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Title: The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1
Author: Polo, Marco, 1254-1324, Rustichello of Pisa
Language: English
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THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO
THE COMPLETE YULE-CORDIER EDITION
[Illustration: H. Yule]
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 I
_Containing the first volume of the 1903 edition_
DEDICATION.
TO THE MEMORY OF
SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON, BART., K.C.B., G.C.ST.A., G.C.ST.S.,
ETC.
THE PERFECT FRIEND
WHO FIRST BROUGHT HENRY YULE AND JOHN MURRAY TOGETHER
(HE ENTERED INTO REST, OCTOBER 22ND, 1871,)
AND TO THAT OF HIS MUCH LOVED NIECE,
HARRIET ISABELLA MURCHISON,
WIFE OF KENNETH ROBERT MURCHISON, D.L., J.P.,
(SHE ENTERED INTO REST, AUGUST 9TH, 1902,)
UNDER WHOSE EVER HOSPITABLE ROOF MANY OF THE PROOF
SHEETS OF THIS EDITION WERE READ BY ME,
I DEDICATE THESE VOLUMES FROM
THE OLD MURCHISON HOME,
IN THANKFUL REMEMBRANCE OF ALL I OWE TO
THE ABIDING AFFECTION, SYMPATHY, AND EXAMPLE OF BOTH.
TARADALE, AMY FRANCES YULE.
ROSS-SHIRE, SEPTEMBER 11TH, 1902.
SCOTLAND.
* * * *
Ed è da noi sì strano,
Che quando ne ragiono
I' non trovo nessuno,
Che l'abbia navicato,
* * * *
Le parti del Levante,
Là dove sono tante
Gemme di gran valute
E di molta salute:
E sono in quello giro
Balsamo, e ambra, e tiro,
E lo pepe, e lo legno
Aloe, ch' è sì degno,
E spigo, e cardamomo,
Giengiovo, e cennamomo;
E altre molte spezie,
Ciascuna in sua spezie,
E migliore, e più fina,
E sana in medicina.
Appresso in questo loco
Mise in assetto loco
Li tigri, e li grifoni,
Leofanti, e leoni
Cammelli, e dragomene,
Badalischi, e gene,
E pantere, e castoro,
Le formiche dell' oro,
E tanti altri animali,
Ch' io non so ben dir quail,
Che son sì divisati,
E sì dissomigliati
Di corpo e di fazione,
Di sì fera ragione,
E di sì strana taglia,
Ch'io non credo san faglia,
Ch' alcun uomo vivente
Potesse veramente
Per lingua, o per scritture
Recitar le figure
Delle bestie, e gli uccelli....
--From _Il Tesoretto di Ser Brunetto Latini_ (circa MDCCLX.).
(_Florence_, 1824, pp. 83 seqq.)
[Illustration]
[Greek:
Ándra moi hénnepe, Mousa, polýtropon, hòs mála pollà
Plágchthae . . . . . . .
Pollon d' anthrópon íden ástea kaì nóon égno].
_Odyssey_, I.
--"I AM BECOME A NAME;
FOR ALWAYS ROAMING WITH A HUNGRY HEART
MUCH HAVE I SEEN AND KNOWN; CITIES OF MEN,
AND MANNERS, CLIMATES, COUNCILS, GOVERNMENTS,
MYSELF NOT LEAST, BUT HONOURED OF THEM ALL."
TENNYSON.
"A SEDER CI PONEMMO IVI AMBODUI
VÔLTI A LEVANTE, OND' ERAVAM SALITI;
CHÈ SUOLE A RIGUARDAR GIOVARE ALTRUI."
DANTE, _Purgatory_, IV.
[Illustration: Messer Marco Polo, with Messer Nicolo and Messer Maffeo,
returned from xxvi years' sojourn in the Orient, is denied entrance to the
Ca' Polo. (See _Int._ p. 4)]
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
DEDICATION
NOTE BY MISS YULE
PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
ORIGINAL PREFACE
ORIGINAL DEDICATION
MEMOIR OF SIR HENRY YULE BY AMY FRANCES YULE, L.A.SOC. ANT. SCOT.
A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SIR HENRY YULE'S WRITINGS
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS
EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. I.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICES
THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO.
NOTE BY MISS YULE
I desire to take this opportunity of recording my grateful sense of the
unsparing labour, learning, and devotion, with which my father's valued
friend, Professor Henri Cordier, has performed the difficult and delicate
task which I entrusted to his loyal friendship.
Apart from Professor Cordier's very special qualifications for the work,
I feel sure that no other Editor could have been more entirely acceptable
to my father. I can give him no higher praise than to say that he has
laboured in Yule's own spirit.
The slight Memoir which I have contributed (for which I accept all
responsibility), attempts no more than a rough sketch of my father's
character and career, but it will, I hope, serve to recall pleasantly his
remarkable individuality to the few remaining who knew him in his prime,
whilst it may also afford some idea of the man, and his work and
environment, to those who had not that advantage.
No one can be more conscious than myself of its many shortcomings, which I
will not attempt to excuse. I can, however, honestly say that these have
not been due to negligence, but are rather the blemishes almost inseparable
from the fulfilment under the gloom of bereavement and amidst the pressure
of other duties, of a task undertaken in more favourable circumstances.
Nevertheless, in spite of all defects, I believe this sketch to be such
a record as my father would himself have approved, and I know also that he
would have chosen my hand to write it.
In conclusion, I may note that the first edition of this work was
dedicated to that very noble lady, the Queen (then Crown Princess)
Margherita of Italy. In the second edition the Dedication was reproduced
within brackets (as also the original preface), but not renewed. That
precedent is again followed.
I have, therefore, felt at liberty to associate the present edition of my
father's work with the Name MURCHISON, which for more than a generation
was the name most generally representative of British Science in Foreign
Lands, as of Foreign Science in Britain.
A. F. YULE.
PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION
Little did I think, some thirty years ago, when I received a copy of the
first edition of this grand work, that I should be one day entrusted with
the difficult but glorious task of supervising the third edition. When the
first edition of the _Book of Ser Marco Polo_ reached "Far Cathay," it
created quite a stir in the small circle of the learned foreigners, who
then resided there, and became a starting-point for many researches, of
which the results have been made use of partly in the second edition, and
partly in the present. The Archimandrite PALLADIUS and Dr. E.
BRETSCHNEIDER, at Peking, ALEX. WYLIE, at Shang-hai--friends of mine who
have, alas! passed away, with the exception of the Right Rev. Bishop G. E.
MOULE, of Hang-chau, the only survivor of this little group of
hard-working scholars,--were the first to explore the Chinese sources of
information which were to yield a rich harvest into their hands.
When I returned home from China in 1876, I was introduced to Colonel HENRY
YULE, at the India Office, by our common friend, Dr. REINHOLD ROST, and
from that time we met frequently and kept up a correspondence which
terminated only with the life of the great geographer, whose friend I had
become. A new edition of the travels of Friar Odoric of Pordenone, our
"mutual friend," in which Yule had taken the greatest interest, was
dedicated by me to his memory. I knew that Yule contemplated a third
edition of his _Marco Polo_, and all will regret that time was not allowed
to him to complete this labour of love, to see it published. If the duty
of bringing out the new edition of _Marco Polo_ has fallen on one who
considers himself but an unworthy successor of the first illustrious
commentator, it is fair to add that the work could not have been entrusted
to a more respectful disciple. Many of our tastes were similar; we had the
same desire to seek the truth, the same earnest wish to be exact, perhaps
the same sense of humour, and, what is necessary when writing on Marco
Polo, certainly the same love for Venice and its history. Not only am I,
with the late CHARLES SCHEFER, the founder and the editor of the _Recueil
de Voyages et de Documents pour servir à l'Histoire de la Géographie
depuis le XIII'e jusqu'à la fin du XVI'e siècle_, but I am also the
successor, at the Ecole des langues Orientales Vivantes, of G. PAUTHIER,
whose book on the Venetian Traveller is still valuable, so the mantle of
the last two editors fell upon my shoulders.
I therefore, gladly and thankfully, accepted Miss AMY FRANCIS YULE'S kind
proposal to undertake the editorship of the third edition of the _Book of
Ser Marco Polo_, and I wish to express here my gratitude to her for the
great honour she has thus done me.[1]
Unfortunately for his successor, Sir Henry Yule, evidently trusting to his
own good memory, left but few notes. These are contained in an interleaved
copy obligingly placed at my disposal by Miss Yule, but I luckily found
assistance from various other quarters. The following works have proved of
the greatest assistance to me:--The articles of General HOUTUM-SCHINDLER
in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, and the excellent books of
Lord CURZON and of Major P. MOLESWORTH SYKES on Persia, M. GRENARD'S
account of DUTREUIL DE RHINS' Mission to Central Asia, BRETSCHNEIDER'S and
PALLADIUS' remarkable papers on Mediaeval Travellers and Geography, and
above all, the valuable books of the Hon. W. W. ROCKHILL on Tibet and
Rubruck, to which the distinguished diplomatist, traveller, and scholar
kindly added a list of notes of the greatest importance to me, for which I
offer him my hearty thanks.
My thanks are also due to H.H. Prince ROLAND BONAPARTE, who kindly gave me
permission to reproduce some of the plates of his _Recueil de Documents de
l'Epoque Mongole_, to M. LÉOPOLD DELISLE, the learned Principal Librarian
of the Bibliothèque Nationale, who gave me the opportunity to study the
inventory made after the death of the Doge Marino Faliero, to the Count de
SEMALLÉ, formerly French Chargé d'Affaires at Peking, who gave me for
reproduction a number of photographs from his valuable personal
collection, and last, not least, my old friend Comm. NICOLÒ BAROZZI, who
continued to lend me the assistance which he had formerly rendered to Sir
Henry Yule at Venice.
Since the last edition was published, more than twenty-five years ago,
Persia has been more thoroughly studied; new routes have been explored in
Central Asia, Karakorum has been fully described, and Western and
South-Western China have been opened up to our knowledge in many
directions. The results of these investigations form the main features of
this new edition of _Marco Polo_. I have suppressed hardly any of Sir Henry
Yule's notes and altered but few, doing so only when the light of recent
information has proved him to be in error, but I have supplemented them by
what, I hope, will be found useful, new information.[2]
Before I take leave of the kind reader, I wish to thank sincerely Mr. JOHN
MURRAY for the courtesy and the care he has displayed while this edition
was going through the press.
HENRI CORDIER.
PARIS, _1st of October, 1902_.
[1] Miss Yule has written the Memoir of her father and the new Dedication.
[2] Paragraphs which have been altered are marked thus +; my own additions
are placed between brackets [ ].--H. C.
[Illustration:
"Now strike your Sailes yee jolly Mariners,
For we be come into a quiet Rode"....
--THE FAERIE QUEENE, I. xii. 42.]
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
The unexpected amount of favour bestowed on the former edition of this
Work has been a great encouragement to the Editor in preparing this second
one.
Not a few of the kind friends and correspondents who lent their aid before
have continued it to the present revision. The contributions of Mr. A.
WYLIE of Shang-hai, whether as regards the amount of labour which they
must have cost him, or the value of the result, demand above all others a
grateful record here. Nor can I omit to name again with hearty
acknowledgment Signor Comm. G. BERCHET of Venice, the Rev. Dr. CALDWELL,
Colonel (now Major-General) R. MACLAGAN, R.E., Mr. D. HANBURY, F.R.S., Mr.
EDWARD THOMAS, F.R.S. (Corresponding Member of the Institute), and Mr. R.
H. MAJOR.
But besides these old names, not a few new ones claim my thanks.
The Baron F. VON RICHTHOFEN, now President of the Geographical Society of
Berlin, a traveller who not only has trodden many hundreds of miles in the
footsteps of our Marco, but has perhaps travelled over more of the
Interior of China than Marco ever did, and who carried to that survey high
scientific accomplishments of which the Venetian had not even a
rudimentary conception, has spontaneously opened his bountiful stores of
new knowledge in my behalf. Mr. NEY ELIAS, who in 1872 traversed and
mapped a line of upwards of 2000 miles through the almost unknown tracts
of Western Mongolia, from the Gate in the Great Wall at Kalghan to the
Russian frontier in the Altai, has done likewise.[1] To the Rev. G. MOULE,
of the Church Mission at Hang-chau, I owe a mass of interesting matter
regarding that once great and splendid city, the KINSAY of our Traveller,
which has enabled me, I trust, to effect great improvement both in the
Notes and in the Map, which illustrate that subject. And to the Rev.
CARSTAIRS DOUGLAS, LL.D., of the English Presbyterian Mission at Amoy, I
am scarcely less indebted. The learned Professor BRUUN, of Odessa, whom I
never have seen, and have little likelihood of ever seeing in this world,
has aided me with zeal and cordiality like that of old friendship. To Mr.
ARTHUR BURNELL, Ph.D., of the Madras Civil Service, I am grateful for many
valuable notes bearing on these and other geographical studies, and
particularly for his generous communication of the drawing and photograph
of the ancient Cross at St. Thomas's Mount, long before any publication of
that subject was made on his own account. My brother officer, Major OLIVER
ST. JOHN, R.E., has favoured me with a variety of interesting remarks
regarding the Persian chapters, and has assisted me with new data, very
materially correcting the Itinerary Map in Kerman.
Mr. BLOCHMANN of the Calcutta Madrasa, Sir DOUGLAS FORSYTH, C.B., lately
Envoy to Kashgar, M. de MAS LATRIE, the Historian of Cyprus, Mr. ARTHUR
GROTE, Mr. EUGENE SCHUYLER of the U.S. Legation at St. Petersburg, Dr.
BUSHELL and Mr. W.F. MAYERS, of H.M.'s Legation at Peking, Mr. G. PHILLIPS
of Fuchau, Madame OLGA FEDTCHENKO, the widow of a great traveller too
early lost to the world, Colonel KEATINGE, V.C., C.S.I., Major-General
KEYES, C.B., Dr. GEORGE BIRDWOOD, Mr. BURGESS, of Bombay, my old and
valued friend Colonel W. H. GREATHED, C.B., and the Master of Mediaeval
Geography, M. D'AVEZAC himself, with others besides, have kindly lent
assistance of one kind or another, several of them spontaneously, and the
rest in prompt answer to my requests.
Having always attached much importance to the matter of illustrations,[2]
I feel greatly indebted to the liberal action of Mr. Murray in enabling me
largely to increase their number in this edition. Though many are
original, we have also borrowed a good many;[3] a proceeding which seems
to me entirely unobjectionable when the engravings are truly illustrative
of the text, and not hackneyed.
I regret the augmented bulk of the volumes. There has been some excision,
but the additions visibly and palpably preponderate. The truth is that
since the completion of the first edition, just four years ago, large
additions have been made to the stock of our knowledge bearing on the
subjects of this Book; and how these additions have continued to come in
up to the last moment, may be seen in Appendix L,[4] which has had to
undergo repeated interpolation after being put in type. KARAKORUM, for a
brief space the seat of the widest empire the world has known, has been
visited; the ruins of SHANG-TU, the "Xanadu of Cublay Khan," have been
explored; PAMIR and TANGUT have been penetrated from side to side; the
famous mountain Road of SHEN-SI has been traversed and described; the
mysterious CAINDU has been unveiled; the publication of my lamented friend
Lieutenant Garnier's great work on the French Exploration of Indo-China
has provided a mass of illustration of that YUN-NAN for which but the
other day Marco Polo was well-nigh the most recent authority. Nay, the
last two years have thrown a promise of light even on what seemed the
wildest of Marco's stories, and the bones of a veritable RUC from New
Zealand lie on the table of Professor Owen's Cabinet!
M. VIVIEN de St. MARTIN, during the interval of which we have been
speaking, has published a History of Geography. In treating of Marco Polo,
he alludes to the first edition of this work, most evidently with no
intention of disparagement, but speaks of it as merely a revision of
Marsden's Book. The last thing I should allow myself to do would be to
apply to a Geographer, whose works I hold in so much esteem, the
disrespectful definition which the adage quoted in my former Preface[5]
gives of the _vir qui docet quod non sapit_; but I feel bound to say that
on this occasion M. Vivien de St. Martin has permitted himself to
pronounce on a matter with which he had not made himself acquainted; for
the perusal of the very first lines of the Preface (I will say nothing of
the Book) would have shown him that such a notion was utterly unfounded.
In concluding these "forewords" I am probably taking leave of Marco
Polo,[6] the companion of many pleasant and some laborious hours, whilst I
have been contemplating with him ("_vôlti a levante_") that Orient in
which I also had spent years not a few.
* * * * *
And as the writer lingered over this conclusion, his thoughts wandered
back in reverie to those many venerable libraries in which he had formerly
made search for mediaeval copies of the Traveller's story; and it seemed
to him as if he sate in a recess of one of these with a manuscript before
him which had never till then been examined with any care, and which he
found with delight to contain passages that appear in no version of the
Book hitherto known. It was written in clear Gothic text, and in the Old
French tongue of the early 14th century. Was it possible that he had
lighted on the long-lost original of Ramusio's Version? No; it proved to
be different. Instead of the tedious story of the northern wars, which
occupies much of our Fourth Book, there were passages occurring in the
later history of Ser Marco, some years after his release from the Genoese
captivity. They appeared to contain strange anachronisms certainly; but we
have often had occasion to remark on puzzles in the chronology of Marco's
story![7] And in some respects they tended to justify our intimated
suspicion that he was a man of deeper feelings and wider sympathies than
the book of Rusticiano had allowed to appear.[8] Perhaps this time the
Traveller had found an amanuensis whose faculties had not been stiffened
by fifteen years of Malapaga?[9] One of the most important passages ran
thus:--
"Bien est voirs que, après ce que _Messires Marc Pol_ avoit pris fame et
si estoit demouré plusours ans de sa vie a _Venysse_, il avint que
mourut _Messires Mafés_ qui oncles _Monseignour Marc_ estoit: (et mourut
ausi ses granz chiens mastins qu'avoit amenei dou Catai,[10] et qui
avoit non _Bayan_ pour l'amour au bon chievetain _Bayan Cent-iex_);
adonc n'avoit oncques puis _Messires Marc_ nullui, fors son esclave
_Piere le Tartar_, avecques lequel pouvoit penre soulas à s'entretenir
de ses voiages et des choses dou Levant. Car la gent de _Venysse_ si
avoit de grant piesce moult anuy pris des loncs contes _Monseignour
Marc_; et quand ledit _Messires Marc_ issoit de l'uys sa meson ou Sain
Grisostome, souloient li petit marmot es voies dariere-li courir en
cryant _Messer Marco Miliòn! cont' a nu un busiòn!_ que veult dire en
François 'Messires Marcs des millions di-nous un de vos gros mensonges.'
En oultre, la Dame _Donate_ fame anuyouse estoit, et de trop estroit
esprit, et plainne de couvoitise.[11] Ansi avint que _Messires Marc_
desiroit es voiages rantrer durement.
"Si se partist de _Venisse_ et chevaucha aux parties d'occident. Et
demoura mainz jours es contrées de _Provence_ et de _France_ et puys
fist passaige aux Ysles de la tremontaingne et s'en retourna par _la
Magne_, si comme vous orrez cy-après. Et fist-il escripre son voiage
atout les devisements les contrées; mes de la France n'y parloit mie
grantment pour ce que maintes genz la scevent apertement. Et pour ce en
lairons atant, et commencerons d'autres choses, assavoir, de BRETAINGNE
LA GRANT."
_Cy devyse dou roiaume de Bretaingne la grant._
"Et sachiés que quand l'en se part de _Calés_, et l'en nage XX ou XXX
milles à trop grant mesaise, si treuve l'en une grandisme Ysle qui
s'apelle _Bretaingne la Grant_. Elle est à une grant royne et n'en fait
treuage à nulluy. Et ensevelissent lor mors, et ont monnoye de chartres
et d'or et d'argent, et ardent pierres noyres, et vivent de marchandises
et d'ars, et ont toutes choses de vivre en grant habondance mais non pas
à bon marchié. Et c'est une Ysle de trop grant richesce, et li marinier
de celle partie dient que c'est li plus riches royaumes qui soit ou
monde, et qu'il y a li mieudre marinier dou monde et li mieudre coursier
et li mieudre chevalier (ains ne chevauchent mais lonc com François).
Ausi ont-il trop bons homes d'armes et vaillans durement (bien que maint
n'y ait), et les dames et damoseles bonnes et loialles, et belles com
lys souef florant. Et quoi vous en diroie-je? Il y a citez et chasteau
assez, et tant de marchéanz et si riches qui font venir tant d'avoir-de-
poiz et de toute espece de marchandise qu'il n'est hons qui la verité en
sceust dire. Font venir _d'Ynde_ et d'autres parties coton a grant
planté, et font venir soye de _Manzi_ et de _Bangala_, et font venir
laine des ysles de la Mer Occeane et de toutes parties. Et si labourent
maintz bouquerans et touailles et autres draps de coton et de laine et
de soye. Encores sachiés que ont vaines d'acier assez, et si en
labourent trop soubtivement de tous hernois de chevalier, et de toutes
choses besoignables à ost; ce sont espées et glaive et esperon et heaume
et haches, et toute espèce d arteillerie et de coutelerie, et en font
grant gaaigne et grant marchandise. Et en font si grant habondance que
tout li mondes en y puet avoir et à bon marchié".
_Encores cy devise dou dyt roiaume, et de ce qu'en dist Messires
Marcs._
"Et sachiés que tient icelle Royne la seigneurie de _l'Ynde majeure_ et
de _Mutfili_ et de _Bangala_, et d'une moitié de _Mien_. Et moult est
saige et noble dame et pourvéans, si que est elle amée de chascun. Et
avoit jadis mari; et depuys qu'il mourut bien _XIV_ ans avoit; adonc la
royne sa fame l'ama tant que oncques puis ne se voult marier a nullui,
pour l'amour le prince son baron, ançois moult maine quoye vie. Et tient
son royaume ausi bien ou miex que oncques le tindrent li roy si aioul.
Mes ores en ce royaume li roy n'ont guieres pooir, ains la poissance
commence a trespasser à la menue gent Et distrent aucun marinier de
celes parties à _Monseignour Marc_ que hui-et-le jour li royaumes soit
auques abastardi come je vous diroy. Car bien est voirs que ci-arrières
estoit ciz pueple de _Bretaingne la Grant_ bonne et granz et loialle
gent qui servoit Diex moult volontiers selonc lor usaige; et tuit li
labour qu'il labouroient et portoient a vendre estoient honnestement
labouré, et dou greigneur vaillance, et chose pardurable; et se
vendoient à jouste pris sanz barguignier. En tant que se aucuns labours
portoit l'estanpille _Bretaingne la Grant_ c'estoit regardei com pleges
de bonne estoffe. Mes orendroit li labours n'est mie tousjourz si bons;
et quand l'en achate pour un quintal pesant de toiles de coton, adonc,
par trop souvent, si treuve l'en de chascun C pois de coton, bien XXX ou
XL pois de plastre de gifs, ou de blanc d'Espaigne, ou de choses
semblables. Et se l'en achate de cammeloz ou de tireteinne ou d'autre
dras de laine, cist ne durent mie, ains sont plain d'empoise, ou de glu
et de balieures.
"Et bien qu'il est voirs que chascuns hons egalement doit de son cors
servir son seigneur ou sa commune, pour aler en ost en tens de
besoingne; et bien que trestuit li autre royaume d'occident tieingnent
ce pour ordenance, ciz pueple de _Bretaingne la Grant_ n'en veult
nullement, ains si dient: 'Veez-là: n'avons nous pas la _Manche_ pour
fossé de nostre pourpris, et pourquoy nous penerons-nous pour nous faire
homes d'armes, en lessiant nos gaaignes et nos soulaz? Cela lairons aus
soudaiers.' Or li preudhome entre eulx moult scevent bien com tiex
paroles sont nyaises; mes si ont paour de lour en dire la verité pour ce
que cuident desplaire as bourjois et à la menue gent.
"Or je vous di sanz faille que, quand _Messires Marcs Pols_ sceust ces
choses, moult en ot pitié de cestui pueple, et il li vint à remembrance
ce que avenu estoit, ou tens _Monseignour Nicolas_ et _Monseignour
Mafé_, à l'ore quand _Alau_, frère charnel dou Grant Sire _Cublay_, ala
en ost seur _Baudas_, et print le _Calife_ et sa maistre cité, atout son
vaste tresor d'or et d'argent, et l'amère parolle que dist ledit Alau au
Calife, com l'a escripte li Maistres Rusticiens ou chief de cestui
livre.[12]
"Car sachiés tout voirement que _Messires Marc_ moult se deleitoit à
faire appert combien sont pareilles au font les condicions des diverses
regions dou monde, et soloit-il clorre son discours si disant en son
language de _Venisse: 'Sto mondo xe fato tondo_, com uzoit dire mes
oncles Mafés.'
"Ore vous lairons à conter de ceste matière et retournerons à parler de
la Loy des genz de _Bretaingne la Grant_.
_Cy devise des diverses créances de la gent Bretaingne la Grant et de
ce qu'en cuidoit Messires Marcs._
"Il est voirs que li pueples est Crestiens, mes non pour le plus selonc
la foy de l'Apostoille Rommain, ains tiennent le en mautalent assez.
Seulement il y en a aucun qui sont féoil du dit Apostoille et encore
plus forment que li nostre prudhome de _Venisse_. Car quand dit li
Papes: 'Telle ou telle chose est noyre,' toute ladite gent si en jure:
'Noyre est com poivre.' Et puis se dira li Papes de la dite chose: 'Elle
est blanche,' si en jurera toute ladite gent: 'Il est voirs qu'elle est
blanche; blanche est com noifs.' Et dist _Messires Marc Pol_: 'Nous
n'avons nullement tant de foy à _Venyse_, ne li prudhome de _Florence_
non plus, com l'en puet savoir bien apertement dou livre Monseignour
_Dantès Aldiguiere_, que j'ay congneu a _Padoe_ le meisme an que
Messires _Thibault de Cepoy_ à _Venisse_ estoit.[13] Mes c'est
joustement ce que j'ay veu autre foiz près le Grant _Bacsi_ qui est com
li Papes des Ydres.'
"Encore y a une autre manière de gent; ce sont de celz qui s'appellent
filsoufes;[14] et si il disent: 'S'il y a Diex n'en scavons nul, mes il
est voirs qu'il est une certeinne courance des choses laquex court
devers le bien.' Et fist _Messires Marcs_: 'Encore la créance des
_Bacsi_ qui dysent que n'y a ne Diex Eternel ne Juge des homes, ains il
est une certeinne chose laquex s'apelle _Kerma_.'[15]
"Une autre foiz avint que disoit un des filsoufes à _Monseignour Marc_:
'Diex n'existe mie jeusqu'ores, ainçois il se fait desorendroit.' Et
fist encore _Messires Marcs_: 'Veez-là, une autre foiz la créance des
ydres, car dient que li seuz Diex est icil hons qui par force de ses
vertuz et de son savoir tant pourchace que d'home il se face Diex
presentement. Et li Tartar l'appelent _Borcan_. Tiex Diex _Sagamoni
Borcan_ estoit, dou quel parle li livres Maistre _Rusticien_.'[16]
"Encore ont une autre manière de filsoufes, et dient-il: 'Il n'est mie
ne Diex ne _Kerma_ ne courance vers le bien, ne Providence, ne Créerres,
ne Sauvours, ne sainteté ne pechiés ne conscience de pechié, ne proyère
ne response à proyère, il n'est nulle riens fors que trop minime grain
ou paillettes qui ont à nom _atosmes_, et de tiex grains devient chose
qui vive, et chose qui vive devient une certeinne creature qui demoure
au rivaige de la Mer: et ceste creature devient poissons, et poissons
devient lezars, et lezars devient blayriaus, et blayriaus devient
gat-maimons, et gat-maimons devient hons sauvaiges qui menjue char
d'homes, et hons sauvaiges devient hons crestien.'
"Et dist _Messires Marc_: 'Encore une foiz, biaus sires, li _Bacsi_ de
_Tebet_ et de _Kescemir_ et li prestre de _Seilan_, qui si dient que
l'arme vivant doie trespasser par tous cez changes de vestemens; si com
se treuve escript ou livre _Maistre Rusticien_ que _Sagamoni Borcan_
mourut iiij vint et iiij foiz et tousjourz resuscita, et à chascune foiz
d'une diverse manière de beste, et à la derreniere foyz mourut hons et
devint diex, selonc ce qu'il dient.'[17] Et fist encore _Messires Marc_:
'A moy pert-il trop estrange chose se juesques à toutes les créances des
ydolastres deust dechéoir ceste grantz et saige nation. Ainsi peuent
jouer Misire li filsoufe atout lour propre perte, mes à l'ore quand tiex
fantaisies se respanderont es joenes bacheliers et parmy la menue gent,
celz averont pour toute Loy _manducemus et bibamus, cras enim moriemur_;
et trop isnellement l'en raccomencera la descente de l'eschiele, et
d'home crestien deviendra hons sauvaiges, et d'home sauvaige gat-
maimons, et de gat-maimon blayriaus.' Et fist encores _Messires Marc_:
'Maintes contrées et provinces et ysles et citéz je _Marc Pol_ ay veues
et de maintes genz de maintes manières ay les condicionz congneues, et
je croy bien que il est plus assez dedens l'univers que ce que li nostre
prestre n'y songent. Et puet bien estre, biaus sires, que li mondes n'a
estés creés à tous poinz com nous creiens, ains d'une sorte encore plus
merveillouse. Mes cil n'amenuise nullement nostre pensée de Diex et de
sa majesté, ains la fait greingnour. Et contrée n'ay veue ou Dame Diex
ne manifeste apertement les granz euvres de sa tout-poissante saigesse;
gent n'ay congneue esquiex ne se fait sentir li fardels de pechié, et la
besoingne de Phisicien des maladies de l'arme tiex com est nostre
Seignours Ihesus Crist, Beni soyt son Non. Pensez doncques à cel qu'a
dit uns de ses Apostres: _Nolite esse prudentes apud vosmet ipsos_; et
uns autres: _Quoniam multi pseudo-prophetae exierint_; et uns autres:
_Quod benient in nobissimis diebus illusores ... dicentes, Ubi est
promissio?_ et encores aus parolles que dist li Signours meismes: _Vide
ergo ne lumen quod in te est tenebrae sint_.
_Commant Messires Marcs se partist de l'ysle de Bretaingne et de la
proyère que fist_.
"Et pourquoy vous en feroie-je lonc conte? Si print nef _Messires Marcs_
et se partist en nageant vers la terre ferme. Or _Messires Marc Pol_
moult ama cel roiaume de _Bretaingne la grant_ pour son viex renon et
s'ancienne franchise, et pour sa saige et bonne Royne (que Diex gart),
et pour les mainz homes de vaillance et bons chaceours et les maintes
bonnes et honnestes dames qui y estoient. Et sachiés tout voirement que
en estant delez le bort la nef, et en esgardant aus roches blanches que
l'en par dariere-li lessoit, _Messires Marc_ prieoit Diex, et disoit-il:
'Ha Sires Diex ay merci de cestuy vieix et noble royaume; fay-en
pardurable forteresse de liberté et de joustice, et garde-le de tout
meschief de dedens et de dehors; donne à sa gent droit esprit pour ne
pas Diex guerroyer de ses dons, ne de richesce ne de savoir; et
conforte-les fermement en ta foy'...."
A loud _Amen_ seemed to peal from without, and the awakened reader started
to his feet. And lo! it was the thunder of the winter-storm crashing among
the many-tinted crags of Monte Pellegrino,--with the wind raging as it
knows how to rage here in sight of the Isles of Aeolus, and the rain
dashing on the glass as ruthlessly as it well could have done, if, instead
of Aeolic Isles and many-tinted crags, the window had fronted a dearer
shore beneath a northern sky, and looked across the grey Firth to the
rain-blurred outline of the Lomond Hills.
But I end, saying to Messer Marco's prayer, Amen.
PALERMO, _31st December, 1874_.
[1] It would be ingratitude if this Preface contained no acknowledgment of
the medals awarded to the writer, mainly for this work, by the Royal
Geographical Society, and by the Geographical Society of Italy, the
former under the Presidence of Sir Henry Rawlinson, the latter under
that of the Commendatore C. Negri. Strongly as I feel the too generous
appreciation of these labours implied in such awards, I confess to
have been yet more deeply touched and gratified by practical evidence
of the approval of the two distinguished Travellers mentioned above;
as shown by Baron von Richthofen in his spontaneous proposal to
publish a German version of the book under his own immediate
supervision (a project in abeyance, owing to circumstances beyond his
or my control); by Mr. Ney Elias in the fact of his having carried
these ponderous volumes with him on his solitary journey across the
Mongolian wilds!
[2] I am grateful to Mr. de Khanikoff for his especial recognition of
these in a kindly review of the first edition in the _Academy_.
[3] Especially from Lieutenant Garnier's book, mentioned further on; the
only existing source of illustration for many chapters of Polo.
[4] [Merged into the notes of the present edition.--H. C.]
[5] See page xxix.
[6] Writing in Italy, perhaps I ought to write, according to too prevalent
modern Italian custom, _Polo Marco_. I have already _seen_, and in the
work of a writer of reputation, the Alexandrian geographer styled
_Tolomeo Claudio!_ and if this preposterous fashion should continue to
spread, we shall in time have _Tasso Torquato_, _Jonson Ben_, Africa
explored by _Park Mungo_, Asia conquered by _Lane Tamer_, Copperfield
David by _Dickens Charles_, Homer Englished by _Pope Alexander_, and
the Roman history done into French from the original of _Live Tite_!
[7] Introduction p. 24, and _passim_ in the notes.
[8] Ibid., p. 112.
[9] See Introduction, pp. 51, 57.
[10] See Title of present volumes.
[11] Which quite agrees with the story of the document quoted at p. 77 of
Introduction.
[12] Vol. i. p. 64, and p. 67.
[13] I.e. 1306; see Introduction, pp. 68-69.
[14] The form which Marco gives to this word was probably a reminiscence
of the Oriental corruption _failsúf_. It recalls to my mind a Hindu
who was very fond of the word, and especially of applying it to
certain of his fellow-servants. But as he used it, _bara failsúf_,--
"great philosopher"--meant exactly the same as the modern slang
"_Artful Dodger_"!
[15] See for the explanation of _Karma_, "the power that controls the
universe," in the doctrine of atheistic Buddhism, Hardy's _Eastern
Monachism_, p. 5.
[16] Vol. ii. p. 316 (see also i. 348).
[17] Vol. ii. pp. 318-319.
ORIGINAL PREFACE.
The amount of appropriate material, and of acquaintance with the mediaeval
geography of some parts of Asia, which was acquired during the compilation
of a work of kindred character for the Hakluyt Society,[1] could hardly
fail to suggest as a fresh labour in the same field the preparation of
a new English edition of Marco Polo. Indeed one kindly critic (in the
_Examiner_) laid it upon the writer as a duty to undertake that task.
Though at least one respectable English edition has appeared since
Marsden's,[2] the latter has continued to be the standard edition, and
maintains not only its reputation but its market value. It is indeed the
work of a sagacious, learned, and right-minded man, which can never be
spoken of otherwise than with respect. But since Marsden published his
quarto (1818) vast stores of new knowledge have become available in
elucidation both of the contents of Marco Polo's book and of its literary
history. The works of writers such as Klaproth, Abel Rémusat, D'Avezac,
Reinaud, Quatremère, Julien, I. J. Schmidt, Gildemeister, Ritter,
Hammer-Purgstall, Erdmann, D'Ohsson, Defrémery, Elliot, Erskine, and many
more, which throw light directly or incidentally on Marco Polo, have, for
the most part, appeared since then. Nor, as regards the literary history of
the book, were any just views possible at a time when what may be called
the _Fontal_ MSS. (in French) were unpublished and unexamined.
Besides the works which have thus occasionally or incidentally thrown
light upon the Traveller's book, various editions of the book itself have
since Marsden's time been published in foreign countries, accompanied by
comments of more or less value. All have contributed something to the
illustration of the book or its history; the last and most learned of the
editors, M. Pauthier, has so contributed in large measure. I had occasion
some years ago[3] to speak freely my opinion of the merits and demerits of
M. Pauthier's work; and to the latter at least I have no desire to recur
here.
Another of his critics, a much more accomplished as well as more
favourable one,[4] seems to intimate the opinion that there would scarcely
be room in future for new commentaries. Something of the kind was said of
Marsden's at the time of its publication. I imagine, however, that whilst
our libraries endure the _Iliad_ will continue to find new translators,
and Marco Polo--though one hopes not so plentifully--new editors.
The justification of the book's existence must however be looked for, and
it is hoped may be found, in the book itself, and not in the Preface. The
work claims to be judged as a whole, but it may be allowable, in these
days of scanty leisure, to indicate below a few instances of what is
believed to be new matter in an edition of Marco Polo; by which however it
is by no means intended that all such matter is claimed by the editor as
his own.[5]
From the commencement of the work it was felt that the task was one which
no man, though he were far better equipped and much more conveniently
situated than the present writer, could satisfactorily accomplish from his
own resources, and help was sought on special points wherever it seemed
likely to be found. In scarcely any quarter was the application made in
vain. Some who have aided most materially are indeed very old and valued
friends; but to many others who have done the same the applicant was
unknown; and some of these again, with whom the editor began
correspondence on this subject as a stranger, he is happy to think that he
may now call friends.
To none am I more indebted than to the Comm. GUGLIELMO BERCHET, of Venice,
for his ample, accurate, and generous assistance in furnishing me with
Venetian documents, and in many other ways. Especial thanks are also due
to Dr. WILLIAM LOCKHART, who has supplied the materials for some of the
most valuable illustrations; to Lieutenant FRANCIS GARNIER, of the French
Navy. the gallant and accomplished leader (after the death of Captain
Doudart de la Grée) of the memorable expedition up the Mekong to Yun-nan;
to the Rev. Dr. CALDWELL, of the S.P.G. Mission in Tinnevelly, for copious
and valuable notes on Southern India; to my friends Colonel ROBERT
MACLAGAN, R.E., Sir ARTHUR PHAYRE, and Colonel HENRY MAN, for very
valuable notes and other aid; to Professor A. SCHIEFNER, of St.
Petersburg, for his courteous communication of very interesting
illustrations not otherwise accessible; to Major-General ALEXANDER
CUNNINGHAM, of my own corps, for several valuable letters; to my friends
Dr. THOMAS OLDHAM, Director of the Geological Survey of India, Mr. DANIEL
HANBURY, F.R.S., Mr. EDWARD THOMAS, Mr. JAMES FERGUSSON, F.R.S., Sir
BARTLE FRERE, and Dr. HUGH CLEGHORN, for constant interest in the work and
readiness to assist its progress; to Mr. A. WYLIE, the learned Agent of
the B. and F. Bible Society at Shang-hai, for valuable help; to the Hon.
G. P. MARSH, U.S. Minister at the Court of Italy, for untiring kindness in
the communication of his ample stores of knowledge, and of books. I have
also to express my obligations to Comm. NICOLÒ BAROZZI, Director of the
City Museum at Venice, and to Professor A. S. MINOTTO, of the same city;
to Professor ARMINIUS VÁMBÉRY, the eminent traveller; to Professor
FLÜCKIGER of Bern; to the Rev. H. A. JAESCHKE, of the Moravian Mission in
British Tibet; to Colonel LEWIS PELLY, British Resident in the Persian
Gulf; to Pandit MANPHUL, C.S.I. (for a most interesting communication on
Badakhshan); to my brother officer, Major T. G. MONTGOMERIE, R.E., of the
Indian Trigonometrical Survey; to Commendatore NEGRI the indefatigable
President of the Italian Geographical Society; to Dr. ZOTENBERG, of the
Great Paris Library, and to M. CH. MAUNOIR, Secretary-General of the
Société de Géographie; to Professor HENRY GIGLIOI, at Florence; to my old
friend Major-General ALBERT FYTCHE, Chief Commissioner of British Burma;
to DR. ROST and DR. FORBES-WATSON, of the India Office Library and Museum;
to Mr. R. H. MAJOR, and Mr. R. K. DOUGLAS, of the British Museum; to Mr.
N. B. DENNYS, of Hong-kong; and to Mr. C. GARDNER, of the Consular
Establishment in China. There are not a few others to whom my thanks are
equally due; but it is feared that the number of names already mentioned
may seem ridiculous, compared with the result, to those who do not
appreciate from how many quarters the facts needful for a work which in
its course intersects so many fields required to be collected, one by one.
I must not, however, omit acknowledgments to the present Earl of DERBY for
his courteous permission, when at the head of the Foreign Office, to
inspect Mr. Abbott's valuable unpublished Report upon some of the Interior
Provinces of Persia; and to Mr. T. T. COOPER, one of the most adventurous
travellers of modern times, for leave to quote some passages from his
unpublished diary.
PALERMO, _31st December, 1870_.
[_Original Dedication._]
TO
HER ROYAL HIGHNESS,
MARGHERITA,
_Princess of Piedmont_,
THIS ENDEAVOUR TO ILLUSTRATE THE LIFE AND WORK
OF A RENOWNED ITALIAN
IS
BY HER ROYAL HIGHNESS'S GRACIOUS PERMISSION
Dedicated
WITH THE DEEPEST RESPECT
BY
H. YULE.
[1] _Cathay and The Way Thither, being a Collection of Minor Medieval
Notices of China_. London, 1866. The necessities of the case have
required the repetition in the present work of the substance of some
notes already printed (but hardly published) in the other.
[2] Viz. Mr. Hugh Murray's. I mean no disrespect to Mr. T. Wright's
edition, but it is, and professes to be, scarcely other than
a reproduction of Marsden's, with abridgment of his notes.
[3] In the _Quarterly Review_ for July, 1868.
[4] M. Nicolas Khanikoff.
[5] In the Preliminary Notices will be found new matter on the Personal
and Family History of the Traveller, illustrated by Documents; and a
more elaborate attempt than I have seen elsewhere to classify and
account for the different texts of the work, and to trace their mutual
relation.
As regards geographical elucidations, I may point to the explanation
of the name _Gheluchelan_ (i. p. 58), to the discussion of the route
from Kerman to Hormuz, and the identification of the sites of Old
Hormuz, of _Cobinan_ and _Dogana_, the establishment of the position
and continued existence of _Keshm_, the note on _Pein_ and _Charchan_,
on _Gog_ and _Magog_, on the geography of the route from _Sindafu_ to
_Carajan_, on _Anin_ and _Coloman_, on _Mutafili_, _Cail_, and _Ely_.
As regards historical illustrations, I would cite the notes regarding
the Queens _Bolgana_ and _Cocachin_, on the _Karaunahs_, etc., on the
title of King of _Bengal_ applied to the K. of Burma, and those
bearing upon the Malay and Abyssinian chronologies.
In the interpretation of outlandish phrases, I may refer to the notes
on _Ondanique, Nono, Barguerlac, Argon, Sensin, Keshican, Toscaol,
Bularguchi, Gat-paul_, etc.
Among miscellaneous elucidations, to the disquisition on the _Arbre
Sol_ or _Sec_ in vol. i., and to that on Mediaeval Military Engines in
vol. ii.
In a variety of cases it has been necessary to refer to Eastern
languages for pertinent elucidations or etymologies. The editor would,
however, be sorry to fall under the ban of the mediaeval adage:
"_Vir qui docet quod non sapit
Definitur Bestia!_"
and may as well reprint here what was written in the Preface to
_Cathay_:
I am painfully sensible that in regard to many subjects dealt with in
the following pages, nothing can make up for the want of genuine
Oriental learning. A fair familiarity with Hindustani for many years,
and some reminiscences of elementary Persian, have been useful in
their degree; but it is probable that they may sometimes also have led
me astray, as such slender lights are apt to do.
TO HENRY YULE.
[Illustration]
Until you raised dead monarchs from the mould
And built again the domes of Xanadu,
I lay in evil case, and never knew
The glamour of that ancient story told
By good Ser Marco in his prison-hold.
But now I sit upon a throne and view
The Orient at my feet, and take of you
And Marco tribute from the realms of old.
If I am joyous, deem me not o'er bold;
If I am grateful, deem me not untrue;
For you have given me beauties to behold,
Delight to win, and fancies to pursue,
Fairer than all the jewelry and gold
Of Kublaï on his throne in Cambalu.
E. C. BABER.
_20th July, 1884._
MEMOIR OF SIR HENRY YULE.
Henry Yule was the youngest son of Major William Yule, by his first wife,
Elizabeth Paterson, and was born at Inveresk, in Midlothian, on 1st May,
1820. He was named after an _aunt_ who, like Miss Ferrier's immortal
heroine, owned a man's name.
On his father's side he came of a hardy agricultural stock,[1] improved by
a graft from that highly-cultured tree, Rose of Kilravock.[2] Through his
mother, a somewhat prosaic person herself, he inherited strains from
Huguenot and Highland ancestry. There were recognisable traces of all
these elements in Henry Yule, and as was well said by one of his oldest
friends: "He was one of those curious racial compounds one finds on the
east side of Scotland, in whom the hard Teutonic grit is sweetened by the
artistic spirit of the more genial Celt."[3] His father, an officer of the
Bengal army (born 1764, died 1839), was a man of cultivated tastes and
enlightened mind, a good Persian and Arabic scholar, and possessed of much
miscellaneous Oriental learning. During the latter years of his career in
India, he served successively as Assistant Resident at the (then
independent) courts of Lucknow[4] and Delhi. In the latter office his
chief was the noble Ouchterlony. William Yule, together with his younger
brother Udny,[5] returned home in 1806. "A recollection of their voyage
was that they hailed an outward bound ship, somewhere off the Cape,
through the trumpet: 'What news?' Answer: 'The King's mad, and Humfrey's
beat Mendoza' (two celebrated prize-fighters and often matched). 'Nothing
more?' 'Yes, Bonapart_y_'s made his _Mother_ King of Holland!'
"Before his retirement, William Yule was offered the Lieut.-Governorship
of St. Helena. Two of the detailed privileges of the office were residence
at Longwood (afterwards the house of Napoleon), and the use of a certain
number of the Company's slaves. Major Yule, who was a strong supporter of
the anti-slavery cause till its triumph in 1834, often recalled both of
these offers with amusement."[6]
William Yule was a man of generous chivalrous nature, who took large views
of life, apt to be unfairly stigmatised as Radical in the narrow Tory
reaction that prevailed in Scotland during the early years of the 19th
century.[7] Devoid of literary ambition, he wrote much for his private
pleasure, and his knowledge and library (rich in Persian and Arabic MSS.)
were always placed freely at the service of his friends and
correspondents, some of whom, such as Major C. Stewart and Mr. William
Erskine, were more given to publication than himself. He never travelled
without a little 8vo MS. of Hafiz, which often lay under his pillow. Major
Yule's only printed work was a lithographed edition of the _Apothegms_ of
'Ali, the son of Abu Talib, in the Arabic, with an old Persian version and
an English translation interpolated by himself. "This was privately issued
in 1832, when the Duchesse d'Angoulême was living at Edinburgh, and the
little work was inscribed to her, with whom an accident of neighbourhood
and her kindness to the Major's youngest child had brought him into
relations of goodwill."[8]
Henry Yule's childhood was mainly spent at Inveresk. He used to say that
his earliest recollection was sitting with the little cousin, who long
after became his wife, on the doorstep of her father's house in George
Street, Edinburgh (now the Northern Club), listening to the performance of
a passing piper. There was another episode which he recalled with humorous
satisfaction. Fired by his father's tales of the jungle, Yule (then about
six years old) proceeded to improvise an elephant pit in the back garden,
only too successfully, for soon, with mingled terror and delight, he saw
his uncle John[9] fall headlong into the snare. He lost his mother before
he was eight, and almost his only remembrance of her was the circumstance
of her having given him a little lantern to light him home on winter
nights from his first school. On Sundays it was the Major's custom to lend
his children, as a picture-book, a folio Arabic translation of the Four
Gospels, printed at Rome in 1591, which contained excellent illustrations
from Italian originals.[10] Of the pictures in this volume Yule seems
never to have tired. The last page bore a MS. note in Latin to the effect
that the volume had been read in the Chaldaean Desert by _Georgius
Strachanus, Milnensis, Scotus_, who long remained unidentified, not to say
mythical, in Yule's mind. But George Strachan never passed from his
memory, and having ultimately run him to earth, Yule, sixty years later,
published the results in an interesting article.[11]
Two or three years after his wife's death, Major Yule removed to
Edinburgh, and established himself in Regent's Terrace, on the face of the
Calton Hill.[12] This continued to be Yule's home until his father's
death, shortly before he went to India. "Here he learned to love the wide
scenes of sea and land spread out around that hill--a love he never lost,
at home or far away. And long years after, with beautiful Sicilian hills
before him and a lovely sea, he writes words of fond recollection of the
bleak Fife hills, and the grey Firth of Forth."[13]
Yule now followed his elder brother, Robert, to the famous High School,
and in the summer holidays the two made expeditions to the West Highlands,
the Lakes of Cumberland, and elsewhere. Major Yule chose his boys to have
every reasonable indulgence and advantage, and when the British
Association, in 1834, held its first Edinburgh meeting, Henry received a
member's ticket. So, too, when the passing of the Reform Bill was
celebrated in the same year by a great banquet, at which Lord Grey and
other prominent politicians were present, Henry was sent to the dinner,
probably the youngest guest there.[14]
At this time the intention was that Henry should go to Cambridge (where
his name was, indeed, entered), and after taking his degree study for the
Bar. With this view he was, in 1833, sent to Waith, near Ripon, to be
coached by the Rev. H. P. Hamilton, author of a well-known treatise, _On
Conic Sections_, and afterwards Dean of Salisbury. At his tutor's
hospitable rectory Yule met many notabilities of the day. One of them was
Professor Sedgwick.
There was rumoured at this time the discovery of the first known (?)
fossil monkey, but its tail was missing. "Depend upon it, Daniel
O'Conell's got hold of it!" said 'Adam' briskly.[15] Yule was very happy
with Mr. Hamilton and his kind wife, but on his tutor's removal to
Cambridge other arrangements became necessary, and in 1835 he was
transferred to the care of the Rev. James Challis, rector of Papworth St.
Everard, a place which "had little to recommend it except a dulness which
made reading almost a necessity."[16] Mr. Challis had at this time two
other resident pupils, who both, in most diverse ways, attained
distinction in the Church. These were John Mason Neale, the future eminent
ecclesiologist and founder of the devoted Anglican Sisterhood of St.
Margaret, and Harvey Goodwin, long afterwards the studious and
large-minded Bishop of Carlisle. With the latter, Yule remained on terms of
cordial friendship to the end of his life. Looking back through more than
fifty years to these boyish days, Bishop Goodwin wrote that Yule then
"showed much more liking for Greek plays and for German than for
mathematics, though he had considerable geometrical ingenuity."[17] On one
occasion, having solved a problem that puzzled Goodwin, Yule thus
discriminated the attainments of the three pupils: "The difference between
you and me is this: You like it and can't do it; I don't like it and can do
it. Neale neither likes it nor can do it." Not bad criticism for a boy of
fifteen.[18]
On Mr. Challis being appointed Plumerian Professor at Cambridge, in the
spring of 1836, Yule had to leave him, owing to want of room at the
Observatory, and he became for a time, a most dreary time, he said,
a student at University College, London.
By this time Yule had made up his mind that not London and the Law, but
India and the Army should be his choice, and accordingly in Feb. 1837 he
joined the East India Company's Military College at Addiscombe. From
Addiscombe he passed out, in December 1838, at the head of the cadets of
his term (taking the prize sword[19]), and having been duly appointed to
the Bengal Engineers, proceeded early in 1839 to the Headquarters of the
Royal Engineers at Chatham, where, according to custom, he was enrolled as
a "local and temporary Ensign." For such was then the invidious
designation at Chatham of the young Engineer officers of the Indian army,
who ranked as full lieutenants in their own Service, from the time of
leaving Addiscombe.[20] Yule once audaciously tackled the formidable
Pasley on this very grievance. The venerable Director, after a minute's
pondering, replied: "Well, I don't remember what the reason was, but I
have _no_ doubt (_staccato_) it ... was ... a very ... _good_ reason."[21]
"When Yule appeared among us at Chatham in 1839," said his friend
Collinson, "he at once took a prominent place in our little Society by his
slightly advanced age [he was then 18-1/2], but more by his strong
character.... His earlier education ... gave him a better classical
knowledge than most of us possessed; then he had the reserve and
self-possession characteristic of his race; but though he took small part
in the games and other recreations of our time, his knowledge, his native
humour, and his good comradeship, and especially his strong sense of right
and wrong, made him both admired and respected.... Yule was not a
scientific engineer, though he had a good general knowledge of the
different branches of his profession; his natural capacity lay rather in
varied knowledge, combined with a strong understanding and an excellent
memory, and also a peculiar power as a draughtsman, which proved of great
value in after life.... Those were nearly the last days of the old
_régime_, of the orthodox double sap and cylindrical pontoons, when
Pasley's genius had been leading to new ideas, and when Lintorn Simmons'
power, G. Leach's energy, W. Jervois' skill, and R. Tylden's talent were
developing under the wise example of Henry Harness."[22]
In the Royal Engineer mess of those days (the present anteroom), the
portrait of Henry Yule now faces that of his first chief, Sir Henry
Harness. General Collinson said that the pictures appeared to eye each
other as if the subjects were continuing one of those friendly disputes in
which they so often engaged.[23]
It was in this room that Yule, Becher, Collinson, and other young R.E.'s,
profiting by the temporary absence of the austere Colonel Pasley, acted
some plays, including _Pizarro_. Yule bore the humble part of one of the
Peruvian Mob in this performance, of which he has left a droll
account.[24]
On the completion of his year at Chatham, Yule prepared to sail for India,
but first went to take leave of his relative, General White. An accident
prolonged his stay, and before he left he had proposed to and been refused
by his cousin Annie. This occurrence, his first check, seems to have cast
rather a gloom over his start for India. He went by the then newly-opened
Overland Route, visiting Portugal, stopping at Gibraltar to see his
cousin, Major (afterwards General) Patrick Yule, R.E.[25] He was under
orders "to stop at Aden (then recently acquired), to report on the water
supply, and to deliver a set of meteorological and magnetic instruments
for starting an observatory there. The overland journey then really meant
so; tramping across the desert to Suez with camels and Arabs, a proceeding
not conducive to the preservation of delicate instruments; and on arriving
at Aden he found that the intended observer was dead, the observatory not
commenced, and the instruments all broken. There was thus nothing left for
him but to go on at once" to Calcutta,[26] where he arrived at the end of
1840.
His first service lay in the then wild Khasia Hills, whither he was
detached for the purpose of devising means for the transport of the local
coal to the plains. In spite of the depressing character of the climate
(Cherrapunjee boasts the highest rainfall on record), Yule thoroughly
enjoyed himself, and always looked back with special pleasure on the time
he spent here. He was unsuccessful in the object of his mission, the
obstacles to cheap transport offered by the dense forests and mighty
precipices proving insurmountable, but he gathered a wealth of interesting
observations on the country and people, a very primitive Mongolian race,
which he subsequently embodied in two excellent and most interesting
papers (the first he ever published).[27]
In the following year, 1842, Yule was transferred to the irrigation canals
of the north-west with head-quarters at Kurnaul. Here he had for chief
Captain (afterwards General Sir William) Baker, who became his dearest and
most steadfast friend. Early in 1843 Yule had his first experience of
field service. The death without heir of the Khytul Rajah, followed by the
refusal of his family to surrender the place to the native troops sent to
receive it, obliged Government to send a larger force against it, and the
canal officers were ordered to join this. Yule was detailed to serve under
Captain Robert Napier (afterwards F.-M. Lord Napier of Magdala). Their
immediate duty was to mark out the route for a night march of the troops,
barring access to all side roads, and neither officer having then had any
experience of war, they performed the duty "with all the elaborate care of
novices." Suddenly there was an alarm, a light detected, and a night
attack awaited, when the danger resolved itself into Clerk Sahib's
_khansamah_ with welcome hot coffee![28] Their hopes were disappointed,
there was no fighting, and the Fort of Khytul was found deserted by the
enemy. It "was a strange scene of confusion--all the paraphernalia and
accumulation of odds and ends of a wealthy native family lying about and
inviting loot. I remember one beautiful crutch-stick of ebony with two
rams' heads in jade. I took it and sent it in to the political authority,
intending to buy it when sold. There was a sale, but my stick never
appeared. Somebody had a more developed taste in jade.... Amid the general
rummage that was going on, an officer of British Infantry had been put
over a part of the palace supposed to contain treasure, and they--officers
and all--were helping themselves. Henry Lawrence was one of the politicals
under George Clerk. When the news of this affair came to him I was
present. It was in a white marble loggia in the palace, where was a white
marble chair or throne on a basement. Lawrence was sitting on this throne
in great excitement. He wore an Afghan _choga_, a sort of dressing-gown
garment, and this, and his thin locks, and thin beard were streaming in
the wind. He always dwells in my memory as a sort of pythoness on her
tripod under the afflatus."[29]
During his Indian service, Yule had renewed and continued by letters his
suit to Miss White, and persistency prevailing at last, he soon after the
conclusion of the Khytul affair applied for leave to go home to be
married. He sailed from Bombay in May, 1843, and in September of the same
year was married, at Bath, to the gifted and large-hearted woman who, to
the end, remained the strongest and happiest influence in his life.[30]
Yule sailed for India with his wife in November 1843. The next two years
were employed chiefly in irrigation work, and do not call for special
note. They were very happy years, except in the one circumstance that the
climate having seriously affected his wife's health, and she having been
brought to death's door, partly by illness, but still more by the drastic
medical treatment of those days, she was imperatively ordered back to
England by the doctors, who forbade her return to India.
