers, however, dare not visit
those mountains with any cattle but those of the country, for a certain
plant grows there which is so poisonous that cattle which eat it loose
their hoofs. The cattle of the country know it and eschew it.”
During his crossing of the Nan Shan, Sir Aurel Stein had the same
experience, five of his ponies being “benumbed and refusing to touch
grass or fodder.” The traveller notes that, _Ruins of Desert Cathay_,
II., p. 303: “I at once suspected that they had eaten of the poisonous
grass which infests certain parts of the Nan Shan, and about which
old Marco has much to tell in his chapter on ‘Sukchur’ or Su-chou.
The Venetian’s account had proved quite true; for while my own ponies
showed all the effects of this inebriating plant, the local animals had
evidently been wary of it. A little bleeding by the nose, to which Tila
Bai, with the veterinary skill of an old Ladak ‘Kirakash,’ promptly
proceeded, seemed to afford some relief. But it took two or three days
before the poor brutes were again in full possession of their senses
and appetites.”
“Wild rhubarb, for which the Nan-shan was famous in Marco Polo’s days,
spread its huge fleshy leaves everywhere.” (STEIN, _Ruins of Desert
Cathay_, II., p. 305.)
XLIII., p. 218.
SUKCHUR.
The first character of Suchau was pronounced _Suk_ at the time of the
T’ang; we find a _Sughčiu_ in von Le Coq’s MSS. from Turkestan and
_Sughču_ in the runnic text of W. Thomsen; cf. PELLIOT, _J. As._,
Mai–Juin, 1912, p. 591; the pronunciation _Suk_-chau was still used by
travellers coming from Central Asia—for instance, by the envoys of Shah
Rukh. See _Cathay_, III., p. 126 n.
OF THE CITY OF CAMPICHU.
XLIV., pp. 219 _seq._ “The Idolaters have many minsters and abbeys
after their fashion. In these they have an enormous number of idols,
both small and great, certain of the latter being a good ten paces in
stature; some of them being of wood, others of clay, and others yet of
stone. They are all highly polished, and then covered with gold. The
great idols of which I speak lie at length. And round about them there
are other figures of considerable size, as if adoring and paying homage
before them.”
The ambassadors of Shah Rukh to China (1419–1422) wrote:
“In this city of Kamchau there is an idol temple five hundred cubits
square. In the middle is an idol lying at length, which measures fifty
paces. The sole of the foot is nine paces long, and the instep is
twenty-one cubits in girth. Behind this image and overhead are other
idols of a cubit (?) in height, besides figures of _Bakshis_ as large
as life. The action of all is hit off so admirably that you would think
they were alive. Against the wall also are other figures of perfect
execution. The great sleeping idol has one hand under his head, and
the other resting on his thigh. It is gilt all over, and is known as
_Shakamuni-fu_. The people of the country come in crowds to visit it,
and bow to the very ground before this idol” (_Cathay_, I., p. 277).
XLV., p. 223.
OF THE CITY OF ETZINA.
I said, I., p. 225, that this town must be looked for on the river
_Hei-shui_ called _Etsina_ by the Mongols, and would be situated on
the river on the border of the Desert, at the top of a triangle,
whose bases would be Suhchau and Kanchau. My theory seems to be fully
confirmed by Sir Aurel Stein, who writes:
“Advantages of geographical position must at all times have invested
this extensive riverine tract, limited as are its resources, with
considerable importance for those, whether armed host or traders, who
would make the long journey from the heart of Mongolia in the north
to the Kansu oases. It had been the same with the ancient Lou-lan
delta, without which the Chinese could not have opened up the earliest
and most direct route for the expansion of their trade and political
influence into Central Asia. The analogy thus presented could not fail
to impress me even further when I proceeded to examine the ruins of
Khara-khoto, the ‘Black Town’ which Colonel Kozloff, the distinguished
Russian explorer, had been the first European to visit during his
expedition of 1908–1909. There remained no doubt for me then that it
was identical with Marco Polo’s ‘City of Etzina.’ Of this we are told
in the great Venetian traveller’s narrative that it lay a twelve days’
ride from the city of Kan-chou, ‘towards the north on the verge of the
desert; it belongs to the Province of Tangut.’ All travellers bound for
Kara-koram, the old capital of the Mongols, had here to lay in victuals
for forty days in order to cross the great ‘desert which extends forty
days’ journey to the north, and on which you meet with no habitation
nor baiting place.’
“The position thus indicated was found to correspond exactly to that
of Khara-khoto, and the identification was completely borne out by
the antiquarian evidence brought to light. It soon showed me that
though the town may have suffered considerably, as local tradition
asserts, when Chingiz Khan with his Mongol army first invaded and
conquered Kansu from this side about 1226 A.D., yet it continued to be
inhabited down to Marco Polo’s time, and partially at least for more
than a century later. This was probably the case even longer with the
agricultural settlement for which it had served as a local centre, and
of which we traced extensive remains in the desert to the east and
north-east. But the town itself must have seen its most flourishing
times under Tangut or Hsi-hsia rule from the beginning of the eleventh
century down to the Mongol conquest.
“It was from this period, when Tibetan influence from the south seems
to have made itself strongly felt throughout Kansu, that most of the
Buddhist shrines and memorial Stupas dated, which filled a great
portion of the ruined town and were conspicuous also outside it. In one
of the latter Colonel Kozloff had made his notable find of Buddhist
texts and paintings. But a systematic search of this and other ruins
soon showed that the archæological riches of the site were by no
means exhausted. By a careful clearing of the débris which covered the
bases of Stupas and the interior of temple cellas we brought to light
abundant remains of Buddhist manuscripts and block prints, both in
Tibetan and the as yet very imperfectly known old Tangut language, as
well as plenty of interesting relievos in stucco or terra-cotta and
frescoes. The very extensive refuse heaps of the town yielded up a
large number of miscellaneous records on paper in the Chinese, Tangut,
and Uigur scripts, together with many remains of fine glazed pottery,
and of household utensils. Finds of Hsi-hsia coins, ornaments in stone
and metal, etc., were also abundant, particularly on wind-eroded ground.
“There was much to support the belief that the final abandonment of
the settlement was brought about by difficulties of irrigation.” (_A
Third Journey of Exploration in Central Asia_, 1913–16, _Geog. Jour._,
Aug.–Sept., 1916, pp. 38–39.)
M. Ivanov (_Isviestia_ Petrograd Academy, 1909) thinks that the ruined
city of Kara Khoto, a part at the Mongol period of the Yi-tsi-nai
circuit, could be its capital, and was at the time of the Si Hia and
the beginning of the Mongols, the town of Hei shui. It also confirms my
views.
Kozlov found (1908) in a stupa not far from Kara Khoto a large number
of Si Hia books, which he carried back to Petrograd, where they were
studied by Prof. A. IVANOV, _Zur Kenntniss der Hsi-hsia Sprache_ (_Bul.
Ac. Sc. Pet._, 1909, pp. 1221–1233). See _The Si-hia Language_, by B.
LAUFER (_T’oung Pao_, March, 1916, pp. 1–126).
XLVI., p. 226. “Originally the Tartars dwelt in the north on the
borders of Chorcha.”
Prof. Pelliot calls my attention that Ramusio’s text, f. 13 _v_, has:
“Essi habitauano nelle parti di Tramontana, cioè in Giorza, _e Bargu_,
doue sono molte pianure grandi....”
XLVI., p. 230.
TATAR.
“Mr. Rockhill is quite correct in his Turkish and Chinese dates for
the first use of the word _Tatar_, but it seems very likely that the
much older eponymous word _T’atun_ refers to the same people. The Toba
History says that in A.D. 258 the chieftain of that Tartar Tribe (not
yet arrived at imperial dignity) at a public durbar read a homily to
various chiefs, pointing out to them the mistake made by the Hiung-nu
(Early Turks) and ‘T’a-tun fellows’ (Early Mongols) in raiding his
frontiers. If we go back still further, we find the _After Han History_
speaking of the ‘Middle T’atun’; and a scholion tells us _not to
pronounce the final ‘n.’_ If we pursue our inquiry yet further back, we
find that _T’ah-tun_ was originally the name of a Sien-pi or Wu-hwan
(apparently Mongol) Prince, who tried to secure the _shen-yü_ ship for
himself, and that it gradually became (1) a title, (2) and the name of
a tribal division (see also the _Wei Chi_ and the _Early Han History_).
Both _Sien-pi_ and _Wu-hwan_ are the names of mountain haunts, and
at this very day part of the Russian Liao-tung railway is styled the
‘Sien-pi railway’ by the native Chinese newspapers.” (E. H. PARKER,
_Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 141.)
Page 231, note 3. Instead of _Yuché_, read _Juché_.
XLVI., p. 232.
KARACATHAYANS.
“There seems to be no doubt that Kerman in South Persia is the city
to which the Kara-Cathayan refugee fled from China in 1124; for Major
Sykes, in his recent excellent work on Persia, actually mentions [p.
194] the Kuba Sabz, or ‘Green Dome,’ as having been (until destroyed
in 1886 by an earthquake) the most conspicuous building, and as
having also been the tomb of the Kara-Khitai Dynasty. The late Dr.
Bretschneider (_N. China B. R. As. Soc. Journal_, Vol. X., p. 101)
had imagined the Kara-Cathayan capital to be Kerminé, lying between
Samarcand and Bokhara (see _Asiatic Quart. Rev._ for Dec., 1900, ‘The
Cathayans’). Colonel Yule does not appear to be quite correct when he
states (p. 232) that ‘the Gurkhan himself is not described to have
extended his conquests into Persia,’ for the Chinese history of the
Cathayan or Liao Dynasties distinctly states that at Samarcand, where
the Cathayan remained for ninety days, the ‘King of the Mohammedans’
brought tribute to the emigrant, _who then went West as far as
K’i-r-man_, where he was proclaimed Emperor by his officers. This was
on the fifth day of the second moon in 1124, in the thirty-eighth
year of his age, and he then assumed the title of _Koh-r-han_” (E. H.
Parker, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, pp. 134–5.)
XLVI., p. 236.
KERAITS.
“In his note to Vol. I., p. 236, M. Cordier [read Mr. Rockhill],
who seems to have been misled by d’Avezac, confuses the Ch’ih-lêh
or T’ieh-lêh (who have been clearly proved to be identical with the
Tölös of the Turkish inscriptions) with the much later K’êh-lieh or
Keraits of Mongol history; at no period of Chinese history were the
Ch’ih-lêh called, as he supposes, _K’i-lê_, and therefore the Ch’ih-lêh
of the third century cannot possibly be identified with the K’ê-lieh
of the thirteenth. Besides, the ‘value’ of _lêh_ is ‘luck,’ whilst the
‘value’ of _lieh_ is ‘leet,’ if we use English sounds as equivalents to
illustrate Chinese etymology. It is remarkable that the Kin (Nüchen)
Dynasty in its Annals leaves no mention whatever of the Kerait tribe,
or of any tribe having an approximate name, although the _Yüan Shï_
states that the Princes of that tribe used to hold a Nüchen patent.
A solution of this unexplained fact may yet turn up.” (E. H. PARKER,
_Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan. 1904, p. 139.)
Page 236, note [11]. Instead of _Tura_, read _Tula_. (PELLIOT.)
LI., pp. 245, 248.
DEATH OF CHINGIZ KHAN.
“Gaubil’s statement that he was wounded in 1212 by a stray arrow, which
compelled him to raise the siege of Ta-t’ung Fu, is exactly borne out
by the _Yüan Shï_, which adds that in the seventh moon (August) of
1227 (shortly after the surrender of the Tangut King) the conqueror
died at the travelling-palace of Ha-la T’u on the Sa-li _stream_ at
the age of sixty-six (sixty-five by our reckoning). As less than a
month before he was present at Ts’ing-shui (lat. 34½°, long. 106½°),
and was even on his dying bed, giving instructions how to meet the
Nüchên army at T’ung-kwan (lat. 34½°, long. 110¼°), we may assume that
the place of his death was on the Upper Wei River near the frontiers
joining the modern Kan Suh and Shen Si provinces. It is true the Sa-li
_River_ (not stream) is thrice mentioned, and also the Sa-lê-chu
River, both in Mongolia; on the other hand, the Sa-li Ouigours are
frequently mentioned as living in West Kan Suh; so that we may take it
the word _Sali_ or _Sari_ was a not uncommon Turkish word. Palladius’
identification of _K’i-lien_ with ‘Kerulen’ I am afraid cannot be
entertained. The former word frequently occurs in the second century
B.C., and is stated to be a second Hiung-nu (Turkish) word for ‘sky’ or
‘heaven.’ At or about that date the Kerulen was known to the Chinese
as the Lu-kü River, and the geographies of the present dynasty clearly
identify it as such. The T’ien-Shan are sometimes called the K’i-lien
Shan, and the word _K’i-lien_ is otherwise well established along the
line of the Great Wall.” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan.,
1904, pp. 136–7.)
Prof. Pelliot informs me that in No. 3 (Sept., 1918) of Vol. III of
_Chinese Social and Political Science Review_ there is an article on
the _Discovery of and Investigation concerning the Tomb of Gengis
Khan_. I have not seen it.
LI., p. 249.
TAILGAN.
“The _táilgan_, or autumn meeting of the Mongols, is probably the
_tái-lin_, or autumn meeting, of the ancient Hiung-nu described on p.
10, Vol. XX. of the _China Review_. The Kao-ch’ê (= High Carts, Tölös,
or early Ouigours) and the early Cathayans (Sien-pi) had very similar
customs. Heikel gives an account of analogous ‘Olympic games’ witnessed
at Urga in the year 1890.” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan.,
1904, pp. 140–1.)
LI., p. 251. Read T’ung hwo period (A.D. 992) instead of (A.D. 692).
LII., pp. 252, 254, n. 3. “[The Tartars] live on the milk and meat
which their herds supply, and on the produce of the chase; and they eat
all kinds of flesh, including that of horses and dogs, and Pharaoh’s
rats, of which last there are great numbers in burrows on those plains.”
Pharaoh’s rat was the mangouste or ichneumon (_Herpestes ichneumon_)
formerly found in this part of Asia as well as in Egypt where it was
venerated. Cf. _Cathay_, II., p. 116.
LII., p. 254. Instead of “his tent invariably facing _south_,” read
“facing _east_” according to the _Chou Shu_. (PELLIOT.)
LII., p. 256 n.
MARRIAGE.
The _China Review_, Vol. XX. “gives numerous instances of marrying
mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law amongst the Hiung nu. The practice
was common with all Tartars, as, indeed, is stated by Yule.” (E. H.
PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 141.)
LII., p. 257 n.
_TENGRI_ (HEAVEN).
“The Mongol word _Tengri_ (= Heaven) appears also in Hiung-nu times; in
fact, the word _shen yü_ is stated to have been used by the Hiung-nu
alternatively with _Tengri kudu_ (Son of Heaven).” (E. H. PARKER,
_Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 141.)
LIV., p. 263 n.
COATS OF MAIL.
Parker’s note is erroneous.—See Laufer, _Chinese Clay Figures_, Part I.
LV., p. 267. “They [the Tartars] have another notable custom, which is
this. If any man have a daughter who dies before marriage, and another
man have had a son also die before marriage, the parents of the two
arrange a grand wedding between the dead lad and lass. And marry them
they do, making a regular contract! And when the contract papers are
made out they put them in the fire, in order (as they will have it)
that the parties in the other world may know the fact, and so look on
each other as man and wife. And the parents thenceforward consider
themselves sib to each other, just as if their children had lived and
married. Whatever may be agreed on between the parties as dowry, those
who have to pay it cause to be painted on pieces of paper and then put
these in the fire, saying that in that way the dead person will get all
the real articles in the other world.”
Mr. KUMAGUSU MINAKATA writes on the subject in _Nature_, Jan. 7, 1897,
pp. 224–5:
“As it is not well known whether or not there is a record of this
strange custom earlier than the beginning of the dynasty of Yuen, I was
in doubt whether it was originally common to the Chinese and Tartars
until I lately came across the following passage in _Tsoh-mung-luh_
(Brit. Mus. copy, 15297, _a_ 1, fol. 11–12), which would seem to decide
the question—‘In the North there is this custom. When a youth and a
girl of marriageable ages die before marriage, their families appoint
a match-maker to negotiate their nuptials, whom they call “Kwei-mei”
(_i.e._ “Match-Maker of Ghosts”). Either family hands over to another a
paper noticing all pre-requisites concerning the affair; and by names
of the parents of the intended couple asks a man to pray and divine;
and if the presage tells that the union is a lucky one, clothes and
ornaments are made for the deceased pair. Now the match-maker goes to
the burying-ground of the bridegroom, and, offering wine and fruits,
requests the pair to marry. There two seats are prepared on adjoining
positions, either of which having behind it a small banner more than
a foot long. Before the ceremony is consecrated by libation, the two
banners remain hanging perpendicularly and still; but when the libation
is sprinkled and the deceased couple are requested to marry, the
banners commence to gradually approach till they touch one another,
which shows that they are both glad of the wedlock. However, when one
of them dislikes another, it would happen that the banner representing
the unwilling party does not move to approach the other banner. In
case the couple should die too young to understand the matter, a dead
man is appointed as a tutor to the male defunct, and some effigies are
made to serve as the instructress and maids to the female defunct. The
dead tutor thus nominated is informed of his appointment by a paper
offered to him, on which are inscribed his name and age. After the
consummation of the marriage the new consorts appear in dreams to their
respective parents-in-law. Should this custom be discarded, the unhappy
defuncts might do mischief to their negligent relatives.... On every
occasion of these nuptials both families give some presents to the
match-maker (“Kwei-mei”), whose sole business is annually to inspect
the newly-deceased couples around his village, and to arrange their
weddings to earn his livelihood.’”
Mr. Kumagusu Minakata adds:
“The passage is very interesting, for, besides giving us a faithful
account of the particulars, which nowadays we fail to find elsewhere,
it bears testimony to the Tartar, and not Chinese, origin of this
practice. The author, Kang Yu-chi, describes himself to have visited
his old home in Northern China shortly after its subjugation by
the Kin Tartars in 1126 A.D.; so there is no doubt that among many
institutional novelties then introduced to China by the northern
invaders, Marriage of the Dead was so striking that the author did not
hesitate to describe it for the first time.
“According to a Persian writer, after whom Pétis de la Croix writes,
this custom was adopted by Jenghiz Kân as a means to preserve amity
amongst his subjects, it forming the subject of Article XIX. of his
Yasa promulgated in 1205 A.D. The same writer adds: ‘This custom is
still in use amongst the Tartars at this day, but superstition has
added more circumstances to it: they throw the contract of marriage
into the fire after having drawn some figures on it to represent the
persons pretended to be so marry’d, and some forms of beasts; and are
persuaded that all this is carried by the smoke to their children,
who thereupon marry in the other world’ (Pétis de la Croix, _Hist. of
Genghizcan_, trans. by P. Aubin, Lond., 1722, p. 86). As the Chinese
author does not speak of the burning of papers in this connection,
whereas the Persian writer speaks definitely of its having been added
later, it seems that the marriage of the dead had been originally a
Tartar custom, with which the well-known Chinese paper-burning was
amalgamated subsequently between the reigns of Genghiz and his grandson
Kúblái—under the latter Marco witnessed the customs already mingled,
still, perhaps, mainly prevailing amongst the Tartar descendants.”
LV., p. 266. Regarding the scale of blows from seven to 107, Prof.
Pelliot writes to me that these figures represent the theoretical
number of tens diminished as a favour made to the culprit by three
units in the name of Heaven, Earth and the Emperor.
LV., p. 268, n. 2. In the _Yuan Shi_, XX. 7, and other Chinese Texts
of the Mongol period, is to be found confirmation of the fact, “He
is slaughtered like a sheep,” _i.e._ the belly cut open lengthwise.
(PELLIOT.)
LVI., p. 269. “The people there are called MESCRIPT; they are a very
wild race, and live by their cattle, the most of which are stags, and
these stags, I assure you, they used to ride upon.”
B. Laufer, in the _Memoirs of the American Anthropological
Association_, Vol. IV., No. 2, 1917 (_The Reindeer and its
Domestication_), p. 107, has the following remarks: “Certainly this is
the reindeer. Yule is inclined to think that Marco embraces under this
tribal name in question characteristics belonging to tribes extending
far beyond the Mekrit, and which in fact are appropriate to the Tungus;
and continues that Rashid-eddin seems to describe the latter under the
name of Uriangkut of the Woods, a people dwelling beyond the frontier
of Barguchin, and in connection with whom he speaks of their reindeer
obscurely, as well as of their tents of birchbark, and their hunting
on snowshoes. As W. Radloff [_Die Jakutische Sprache, Mém. Ac. Sc.
Pet._, 1908, pp. 54–56] has endeavoured to show, the Wooland Uryangkit,
in this form mentioned by Rashid-eddin, should be looked upon as the
forefathers of the present Yakut. Rashid-eddin, further, speaks of
other Uryangkit, who are genuine Mongols, and live close together in
the Territory Barguchin Tukum, where the clans Khori, Bargut, and
Tumat, are settled. This region is east of Lake Baikal, which receives
the river Barguchin flowing out of Lake Bargu in an easterly direction.
The tribal name Bargut (_–t_ being the termination of the plural) is
surely connected with the name of the said river.”
LVII., p. 276.
SINJU.
“Marco Polo’s Sinju certainly seems to be the site of Si-ning, but not
on the grounds suggested in the various notes. In 1099 the new city
of Shen Chou was created by the Sung or ‘Manzi’ Dynasty on the site
of what had been called Ts’ing-t’ang. Owing to this region having for
many centuries belonged to independent Hia or Tangut, very little exact
information is obtainable from any Chinese history; but I think it
almost certain that the great central city of Shen Chou was the modern
Si-ning. Moreover, there was a very good reason for the invention
of this name, as this _Shen_ was the first syllable of the ancient
Shen-shen State of Lob Nor and Koko Nor, which, after its conquest by
China in 609, was turned into the Shen-shen prefecture; in fact, the
Sui Emperor was himself at Kam Chou or ‘Campichu’ when this very step
was taken.” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 144.)
LVIII., p. 282. _Alashan_ is not an abbreviation of Alade-Shan and has
nothing to do with the name of Eleuth, written in Mongol _Ögälät_.
_Nuntuh_ (_nuntük_) is the mediæval Mongol form of the actual _nutuk_,
an encampment. (PELLIOT.)
LVIII., p. 283, n. 3.
GURUN.
Gurun = Kurun = Chinese K’u lun = Mongol Urga.
LVIII., p. 283, n. 3. The stuff _sa-ha-la_ (= _saghlat_) is to be found
often in the Chinese texts of the XIVth and XVth Centuries. (PELLIOT.)
LIX., pp. 284 _seq._
KING GEORGE.
King or Prince George of Marco Polo and Monte Corvino belonged to the
Öngüt tribe. He was killed in Mongolia in 1298, leaving an infant
child called Shu-ngan (Giòvanni) baptized by Monte Corvino. George was
transcribed Körgüz and Görgüz by the Persian historians. See PELLIOT,
_T’oung Pao_, 1914, pp. 632 _seq._ and _Cathay_, III., p. 15 n.
LIX., p. 286.
TENDUC.
Prof. Pelliot (_Journ. As._, Mai–Juin, 1912, pp. 595–6) thinks that it
might be _Tien tö_, 天 德, on the river So ling (Selenga).
LIX., p. 291.
CHRISTIANS.
In the Mongol Empire, Christians were known under the name of _tarsa_
and especially under this of _ärkägün_, in Chinese _ye-li-k’o-wen;
tarsa_, was generally used by the Persian historians. Cf. PELLIOT,
_T’oung Pao_, 1914, p. 636.
LIX., p. 295, n. 6. Instead of _Ku-wei_, read _K’u-wai_. (PELLIOT.)
LXI., pp. 302, 310.
“The weather-conjuring proclivities of the Tartars are repeatedly
mentioned in Chinese history. The High Carts (early Ouigours) and
Jou-jan (masters of the Early Turks) were both given this way, the
object being sometimes to destroy their enemies. I drew attention to
this in the _Asiatic Quart. Rev._ for April, 1902 (‘China and the
Avars’).” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 140.)
LXI., p. 305, n. Harlez’s inscription is a miserable scribble of the
facsimile from Dr. Bushell. (PELLIOT.)
LXI., p. 308, n. 5. The _Yuan Shi_, ch. 77, fᵒ 7 _v._, says that:
“Every year, [the Emperor] resorts to Shang tu. On the 24th day of
the 8th moon, the sacrifice called ‘libation of mare’s milk’ is
celebrated.” (PELLIOT.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The eight stages would be:—(1) Hasanábad, 21 miles; (2) Darband,
28 miles; (3) Chehel Pái, 23 miles; (4) Naiband, 39 miles; (5)
Zenagán, 47 miles; (6) Duhuk, 25 miles; (7) Chah Khusháb, 36 miles;
and (8) Tun, 23 miles.
[2] _Genom Khorasan och Turkestan_, I., pp. 123 _seq._
BOOK SECOND.
PART I.—THE KAAN, HIS COURT AND CAPITAL.
II., p. 334.
NAYAN.
It is worthy of note that Nayan had given up Buddhism and become a
Christian as well as many of his subjects. Cf. PELLIOT, 1914, pp.
635–6.
VII., pp. 352, 353.
Instead of _Sir-i-Sher_, read _Sar-i-Sher_. (PELLIOT.)
_P’AI TZŬ_.
“Dr. Bushell’s note describes the silver _p’ai_, or tablets (not then
called _p’ai tsz_) of the Cathayans, which were 200 (not 600) in
number. But long before the Cathayans used them, the T’ang Dynasty had
done so for exactly the same purpose. They were 5 inches by 1½ inches,
and marked with the five words, ‘order, running horses, silver _p’ai_,’
and were issued by the department known as the _mên-hia-shêng_. Thus,
they were not a Tartar, but a Chinese, invention. Of course, it is
possible that the Chinese must have had the idea suggested to them by
the ancient wooden orders or tallies of the Tartars.” (E. H. PARKER,
_As. Quart. Review_, Jan., 1904, p. 146.)
Instead of “Publication No. 42” read only No. 42, which is the number
of the _pai tzŭ_. (PELLIOT.)
VIII., p. 358, n. 2.
_Kún ḳú = hon hu_ may be a transcription of _hwang heu_ during the
Mongol Period, according to Pelliot.
IX., p. 360.
MONGOL IMPERIAL FAMILY.
“Marco Polo is correct in a way when he says Kúblái was the sixth
Emperor, for his father Tu li is counted as a _Divus_ (Jwei Tsung),
though he never reigned; just as his son Chin kin (Yü Tsung) is also
so counted, and under similar conditions. Chin kin was appointed to
the _chung shu_ and _shu-mih_ departments in 1263. He was entrusted
with extensive powers in 1279, when he is described as ‘heir apparent.’
In 1284 Yün Nan, Chagan-jang, etc., were placed under his direction.
His death is recorded in 1285. Another son, Numugan, was made Prince
of the Peking region (Pêh-p’ing) in 1266, and the next year a third
son, Hukaji, was sent to take charge of Ta-li, Chagan-jang, Zardandan,
etc. In 1272 Kúblái’s son, Mangalai, was made Prince of An-si, with
part of Shen Si as his appanage. One more son, named Ai-ya-ch’ih, is
mentioned in 1284, and in that year yet another, Tu kan, was made
Prince of Chên-nan, and sent on an expedition against Ciampa. In 1285
Essen Temur, who had received a _chung-shu_ post in 1283, is spoken
of as Prince of Yün Nan, and is stated to be engaged in Kara-jang; in
1286 he is still there, and is styled ‘son of the Emperor.’ I do not
observe in the Annals that Hukaji ever bore the title of Prince of Yün
Nan, or, indeed, any princely title. In 1287 Ai-ya-ch’ih is mentioned
as being at Shên Chou (Mukden) in connection with Kúblái’s ‘personally
conducted’ expedition against Nayen. In 1289 one more son, Géukju, was
patented Prince of Ning Yüan. In 1293 Kúblái’s _third son_, Chinkin,
received a posthumous title, and Chinkin’s son Temur was declared
heir-apparent to Kúblái.
“The above are the only sons of Kúblái whose names I have noticed in
the Annals. In the special table of Princes Numugan is styled Pêh-an
(instead of Pêh-p’ing) Prince. Aghrukji’s name appears in the table
(chap. 108, p. 107), but though he is styled Prince of Si-p’ing, he is
not there stated to be a son of Kúblái; nor in the note I have supplied
touching Tibet is he styled a _hwang-tsz_ or ‘imperial son.’ In the
table Hukaji is described as being in 1268 Prince of Yün Nan, a title
‘inherited in 1280 by Essen Temur.’ I cannot discover anything about
the other alleged sons in Yule’s note (Vol. I., p. 361). The Chinese
count Kúblái’s years as eighty, he having died just at the beginning
of 1294 (our February); this would make him seventy-nine at the very
outside, according to our mode of reckoning, or even seventy-eight if
he was born towards the end of a year, which indeed he was (eighth
moon). If a man is born on the last day of the year he is two years old
the very next day according to Chinese methods of counting, which, I
suppose, include the ten months which they consider are spent in the
womb.” (E. H. PARKER, _As. Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, pp. 137–139.)
XI., p. 370, n. 13.
The character _King_ in _King-shan_ is not the one representing Court 京
but 景.—Read “Wan-_sui_-Shan” instead of _Wan-su-Shan_.
XII., p. 380.
_Keshikten_ has nothing to do with _Ḳalchi_. (PELLIOT.)
XVIII., p. 398.
THE CHEETA, OR HUNTING LEOPARD.
Cf. Chapters on Hunting Dogs and Cheetas, being an extract from the
“_Kitabᵘ’ l-Bazyarah_,” a treatise on Falconry, by _Ibn Kustrajim_, an
Arab writer of the Tenth Century. By Lieut.-Colonel D. C. Phillott and
Mr. R. F. Azoo (_Journ. and Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal_, Jan., 1907, pp.
47–50):
“The cheeta is the offspring of a lioness, by a leopard that coerces
her, and, for this reason, cheetas are sterile like mules and all
other hybrids. No animal of the same size is as weighty as the cheeta.