Having seen her on board ship, Yule returned to duty on the canals. The
close of that year, December, 1845, brought some variety to his work, as
the outbreak of the first Sikh War called nearly all the canal officers
into the field. "They went up to the front by long marches, passing
through no stations, and quite unable to obtain any news of what had
occurred, though on the 21st December the guns of Ferozshah were
distinctly heard in their camp at Pehoa, at a distance of 115 miles
south-east from the field, and some days later they came successively on
the fields of Moodkee and of Ferozshah itself, with all the recent traces
of battle. When the party of irrigation officers reached head-quarters, the
arrangements for attacking the Sikh army in its entrenchments at Sobraon
were beginning (though suspended till weeks later for the arrival of the
tardy siege guns), and the opposed forces were lying in sight of each
other."[31]
Yule's share in this campaign was limited to the sufficiently arduous task
of bridging the Sutlej for the advance of the British army. It is
characteristic of the man that for this reason he always abstained from
wearing his medal for the Sutlej campaign.
His elder brother, Robert Yule, then in the 16th Lancers, took part in
that magnificent charge of his regiment at the battle of Aliwal (Jan. 28,
1846) which the Great Duke is said to have pronounced unsurpassed in
history. From particulars gleaned from his brother and others present in
the action, Henry Yule prepared a spirited sketch of the episode, which
was afterwards published as a coloured lithograph by M'Lean (Haymarket).
At the close of the war, Yule succeeded his friend Strachey as Executive
Engineer of the northern division of the Ganges Canal, with his
head-quarters at Roorkee, "the division which, being nearest the hills and
crossed by intermittent torrents of great breadth and great volume when in
flood, includes the most important and interesting engineering works."[32]
At Roorkee were the extensive engineering workshops connected with the
canal. Yule soon became so accustomed to the din as to be undisturbed by
the noise, but the unpunctuality and carelessness of the native workmen
sorely tried his patience, of which Nature had endowed him with but a
small reserve. Vexed with himself for letting temper so often get the
better of him, Yule's conscientious mind devised a characteristic remedy.
Each time that he lost his temper, he transferred a fine of two rupees
(then about five shillings) from his right to his left pocket. When about
to leave Roorkee, he devoted this accumulation of self-imposed fines to
the erection of a sun-dial, to teach the natives the value of time. The
late Sir James Caird, who told this legend of Roorkee as he heard it there
in 1880, used to add, with a humorous twinkle of his kindly eyes, "It was
a _very_ handsome dial."[33]
From September, 1845, to March, 1847, Yule was much occupied
intermittently, in addition to his professional work, by service on a
Committee appointed by Government "to investigate the causes of the
unhealthiness which has existed at Kurnal, and other portions of the
country along the line of the Delhi Canal," and further, to report
"whether an injurious effect on the health of the people of the Doab is,
or is not, likely to be produced by the contemplated Ganges Canal."
"A very elaborate investigation was made by the Committee, directed
principally to ascertaining what relation subsisted between certain
physical conditions of the different districts, and the liability of their
inhabitants to miasmatic fevers." The principal conclusion of the
Committee was, "that in the extensive epidemic of 1843, when Kurnaul
suffered so seriously ... the greater part of the evils observed had not
been the necessary and unavoidable results of canal irrigation, but were
due to interference with the natural drainage of the country, to the
saturation of stiff and retentive soils, and to natural disadvantages of
site, enhanced by excess of moisture. As regarded the Ganges Canal, they
were of opinion that, with due attention to drainage, improvement rather
than injury to the general health might be expected to follow the
introduction of canal irrigation."[34] In an unpublished note written
about 1889, Yule records his ultimate opinion as follows: "At this day,
and after the large experience afforded by the Ganges Canal, I feel sure
that a verdict so favourable to the sanitary results of canal irrigation
would not be given." Still the fact remains that the Ganges Canal has been
the source of unspeakable blessings to an immense population.
The Second Sikh War saw Yule again with the army in the field, and on 13th
Jan. 1849, he was present at the dismal 'Victory' of Chillianwallah, of
which his most vivid recollection seemed to be the sudden apparition of
Henry Lawrence, fresh from London, but still clad in the legendary Afghan
cloak.
On the conclusion of the Punjab campaign, Yule, whose health had suffered,
took furlough and went home to his wife. For the next three years they
resided chiefly in Scotland, though paying occasional visits to the
Continent, and about 1850 Yule bought a house in Edinburgh. There he wrote
"The African Squadron vindicated" (a pamphlet which was afterwards
re-published in French), translated Schiller's _Kampf mit dem Drachen_ into
English verse, delivered Lectures on Fortification at the, now long
defunct, Scottish Naval and Military Academy, wrote on Tibet for his friend
Blackwood's Magazine, attended the 1850 Edinburgh Meeting of the British
Association, wrote his excellent lines, "On the Loss of the _Birkenhead_,"
and commenced his first serious study of Marco Polo (by whose wondrous
tale, however, he had already been captivated as a boy in his father's
library--in Marsden's edition probably). But the most noteworthy literary
result of these happy years was that really fascinating volume, entitled
_Fortification for Officers of the Army and Students of Military History_,
a work that has remained unique of its kind. This was published by
Blackwood in 1851, and seven years later received the honour of
(unauthorised) translation into French. Yule also occupied himself a good
deal at this time with the practice of photography, a pursuit to which he
never after reverted.
In the spring of 1852, Yule made an interesting little semi-professional
tour in company with a brother officer, his accomplished friend, Major R.
B. Smith. Beginning with Kelso, "the only one of the Teviotdale Abbeys
which I had not as yet seen," they made their way leisurely through the
north of England, examining with impartial care abbeys and cathedrals,
factories, brick-yards, foundries, timber-yards, docks, and railway works.
On this occasion Yule, contrary to his custom, kept a journal, and a few
excerpts may be given here, as affording some notion of his casual talk to
those who did not know him.
At Berwick-on-Tweed he notes the old ramparts of the town: "These, erected
in Elizabeth's time, are interesting as being, I believe, the only
existing sample in England of the bastioned system of the 16th century....
The outline of the works seems perfect enough, though both earth and stone
work are in great disrepair. The bastions are large with obtuse angles,
square orillons, and double flanks originally casemated, and most of them
crowned with cavaliers." On the way to Durham, "much amused by the
discussions of two passengers, one a smooth-spoken, semi-clerical looking
person; the other a brusque well-to-do attorney with a Northumbrian burr.
Subject, among others, Protection. The Attorney all for 'cheap bread'--
'You wouldn't rob the poor man of his loaf,' and so forth. 'You must go
with the _stgheam_, sir, you must go with the stgheam.' 'I never did, Mr
Thompson, and I never will,' said the other in an oily manner, singularly
inconsistent with the sentiment." At Durham they dined with a dignitary of
the Church, and Yule was roasted by being placed with his back to an
enormous fire. "Coals are cheap at Durham," he notes feelingly, adding,
"The party we found as heavy as any Edinburgh one. Smith, indeed,
evidently has had little experience of really stupid Edinburgh parties,
for he had never met with anything approaching to this before." (Happy
Smith!) But thanks to the kindness and hospitality of the astronomer, Mr.
Chevalier, and his gifted daughter, they had a delightful visit to
beautiful Durham, and came away full of admiration for the (then newly
established) University, and its grand _locale_. They went on to stay with
an uncle by marriage of Yule's, in Yorkshire. At dinner he was asked by
his host to explain Foucault's pendulum experiment. "I endeavoured to
explain it somewhat, I hope, to the satisfaction of his doubts, but not at
all to that of Mr. G. M., who most resolutely declined to take in _any_
elucidation, coming at last to the conclusion that he entirely differed
with me as to what North meant, and that it was useless to argue until we
could agree about that!" They went next to Leeds, to visit Kirkstall
Abbey, "a mediaeval fossil, curiously embedded among the squalid brickwork
and chimney stalks of a manufacturing suburb. Having established ourselves
at the hotel, we went to deliver a letter to Mr. Hope, the official
assignee, a very handsome, aristocratic-looking gentleman, who seemed as
much out of place at Leeds as the Abbey." At Leeds they visited the flax
mills of Messrs. Marshall, "a firm noted for the conscientious care they
take of their workpeople.... We mounted on the roof of the building, which
is covered with grass, and formerly was actually grazed by a few sheep,
until the repeated inconvenience of their tumbling through the glass domes
put a stop to this." They next visited some tile and brickworks on land
belonging to a friend. "The owner of the tile works, a well-to-do burgher,
and the apparent model of a West Riding Radical, received us in rather a
dubious way: 'There are a many people has come and brought introductions,
and looked at all my works, and then gone and set up for themselves close
by. Now des you mean to say that you be really come all the way from
Beng_u_l?' 'Yes, indeed we have, and we are going all the way back again,
though we didn't exactly come from there to look at your brickworks.'
'Then you're not in the brick-making line, are you?' 'Why we've had a good
deal to do with making bricks, and may have again; but we'll engage that
if we set up for ourselves, it shall be ten thousand miles from you.' This
seemed in some degree to set his mind at rest...."
"A dismal day, with occasional showers, prevented our seeing Sheffield to
advantage. On the whole, however, it is more cheerful and has more of a
country-town look than Leeds--a place utterly without beauty of aspect. At
Leeds you have vast barrack-like factories, with their usual suburbs of
squalid rows of brick cottages, and everywhere the tall spiracles of the
steam, which seems the pervading power of the place. Everything there is
machinery--the machine is the intelligent agent, it would seem, the man
its slave, standing by to tend it and pick up a broken thread now and
then. At Sheffield ... you might go through most of the streets without
knowing anything of the kind was going on. And steam here, instead of
being a ruler, is a drudge, turning a grindstone or rolling out a bar of
steel, but all the accuracy and skill of hand is the Man's. And
consequently there was, we thought, a healthier aspect about the men
engaged. None of the Rodgers remain who founded the firm in my father's
time. I saw some pairs of his scissors in the show-room still kept under
the name of _Persian_ scissors."[35]
From Sheffield Yule and his friend proceeded to Boston, "where there is
the most exquisite church tower I have ever seen," and thence to Lincoln,
Peterborough, and Ely, ending their tour at Cambridge, where Yule spent
a few delightful days.
In the autumn the great Duke of Wellington died, and Yule witnessed the
historic pageant of his funeral. His furlough was now nearly expired, and
early in December he again embarked for India, leaving his wife and only
child, of a few weeks old, behind him. Some verses dated "Christmas Day
near the Equator," show how much he felt the separation.
Shortly after his return to Bengal, Yule received orders to proceed to
Aracan, and to examine and report upon the passes between Aracan and
Burma, as also to improve communications and select suitable sites for
fortified posts to hold the same. These orders came to Yule quite
unexpectedly late one Saturday evening, but he completed all preparations
and started at daybreak on the following Monday, 24th Jan. 1853.
From Calcutta to Khyook Phyoo, Yule proceeded by steamer, and thence up
the river in the _Tickler_ gunboat to Krenggyuen. "Our course lay through
a wilderness of wooded islands (50 to 200 feet high) and bays, sailing
when we could, anchoring when neither wind nor tide served ... slow
progress up the river. More and more like the creeks and lagoons of the
Niger or a Guiana river rather than anything I looked for in India. The
densest tree jungle covers the shore down into the water. For miles no
sign of human habitation, but now and then at rare intervals one sees a
patch of hillside rudely cleared, with the bare stems of the burnt trees
still standing.... Sometimes, too, a dark tunnel-like creek runs back
beneath the thick vault of jungle, and from it silently steals out a slim
canoe, manned by two or three wild-looking Mugs or Kyens (people of the
Hills), driving it rapidly along with their short paddles held vertically,
exactly like those of the Red men on the American rivers."
At the military post of Bokhyong, near Krenggyuen, he notes (5th Feb.)
that "Captain Munro, the adjutant, can scarcely believe that I was present
at the Duke of Wellington's funeral, of which he read but a few days ago
in the newspapers, and here am I, one of the spectators, a guest in this
wild spot among the mountains--2-1/2 months since I left England."
Yule's journal of his arduous wanderings in these border wilds is full of
interest, but want of space forbids further quotation. From a note on the
fly-leaf it appears that from the time of quitting the gun-boat at
Krenggyuen to his arrival at Toungoop he covered about 240 miles on foot,
and that under immense difficulties, even as to food. He commemorated his
tribulations in some cheery humorous verse, but ultimately fell seriously
ill of the local fever, aided doubtless by previous exposure and
privation. His servants successively fell ill, some died and others had to
be sent back, food supplies failed, and the route through those dense
forests was uncertain; yet under all difficulties he seems never to have
grumbled or lost heart. And when things were nearly at the worst, Yule
restored the spirits of his local escort by improvising a wappenshaw, with
a Sheffield gardener's knife, which he happened to have with him, for
prize! When at last Yule emerged from the wilds and on 25th March marched
into Prome, he was taken for his own ghost! "Found Fraser (of the
Engineers) in a rambling phoongyee house, just under the great gilt
pagoda. I went up to him announcing myself, and his astonishment was so
great that he would scarcely shake hands!" It was on this occasion at
Prome that Yule first met his future chief Captain Phayre--"a very
young-looking man--very cordial," a description no less applicable to
General Sir Arthur Phayre at the age of seventy!
After some further wanderings, Yule embarked at Sandong, and returned by
water, touching at Kyook Phyoo and Akyab, to Calcutta, which he reached on
1st May--his birthday.
The next four months were spent in hard work at Calcutta. In August, Yule
received orders to proceed to Singapore, and embarked on the 29th. His
duty was to report on the defences of the Straits Settlements, with a view
to their improvement. Yule's recommendations were sanctioned by
Government, but his journal bears witness to the prevalence then, as
since, of the penny-wise-pound-foolish system in our administration. On
all sides he was met by difficulties in obtaining sites for batteries,
etc., for which heavy compensation was demanded, when by the exercise of
reasonable foresight, the same might have been secured earlier at a
nominal price.
Yule's journal contains a very bright and pleasing picture of Singapore,
where he found that the majority of the European population "were
evidently, from their tongues, from benorth the Tweed, a circumstance
which seems to be true of four-fifths of the Singaporeans. Indeed, if I
taught geography, I should be inclined to class Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Dundee, and Singapore together as the four chief towns of Scotland."
Work on the defences kept Yule in Singapore and its neighbourhood until
the end of November, when he embarked for Bengal. On his return to
Calcutta, Yule was appointed Deputy Consulting Engineer for Railways at
Head-quarters. In this post he had for chief his old friend Baker, who had
in 1851 been appointed by the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, Consulting
Engineer for Railways to Government. The office owed its existence to the
recently initiated great experiment of railway construction under
Government guarantee.
The subject was new to Yule, "and therefore called for hard and anxious
labour. He, however, turned his strong sense and unbiased view to the
general question of railway communication in India, with the result that
he became a vigorous supporter of the idea of narrow gauge and cheap lines
in the parts of that country outside of the main trunk lines of
traffic."[36]
The influence of Yule, and that of his intimate friends and ultimate
successors in office, Colonels R. Strachey and Dickens, led to the
adoption of the narrow (metre) gauge over a great part of India. Of this
matter more will be said further on; it is sufficient at this stage to
note that it was occupying Yule's thoughts, and that he had already taken
up the position in this question that he thereafter maintained through
life. The office of Consulting Engineer to Government for Railways
ultimately developed into the great Department of Public Works.
As related by Yule, whilst Baker "held this appointment, Lord Dalhousie
was in the habit of making use of his advice in a great variety of matters
connected with Public Works projects and questions, but which had nothing
to do with guaranteed railways, there being at that time no officer
attached to the Government of India, whose proper duty it was to deal with
such questions. In August, 1854, the Government of India sent home to the
Court of Directors a despatch and a series of minutes by the
Governor-General and his Council, in which the constitution of the Public
Works Department as a separate branch of administration, both in the local
governments and the government of India itself, was urged on a detailed
plan."
In this communication Lord Dalhousie stated his desire to appoint Major
Baker to the projected office of Secretary for the Department of Public
Works. In the spring of 1855 these recommendations were carried out by the
creation of the Department, with Baker as Secretary and Yule as Under
Secretary for Public Works.
Meanwhile Yule's services were called to a very different field, but
without his vacating his new appointment, which he was allowed to retain.
Not long after the conclusion of the second Burmese War, the King of Burma
sent a friendly mission to the Governor-General, and in 1855 a return
Embassy was despatched to the Court of Ava, under Colonel Arthur Phayre,
with Henry Yule as Secretary, an appointment the latter owed as much to
Lord Dalhousie's personal wish as to Phayre's good-will. The result of
this employment was Yule's first geographical book, a large volume
entitled _Mission to the Court of Ava in 1855_, originally printed in
India, but subsequently re-issued in an embellished form at home (see over
leaf). To the end of his life, Yule looked back to this "social progress
up the Irawady, with its many quaint and pleasant memories, as to a bright
and joyous holiday."[37] It was a delight to him to work under Phayre,
whose noble and lovable character he had already learned to appreciate two
years before in Pegu. Then, too, Yule has spoken of the intense relief it
was to escape from the monotonous scenery and depressing conditions of
official life in Bengal (Resort to Simla was the exception, not the rule,
in these days!) to the cheerfulness and unconstraint of Burma, with its
fine landscapes and merry-hearted population. "It was such a relief to
find natives who would laugh at a joke," he once remarked in the writer's
presence to the lamented E. C. Baber, who replied that he had experienced
exactly the same sense of relief in passing from India to China.
Yule's work on Burma was largely illustrated by his own sketches. One of
these represents the King's reception of the Embassy, and another, the
King on his throne. The originals were executed by Yule's ready pencil,
surreptitiously within his cocked hat, during the audience.
From the latter sketch Yule had a small oil-painting executed under his
direction by a German artist, then resident in Calcutta, which he gave to
Lord Dalhousie.[38]
The Government of India marked their approval of the Embassy by an unusual
concession. Each of the members of the mission received a souvenir of the
expedition. To Yule was given a very beautiful and elaborately chased
small bowl, of nearly pure gold, bearing the signs of the Zodiac in
relief.[39]
On his return to Calcutta, Yule threw himself heart and soul into the work
of his new appointment in the Public Works Department. The nature of his
work, the novelty and variety of the projects and problems with which this
new branch of the service had to deal, brought Yule into constant, and
eventually very intimate association with Lord Dalhousie, whom he
accompanied on some of his tours of inspection. The two men thoroughly
appreciated each other, and, from first to last, Yule experienced the
greatest kindness from Lord Dalhousie. In this intimacy, no doubt the fact
of being what French soldiers call _pays_ added something to the warmth of
their mutual regard: their forefathers came from the same _airt_, and
neither was unmindful of the circumstance. It is much to be regretted that
Yule preserved no sketch of Lord Dalhousie, nor written record of his
intercourse with him, but the following lines show some part of what he
thought:
"At this time [1849] there appears upon the scene that vigorous and
masterful spirit, whose arrival to take up the government of India had
been greeted by events so inauspicious. No doubt from the beginning the
Governor-General was desirous to let it be understood that although new to
India he was, and meant to be, master;... Lord Dalhousie was by no means
averse to frank dissent, provided _in the manner_ it was never forgotten
that he was Governor-General. Like his great predecessor Lord Wellesley,
he was jealous of all familiarity and resented it.... The general
sentiment of those who worked under that [Greek: ánax andron] was one of
strong and admiring affection ... and we doubt if a Governor-General ever
embarked on the Hoogly amid deeper feeling than attended him who,
shattered by sorrow and physical suffering, but erect and undaunted,
quitted Calcutta on the 6th March 1856."[40]
His successor was Lord Canning, whose confidence in Yule and personal
regard for him became as marked as his predecessor's.
In the autumn of 1856, Yule took leave and came home. Much of his time
while in England was occupied with making arrangements for the production
of an improved edition of his book on Burma, which so far had been a mere
government report. These were completed to his satisfaction, and on the
eve of returning to India, he wrote to his publishers[41] that the
correction of the proof sheets and general supervision of the publication
had been undertaken by his friend the Rev. W. D. Maclagan, formerly an
officer of the Madras army (and now Archbishop of York).
Whilst in England, Yule had renewed his intimacy with his old friend
Colonel Robert Napier, then also on furlough, a visitor whose kindly
sympathetic presence always brought special pleasure also to Yule's wife
and child. One result of this intercourse was that the friends decided to
return together to India. Accordingly they sailed from Marseilles towards
the end of April, and at Aden were met by the astounding news of the
outbreak of the Mutiny.
On his arrival in Calcutta Yule, who retained his appointment of Under
Secretary to Government, found his work indefinitely increased. Every
available officer was called into the field, and Yule's principal centre
of activity was shifted to the great fortress of Allahabad, forming the
principal base of operations against the rebels. Not only had he to
strengthen or create defences at Allahabad and elsewhere, but on Yule
devolved the principal burden of improvising accommodation for the
European troops then pouring into India, which ultimately meant providing
for an army of 100,000 men. His task was made the more difficult by the
long-standing chronic friction, then and long after, existing between the
officers of the Queen's and the Company's services. But in a far more
important matter he was always fortunate. As he subsequently recorded in a
Note for Government: "Through all consciousness of mistakes and
shortcomings, I have felt that I had the confidence of those whom I
served, a feeling which has lightened many a weight."
It was at Allahabad that Yule, in the intervals of more serious work, put
the last touches to his Burma book. The preface of the English edition is
dated, "Fortress of Allahabad, Oct. 3, 1857," and contains a passage
instinct with the emotions of the time. After recalling the "joyous
holiday" on the Irawady, he goes on: "But for ourselves, standing here on
the margin of these rivers, which a few weeks ago were red with the blood
of our murdered brothers and sisters, and straining the ear to catch the
echo of our avenging artillery, it is difficult to turn the mind to what
seem dreams of past days of peace and security; and memory itself grows
dim in the attempt to repass the gulf which the last few months has
interposed between the present and the time to which this narrative
refers."[42]
When he wrote these lines, the first relief had just taken place, and the
second defence of Lucknow was beginning. The end of the month saw Sir
Colin Campbell's advance to the second--the real--relief of Lucknow. Of
Sir Colin, Yule wrote and spoke with warm regard: "Sir Colin was
delightful, and when in a good humour and at his best, always reminded me
very much, both in manner and talk, of the General (i.e. General White,
his wife's father). The voice was just the same and the quiet gentle
manner, with its underlying keen dry humour. But then if you did happen to
offend Sir Colin, it was like treading on crackers, which was not our
General's way."
When Lucknow had been relieved, besieged, reduced, and finally remodelled
by the grand Roads and Demolitions Scheme of his friend Napier, the latter
came down to Allahabad, and he and Yule sought diversion in playing quoits
and skittles, the only occasion on which either of them is known to have
evinced any liking for games.
Before this time Yule had succeeded his friend Baker as _de facto_
Secretary to Government for Public Works, and on Baker's retirement in
1858, Yule was formally appointed his successor.[43] Baker and Yule had,
throughout their association, worked in perfect unison, and the very
differences in their characters enhanced the value of their co-operation;
the special qualities of each friend mutually strengthened and completed
each other. Yule's was by far the more original and creative mind, Baker's
the more precise and, at least in a professional sense, the more
highly-trained organ. In chivalrous sense of honour, devotion to duty, and
natural generosity, the men stood equal; but while Yule was by nature
impatient and irritable, and liable, until long past middle age, to
occasional sudden bursts of uncontrollable anger, generally followed by
periods of black depression and almost absolute silence,[44] Baker was the
very reverse. Partly by natural temperament, but also certainly by severe
self-discipline, his manner was invincibly placid and his temper
imperturbable.[45] Yet none was more tenacious in maintaining whatever he
judged right.
Baker, whilst large-minded in great matters, was extremely conventional in
small ones, and Yule must sometimes have tried his feelings in this
respect. The particulars of one such tragic occurrence have survived.
Yule, who was colour-blind,[46] and in early life whimsically obstinate in
maintaining his own view of colours, had selected some cloth for trousers
undeterred by his tailor's timid remonstrance of "Not _quite_ your usual
taste, sir." The result was that the Under-Secretary to Government
startled official Calcutta by appearing in brilliant claret-coloured
raiment. Baker remonstrated: "Claret-colour! Nonsense, my trousers are
silver grey," said Yule, and entirely declined to be convinced. "I think I
_did_ convince him at last," said Baker with some pride, when long after
telling the story to the present writer. "And _then_ he gave them up?"
"Oh, no," said Sir William ruefully, "he wore those claret-coloured
trousers to the very end." That episode probably belonged to the Dalhousie
period.
When Yule resumed work in the Secretariat at Calcutta at the close of the
Mutiny, the inevitable arrears of work were enormous. This may be the
proper place to notice more fully his action with respect to the choice of
gauge for Indian railways already adverted to in brief. As we have seen,
his own convictions led to the adoption of the metre gauge over a great
part of India. This policy had great disadvantages not at first foreseen,
and has since been greatly modified. In justice to Yule, however, it
should be remembered that the conditions and requirements of India have
largely altered, alike through the extraordinary growth of the Indian
export, especially the grain, trade, and the development of new
necessities for Imperial defence. These new features, however, did but
accentuate defects inherent in the system, but which only prolonged
practical experience made fully apparent.
At the outset the supporters of the narrow gauge seemed to have the
stronger position, as they were able to show that the cost was much less,
the rails employed being only about 2/3rds the weight of those required by
the broad gauge, and many other subsidiary expenses also proportionally
less. On the other hand, as time passed and practical experience was
gained, its opponents were able to make an even stronger case against the
narrow gauge. The initial expenses were undoubtedly less, but the
durability was also less. Thus much of the original saving was lost in the
greater cost of maintenance, whilst the small carrying capacity of the
rolling stock and loss of time and labour in shifting goods at every break
of gauge, were further serious causes of waste, which the internal
commercial development of India daily made more apparent. Strategic needs
also were clamant against the dangers of the narrow gauge in any general
scheme of Indian defence. Yule's connection with the Public Works
Department had long ceased ere the question of the gauges reached its most
acute stage, but his interest and indirect participation in the conflict
survived. In this matter a certain parental tenderness for a scheme which
he had helped to originate, combined with his warm friendship for some of
the principal supporters of the narrow gauge, seem to have influenced his
views more than he himself was aware. Certainly his judgment in this
matter was not impartial, although, as always in his case, it was
absolutely sincere and not consciously biased.
In reference to Yule's services in the period following the Mutiny, Lord
Canning's subsequent Minute of 1862 may here be fitly quoted. In this the
Governor-General writes: "I have long ago recorded my opinion of the value
of his services in 1858 and 1859, when with a crippled and overtaxed staff
of Engineer officers, many of them young and inexperienced, the G.-G. had
to provide rapidly for the accommodation of a vast English army, often in
districts hitherto little known, and in which the authority of the
Government was barely established, and always under circumstances of
difficulty and urgency. I desire to repeat that the Queen's army in India
was then greatly indebted to Lieut.-Colonel Yule's judgment, earnestness,
and ability; and this to an extent very imperfectly understood by many of
the officers who held commands in that army.
"Of the manner in which the more usual duties of his office have been
discharged it is unnecessary for me to speak. It is, I believe, known and
appreciated as well by the Home Government as by the Governor-General in
Council."
In the spring of 1859 Yule felt the urgent need of a rest, and took the,
at that time, most unusual step of coming home on three months' leave,
which as the voyage then occupied a month each way, left him only one
month at home. He was accompanied by his elder brother George, who had not
been out of India for thirty years. The visit home of the two brothers was
as bright and pleasant as it was brief, but does not call for further
notice.
In 1860, Yule's health having again suffered, he took short leave to Java.
His journal of this tour is very interesting, but space does not admit of
quotation here. He embodied some of the results of his observations in a
lecture he delivered on his return to Calcutta.
During these latter years of his service in India, Yule owed much
happiness to the appreciative friendship of Lord Canning and the ready
sympathy of Lady Canning. If he shared their tours in an official
capacity, the intercourse was much more than official. The noble character
of Lady Canning won from Yule such wholehearted chivalrous devotion as,
probably, he felt for no other friend save, perhaps in after days, Sir
Bartle Frere. And when her health failed, it was to Yule's special care
that Lord Canning entrusted his wife during a tour in the Hills. Lady
Canning was known to be very homesick, and one day as the party came in
sight of some ilexes (the evergreen oak), Yule sought to cheer her by
calling out pleasantly: "Look, Lady Canning! There are _oaks_!" "No, no,
Yule, _not_ oaks," cried Sir C. B. "They are (solemnly) IBEXES." "No,
_not_ Ibexes, Sir C., you mean SILEXES," cried Capt. ----, the A.D.C.;
Lady Canning and Yule the while almost choking with laughter.
On another and later occasion, when the Governor-General's camp was
peculiarly dull and stagnant, every one yawning and grumbling, Yule
effected a temporary diversion by pretending to tap the telegraph wires,
and circulating through camp, what purported to be, the usual telegraphic
abstract of news brought to Bombay by the latest English mail. The news
was of the most astounding character, with just enough air of probability,
in minor details, to pass muster with a dull reader. The effect was all he
could wish--or rather more--and there was a general flutter in the camp.
Of course the Governor-General and one or two others were in the secret,
and mightily relished the diversion. But this pleasant and cheering
intercourse was drawing to its mournful close. On her way back from
Darjeeling, in November, 1861, Lady Canning (not then in Yule's care) was
unavoidably exposed to the malaria of a specially unhealthy season. A few
days' illness followed, and on 18th November, 1861, she passed calmly to
"That remaining rest where night and tears are o'er."[47]
It was to Yule that Lord Canning turned in the first anguish of his loss,
and on this faithful friend devolved the sad privilege of preparing her
last resting-place. This may be told in the touching words of Lord
Canning's letter to his only sister, written on the day of Lady Canning's
burial, in the private garden at Barrackpoor[48]:--
"The funeral is over, and my own darling lies buried in a spot which I am
sure she would have chosen of all others.... From the grave can be seen
the embanked walk leading from the house to the river's edge, which she
made as a landing-place three years ago, and from within 3 or 4 paces of
the grave there is a glimpse of the terrace-garden and its balustrades,
which she made near the house, and of the part of the grounds with which
she most occupied herself.... I left Calcutta yesterday ... and on
arriving here, went to look at the precise spot chosen for the grave. I
could see by the clear full moon ... that it was exactly right. Yule was
there superintending the workmen, and before daylight this morning a solid
masonry vault had been completely finished.
"Bowie [Military Secretary] and Yule have done all this for me. It has all
been settled since my poor darling died. She liked Yule. They used to
discuss together her projects of improvement for this place, architecture,
gardening, the Cawnpore monument, etc., and they generally agreed. He knew
her tastes well...."
The coffin, brought on a gun-carriage from Calcutta, "was carried by
twelve soldiers of the 6th Regiment (Queen's), the A.D.C.'s bearing the
pall. There were no hired men or ordinary funeral attendants of any kind
at any part of the ceremony, and no lookers-on.... Yule was the only
person not of the household staff. Had others who had asked" to attend
"been allowed to do so, the numbers would have been far too large.
"On coming near the end of the terrace walk I saw that the turf between
the walk and the grave, and for several yards all round the grave, was
strewed thick with palm branches and bright fresh-gathered flowers--quite
a thick carpet. It was a little matter, but so exactly what she would have
thought of."[49]
And, therefore, Yule thought of this for her! He also recorded the scene
two days later in some graceful and touching lines, privately printed,
from which the following may be quoted:
"When night lowered black, and the circling shroud
Of storm rolled near, and stout hearts learned dismay;
Not Hers! To her tried Lord a Light and Stay
Even in the Earthquake and the palpable cloud
Of those dark months; and when a fickle crowd
Panted for blood and pelted wrath and scorn
On him she loved, her courage never stooped:
But when the clouds were driven, and the day
Poured Hope and glorious Sunshine, she who had borne,
The night with such strong Heart, withered and drooped,
Our queenly lily, and smiling passed away.
Now! let no fouling touch profane her clay,
Nor odious pomps and funeral tinsels mar
Our grief. But from our England's cannon car
Let England's soldiers bear her to the tomb
Prepared by loving hands. Before her bier
Scatter victorious palms; let Rose's bloom
Carpet its passage...."
Yule's deep sympathy in this time of sorrow strengthened the friendship
Lord Canning had long felt for him, and when the time approached for the
Governor-General to vacate his high office, he invited Yule, who was very
weary of India, to accompany him home, where his influence would secure
Yule congenial employment. Yule's weariness of India at this time was
extreme. Moreover, after serving under such leaders as Lord Dalhousie and
Lord Canning, and winning their full confidence and friendship, it was
almost repugnant to him to begin afresh with new men and probably new
measures, with which he might not be in accord. Indeed, some little clouds
were already visible on the horizon. In these circumstances, it is not
surprising that Yule, under an impulse of lassitude and impatience, when
accepting Lord Canning's offer, also 'burnt his boats' by sending in his
resignation of the service. This decision Yule took against the earnest
advice of his anxious and devoted wife, and for a time the results
justified all her misgivings. She knew well, from past experience, how
soon Yule wearied in the absence of compulsory employment. And in the
event of the life in England not suiting him, for even Lord Canning's
good-will might not secure perfectly congenial employment for his talents,
she knew well that his health and spirits would be seriously affected.
She, therefore, with affectionate solicitude, urged that he should adopt
the course previously followed by his friend Baker, that is, come home on
furlough, and only send in his resignation after he saw clearly what his
prospects of home employment were, and what he himself wished in the
matter.
Lord Canning and Yule left Calcutta late in March, 1862; at Malta they
parted never to meet again in this world. Lord Canning proceeded to
England, and Yule joined his wife and child in Rome. Only a few weeks
later, at Florence, came as a thunderclap the announcement of Lord
Canning's unexpected death in London, on 17th June. Well does the present
writer remember the day that fatal news came, and Yule's deep anguish, not
assuredly for the loss of his prospects, but for the loss of a most noble
and magnanimous friend, a statesman whose true greatness was, both then
and since, most imperfectly realised by the country for which he had worn
himself out.[50] Shortly after Yule went to England,[51] where he was
cordially received by Lord Canning's representatives, who gave him a
touching remembrance of his lost friend, in the shape of the silver
travelling candlesticks, which had habitually stood on Lord Canning's
writing-table.[52] But his offer to write Lord Canning's _Life_ had no
result, as the relatives, following the then recent example of the
Hastings family, in the case of another great Governor-General, refused to
revive discussion by the publication of any Memoir.
Nor did Yule find any suitable opening for employment in England, so after
two or three months spent in visiting old friends, he rejoined his family
in the Black Forest, where he sought occupation in renewing his knowledge
of German. But it must be confessed that his mood both then and for long
after was neither happy nor wholesome. The winter of 1862 was spent
somewhat listlessly, partly in Germany and partly at the Hôtel des
Bergues, Geneva, where his old acquaintance Colonel Tronchin was
hospitably ready to open all doors. The picturesque figure of John Ruskin
also flits across the scene at this time. But Yule was unoccupied and
restless, and could neither enjoy Mr. Ruskin's criticism of his sketches
nor the kindly hospitality of his Genevan hosts. Early in 1863 he made
another fruitless visit to London, where he remained four or five months,
but found no opening. Though unproductive of work, this year brought Yule
official recognition of his services in the shape of the C.B., for which
Lord Canning had long before recommended him.[53]
On rejoining his wife and child at Mornex in Savoy, Yule found the health
of the former seriously impaired. During his absence, the kind and able
English Doctor at Geneva had felt obliged to inform Mrs. Yule that she was
suffering from disease of the heart, and that her life might end suddenly
at any moment. Unwilling to add to Yule's anxieties, she made all
necessary arrangements, but did not communicate this intelligence until he
had done all he wished and returned, when she broke it to him very gently.
Up to this year Mrs. Yule, though not strong and often ailing, had not
allowed herself to be considered an invalid, but from this date doctor's
orders left her no choice in the matter.[54]
About this time, Yule took in hand the first of his studies of mediaeval
travellers. His translation of the _Travels of Friar Jordanus_ was
probably commenced earlier; it was completed during the leisurely journey
by carriage between Chambéry and Turin, and the Dedication to Sir Bartle
Frere written during a brief halt at Genoa, from which place it is dated.
Travelling slowly and pleasantly by _vetturino_ along the Riviera di
Levante, the family came to Spezzia, then little more than a quiet
village. A chance encounter with agreeable residents disposed Yule
favourably towards the place, and a few days later he opened negotiations
for land to build a house! Most fortunately for himself and all concerned
these fell through, and the family continued their journey to Tuscany, and
settled for the winter in a long rambling house, with pleasant garden, at
Pisa, where Yule was able to continue with advantage his researches into
mediaeval travel in the East. He paid frequent visits to Florence, where
he had many pleasant acquaintances, not least among them Charles Lever
("Harry Lorrequer"), with whom acquaintance ripened into warm and enduring
friendship. At Florence he also made the acquaintance of the celebrated
Marchese Gino Capponi, and of many other Italian men of letters. To this
winter of 1863-64 belongs also the commencement of a lasting friendship
with the illustrious Italian historian, Villari, at that time holding an
appointment at Pisa. Another agreeable acquaintance, though less intimate,
was formed with John Ball, the well-known President of the Alpine Club,
then resident at Pisa, and with many others, among whom the name of a very
cultivated German scholar, H. Meyer, specially recurs to memory.
In the spring of 1864, Yule took a spacious and delightful old villa,
situated in the highest part of the Bagni di Lucca,[55] and commanding
lovely views over the surrounding chestnut-clad hills and winding river.
Here he wrote much of what ultimately took form in _Cathay, and the Way
Thither_. It was this summer, too, that Yule commenced his investigations
among the Venetian archives, and also visited the province of Friuli in
pursuit of materials for the history of one of his old travellers, the
_Beato Odorico_. At Verona--then still Austrian--he had the amusing
experience of being arrested for sketching too near the fortifications.
However, his captors had all the usual Austrian _bonhomie_ and courtesy,
and Yule experienced no real inconvenience. He was much more disturbed
when, a day or two later, the old mother of one of his Venetian
acquaintances insisted on embracing him on account of his supposed
likeness to Garibaldi!
As winter approached, a warmer climate became necessary for Mrs. Yule, and
the family proceeded to Sicily, landing at Messina in October, 1864. From
this point, Yule made a very interesting excursion to the then little
known group of the Lipari Islands, in the company of that eminent
geologist, the late Robert Mallet, F.R.S., a most agreeable companion.
On Martinmas Day, the Yules reached the beautiful capital of Sicily,
Palermo, which, though they knew it not, was to be their home--a very
happy one--for nearly eleven years.
During the ensuing winter and spring, Yule continued the preparation of
_Cathay_, but his appetite for work not being satisfied by this, he, when
in London in 1865, volunteered to make an Index to the third decade of the
_Journal of the Royal Geographical Society_, in exchange for a set of such
volumes as he did not possess. That was long before any Index Society
existed; but Yule had special and very strong views of his own as to what
an Index should be, and he spared no labour to realise his ideal.[56] This
proved a heavier task than he had anticipated, and he got very weary
before the Index was completed.
In the spring of 1866, _Cathay and the Way Thither_ appeared, and at once
took the high place which it has ever since retained. In the autumn of the
same year Yule's attention was momentarily turned in a very different
direction by a local insurrection, followed by severe reprisals, and the
bombardment of Palermo by the Italian Fleet. His sick wife was for some
time under rifle as well as shell fire; but cheerfully remarking that
"every bullet has its billet," she remained perfectly serene and
undisturbed. It was the year of the last war with Austria, and also of the
suppression of the Monastic Orders in Sicily; two events which probably
helped to produce the outbreak, of which Yule contributed an account to
_The Times_, and subsequently a more detailed one to the _Quarterly
Review_.[57]
Yule had no more predilection for the Monastic Orders than most of his
countrymen, but his sense of justice was shocked by the cruel incidence of
the measure in many cases, and also by the harshness with which both it
and the punishment of suspected insurgents was carried out. Cholera was
prevalent in Italy that year, but Sicily, which had maintained stringent
quarantine, entirely escaped until large bodies of troops were landed to
quell the insurrection, when a devastating epidemic immediately ensued,
and re-appeared in 1867. In after years, when serving on the Army Sanitary
Committee at the India Office, Yule more than once quoted this experience
as indicating that quarantine restrictions may, in some cases, have more
value than British medical authority is usually willing to admit.
In 1867, on his return from London, Yule commenced systematic work on his
long projected new edition of the _Travels of Marco Polo_. It was
apparently in this year that the scheme first took definite form, but it
had long been latent in his mind. The Public Libraries of Palermo afforded
him much good material, whilst occasional visits to the Libraries of
Venice, Florence, Paris, and London, opened other sources. But his most
important channel of supply came from his very extensive private
correspondence, extending to nearly all parts of Europe and many centres
in Asia. His work brought him many new and valued friends, indeed too many
to mention, but amongst whom, as belonging specially to this period, three
honoured names must be recalled here: Commendatore (afterwards Baron)
CRISTOFORO NEGRI, the large-hearted Founder and First President of the
Geographical Society of Italy, from whom Yule received his first public
recognition as a geographer, Commendatore GUGLIELMO BERCHET
(affectionately nicknamed _il Bello e Buono_), ever generous in learned
help, who became a most dear and honoured friend, and the Hon. GEORGE P.
MARSH, U.S. Envoy to the Court of Italy, a man, both as scholar and
friend, unequalled in his nation, perhaps almost unique anywhere.
Those who only knew Yule in later years, may like some account of his
daily life at this time. It was his custom to rise fairly early; in summer
he sometimes went to bathe in the sea,[58] or for a walk before breakfast;
more usually he would write until breakfast, which he preferred to have
alone. After breakfast he looked through his notebooks, and before ten
o'clock was usually walking rapidly to the library where his work lay. He
would work there until two or three o'clock, when he returned home, read
the _Times_, answered letters, received or paid visits, and then resumed
work on his book, which he often continued long after the rest of the
household were sleeping. Of course his family saw but little of him under
these circumstances, but when he had got a chapter of _Marco_ into shape,
or struck out some new discovery of interest, he would carry it to his
wife to read. She always took great interest in his work, and he had great
faith in her literary instinct as a sound as well as sympathetic critic.
The first fruits of Yule's Polo studies took the form of a review of
Pauthier's edition of _Marco Polo_, contributed to the _Quarterly Review_
in 1868.
In 1870 the great work itself appeared, and received prompt generous
recognition by the grant of the very beautiful gold medal of the
Geographical Society of Italy,[59] followed in 1872 by the award of the
Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, while the Geographical
and Asiatic Societies of Paris, the Geographical Societies of Italy and
Berlin, the Academy of Bologna, and other learned bodies, enrolled him as
an Honorary Member.
Reverting to 1869, we may note that Yule, when passing through Paris early
in the spring, became acquainted, through his friend M. Charles Maunoir,
with the admirable work of exploration lately performed by Lieut. Francis
Garnier of the French Navy. It was a time of much political excitement in
France, the eve of the famous _Plébiscite_, and the importance of
Garnier's work was not then recognised by his countrymen. Yule saw its
value, and on arrival in London went straight to Sir Roderick Murchison,
laid the facts before him, and suggested that no other traveller of the
year had so good a claim to one of the two gold medals of the R.G.S. as
this French naval Lieutenant. Sir Roderick was propitious, and accordingly
in May the Patron's medal was assigned to Garnier, who was touchingly
grateful to Yule; whilst the French Minister of Marine marked his
appreciation of Yule's good offices by presenting him with the magnificent
volumes commemorating the expedition.[60]
Yule was in Paris in 1871, immediately after the suppression of the
Commune, and his letters gave interesting accounts of the extraordinary
state of affairs then prevailing. In August, he served as President of the
Geographical Section of the British Association at its Edinburgh meeting.
On his return to Palermo, he devoted himself specially to the geography of
the Oxus region, and the result appeared next year in his introduction and
notes to Wood's _Journey_. Soon after his return to Palermo, he became
greatly interested in the plans, about which he was consulted, of an
English church, the gift to the English community of two of its oldest
members, Messrs Ingham and Whitaker. Yule's share in the enterprise
gradually expanded, until he became a sort of volunteer clerk of the
works, to the great benefit of his health, as this occupation during the
next three years, whilst adding to his interests, also kept him longer in
the open air than would otherwise have been the case. It was a real
misfortune to Yule (and one of which he was himself at times conscious)
that he had no taste for any out-of-door pursuits, neither for any form of
natural science, nor for gardening, nor for any kind of sport nor games.
Nor did he willingly ride.[61] He was always restless away from his books.
There can be no doubt that want of sufficient air and exercise, reacting
on an impaired liver, had much to do with Yule's unsatisfactory state of
health and frequent extreme depression. There was no lack of agreeable and
intelligent society at Palermo (society that the present writer recalls
with cordial regard), to which every winter brought pleasant temporary
additions, both English and foreign, the best of whom generally sought
Yule's acquaintance. Old friends too were not wanting; many found their
way to Palermo, and when such came, he was willing to show them
hospitality and to take them excursions, and occasionally enjoyed these.
But though the beautiful city and surrounding country were full of charm
and interest, Yule was too much pre-occupied by his own special engrossing
pursuits ever really to get the good of his surroundings, of which indeed
he often seemed only half conscious.
By this time Yule had obtained, without ever having sought it, a distinct
and, in some respects, quite unique position in geographical science.
Although his _Essay on the Geography of the Oxus Region_ (1872) received
comparatively little public attention at home, it had yet made its mark
once for all,[62] and from this time, if not earlier, Yule's high
authority in all questions of Central Asian geography was generally
recognised. He had long ere this, almost unconsciously, laid the broad
foundations of that "Yule method," of which Baron von Richthofen has
written so eloquently, declaring that not only in his own land, "but also
in the literatures of France, Italy, Germany, and other countries, the
powerful stimulating influence of the Yule method is visible."[63] More
than one writer has indeed boldly compared Central Asia before Yule to
Central Africa before Livingstone!
Yule had wrought from sheer love of the work and without expectation of
public recognition, and it was therefore a great surprise as well as
gratification to him, to find that the demand for his _Marco Polo_ was
such as to justify the appearance of a second edition only a few years
after the first. The preparation of this enlarged edition, with much other
miscellaneous work (see subjoined bibliography), and the superintendence
of the building of the church already named, kept him fully occupied for
the next three years.
Amongst the parerga and miscellaneous occupations of Yule's leisure hours
in the period 1869-74, may be mentioned an interesting correspondence with
Professor W. W. Skeat on the subject of _William of Palerne_ and Sicilian
examples of the Werwolf; the skilful analysis and exposure of Klaproth's
false geography;[64] the purchase and despatch of Sicilian seeds and young
trees for use in the Punjab, at the request of the Indian Forestry
Department; translations (prepared for friends) of tracts on the
cultivation of Sumach and the collection of Manna as practised in Sicily;
also a number of small services rendered to the South Kensington Museum,
at the request of the late Sir Henry Cole. These latter included obtaining
Italian and Sicilian bibliographic contributions to the Science and Art
Department's _Catalogue of Books on Art_, selecting architectural subjects
to be photographed;[65] negotiating the purchase of the original drawings
illustrative of Padre B. Gravina's great work on the Cathedral of
Monreale; and superintending the execution of a copy in mosaic of the
large mosaic picture (in the Norman Palatine Chapel, Palermo,) of the
Entry of our Lord into Jerusalem.
In the spring of 1875, just after the publication of the second edition of
_Marco Polo_, Yule had to mourn the loss of his noble wife. He was absent
from Sicily at the time, but returned a few hours after her death on 30th
April. She had suffered for many years from a severe form of heart
disease, but her end was perfect peace. She was laid to rest, amid
touching tokens of both public and private sympathy, in the beautiful
camposanto on Monte Pellegrino. What her loss was to Yule only his oldest
and closest friends were in a position to realise. Long years of suffering
had impaired neither the soundness of her judgment nor the sweetness, and
even gaiety, of her happy, unselfish disposition. And in spirit, as even
in appearance, she retained to the very last much of the radiance of her
youth. Nor were her intellectual gifts less remarkable. Few who had once
conversed with her ever forgot her, and certainly no one who had once
known her intimately ever ceased to love her.[66]
Shortly after this calamity, Yule removed to London, and on the retirement
of his old friend, Sir William Baker, from the India Council early that
autumn, Lord Salisbury at once selected him for the vacant seat. Nothing
would ever have made him a party-man, but he always followed Lord
Salisbury with conviction, and worked under him with steady confidence.
In 1877 Yule married, as his second wife, the daughter of an old
friend,[67] a very amiable woman twenty years his junior, who made him
very happy until her untimely death in 1881. From the time of his joining
the India Council, his duties at the India Office of course occupied a
great part of his time, but he also continued to do an immense amount of
miscellaneous literary work, as may be seen by reference to the subjoined
bibliography, (itself probably incomplete). In Council he invariably
"showed his strong determination to endeavour to deal with questions on
their own merits and not only by custom and precedent."[68] Amongst
subjects in which he took a strong line of his own in the discussions of
the Council, may be specially instanced his action in the matter of the
cotton duties (in which he defended native Indian manufactures as against
hostile Manchester interests); the Vernacular Press Act, the necessity for
which he fully recognised; and the retention of Kandahar, for which he
recorded his vote in a strong minute. In all these three cases, which are
typical of many others, his opinion was overruled, but having been
carefully and deliberately formed, it remained unaffected by defeat.
In all matters connected with Central Asian affairs, Yule's opinion always
carried great weight; some of his most competent colleagues indeed
preferred his authority in this field to that of even Sir Henry Rawlinson,
possibly for the reason given by Sir M. Grant Duff, who has
epigrammatically described the latter as good in Council but dangerous in
counsel.[69]
Yule's courageous independence and habit of looking at all public
questions by the simple light of what appeared to him right, yet without
fads or doctrinairism, earned for him the respect of the successive
Secretaries of State under whom he served, and the warm regard and
confidence of his other colleagues. The value attached to his services in
Council was sufficiently shown by the fact that when the period of ten
years (for which members are usually appointed), was about to expire, Lord
Hartington (now Duke of Devonshire), caused Yule's appointment to be
renewed for life, under a special Act of Parliament passed for this
purpose in 1885.
His work as a member of the Army Sanitary Committee, brought him into
communication with Miss Florence Nightingale, a privilege which he greatly
valued and enjoyed, though he used to say: "She is worse than a Royal
Commission to answer, and, in the most gracious charming manner possible,
immediately finds out all I don't know!" Indeed his devotion to the
"Lady-in-Chief" was scarcely less complete than Kinglake's.
In 1880, Yule was appointed to the Board of Visitors of the Government
Indian Engineering College at Cooper's Hill, a post which added to his
sphere of interests without materially increasing his work. In 1882, he
was much gratified by being named an Honorary Fellow of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland, more especially as it was to fill one of the two
vacancies created by the deaths of Thomas Carlyle and Dean Stanley.
Yule had been President of the Hakluyt Society from 1877, and in 1885 was
elected President also of the Royal Asiatic Society. He would probably
also have been President of the Royal Geographical Society, but for an
untoward incident. Mention has already been made of his constant
determination to judge all questions by the simple touchstone of what he
believed to be right, irrespective of personal considerations. It was in
pursuance of these principles that, at the cost of great pain to himself
and some misrepresentation, he in 1878 sundered his long connection with
the Royal Geographical Society, by resigning his seat on their Council,
solely in consequence of their adoption of what he considered a wrong
policy. This severance occurred just when it was intended to propose him
as President. Some years later, at the personal request of the late Lord
Aberdare, a President in all respects worthy of the best traditions of
that great Society, Yule consented to rejoin the Council, which he
re-entered as a Vice-President.
In 1883, the University of Edinburgh celebrated its Tercentenary, when
Yule was selected as one of the recipients of the honorary degree of LL.D.
His letters from Edinburgh, on this occasion, give a very pleasant and
amusing account of the festivity and of the celebrities he met. Nor did he
omit to chronicle the envious glances cast, as he alleged, by some British
men of science on the splendours of foreign Academic attire, on the yellow
robes of the Sorbonne, and the Palms of the Institute of France! Pasteur
was, he wrote, the one most enthusiastically acclaimed of all who received
degrees.
I think it was about the same time that M. Renan was in England, and
called upon Sir Henry Maine, Yule, and others at the India Office. On
meeting just after, the colleagues compared notes as to their
distinguished but unwieldy visitor. "It seems that _le style n'est pas
l'homme même_ in _this_ instance," quoth "Ancient Law" to "Marco Polo."
And here it may be remarked that Yule so completely identified himself
with his favourite traveller that he frequently signed contributions to
the public press as MARCUS PAULUS VENETUS or M.P.V. His more intimate
friends also gave him the same _sobriquet_, and once, when calling on his
old friend, Dr. John Brown (the beloved chronicler of _Rab and his
Friends_), he was introduced by Dr. John to some lion-hunting American
visitors as "our Marco Polo." The visitors evidently took the statement in
a literal sense, and scrutinised Yule closely.[70]
In 1886 Yule published his delightful _Anglo-Indian Glossary_, with the
whimsical but felicitous sub-title of _Hobson-Jobson_ (the name given by
the rank and file of the British Army in India to the religious festival
in celebration of Hassan and Husaïn).
This _Glossary_ was an abiding interest to both Yule and the present
writer. Contributions of illustrative quotations came from most diverse
and unexpected sources, and the arrival of each new word or happy
quotation was quite an event, and gave such pleasure to the recipients as
can only be fully understood by those who have shared in such pursuits.
The volume was dedicated in affecting terms to his elder brother, Sir
George Yule, who, unhappily, did not survive to see it completed.
In July 1885, the two brothers had taken the last of many happy journeys
together, proceeding to Cornwall and the Scilly Isles. A few months later,
on 13th January 1886, the end came suddenly to the elder, from the effects
of an accident at his own door.[71]
It may be doubted if Yule ever really got over the shock of this loss,
though he went on with his work as usual, and served that year as a Royal
Commissioner on the occasion of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition of
1886.
From 1878, when an accidental chill laid the foundations of an exhausting,
though happily quite painless, malady, Yule's strength had gradually
failed, although for several years longer his general health and energies
still appeared unimpaired to a casual observer. The condition of public
affairs also, in some degree, affected his health injuriously. The general
trend of political events from 1880 to 1886 caused him deep anxiety and
distress, and his righteous wrath at what he considered the betrayal of
his country's honour in the cases of Frere, of Gordon, and of Ireland,
found strong, and, in a noble sense, passionate expression in both prose
and verse. He was never in any sense a party man, but he often called
himself "one of Mr. Gladstone's converts," i.e. one whom Gladstonian
methods had compelled to break with liberal tradition and prepossessions.
Nothing better expresses Yule's feeling in the period referred to than the
following letter, written in reference to the R. E. Gordon Memorial,[72]
but of much wider application: "Will you allow me an inch or two of space
to say to my brother officers, 'Have nothing to do with the proposed
Gordon Memorial.'
"That glorious memory is in no danger of perishing and needs no memorial.
Sackcloth and silence are what it suggests to those who have guided the
action of England; and Englishmen must bear the responsibility for that
action and share its shame. It is too early for atoning memorials; nor is
it possible for those who take part in them to dissociate themselves from
a repulsive hypocrisy.
"Let every one who would fain bestow something in honour of the great
victim, do, in silence, some act of help to our soldiers or their
families, or to others who are poor and suffering.
"In later days our survivors or successors may look back with softened
sorrow and pride to the part which men of our corps have played in these
passing events, and Charles Gordon far in the front of all; and then they
may set up our little tablets, or what not--not to preserve the memory of
our heroes, but to maintain the integrity of our own record of the
illustrious dead."
Happily Yule lived to see the beginning of better times for his country.
One of the first indications of that national awakening was the right
spirit in which the public, for the most part, received Lord Wolseley's
stirring appeal at the close of 1888, and Yule was so much struck by the
parallelism between Lord Wolseley's warning and some words of his own
contained in the pseudo-Polo fragment (see above, end of Preface), that he
sent Lord Wolseley the very last copy of the 1875 edition of _Marco Polo_,
with a vigorous expression of his sentiments.
That was probably Yule's last utterance on a public question. The sands of
life were now running low, and in the spring of 1889, he felt it right to
resign his seat on the India Council, to which he had been appointed for
life. On this occasion Lord Cross, then Secretary of State for India,
successfully urged his acceptance of the K.C.S.I., which Yule had refused
several years before.
In the House of Lords, Viscount Cross subsequently referred to his
resignation in the following terms. He said: "A vacancy on the Council had
unfortunately occurred through the resignation from ill-health of Sir
Henry Yule, whose presence on the Council had been of enormous advantage
to the natives of the country. A man of more kindly disposition, thorough
intelligence, high-minded, upright, honourable character, he believed did
not exist; and he would like to bear testimony to the estimation in which
he was held, and to the services which he had rendered in the office he
had so long filled."[73]
This year the Hakluyt Society published the concluding volume of Yule's
last work of importance, the _Diary of Sir William Hedges_. He had for
several years been collecting materials for a full memoir of his great
predecessor in the domain of historical geography, the illustrious
Rennell.[74] This work was well advanced as to preliminaries, but was not
sufficiently developed for early publication at the time of Yule's death,
and ere it could be completed its place had been taken by a later
enterprise.