It is the most somnolent animal on earth. The best are those that
are ‘hollow-bellied,’ roach backed, and have deep black spots on a
dark tawny ground, the spots on the back being close to each other;
that have the eyes bloodshot, small and narrow; the mouth ‘deep and
laughing’; broad foreheads; thick necks; the black line from the eyes
long; and the fangs far apart from each other. The fully mature animal
is more useful for sporting purposes than the cub; and the females are
better at hunting than are the males, and such is the case with all
beasts and birds of prey.”
See Hippolyte Boussac, _Le Guépard dans l’Egypte ancienne_ (_La
Nature_, 21st March, 1908, pp. 248–250).
XIX., p. 400 n. Instead of _Hoy tiao_, read _Hey tiao_ (_Hei tiao_).
XIX., p. 400. “These two are styled _Chinuchi_ (or _Cunichi_), which is
as much as to say, ‘The Keepers of the Mastiff Dogs.’”
Dr. Laufer writes to me: “The word _chinuchi_ is a Mongol term derived
from Mongol _činoa_ (pronounced _čino_ or _čono_), which means ‘wolf,’
with the possessive suffix _-či_, meaning accordingly a ‘wolf-owner’
or ‘wolf-keeper.’ One of the Tibetan designations for the mastiff
is _čang-k’i_ (written _spyang-k’yi_), which signifies literally
‘wolf-dog.’ The Mongol term is probably framed on this Tibetan word.
The other explanations given by Yule (401–402) should be discarded.”
Prof. Pelliot writes to me: “J’incline à croire que les _Cunichi_ sont
à lire _Cuiuci_ et répondent au _kouei-tch’e_ ou _kouei-yeou-tch’e_,
‘censeurs,’ des textes chinois; les formes chinoises sont transcrites
du mongol et se rattachent au verbe _güyü_, ou _güyi_, ‘courir’; on
peut songer à restituer _güyükči_. Un _Ming-ngan_ (= _Minghan_), chef
des _kouei-tch’e_, vivait sous Kúblái et a sa biographie au ch. 135
du _Yuan Che_; d’autre part, peut-être faut-il lire, par déplacement
de deux points diacritiques, _Bayan güyükči_ dans Rashid ed-Din, ed.
BLOCHET, II., 501.”
XX., p. 408, n. 6. _Cachar Modun_ must be the place called
_Ha-ch’a-mu-touen_ in the _Yuan Shi_, ch. 100, fᵒ. 2 r. (PELLIOT.)
XXIV., pp. 423, 430. “Bark of Trees, made into something like Paper, to
pass for Money over all his Country.”
Regarding Bretschneider’s statement, p. 430, Dr. B. Laufer writes to
me: “This is a singular error of Bretschneider. Marco Polo is perfectly
correct: not only did the Chinese actually manufacture paper from the
bark of the mulberry tree (_Morus alba_), but also it was this paper
which was preferred for the making of paper-money. Bretschneider is
certainly right in saying that paper is made from the _Broussonetia_,
but he is assuredly wrong in the assertion that paper is not made in
China from mulberry trees. This fact he could have easily ascertained
from S. Julien,[1] who alludes to mulberry tree paper twice, first, as
‘papier de racines et d’écorce de mûrier,’ and, second, in speaking
of the bark paper from _Broussonetia:_ ‘On emploie aussi pour le même
usage l’écorce d’_Hibiscus Rosa sinensis_ et de mûrier; ce dernier
papier sert encore à recueillir les graines de vers à soie.’ What is
understood by the latter process may be seen from Plate I. in Julien’s
earlier work on sericulture,[2] where the paper from the bark of the
mulberry tree is likewise mentioned.
“The _Chi p’u_, a treatise on paper, written by Su I-kien toward the
close of the tenth century, enumerates among the various sorts of paper
manufactured during his lifetime paper from the bark of the mulberry
tree (_sang p’i_) made by the people of the north.[3]
“Chinese paper-money of mulberry bark was known in the Islamic World
in the beginning of the fourteenth century; that is, during the Mongol
period. Accordingly it must have been manufactured in China during the
Yüan Dynasty. Ahmed Shibab Eddin, who died in Cairo in 1338 at the
age of 93, and left an important geographical work in thirty volumes,
containing interesting information on China gathered from the lips
of eye-witnesses, makes the following comment on paper-money, in the
translation of Ch. Schefer:[4]
“‘On emploie dans le Khita, en guise de monnaie, des morceaux d’un
papier de forme allongée fabriqué avec des filaments de mûriers sur
lesquels est imprimé le nom de l’empereur. Lorsqu’un de ces papiers
est usé, on le porte aux officiers du prince et, moyennant une perte
minime, on reçoit un autre billet en échange, ainsi que cela a lieu
dans nos hôtels des monnaies, pour les matières d’or et d’argent que
l’on y porte pour être converties en pièces monnayées.’
“And in another passage: ‘La monnaie des Chinois est faite de billets
fabriqués avec l’écorce du mûrier. Il y en a de grands et de petits....
On les fabrique avec des filaments tendres du mûrier et, après y avoir
apposé un sceau au nom de l’empereur, on les met en circulation.’[5]
“The banknotes of the Ming Dynasty were likewise made of mulberry pulp,
in rectangular sheets one foot long and six inches wide, the material
being of a greenish colour, as stated in the Annals of the Dynasty.[6]
It is clear that the Ming Emperors, like many other institutions,
adopted this practice from their predecessors, the Mongols. Klaproth[7]
is wrong in saying that the assignats of the Sung, Kin, and Mongols
were all made from the bark of the tree _ču (Broussonetia)_, and those
of the Ming from all sorts of plants.
“In the _Hui kiang chi_, an interesting description of Turkistan by
two Manchu officials, Surde and Fusambô, published in 1772,[8] the
following note headed ‘Mohamedan Paper’ occurs:
“‘There are two sorts of Turkistan paper, black and white, made from
mulberry bark, cotton and silk refuse equally mixed, resulting in a
coarse, thick, strong, and tough material. It is cut into small rolls
fully a foot long, which are burnished by means of stones, and then are
fit for writing.’
“Sir Aurel Stein[9] reports that paper is still manufactured from
mulberry trees in Khotan. Also J. Wiesner,[10] the meritorious
investigator of ancient papers, has included the fibres of _Morus alba_
and _M. nigra_ among the material to which his researches extended.
“Mulberry-bark paper is ascribed to Bengal in the _Si yang ch’ao kung
tien lu_ by Wu Kiën-hwang, published in 1520.[11]
“As the mulberry tree is eagerly cultivated in Persia in connection
with the silk industry, it is possible also that the Persian paper in
the banknotes of the Mongols was a product of the mulberry.[12] At any
rate, good Marco Polo is cleared, and his veracity and exactness have
been established again.”
XXIV., p. 427.
VALUE OF GOLD.
“L’or valait quatre fois son poids d’argent au commencement de la
dynastie Ming (1375), sept ou huit fois sous l’empereur Wan-li de la
même dynastie (1574), et dix fois à la fin de la dynastie (1635); plus
de dix fois sous K’ang hi (1662); plus de vingt fois sous le règne
de K’ien long; dix-huit fois au milieu du règne de Tao-koang (1840),
quatorze fois au commencement du règne de Hien-fong (1850); dix-huit
fois en moyenne dans les années 1882–1883. En 1893, la valeur de l’or
augmenta considérablement et égala 28 fois celle de l’argent; en 1894,
32 fois; au commencement de 1895, 33 fois; mais il baissa un peu et à
la fin de l’année il valait seulement 30 fois plus.” (Pierre HOANG, _La
Propriété en Chine_, 1897, p. 43.)
XXVI., p. 432.
_CH’ING SIANG_.
Morrison, _Dict._, Pt. II, Vol. I., p. 70, says: “Chin-seang, a
Minister of State, was so called under the Ming Dynasty.” According to
Mr. E. H. Parker (_China Review_, XXIV., p. 101), _Ching Siang_ were
abolished in 1395.
In the quotation from the _Masálak al Absár_ instead of _Landjun_ (Lang
Chang), read _Landjun_ (_Lang Chung_).
XXXIII., pp. 447–8. “You must know, too, that the Tartars reckon their
years by twelves; the sign of the first year being the Lion, of the
second the Ox, of the third the Dragon, of the fourth the Dog, and so
forth up to the twelfth; so that when one is asked the year of his
birth he answers that it was in the year of the Lion (let us say),
on such a day or night, at such an hour, and such a moment. And the
father of a child always takes care to write these particulars down in
a book. When the twelve yearly symbols have been gone through, then
they come back to the first, and go through with them again in the same
succession.”
“Ce témoignage, writes Chavannes (_T’oung Pao_, 1906, p. 59), n’est
pas d’une exactitude rigoureuse, puisque les animaux n’y sont pas
nommés à leur rang; en outre, le lion y est substitué au tigre de
l’énumération chinoise; mais cette dernière différence provient sans
doute de ce que Marco Polo connaissait le cycle avec les noms mongols
des animaux; c’est le léopard dont il a fait le lion. Quoiqu’il en
soit, l’observation de Marco Polo est juste dans son ensemble et
d’innombrables exemples prouvent que le cycle des douze animaux
était habituel dans les pièces officielles émanant des chancelleries
impériales à l’époque mongole.”
XXXIII., p. 448.
PERSIAN.
With regard to the knowledge of Persian, the only oriental language
probably known by Marco Polo, Pelliot remarks (_Journ. Asiat._,
Mai-Juin, 1912, p. 592 n.): “C’est l’idée de Yule (cf. par exemple I.,
448), et je la crois tout à fait juste. On peut la fortifier d’autres
indices. On sait par exemple que Marco Polo substitue le lion au tigre
dans le cycle des douze animaux. M. Chavannes (_T’oung pao_, II., VII.,
59) suppose que ‘cette dernière différence provient sans doute de ce
que Marco Polo connaissait le cycle avec les noms mongols des animaux:
c’est le léopard dont il a fait le lion.’ Mais on ne voit pas pourquoi
il aurait rendu par ‘lion’ le turco-mongol _bars_, qui signifie
seulement ‘tigre.’ Admettons au contraire qu’il pense en persan: dans
toute l’Asie centrale, le persan شير _šīr_ a les deux sens de lion et
de tigre. De même, quand Marco Polo appelle la Chine du sud Manzi, il
est d’accord avec les Persans, par exemple avec Rachid ed-din, pour
employer l’expression usuelle dans la langue chinoise de l’époque,
c’est-à-dire Man-tseu; mais, au lieu de Manzi, les Mongols avaient
adopté un autre nom, Nangias, dont il n’y a pas trace dans Marco Polo.
On pourrait multiplier ces exemples.”
XXXIII., p. 456, n. Instead of _Hui Heng_, read _Hiu Heng_.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] _Industries anciennes et modernes de l’Empire chinois_. Paris,
1869, pp. 145, 149.
[2] _Résumé des principaux Traités chinois sur la culture des mûriers
et l’éducation des vers à soie_, Paris, 1837, p. 98. According to
the notions of the Chinese, Julien remarks, everything made from
hemp like cord and weavings is banished from the establishments
where silkworms are reared, and our European paper would be very
harmful to the latter. There seems to be a sympathetic relation
between the silkworm feeding on the leaves of the mulberry and the
mulberry paper on which the cocoons of the females are placed.
[3] _Ko chi king yüan_, Ch. 37, p. 6.
[4] _Relations des Musulmans avec les Chinois (Centenaire de l’Ecole
des Langues Orientales vivantes_, Paris, 1895, p. 17).
[5] _Ibid._, p. 20.
[6] _Ming Shi_, Ch. 81, p. 1.—The same text is found on a bill issued
in 1375 reproduced and translated by W. Vissering (_On Chinese
Currency_, see plate at end of volume), the minister of finance
being expressly ordered to use the fibres of the mulberry tree in
the composition of these bills.
[7] _Mémoires relatifs à l’Asie_, Vol. I., p. 387.
[8] A. WYLIE, _Notes on Chinese Literature_, p. 64. The copy used by
me (in the John Crerar Library of Chicago) is an old manuscript
clearly written in 4 vols. and chapters, illustrated by nine
ink-sketches of types of Mohammedans and a map. The volumes are not
paged.
[9] _Ancient Khotan_, Vol. I., p. 134.
[10] _Mikroskopische Untersuchung alter ostturkestanischer Papiere_,
p. 9 (Vienna, 1902). I cannot pass over in silence a curious error
of this scholar when he says (p. 8) that it is not proved that
_Cannabis sativa_ (called by him “genuine hemp”) is cultivated in
China, and that the so-called Chinese hemp-paper should be intended
for China grass. Every tyro in things Chinese knows that hemp
(_Cannabis sativa_) belongs to the oldest cultivated plants of the
Chinese, and that hemp-paper is already listed among the papers
invented by Ts’ai Lun in A.D. 105 (cf. CHAVANNES, _Les livres
chinois avant l’invention du papier, Journal Asiatique_, 1905, p. 6
of the reprint).
[11] Ch. B., p. 10b (ed. of _Pie hia chai ts’ung shu_).
[12] The Persian word for the mulberry, _tūd_, is supposed to be a
loan-word from Aramaic. (HORN, _Grundriss iran. Phil._, Vol. I.,
pt. 2, p. 6.)
BOOK SECOND.
PART II.—JOURNEY TO THE WEST AND SOUTH-WEST OF CATHAY.
XXXVII, p. 13. “There grow here [Taianfu] many excellent vines,
supplying great plenty of wine; and in all Cathay this is the only
place where wine is produced. It is carried hence all over the country.”
Dr. B. Laufer makes the following remarks to me: “Polo is quite right
in ascribing vines and wine to T’aï Yüan-fu in Shan Si, and is in this
respect upheld by contemporary Chinese sources. The _Yin shan cheng
yao_ written in 1330 by Ho Se-hui, contains this account[1]: ‘There are
numerous brands of wine: that coming from Qara-Khodja[2] (Ha-la-hwo)
is very strong, that coming from Tibet ranks next. Also the wines from
P’ing Yang and T’aï Yüan (in Shan Si) take the second rank. According
to some statements, grapes, when stored for a long time, will develop
into wine through a natural process. This wine is fragrant, sweet, and
exceedingly strong: this is the genuine grape-wine.’ _Ts’ao mu tse_,
written in 1378 par Ye Tse-k’i,[3] contains the following information:
‘Under the Yüan Dynasty grape-wine was manufactured in Ki-ning and
other circuits of Shan Si Province. In the eighth month they went to
the T’ai hang Mountain,[4] in order to test the genuine and adulterated
brands: the genuine kind when water is poured on it, will float; the
adulterated sort, when thus treated, will freeze.[5] In wine which has
long been stored, there is a certain portion which even in extreme
cold will never freeze, while all the remainder is frozen: this is the
spirit and fluid secretion of wine.[6] If this is drunk, the essence
will penetrate into a man’s armpits, and he will die. Wine kept for
two or three years develops great poison.’” For a detailed history of
grape-wine in China, see Laufer’s _Sino-Iranica_.
XXXVII., p. 16.
VINE.
Chavannes (_Chancellerie chinoise de l’époque mongole_, II., pp. 66–68,
1908) has a long note on vine and grape wine-making in China, from
Chinese sources. We know that vine, according to Sze-ma Ts’ien, was
imported from Farghânah about 100 B.C. The Chinese, from texts in the
_T’ai p’ing yu lan_ and the _Yuan Kien lei han_, learned the art of
wine-making after they had defeated the King of Kao ch’ang (Turfan) in
640 A.D.
XLI., p. 27 _seq._
CHRISTIAN MONUMENT AT SI-NGAN FU.
The slab _King kiao pei_, bearing the inscription, was found, according
to Father Havret, 2nd Pt., p. 71, in the sub-prefecture of Chau Chi,
a dependency of Si-ngan fu, among ancient ruins. Prof. Pelliot says
that the slab was not found at Chau Chi, but in the western suburb
of Si-ngan, at the very spot where it was to be seen some years ago,
before it was transferred to the _Pei lin_, in fact at the place where
it was erected in the seventh century inside the monastery built by
Olopun. (_Chrétiens de l’Asie centrale, T’oung pao_, 1914, p. 625.)
In 1907, a Danish gentleman, Mr. Frits V. Holm, took a photograph of
the tablet as it stood outside the west gate of Si-ngan, south of the
road to Kan Su; it was one of five slabs on the same spot; it was
removed without the stone pedestal (a tortoise) into the city on the
2nd October 1907, and it is now kept in the museum known as the _Pei
lin_ (Forest of Tablets). Holm says it is ten feet high, the weight
being two tons; he tried to purchase the original, and failing this
he had an exact replica made by Chinese workmen; this replica was
deposited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the City of New York,
as a loan, on the 16th of June, 1908. Since, this replica was purchased
by Mrs. George Leary, of 1053, Fifth Avenue, New York, and presented by
this lady, through Frits Holm, to the Vatican. See the November number
(1916) of the _Boll. della R. Soc. Geog. Italiana_. “The Original
Nestorian Tablet of A.D. 781, as well as my replica, made in 1907,”
Holm writes, “are both carved from the stone quarries of Fu Ping Hien;
the material is a black, sub-granular limestone with small oolithes
scattered through it” (Frits V. Holm, _The Nestorian Monument_,
Chicago, 1900). In this pamphlet there is a photograph of the tablet as
it stands in the Pei lin.
Prof. Ed. Chavannes, who also visited Si-ngan in 1907, saw the
Nestorian Monument; in the album of his _Mission archéologique dans
la Chine Septentrionale_, Paris, 1909, he has given (Plate 445)
photographs of the five tablets, the tablet itself, the western gate
of the western suburb of Si-ngan, and the entrance of the temple _Kin
Sheng Sze_.
Cf. Notes, pp. 105–113 of Vol. I. of the second edition of _Cathay and
the Way thither_.
XLI., p. 27.
KHUMDAN.
Cf. _Kumudana_, given by the Sanskrit-Chinese vocabulary found in Japan
(Max MÜLLER, _Buddhist Texts from Japan_, in _Anecdota Oxoniensia_,
Aryan Series, t. I., part I., p. 9), and the _Khumdan_ and _Khumadan_
of Theophylactus. (See TOMASCHEK, in _Wiener Z. M._, t. III., p. 105;
Marquart, _Erānšahr_, pp. 316–7; _Osteuropäïsche und Ostasiatische
Streifzüge_, pp. 89–90.) (PELLIOT.)
XLI., p. 29 n. The vocabulary _Hwei Hwei_ (Mahomedan) of the College
of Interpreters at Peking transcribes King chao from the Persian
Kin-chang, a name it gives to the Shen-si province. King chao was
called Ngan-si fu in 1277. (DEVÉRIA, _Epigraphie_, p. 9.) Ken jan comes
from Kin-chang = King-chao = Si-ngan fu.
Prof. Pelliot writes, _Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, IV., July–Sept.,
1904, p. 29: “Cette note de M. Cordier n’est pas exacte. Sous les Song,
puis sous les Mongols jusqu’en 1277, Si-ngan fou fut appelé King-tchao
fou. Le vocabulaire _houei-houei_ ne transcrit pas ‘King-tchao du
persan kin-tchang,’ mais, comme les Persans appelaient alors Si-ngan
fou Kindjanfou (le Kenjanfu de Marco Polo), cette forme _persane_ est à
son tour transcrite phonétiquement en chinois Kin-tchang fou, sans que
les caractères choisis jouent là aucun rôle sémantique; Kin-tchang fou
n’existe pas dans la géographie chinoise. Quant à l’origine de la forme
persane, il est possible, mais non pas sûr, que ce soit King-tchao fou.
La forme ‘Quen-zan-fou,’ qu’un écolier chinois du Chen Si fournit à
M. von Richthofen comme le nom de Si-ngan fou au temps des Yuan, doit
avoir été fautivement recueillie. Il me paraît impossible qu’un Chinois
d’une province quelconque prononce _zan_ le caractère 兆 _tchao_.”
XLI., p. 29 n. A clause in the edict also orders the _foreign bonzes of
Ta T’sin_ and _Mubupa_ (Christian and _Mobed_ or Magian) _to return to
secular life_.
_Mubupa_ has no doubt been derived by the etymology _mobed_, but it
is faulty; it should be _Muhupa_. (PELLIOT, _Bul. Ecole franç. Ext.
Orient_, IV., July–Sept., 1904, p. 771.) Pelliot writes to me that
there is now no doubt that it is derived from _mu-lu hien_ and that it
must be understood as the “[religion of] the Celestial God of the Magi.”
XLIII., p. 32.
“The _chien-tao_, or ‘pillar road,’ mentioned, should be _chan-tao_, or
‘scaffolding road.’ The picture facing p. 50 shows how the shoring up
or scaffolding is effected. The word _chan_ is still in common use all
over the Empire, and in 1267 Kúblái ordered this identical road (‘Sz
Ch’wan _chan-tao_’) to be repaired. There are many such roads in Sz
Ch’wan besides the original one from Han-chung-Fu.” (E. H. PARKER, _As.
Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 144.)
XLIV., p. 36. SINDAFU (Ch’êng tu fu).—Through the midst of this great
city runs a large river.... It is a good half-mile wide....
“It is probable that in the thirteenth century, when Marco Polo was
on his travels, the ‘great river a good half-mile wide,’ flowing past
Chengtu, was the principal stream; but in the present day that channel
is insignificant in comparison to the one which passes by Ta Hsien,
Yung-Chia Chong, and Hsin-Chin Hsien. Of course, these channels are
stopped up or opened as occasion requires. As a general rule, they
follow such contour lines as will allow gravitation to conduct the
water to levels as high as is possible, and when it is desired to
raise it higher than it will naturally flow, chain-pumps and enormous
undershot water-wheels of bamboo are freely employed. Water-power
is used for driving mills through the medium of wheels, undershot or
overshot, or turbines, as the local circumstances may demand.” (R.
Logan JACK, _Back Blocks_, p. 55.)
XLIV., p. 36.
SINDAFU.
“The story of the ‘three Kings’ of Sindafu is probably in this wise:
For nearly a century the Wu family (Wu Kiai, Wu Lin, and Wu Hi) had
ruled as semi-independent Sung or ‘Manzi’ Viceroys of Sz Ch’wan, but
in 1206 the last-named, who had fought bravely for the Sung (Manzi)
Dynasty against the northern Dynasty of the Nüchên Tartars (successors
to Cathay), surrendered to this same Kin or Golden Dynasty of Nüchêns
or Early Manchus, and was made King of Shuh (Sz Ch’wan). In 1236,
Ogdai’s son, K’wei-t’eng, effected the partial conquest of Shuh,
entering the capital, Ch’êng-tu Fu (Sindafu), towards the close of
the same year. But in 1259 Mangu in person had to go over part of the
same ground again. He proceeded up the rapids, and in the seventh moon
attacked Ch’ung K’ing, but about a fortnight later he died at a place
called Tiao-yü Shan, apparently near the Tiao-yü Ch’êng of my map (p.
175 of _Up the Yangtsze_, 1881), where I was myself in the year 1881.
Colonel Yule’s suggestion that Marco’s allusion is to the tripartite
Empire of China 1000 years previously is surely wide of the mark. The
‘three brothers’ were probably Kiai, Lin, and T’ing, and Wu Hi was the
son of Wu T’ing. An account of Wu Kiai is given in Mayers’ _Chinese
Reader’s Manual_.” (E. H. PARKER, _As. Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, pp.
144–5.)
Cf. MAYERS, No. 865, p. 259, and GILES, _Biog. Dict._, No. 2324, p. 880.
XLIV., p. 38.
SINDAFU.
Tch’eng Tu was the capital of the Kingdom of Shu. The first Shu Dynasty
was the Minor Han Dynasty which lasted from A.D. 221 to A.D. 263;
this Shu Dynasty was one of the Three Kingdoms (_San Kwo chi_); the
two others being Wei (A.D. 220–264) reigning at Lo Yang, and Wu (A.D.
222–277) reigning at Kien Kang (Nan King). The second was the Ts’ien
Shu Dynasty, founded in 907 by Wang Kien, governor of Sze Chw’an since
891; it lasted till 925, when it submitted to the Hau T’ang; in 933
the Hau T’ang were compelled to grant the title of King of Shu (Hau
Shu) to Mong Chi-siang, governor of Sze Chw’an, who was succeeded by
Mong Ch’ang, dethroned in 965; the capital was also Ch’eng Tu under
these two dynasties.
TIBET.
XLV., p. 44. No man of that country would on any consideration take to
wife a girl who was a maid; for they say a wife is nothing worth unless
she has been used to consort with men. And their custom is this, that
when travellers come that way, the old women of the place get ready,
and take their unmarried daughters or other girls related to them, and
go to the strangers who are passing, and make over the young women to
whomsoever will accept them; and the travellers take them accordingly
and do their pleasure; after which the girls are restored to the old
women who brought them....
Speaking of the Sifan village of Po Lo and the account given by Marco
Polo of the customs of these people, M. R. Logan JACK (_Back Blocks_,
1904, pp. 145–6) writes: “I freely admit that the good looks and modest
bearing of the girls were the chief merits of the performance in my
eyes. Had the _danseuses_ been scrubbed and well dressed, they would
have been a presentable body of _débutantes_ in any European ballroom.
One of our party, frivolously disposed, asked a girl (through an
interpreter) if she would marry him and go to his country. The reply,
‘I do not know you, sir,’ was all that propriety could have demanded in
the best society, and worthy of a pupil ‘finished’ at Miss Pinkerton’s
celebrated establishment.... Judging from our experience, no idea of
hospitalities of the kind [Marco’s experience] was in the people’s
minds.”
XLV., p. 45. Speaking of the people of Tibet, Polo says: “They are very
poorly clad, for their clothes are only of the skins of beasts, and of
canvas, and of buckram.”
Add to the note, I., p. 48, n. 5:—
“Au XIVᵉ siècle, le bougran [buckram] était une espèce de tissu de
lin: le meilleur se fabriquait en Arménie et dans le royaume de
Mélibar, s’il faut s’en rapporter à Marco Polo, qui nous apprend
que les habitants du Thibet, qu’il signale comme pauvrement vêtus,
l’étaient de canevas et de bougran, et que cette dernière étoffe se
fabriquait aussi dans la province d’Abasce. Il en venait également de
l’île de Chypre. Sorti des manufactures d’Espagne ou importé dans le
royaume, à partir de 1442, date d’une ordonnance royale publiée par
le P. Saez, le bougran le plus fin payait soixante-dix maravédis de
droits, sans distinction de couleur” (FRANCISQUE-MICHEL, _Recherches
sur le commerce, la fabrication et l’usage des étoffes de soie, d’or et
d’argent_.... II., 1854, pp. 33–4). Passage mentioned by Dr. Laufer.
XLV., pp. 46 n., 49 _seq._
Referring to Dr. E. Bretschneider, Prof. E. H. Parker gives the
following notes in the _Asiatic Quart. Review_, Jan., 1904, p. 131:
“In 1251 Ho-êrh-t’ai was appointed to the command of the Mongol and
Chinese forces advancing on Tibet (T’u-fan). [In my copy of the _Yüan
Shï_ there is no entry under the year 1254 such as that mentioned by
Bretschneider; it may, however, have been taken by Palladius from
some other chapter.] In 1268 Mang-ku-tai was ordered to invade the
Si-fan (outer Tibet) and _Kien-tu_ [Marco’s Caindu] with 6000 men.
Bretschneider, however, omits Kien-tu, and also omits to state that
in 1264 eighteen Si-fan clans were placed under the superintendence
of the _an-fu-sz_ (governor) of An-si Chou, and that in 1265 a reward
was given to the troops of the decachiliarch Hwang-li-t’a-rh for their
services against the T’u-fan, with another reward to the troops under
Prince Ye-suh-pu-hwa for their successes against the Si-fan. Also that
in 1267 the Si-fan chieftains were encouraged to submit to Mongol
power, in consequence of which A-nu-pan-ti-ko was made Governor-General
of Ho-wu and other regions near it. Bretschneider’s next item after
the doubtful one of 1274 is in 1275, as given by Cordier, but he omits
to state that in 1272 Mang-ku-tai’s eighteen clans and other T’u-fan
troops were ordered in hot haste to attack Sin-an Chou, belonging to
the Kien-tu prefecture; and that a post-station called Ning-ho Yih was
established on the T’u-fan and Si-Ch’wan [= Sz Ch’wan] frontier. In
1275 a number of Princes, including Chi-pi T’ie-mu-r, and Mang-u-la,
Prince of An-si, were sent to join the Prince of Si-p’ing [Kúblái’s
son] Ao-lu-ch’ih in his expedition against the Tu-fan. In 1276 all
Si-fan bonzes (lamas) were forbidden to carry arms, and the Tu-fan city
of Hata was turned into Ning-yüan Fu [as it now exists]; garrisons
and civil authorities were placed in Kien-tu and Lo-lo-sz [the Lolo
country]. In 1277 a Customs station was established at Tiao-mên and
Li-Chou [Ts’ing-k’i Hien in Ya-chou Fu] for the purposes of Tu-fan
trade. In 1280 more Mongol troops were sent to the Li Chou region,
and a special officer was appointed for T’u-fan [Tibetan] affairs
at the capital. In 1283 a high official was ordered to print the
official documents connected with the _süan-wei-sz_ [governorship]
of T’u-fan. In 1288 six provinces, including those of Sz Chw’an
and An-si, were ordered to contribute financial assistance to the
_süan-wei-shï_ [governor] of U-sz-tsang [the indigenous name of Tibet
proper]. Every year or two after this, right up to 1352, there are
entries in the Mongol Annals amply proving that the conquest of Tibet
under the Mongols was not only complete, but fully narrated; however,
there is no particular object in carrying the subject here beyond
the date of Marco’s departure from China. There are many mentions of
Kien-tu (which name dates from the Sung Dynasty) in the _Yüan-shï_;
it is the Kien-ch’ang Valley of to-day, with capital at Ning-yüan,
as clearly marked on Bretschneider’s Map. Baber’s suggestion of the
_Chan-tui_ tribe of Tibetans is quite obsolete, although Baber was
one of the first to explore the region in person. A petty tribe like
the _Chan-tui_ could never have given name to _Caindu_; besides, both
initials and finals are impossible, and the _Chan-tui_ have never lived
there. I have myself met Si-fan chiefs at Peking; they may be described
roughly as Tibetans _not under_ the Tibetan Government. The T’u-fan,
T’u-po, or Tubot, were the Tibetans _under Tibetan rule_, and they are
now usually styled ‘Si-tsang’ by the Chinese. Yaci [Ya-ch’ih, Ya-ch’ï]
is frequently mentioned in the _Yüan-shï_, and the whole of Devéria’s
quotation given by Cordier on p. 72 appears there [chap. 121, p. 5],
besides a great deal more to the point, without any necessity for
consulting the _Lei pien_. Cowries, under the name of _pa-tsz_, are
mentioned in both Mongol and Ming history as being in use for money in
Siam and Yung-ch’ang [Vociam]. The porcelain coins which, as M. Cordier
quotes from me on p. 74, I myself saw current in the Shan States or
Siam about ten years ago, were of white China, with a blue figure, and
about the size of a Keating’s cough lozenge, but thicker. As neither
form of the character _pa_ appears in any dictionary, it is probably a
foreign word only locally understood. Regarding the origin of the name
Yung-ch’ang, the discussions upon p. 105 are no longer necessary; in
the eleventh moon of 1272 [say about January 1, 1273] Kúblái ‘presented
the name Yung-ch’ang to the new city built by Prince Chi-pi T’ie-mu-r.’”