During the summer of 1889, Yule occupied much of his leisure by collecting
and revising for re-issue many of his miscellaneous writings. Although not
able to do much at a time, this desultory work kept him occupied and
interested, and gave him much pleasure during many months. It was,
however, never completed. Yule went to the seaside for a few weeks in the
early summer, and subsequently many pleasant days were spent by him among
the Surrey hills, as the guest of his old friends Sir Joseph and Lady
Hooker. Of their constant and unwearied kindness, he always spoke with
most affectionate gratitude. That autumn he took a great dislike to the
English climate; he hankered after sunshine, and formed many plans, eager
though indefinite, for wintering at Cintra, a place whose perfect beauty
had fascinated him in early youth. But increasing weakness made a journey
to Portugal, or even the South of France, an alternative of which he also
spoke, very inexpedient, if not absolutely impracticable. Moreover, he
would certainly have missed abroad the many friends and multifarious
interests which still surrounded him at home. He continued to take drives,
and occasionally called on friends, up to the end of November, and it was
not until the middle of December that increasing weakness obliged him to
take to his bed. He was still, however, able to enjoy seeing his
friends--some to the very end, and he had a constant stream of visitors,
mostly old friends, but also a few newer ones, who were scarcely less
welcome. He also kept up his correspondence to the last, three attached
brother R.E.'s, General Collinson, General Maclagan, and Major W.
Broadfoot, taking it in turn with the present writer to act as his
amanuensis.
On Friday, 27th December, Yule received a telegram from Paris, announcing
his nomination that day as Corresponding Member of the Institute of France
(Académie des Inscriptions), one of the few distinctions of any kind of
which it can still be said that it has at no time lost any of its exalted
dignity.
An honour of a different kind that came about the same time, and was
scarcely less prized by him, was a very beautiful letter of farewell and
benediction from Miss Florence Nightingale,[75] which he kept under his
pillow and read many times. On the 28th, he dictated to the present writer
his acknowledgment, also by telegraph, of the great honour done him by the
Institute. The message was in the following words: "Reddo gratias,
Illustrissimi Domini, ob honores tanto nimios quanto immeritos! Mihi
robora deficiunt, vita collabitur, accipiatis voluntatem pro facto. Cum
corde pleno et gratissimo moriturus vos, Illustrissimi Domini, saluto.
YULE."
Sunday, 29th December, was a day of the most dense black fog, and he felt
its oppression, but was much cheered by a visit from his ever faithful
friend, Collinson, who, with his usual unselfishness, came to him that day
at very great personal inconvenience.
On Monday, 30th December, the day was clearer, and Henry Yule awoke much
refreshed, and in a peculiarly happy and even cheerful frame of mind. He
said he felt so comfortable. He spoke of his intended book, and bade his
daughter write about the inevitable delay to his publisher: "Go and write
to John Murray," were indeed his last words to her. During the morning he
saw some friends and relations, but as noon approached his strength
flagged, and after a period of unconsciousness, he passed peacefully away
in the presence of his daughter and of an old friend, who had come from
Edinburgh to see him, but arrived too late for recognition. Almost at the
same time that Yule fell asleep, his "stately message,"[76] was being read
under the great Dome in Paris. Some two hours after Yule had passed away,
F.-M. Lord Napier of Magdala, called on an errand of friendship, and at
his desire was admitted to see the last of his early friend. When Lord
Napier came out, he said to the present writer, in his own reflective way:
"He looks as if he had just settled to some great work." With these
suggestive words of the great soldier, who was so soon, alas, to follow
his old friend to the work of another world, this sketch may fitly close.
* * * * *
The following excellent verses (of unknown authorship) on Yule's death,
subsequently appeared in the _Academy_:[77]
"'Moriturus vos saluto'
Breathes his last the dying scholar--
Tireless student, brilliant writer;
He 'salutes his age' and journeys
To the Undiscovered Country.
There await him with warm welcome
All the heroes of old Story--
The Venetians, the Cà Polo,
Marco, Nicolo, Maffeo,
Odoric of Pordenone,
Ibn Batuta, Marignolli,
Benedict de Goës--'Seeking
Lost Cathay and finding Heaven.'
Many more whose lives he cherished
With the piety of learning;
Fading records, buried pages,
Failing lights and fires forgotten,
By his energy recovered,
By his eloquence re-kindled.
'Moriturus vos saluto'
Breathes his last the dying scholar,
And the far off ages answer:
_Immortales te salutant_. D. M."
The same idea had been previously embodied, in very felicitous language,
by the late General Sir William Lockhart, in a letter which that noble
soldier addressed to the present writer a few days after Yule's death. And
Yule himself would have taken pleasure in the idea of those meetings with
his old travellers, which seemed so certain to his surviving friends.[78]
He rests in the old cemetery at Tunbridge Wells, with his second wife, as
he had directed. A great gathering of friends attended the first part of
the burial service which was held in London on 3rd January, 1890. Amongst
those present were witnesses of every stage of his career, from his boyish
days at the High School of Edinburgh downwards. His daughter, of course,
was there, led by the faithful, peerless friend who was so soon to follow
him into the Undiscovered Country.[79] She and his youngest nephew, with
two cousins and a few old friends, followed his remains over the snow to
the graveside. The epitaph subsequently inscribed on the tomb was penned
by Yule himself, but is by no means representative of his powers in a kind
of composition in which he had so often excelled in the service of others.
As a composer of epitaphs and other monumental inscriptions few of our
time have surpassed, if any have equalled him, in his best efforts.
SIR GEORGE UDNY YULE, C.B., K.C.S.I.[80]
George Udny Yule, born at Inveresk in 1813, passed through Haileybury into
the Bengal Civil Service, which he entered at the age of 18 years. For
twenty-five years his work lay in Eastern Bengal. He gradually became
known to the Government for his activity and good sense, but won a far
wider reputation as a mighty hunter, alike with hog-spear and double
barrel. By 1856 the roll of his slain tigers exceeded four hundred, some
of them of special fame; after that he continued slaying his tigers, but
ceased to count them. For some years he and a few friends used annually to
visit the plains of the Brahmaputra, near the Garrow Hills--an entirely
virgin country then, and swarming with large game. Yule used to describe
his once seeing seven rhinoceroses at once on the great plain, besides
herds of wild buffalo and deer of several kinds. One of the party started
the theory that Noah's Ark had been shipwrecked there! In those days
George Yule was the only man to whom the Maharajah of Nepaul, Sir Jung
Bahadur, conceded leave to shoot within his frontier.
Yule was first called from his useful obscurity in 1856. The year before,
the Sonthals in insurrection disturbed the long unbroken peace of the
Delta. These were a numerous non-Aryan, uncivilised, but industrious race,
driven wild by local mismanagement, and the oppressions of Hindoo usurers
acting through the regulation courts. After the suppression of their
rising, Yule was selected by Sir F. Halliday, who knew his man, to be
Commissioner of the Bhagulpoor Division, containing some six million
souls, and embracing the hill country of the Sonthals. He obtained
sanction to a code for the latter, which removed these people entirely
from the Court system, and its tribe of leeches, and abolished all
intermediaries between the Sahib and the Sonthal peasant. Through these
measures, and his personal influence, aided by picked assistants, he was
able to effect, with extraordinary rapidity, not only their entire
pacification, but such a beneficial change in their material condition,
that they have risen from a state of barbarous penury to comparative
prosperity and comfort.
George Yule was thus engaged when the Mutiny broke out, and it soon made
itself felt in the districts under him. To its suppression within his
limits, he addressed himself with characteristic vigour. Thoroughly
trusted by every class--by his Government, by those under him, by planters
and by Zemindars--he organised a little force, comprising a small
detachment of the 5th Regiment, a party of British sailors, mounted
volunteers from the districts, etc., and of this he became practically the
captain. Elephants were collected from all quarters to spare the legs of
his infantry and sailors; while dog-carts were turned into limbers for the
small three-pounders of the seamen. And with this little army George Yule
scoured the Trans-Gangetic districts, leading it against bodies of the
Mutineers, routing them upon more than one occasion, and out-manoeuvring
them by his astonishing marches, till he succeeded in driving them across
the Nepaul frontier. No part of Bengal was at any time in such danger, and
nowhere was the danger more speedily and completely averted.
After this Yule served for two or three years as Chief Commissioner of
Oudh, where in 1862 he married Miss Pemberton, the daughter of a very able
father, and the niece of Sir Donald MacLeod, of honoured and beloved
memory. Then for four or five years he was Resident at Hyderabad, where he
won the enduring friendship of Sir Salar Jung. "Everywhere he showed the
same characteristic firm but benignant justice. Everywhere he gained the
lasting attachment of all with whom he had intimate dealings--except
tigers and scoundrels."
Many years later, indignant at the then apparently supine attitude of the
British Government in the matter of the Abyssinian captives, George Yule
wrote a letter (necessarily published without his name, as he was then on
the Governor-General's Council), to the editor of an influential Indian
paper, proposing a private expedition should be organised for their
delivery from King Theodore, and inviting the editor (Dr. George Smith) to
open a list of subscriptions in his paper for this purpose, to which Yule
offered to contribute £2000 by way of beginning. Although impracticable in
itself, it is probable that, as in other cases, the existence of such a
project may have helped to force the Government into action. The
particulars of the above incident were printed by Dr. Smith in his _Memoir
of the Rev. John Wilson_, but are given here from memory.
From Hyderabad he was promoted in 1867 to the Governor-General's Council,
but his health broke down under the sedentary life, and he retired and
came home in 1869.
After some years of country life in Scotland, where he bought a small
property, he settled near his brother in London, where he was a principal
instrument in enabling Sir George Birdwood to establish the celebration of
Primrose Day (for he also was "one of Mr. Gladstone's converts"). Sir
George Yule never sought 'London Society' or public employment, but in
1877 he was offered and refused the post of Financial Adviser to the
Khedive under the Dual control. When his feelings were stirred he made
useful contributions to the public press, which, after his escape from
official trammels, were always signed. The very last of these (_St. James
Gazette_, 24th February 1885) was a spirited protest against the snub
administered by the late Lord Derby, as Secretary of State, to the
Colonies, when they had generously offered assistance in the Soudan
campaign. He lived a quiet, happy, and useful life in London, where he was
the friend and unwearied helper of all who needed help. He found his chief
interests in books and flowers, and in giving others pleasure. Of rare
unselfishness and sweet nature, single in mind and motive, fearing God and
knowing no other fear, he was regarded by a large number of people with
admiring affection. He met his death by a fall on the frosty pavement at
his door, in the very act of doing a kindness. An interesting sketch of
Sir George Yule's Indian career, by one who knew him thoroughly, is to be
found in Sir Edward Braddon's _Thirty Years of Shikar_. An account of his
share in the origin of Primrose Day appeared in the _St. James' Gazette_
during 1891.
[1] There is a vague tradition that these Yules descend from the same
stock as the Scandinavian family of the same name, which gave Denmark
several men of note, including the great naval hero Niels Juel. The
portraits of these old Danes offer a certain resemblance of type to
those of their Scots namesakes, and Henry Yule liked to play with the
idea, much in the same way that he took humorous pleasure in his
reputed descent from Michael Scott, the Wizard! (This tradition was
more historical, however, and stood thus: Yule's great grandmother was
a Scott of Ancrum, and the Scotts of Ancrum had established their
descent from Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie, reputed to be the
Wizard.) Be their origin what it may, Yule's forefathers had been
already settled on the Border hills for many generations, when in the
time of James VI. they migrated to the lower lands of East Lothian,
where in the following reign they held the old fortalice of Fentoun
Tower of Nisbet of Dirleton. When Charles II. empowered his Lord Lyon
to issue certificates of arms (in place of the Lyon records removed
and lost at sea by the Cromwellian Government), these Yules were among
those who took out confirmation of arms, and the original document is
still in the possession of the head of the family.
Though Yules of sorts are still to be found in Scotland, the present
writer is the only member of the Fentoun Tower family now left in the
country, and of the few remaining out of it most are to be found in
the Army List.
[2] The literary taste which marked William Yule probably came to him from
his grandfather, the Rev. James Rose, Episcopal Minister of Udny, in
Aberdeenshire. James Rose, a non-jurant (i.e. one who refused to
acknowledge allegiance to the Hanoverian King), was a man of devout,
large, and tolerant mind, as shown by writings still extant. His
father, John Rose, was the younger son of the 14th Hugh of Kilravock.
He married Margaret Udny of Udny, and was induced by her to sell his
pleasant Ross-shire property and invest the proceeds in her own bleak
Buchan. When George Yule (about 1759) brought home Elizabeth Rose as
his wife, the popular feeling against the Episcopal Church was so
strong and bitter in Lothian, that all the men of the family--
themselves Presbyterians--accompanied Mrs. Yule as a bodyguard on the
occasion of her first attendance at the Episcopal place of worship.
Years after, when dissensions had arisen in the Church of Scotland,
Elizabeth Yule succoured and protected some of the dissident
Presbyterian ministers from their persecutors.
[3] General Collinson in _Royal Engineers' Journal_ 1st Feb. 1890. The
gifted author of this excellent sketch himself passed away on 22nd
April 1902.
[4] The grave thoughtful face of William Yule was conspicuous in the
picture of a Durbar (by an Italian artist, but _not_ Zoffany), which
long hung on the walls of the Nawab's palace at Lucknow. This picture
disappeared during the Mutiny of 1857.
[5] Colonel Udny Yule, C.B. "When he joined, his usual _nomen_ and
_cognomen_ puzzled the staff-sergeant at Fort-William, and after much
boggling on the cadet parade, the name was called out _Whirly Wheel_,
which produced no reply, till some one at a venture shouted, 'sick in
hospital.'" (_Athenaeum_, 24th Sept. 1881.) The ship which took Udny
Yule to India was burnt at sea. After keeping himself afloat for
several hours in the water, he was rescued by a passing ship and taken
back to the Mauritius, whence, having lost everything but his
cadetship, he made a fresh start for India, where he and William for
many years had a common purse. Colonel Udny Yule commanded a brigade
at the Siege of Cornelis (1811), which gave us Java, and afterwards
acted as Resident under Sir Stamford Raffles. Forty-five years after
the retrocession of Java, Henry Yule found the memory of his uncle
still cherished there.
[6] Article on the Oriental Section of the British Museum Library in
_Athenaeum_, 24th Sept. 1881. Major Yule's Oriental Library was
presented by his sons to the British Museum a few years after his
death.
[7] It may be amusing to note that he was considered an almost dangerous
person because he read the _Scotsman_ newspaper!
[8] _Athenaeum_, 24th Sept. 1881. A gold chain given by the last
Dauphiness is in the writer's possession.
[9] Dr. John Yule (b. 176-d. 1827), a kindly old _savant_. He was one of
the earliest corresponding members of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland, and the author of some botanical tracts.
[10] According to Brunet, by Lucas Pennis after Antonio Tempesta.
[11] _Concerning some little-known Travellers in the East_. ASIATIC
QUARTERLY, vol. v. (1888).
[12] William Yule died in 1839, and rests with his parents, brothers, and
many others of his kindred, in the ruined chancel of the ancient
Norman Church of St. Andrew, at Gulane, which had been granted to the
Yule family as a place of burial by the Nisbets of Dirleton, in
remembrance of the old kindly feeling subsisting for generations
between them and their tacksmen in Fentoun Tower. Though few know its
history, a fragrant memorial of this wise and kindly scholar is still
conspicuous in Edinburgh. The magnificent wall-flower that has, for
seventy summers, been a glory of the Castle rock, was originally all
sown by the patient hand of Major Yule, the self-sowing of each
subsequent year, of course, increasing the extent of bloom. Lest the
extraordinarily severe spring of 1895 should have killed off much of
the old stock, another (but much more limited) sowing on the northern
face of the rock was in that year made by his grand-daughter, the
present writer, with the sanction and active personal help of the
lamented General (then Colonel) Andrew Wauchope of Niddrie Marischal.
In Scotland, where the memory of this noble soldier is so greatly
revered, some may like to know this little fact. May the wall-flower
of the Castle rock long flourish a fragrant memorial of two faithful
soldiers and true-hearted Scots.
[13] Obituary notice of Yule, by Gen. R. Maclagan, R.E. _Proceedings, R.
G. S._ 1890.
[14] This was the famous "Grey Dinner," of which The Shepherd made grim
fun in the _Noctes_.
[15] Probably the specimen from South America, of which an account was
published in 1833.
[16] Rawnsley, _Memoir of Harvey Goodwin, Bishop of Carlisle_.
[17] Biog. Sketch of Yule, by C. Trotter, _Proceedings, R.S.E._ vol. xvii.
[18] Biog. Sketch of Yule, by C. Trotter, _Proceedings, R.S.E._ vol. xvii.
[19] After leaving the army, Yule always used this sword when wearing
uniform.
[20] The Engineer cadets remained at Addiscombe a term (= 6 months) longer
than the Artillery cadets, and as the latter were ordinarily gazetted
full lieutenants six months after passing out, unfair seniority was
obviated by the Engineers receiving the same rank on passing out of
Addiscombe.
[21] Yule, in _Memoir of General Becher_.
[22] Collinson's _Memoir of Yule_ in _R. E. Journal_.
[23] The picture was subscribed for by his brother officers in the corps,
and painted in 1880 by T. B. Wirgman. It was exhibited at the Royal
Academy in 1881. A reproduction of the artist's etching from it forms
the frontispiece of this volume.
[24] In _Memoir of Gen. John Becher_.
[25] General Patrick Yule (b. 1795, d. 1873) was a thorough soldier, with
the repute of being a rigid disciplinarian. He was a man of
distinguished presence, and great charm of manner to those whom he
liked, which were by no means all. The present writer holds him in
affectionate remembrance, and owes to early correspondence with him
much of the information embodied in preceding notes. He served on the
Canadian Boundary Commission of 1817, and on the Commission of
National Defence of 1859, was prominent in the Ordnance Survey, and
successively Commanding R.E. in Malta and Scotland. He was Engineer to
Sir C. Fellows' Expedition, which gave the nation the Lycian Marbles,
and while Commanding R.E. in Edinburgh, was largely instrumental in
rescuing St. Margaret's Chapel in the Castle from desecration and
oblivion. He was a thorough Scot, and never willingly tolerated the
designation N.B. on even a letter. He had cultivated tastes, and under
a somewhat austere exterior he had a most tender heart. When already
past sixty, he made a singularly happy marriage to a truly good woman,
who thoroughly appreciated him. He was the author of several Memoirs
on professional subjects. He rests in St. Andrew's, Gulane.
[26] Collinson's _Memoir of Yule_.
[27] Notes on the Iron of the Khasia Hills and Notes on the Khasia Hills
and People both in Journal of the R. Asiatic Society of Bengal, vols.
xi. and xiii.
[28] Mr. (afterwards Sir) George Clerk, Political Officer with the
expedition. Was twice Governor of Bombay and once Governor of the
Cape: "A diplomatist of the true English stamp--undaunted in
difficulties and resolute to maintain the honour of his country." (Sir
H. B. Edwardes, _Life of Henry Lawrence_, i. 267). He died in 1889.
[29] Note by Yule, communicated by him to Mr. R. B. Smith and printed by
the latter in _Life of Lord Lawrence_.
[30] And when nearing his own end, it was to her that his thoughts turned
most constantly.
[31] Yule and Maclagan's _Memoir of Sir W. Baker_.
[32] Maclagan's _Memoir of Yule, P.R.G.S._, Feb. 1890.
[33] On hearing this, Yule said to him, "Your story is quite correct
except in one particular; you understated the _amount_ of the fine."
[34] Yule and Maclagan's _Memoir of Baker_.
[35] It would appear that Major Yule had presented the Rodgers with some
specimens of Indian scissors, probably as suggestions in developing
that field of export. Scissors of elaborate design, usually damascened
or gilt, used to form a most important item in every set of Oriental
writing implements. Even long after adhesive envelopes had become
common in European Turkey, their use was considered over familiar, if
not actually disrespectful, for formal letters, and there was a
particular traditional knack in cutting and folding the special
envelope for each missive, which was included in the instruction given
by every competent _Khoja_ as the present writer well remembers in the
quiet years that ended with the disasters of 1877.
[36] Collinson's _Memoir of Yule, Royal Engineer Journal_.
[37] Extract from Preface to _Ava_, edition of 1858.
[38] The present whereabouts of this picture is unknown to the writer. It
was lent to Yule in 1889 by Lord Dalhousie's surviving daughter (for
whom he had strong regard and much sympathy), and was returned to her
early in 1890, but is not named in the catalogue of Lady Susan's
effects, sold at Edinburgh in 1898 after her death. At that sale the
present writer had the satisfaction of securing for reverent
preservation the watch used throughout his career by the great
Marquess.
[39] Now in the writer's possession. It was for many years on exhibition
in the Edinburgh and South Kensington Museums.
[40] Article by Yule on Lord Lawrence, _Quarterly Review_ for April, 1883.
[41] Messrs. Smith & Elder.
[42] Preface to _Narrative of a Mission to the Court of Ava_. Before these
words were written, Yule had had the sorrow of losing his elder
brother Robert, who had fallen in action before Delhi (19th June,
1857), whilst in command of his regiment, the 9th Lancers. Robert
Abercromby Yule (born 1817) was a very noble character and a fine
soldier. He had served with distinction in the campaigns in
Afghanistan and the Sikh Wars, and was the author of an excellent
brief treatise on Cavalry Tactics. He had a ready pencil and a happy
turn for graceful verse. In prose his charming little allegorical tale
for children, entitled _The White Rhododendron_, is as pure and
graceful as the flower whose name it bears. Like both his brothers, he
was at once chivalrous and devout, modest, impulsive, and impetuous.
No officer was more beloved by his men than Robert Yule, and when some
one met them carrying back his covered body from the field and
enquired of the sergeant: "Who have you got there?" the reply was:
"Colonel Yule, and better have lost half the regiment, sir." It was in
the chivalrous effort to extricate some exposed guns that he fell.
Some one told afterwards that when asked to go to the rescue, he
turned in the saddle, looked back wistfully on his regiment, well
knowing the cost of such an enterprise, then gave the order to advance
and charge. "No stone marks the spot where Yule went down, but no
stone is needed to commemorate his valour" (Archibald Forbes, in
_Daily News_, 8th Feb. 1876). At the time of his death Colonel R. A.
Yule had been recommended for the C.B. His eldest son, Colonel J. H.
Yule, C.B., distinguished himself in several recent campaigns (on the
Burma-Chinese frontier, in Tirah, and South Africa).
[43] Baker went home in November, 1857, but did not retire until the
following year.
[44] Nothing was more worthy of respect in Yule's fine character than the
energy and success with which he mastered his natural temperament in
the last ten years of his life, when few would have guessed his
original fiery disposition.
[45] Not without cause did Sir J. P. Grant officially record that "to his
imperturbable temper the Government of India owed much."
[46] Yule's colour-blindness was one of the cases in which Dalton, the
original investigator of this optical defect, took special interest.
At a later date (1859) he sent Yule, through Professor Wilson, skeins
of coloured silks to name. Yule's elder brother Robert had the same
peculiarity of sight, and it was also present in two earlier and two
later generations of their mother's family--making five generations in
all. But in no case did it pass from parent to child, always passing
in these examples, by a sort of Knight's move, from uncle to nephew.
Another peculiarity of Yule's more difficult to describe was the
instinctive association of certain architectural forms or images with
the days of the week. He once, and once only (in 1843), met another
person, a lady who was a perfect stranger, with the same peculiarity.
About 1878-79 he contributed some notes on this obscure subject to one
of the newspapers, in connection with the researches of Mr. Francis
Galton, on Visualisation, but the particulars are not now accessible.
[47] From Yule's verses on her grave.
[48] Lord Canning to Lady Clanricarde: Letter dated Barrackpoor, 19th Nov.
1861, 7 A.M., printed in _Two Noble Lives_, by A. J. C. Hare, and here
reproduced by Mr. Hare's permission.
[49] Lord Canning's letter to Lady Clanricarde. He gave to Yule Lady
Canning's own silver drinking-cup, which she had constantly used. It
is carefully treasured, with other Canning and Dalhousie relics, by
the present writer.
[50] Many years later Yule wrote of Lord Canning as follows: "He had his
defects, no doubt. He had not at first that entire grasp of the
situation that was wanted at such a time of crisis. But there is a
virtue which in these days seems unknown to Parliamentary statesmen in
England--Magnanimity. Lord Canning was an English statesman, and he
was surpassingly magnanimous. There is another virtue which in Holy
Writ is taken as the type and sum of all righteousness--Justice--and
he was eminently just. The misuse of special powers granted early in
the Mutiny called for Lord Canning's interference, and the consequence
was a flood of savage abuse; the violence and bitterness of which it
is now hard to realise." (_Quarterly Review_, April, 1883, p. 306.)
[51] During the next ten years Yule continued to visit London annually for
two or three months in the spring or early summer.
[52] Now in the writer's possession. They appear in the well-known
portrait of Lord Canning reading a despatch.
[53] Lord Canning's recommendation had been mislaid, and the India Office
was disposed to ignore it. It was Lord Canning's old friend and Eton
chum, Lord Granville, who obtained this tardy justice for Yule,
instigated thereto by that most faithful friend, Sir Roderick
Murchison.
[54] I cannot let the mention of this time of lonely sickness and trial
pass without recording here my deep gratitude to our dear and honoured
friend, John Ruskin. As my dear mother stood on the threshold between
life and death at Mornex that sad spring, he was untiring in all
kindly offices of friendship. It was her old friend, Principal A. J.
Scott (then eminent, now forgotten), who sent him to call. He came to
see us daily when possible, sometimes bringing MSS. of Rossetti and
others to read aloud (and who could equal his reading?), and when she
was too ill for this, or himself absent, he would send not only books
and flowers to brighten the bare rooms of the hillside inn (then very
primitive), but his own best treasures of Turner and W. Hunt, drawings
and illuminated missals. It was an anxious solace; and though most
gratefully enjoyed, these treasures were never long retained.
[55] Villa Mansi, nearly opposite the old Ducal Palace. With its private
chapel, it formed three sides of a small _place_ or court.
[56] He also at all times spared no pains to enforce that ideal on other
index-makers, who were not always grateful for his sound doctrine!
[57] He saw a good deal of the outbreak when taking small comforts to a
friend, the Commandent of the Military School, who was captured and
imprisioned by the insurgents.
[58] After 1869 he discontinued sea-bathing.
[59] This was Yule's first geographical honour, but he had been elected
into the Athenaeum Club, under "Rule II.," in January, 1867.
[60] Garnier took a distinguished part in the Defence of Paris in 1870-71,
after which he resumed his naval service in the East, where he was
killed in action. His last letter to Yule contained the simple
announcement "_J'ai pris Hanoï_" a modest terseness of statement
worthy of the best naval traditions.
[61] One year the present writer, at her mother's desire, induced him to
take walks of 10 to 12 miles with her, but interesting and lovely as
the scenery was, he soon wearied for his writing-table (even bringing
his work with him), and thus little permanent good was effected. And
it was just the same afterwards in Scotland, where an old Highland
gillie, describing his experience of the Yule brothers, said: "I was
liking to take out Sir George, for _he_ takes the time to enjoy the
hills, but (plaintively), the Kornel is no good, for he's just as
restless as a water-wagtail!" If there be any _mal de l'écritoire_
corresponding to _mal du pays_, Yule certainly had it.
[62] The Russian Government in 1873 paid the same work the very practical
compliment of circulating it largely amongst their officers in Central
Asia.
[63] "Auch in den Literaturen von Frankreich, Italien, Deutschland und
andere Ländern ist der mächtig treibende Einfluss der Yuleschen
Methode, welche wissenschaftliche Grundlichkeit mit anmuthender Form
verbindet, bemerkbar." (_Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde
zu
Berlin_, Band XVII. No. 2.)
[64] This subject is too lengthy for more than cursory allusion here, but
the patient analytic skill and keen venatic instinct with which Yule
not only proved the forgery of the alleged _Travels of Georg Ludwig
von ----_ (that had been already established by Lord Strangford, whose
last effort it was, and Sir Henry Rawlinson), but step by step traced
it home to the arch-culprit Klaproth, was nothing less than masterly.
[65] This is probably the origin of the odd misstatement as to Yule
occupying himself at Palermo with photography, made in the delightful
_Reminiscences_ of the late Colonel Balcarres Ramsay. Yule never
attempted photography after 1852.
[66] She was a woman of fine intellect and wide reading; a skilful
musician, who also sang well, and a good amateur artist in the style
of Aug. Delacroix (of whom she was a favourite pupil). Of French and
Italian she had a thorough and literary mastery, and how well she knew
her own language is shown by the sound and pure English of a story she
published in early life, under the pseudonym of Max Lyle (_Fair Oaks,
or The Experiences of Arnold Osborne, M.D._, 2 vols., 1856). My mother
was partly of Highland descent on both sides, and many of her fine
qualities were very characteristic of that race. Before her marriage
she took an active part in many good works, and herself originated the
useful School for the Blind at Bath, in a room which she hired with
her pocket-money, where she and her friend Miss Elwin taught such of
the blind poor as they could gather together.
In the tablet which he erected to her memory in the family
burial-place of St. Andrew's, Gulane, her husband described her
thus:--"A woman singular in endowments, in suffering, and in faith; to
whom to live was Christ, to die was gain."
[67] Mary Wilhelmina, daughter of F. Skipwith, Esq., B.C.S.
[68] Collinson's _Memoir of Yule_.
[69] See _Notes from a Diary_, 1888-91.
[70] The identification was not limited to Yule, for when travelling in
Russia many years ago, the present writer was introduced by an
absent-minded Russian _savant_ to his colleagues as _Mademoiselle
Marco Paulovna_!
[71] See Note on Sir George Yule's career at the end of this Memoir.
[72] Addressed to the Editor, _Royal Engineers' Journal_, who did not,
however, publish it.
[73] Debate of 27th August, 1889, as reported in _The Times_ of 28th
August.
[74] Yule had published a brief but very interesting Memoir of Major
Rennell in the _R. E. Journal_ in 1881. He was extremely proud of the
circumstance that Rennell's surviving grand-daughter presented to him
a beautiful wax medallion portrait of the great geographer. This
wonderfully life-like presentment was bequeathed by Yule to his friend
Sir Joseph Hooker, who presented it to the Royal Society.
[75] Knowing his veneration for that noble lady, I had written to tell her
of his condition, and to ask her to give him this last pleasure of a
few words. The response was such as few but herself could write. This
letter was not to be found after my father's death, and I can only
conjecture that it must either have been given away by himself (which
is most improbable), or was appropriated by some unauthorised
outsider.
[76] So Sir M. E. Grant Duff well calls it.
[77] _Academy_, 19th March, 1890.
[78] He was much pleased, I remember, by a letter he once received from a
kindly Franciscan friar, who wrote: "You may rest assured that the
Beato Odorico will not forget all you have done for him."
[79] F.-M. Lord Napier of Magdala, died 14th January, 1890.
[80] This notice includes the greater part of an article written by my
father, and published in the _St. James' Gazette_ of 18th January,
1886, but I have added other details from personal recollection and
other sources.--A. F. Y.
A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SIR HENRY YULE'S WRITINGS
COMPILED BY H. CORDIER AND A. F. YULE[1]
1842 Notes on the Iron of the Kasia Hills. (_Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal_,
XI. Part II. July-Dec. 1842, pp. 853-857.)
Reprinted in _Proceedings of the Museum of Economic Geology_, 1852.
1844 Notes on the Kasia Hills and People. By Lieut. H. Yule. (_Jour.
Asiatic Soc. Bengal_, XII. Part II. July-Dec. 1844, pp. 612-631.)
1846 A Canal Act of the Emperor Akbar, with some notes and remarks on the
History of the Western Jumna Canals. By Lieut. Yule. (_Jour. Asiatic
Society Bengal_, XV. 1846, pp. 213-223.)
1850 The African Squadron vindicated. By Lieut. H. Yule. Second Edition.
London, J. Ridgway, 1850, 8vo, pp. 41.
Had several editions. Reprinted in the Colonial Magazine of March,
1850.
---- L'Escadre Africaine vengée. Par le lieutenant H. Yule. Traduit du
_Colonial Magazine_ de Mars, 1850. (_Revue Coloniale_, Mai, 1850.)
1851 Fortification for Officers of the Army and Students of Military
History, with Illustrations and Notes. By Lieut. H. Yule, Blackwood,
MDCCCLI. 8vo, pp. xxii.-210. (There had been a previous edition
privately printed.)
---- La Fortification mise à la portée des Officiers de l'Armée et des
personnes qui se livrent à l'étude de l'histoire militaire (avec
Atlas). Par H. Yule. Traduit de l'Anglais par M. Sapia, Chef de
Bataillon d'Artillerie de Marine et M. Masselin, Capitaine du Génie.
Paris, J. Corréard, 1858, 8vo, pp. iii.-263, and Atlas.
1851 The Loss of the _Birkenhead_ (Verses). (_Edinburgh Courant_, Dec.
1851.)
Republished in Henley's _Lyra Heroica_, a Book of Verse for Boys.
London, D. Nutt, 1890.
1852 Tibet. (_Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, 1852.)
1856 Narrative of Major Phayre's Mission to the Court of Ava, with Notices
of the Country, Government, and People. Compiled by Capt. H. Yule.
Printed for submission to the Government of India. Calcutta, J.
Thomas,... 1856, 4to, pp. xxix. + 1 f. n. ch. p. l. er. + pp. 315 +
pp. cxiv. + pp. iv. and pp. 70.
The last pp. iv.-70 contain: Notes on the Geological features of the
banks of the River Irawadee and on the Country north of the
Amarapoora, by Thomas Oldham ... Calcutta, 1856.
---- A Narrative of the Mission sent by the Governor-General of India to
the Court of Ava in 1855, with Notices of the Country, Government,
and People. By Capt. H. Yule. With Numerous Illustrations. London,
Smith, Elder & Co., 1858, 4to.
1857 On the Geography of Burma and its Tributary States, in illustration
of a New Map of those Regions. (_Journal, R.G.S._, XXVII. 1857, pp.
54-108.)
---- Notes on the Geography of Burma, in illustration of a Map of that
Country. (_Proceedings R. G. S._, vol. i. 1857, pp. 269-273.)
1857 An Account of the Ancient Buddhist Remains at Pagân on the Iráwadi.
By Capt. H. Yule. (_Jour. Asiatic Society, Bengal_, XXVI. 1857,
pp. 1-51.)
1861 A few notes on Antiquities near Jubbulpoor. By Lieut.-Col. H. Yule.
(_Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal_, XXX. 1861, pp. 211-215.)
---- Memorandum on the Countries between Thibet, Yunân, and Burmah. By the
Very Rev. Thomine D'Mazure (sic), communicated by Lieut.-Col. A. P.
Phayre (with notes and a comment by Lieut.-Col. H. Yule) With a Map
of
the N. E. Frontier, prepared in the Office of the Surveyor-Gen. of
India, Calcutta, Aug. 1861. (_Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal_, XXX. 1861,
pp. 367-383.)
1862 Notes of a brief Visit to some of the Indian Remains in Java.
By Lieut.-Col. H. Yule. (_Jour. Asiatic Society, Bengal_, XXXI.
1862, pp. 16-31.)
---- Sketches of Java. A Lecture delivered at the Meeting of the Bethune
Society, Calcutta, 13th Feb. 1862.
---- Fragments of Unprofessional Papers gathered from an Engineer's
portfolio after twenty-three years of service. Calcutta, 1862.
Ten copies printed for private circulation.
1863 _Mirabilia descripta_. The Wonders of the East. By Friar Jordanus, of
the Order of Preachers and Bishop of Columbum in India the Greater
(circa 1330). Translated from the Latin original, as published at
Paris in 1839, in the _Recueil de Voyages et de Mémoires_, of the
Society of Geography, with the addition of a Commentary, by Col. H.
Yule, London.
Printed for the Hakluyt Society, M.DCCC.LXIII, 8vo, p. iv.-xvii.-68.
---- Report on the Passes between Arakan and Burma [written in 1853].
(_Papers on Indian Civil Engineering_, vol. i. Roorkee.)
1866 Notices of Cathay. (_Proceedings, R.G.S._, X. 1866, pp. 270-278.)
---- Cathay and the Way Thither, being a Collection of Mediaeval Notices
of China. Translated and Edited by Col. H. Yule With a Preliminary
Essay on the Intercourse between China and the Western Nations
previous to the Discovery of the Cape route. London, printed for the
Hakluyt Society. M.DCCC.LXVI. 2 vols. 8vo.
1866 The Insurrection at Palermo. (_Times_, 29th Sep., 1866.)
---- Lake People. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2042, 15th Dec. 1866, p. 804.)
Letter dated Palermo, 3rd Dec. 1866.
1867 General Index to the third ten Volumes of the Journal of the Royal
Geographical Society. Compiled by Col. H. Yule. London, John Murray,
M.DCCCLXVII, 8vo, pp. 228.
---- A Week's Republic at Palermo. (_Quarterly Review_, Jan. 1867.)
---- On the Cultivation of Sumach (_Rhus coriaria_), in the Vicinity of
Colli, near Palermo. By Prof. Inzenga. Translated by Col. H. Yule.
Communicated by Dr. Cleghorn. _From the Trans. Bot. Society_, vol.
ix., 1867-68, ppt. 8vo, p. 15.
Original first published in the _Annali di Agricoltura Siciliana,
redatti per l'Istituzione del Principe di Castelnuovo_. Palermo,
1852.
1868 Marco Polo and his Recent Editors. (_Quarterly Review_, vol. 125,
July and Oct. 1868, pp. 133 and 166.)
1870 An Endeavour to Elucidate Rashiduddin's Geographical Notices of
India. (_Journal R. Asiatic Society_, N.S. iv. 1870, pp. 340-356.)
---- Some Account of the Senbyú Pagoda at Mengún, near the Burmese
Capital, in a Memorandum by Capt. E. H. Sladen, Political Agent at
Mandalé; with Remarks on the Subject, by Col. H. Yule. (Ibid. pp.
406-429.)
---- Notes on Analogies of Manners between the Indo-Chinese and the Races
of the Malay Archipelago. (_Report Fortieth Meeting British
Association, Liverpool_, Sept. 1870, p. 178.)
1871 The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, Concerning the Kingdoms and
Marvels of the East. Newly translated and edited with notes. By Col.
H. Yule. In two volumes. With Maps and other Illustrations. London,
John Murray, 1871, 2 vols. 8vo.
---- 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 Col. H. Yule. Second edition. London,
John Murray, 1875, 2 vols. 8vo.
1871 Address by Col. H. Yule (_Report Forty-First Meeting British
Association, Edinburgh_, Aug. 1871, pp. 162-174.)
1872 A Journey to the Source of the River Oxus. By Captain John Wood,
Indian Navy. New edition, edited by his Son. With an Essay on the
Geography of the Valley of the Oxus. By Col. H. Yule. With maps.
London, John Murray, 1872. In-8, pp. xc.-280.
---- Papers connected with the Upper Oxus Regions. (_Journal_, xlii. 1872,
pp. 438-481.)
---- Letter [on Yule's edition of Wood's _Oxus_]. (_Ocean Highways_, Feb.
1874, p. 475.)
Palermo, 9th Jan. 1874.
1873 Letter [about the route of M. Polo through Southern Kerman]. (_Ocean
Highways_, March, 1873, p. 385.)
Palermo, 11th Jan. 1873.
---- On Northern Sumatra and especially Achin. (_Ocean Highways_, Aug.
1873, pp. 177-183.)
---- Notes on Hwen Thsang's Account of the Principalities of Tokharistan,
in which some previous Geographical Identifications are reconsidered.
(_Jour. Royal Asiatic Society_, N.S. vi. 1873, pp, 92-120 and p.
278.)
1874 Francis Garnier (In Memoriam). (_Ocean Highways_, pp. 487-491.)
March, 1874.
---- Remarks on Mr. Phillips's Paper [_Notices of Southern Mangi_].
(_Journal_, XLIV. 1874, pp. 103-112.)
Palermo, 22nd Feb. 1874.
---- [Sir Frederic Goldsmid's] "Telegraph and Travel." (_Geographical
Magazine_, April, 1874, p. 34; Oct. 1874, pp. 300-303.)
---- Geographical Notes on the Basins of the Oxus and the Zarafshán. By
the late Alexis Fedchenko. (_Geog. Mag._, May, 1874, pp. 46-54.)
---- [Mr. Ashton Dilke on the Valley of the Ili.] (_Geog. Mag._, June,
1874, p. 123.) Palermo, 16th May, 1874.
---- The _Atlas Sinensis_ and other Sinensiana. (_Geog. Mag._, 1st July,
1847, pp. 147-148.)
---- Letter [on Belasaghun]. (_Geog. Mag._, 1st July, 1874, p. 167; Ibid.
1st Sept. 1874, p. 254.)
Palermo, 17th June, 1874; 8th Aug. 1874.
1874 Bala Sagun and Karakorum. By Eugene Schuyler. With note by Col. Yule.
(_Geog. Mag._, 1st Dec. 1874, p. 389.)
---- M. Khanikoff's Identifications of Names in Clavijo. (Ibid. pp.
389-390.)
1875 Notes [to the translation by Eugene Schuyler of Palladius's version
of _The Journey of the Chinese Traveller, Chang Fe-hui_]. (_Geog.
Mag._, 1st Jan. 1875, pp. 7-11).
---- Some Unscientific Notes on the History of Plants. (_Geog. Mag._, 1st
Feb. 1875, pp. 49-51)
---- Trade Routes to Western China. (_Geog. Mag._, April, 1875, pp.
97-101.)
---- Garden of Transmigrated Souls [Friar Odoric]. (_Geog. Mag._, 1st May,
1875, pp. 137-138.)
---- A Glance at the Results of the Expedition to Hissar. By Herr P.
Lerch. (_Geog. Mag._, 1st Nov. 1875, pp. 334-339.)
---- Kathay or Cathay. (_Johnson's American Cyclopaedia_.)
---- Achín. (_Encycl. Brit._ 9th edition, 1875, I. pp. 95-97.)
---- Afghânistân. (Ibid. pp. 227-241.)
---- Andaman Islands. (Ibid. II. 1875, pp. 11-13.)
---- India [Ancient]. (Map No. 31, 1874, in _An Atlas of Ancient
Geography, edited by William Smith and George Grove_. London, John
Murray, 1875.)
1876 Mongolia, the Tangut Country, and the Solitudes of Northern Tibet,
being a Narrative of Three Years' Travel in Eastern High Asia. By
Lieut.-Col. N. Prejevalsky, of the Russian Staff Corps; Mem. of the
Imp. Russ. Geog. Soc. Translated by E. Delmar Morgan, F.R.G.S. With
Introduction and Notes by Col. H. Yule. With Maps and Illustrations.
London, Sampson Low, 1876, 8vo.
---- _Tibet_ ... Edited by C. R. Markham. Notice of. (_Times_, 1876,
----?)
---- Eastern Persia. Letter. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2559, 11th Nov. 1876.)
---- Review of _H. Howorth's History of the Mongols_, Part I. (The
Athenaeum, No. 2560, 18th Nov. 1876, pp. 654-656.) Correspondence.
(Ibid. No. 2561, 25th Nov. 1876.)
---- Review of _T. E. Gordon's Roof of the World_. (_The Academy_, 15th
July, 1876, pp. 49-50.)
1876 Cambodia. (_Encycl. Brit._ IV. 1876, pp. 723-726.)
1877 Champa. (_Geog. Mag._, 1st March, 1877, pp. 66-67.)
Article written for the _Encycl. Brit._ 9th edition, but omitted for
reasons which the writer did not clearly understand.
---- _Quid, si Mundus evolvatur?_ (_Spectator_, 24th March, 1877.)
Written in 1875.--Signed MARCUS PAULUS VENETUS.
---- On Louis de Backer's _L'Extrême-Orient au Moyen-Age_. (_The
Athenaeum_, No. 2598, 11th Aug. 1877, pp. 174-175.)
---- On P. Dabry de Thiersant's _Catholicisme en Chine_. (_The Athenaeum_,
No. 2599, 18th Aug. 1877, pp. 209-210.)
---- Review of _Thomas de Quincey, His Life and Writings. By H. A. Page_.
(_Times_, 27th Aug. 1877.)
---- Companions of Faust. Letter on the Claims of P. Castaldi.
(_Times_, Sept. 1877.)
1878 The late Col. T. G. Montgomerie, R.E. (Bengal). (_R. E. Journal_,
April, 1878.) 8vo, pp. 8.
---- Mr. Henry M. Stanley and the Royal Geographical Society; being the
Record of a Protest. By Col. H. Yule and H. M. Hyndman B.A., F.R.G.S.
London: Bickers and Son, 1878, 8vo, pp. 48
---- Review of _Burma, Past and Present; with Personal Reminiscences of
the Country_. By Lieut.-Gen. Albert Fytche. (_The Athenaeum_, No.
2634, 20th April, 1878, pp. 499-500.)
---- Kayal. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2634, 20th April, 1878, p. 515.)
Letter dated April, 1878.
---- Missions in Southern India. (Letter to _Pall Mall Gazette_, 20th
June, 1878.)
---- Mr. Stanley and his Letters of 1875. (Letter to _Pall Mall Gazette_,
30th Jan. 1878.)
---- Review of _Richthofen's China_, Bd. I. (_The Academy_, 13th April,
1878, pp. 315-316.)
---- [A foreshadowing of the Phonograph.] (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2636,
4th May, 1878.)
1879 A Memorial of the Life and Services of Maj.-Gen. W. W. H. Greathed,
C.B., Royal Engineers (Bengal), (1826-1878). Compiled by a Friend and
Brother Officer. London, printed for private circulation, 1879, 8vo,
pp. 57.
---- Review of _Gaur: its Ruins and Inscriptions_. By John Henry
Ravenshaw. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2672, 11th Jan. 1879, pp. 42-44.)
---- Wellington College. (Letter to _Pall Mall Gazette_, 14th April,
1879.)
---- Dr. Holub's Travels. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2710, 4th Oct. 1879,
pp. 436-437.)
---- Letter to Comm. Berchet, dated 2nd Dec. 1878. (_Archivio Veneto_
XVII. 1879, pp. 360-362.)
Regarding some documents discovered by the Ab. Cav. V. Zanetti.
---- Gaur. (_Encyclop. Brit._ X. 1879, pp. 112-116.)
---- Ghazni. (Ibid. pp. 559-562.)
---- Gilgit. (Ibid. pp. 596-599.)
---- Singular Coincidences. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2719, 6th Dec. 1879.)
1880 [Brief Obituary Notice of] General W. C. Macleod. (_Pall Mall
Gazette_, 10th April, 1880.)
---- [Obituary Notice of] Gen. W. C. Macleod. (_Proc. R. Geog. Soc._,
June, 1880.)
---- An Ode in Brown Pig. Suggested by reading Mr. Lang's _Ballades in
Blue China_. [Signed MARCUS PAULUS VENETUS.] (_St. James' Gazette_,
17th July, 1880.)
---- Notes on Analogies of Manners between the Indo-Chinese Races and the
Races of the Indian Archipelago. By Col. Yule (_Journ. Anthrop. Inst.
of Great Britain and Ireland_, vol. ix., 1880, pp. 290-301.)
---- Sketches of Asia in the Thirteenth Century and of Marco Polo's
Travels, delivered at Royal Engineer Institute, 18th Nov. 1880.
[This Lecture, with slight modification, was also delivered on other
occasions both before and after. Doubtful if ever fully reported.]
---- Dr. Holub's Collections. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2724, 10th Jan. 1880.)
---- Prof. Max Müller's Paper at the Royal Asiatic Society. (_The
Athenaeum_, No. 2731, 28th Feb. 1880, p. 285.)
---- The Temple of Buddha Gaya. (Review of _Dr. Rajendralála Mitra's
Buddha Gaya_.) (_Sat. Rev._, 27th March, 1870.)
---- Mr. Gladstone and Count Karoiyi. (Letter to _The Examiner_, 22nd May,
1880, signed TRISTRAM SHANDY.)
1880 Stupa of Barhut. [Review of Cunningham's work.] (_Sat. Rev._, 5th
June, 1880.)
---- From Africa: Southampton, Fifth October, 1880.
[Verses to Sir Bartle Frere.] (_Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, Nov.
1880.)
---- Review of _H. Howorth's History of the Mongols_, Part II. (_The
Athenaeum_, No. 2762, 2nd Oct. 1880, pp. 425-427.)
---- _Verboten ist_, a Rhineland Rhapsody. (Printed for private
circulation only.)
---- Hindú-Kúsh. (_Encyclop. Brit._ XI. 1880, pp. 837-839.)
---- The River of Golden Sand, the Narrative of a Journey through China
and Eastern Tibet to Burmah, With Illustrations and ten Maps from
Original Surveys. By Capt. W. Gill, Royal Engineers. With an
Introductory Essay. By Col. H. Yule, London, John Murray,... 1880,
2 vols. 8vo, pp. 95-420, 11-453;
---- The River of Golden Sand: Being the Narrative of a Journey through
China and Eastern Tibet to Burmah. By the late Capt. W. Gill, R.E.
Condensed by Edward Colborne Baber, Chinese Secretary to H.M.'s
Legation at Peking. Edited, with a Memoir and Introductory Essay, by
Col. H. Yule. With Portrait, Map, and Woodcuts. London, John Murray,
1883, 8vo., pp. 141-332.
---- Memoir of Captain W. Gill, R.E., and Introductory Essay as prefixed
to the New Edition of the "River of Golden Sand." By Col. H. Yule.
London, John Murray,... 1884, 8vo. [Paged 19-141.]
1881 [Notice on William Yule] in Persian Manuscripts in the British
Museum. By Sir F. J. Goldsmid. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2813, 24th Sept.
1881, pp. 401-403.)
---- Il Beato Odorico di Pordenone, ed i suoi Viaggi: Cenni dettati dal
Col. Enrico Yule, quando s'inaugurava in Pordenone il Busto di
Odorico il giorno, 23° Settembre, MDCCCLXXXI, 8vo. pp. 8.
---- Hwen T'sang. (_Encyclop. Brit._ XII. 1881, pp. 418-419.)
---- Ibn Batuta. (Ibid. pp. 607-609.)
---- Kâfiristân. (Ibid. XIII. 1881, pp. 820-823.)
---- Major James Rennell, F.R.S., of the Bengal Engineers. [Reprinted from
the _Royal Engineers' Journal_], 8vo., pp. 16.
(Dated 7th Dec. 1881.)
1881 Notice of Sir William E. Baker. (_St. James' Gazette_, 27th Dec.
1881.)
---- Parallels [Matthew Arnold and de Barros]. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2790,
16th April, 1881, pp. 536.)
1882 Memoir of Gen. Sir William Erskine Baker, K.C.B., Royal Engineers
(Bengal). Compiled by two old friends, brother officers and pupils.
London. Printed for private circulation, 1882, 8vo., pp. 67.
By H. Y[ule] and R. M. [Gen. R. Maclagan].
---- Etymological Notes. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2837, 11th March, 1882; No.
2840, 1st April, 1882, p. 413.)
---- Lhása. (_Encyclop. Brit._ XIV. 1882, pp. 496-503.)
---- _Wadono_. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2846, 13th May, 1882, p. 602.)
---- Dr. John Brown. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2847, 20th May, 1882, pp.
635-636.)
---- A Manuscript of Marco Polo. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2851, 17th June,
1882, pp. 765-766.)
[About Baron Nordenskiöld's Facsimile Edition.]
---- Review of _Ancient India as described by Ktesias the Knidian_, etc.
By J. W. M'Crindle. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2860, 19th Aug. 1882,
pp. 237-238.)
---- The Silver Coinage of Thibet. (Review of Terrien de Lacouperie's
Paper.) (_The Academy_, 19th Aug. 1882, pp 140-141.)
---- Review of _The Indian Balhara and the Arabian Intercourse with
India_. By Edward Thomas. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2866, 30th Sept.
1882, pp. 428-429.)
---- The Expedition of Professor Palmer, Capt. Gill, and Lieut.
Charrington. (Letter in _The Times_, 16th Oct. 1882.)
---- Obituary Notice of Dr. Arthur Burnell. (_Times_, 20th Oct. 1882.)
---- Capt. William Gill, R.E. [Notice of]. (_The Times_, 31st Oct. 1882.)
See supra, first col. of this page.
---- Notes on the Oldest Records of the Sea Route to China from Western
Asia. By Col. Yule. _Proc. of the Royal Geographical Society, and
Monthly Record of Geography_, Nov. No. 1882, 8vo.
_Proceedings_, N.S. IV. 1882, pp. 649-660. Read at the Geographical
Section, Brit. Assoc., Southampton Meeting, augmented and revised by
the author.
1883 Lord Lawrence. [Review of _Life of Lord Lawrence_. By R. Bosworth
Smith.] (_Quarterly Review_, vol. 155, April, 1883, pp. 289-326.)
---- Review of _Across Chrysé_. By A. R. Colquhoun. (_The Athenaeum_, No.
2900, 26th May, 1883, pp. 663-665.)
---- La Terra del Fuoco e Carlo Darwin. (Extract from Letter published by
the _Fanfulla_, Rome 2nd June, 1883.)
---- How was the Trireme rowed? (_The Academy_, 6th Oct. 1883, p. 237.)
---- _Across Chrysé_. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 2922, 27th Oct. 1883.)
---- Political Fellowship in the India Council. (Letter in _The Times_,
15th Dec. 1883.) [Heading was not Yule's.]
---- Maldive Islands. (_Encyclop. Brit._ XV. 1883, pp. 327-332.)
---- Mandeville. (Ibid. pp. 473-475.)
1884 A Sketch of the Career of Gen. John Reid Becher, C.B., Royal
Engineers (Bengal). By an old friend and brother officer. Printed for
private circulation, 1884, 8vo, pp. 40.
---- Rue Quills. (_The Academy_, No. 620, 22nd March, 1884, pp. 204-205.)
Reprinted in present ed. of Marco Polo, vol. ii. p. 596.
---- Lord Canning. (Letter in _The Times_, 2nd April, 1884.)
---- Sir Bartle Frere [Letter respecting Memorial of]. (_St. James'
Gazette_, 27th July, 1884.)
---- Odoric. (_Encyclop. Brit._ XVIII. 1884, pp. 728-729.)
---- Ormus. (Ibid. pp. 856-858.)
1885 Memorials of Gen. Sir Edward Harris Greathed, K.C.B. Compiled by the
late Lieut.-Gen. Alex. Cunningham Robertson, C.B. Printed for private
circulation. (With a prefatory notice of the compiler.) London,
Harrison & Sons,... 1885, 8vo, pp. 95.
The Prefatory Notice of Gen. A. C. Robertson is by H. Yule, June,
1885, p. iii.-viii.
---- Anglo-Indianisms. (Letter in the _St. James' Gazette_, 30th July,
1885.)
---- Obituary Notice of Col. Grant Allan, Madras Army. (_From the Army and
Navy Gazette_, 22nd Aug. 1885.)
---- Shameless Advertisements. (Letter in _The Times_, 28th Oct. 1885.)
1886 Marco Polo. (_Encyclop. Brit._ XIX. 1885, pp. 404-409.)
---- Prester John. (Ibid. pp. 714-718.)
---- Brief Notice of Sir Edward Clive Bayley. Pages ix.-xiv. [Prefixed to
_The History of India as told by its own Historians: Gujarat_. By the
late Sir Edward Clive Bayley.] London, Allen, 1886, 8vo.
---- Sir George Udny Yule. In Memoriam (_St. James' Gazette_, 18th Jan.
1886.)
---- Cacothanasia. [Political Verse, Signed [Greek: Maenin AEIDE]]
(_St. James' Gazette_, 1st Feb. 1886.)
---- William Kay, D.D. [Notice of]. (Letter to _The Guardian_, 3rd Feb.
1886.)
---- Col. George Thomson, C.B., R.E. (_Royal Engineers' Journal_, 1886.)
---- Col. George Thomson, C.B. [Note]. (_St. James' Gazette_, 16th Feb.
1886.)
---- Hidden Virtues [A Satire on W. E. Gladstone]. (Letter to the _St.
James' Gazette_, 21st March, 1886. Signed M. P. V.)
---- Burma, Past and Present. (_Quart. Rev._ vol. 162, Jan. and April,
1886, pp. 210-238.)
---- Errors of Facts, in two well-known Pictures.
(_The Athenaeum_, No. 3059, 12th June, 1886, p. 788.)
---- [Obituary Notice of] Lieut.-Gen. Sir Arthur Phayre, C.B., K.C.S.I.,
G.C.M.G. (_Proc. R.G.S._, N.S. 1886, VIII. pp. 103-112.)
---- "Lines suggested by a Portrait in the Millais Exhibition."
Privately printed and (though never published) widely circulated.
These powerful verses on Gladstone are those several times referred
to by Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, in his published Diaries.
---- Introductory Remarks on _The Rock-Cut Caves and Statues of Bamian_.
By Capt. the Hon. M. G. Talbot. (_Journ. R. As. Soc._ N.S. XVIII.
1886, pp. 323-329.)
---- Opening Address. (Ibid. pp. i.-v.)
---- Opening Address. (Ibid. xix. pp. i.-iii.)
---- Hobson-Jobsoniana. By H. Yule (_Asiatic Quarterly Review_, vol. i.
1886, pp. 119-140.)
---- HOBSON-JOBSON: Being a Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words and
Phrases, and of Kindred Terms; etymological, historical,
geographical, and discursive. By Col. H. Yule, and the late Arthur
Coke Burnell, Ph.D., C.I.E., author of "The Elements of South Indian
Palaeography," etc., London, John Murray, 1886. (All rights
reserved), 8vo, p. xliii.-870. Preface, etc.