XLVI., p. 49. They have also in this country [Tibet] plenty of fine
woollens and other stuffs, and many kinds of spices are produced there
which are never seen in our country.
Dr. Laufer draws my attention to the fact that this translation does
not give exactly the sense of the French text, which runs thus:
“Et encore voz di qe en ceste provence a gianbelot [camelot] assez et
autres dras d’or et de soie, et hi naist maintes especes qe unques ne
furent veue en nostre païs.” (_Ed. Soc. de Géog._, Chap. cxvi., p. 128.)
In the Latin text (_Ibid._, p. 398), we have:
“In ista provincia sunt giambelloti satis et alii panni de sirico et
auro; et ibi nascuntur multæ species quæ nunquam fuerunt visæ in
nostris contractis.”
Francisque-Michel (_Recherches_, II., p. 44) says: “Les Tartares
fabriquaient aussi à Aias de très-beaux camelots de poil de chameau,
que l’on expédiait pour divers pays, et Marco Polo nous apprend que
cette denrée était fort abondante dans le Thibet. Au XVᵉ siècle, il en
venait de l’île de Chypre.”
XLVII., pp. 50, 52.
WILD OXEN CALLED _BEYAMINI_.
Dr. Laufer writes to me: “Yule correctly identifies the ‘wild oxen’ of
Tibet with the gayal (_Bos gavaeus_), but I do not believe that his
explanation of the word _beyamini_ (from an artificially constructed
_buemini_ = Bohemian) can be upheld. Polo states expressly that these
wild oxen are called _beyamini_ (scil. by the natives), and evidently
alludes to a native Tibetan term. The gayal is styled in Tibetan
_ba-men_ (or _ba-man_), derived from _ba_ (‘cow’), a diminutive form of
which is _beu_. Marco Polo appears to have heard some dialectic form of
this word like _beu-men_ or _beu-min_.”
XLVIII., p. 70.
KIUNG TU AND KIEN TU.
Kiung tu or Kiang tu is Caindu in Sze-Ch’wan; Kien tu is in Yun Nan.
Cf. PELLIOT, _Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, July–Sept, 1904, p. 771.
Caindu or Ning Yuan was, under the Mongols, a dependency of Yun Nan,
not of Sze Ch’wan. (PELLIOT.)
XLVIII., p. 72. The name _Karájáng_. “The first element was the Mongol
or Turki _Kárá_.... Among the inhabitants of this country some are
black, and others are white; these latter are called by the Mongols
_Chaghán-Jáng_ (‘White Jang’). Jang has not been explained; but
probably it may have been a Tibetan term adopted by the Mongols, and
the colours may have applied to their clothing.”
Dr. Berthold Laufer, of Chicago, has a note on the subject in the
_Journal of the Royal Asiatic Soc._, Oct., 1915, pp. 781–4: “M. Pelliot
(_Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, IV., 1904, p. 159) proposed to
regard the unexplained name _Jang_ as the Mongol transcription of
_Ts’uan_, the ancient Chinese designation of the Lo-lo, taken from the
family name of one of the chiefs of the latter; he gave his opinion,
however, merely as an hypothesis which should await confirmation.
I now believe that Yule was correct in his conception, and that,
in accordance with his suggestion, _Jang_ indeed represents the
phonetically exact transcription of a Tibetan proper name. This is the
Tibetan _ạ Jaṅ_ or _ạ Jaṇs_ (the prefixed letter _ạ_ and the optional
affix _-s_ being silent, hence pronounced _Jang_ or _Djang_), of
which the following precise definition is given in the _Dictionnaire
tibétain-latin français par les Missionnaires Catholiques du Tibet_ (p.
351): ‘Tribus et regionis nomen in N.-W. provinciae Sinarum Yun-nan,
cuius urbs principalis est Sa-t’am seu Ly-kiang fou. Tribus vocatur
Mosso a Sinensibus et Nashi ab ipsismet incolis.’ In fact, as here
stated, _Jaⁿ_ or _Jang_ is the Tibetan designation of the Moso and the
territory inhabited by them, the capital of which is Li-kiang-fu. This
name is found also in Tibetan literature....”
XLVIII., p. 74, n. 2. One thousand Uighúr families (_hou_) had been
transferred to Karajáng in 1285. (_Yuan shi_, ch. 13, 8_vᵒ_, quoted by
PELLIOT.)
L., pp. 85–6. Zardandan. “The country is wild and hard of access, full
of great woods and mountains which ’tis impossible to pass, the air in
summer is so impure and bad; and any foreigners attempting it would die
for certain.”
“An even more formidable danger was the resolution of our ‘permanent’
(as distinguished from ‘local’) soldiers and mafus, of which we were
now apprised, to desert us in a body, as they declined to face the
malaria of the Lu-Kiang Ba, or Salwen Valley. We had, of course, read
in Gill’s book of this difficulty, but as we approached the Salwen
we had concluded that the scare had been forgotten. We found, to our
chagrin, that the dreaded ‘Fever Valley’ had lost none of its terrors.
The valley had a bad name in Marco Polo’s day, in the thirteenth
century, and its reputation has clung to it ever since, with all the
tenacity of Chinese traditions. The Chinaman of the district crosses
the valley daily without fear, but the Chinaman from a distance _knows_
that he will either die or his wife will prove unfaithful. If he is
compelled to go, the usual course is to write to his wife and tell her
that she is free to look out for another husband. Having made up his
mind that he will die, I have no doubt that he often dies through sheer
funk.” (R. Logan JACK, _Back Blocks of China_, 1904, p. 205.)
L., pp. 84, 89.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ZARDANDAN.
We read in Huber’s paper already mentioned (_Bul. Ecole franç. Ext.
Orient_, Oct.–Dec., 1909, p. 665): “The second month of the twelfth
year (1275), Ho T’ien-tsio, governor of the Kien Ning District, sent
the following information: ‘A-kouo of the Zerdandan tribe, knows three
roads to enter Burma, one by T’ien pu ma, another by the P’iao tien,
and the third by the very country of A-kouo; the three roads meet at
the ‘City of the Head of the River’ [Kaung si] in Burma.’” A-kouo,
named elsewhere A-ho, lived at Kan-ngai. According to Huber, the
Zardandan road is the actual caravan road to Bhamo on the left of the
Nam Ti and Ta Ping; the second route would be by the T’ien ma pass and
Nam hkam, the P’iao tien route is the road on the right bank of the Nam
Ti and the Ta Ping leading to Bhamo _viâ_ San Ta and Man Waing.
The _Po Yi_ and _Ho Ni_ tribes are mentioned in the _Yuan Shi_, s.a.
1278. (PELLIOT.)
L., p. 90.
Mr. H. A. OTTEWILL tells me in a private note that the Kachins or
Singphos did not begin to reach Burma in their emigration from Tibet
until last century or possibly this century. They are not to be found
east of the Salwen River.
L., p. 91.
COUVADE.
There is a paper on the subject in the _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_
(1911, pp. 546–63) by Hugo Kunicke, _Das sogennante “Männerkindbett,”_
with a bibliography not mentioning Yule’s _Marco Polo_, Vinson,
etc. We may also mention: _De la “Covada” en España_. Por el Prof.
Dr. Telesforo de Aranzadi, Barcelona (_Anthropos_, T. V., fasc. 4,
Juli–August, 1910, pp. 775–8).
L., p. 92 n.
I quoted Prof. E. H. Parker (_China Review_, XIV., p. 359), who wrote
that the “_Langszi_ are evidently the _Szi lang_, one of the six
_Chao_, but turned upside down.” Prof. Pelliot (_Bul. Ecole franç.
Ext. Orient_, IV., July–Sept., 1904, p. 771) remarks: “Mr. Parker is
entirely wrong. The _Chao_ of Shi-lang, which was annexed by Nan Chao
during the eighth century, was in the western part of Yun Nan, not in
Kwei chau; we have but little information on the subject.” He adds:
“The custom of Couvade is confirmed for the Lao of Southern China
by the following text of the _Yi wu chi_ of Fang Ts’ien-li, dating
at least from the time of the T’ang dynasty: ‘When a Lao woman of
Southern China has a child, she goes out at once. The husband goes to
bed exhausted, like a woman giving suck. If he does not take care, he
becomes ill. The woman has no harm.’”
L., pp. 91–95.
Under the title of _The Couvade or “Hatching,”_ John Cain writes from
Dumagudem, 31st March, 1874, to the _Indian Antiquary_, May, 1874, p.
151:
“In the districts in South India in which Telugu is spoken, there is
a wandering tribe of people called the Erukalavandlu. They generally
pitch their huts, for the time being, just outside a town or village.
Their chief occupations are fortune-telling, rearing pigs, and making
mats. Those in this part of the Telugu country observe the custom
mentioned in Max Müller’s _Chips from a German Workshop_, Vol. II.,
pp. 277–284. Directly the woman feels the birth-pangs, she informs
her husband, who immediately takes some of her clothes, puts them
on, places on his forehead the mark which the women usually place on
theirs, retires into a dark room where is only a very dim lamp, and
lies down on the bed, covering himself up with a long cloth. When the
child is born, it is washed and placed on the cot beside the father.
Assafœtida, _jaggery_, and other articles are then given, not to the
mother, but to the father. During the days of ceremonial uncleanness
the man is treated as the other Hindus treat their women on such
occasions. He is not allowed to leave his bed, but has everything
needful brought to him.”
Mr. John Cain adds (_l.c._, April, 1879, p. 106): “The women are
called ‘hens’ by their husbands, and the male and female children ‘cock
children’ and ‘hen children’ respectively.”
LI., p. 99 n. “M. Garnier informs me that _Mien Kwé_ or _Mien Tisong_
is the name always given in Yun Nan to that kingdom.”
_Mien Tisong_ is surely faulty, and must likely be corrected in _Mien
Chung_, proved especially at the Ming Period. (PELLIOT, _Bul. Ecole
franç. Ext. Orient_, IV., July–Sept, 1904, p. 772.)
LI., LII., pp. 98 _seq._
WAR AGAINST THE KING OF MIEN.
The late Edouard HUBER of Hanoi, writing from Burmese sources,
throws new light on this subject: “In the middle of the thirteenth
century, the Burmese kingdom included Upper and Lower Burma, Arakan
and Tenasserim; besides the Court of Pagan was paramount over several
feudatory Shan states, until the valleys of the Yunnanese affluents
of the Irawadi to the N.E., and until Zimmé at the least to the E.
Narasīhapati, the last king of Pagan who reigned over the whole of
this territory, had already to fight the Talaings of the Delta and the
governor of Arakan who wished to be independent, when, in 1271, he
refused to receive Kúblái’s ambassadors who had come to call upon him
to recognize himself as a vassal of China. The first armed conflict
took place during the spring of 1277 in the Nam Ti valley; it is the
battle of Nga-çaung-khyam of the Burmese Chronicles, related by Marco
Polo, who, by mistake, ascribes to Nasr ed-Din the merit of this
first Chinese victory. During the winter of 1277–78, a second Chinese
expedition with Nasr ed-Din at its head ended with the capture of
Kaung sin, the Burmese stronghold commanding the defile of Bhamo. The
_Pagan Yazawin_ is the only Burmese Chronicle giving exactly the spot
of this second encounter. During these two expeditions, the invaders
had not succeeded in breaking through the thick veil of numerous small
thai principalities which still stand to-day between Yun Nan and Burma
proper. It was only in 1283 that the final crush took place, when a
third expedition, whose chief was Siang-wu-ta-eul (Singtaur), retook
the fort of Kaung sin and penetrated more into the south in the Irawadi
Valley, but without reaching Pagan. King Narasīhapati evacuated Pagan
before the impending advancing Chinese forces and fled to the Delta.
In 1285 parleys for the establishment of a Chinese Protectorship were
begun; but in the following year, King Narasīhapati was poisoned at
Prome by his own son Sīhasūra. In 1287, a fourth Chinese expedition,
with Prince Ye-sin Timur at its head, reached at last Pagan, having
suffered considerable losses.... A fifth and last Chinese expedition
took place during the autumn of 1300 when the Chinese army went down
the Irawadi Valley and besieged Myin-Saing during the winter of
1300–1301. The Mongol officers of the staff having been bribed the
siege was raised.” (_Bul. Ecole franç. Extrême-Orient_, Oct.–Dec.,
1909, pp. 679–680; cf. also p. 651 _n._)
Huber, p. 666 _n._, places the battle-field of Vochan in the Nam Ti
Valley; the Burmese never reached the plain of Yung Ch’ang.
LII., p. 106 n.
BURMA.
We shall resume from Chinese sources the history of the relations
between Burma and China:
1271. Embassy of Kúblái to Mien asking for allegiance.
1273. New embassy of Kúblái.
1275. Information supplied by A-kuo, chief of Zardandan.
1277. First Chinese Expedition against Mien—Battle of Nga-çaung-khyam
won by Hu Tu.
1277. Second Chinese Expedition led by Naçr ed-Din.
1283. Third Chinese Expedition led by Prince Singtaur.
1287. Fourth Chinese Expedition led by Yisun Timur; capture of Pagan.
1300–1301. Fifth Chinese Expedition; siege of Myin-saing.
Cf. E. HUBER, _Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, Oct.–Dec., 1909, pp.
633–680.—VISDELOU, _Rev. Ext. Orient_, II., pp. 72–88.
LIII.–LIV., pp. 106–108. “After leaving the Province of which I have
been speaking [Yung ch’ang] you come to a great Descent. In fact you
ride for two days and a half continually down hill.... After you
have ridden those two days and a half down hill, you find yourself
in a province towards the south which is pretty near India, and this
province is called AMIEN. You travel therein for fifteen days.... And
when you have travelled those 15 days ... you arrive at the capital
city of this Province of Mien, and it also is called AMIEN....”
I owe the following valuable note to Mr. Herbert Allan OTTEWILL,
H.M.’s Vice-Consul at T’eng Yueh (11th October, 1908):
“The indications of the route are a great descent down which you ride
continually for two days and a half towards the south along the main
route to the capital city of Amien.
“It is admitted that the road from Yung Ch’ang to T’eng Yueh is not the
one indicated. Before the Hui jen Bridge was built over the Salween in
1829, there can be no doubt that the road ran to Ta tu k’ou—great ferry
place—which is about six miles below the present bridge. The distance
to both places is about the same, and can easily be accomplished in two
days.
“The late Mr. Litton, who was Consul here for some years, once stated
that the road to La-mêng on the Salween was almost certainly the one
referred to by Marco Polo as the great descent to the kingdom of Mien.
His stages were from Yung Ch’ang: (1) Yin wang (? Niu wang); (2) P’ing
ti; (3) Chen an so; (4) Lung Ling. The Salween was crossed on the third
day at La-mêng Ferry. Yung Ch’ang is at an altitude of about 5,600
feet; the Salween at the Hui jen Bridge is about 2,400, and probably
drops 200–300 feet between the bridge and La-mêng. Personally I have
only been along the first stage to Niu Wang, 5,000 feet; and although
aneroids proved that the highest point on the road was about 6,600, I
can easily imagine a person not provided with such instruments stating
that the descent was fairly gradual. From Niu Wang there must be a
steady drop to the Salween, probably along the side of the stream which
drains the Niu Wang Plain.
“La-mêng and Chen an so are in the territory of the Shan Sawbwa of Mang
Shih [Möng Hkwan].”
“It is also a well-known fact that the Shan States of Hsen-wi (in
Burma) and Meng mao (in China) fell under Chinese authority at an early
date. Mr. E. H. Parker, quoted by Sir G. Scott in the _Upper Burma
Gazetteer_, states: ‘During the reign of the Mongol Emperor Kúblái a
General was sent to punish Annam and passed through this territory or
parts of it called Meng tu and Meng pang,’ and secured its submission.
In the year 1289 the Civil and Military Governorship of Muh Pang was
established. Muh Pang is the Chinese name of Hsen-wi.
“Therefore the road from Yung Ch’ang to La-mêng fulfils the conditions
of a great descent, riding two and a half days continually down hill
finding oneself in a (Shan) Province to the south, besides being on a
well-known road to Burma, which was probably in the thirteenth century
the only road to that country.
“Fifteen days from La-mêng to Tagaung or Old Pagan is not an impossible
feat. Lung Ling is reached in 1½ days, Keng Yang in four, and it is
possible to do the remaining distance about a couple of hundred miles
in eleven days, making fifteen in all.
“I confess I do not see how any one could march to Pagan in Latitude
21° 13′ in fifteen days.”
LIV., p. 113.
NGA-TSHAUNG-GYAN.
According to the late E. HUBER, Ngan chen kue is not Nga-çaung-khyam,
but Nga Singu, in the Mandalay district. The battle took place, not
in the Yung Ch’ang plain, but in the territory of the Shan Chief of
Nan-tien. The official description of China under the Ming (_Ta Ming yi
t’ung che_, k. 87, 38 vᵒ) tells us that Nan-tien before its annexation
by Kúblái Khan, bore the name of Nan Sung or Nang Sung, and to-day the
pass which cuts this territory in the direction of T’eng Yueh is called
Nang-Sung-kwan. It is hardly possible to doubt that this is the place
called Nga-çaung-khyam by the Burmese Chronicles. (_Bul. Ecole franç.
Ext. Orient_, Oct.–Dec., 1909, p. 652.)
LVI., p. 117 n.
A Map in the Yun Nan Topography Section 9, “Tu-ssu” or Sawbwas,
marks the Kingdom of “Eight hundred wives” between the mouths of the
Irrawaddy and the Salween Rivers. (Note kindly sent by Mr. H. A.
OTTEWILL.)
LIX., p. 128.
CAUGIGU.
M. Georges Maspero, _L’Empire Khmèr_, p. 77 n., thinks that Canxigu =
Luang Prabang; I read Caugigu and I believe it is a transcription of
_Kiao-Chi Kwé_, see p. 131.
LIX., pp. 128, 131.
“I have identified, II., p. 131, Caugigu with _Kiao-Chi kwé_ (Kiao
Chi), _i.e._ Tung King.” Hirth and Rockhill (_Chau Ju-kua_, p. 46 n.)
write: “‘Kiáu chi’ is certainly the original of Marco Polo’s Caugigu
and of Rashid-eddin’s Kafchi kué.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] _Pen ts’ao kang mu_, Ch. 25, p. 14_b_.
[2] Regarding this name and its history, see PELLIOT, _Journ.
Asiatique_, 1912, I., p. 582. Qara Khodja was celebrated for its
abundance of grapes. (BRETSCHNEIDER, _Mediæval Res._, I., p. 65.)
J. DUDGEON (_The Beverages of the Chinese_, p. 27) misreading
it Ha-so-hwo, took it for the designation of a sort of wine.
STUART (_Chinese Materia Medica_, p. 459) mistakes it for a
transliteration of “hollands,” or may be “alcohol.” The latter word
has never penetrated into China in any form.
[3] This work is also the first that contains the word _a-la-ki_, from
Arabic ’araq. (See _T’oung Pao_, 1916, p, 483.)
[4] A range of mountains separating Shan Si from Chi li and Ho Nan.
[5] This is probably a phantasy. We can make nothing of it, as it is
not stated how the adulterated wine was made.
[6] This possibly is the earliest Chinese allusion to alcohol.
BOOK SECOND.—_CONTINUED._
PART III.—JOURNEY SOUTHWARD THROUGH EASTERN PROVINCES OF
CATHAY AND MANZI.
LX., p. 133.
CH’ANG LU.
The Rev. A. C. MOULE (_T’oung Pao_, July, 1915, p. 417) says that
“Ciang lu [Ch’ang-lu] was not, I think, identical with Ts’ang chou,”
but does not give any reason in support of this opinion.
CH’ANG LU SALT.
“To this day the _sole name_ for this industry, the financial centre
of which is T’ien Tsin, is the ‘Ch’ang-lu Superintendency.’” (E. H.
PARKER, _As. Quart. Review_, Jan., 1904, p. 147.) “The ‘Ch’ang-lu,’ or
Long Reed System, derives its name from the city Ts’ang chou, on the
Grand Canal (south of T’ientsin), once so called. In 1285 Kúblái Khan
‘once more divided the Ho-kien (Chih-li) and Shan Tung interests,’
which, as above explained, are really one in working principle. There
is now a First Class Commissary at T’ientsin, with sixteen subordinates,
and the Viceroy (who until recent years resided at Pao ting fu) has
nominal supervision.” (PARKER, _China_, 1901, pp. 223–4.)
“Il y a 10 groupes de salines, _Tch’ang_, situés dans les districts
de Fou ning hien, Lo t’ing hien, Loan tcheou, Fong joen hien, Pao
tch’e hien, T’ien tsin hien, Tsing hai hien, Ts’ang tcheou et Yen chan
hien. Il y a deux procédés employés pour la fabrication du sel: 1ᵒ
On étale sur un sol uni des cendres d’herbes venues dans un terrain
salé et on les arrose d’eau de mer; le liquide qui s’en écoule, d’une
densité suffisante pour faire flotter un œuf de poule ou des graines
de nénuphar, _Che lien_, est chauffé pendant 24 heures avec de ces
mêmes herbes employées comme combustible, et le sel se dépose. Les
cendres des herbes servent à une autre opération. 2ᵒ L’eau de mer
est simplement évaporée au soleil.... L’administrateur en chef de ce
commerce est le Vice-roi même de la province de Tche-li.” (P. HOANG,
_Sel, Variétés Sinologiques_, No. 15, p. 3.)
LXI., pp. 136, 138.
SANGON—T’SIANG KIUN.
“Le titre chinois de _tsiang kiun_ ‘général’ apparaît toujours dans les
inscriptions de l’Orkhon sous la forme _säṅün_, et dans les manuscrits
turcs de Tourfan on trouve _sangun_; ces formes avaient prévalu en
Asie centrale et c’est à elles que répond le _sangon_ de Marco Polo”
(éd. Yule-Cordier, II., 136, 138). PELLIOT, _Kao tch’ang_, _J. As._,
Mai–Juin, 1912, p. 584 _n._
LXI., p. 138.
LITAN.
“For Li T’an’s rebellion and the siege of Ts’i-nan, see the _Yüan
Shih_, c. v, fol. 1, 2; c. ccvi, fol. 2rᵒ; and c. cxviii, fol. 5rᵒ.
From the last passage it appears that Aibuga, the father of King George
of Tenduc, took some part in the siege. Prince Ha-pi-ch’i and Shih
T’ien-tsê, but not, that I have seen, Agul or Mangutai, are mentioned
in the _Yüan Shih_.” (A. C. MOULE, _T’oung Pao_, July, 1915, p. 417.)
LXII., p. 139.
SINJUMATU.
This is Ts’i ning chau. “Sinjumatu was on a navigable stream, as Marco
Polo expressly states and as its name implies. It was not long after
1276, as we learn from the _Yüan Shih_ (lxiv), that Kúblái carried out
very extensive improvements in the waterways of this very region, and
there is nothing improbable in the supposition that the _ma-t’ou_ or
landing-place had moved up to the more important town, so that the name
of Chi chou had become in common speech Sinjumatu (Hsin-chou-ma-t’ou)
by the time that Marco Polo got to know the place.” (A. C. MOULE,
_Marco Polo’s Sinjumatu, T’oung Pao_, July, 1912, pp. 431–3.)
LXII., p. 139 n.
GREAT CANAL.
“Et si voz di qu’il ont un fluns dou quel il ont grant profit et voz
dirai comant. Il est voir qe ceste grant fluns vient de ver midi
jusque à ceste cité de Singuimatu, et les homes de la ville cest grant
fluns en ont fait deus: car il font l’une moitié aler ver levant, et
l’autre moitié aler ver ponent: ce est qe le un vait au Mangi, et le
autre por le Catai. Et si voz di por verité que ceste ville a si grant
navile, ce est si grant quantité, qe ne est nul qe ne veisse qe peust
croire. Ne entendés qe soient grant nés, mès eles sunt tel come besogne
au grant fluns, et si voz di qe ceste naville portent au Mangi e por
le Catai si grant abondance de mercandies qe ce est mervoille; et
puis quant elles revienent, si tornent encore cargies, et por ce est
merveieliosse chouse à veoir la mercandie qe por celle fluns se porte
sus et jus.” (_Marco Polo, Soc. de Geog._, p. 152.)
LXIV., p. 144.
CAIJU.
The Rev. A. C. MOULE writes (_T’oung Pao_, July, 1915, p. 415):
“Hai chou is the obvious though by no means perfectly satisfactory
equivalent of Caigiu. For it stands not on, but thirty or forty miles
from, the old bed of the river. A place which answers better as regards
position is Ngan tung which was a _chou_ (_giu_) in the Sung and Yuan
Dynasties. The _Kuang-yü-hsing-shêng_, Vol. II., gives Hai Ngan as the
old name of Ngan Tung in the Eastern Wei Dynasty.”
LXIV., p. 144 n.
“La voie des transports du tribut n’était navigable que de Hang tcheou
au fleuve Jaune, [Koublai] la continua jusqu’auprès de sa capitale.
Les travaux commencèrent en 1289 et trois ans après on en faisait
l’ouverture. C’était un ruban de plus de (1800) mille huit cents li
(plus de 1000 kil.). L’étendue de ce Canal, qui mérite bien d’être
appelé impérial (Yu ho), de Hang Tcheou à Peking, mesure près de trois
mille li, c’est-à-dire plus de quatre cents lieues.” GANDAR, _Le Canal
Impérial_, 1894, pp. 21–22. Kwa Chau (Caiju), formerly at the head of
the Grand Canal on the Kiang, was destroyed by the erosions of the
river.
LXV., p. 148 n.
Instead of K_o_tan, note 1, read K_i_tan. “The ceremony of leading a
sheep was insisted on in 926, when the Tungusic-Corean King of Puh-hai
(or Manchuria) surrendered, and again in 946, when the puppet Chinese
Emperor of the Tsin Dynasty gave in his submission to the Kitans.” (E.
H. PARKER, _As. Quart. Rev._, January, 1904, p. 140.)
LXV., p. 149.
LIN NGAN.
It is interesting to note that the spoils of Lin Ngan carried to
Khan Balig were the beginning of the Imperial Library, increased by
the documents of the Yuen, the Ming, and finally the Ts’ing; it is
noteworthy that during the rebellion of Li Tze-ch’eng, the library was
spared, though part of the palace was burnt. See N. PERI, _Bul. Ecole
franç. Ext. Orient_, Jan.–June, 1911, p. 190.
LXVIII., p. 154 n.
YANJU.
Regarding Kingsmill’s note, Mr. John C. Ferguson writes in the
_Journal North China Branch Roy. As. Soc._, XXXVII., 1906, p. 190:
“It is evident that Tiju and Yanju have been correctly identified as
Taichow and Yangchow. I cannot agree with Mr. Kingsmill, however, in
identifying Tinju as Ichin-hien on the Great River. It is not probable
that Polo would mention Ichin twice, once before reaching Yangchow and
once after describing Yangchow. I am inclined to believe that Tinju
is Hsien-nü-miao 仙女廟, a large market-place which has close connection
both with Taichow and Yangchow. It is also an important place for the
collection of the revenue on salt, as Polo notices. This identification
of Tinju with Hsien-nü-miao would clear up any uncertainty as to Polo’s
journey, and would make a natural route for Polo to take from Kao yu
to Yangchow if he wished to see an important place between these two
cities.”
LXVIII., p. 154.
YANG CHAU.
In a text of the _Yuen tien chang_, dated 1317, found by Prof. Pelliot,
mention is made of a certain Ngao-la-han [Abraham?] still alive at Yang
chau, who was, according to the text, the son of the founder of the
Church of the Cross of the ãrkägün (_Ye-li-k’o-wen she-tze-sze_), one
of the three Nestorian churches of Yang-chau mentioned by Odoric and
omitted by Marco Polo. Cf. _Cathay_, II., p. 210, and PELLIOT, _T’oung
Pao_, 1914, p. 638.
LXX., p. 167.
SIEGE OF SAIANFU.
Prof. E. H. PARKER writes in the _Journ. of the North China Branch
of the Roy. As. Soc._, XXXVII., 1906, p. 195: “Colonel Yule’s note
requires some amendment, and he has evidently been misled by the French
translations. The two Mussulmans who assisted Kúblái with guns were
not ‘A-la-wa-ting of Mu-fa-li and Ysemain of Huli or Hiulie,’ but
A-la-pu-tan of Mao-sa-li and Y-sz-ma-yin of Shih-la. Shih-la is Shiraz,
the Serazy of Marco Polo, and Mao-sa-li is Mosul. Bretschneider cites
the facts in his _Mediæval Notes_, and seems to have used another
edition, giving the names as A-lao-wa-ting of Mu-fa-li and Y-sz-ma-yin
of Hü-lieh; but even he points out that Hulagu is meant, _i.e._ ‘a man
from Hulagu’s country.’”
LXX., p. 169.
“P’AO.”
“Captain Gill’s testimony as to the ancient ‘guns’ used by the Chinese
is, of course (as, in fact, he himself states), second-hand and
hearsay. In Vol. XXIV. of the _China Review_ I have given the name and
date of a General who used _p’ao_ so far back as the seventh century.”
(E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, pp. 146–7.)
LXXIV., p. 179 n.
THE ALANS.
According to the _Yuen Shi_ and Devéria, _Journ. Asiat._, Nov.–Dec.,
1896, 432, in 1229 and 1241, when Okkodai’s army reached the country
of the Aas (Alans), their chief submitted at once and a body of one
thousand Alans were kept for the private guard of the Great Khan;
Mangu enlisted in his bodyguard half the troops of the Alan Prince,
Arslan, whose younger son Nicholas took a part in the expedition of
the Mongols against Karajang (Yun Nan). This Alan imperial guard was
still in existence in 1272, 1286, and 1309, and it was divided into two
corps with headquarters in the Ling pei province (Karakorúm). See also
Bretschneider, _Mediæval Researches_, II., pp. 84–90.
The massacre of a body of Christian Alans related by Marco Polo (II.,
p. 178) is confirmed by Chinese sources.
LXXIV., p. 180, n. 3.
ALANS.
See Notes in new edition of _Cathay and the Way thither_, III., pp. 179
seq., 248.
The massacre of the Alans took place, according to Chinese sources,
at Chen-ch’ao, not at Ch’ang chau. The Sung general who was in charge
of the city, Hung Fu, after making a faint submission, got the Alans
drunk at night and had them slaughtered. Cf. PELLIOT, _Chrétiens d’Asie
centrale et d’Extrême-Orient, T’oung Pao_, Dec., 1914, p. 641.
LXXVI., pp. 184–5.
VUJU, VUGHIN, CHANGAN.
The Rev. A. C. Moule has given in the _T’oung Pao_, July, 1915, pp.
393 _seq._, the Itinerary between Lin Ngan (Hang Chau) and Shang Tu,
followed by the Sung Dynasty officials who accompanied their Empress
Dowager to the Court of Kúblái after the fall of Hang Chau in 1276;
the diary was written by Yen Kwang-ta, a native of Shao Hing, who was
attached to the party.
The Rev. A. C. Moule in his notes writes, p. 411: “The connexion
between Hu-chou and Hang-chou is very intimate, and the north suburb
of the latter, the Hu-shu, was known in Marco Polo’s day as the
Hu-chou shih. The identification of Vughin with Wu-chiang is fairly
satisfactory, but it is perhaps worth while to point out that there
is a place called Wu chên about fifty _li_ north of Shih-mên; and for
Ciangan there is a tempting place called Ch’ang-an chên just south of
Shih-mên on a canal which was often preferred to the T’ang-hsi route
until the introduction of steam boats.”
LXXVI., p. 192. “There is one church only [at Kinsay], belonging to the
Nestorian Christians.”
It was one of the seven churches built in China by Mar Sarghis, called
_Ta p’u hing sze_ (Great Temple of Universal Success), or _Yang yi
Hu-mu-la_, near the _Tsien k’iao men_. Cf. _Marco Polo_, II., p. 177;
VISSIÈRE, _Rev. du Monde Musulman_, March, 1913, p. 8.
LXXVI., p. 193.
KINSAY.
Chinese Atlas in the Magliabecchian Library.
The Rev. A. C. MOULE has devoted a long note to this Atlas in the
_Journ. R. As. Soc._, July, 1919, pp. 393–395. He has come to the
conclusion that the Atlas is no more nor less than the _Kuang yü t’u_,
and that it seems that _Camse_ stands neither for Ching-shih, as Yule
thought, nor for Hang chau as he, Moule, suggested in 1917, but simply
for the province of Kiangsi. (_A Note on the Chinese Atlas in the
Magliabecchian Library, with reference to Kinsay in Marco Polo_.)
Mr. P. von Tanner, Commissioner of Customs at Hang chau, wrote in 1901
in the _Decennial Reports, 1892–1901, of the Customs_, p. 4: “While
Hangchow owes its fame to the lake on the west, it certainly owes
its existence towards the south-west to the construction of the sea
wall, called by the Chinese by the appropriate name of bore wall. The
erection of this sea wall was commenced about the year A.D. 915, by
Prince Ts’ien Wu-su; it extends from Hang Chau to Chuan sha, near the
opening of the Hwang pu.... The present sea wall, in its length of 180
miles, was built. The wall is a stupendous piece of work, and should
take an equal share of fame with the Grand Canal and the Great Wall
of China, as its engineering difficulties were certainly infinitely
greater.... The fact that Marco Polo does not mention it shows almost
conclusively that he never visited Hang Chau, but got his account from
a Native poet. He must have taken it, besides, without the proverbial
grain of salt, and without eliminating the over-numerous ‘thousands’
and ‘myriads’ prompted less by facts than by patriotic enthusiasm and
poetical licence.”
LXXVI., p. 194 n.
BRIDGES OF KINSAY.
In the heart of Hang-chau, one of the bridges spanning the canal
which divides into two parts the walled city from north to south is
called _Hwei Hwei k’iao_ (Bridge of the Mohamedans) or _Hwei Hwei Sin
k’iao_ (New Bridge of the Mohamedans), while its literary name is _Tsi
Shan k’iao_ (Bridge of Accumulated Wealth); it is situated between
the _Tsien k’iao_ on the south and the _Fung lo k’iao_ on the north.
Near the _Tsi Shan k’iao_ was a mosk, and near the _Tsien k’iao_, at
the time of the Yuen, there existed Eight Pavilions (_Pa kien lew_)
inhabited by wealthy Mussulmans. Mohamedans from Arabia and Turkestan
were sent by the Yuen to Hang-chau; they had prominent noses, did not
eat pork, and were called _So mu chung_ (Coloured-eye race). VISSIÈRE,
_Rev. du Monde Musulman_, March, 1913.
LXXVI., p. 199.
KINSAY, KHANFU.
Pelliot proposes to see in Khanfu a transcription of Kwang-fu, an
abridgment of Kwang chau fu, prefecture of Kwang chau (Canton). Cf.
_Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, Jan.–June, 1904, p. 215 n., but I
cannot very well accept this theory.
LXXX., pp. 225, 226. “They have also [in Fu Kien] a kind of fruit
resembling saffron, and which serves the purpose of saffron just as
well.”
Dr. Laufer writes to me: “Yule’s identification with a species of
_Gardenia_ is all right, although this is not peculiar to Fu Kien.
Another explanation, however, is possible. In fact, the Chinese speak
of a certain variety of saffron peculiar to Fu Kien. The _Pen ts’ao
kang mu shi i_ (Ch. 4, p. 14 b) contains the description of a ‘native
saffron’ (_t’u hung hwa_, in opposition to the ‘Tibetan red flower’ or
genuine saffron) after the Continued Gazetteer of Fu Kien, as follows:
‘As regards the native saffron, the largest specimens are seven or
eight feet high. The leaves are like those of the p’i-p’a (_Eriobotrya
japonica_), but smaller and without hair. In the autumn it produces
a white flower like a grain of maize (_Su-mi, Zea mays_). It grows
in Fu Chou and Nan Ngen Chou (now Yang Kiang in Kwang Tung) in the
mountain wilderness. That of Fu Chou makes a fine creeper, resembling
the _fu-yung_ (_Hibiscus mutabilis_), green above and white below, the
root being like that of the _ko_ (_Pachyrhizus thunbergianus_). It is
employed in the pharmacopeia, being finely chopped for this purpose
and soaked overnight in water in which rice has been scoured; then
it is soaked for another night in pure water and pounded: thus it is
ready for prescriptions.’ This plant, as far as I know, has not yet
been identified, but it may well be identical with Polo’s saffron of Fu
Kien.”
LXXX., pp. 226, 229 n.
_THE SILKY FOWLS OF MARCO POLO_.
Tarradale, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire, May 10, 1915.
In a letter lately received from my cousin Mr. George Udny Yule (St.
John’s College, Cambridge) he makes a suggestion which seems to me both
probable and interesting. As he is at present too busy to follow up the
question himself, I have asked permission to publish his suggestion in
_The Athenæum_, with the hope that some reader skilled in mediæval
French and Italian may be able to throw light on the subject.
Mr. Yule writes as follows:—
“The reference [to these fowls] in ‘Marco Polo’ (p. 226 of the last
edition; not p. 126 as stated in the index) is a puzzle, owing to
the statement that they are _black_ all over. A black has, I am
told, been recently created, but the common breed is white, as
stated in the note and by Friar Odoric.
“It has occurred to me as a possibility that what Marco Polo may
have meant to say was that they were _black all through_, or some
such phrase. The flesh of these fowls is deeply pigmented, and
looks practically black; it is a feature that is very remarkable,
and would certainly strike any one who saw it. The details that
they ‘lay eggs just like our fowls,’ _i.e._, not pigmented, and are
‘very good to eat,’ are facts that would naturally deserve especial
mention in this connexion. Mr. A. D. Darbishire (of Oxford and
Edinburgh University) tells me that is quite correct: the flesh
look horrid, but it is quite good eating. Do any texts suggest the
possibility of such a reading as I suggest?”
The references in the above quotation are, of course, to my father’s
version of Marco Polo. That his nephew should make this interesting
little contribution to the subject would have afforded him much
gratification.
A. F. YULE.
_The Athenæum_, No. 4570, May 29, 1915, p. 485.
LXXX., pp. 226, 230.
SUGAR.
“I may observe that the _Pêh Shï_ (or ‘Northern Dynasties History’)
speaks of a large consumption of sugar in Cambodgia as far back as the
fifth century of our era. There can be no mistake about the meaning of
the words _sha-t’ang_, which are still used both in China and Japan
(_sa-tō_). The ‘History of the T’ang Dynasty,’ in its chapter on
Magadha, says that in the year 627 the Chinese Emperor ‘sent envoys
thither to procure the method of boiling out sugar, and then ordered
the Yang-chou sugar-cane growers to press it out in the same way,
when it appeared that both in colour and taste ours excelled that of
the Western Regions’ [of which Magadha was held to be part].” (E. H.
PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 146.)
ZAITUN.
LXXXII., p. 237.
M. G. Ferrand remarks that _Tze tung_ = زيتون, _zītūn_ in Arabic,
inexactly read _Zaytūn_, on account of its similitude with its homonym
زيتون, _zaytūn_, olive. (_Relat de Voy._, I., p. 11.)
LXXXII., pp. 242–245.
“Perhaps it may not be generally known that in the dialect of Foochow
Ts’uän-chou and Chang-chou are at the present day pronounced in
_exactly the same way_—_i.e._, ‘Chiong-chiu,’ and it is by no means
impossible that Marco Polo’s _Tyunju_ is an attempt to reproduce this
sound, especially as, coming to Zaitun _viâ_ Foochow, he would probably
first hear the Foochow pronunciation.” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart.
Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 148)
BOOK THIRD.
JAPAN, THE ARCHIPELAGO, SOUTHERN INDIA, AND THE COASTS AND ISLANDS OF
THE INDIAN SEA.
II., p. 256, n. 1.
NÁFÚN.
Regarding the similitude between _Nipon_ and _Nafún_, Ferrand,
_Textes_, I., p. 115 n., remarks: “Ce rapprochement n’a aucune chance
d’être exact. نافون _Nafūn_ est certainement une erreur de graphie pour
ياقوت _Yākūt_ ou ناقوس _Nāḳūs_.”
III., p. 261.
JAPANESE WAR.
“Hung Ts’a-k’iu, who set out overland _viâ_ Corea and Tsushima in
1281, is much more likely than Fan Wên-hu to be Von-sain-_chin_
(probably a misprint for _chiu_), for the same reason _Vo_-cim stands
for _Yung_-ch’ang, and _sa_ for _sha, ch’a, ts’a_, etc. A-la-han (not
A-ts’ï-han) fell sick at the start, and was replaced by A-ta-hai.
To copy _Abacan_ for _Alahan_ would be a most natural error, and I
see from the notes that M. Schlegel has come to the same conclusion
independently.” (E. H. PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p.
147.)
V., pp. 270, 271 n.
CHAMBA.
Lieut.-General Sagatu, So Tu or So To, sent in 1278 an envoy to the
King known as Indravarman VI. or Jaya Sinhavarman. Maspero (_Champa_,
pp. 237, 254) gives the date of 1282 for the war against Champa with
Sagatu appointed at the head of the Chinese Army on the 16th July,
1282; the war lasted until 1285. Maspero thinks 1288 the date of
Marco’s visit to Champa (_l.c._, p. 254).
VII., p. 277 n.
SONDUR AND CONDUR (PULO CONDORE).
Mr. C. O. Blagden has some objection to Sundar Fūlāt being Pulo Condor:
“In connexion with Sundur-Fūlāt, some difficulties seem to arise.
If it represents Pulo Condor, why should navigators on their way to
China call at it _after_ visiting Champa, which lies beyond it? And if
_fūlāt_ represents a Persian plural of the Malay _Pulau_, ‘island,’ why
does it not precede the proper name as generic names do in Malay and in
Indonesian and Southern Indo-Chinese languages generally? Further, if
_ṣundur_ represents a native form _čundur_, whence the hard _c_ (= _k_)
of our modern form of the word? I am not aware that Malay changes _č_
to _k_ in an initial position.” (_J. R. As. Soc._, April, 1914, p. 496.)
“L’île de Sendi Foulat est très grande; il y a de l’eau douce, des
champs cultivés, du riz et des cocotiers. Le roi s’appelle Resed. Les
habitants portent la fouta soit en manteau, soit en ceinture.... L’île
de Sendi Foulat est entourée, du côté de la Chine, de montagnes d’un
difficile accès, et où soufflent des vents impétueux. Cette île est
une des portes de la Chine. De là à la ville de Khancou, X journées.”
EDRISI, I., p. 90. In Malay Pulo Condor is called Pulau Kundur (Pumpkin
Island) and in Cambodian, Koḥ Tralàch. See PELLIOT, _Deux Itinéraires_,
pp. 218–220. Fūlāt = _fūl_ (Malay _pulo_) + Persian plural suffix
_-āt_. _Čundur fūlāt_ means Pumpkin Island. FERRAND, _Textes_, pp. ix.,
2.
VII., p. 277.
LOCAC.
According to W. Tomaschek (_Die topographischen Capitel des Indischen
Seespiegels Moḥīṭ_, Vienna, 1897, Map XXIII.) it should be read
_Lōšak_ = The _Lochac_ of the G. T. “It is _Laṅkāçoka_ of the Tanjore
inscription of 1030, the _Ling ya ssī kia_ of the _Chu-fan-chï_ of
Chau Ju-kua, the _Lěṅkasuka_ of the _Nāgarakrětāgama_, the _Lang-šakā_
of Sulayman al Mahri, situated on the eastern side of the Malay
Peninsula.” (G. FERRAND, _Malaka, le Malāyu et Malāyur_, _J. As._,
July–Aug, 1918, p. 91.) On the situation of this place which has been
erroneously identified with Tenasserim, see _ibid._, pp. 134–145. M.
Ferrand places it in the region of Ligor.
VII., pp. 278–279.
LAWÁKI.
_Lawáki_ comes from Lovek, a former capital of Cambodia; referring to
the aloes-wood called _Lawáki_ in the _Ain-i-Akbari_ written in the
16th century, FERRAND, _Textes_, I., p. 285 n., remarks: “On vient de
voir que Ibn-al-Bayṭār a emprunté ce nom à Avicenne (980–1037) qui
écrivit son _Canon de la Médecine_ dans les premières années du XIᵉ
siècle. _Lawāḳ_ ou Lowāḳ nous est donc attesté sous la forme _Lawāḳi_
ou _Lowāḳī_ dès le Xᵉ siècle, puis qu’il est mentionné, au début du
XIᵉ, par Avicenne qui résidait alors à Djurdjān, sur la Caspienne.”
VIII., pp. 280–3.
OF THE ISLAND CALLED PENTAM, AND THE CITY MALAIUR.
The late Col. G. E. Gerini published in the _J. R. A. S._, July, 1905,
pp. 485–511, a paper on the _Nāgarakretāgama_, a Javanese poem composed
by a native bard named Prapañca, in honour of his sovereign Hayam
Wuruk (1350–1389), the greatest ruler of Mājapāhit. He upsets all the
theories accepted hitherto regarding _Panten_. The southernmost portion
of the Malay Peninsula is known as the _Malaya_ or _Malayu_ country
(Tānah-Malāyu) = Chinese _Ma-li-yü-êrh = Malāyur = Maluir_ of Marco
Polo, witness the river _Malāyu_ (_Sungei Malāyu_) still so called, and
the village _Bentan_, both lying there (ignored by all Col. Gerini’s
predecessors) on the northern shore of the Old Singapore Strait. Col.
Gerini writes (p. 509): “There exists to this day a village _Bentam_
on the mainland side of Singapore Strait, right opposite the mouth of
the Sungei Selitar, on the northern shore of Singapore Island, it is
not likely that both travellers [Polo and Odoric] mistook the coast of
the Malay Peninsula for an island. The island of _Pentam_, _Paten_,
or _Pantem_ must therefore be the _Be-Tūmah_ (Island) of the Arab
Navigators, the _Tamasak_ Island of the Malays; and, in short, the
Singapore Island of our day.” He adds: “The island of _Pentam_ cannot
be either Batang or Bitang, the latter of which is likewise mentioned
by Marco Polo under the same name of _Pentam_, but 60 + 30 = 90 miles
before reaching the former. Batang, girt all round by dangerous
reefs, is inaccessible except to small boats. So is Bintang, with the
exception of its south-western side, where is now Riāu, and where, a
little further towards the north, was the settlement at which the chief
of the island resided in the fourteenth century. There was no reason
for Marco Polo’s junk to take that roundabout way in order to call at
such, doubtlessly insignificant place. And the channel (_i.e._ Rhio
Strait) has far more than four paces’ depth of water, whereas there are
no more than two fathoms at the western entrance to the Old Singapore
Strait.”
Marco Polo says (II., p. 280): “Throughout this distance [from Pentam]
there is but four paces’ depth of water, so that great ships in passing
this channel have to lift their rudders, for they draw nearly as
much water as that.” Gerini remarks that it is unmistakably the _Old
Singapore Strait_, and that there is no channel so shallow throughout
all those parts except among reefs. “The _Old Strait_ or _Selat
Tebrau_, says N. B. Dennys, _Descriptive Dict. of British Malaya_,
separating Singapore from Johore. Before the settlement of the former,
this was the only known route to China; it is generally about a mile
broad, but in some parts little more than three furlongs. Crawford
went through it in a ship of 400 tons, and found the passage tedious
but safe.” Most of Sinologists, Beal, Chavannes, Pelliot, _Bul. Ecole
franç. Ext. Orient_, IV., 1904, pp. 321–2, 323–4, 332–3, 341, 347,
place the Malaiur of Marco Polo at Palembang in Sumatra.
VIII., pp. 281 n., 283 n.
TANA-MALAYU.
“On a traduit _Tānah Malāyu_ par ‘Pays des Malais,’ mais cette
traduction n’est pas rigoureusement exacte. Pour prendre une expression
parallèle, _Tānah Djāwa_ signifie ‘Pays de Java,’ mais non ‘Pays des
Javanais.’
“En réalité, _tānah_ ‘terre, sol, pays, contrée’ s’emploie seulement
avec un toponyme qui doit étre rendu par un toponyme équivalent. Le
nom des habitants du pays s’exprime, en malais, en ajoutant _oraṅ_
‘homme, personne, gens, numéral des êtres humains’ au nom du pays:
‘_oraṅ Malāyu_’ Malais, litt. ‘gens de Malāyu’; _oraṅ Djāwa_ Javanais,
litt. ‘gens de Java.’ _Tānah Malāyu_ a donc très nettement le sens
de ‘pays de Malāyu’; cf. l’expression kawi correspondante dans le
_Nāgarakrêtāgama: tanah ri Malayu_ ‘pays de Malāyu’ où chaque mot
français recouvre exactement le substantif, la préposition et le
toponyme de l’expression kawi. Le _taná Malayo_ de Barros s’applique
donc à un pays déterminé du nom de Malāyu qui, d’après l’auteur des
_Décades_, était situé entre Djambi et Palembaṅ. Nous savons, d’autre
part, que le pays en question avait sa capitale dans l’intérieur de
l’île, mais qu’il s’étendait dans l’Est jusqu’à la mer et que la côte
orientale a été désignée par les textes chinois du VIIᵉ siècle sous
le nom de _Mo-lo-yeou, Mo-lo-yu = Malāyu_, c’est-à-dire par le nom de
l’Etat ou royaume dont elle faisait partie.” (G. FERRAND, _J. As._,
July–Aug., 1918, pp. 72–73.)
VIII., p. 282.
MALACCA.
See G. FERRAND, _Malaka, le Malayu et Malāyur, J. As._, 1918. Besides
Malayu of Sumatra, there was a city of Malayur which M. Ferrand thinks
is Malacca.
VIII., p. 282 n. “This informs us that Malacca first acknowledged
itself as tributary to the Empire in 1405, the king being
_Sili-ju-eul-sula_ (?).”
In this name _Si-li-ju-eul-su-la_, one must read 八 _pa_, instead of
入, and read _Si-li-pa-eul-su-la_ = Siri Paramisura (Çrī Parameçvara).
(PELLIOT, _Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, IV., July–Sept., 1904, p.
772.)
IX., p. 285. “They [the rhinoceros] do no mischief, however, with the
horn, but with the tongue alone; for this is covered all over with long
and strong prickles [and when savage with any one they crush him under
their knees and then rasp him with their tongue].”
“Its tongue is like the burr of a chestnut.” (CHAU JU-KWA, P. 233.)
IX., p. 289.
SUMATRA.
In 1017, an embassy was sent to the Court of China by Haji
Sumutrabhūmi, “the king of the land of Sumutra” (Sumatra). The envoys
had a letter in golden characters and tribute in the shape of pearls,
ivory, Sanscrit, books folded between boards, and slaves; by an
imperial edict they were permitted to see the emperor and to visit some
of the imperial buildings. When they went back an edict was issued
addressed to their king, accompanied by various presents, calculated to
please them. (GROENEVELDT, _Notes on the Malay Archipelago_, p. 65.)
G. Ferrand writes (_J. As._, Mars–Avril, 1917, p. 335) that according
to the texts quoted by him in his article the island of Sumatra was
known to the Chinese under the name _Sumuṭa = Sumutra_, during the
first years of the eleventh century, nearly 300 years before Marco
Polo’s voyage; and under the name of _Šumuṭra_, by the Arab sailors,
previously to the first voyage of the Portuguese in Indonesia.
IX., p. 287.
FERLEC.
Prof. Pelliot writes to me that the _Ferlec_ of Marco Polo is to be
found several times in the _Yüan Shi_, year 1282 and following, under
the forms _Fa-li-lang_ (Chap. 12, fol. 4 v.), _Fa-li-la_ (Chap. 13,
fol. 2 v.), _Pie-li-la_ (Chap. 13, fol. 4 v.), _Fa-eul-la_ (Chap. 18,
fol. 8 v.); in the first case, it is quoted near _A-lu_ (_Aru_) and
_Kan-pai_ (Kampei).—Cf. FERRAND, _Textes_, II., p. 670.
XI., pp. 304–5.
SAGO TREE.
Sago Palm = _Sagus Rumphianus_ and _S. Lævis_ (DENNYS).—“From Malay
_sāgū_. The farinaceous pith taken out of the stem of several species
of a particular genus of palm, especially _Metroxylon laeve_,
Mart., and _M. Rumphii_, Willd., found in every part of the Indian
Archipelago, including the Philippines, wherever there is proper soil.”
(_Hobson-Jobson_.)
XII., p. 306. “In this island [Necuveran] they have no king nor chief,
but live like beasts. And I tell you they go all naked, both men and
women, and do not use the slightest covering of any kind.”
We have seen (_Marco Polo_, II., p. 308) that Mr. G. Phillips writes
(_J. R. A. S._, July, 1895, p. 529) that the name Tsui-lan given to
the Nicobars by the Chinese is, he has but little doubt, “a corruption
of Nocueran, the name given by Marco Polo to the group. The characters
Tsui-lan are pronounced Ch’ui lan in Amoy, out of which it is easy to
make Cueran. The Chinese omitted the initial syllable and called them
the Cueran Islands, while Marco Polo called them the Nocueran Islands.”
Schlegel, _T’oung Pao_, IX., p. 182–190, thinks that the Andaman
Islands are alone represented by Ts’ui-lan; the Nicobar being the old
country of the Lo-ch’a, and in modern time, _Mao shan_, “Hat Island.”
Pelliot, _Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, IV., 1904, pp. 354–5, is
inclined to accept Phillip’s opinion. He says that Mao-shan is one
island, not a group of islands; it is not proved that the country
of the Lo ch’a is the Nicobar Islands; the name of _Lo-hing-man_,
Naked Barbarians, is, contrary to Schlegel’s opinion, given to the
Nicobar as well as to the Andaman people; the name of Andaman appears
in Chinese for the first time during the thirteenth century in Chao
Ju-kwa under the form _Yen-t’o-man_; Chao Ju-kwa specifies that going
from Lambri (_Sumatra_) to Ceylon, it is an unfavourable wind which
makes ships drift towards these islands; on the other hand, texts
show that the Ts’ui-lan islands were on the usual route from Sumatra
to Ceylon.—Gerini, _Researches_, p. 396, considers that _Ts’ui-lan
shan_ is but the phonetic transcript of _Tilan-chong_ Island, the
north-easternmost of the Nicobars.—See Hirth and Rockhill’s _Chau
Ju-kwa_, p. 12n.—Sansk. _nārikera_, “cocoanuts,” is found in Necuveram.
XIII., p. 309.
ANGAMANAIN.
“When sailing from Lan-wu-li to Si-lan, if the wind is not fair, ships
may be driven to a place called Yen-t’o-man [in Cantonese, An-t’o-man].
This is a group of two islands in the middle of the sea, one of them
being large, the other small; the latter is quite uninhabited. The
large one measures seventy _li_ in circuit. The natives on it are of a
colour resembling black lacquer; they eat men alive, so that sailors
dare not anchor on this coast.
“This island does not contain so much as an inch of iron, for which
reason the natives use (bits of) conch-shell (ch’ö-k’ü) with ground
edges instead of knives. On this island is a sacred relic, (the
so-called) ‘Corpse on a bed of rolling gold....’” (CHAU JU-KWA, p. 147.)
XIII., p. 311.
DOG-HEADED BARBARIANS.
Rockhill in a note to Carpini (_Rubruck_, p. 36) mentions “the Chinese
annals of the sixth century (_Liang Shu_, bk. 54; _Nan shih_, bk. 79)
which tell of a kingdom of dogs (_Kou kuo_) in some remote corner of
north-eastern Asia. The men had human bodies but dogs’ heads, and their
speech sounded like barking. The women were like the rest of their sex
in other parts of the world.”
Dr. Laufer writes to me: “A clear distinction must be made between
dog-headed people and the motive of descent from a dog-ancestor,—two
entirely different conceptions. The best exposition of the subject
of the cynocephali according to the traditions of the Ancients is
now presented by J. MARQUART (_Benin-Sammlung des Reichsmuseums in
Leiden_, pp. cc–ccxix). It is essential to recognize that the mediæval
European, Arabic, and Chinese fables about the country of the dog-heads
are all derived from one common source, which is traceable to the
Greek Romance of Alexander; that is an Oriental-Hellenistic cycle. In
a wider sense, the dog-heads belong to the cycle of wondrous peoples,
which assumed shape among the Greek mariners under the influence of
Indian and West-Asiatic ideas. The tradition of the _Nan shi_ (Ch.
79, p. 4), in which the motive of the dog-heads, the women, however,
being of human shape, meets its striking parallel in Adam of Bremen
(_Gesta hamburg. ecclesiæ pontificum_, 4, 19), who thus reports on the
_Terra Feminarum_ beyond the Baltic Sea: ‘Cumque pervenerint ad partum,
si quid masculini generis est, fiunt cynocephali, si quid femini,
speciosissimæ mulieres.’ See further KLAPROTH, _J. As._, XII., 1833,
p. 287; DULAURIER, _J. As._, 1858, p. 472; ROCKHILL, _Rubruck_, p. 36.”
In an interesting paper on Walrus and Narwhal Ivory, Dr. Laufer
(_T’oung Pao_, July, 1916, p. 357) refers to dog-headed men with women
of human shape, from a report from the Mongols received by King Hethum
of Armenia.
XIV., p. 313. “The people [of Ceylon] are Idolaters, and go quite
naked except that they cover the middle.... The King of this Island
possesses a ruby which is the finest and biggest in the world; I
will tell you what it is like. It is about a palm in length, and
as thick as a man’s arm; to look at, it is the most resplendent
object upon earth; it is quite free from flaw and as red as fire.
Its value is so great that a price for it in money could hardly be
named at all.”
Chau Ju-kwa, p. 73, has: “The King holds in his hand a jewel five
inches in diameter, which cannot be burnt by fire, and which shines in
(the darkness of) night like a torch. The King rubs his face with it
daily, and though he were passed ninety he would retain his youthful
looks.
“The people of the country are very dark-skinned, they wrap a sarong
round their bodies, go bare-headed and bare-footed.”
XIV., p. 314 n.
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON.
The native kings of this period were Pandita Prakama Bahu II.,
who reigned from 1267 to 1301 at Dambadenia, about 40 miles
north-north-east of Columbo (Marco Polo’s time); Vijaya Bahu IV.
(1301–1303); Bhuwaneka Bahu I. (1303–1314); Prakama Bahu III.
(1314–1319); Bhuwaneka Bahu II. (1319).
SAGAMONI BORCAN.
= Sakya Muni Burkhan.
XV., p. 319. Seilan—History of Sagamoni Borcan. “And they maintain ...
that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish that are there were those of
the same king’s son, whose name was Sagamoni Borcan, or Sagamoni the
Saint.”
See J. F. FLEET, _The Tradition about the corporeal Relics of Buddha_.