A new edition is in preparation under the editorship of Mr. William
Crooke (1902).
1886 John Bunyan. (Letter in _St. James' Gazette_, circa 31st Dec. 1886.
Signed M. P. V.)
---- Rennell. (_Encyclop. Brit._ XX. 1886, pp. 398-401.)
---- Rubruquis (Ibid. XXI. 1886, pp. 46-47.)
1887 Lieut.-Gen. W. A. Crommelen, C.B., R.E. (_Royal Engineers' Journal_,
1887.)
---- [Obituary Notice] Col. Sir J. U. Bateman Champain. (_Times_, 2nd Feb.
1887).
---- "Pulping Public Records." (_Notes and Queries_, 19th March, 1887.)
---- A Filial Remonstrance (Political Verses). Signed M. P. V. (_St.
James' Gazette_, 8th Aug. 1887.)
---- Memoir of Major-Gen. J. T. Boileau, R.E., F.R.S. By C. R. Low, I.N.,
F.R.G.S. With a Preface by Col. H. Yule, C.B., London, Allen, 1887.
---- The Diary of William Hedges, Esq. (afterwards Sir William Hedges),
during his Agency in Bengal; as well as on his voyage out and return
overland (1681-1687). Transcribed for the Press, with Introductory
Notes, etc., by R. Barlow, Esq., and illustrated by copious extracts
from unpublished records, etc., by Col. H. Yule. Pub. for Hakluyt
Society. London, 1887-1889, 3 vols. 8vo.
1888 Concerning some little known Travellers in the East. (_Asiatic
Quarterly Review_, V. 1888, pp. 312-335.)
No. I.--George Strachan.
---- Concerning some little known Travellers in the East. (_Asiatic
Quarterly Review_, VI. 1888, pp. 382-398.)
No. II.--William, Earl of Denbigh; Sir Henry Skipwith; and others.
---- Notes on the St. James's of the 6th Jan. [A Budget of Miscellaneous
interesting criticism.] (Letter to _St. James' Gazette_, 9th Jan.
1888.)
---- Deflections of the Nile. (Letter in _The Times_, 15th Oct. 1888.)
---- The History of the Pitt Diamond, being an excerpt from Documentary
Contributions to a Biography of Thomas Pitt, prepared for issue [in
Hedges' Diary] by the Hakluyt Society. London, 1888, 8vo. pp. 23.
Fifty Copies printed for private circulation.
1889 The Remains of Pagan. By H. Yule. (_Trübner's Record_, 3rd ser.
vol. i. pt. i. 1889, p. 2.)
To introduce notes by Dr. E Forchammer.
---- A Coincident Idiom. By H. Yule. (_Trübner's Record_, 3rd ser. vol. i.
pt. iii. pp. 84-85.)
---- The Indian Congress [a Disclaimer], (Letter to _The Times_, 1st Jan.
1889.)
---- Arrowsmith, the Friend of Thomas Poole. (Letter in _The Academy_,
9th Feb. 1889, p. 96.)
BIOGRAPHIES OF SIR HENRY YULE.
---- Colonel Sir Henry Yule, K.C.S.I., C.B., LL.D., R.E. By General Robert
Maclagan, R.E. (_Proceed. Roy. Geog. Soc._ XII. 1890, pp. 108-113.)
---- Colonel Sir Henry Yule, K.C.S.I., C.B., LL.D., R.E., etc. (With a
Portrait). By E. Delmar Morgan. (_Scottish Geographical Magazine_,
VI. 1890, pp. 93-98.) Contains a very good Bibliography.
---- Col. Sir H. Yule, R.E., C.B., K.C.S.I., by Maj.-Gen. T. B. Collinson,
R.E., _Royal Engineers' Journal_, March, 1890. [This is the best of
the Notices of Yule which appeared at the time of his death.]
---- Sir Henry Yule, K.C.S.I, C.B., LL.D., R.E., by E. H. Giglioli. Roma,
1890, ppt. 8vo, pp. 8.
Estratto dal _Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana_, Marzo,
1890.
---- Sir Henry Yule. By J. S. C[otton]. (_The Academy_, 11th Jan. 1890,
No. 923, pp. 26-27.)
---- Sir Henry Yule. (_The Athenaeum_, No. 3245, 4th Jan. 1900, p. 17;
No. 3246, 11th Jan. p. 53; No. 3247, 18th Jan. p. 88.)
---- _In Memoriam_. Sir Henry Yule. By D. M. (_The Academy_, 29th March,
1890, p. 222.)
See end of _Memoir_ in present work.
---- Le Colonel Sir Henry Yule. Par M. Henri Cordier. Extrait du _Journal
Asiatique_. Paris, Imprimerie nationale, MDCCCXC, in-8, pp. 26.
---- The same, _Bulletin de la Société de Géographie_. Par M. Henri
Cordier. 1890, 8vo, pp. 4.
Meeting 17th Jan. 1890.
1889 Baron F. von Richthofen. (_Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für
Erdkunde zu Berlin_, xvii. 2.)
---- Colonel Sir Henry Yule, R.E., C.B., K.C.S.I. Memoir by General R.
Maclagan, _Journ. R. Asiatic Society_, 1890.
---- Memoir of Colonel Sir Henry Yule, R.E., C.B., K.C.S.I., LL.D., etc.
By Coutts Trotter. (_Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_,
1891. p. xliii. to p. lvi.)
1889 Sir Henry Yule (1820-1889). By Coutts Trotter. (_Dict. of National
Biography_, lxiii. pp. 405-407.)
1903 Memoir of Colonel Sir Henry Yule, R.E., C.B., K.C.S.I., Corr. Inst.
France, by his daughter, Amy Frances Yule, L.A.Soc. Ant. Scot., etc.
Written for third edition of Yule's Marco Polo. Reprinted for private
circulation only.
[1] This list is based on the excellent preliminary List compiled by E.
Delmar Morgan, published in the _Scottish Geographical Magazine_, vol.
vi., pp. 97-98, but the present compilers have much more than doubled
the number of entries. It is, however, known to be still incomplete,
and any one able to add to the list, will greatly oblige the compilers
by sending additions to the Publisher.--A. F. Y.
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.
MARCO POLO AND HIS BOOK.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICES.
I. OBSCURITIES IN THE HISTORY OF HIS LIFE AND BOOK. RAMUSIO'S STATEMENTS
§ 1. Obscurities, etc. 2. Ramusio his earliest Biographer; his Account
of Polo. 3. He vindicates Polo's Geography. 4. Compares him with
Columbus. 5. Recounts a Tradition of the Traveller's Return to Venice.
6. Recounts Marco's Capture by the Genoese. 7. His statements about
Marco's liberation and marriage. 8. His account of the Family Polo and
its termination.
II. SKETCH OF THE STATE OF THE EAST AT THE TIME OF THE JOURNEYS OF THE
POLO FAMILY
§ 9. State of the Levant. 10. The various Mongol Sovereignties in Asia
and Eastern Europe. 11. China. 12. India and Indo-China.
III. THE POLO FAMILY. PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE TRAVELLERS TILL THEIR FINAL
RETURN FROM THE EAST
§ 13. Alleged origin of the Polos. 14. Claims to Nobility. 15. The Elder
Marco Polo. 16. Nicolo and Maffeo Polo commence their Travels. 17. Their
intercourse with Kúblái Kaan. 18. Their return home, and Marco's
appearance on the scene. 19. Second Journey of the Polo Brothers,
accompanied by Marco. (See App. L. 1.) 20. Marco's Employment by Kúblái
Kaan; and his Journeys. 21. Circumstances of the departure of the Polos
from the Kaan's Court. 22. They pass by Persia to Venice. Their
relations there.
IV. DIGRESSION CONCERNING THE MANSION OF THE POLO FAMILY AT S. GIOVANNI
GRISOSTOMO
§ 23. Probable period of their establishment at S. Giovanni Grisostomo.
24. Relics of the Casa Polo in the Corte Sabbionera. 24a. Recent
corroboration as to traditional site of the Casa Polo.
V. DIGRESSION CONCERNING THE WAR-GALLEYS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN STATES IN
THE MIDDLE AGES.
§ 25. Arrangement of the Rowers in Mediaeval Galleys; a separate Oar to
every Man. 26. Change of System in 16th Century. 27. Some details of
13th-Century Galleys. 28. Fighting Arrangements. 29. Crew of a Galley
and Staff of a Fleet. 30. Music and miscellaneous particulars.
VI. THE JEALOUSIES AND NAVAL WARS OF VENICE AND GENOA. LAMBA DORIA'S
EXPEDITION TO THE ADRIATIC; BATTLE OF CURZOLA; AND IMPRISONMENT OF MARCO
POLO BY THE GENOESE
§ 31. Growing Jealousies and Outbreaks between the Republics. 32. Battle
in Bay of Ayas in 1294. 33. Lamba Doria's Expedition to the Adriatic.
34. The Fleets come in sight of each other at Curzola. 35. The Venetians
defeated, and Marco Polo a Prisoner. 36. Marco Polo in Prison dictates
his Book to Rusticiano of Pisa. Release of Venetian Prisoners. 37.
Grounds on which the story of Marco Polo's capture at Curzola rests.
VII. RUSTICIANO OR RUSTICHELLO OF PISA, MARCO POLO'S FELLOW-PRISONER AT
GENOA, THE SCRIBE WHO WROTE DOWN THE TRAVELS
§ 38. Rusticiano, perhaps a Prisoner from Meloria. 39. A Person known
from other sources. 40. Character of his Romance Compilations.
41. Identity of the Romance Compiler with Polo's Fellow-Prisoner.
42. Further particulars regarding Rusticiano.
VIII. NOTICES OF MARCO POLO'S HISTORY AFTER THE TERMINATION OF HIS
IMPRISONMENT AT GENOA
§ 43. Death of Marco's Father before 1300. Will of his Brother Maffeo.
44. Documentary Notices of Polo at this time. The Sobriquet of
_Milione_. 45. Polo's relations with Thibault de Cepoy. 46. His
Marriage, and his Daughters. Marco as a Merchant. 47. His Last Will; and
Death. 48. Place of Sepulture. Professed Portraits of Polo. 49. Further
History of the Polo Family. 49 _bis_. Reliques of Marco Polo.
IX. MARCO POLO'S BOOK; AND THE LANGUAGE IN WHICH IT WAS FIRST WRITTEN
§ 50. General Statement of what the Book contains. 51. Language of the
original Work. 52. Old French Text of the Société de Géographie.
53. Conclusive proof that the Old French Text is the source of all the
others. 54. Greatly diffused employment of French in that age.
X. VARIOUS TYPES OF TEXT OF MARCO POLO'S BOOK
§ 55. Four Principal Types of Text. _First_, that of the Geographic or
Oldest French. 56. _Second_, the Remodelled French Text; followed by
Pauthier. 57. The Bern MS. and two others form a sub-class of this type.
58. _Third_, Friar Pipino's Latin. 59. The Latin of Grynaeus,
a Translation at Fifth Hand. 60. _Fourth_, Ramusio's Italian.
61. Injudicious Tamperings in Ramusio. 62. Genuine Statements peculiar
to Ramusio. 63. Hypothesis of the Sources of the Ramusian Version. 64.
Summary in regard to Text of Polo. 65. Notice of a curious Irish
Version.
XI. SOME ESTIMATE OF THE CHARACTER OF POLO AND HIS BOOK
§ 66. Grounds of Polo's Pre-eminence among Mediaeval Travellers.
67. His true claims to glory. 68. His personal attributes seen but
dimly. 69. Absence of scientific notions. 70. Map constructed on Polo's
data. 71. Singular omissions of Polo in regard to China; historical
inaccuracies. 72. Was Polo's Book materially affected by the Scribe
Rusticiano? 73. Marco's reading embraced the Alexandrian Romances.
Examples. 74. Injustice long done to Polo. Singular Modern Example.
XII. CONTEMPORARY RECOGNITION OF POLO AND HIS BOOK.
§ 75. How far was there diffusion of his Book in his own day?
76. Contemporary References to Polo. T. de Cepoy; Pipino; Jacopo
d'Acqui; Giov. Villani. 77. Pietro d'Abano; Jean le Long of Ypres.
78. Curious borrowings from Polo in the Romance of Bauduin de Sebourc.
78 _bis._ Chaucer and Marco Polo.
XIII. NATURE OF POLO'S INFLUENCE ON GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE
§ 79. Tardy operation, and causes thereof. 80. General characteristics
of Mediaeval Cosmography. 81. Roger Bacon as a Geographer. 82. Arab
Geography. 83. Marino Sanudo the Elder. 84. The Catalan Map of 1375, the
most complete mediaeval embodiment of Polo's Geography. 85. Fra Mauro's
Map. Confusions in Cartography of the 16th Century from the endeavour to
combine new and old information. 86. Gradual disappearance of Polo's
nomenclature. 87. Alleged introduction of Block-printed Books into
Europe by Marco Polo in connexion with the fiction of the invention of
Printing by Castaldi of Feltre. 88. Frequent opportunities for such
introduction in the Age following Polo's.
XIV. EXPLANATIONS REGARDING THE BASIS ADOPTED FOR THE PRESENT TRANSLATION
§ 89. Texts followed by Marsden and by Pauthier. 90. Eclectic Formation
of the English Text of this Translation. 91. Mode of rendering Proper
Names.
THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO.
PROLOGUE.
PRELIMINARY ADDRESS OF RUSTICIANO OF PISA
I.--HOW THE TWO BROTHERS POLO SET FORTH FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO TRAVERSE
THE WORLD
NOTES.--1. Chronology. 2. "The Great Sea." The Port of Soldaia.
II.--HOW THE TWO BROTHERS WENT ON BEYOND SOLDAIA
NOTES.--1. Site and Ruins of Sarai. 2. City of Bolghar. 3. Alau Lord of
the Levant (i.e. _Hulaku_). 4. Ucaca on the Volga. 5. River Tigeri.
III.--HOW THE TWO BROTHERS, AFTER CROSSING A DESERT, CAME TO THE CITY OF
BOCARA, AND FELL IN WITH CERTAIN ENVOYS THERE
NOTES.--1. "Bocara a City of Persia." 2. The Great Kaan's Envoys.
IV.--HOW THE TWO BROTHERS TOOK THE ENVOYS' COUNSEL, AND WENT TO THE COURT
OF THE GREAT KAAN
V.--HOW THE TWO BROTHERS ARRIVED AT THE COURT OF THE GREAT KAAN
VI.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN ASKED ALL ABOUT THE MANNERS OF THE CHRISTIANS, AND
PARTICULARLY ABOUT THE POPE OF ROME
NOTE.--Apostoille. The name _Tartar_.
VII.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN SENT THE TWO BROTHERS AS HIS ENVOYS TO THE POPE
NOTES.--1. The Great Kaan's Letter. 2. The Seven Arts. 3. Religious
Indifference of the Mongol Princes.
VIII.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN GAVE THEM A TABLET OF GOLD, BEARING HIS ORDERS
IN THEIR BEHALF
NOTES.--1. The Tablet. 2. The Port of Ayas.
IX.--HOW THE TWO BROTHERS CAME TO THE CITY OF ACRE; AND THENCE TO VENICE
NOTES.--1. Names of the deceased Pope and of the Legate. 2. Negropont.
3. Mark's age.
X.--HOW THE TWO BROTHERS AGAIN DEPARTED FROM VENICE, ON THEIR WAY BACK TO
THE GREAT KAAN, AND TOOK WITH THEM MARK, THE SON OF MESSER NICOLO
NOTE.--Oil from the Holy Sepulchre.
XI.--HOW THE TWO BROTHERS SET OUT FROM ACRE, AND MARK ALONG WITH THEM
NOTE.--Pope Gregory X. and his Election.
XII.--HOW THE TWO BROTHERS PRESENTED THEMSELVES BEFORE THE NEW POPE
NOTES.--1. William of Tripoli. 2. Powers conceded to Missionary Friars.
3. Bundúkdár and his Invasion of Armenia; his character. 4. The Templars
in Cilician Armenia.
XIII.--HOW MESSER NICOLO AND MESSER MAFFEO POLO, ACCOMPANIED BY MARK,
TRAVELLED TO THE COURT OF THE GREAT KAAN
NOTE.--The City of Kemenfu, Summer Residence of Kúblái.
XIV.--HOW MESSER NICOLO AND MESSER MAFFEO POLO AND MARCO PRESENTED
THEMSELVES BEFORE THE GREAT KAAN
NOTES.--1. Verbal. 2. "Vostre Homme."
XV.--HOW THE LORD SENT MARK ON AN EMBASSY OF HIS
NOTES.--1. The four Characters learned by Marco, what? 2. Ramusio's
addition. 3. Nature of Marco's employment.
XVI.--HOW MARK RETURNED FROM THE MISSION WHEREON HE HAD BEEN SENT
XVII.--HOW MESSER NICOLO, MESSER MAFFEO, AND MESSER MARCO, ASKED LEAVE OF
THE GREAT KAAN TO GO THEIR WAY
NOTES.--1. Risks to Foreigners on a change of Sovereign. 2. The Lady
Bolgana. 3. Passage from Ramusio.
XVIII.--HOW THE TWO BROTHERS AND MESSER MARCO TOOK LEAVE OF THE GREAT
KAAN, AND RETURNED TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY
NOTES.--1. Mongol Royal Messengers. 2. Mongol communication with the
King of England. 3. Mediaeval Ships of China. 4. Passage from China
to Sumatra. 5. Mortality among the party. 6. The Lady Cocachin in
Persian History. 7. Death of the Kaan. 8. The Princess of Manzi.
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._
I.--HERE THE BOOK BEGINS; AND FIRST IT SPEAKS OF THE LESSER HERMENIA
NOTES.--1. Little Armenia. 2. Meaning of _Chasteaux_. 3. Sickliness of
Cilician Coast. 4. The phrase "_fra terre_."
II.--CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TURCOMANIA
NOTES.--1. Brutality of the people. 2. Application of name _Turcomania_.
Turcoman Hordes.
III.--DESCRIPTION OF THE GREATER HERMENIA
NOTES.--1. Erzingan. _Buckrams_, what were they? 2. Erzrum. 3. Baiburt.
4. Ararat. 5. Oil wells of Baku.
IV.--OF GEORGIANIA AND THE KINGS THEREOF
NOTES.--1. Georgian Kings. 2. The Georgians. 3. The Iron Gates and Wall
of Alexander. 4. Box forests. 5. Goshawks. 6. Fish Miracle. 7. Sea of
Ghel or Ghelan. Names ending in _-án_. 8. Names of the Caspian, and
navigation thereon. 9. Fish in the Caspian.
V.--OF THE KINGDOM OF MAUSUL
NOTES.--1. Atabeks of Mosul. 2. Nestorian and Jacobite Christians.
3. Mosolins. 4. The Kurds. 5. Mush and Mardin.
VI.--OF THE GREAT CITY OF BAUDAS, AND HOW IT WAS TAKEN
NOTES.--1. Baudas, or Baghdad. 2. Island of Kish. 3. Basra.
4. Baldachins and other silk textures; Animal patterns. 5, 6. Hulákú's
Expedition. 7. The Death of the Khalíf Mosta'sim. 8. Froissart.
VII.--HOW THE CALIF OF BAUDAS TOOK COUNSEL TO SLAY ALL THE CHRISTIANS IN
HIS LAND
NOTES.--1. Chronology. 2. "Ses _Regisles_ et ses _Casses_."
VIII.--HOW THE CHRISTIANS WERE IN GREAT DISMAY BECAUSE OF WHAT THE CALIF
HAD SAID
NOTE.--The word "_cralantur_."
IX.--HOW THE ONE-EYED COBLER WAS DESIRED TO PRAY FOR THE CHRISTIANS
X.--HOW THE PRAYER OF THE ONE-EYED COBLER CAUSED THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE
NOTE.--The Mountain Miracle.
XI.--OF THE NOBLE CITY OF TAURIS
NOTES.--1. Tabriz. 2. Cremesor. 3. Traffic at Tabriz. 4. The _Torizi_.
5. Character of City and People.
XII.--OF THE MONASTERY OF SAINT BARSAMO ON THE BORDERS OF TAURIS
NOTE.--The Monastery of Barsauma.
XIII.--OF THE GREAT COUNTRY OF PERSIA; WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE THREE
KINGS
NOTES.--1. Kala' Atishparastán. 2. The Three Kings.
XIV.--HOW THE THREE KINGS RETURNED TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY
NOTES.--1. The three mystic Gifts. 2. The Worshipped Fire. 3. Sávah and
Avah. The Legend in Mas'udi. Embellishments of the Story of the Magi.
XV.--OF THE EIGHT KINGDOMS OF PERSIA, AND HOW THEY ARE NAMED
NOTES.--1. The Eight Kingdoms. 2. Export of Horses, and Prices.
3. Persian Brigands. 4. Persian wine.
XVI.--CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF YASDI
NOTES.--1. Yezd. 2. Yezd to Kerman. The Woods spoken of.
XVII.--CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF KERMAN
NOTES.--1. City and Province of Kerman. 2. Turquoises. 3. _Ondanique_ or
Indian Steel. 4. Manufactures of Kerman. 5. Falcons.
XVIII.--OF THE CITY OF CAMADI AND ITS RUINS; ALSO TOUCHING THE CARAUNA
ROBBERS
NOTES.--1. Products of the warmer plains. 2. Humped oxen and fat-tailed
sheep. 3. _Scarani_. 4. The Karaunahs and Nigudarian Bands.
5. Canosalmi.
XIX.--OF THE DESCENT TO THE CITY OF HORMOS
NOTES.--1. Site of Old Hormuz and Geography of the route from Kerman to
Hormuz. 2. Dates and Fish Diet. 3. Stitched Vessels. "_One rudder_," why
noticed as peculiar. 4. Great heat at Hormuz. 5. The Simúm. 6. History
of Hormuz, and Polo's Ruomedan Acomat. 7. Second Route between Hormuz
and Kerman.
XX.--OF THE WEARISOME AND DESERT ROAD THAT HAS NOW TO BE TRAVELLED
NOTES.--1. Kerman to Kúbenán. 2. Desert of Lút. 3. Subterraneous Canals.
XXI.--CONCERNING THE CITY OF COBINAN AND THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE THERE
NOTES.--1. Kuh-Banán. 2. Production of Tútíá.
XXII.--OF A CERTAIN DESERT THAT CONTINUES FOR EIGHT DAYS' JOURNEY
NOTES.--1. Deserts of Khorasan. 2. The _Arbre Sol_ or _Arbre Sec_.
XXIII.--CONCERNING THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN
NOTE.--The Assassins, Hashíshîn, or Muláhidah.
XXIV.--HOW THE OLD MAN USED TO TRAIN HIS ASSASSINS
NOTES.--1. The story widely spread. Notable murders by the Sectaries.
2. Their different branches.
XXV.--HOW THE OLD MAN CAME BY HIS END
NOTE.--History of the apparent Destruction of the Sect by Hulákú; its
survival to the present time. Castles of Alamut and Girdkuh.
XXVI.--CONCERNING THE CITY OF SAPURGAN
NOTE.--Shibrgân, and the route followed. Dried Melons.
XXVII.--OF THE CITY OF BALC
NOTES.--1. Balkh. 2. Country meant by Dogana. 3. Lions in the Oxus
Valley.
XXVIII.--OF TAICAN, AND THE MOUNTAINS OF SALT. ALSO OF THE PROVINCE OF
CASEM
NOTES.--1. Talikan. 2. Mines of Rock-salt. 3. Ethnological
characteristics. 4. Kishm. 5. Porcupines. 6. Cave dwellings. 7. Old and
New Capitals of Badakhshan.
XXIX.--OF THE PROVINCE OF BADASHAN
NOTES.--1. Dialects of Badakhshan. Alexandrian lineage of the Princes.
2. Badakhshan and the Balas Ruby. 3. Azure Mines. 4. Horses of
Badakhshan. 5. Naked Barley. 6. Wild sheep. 7. Scenery of Badakhshan.
8. Repeated devastation of the Country from War. 9. Amplitude of
feminine garments.
XXX.--OF THE PROVINCE OF PASHAI
NOTE.--On the country intended by this name.
XXXI.--OF THE PROVINCE OF KESHIMUR
NOTES.--1. Kashmir language. 2. Kashmir Conjurers. (_See App. L. 2._)
3. Importance of Kashmir in History of Buddhism. 4. Character of the
People. 5. Vicissitudes of Buddhism in Kashmir. 6. Buddhist practice
as to slaughter of animals. 7. Coral.
XXXII.--OF THE GREAT RIVER OF BADASHAN; AND PLAIN OF PAMIER
NOTES.--1. The Upper Oxus and Wakhan. The title _Nono_, (_See App. L.
3._) 2. The Plateau of Pamir. (_See App. L. 4 and 5._) The Great Wild
Sheep. Fire at great altitudes. 3. Bolor.
XXXIII.--OF THE KINGDOM OF CASCAR
NOTE.--Kashgar.
XXXIV.--OF THE GREAT CITY OF SAMARCAN
NOTES.--1. Christians in Samarkand. 2. Chagatai's relation to Kúblái
mis-stated. 3. The Miracle of the Stone.
XXXV.--OF THE PROVINCE OF YARCAN
NOTE.--Yarkand. Goître prevalent there.
XXXVI.--OF A PROVINCE CALLED COTAN
NOTES.--1. Government. 2. "Adoration of Mahommet." 3. Khotan.
XXXVII.--OF THE PROVINCE OF PEIN
NOTES.--1. Position of Pein (App. L. 6.) 2. The Yu or Jade. 3. Temporary
marriages.
XXXVIII.--OF THE PROVINCE OF CHARCHAN
NOTE.--Position of Charchan and Lop.
XXXIX.--OF THE CITY OF LOP, AND THE GREAT DESERT
NOTES.--1. Geographical discrepancy. 2. Superstitions as to Deserts:
their wide diffusion. The Sound of Drums on certain sandy acclivities.
3. Sha-chau to Lob-nor.
XL.--CONCERNING THE GREAT PROVINCE OF TANGUT
NOTES.--1. Tangut. 2. Buddhism encountered here. 3. Kalmak superstition,
the "_Heaven's Ram_." 4. Chinese customs described here. 5. Mongol
disposal of the Dead. 6. Superstitious practice of avoiding to carry out
the dead by the house-door; its wide diffusion.
XLI.--OF THE PROVINCE OF CAMUL
NOTES.--1. Kamul. 2. Character of the people. 3. Shameless custom.
4. Parallel.
XLII.--OF THE PROVINCE OF CHINGINTALAS
NOTES.--1. The Country intended. 2. Ondanique. 3. Asbestos Mountain.
4. The four elements. 5 and 6. The Story of the Salamander. Asbestos
fabrics.
XLIII.--OF THE PROVINCE OF SUKCHUR
NOTES.--1. Explanatory. 2. The City of Suhchau. 3. Rhubarb country.
4. Poisonous pasture.
XLIV.--OF THE CITY OF CAMPICHU
NOTES.--1. The City of Kanchau. 2. Recumbent Buddhas. 3. Buddhist Days
of
Special Worship. 4. Matrimonial Customs. 5. Textual.
XLV.--OF THE CITY OF ETZINA
NOTES.--1. Position of Yetsina. 2. Textual. 3. The Wild Ass of Mongolia.
XLVI.--OF THE CITY OF CARACORON
NOTES.--1. Karakorum. 2. Tartar. 3. Chorcha. 4. Prester John.
XLVII.--OF CHINGHIS, AND HOW HE BECAME THE FIRST KAAN OF THE TARTARS
NOTES.--1. Chronology. 2. Relations between Chinghiz and Aung Khan, the
Prester John of Polo.
XLVIII.--HOW CHINGHIS MUSTERED HIS PEOPLE TO MARCH AGAINST PRESTER JOHN
XLIX.--HOW PRESTER JOHN MARCHED TO MEET CHINGHIS
NOTES.--1. Plain of Tanduc. 2. Divination by Twigs and Arrows.
L.--THE BATTLE BETWEEN CHINGHIS KAAN AND PRESTER JOHN. DEATH OF CHINGHIS
NOTE.--Real circumstances and date of the Death of Chinghiz.
LI.--OF THOSE WHO DID REIGN AFTER CHINGHIS KAAN, AND OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE
TARTARS
NOTES.--1. Origin of the _Cambuscan_ of Chaucer. 2. Historical Errors.
3. The Place of Sepulture of Chinghiz. 4. Barbarous Funeral
Superstition.
LII.--CONCERNING THE CUSTOMS OF THE TARTARS
NOTES.--1. Tartar Huts. 2. Tartar Waggons. 3. Pharaoh's Rat. 4. Chastity
of the Women. 5. Polygamy and Marriage Customs.
LIII.--CONCERNING THE GOD OF THE TARTARS
NOTES.--1. The old Tartar idols. 2. Kumiz.
LIV.--CONCERNING THE TARTAR CUSTOMS OF WAR
NOTES.--1. Tartar Arms. 2. The Decimal Division of their Troops.
3. Textual. 4. Blood-drinking. 5. _Kurút_, or Tartar Curd. 6. The Mongol
military rapidity and terrorism. 7. Corruption of their Nomade
simplicity.
LV.--CONCERNING THE ADMINISTERING OF JUSTICE AMONG THE TARTARS
NOTES.--1. The Cudgel. 2. Punishment of Theft. 3. Marriage of the Dead.
4. Textual.
LVI.--SUNDRY PARTICULARS ON THE PLAIN BEYOND CARACORON
NOTES.--1. Textual. 2. Bargu, the Mecrit, the Reindeer, and Chase of
Water-fowl. 3. The bird _Barguerlac_, the Syrrhaptes. 4. Gerfalcons.
LVII.--OF THE KINGDOM OF ERGUIUL, AND PROVINCE OF SINJU
NOTES.--1. Erguiul. 2. Siningfu. 3. The Yak. 4. The Musk Deer.
5. Reeves's Pheasant.
LVIII.--OF THE KINGDOM OF EGRIGAIA
NOTES.--1. Egrigaia. 2. Calachan 3. White Camels, and Camlets:
Siclatoun.
LIX.--CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TENDUC, AND THE DESCENDANTS OF PRESTER
JOHN
NOTES.--1. The name and place Tenduc. King George. 2. Standing Marriage
Compact. The title _Gurgán_. 3. Azure. 4. The terms _Argon_ and
_Guasmul_. The _Dungens_. 5. The Rampart of Gog and Magog. 6. Tartary
cloths. 7. Siuen-hwa fu.
LX.--CONCERNING THE KAAN'S PALACE OF CHAGANNOR.
NOTES.--1. Palace. 2. The word _Sesnes_. 3. Chagan-nor. 4. The five
species of Crane described by Polo. 5. The word _Cator_.
LXI.--OF THE CITY OF CHANDU, AND THE KAAN'S PALACE THERE
NOTES.--1. Two Roads. 2. Chandu, properly Shangtu. 3. Leopards. 4. The
Bamboo Palace. Uses of the Bamboo. 5. Kúblái's Annual Migration to
Shangtu. 6. The White Horses. The Oirad Tribe. 7. The Mare's Milk
Festival. 8. Weather Conjuring. 9. Ascription of Cannibalism to
Tibetans, etc. 10. The term _Bacsi_. 11. Magical Feats ascribed to the
Lamas. 12. Lamas. 13. Vast extent of Lama Convents. 14. Married Lamas.
15. Bran. 16. Patarins. 17. The Ascetics called _Sensin_. 18. Textual.
19. Tao-sze Idols.
BOOK SECOND.
PART I.
I.--OF CUBLAY KAAN, THE GREAT KAAN NOW REIGNING, AND OF HIS GREAT
PUISSANCE
NOTE.--Eulogies of Kúblái.
II.--CONCERNING THE REVOLT OF NAYAN, WHO WAS UNCLE TO THE GREAT KAAN
CUBLAY
NOTES.--1. Chronology. 2. Kúblái's Age. 3. His Wars. 4. Nayan and his
true relationship to Kúblái.
III.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN MARCHED AGAINST NAYAN
NOTE.--Addition from Ramusio.
IV.--OF THE BATTLE THAT THE GREAT KAAN FOUGHT WITH NAYAN
NOTES.--1. The word _Bretesche_. 2. Explanatory. 3. The Nakkára.
4. Parallel Passages. 5. Verbal. 6. The Story of Nayan. (_See App. L.
7._)
V.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSED NAYAN TO BE PUT TO DEATH
NOTES.--1. The Shedding of Royal blood avoided. 2. Chorcha, Kaoli,
Barskul, Sikintinju. 3. Jews in China.
VI.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN WENT BACK TO THE CITY OF CAMBALUC
NOTE.--Passage from Ramusio respecting the Kaan's views of Religion.
Remarks.
VII.--HOW THE KAAN REWARDED THE VALOUR OF HIS CAPTAINS
NOTES.--1. Parallel from Sanang Setzen. 2. The Golden Honorary Tablets
or _Paizah_ of the Mongols. 3. Umbrellas. 4. The Gerfalcon Tablets.
VIII.--CONCERNING THE PERSON OF THE GREAT KAAN
NOTES.--1. Colour of his Eyes. 2. His Wives. 3. The Kungurat Tribe.
Competitive Examination in Beauty.
IX.--CONCERNING THE GREAT KAAN'S SONS
NOTES.--1. Kúblái's intended Heir. 2. His other Sons.
X.--CONCERNING THE PALACE OF THE GREAT KAAN
NOTES.--1. Palace Wall. 2. The word _Tarcasci_ 3. Towers. 4. Arsenals of
the Palace. 5. The Gates. 6. Various Readings. 7. Barracks. 8. Wide
diffusion of the kind of Palace here described. 9. Parallel description.
10. "Divine" Park. 11. Modern account of the Lake, etc. 12. "_Roze de
l'açur_." 13. The Green Mount. 14. Textual. 15. Bridge.
XI.--CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAMBALUC
NOTES.--1. Chronology, etc., of Peking. 2. The City Wall. 3. Changes in
the Extent of the City. 4. Its ground plan. 5. Aspect. 6. Public Towers.
7. Addition from Ramusio.
XII.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN MAINTAINS A GUARD OF TWELVE THOUSAND HORSE, WHICH
ARE CALLED KESHICAN
NOTE.--The term _Quescican_.
XIII.--THE FASHION OF THE GREAT KAAN'S TABLE AT HIS HIGH FEASTS
NOTES.--1. Order of the Tables. 2. The word _Vernique_. 3. The Buffet of
Liquors. 4. The superstition of the Threshold. 5. Chinese Etiquettes.
6. Jugglers at the Banquet.
XIV.--CONCERNING THE GREAT FEAST HELD BY THE GRAND KAAN EVERY YEAR ON HIS
BIRTHDAY
NOTES.--1. The Chinese Year. 2. "Beaten Gold." 3. Textual. Festal
changes of costume. 4. Festivals.
XV.--OF THE GREAT FESTIVAL WHICH THE KAAN HOLDS ON NEW YEAR'S DAY
NOTES.--1. The White Month. 2. Mystic value of the number 9. 3.
Elephants at Peking. 4. Adoration of Tablets. K'o-tow.
XVI.--CONCERNING THE TWELVE THOUSAND BARONS WHO RECEIVE ROBES OF CLOTH OF
GOLD FROM THE EMPEROR ON THE GREAT FESTIVALS, THIRTEEN CHANGES A-PIECE
NOTES.--1. Textual. 2. The words _Camut_ and _Borgal_. 3. Tame Lions.
XVII.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN ENJOINETH HIS PEOPLE TO SUPPLY HIM WITH GAME
NOTE.--Parallel Passage.
XVIII.--OF THE LIONS AND LEOPARDS AND WOLVES THAT THE KAAN KEEPS FOR THE
CHASE
NOTES.--1. The Cheeta or Hunting Leopard. 2. Lynxes. 3. The Tiger,
termed _Lion_ by Polo. 4. The Búrgút Eagle.
XIX.--CONCERNING THE TWO BROTHERS WHO HAVE CHARGE OF THE KAAN'S HOUNDS
NOTE.--The Masters of the Hounds, and their title.
XX.--HOW THE EMPEROR GOES ON A HUNTING EXPEDITION
NOTES.--1. Direction of the Tour. 2. Hawking Establishments. 3. The word
_Toskáúl_. 4. The word _Bularguchi_. 5. Kúblái's Litter. 6. Kachar
Modun. 7. The Kaan's Great Tents. 8. The Sable and Ermine. 9. Pétis de
la Croix.
XXI.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN, ON RETURNING FROM HIS HUNTING EXPEDITION, HOLDS
A GREAT COURT AND ENTERTAINMENT
NOTE.--This chapter peculiar to the 2nd Type of MSS.
XXII.--CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAMBALUC, AND ITS GREAT TRAFFIC AND
POPULATION
NOTES.--1. Suburbs of Peking. 2. The word _Fondaco_.
XXIII.--[CONCERNING THE OPPRESSIONS OF ACHMATH THE BAILO, AND THE PLOT
THAT WAS FORMED AGAINST HIM]
NOTES.--1. Chapter peculiar to Ramusio. 2. Kúblái's Administration. The
Rise of Ahmad. 3. The term _Bailo_. 4. The Conspiracy against Ahmad as
related by Gaubil from the Chinese. 5. Marco's presence and upright
conduct commemorated in the Chinese Annals. The Kaan's prejudice against
Mahomedans.
XXIV.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSETH THE BARK OF TREES, MADE INTO SOMETHING
LIKE PAPER, TO PASS FOR MONEY OVER ALL HIS COUNTRY
NOTE.--Chinese Paper Currency.
XXV.--CONCERNING THE TWELVE BARONS WHO ARE SET OVER ALL THE AFFAIRS OF THE
GREAT KAAN
NOTE.--The Ministers of the Mongol Dynasty. The term _Sing_.
XXVI.--HOW THE KAAN'S POSTS AND RUNNERS ARE SPED THROUGH MANY LANDS AND
PROVINCES
NOTES.--1. Textual. 2. The word _Yam_. 3. Government Hostelries.
4. Digression from Ramusio. 5. Posts Extraordinary. 6. Discipline of the
Posts. 7. Antiquity of Posts in China, etc.
XXVII.--HOW THE EMPEROR BESTOWS HELP ON HIS PEOPLE, WHEN THEY ARE
AFFLICTED WITH DEARTH OR MURRAIN
NOTE.--Kúblái's remissions, and justice.
XXVIII.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSES TREES TO BE PLANTED BY THE HIGHWAYS
NOTE.--Kúblái's Avenues.
XXIX.--CONCERNING THE RICE-WINE DRUNK BY THE PEOPLE OF CATHAY
NOTE.--Rice-wine.
XXX.--CONCERNING THE BLACK STONES THAT ARE DUG IN CATHAY, AND ARE BURNT
FOR FUEL
NOTE.--Distribution and Consumption of Coal in China.
XXXI.--HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSES STORES OF CORN TO BE MADE, TO HELP HIS
PEOPLE WITHAL IN TIME OF DEARTH
NOTE.--The Chinese Public Granaries.
XXXII.--OF THE CHARITY OF THE EMPEROR TO THE POOR.
NOTE.--Buddhist influence, and Chinese Charities.
XXXIII.--[CONCERNING THE ASTROLOGERS IN THE CITY OF CAMBALUC]
NOTES.--1. The word _Tacuin_.--The Chinese Almanacs. The Observatory.
2. The Chinese and Mongol Cycle.
XXXIV.--[CONCERNING THE RELIGION OF THE CATHAYANS; THEIR VIEWS AS TO THE
SOUL; AND THEIR CUSTOMS]
NOTES.--1. Textual. 2. Do. 3. Exceptions to the general charge of
Irreligion brought against the Chinese. 4. Politeness. 5. Filial Piety.
6. Pocket Spitoons.
EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME I.
INSERTED PLATES AND MAPS.
Portrait of Sir HENRY YULE. From the Painting by Mr. T. B. Wirgman, in the
Royal Engineers' Mess House at Chatham.
Illuminated Title, with Medallion representing the POLOS ARRIVING AT
VENICE after 26 years' absence, and being refused admittance to the Family
Mansion; as related by Ramusio, p. 4 of Introductory Essay. Drawn by
Signor QUINTO CENNI, No. 7 Via Solferino, Milan; from a Design by the
Editor.
DOORWAY of the HOUSE of MARCO POLO in the Corte Sabbionera at Venice.
Woodcut from a drawing by Signor L. ROSSO, Venice.
_Corte del Milione_, Venice.
_Malibran Theatre_, Venice.
Entrance to the Corte del Milione, Venice. From photographs taken for the
present editor, by Signor NAYA.
Figures from St. Sabba's, sent to Venice. From a photograph of Signor
NAYA.
Church of SAN MATTEO, at Genoa.
_Palazzo di S. Giorgio_, at Genoa.
_Miracle of S. Lorenzo_. From the Painting by V. CARPACCIO.
Facsimile of the WILL of MARCO POLO, preserved in St. Mark's Library.
Lithographed from a photograph specially taken by Bertani at Venice.
Pavement in front of S. Lorenzo.
Mosaic Portrait of Marco Polo, at Genoa.
The Pseudo Marco Polo at Canton.
Porcelain Incense-Burner, from the Louvre.
Temple of 500 Genii, at Canton, after a drawing by FÉLIX RÉGAMEY.
Probable view of MARCO POLO'S OWN GEOGRAPHY: a Map of the World, formed as
far as possible from the Traveller's own data. Drawn by the Editor.
Part of the _Catalan Map_ of 1375.
Marco Polo's Itineraries, No. 1. WESTERN ASIA. This includes also "Sketch
showing the chief Monarchies of Asia, in the latter part of the 13th
century."
Map illustrating the geographical position of the CITY of SARAI. Plan of
part of the remains of the same city. Reduced from a Russian plan
published by _M. Grigorieff_.
Reduced FACSIMILE of the BUDDHIST INSCRIPTION of the Mongol Era, on the
Archway at KIU-YONG KWAN in the Pass of Nan-k'au, north-west of Peking,
showing the characters in use under the Mongol Dynasty. Photogravure from
the _Recueil des documents de l'Epoque Mongole_, by H.H. Prince ROLAND
BONAPARTE. _See an Article by_ Mr. Wylie _in the J. R. A. S. for 1870, p.
14._
Plan of AYAS, the Laias of Polo. _From an Admiralty Chart_. Plan of
position of DILÁWAR, the supposed site of the Dilavar of Polo. _Ext.
from a Survey by Lt.-Col. D. G. Robinson, R.E._
Marco Polo's Itineraries, No. II. Routes between KERMAN and HORMUZ.
Marco Polo's Itineraries, No. III. Regions on and near the UPPER OXUS.
Heading, in the old Chinese seal-character, of an INSCRIPTION on a
Memorial raised by Kúblái Kaan to a Buddhist Ecclesiastic, in the vicinity
of his summer-palace at SHANGTU in Mongolia. Reduced from a facsimile
obtained on the spot by _Dr. S. W. Bushell_, 1872, and by him lent to the
Editor.
The CHO-KHANG. The grand Temple of Buddha at _Lhasa_, from _The Journey to
Lhasa_, by SARAT CHANDRA DAS, by kind permission of the Royal Geographical
Society.
"_Table d'Or de Commandement_;" the PAÏZA of the MONGOLS, from a specimen
found in Siberia. _Reduced to one-half the scale of the original, from an
engraving in a paper by_ I. J. Schmidt _in the_ Bulletin de la Classe
Historico-Philologique de l'Acad. Imp. des Sciences, St. Pétersbourg, tom.
iv. No. 9.
Second Example of a Mongol Païza with superscription in the Uighúr
character, found near the Dnieper River, 1845. From _Trans. of the
Oriental Section, Imp. Soc. of Archaeology_ of St. Petersburg, vol. v. The
Inscription on this runs: "_By the strength of Eternal Heaven, and thanks
to Its Great Power, the Man who obeys not the order of Abdullah shall be
guilty, shall die._"
Plan of PEKING as it is, and as it was about A.D. 1290.
BANK-NOTE of the MING Dynasty, on one-half the scale of the original.
Reduced from a genuine note in the possession of the British Museum. Was
brought back from Peking after the siege of the Legations in 1900.
Mongol "Compendium Instrument."
Mongol Armillary Sphere.
Observatory Terrace.
Observatory Instruments of the Jesuits. All these from photographs kindly
lent to the present Editor by Count de Semallé.
Marco Polo's Itineraries. No. IV. EASTERN ASIA. This includes also Sketch
Map of the Ruins of SHANGTU, after Dr. BUSHELL; and Enlarged Sketch of the
Passage of the Hwang-ho or Karamoran on the road to Si-ngan fu (see vol.
ii. pp. 25-27) from the data of _Baron von Richthofen_.
WOODCUTS PRINTED WITH THE TEXT.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICES.
A MEDIAEVAL SHIP.
COAT OF ARMS of SIR HENRY YULE.
ARMS of the POLO family, according to Priuli.
ARMS of the POLO family, according to Marco Barbaro. (See p. 7, note.)
Autograph of HETHUM or HAYTON I. King of (Cicilian) Armenia; copied from
_Codice Diplomatico del Sacro Militare Ordine Gerosolemitano_, I. 135. The
signature is attached to a French document without date, granting the
King's Daughter "Damoiselle Femie" (Euphemia) in marriage to Sire Julian,
son of the Lady of Sayete (Sidon). The words run: _Thagávor Haiwetz_ ("Rex
Armenorum"), followed by the King's cypher or monogram; but the initial
letter is absent, probably worn off the original document.
The PIAZZETTA at VENICE in the 14th century. From a portion of the
Frontispiece Miniature of the MS. of Marco Polo in the Bodleian. (Borrowed
from the _National Miscellany_, published by J. H. Parker, Oxford, for
1853-55; and see _Street's Brick and Marble_, etc., 1855, pp. 150-151.)
[See vol. ii. p. 529.]
Three extracts from MAPS of VENICE, showing the site of the CA' POLO at
three different periods, (1) From the great woodcut Map or View of Venice,
dated 1500, and commonly called Albert Dürer's. (2) From a Plan by Cav.
Ludovico Ughi, 1729. (3) From the Modern Official Plan of the City.
Diagram of arrangement of oars in galleys.
Extract from a fresco by SPINELLO ARETINI, in the Municipal Palace at
Siena, representing a GALLEY FIGHT (perhaps imaginary) between the
Venetians and the fleet of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and
illustrating the arrangements of mediaeval galleys. Drawn from a very dim
and imperfect photograph, after personal study of the original, by the
Editor.
Extract from a picture by DOMENICO TINTORETTO in the Ducal Palace at
Venice, representing the same GALLEY-FIGHT. After an engraving in the
_Theatrum Venetum_.
MARCO POLO'S GALLEY going into action at CURZOLA. Drawn by Signor Q.
CENNI, from a design by the Editor.
Map to illustrate the SEA-FIGHT at CURZOLA, where Marco Polo was taken
prisoner.
SEAL of the PISAN PRISONERS in Genoa, after the battle of Meloria (1284).
From _Manni, Osservazioni Storiche sopra Sigilli Antichi_, tom. xii.
Engraved by T. ADENEY.
The Convent and CHURCH of S. LORENZO, the burial-place of Marco Polo, as
it existed in the 15th century. From the Map of 1500 (see above). Engraved
by the same.
Arms of the TREVISAN family, according to Priuli.
TAILED STAR near the Antarctic, as Marco Polo drew it for Pietro d'Abano.
From the _Conciliator_ of Pietro d'Abano.
PROLOGUE.
Remains of the Castle of SOLDAIA or Sudák. After _Dubois de Montpereux,
Voyage autour du Caucase_, Atlas, 3d s. Pl. 64.
Ruins of BOLGHAR. After _Demidoff, Voyage dans la Russie Méridionale_, Pl.
75.
The GREAT KAAN delivering a GOLDEN TABLET to the two elder Polos. From a
miniature in the _Livre des Merveilles du Monde_ (Fr. 2810) in the Library
at Paris, fol. 3 verso.
Castle of AYAS. After _Langlois, Voyage en Cilicie._
Plan of ACRE as it was when lost (A.D. 1291). Reduced and translated from
the contemporary plan in the _Secreta Fidelium Crucis_ of Marino Sanudo
the Elder, engraved in _Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos_, vol. ii.
Portrait of Pope GREGORY X. After _J. B. de Cavaleriis Pontificum
Romanorum Effigies_, etc. Romae, 1580.
Ancient CHINESE WAR VESSEL. From the Chinese Encyclopaedia called
_San-Thsai-Thou-Hoei_, in the Paris Library.
BOOK FIRST.
Coin of King HETUM I. and Queen ISABEL of Cilician Armenia. From an
original in the British Museum. Engraved by ADENEY.
Castle of BAIBURT. After _Texier, L'Arménie_, Pl. 3.
Mediaeval GEORGIAN FORTRESS. From a drawing by Padre CRISTOFORO DI
CASTELLI of the Theatine Mission, made in 1634, and now in the Communal
Library at Palermo. The name of the place has been eaten away, and I have
not yet been able to ascertain it.
View of DERBEND. After a cut from a drawing by M. Moynet in the _Tour du
Monde_, vol. i.
Coin of BADRUDDÍN LOLO of Mosul (A.H. 620). After _Marsden's Numismata
Orientalia_, No. 164. By ADENEY.
GHÁZÁN Khan's Mosque at TABRIZ. Borrowed from _Fergusson's History of
Architecture._
KASHMIR SCARF with animals, etc. After photograph from the scarf in the
Indian Museum.
Humped Oxen from the Assyrian Sculptures at Kouyunjik. From _Rawlinson's
Ancient Monarchies._
Portrait of a Hazara. From a Photograph, kindly taken for the purpose, by
M.-Gen. _C. P. Keyes_, C.B., Commanding the Panjáb Frontier Force.
Illustrations of the use of the DOUBLE RUDDER in the Middle Ages. 7
figures, viz., No. 1, The Navicello of Giotto in the Porch of St. Peter's.
From _Eastlake's H. of Painting_; Nos. 2 and 3, from _Pertz, Scriptores_,
tom. xviii. after a Genoese Chronicle; No. 4, Sketch from fresco of
Spinello Aretini at Siena; No. 5, Seal of Port of Winchelsea, from _Sussex
Archaeological Collections_, vol. i. 1848; No. 6, Sculpture on Leaning
Tower at Pisa, after _Jal, Archéologie Navale_; No. 7, from the Monument
of Peter Martyr, the persecutor of the Lombard _Patarini_, in the Church
of St. Eustorgius at Milan, after _Le Tombe ed i Monumenti Illustri
d'Italia_, Mil. 1822-23.
The _ARBRE SEC_, and _ARBRES DU SOLEIL ET DE LA LUNE_. From a miniature in
the Prose Romance of Alexander, in the Brit. Museum MS. called the
_Shrewsbury Book_ (Reg. xv. e. 6).
The CHINÁR or Oriental Plane, viz., that called the Tree of Godfrey of
Boulogne at Buyukdéré, near Constantinople. Borrowed from _Le Monde
Végétal_ of Figuier.
Portrait of H. H. AGHA KHÁN MEHELÁTI, late representative of the OLD MAN
of the MOUNTAIN. From a photograph by Messrs. SHEPHERD and BOURNE.
Ancient SILVER PATERA of debased Greek Art, formerly in the possession of
the Princes of BADAKHSHAN, now in the India Museum.
Ancient BUDDHIST Temple at Pandrethan in KÁSHMIR. Borrowed from
_Fergusson's History of Architecture_.
Horns of the _OVIS POLI_, or Great Sheep of Pamir. Drawn by the Editor
from the specimen belonging to the Royal Asiatic Society.
Figure of the _OVIS POLI_ or Great Sheep of Pamir. From a drawing by Mr.
Severtsof in a Russian publication.
Head of a native of KASHGAR. After Verchaguine. From the _Tour du Monde_.
View of KASHGAR. From _Mr. R. Shaw's Tartary_.
View of SAMARKAND. From a Sketch by Mr. D. IVANOFF, engraved in a Russian
Illustrated Paper (kindly sent by Mr. I. to the editor).
Colossal Figure; BUDDHA entering NIRVANA. Sketched by the Editor at Pagán
in Burma.
Great LAMA MONASTERY, viz., that at Jehol. After _Staunton's Narrative of
Lord Macartney's Embassy_.
The _Kyang_, or WILD ASS of Mongolia. After a plate by Wolf in the
_Journal of the Royal Zoological Society_.
The Situation of Karákorum.
Entrance to the Erdeni Tso, Great Temple. From MARCEL MONNIER'S _Tour d'
Asie_, by kind permission of M. PLON.
Death of Chinghiz Khan. From a Miniature in the _Livre des Merveilles_.
Dressing up a Tent, from MARCEL MONNIER'S _Tour d' Asie_, by kind
permission of M. PLON.
Mediaeval TARTAR HUTS and WAGGONS. Drawn by Sig. QUINTO CENNI, on a design
compiled by the Editor from the descriptions of mediaeval and later
travellers.
Tartar IDOLS and KUMIS Churn. Drawn by the Editor after data in _Pallas_
and _Zaleski_ (_Vie des Steppes Kirghiz_).
The _SYRRHAPTES PALLASII; Bargherlac_ of Marco Polo. From a plate by Wolf
in the _Ibis_ for April, 1860.
REEVES'S PHEASANT. After an engraving in _Wood's Illustrated Natural
History_.
The RAMPART of GOG and MAGOG. From a photograph of the Great Wall of
China. Borrowed from _Dr. Rennie's Peking and the Pekingese_.
A PAVILION at Yuen-Ming-Yuen, to illustrate the probable style of Kúblái
Kaan's Summer Palace. Borrowed from _Michie's Siberian Overland Route_.
CHINESE CONJURING Extraordinary. Extracted from an engraving in _Edward
Melton's Zeldzaame Reizen_, etc. Amsterdam, 1702.
A MONASTERY of LAMAS. Borrowed from the _Tour du Monde_.
A TIBETAN BACSI. Sketched from the life by the Editor.
BOOK SECOND.--PART FIRST.
NAKKARAS. From a Chinese original in the _Lois des Empereurs Mandchous_
(_Thai-Thsing-Hoei-Tien-Thou_), in the Paris Library.
NAKKARAS. After one of the illustrations in Blochmann's edition of the
_Ain-i-Akbari_.
Seljukian Coin, with the LION and the SUN (A.H. 640). After _Marsden's
Numismata Orientalia_, No. 98. Engraved by Adeney.
Sculptured GERFALCON from the Gate of Iconium. Copied from _Hammer's
Falknerklee_.
Portrait of the Great KAAN KÚBLÁI. From a Chinese engraving in the
Encyclopaedia called _San Thsai-Thou-Hoei_; in the Paris Library.
Ideal Plan of the Ancient Palaces of the Mongol Emperors at Khanbaligh,
according to Dr. Bretschneider.
Palace at Khan-baligh. From the _Livre des Merveilles_.
The WINTER PALACE at PEKING. Borrowed from _Fergusson's History of
Architecture_.
View of the "GREEN MOUNT." From a photograph kindly lent to the present
Editor by Count de SEMALLÉ.
The _Yüan ch'eng_. From a photograph kindly lent to the present Editor by
Count de SEMALLÉ.
South GATE of the "IMPERIAL CITY" at Peking. From an original sketch
belonging to the late _Dr. W. Lockhart_.
The BÛGÚT EAGLE. After _Atkinson's Oriental and Western Siberia_.
The TENTS of the EMPEROR K'ien-lung. From a drawing in the _Staunton
Collection_ in the British Museum.
Plain of CAMBALUC; the City in the distance; from the hills on the
north-west. From a photograph. Borrowed from _Dr. Rennie's Peking_.
The Great TEMPLE OF HEAVEN at Peking. From _Michie's Siberian Overland
Route_.
MARBLE ARCHWAY erected under the MONGOL DYNASTY at Kiu-Yong Kwan in the
Nan-k'au Pass, N.W. of Peking. From a photograph in the possession of the
present Editor.
MARCO POLO AND HIS BOOK.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICES.
I. OBSCURITIES IN THE HISTORY OF HIS LIFE AND BOOK. RAMUSIO'S STATEMENTS.
[Illustration: Doorway of the House of Marco Polo in the Corte Sabbionera,
at Venice]
[Sidenote: Obscurities of Polo's Book, and personal History.]
1. With all the intrinsic interest of Marco Polo's Book it may perhaps be
doubted if it would have continued to exercise such fascination on many
minds through succesive generations were it not for the difficult
questions which it suggests. It is a great book of puzzles, whilst our
confidence in the man's veracity is such that we feel certain every puzzle
has a solution.
And such difficulties have not attached merely to the identification of
places, the interpretation of outlandish terms, or the illustration of
obscure customs; for strange entanglements have perplexed also the chief
circumstances of the Traveller's life and authorship. The time of the
dictation of his Book and of the execution of his Last Will have been
almost the only undisputed epochs in his biography. The year of his birth
has been contested, and the date of his death has not been recorded; the
critical occasion of his capture by the Genoese, to which we seem to owe
the happy fact that he did not go down mute to the tomb of his fathers,
has been made the subject of chronological difficulties; there are in the
various texts of his story variations hard to account for; the very tongue
in which it was written down has furnished a question, solved only in our
own age, and in a most unexpected manner.
[Sidenote: Ramusio, his earliest biographer. His account of Polo.]