(_Jour. R. As. Soc._, 1906, and April, 1907, pp. 341–363.)
XV., p. 320.
In a paper on _Burkhan_ printed in the _Journal of the American
Oriental Society_, XXXVI., 1917, pp. 390–395, Dr. Berthold Laufer
has come to the following conclusion: “Burkhan in Mongol by no means
conveys exclusively the limited notion of Buddha, but, first of all,
signifies ‘deity, god, gods,’ and secondly ‘representation or image of
a god.’ This general significance neither inheres in the term Buddha
nor in Chinese Fo; neither do the latter signify ‘image of Buddha’;
only Mongol _burkhan_ has this force, because originally it conveyed
the meaning of a shamanistic image. From what has been observed on
the use of the word _burkhan_ in the shamanistic or pre-Buddhistic
religions of the Tungusians, Mongols and Turks, it is manifest that the
word well existed there before the arrival of Buddhism, fixed in its
form and meaning, and was but subsequently transferred to the name of
Buddha.”
XV., pp. 323 _seq._
BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT.
The German traveller von Le Coq has found at Turfan fragments of
this legend in Turki which he published in 1912 in his _Türkische
Manichaica_, which agree with the legend given by the Persian Ibn
Bâbawaih of Qum, who died in 991. (S. d’OLDENBOURG, _Bul. Ac. I. des
Sc._, Pet., 1912, pp. 779–781; W. RADLOFF, _Alttürk. Stud._, VI., zu
_Barlaam und Joasaph_). M. P. Alfaric (_La Vie chrétienne du Bouddha,
J. Asiatique_, Sept.–Oct., 1917, pp. 269 _seq._; _Rev. de l’Hist. des
Religions_, Nov.–Dec., 1918, pp. 233 seq.) has studied this legend from
a Manichæan point of view.
XV., p. 327.
See _La “Vie des Saints Barlaam et Josaphat” et la légende du Bouddha_,
in Vol. I., pp. xxxxvii–lvi, of _Contes populaires de Lorraine_ par
Emmanuel COSQUIN, Paris, Vieweg, n.d. [1886].
XVI., p. 335 n.
TANJORE.
Speaking of Chu-lién (Chola Dominion, Coromandel Coast), Chau Ju-kwa,
pp. 93–4, says:—
“The kingdom of Chu-lién is the Southern Yin-tu of the west. To the
east (its capital) is five _li_ distant from the sea; to the west one
comes to Western India (after) 1500 _li_; to the south one comes to
Lo-lan (after) 2500 _li_; to the north one comes to Tun-t’ien (after)
3000 _li_.”
Hirth and Rockhill remark, p. 98: “Ma Tuan-lin and the _Sung-shï_
reproduce textually this paragraph (the former writer giving
erroneously the distance between the capital and the sea as 5000 _li_).
Yule, _Marco Polo_, II, p. 335, places the principal port of the
Chola kingdom at Kaveripattanam, the ‘Paṭṭaṇam’ par excellence of the
Coromandel Coast, and at one of the mouths of the Kaveri. He says that
there seems to be some evidence that the Tanjore ports were, before
1300, visited by Chinese trade. The only Lo-lan known to mediæval
Chinese is mentioned in the _T’ang-shu_, 221⁸, and is identified with
the capital of Bamian, in Afghanistan. I think our text is corrupt
here and that the character _lo_ should be changed to _si_, and that
we should read Si-lan, our Ceylon. Both Ma and the _Sung-shï_ say that
2500 _li_ south-east of Chu-lién was ‘Si-lan-ch’ï-kuo’ with which
it was at war. Of course the distance mentioned is absurd, but all
figures connected with Chu-lién in Chinese accounts are inexplicably
exaggerated.”
XVI., pp. 336–337.
CHINESE PAGODA AT NEGAPATAM.
Sir Walter ELLIOT, K.C.S.I., to whom Yule refers for the information
given about this pagoda, has since published in the _Indian Antiquary_,
VII., 1878, pp. 224–227, an interesting article with the title: _The
Edifice formerly known as the Chinese or Jaina Pagoda at Negapatam_,
from which we gather the following particulars regarding its
destruction:—
“It went by various names, as the _Puduveli-gôpuram_, the old pagoda,
Chinese pagoda, black pagoda, and in the map of the Trigonometrical
Survey (Sheet 79) it stands as the Jeyna (Jaina) pagoda. But save in
name it has nothing in common with Hindu or Muhammadan architecture,
either in form or ornament.”
“In 1859, the Jesuit Fathers presented a petition to the Madras
Government representing the tower to be in a dangerous condition, and
requesting permission to pull it down and appropriate the materials
to their own use....” In 1867 “the Fathers renewed their application
for leave to remove it, on the following grounds: ‘1st, because they
considered it to be unsafe in its present condition; 2nd, because it
obstructed light and sea-breeze from a chapel which they had built
behind it; 3rd, because they would very much like to get the land on
which it stood; and 4th, because the bricks of which it was built would
be very useful to them for building purposes.’
“The Chief Engineer, who meanwhile had himself examined the edifice,
and had directed the District Engineer to prepare a small estimate
for its repair, reported that the first only of the above reasons had
any weight, and that it would be met if Colonel O’Connell’s estimate,
prepared under his own orders, received the sanction of Government. He
therefore recommended that this should be given, and the tower allowed
to stand....
“The Chief Engineer’s proposal did not meet with approval, and on
the 28th August 1867, the following order was made on the Jesuits’
petition: ‘The Governor in Council is pleased to sanction the removal
of the old tower at Negapatam by the officers of St. Joseph’s
College, at their own expense, and the appropriation of the available
material to such school-building purposes as they appear to have in
contemplation.
“The Fathers were not slow in availing themselves of this permission.
The venerable building was speedily levelled, and the site cleared.”
In making excavations connected with the college a bronze image
representing a Buddhist or Jaina priest in the costume and attitude
of the figures in wood and metal brought from Burma was found; it was
presented to Lord Napier, in 1868; a reproduction of it is given in Sir
Walter Elliot’s paper.
In a note added by Dr. Burnell to this paper, we read: “As I several
times in 1866 visited the ruin referred to, I may be permitted to say
that it had become merely a shapeless mass of bricks. I have no doubt
that it was originally a _vimâna_ or shrine of some temple; there are
some of precisely the same construction in parts of the Chingleput
district.”
XVI., p. 336 n.
NEGAPATAM.
We read in the _Tao yi chi lio_ (1349) that “T’u t’a (the eastern
stupa) is to be found in the flat land of Pa-tan (Fattan, Negapatam?)
and that it is surrounded with stones. There is a stupa of earth and
brick many feet high; it bears the following Chinese inscription: ‘The
work was finished in the eighth moon of the third year _hien chw’en_
(1267).’ It is related that these characters have been engraved by
some Chinese in imitation of inscriptions on stone of those countries;
up to the present time, they have not been destroyed.” Hien chw’en is
the _nien hao_ of Tu Tsung, one of the last emperors of the Southern
Sung Dynasty, not of a Mongol Sovereign. I owe this information to
Prof. Pelliot, who adds that the comparison between the Chinese Pagoda
of Negapatam and the text of the _Tao yi chi lio_ has been made
independent of him by Mr. Fujita in the _Tōkyō-gakuhō_, November, 1913,
pp. 445–46. (_Cathay_, I., p. 81 n.)
XVII., p. 340. “Here [Maabar] are no horses bred; and thus a great part
of the wealth of the country is wasted in purchasing horses; I will
tell you how. You must know that the merchants of Kis and Hormes, Dofar
and Soer and Aden collect great numbers of destriers and other horses,
and these they bring to the territories of this King and of his four
brothers, who are kings likewise as I told you....”
Speaking of Yung (or Wöng) man, Chau Ju-kwa tells us (p. 133): “In
the mountains horse-raising is carried on a large scale. The other
countries which trade here purchase horses, pearls and dates which they
get in exchange for cloves, cardamom seeds and camphor.”
XVII., p. 341.
SUTTEES IN INDIA.
“Suttee is a Brahmanical rite, and there is a Sanskrit ritual in
existence (see _Classified Index to the Tanjore MSS._, p. 135_a._). It
was introduced into Southern India with the Brahman civilization, and
was prevalent there chiefly in the Brahmanical Kingdom of Vijayanagar,
and among the Mahrattas. In Malabar, the most primitive part of S.
India, the rite is forbidden (Anāchāranirṇaya, v. 26). The cases
mentioned by Teixeira, and in the _Lettres édifiantes_, occurred at
Tanjore and Madura. A (Mahratta) Brahman at Tanjore told one of the
present writers that he had to perform commemorative funeral rites for
his grandfather and grandmother on the same day, and this indicated
that his grandmother had been a _satī_.” YULE, _Hobson-Jobson_. Cf.
_Cathay_, II., pp. 139–140.
MAABAR.
XVII., p. 345. Speaking of this province, Marco Polo says: “They have
certain abbeys in which are gods and goddesses to whom many young girls
are consecrated; their fathers and mothers presenting them to that idol
for which they entertain the greatest devotion. And when the [monks] of
a convent desire to make a feast to their god, they send for all those
consecrated damsels and make them sing and dance before the idol with
great festivity. They also bring meats to feed their idol withal; that
is to say, the damsels prepare dishes of meat and other good things
and put the food before the idol, and leave it there a good while, and
then the damsels all go to their dancing and singing and festivity for
about as long as a great Baron might require to eat his dinner. By that
time they say the spirit of the idols has consumed the substance of the
food, so they remove the viands to be eaten by themselves with great
jollity. This is performed by these damsels several times every year
until they are married.”
Chau Ju-kwa has the following passage in Cambodia (p. 53): “(The
people) are devout Buddhists. There are serving (in the temples) some
three hundred foreign women; they dance and offer food to the Buddha.
They are called _a-nan_ or slave dancing-girls.”
Hirth and Rockhill, who quote Marco Polo’s passage, remark, p. 55 n.:
“_A-nan_, as here written, is the usual transcription of the Sanskrit
word _ānanda_, ‘joy, happiness.’ The almeh or dancing-girls are usually
called in India _deva-dāsī_ (‘slave of a god’) or _rāmjani_.”
In Guzerat, Chau Ju-kwa, p. 92, mentions: “Four thousand Buddhist
temple buildings, in which live over twenty thousand dancing-girls who
sing twice daily while offering food to the Buddha (_i.e._, the idols)
and while offering flowers.”
XVIII., p. 356.
TRADITIONS OF ST. THOMAS.
“The traditional site of the Apostle’s Tomb, now adjacent to the
sea-shore, has recently come to be enclosed in the crypt of the new
Cathedral of San Thomé.” (A. E. MEDLYCOTT, _India and the Apostle
Thomas. An inquiry. With a critical analysis of the Acta Thomæ_.
London, David Nutt, 1905, 8vo.)
In the beginning of the sixteenth century Barbosa found the church of
St. Thomas half in ruins and grown round with jungle. A Mahomedan fakir
kept it and maintained a lamp. Yet in 1504, which is several years
earlier than Barbosa’s voyage, the Syrian Bishop Jaballaha, who had
been sent by the Patriarch to take charge of the Indian Christians,
reported that the House of St. Thomas had begun to be inhabited by some
Christians, who were engaged in restoring it.
Mr. W. R. Philipps has a valuable paper on _The Connection of St.
Thomas the Apostle with India_ in the _Indian Antiquary_, XXXII., 1903,
pp. 1–15, 145–160; he has come to the following conclusions: “(1)
There is good early evidence that St. Thomas was the apostle of the
Parthian empire; and also evidence that he was the apostle of ‘India’
in some limited sense,—probably of an ‘India’ which included the Indus
Valley, but nothing to the east or south of it. (2) According to the
Acts, the scene of the martyrdom of St. Thomas was in the territory of
a king named, according to the Syriac version, Mazdai, to which he had
proceeded after a visit to the city of a king named, according to the
same version, Gūdnaphar or Gūndaphar. (3) There is no evidence at all
that the place where St. Thomas was martyred was in Southern India;
and all the indications point to another direction. (4) We have no
indication whatever, earlier than that given by Marco Polo, who died
1324, that there ever was even a tradition that St. Thomas was buried
in Southern India.”
In a recent and learned work (_Die Thomas Legende_, 1912, 8vo.) Father
J. Dahlmann has tried to prove that the story of the travels of St.
Thomas in India has an historical basis. If there is some possibility
of admitting a voyage of the Apostle to N.W. India (and the flourishing
state of Buddhism in this part of India is not in favour of Christian
Evangelization), it is impossible to accept the theory of the martyrdom
of St. Thomas in Southern India.
The late Mr. J. F. FLEET, in his paper on St. Thomas and Gondophernes
(_Journ. Roy. As. Soc._, April, 1905, pp. 223–236), remarks that
“Mr. Philipps has given us an exposition of the western traditional
statements up to the sixth century.” He gives some of the most ancient
statements; one in its earliest traceable form runs thus: “According
to the Syriac work entitled The Doctrine of the Apostles, which was
written in perhaps the second century A.D., St. Thomas evangelized
‘India.’ St. Ephraem the Syrian (born about A.D. 300, died about 378),
who spent most of his life at Edessa, in Mesopotamia, states that the
Apostle was martyred in ‘India’ and that his relics were taken thence
to Edessa. That St. Thomas evangelized the Parthians, is stated by
Origen (born A.D. 185 or 186, died about 251–254). Eusebius (bishop of
Cæsarea Palæstinæ from A.D. 315 to about 340) says the same. And the
same statement is made by the Clementine Recognitions, the original
of which may have been written about A.D. 210. A fuller tradition is
found in the Acts of St. Thomas, which exist in Syriac, Greek, Latin,
Armenian, Ethiopic, and Arabic, and in a fragmentary form in Coptic.
And this work connects with St. Thomas two eastern kings, whose names
appear in the Syriac version as Gūdnaphar, Gundaphar, and Mazdai; and
in the Greek version as Goundaphoros, Goundiaphoros, Gountaphoros, and
Misdaios, Misdeos; in the Latin version as Gundaforus, Gundoforus, and
Misdeus, Mesdeus, Migdeus; and in the remaining versions in various
forms, of the same kind, which need not be particularized here.” Mr.
Fleet refers to several papers, and among them to one by Prof. Sylvain
Lévi, _Saint Thomas, Gondopharès et Mazdeo (Journ. As.,_ Janv.–Fév.,
1897, pp. 27–42), who takes the name Mazdai as a transformation of a
Hindū name, made on Iranian soil and under Mazdean influences, and
arrived at through the forms Bazodēo, Bazdēo, or Bāzodēo, Bāzdēo, which
occur in Greek legends on coins, and to identify the person with the
king Vāsudēva of Mathurā, a successor of Kanishka. Mr. Fleet comes to
the conclusion that: “No name, save that of Guduphara—Gondophernès, in
any way resembling it, is met with in any period of Indian history,
save in that of the Takht-i-Bahi inscription of A.D. 46; nor, it may
be added, any royal name, save that of Vāsudēva of Mathurā, in any
way resembling that of Mazdai. So also, as far as we know or have any
reason to suppose, no name like that of Guduphara—Gondophernēs is
to be found anywhere outside India, save in the tradition about St.
Thomas.”
XVIII., p. 357.
CALAMINA.
On this city of the martyrdom of St. Thomas, see _Indian Antiquary_,
XXXII., pp. 148 _seq._ in Mr. Philipps’ paper, and XXXIII., Jan., 1904,
pp. 31–2, a note signed W. R. P.
XIX., p. 361. “In this kingdom [Mutfili] also are made the best and
most delicate buckrams, and those of highest price; in sooth they look
like tissue of spider’s web!”
In Nan p’i (in Malabar) Chau Ju-kwa has (p. 88): “The native products
include pearls, foreign cotton-stuff of all colours (_i.e._ coloured
chintzes) and _tou-lo mién_ (cotton-cloth).” Hirth and Rockhill remark
that this cotton-cloth is probably “the buckram which looks like tissue
of spider’s web” of which Polo speaks, and which Yule says was the
famous muslin of Masulipatam. Speaking of Cotton, Chau Ju-kwa (pp.
217–8) writes: “The _ki pe_ tree resembles a small mulberry-tree,
with a hibiscus-like flower furnishing a floss half an inch and more
in length, very much like goose-down, and containing some dozens of
seeds. In the south the people remove the seed from the floss by means
of iron chopsticks, upon which the floss is taken in the hand and spun
without troubling about twisting together the thread. Of the cloth
woven therefrom there are several qualities; the most durable and
the strongest is called _t’ou-lo-mién_; the second quality is called
_fan-pu_ or ‘foreign cloth’; the third ‘tree cotton’ or _mu-mién_; the
fourth _ki-pu_. These textures are sometimes dyed in various colours
and brightened with strange patterns. The pieces measure up to five or
six feet in breadth.”
XXI., p. 373.
THE CITY OF CAIL.
Prof. E. H. PARKER writes in the _Journal of the North-China Branch of
the Royal Asiatic Soc._, XXXVII., 1906, p. 196: “Yule’s identification
of Kayal with the Kolkhoi of Ptolemy is supported by the Sung History,
which calls it both Ko-ku-lo and Ku-lo; it was known at the beginning
of the tenth century and was visited by several Chinese priests. In
1411 the Ming Dynasty actually called it Ka-i-lêh and mention a chief
or king there named Ko-pu-che-ma.”
XXII., p. 376. “OF THE KINGDOM OF COILUM.—So also their wine they make
from [palm-] sugar; capital drink it is, and very speedily it makes a
man drunk.”
Chau Ju-kwa in Nan p’i (Malabar) mentions the wine (p. 89): “For wine
they use a mixture of honey with cocoanuts and the juice of a flower,
which they let ferment.” Hirth and Rockhill remark, p. 91, that the
Kambojians had a drink which the Chinese called _mi-t’ang tsiu_, to
prepare which they used half honey and half water, adding a ferment.
XXII., p. 380 n. “This word [_Sappan_] properly means _Japan_, and
seems to have been given to the wood as a supposed product of that
region.”
“The word _sappan_ is not connected with Japan. The earliest records
of this word are found in Chinese sources. _Su-fang su-pwaṅ_, to be
restored to _’supang_ or _’spang_, _’sbang_; _Caesalpinia sappan_,
furnishing the sappan wood, is first described as a product of Kiu-chen
(Tong King) in the _Nan fang ts’ao mi chuang_, written by Ki Han
at the end of the third or beginning of the fourth century. J. de
Loureiro (_Flora cochinchinensis_, p. 321) observes in regard to this
tree, ‘Habitat in altis montibus Cochinchinæ: indeque a mercatoribus
sinensibus abunde exportatur.’ The tree accordingly is indigenous
to Indo-China, where the Chinese first made its acquaintance. The
Chinese transcription is surely based on a native term then current
in Indo-China, and agrees very well with Khmer _sbaṅ_ (or _sbang_):
see AYMONIER et CABATON, _Dict. čam-français_, 510, who give further
Čam _hapaṅ_, Batak _sopȧn_, Makassar _sappaṅ_, and Malay _sepaṅ_. The
word belongs to those which the Mon-Khmer and Malayan languages have
anciently in common.” (Note of Dr. B. LAUFER.)
XXIV., p. 386, also pp. 391, 440.
FANDARAINA.
Prof. E. H. PARKER writes in the _Journal of the North-China Branch
of the Royal Asiatic Soc._, XXXVII., 1906, p. 196: “Regarding the
Fandaráina country of the Arabs mentioned by Yule in the Notes to
pages 386, 391, and 440 of Vol. II., it may be interesting to cite the
following important extract from Chapter 94, page 29, of the _Yuän
Shï_:—‘In 1295 sea-traders were forbidden to take fine values to trade
with the three foreign states of Ma-pa-r, Pei nan, and Fan-ta-la-i-na,
but 2,500,000 nominal taels in paper money were set apart for the
purpose.’”
XXV., p. 391.
In the _Yuen Shi_, ch. 94, fol. 11 rᵒ, the “three barbarian kingdoms
of _Ma-pa-eul_ (Ma’abar), _Pei-nan_ (corr. _Kiu-nam, Coilam_) and
_Fan-ta-la-yi-na_” are mentioned. No doubt the last kingdom refers to
the _Fandaraina_ of Ibn Batuta, and Prof. Pelliot, who gives me this
information, believes it is also, in the middle of the fourteenth
century, _Pan-ta-li_ of the _Tao yi chi lio_.
GOZURAT.
XXV., p. 393. “In this province of Gozurat there grows much pepper,
and ginger, and indigo. They have also a great deal of cotton. Their
cotton trees are of very great size, growing full six paces high, and
attaining to an age of 20 years.”
Chau Ju-kwa has, p. 92: “The native products comprise great quantities
of indigo, red kino, myrobolans and foreign cotton stuffs of every
colour. Every year these goods are transported to the Ta shï countries
for sale.”
XXXI., p. 404.
TWO ISLANDS CALLED MALE AND FEMALE.
Speaking of the fabulous countries of women, Chau Ju-kwa, p. 151,
writes: “The women of this country [to the south-east (beyond Sha-hua
kung?) Malaysia] conceive by exposing themselves naked to the full
force of the south wind, and so give birth to female children.”
“In the Western Sea there is also a country of women where only three
females go to every five males; the country is governed by a queen,
and all the civil offices are in the hands of women, whereas the men
perform military duties. Noble women have several males to wait upon
them; but the men may not have female attendants. When a woman gives
birth to a child, the latter takes its name from the mother. The
climate is usually cold. The chase with bow and arrows is their chief
occupation. They carry on barter with Ta-t’sin and T’ien-chu, in which
they make several hundred per cent. profit.”
Cf. F. Hirth, _China and the Roman Orient_, pp. 200–202.
XXXII., pp. 406–7. Speaking of Scotra, Marco (II., p. 406) says: “The
ambergris comes from the stomach of the whale, and as it is a great
object of trade, the people contrive to take the whales with barbed
iron darts, which, once they are fixed in the body, cannot come out
again. A long cord is attached to this end, to that a small buoy which
floats on the surface, so that when the whale dies they know where to
find it. They then draw the body ashore and extract the ambergris from
the stomach and the oil from the head.”
Chau Ju-kwa, at Chung-li (Somali Coast), has (p. 131): “Every year
there are driven on the coast a great many dead fish measuring two
hundred feet in length and twenty feet through the body. The people do
not eat the flesh of these fish, but they cut out their brains, marrow,
and eyes, from which they get oil, often as much as three hundred odd
_töng_ (from a single fish). They mix this oil with lime to caulk their
boats, and use it also in lamps. The poor people use the ribs of these
fish to make rafters, the backbones for door leaves, and they cut off
vertebræ to make mortars with.”
SCOTRA.
XXXII., p. 407. “And you must know that in this island there are the
best enchanters in the world. It is true that their Archbishop forbids
the practice to the best of his ability; but ’tis all to no purpose,
for they insist that their forefathers followed it, and so must they
also. I will give you a sample of their enchantments. Thus, if a ship
be sailing past with a fair wind and a strong, they will raise a
contrary wind and compel her to turn back. In fact they make the wind
blow as they list, and produce great tempests and disasters; and other
such sorceries they perform, which it will be better to say nothing
about in our Book.”
Speaking of Chung-li (Somali Coast), Chau Ju-kwa writes, p. 130: “There
are many sorcerers among them who are able to change themselves into
birds, beasts, or aquatic animals, and by these means keep the ignorant
people in a state of terror. If some of them in trading with some
foreign ship have a quarrel, the sorcerers pronounce a charm over the
ship, so that it can neither go forward nor backward, and they only
release the ship when it has settled the dispute. The government has
formally forbidden this practice.”
Hirth and Rockhill add, p. 132: “Friar Joanno dos Santos (A.D. 1597)
says: ‘In the Ile of Zanzibar dwelt one Chande, a great sorcerer,
which caused his Pangayo, which the Factor had taken against his will,
to stand still as it were in defiance of the Winde, till the Factor had
satisfied him, and then to fly forth the River after her fellowes at
his words. He made that a Portugall which had angered him, could never
open his mouth to speake, but a Cocke crowed in his belly, till he had
reconciled himselfe: with other like sorceries.’” See PURCHAS, _His
Pilgrimes_, IX., 254.
“Not twenty years ago, Theo. Bent found that the Somalis were afraid
of the witchcraft of the natives of Socotra. Theo. BENT, _Southern
Arabia_, p. 361.”
XXXIII., p. 412. Speaking of the bird Ruc at Madeigascar, Marco Polo
says: “It is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons
and carry him high into the air, and drop him so that he is smashed to
pieces; having so killed him the bird gryphon swoops down on him and
eats him at leisure.”
Chau Ju-kwa writing of K’un lun ts’öng’ ki, on the coast of Africa,
writes, p. 149: “This country is in the sea to the south-west. It is
adjacent to a large island. There are usually (there, _i.e._, on the
great island) great _p’öng_ birds which so mask the sun in their flight
that the shade on the sundial is shifted. If the great _p’öng_ finds a
wild camel it swallows it, and if one should chance to find a _p’öng’s_
feather, he can make a water-butt of it, after cutting off the hollow
quill.”
XXXIII., p. 421.
THE RUKH.
The Chinese traveller Chau Ju-kwa in his work _Chu-fan-chï_ on the
Chinese and Arab trade in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
speaking of the country of Pi p’a lo (Berbera), says: “The country
brings forth also the (so-called) ‘camel crane’, which measures from
the ground to its crown from six to seven feet. It has wings and can
fly, but not to any great height.” The translators and commentators
Hirth and Rockhill have (p. 129) the following notes: “Quotation
from _Ling-wai-tai-ta_, 3, 6ᵃ. The ostrich was first made known to
the Chinese in the beginning of the second century of our era, when
some were brought to the court of China from Parthia. The Chinese
then called them _An-si-tsio_ ‘Parthian bird.’ See _Hou Han Shu_, 88,
and Hirth, _China and Roman Orient_, 39. In the _Weï shu_, 102, 12^b,
no name is given them, they are simply ‘big birds which resemble a
camel, which feed on herbs and flesh and are able to eat fire.’ In the
_T’ang shu_, 221, 7ᵃ, it is said that this bird is commonly called
‘camel-bird.’ It is seven feet high, black of colour, its feet like
those of the camel, it can travel three hundred _li_ a day, and is able
to eat iron. The ostrich is called by the Persians _ushturmurgh_ and by
the Arabs _ṭeir al-djamal_, both meaning ‘camel birds.’”
Dr. Bretschneider in his Notes on _Chinese Mediæval Travellers to the
West_ (1875), p. 87, n. 132, has a long note with a figure from the
_Pen ts’ao kang mu_ on the “camel-bird” (p. 88).
Cf. F. Hirth, _Die Länder des Islam_, Supp. Vol. V. of _T’oung Pao_,
1894, p. 54. Tsuboi Kumazo, _Actes XIIᵉ Cong. Int. Orient.,_ Rome,
1899, II., p. 120.
XXXIII., p. 421.
GIRAFFES.
Speaking of Pi p’a lo (Berbera Coast) Chau Ju-kwa (p. 128) says: “There
is also (in this country) a wild animal called _tsu-la;_ it resembles a
camel in shape, an ox in size, and is of a yellow colour. Its fore legs
are five feet long, its hind legs only three feet. Its head is high up
and turned upwards. Its skin is an inch thick.” Giraffe is the iranised
form of the arabic _zurāfa_. Mention is made of giraffes by Chinese
authors at Aden and Mekka. Cf. FERRAND, _J. Asiatique_, July–August,
1918, pp. 155–158.
XXXIV., p. 422.
ZANGHIBAR.
We read in the _Tao i chi lio_: “This country [Ts’eng yao lo] is to the
south-west of the Ta Shih (Arabs). There are no trees on the coast;
most of the land is saline. The arable ground is poor, so there is but
little grain of any kind, and they mostly raise yams to take its place.
“If any ship going there to trade carries rice as cargo, it makes very
large profits.
“The climate is irregular. In their usages they have the rectitude of
olden times.
“Men and women twist up their hair; they wear a short seamless shirt.
The occupation of the people is netting birds and beasts for food.
“They boil sea-water to make salt and ferment the juice of the
sugar-cane to make spirits. They have a ruler.
“The native products comprise red sandal-wood, dark red sugar-cane,
elephants’ tusks, ambergris, native gold, _ya tsui tan-fan_, lit.,
‘duck-bill sulphate of copper.’
“The goods used in trading are ivory boxes, trade silver, coloured
satins, and the like.” (ROCKHILL, _T’oung Pao_, XVI., 1915, pp. 622–3.)
Cf. CHAU JU-KWA, p. 126.
XXXIV., p. 423. “There is a great deal of trade, and many merchants and
vessels go thither. But the staple trade of the Island is elephants’
teeth, which are very abundant; and they have also much ambergris, as
whales are plentiful.”
Chau Ju-kwa has, p. 126: “The products of the country [Ts’öng-pa]
consist of elephants’ tusks, native gold, ambergris and yellow
sandal-wood.”
XXXVI., p. 438.
ADEN.
In the _Ying yai shêng lan_ we read that “the kingdom (of A-tan) is
on the sea-coast. It is rich and prosperous, the people follow the
doctrine of the Moslims and their speech is Arabic. Their tempers are
overbearing and violent. They have seven to eight thousand well-trained
soldiers, horse and foot, whom the neighbouring countries fear.” (W.
W. ROCKHILL, _T’oung Pao_, XVI., 1915, p. 607.) There is a description
of the giraffe under the name of _K’i lin_; it “has forelegs over nine
feet long, its hind ones are about six feet. Beside its ears grow
fleshy horns. It has a cow’s tail and a deer’s body. It eats millet,
beans, and flour cakes” (p. 609). In the _Si Yang Chao kung tien lu_
(1520 A.D.), we have a similar description: “Its front legs are nine
feet long, its hind legs six feet. Its hoofs have three clefts, it has
a flat mouth. Two short fleshy horns rise from the back of the top
of its head. It has a cow’s tail and a deer’s body. This animal is
called _K’i lin_; it eats grain of any kind.” (_Ibid._) Cf. FERRAND,
_J. Asiatique_, July–Aug., 1918, pp. 155–158.
XXXVI., p. 439.