2. The first person who attempted to gather and string the facts of Marco
Polo's personal history was his countryman, the celebrated John Baptist
Ramusio. His essay abounds in what we now know to be errors of detail,
but, prepared as it was when traditions of the Traveller were still rife
in Venice, a genuine thread runs through it which could never have been
spun in later days, and its presentation seems to me an essential element
in any full discourse upon the subject.
Ramusio's preface to the Book of Marco Polo, which opens the second volume
of his famous Collection of Voyages and Travels, and is addressed to his
learned friend Jerome Fracastoro, after referring to some of the most
noted geographers of antiquity, proceeds:[1]--
"Of all that I have named, Ptolemy, as the latest, possessed the
greatest extent of knowledge. Thus, towards the North, his knowledge
carries him beyond the Caspian, and he is aware of its being shut in all
round like a lake,--a fact which was unknown in the days of Strabo and
Pliny, though the Romans were already lords of the world. But though his
knowledge extends so far, a tract of 15 degrees beyond that sea he can
describe only as Terra Incognita; and towards the South he is fain to
apply the same character to all beyond the Equinoxial. In these unknown
regions, as regards the South, the first to make discoveries have been
the Portuguese captains of our own age; but as regards the North and
North-East the discoverer was the Magnifico Messer Marco Polo, an
honoured nobleman of Venice, nearly 300 years since, as may be read more
fully in his own Book. And in truth it makes one marvel to consider the
immense extent of the journeys made, first by the Father and Uncle of
the said Messer Marco, when they proceeded continually towards the East-
North-East, all the way to the Court of the Great Can and the Emperor of
the Tartars; and afterwards again by the three of them when, on their
return homeward, they traversed the Eastern and Indian Seas. Nor is that
all, for one marvels also how the aforesaid gentleman was able to give
such an orderly description of all that he had seen; seeing that such an
accomplishment was possessed by very few in his day, and he had had a
large part of his nurture among those uncultivated Tartars, without any
regular training in the art of composition. His Book indeed, owing to
the endless errors and inaccuracies that had crept into it, had come for
many years to be regarded as fabulous; and the opinion prevailed that
the names of cities and provinces contained therein were all fictitious
and imaginary, without any ground in fact, or were (I might rather say)
mere dreams.
[Sidenote: Ramusio vindicates Polo's Geography.]
3. "Howbeit, during the last hundred years, persons acquainted with
Persia have begun to recognise the existence of Cathay. The voyages of
the Portuguese also towards the North-East, beyond the Golden
Chersonese, have brought to knowledge many cities and provinces of
India, and many islands likewise, with those very names which our Author
applies to them; and again, on reaching the Land of China, they have
ascertained from the people of that region (as we are told by Sign. John
de Barros, a Portuguese gentleman, in his Geography) that Canton, one of
the chief cities of that kingdom, is in 30-2/3° of latitude, with the
coast running N.E. and S.W.; that after a distance of 275 leagues the
said coast turns towards the N.W.; and that there are three provinces
along the sea-board, Mangi, Zanton, and Quinzai, the last of which is
the principal city and the King's Residence, standing in 46° of
latitude. And proceeding yet further the coast attains to 50°.[2] Seeing
then how many particulars are in our day becoming known of that part of
the world concerning which Messer Marco has written, I have deemed it
reasonable to publish his book, with the aid of several copies written
(as I judge) more than 200 years ago, in a perfectly accurate form, and
one vastly more faithful than that in which it has been heretofore read.
And thus the world shall not lose the fruit that may be gathered from so
much diligence and industry expended upon so honourable a branch of
knowledge."
4. Ramusio, then, after a brief apologetic parallel of the marvels related
by Polo with those related by the Ancients and by the modern discoverers
in the West, such as Columbus and Cortes, proceeds:--
[Sidenote: Ramusio compares Polo with Columbus.]
And often in my own mind, comparing the land explorations of these our
Venetian gentlemen with the sea explorations of the aforesaid Signor Don
Christopher, I have asked myself which of the two were really the more
marvellous. And if patriotic prejudice delude me not, methinks good
reason might be adduced for setting the land journey above the sea
voyage. Consider only what a height of courage was needed to undertake
and carry through so difficult an enterprise, over a route of such
desperate length and hardship, whereon it was sometimes necessary to
carry food for the supply of man and beast, not for days only but for
months together. Columbus, on the other hand, going by sea, readily
carried with him all necessary provision; and after a voyage of some 30
or 40 days was conveyed by the wind whither he desired to go, whilst the
Venetians again took a whole year's time to pass all those great deserts
and mighty rivers. Indeed that the difficulty of travelling to Cathay
was so much greater than that of reaching the New World, and the route
so much longer and more perilous, may be gathered from the fact that,
since those gentlemen twice made this journey, no one from Europe has
dared to repeat it,[3] whereas in the very year following the discovery
of the Western Indies many ships immediately retraced the voyage
thither, and up to the present day continue to do so, habitually and in
countless numbers. Indeed those regions are now so well known, and so
thronged by commerce, that the traffic between Italy, Spain, and England
is not greater.
[Sidenote: Recounts a tradition of the travellers' return to Venice.]
5. Ramusio goes on to explain the light regarding the first part or
prologue of Marco Polo's book that he had derived from a recent piece of
luck which had made him partially acquainted with the geography of
Abulfeda, and to make a running commentary on the whole of the preliminary
narrative until the final return of the travellers to Venice:--
"And when they got thither the same fate befel them as befel Ulysses,
who, when he returned, after his twenty years' wanderings, to his native
Ithaca, was recognized by nobody. Thus also those three gentlemen who
had been so many years absent from their native city were recognized by
none of their kinsfolk, who were under the firm belief that they had all
been dead for many a year past, as indeed had been reported. Through the
long duration and the hardships of their journeys, and through the many
worries and anxieties that they had undergone, they were quite changed
in aspect, and had got a certain indescribable smack of the Tartar both
in air and accent, having indeed all but forgotten their Venetian
tongue. Their clothes too were coarse and shabby, and of a Tartar cut.
They proceeded on their arrival to their house in this city in the
confine of St. John Chrysostom, where you may see it to this day. The
house, which was in those days a very lofty and handsome palazzo, is now
known by the name of the _Corte del Millioni_ for a reason that I will
tell you presently. Going thither they found it occupied by some of
their relatives, and they had the greatest difficulty in making the
latter understand who they should be. For these good people, seeing them
to be in countenance so unlike what they used to be, and in dress so
shabby, flatly refused to believe that they were those very gentlemen of
the Ca' Polo whom they had been looking upon for ever so many years as
among the dead.[4] So these three gentlemen,--this is a story I have
often heard when I was a youngster from the illustrious Messer GASPARO
MALPIERO, a gentleman of very great age, and a Senator of eminent virtue
and integrity, whose house was on the Canal of Santa Marina, exactly at
the corner over the mouth of the Rio di S. Giovanni Chrisostomo, and
just midway among the buildings of the aforesaid Corte del Millioni, and
he said he had heard the story from his own father and grandfather, and
from other old men among the neighbours,--the three gentlemen, I say,
devised a scheme by which they should at once bring about their
recognition by their relatives, and secure the honourable notice of the
whole city; and this was it:--
"They invited a number of their kindred to an entertainment, which they
took care to have prepared with great state and splendour in that house
of theirs; and when the hour arrived for sitting down to table they came
forth of their chamber all three clothed in crimson satin, fashioned in
long robes reaching to the ground such as people in those days wore
within doors. And when water for the hands had been served, and the
guests were set, they took off those robes and put on others of crimson
damask, whilst the first suits were by their orders cut up and divided
among the servants. Then after partaking of some of the dishes they went
out again and came back in robes of crimson velvet, and when they had
again taken their seats, the second suits were divided as before. When
dinner was over they did the like with the robes of velvet, after they
had put on dresses of the ordinary fashion worn by the rest of the
company.[5] These proceedings caused much wonder and amazement among the
guests. But when the cloth had been drawn, and all the servants had been
ordered to retire from the dining hall, Messer Marco, as the youngest of
the three, rose from table, and, going into another chamber, brought
forth the three shabby dresses of coarse stuff which they had worn when
they first arrived. Straightway they took sharp knives and began to rip
up some of the seams and welts, and to take out of them jewels of the
greatest value in vast quantities, such as rubies, sapphires,
carbuncles, diamonds and emeralds, which had all been stitched up in
those dresses in so artful a fashion that nobody could have suspected
the fact. For when they took leave of the Great Can they had changed all
the wealth that he had bestowed upon them into this mass of rubies,
emeralds, and other jewels, being well aware of the impossibility of
carrying with them so great an amount in gold over a journey of such
extreme length and difficulty. Now this exhibition of such a huge
treasure of jewels and precious stones, all tumbled out upon the table,
threw the guests into fresh amazement, insomuch that they seemed quite
bewildered and dumbfounded. And now they recognized that in spite of all
former doubts these were in truth those honoured and worthy gentlemen of
the Ca' Polo that they claimed to be; and so all paid them the greatest
honour and reverence. And when the story got wind in Venice, straightway
the whole city, gentle and simple, flocked to the house to embrace them,
and to make much of them, with every conceivable demonstration of
affection and respect. On Messer Maffio, who was the eldest, they
conferred the honours of an office that was of great dignity in those
days; whilst the young men came daily to visit and converse with the
ever polite and gracious Messer Marco, and to ask him questions about
Cathay and the Great Can, all which he answered with such kindly
courtesy that every man felt himself in a manner his debtor. And as it
happened that in the story, which he was constantly called on to repeat,
of the magnificence of the Great Can, he would speak of his revenues as
amounting to ten or fifteen _millions_ of gold; and in like manner, when
recounting other instances of great wealth in those parts, would always
make use of the term _millions_, so they gave him the nickname of MESSER
MARCO MILLIONI: a thing which I have noted also in the Public Books of
this Republic where mention is made of him.[6] The Court of his House,
too, at S. Giovanni Chrisostomo, has always from that time been
popularly known as the Court of the Millioni.
[Sidenote: Recounts Marco's capture by the Genoese.]
6. "Not many months after the arrival of the travellers at Venice, news
came that LAMPA DORIA, Captain of the Genoese Fleet, had advanced with
70 galleys to the Island of Curzola, upon which orders were issued by
the Prince of the Most Illustrious Signory for the arming of 90 galleys
with all the expedition possible, and Messer Marco Polo for his valour
was put in charge of one of these. So he with the others, under the
command of the Most Illustrious MESSER ANDREA DANDOLO, Procurator of St.
Mark's, as Captain General, a very brave and worthy gentleman, set out
in search of the Genoese Fleet. They fought on the September feast of
Our Lady, and, as is the common hazard of war, our fleet was beaten, and
Polo was made prisoner. For, having pressed on in the vanguard of the
attack, and fighting with high and worthy courage in defence of his
country and his kindred, he did not receive due support, and being
wounded, he was taken, along with Dandolo, and immediately put in irons
and sent to Genoa.
"When his rare qualities and marvellous travels became known there, the
whole city gathered to see him and to speak with him, and he was no
longer entreated as a prisoner but as a dear friend and honoured
gentleman. Indeed they showed him such honour and affection that at all
hours of the day he was visited by the noblest gentlemen of the city,
and was continually receiving presents of every useful kind. Messer
Marco finding himself in this position, and witnessing the general
eagerness to hear all about Cathay and the Great Can, which indeed
compelled him daily to repeat his story till he was weary, was advised
to put the matter in writing. So having found means to get a letter
written to his father here at Venice, in which he desired the latter to
send the notes and memoranda which he had brought home with him, after
the receipt of these, and assisted by a Genoese gentleman, who was a
great friend of his, and who took great delight in learning about the
various regions of the world, and used on that account to spend many
hours daily in the prison with him, he wrote this present book (to
please him) in the Latin tongue.
"To this day the Genoese for the most part write what they have to write
in that language, for there is no possibility of expressing their
natural dialect with the pen.[7] Thus then it came to pass that the Book
was put forth at first by Messer Marco in Latin; but as many copies were
taken, and as it was rendered into our vulgar tongue, all Italy became
filled with it, so much was this story desired and run after.
[Sidenote: Ramusio's account of Marco's liberation and marriage.]
7. "The captivity of Messer Marco greatly disturbed the minds of Messer
Maffio and his father Messer Nicolo. They had decided, whilst still on
their travels, that Marco should marry as soon as they should get to
Venice; but now they found themselves in this unlucky pass, with so much
wealth and nobody to inherit it. Fearing that Marco's imprisonment might
endure for many years, or, worse still, that he might not live to quit
it (for many assured them that numbers of Venetian prisoners had been
kept in Genoa a score of years before obtaining liberty); seeing too no
prospect of being able to ransom him,--a thing which they had attempted
often and by various channels,--they took counsel together, and came to
the conclusion that Messer Nicolo, who, old as he was, was still hale
and vigorous, should take to himself a new wife. This he did; and at the
end of four years he found himself the father of three sons, Stefano,
Maffio, and Giovanni. Not many years after, Messer Marco aforesaid,
through the great favour that he had acquired in the eyes of the first
gentlemen of Genoa, and indeed of the whole city, was discharged from
prison and set free. Returning home he found that his father had in the
meantime had those three other sons. Instead of taking this amiss, wise
and discreet man that he was, he agreed also to take a wife of his own.
He did so accordingly, but he never had any son, only two girls, one
called Moreta and the other Fantina.
"When at a later date his father died, like a good and dutiful son he
caused to be erected for him a tomb of very honourable kind for those
days, being a great sarcophagus cut from the solid stone, which to this
day may be seen under the portico before the Church of S. Lorenzo in
this city, on the right hand as you enter, with an inscription denoting
it to be the tomb of Messer Nicolo Polo of the contrada of S. Gio.
Chrisostomo. The arms of his family consist of a _Bend_ with three birds
on it, and the colours, according to certain books of old histories in
which you see all the coats of the gentlemen of this city emblazoned,
are the field _azure_, the bend _argent_, and the three birds _sable_.
These last are birds of that kind vulgarly termed _Pole_,[8] or, as the
Latins call them, _Gracculi_.
[Sidenote: Ramusio's account of the Family Polo and its termination.]
8. "As regards the after duration of this noble and worthy family, I
find that Messer Andrea Polo of San Felice had three sons, the first of
whom was Messer Marco, the second Maffio, the third Nicolo. The two last
were those who went to Constantinople first, and afterwards to Cathay,
as has been seen. Messer Marco the elder being dead, the wife of Messer
Nicolo who had been left at home with child, gave birth to a son, to
whom she gave the name of Marco in memory of the deceased, and this is
the Author of our Book. Of the brothers who were born from his father's
second marriage, viz. Stephen, John, and Matthew, I do not find that any
of them had children, except Matthew. He had five sons and one daughter
called Maria; and she, after the death of her brothers without
offspring, inherited in 1417 all the property of her father and her
brothers. She was honourably married to Messer AZZO TREVISANO of the
parish of Santo Stazio in this city, and from her sprung the fortunate
and honoured stock of the Illustrious Messer DOMENICO TREVISANO,
Procurator of St. Mark's, and valorous Captain General of the Sea Forces
of the Republic, whose virtue and singular good qualities are
represented with augmentation in the person of the Most Illustrious
Prince Ser MARC' ANTONIO TREVISANO, his son.[9]
"Such has been the history of this noble family of the Ca' Polo, which
lasted as we see till the year of our Redemption 1417, in which year
died childless Marco Polo, the last of the five sons of Maffeo, and so
it came to an end. Such be the chances and changes of human affairs!"
[Illustration: Arms of the Ca' Polo.]
[1] The Preface is dated Venice, 7th July, 1553. Fracastorius died in the
same year, and Ramusio erected a statue of him at Padua. Ramusio
himself died in July, 1557.
[2] The Geography of De Barros, from which this is quoted, has never been
printed. I can find nothing corresponding to this passage in the
Decades.
[3] A grievous error of Ramusio's.
[4] See the decorated title-page of this volume for an attempt to realise
the scene.
[5] At first sight this fantastic tradition seems to have little
verisimilitude; but when we regard it in the light of genuine Mongol
custom, such as is quoted from Rubruquis, at p. 389 of this volume, we
shall be disposed to look on the whole story with respect.
[6] This curious statement is confirmed by a passage in the records of the
Great Council, which, on a late visit to Venice, I was enabled to
extract, through an obliging communication from Professor Minotto.
(See below, p. 67.)
[7] This rather preposterous skit at the Genoese dialect naturally excites
a remonstrance from the Abate Spotorno. (_Storia Letteraria della
Liguria_, II. 217.)
[8] _Jackdaws_, I believe, in spite of some doubt from the imbecility of
ordinary dictionaries in such matters.
They are under this name made the object of a similitude by Dante
(surely a most unhappy one) in reference to the resplendent spirits
flitting on the celestial stairs in the sphere of Saturn:--
"E come per lo natural costume
_Le Pole_ insieme, al cominciar del giorno,
Si muovono a scaldar le fredde piume:
Poi altre vanno vià senza ritorno,
Altre rivolgon sè, onde son mosse,
Ed altre roteando fan soggiorno."--_Parad._ XXI. 34.
There is some difference among authorities as to the details of the
Polo blazon. According to a MS. concerning the genealogies of Venetian
families written by Marco Barbaro in 1566, and of which there is a
copy in the Museo Civico, the field is _gules_, the bend _or_. And
this I have followed in the cut. But a note by S. Stefani of Venice,
with which I have been favoured since the cut was made, informs me
that a fine 15th-century MS. in his possession gives the field as
_argent_, with no _bend_, and the three birds _sable_ with beaks
_gules_, disposed thus ***.
[Illustration: Arms of the Polo[A]]
[A] [This coat of arms is reproduced from the Genealogies of
Priuli, Archivio di Stato, Venice.--H. C.]
[9] Marco Antonio Trevisano was elected Doge, 4th June, 1553, but died on
the 31st of May following. We do not here notice Ramusio's numerous
errors, which will be corrected in the sequel. [See p. 78.]
II. SKETCH OF THE STATE OF THE EAST AT THE TIME OF THE JOURNEYS OF THE
POLO FAMILY.
9. The story of the travels of the Polo family opens in 1260.
[Sidenote: State of the Levant.]
Christendom had recovered from the alarm into which it had been thrown
some 18 years before when the Tartar cataclysm had threatened to engulph
it. The Tartars themselves were already becoming an object of curiosity
rather than of fear, and soon became an object of hope, as a possible help
against the old Mahomedan foe. The frail Latin throne in Constantinople
was still standing, but tottering to its fall. The successors of the
Crusaders still held the Coast of Syria from Antioch to Jaffa, though a
deadlier brood of enemies than they had yet encountered was now coming to
maturity in the Dynasty of the Mamelukes, which had one foot firmly
planted in Cairo, the other in Damascus. The jealousies of the commercial
republics of Italy were daily waxing greater. The position of Genoese
trade on the coasts of the Aegean was greatly depressed, through the
predominance which Venice had acquired there by her part in the expulsion
of the Greek Emperors, and which won for the Doge the lofty style of Lord
of Three-Eighths of the Empire of Romania. But Genoa was biding her time
for an early revenge, and year by year her naval strength and skill were
increasing. Both these republics held possessions and establishments in
the ports of Syria, which were often the scene of sanguinary conflicts
between their citizens. Alexandria was still largely frequented in the
intervals of war as the great emporium of Indian wares, but the facilities
afforded by the Mongol conquerors who now held the whole tract from the
Persian Gulf to the shores of the Caspian and of the Black Sea, or nearly
so, were beginning to give a great advantage to the caravan routes which
debouched at the ports of Cilician Armenia in the Mediterranean and at
Trebizond on the Euxine. Tana (or Azov) had not as yet become the outlet
of a similar traffic; the Venetians had apparently frequented to some
extent the coast of the Crimea for local trade, but their rivals appear to
have been in great measure excluded from this commerce, and the Genoese
establishments which so long flourished on that coast, are first heard of
some years after a Greek dynasty was again in possession of
Constantinople.[1]
[Sidenote: The various Mongol Sovereignties in Asia and Eastern Europe.]
10. In Asia and Eastern Europe scarcely a dog might bark without Mongol
leave, from the borders of Poland and the Gulf of Scanderoon to the Amur
and the Yellow Sea. The vast empire which Chinghiz had conquered still
owned a nominally supreme head in the Great Kaan,[2] but practically it
was splitting up into several great monarchies under the descendants of
the four sons of Chinghiz, Juji, Chaghatai, Okkodai, and Tuli; and wars on
a vast scale were already brewing between them. Hulaku, third son of Tuli,
and brother of two Great Kaans, Mangku and Kúblái, had become practically
independent as ruler of Persia, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, and Armenia,
though he and his sons, and his sons' sons, continued to stamp the name of
the Great Kaan upon their coins, and to use the Chinese seals of state
which he bestowed upon them. The Seljukian Sultans of Iconium, whose
dominion bore the proud title of Rúm (Rome), were now but the struggling
bondsmen of the Ilkhans. The Armenian Hayton in his Cilician Kingdom had
pledged a more frank allegiance to the Tartar, the enemy of his Moslem
enemies.
Barka, son of Juji, the first ruling prince of the House of Chinghiz to
turn Mahomedan, reigned on the steppes of the Volga, where a standing
camp, which eventually became a great city under the name of Sarai, had
been established by his brother and predecessor Batu.
The House of Chaghatai had settled upon the pastures of the Ili and the
valley of the Jaxartes, and ruled the wealthy cities of Sogdiana.
Kaidu, the grandson of Okkodai who had been the successor of Chinghiz in
the Kaanship, refused to acknowledge the transfer of the supreme authority
to the House of Tuli, and was through the long life of Kúblái a thorn in
his side, perpetually keeping his north-western frontier in alarm. His
immediate authority was exercised over some part of what we should now
call Eastern Turkestan and Southern Central Siberia; whilst his hordes of
horsemen, force of character, and close neighbourhood brought the Khans of
Chaghatai under his influence, and they generally acted in concert with
him.
The chief throne of the Mongol Empire had just been ascended by Kúblái,
the most able of its occupants after the Founder. Before the death of his
brother and predecessor Mangku, who died in 1259 before an obscure
fortress of Western China, it had been intended to remove the seat of
government from Kara Korum on the northern verge of the Mongolian Desert
to the more populous regions that had been conquered in the further East,
and this step, which in the end converted the Mongol Kaan into a Chinese
Emperor,[3] was carried out by Kúblái.
[Sidenote: China.]
11. For about three centuries the Northern provinces of China had been
detached from native rule, and subject to foreign dynasties; first to the
_Khitan_, a people from the basin of the Sungari River, and supposed (but
doubtfully) to have been akin to the Tunguses, whose rule subsisted for
200 years, and originated the name of KHITAI, Khata, or CATHAY, by which
for nearly 1000 years China has been known to the nations of Inner Asia,
and to those whose acquaintance with it was got by that channel.[4] The
Khitan, whose dynasty is known in Chinese history as the _Liao_ or "Iron,"
had been displaced in 1123 by the Chúrchés or Niu-chen, another race of
Eastern Tartary, of the same blood as the modern Manchus, whose Emperors
in their brief period of prosperity were known by the Chinese name of
Tai-_Kin_, by the Mongol name of the _Altun_ Kaans, both signifying
"Golden." Already in the lifetime of Chinghiz himself the northern
Provinces of China Proper, including their capital, known as Chung-tu or
Yen-King, now Peking, had been wrenched from them, and the conquest of the
dynasty was completed by Chinghiz's successor Okkodai in 1234.
Southern China still remained in the hands of the native dynasty of the
Sung, who had their capital at the great city now well known as Hang-chau
fu. Their dominion was still substantially untouched, but its subjugation
was a task to which Kúblái before many years turned his attention, and
which became the most prominent event of his reign.
[Sidenote: India, and Indo-China.]
12. In India the most powerful sovereign was the Sultan of Delhi,
Nassiruddin Mahmud of the Turki House of Iltitmish;[5] but, though both
Sind and Bengal acknowledged his supremacy, no part of Peninsular India had
yet been invaded, and throughout the long period of our Traveller's
residence in the East the Kings of Delhi had their hands too full, owing to
the incessant incursions of the Mongols across the Indus, to venture on
extensive campaigning in the south. Hence the Dravidian Kingdoms of
Southern India were as yet untouched by foreign conquest, and the
accumulated gold of ages lay in their temples and treasuries, an easy prey
for the coming invader.
In the Indo-Chinese Peninsula and the Eastern Islands a variety of
kingdoms and dynasties were expanding and contracting, of which we have at
best but dim and shifting glimpses. That they were advanced in wealth and
art, far beyond what the present state of those regions would suggest, is
attested by vast and magnificent remains of Architecture, nearly all
dating, so far as dates can be ascertained, from the 12th to the 14th
centuries (that epoch during which an architectural afflatus seems to have
descended on the human race), and which are found at intervals over both
the Indo-Chinese continent and the Islands, as at Pagán in Burma, at
Ayuthia in Siam, at Angkor in Kamboja, at Borobodor and Brambánan in Java.
All these remains are deeply marked by Hindu influence, and, at the same
time, by strong peculiarities, both generic and individual.
[Illustration: Autograph of Hayton, King of Armenia, circa A.D. 1243.
"... e por so qui cestes lettres soient fermes e establis ci avuns escrit
l'escrit de notre main vermoil e sayelé de notre ceau pendant...."]
[1] See Heyd, _Le Colonie Commerciali degli Italiani_, etc., passim.
[2] We endeavour to preserve throughout the book the distinction that was
made in the age of the Mongol Empire between _Khán_ and _Kaán_
([Arabic] and [Arabic] as written by Arabic and Persian authors). The
former may be rendered _Lord_, and was applied generally to Tartar
chiefs whether sovereign or not; it has since become in Persia, and
especially in Afghanistan, a sort of "Esq.," and in India is now a
common affix in the names of (Musulman) Hindustanis of all classes;
in Turkey alone it has been reserved for the Sultan. _Kaán_, again,
appears to be a form of _Khákán_, the [Greek: Chagános] of the
Byzantine historians, and was the peculiar title of the supreme
sovereign of the Mongols; the Mongol princes of Persia, Chaghatai,
etc., were entitled only to the former affix (Khán), though _Kaán_ and
_Khakán_ are sometimes applied to them in adulation. Polo always
writes _Kaan_ as applied to the Great Khan, and does not, I think, use
_Khan_ in any form, styling the subordinate princes by their name
only, as _Argon, Alau_, etc. _Ilkhan_ was a special title assumed by
Huláku and his successors in Persia; it is said to be compounded from
a word _Il_, signifying tribe or nation. The relation between _Khán_
and _Khakán_ seems to be probably that the latter signifies "_Khán of
Kháns_" Lord of Lords. Chinghiz, it is said, did not take the higher
title; it was first assumed by his son Okkodai. But there are doubts
about this. (See _Quatremère's Rashid_, pp. 10 seqq. and _Pavet de
Courteille, Dict. Turk-Oriental._) The tendency of swelling titles is
always to degenerate, and when the value of Khan had sunk, a new form,
_Khán-khánán_, was devised at the Court of Delhi, and applied to one
of the high officers of state.
[Mr. Rockhill writes (_Rubruck_, p. 108, note): "The title _Khan_,
though of very great antiquity, was only used by the Turks after A.D.
560, at which time the use of the word _Khatun_ came in use for the
wives of the Khan, who himself was termed _Ilkhan_. The older title of
_Shan-yü_ did not, however, completely disappear among them, for
Albiruni says that in his time the chief of the Ghuz Turks, or
Turkomans, still bore the title of _Jenuyeh_, which Sir Henry
Rawlinson (_Proc. R. G. S._, v. 15) takes to be the same word as that
transcribed _Shan-yü_ by the Chinese (see _Ch'ien Han shu_, Bk. 94,
and _Chou shu_, Bk. 50, 2). Although the word _Khakhan_ occurs in
Menander's account of the embassy of Zemarchus, the earliest mention I
have found of it in a Western writer is in the _Chronicon_ of
Albericus Trium Fontium, where (571), under the year 1239, he uses it
in the form _Cacanus_"--Cf. _Terrien de Lacouperie, Khan, Khakan, and
other Tartar Titles_. Lond., Dec. 1888.--H. C.]
[3] "China is a sea that salts all the rivers that flow into it."--_P.
Parrenin_ in _Lett. Édif._ XXIV. 58.
[4] E.g. the Russians still call it Khitai. The pair of names, _Khitai_
and _Machin_, or Cathay and China, is analogous to the other pair,
_Seres_ and _Sinae_. _Seres_ was the name of the great nation in the
far East as known by land, _Sinae_ as known by sea; and they were
often supposed to be diverse, just as Cathay and China were
afterwards.
[5] There has been much doubt about the true form of this name.
_Iltitmish_ is that sanctioned by Mr. Blochmann (see _Proc. As. Soc.
Bengal_, 1870, p. 181).
III. THE POLO FAMILY. PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE TRAVELLERS DOWN TO THEIR
FINAL RETURN FROM THE EAST.
[Sidenote: Alleged origin of the Polos.]
13. In days when History and Genealogy were allowed to draw largely on the
imagination for the _origines_ of states and families, it was set down by
one Venetian Antiquary that among the companions of King Venetus, or of
Prince Antenor of Troy, when they settled on the northern shores of the
Adriatic, there was one LUCIUS POLUS, who became the progenitor of our
Traveller's Family;[1] whilst another deduces it from PAOLO the first
Doge[2] (Paulus Lucas Anafestus of Heraclea, A.D. 696).
More trustworthy traditions, recorded among the Family Histories of
Venice, but still no more it is believed than traditions, represent the
Family of Polo as having come from Sebenico in Dalmatia, in the 11th
century.[3] Before the end of the century they had taken seats in the
Great Council of the Republic; for the name of Domenico Polo is said to be
subscribed to a grant of 1094, that of Pietro Polo to an act of the time
of the Doge Domenico Michiele in 1122, and that of a Domenico Polo to an
acquittance granted by the Doge Domenico Morosini and his Council in
1153.[4]
The ascertained genealogy of the Traveller, however, begins only with his
grandfather, who lived in the early part of the 13th century.
Two branches of the Polo Family were then recognized, distinguished by the
_confini_ or Parishes in which they lived, as Polo of S. Geremia, and Polo
of S. Felice. ANDREA POLO of S. Felice was the father of three sons,
MARCO, NICOLO, and MAFFEO. And Nicolo was the Father of our Marco.
[Sidenote: Claims to be styled noble.]
14. Till quite recently it had never been precisely ascertained whether
the immediate family of our Traveller belonged to the _Nobles_ of Venice
properly so called, who had seats in the Great Council and were enrolled
in the Libro d'Oro. Ramusio indeed styles our Marco _Nobile_ and
_Magnifico_, and Rusticiano, the actual scribe of the Traveller's
recollections, calls him "_sajes et noble citaiens de Venece_," but
Ramusio's accuracy and Rusticiano's precision were scarcely to be depended
on. Very recently, however, since the subject has been discussed with
accomplished students of the Venice Archives, proofs have been found
establishing Marco's personal claim to nobility, inasmuch as both in
judicial decisions and in official resolutions of the Great Council, he is
designated _Nobilis Vir_, a formula which would never have been used in
such documents (I am assured) had he not been technically noble.[5]
[Sidenote: Marco the Elder.]
15. Of the three sons of Andrea Polo of S. Felice, Marco seems to have
been the eldest, and Maffeo the youngest.[6] They were all engaged in
commerce, and apparently in a partnership, which to some extent held good
even when the two younger had been many years absent in the Far East.[7]
Marco seems to have been established for a time at Constantinople,[8] and
also to have had a house (no doubt of business) at Soldaia, in the Crimea,
where his son and daughter, Nicolo and Maroca by name, were living in
1280. This year is the date of the Elder Marco's Will, executed at Venice,
and when he was "weighed down by bodily ailment." Whether he survived for
any length of time we do not know.
[Sidenote: Nicolo and Maffeo commence their travels.]
16. Nicolo Polo, the second of the Brothers, had two legitimate sons,
MARCO, the Author of our Book, born in 1254,[9] and MAFFEO, of whose place
in the family we shall have a few words to say presently. The story opens,
as we have said, in 1260, when we find the two brothers, Nicolo and Maffeo
the Elder, at Constantinople. How long they had been absent from Venice we
are not distinctly told. Nicolo had left his wife there behind him; Maffeo
apparently was a bachelor. In the year named they started on a trading
venture to the Crimea, whence a succession of openings and chances,
recounted in the Introductory chapters of Marco's work, carried them far
north along the Volga, and thence first to Bokhara, and then to the Court
of the Great Kaan Kúblái in the Far East, on or within the borders of
CATHAY. That a great and civilized country so called existed in the
extremity of Asia had already been reported in Europe by the Friars Plano
Carpini (1246) and William Rubruquis (1253), who had not indeed reached
its frontiers, but had met with its people at the Court of the Great Kaan
in Mongolia; whilst the latter of the two with characteristic acumen had
seen that they were identical with the Seres of classic fame.
[Sidenote: Their intercourse with Kúblái Kaan.]
17. Kúblái had never before fallen in with European gentlemen. He was
delighted with these Venetians, listened with strong interest to all that
they had to tell him of the Latin world, and determined to send them back
as his ambassadors to the Pope, accompanied by an officer of his own
Court. His letters to the Pope, as the Polos represent them, were mainly
to desire the despatch of a large body of educated missionaries to convert
his people to Christianity. It is not likely that religious motives
influenced Kúblái in this, but he probably desired religious aid in
softening and civilizing his rude kinsmen of the Steppes, and judged, from
what he saw in the Venetians and heard from them, that Europe could afford
such aid of a higher quality than the degenerate Oriental Christians with
whom he was familiar, or the Tibetan Lamas on whom his patronage
eventually devolved when Rome so deplorably failed to meet his advances.
[Sidenote: Their return home, and Marco's appearance on the scene.]
18. The Brothers arrived at Acre in April,[10] 1269, and found that no
Pope existed, for Clement IV. was dead the year before, and no new
election had taken place. So they went home to Venice to see how things
stood there after their absence of so many years.
The wife of Nicolo was no longer among the living, but he found his son
Marco a fine lad of fifteen.
The best and most authentic MSS. tell us no more than this. But one class
of copies, consisting of the Latin version made by our Traveller's
contemporary, Francesco Pipino, and of the numerous editions based
indirectly upon it, represents that Nicolo had left Venice when Marco was
as yet unborn, and consequently had never seen him till his return from
the East in 1269.[11]
We have mentioned that Nicolo Polo had another legitimate son, by name
Maffeo, and him we infer to have been younger than Marco, because he is
named last (_Marcus et Matheus_) in the Testament of their uncle Marco the
Elder. We do not know if they were by the same mother. They could not have
been so if we are right in supposing Maffeo to have been the younger, and
if Pipino's version of the history be genuine. If however we reject the
latter, as I incline to do, no ground remains for supposing that Nicolo
went to the East much before we find him there viz., in 1260, and Maffeo
may have been born of the same mother during the interval between 1254 and
1260. If on the other hand Pipino's version be held to, we must suppose
that Maffeo (who is named by his uncle in 1280, during his father's second
absence in the East) was born of a marriage contracted during Nicolo's
residence at home after his first journey, a residence which lasted from
1269 to 1271.[12]
[Illustration: The Piazzetta at Venice. (From the Bodleian MS. of Polo.)]
[Sidenote: Second Journey of the Polo Brothers, accompanied by Marco.]
19. The Papal interregnum was the longest known, at least since the dark
ages. Those two years passed, and yet the Cardinals at Viterbo had come to
no agreement. The brothers were unwilling to let the Great Kaan think them
faithless, and perhaps they hankered after the virgin field of speculation
that they had discovered; so they started again for the East, taking young
Mark with them. At Acre they took counsel with an eminent churchman,
TEDALDO (or Tebaldo) VISCONTI, Archdeacon of Liège, whom the Book
represents to have been Legate in Syria, and who in any case was a
personage of much gravity and influence. From him they got letters to
authenticate the causes of the miscarriage of their mission, and started
for the further East. But they were still at the port of Ayas on the Gulf
of Scanderoon, which was then becoming one of the chief points of arrival
and departure for the inland trade of Asia, when they were overtaken by
the news that a Pope was at last elected, and that the choice had fallen
upon their friend Archdeacon Tedaldo. They immediately returned to Acre,
and at last were able to execute the Kaan's commission, and to obtain a
reply. But instead of the hundred able teachers of science and religion
whom Kúblái is said to have asked for, the new Pope, Gregory X., could
supply but two Dominicans; and these lost heart and drew back when they
had barely taken the first step of the journey.
Judging from certain indications we conceive it probable that the three
Venetians, whose second start from Acre took place about November 1271,
proceeded by Ayas and Sivas, and then by Mardin, Mosul, and Baghdad, to
Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, with the view of going on by sea,
but that some obstacle arose which compelled them to abandon this project
and turn north again from Hormuz.[13] They then traversed successively
Kerman and Khorasan, Balkh and Badakhshan, whence they ascended the Panja
or upper Oxus to the Plateau of Pamir, a route not known to have been
since followed by any European traveller except Benedict Goës, till the
spirited expedition of Lieutenant John Wood of the Indian Navy in
1838.[14] Crossing the Pamir highlands the travellers descended upon
Kashgar, whence they proceeded by Yarkand and Khotan, and the vicinity of
Lake Lob, and eventually across the Great Gobi Desert to Tangut, the name
then applied by Mongols and Persians to territory at the extreme
North-west of China, both within and without the Wall. Skirting the
northern frontier of China they at last reached the presence of the Kaan,
who was at his usual summer retreat at Kai-ping fu, near the base of the
Khingan Mountains, and nearly 100 miles north of the Great Wall at Kalgan.
If there be no mistake in the time (three years and a half) ascribed to
this journey in all the existing texts, the travellers did not reach the
Court till about May of 1275.[15]
[Sidenote: Marco's employment by Kúblái Kaan; and his journeys.]
20. Kúblái received the Venetians with great cordiality, and took kindly
to young Mark, who must have been by this time one-and-twenty. The _Joenne
Bacheler_, as the story calls him, applied himself to the acquisition of
the languages and written characters in chief use among the multifarious
nationalities included in the Kaan's Court and administration; and Kúblái
after a time, seeing his discretion and ability, began to employ him in
the public service. 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.[16]
His first mission apparently was that which carried him through the
provinces of Shan-si, Shen-si, and Sze-ch'wan, and the wild country on the
East of Tibet, to the remote province of Yun-nan, called by the Mongols
Karájàng, and which had been partially conquered by an army under Kúblái
himself in 1253, before his accession to the throne.[17] Mark, during his
stay at court, had observed the Kaan's delight in hearing of strange
countries, their marvels, manners, and oddities, and had heard his
Majesty's frank expressions of disgust at the stupidity of his
commissioners when they could speak of nothing but the official business
on which they had been sent. Profiting by these observations, he took care
to store his memory or his note-books with all curious facts that were
likely to interest Kúblái, and related them with vivacity on his return to
Court. This first journey, which led him through a region which is still
very nearly a _terra incognita_, and in which there existed and still
exists, among the deep valleys of the Great Rivers flowing down from
Eastern Tibet, and in the rugged mountain ranges bordering Yun-nan and
Kwei-chau, a vast Ethnological Garden, as it were, of tribes of various
race and in every stage of uncivilisation, afforded him an acquaintance
with many strange products and eccentric traits of manners, wherewith to
delight the Emperor.
Mark rose rapidly in favour, and often served Kúblái again on distant
missions, as well as in domestic administration, but we gather few details
as to his employments. At one time we know that he held for three years
the government of the great city of Yang-chau, though we need not try to
magnify this office, as some commentators have done, into the viceroyalty
of one of the great provinces of the Empire; on another occasion we find
him with his uncle Maffeo, passing a year at Kan-chau in Tangut; again, it
would appear, visiting Kara Korum, the old capital of the Kaans in
Mongolia; on another occasion in Champa or Southern Cochin China; and
again, or perhaps as a part of the last expedition, on a mission to the
Indian Seas, when he appears to have visited several of the southern
states of India. We are not informed whether his father and uncle shared
in such employments;[18] and the story of their services rendered to the
Kaan in promoting the capture of the city of Siang-yang, by the
construction of powerful engines of attack, is too much perplexed by
difficulties of chronology to be cited with confidence. Anyhow they were
gathering wealth, and after years of exile they began to dread what might
follow old Kúblái's death, and longed to carry their gear and their own
grey heads safe home to the Lagoons. The aged Emperor growled refusal to
all their hints, and but for a happy chance we should have lost our
mediaeval Herodotus.
[Sidenote: Circumstances of the Departure of the Polos from the Kaan's
Court.]
21. Arghún Khan of Persia, Kúblái's great-nephew, had in 1286 lost his
favourite wife the Khatun Bulughán; and, mourning her sorely, took steps
to fulfil her dying injunction that her place should be filled only by a
lady of her own kin, the Mongol Tribe of Bayaut. Ambassadors were
despatched to the Court of Kaan-baligh to seek such a bride. The message
was courteously received, and the choice fell on the lady Kokáchin, a
maiden of 17, "_moult bele dame et avenant_." The overland road from
Peking to Tabriz was not only of portentous length for such a tender
charge, but was imperilled by war, so the envoys desired to return by sea.
Tartars in general were strangers to all navigation; and the envoys, much
taken with the Venetians, and eager to profit by their experience,
especially as Marco had just then returned from his Indian mission, begged
the Kaan as a favour to send the three _Firinghis_ in their company. He
consented with reluctance, but, having done so, fitted the party out nobly
for the voyage, charging the Polos with friendly messages for the
potentates of Europe, including the King of England. They appear to have
sailed from the port of Zayton (as the Westerns called T'swan-chau or
Chin-cheu in Fo-kien) in the beginning of 1292. It was an ill-starred
voyage, involving long detentions on the coast of Sumatra, and in the
South of India, to which, however, we are indebted for some of the best
chapters in the book; and two years or upwards passed before they arrived
at their destination in Persia.[19] The three hardy Venetians survived all
perils, and so did the lady, who had come to look on them with filial
regard; but two of the three envoys, and a vast proportion of the suite,
had perished by the way.[20] Arghún Khan too had been dead even before
they quitted China;[21] his brother Kaikhátú reigned in his stead; and his
son Gházán succeeded to the lady's hand. We are told by one who knew both
the princes well that Arghún was one of the handsomest men of his time,
whilst Gházán was, among all his host, one of the most insignificant in
appearance. But in other respects the lady's change was for the better.
Gházán had some of the highest qualities of a soldier, a legislator and a
king, adorned by many and varied accomplishments; though his reign was too
short for the full development of his fame.
[Sidenote: They pass by Persia to Venice. Their relations there.]
22. The princess, whose enjoyment of her royalty was brief, wept as she
took leave of the kindly and noble Venetians. They went on to Tabriz, and
after a long halt there proceeded homewards, reaching Venice, according to
all the texts some time in 1295.[22]
We have related Ramusio's interesting tradition, like a bit out of the
Arabian Nights, of the reception that the Travellers met with from their
relations, and of the means that they took to establish their position
with those relations, and with Venetian society.[23] Of the relations,
Marco the Elder had probably been long dead;[24] Maffeo the brother of our
Marco was alive, and we hear also of a cousin (_consanguineus_) Felice
Polo, and his wife Fiordelisa, without being able to fix their precise
position in the family. We know also that Nicolo, who died before the end
of the century, left behind him two illegitimate sons, Stefano and
Zannino. It is not unlikely that these were born from some connection
entered into during the long residence of the Polos in Cathay, though
naturally their presence in the travelling company is not commemorated in
Marco's Prologue.[25]
[1] _Zurla_, I. 42, quoting a MS. entitled _Petrus Ciera S. R. E. Card, de
Origine Venetorum et de Civitate Venetiarum_. Cicogna says he could
not find this MS. as it had been carried to England; and then breaks
into a diatribe against foreigners who purchase and carry away such
treasures, "not to make a serious study of them, but for mere
vain-glory ... or in order to write books contradicting the very MSS.
that they have bought, and with that dishonesty and untruth which are
so notorious!" (IV. 227.)
[2] _Campidoglio Veneto_ of Cappellari (MS. in St. Mark's Lib.), quoting
"the Venetian Annals of Giulio Faroldi."
[3] The _Genealogies_ of Marco Barbaro specify 1033 as the year of the
migration to Venice; on what authority does not appear (MS. copy in
_Museo Civico_ at Venice).
[4] _Cappellari_, u.s., and _Barbaro_. In the same century we find (1125,
1195) indications of Polos at Torcello, and of others (1160) at
Equileo, and (1179, 1206) Lido Maggiore; in 1154 a Marco Polo of
Rialto. Contemporary with these is a family of Polos (1139, 1183,
1193, 1201) at Chioggia (_Documents and Lists of Documents from
various Archives at_ Venice).
[5] See Appendix C, Nos. 4, 5, and 16. It was supposed that an autograph
of Marco as member of the Great Council had been discovered, but this
proves to be a mistake, as will be explained further on (see p. 74,
note). In those days the demarcation between Patrician and
non-Patrician at Venice, where all classes shared in commerce, all
were (generally speaking) of one race, and where there were neither
castles, domains, nor trains of horsemen, formed no wide gulf. Still
it is interesting to establish the verity of the old tradition of
Marco's technical nobility.
[6] Marco's seniority rests only on the assertion of Ramusio, who also
calls Maffeo older than Nicolo. But in Marco the Elder's Will these
two are always (3 times) specified as "_Nicolaus et Matheus_."
[7] This seems implied in the Elder Marco's Will (1280): "_Item de bonis
quae me habere contingunt_ de fraternâ Compagniâ _a suprascriptis
Nicolao et Matheo Paulo_," etc.
[8] In his Will he terms himself "Ego Marcus Polo quondam de
Constantinopoli."
[9] There is no real ground for doubt as to this. All the extant MSS.
agree in making Marco fifteen years old when his father returned to
Venice in 1269.
[10] Baldelli and Lazari say that the Bern MS. specifies 30th April; but
this is a mistake.
[11] Pipino's version runs: "Invenit Dominus Nicolaus Paulus uxorem suam
esse de functam, quae in recessu suo fuit praegnans. Invenitque
filium, Marcum nomine, qui jam annos xv. habebat aetatis, qui post
discessum ipsius de Venetiis natus fuerat de uxore sua praefatâ." To
this Ramusio adds the further particular that the mother died in
giving birth to Mark.
The interpolation is older even than Pipino's version, for we find in
the rude Latin published by the Société de Géographie "quam cum
Venetiis primo recessit praegnantem dimiserat." But the statement is
certainly an _interpolation_, for it does not exist in any of the
older texts; nor have we any good reason for believing that it was an
_authorised_ interpolation. I suspect it to have been introduced to
harmonise with an erroneous date for the commencement of the travels
of the two brothers.
Lazari prints: "Messer Nicolò trovò che la sua donna era morta, e
n'era rimasto un fanciullo di _dodici_ anni per nome Marco, _che il
padre non avea veduto mai, perchè non era ancor nato quando egli
partì_." These words have no equivalent in the French Texts, but are
taken from one of the Italian MSS. in the Magliabecchian Library, and
are I suspect also interpolated. The _dodici_ is pure error (see p. 21
infra).
[12] The last view is in substance, I find, suggested by Cicogna (ii.
389).
The matter is of some interest, because in the Will of the younger
Maffeo, which is extant, he makes a bequest to his uncle (_Avunculus_)
Jordan Trevisan. This seems an indication that his mother's name may
have been Trevisan. The same Maffeo had a daughter _Fiordelisa_. And
Marco the Elder, in his Will (1280), appoints as his executors, during
the absence of his brothers, the same Jordan Trevisan and his own
sister-in-law _Fiordelisa_ ("Jordanum Trivisanum de confinio S.
Antonini: et Flordelisam cognatam meam"). Hence I conjecture that this
_cognata Fiordelisa_ (Trevisan?) was the wife of the absent Nicolo,
and the mother of Maffeo. In that case of course Maffeo and Marco were
the sons of different mothers. With reference to the above suggestion
of Nicolo's second marriage in 1269 there is a curious variation in a
fragmentary Venetian Polo in the Barberini Library at Rome. It runs,
in the passage corresponding to the latter part of ch. ix. of
Prologue: "i qual do fratelli steteno do anni in Veniezia aspettando
la elletion de nuovo Papa, _nel qual tempo Mess. Nicolo si tolse moier
et si la lasò graveda._" I believe, however, that it is only a
careless misrendering of Pipino's statement about Marco's birth.
[13] [Major Sykes, in his remarkable book on _Persia_, ch. xxiii. pp.
262-263, does not share Sir Henry Yule's opinion regarding this
itinerary, and he writes:
"To return to our travellers, who started on their second great
journey in 1271, Sir Henry Yule, in his introduction,[A] makes them
travel via Sivas to Mosul and Baghdád, and thence by sea to Hormuz,
and this is the itinerary shown on his sketch map. This view I am
unwilling to accept for more than one reason. In the first place, if,
with Colonel Yule, we suppose that Ser Marco visited Baghdád, is it
not unlikely that he should term the River Volga the Tigris,[B] and
yet leave the river of Baghdád nameless? It may be urged that Marco
believed the legend of the reappearance of the Volga in Kurdistán, but
yet, if the text be read with care and the character of the traveller
be taken into account, this error is scarcely explicable in any other
way, than that he was never there.
"Again, he gives no description of the striking buildings of Baudas,
as he terms it, but this is nothing to the inaccuracy of his supposed
onward journey. To quote the text, 'A very great river flows through
the city,... and merchants descend some eighteen days from Baudas, and
then come to a certain city called Kisi,[C] where they enter the Sea
of India.' Surely Marco, had he travelled down the Persian Gulf, would
never have given this description of the route, which is so untrue as
to point to the conclusion that it was vague information given by some
merchant whom he met in the course of his wanderings.
"Finally, apart from the fact that Baghdád, since its fall, was rather
off the main caravan route, Marco so evidently travels east from Yezd
and thence south to Hormuz, that unless his journey be described
backwards, which is highly improbable, it is only possible to arrive
at one conclusion, namely, that the Venetians entered Persia near
Tabriz, and travelled to Sultania, Kashán, and Yezd. Thence they
proceeded to Kermán and Hormuz, where, probably fearing the sea
voyage, owing to the manifest unseaworthiness of the ships, which he
describes as 'wretched affairs,' the Khorasán route was finally
adopted. Hormuz, in this case, was not visited again until the return
from China, when it seems probable that the same route was retraced to
Tabriz, where their charge, the Lady Kokachin, 'moult bele dame et
avenant,' was married to Gházan Khán, the son of her fiancé Arghun. It
remains to add that Sir Henry Yule may have finally accepted this view
in part, as in the plate showing _Probable View of Marco Polo's own
Geography_,[D] the itinerary is not shown as running to Baghdád."
I may be allowed to answer that when Marco Polo _started_ for the
East, Baghdád was not rather off the main caravan route. The fall of
Baghdád was not immediately followed by its decay, and we have proof
of its prosperity at the beginning of the 14th century. Tauris had not
yet the importance it had reached when the Polos visited it on their
_return_ journey. We have the will of the Venetian Pietro Viglioni,
dated from Tauris, 10th December, 1264 (_Archiv. Veneto_, xxvi. 161-
165), which shows that he was but a pioneer. It was only under Arghún
Khan (1284-1291) that Tauris became the great market for foreign,
especially Genoese, merchants, as Marco Polo remarks on his return
journey; with Gházán and the new city built by that prince, Tauris
reached a very high degree of prosperity, and was then really the
chief emporium on the route from Europe to Persia and the far East.
Sir Henry Yule had not changed his views, and if in the plate showing
_Probable View of Marco Polo's own Geography_, the itinerary is not
shown as running to Baghdád, it is mere neglect on the part of the
draughtsman.--H. C.]
[A] Page 19.
[B] _Vide Yule_, vol. i. p. 5. It is noticeable that John of Pian
de Carpine, who travelled 1245 to 1247, names it correctly.
[C] The modern name is Keis, an island lying off Linga.
[D] Vol. i. p. 110 (Introduction).
[14] It is stated by Neumann that this most estimable traveller once
intended to have devoted a special work to the elucidation of Marco's
chapters on the Oxus Provinces, and it is much to be regretted that
this intention was never fulfilled. Pamir has been explored more
extensively and deliberately, whilst this book was going through the
press, by Colonel Gordon, and other officers, detached from Sir
Douglas Forsyth's Mission. [We have made use of the information given
by these officers and by more recent travellers.--H. C.]
[15] Half a year earlier, if we suppose the three years and a half to
count from Venice rather than Acre. But at that season (November)
Kúblái would not have been at Kai-ping fu (otherwise Shang-tu).
[16] _Pauthier_, p. ix., and p. 361.
[17] That this was Marco's first mission is positively stated in the
Ramusian edition; and though this may be only an editor's gloss it
seems well-founded. The French texts say only that the Great Kaan,
"l'envoia en un message en une terre ou bien avoit vj. mois de
chemin." The traveller's actual Itinerary affords to Vochan
(Yung-ch'ang), on the frontier of Burma, 147 days' journey, which with
halts might well be reckoned six months in round estimate. And we are
enabled by various circumstances to fix the date of the Yun-nan
journey between 1277 and 1280. The former limit is determined by
Polo's account of the battle with the Burmese, near Vochan, which took
place according to the Chinese Annals in 1277. The latter is fixed by
his mention of Kúblái's son, Mangalai, as governing at Kenjanfu
(Si-ngan fu), a prince who died in 1280. (See vol. ii. pp. 24, 31,
also 64, 80.)
[18] Excepting in the doubtful case of Kan-chau, where one reading says
that the three Polos were there on business of their own not necessary
to mention, and another, that only Maffeo and Marco were there, "_en
légation_."
[19] Persian history seems to fix the arrival of the lady Kokáchin in the
North of Persia to the winter of 1293-1294. The voyage to Sumatra
occupied three months (vol. i. p. 34); they were five months detained
there (ii. 292); and the remainder of the voyage extended to eighteen
more (i. 35),--twenty-six months in all.
The data are too slight for unexceptional precision, but the following
adjustment will fairly meet the facts. Say that they sailed from
Fo-kien in January 1292. In April they would be in Sumatra, and find
the S.W. Monsoon too near to admit of their crossing the Bay of
Bengal. They remain in port till September (five months), and then
proceed, touching (perhaps) at Ceylon, at Kayal, and at several ports
of Western India. In one of these, e.g. Kayal or Tana, they pass the
S.W. Monsoon of 1293, and then proceed to the Gulf. They reach Hormuz
in the winter, and the camp of the Persian Prince Gházán, the son of
Arghún, in March, twenty-six months from their departure.
I have been unable to trace Hammer's authority (not Wassáf I find),
which perhaps gives the precise date of the Lady's arrival in Persia
(see infra, p. 38). From his narrative, however (_Gesch. der Ilchane_,
ii. 20), March 1294 is perhaps too late a date. But the five months'
stoppage in Sumatra _must_ have been in the S.W. Monsoon; and if the
arrival in Persia is put earlier, Polo's numbers can scarcely be held
to. Or, the eighteen months mentioned at vol. i. p. 35, must _include_
the five months' stoppage. We may then suppose that they reached
Hormuz about November 1293, and Gházán's camp a month or two later.
[20] The French text which forms the _basis_ of my translation says that,
excluding mariners, there were 600 souls, out of whom only 8 survived.
The older MS. which I quote as G. T., makes the number 18, a fact that
I had overlooked till the sheets were printed off.
[21] Died 12th March, 1291.
[22] All dates are found so corrupt that even in this one I do not feel
absolute confidence. Marco in dictating the book is aware that Gházán
had attained the throne of Persia (see vol. i. p. 36, and ii. pp. 50
and 477), an event which did not occur till October, 1295. The date
assigned to it, however, by Marco (ii. 477) is 1294, or the year
_before_ that assigned to the return home.
The travellers may have stopped some time at Constantinople on their
way, or even may have visited the northern shores of the Black Sea;
otherwise, indeed, how did Marco acquire his knowledge of that Sea
(ii. 486-488) and of events in Kipchak (ii. 496 seqq.)? If 1296 was
the date of return, moreover, the six-and-twenty years assigned in the
preamble as the period of Marco's absence (p. 2) would be nearer
accuracy. For he left Venice in the spring or summer of 1271.
[23] Marco Barbaro, in his account of the Polo family, tells what seems to
be the same tradition in a different and more mythical version:--
"From ear to ear the story has past till it reached mine, that when
the three Kinsmen arrived at their home they were dressed in the most
shabby and sordid manner, insomuch that the wife of one of them gave
away to a beggar that came to the door one of those garments of his,
all torn, patched, and dirty as it was. The next day he asked his wife
for that mantle of his, in order to put away the jewels that were sewn
up in it; but she told him she had given it away to a poor man, whom
she did not know. Now, the stratagem he employed to recover it was
this. He went to the Bridge of Rialto, and stood there turning a
wheel, to no apparent purpose, but as if he were a madman, and to all
those who crowded round to see what prank was this, and asked him why
he did it, he answered: 'He'll come if God pleases.' So after two or
three days he recognised his old coat on the back of one of those who
came to stare at his mad proceedings, and got it back again. Then,
indeed, he was judged to be quite the reverse of a madman! And from
those jewels he built in the contrada of S. Giovanni Grisostomo a very
fine palace for those days; and the family got among the vulgar the
name of the _Ca' Million_, because the report was that they had jewels
to the value of a million of ducats; and the palace has kept that name
to the present day--viz., 1566." (_Genealogies_, MS. copy in _Museo
Civico_; quoted also by _Baldelli Boni, Vita_, p. xxxi.)
[24] The Will of the Elder Marco, to which we have several times referred,
is dated at Rialto 5th August, 1280.