At the time of Chau Ju-kwa, Aden was perhaps the most important port of
Arabia for the African and Arabian trade with India and the countries
beyond. It seems highly probable that the Ma-li-pa of the Chinese
must be understood as including Aden, of which they make no mention
whatsoever, but which was one of “the great commercial centres of the
Arabs.” HIRTH and ROCKHILL, p. 25 n.
XXXVI., pp. 442 _seq._
THE CITY OF ESHER.
Shehr, a port on the Hadhramaut coast, is mentioned by Chau Ju-kwa under
the name of _Shï ho_ among the dependencies of the country of the
_Ta-shï_ (Arabs). (HIRTH and ROCKHILL, p. 116.)
XXXVIII., pp. 444–445.
DUFAR.
We read in the _Ying yai shêng lan:_ “This country [Tsu fa erh] is
between the sea and the mountains. To the east and south is nothing but
the sea. To the north and west are ranges of mountains. One reaches it
from the kingdom of Ku-li (Calicut) journeying north-westward for ten
days and nights. It has no walled towns or villages. The people all
follow the religion of the Moslims. Their physical appearance is good,
their culture is great, the language sincere.
“The native products are frankincense, which is the sap of a tree.
There is also dragon’s blood, aloes, myrrh, _an-hsi-hsiang_ (benzoin),
liquid storax, _muh-pieh-tzŭ (Momordica cochinchinensis)_, and the
like, all of which they exchange for Chinese hempen cloth, silks, and
china-ware.” (ROCKHILL, _T’oung Pao_, XVI., 1915, pp. 611–612.)
The _Sing ch’a shêng lan_ mentions: “The products are the _tsu-la-fa_
(giraffe), gold coins, leopards, ostriches, frankincense, ambergris.”
(_Ibid._, p. 614.)
Dufar is mentioned by Chau Ju-kwa under the name of Nu-fa among the
dependencies of the country of the _Ta-shï_ (Arabs). (HIRTH and
ROCKHILL, pp. 116, 121.)
XXXVIII., pp. 445–449.
FRANKINCENSE.
Chau Ju-kwa (HIRTH and ROCKHILL, pp. 195–196) tells us: “_Ju hiang_
(‘milk incense’), or _hün-lu-hiang_, comes from the three Ta-shï
countries of Ma-lo-pa, Shï-ho, and Nu-fa, from the depths of the
remotest mountain valleys. The tree which yields this drug may, on the
whole, be compared to the _sung_ (pine). Its trunk is notched with a
hatchet, upon which the resin flows out, and when hardened, turns into
incense, which is gathered and made into lumps. It is transported on
elephants to the Ta-shï (on the coast); the Ta-shï load it upon their
ships for barter against other goods in San-fo-ts’i: and it is for this
reason that the incense is commonly collected at San-fo-ts’i [the three
ports of the Hadhramaut coast].
“When the foreign merchants come to that place to trade, the Customs
authorities, according to the relative strength of its fragrance,
distinguish thirteen classes of incense. Of these, the very best is
called _kién-hiang_, or ‘picked incense’: it is round and of the size of
the end of a finger; it is commonly called _ti-ju_ or ‘dripping milk.’
The second quality is called _p’ing ju_, or ‘potted milk,’ and its
colour is inferior to that of the ‘picked incense.’ The next quality is
called _p’ing hiang_, or ‘potted incense,’ so called, they say, owing
to its being prized so much at the time of gathering, that it is placed
in pots (_p’ing_). In this _p’ing hiang_ (variety of frankincense)
there are three grades, superior, medium and inferior. The next quality
is called _tai-hiang_, or ‘bag incense’; thus called, they say, because
at the time of gathering, it is merely put into bags; it is also
divided into three qualities, like the _p’ing hiang_.
“The next kind is the _ju-t’a_; it consists of incense mixed with
gravel.
“The next kind is the _heï-t’a_, because its colour is black. The next
kind is the _shui-shï-heï-t’a_, because it consists of incense which
has been ‘water damaged,’ the aroma turned, and the colour spoiled while
on board ship.
“Mixed incense of various qualities and consisting of broken pieces is
called _chö-siau_ (‘cut-up’); when passed through a sieve and made into
dust, it is called _ch’an-mo_ (‘powder’). The above are the various
varieties of frankincense.”
BOOK FOURTH.
WARS AMONG THE TARTAR PRINCES AND SOME ACCOUNT
OF THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES.
XXII., p. 488.
RUSSIA.
“It seems that Russia [Chinese _A-lo-sz’_ = Mongol _Oros_; the modern
Chinese name for Russia is _Wo-lo-sz’_] was unknown to the nations of
Eastern Asia before the Mongol period. In the Mongol and Chinese annals
the Russians are first mentioned after Subutai’s invasion of Southern
Russia in 1223. The _Yüan chao pi shi_ terms Russia or the Russians
_Orus_, as they are called even now by the Mongols. The Chinese of
the Mongol period write _A-lo-sz’_, sometimes also _Wa-lo-sz’_ or
_U-lu-sz’_. All these names evidently render the Mongol appellation
_Orus_.
“In the _Yüan shï_ Russia is frequently mentioned.... I may notice
here some other instances where the Russians are spoken of in the
_Yüan-shï_. We read in the annals, _s.a._ 1253, that the Emperor Meng
k’o (Mangu) ordered Bi-dje Bie-rh-k’o to be sent to Wu-lo-sz’ in order
to take a census of the people.
“It is an interesting fact recorded in the _Yüan shï_ that there was in
the first half of the fourteenth century a settlement of Russians near
Peking. In the annals, chap. XXXIV., _s.a._ 1330, it is stated that the
Emperor Wen Tsung (Tob Timur, 1329–32, the great grandson of Kubilai),
formed a regiment composed of _U-lo-sz’_ or Russians. This regiment
being commanded by a _wan hu_ (commander of ten thousand of the third
degree), received the name ‘The Ever-faithful Russian Life-guard.’ It
was placed under the direct control of the council of war. Farther on
in the same chapter it is stated that 140 _king_ of land, north of
_Ta tu_ (Peking) was bought from the peasants and allotted to these
Russians, to establish a camp and to form a military colony. We read
again in the same chapter that they were furnished with implements of
agriculture, and were bound to present for the imperial table every
kind of game, fish, etc., found in the forests, rivers, and lakes of
the country where their camp was situated. This Russian regiment is
again mentioned in chap. XXXV.
“In chapter XXXVI. it is recorded that in the year 1332 the prince
Djang-ghi presented 170 Russian prisoners and received a pecuniary
reward. On the same page we read that clothes and corn were bestowed
on a thousand Russians. In the same year the prince Yen t’ie-mu-rh
presented 1500 Russian prisoners to the Chinese emperor, and another
prince, A-rh-ghia-shi-li, presented thirty.
“Finally, in the biography of Bo yen, chap. CXXXVIII., he is stated
to have been appointed in 1334 commander of the emperor’s life-guard,
composed of Mongols, Kipchaks, and Russians.” (E. BRETSCHNEIDER,
_Mediæval Researches_, II., pp. 79–81.)
Prof. Parker (_Asiatic Q. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 148) mentions the
appointment of a Russian Governor in 1337, and says: “It was the
practice of Princes in the West to send ‘presents’ of Russian captives.
In one case Yen Temur sent as many as 2500 in one batch.”
APPENDICES.
LIST OF MSS. OF MARCO POLO’S BOOK SO FAR AS THEY ARE KNOWN.[1]
II., p. 533.
GLASGOW, Hunterian Museum.[2] No. 84, vellum, 4to, Cent. XV.: 1. Guido
de Colonna’s Destruction of Troy. 2. Julius Valerius’ History of
Alexander the Great. 3. Archbishop Turpin’s Itinerary. 4. Marco Polo.
_Begins_ (25, 5 [f. 191 (197) _r_ᵒ, lines 1–3): ¶ [blue] Incipit liber
domini marci Pauli de Venecijs | de condicionibus et consuetudinibus
orientalium regionum [rubric] L [small illuminated initial] Ibrum
prudentis honorabilis ac fidelissimi domini marci.
_Ends_ (33, 3 [f. 253 (259) _r_ᵒ, lines 8–12): girfalci et herodij qui
inde postmodum ad diuersas prouincias | et regiones deferuntur et
cetera. ¶ [blue] Explicit liber domini marci Pauli | de Venecijs de
diuisionibus et consue- | tudinibus orientalium regionum [Pipino’s
Version].
5. Frater Odoricus Forojuliensis.
6. Iohannis Mandeville, _De Mirabilibus_.
II., p. 533.
GLASGOW, Hunterian Museum, Cent. XIV.[3] No. 458, vellum, 4to. 1. Marci
Pavli Veneti, _De Orientalibvs Regionibvs_.
_Begins_—after a preface by “Frater Franciscus Pipinus de Bononia”
beginning (1, 1 _r_ᵒ, lines 1–4): Incipit liber primus domini marci
pauli de venecijs de orien [rubric] | L [gilt historiated initial
with gestures forming a floreated border.] Ibrum prudentis talibus
regionibus. Prolo [last three words rubric] | honorabilis ac
fidelissimi domini gus. [last word rubric] | marci pauli de venetijs
de conditio | and ending (1, 2 _r_ᵒ, line 3): nostri ihesu christi
cunctorum uisibilium et inuisibilium creatoris, after which comes a
list of the chapters, titles and numbers (the latter rubricated) which
concludes (1, 7 _r_ᵒ, line 1): D (small blue initial with red ornament)
e prouincia ruthenorum, xlix.—(1, 7 _r_ᵒ, lines 2–5): Capitulum primum
primi libri. Qualiter et quare dominus | nicholaus pauli de venetijs,
et dominus marchus [rubric] | T [blue and red illuminated initial
with minute spread eagle in centre] Empore quo transierunt ad partes
[last three words rubric] | balduinus princeps orientales. [last words
rubric.]
_Ends_ (14, 1 _r_ᵒ, lines 26, 27): et diuersas prouincias deferuntur.
Explicit liber domini | marci pauli de venetis de diuisionibus et
consuetudinibus orientalium.
2. Odoric.
II., p. 534.
PARIS, see No. 18—Bibliothèque Nationale Département des
Manuscrits—Livre des Merveilles, Odoric de Pordenone, Mandeville,
Hayton, etc.—Reproduction des 265 miniatures du Manuscrit français 2810
de la Bibliothèque Nationale. Paris, Imprimerie Berthaud frères, 31,
rue de Bellefond, 2 vol. in–8.
Marco Polo, Planches, 1–84.
II., p. 539.
ANTWERP, Museum Plantin-Moretus. Exhibited in Room III., No. 61:
_Extraits du Livre de Marco Polo de Venise_ et d’un livre sur l’origine
de quelques villes belges.
132 leaves; 185 × 270 millimeters, XVth Century. Adorned initials,
alternately blue and red. Headings of chapters underlined in red.
Leather binding XVIth century, with small flowers de luce; copper
clasps and ten nails. On the last leaf, in a running hand: _Este liber
partinet Nicholao le buqueteur_; the name of _Abraham Vander Veken_
(Abrā Vander Veque), and the date 1600, 3/22, on the first and on the
last but one leaves.
Fol. 2 _recto. Extracta de libro dn̄i Pauli de Venecijs de diversis
provincijs et regnis maior[um] et de diversis moribus habitantiu[m] et
de multis mirabilibus in hijs locis et Asije_. Eleven lines further:
_Quomodo iverunt at Berchaman_. Fol. 95 _r: De Sancto Thoma apto
ubi jacet et quo mortu(us) est_. Fol. 106 _r: Epilogatio de maiori
Yndia_. F. 117 _v_, last chapter: _De dissentione orta inter Alandūm
Tartaror[um] et B̄cha regem_. Ends, f. 118 _r: Hii tamen reges proximi
parentis erant et ambo ex Chinchini imperialis progenie descendentes.
Explicit_.
The end of the MS. (f. 118–132) has for object the origin of Belgian
villages.
I owe this information to M. J. DENUCÉ.
II., p. 542.
FLORENCE, Riccardian Library, Catalan.
This manuscript has been discovered by Prof. Giovanni VACCA, who has
kindly sent me the following information regarding this curious
document not mentioned by Yule, Amat di S. Filippo, or Uzielli: MS.,
2048 cartac. sec. XV. (?), bearing the following faulty title: Storia
del Catay in lingua _spagnuola_; 66 leaves, the last of which with a
note by Piero Vaglienti. Writing is pretty clear, much like that of the
Catalan Map of 1375.
The text begins with the description of the city of Lop, and ends with
Georgia.
Fol. 65 _v_: “anaquesta provencia sisfa molta de seda evy ciutatz e
viles e castels assaiz e ay moltz bons azcos. Calre no se queus pusca
dir er perque fas vos si anaquest libre veus na sra benefit.”
Somewhat similar to the end of MS. 2207, Ottob., sec. XIV., membr. of
the Vatican Library (reproduced by Amat di S. Filippo):
“En ycelle province fait on moult de soyt. Et si y a moult de villes,
cites et chasteaux, moult bons et beau. Autre chose ne vous en scay
dire par quoi je vous fais fins en ce livre.”
Generally the text is correct; one does not find the great errors
contained in the Italian text given by Bartoli; it seems to follow very
closely the French text of the Société de Géographie edited in 1824.
Here is a description of the city of Gambalech (fol. 20 _r_–20 _v_)
reproducing very closely a legend of the Catalan Map of 1375.
“Les ver _que costa la ciutat de Camalech avia una grant Ciutat
antichament qui avi a nom garimbalu_ qui vol dir la Ciut del seyor _e
lo gran cham troba per los strologians que aquesta ciutat se devia
revelar contra el axi que feila desabitar a feu fer la ciutat de
Sambaleth_ e axi .|. flum al miq evay fer venir poblar tota la jent que
y staba, _e ha entorn a questa ciutat de Gambalech_. XXIIIJ. _legues e
es ben murada e es acayre sique ha de cascun cayre_. VI. _legues e a
dalt lo mur_ XX. _paces_ e es de terre _e ha._ X. _paces de gros_ e son
totz los murs tant blanchs con a neu e a en cascun cayre. IIJ. portes &
en cascuna porta ha .|. palau dela semblansa de les XII. que ditz vos
aven e en cascun palau ha de beles cambres e sales plenes darmatures
ops da quells qui garden la ciutat los carres son amples e lonchs e ayi
que anant de la .|. porta alantre troba hom de bells alberchs e de bels
palaus qui son de gran seyors ayi que ela es abitada de bells alberchs
E en miss loch de la ciutat a 1. gran palau en que _ha_ ·1ⁿ· _gran
torra enquesta .|. gran seny | sona ho abans axique pus que ha sonat
no gosa anar ne gun per la vila_ si dons gran ops non ha e ab lum e _a
cascuna porta garden. M. homes no per temensa_ que nayen _mes per honor
del seyor_ e per latres e malfeitos.
“Per gardar la granea del seyor alo poder ell se fa gardar a XIJᵐ.
homes a Caval e ape-lense casitans, qui vol dir leyals cavalers a son
seyor a quests. XIJᵐ. homes an. IIIJ. capitans ...”
The words _underlined_ are included almost verbatim in the Catalan Map.
Cf. H. CORDIER, _L’Extrême Orient dans l’Atlas Catalan_, p. 14.
The manuscript begins, fol. 1 _recto_: “Aci comensa lo libre de les
provincies et de les encontrades que sont sotz la seyoria del gran
Emperador del Catay | lo qual ha la seyoria del Gamballech et seyor de
los Tartres ayi com ho reconta o messer March Pollo ciutada noble de
Venecia. Et primerament diun ay de la provincia de Tangut hon el stech
XXVI. anys per saber la veritat de les coses daval scrites.”
Cf. _Un manoscritto inedito dei viaggi di_ Marco Polo. Di Giovanni
Vacca (_Riv. Geog. Ital._, XIV., 1907, pp. 107–108).
II., p. 546.
ESCURIAL, Latin, Pipino’s (?). See No. 60. This is probably the
MS. mentioned by the second Viscount of Santarem, p. 574, in his
volume, _Ineditos (Miscellanea)_, Lisboa, 1914, large 8vo: “Un Ms. de
Marc Polo du XVᵉ. siècle qui est mal indiqué par le titre suivant:
_Consuetudines et condiciones orientalium regionum descripto per
mestrum Paulum de Venetiis scripto chartis vix saeculo XV. incipiente_,
Q–ij—13.”
My late friend, Prof. H. Derenbourg, gives me a few notes regarding
this Latin MS., paper, small 4to, ff. 1–95 _v_; contains 187 chapters
with a special title in red ink. Begins: _Librum prudentis honorabilis
ac fidelissimi viri Domini Marci Pauli De Venetiis de conditionibus
orientalium ab me vulgari edictum et scriptum_.
II., p. 548.
NUREMBERG. Latin MS. containing _Marco Polo, St. Brandan, Mandeville,
Odoric, Schildtberger_; bad handwriting. See French edition of Odoric,
p. LXXXII.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] See _The Book of Ser Marco Polo_, Vol. II., pp. 530 _seq._
[2] Pages 89, 90 of _A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library
of the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow planned and
begun by the late_ John Young ... _continued and completed under
the direction of the Young Memorial Committee by_ P. Henderson
Aitken.... Glasgow, James Maclehose and Sons, 1908, gr. in–4.
[3] Cf. Young’s _Catalogue_, p. 378.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MARCO POLO’S BOOK.[1]
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PRINTED EDITIONS.
1.—Die Reisen des Venezianers Marco Polo im 13. Jahrhundert Bearbeitet
und herausgegeben von Dr. Hans Lemke Mit einem Bilde Marco Polos.
Hamburg, Ernst Schultze, 1908, 8vo, pp. 573.
_Bibliothek wertvoller Memoiren_.
Lebensdokumente hervorragender Menschen aller Zeiten und Völker
Herausgegeben von Dr. Ernst Schultze. 1 Band.
Revised edition of Bürck’s translation of Ramusio’s Italian text
published in 1845.
2.—*Marco Polo: Abenteuerliche Fahrten. Neu herausgegeben von Dr. Otto
St. Brandt. Mit 3 Spezialkarten. Druck und Verlag von August
Scherl in Berlin, small 8vo, pp. 319.
Notices: _Mitt. K. K. Geogr. Ges. Wien_, Bd. LVI., 1913, pp. 258–259.
Von E. G.—_Geog. Zeitschft. Leipzig_, XIX., 1913, pp. 531. By K.
Kretschmer.
3.—Marco Polo Il Milione secondo il testo della “Crusca” reintegrato
con gli altri codici italiani a cura di Dante Olivieri. Bari,
Gius. Laterza & figli, 1912, in–8, 2 ff. n. ch. + pp. 317.
_Scrittori d’Italia_.
4.—Cosmographia breue introductoria en el libro d’ Marco Polo. Seville,
1518.—See II., p. 566.
The bookseller Karl W. Hiersemann, of Leipzig, has in his catalogue
_America_, no. 336, in 1907, no. 2323, quoted M.11.000 a copy of the
_Cosmographia_ with the colophon: Elq̄l se emprimio por Juan varela |
d’salamāca en la muy noble y muy | leal ciudad de Seuilla. Año de |
mill y qᵒnientos y diez y ocho | año a. XVI. dias de mayo.—Fol., 4 ff.
not numbered + ff. 31 numbered on 2 columns.
5.—YULE-CORDIER.—_The Book of Ser Marco Polo_ ... Third Edition....
London, John Murray, 1903, 2 vols., 8vo.
Notices: _Glasgow Herald_, 11 June, 1903.—_Scotsman_, 11 June,
1903.—_Outlook_, 13 June, 1903.—_Morning Post_, 18 June,
1903.—_Bulletin Comité Asie française_, Juin, 1903.—_Standard_, 17
June, 1903.—_Daily Chronicle_, 20 June, 1903.—_Manchester Guardian_,
23 June, 1903.—_Pall Mall Gazette_, 15 July, 1903.—_Bombay Gazette_,
11 July, 1903.—_The Spectator_, 15 Aug., 1903.—_The Guardian_ (by
C. Raymond Beazley), 2 Sept., 1903.—_Times_ (by H. J. Mackinder),
2 Oct., 1903.—_Blackwood’s Mag._ (by Charles Whibley), Oct.,
1903.—_Illustrated Evening News_, Chicago, 26 Sept., 1903.—_The Sun_,
New York, 4 Oct., 1903 (by M. W. H.).—_Hongkong Daily Press_, 10 and
11 Sept., 1903.—_The Athenæum_, 17 Oct., 1903.—_Outlook_, 14 Nov.,
1903.—Some new Facts about Marco Polo’s Book, by E. H. Parker (_Imp.
& Asiat. Quart. Review_, Jan., 1904, pp. 125–149).—_Saturday Review_,
27 Feb., 1904.—_T’oung Pao_, Oct., 1903, pp. 357–366, from _The
Athenæum_.—_Geographical Journal_, March, 1904, pp. 379–380, by C. R.
B.[eazley].—_Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, IV, Juillet–Sept., 1904,
pp. 768–772, by Paul Pelliot.—Marco Polo and his Followers in Central
Asia, by Archibald R. Colquhoun (_Quarterly Review_, April, 1904, pp.
553–575).
6.—The most noble and famous Travels of Marco Polo one of the Nobility
of the State of Venice, into the east Parts of the World, as
Armenia, Persia, Arabia, Tartary, with many other Kingdoms and
Provinces. The translation of Marsden revised by Thomas Wright,
F.S.A.—London: George Newnes; New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,
1904, 16mo, pp. xxxix–461, Portrait and maps.
7.—Voyages and Travels of Marco Polo, With an Introduction by Henry
Morley. Cassell and Company, London, Paris, New York and
Melbourne, MCMIV, 16mo, pp. 192, front.
8.—Everyman’s Library, edited by Ernest Rhys—Travel and
Topography—Marco Polo’s Travels with an Introduction by John
Masefield.
The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian. London: Published by J. M. Dent
& Co., and in New York by E. P. Dutton & Co., 16mo, pp. xvi–461, n. d.
[1907].
9.—*Шемякинъ, А. Н.—Путешествія Венеціанца Марко Поло въ XIII столѣтіи,
напечатанныя въ первый разъ вполнѣ на нѣмецкомъ по лучшимъ
изданіямъ и съ объясненіями Авг. Бюркомъ. Съ дополненіями и
поправками К. Ф. Нейманна. Переводъ съ нѣмецкаго. Москва, 1863.
Had been published in Чтеніяхъ въ Имп. Общ. Истопіи и Древностей
Россійскихъ при Моск. Университетѣ.
Mentioned by Barthold in Minaev’s _Marco Polo_.
10.—*Marco Polo’s Resa i Asien ([Folkskrifter] allm. hist. No. 32)
Stockholm, 1859, P. G. Berg.
11.—Venetianaren Marco Polos Resor i det XIII. århundraded Översättning
samt inledning och anmärkningar av Bengt Thordeman.—Stockholm:
Albert Bonniers Förlag, n. d. [1917], 2 vol. 8vo, pp. xx–248, 249
to 490, genealogical table of the Tartars, Map.
Pages 345–480 are devoted to notes.
12.—There is a Japanese piratical edition of the second edition of
Yule’s Marco Polo brought out by the firm Kyoyekishosha in 1900
and costing 8 _yen_. Cf. _Bulletin Ecole franç. Ext. Orient_, IV,
p. 769, note.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] See II., pp. 554 _seq._
TITLES OF SUNDRY BOOKS AND PAPERS WHICH TREAT OF MARCO
POLO AND HIS BOOK.
1.—_Histoire des Établissements européens aux Indes orientales par_ A.
CHARDIN, suivie d’un extrait de l’article sur _Marco Polo_, de M.
WALKENAER, Membre de l’Institut; d’un extrait de la vie de Jonh
[_sic_] Mandeville, par Washington Irving; et d’une notice sur le
Camoens, par Mᵐᵉ de Stael.—Paris, Rue et Place Saint-André des
Arts, no. 30—1832, 12mo, pp. 104.
Marco Polo, p. 87.—John Mandeville, p. 94.
Marco Polo, after la _Biographie universelle_; Mandeville, after
_l’Histoire de Christophe Colomb_, de W. Irving.
Fait partie de la _Bibliothèque populaire ou l’Instruction mise à la
portée de toutes les classes et de toutes les intelligences par_ MM.
ARAGO ... et AJASSON de GRANDSAGNE, chargé de la Direction.
2.—MAYERS, W. F.—_Marco Polo’s Legend concerning Bayan. (Notes and
Queries on China and Japan_, Nov., 1868, p. 162.)
3.—PALLADIUS’ _Elucidations_. See II., p. 579, No. 63.
Notice in _Magazin für die Literatur des Auslandes_, 1876, p. 345.
4.—_Marco Polo und die Anianstrasse_. Von Prof. S. RUGE, Dresden.
(_Globus_, LXIX., 1896, pp. 133–137.)
5.—_Un capitaine du règne de Philippe le Bel_ Thibaut de Chepoy _par_
Joseph PETIT. (_Le Moyen Age_, Paris, 1897, pp. 224–239).
6.—Комментарій Архимандрита Палладія Каөарова на путешествіе Марко
Поло по сѢверному Китаю съ предисловіемъ Н. И. Веселовскаго.
Санкпетербургъ, Тип. Имп. Акад. Наукъ, 1902, 8vo, pp. 47,
portrait.
7.—MOULE, Rev. G. E.—_Notes on Col._ YULE’S _Edition of Marco Polo’s_
“Quinsay.” (_Jour. North-China Br. R. As. Soc._, N. S., IX.,
1875, pp. 1–24.)
8.—_The_ Tarikh-i-Rashidi _of_ MIRZA MUHAMMAD HAIDAR, DUGHLÁT _A
History of the Moghuls of Central Asia_, An English Version
Edited, with Commentary, Notes, and Map by N. ELIAS. The
Translation by E. Denison Ross.... London, Sampson Low, 1895, 8vo.
9.—A. Slieptsov.—Маркъ Поло и его странствованія по царству
Монгольскому, по Китаю и Индіи.—small 8vo, pp. 83, fig. [St.
Petersb., 1901.]
„Книжка за книжкой,“ кн. 108–ая.
10.—STEIN, Sir Aurel.—_Preliminary Report of a Journey of
Archæological and Topographical Exploration in Chinese
Turkestan_. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1901, 4to.
———— _Sand-buried Ruins of Khotan_. London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1903,
8vo, pp. xliii–524.
———— _Ancient Khotan_. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907, 2 vols., 4to.
———— _Ruins of Desert Cathay_. Personal Narrative of Explorations in
Central Asia and Westernmost China. With numerous Illustrations,
Colour Plates, Panoramas, and Maps from Original Surveys.
Macmillan and Co., 1912, 2 vols. 8vo.
———— _Les Documents chinois découverts par_ Aurel STEIN _dans les
sables du Turkestan oriental publiés et traduits par_ Edouard
CHAVANNES. Oxford, Imprimerie de l’Université, 1913, 4to.
———— _Explorations in Central Asia_ (1906–1908). (_Geographical
Journal_, July and Sept., 1909.)
———— _Expedition in Central Asia._ (_Geog. Journ._, May, 1915.)
———— _Expedition in Central Asia._ (_Geog. Journ._, Oct., 1915.)
———— _Expedition in Central Asia._ (_Geog. Journ._, May, 1916.)
———— _A Third Journey of Exploration in Central Asia_, 1913–16.
(_Geog. Journ._, Aug. and Sept., 1916.)
———— _Marco Polo’s Account of a Mongol Inroad into Kashmir._ (_Geog.
Journ._, Aug., 1919, pp. 92–103.)
11.—H. A. GILES’ _Dictionary_, Part III., pp. 1378–9.
List of Places mentioned by Marco Polo and identified by Yule.
12.—E. H. PARKER.—_Some New Facts about Marco Polo’s Book._
(_Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review_, Jan., 1904, pp. 125–149.)
———— _Notes on Yule_. (_Journ. N. C. B. R. A. Soc._, XXXVII., 1906,
pp. 195, 196.)
13.—Cesare-Augusto LEVI.—_Il vero Segreto di Dante e Marco
Polo_.—Comunicazione al Comitato di Treviso della “Dante
Alighieri” letta la sera del 17 Novembre, 1905—Treviso, Zoppelli,
1905, 8vo, pp. 37.
14.—_The Dry Sea and the Carrenare_—John Livingstone LOWES. Printed at
the University of Chicago Press, 8vo, pp. 46.
Reprinted from _Modern Philology_, Vol. III., No. 1, June, 1905.
15.—SYKES, Major P. Molesworth, H.B.M.’s Consulate-General, Meshed.
(_Geog. Journ._, XXVI., Oct., 1905, pp. 462–466.)
I. Did Marco Polo visit Baghdad?—II. Did Marco Polo visit the Tabas?
Henri Cordier’s reply, _Ibid._, Dec., 1905, pp. 686, 687.
16.—_Noted Men who have helped China_.—II. _Marco Polo_. By Dr.
Gilbert REID. (_North China Herald_, April 6, 1906.)
17.—C. Raymond BEAZLEY.—_The Dawn of Modern Geography_. Vol. III. _A
History of Exploration and Geographical Science from the Middle
of the Thirteenth to the early Years of the Fifteenth Century_
(c. A.D. 1260–1420). With reproductions of the Principal Maps of
the Time. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1906, 8vo, pp. xvi–638.
Chap. II. The Great Asiatic Travellers, 1260–1420. Part I. The Polos,
1260–1295, pp. 15–160.
18.—HALLBERG, Ivar.—_L’Extrême Orient dans la Littérature et
la Cartographie de l’Occident des XIIIᵉ, XIVᵉ et XVᵉ
siècles_—Étude sur l’histoire de la géographie.—Göteborg, 1906,
8vo, pp. viii–573.
19.—A. V. JACKSON.—_The Magi in Marco Polo and the Cities in Persia
from which they came to worship the Infant Christ. (Journ. Amer.
Orient. Soc._, XXVI., I., pp. 79–83.)
—— _Persia Past and Present_. A Book of Travel and Research with
more than two hundred illustrations and a map by A. V. Williams
Jackson, Professor of Indo-Iranian Languages, and sometime
adjunct Professor of the English Language and Literature in
Columbia University. New York, The Macmillan Co., 1906, 8vo, pp.
xxxi–471.