The testator describes himself as formerly of Constantinople, but now
dwelling in the confine of S. Severo.
His brothers _Nicolo_ and _Maffeo_, if at Venice, are to be his sole
trustees and executors, but in case of their continued absence he
nominates _Jordano Trevisano_, and his sister-in-law _Fiordelisa_ of
the confine of S. Severo.
The proper tithe to be paid. All his clothes and furniture to be sold,
and from the proceeds his funeral to be defrayed, and the balance to
purchase masses for his soul at the discretion of his trustees.
Particulars of money due to him from his partnership with Donato
Grasso, now of Justinople (Capo d'Istria), 1200 _lire_ in all.
(Fifty-two lire due by said partnership to Angelo di Tumba of S.
Severo.)
The above money bequeathed to his son _Nicolo_, living at _Soldachia_,
or failing him, to his beloved brothers _Nicolo_ and _Maffeo_. Failing
them, to the sons of his said brothers (_sic_) _Marco_ and _Maffeo_.
Failing them, to be spent for the good of his soul at the discretion
of his trustees.
To his son Nicolo he bequeaths a silver-wrought girdle of vermilion
silk, two silver spoons, a silver cup without cover (or saucer? _sine
cembalo_), his desk, two pairs of sheets, a velvet quilt, a
counterpane, a feather-bed--all on the same conditions as above, and
to remain with the trustees till his son returns to Venice.
Meanwhile the trustees are to invest the money at his son's risk and
benefit, but only here in Venice (_investiant seu investire,
faciant_).
From the proceeds to come in from his partnership with his brothers
Nicolo and Maffeo, he bequeaths 200 lire to his daughter Maroca.
From same source 100 lire to his natural son Antony.
Has in his desk (_capsella_) two hyperperae (Byzantine gold coins),
and three golden florins, which he bequeaths to the sister-in-law
_Fiordelisa_.
Gives freedom to all his slaves and handmaidens.
Leaves his house in Soldachia to the Minor Friars of that place,
reserving life-occupancy to his son Nicolo and daughter Maroca.
The rest of his goods to his son Nicolo.
[25] The terms in which the younger Maffeo mentions these half-brothers in
his Will (1300) seem to indicate that they were still young.
IV. DIGRESSION CONCERNING THE MANSION OF THE POLO FAMILY AT VENICE.
[Illustration: Corte del Milione, Venice.]
[Illustration: Malibran Theatre Venice]
[Sidenote: Probable period of their establishment at S. Giovanni
Grisostomo.]
23. We have seen that Ramusio places the scene of the story recently
alluded to at the mansion in the parish of S. Giovanni Grisostomo, the
court of which was known in his time as the Corte del Millioni; and indeed
he speaks of the Travellers as at once on their arrival resorting to that
mansion as their family residence. Ramusio's details have so often proved
erroneous that I should not be surprised if this also should be a mistake.
At least we find (so far as I can learn) no previous intimation that the
family were connected with that locality. The grandfather Andrea is styled
of _San Felice_. The will of Maffeo Polo the younger, made in 1300, which
we shall give hereafter in abstract, appears to be the first document that
connects the family with S. Giovanni Grisostomo. It indeed styles the
testator's father "the late Nicolo Paulo of the confine of St. John
Chrysostom," but that only shows what is not disputed, that the Travellers
after their return from the East settled in this locality. And the same
will appears to indicate a surviving connexion with S. Felice, for the
priests and clerks who drew it up and witness it are all of the church of
S. Felice, and it is to the parson of S. Felice and his successor that
Maffeo bequeaths an annuity to procure their prayers for the souls of his
father, his mother, and himself, through after the successor the annuity
is to pass on the same condition to the senior priest of S. Giovanni
Grisostomo. Marco Polo the Elder is in his will described as of _S.
Severo_, as is also his sister-in-law Fiordelisa, and the document
contains no reference to S. Giovanni. On the whole therefore it seems
probable that the Palazzo in the latter parish was purchased by the
Travellers after their return from the East.[1]
[Sidenote: Relic of the Casa Polo in the Corte Sabbionera.]
24. The Court which was known in the 16th century as the Corte del
Millioni has been generally understood to be that now known as the Corte
Sabbionera, and here is still pointed out a relic of Marco Polo's mansion.
[Indeed it is called now (1899) _Corte del Milione_; see p. 30.--H. C.]
M. Pauthier's edition is embellished with a good engraving which purports
to represent the House of Marco Polo. But he has been misled. His
engraving in fact exhibits, at least as the prominent feature, an
embellished representation of a small house which exists on the _west
side_ of the Sabbionera, and which had at one time perhaps that pointed
style of architecture which his engraving shows, though its present
decoration is paltry and unreal. But it is on the _north side_ of the
Court, and on the foundations now occupied by the Malibran theatre, that
Venetian tradition and the investigations of Venetian antiquaries concur
in indicating the site of the Casa Polo. At the end of the 16th century a
great fire destroyed the Palazzo,[2] and under the description of "an old
mansion ruined from the foundation" it passed into the hands of one
Stefano Vecchia, who sold it in 1678 to Giovanni Carlo Grimani. He built
on the site of the ruins a theatre which was in its day one of the largest
in Italy, and was called the Theatre of S. Giovanni Grisostomo; afterwards
the _Teatro Emeronitio_. When modernized in our own day the proprietors
gave it the name of Malibran, in honour of that famous singer, and this it
still bears.[3]
[In 1881, the year of the Venice International Geographical Congress,
a Tablet was put up on the Theatre with the following inscription:--
QVI FURONO LE CASE
DI
MARCO POLO
CHE VIAGGIÒ LE PIÙ LONTANE REGIONI DELL' ASIA
E LE DESCRISSE
PER DECRETO DEL COMUNE
MDCCCLXXXI].
There is still to be seen on the north side of the Court an arched doorway
in Italo-Byzantine style, richly sculptured with scrolls, disks, and
symbolical animals, and on the wall above the doorway is a cross similarly
ornamented.[4] The style and the decorations are those which were usual in
Venice in the 13th century. The arch opens into a passage from which a
similar doorway at the other end, also retaining some scantier relics of
decoration, leads to the entrance of the Malibran Theatre. Over the
archway in the Corte Sabbionera the building rises into a kind of tower.
This, as well as the sculptured arches and cross, Signor Casoni, who gave
a good deal of consideration to the subject, believed to be a relic of the
old Polo House. But the tower (which Pauthier's view does show) is now
entirely modernized.[5]
[Illustration: The site of the CA' POLO.
Fig. A. From the Diner Map A. D. 1500.
Fig. B. From Map by Ludovico Ughi A.D. 1729 Scale 1 to 2500.
Fig. C. From Recent Map. Scale 1 to 1315.]
Other remains of Byzantine sculpture, which are probably fragments of the
decoration of the same mansion, are found imbedded in the walls of
neighbouring houses.[6] It is impossible to determine anything further as
to the form or extent of the house of the time of the Polos, but some
slight idea of its appearance about the year 1500 may be seen in the
extract (fig. A) which we give from the famous pictorial map of Venice
attributed erroneously to Albert Dürer. The state of the buildings in the
last century is shown in (fig. B) an extract from the fine Map of Ughi;
and their present condition in one (fig. C) reduced from the Modern
Official Map of the Municipality.
[Coming from the Church of S. G. Grisostomo to enter the calle del Teatro
on the left and the passage (_Sottoportico_) leading to the _Corte del
Milione_, one has in front of him a building with a door of the epoch of
the Renaissance; it was the office of the _provveditori_ of silk; on the
architrave are engraved the words:
PROVISORES SERICI
and below, above the door, is the Tablet which] in the year 1827 the Abate
Zenier caused to be put up with this inscription:--
AEDES PROXIMA THALIAE CVLTVI MODO ADDICTA
MARCI POLO P. V. ITINERVM FAMA PRAECLARI
JAM HABITATIO FVIT.
[Illustration: Entrance to the Corte del Milione Venice]
[Sidenote: Recent corroboration as to the traditional site of the Casa
Polo.]
24a. I believe that of late years some doubts have been thrown on the
tradition of the site indicated as that of the Casa Polo, though I am not
aware of the grounds of such doubts. But a document recently discovered at
Venice by Comm. Barozzi, one of a series relating to the testamentary
estate of Marco Polo, goes far to confirm the tradition. This is the copy
of a technical definition of two pieces of house property adjoining the
property of Marco Polo and his brother Stephen, which were sold to Marco
Polo by his wife Donata[7] in June 1321. Though the definition is not
decisive, from the rarity of topographical references and absence of
points of the compass, the description of Donata's tenements as standing
on the Rio (presumably that of S. Giovanni Grisostomo) on one side,
opening by certain porticoes and stairs on the other to the Court and
common alley leading to the Church of S. Giovanni Grisostomo, and abutting
in two places on the Ca' Polo, the property of her husband and Stefano,
will apply perfectly to a building occupying the western portion of the
area on which now stands the Theatre, and perhaps forming the western side
of a Court of which Casa Polo formed the other three sides.[8]
We know nothing more of Polo till we find him appearing a year or two
later in rapid succession as the Captain of a Venetian Galley, as a
prisoner of war, and as an author.
[1] Marco Barbaro's story related at p. 25 speaks of the Ca' Million as
_built_ by the travellers.
From a list of parchments existing in the archives of the _Casa di
Ricovero_, or Great Poor House, at Venice, Comm. Berchet obtained the
following indication:--
"_No. 94. Marco Galetti invests_ Marco Polo _S. of_ Nicolo _with the
ownership of his possessions_ (beni) _in_ S. Giovanni Grisostomo; _10
September, 1319; drawn up by the Notary Nicolo, priest of S.
Canciano._"
This document would perhaps have thrown light on the matter, but
unfortunately recent search by several parties has failed to trace it.
[The document has been discovered since: see vol. ii., _Calendar_,
No. 6.--H. C.]
[2] --"Sua casa che era posta nel confin di S. Giovanni Chrisostomo,
_che hor fà l'anno s'abbrugiò totalmente_, con gran danno di molti."
(_Doglioní, Hist. Venetiana_, Ven. 1598, pp. 161-162.)
"1596. 7 _Nov. Senato_ (Arsenal ... ix c. 159 t).
"Essendo conveniente usar qualche ricognizione a quelli della
maestranza del-l'Arsenal nostro, che prontamente sono concorsi all'
incendio occorso ultimamente a S. Zuane Grizostomo nelli stabeli detti
di CA' MILION dove per la relazion fatta nell collegio nostro dalli
patroni di esso Arsenal hanno nell' estinguere il foco prestato ogni
buon servitio...."--(Comm. by Cav. Cecchetti through Comm. Berchet.)
[3] See a paper by G. C. (the Engineer Giovanni Casoni) in _Teatro
Emeronitio Almanacco par l'Anno 1835_.
[4] This Cross is engraved by Mr. Ruskin in vol. ii. of the _Stones of
Venice_: see p. 139, and Pl. xi. Fig. 4.
[5] Casoni's only doubt was whether the _Corte del Millioni_ was what is
now the Sabbionera, or the interior area of the theatre. The latter
seems most probable.
One Illustration of this volume, p. 1, shows the archway in the Corte
Sabbionera, and also the decorations of the soffit.
[6] See _Ruskin_, iii. 320.
[7] Comm. Barozzi writes: "Among us, contracts between husband and wife
are and were very common, and recognized by law. The wife sells to the
husband property not included in dowry, or that she may have
inherited, just as any third person might."
[8] See Appendix C, No. 16.
V. DIGRESSION CONCERNING THE WAR-GALLEYS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN STATES IN
THE MIDDLE AGES.
[Sidenote: Arrangement of the Rowers in Mediaeval Galleys: a separate oar
to every man.]
25. And before entering on this new phase of the Traveller's biography it
may not be without interest that we say something regarding the equipment
of those galleys which are so prominent in the mediaeval history of the
Mediterranean.[1]
Eschewing that "Serbonian Bog, where armies whole have sunk" of Books and
Commentators, the theory of the classification of the Biremes and Triremes
of the Ancients, we can at least assert on secure grounds that in
_mediaeval_ armament, up to the middle of the 16th century or thereabouts,
the characteristic distinction of galleys of different calibres, so far as
such differences existed, was based _on the number of rowers that sat on
one bench pulling each his separate oar, but through one_ portella _or
rowlock-port_.[2] And to the classes of galleys so distinguished the
Italians, of the later Middle Age at least, did certainly apply, rightly
or wrongly, the classical terms of _Bireme_, _Trireme_, and _Quinquereme_,
in the sense of galleys having two men and two oars to a bench, three men
and three oars to a bench, and five men and five oars to a bench.[3]
That this was the mediaeval arrangement is very certain from the details
afforded by Marino Sanudo the Elder, confirmed by later writers and by
works of art. Previous to 1290, Sanudo tells us, almost all the galleys
that went to the Levant had but two oars and men to a bench; but as it had
been found that three oars and men to a bench could be employed with great
advantage, after that date nearly all galleys adopted this arrangement,
which was called _ai Terzaruoli_.[4]
Moreover experiments made by the Venetians in 1316 had shown that four
rowers to a bench could be employed still more advantageously. And where
the galleys could be used on inland waters, and could be made more bulky,
Sanudo would even recommend five to a bench, or have gangs of rowers on
two decks with either three or four men to the bench on each deck.
[Sidenote: Change of System in the 16th century.]
26. This system of grouping the oars, and putting only one man to an oar,
continued down to the 16th century, during the first half of which came in
the more modern system of using great oars, equally spaced, and requiring
from four to seven men each to ply them, in the manner which endured till
late in the last century, when galleys became altogether obsolete. Captain
Pantero Pantera, the author of a work on Naval Tactics (1616), says he had
heard, from veterans who had commanded galleys equipped in the antiquated
fashion, that _three_ men to a bench, with separate oars, answered better
than three men to one great oar, but four men to one great oar (he says)
were certainly more efficient than four men with separate oars. The
new-fashioned great oars, he tells us, were styled _Remi di Scaloccio_, the
old grouped oars _Remi a Zenzile_,--terms the etymology of which I cannot
explain.[5]
It may be doubted whether the four-banked and five-banked galleys, of
which Marino Sanudo speaks, really then came into practical use. A great
five-banked galley on this system, built in 1529 in the Venice Arsenal by
Vettor Fausto, was the subject of so much talk and excitement, that it
must evidently have been something quite new and unheard of.[6] So late as
1567 indeed the King of Spain built at Barcelona a galley of thirty-six
benches to the side, and seven men to the bench, with a separate oar to
each in the old fashion. But it proved a failure.[7]
Down to the introduction of the great oars the usual system appears to
have been three oars to a bench for the larger galleys, and two oars for
lighter ones. The _fuste_ or lighter galleys of the Venetians, even to
about the middle of the 16th century, had their oars in pairs from the
stern to the mast, and single oars only from the mast forward.[8]
[Sidenote: Some details of the 13th century Galleys.]
27. Returning then to the three-banked and two-banked galleys of the
latter part of the 13th century, the number of benches on each side seems
to have run from twenty-five to twenty-eight, at least as I interpret
Sanudo's calculations. The 100-oared vessels often mentioned (e.g. by
_Muntaner_, p. 419) were probably two-banked vessels with twenty-five
benches to a side.
[Illustration]
The galleys were very narrow, only 15-1/2 feet in beam.[9] But to give
room for the play of the oars and the passage of the fighting-men, &c.,
this width was largely augmented by an _opera-morta_, or outrigger deck,
projecting much beyond the ship's sides and supported by timber
brackets.[10] I do not find it stated how great this projection was in the
mediaeval galleys, but in those of the 17th century it was _on each side_
as much as 2/9ths of the true beam. And if it was as great in the
13th-century galleys the total width between the false gunnels would be
about 22-1/4 feet.
In the centre line of the deck ran, the whole length of the vessel,
a raised gangway called the _corsia_, for passage clear of the oars.
[Illustration]
The benches were arranged as in this diagram. The part of the bench next
the gunnel was at right angles to it, but the other two-thirds of the
bench were thrown forward obliquely, _a, b, c_, indicate the position of
the three rowers. The shortest oar _a_ was called _Terlicchio_, the middle
one _b Posticcio_, the long oar _c Piamero_.[11]
[Illustration: Galley-Fight, from a Mediaeval Fresco at Siena. (See p.
36)]
I do not find any information as to how the oars worked on the gunnels.
The Siena fresco (see p. 35) appears to show them attached by loops and
pins, which is the usual practice in boats of the Mediterranean now. In
the cut from D. Tintoretto (p. 37) the groups of oars protrude through
regular ports in the bulwarks, but this probably represents the use of a
later day. In any case the oars of each bench must have worked in very
close proximity. Sanudo states the length of the galleys of his time
(1300-1320) as 117 feet. This was doubtless length of _keel_, for that is
specified ("_da ruoda a ruoda_") in other Venetian measurements, but the
whole oar space could scarcely have been so much, and with twenty-eight
benches to a side there could not have been more than 4 feet gunnel-space
to each bench. And as one of the objects of the grouping of the oars was
to allow room between the benches for the action of cross-bowmen, &c., it
is plain that the rowlock space for the three oars must have been very
much compressed.[12]
The rowers were divided into three classes, with graduated pay. The
highest class, who pulled the poop or stroke oars, were called
_Portolati_; those at the bow, called _Prodieri_, formed the second
class.[13]
Some elucidation of the arrangements that we have tried to describe will
be found in our cuts. That at p. 35 is from a drawing, by the aid of a
very imperfect photograph, of part of one of the frescoes of Spinello
Aretini in the Municipal Palace at Siena, representing a victory of the
Venetians over the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa's fleet, commanded by his
son Otho, in 1176; but no doubt the galleys, &c., are of the artist's own
age, the middle of the 14th century.[14] In this we see plainly the
projecting _opera-morta_, and the rowers sitting two to a bench, each with
his oar, for these are two-banked. We can also discern the Latin rudder on
the quarter. (See this volume, p. 119.) In a picture in the Uffizj, at
Florence, of about the same date, by Pietro Laurato (it is in the corridor
near the entrance), may be seen a small figure of a galley with the oars
also very distinctly coupled.[15] Casoni has engraved, after Cristoforo
Canale, a pictorial plan of a Venetian trireme of the 16th century, which
shows the arrangement of the oars in _triplets_ very plainly.
The following cut has been sketched from an engraving of a picture by
Domenico Tintoretto in the Doge's palace, representing, I believe, the
same action (real or imaginary) as Spinello's fresco, but with the costume
and construction of a later date. It shows, however, very plainly, the
projecting _opera-morta_ and the arrangement of the oars in fours, issuing
through row-ports in high bulwarks.
[Illustration: Part of a Sea Fight, after Dom. Tintoretto]
[Sidenote: Fighting Arrangements.]
28. Midships in the mediaeval galley a castle was erected, of the width of
the ship, and some 20 feet in length; its platform being elevated
sufficiently to allow of free passage under it and over the benches. At
the bow was the battery, consisting of mangonels (see vol. ii. p. 161
seqq.) and great cross-bows with winding gear,[16] whilst there were
shot-ports[17] for smaller cross-bows along the gunnels in the intervals
between the benches. Some of the larger galleys had openings to admit
horses at the stern, which were closed and caulked for the voyage, being
under water when the vessel was at sea.[18]
It seems to have been a very usual piece of tactics, in attacking as well
as in awaiting attack, to connect a large number of galleys by hawsers,
and sometimes also to link the oars together, so as to render it difficult
for the enemy to break the line or run aboard. We find this practised by
the Genoese on the defensive at the battle of Ayas (infra, p. 43), and it
is constantly resorted to by the Catalans in the battles described by
Ramon de Muntaner.[19]
Sanudo says the toil of rowing in the galleys was excessive, almost
unendurable. Yet it seems to have been performed by freely-enlisted men,
and therefore it was probably less severe than that of the great-oared
galleys of more recent times, which it was found impracticable to work by
free enlistment, or otherwise than by slaves under the most cruel
driving.[20] I am not well enough read to say that war-galleys were never
rowed by slaves in the Middle Ages, but the only doubtful allusion to such
a class that I have met with is in one passage of Muntaner, where he says,
describing the Neapolitan and Catalan fleets drawing together for action,
that the gangs of the galleys had to toil _like_ "forçats" (p. 313).
Indeed, as regards Venice at least, convict rowers are stated to have been
first introduced in 1549, previous to which the gangs were of _galeotti
assoldati_.[21]
[Sidenote: Crew of a Galley and Staff of a Fleet.]
29. We have already mentioned that Sanudo requires for his three-banked
galley a ship's company of 250 men. They are distributed as follows:--
_Comito_ or Master 1
Quartermasters 8
Carpenters 2
Caulkers 2
In charge of stores and arms 4
Orderlies 2
Cook 1
Arblasteers 50
Rowers 180
-----
250 [22]
This does not include the _Sopracomito_, or Gentleman-Commander, who was
expected to be _valens homo et probus_, a soldier and a gentleman, fit to
be consulted on occasion by the captain-general. In the Venetian fleet he
was generally a noble.[23]
The aggregate pay of such a crew, not including the sopracomito, amounted
monthly to 60 _lire de' grossi_, or 600 florins, equivalent to 280_l._ at
modern gold value; and the cost for a year to nearly 3160_l._, exclusive
of the victualling of the vessel and the pay of the gentleman-commander.
The build or purchase of a galley complete is estimated by the same author
at 15,000 florins, or 7012_l._
We see that war cost a good deal in money even then.
Besides the ship's own complement Sanudo gives an estimate for the general
staff of a fleet of 60 galleys. This consists of a captain-general, two
(vice) admirals, and the following:--
6 _Probi homines_, or gentlemen of character, forming a council to the
Captain-General;
4 Commissaries of Stores;
2 Commissaries over the Arms;
3 Physicians;
3 Surgeons;
5 Master Engineers and Carpenters;
15 Master Smiths;
12 Master Fletchers;
5 Cuirass men and Helmet-makers;
15 Oar-makers and Shaft-makers;
10 Stone cutters for stone shot;
10 Master Arblast-makers;
20 Musicians;
20 Orderlies, &c.
[Sidenote: Music; and other particulars.]
30. The musicians formed an important part of the equipment. Sanudo says
that in going into action every vessel should make the greatest possible
display of colours; gonfalons and broad banners should float from stem to
stern, and gay pennons all along the bulwarks; whilst it was impossible to
have too much of noisy music, of pipes, trumpets, kettle-drums, and what
not, to put heart into the crew and strike fear into the enemy.[24]
So Joinville, in a glorious passage, describes the galley of his kinsman,
the Count of Jaffa, at the landing of St. Lewis in Egypt:--
"That galley made the most gallant figure of them all, for it was
painted all over, above water and below, with scutcheons of the count's
arms, the field of which was _or_ with a cross _patée gules_.[25] He had
a good 300 rowers in his galley, and every man of them had a target
blazoned with his arms in beaten gold. And, as they came on, the galley
looked to be some flying creature, with such spirit did the rowers spin
it along;--or rather, with the rustle of its flags, and the roar of its
nacaires and drums and Saracen horns, you might have taken it for a
rushing bolt of heaven."[26]
The galleys, which were very low in the water,[27] could not keep the sea
in rough weather, and in winter they never willingly kept the sea at
night, however fair the weather might be. Yet Sanudo mentions that he had
been with armed galleys to Sluys in Flanders.
I will mention two more particulars before concluding this digression.
When captured galleys were towed into port it was stern foremost, and with
their colours dragging on the surface of the sea.[28] And the custom of
saluting at sunset (probably by music) was in vogue on board the galleys
of the 13th century.[29]
We shall now sketch the circumstances that led to the appearance of our
Traveller in the command of a war-galley.
[1] I regret not to have had access to Jal's learned memoirs (_Archéologie
Navale_, Paris, 1839) whilst writing this section, nor since, except
for a hasty look at his Essay on the difficult subject of the oar
arrangements. I see that he rejects so great a number of oars as
I deduce from the statements of Sanudo and others, and that he regards
a large number of the rowers as supplementary.
[2] It seems the more desirable to elucidate this, because writers on
mediaeval subjects so accomplished as Buchon and Capmany have (it
would seem) entirely misconceived the matter, assuming that all the
men on one bench pulled at one oar.
[3] See _Coronelli, Atlante Veneto_, I. 139, 140. Marino Sanudo the Elder,
though not using the term _trireme_, says it was well understood from
ancient authors that the Romans employed their rowers _three to
a bench_ (p. 59).
[4] "_Ad terzarolos_" (_Secreta Fidelium Crucis_, p. 57). The Catalan
Worthy, Ramon de Muntaner, indeed constantly denounces the practice of
manning _all_ the galleys with _terzaruoli_, or _tersols_, as his term
is. But his reason is that these thirds-men were taken from the oar
when crossbowmen were wanted, to act in that capacity, and as such
they were good for nothing; the crossbowmen, he insists, should be men
specially enlisted for that service and kept to that. He would have
some 10 or 20 per cent, only of the fleet built very light and manned
in threes. He does not seem to have contemplated oars three-banked,
and crossbowmen _besides_, as Sanudo does. (See below; and _Muntaner_,
pp. 288, 323, 525, etc.)
In Sanudo we have a glimpse worth noting of the word _soldiers_
advancing towards the modern sense; he expresses a strong preference
for _soldati_ (viz. _paid_ soldiers) over _crusaders_ (viz.
volunteers), p. 74.
[5] _L'Armata Navale_, Roma, 1616, pp. 150-151.
[6] See a work to which I am indebted for a good deal of light and
information, the Engineer Giovanni Casoni's Essay: "_Dei Navigli
Poliremi usati nella Marina dagli Antichi Veneziani_," in
"_Esercitazioni dell' Ateneo Veneto_," vol. ii. p. 338. This great
_Quinquereme_, as it was styled, is stated to have been struck by
a fire-arrow, and blown up, in January 1570.
[7] _Pantera_, p. 22.
[8] _Lazarus Bayfius de Re Navali Veterum_, in _Gronovii Thesaurus_, Ven.
1737, vol. xi. p. 581. This writer also speaks of the Quinquereme
mentioned above (p. 577).
[9] _Marinus Sanutius_, p. 65.
[10] See the woodcuts opposite and at p. 37; also _Pantera_, p. 46
(who is here, however, speaking of the great-oared galleys), and
_Coronelli_, i. 140.
[11] _Casoni_, p. 324. He obtains these particulars from a manuscript work
of the 16th century by Cristoforo Canale.
[12] Signor Casoni (p. 324) expresses his belief that no galley of the
14th century had more than 100 oars. I differ from him with
hesitation, and still more as I find M. Jal agrees in this view. I
will state the grounds on which I came to a different conclusion. (1)
Marino Sanudo assigns 180 rowers for a galley equipped _ai Terzaruoli_
(p. 75). This seemed to imply something near 180 oars, for I do not
find any allusion to reliefs being provided. In the French galleys of
the 18th century there were no reliefs except in this way, that in
long runs without urgency only half the oars were pulled. (See _Mém.
d'un Protestant condamné aux Galères_, etc., Réimprimés, Paris, 1865,
p. 447.) If four men to a bench were to be employed, then Sanudo seems
to calculate for his smaller galleys 220 men actually rowing (see pp.
75-78). This seems to assume 55 benches, i.e., 28 on one side and 27
on the other, which with 3-banked oars would give 165 rowers. (2)
Casoni himself refers to Pietro Martire d'Anghieria's account of a
Great Galley of Venice in which he was sent ambassador to Egypt from
the Spanish Court in 1503. The crew amounted to 200, of whom 150 were
for working the sails and oars, _that being the number of oars in each
galley_, one man to each oar and three to each bench. Casoni assumes
that this vessel must have been much larger than the galleys of the
14th century; but, however that may have been, Sanudo to his galley
assigns the larger crew of 250, of whom almost exactly the same
proportion (180) were rowers. And in he _galeazza_ described by Pietro
Martire the oars were used only as an occasional auxiliary. (See his
_Legationis Babylonicae Libri Tres_, appended to his 3 Decads
concerning the New World; _Basil_. 1533, f. 77 _ver._) (3) The galleys
of the 18th century, with their great oars 50 feet long pulled by six
or seven men each, had 25 benches to the side, and only 4' 6" (French)
gunnel-space to each oar. (See _Mém. d'un Protest._, p. 434.) I
imagine that a smaller space would suffice for the 3 light oars of the
mediaeval system, so that this need scarcely be a difficulty in the
face of the preceding evidence. Note also the _three hundred rowers_
in Joinville's description quoted at p. 40. The great galleys of the
Malay Sultan of Achin in 1621 had, according to Beaulieu, from 700 to
800 rowers, but I do not know on what system.
[13] _Marinus Sanutius_, p. 78. These titles occur also in the _Documenti
d'Amore_ of Fr. Barberino referred to at p. 117 of this volume:--
"Convienti qui manieri
_Portolatti e prodieri_
E presti galeotti
Aver, e forti e dotti."
[14] Spinello's works, according to Vasari, extended from 1334 till late
in the century. A religious picture of his at Siena is assigned to
1385, so the frescoes may probably be of about the same period. Of the
battle represented I can find no record.
[15] Engraved in Jal, i. 330; with other mediaeval illustrations of the
same points.
[16] To these Casoni adds _Sifoni_ for discharging Greek fire; but this he
seems to take from the Greek treatise of the Emperor Leo. Though I
have introduced Greek fire in the cut at p. 49, I doubt if there is
evidence of its use by the Italians in the thirteenth century.
Joinville describes it like something strange and new.
In after days the artillery occupied the same position, at the bow of
the galley.
Great beams, hung like battering rams, are mentioned by Sanudo, as
well as iron crow's-feet with fire attached, to shoot among the
rigging, and jars of quick-lime and soft soap to fling in the eyes of
the enemy. The lime is said to have been used by Doria against the
Venetians at Curzola (infra, p. 48), and seems to have been a usual
provision. Francesco Barberini specifies among the stores for his
galley: "_Calcina_, con lancioni, Pece, pietre, e ronconi" (p. 259.)
And Christine de Pisan, in her _Faiz du Sage Roy Charles_ (V. of
France), explains also the use of the soap: "_Item_, on doit avoir
pluseurs vaisseaulx legiers à rompre, comme _poz plains de chauls_ ou
pouldre, et gecter dedens; et, par ce, seront comme avuglez, au
brisier des poz. _Item_, on doit avoir autres _poz de mol savon_ et
gecter es nefzs des adversaires, et quant les vaisseaulx brisent, le
savon est glissant, si ne se peuent en piez soustenir et chiéent en
l'eaue" (pt. ii. ch. 38).
[17] _Balislariae_, whence no doubt _Balistrada_ and our _Balustrade_.
Wedgwood's etymology is far-fetched. And in his new edition (1872),
though he has shifted his ground, he has not got nearer the truth.
[18] _Sanutius_, p. 53; _Joinville_, p. 40; _Muntaner_, 316, 403.
[19] See pp. 270, 288, 324, and especially 346.
[20] See the _Protestant_, cited above, p. 441, et seqq.
[21] _Venezia e le sue Lagune_, ii. 52.
[22] _Mar. Sanut._ p. 75.
[23] _Mar. Sanut._, p. 30.
[24] The Catalan Admiral Roger de Loria, advancing at daybreak to attack
the Provençal Fleet of Charles of Naples (1283) in the harbour of
Malta, "did a thing which should be reckoned to him rather as an act
of madness," says Muntaner, "than of reason. He said, 'God forbid that
I should attack them, all asleep as they are! Let the trumpets and
nacaires sound to awaken them, and I will tarry till they be ready for
action. No man shall have it to say, if I beat them, that it was by
catching them asleep.'" (_Munt._ p. 287.) It is what Nelson might have
done!
The Turkish admiral Sidi 'Ali, about to engage a Portuguese squadron
in the Straits of Hormuz, in 1553, describes the Franks as "dressing
their vessels with flags and coming on." (_J. As._ ix. 70.)
[25] A cross _patée_, is one with the extremities broadened out into
_feet_ as it were.
[26] Page 50.
[27] The galley at p. 49 is somewhat too high; and I believe it should
have had no _shrouds_.
[28] See _Muntaner_, passim, e.g. 271, 286, 315, 349.
[29] Ibid. 346.
VI. THE JEALOUSIES AND NAVAL WARS OF VENICE AND GENOA. LAMBA DORIA'S
EXPEDITION TO THE ADRIATIC; BATTLE OF CURZOLA; AND IMPRISONMENT OF MARCO
POLO BY THE GENOESE.
[Sidenote: Growing jealousies and outbreaks between the Republics.]
31. Jealousies, too characteristic of the Italian communities, were, in
the case of the three great trading republics of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa,
aggravated by commercial rivalries, whilst, between the two first of those
states, and also between the two last, the bitterness of such feelings had
been augmenting during the whole course of the 13th century.[1]
The brilliant part played by Venice in the conquest of Constantinople
(1204), and the preponderance she thus acquired on the Greek shores,
stimulated her arrogance and the resentment of her rivals. The three
states no longer stood on a level as bidders for the shifting favour of
the Emperor of the East. By treaty, not only was Venice established as the
most important ally of the empire and as mistress of a large fraction of
its territory, but all members of nations at war with her were prohibited
from entering its limits. Though the Genoese colonies continued to exist,
they stood at a great disadvantage, where their rivals were so predominant
and enjoyed exemption from duties, to which the Genoese remained subject.
Hence jealousies and resentments reached a climax in the Levantine
settlements, and this colonial exacerbation reacted on the mother States.
A dispute which broke out at Acre in 1255 came to a head in a war which
lasted for years, and was felt all over Syria. It began in a quarrel about
a very old church called St. Sabba's, which stood on the common boundary
of the Venetian and Genoese estates in Acre,[2] and this flame was blown
by other unlucky occurrences. Acre suffered grievously.[3] Venice at this
time generally kept the upper hand, beating Genoa by land and sea, and
driving her from Acre altogether. + Four ancient porphyry figures from St.
Sabba's were sent in triumph to Venice, and with their strange devices
still stand at the exterior corner of St. Mark's, towards the Ducal
Palace.[4]
But no number of defeats could extinguish the spirit of Genoa, and the
tables were turned when in her wrath she allied herself with Michael
Palaeologus to upset the feeble and tottering Latin Dynasty, and with it
the preponderance of Venice on the Bosphorus. The new emperor handed over
to his allies the castle of their foes, which they tore down with
jubilations, and now it was their turn to send its stones as trophies to
Genoa. Mutual hate waxed fiercer than ever; no merchant fleet of either
state could go to sea without convoy, and wherever their ships met they
fought.[5] It was something like the state of things between Spain and
England in the days of Drake.
[Illustration: Figures from St. Sabba's, sent to Venice.]
The energy and capacity of the Genoese seemed to rise with their success,
and both in seamanship and in splendour they began almost to surpass their
old rivals. The fall of Acre (1291), and the total expulsion of the Franks
from Syria, in great measure barred the southern routes of Indian trade,
whilst the predominance of Genoa in the Euxine more or less obstructed the
free access of her rival to the northern routes by Trebizond and Tana.
[Sidenote: Battle in Bay of Ayas in 1294.]
32. Truces were made and renewed, but the old fire still smouldered. In
the spring of 1294 it broke into flame, in consequence of the seizure in
the Grecian seas of three Genoese vessels by a Venetian fleet. This led to
an action with a Genoese convoy which sought redress. The fight took place
off Ayas in the Gulf of Scanderoon,[6] and though the Genoese were
inferior in strength by one-third they gained a signal victory, capturing
all but three of the Venetian galleys, with rich cargoes, including that
of Marco Basilio (or Basegio), the commodore.
This victory over their haughty foe was in its completeness evidently a
surprise to the Genoese, as well as a source of immense exultation, which
is vigorously expressed in a ballad of the day, written in a stirring
salt-water rhythm.[7] It represents the Venetians, as they enter the bay,
in arrogant mirth reviling the Genoese with very unsavoury epithets as
having deserted their ships to skulk on shore. They are described as
saying:--
"'Off they've slunk! and left us nothing;
We shall get nor prize nor praise;
Nothing save those crazy timbers
Only fit to make a blaze.'"
So they advance carelessly--
"On they come! But lo their blunder!
When our lads start up anon,
Breaking out like unchained lions,
With a roar, 'Fall on! Fall on!'"[8]
After relating the battle and the thoroughness of the victory, ending in
the conflagration of five-and-twenty captured galleys, the poet concludes
by an admonition to the enemy to moderate his pride and curb his arrogant
tongue, harping on the obnoxious epithet _porci leproxi_, which seems to
have galled the Genoese.[9] He concludes:--
"Nor can I at all remember
Ever to have heard the story
Of a fight wherein the Victors
Reaped so rich a meed of glory!"[10]
The community of Genoa decreed that the victory should be commemorated by
the annual presentation of a golden pall to the monastery of St. German's,
the saint on whose feast (28th May) it had been won.[11]
The startling news was received at Venice with wrath and grief, for the
flower of their navy had perished, and all energies were bent at once to
raise an overwhelming force.[12] The Pope (Boniface VIII.) interfered as
arbiter, calling for plenipotentiaries from both sides. But spirits were
too much inflamed, and this mediation came to nought.
Further outrages on both sides occurred in 1296. The Genoese residences at
Pera were fired, their great alum works on the coast of Anatolia were
devastated, and Caffa was stormed and sacked; whilst on the other hand a
number of the Venetians at Constantinople were massacred by the Genoese,
and Marco Bembo, their Bailo, was flung from a house-top. Amid such events
the fire of enmity between the cities waxed hotter and hotter.
[Sidenote: Lamba Doria's Expedition to the Adriatic.]
33. In 1298 the Genoese made elaborate preparations for a great blow at
the enemy, and fitted out a powerful fleet which they placed under the
command of LAMBA DORIA, a younger brother of Uberto of that illustrious
house, under whom he had served fourteen years before in the great rout of
the Pisans at Meloria.
The rendezvous of the fleet was in the Gulf of Spezia, as we learn from
the same pithy Genoese poet who celebrated Ayas. This time the Genoese
were bent on bearding St. Mark's Lion in his own den; and after touching
at Messina they steered straight for the Adriatic:--
"Now, as astern Otranto bears,
Pull with a will! and, please the Lord,
Let them who bragged, with fire and sword,
To waste our homesteads, look to theirs!"[13]
On their entering the gulf a great storm dispersed the fleet The admiral
with twenty of his galleys got into port at Antivari on the Albanian
coast, and next day was rejoined by fifty-eight more, with which he
scoured the Dalmatian shore, plundering all Venetian property. Some
sixteen of his galleys were still missing when he reached the island of
Curzola, or Scurzola as the more popular name seems to have been, the
Black Corcyra of the Ancients--the chief town of which, a rich and
flourishing place, the Genoese took and burned.[14] Thus they were engaged
when word came that the Venetian fleet was in sight.
Venice, on first hearing of the Genoese armament, sent Andrea Dandolo with
a large force to join and supersede Maffeo Quirini, who was already
cruising with a squadron in the Ionian sea; and, on receiving further
information of the strength of the hostile expedition, the Signory hastily
equipped thirty-two more galleys in Chioggia and the ports of Dalmatia,
and despatched them to join Dandolo, making the whole number under his
command up to something like ninety-five. Recent drafts had apparently
told heavily upon the Venetian sources of enlistment, and it is stated
that many of the complements were made up of rustics swept in haste from
the Euganean hills. To this the Genoese poet seems to allude, alleging
that the Venetians, in spite of their haughty language, had to go begging
for men and money up and down Lombardy. "Did _we_ do like that, think
you?" he adds:--
"Beat up for aliens? _We_ indeed?
When lacked we homeborn Genoese?
Search all the seas, no salts like these,
For Courage, Seacraft, Wit at need."[15]
Of one of the Venetian galleys, probably in the fleet which sailed under
Dandolo's immediate command, went Marco Polo as _Sopracomito_ or
Gentleman-Commander.[16]
[Sidenote: The Fleets come in sight of each other at Curzola.]
34. It was on the afternoon of Saturday the 6th September that the Genoese
saw the Venetian fleet approaching, but, as sunset was not far off, both
sides tacitly agreed to defer the engagement.[17]
The Genoese would appear to have occupied a position near the eastern end
of the Island of Curzola, with the Peninsula of Sabbioncello behind them,
and Meleda on their left, whilst the Venetians advanced along the south
side of Curzola. (See map on p. 50).
According to Venetian accounts the Genoese were staggered at the sight of
the Venetian armaments, and sent more than once to seek terms, offering
finally to surrender galleys and munitions of war, if the crews were
allowed to depart. This is an improbable story, and that of the Genoese
ballad seems more like truth. Doria, it says, held a council of his
captains in the evening at which they all voted for attack, whilst the
Venetians, with that overweening sense of superiority which at this time
is reflected in their own annals as distinctly as in those of their
enemies, kept scout-vessels out to watch that the Genoese fleet, which
they looked on as already their own, did not steal away in the darkness. A
vain imagination, says the poet:--
"Blind error of vainglorious men
To dream that we should seek to flee
After those weary leagues of sea
Crossed, but to hunt them in their den!"[18]
[Sidenote: The Venetians defeated, and Marco Polo a prisoner.]
35. The battle began early on Sunday and lasted till the afternoon. The
Venetians had the wind in their favour, but the morning sun in their eyes.
They made the attack, and with great impetuosity, capturing ten Genoese
galleys; but they pressed on too wildly, and some of their vessels ran
aground. One of their galleys too, being taken, was cleared of her crew
and turned against the Venetians. These incidents caused confusion among
the assailants; the Genoese, who had begun to give way, took fresh heart,
formed a close column, and advanced boldly through the Venetian line,
already in disorder. The sun had begun to decline when there appeared on
the Venetian flank the fifteen or sixteen missing galleys of Doria's
fleet, and fell upon it with fresh force. This decided the action. The
Genoese gained a complete victory, capturing all but a few of the Venetian
galleys, and including the flagship with Dandolo. The Genoese themselves
lost heavily, especially in the early part of the action, and Lamba
Doria's eldest son Octavian is said to have fallen on board his father's
vessel.[19] The number of prisoners taken was over 7000, and among these
was Marco Polo.[20]
[Illustration: Marco Polo's Galley going into action at Curzola.
"il sembloit que la galie volast, par les nageurs qui la contreingnoient
aux avirons, et sembloit que foudre cheist des ciex, au bruit que les
pennoncians menoient, et que les nacaues les tabours et les cors
sarrazinnois menoient, qui estoient en sa galie"
(_Joinville_, vide _ante_, p. 40)]
[Illustration: Scene of the Battle of Curzola.]
The prisoners, even of the highest rank, appear to have been chained.
Dandolo, in despair at his defeat, and at the prospect of being carried
captive into Genoa, refused food, and ended by dashing his head against a
bench.[21] A Genoese account asserts that a noble funeral was given him
after the arrival of the fleet at Genoa, which took place on the evening
of the 16th October.[22] It was received with great rejoicing, and the
City voted the annual presentation of a pallium of gold brocade to the
altar of the Virgin in the Church of St. Matthew, on every 8th of
September, the Madonna's day, on the eve of which the Battle had been won.
To the admiral himself a Palace was decreed. It still stands, opposite the
Church of St. Matthew, though it has passed from the possession of the
Family. On the striped marble façades, both of the Church and of the
Palace, inscriptions of that age, in excellent preservation, still
commemorate Lamba's achievement.[23] Malik al Mansúr, the Mameluke Sultan
of Egypt, as an enemy of Venice, sent a complimentary letter to Doria
accompanied by costly presents.[24]
[Illustration: Church of San Matteo, Genoa]
The latter died at Savona 17th October, 1323, a few months before the most
illustrious of his prisoners, and his bones were laid in a sarcophagus
which may still be seen forming the sill of one of the windows of S.
Matteo (on the right as you enter). Over this sarcophagus stood the Bust
of Lamba till 1797, when the mob of Genoa, in idiotic imitation of the
French proceedings of that age, threw it down. All of Lamba's six sons had
fought with him at Meloria. In 1291 one of them, Tedisio, went forth into
the Atlantic in company with Ugolino Vivaldi on a voyage of discovery, and
never returned. Through Caesar, the youngest, this branch of the Family
still survives, bearing the distinctive surname of _Lamba-Doria_.[25]
As to the treatment of the prisoners, accounts differ; a thing usual in
such cases. The Genoese Poet asserts that the hearts of his countrymen
were touched, and that the captives were treated with compassionate
courtesy. Navagiero the Venetian, on the other hand, declares that most of
them died of hunger.[26]
[Sidenote: Marco Polo in prison dictates his book to Rusticiano of Pisa.
Release of Venetian prisoners.]
36. Howsoever they may have been treated, here was Marco Polo one of those
many thousand prisoners in Genoa; and here, before long, he appears to
have made acquaintance with a man of literary propensities, whose destiny
had brought him into the like plight, by name RUSTICIANO or RUSTICHELLO of
Pisa. It was this person perhaps who persuaded the Traveller to defer no
longer the reduction to writing of his notable experiences; but in any
case it was he who wrote down those experiences at Marco's dictation; it
is he therefore to whom we owe the preservation of this record, and
possibly even that of the Traveller's very memory. This makes the Genoese
imprisonment so important an episode in Polo's biography.
To Rusticiano we shall presently recur. But let us first bring to a
conclusion what may be gathered as to the duration of Polo's imprisonment.
It does not appear whether Pope Boniface made any new effort for
accommodation between the Republics; but other Italian princes did
interpose, and Matteo Visconti, Captain-General of Milan, styling himself
Vicar-General of the Holy Roman Empire in Lombardy, was accepted as
Mediator, along with the community of Milan. Ambassadors from both States
presented themselves at that city, and on the 25th May, 1299, they signed
the terms of a Peace.
These terms were perfectly honourable to Venice, being absolutely equal
and reciprocal; from which one is apt to conclude that the damage to the
City of the Sea was rather to her pride than to her power; the success of
Genoa, in fact, having been followed up by no systematic attack upon
Venetian commerce.[27] Among the terms was the mutual release of prisoners
on a day to be fixed by Visconti after the completion of all formalities.
This day is not recorded, but as the Treaty was ratified by the Doge of
Venice on the 1st July, and the latest extant document connected with the
formalities appears to be dated 18th July, we may believe that before the
end of August Marco Polo was restored to the family mansion in S. Giovanni
Grisostomo.
[Sidenote: Grounds on which the story of Marco Polo's capture at Curzola
rests.]
37. Something further requires to be said before quitting this event in
our Traveller's life. For we confess that a critical reader may have some
justification in asking what evidence there is that Marco Polo ever fought
at Curzola, and ever was carried a prisoner to Genoa from that unfortunate
action?
A learned Frenchman, whom we shall have to quote freely in the immediately
ensuing pages, does not venture to be more precise in reference to the
meeting of Polo and Rusticiano than to say of the latter: "In 1298, being
in durance in the Prison of Genoa, he there became acquainted with Marco
Polo, whom the Genoese had deprived of his liberty _from motives equally
unknown_."[28]
To those who have no relish for biographies that round the meagre skeleton
of authentic facts with a plump padding of what _might have been_, this
sentence of Paulin Paris is quite refreshing in its stern limitation to
positive knowledge. And certainly no contemporary authority has yet been
found for the capture of our Traveller at Curzola. Still I think that the
fact is beyond reasonable doubt.
Ramusio's biographical notices certainly contain many errors of detail;
and some, such as the many years' interval which he sets between the
Battle of Curzola and Marco's return, are errors which a very little
trouble would have enabled him to eschew. But still it does seem
reasonable to believe that the main fact of Marco's command of a galley at
Curzola, and capture there, was derived from a genuine tradition, if not
from documents.
Let us then turn to the words which close Rusticiano's preamble (see
_post_, p. 2):--"Lequel (Messire Marc) puis demorant en le charthre de
Jene, fist retraire toutes cestes chouses a Messire Rustacians de Pise que
en celle meissme charthre estoit, au tens qu'il avoit 1298 anz que Jezu
eut vesqui." These words are at least thoroughly consistent with Marco's
capture at Curzola, as regards both the position in which they present
him, and the year in which he is thus presented.
There is however another piece of evidence, though it is curiously
indirect.
The Dominican Friar Jacopo of Acqui was a contemporary of Polo's, and was
the author of a somewhat obscure Chronicle called _Imago Mundi_.[29] Now
this Chronicle does contain mention of Marco's capture in action by the
Genoese, but attributes it to a different action from Curzola, and one
fought at a time when Polo could not have been present. The passage runs
as follows in a manuscript of the Ambrosian Library, according to an
extract given by Baldelli Boni:--
"In the year of Christ MCCLXXXXVI, in the time of Pope Boniface VI., of
whom we have spoken above, a battle was fought in Arminia, at the place
called Layaz, between xv. galleys of Genoese merchants and xxv. of
Venetian merchants; and after a great fight the galleys of the Venetians
were beaten, and (the crews) all slain or taken; and among them was
taken Messer Marco the Venetian, who was in company with those
merchants, and who was called _Milono_, which is as much as to say 'a
thousand thousand pounds,' for so goes the phrase in Venice. So this
Messer Marco Milono the Venetian, with the other Venetian prisoners, is
carried off to the prison of Genoa, and there kept for a long time. This
Messer Marco was a long time with his father and uncle in Tartary, and
he there saw many things, and made much wealth, and also learned many
things, for he was a man of ability. And so, being in prison at Genoa,
he made a Book concerning the great wonders of the World, i.e.,
concerning such of them as he had seen. And what he told in the Book was
not as much as he had really seen, because of the tongues of detractors,
who, being ready to impose their own lies on others, are over hasty to
set down as lies what they in their perversity disbelieve, or do not
understand. And because there are many great and strange things in that
Book, which are reckoned past all credence, he was asked by his friends
on his death-bed to correct the Book by removing everything that went
beyond the facts. To which his reply was that he had not told _one-half_
of what he had really seen!"[30]
This statement regarding the capture of Marco _at the Battle of Ayas_ is
one which cannot be true, for we know that he did not reach Venice till
1295, travelling from Persia by way of Trebizond and the Bosphorus, whilst
the Battle of Ayas of which we have purposely given some detail, was
fought in May, 1294. The date MCCLXXXXVI assigned to it in the preceding
extract has given rise to some unprofitable discussion. Could that date be
accepted, no doubt it would enable us also to accept this, the sole
statement from the Traveller's own age of the circumstances which brought
him into a Genoese prison; it would enable us to place that imprisonment
within a few months of his return from the East, and to extend its
duration to three years, points which would thus accord better with the
general tenor of Ramusio's tradition than the capture of Curzola. But the
matter is not open to such a solution. The date of the Battle of Ayas is
not more doubtful than that of the Battle of the Nile. It is clearly
stated by several independent chroniclers, and is carefully established in
the Ballad that we have quoted above.[31] We shall see repeatedly in the
course of this Book how uncertain are the transcriptions of dates in Roman
numerals, and in the present case the LXXXXVI is as certainly a mistake
for LXXXXIV as is Boniface VI. in the same quotation a mistake for
Boniface VIII.
But though we cannot accept the statement that Polo was taken prisoner at
_Ayas, in the spring of 1294_, we may accept the passage as evidence from
a contemporary source that he was _taken prisoner in some sea-fight with
the Genoese_, and thus admit it in corroboration of the Ramusian Tradition
of his capture in a sea-fight at Curzola in 1298, which is perfectly
consistent with all other facts in our possession.
[1] In this part of these notices I am repeatedly indebted to _Heyd._
(See supra, p. 9.)
[2] On or close to the Hill called _Monjoie_; see the plan from Marino
Sanudo at p. 18.
[3] "Throughout that year there were not less than 40 machines all at work
upon the city of Acre, battering its houses and its towers, and
smashing and overthrowing everything within their range. There were at
least ten of those engines that shot stones so big and heavy that they
weighed a good 1500 lbs. by the weight of Champagne; insomuch that
nearly all the towers and forts of Acre were destroyed, and only the
religious houses were left. And there were slain in this same war good
20,000 men on the two sides, but chiefly of Genoese and Spaniards."
(_Lettre de Jean Pierre Sarrasin_, in _Michel's Joinville_, p. 308.)
[4] The origin of these columns is, however, somewhat uncertain.
[See _Cicogna_, I. p. 379.]
[5] In 1262, when a Venetian squadron was taken by the Greek fleet in
alliance with the Genoese, the whole of the survivors of the captive
crews were _blinded_ by order of Palaeologus. (_Roman._ ii. 272.)
[6] See pp. 16, 41, and Plan of Ayas at beginning of Bk. I.
[7] See _Archivio Storico Italiano_, Appendice, tom. iv.
[8] Niente ne resta a prender
Se no li corpi de li legni:
Preixi som senza difender;
De bruxar som tute degni!
* * * *
Como li fom aproximai
Queli si levan lantor
Como leon descaenai
Tuti criando "_Alor! Alor!_"
This _Alor! Alor!_ ("Up, Boys, and at 'em"), or something similar,
appears to have been the usual war-cry of both parties. So a
trumpet-like poem of the Troubadour warrior Bertram de Born, whom
Dante found in such evil plight below (xxviii. 118 seqq.), in which he
sings with extraordinary spirit the joys of war:--
"Le us die que tan no m'a sabor
Manjars, ni beure, ni dormir,
Cum a quant ang cridar, ALOR!
D'ambas la partz; et aug agnir
Cavals voits per l'ombratge...."
"I tell you a zest far before
Aught of slumber, or drink, or of food,
I snatch when the shouts of ALOR
Ring from both sides: and out of the wood
Comes the neighing of steeds dimly seen...."
In a galley fight at Tyre in 1258, according to a Latin narrative, the
Genoese shout "Ad arma, ad arma! _ad ipsos, ad ipsos!_" The cry of the
Venetians before engaging the Greeks is represented by Martino da
Canale, in his old French, as "_or à yaus! or à yaus!_" that of the
Genoese on another occasion as _Aur! Aur!_ and this last is the shout
of the Catalans also in Ramon de Muntaner. (_Villemain, Litt. du Moyen
Age_, i. 99; _Archiv. Stor. Ital._ viii. 364, 506; _Pertz, Script._
xviii. 239; _Muntaner_, 269, 287.) Recently in a Sicilian newspaper,
narrating an act of gallant and successful reprisal (only too rare) by
country folk on a body of the brigands who are such a scourge to parts
of the island, I read that the honest men in charging the villains
raised a shout of "_Ad iddi! Ad iddi!_"
[9] A phrase curiously identical, with a similar sequence, is attributed
to an Austrian General at the battle of Skalitz in 1866. (_Stoffel's
Letters._)
[10] E no me posso aregordar
Dalcuno romanzo vertadé
Donde oyse uncha cointar
Alcun triumfo si sobré!
[11] _Stella_ in _Muratori_, xvii. 984.
[12] _Dandulo_, Ibid. xii. 404-405.
[13] Or entram con gran vigor,
En De sperando aver triumpho,
Queli zerchando inter lo Gorfo
Chi menazeram zercha lor!
And in the next verse note the pure Scotch use of the word _bra_:--
Sichè da Otranto se partim
Quella bra compagnia,
Per assar in Ihavonia,
D'Avosto a vinte nove di.
[14] The island of Curzola now counts about 4000 inhabitants; the town
half the number. It was probably reckoned a dependency of Venice at
this time. The King of Hungary had renounced his claims on the
Dalmatian coasts by treaty in 1244. (_Romanin_, ii. 235.) The gallant
defence of the place against the Algerines in 1571 won for Curzola
from the Venetian Senate the honourable title in all documents of
_fedelissima_. (_Paton's Adriatic_, I. 47.)
[15] Ma sé si gran colmo avea
Perchè andava mendigando
Per terra de Lombardia
Peccunia, gente a sodi?
Pone mente tu che l'odi
Se noi tegnamo questa via?
No, ma più! ajamo omi nostrar
Destri, valenti, e avisti,
Che mai par de lor n' o visti
In tuti officj de mar.
[16] In July 1294, a Council of Thirty decreed that galleys should be
equipped by the richest families in proportion to their wealth. Among
the families held to equip one galley each, or one galley among two or
more, in this list, is the CA' POLO. But this was before the return of
the travellers from the East, and just after the battle of Ayas.
(_Romanin_, ii. 332; this author misdates Ayas, however.) When a levy
was required in Venice for any expedition the heads of each _contrada_
divided the male inhabitants, between the ages of twenty and sixty,
into groups of twelve each, called _duodene_. The dice were thrown to
decide who should go first on service. He who went received five
_lire_ a month from the State, and one _lira_ from each of his
colleagues in the _duodena_. Hence his pay was sixteen _lire_ a month,
about 2_s._ a day in silver value, if these were _lire ai grossi_, or
1_s._ 4_d._ if _lire dei piccoli_. (See _Romanin_, ii. 393-394.)
Money on such occasions was frequently raised by what was called an
_Estimo_ or _Facion_, which was a force loan levied on the citizens in
proportion to their estimated wealth; and for which they were entitled
to interest from the State.
[17] Several of the Italian chroniclers, as Ferreto of Vicenza and
Navagiero, whom Muratori has followed in his "Annals," say the battle
was fought on the 8th September, the so-called Birthday of the
Madonna. But the inscription on the Church of St. Matthew at Genoa,
cited further on, says the 7th, and with this agree both Stella and
the Genoese poet. For the latter, though not specifying the day of the
month, says it was on a Sunday:--
"Lo di de Domenga era
Passa prima en l'ora bona
Stormezam fin provo nona
Con bataio forte e fera."
Now the 7th September, 1298, fell on a Sunday.
[18] Ma li pensavam grande error
Che in fuga se fussem tuti metui
Che de si lonzi eram vegnui
Per cerchali a casa lor.