20.—_Marco Polo’s Journey in Manzi_. By John C. FERGUSON. (_Journal
North China Branch R. As. Soc._, XXXVII., 1906, pp. 190, 191.)
21.—_The Pulse of Asia: A Journey in Central Asia illustrating
the Geographic Basis of History_, by Ellsworth HUNTINGTON.
Illustrated. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Company,
1907, 8vo, pp. xxi–415.
22.—BRUCE, Major Clarence Dalrymple.—_In the Footsteps of Marco Polo_,
Being the Account of a Journey Overland from Simla to Pekin. W.
Blackwood, Edinburgh and London, 1907, 8vo, pp. xiv–379, ill.,
map.
23.—HOUTUM-SCHINDLER, A.—_Marco Polo’s Travels; New editions; his
“Arbre Sol” not “Sun-tree,” but Cypress of Zoroaster (Journal R.
As. Soc._, Jan., 1909, pp. 154–162.)
24.—SVEN HEDIN.—_Overland to India_, with 308 Illustrations from
Photographs, Water-colour Sketches, and Drawings by the Author,
and 2 Maps. Macmillan and Co., London, 1910, 2 vols., 8vo, pp.
xix–416, xiv–357.
25.—_L’itinéraire de Marco Polo en Perse_, par M. Henri CORDIER,
membre de l’Académie. (_Bull. Ac. Inscr. & Belles-Lettres_, Ctes.
rendus, Mai, 1911, pp. 298–309.)
26.—Hirth, Friedrich, and Rockhill, W. W.—_Chau Ju-kua_: His Work
on the Chinese and Arab Trade in the twelfth and thirteenth
Centuries, entitled _Chu-fan-chï_, Translated from the Chinese
and Annotated. St. Petersburg, Printing Office of the Imperial
Academy of Sciences, 1912, large 8vo, pp. x–288.
Mr. Rockhill has edited the Chinese Text of Chau Ju-kua at Tokyo, in
1914.
27.—Rockhill, W. W.—_Notes on the Relations and Trade of China with the
Eastern Archipelago and the Coast of the Indian Ocean during the
Fourteenth Century_. (_T’oung Pao_, 1914, July; 1915, March, May,
July, October, December.)
28.—Paul Pelliot.—_Kao-tch’ang Qočo, Houo-tcheou et Qarâ-khodja_,
par M. Paul Pelliot, avec une note additionnelle de M. Robert
Gauthiot. (_Journal Asiatique_, Mai–Juin, 1912, pp. 579–603.)
———— _Les documents chinois trouvés par la Mission_ Kozlov à
_Khara-Khoto_. Ext. du _Journal Asiatique_ (Mai–Juin, 1914).
Paris, Imp. Nat., 1914, 8vo, pp. 20.
———— Chrétiens d’Asie centrale et d’Extrême-Orient par Paul Pelliot.
(_T’oung Pao_, December, 1914, pp. 623–644.)
29.—Ferrand, Gabriel.—_Relations des voyages et textes géographiques
arabes, persans et turks relatifs à l’Extrême-Orient du VIIIᵉ
au XVIIIᵉ siècles_, traduits, revus et annotés. Paris, Ernest
Leroux, 1913–1914, 2 vols. 8vo.
_Documents historiques et géographiques relatifs à l’Indo-chine publiés
sous la direction de_ MM. Henri CORDIER et Louis FINOT.
———— _La plus ancienne mention du nom de l’île de Sumatra_. Ext. du
_Journal Asiatique_ (Mars–Avril, 1917). Paris, Imp. Nat., 1917,
8vo, pp. 7.
———— _Malaka le Malāyu et Malāyur_. Ext. du _Journal Asiatique_
(Mai–Juin et Juillet–Août, 1918). Paris, Imp. Nat., 1918, 8vo,
pp. 202.
———— _Le nom de la girafe dans le Ying Yai Cheng Lan_. Ext. du
_Journal Asiatique_ (Juillet–Août, 1918). Paris, Imp. Nat., 1918,
8vo, pp. 4.
30.—Yule—Cordier.—_Cathay and the Way Thither being a Collection of
Medieval Notices of China_. New Edition. Vol. I. Preliminary
Essay on the Intercourse between China and the Western
Nations previous to the Discovery of the Cape Route. London,
Hakluyt Society, 1915.—Vol. II. Odoric of Pordenone.—_Ibid._,
1913.—Vol. III. Missionary Friars—Rashíduddín—Pegolotti—
Marignolli.—_Ibid._, 1914.—Vol. IV., Ibn Batuta.—Benedict
Goës.—Index. _Ibid._, 1916; 4 vols., 8vo.
31.—_Karajang_, by B. LAUFER (Chicago). (_Journ. Roy. As. Soc._, Oct.,
1915, pp. 781–784.)
Cf. _Geographical Journal_, Feb., 1916, p. 146.
32.—MOULE, Rev. A. C.—_Notices of Christianity_. Extracted from Marco
Polo. (_Journ. North China Br. R. As. Soc._, XLVI., 1915, pp.
19–37.)
Facsimile of a page of French MS. 1116 in the Bibliothèque nationale.
———— _Marco Polo’s Sinjumatu_. (_T’oung Pao_, July, 1912, pp. 431–3.)
———— _Hang-chou to Shang-tu_, A.D. 1276. (_T’oung Pao_, July, 1915,
pp. 393–419.)
———— _Documents relating to the Mission of the Minor Friars to China
in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries_. (_Jour. Roy. As.
Soc._, July, 1914, pp. 533–599.)
———— A. C. M[OULE].—_A Note on the Chinese Atlas in the Magliabecchian
Library, with reference to Kinsay in Marco Polo_. (_Jour. Roy.
As. Soc._, July, 1919, pp. 393–395.)
33.—Charles V. LANGLOIS.—Marco Polo Voyageur. (_Histoire littéraire de
la France_, XXXV.)
34.—CORDIER, Henri.—_Le Christianisme en Chine et en Asie sous les
Mongols_. (Ext. du _T’oung Pao_, 2ᵉ Sér., XVIII., 1917). Leide,
E. J. Brill, 1918, 8vo, pp. 67.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE.
XII., pp. 307 _seq._
Sir Richard C. TEMPLE, has kindly sent me the following valuable notes:—
ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS.
_General Note._
Both the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been very closely studied
by Indian Government officials for about fifty years, and they and
the people occupying them are now thoroughly understood. There is
a considerable literature about them, ethnographical, historical,
geographical, and so on.
I have myself been Chief Commissioner, _i.e._, Administrator, of both
groups for the Government of India for ten years, 1894–1903, and went
deeply into the subjects connected with them, publishing a good many
papers about them in the _Indian Antiquary_, _Journal of the Royal
Society of Arts_, _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, and
elsewhere. A general survey of all information to that date concerning
the islands will be found in the _Census of India_, 1901, vol. III.,
which I wrote; in this volume there is an extensive bibliography.
I also wrote the Andaman and Nicobar volumes of the Provincial and
District _Gazetteers_, published in 1909, in which current information
about them was again summarised. The most complete and reliable book
on the subject is E. H. MAN’S _Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman
Islands_, London, 1883. KLOSS, _Andamans and Nicobars_, 1902, is a good
book. GERINI’S _Researches on Ptolemy’s Geography of Eastern Asia_,
1909, is valuable for the present purpose.
The best books on the Nicobars are MAN’S _Nicobarese Vocabulary_,
published in 1888, and MAN’S _Dictionary of the Central Nicobarese
Language_, published in 1889. I am still publishing Mr. MAN’S
_Dictionary of the South Andaman Language_ in the _Indian Antiquary_.
Recent information has so superseded old ideas about both groups of
islands that I suggest several of the notes in the 1903 edition of
Marco Polo be recast in reference to it.
With reference to the _Census Report_ noted above, I may remark
that this was the first Census Report ever made on the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, and according to the custom of the Government of
India, such a report has to summarise all available information under
headings called Descriptive, Ethnography, Languages. Under the heading
Descriptive are sub-heads, Geography, Meteorology, Geography, History,
so that practically my _Census Report_ had to include in a summarised
form all the available information there was about the islands at that
time. It has a complete index, and I therefore suggest that it should
be referred to for any point on which information is required.
NICOBARS.
P. 307. _No king or chief_.—This is incorrect. They have distinct
village communities, governed each by its own chief, with definite
rules of property and succession and marriage. See _Census Report_. pp.
214, 212.
Pp. 307–308, Note 1. For Pulo Gomez, see BOWREY, _Countries Round the
Bay of Bengal_, ed. Temple, Hakluyt Society, p. 287 and footnote 4.
Bowrey (_c._ 1675) calls it Pullo Gomus, and a marine journal of 1675
calls it Polo Gomos.
_Origin of the name Nicobars_.—On this point I quote my paragraph
thereon on p. 185, _Census Report_.
“The situation of the Nicobars along the line of a very ancient trade
has caused them to be reported by traders and sea-farers through all
historical times. Gerini has fixed on Maniola for Car-Nicobar and
Agathodaimonos for Great Nicobar as the right ascription of Ptolemy’s
island names for this region. This ascription agrees generally with
the mediæval editions of Ptolemy. Yule’s guess that Ptolemy’s Barussæ
is the Nicobars is corrected by Gerini’s statement that it refers to
Nias. In the 1490 edition of Ptolemy, the Satyrorum Insulæ placed
to the south-east of the Malay Peninsula, where the Anamba islands
east of Singapore, also on the line of the old route to China, really
are, have opposite them the remark:—_qui has inhabitant caudas habere
dicuntur_—no doubt in confusion with the Nicobars. They are without
doubt the Lankhabalus of the _Arab Relations_ (851 A.D.), which term
may be safely taken as a misapprehension or mistranscription of some
form of Nicobar (through Nakkavar, Nankhabar), thus affording the
earliest reference to the modern term. But there is an earlier mention
of them by I-Tsing, the Chinese Buddhist monk, in his travels, 672
A.D., under the name of the Land of the Naked People (Lo-jen-kuo), and
this seems to have been the recognised name for them in China at that
time. ‘Land of the Naked’ translates Nakkavaram, the name by which the
islands appear in the great Tanjore inscription of 1050. This name
reappears in Marco Polo’s Necuveran 1292, in Rashiduddin’s Nakwaram
1300, and in Friar Odoric’s Nicoveran 1322, which are the lineal
ancestors of the 15th and 16th Century Portuguese Nacabar and Nicubar
and the modern Nicobar. The name has been Nicobar since at least 1560.
The fanciful story of the tails is repeated by the Swede Kjœping as
late as 1647.”
Nicobar clearly means the Land of the Naked, but that does not
correctly describe the people. I have never seen either a naked man or
woman in the Nicobars. The men are nearly naked, but they wear a string
round the waist with a very small loincloth. The string is so tied as
to leave two long streamers behind, which have very much the appearance
of a tail as the man walks along, and no doubt this gave rise to the
idea that they were tailed men. The women wear a petticoat coming below
the knees, generally red.
The Nicobarese are not savages and live in well-built clean villages,
are born traders, and can calculate accurately up to very high figures.
They deliberately do not cultivate, because by using their cocoanuts
as currency they can buy from Chinese, Malay, Burmese, Indian, and
other traders all that they want in the way of food and comforts. They
are good gardeners of fruit. They seem to have borne their present
characteristics through all historical times.
Pp. 307–308, Note 1.—Nancowry is a native name for two adjacent
islands, now known as Camorta and Nankauri, and I do not think it has
anything to do with the name Nicobar. For a list of the geographical
names of the islands, see _Census Report_, pp. 179–180.
_Race and Dialect_.—The Nicobarese are generally classed as Malays,
_i.e._, they are “Wild Malays,” and probably in reality an overflow of
Mon tribes from the mainland of the Malay Peninsula (_Census Report_,
p. 250). They are a finely built race of people, but they have rendered
their faces ugly by the habit of chewing betel with lime until they
have destroyed their teeth by incrustations of lime, so that they
cannot close their lips properly.
I think it is a mistake to class the Nicobarese as Rakshasas or demons,
a term that would apply in Indian parlance more properly to the
Andamanese.
The Nicobarese are all one race, including the Shom Pen, for long a
mysterious tribe in the centre of Great Nicobar, but now well known.
They speak dialects of one language, though the dialects as spoken are
mutually unintelligible. There is no Negrito tribe in the Nicobars. A
detailed grammar of the language will be found in the _Census Report_,
pp. 255–284.
The Nicobarese have long been pirates, and one of the reasons for the
occupation of their islands by the Indian Government was to put down
the piracy which had become dangerous to general navigation, but which
now no longer exists.
P. 309.—The great article of trade is the cocoanut, of which a detailed
account will be found in the _Census Report_, pp. 169–174, 219–220,
243. I would suggest the recasting of the remarks on the products of
the Nicobars in your note on p. 309 in view of the statements made in
those pages of the Report, bearing in mind that the details of the
Nicobar Islands are now practically as well known as those relating to
any other part of the East.
P. 312.—The Nicobarese tradition is that they are descended from a
man and a dog, but this is only one phase of the ordinary Far Eastern
animal-descent story.
The projecting teeth mentioned by Colonel Man are common in the
Nicobars in the case of adults only, usually confined to men and women
advanced in life. They are not natural, but caused, as stated above,
by the excessive use of betel and lime, which forms a dark unsightly
incrustation on the teeth and finally destroys them. Children and youth
of both sexes have good white normal teeth.
P. 312.
NARCONDAM.
Narcondam, an island I know well, has a separate bibliography of its
own. It belongs to the Sunda group of volcanoes, but it has been so
long extinct that there are no obvious signs now of its ever having
been active. It has a species of hornbill which I have captured and
shot that has differentiated itself from all others. I do not think,
therefore, it can have been recognised as a volcano by mariners in
historical times, and consequently the derivation of Narakakundam is to
my mind doubtful. The obvious volcano in the neighbourhood is Barren
Island, which is still alive.
ANDAMANS.
Pp. 309–310, Note 1.—The Andamanese are not an ill-looking race, and
are not negroes in any sense, but it is true that they are Negritos
in the lowest known state of barbarism, and that they are an isolated
race. Reasons for the isolation will be found in the _Census Report_,
p. 51, but I should not call their condition, mentally or physically,
degraded. The mental characteristics of the race will be found on pp.
59–61 of the _Census Report_, and for your information I here extract
from my remarks thereon the section on character.
“In childhood the Andamanese are possessed of a bright intelligence,
which, however, soon reaches its climax, and the adult may be compared
in this respect with the civilised child of ten or twelve. He has never
had any sort of agriculture, nor until the English taught him the use
of dogs did he ever domesticate any kind of animal or bird, nor did he
teach himself to turn turtle or to use hook and line in fishing. He
cannot count, and all his ideas are hazy, inaccurate, and ill-defined.
He has never developed unaided any idea of drawing or making a tally
or record for any purpose, but he readily understands a sketch or plan
when shown him. He soon becomes mentally tired, and is apt to break
down physically under mental training.
“He retains throughout life the main characteristics of the child:
of very short but strong memory, suspicious of but hospitable to
strangers, ungrateful, imitative and watchful of his companions
and neighbours, vain, and under the spur of vanity industrious and
persevering, teachable up to a quickly reached limit, fond of undefined
games and practical jokes, too happy and careless to be affected in
temperament by his superstitions, too careless indeed to store water
even for a voyage, plucky but not courageous, reckless only from
ignorance or from inappreciation of danger, selfish but not without
generosity, chivalry or a sense of honour, petulant, hasty of temper,
entirely irresponsible and childish in action in his wrath, and equally
quick to forget, affectionate, lively in his movements, and exceedingly
taking in his moments of good temper. At these times the Andamanese
are gentle and pleasant to each other, considerate to the aged, the
weakly or the helpless, and to captives, kind to their wives and proud
of their children, whom they often over-pet; but when angered, cruel,
jealous, treacherous and vindictive, and always unstable. They are
bright and merry companions, talkative, inquisitive and restless,
busy in their own pursuits, keen sportsmen and naturally independent,
absorbed in the chase from sheer love of it and other physical
occupations, and not lustful, indecent, or indecently abusive.
“As the years advance they are apt to become intractable, masterful,
and quarrelsome. A people to like but not to trust. Exceedingly
conservative and bound up in ancestral custom, not amenable to
civilisation, all the teachings of years bestowed upon some of them
having introduced no abstract ideas among the tribesmen, and changed no
habit in practical matters affecting comfort, health, and mode of life.
Irresponsibility is a characteristic, though instances of a keen sense
of responsibility are not wanting. Several Andamanese can take charge
of the steering of a large steam launch through dangerous channels,
exercising then caution, daring, and skill though not to an European
extent, and the present (1901) dynamo-man of the electric lighting on
Ross Island is an Andamanese, while the wire-man is a Nicobarese, both
of whom exhibit the liveliest sense of their responsibilities, though
retaining a deep-rooted and unconquerable fear of the dynamo and wires
when at work. The Nicobarese shows, as is to be expected, the higher
order of intellect. Another Andamanese was used by Portman for years as
an accountant and kept his accounts in English accurately and well.
“The intelligence of the women is good, though not as a rule equal
to that of the men. In old age, however, they frequently exhibit a
considerable mental capacity which is respected. Several women trained
in a former local Mission Orphanage from early childhood have shown
much mental aptitude and capacity, the ‘savagery’ in them, however,
only dying down as they grew older. They can read and write well,
understand and speak English correctly, have acquired European habits
completely, and possess much shrewdness and common sense: one has
herself taught her Andamanese husband, the dynamo-man above mentioned,
to read and write English and induced him to join the Government House
Press as a compositor. She writes a well-expressed and correctly-spelt
letter in English, and has a shrewd notion of the value of money. Such
women, when the instability of youth is past, make good ‘ayas,’ as
their menkind make good waiters at table.
“The highest general type of intelligence yet noticed is in the Jarawa
tribe.”
P. 310. _The name Andaman_.—To my mind the modern Andaman is the
Malay Handuman = Hanuman, representing “monkey” or savage aboriginal
antagonist of the Aryans = also the Rakshasa. Individuals of the race,
when seen in the streets of Calcutta in 1883, were at once recognised
as Rakshasas. It may amuse you to know that the Andamanese returned the
compliment, and to them all Orientals are Chauga or Ancestral Ghosts,
_i.e._, demons (see _Census Report_, pp. 44–45 for reasons). I agree
with you that Angamanain is an Arabic dual, the Great and the Little
Andaman. To a voyager who did not land, the North, Middle, and South
Andaman would appear as one great island, whereas the strait separating
these three islands from the Little Andaman would be quite distinctly
seen.
P. 311. _Cannibalism_.—The charge of cannibalism is entirely untrue. I
quote here my paragraph as to how it arose (_Census Report_, p. 48).
“The charge of cannibalism seems to have arisen from three observations
of the old mariners. The Andamanese attacked and murdered without
provocation every stranger they could on his landing; they burnt his
body (as they did in fact that of every enemy); and they had weird
all-night dances round fires. Combine these three observations with the
unprovoked murder of one of themselves, and the fear aroused by such
occurrences in a far land in ignorant mariners’ minds, century after
century, and a persistent charge of cannibalism is almost certain to be
the result.”
The real reason for the Andamanese taking and killing every stranger
that they could was that for centuries the Malays had used the islands
as one of their pirate bases, and had made a practice of capturing the
inhabitants to sell as slaves in the Peninsula and Siam.
P. 311. _Navigation_.—It is true that they do not quit their own coasts
in canoes, and I have always doubted the truth of the assertions that
any of them ever found their way to any Nicobar island.
Andamanese men go naked, but the only Andamanese women that I have
ever seen entirely naked in their own jungles are of the inland tribe
of Jarawas.
R. C. TEMPLE.
_Nov._ 29, 1919.
INDEX
Names of Persons in CAPITAL Letters.—Subject Names in =thick=
Letters.—Title of Books in _italics_.
Aas (The Alans), 95
Ab-i-Panja, 38
ABRAHAM, 94
ACHMED, 6, 7, 8
Acre, 4
ADAM of Bremen, 110
Aden, 124
Afghanistan, 20, 24, 33, 112
Africa, 19, 20, 21
AGHRUKJI, 68
Agror, 22, 24
AHMED, 6, 7, 8
AHMED SHIBAB EDDIN, 71
AIBUGA, 92
_Ain-i-Akbari_, 105
AI-YA-CH’IH, 68
Aksu, 39
A-KUO, 85, 88
A-LA-HAN, 103
Alans, 95–96
A-LA-PU-TAN, 95
Alashan, 62
A-LA-WA-TING, 95
ALBIRUNI, 41
ALFARIC, P., 112
AL FAKHRI, 17
=Aloes=, 105, 125
A-lo-sz’, 129
A-lu, 108
AMAR, E., 17
Amb, 24
=Ambergris=, 121, 124, 125
Amoy, 108
=A-nan=, 115
Andaman, 109, 144 _seq._
Angamanain, 109
=An-hsi-hsiang=, 125
=An-si-tsio=, 122
Antwerp, 134
Arabia, 19, 20
Arakan, 87
ARANZADI, Telesforo de, 86
=Arbre sec=, =arbre seul=, =arbre sol=, 31
ARGHÚN KHAN, 5, 8
=Arhat=, 8, 9, 10, 11
A-R-HUN, 8
Ariora, 22, 24
=Ärkägün=, 62, 94
Arménie, 24
Arnawal, 24, 36
Arsacie, 18
ARSLAN, 95
Aru, 108
ASEDIN SOLDAN, 22
Ashreth, 24
Asia Minor, 20
Asiot, 20
Asmar, 23, 24
A-TA-HAI, 103
Atyugrapura, 24
AVICENNE, 105
AYMONIER, 119
AZOO, R. F., 69
Badakhshan, 22, 23, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 42
Badghis, 32
Baghdad, 5, 17
Bahabad, 28, 29, 30
Bahārak, 38
Baikal, 61
Bajistan, 30
Bājkatta, 36
BAKHSH, Maula, 21
Balkh, 33
Baltistán, 42
Baluchi, 29
Baluchistan, 29
Balur, 42, 43
Baluristán, 42
Bamian, 112
Barbary, 20
BARBOSA, 116
Bargu, Lake, 61
Barguchin, 61
Bargut, 61
=Bark of Trees=, 70, 71
_Barlaam_, 111
Baroghil, 41
BARROS, 107
Bashgol, 22, 23
Bastra, 17
Baudas, 17
BEAL, 106
BEAZLEY, C. R., 137, 141
BEHA ED-DIN AYAZ SEYFIN, 24
Belucha, 28, 29
Bend i-Turkestan, 33
BENT, Theo., 122
Bentam, 105
=Benzoin=, 125
Berbera, 122, 123
Be Tūmah, 105
=Beyamini=, 83
Bhamo, 87
BHUWANEKA BAHU I., 111
—— BAHU II., 111
Binshi Pass, 24
Bintang, 106
BLĀGDEN, C. O., 104
=Blows, Scale of=, 60
BOLOD, 8
Bolor, 34, 42
BOUSSAC, H., 69
BOWREY, 145
BRANDT, Otto St., 137
BRETSCHNEIDER, E., 4, 25, 56, 70, 75, 81, 82, 95, 123, 130
BROWN, Dr. Robert, 20
BRUCE, C. D., 141
=Buckram=, 80–81
BUDDHA, 10
Bujnurd, 21
Buner, 22, 24
Burch, 28, 29
BÜRCK, 137
=Burkhan=, 111
Burma, 85, 87–90
BUSHELL, S. W., 63, 67
CABATON, Ant., 119
Cachar Modun, 70
CAIN, John, 86, 87
Caiju, 93
Cail, 118
Caindu, 81, 82, 83
Cairo, 20
Cala Ataperistan, 18
Calamina, 118
Calicut, 125
Camadi, 21
Cambalu, 7
Cambodia, 115
=Camel crane=, 122
=Camelot=, 83
=Camels=, 17
=Camphor=, 114
Campichu, 52
Camul, 51
Canal, Grand, 91–93
Canton, 8, 31
Cape of Good Hope, 20
=Cape Sheep=, 20
Caraonas, 21
=Cardamom=, 114
Caroline Islands, 31
CARPINI, Plano, John of, 109
Casem, 34
Cashmeer, 36
Caspienne, 105
Caswin, 18
_Cathay_, 114
CATHERINE of COURTENAY, 11
Caugigu, 90
Ceylon, 110, 111, 112
Chagan jang, 68
Chagan nor, 6
CHAGATAÏ, 21, 22
Chah Khushab, 26
Chah Kuru, 26
Cha-i-beluch, 29
Chakdara, 36
Chakmak, Lake, 39
Chamba, Champa, 103, 104
CHANDE, 121
Changan, 96
Ch’ang Chau, Ch’angchou, 96, 100
Ch’ang lu, 91
=Chan tao=, 78
Charchan, 44, 46, 47, 48
CHARDIN, A., 139
Charklik, 47, 49
CHARLES de VALOIS, 11
Chasma Sufid, 29
Chau Chi, 76
CHAU JU-KWA, 17, 19, 25, 104, 107, 109, 110, 112, 115, 116, 118–125,
142
CHAVANNES, Ed., 73, 74, 76, 77, 106
Che Ch’an, 48
=Cheeta=, 69
Chehel Pai, 26
Chen Ch’ao, 96
Cherchen, 44; _see_ Charchan
Chichiklik Pass, 39
Chi Chou, 92
=Chien-tao=, 78
Chih-li, 91, 92
Chingintalas, 51
CHINGIZ KHAN, 7, 21, 32, 54, 57, 60
=Ch’ing siang=, 73
CHIN KIN, 68
=Chinuchi=, 69
CHI-PI T’IE-MU-R, 82
_Chi p’u_, 71
Chira, 45, 46
Chitral, 22, 24, 35, 42
=Ch’ö-k’ü=, 109
_Chou Shu_, 58
=Christians=, 62
Chuan sha, 97
_Chu fan chí_; _see_ CHAU JU-KWA
Ch’ui lan, 108
Chu lién, 112
Ch’ung K’ing, 79
Chung li, 121
CHUN YUEN, 49
Ciang lu, 91
=Cloves=, 114
=Coats of Mail=, 58 _seq._
Coilum, 119
Cophene, 19
CORDIER, H., 6, 7, 11, 39, 40, 136, 142
Coromandel Coast, 112
COSQUIN, Em., 112
COTES, Everard, 10
=Cotton=, 118, 120
=Couvade=, 85–86
=Cowries=, 82
CRAWFURD, 106
ÇRI PARAMEÇVARA, 107
=Cunichí=, 69, 70
=Cycle=, 73, 74
=Cypress= of ZOROASTER, 31
Cyprus, 81, 83
DAHLMANN, J., 116
Dambadenia, 111
Darbana, 26
Darband, 26, 36
=Dardic=, 23
=Darugachi=, 6
=Dates=, 17, 114
DEFRÉMERY, 17
Delhi, 22
DENNYS, N. B., 9, 106
DENUCÉ, J., 134
DERENBOURG, H., 136
=Deva-dāsī=, 115
DEVÉRIA, G., 77, 82, 95
=Diet= of the Gulf People, 25
Digargand, 38
Dilivar, 22
Dir, 22, 24, 35, 36
=Dirakht i sol=, 31
Djambi, 107
Djur djān, 105
=Dog-headed Barbarians=, 109–110
Dogana, 34
Dolonor, 6
DOMINICK, St., 25
=Dragon’s blood=, 125
DUDGEON, J., 75
=Dúdhá=, 30, 31
Dufar, 125
Duhuk, 26, 27, 28
DULAURIER, 110
DUTREUIL DE RHINS, 45
EDWARD, King, 4
EDRISI, 104
Egypt, 19, 20, 21
=Elephants’ tusks=, 124
ELIAS, Ney, 21, 42
ELLIOTT, Sir Walter, 113
Endereh, 45
Eptals, 34
_Eracles_, 4
Erukalavandlu, 86
Escurial, 136
Esher, 125
ESSEN TEMUR, 68
Etzina, 53, 54
Faeul la, 108
Fahanunch, 28, 29
Fa li la, 108
Fa li lang, 108
Fandaraina, 119
=Fang pu=, 118
FANG TS’IEN-LI, 86
_Fan kuo chi_, 19
FAN WEN-HU, 103
=Fat-tailed sheep=, 19
FELLOWS, 21
FERGUSON, Donald, 24, 25
FERGUSON, John C., 141
Ferlec, 108
FERRAND, Gabriel, 100, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 123, 124, 142
FERRIER, 32
Firuz Kuh, 33
FLEET, J. F., 41, 111, 117
Florence, 135
Fong Joen hien, 91
Foochow, 98, 100
FORSYTH, Sir D. T., 50
Fou ning hien, 91
FRANCISQUE-MICHEL, 17, 18, 81, 83
=Frankincense=, 125
FRASER, 32
FRIEDMANN, Ed., 13
Fuh lin, 25
FUJITA, 114
Fu Kien, 98
Gabar Castle, 18
Galcha, 39
GAUBIL, 57
GENGIS KHAN; _see_ CHINGIZ KHAN
GEORGE, Prince, 62
GERINI, Col., 105, 109, 144
GÉUKJU, 68
Gez, Defile, 39, 40
GHIASUDDIN, 22
GILES, H. A., 79, 140
Gilgit, 42
GILL, Capt., 84, 95
=Ginger=, 120
=Giraffes=, 123, 124, 125
Glasgow, 133
=Goblins=, 48
God, 28
God Hashtaki, 29
God-i-shah-taghi, 28, 29
Goëz, Benedict, 40
Goklán Turkomans, 21
=Gold=, coins, 125;
native, 124;
value of, 72–73
GONDOPHERNES, 117
Gozurat, 116, 120
GRAY, Archdeacon, 9
Great Desert, 48, 49
=Great Wall=, 57
GREGORY X., 4
GRENARD, F., 45
GRIERSON, Sir George, 23
GROENEVELDT, W. P., 107
Gurgán, 21
Gurun, 62
Guzerat, 116, 120
Ha ch’a mu touen, 70
Hadhramaut, 125
HAJI SUMUTRABHŪMI, 107
Ha-la T’u, 57
HALLBERG, Ivar, 141
Hami, 19, 51
Han chung, 78
Hang Chau, 11, 93, 96, 97
HAN LIN-EUL, 8
Han mo, 45
HA PI CH’I, 92
HARLEZ, C. de, 63
Harmuz; _see_ Hormuz
Hasanábad, 26
Hata, 81
Hauz-i-Haji-Ramazan, 27
HAYAM WURUK, 105
Hazāra, 22, 24, 36
HEDIN, Sven, 26, 32, 46, 49, 141
HEIKEL, 58
Hei Shui, 53, 55
=Hei tiao=, 69
Herat, 32
HERODOTUS, 20
HETHUM, King, 110
HEYD, W., 5
Hia, 61
Hia lah, 18
HIEN FUNG, 73
=Hien yang=, 19
HIERSEMANN, Karl W., 137
Hindu Kush, 23, 35, 43
HIRTH, F., 19, 90, 109, 112, 115, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 125, 142
_Hist. litt. de la France_, 4, 143
HIUAN TSANG, 34, 41, 43, 45, 46, 47
Hiu Heng, 74
Hiung Nu, 41, 58
HOANG, P., 73, 92
Ho Kien, 91
HOLM, Frits V., 76, 77
Ho Nan, 31
Ho Ni, 85
Hormos; _see_ Hormuz
Hormuz, 5, 24, 25
=Horses=, 114
HO SE-HUI, 75
Ho sim, 34
HO T’IEN-TSIO, 85
Ho ts’z mi, 34
_Hou Han shu_, 122
HOUTUM-SCHINDLER, 31, 141
Hsen-wi, 89
Hsien nü miao, 94
Hsi hsia, 54
Hsin Chin Hsien, 78
HUBER, Ed., 85, 87, 88, 90
Hu Chou, 96
HUET, 18
Hui jen, 89
_Hui kiang chi_, 72
HUKAJI, 68
HULAGU, 95
=Humang=, 25
Hu Nan, 6
=Hung Fu=, 96
HUNG TS’A-KIU, 103
=Hunting Leopard=, 69
HUNTINGTON, E., 45, 46, 49, 141
Hunza, 39, 42
Hu Peh, 6
HUSSOT, 51
HU TU, 88
=Hu yang=, 19
IBN AL BAYTAR, 105
IBN BÂBAWAIH, 112
IBN BATUTA, 120
IBN KUSTRAJIM, 69
=Indigo=, 120
Indo-Scythy, 19
INDRAVARMAN VI., 103
Indus, 22, 23, 24, 36, 41
Irrawaddy, 90
Ishkáshm, 37, 38
Islands, Male and Female, 120
Ismaelites, 32
IVANOV, 55
=Ivory=, 107
JACK, R. Logan, 79, 80, 85
JACKSON, A. W. W., 18, 141
=Jade=, 46
Japan, 119
=Japanese War=, 103
Jatah, 21
JAYA SINHAVARMAN, 103
Jhelam, 22, 24, 36
JOANNO DOS SANCTOS, 121
JOHNSON, 44
JOSAPHAT, 111
Jou jan, 3, 63
=Ju hiang=, 125
Kabul, 23, 42
Kachins, 85
Kademgah, 33
Kafchi kué, 90
Kafir Valley, 23
Kafiristan, 23, 35, 42
Kafirs, 22
Kai, 36
Ka-i-lêh, 118
Kain, 26, 33
K’ai p’ing fu, 6
Kal’ah-i Atashparastān, 18
Kam chau, 53; _see_ Kan chau
Kam pei, 108
Kan Chau, 4, 53, 54, 62
K’ANG HI, 31, 73
Kang ngai, 85
KANG YU-CHI, 60
Kan pai, 108
Kan Su, 53, 54, 76
Kao ch’ang, 44, 45, 76
Kao ch’ê, 58
KAO HSIEN-CHIH, 41
Kao yu, 94
Kapisa, 36
Karajang, 68, 84, 95
Kara Khitai, 56
Kara Khodja, 75
Kara Khoto, 53, 54, 55
Karakorum, 54, 95
Kara Kul, 39
Kara Shahr, 48
Karáwánás, 21
Kárnás, 21
Kasanna, 41
Kashan, 5, 18
Kashgar, 37, 39, 41, 42, 43, 50
K’a shi mih, 36
Kashmir, 22, 23, 24, 35, 36, 42
Kätäk, 48
Kaungsi, 85
Kaung sin, 87
Kaveripattanam, 112
Kayal, 118
Keirabad, 29, 56
Kenan, 45, 46
Keriya, 44, 45
Kerman, 5, 24, 26, 27, 28, 56
Kerulen, 57
=Keshikten=, 69
Keshimur, 36
Kevir, 27, 29, 30
Khanfu, 98
KHANIKOFF, 32
=Khakhan=, 3, 4
Khan Balig, 94
Khara Khoto; _see_ Kara Khoto
Kheirabad, 29, 56
Khitán, 14, 93
Khorasan, 5, 21, 33
Khori, 61
Khotan, 4, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 72
Khoten; _see_ Khotan
Khudafrin, 29
Khumdan, 77
=Khurma=, 25
Kiang si, 97
Kiao chi kwe, 90
Kia yu kwan, 52
Kieh sha, 41
Kieh shwang na, 41
Kien ch’ang, 82
Kien Kang, 79
K’IEN LUNG, 73
Kien tu, 81, 82, 83
K’ié t’ai, 48
KI HAN, 119
Kila Panja, 38
K’i lien, 57
K’i lien shan, 57
=K’i lin=, 124
KIN, 56, 60
King Shan, 68
KINGSMILL, T. W., 94
King tchao fu, 77
Ki ning, 75
Kin Kargalai, 36
Kinsay, 96, 97, 98
=Ki pe=, 118
=Ki pu=, 118
KIRSTE, John, 48
Kisi, 17
_Kitab u’l-Bazyarah_, 69
_K’i-t’ah-t’êh Pu-ha_, 32
K’itan, 14, 94
Kiu chen, 119
Kiung tu, 83
KLAPROTH, 72, 110
KLOSS, 144
Koh Tralàch, 104
Koko Nor, 62
Ko-ku-lo, 118
_Ko-pu-che-ma_, 118
Korano, 24
Košano, 24
Kou kuo, 109
K’ou wai, 62
KOZLOFF, Col., 53, 54, 55
KRETSCHMER, K., 137
_Kuang yü hsing shêng_, 93
_Kuang yü t’u_, 97
Kuba Sabz, 56
KÚBLÁI, 5, 6, 34, 68, 87, 89, 91, 93, 95
Kubunán, 26; _see_ Kuh-benan
Kuche, 4, 19
_Kudatku Bilik_, 14
Kuh-benan, Kuh Banan, 26, 27, 28, 30
Ku li, 125
=K’u lu ma=, 25
K’u lun, 62
KUMAGUSU MINAKATA, 49, 50, 59
Kunar, 23, 24, 36
KUNICKE, Hugo, 85
Kúnkú, 67
K’un lun ts’öng ti, 122
Kurit, 28, 29
Kurun, 62
Kwa Chau, 93
Kwang Chau, 98
Kwei Chau, 86
K’WEI T’ENG, 79
Lahawar, 22
Lahore, 22
Lambri, 109
La meng, 89
Landjun, 73
Langar Kisht, 38
LANGLOIS, C. V., 4
Langszi, 86
Laṅkāçoka, 104
Lankhabalus, 145
Lan wu li, 109
Lao, 86
LAUFER, B., 8 _et seq._, 10, 20, 55, 58, 61, 69, 70, 75, 76, 81, 83,
84, 98, 111, 119, 142
=Lawáki=, 105
LEARY, Mrs. George, 77
LE COQ, 111
_Lei pien_, 89
LEMKE, Hans, 137
LEO AFRICANUS, 19, 20, 21
=Leopards=, 69, 125
LEVI, C. A., 140
LÉVI, Sylvain, 117
_Liang Shu_, 109
LIAO, 56
Li Chou, 82
Lien-yün, 41
Ligor, 105
Ling pei, 95
_Ling-wai-tai-ta_, 122
Ling ya ssi kia, 104
Lin Ngan, 94, 96
LI T’AN, 92
LITTON, 89
Livar, 22
Loan tcheou, 91
Lob Nor, 44, 47, 48, 49, 62
Locac, 104
Lo-ch’a, 108, 109
Lochac, 109
=Lo-han=, 8, 9, 10, 11
Lo hing man, 109
Lo lan, 112
Lo lo, 81
Lop; _see_ Lob Nor
Lopou, 47
Lo t’ing-hien, 91
LOUIS, St., 4
Loulan, 45, 47
LOUREIRO, J. de, 119
Lovek, 105
Lowarai, 24
LOWES, J. L., 140
Luang Prabang, 90
Lu kü River, 57
Lulan, 45, 47
Lumghán, 42
Lut, 5, 26, 28
Maabar, 114, 115
MACKINDER, H. J., 137
MADROLLE, C., 9
Maga, 29
Magadha, 99
=Magi=, 18
Mahratta, 115
Mājapāhit, 105
Malabar, 118, 119
Malacca, 107
Ma-la-hi, 32
Malaiur, 105
=Malaria=, 84
Malaya, 105
Malayu, 107
Malāyur, 107
Ma lo pa, 125
Maluir, 105
MAN, E. H., 144
Mána, 21
Mandal Pass, 23
MANGALAI, 68
MANG-KU-TAI, 81
MANGU, 95
MANSUR KHÁN, 42
=Manuscripts of Marco Polo=, 135–136
Man Waing, 85
Mao Shan, 108, 109
=Mare’s Milk=, 63
MARQUART, J., 77, 110
=Marriage=, 58
=Marriage of the Dead=, 58–60
MAR SARGHIS, 96
MARSDEN, W., 22, 138
_Masálak al Absár_, 73
MASEFIELD, John, 138
MASPERO, G., 90, 103
MASPERO, H., 13
Mastūj, 39
MAS’UD, 24
MA TUAN-LIN, 48, 112
MAURO, Fra, 13
MAYERS, W. F., 9, 79, 139
Mazār-tapa, 38
MEDLYCOTT, A. E., 116
Mekrit, 61
Melibar, 80
Mescript, 61
Meshed, 21, 32, 33
MICHELANT, H., 4
Mien, Mien Kwé, 87, 88
MINAKATA, KUMAGUSU, 49, 50, 59
MING, 71, 73, 82, 94
_Ming Shi_, 8
MIRZA HAÏDAR, 21, 42
=Mi t’ang tsiu=, 119
Moghu, 28
Moghul, 21
MOHAMMED I. Dirhem Kub, 24
MONTE CORVINO, JOHN de, 62
MONG CH’ANG, 80
MONG CHI-SIANG, 80
MONGEZ, 17
Mongols, 24
MONTALTO DE JESUS, C. A., 9
MORLEY, Henry, 138
MORRISON, R., 73
MOSTAS’IM, 17
=Mongol Imperial Family=, 68–69
MOULE, A. C., 91, 92, 93, 96, 143
MOULE, G. E., 139
Mu bu pa, 78
MUHAMMAD, 25
Mu hu pa, 78
Muh Pang, 89
=Muh pieh tzŭ=, 125
Mukden, 68
Mu-la-i, 32
Mu lan p’i, 19
Mu-lei, 32
MÜLLER, F. W. K., 18
MÜLLER, Max, 77, 86
=Mu mién=, 118
Murābit, 19
Murgab, 33
Muzart, 49
Muztāgh-Ata, 39, 40
Muzzaffarabad, 24
Myin Saing, 88
=Myrobolans=, 120
=Myrrh=, 125
=Nac=, 17
_Nan fang ts’ao mi chuang_, 119
Na-fo-po, 45, 47
=Naft=, 30
Nafún, 103
Nagar, 42
_Nāgarakretāgama_, 105, 106
Naiband, Naibend, 26, 27, 28, 30
Negapatam, 113, 114
Necuveran, 108
Naïn, 18
=Nakh=, 17
Nam hkam, 85
Nam Ti, 85, 87, 88
Nan Chao, 86
Nan King, 79
Nan p’i, 118, 119
Nan Shan, 52
_Nan Shi_, 109, 110
Nan Sung, 90
Nan tien, 90
NARASĪHAPATI, 87, 88
Narcondam, 147
=Nasich=, 17
NASR ED-DIN, 87, 88
=Nassit=, 17
NAYAN, 67
Nga-çaung-khyam, 87, 88, 90
Nga Singu, 90
Ngan chen kue, 90
Ngan tung, 93
NGAO-LA-HAN, 94
NICHOLAS, Alan Prince, 95
Nicobar, 108, 109, 144 _seq._
NIGŪDAR, 21, 22, 23, 34, 35, 36
Nilus, 20
Ning Yuan, 81, 82, 83
Nipon, 103
Nishapur, 32, 33
Niu Wang, 89
Niya, 45, 46, 47, 48
NOGODAR, 21, 22, 23, 34, 35, 36
NONE, 37
Nüchen, 57
Nu-fa, 125
Nuksán Pass, 35
NUMUGAN, 68
=Nuntuh=, 62
Nuremberg, 136
=Nutuk=, 62
O’CONNELL, Col., 113
ODORIC, 5, 18, 94, 133, 134
OELJAITU, 5
OGDAI, OKKODAI, 79, 95
OLDENBOURG, S. d’, 112
OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN, 32
OLIVIERI, Dante, 137
OLOPUN, 76
=Ondanique=, 19
Öngut, 62
Ormus; _see_ Hormuz
Oros, 129
=Ostriches=, 125
OTTEWILL, H. A., 85, 89, 90
Ouigour; _see_ Uighúr
=Oxen= of Tibet, Wild, 83
Oxus, 23, 37, 38, 41
PACHATURUNZA, 25
Pagan, 87, 88
_Pagan Yazawin_, 87
=P’ai tzŭ=, 67
Palembang, 106, 107
=Palladius=, 51, 52, 57, 81, 139
Pálor, 42
Pamier, 38; _see_ Pamir
Pamir, 34, 37, 38, 39, 40
PANDITA PRAKRAMA BAHU II., 111
Panjkora River, 22, 35
Panjkora Valley, 24
Panjshir Valley, 23, 35
Pan-shê, 36
Panyál, 42
=Pao=, 95
Paonano Pao, 41
Pao tch’e hien, 91
=Paper Money=, 71–72
Paris, 134
PARKER, E. H., 4, 5, 7, 8, 18, 19, 25, 31, 32, 34, 36, 41, 42, 45,
51, 55, 56, 57, 58, 62, 63, 67, 73, 78, 79, 86, 89, 91, 94, 95,
99, 100, 103, 118, 119, 130, 140
Paropamisus, 33
Pashai, 3, 22, 23, 34, 35, 36
Pashai-Dir, 22
Pa tan, 114
Pa ta shan, 34
=Pa tsz=, 82
PAUTHIER, 5, 6, 7, 8, 22
=Pearls=, 107, 114, 118
PEGOLOTTI, 13
_Peh Shi_, 99
Pein, 44, 45, 46
PELLIOT, 7, 8, 13, 14, 18, 24, 48, 51, 52, 55, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62,
63, 67, 70, 75, 76, 77, 78, 81, 83, 84, 85, 92, 94, 96, 98, 104,
106, 107, 108, 114, 120, 142
Pentam, 105
_Pen ts’ao kang mu_, 25, 75, 123
=Pepper=, 120
PERI, N., 94
Persia, 5, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33
=Persian=, knowledge of, 74
Peshawar, 22
PÉTIS DE LA CROIX, 60
PETIT, Joseph, 11, 139
=Petroleum=, 30
=Pharaoh’s rat=, 58
PHILIP the Fair, 11
PHILIPPS, W. R., 116, 118
PHILLIPS, G., 108, 109
PHILLOTT, Col. D. C., 69
PHILOSTRATE, 17
P’iao tien, 85
Pie-li-la, 108
P’i mo, 44, 45, 46
=Pin Iron=, 19
=Pin t’ieh=, 19
Pi p’a lo, 122, 123
PIPINO, F., 133
Pir Moral, 29
=Pisaca languages=, 23
Pi ssï lo, 17
POH LO, 6, 7
Poh lo, 34
POLO, Marco, Notes, 3; Statue at Canton, 8 _seq._; MSS., 133 _seq._
PO-LO, 8
=P’öng birds=, 122
=Po sze tao=, 25
Po Yi, 85
POZDNEIEV, A,, 13
PRAKAMA BAHU III., 111
PRAPAÑCA, 105
PRJEVALSKY, 49
Pudenum, 28
Puh hai, 93
PUH-LAN HI, 7
PUH-LO, 5, 6, 7
PUH-LO HI, 7
PUH-LO KADEI, 7
PULAD Chinsang, 8
Pulau Kundur, 104
Pulo Condor, 104
Pumpkin Island, 104
Punjab, 35
PURCHAS, 122
Qamul, 51
Qara Khodja; _see_ Kara Khodja
QUINTE-CURCE, 17
RADLOFF, W., 61, 111
=Rāmjani=, 115
=Ramme=, African, 19
RAMSTEDT, 24
RAMUSIO, 3, 6
RASHID UD-DIN, 8, 90, 145
Rávar, 26
RAWLINSON, G., 20
RAYNAUD, G., 4
REID, Gilbert, 141
Reobarles, 19, 21
Rezu, 29
=Rhinoceros=, 107
Rhio Strait, 106
=Rhubarb=, 52
Riāu, 106
RICHTHOFEN, 49
Rizab, 28
ROBERT d’Artois, 11
ROCKHILL, W. W., 3, 19, 55, 56, 90, 109, 110, 112, 115, 119, 121,
122, 124, 125, 142
ROKN ED-DIN MAHMUD III. KALHATY, 24
Ross, E. D., 42
RUBRUCK, G. de, 109, 110
RUGE, S., 139
=Rukh=, 122
RUOMEDAN AHOMET, 24
Russia, 129
RUSTICIANO, 3, 4
Saba, 18
Sadfe, 27
Sad Ishtragh, 38
Sad Khandūt, 38
Sado, 36
Sad Sipang, 38
=Saffron=, 98
=Sagamoni Borcan=, 111
SAGATU, 103
=Saghlat=, 62
=Sago tree=, 108
=Sa-ha-la=, 62
Saianfu, 95
SAID KHÁN, 42
Saint Omer, 11
=Sakya Muni Burkhan=, 111
=Salt=, 91–92, 123
Salwen, 84, 85, 89
Sam, 18
Samarcand, 36
=Sandal Wood=, 124
San fo ts’i, 126
=Sangon=, 92
San Ta, 85
=Sappan=, 119
Sapurgan, 32, 33
Säracanco, 13
Sarai, 13
Sarhad, 36, 40, 41
Sarikol, 39, 40
Sar-i-Sar-hadd, 38
Sar i Sher, 67
=Sati=, 115
=Sa-tō=, 99
SCHEFER, Ch., 71
SCHLEGEL, G., 103, 108, 109
Scotra, 121
SCOTT, Sir G., 89
Sebsevar, 30, 32, 33
Sefid-ab, 28, 29
SEÏF ED-DIN NUSRAT, 24
Selat Tebrau, 106
Selenga, 62
Sendi Foulat, 104
=Sêng=, 18
Seng-i-Kal-i-deh, 33
Ser-i-julge, 28, 29
_Serindia_, 21
Sha Chou, 44, 47, 49, 50
SHAH RUKH, 52, 53
SHAMU HUST, 51
Shang Tu, 6, 13, 63, 96
SHAN CHU TSUN CHE, 10
_Shan Haï King_, 19
Shan Tung, 91
Shan Si, 75
Shao Hing, 96
=Sha t’ang=, 99
SHAW, E. B., 42
=Sheep=, 17, 19, 20
Shehr, 125
SHEMIAKIN, 138
Shen Chou, 61
Shen shen, 62
=Shen yü=, 58
Shibirkhan, 33
SHIEN TCHU, 10
Shi Ho, 125
=Shikamparast=, 21
=Shikári=, 21
Shï-k’i-ni, 34
Shik-nih, 34
Shi lang, 86
SHI T’IEN-TSE, 92
Shu, Kingdom of, 79, 80
=Shu-mih fu shi=, 6
SHU NGAN, 62
Shurab, 33
Siāh pōsh, 35
SIANG WU TA EUL, 87
Si Chou, 4
Sien pi, 55
Si fan, 80, 81
SĪHASŪRA, 88
Si Hia, 55
Si lan, 109, 112
Si lan ch’ï kuo, 112
=Si li ju eul su la=, 107
=Silky Fowls=, 98–99
SINCLAIR, William F., 24
Sindafu, 78, 79
Si-ngan fu, 76, 77
Singapore, 105
_Sing ch’a shêng lan_, 125
Singphos, 85
SINGTAUR, 87, 88
Si ning, 61
Sinju, 61
Sinjumatu, 92
SIRI PARAMISURA, 107
Sita river, 41
_Si yang ch’ao kung tien lu_, 72, 124
_Si yih kien wan luh_, 49
SLIEPTSOV, A., 139
Smyrna, 20
Soling river, 62
Somali Coast, 121
=Sorcerers=, 121
=So Tu=, 103
=Sounds=, 48, 49
Spain, 19
STEIN, Sir Aurel, 3, 21, 22, 23, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 47,
48, 50, 52, 53, 55, 72, 140
=Stewart=, C. E., 26
=Storax=, 125
STUART, 75
=Süan wei shi=, 6, 82
Su Chou, 52
=Sugar=, 119, 123
SUI, 62
Sukchur, 52
Sultania, 5
Sumatra, 106, 107, 109
Sundar Fūlāt, 104
SUNG, 19, 31, 61, 93, 96
_Sung Shí_, 112
SUNG YUN, 45
=Sun tree=, 31
=Suttee=, 115
Swat, 22, 24
Syghinan, 34
SYKES, Major P. M., 4, 5, 25, 27, 28, 56, 140
Syria, 20
Sze Chw’an, 79, 81, 83
SZE-MA TS’IEN, 76
Szi lang, 86
Tabas, Tabbas, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Tabriz, 5; _see_ Tauris
T’a-ch’ar Hu-nan, 8
Tagaung, 90
Tagharma, 39, 40
Ta Hsien, 78
Taichow, 94
T’ai hang Mountain, 75
=Táilgan=, 57
=Tái lin=,57
_T’aï p’ing yu lan_, 76
T’aï Yuan fu, 75
Ta-la-kien, 34
Talāsh, 22
Talecan, 32, 34
Ta-li, 68
Tamasak, 105
_Ta Ming yi t’ung che_, 90
Tanah, 106
Tanah Malaya, 105, 106, 107
_T’ang_, 18, 19, 25, 34
_T’ang hsi_, 96
_T’ang Shu_, 112
Tangut, 6, 50, 51, 54, 61
Tanjore, 112, 115
Tanjore inscription, 104, 145
TANNER, P. von, 97
_Tao yi chi lio_, 114, 120, 123
TAO KOANG, 73
Ta Ping, 85
_Tárikh-i-Rashidi_, 21, 42, 48, 139
Tarim, 41
=Tarsa=, 62
Ta Shi, 19, 120, 123, 125, 126
Tash Kurghán, 39, 40, 42
Tāshmalik, 39, 40
=Ta sz nung=, 6
Tatar, 55
Ta Ts’in, 120
Ta tu, 7, 129
Ta tu k’ou, 89
Ta T’ung, 57
Tauris, 5, 17, 18
=Tch’ang=, 91
Tch’eng Tu, 78, 79, 80
Tebbes, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
=Ṭeir al djamal=, 123
TEIXEIRA, Pedro, 24
Telugu, 86
TEMPLE, Sir R. C., 144 _seq._
Tenasserim, 87, 105
Tenduc, 62
Teng-i-Tebbes, 28
Tengri (Heaven), 58
=Tengri kudu=, 58
T’eng Yueh, 89, 90
Termed, 31
=Thardwehch=, 17
THIBAUT de CHEPOY, 4, 11
THOMAS, St., 116–118
THORDEMAN, B., 138
THORNHILL, Clarke, 31
=Three Kings=, 18
Thus, 34
Tiao men, 82
Tiao yü shan, 79
Tibet, 80, 83
Tibetans, 41
T’ie leh, 56
T’ien chu, 120
T’ien ning temple, 11
T’ien pu ma, 85
T’ien Shan, 57
T’ien tö, 62
T’ien Tsin, 91
Tiju, 94
=Tirandáz=, 21
TOB TIMUR, 129
TOBA, 4, 30, 31
Tokhara, 34
Tokuk Dawān, 40
Tölös, 56, 58
TOMASCHEK, W., 77, 104
TOMLINSON, C., 49
Tonocain, 25 _seq._, 26, 28, 31
TONONI, G., 4
TORUNXA, 25
=Tou iron=, 30
=Tou lo mién=, 118
_T’oung Pao_, 123, 124, 142
=T’ou-ore=, 30
Tourfan, 92; _see_ Turfan
=T’ou shih=, 30
=T’ou t’ieh=, 30
=Tribut=, 93
TROTTER, Col., 38
=Ts’an chêng=, 7
Ts’ang Chou, 91
Ts’ao mu tse, 75
Ts’eng yao lo, 123
=Tsiang kiun=, 92
TS’IEN WU-SU, 97
TSIN, 93
Ts’i nan, 92
TS’ING, 94
Tsing hai hien, 91
Ts’ing ki hien, 82
Ts’ing shui, 57
Ts’i Ning chau, 92
_Tsoh mung luh_, 59
Ts’öng pa, 124
Ts’uän Chou, 100
TSUBOI KUMAZO, 123
Tsui lan, 108
=Tsu la=, 123
=Tsu la fa=, 125
T’u fan, 81, 82
Tu-ho-lo, 34
T’u kuh hun, 4
TU LI, 32
Tumat, 61
Tun, 26, 27, 28, 30, 33
T’ung kwan, 57
_Tung-si-yang-k’au_, 19
Tun huang, 49, 50
Tunis, 20
Tunocain, Tunokain, 25 _seq_., 26, 28, 31
Tun-o-Tabbas, 26
Tun va Kain, 26
Tun t’ien, 112
Turfan, 44, 76, 92, 111
Turshiz, 30
=Tutia=, 30, 31
TU TSUNG, 114
Uighúr, 14, 19, 58, 63
ULUG BEG, 21
Ulug Mazar, 45
Ulug Ziārat, 45
_Ulus Arbaa_, 21
Urasa, 24
Urga, 51, 58, 62
Uriangkut, 61
Uryangkit, 61
Ushi, 49
Uzun Tati, 45
VACCA, Giovanni, 135, 136
VALENTYN, 25
Vardoj river, 37, 38
Victoria, Lake, 38, 39
VIJAYA BAHU IV., 111
Vijayanagar, 114
=Vines=, 75–76
VINSON, 86
VISCONTI, Tedaldo, 4
VISDELOU, 88
VISSIÈRE, 96, 97
Vochan, 34, 88
Vociam, 82
Vokhan, 36, 37, 38
Vughin, 96
Vuju, 96
Wakhan, 36–40
WALKENAER, 139
Wa lo sz’, 129
WANG CHU, 6, 7
WANG KIEN, 79
WAN LI, 73
_Wan nien tsao_, 25
Wan sui shan, 69
Warai, 36
=Weather Conjuring=, 63
WEI, 93
Wei, river, 57
_Wei Shu_, 122
WHIBLEY, Ch., 137
WIESNER, J., 72
=Wine=, 75–76, 119
Wok-k’an, 34
Wo tuan, 48
WRIGHT, T., 138
WU, 79
Wu chên, 96
Wu chiang, 96
WU HI, 79
Wu hwan, 55
WU KIAI, 79
WU KIËN-HWANG, 72
WU K’UNG, 37
WU LIN, 79
WYLIE, A., 72
Ya chou fu, 82
Yaci, 82
Yamān yār river, 40
Yang Chau, 7, 94, 99
Yangi Hisar, 39
Yang Kiang, 98
Yanju, 94
Yap Island, 31
Yarkand, 40, 42, 44
Yasin, 41, 42
=Ya tsui tan fan=, 124
=Ye-li-k’o-wen=, 62, 94
Yemen, 24,
Yen Chan hien, 91
YEN KWANG-TA, 96
YEN TEMUR, 130
Yen t’o man, 109
YE TSE-K’I, 75
Yezd, 5, 30
_Ying yai shêng lan_, 124, 125
_Yin shan cheng yao_, 75
Yin tu, 112
YISUN TIMUR, 88
Yi tsi nai, 55
_Yi wu chi_, 86
Yotkan, 44, 45
YOUNG, John, 133
YSEMAIN, 95
Y-SZ-MA-YIN, 95
YUAN, 71, 75, 93
_Yuan kien lei han_, 76
_Yüan shi_, 5, 7, 8, 32, 47, 56, 57, 61, 63, 69, 70, 81, 82, 84, 85,
92, 94, 95, 108, 119, 120, 129
Yueh Chi, 19, 41
_Yuen tien chang_, 94
Yu Ho, 93
YULE, Sir Henry, 7, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27,
28, 31, 32, 34, 35, 108, 115, 118, 142
Yung ch’ang, 82, 88, 89, 90, 103
Yung chia chong, 78
Yun Nan, 6, 68, 83, 86, 87, 95
=Yü shi ta fu=, 6
Yu t’ien, 45
Zaitun, 100
Zakhama Pass, 24
Zanghibar, 123
Zanzibar, 121
Zardandan, 68, 84, 85
Zarew, 13
Zebak, 38
Zenagan, 26
Zimmé, 87
ZOROASTER, 31
Transcriber’s Notes:
- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
- Text enclosed by pluses is in bold (+bold+).
- Text enclosed by equals is in blackletter (=blackletter=).
- Text enclosed by ‘|’ is emphasized normal font within an italicized
paragraph (|emphasized|).
- Blank pages have been removed.
- Redundant half-title pages have been removed.
- Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
- Names spelling, hyphenation, and diacritics are highly variable,
some were standardized when there seemed to be a clear choice.
- There are 3 types of footnotes:
- Normal, marked as ‘[1]’ and moved after the notes.
- Footnotes of footnotes, marked as ‘[A]’ and moved after the
normal footnotes.
- “Notes”, marked as ‘{1}, located and numbered as they are in the
book.
- Page and relative size information has been removed from
illustrations.