[19] "Note here that the Genoese generally, commonly, and by nature, are
the most covetous of Men, and the Love of Gain spurs them to every
Crime. Yet are they deemed also the most valiant Men in the World.
Such an one was Lampa, of that very Doria family, a man of an high
Courage truly. For when he was engaged in a Sea-Fight against the
Venetians, and was standing on the Poop of his Galley, his Son,
fighting valiantly at the Forecastle, was shot by an Arrow in the
Breast, and fell wounded to the Death; a Mishap whereat his Comrades
were sorely shaken, and Fear came upon the whole Ship's Company. But
Lampa, hot with the Spirit of Battle, and more mindful of his
Country's Service and his own Glory than of his Son, ran forward to
the spot, loftily rebuked the agitated Crowd, and ordered his Son's
Body to be cast into the Deep, telling them for their Comfort that the
Land could never have afforded his Boy a nobler Tomb. And then,
renewing the Fight more fiercely than ever, he achieved the Victory."
(_Benvenuto of Imola_, in _Comment. on Dante. in Muratori, Antiq._ i.
1146.)
("Yet like an English General will I die,
And all the Ocean make my spacious Grave;
Women and Cowards on the Land may lie,
The Sea's the Tomb that's proper for the Brave!"
--_Annus Mirabilis_.)
[20] The particulars of the battle are gathered from _Ferretus
Vicentinus_, in _Murat._ ix. 985 seqq.; _And. Dandulo_, in xii.
407-408; _Navagiero_, in xxiii. 1009-1010; and the Genoese Poem as
before.
[21] _Navagiero_, u.s. Dandulo says, "after a few days he died of grief";
Ferretus, that he was killed in the action and buried at Curzola.
[22] For the funeral, a MS. of Cibo Recco quoted by _Jacopo Doria_ in _La
Chiesa di San Matteo descritta_, etc., Genova, 1860, p. 26. For the
date of arrival the poem so often quoted:--
"_De Oitover_, a zoia, _a seze di_
Lo nostro ostel, con gran festa
En nostro porto, a or di sesta
Domine De restitui."
[23] S. Matteo was built by Martin Doria in 1125, but pulled down and
rebuilt by the family in a slightly different position in 1278. On
this occasion is recorded a remarkable anticipation of the feats of
American engineering: "As there was an ancient and very fine picture
of Christ upon the apse of the Church, it was thought a great pity
that so fine a work should be destroyed. And so they contrived an
ingenious method by which the apse bodily was transported without
injury, picture and all, for a distance of 25 ells, and firmly set
upon the foundations where it now exists." (_Jacopo de Varagine_ in
_Muratori_, vol. ix. 36.)
The inscription on S. Matteo regarding the battle is as follows:--"_Ad
Honorem Dei et Beate Virginis Marie Anno MCCLXXXXVIII Die Dominico VII
Septembris iste Angelus captus fuit in Gulfo Venetiarum in Civitate
Scursole et ibidem fuit prelium Galearum LXXVI Januensium cum Galeis
LXXXXVI Veneciarum. Capte fuerunt LXXXIIII per Nobilem Virum Dominum
Lambam Aurie Capitaneum et Armiratum tunc Comunis et Populi Janue cum
omnibus existentibus in eisdem, de quibus conduxit Janue homines vivos
carceratos VII cccc et Galeas XVIII, reliquas LXVI fecit cumburi in
dicto Gulfo Veneciarum. Qui obiit Sagone I. MCCCXXIII._" It is not
clear to what the _Angelus_ refers.
[24] _Rampoldi, Ann. Musulm._ ix. 217.
[25] _Jacopo Doria_, p. 280.
[26] _Murat._ xxiii. 1010. I learn from a Genoese gentleman, through my
friend Professor Henry Giglioli (to whose kindness I owe the
transcript of the inscription just given), that a faint tradition
exists as to the place of our traveller's imprisonment. It is alleged
to have been a massive building, standing between the _Grazie_ and the
Mole, and bearing the name of the _Malapaga_, which is now a barrack
for Doganieri, but continued till comparatively recent times to be
used as a civil prison. "It is certain," says my informant, "that men
of fame in arms who had fallen into the power of the Genoese _were_
imprisoned there, and among others is recorded the name of the
Corsican Giudice dalla Rocca and Lord of Cinarca, who died there in
1312;" a date so near that of Marco's imprisonment as to give some
interest to the hypothesis, slender as are its grounds. Another
Genoese, however, indicates as the scene of Marco's captivity certain
old prisons near the Old Arsenal, in a site still known as the _Vico
degli Schiavi_. (_Celesia, Dante in Liguria_, 1865, p. 43.) [Was not
the place of Polo's captivity the basement of the _Palazzo del Capitan
del Popolo_, afterwards _Palazzo del Comune al Mare_, where the
Customs (_Dogana_) had their office, and from the 15th century the
_Casa_ or _Palazzo di S. Giorgio?_--H. C.]
[27] The Treaty and some subsidiary documents are printed in the Genoese
_Liber Jurium_, forming a part of the _Monumenta Historiae Patriae_,
published at Turin. (See _Lib. Jur._ II. 344, seqq.) Muratori in his
Annals has followed John Villani (Bk. VIII. ch. 27) in representing
the terms as highly unfavourable to Venice. But for this there is no
foundation in the documents. And the terms are stated with substantial
accuracy in Navagiero. (_Murat. Script._ xxiii. 1011.)
[28] _Paulin Paris, Les Manuscrits François de la Bibliothèque du Roi_,
ii. 355.
[29] Though there is no precise information as to the birth or death of
this writer, who belonged to a noble family of Lombardy, the
Bellingeri, he can be traced with tolerable certainty as in life in
1289, 1320, and 1334. (See the Introduction to his Chronicle in the
Turin _Monumentà_, _Scriptores_ III.)
[30] There is another MS. of the _Imago Mundi_ at Turin, which has been
printed in the _Monumenta_. The passage about Polo in that copy
differs widely in wording, is much shorter, and contains no date. But
it relates his capture as having taken place at _Là Glazà_, which I
think there can be no doubt is also intended for Ayas (sometimes
called _Giàzza_), a place which in fact is called _Glaza_ in three of
the MSS. of which various readings are given in the edition of the
Société de Géographie (p. 535).
[31] "E per meio esse aregordenti
De si grande scacho mato
Correa mille duxenti
Zonto ge novanta e quatro."
The Armenian Prince Hayton or Héthum has put it under 1293. (See
_Langlois, Mém. sur les Relations de Gênes avec la Petite-Arménie_.)
VII. RUSTICIANO OR RUSTICHELLO OF PISA, MARCO POLO'S FELLOW-PRISONER AT
GENOA, THE SCRIBE WHO WROTE DOWN THE TRAVELS.
38. We have now to say something of that Rusticiano to whom all who value
Polo's book are so much indebted.
[Sidenote: Rusticiano, perhaps a prisoner from Meloria.]
The relations between Genoa and Pisa had long been so hostile that it was
only too natural in 1298 to find a Pisan in the gaol of Genoa. An unhappy
multitude of such prisoners had been carried thither fourteen years
before, and the survivors still lingered there in vastly dwindled numbers.
In the summer of 1284 was fought the battle from which Pisa had to date
the commencement of her long decay. In July of that year the Pisans, at a
time when the Genoese had no fleet in their own immediate waters, had
advanced to the very port of Genoa and shot their defiance into the proud
city in the form of silver-headed arrows, and stones belted with
scarlet.[1] They had to pay dearly for this insult. The Genoese, recalling
their cruisers, speedily mustered a fleet of eighty-eight galleys, which
were placed under the command of another of that illustrious House of
Doria, the Scipios of Genoa as they have been called, Uberto, the elder
brother of Lamba. Lamba himself with his six sons, and another brother,
was in the fleet, whilst the whole number of Dorias who fought in the
ensuing action amounted to 250, most of them on board one great galley
bearing the name of the family patron, St. Matthew.[2]
The Pisans, more than one-fourth inferior in strength, came out boldly,
and the battle was fought off the Porto Pisano, in fact close in front of
Leghorn, where a lighthouse on a remarkable arched basement still marks
the islet of MELORIA, whence the battle got its name. The day was the 6th
of August, the feast of St. Sixtus, a day memorable in the Pisan Fasti for
several great victories. But on this occasion the defeat of Pisa was
overwhelming. Forty of their galleys were taken or sunk, and upwards of
9000 prisoners carried to Genoa. In fact so vast a sweep was made of the
flower of Pisan manhood that it was a common saying then: "_Che vuol veder
Pisa, vada a Genova_!" Many noble ladies of Pisa went in large companies
on foot to Genoa to seek their husbands or kinsmen: "And when they made
enquiry of the Keepers of the Prisons, the reply would be, 'Yesterday
there died thirty of them, to-day there have died forty; all of whom we
have cast into the sea; and so it is daily.'"[3]
[Illustration: Seal of the Pisan Prisoners.]
A body of prisoners so numerous and important naturally exerted themselves
in the cause of peace, and through their efforts, after many months of
negotiation, a formal peace was signed (15th April, 1288). But through the
influence, as was alleged, of Count Ugolino (Dante's) who was then in
power at Pisa, the peace became abortive; war almost immediately
recommenced, and the prisoners had no release.[4] And, when the 6000 or
7000 Venetians were thrown into the prisons of Genoa in October 1298, they
would find there the scanty surviving remnant of the Pisan Prisoners of
Meloria, and would gather from them dismal forebodings of the fate before
them.
It is a fair conjecture that to that remnant Rusticiano of Pisa may have
belonged.
We have seen Ramusio's representation of the kindness shown to Marco
during his imprisonment by a certain Genoese gentleman who also assisted
him to reduce his travels to writing. We may be certain that this Genoese
gentleman is only a distorted image of Rusticiano, the Pisan prisoner in
the gaol of Genoa, whose name and part in the history of his hero's book
Ramusio so strangely ignores. Yet patriotic Genoese writers in our own
times have striven to determine the identity of this their imaginary
countryman![5]
[Sidenote: Rusticiano, a person known from other sources.]
39. Who, then, was Rusticiano, or, as the name actually is read in the
oldest type of MS., "Messire Rustacians de Pise"?
Our knowledge of him is but scanty. Still something is known of him
besides the few words concluding his preamble to our Traveller's Book,
which you may read at pp. 1-2 of the body of this volume.
In Sir Walter Scott's "Essay on Romance," when he speaks of the new mould
in which the subjects of the old metrical stories were cast by the school
of prose romancers which arose in the 13th century, we find the following
words:--
"Whatever fragments or shadows of true history may yet remain hidden
under the mass of accumulated fable which had been heaped upon them
during successive ages, must undoubtedly be sought in the metrical
romances.... But those prose authors who wrote under the imaginary names
of RUSTICIEN DE PISE, Robert de Borron, and the like, usually seized
upon the subject of some old minstrel; and recomposing the whole
narrative after their own fashion, with additional character and
adventure, totally obliterated in that operation any shades which
remained of the original and probably authentic tradition," &c.[6]
Evidently, therefore, Sir Walter regarded Rustician of Pisa as a person
belonging to the same ghostly company as his own Cleishbothams and
Dryasdusts. But in this we see that he was wrong.
In the great Paris Library and elsewhere there are manuscript volumes
containing the stories of the Round Table abridged and somewhat clumsily
combined from the various Prose Romances of that cycle, such as _Sir
Tristan, Lancelot, Palamedes, Giron le Courtois_, &c., which had been
composed, it would seem, by various Anglo-French gentlemen at the court of
Henry III., styled, or styling themselves, Gasses le Blunt, Luces du Gast,
Robert de Borron, and Hélis de Borron. And these abridgments or recasts
are professedly the work of _Le Maistre Rusticien de Pise_. Several of
them were printed at Paris in the end of the 15th and beginning of the
16th centuries as the works of Rusticien de Pise; and as the preambles and
the like, especially in the form presented in those printed editions,
appear to be due sometimes to the original composers (as Robert and Hélis
de Borron) and sometimes to Rusticien de Pise the recaster, there would
seem to have been a good deal of confusion made in regard to their
respective personalities.
From a preamble to one of those compilations which undoubtedly belongs to
Rustician, and which we shall quote at length by and bye, we learn that
Master Rustician "translated" (or perhaps _transferred?_) his compilation
from a book belonging to King Edward of England, at the time when that
prince went beyond seas to recover the Holy Sepulchre. Now Prince Edward
started for the Holy Land in 1270, spent the winter of that year in
Sicily, and arrived in Palestine in May 1271. He quitted it again in
August, 1272, and passed again by Sicily, where in January, 1273, he heard
of his father's death and his own consequent accession. Paulin Paris
supposes that Rustician was attached to the Sicilian Court of Charles of
Anjou, and that Edward "may have deposited with that king the Romances of
the Round Table, of which all the world was talking, but the manuscripts
of which were still very rare, especially those of the work of Helye de
Borron[7] ... whether by order, or only with permission of the King of
Sicily, our Rustician made haste to read, abridge, and re-arrange the
whole, and when Edward returned to Sicily he recovered possession of the
book from which the indefatigable Pisan had extracted the contents."
But this I believe is, in so far as it passes the facts stated in
Rustician's own preamble, pure hypothesis, for nothing is cited that
connects Rustician with the King of Sicily. And if there be not some such
confusion of personality as we have alluded to, in another of the
preambles, which is quoted by Dunlop as an utterance of Rustician's, that
personage would seem to claim to have been a comrade in arms of the two de
Borrons. We might, therefore, conjecture that Rustician himself had
accompanied Prince Edward to Syria.[8]
[Sidenote: Character of Rustician's Romance compilations.]
40. Rustician's literary work appears from the extracts and remarks of
Paulin Paris to be that of an industrious simple man, without method or
much judgment. "The haste with which he worked is too perceptible; the
adventures are told without connection; you find long stories of Tristan
followed by adventures of his father Meliadus." For the latter derangement
of historical sequence we find a quaint and ingenuous apology offered in
Rustician's epilogue to Giron le Courtois:--
"Cy fine le Maistre Rusticien de Pise son conte en louant et regraciant
le Père le Filz et le Saint Esperit, et ung mesme Dieu, Filz de la
Benoiste Vierge Marie, de ce qu'il m'a doné grace, sens, force, et
mémoire, temps et lieu, de me mener à fin de si haulte et si noble
matière come ceste-cy dont j'ay traicté les faiz et proesses recitez et
recordez à mon livre. Et se aucun me demandoit pour quoy j'ay parlé de
Tristan avant que de son père le Roy Meliadus, le respons que ma matière
n'estoist pas congneue. Car je ne puis pas scavoir tout, ne mettre
toutes mes paroles par ordre. Et ainsi fine mon conte. Amen."[9]
In a passage of these compilations the Emperor Charlemagne is asked
whether in his judgment King Meliadus or his son Tristan were the better
man? The Emperor's answer is: "I should say that the King Meliadus was the
better man, and I will tell you why I say so. As far as I can see,
everything that Tristan did was done for Love, and his great feats would
never have been done but under the constraint of Love, which was his spur
and goad. Now that never can be said of King Meliadus! For what deeds he
did, he did them not by dint of Love, but by dint of his strong right arm.
Purely out of his own goodness he did good, and not by constraint of
Love." "It will be seen," remarks on this Paulin Paris, "that we are here
a long way removed from the ordinary principles of Round Table Romances.
And one thing besides will be manifest, viz., that Rusticien de Pise was
no Frenchman!"[10]
The same discretion is shown even more prominently in a passage of one of
his compilations, which contains the romances of Arthur, Gyron, and
Meliadus (No. 6975--see last note but one):--
"No doubt," Rustician says, "other books tell the story of the Queen
Ginevra and Lancelot differently from this; and there were certain
passages between them of which the Master, in his concern for the honour
of both those personages, will say not a word." Alas, says the French
Bibliographer, that the copy of Lancelot, which fell into the hands of
poor Francesca of Rimini, was not one of those _expurgated_ by our worthy
friend Rustician![11]
[Sidenote: Identity of the Romance Compiler with Polo's fellow-prisoner.]
41. A question may still occur to an attentive reader as to the identity
of this Romance-compiler Rusticien de Pise with the Messire _Rustacians de
Pise_, of a solitary MS. of Polo's work (though the oldest and most
authentic), a name which appears in other copies as _Rusta Pisan, Rasta
Pysan, Rustichelus Civis Pisanus, Rustico, Restazio da Pisa, Stazio da
Pisa_, and who is stated in the preamble to have acted as the Traveller's
scribe at Genoa.
M. Pauthier indeed[12] asserts that the French of the MS. Romances of
Rusticien de Pise is of the same barbarous character as that of the early
French MS. of Polo's Book to which we have just alluded, and which we
shall show to be the nearest presentation of the work as originally
dictated by the Traveller. The language of the latter MS. is so peculiar
that this would be almost perfect evidence of the identity of the writers,
if it were really the fact. A cursory inspection which I have made of two
of those MSS. in Paris, and the extracts which I have given and am about
to give, do not, however, by any means support M. Pauthier's view. Nor
would that view be consistent with the judgment of so competent an
authority as Paulin Paris, implied in his calling Rustician a _nom
recommandable_ in old French literature, and his speaking of him as
"versed in the secrets of the French Romance Tongue."[13] In fact the
difference of language in the two cases would really be a difficulty in
the way of identification, if there were room for doubt. This, however,
Paulin Paris seems to have excluded finally, by calling attention to the
peculiar formula of preamble which is common to the Book of Marco Polo and
to one of the Romance compilations of Rusticien de Pise.
The former will be found in English at pp. 1, 2, of our Translation; but
we give a part of the original below[14] for comparison with the preamble
to the Romances of Meliadus, Tristan, and Lancelot, as taken from MS. 6961
(Fr. 340) of the Paris Library:--
"_Seigneurs Empereurs et Princes, Ducs et Contes et Barons et Chevaliers
et Vavasseurs et Bourgeois, et tous les preudommes de cestui monde qui
avez talent de vous deliter en rommans, si prenez cestui (livre) et le
faites lire de chief en chief, si orrez toutes les grans aventure_ qui
advindrent entre les Chevaliers errans du temps au Roy Uter Pendragon,
jusques à le temps au Roy Artus son fils, et des compaignons de la Table
Ronde. Et sachiez tout vraiment que cist livres fust translatez du livre
Monseigneur Edouart le Roy d'Engleterre en cellui temps qu'il passa
oultre la mer au service nostre Seigneur Damedieu pour conquester le
Sant Sepulcre, et Maistre Rusticiens de Pise, lequel est ymaginez yci
dessus,[15] compila ce rommant, car il en translata toutes les
merveilleuses nouvelles et aventures qu'il trouva en celle livre et
traita tout certainement de toutes les aventures du monde, et si sachiez
qu'il traitera plus de Monseigneur Lancelot du Lac, et Mons'r Tristan le
fils au Roy Meliadus de Leonnoie que d'autres, porcequ'ilz furent sans
faille les meilleurs chevaliers qui à ce temps furent en terre; et li
Maistres en dira de ces deux pluseurs choses et pluseurs nouvelles que
l'en treuvera escript en tous les autres livres; et porce que le
Maistres les trouva escript au Livre d'Engleterre."
[Illustration: Palazzo di S Giorgio Genoa]
"Certainly," Paulin Paris observes, "there is a singular analogy between
these two prefaces. And it must be remarked that the formula is not an
ordinary one with translators, compilers, or authors of the 13th and 14th
centuries. Perhaps you would not find a single other example of it."[16]
This seems to place beyond question the identity of the Romance-compiler
of Prince Edward's suite in 1270, and the Prisoner of Genoa in 1298.
[Sidenote: Further particulars concerning Rustician.]
42. In Dunlop's History of Fiction a passage is quoted from the preamble
of _Meliadus_, as set forth in the Paris printed edition of 1528, which
gives us to understand that Rusticien de Pise had received as a reward for
some of his compositions from King Henry III. the prodigal gift of two
_chateaux_. I gather, however, from passages in the work of Paulin Paris
that this must certainly be one of those confusions of persons to which I
have referred before, and that the recipient of the chateaux was in
reality Helye de Borron, the author of some of the originals which
Rustician manipulated.[17] This supposed incident in Rustician's scanty
history must therefore be given up.
We call this worthy _Rustician_ or _Rusticiano_, as the nearest probable
representation in Italian form of the _Rusticien_ of the Round-Table MSS.
and the _Rustacians_ of the old text of Polo. But it is highly probable
that his real name was _Rustichello_, as is suggested by the form
_Rustichelus_ in the early Latin version published by the _Société de
Géographie_. The change of one liquid for another never goes for much in
Italy,[18] and Rustichello might easily Gallicize himself as Rusticien. In
a very long list of Pisan officials during the Middle Ages I find several
bearing the name of _Rustichello_ or _Rustichelli_, but no _Rusticiano_ or
_Rustigiano_.[19]
Respecting him we have only to add that the peace between Genoa and Venice
was speedily followed by a treaty between Genoa and Pisa. On the 31st
July, 1299, a truce for twenty-five years was signed between those two
Republics. It was a very different matter from that between Genoa and
Venice, and contained much that was humiliating and detrimental to Pisa.
But it embraced the release of prisoners; and those of Meloria, reduced it
is said to less than one tithe of their original number, had their liberty
at last. Among the prisoners then released no doubt Rustician was one. But
we hear of him no more.
[1] _B. Marangone, Croniche della C. di Pisa_, in _Rerum Ital. Script._ of
_Tartini_, Florence, 1748, i. 563; _Dal Borgo, Dissert. sopra
l'Istoria Pisana_, ii. 287.
[2] The list of the whole number is preserved in the Doria archives, and
has been published by Sign. Jacopo D'Oria. Many of the Baptismal names
are curious, and show how far sponsors wandered from the Church
Calendar. _Assan, Alton, Turco, Soldan_ seem to come of the constant
interest in the East. _Alaone_, a name which remained in the family
for several generations, I had thought certainly borrowed from the
fierce conqueror of the Khalif (infra, p. 63). But as one Alaone,
present at this battle, had a son also there, he must surely have been
christened before the fame of Hulaku could have reached Genoa. (See
_La Chiesa di S. Matteo_, pp. 250, seqq.)
In documents of the kingdom of Jerusalem there are names still more
anomalous, e.g., _Gualterius Baffumeth, Joannes Mahomet_. (See _Cod.
Dipl. del Sac. Milit. Ord. Gerosol._ I. 2-3, 62.)
[3] _Memorial. Potestat. Regiens._ in _Muratori_, viii. 1162.
[4] See _Fragm. Hist. Pisan._ in _Muratori_, xxiv. 651, seqq.; and
_Caffaro_, _id._ vi. 588, 594-595. The cut in the text represents a
striking memorial of those Pisan Prisoners, which perhaps still
survives, but which at any rate existed last century in a collection
at Lucca. It is the seal of the prisoners as a body corporate:
SIGILLUM UNIVERSITATIS CARCERATORUM PISANORUM JANUE DETENTORUM, and
was doubtless used in their negotiations for peace with the Genoese
Commissioners. It represents two of the prisoners imploring the
Madonna, Patron of the Duomo at Pisa. It is from _Manni, Osserv. Stor.
sopra Sigilli Antichi_, etc., Firenze, 1739, tom. xii. The seal is
also engraved in _Dal Borgo_, op. cit. ii. 316.
[5] The Abate Spotorno in his _Storia Letteraria della Liguria_, II. 219,
fixes on a Genoese philosopher called Andalo del Negro, mentioned by
Boccaccio.
[6] I quote from Galignani's ed. of Prose Works, v. 712. This has
"Rusticien de _Puise_." In this view of the fictitious character of
the names of Rusticien and the rest, Sir Walter seems to have been
following Ritson, as I gather from a quotation in Dunlop's H. of
Fiction. (_Liebrecht's_ German Version, p. 63.)
[7] _Giron le Courtois_, and the conclusion of _Tristan_.
[8] The passage runs thus as quoted (from the preamble of the
_Meliadus_--I suspect in one of the old printed editions):--
"Aussi Luces du Gau (Gas) translata en langue Françoise une partie de
l'Hystoire de Monseigneur Tristan, et moins assez qu'il ne deust.
Moult commença bien son livre et si ny mist tout les faicts de
Tristan, ains la greigneur partie. Après s'en entremist Messire Gasse
le Blond, qui estoit parent au Roy Henry, et divisa l'Hystoire de
Lancelot du Lac, et d'autre chose ne parla il mye grandement en son
livre. Messire Robert de Borron s'en entremist et Helye de Borron, par
la prière du dit Robert de Borron, _et pource que compaignons feusmes
d'armes longuement_, je commencay mon livre," etc. (_Liebrecht's
Dunlop_, p. 80.) If this passage be authentic it would set beyond
doubt the age of the de Borrons and the other writers of Anglo-French
Round Table Romances, who are placed by the _Hist. Littéraire de la
France_, and apparently by Fr. Michel, under Henry II. I have no means
of pursuing the matter, and have preferred to follow Paulin Paris, who
places them under Henry III. I notice, moreover, that the _Hist.
Litt._ (xv. p. 498) puts not only the de Borrons but Rustician himself
under Henry II.; and, as the last view is certainly an error, the
first is probably so too.
[9] Transc. from MS. 6975 (now Fr. 355) of Paris Library.
[10] _MSS. François_, iii. 60-61.
[11] Ibid. 56-59.
[12] _Introd._ pp. lxxxvi.-vii. note.
[13] See _Jour. As._ sér. II. tom. xii. p. 251.
[14] "_Seignors Enperaor, & Rois, Dux & Marquois, Cuens, Chevaliers &
Bargions_ [for Borgiois] _& toutes gens qe uoles sauoir les deuerses
jenerasions des homes_, & les deuersités des deuerses region dou
monde, _si prennés cestui lire & le feites lire & chi trouerés toutes
les grandismes meruoilles_," etc.
[15] The portrait of Rustician here referred to would have been a precious
illustration for our book. But unfortunately it has not been
transferred to MS. 6961, nor apparently to any other noticed by Paulin
Paris.
[16] _Jour. As._ as above.
[17] See _Liebrecht's Dunlop_, p. 77; and _MSS. François_, II. 349, 353.
The alleged gift to Rustician is also put forth by D'Israeli the Elder
in his _Amenities of Literature_, 1841, I. p. 103.
[18] E.g. Geronimo, _Girolamo_; and garofalo, _garofano_; Cristoforo,
_Cristovalo_; gonfalone, _gonfanone_, etc.
[19] See the List in _Archivio Stor. Ital._ VI. p. 64, seqq.
VIII. NOTICES OF MARCO POLO'S HISTORY, AFTER THE TERMINATION OF HIS
IMPRISONMENT AT GENOA.
43. A few very disconnected notices are all that can be collected of matter
properly biographical in relation to the quarter century during which Marco
Polo survived the Genoese captivity.
[Sidenote: Death of Marco's Father before 1300. Will of his brother
Maffeo.]
We have seen that he would probably reach Venice in the course of August,
1299. Whether he found his aged father alive is not known; but we know at
least that a year later (31st August, 1300) Messer Nicolo was no longer in
life.
This we learn from the Will of the younger Maffeo, Marco's brother, which
bears the date just named, and of which we give an abstract below.[1] It
seems to imply strong regard for the testator's brother Marco, who is made
inheritor of the bulk of the property, failing the possible birth of a
son. I have already indicated some conjectural deductions from this
document. I may add that the terms of the second clause, as quoted in the
note, seem to me to throw considerable doubt on the genealogy which
bestows a large family of sons upon this brother Maffeo. If he lived to
have such a family it seems improbable that the draft which he thus left
in the hands of a notary, to be converted into a Will in the event of his
death (a curious example of the validity attaching to all acts of notaries
in those days), should never have been superseded, but should actually
have been so converted after his death, as the existence of the parchment
seems to prove. But for this circumstance we might suppose the Marcolino
mentioned in the ensuing paragraph to have been a son of the younger
Maffeo.
Messer Maffeo, the uncle, was, we see, alive at this time. We do not know
the year of his death. But it is alluded to by Friar Pipino in the
Preamble to his Translation of the Book, supposed to have been executed
about 1315-1320; and we learn from a document in the Venetian archives
(see p. 77) that it must have been previous to 1318, and subsequent to
February 1309, the date of his last Will. The Will itself is not known to
be extant, but from the reference to it in this document we learn that he
left 1000 _lire_ of public debt[2] (_? imprestitorum_) to a certain Marco
Polo, called _Marcolino_. The relationship of this Marco to old Maffeo is
not stated, but we may suspect him to have been an illegitimate son.
[Marcolino was a son of Nicolo, son of Marco the Elder; see vol. ii.,
_Calendar_, No. 6.--H. C.]
[Sidenote: Documentary notices of Polo at this time. The sobriquet of
Milione.]
44. In 1302 occurs what was at first supposed to be a glimpse of Marco as
a citizen, slight and quaint enough; being a resolution on the Books of
the Great Council to exempt the respectable Marco Polo from the penalty
incurred by him on account of the omission to have his water-pipe duly
inspected. But since our Marco's claims to the designation of _Nobilis
Vir_ have been established, there is a doubt whether the _providus vir_ or
_prud'-homme_ here spoken of may not have been rather his namesake Marco
Polo of Cannareggio or S. Geremia, of whose existence we learn from
another entry of the same year.[3] It is, however, possible that Marco the
Traveller was called to the Great Council _after_ the date of the document
in question.
We have seen that the Traveller, and after him his House and his Book,
acquired from his contemporaries the surname, or nickname rather, of _Il
Milione_. Different writers have given different explanations of the
origin of this name; some, beginning with his contemporary Fra Jacopo
d'Acqui, (supra, p. 54), ascribing it to the family's having brought home
a fortune of a million of _lire_, in fact to their being _millionaires_.
This is the explanation followed by Sansovino, Marco Barbaro, Coronelli,
and others.[4] More far-fetched is that of Fontanini, who supposes the
name to have been given to the Book as containing a great number of
stories, like the _Cento Novelle_ or the _Thousand and One Nights!_ But
there can be no doubt that Ramusio's is the true, as it is the natural,
explanation; and that the name was bestowed on Marco by the young wits of
his native city, because of his frequent use of a word which appears to
have been then unusual, in his attempts to convey an idea of the vast
wealth and magnificence of the Kaan's Treasury and Court.[5] Ramusio has
told us that he had seen Marco styled by this sobriquet in the Books of
the Signory; and it is pleasant to be able to confirm this by the next
document which we cite. This is an extract from the Books of the Great
Council under both April, 1305, condoning the offence of a certain Bonocio
of Mestre in smuggling wine, for whose penalty one of the sureties had
been the NOBILIS VIR MARCHUS PAULO MILIONI.[6]
It is alleged that long after our Traveller's death there was always, in
the Venetian Masques, one individual who assumed the character of Marco
Milioni, and told Munchausenlike stories to divert the vulgar. Such, if
this be true, was the honour of our prophet among the populace of his own
country.[7]
45. A little later we hear of Marco once more, as presenting a copy of his
Book to a noble Frenchman in the service of Charles of Valois.
[Sidenote: Polo's relations with Thibault de Cepoy.]
This Prince, brother of Philip the Fair, in 1301 had married Catharine,
daughter and heiress of Philip de Courtenay, titular Emperor of
Constantinople, and on the strength of this marriage had at a later date
set up his own claim to the Empire of the East. To this he was prompted by
Pope Clement V., who in the beginning of 1306 wrote to Venice, stimulating
that Government to take part in the enterprise. In the same year, Charles
and his wife sent as their envoys to Venice, in connection with this
matter, a noble knight called THIBAULT DE CEPOY, along with an
ecclesiastic of Chartres called Pierre le Riche, and these two succeeded
in executing a treaty of alliance with Venice, of which the original,
dated 14th December, 1306, exists at Paris. Thibault de Cepoy eventually
went on to Greece with a squadron of Venetian Galleys, but accomplished
nothing of moment, and returned to his master in 1310.[8]
[Illustration: Miracle of S. Lorenzo]
During the stay of Thibault at Venice he seems to have made acquaintance
with Marco Polo, and to have received from him a copy of his Book. This is
recorded in a curious note which appears on two existing MSS. of Polo's
Book, viz., that of the Paris Library (10,270 or Fr. 5649), and that of
Bern, which is substantially identical in its text with the former, and
is, as I believe, a copy of it.[9] The note runs as follows:--
"Here you have the Book of which My Lord THIEBAULT, Knight and LORD OF
CEPOY, (whom may God assoil!) requested a copy from SIRE MARC POL,
Burgess and Resident of the City of Venice. And the said Sire Marc Pol,
being a very honourable Person, of high character and respect in many
countries, because of his desire that what he had witnessed should be
known throughout the World, and also for the honour and reverence he
bore to the most excellent and puissant Prince my Lord CHARLES, Son of
the King of France and COUNT OF VALOIS, gave and presented to the
aforesaid Lord of Cepoy the first copy (that was taken) of his said Book
after he had made the same. And very pleasing it was to him that his
Book should be carried to the noble country of France and there made
known by so worthy a gentleman. And from that copy which the said
Messire Thibault, Sire de Cepoy above-named, did carry into France,
Messire John, who was his eldest son and is the present Sire de
Cepoy,[10] after his Father's decease did have a copy made, and that
very first copy that was made of the Book after its being carried into
France he did present to his very dear and dread Lord Monseigneur de
Valois. Thereafter he gave copies of it to such of his friends as asked
for them.
"And the copy above-mentioned was presented by the said Sire Marc Pol to
the said Lord de Cepoy when the latter went to Venice, on the part of
Monseigneur de Valois and of Madame the Empress his wife, as Vicar
General for them both in all the Territories of the Empire of
Constantinople. And this happened in the year of the Incarnation of our
Lord Jesus Christ one thousand three hundred and seven, and in the month
of August."
Of the bearings of this memorandum on the literary history of Polo's Book
we shall speak in a following section.
[Sidenote: His marriage and his daughters. Marco as a merchant.]
46. When Marco married we have not been able to ascertain, but it was no
doubt early in the 14th century, for in 1324, we find that he had two
married daughters besides one unmarried. His wife's Christian name was
_Donata_, but of her family we have as yet found no assurance. I suspect,
however, that her name may have been Loredano (vide infra, p. 77).
Under 1311 we find a document which is of considerable interest, because
it is the only one yet discovered which exhibits Marco under the aspect of
a practical trader. It is the judgment of the Court of Requests upon a
suit brought by the NOBLE MARCO POLO of the parish of S. Giovanni
Grisostomo against one Paulo Girardo of S. Apollinare. It appears that
Marco had entrusted to the latter as a commission agent for sale, on an
agreement for half profits, a pound and a half of musk, priced at six
_lire of grossi_ (about 22_l._ 10_s._ in value of silver) the pound.
Girardo had sold half-a-pound at that rate, and the remaining pound which
he brought back was deficient of a _saggio_, or, one-sixth of an ounce,
but he had accounted for neither the sale nor the deficiency. Hence Marco
sues him for three _lire of Grossi_, the price of the half-pound sold, and
for twenty _grossi_ as the value of the saggio. And the Judges cast the
defendant in the amount with costs, and the penalty of imprisonment in the
common gaol of Venice if the amounts were not paid within a suitable
term.[11]
Again in May, 1323, probably within a year of his death, Ser Marco appears
(perhaps only by attorney), before the Doge and his judicial examiners, to
obtain a decision respecting a question touching the rights to certain
stairs and porticoes in contact with his own house property, and that
obtained from his wife, in S. Giovanni Grisostomo. To this allusion has
been already made (supra, p. 31).
[Sidenote: Marco Polo's Last Will and Death.]
47. We catch sight of our Traveller only once more. It is on the 9th of
January, 1324; he is labouring with disease, under which he is sinking day
by day; and he has sent for Giovanni Giustiniani, Priest of S. Proculo and
Notary, to make his Last Will and Testament. It runs thus:--
[Illustration: MARCO POLO'S LAST WILL]
[Illustration: SLIGHTLY REDUCED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH SPECIALLY TAKEN
IN ST. MARK'S LIBRARY BY SIGNOR BERTANI.]
"IN THE NAME OF THE ETERNAL GOD AMEN!
"In the year from the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 1323, on the
9th day of the month of January, in the first half of the 7th
Indiction,[12] at Rialto.
"It is the counsel of Divine Inspiration as well as the judgment of a
provident mind that every man should take thought to make a disposition
of his property before death become imminent, lest in the end it should
remain without any disposition:
"Wherefore I MARCUS PAULO of the parish of St. John Chrysostom, finding
myself to grow daily feebler through bodily ailment, but being by the
grace of God of a sound mind, and of senses and judgment unimpaired,
have sent for JOHN GIUSTINIANI, Priest of S. Proculo and Notary, and
have instructed him to draw out in complete form this my Testament:
"Whereby I constitute as my Trustees DONATA my beloved wife, and my dear
daughters FANTINA, BELLELA, and MORETA,[13] in order that after my
decease they may execute the dispositions and bequests which I am about
to make herein.
"First of all: I will and direct that the proper Tithe be paid.[14] And
over and above the said tithe I direct that 2000 _lire_ of Venice denari
be distributed as follows:[15]
"Viz., 20 _soldi_ of Venice _grossi_ to the Monastery of St. Lawrence
where I desire to be buried.
"Also 300 _lire_ of Venice denari to my sister-in-law YSABETA
QUIRINO,[16] that she owes me.
"Also 40 _soldi_ to each of the Monasteries and Hospitals all the way
from Grado to Capo d'Argine.[17]
"Also I bequeath to the Convent of SS. Giovanni and Paolo, of the Order
of Preachers, that which it owes me, and also 10 _lire_ to Friar RENIER,
and 5 _lire_ to Friar BENVENUTO the Venetian, of the Order of Preachers,
in addition to the amount of his debt to me.
"I also bequeath 5 _lire_ to every Congregation in Rialto, and 4 _lire_
to every Guild or Fraternity of which I am a member.[18]
"Also I bequeath 20 _soldi_ of Venetian grossi to the Priest Giovanni
Giustiniani the Notary, for his trouble about this my Will, and in order
that he may pray the Lord in my behalf.
"Also I release PETER the Tartar, my servant, from all bondage, as
completely as I pray God to release mine own soul from all sin and
guilt. And I also remit him whatever he may have gained by work at his
own house; and over and above I bequeath him 100 _lire_ of Venice
denari.[19]
"And the residue of the said 2000 _lire_ free of tithe, I direct to be
distributed for the good of my soul, according to the discretion of my
trustees.
"Out of my remaining property I bequeath to the aforesaid Donata, my
Wife and Trustee, 8 _lire_ of Venetian grossi annually during her life,
for her own use, over and above her settlement, and the linen and all
the household utensils,[20] with 3 beds garnished.
"And all my other property movable and immovable that has not been
disposed of [here follow some lines of mere technicality] I specially
and expressly bequeath to my aforesaid Daughters Fantina, Bellela, and
Moreta, freely and absolutely, to be divided equally among them. And I
constitute them my heirs as regards all and sundry my property movable
and immovable, and as regards all rights and contingencies tacit and
expressed, of whatsoever kind as hereinbefore detailed, that belong to
me or may fall to me. Save and except that before division my said
daughter Moreta shall receive the same as each of my other daughters
hath received for dowry and outfit [here follow many lines of
technicalities, ending]
"And if any one shall presume to infringe or violate this Will, may he
incur the malediction of God Almighty, and abide bound under the
anathema of the 318 Fathers; and farthermore he shall forfeit to my
Trustees aforesaid five pounds of gold;[21] and so let this my Testament
abide in force. The signature of the above named Messer Marco Paulo who
gave instructions for this deed.
"* I Peter Grifon, Priest, Witness.
"* I Humfrey Barberi, Witness.
"* I John Giustiniani, Priest of S. Proculo, and Notary, have completed
and authenticated (this testament)."[22]
We do not know, as has been said, how long Marco survived the making of
this will, but we know, from a scanty series of documents commencing in
June of the following year (1325), that he had _then_ been some time
dead.[23]
[Sidenote: Place of Sepulture. Professed Portraits of Polo.]
48. He was buried, no doubt, according to his declared wish, in the Church
of S. Lorenzo; and indeed Sansovino bears testimony to the fact in a
confused notice of our Traveller.[24] But there does not seem to have been
any monument to Marco, though the sarcophagus which had been erected to
his father Nicolo, by his own filial care, existed till near the end of
the 16th century in the porch or corridor leading to the old Church of S.
Lorenzo, and bore the inscription: "SEPULTURA DOMINI NICOLAI PAULO DE
CONTRATA S. IOANNIS GRISOSTEMI." The church was renewed from its
foundations in 1592, and then, probably, the sarcophagus was cast aside
and lost, and with it all certainty as to the position of the tomb.[25]
[Illustration: Pavement in front of San Lorenzo, Venice.]
[Illustration: S. Lorenzo as it was in the 15th century]
There is no portrait of Marco Polo in existence with any claim to
authenticity. The quaint figure which we give in the _Bibliography_, vol.
ii. p. 555, extracted from the earliest printed edition of his book, can
certainly make no such pretension. The oldest one after this is probably a
picture in the collection of Monsignor Badia at Rome, of which I am now
able, by the owner's courtesy, to give a copy. It is set down in the
catalogue to Titian, but is probably a work of 1600, or thereabouts, to
which the aspect and costume belong. It is inscribed "_Marcus Polvs
Venetvs Totivs Orbis et Indie Peregrator Primus._" Its history
unfortunately cannot be traced, but I believe it came from a collection at
Urbino. A marble statue was erected in his honour by a family at Venice in
the 17th century, and is still to be seen in the Palazzo Morosini-
Gattemburg in the Campo S. Stefano in that city. The medallion portrait on
the wall of the _Sala dello Scudo_ in the ducal palace, and which was
engraved in Bettom's "Collection of Portraits of Illustrious Italians," is
a work of imagination painted by Francesco Griselini in 1761.[26] From
this, however, was taken the medal by Fabris, which was struck in 1847 in
honour of the last meeting of the Italian Congresso Scientifico; and from
the medal again is copied, I believe, the elegant woodcut which adorns the
introduction to M. Pauthier's edition, though without any information as
to its history. A handsome bust, by Augusto Gamba, has lately been placed
among the illustrious Venetians in the inner arcade of the Ducal
Palace.[27] There is also a mosaic portrait of Polo, opposite the similar
portrait of Columbus in the Municipio at Genoa.
[Sidenote: Further History of the Polo Family.]
49. From the short series of documents recently alluded to,[28] we gather
all that we know of the remaining history of Marco Polo's immediate
family. We have seen in his will an indication that the two elder
daughters, Fantina and Bellela, were married before his death. In 1333 we
find the youngest, Moreta, also a married woman, and Bellela deceased. In
1336 we find that their mother Donata had died in the interval. We learn,
too, that Fantina's husband was MARCO BRAGADINO, and Moreta's, RANUZZO
DOLFINO.[29] The name of Bellela's husband does not appear.
Fantina's husband is probably the Marco Bragadino, son of Pietro, who in
1346 is mentioned to have been sent as Provveditore-Generale to act
against the Patriarch of Acquileia.[30] And in 1379 we find Donna Fantina
herself, presumably in widowhood, assessed as a resident of S. Giovanni
Grisostomo, on the _Estimo_ or forced loan for the Genoese war, at 1300
_lire_, whilst Pietro Bragadino of the same parish--her son as I
imagine--is assessed at 1500 _lire_.[31] [See vol. ii., _Calendar_.]
The documents show a few other incidents which may be briefly noted. In
1326 we have the record of a charge against one Zanino Grioni for
insulting Donna Moreta in the Campo of San Vitale; a misdemeanour punished
by the Council of Forty with two months' imprisonment.
[Illustration: Mosaic Portrait of Marco Polo at Genoa]
[Illustration: The Pseudo Marco Polo at Canton]
In March, 1328, Marco Polo, called Marcolino, of St. John Chrysostom (see
p. 66), represents before the _Domini Advocatores_ of the Republic that
certain _imprestita_ that had belonged to the late Maffeo Polo the Elder,
had been alienated and transferred in May 1318, by the late Marco Polo of
St. John Chrysostom and since his death by his heirs, without regard to
the rights of the said Marcolino, to whom the said Messer Maffeo had
bequeathed 1000 _lire_ by his will executed on 6th February, 1308 (i.e.
1309). The Advocatores find that the transfer was to that extent unjust
and improper, and they order that to the same extent it should be revoked
and annulled. Two months later the Lady Donata makes rather an unpleasant
figure before the Council of Forty. It would seem that on the claim of
Messer Bertuccio Quirino a mandate of sequestration had been issued by the
Court of Requests affecting certain articles in the Ca' Polo; including
two bags of money which had been tied and sealed, but left in custody of
the Lady Donata. The sum so sealed was about 80 _lire_ of grossi (300_l._
in silver value), but when opened only 45 _lire_ and 22 _grossi_ (about
170_l._) were found therein, and the Lady was accused of abstracting the
balance _non bono modo_. Probably she acted, as ladies sometimes do, on a
strong sense of her own rights, and a weak sense of the claims of law. But
the Council pronounced against her, ordering restitution, and a fine of
200 _lire_ over and above "_ut ceteris transeat in exemplum._"[32]
It will have been seen that there is nothing in the amounts mentioned in
Marco's will to bear out the large reports as to his wealth, though at the
same time there is no positive ground for a deduction to the contrary.[33]
The mention in two of the documents of Agnes Loredano as the sister of the
Lady Donata suggests that the latter may have belonged to the Loredano
family, but as it does not appear whether Agnes was maid or wife this
remains uncertain.[34]
Respecting the further history of the family there is nothing certain, nor
can we give unhesitating faith to Ramusio's statement that the last male
descendant of the Polos of S. Giovanni Grisostomo was Marco, who died
Castellano of Verona in 1417 (according to others, 1418, or 1425),[35] and
that the family property then passed to Maria (or _Anna_, as she is styled
in a MS. statement furnished to me from Venice), who was married in 1401
to Benedetto Cornaro, and again in 1414 to Azzo Trevisan. Her descendant
in the fourth generation by the latter was Marc Antonio Trevisano,[36] who
was chosen Doge in 1553.
[Illustration: Arms of the Trevisan family.]
The genealogy recorded by Marco Barbaro, as drawn up from documents by
Ramusio, makes the Castellano of Verona a grandson of our Marco by a son
Maffeo, whom we may safely pronounce not to have existed, and makes Maria
the daughter of Maffeo, Marco's brother--that is to say, makes a lady
marry in 1414 and have children, whose father was born in 1271 at the very
latest! The genealogy is given in several other ways, but as I have
satisfied myself that they all (except perhaps this of Barbaro's, which we
see to be otherwise erroneous) confound together the two distinct families
of Polo of S. Geremia and Polo of S. Giov. Grisostomo, I reserve my faith,
and abstain from presenting them. Assuming that the Marco or Marcolino
Polo, spoken of in the preceding page, was a near relation (as is
probable, though perhaps an illegitimate one), he is the only male
descendant of old Andrea of San Felice whom we can indicate as having
survived Marco himself; and from a study of the links in the professed
genealogies I think it not unlikely that both Marco the Castellano of
Verona and Maria Trevisan belonged to the branch of S. Geremia.[37] [See
vol. ii., _App. C_, p. 510.]
[49. _bis._--It is interesting to note some of the _reliques_ left by our
traveller.
I. The unfortunate Doge of Venice, Marino Faliero, seems to have possessed
many souvenirs of Marco Polo, and among them two manuscripts, one in the
handwriting of his celebrated fellow-citizen(?), and one adorned with
miniatures. M. Julius von Schlosser has reprinted (_Die ältesten Medaillen
und die Antike_, Bd. XVIII., _Jahrb. d. Kunsthist. Samml. d. Allerhöchsten
Kaiserhauses_, Vienna, 1897, pp. 42-43) from the _Bulletino di arti,
industrie e curiosità veneziane_, III., 1880-81, p. 101,[38] the inventory
of the curiosities kept in the "Red Chamber" of Marino Faliero's palace in
the Parish of the SS. Apostles; we give the following abstract of it:--
Anno ab incarnacione domini nostri Jesu Christi 1351° indictione sexta
mensis aprilis. Inuentarium rerum qui sunt in camera rubea domi
habitationis clarissimi domini MARINI FALETRO de confinio SS.
Apostolorum, scriptum per me Johannem, presbiterum, dicte ecclesie.
_Item_ alia capsaleta cum ogiis auri et argenti, inter quos unum anulum
con inscriptione que dicit: _Ciuble Can Marco Polo_, et unum torques cum
multis animalibus Tartarorum sculptis, que res donum dedit predictus
MARCUS cuidam Faletrorum.
_Item_ 2 capsalete de corio albo cum variis rebus auri et argenti, quas
habuit praedictus MARCUS a Barbarorum rege.
_Item_ 1 ensem mirabilem, qui habet 3 enses simul, quem habuit in suis
itineribus praedictus MARCUS.
_Item_ 1 tenturam de pannis indicis, quam habuit praedictus MARCUS.
_Item_ de itineribus MARCI praedicti liber in corio albo cum multis
figuris.
_Item_ aliud volumen quod vocatur _de locis mirabilibus Tartarorum,
scriptum manu praedicti_ MARCI.
II. There is kept at the Louvre, in the very valuable collection of China
Ware given by M. Ernest Grandidier, a white porcelain incense-burner said
to come from Marco Polo. This incense-burner, which belonged to Baron
Davillier, who received it, as a present, from one of the keepers of the
Treasury of St. Mark's at Venice, is an octagonal _ting_ from the Fo-kien
province, and of the time of the Sung Dynasty. By the kind permission of
M. P. Grandidier, we reproduce it from Pl. II. 6, of the _Céramique
chinoise_, Paris, 1894, published by this learned amateur.--H. C.]
[1] 1. The Will is made in prospect of his voyage to Crete.
2. He had drafted his will with his own hand, sealed the draft, and
made it over to Pietro Pagano, priest of S. Felice and Notary, to draw
out a formal testament in faithful accordance therewith in case of the
Testator's death; and that which follows is the substance of the said
draft rendered from the vernacular into Latin. ("Ego Matheus Paulo ...
volens ire in Cretam, ne repentinus casus hujus vite fragilis me
subreperet intestatum, mea propria manu meum scripsi et condidi
testamentum, rogans Petrum Paganum ecclesie Scti. Felicis presbiterum
et Notarium, sana mente et integro consilio, ut, secundum ipsius
scripturam quam sibi tunc dedi meo sigillo munitam, meum scriberet
testamentum, si me de hoc seculo contigeret pertransire; cujus
scripture tenor translato vulgari in latinum per omnia talis est.")
3. Appoints as Trustees Messer Maffeo Polo his uncle, Marco Polo his
brother, Messer Nicolo Secreto (or Sagredo) his father-in-law, and
Felix Polo his cousin (_consanguineum_).
4. Leaves 20 _soldi_ to each of the Monasteries from Grado to Capo
d'Argine; and 150 _lire_ to all the congregations of Rialto, on
condition that the priests of these maintain an annual service in
behalf of the souls of his father, mother, and self.
5. To his daughter Fiordelisa 2000 _lire_ to marry her withal. To be
invested in safe mortgages in Venice, and the interest to go to her.
Also leaves her the interest from 1000 _lire_ of his funds in Public
Debt (? _de meis imprestitis_) to provide for her till she marries.
After her marriage this 1000 _lire_ and its interest shall go to his
male heir if he has one, and failing that to his brother Marco.
6. To his wife Catharine 400 _lire_ and all her clothes as they stand
now. To the Lady Maroca 100 _lire_.
7. To his natural daughter Pasqua 400 _lire_ to marry her withal. Or,
if she likes to be a nun, 200 _lire_ shall go to her convent and the
other 200 shall purchase securities for her benefit. After her death
these shall come to his male heir, or failing that be sold, and the
proceeds distributed for the good of the souls of his father, mother,
and self.
8. To his natural brothers Stephen and Giovannino he leaves 500
_lire_. If one dies the whole to go to the other. If both die before
marrying, to go to his male heir; failing such, to his brother Marco
or _his_ male heir.
9. To his uncle Giordano Trevisano 200 _lire_. To Marco de Tumba 100.
To Fiordelisa, wife of Felix Polo, 100. To Maroca, the daughter of the
late Pietro Trevisano, living at Negropont, 100. To Agnes, wife of
Pietro Lion, 100; and to Francis, son of the late Pietro Trevisano, in
Negropont, 100.
10. To buy Public Debt producing an annual 20 _lire ai grossi_ to be
paid yearly to Pietro Pagano, Priest of S. Felice, who shall pray for
the souls aforesaid: on death of said Pietro the income to go to
Pietro's cousin Lionardo, Clerk of S. Felice; and after him always to
the senior priest of S. Giovanni Grisostomo with the same obligation.
11. Should his wife prove with child and bear a son or sons they shall
have his whole property not disposed of. If a daughter, she shall have
the same as Fiordelisa.
12. If he have no male heir his Brother Marco shall have the
Testator's share of his Father's bequest, and 2000 _lire_ besides.
Cousin Nicolo shall have 500 _lire_, and Uncle Maffeo 500.
13. Should Daughter Fiordelisa die unmarried her 2000 _lire_ and
interest to go to his male heir, and failing such to Brother Marco and
his male heir. But in that case Marco shall pay 500 _lire_ to Cousin
Nicolo or his male heir.
14. Should his wife bear him a male heir or heirs, but these should
die under age, the whole of his undisposed property shall go to
Brother Marco or his male heir. But in that case 500 _lire_ shall be
paid to Cousin Nicolo.
15. Should his wife bear a daughter and she die unmarried, her 2000
_lire_ and interest shall go to Brother Marco, with the same
stipulation in behalf of Cousin Nicolo.
16. Should the whole amount of his property between cash and goods not
amount to 10,000 _lire_ (though he believes he has fully as much), his
bequests are to be ratably diminished, except those to his own
children which he does not wish diminished. Should any legatee die
before receiving the bequest, its amount shall fall to the Testator's
heir male, and failing such, the half to go to Marco or his male heir,
and the other half to be distributed for the good of the souls
aforesaid.
The witnesses are Lionardo priest of S. Felice, Lionardo clerk of the
same, and the Notary Pietro Pagano priest of the same.
[2] According to Romanin (I. 321) the _lira dei grossi_ was also called
_Lira d'imprestidi_, and if the _lire_ here are to be so taken, the
sum will be 10,000 ducats, the largest amount by far that occurs in
any of these Polo documents, unless, indeed, the 1000 _lire_ in § 5 of
Maffeo Junior's Will be the like; but I have some doubt if such lire
are intended in either case.
[3] "(Resolved) That grace be granted to the respectable MARCO PAULO,
relieving him of the penalty he has incurred for neglecting to have
his water-pipe examined, seeing that he was ignorant of the order on
that subject." (See _Appendix C_. No. 3.) The other reference, to M.
Polo, of S. Geremia, runs as follows:--
[_MCCCII. indic. XV. die VIII. Macii q fiat gra Guillo aurifici q ipe
absolvat a pena i qua dicit icurisse p uno spotono sibi iueto veuiedo
de Mestre ppe domu Maci Pauli de Canareglo ui descenderat ad
bibendu._]
"That grace be granted to William the Goldsmith, relieving him of the
penalty which he is stated to have incurred on account of a spontoon
(_spontono_, a loaded bludgeon) found upon him near the house of MARCO
PAULO of Cannareggio, where he had landed to drink on his way from
Mestre." (See _Cicogna_, V. p. 606.)
[4] _Sansovino, Venezia, Città Nobilissima e Singolare, Descritta_, etc.,
Ven. 1581, f. 236 v.; _Barbaro, Alberi; Coronelli, Allante Veneto_,
I. 19.
[5] The word _Millio_ occurs several times in the Chronicle of the Doge
Andrea Dandolo, who wrote about 1342; and _Milion_ occurs at least
once (besides the application of the term to Polo) in the History of
Giovanni Villani; viz. when he speaks of the Treasury of Avignon:--
"_diciotto_ milioni _di fiorini d'oro_ ec. _che ogni_ milione _è mille
migliaja di fiorini d' oro la valuta_." (xi. 20, § 1; _Ducange_, and
_Vocab. Univ. Ital._). But the definition, thought necessary by
Villani, in itself points to the use of the word as rare. _Domilion_
occurs in the estimated value of houses at Venice in 1367, recorded in
the _Cronaca Magna_ in St. Mark's Library. (_Romanin_, III. 385).
[6] "Also; that Pardon be granted to Bonocio of Mestre for that 152 _lire_
in which he stood condemned by the Captains of the Posts, on account
of wine smuggled by him, in such wise: to wit, that he was to pay the
said fine in 4 years by annual instalments of one fourth, to be
retrenched from the pay due to him on his journey in the suite of our
ambassadors, with assurance that anything then remaining deficient of
his instalments should be made good by himself or his securities. And
his securities are the Nobles Pietro Morosini and MARCO PAULO
MILION." Under _Milion_ is written in an ancient hand "_mortuus_."
(See _Appendix C_, No. 4.)
[7] Humboldt tells this (_Examen_, II. 221), alleging _Jacopo d'Acqui_ as
authority; and Libri (_H. des Sciences Mathématiques_, II. 149),
quoting _Doglioni, Historia Veneziana_. But neither authority bears
out the citations. The story seems really to come from Amoretti's
commentary on the _Voyage du Cap. L. F. Maldonado_, Plaisance, 1812,
p. 67. Amoretti quotes as authority _Pignoria, Degli Dei Antichi_.
An odd revival of this old libel was mentioned to me recently by Mr.
George Moffatt. When he was at school it was common among the boys to
express incredulity by the phrase: "Oh, what a Marco Polo!"
[8] Thibault, according to Ducange, was in 1307 named Grand Master of the
Arblasteers of France; and Buchon says his portrait is at Versailles
among the Admirals (No. 1170). Ramon de Muntaner fell in with the
Seigneur de Cepoy in Greece, and speaks of him as "but a Captain of
the Wind, as his Master was King of the Wind." (See _Ducange, H. de
l'Empire de Const. sous les Emp. François_, Venice ed. 1729, pp. 109,
110; _Buchon, Chroniques Etrangères_, pp. lv. 467-470.)
[9] The note is not found in the Bodleian MS., which is the third known
one of this precise type.
[10] Messire Jean, the son of Thibault, is mentioned in the accounts of
the latter in the _Chambre des Comptes_ at Paris, as having been with
his Father in Romania. And in 1344 he commanded a confederate
Christian armament sent to check the rising power of the Turks, and
beat a great Turkish fleet in the Greek seas. (_Heyd._ I. 377;
_Buchon_, 468.)
[11] The document is given in _Appendix C_, No. 5. It was found by Comm.
Barozzi, the Director of the Museo Civico, when he had most kindly
accompanied me to aid in the search for certain other documents in the
archives of the _Casa di Ricovero_, or Poor House of Venice. These
archives contain a great mass of testamentary and other documents,
which probably have come into that singular depository in connection
with bequests to public charities.
The document next mentioned was found in as strange a site, viz., the
_Casa degli Esposti_ or Foundling Hospital, which possesses similar
muniments. This also I owe to Comm. Barozzi, who had noted it some
years before, when commencing an arrangement of the archives of the
Institution.
[12] The Legal Year at Venice began on the 1st of March. And 1324 was 7th
of the Indiction. Hence the date is, according to the modern Calendar,
1324.
[13] Marsden says of Moreta and Fantina, the only daughters named by
Ramusio, that these may be thought rather familiar terms of endearment
than baptismal names. This is a mistake however. _Fantina_ is from one
of the parochial saints of Venice, S. Fantino, and the male name was
borne by sundry Venetians, among others by a son of Henry Dandolo's.
Moreta is perhaps a variation of Maroca, which seems to have been a
family name among the Polos. We find also the male name of Bellela,
written _Bellello, Bellero, Belletto_.
[14] The _Decima_ went to the Bishop of Castello (eventually converted
into Patriarch of Venice) to divide between himself, the Clergy, the
Church, and the Poor. It became a source of much bad feeling, which
came to a head after the plague of 1348, when some families had to pay
the tenth three times within a very short space. The existing Bishop
agreed to a composition, but his successor Paolo Foscari (1367)
claimed that on the death of every citizen an exact inventory should
be made, and a full tithe levied. The Signory fought hard with the
Bishop, but he fled to the Papal Court and refused all concession.
After his death in 1376 a composition was made for 5500 ducats yearly.
(_Romanin_, II. 406; III. 161, 165.)
[15] There is a difficulty about estimating the value of these sums from
the variety of Venice pounds or _lire_. Thus the _Lira dei piccoli_
was reckoned 3 to the ducat or zecchin, the _Lira ai grossi_ 2 to the
ducat, but the _Lira_ dei _grossi_ or _Lira d'imprestidi_ was equal to
10 ducats, or (allowing for higher value of silver then) about 3_l._
15_s._; a little more than the equivalent of the then Pound sterling.
This last money is _specified_ in some of the bequests, as in the 20
soldi (or 1 lira) to St. Lorenzo, and in the annuity of 8 lire to
Polo's wife; but it seems doubtful what money is meant when _libra_
only or _libra denariorum venetorum_ is used. And this doubt is not
new. Gallicciolli relates that in 1232 Giacomo Menotto left to the
Church of S. Cassiano as an annuity _libras denariorum venetorum
quatuor_. Till 1427 the church received the income as of _lire dei
piccoli_, but on bringing a suit on the subject it was adjudged that
_lire ai grossi_ were to be understood. (_Delle Mem. Venet. Ant._ II.
18.) This story, however, cuts both ways, and does not decide our
doubt.
[16] The form of the name _Ysabeta_ aptly illustrates the transition that
seems so strange from _Elizabeth_ into the _Isabel_ that the Spaniards
made of it.
[17] I.e. the extent of what was properly called the Dogado, all along the
Lagoons from Grado on the extreme east to Capo d'Argine (Cavarzere at
the mouth of the Adige) on the extreme west.
[18] The word rendered _Guilds_ is "_Scholarum_." The crafts at Venice
were united in corporations called _Fraglie_ or _Scholae_, each of
which had its statutes, its head called the _Gastald_, and its place
of meeting under the patronage of some saint. These acted as societies
of mutual aid, gave dowries to poor girls, caused masses to be
celebrated for deceased members, joined in public religious
processions, etc., nor could any craft be exercised except by members
of such a guild. (_Romanin_, I. 390.)
[19] A few years after Ser Marco's death (1328) we find the Great Council
granting to this Peter the rights of a natural Venetian, as having
been a long time at Venice, and well-conducted. (See App. C, _Calendar
of Documents_, No. 13.) This might give some additional colour to M.
Pauthier's supposition that this Peter the Tartar was a faithful
servant who had accompanied Messer Marco from the East 30 years
before. But yet the supposition is probably unfounded. Slavery and
slave-trade were very prevalent at Venice in the Middle Ages, and V.
Lazari, a writer who examined a great many records connected
therewith, found that by far the greater number of slaves were
described as _Tartars_. There does not seem to be any clear
information as to how they were imported, but probably from the
factories on the Black Sea, especially Tana after its establishment.
A tax of 5 ducats per head was set on the export of slaves in 1379,
and as the revenue so received under the Doge Tommaso Mocenigo
(1414-1423) amounted (so says Lazari) to 50,000 ducats, the startling
conclusion is that 10,000 slaves yearly were exported! This it is
difficult to accept. The slaves were chiefly employed in domestic
service, and the records indicate the women to have been about twice
as numerous as the men. The highest price recorded is 87 ducats paid
for a Russian girl sold in 1429. All the higher prices are for young
women; a significant circumstance. With the existence of this system
we may safely connect the extraordinary frequence of mention of
illegitimate children in Venetian wills and genealogies. (See _Lazari,
Del Traffico degli Schiavi in Venezia_, etc., in _Miscellanea di
Storia Italiana_, I. 463 seqq.) In 1308 the Khan Toktai of Kipchak
(see Polo, II. 496), hearing that the Genoese and other Franks were in
the habit of carrying off Tartar children to sell, sent a force
against Caffa, which was occupied without resistance, the people
taking refuge in their ships. The Khan also seized the Genoese
property in Sarai. (_Heyd._ II. 27.)
[20] "_Stracium et omne capud massariciorum_"; in Scotch phrase "_napery
and plenishing_." A Venetian statute of 1242 prescribes that a bequest
of _massariticum_ shall be held to carry to the legatee all articles
of common family use except those of gold and silver plate or
jeweller's work. (See _Ducange, sub voce._) _Stracci_ is still used
technically in Venice for "household linen."
[21] In the original _aureas libras quinque_. According to Marino Sanudo
the Younger (_Vite dei Dogi_ in _Muratori_ xxii. 521) this should be
pounds or _lire_ of _aureole_, the name of a silver coin struck by
and named after the Doge _Aurio_ Mastropietro (1178-1192): "Ancora fu
fatta una Moneta d'argento che si chiamava _Aureola_ per la casata del
Doge; _è quella Moneta che i Notai de Venezia mettevano di pena sotto
i loro instrumenti_." But this was a vulgar error. An example of the
penalty of 5 pounds of gold is quoted from a decree of 960; and the
penalty is sometimes expressed "_auri purissimi librae_ 5." A coin
called the _lira d'oro_ or _redonda_ is alleged to have been in use
before the ducat was introduced. (See _Gallicciolli_, II. 16.) But
another authority seems to identify the _lira a oro_ with the _lira
dei grossi_. (See _Zanetti, Nuova Racc. delle Monete &c. d'Italia_,
1775. I. 308)
[22] We give a photographic reduction of the original document. This, and
the other two Polo Wills already quoted, had come into the possession
of the Noble Filippo Balbi, and were by him presented in our own time
to the St. Mark's Library. They are all on parchment, in writing of
that age, and have been officially examined and declared to be
originals. They were first published by _Cicogna, Iscrizioni
Veneziane_, III. 489-493. We give Marco's in the original language,
line for line with the facsimile, in _Appendix C_.
There is no signature, as may be seen, except those of the Witnesses
and the Notary. The sole presence of a Notary was held to make a deed
valid, and from about the middle of the 13th century in Italy it is
common to find no actual signature (even of witnesses) except that of
the Notary. The peculiar flourish before the Notary's name is what is
called the _Tabellionato_, a fanciful distinctive monogram which each
Notary adopted. Marco's Will is unfortunately written in a very cramp
hand with many contractions. The other two Wills (of Marco the Elder
and Maffeo) are in beautiful and clear Gothic penmanship.
[23] We have noticed formerly (pp. 14-15, _note_) the recent discovery
of a document bearing what was supposed to be the autograph signature
of our Traveller. The document in question is the Minute of a
Resolution of the Great Council, attested by the signatures of three
members, of whom the last is MARCUS PAULLO. But the date alone, 11th
March, 1324, is sufficient to raise the gravest doubts as to this
signature being that of our Marco. And further examination, as I learn
from a friend at Venice, has shown that the same name occurs in
connection with analogous entries on several subsequent occasions up
to the middle of the century. I presume that this Marco Polo is the
same that is noticed in our _Appendix B_, II. as a voter in the
elections of the Doges Marino Faliero and Giovanni Gradenigo. I have
not been able to ascertain his relation to either branch of the Polo
family; but I suspect that he belonged to that of S. Geremia, of which
there _was_ certainly a Marco about the middle of the century.
[24] "Under the _angiporta_ (of S. Lorenzo) [see plate] is buried that
Marco Polo surnamed Milione, who wrote the Travels in the New World,
and who was the first before Christopher Columbus to discover new
countries. No faith was put in him because of the extravagant things
that he recounted; but in the days of our Fathers Columbus augmented
belief in him, by discovering that part of the world which eminent men
had heretofore judged to be uninhabited." (_Venezia ... Descritta_,
etc., f. 23 _v._) Marco Barbaro attests the same inscription in his
Genealogies (copy in Museo Civico at Venice).
[25] _Cicogna_, II. 385.
[26] _Lazari_, xxxi.
[27] In the first edition I noticed briefly a statement that had reached
me from China that, in the Temple at Canton vulgarly called "of the
500 gods," there is a foreign figure which from the name attached had
been supposed to represent Marco Polo! From what I have heard from Mr.
Wylie, a very competent authority, this is nonsense. The temple
contains 500 figures of _Arhans_ or Buddhist saints, and one of these
attracts attention from having a hat like a sailor's straw hat. Mr.
Wylie had not remarked the name. [A model of this figure was exhibited
at Venice at the international Geographical Congress, in 1881. I give
a reproduction of this figure and of the Temple of 500 Genii (_Fa Lum
Sze_) at Canton, from drawings by Félix Régamey made after photographs
sent to me by my late friend, M. Camille Imbault Huart, French Consul
at Canton.--H. C.]
[28] These documents are noted in Appendix C, Nos. 9-12, 14, 17, 18.
[29] I can find no _Ranuzzo_ Dolfino among the Venetian genealogies, but
several _Reniers_. And I suspect Ranuzzo may be a form of the latter
name.
[30] _Cappellari_ (see p. 77, footnote) under _Bragadino_.
[31] Ibid. and _Gallicciolli_, II. 146.
[32] The _lire_ of the fine are not specified; but probably _ai grossi_,
which would be = 37_l._ 10_s._; not, we hope, _dei_ grossi!
[33] Yet, if the family were so wealthy as tradition represents, it is
strange that Marco's brother Maffeo, _after_ receiving a share of his
father's property, should have possessed barely 10,000 _lire_,
probably equivalent to 5000 ducats at most. (See p. 65, supra.)
[34] An Agnes Loredano, Abbess of S. Maria delle Vergini, died in 1397.
(_Cicogna_, V. 91 and 629.) The interval of 61 years makes it somewhat
improbable that it should be the same.
[35] In the _Museo Civico_ (No. 2271 of the Cicogna collection) there is a
commission addressed by the Doge Michiel Steno in 1408, "_Nobili Viro
Marcho Paulo_," nominating him Podestà of Arostica (a Castello of the
Vicentino). This is probably the same Marco.
[36] The descent runs: (1) Azzo = Maria Polo; (2) Febo, Captain at Padua;
(3) Zaccaria, Senator; (4) Domenico, Procurator of St. Mark's; (5)
Marc' Antonio, Doge (_Cappellari_, _Campidoglio Veneto_, MS. St.
Mark's Lib.).
Marc' Antonio _nolebat ducari_ and after election desired to renounce.
His friends persuaded him to retain office, but he lived scarcely a
year after. (_Cicogna_, IV. 566.) [See p. 8.]
[37] In Appendix B will be found tabulated all the facts that seem to be
positively ascertained as to the Polo genealogies.
In the Venetian archives occurs a procuration executed by the Doge in
favour of the _Nobilis Vir_ SER MARCO PAULO that he may present
himself before the king of Sicily; under date, Venice 9th November,
1342. And some years later we have in the Sicilian Archives an order
by King Lewis of Sicily, directed to the Maestri Procuratori of
Messina, which grants to MARCO POLO of Venice, on account of services
rendered to the king's court, the privilege of free import and export
at the port of Messina, without payment of customs of goods to the
amount annually of 20 ounces. Dated in Catania 13th January, 1346
(1347?).
For the former notice I am indebted to the courtesy of Signor B.
Cecchetti of the Venetian Archives, who cites it as "transcribed in
the _Commemor._ IV. p. 5"; for the latter to that of the Abate Carini
of the _Reale Archivio_ at Palermo; it is in _Archivio della Regia
Cancellaria_ 1343-1357, f. 58.
The mission of this MARCO POLO is mentioned also in a rescript of the
Sicilian king Peter II., dated Messina, 14th November, 1340, in
reference to certain claims of Venice, about which the said Marco
appeared as the Doge's ambassador. This is printed in F. TESTA, _De
Vitâ et Rebus Gestis Federici II., Siciliae Regis_, Panormi, 1775, pp.
267 seqq. The Sicilian Antiquary Rosario Gregorio identifies the Envoy
with our Marco, dead long before. (See _Opere scelte del Canon Ros.
Gregorio_, Palermo, 1845, 3za ediz., p. 352.)
It is possible that this Marco, who from the latter notice seems to
have been engaged in mercantile affairs, may have been the Marcolino
above mentioned, but it is perhaps on the whole more probable that
this _nobilis vir_ is the Marco spoken of in the note at p. 74.
[38] _La Collezione del Doge Marin Faliero e i Tesori di Marco Polo_,
pp. 98-103. I have seen this article.--H. C.
IX. MARCO POLO'S BOOK; AND THE LANGUAGE IN WHICH IT WAS FIRST WRITTEN.
[Illustration: Porcelain Incense Burner, from the Louvre]
[Sidenote: General statement of what the Book contains.]
50. The Book itself consists essentially of Two Parts. _First_, of a
Prologue, as it is termed, the only part which is actual personal
narrative, and which relates, in a very interesting but far too brief
manner, the circumstances which led the two elder Polos to the Kaan's
Court, and those of their second journey with Mark, and of their return to
Persia through the Indian Seas. _Secondly_, of a long series of chapters
of very unequal length, descriptive of notable sights and products, of
curious manners and remarkable events, relating to the different nations
and states of Asia, but, above all, to the Emperor Kúblái, his court,
wars, and administration. A series of chapters near the close treats in a
verbose and monotonous manner of sundry wars that took place between the
various branches of the House of Chinghiz in the latter half of the 13th
century. This last series is either omitted or greatly curtailed in all
the copies and versions except one; a circumstance perfectly accounted for
by the absence of interest as well as value in the bulk of these chapters.
Indeed, desirous though I have been to give the Traveller's work complete,
and sharing the dislike that every man who _uses_ books must bear to
abridgments, I have felt that it would be sheer waste and dead-weight to
print these chapters in full.
[Illustration: Temple of 500 Genii at Canton _after a Drawing by_ FELIX
REGAMEY]
This second and main portion of the Work is in its oldest forms undivided,
the chapters running on consecutively to the end.[1] In some very early
Italian or Venetian version, which Friar Pipino translated into Latin, it
was divided into three Books, and this convenient division has generally
been adhered to. We have adopted M. Pauthier's suggestion in making the
final series of chapters, chiefly historical, into a Fourth.
[Sidenote: Language of the original Work.]
51. As regards the language in which Marco's Book was first committed to
writing, we have seen that Ramusio assumed, somewhat arbitrarily, that it
was _Latin_; Marsden supposed it to have been the _Venetian_ dialect;
Baldelli Boni first showed, in his elaborate edition (Florence, 1827), by
arguments that have been illustrated and corroborated by learned men
since, that it was _French_.
That the work was originally written in _some_ Italian dialect was a
natural presumption, and slight contemporary evidence can be alleged in
its favour; for Fra Pipino, in the Latin version of the work, executed
whilst Marco still lived, describes his task as a translation _de
vulgari_. And in one MS. copy of the same Friar Pipino's Chronicle,
existing in the library at Modena, he refers to the said version as made
"_ex vulgari idiomate_ Lombardico." But though it may seem improbable that
at so early a date a Latin version should have been made at second hand, I
believe this to have been the case, and that some internal evidence also
is traceable that Pipino translated _not_ from the original but from an
Italian _version_ of the original.
The oldest MS. (it is supposed) in any Italian dialect is one in the
Magliabecchian Library at Florence, which is known in Italy as _L'Ottima_,
on account of the purity of its Tuscan, and as _Della Crusca_ from its
being one of the authorities cited by that body in their Vocabulary.[2]
It bears on its face the following note in Italian:--
"This Book called the Navigation of Messer Marco Polo, a noble Citizen
of Venice, was written in Florence by Michael Ormanni my great
grandfather by the Mother's side, who died in the Year of Grace One
Thousand Three Hundred and Nine; and my mother brought it into our
Family of Del Riccio, and it belongs to me Pier del Riccio and to my
Brother; 1452."
As far as I can learn, the age which this note implies is considered to be
supported by the character of the MS. itself.[3] If it be accepted, the
latter is a performance going back to within eleven years _at most_ of the
first dictation of the Travels. At first sight, therefore, this would
rather argue that the original had been written in pure Tuscan. But when
Baldelli came to prepare it for the press he found manifest indications of
its being a Translation from the _French_. Some of these he has noted;
others have followed up the same line of comparison. We give some detailed
examples in a note.[4]
[Sidenote: Old French Text published by the Société de Géographie.]
52. The French Text that we have been quoting, published by the
Geographical Society of Paris in 1824, affords on the other hand the
strongest corresponding proof that it is an original and not a
Translation. Rude as is the language of the manuscript (Fr. 1116, formerly
No. 7367, of Paris Library), it is, in the correctness of the proper
names, and the intelligible exhibition of the itineraries, much superior
to any form of the Work previously published.
The language is very peculiar. We are obliged to call it French, but it is
not "Frenche of Paris." "Its style," says Paulin Paris, "is about as like
that of good French authors of the age, as in our day the natural accent
of a German, an Englishman, or an Italian, is like that of a citizen of
Paris or Blois." The author is at war with all the practices of French
grammar; subject and object, numbers, moods, and tenses, are in consummate
confusion. Even readers of his own day must at times have been fain to
guess his meaning. Italian words are constantly introduced, either quite
in the crude or rudely Gallicized.[5] And words also, we may add,
sometimes slip in which appear to be purely Oriental, just as is apt to
happen with Anglo-Indians in these days.[6] All this is perfectly
consistent with the supposition that we have in this MS. a copy at least
of the original words as written down by Rusticiano a Tuscan, from the
dictation of Marco an Orientalized Venetian, in French, a language foreign
to both.
But the character of the language _as French_ is not its only peculiarity.
There is in the style, apart from grammar or vocabulary, a rude
angularity, a rough dramatism like that of oral narrative; there is a want
of proportion in the style of different parts, now over curt, now diffuse
and wordy, with at times even a hammering reiteration; a constant
recurrence of pet colloquial phrases (in which, however, other literary
works of the age partake); a frequent change in the spelling of the same
proper names, even when recurring within a few lines, as if caught by ear
only; a literal following to and fro of the hesitations of the narrator; a
more general use of the third person in speaking of the Traveller, but an
occasional lapse into the first. All these characteristics are strikingly
indicative of the unrevised product of dictation, and many of them would
_necessarily_ disappear either in translation or in a revised copy.
Of changes in representing the same proper name, take as an example that
of the Kaan of Persia whom Polo calls _Quiacatu_ (Kaikhátú), but also
_Acatu, Catu_, and the like.
As an example of the literal following of dictation take the following:--
"Let us leave Rosia, and I will tell you about the Great Sea (the
Euxine), and what provinces and nations lie round about it, all in
detail; and we will begin with Constantinople--First, however, I should
tell you about a province, etc.... 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.... Now then let us
speak of the Great Sea as I was about to do. To be sure many merchants
and others have been here, 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.
"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." (See vol. ii. p. 487
seqq.)
And so on.
As a specimen of tautology and hammering reiteration the following can
scarcely be surpassed. The Traveller is speaking of the _Chughi_, i.e. the
Indian Jogis:--
"And there are among them certain devotees, called _Chughi_; these are
longer-lived than the other people, for they live from 150 to 200 years;
and yet they are so hale of body that they can go and come wheresoever
they please, and do all the service needed for their monastery or their
idols, and do it just as well as if they were younger; and that comes of
the great abstinence that they practise, in eating little food and only
what is wholesome; for they use to eat rice and milk more than anything
else. And again I tell you that these Chughi who live such a long time
as I have told you, do also eat what I am going to tell you, and you
will think it a great matter. For I tell you that they take quicksilver
and sulphur, and mix them together, and make a drink of them, and then
they drink this, and they say that it adds to their life; and in fact
they do live much longer for it; and I tell you that they do this twice
every month. And let me tell you that these people use this drink from
their infancy in order to live longer, and without fail those who live
so long as I have told you use this drink of sulphur and quicksilver."
(See G. T. p. 213.)
Such talk as this does not survive the solvent of translation; and we may
be certain that we have here the nearest approach to the Traveller's
reminiscences as they were taken down from his lips in the prison of
Genoa.
[Sidenote: Conclusive proof that the Old French Text is the source of all
the others.]
53. Another circumstance, heretofore I believe unnoticed, is in itself
enough to demonstrate the Geographic Text to be the source of all other
versions of the Work. It is this.
In reviewing the various classes or types of texts of Polo's Book, which
we shall hereafter attempt to discriminate, there are certain proper names
which we find in the different texts to take very different forms, each
class adhering in the main to one particular form.
Thus the names of the Mongol ladies introduced at pp. 32 and 36 of this
volume, which are in proper Oriental form _Bulughán_ and _Kukáchin_,
appear in the class of MSS. which Pauthier has followed as _Bolgara_ and
_Cogatra_; in the MSS. of Pipino's version, and those founded on it,
including Ramusio, the names appear in the correcter forms _Bolgana_ or
_Balgana_ and _Cogacin_. Now _all the forms_ Bolgana, Balgana, Bolgara,
_and_ Cogatra, Cocacin _appear in the Geographic Text_.
Kaikhátú Kaan appears in the Pauthier MSS. as _Chiato_, in the Pipinian as
_Acatu_, in the Ramusian as _Chiacato. All three forms_, Chiato, Achatu,
and Quiacatu _are found in the Geographic Text_.
The city of Koh-banan appears in the Pauthier MSS. as _Cabanant_, in the
Pipinian and Ramusian editions as _Cobinam_ or _Cobinan_. _Both forms are
found in the Geographic Text_.
The city of the Great Kaan (Khanbalig) is called in the Pauthier MSS.
_Cambaluc_, in the Pipinian and Ramusian less correctly _Cambalu_. _Both
forms appear in the Geographic Text_.
The aboriginal People on the Burmese Frontier who received from the
Western officers of the Mongols the Persian name (translated from that
applied by the Chinese) of _Zardandán_, or Gold-Teeth, appear in the
Pauthier MSS. most accurately as Zardandan, but in the Pipinian as
_Ardandan_ (still further corrupted in some copies into _Arcladam_). Now
_both forms are found in the Geographic Text_. Other examples might be
given, but these I think may suffice to prove that this Text was the
common source of both classes.
In considering the question of the French original too we must remember
what has been already said regarding Rusticien de Pise and his other
French writings; and we shall find hereafter an express testimony borne in
the next generation that Marco's Book was composed _in vulgari Gallico_.
[Sidenote: Greatly diffused employment of French in that age.]
54. But, after all, the circumstantial evidence that has been adduced from
the texts themselves is the most conclusive. We have then every reason to
believe both that the work was written in French, and that an existing
French Text is a close representation of it as originally committed to
paper. And that being so we may cite some circumstances to show that the
use of French or quasi-French for the purpose was not a fact of a very
unusual or surprising nature. The French language had at that time almost
as wide, perhaps relatively a wider, diffusion than it has now. It was
still spoken at the Court of England, and still used by many English
writers, of whom the authors or translators of the Round Table Romances at
Henry III.'s Court are examples.[7] In 1249 Alexander III. King of
Scotland, at his coronation spoke in Latin and French; and in 1291 the
English Chancellor addressing the Scotch Parliament did so in French. At
certain of the Oxford Colleges as late as 1328 it was an order that the
students should converse _colloquio latino vel saltern gallico_.[8] Late
in the same century Gower had not ceased to use French, composing many
poems in it, though apologizing for his want of skill therein:--
"Et si jeo nai de Francois la faconde
* * * * *
Jeo suis Englois; si quier par tiele voie
Estre excusé."[9]
Indeed down to nearly 1385, boys in the English grammar-schools were
taught to construe their Latin lessons into French.[10] St. Francis of
Assisi is said by some of his biographers to have had his original name
changed to Francesco because of his early mastery of that language as a
qualification for commerce. French had been the prevalent tongue of the
Crusaders, and was that of the numerous Frank Courts which they
established in the East, including Jerusalem and the states of the Syrian
coast, Cyprus, Constantinople during the reign of the Courtenays, and the
principalities of the Morea. The Catalan soldier and chronicler Ramon de
Muntaner tells us that it was commonly said of the Morean chivalry that
they spoke as good French as at Paris.[11] Quasi-French at least was still
spoken half a century later by the numerous Christians settled at Aleppo,
as John Marignolli testifies;[12] and if we may trust Sir John Maundevile
the Soldan of Egypt himself and four of his chief Lords "_spak Frensche
righte wel!_"[13] Gházán Kaan, the accomplished Mongol Sovereign of
Persia, to whom our Traveller conveyed a bride from Cambaluc, is said by
the historian Rashiduddin to have known something of the Frank tongue,
probably French.[14] Nay, if we may trust the author of the Romance of
Richard Coeur-de-Lion, French was in his day the language of still higher
spheres![15]
Nor was Polo's case an exceptional one even among writers on the East who
were not Frenchmen. Maundevile himself tells us that he put his book first
"out of Latyn into Frensche," and then out of French into English.[16] The
History of the East which the Armenian Prince and Monk Hayton dictated to
Nicolas Faulcon at Poictiers in 1307 was taken down in French. There are
many other instances of the employment of French by foreign, and
especially by Italian authors of that age. The Latin chronicle of the
Benedictine Amato of Monte Cassino was translated into French early in the
13th century by another monk of the same abbey, at the particular desire
of the Count of Militrée (or Malta), "_Pour ce qu'il set lire et entendre
fransoize et s'en delitte._"[17] Martino da Canale, a countryman and
contemporary of Polo's, during the absence of the latter in the East wrote
a Chronicle of Venice in the same language, as a reason for which he
alleges its general popularity.[18] The like does the most notable example
of all, Brunetto Latini, Dante's master, who wrote in French his
encyclopaedic and once highly popular work _Li Tresor_.[19] Other examples
might be given, but in fact such illustration is superfluous when we
consider that Rusticiano himself was a compiler of French Romances.
But why the language of the Book as we see it in the Geographic Text
should be so much more rude, inaccurate, and Italianized than that of
Rusticiano's other writings, is a question to which I can suggest no reply
quite satisfactory to myself. Is it possible that we have in it a literal
representation of Polo's own language in dictating the story,--a rough
draft which it was intended afterwards to reduce to better form, and which
was so reduced (after a fashion) in French copies of another type,
regarding which we shall have to speak presently?[20] And, if this be the
true answer, why should Polo have used a French jargon in which to tell
his story? Is it possible that his own mother Venetian, such as he had
carried to the East with him and brought back again, was so little
intelligible to Rusticiano that French of some kind was the handiest
medium of communication between the two? I have known an Englishman and a
Hollander driven to converse in Malay; Chinese Christians of different
provinces are said sometimes to take to English as the readiest means of
intercommunication; and the same is said even of Irish-speaking Irishmen
from remote parts of the Island.
It is worthy of remark how many notable narratives of the Middle Ages have
been dictated instead of being written by their authors, and that in cases
where it is impossible to ascribe this to ignorance of writing. The
Armenian Hayton, though evidently a well-read man, possibly could not
write in Roman characters. But Joinville is an illustrious example. And
the narratives of four of the most famous Mediaeval Travellers[21] seem to
have been drawn from them by a kind of pressure, and committed to paper by
other hands. I have elsewhere remarked this as indicating how little
diffused was literary ambition or vanity; but it would perhaps be more
correct to ascribe it to that intense dislike which is still seen on the
shores of the Mediterranean to the use of pen and ink. On certain of those
shores at least there is scarcely any inconvenience that the majority of
respectable and good-natured people will not tolerate--inconvenience to
their neighbours be it understood--rather than put pen to paper for the
purpose of preventing it.
[1] 232 chapters in the oldest French which we quote as the _Geographic
Text_ (or G. T.), 200 in Pauthier's Text, 183 in the Crusca Italian.
[2] The MS. has been printed by Baldelli as above, and again by Bartoli in
1863.
[3] This is somewhat peculiar. I traced a few lines of it, which with Del
Riccio's note were given in facsimile in the First Edition.
[4] The Crusca is cited from Bartoli's edition.
French idioms are frequent, as _l'uomo_ for the French _on_;
_quattro-vinti_ instead of _ottanta_; etc.
We have at p. 35, "_Questo piano è molto_ cavo," which is nonsense,
but is explained by reference to the French (G. T.) "_Voz di qu'il est
celle plaingne mout_ chaue" (_chaude_).
The bread in Kerman is bitter, says the G. T. "_por ce que l'eive hi
est_ amer," because the water there is bitter. The Crusca mistakes the
last word and renders (p. 40) "_e questi è per lo_ mare _che vi
viene_."
"_Sachiés de voir qe_ endementiers," know for a truth that whilst----,
by some misunderstanding of the last word becomes (p. 129) "_Sappiate
di vero_ sanza mentire."
"_Mès de sel_ font-il monoie"--"They make money of salt," becomes (p.
168) "_ma fannole_ da loro," _sel_ being taken for a pronoun, whilst
in
another place _sel_ is transferred bodily without translation.
"_Chevoil_," "hair" of the old French, appears in the Tuscan (p. 20)
as _cavagli_, "horses."--"_La Grant Provence_ Jereraus," the great
general province, appears (p. 68) as a province whose proper name is
_Ienaraus_. In describing Kúblái's expedition against Mien or Burma,
Polo has a story of his calling on the Jugglers at his court to
undertake the job, promising them a Captain and other help,
"_Cheveitain et aide_." This has fairly puzzled the Tuscan, who
converts these (p. 186) into two Tartar tribes, "_quegli d'_ Aide
_e quegli di_ Caveità."
So also we have _lievre_ for hare transferred without change; _lait_,
milk, appearing as _laido_ instead of _latte_; _très_, rendered as
"three"; _bue_, "mud," Italianised as _buoi_, "oxen," and so forth.
Finally, in various places when Polo is explaining Oriental terms we
find in the Tuscan MS. "_cioè a dire in_ Francesco."
The blunders mentioned are intelligible enough as in a version _from
the French_; but in the description of the Indian pearl-fishery we
have a startling one not so easy to account for. The French says, "the
divers gather the sea-oysters (_hostrige de Mer_), and in these the
pearls are found." This appears in the Tuscan in the extraordinary
form that the divers catch those fishes called _Herrings_ (Aringhe),
and in those Herrings are found the Pearls!
[5] As examples of these Italianisms: "_Et ont del_ olio _de la lanpe dou_
sepolchro _de Crist_"; "_L'Angel ven en vision pour mesajes de Deu à
un_ Veschevo _qe mout estoient home de_ sante vite"; "_E certes il
estoit bien_ beizongno"; "_ne trop caut ne trop_ fredo"; "_la_ crense"
(_credenza_); "remort" for noise (_rumore_) "inverno"; "jorno";
"dementiqué" (_dimenticato_); "enferme" for sickly; "leign" (_legno_);
"devisce" (_dovizia_); "ammalaide" (_ammalato_), etc. etc.
Professor Bianconi points out that there are also traces of _Venetian_
dialect, as _Pare_ for _père_; _Mojer_ for wife; _Zabater_, cobbler;
_cazaor_, huntsman, etc.
I have not been able to learn to what extent books in this kind of
mixed language are extant. I have observed one, a romance in verse
called _Macaire_ (_Altfranzosische Gedichte aus Venez. Handschriften_,
von _Adolf Mussafia_, Wien, 1864), the language of which is not unlike
this jargon of Rustician's, e.g.:--
"'Dama,' fait-il, 'molto me poso merviler
De ves enfant quant le fi batecer
De un signo qe le vi sor la spal'a droiturer
Qe non ait nul se no filz d'inperer.'"--(p. 41)
[6] As examples of such Orientalisms: _Bonus_, "ebony," and _calamanz_,
"pencases," seem to represent the Persian abnús and kalamdàn; the dead
are mourned by _les mères et les_ Araines, the _Harems_; in speaking
of the land of the Ismaelites or Assassins, called _Mulhete_, i.e. the
Arabic _Muláhidah_, "Heretics," he explains this term as meaning "des
_Aram_" (_Harám_, "the reprobate"). Speaking of the Viceroys of
Chinese Provinces, we are told that they rendered their accounts
yearly to the _Safators_ of the Great Kaan. This is certainly an
Oriental word. Sir H. Rawlinson has suggested that it stands for
_dafátir_ ("registers or public books"), pl. of _daftar_. This seems
probable, and in that case the true reading may have been _dafators_.
[7] Luces du Gast, one of the first of these, introduces himself thus:--
"Je Luces, Chevaliers et Sires du Chastel du Gast, voisins prochain de
Salebieres, comme chevaliers amoureus enprens à translater du Latin en
François une partie de cette estoire, non mie pour ce que je sache
gramment de François, ainz apartient plus ma langue et ma parleure à
la manière de l'Engleterre que à celle de France, comme cel qui fu en
Engleterre nez, mais tele est ma volentez et mon proposement, que je
en langue françoise le translaterai." (_Hist. Litt. de La France_, xv.
494.)
[8] _Hist. Litt. de la France_, xv. 500.
[9] Ibid. 508.
[10] _Tyrwhitt's Essay on Lang., etc., of Chaucer_, p. xxii. (Moxon's Ed.
1852.)
[11] _Chroniques Etrangères_, p. 502.
[12] "_Loquuntur linguam quasi Gallicam, scilicet quasi de Cipro_."
(See _Cathay_ p. 332.)
[13] Page 138.
[14] _Hammers Ilchan_, II. 148.
[15] After the capture of Acre, Richard orders 60,000 Saracen prisoners to
be executed:--
"They wer brought out off the toun,
Save twenty, he heeld to raunsoun.
They wer led into the place ful evene:
_Ther they herden Aungeles off Hevene_:
_They sayde_: 'SEYNYORS, TUEZ, TUEZ!
'Spares hem nought! Behedith these!'
Kyng Rychard herde the Aungelys voys,
And thankyd God, and the Holy Croys."
--_Weber_, II. 144.
Note that, from the rhyme, the Angelic French was apparently
pronounced "_Too-eese! Too-eese!_"
[16] [Refer to the edition of Mr. George F. Warner, 1889, for the
Roxburghe Club, and to my own paper in the _T'oung Pao_, Vol. II., No.
4, regarding the compilation published under the name of Maundeville.
Also _App. L_. 13--H. C.]
[17] _L'Ystoire de li Normand_, etc., edited by M. Champollion-Figeac,
Paris, 1835, p. v.
[18] "_Porce que lengue Frenceise cort parmi le monde, et est la plus
delitable à lire et à oir que nule autre, me sui-je entremis de
translater l'ancien estoire des Veneciens de Latin en Franceis._"
(Archiv. Stor. Ital. viii. 268.)
[19] "_Et se aucuns demandoit por quoi cist livres est escriz en Romans,
selonc le langage des Francois, puisque nos somes Ytaliens, je diroie
que ce est por. ij. raisons: l'une, car nos somes en France; et
l'autre porce que la parleure est plus delitable et plus commune à
toutes gens._" (Li Livres dou Tresor, p. 3.)
[20] It is, however, not improbable that Rusticiano's hasty and
abbreviated original was extended by a scribe who knew next to nothing
of French; otherwise it is hard to account for such forms as
_perlinage_ (pelerinage), _peseries_ (espiceries), _proque_ (see vol.
ii. p. 370), _oisi_ (G.T. p. 208), _thochere_ (toucher), etc. (See
_Bianconi_, 2nd Mem. pp. 30-32.)
[21] Polo, Friar Odoric, Nicolo Conti, Ibn Batuta.
X. VARIOUS TYPES OF TEXT OF MARCO POLO'S BOOK.
[Sidenote: Four Principal Types of Text. First, that of the Geographic, or
oldest French.]
55. In treating of the various Texts of Polo's Book we must necessarily go
into some irksome detail.
Those Texts that have come down to us may be classified under Four
principal Types.
I. The First Type is that of the Geographic Text of which we have already
said so much. This is found nowhere _complete_ except in the unique MS. of
the Paris Library, to which it is stated to have come from the old Library
of the French Kings at Blois. But the Italian _Crusca_, and the old Latin
version (No. 3195 of the Paris Library) published with the Geographic
Text, are evidently derived entirely from it, though both are considerably
abridged. It is also demonstrable that neither of these copies has been
translated from the other, for each has passages which the other omits,
but that both have been taken, the one as a copy more or less loose, the
other as a translation, from an intermediate _Italian_ copy.[1] A special
difference lies in the fact that the Latin version is divided into three
Books, whilst the Crusca has no such division. I shall show in a tabular
form the _filiation_ of the texts which these facts seem to demonstrate
(see Appendix G).
There are other Italian MSS. of this type, some of which show signs of
having been derived independently from the French;[2] but I have not been
able to examine any of them with the care needful to make specific
deductions regarding them.
[Sidenote: Second; the remodelled French Text, followed by Pauthier.]
56. II. The next Type is that of the French MSS. on which M. Pauthier's
Text is based, and for which he claims the highest authority, as having
had the mature revision and sanction of the Traveller. There are, as far
as I know, five MSS. which may be classed together under this type, three
in the Great Paris Library, one at Bern, and one in the Bodleian.
The high claims made by Pauthier on behalf of this class of MSS. (on the
first three of which his Text is formed) rest mainly upon the kind of
certificate which two of them bear regarding the presentation of a copy by
Marco Polo to Thibault de Cepoy, which we have already quoted (supra p.
69). This certificate is held by Pauthier to imply that the original of
the copies which bear it, and of those having a general correspondence
with them, had the special seal of Marco's revision and approval. To some
considerable extent their character is corroborative of such a claim, but
they are far from having the perfection which Pauthier attributes to them,
and which leads him into many paradoxes.
It is not possible to interpret rigidly the bearing of this so-called
certificate, as if no copies had previously been taken of _any_ form of
the Book; nor can we allow it to impugn the authenticity of the Geographic
Text, which demonstratively represents an older original, and has been (as
we have seen) the parent of all other versions, including some very old
ones, Italian and Latin, which certainly owe nothing to this revision.
The first idea apparently entertained by d'Avezac and Paulin Paris was
that the Geographic Text was _itself_ the copy given to the Sieur de
Cepoy, and that the differences in the copies of the class which we
describe as Type II. merely resulted from the modifications which would
naturally arise in the process of transcription into purer French. But
closer examination showed the differences to be too great and too marked
to admit of this explanation. These differences consist not only in the
conversion of the rude, obscure, and half Italian language of the original
into good French of the period. There is also very considerable
curtailment, generally of tautology, but also extending often to
circumstances of substantial interest; whilst we observe the omission of a
few notably erroneous statements or expressions; and a few insertions of
small importance. None of the MSS. of this class contain more than a few
of the historical chapters which we have formed into Book IV.
The only _addition_ of any magnitude is that chapter which in our
translation forms chapter xxi. of Book II. It will be seen that it
contains no new facts, but is only a tedious recapitulation of
circumstances already stated, though scattered over several chapters.
There are a few minor additions. I have not thought it worth while to
collect them systematically here, but two or three examples are given in a
note.[3]
There are also one or two corrections of erroneous statements in the G. T.
which seem not to be accidental and to indicate some attempt at revision.
Thus a notable error in the account of Aden, which seems to conceive of
the Red Sea as a _river_, disappears in Pauthier's MSS. A and B.[4] And we
find in these MSS. one or two interesting names preserved which are not
found in the older Text.[5]
But on the other hand this class of MSS. contains many erroneous readings
of names, either adopting the worse of two forms occurring in the G. T. or
originating blunders of its own.[6]
M. Pauthier lays great stress on the character of these MSS. as the sole
authentic form of the work, from their claim to have been specially
revised by Marco Polo. It is evident, however, from what has been said,
that this revision can have been only a very careless and superficial one,
and must have been done in great measure by deputy, being almost entirely
confined to curtailment and to the improvement of the expression, and that
it is by no means such as to allow an editor to dispense with a careful
study of the Older Text.
[Sidenote: The Bern MS. and two others form a sub-class of this Type.]
57. There is another curious circumstance about the MSS. of this type,
viz., that they clearly divide into two distinct recensions, of which both
have so many peculiarities and errors in common that they must necessarily
have been both derived from _one_ modification of the original text,
whilst at the same time there are such differences between the two as
cannot be set down to the accidents of transcription. Pauthier's MSS. A
and B (Nos. 16 and 15 of the List in App. F) form one of these
subdivisions: his C (No. 17 of List), Bern (No. 56), and Oxford (No. 6),
the other. Between A and B the differences are only such as seem
constantly to have arisen from the whims of transcribers or their
dialectic peculiarities. But between A and B on the one side, and C on the
other, the differences are much greater. The readings of proper names in C
are often superior, sometimes worse; but in the latter half of the work
especially it contains a number of substantial passages[7] which are to be
found in the G. T., but are altogether absent from the MSS. A and B;
whilst in one case at least (the history of the Siege of Saianfu, vol. ii.
p. 159) it diverges considerably from the G. T. _as well_ as from A and
B.[8]
I gather from the facts that the MS. C represents an older form of the
work than A and B. I should judge that the latter had been derived from
that older form, but intentionally modified from it. And as it is the MS.
C, with its copy at Bern, that alone presents the certificate of
derivation from the Book given to the Sieur de Cepoy, there can be no
doubt that it is the true representative of that recension.
[Sidenote: Third; Friar Pipino's Latin.]
58. III. The next Type of Text is that found in Friar Pipino's Latin
version. It is the type of which MSS. are by far the most numerous. In it
condensation and curtailment are carried a good deal further than in Type
II. The work is also divided into three Books. But this division does not
seem to have originated with Pipino, as we find it in the ruder and
perhaps older Latin version of which we have already spoken under Type I.
And we have demonstrated that this ruder Latin is a translation from an
Italian copy. It is probable therefore that an Italian version similarly
divided was the common source of what we call the Geographic Latin and of
Pipino's more condensed version.[9]
Pipino's version appears to have been executed in the later years of
Polo's life.[10] But I can see no ground for the idea entertained by
Baldelli-Boni and Professor Bianconi that it was executed with Polo's
cognizance and retouched by him.
[Sidenote: The Latin of Grynaeus a translation at fifth hand.]
59. The absence of effective publication in the Middle Ages led to a
curious complication of translation and retranslation. Thus the Latin
version published by Grynaeus in the _Novus Orbis_ (Basle, 1532) is
different from Pipino's, and yet clearly traceable to it as a base. In
fact it is a retranslation into Latin from some version (Marsden thinks
the printed Portuguese one) of Pipino. It introduces many minor
modifications, omitting specific statements of numbers and values,
generalizing the names and descriptions of specific animals, exhibiting
frequent sciolism and self-sufficiency in modifying statements which the
Editor disbelieved.[11] It is therefore utterly worthless as a Text, and
it is curious that Andreas Müller, who in the 17th century devoted himself
to the careful editing of Polo, should have made so unfortunate a choice
as to reproduce this fifth-hand Translation. I may add that the French
editions published in the middle of the 16th century are _translations_
from Grynaeus. Hence they complete this curious and vicious circle of
translation: French--Italian--Pipino's Latin--Portuguese?--Grynaeus's
Latin--French![12]
[Sidenote: Fourth; Ramusio's Italian.]
60. IV. We now come to a Type of Text which deviates largely from any of
those hitherto spoken of, and the history and true character of which are
involved in a cloud of difficulty. We mean that Italian version prepared
for the press by G. B. Ramusio, with most interesting, though, as we have
seen, not always accurate preliminary dissertations, and published at
Venice two years after his death, in the second volume of the _Navigationi
e Viaggi_.[13]
The peculiarities of this version are very remarkable. Ramusio seems to
imply that he used as one basis at least the Latin of Pipino; and many
circumstances, such as the division into Books, the absence of the
terminal historical chapters and of those about the Magi, and the form of
many proper names, confirm this. But also many additional circumstances
and anecdotes are introduced, many of the names assume a new shape, and
the whole style is more copious and literary in character than in any
other form of the work.
Whilst some of the changes or interpolations seem to carry us further from
the truth, others contain facts of Asiatic nature or history, as well as
of Polo's own experiences, which it is extremely difficult to ascribe to
any hand but the Traveller's own. This was the view taken by Baldelli,
Klaproth, and Neumann;[14] but Hugh Murray, Lazari, and Bartoli regard the
changes as interpolations by another hand; and Lazari is rash enough to
ascribe the whole to a _rifacimento_ of Ramusio's own age, asserting it to
contain interpolations not merely from Polo's own contemporary Hayton, but
also from travellers of later centuries, such as Conti, Barbosa, and
Pigafetta. The grounds for these last assertions have not been cited, nor
can I trace them. But I admit _to a certain extent_ indications of modern
tampering with the text, especially in cases where proper names seem to
have been identified and more modern forms substituted. In days, however,
where an Editor's duties were ill understood, this was natural.
[Sidenote: Injudicious tamperings in Ramusio.]
61. Thus we find substituted for the _Bastra_ (or _Bascra_) of the older
texts the more modern and incorrect _Balsora_, dear to memories of the
Arabian Nights; among the provinces of Persia we have _Spaan_ (Ispahan)
where older texts read _Istanit_; for _Cormos_ we have _Ormus_; for
_Herminia_ and _Laias, Armenia_ and _Giazza; Coulam_ for the older
_Coilum; Socotera_ for _Scotra_. With these changes may be classed the
chapter-headings, which are undisguisedly modern, and probably Ramusio's
own. In some other cases this editorial spirit has been over-meddlesome
and has gone astray. Thus _Malabar_ is substituted wrongly for _Maabar_ in
one place, and by a grosser error for _Dalivar_ in another. The age of
young Marco, at the time of his father's first return to Venice, has been
arbitrarily altered from 15 to 19, in order to correspond with a date
which is itself erroneous. Thus also Polo is made to describe Ormus as on
an Island, contrary to the old texts and to the fact; for the city of
Hormuz was not transferred to the island, afterwards so famous, till some
years after Polo's return from the East. It is probably also the editor
who in the notice of the oil-springs of Caucasus (i. p. 46) has
substituted _camel-loads_ for _ship-loads_, in ignorance that the site of
those alluded to was probably Baku on the Caspian.
Other erroneous statements, such as the introduction of window-glass as
one of the embellishments of the palace at Cambaluc, are probably due only
to accidental misunderstanding.
[Sidenote: Genuine statements peculiar to Ramusio.]
62. Of circumstances certainly genuine, which are peculiar to this edition
of Polo's work, and which it is difficult to assign to any one but
himself, we may note the specification of the woods east of Yezd as
composed of _date trees_ (vol. i pp. 88-89); the unmistakable allusion to
the subterranean irrigation channels of Persia (p. 123); the accurate
explanation of the term _Mulehet_ applied to the sect of Assassins (pp.
139-142); the mention of the Lake (Sirikul?) on the plateau of Pamer, of
the wolves that prey on the wild sheep, and of the piles of wild rams'
horns used as landmarks in the snow (pp. 171-177). To the description of
the Tibetan Yak, which is in all the texts, Ramusio's version alone adds a
fact probably not recorded again till the present century, viz., that it
is the practice to cross the Yak with the common cow (p. 274). Ramusio
alone notices the prevalence of _goître_ at Yarkand, confirmed by recent
travellers (i. p. 187); the vermilion seal of the Great Kaan imprinted on
the paper-currency, which may be seen in our plate of a Chinese note (p.
426); the variation in Chinese dialects (ii. p. 236); the division of the
hulls of junks into water-tight compartments (ii. p. 249); the
introduction into China from Egypt of the art of refining sugar (ii. p.
226). Ramusio's account of the position of the city of Sindafu (Ch'eng-tu
fu) encompassed and intersected by many branches of a great river (ii. p.
40), is much more just than that in the old text, which speaks of but one
river through the middle of the city. The intelligent notices of the
Kaan's charities as originated by his adoption of "idolatry" or Buddhism;
of the astrological superstitions of the Chinese, and of the manners and
character of the latter nation, are found in Ramusio alone. To whom but
Marco himself, or one of his party, can we refer the brief but vivid
picture of the delicious atmosphere and scenery of the Badakhshan plateaux
(ip. 158), and of the benefit that Messer Marco's health derived from a
visit to them? In this version alone again we have an account of the
oppressions exercised by Kúblái's Mahomedan Minister Ahmad, telling how
the Cathayans rose against him and murdered him, with the addition that
Messer Marco was on the spot when all this happened. Now not only is the
whole story in substantial accordance with the Chinese Annals, even to the
name of the chief conspirator,[15] but those annals also tell of the
courageous frankness of "Polo, assessor of the Privy Council," in opening
the Kaan's eyes to the truth.
Many more such examples might be adduced, but these will suffice. It is
true that many of the passages peculiar to the Ramusian version, and
indeed the whole version, show a freer utterance and more of a literary
faculty than we should attribute to Polo, judging from the earlier texts.
It is possible, however, that this may be almost, if not entirely, due to
the fact that the version is the result of a double translation, and
probably of an editorial fusion of several documents; processes in which
angularities of expression would be dissolved.[16]
[Sidenote: Hypothesis of the sources of the Ramusian Version.]
63. Though difficulties will certainly remain,[17] the most probable
explanation of the origin of this text seems to me to be some such
hypothesis as the following:--I suppose that Polo in his latter years
added with his own hand supplementary notes and reminiscences, marginally
or otherwise, to a copy of his book; that these, perhaps in his lifetime,
more probably after his death, were digested and translated into
Latin;[18] and that Ramusio, or some friend of his, in retranslating and
fusing them with Pipino's version for the _Navigationi_, made those minor
modifications in names and other matters which we have already noticed.
The mere facts of digestion from memoranda and double translation would
account for a good deal of unintentional corruption.
That more than one version was employed in the composition of Ramusio's
edition we have curious proof in at least one passage of the latter. We
have pointed out at p. 410 of this volume a curious example of
misunderstanding of the old French Text, a passage in which the term _Roi
des Pelaines_, or "King of Furs," is applied to the Sable, and which in
the Crusca has been converted into an imaginary Tartar phrase _Leroide
pelame_, or as Pipino makes it _Rondes_ (another indication that Pipino's
Version and the Crusca passed through a common medium). But Ramusio
exhibits _both_ the true reading and the perversion: "_E li Tartari la
chiamano_ Regina delle pelli" (there is the true reading), "_E gli animali
si chiamano_ Rondes" (and there the perverted one).
We may further remark that Ramusio's version betrays indications that one
of its bases either was in the Venetian dialect, or had passed through
that dialect; for a good many of the names appear in Venetian forms, e.g.,
substituting the _z_ for the sound of _ch, j_, or soft _g_, as in _Goza,
Zorzania, Zagatay, Gonza_ (for Giogiu), _Quenzanfu, Coiganzu, Tapinzu,
Zipangu, Ziamba_.
[Sidenote: Summary in regard to Text of Polo.]
64. To sum up. It is, I think, beyond reasonable dispute that we have, in
what we call the Geographic Text, as nearly as may be an exact transcript
of the Traveller's words as originally taken down in the prison of Genoa.
We have again in the MSS. of the second type an edition pruned and
refined, probably under instructions from Marco Polo, but not with any
critical exactness. And lastly, I believe, that we have, imbedded in the
Ramusian edition, the supplementary recollections of the Traveller, noted
down at a later period of his life, but perplexed by repeated translation,
compilation, and editorial mishandling.
And the most important remaining problem in regard to the text of Polo's
work is the discovery of the supplemental manuscript from which Ramusio
derived those passages which are found only in his edition. It is possible
that it may still exist, but no trace of it in anything like completeness
has yet been found; though when my task was all but done I discovered a
small part of the Ramusian peculiarities in a MS. at Venice.[19]
65. Whilst upon this subject of manuscripts of our Author, I will give
some particulars regarding a very curious one, containing a version in the
_Irish_ language.
[Sidenote: Notice of a curious Irish Version of Polo.]
This remarkable document is found in the _Book of Lismore_, belonging to
the Duke of Devonshire. That magnificent book, finely written on vellum of
the largest size, was discovered in 1814, enclosed in a wooden box, along
with a superb crozier, on opening a closed doorway in the castle of
Lismore. It contained Lives of the Saints, the (Romance) History of
Charlemagne, the History of the Lombards, histories and tales of Irish
wars, etc., etc., and among the other matter this version of Marco Polo.
A full account of the Book and its mutilations will be found in _O'Curry's
Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History_, p. 196 seqq.,
Dublin, 1861. The _Book of Lismore_ was written about 1460 for Finghin
MacCarthy and his wife Catharine Fitzgerald, daughter of Gerald, Eighth
Earl of Desmond.
The date of the Translation of Polo is not known, but it may be supposed
to have been executed about the above date, probably in the Monastery of
Lismore (county of Waterford).
From the extracts that have been translated for me, it is obvious that the
version was made, with an astounding freedom certainly, from Friar
Francesco Pipino's Latin.
Both beginning and end are missing. But what remains opens thus; compare
it with Friar Pipino's real prologue as we give it in the Appendix![20]
"[Irish uncial text:
riguib ocus tassech na cathar sin. bai bratair rigui anaibit san fnses
inn cathr intansin. ba eoluc dano ss' nahilberlaib fransiscus aainm.
bhur iarum du ambant na maste ucut ocus cuingst fair inleabor doclod
fcula otengaid natartaired cg inteng laitanda]." &c.
--"Kings and chieftains of that city. There was then in the city a
princely Friar in the habit of St. Francis, named Franciscus, who was
versed in many languages. He was brought to the place where those nobles
were, and they requested of him to translate the book from the Tartar
(!) into the Latin language. 'It is an abomination to me,' said he, 'to
devote my mind or labour to works of Idolatry and Irreligion.' They
entreated him again. 'It shall be done,' said he; 'for though it be an
irreligious narrative that is related therein, yet the things are
miracles of the True God; and every one who hears this much against the
Holy Faith shall pray fervently for their conversion. And he who will
not pray shall waste the vigour of his body to convert them.' I am not
in dread of this Book of Marcus, for there is no lie in it. My eyes
beheld him bringing the relics of the holy Church with him, and he left
[his testimony], whilst tasting of death, that it was true. And Marcus
was a devout man. What is there in it, then, but that Franciscus
translated this Book of Marcus from the Tartar into Latin; and the years
of the Lord at that time were fifteen years, two score, two hundred, and
one thousand" (1255).
It then describes _Armein Bec_ (Little Armenia), _Armein Mor_ (Great
Armenia), _Musul, Taurisius, Persida, Camandi_, and so forth. The last
chapter is that on _Abaschia_:--
"ABASCHIA also is an extensive country, under the government of Seven
Kings, four of whom worship the true God, and each of them wears a
golden cross on the forehead; and they are valiant in battle, having
been brought up fighting against the Gentiles of the other three kings,
who are Unbelievers and Idolaters. And the kingdom of ADEN; a Soudan
rules over them.
"The king of Abaschia once took a notion to make a pilgrimage to the
Sepulchre of Jesus. 'Not at all,' said his nobles and warriors to him,
'for we should be afraid lest the infidels through whose territories you
would have to pass, should kill you. There is a Holy Bishop with you,'
said they; 'send him to the Sepulchre of Jesus, and much gold with
him'"--
The rest is wanting.
[1] In the following citations, the Geographic Text (G. T.) is quoted by
page from the printed edition (1824); the Latin published in the same
volume (G. L.) also by page; the Crusca, as before, from Bartoli's
edition of 1863. References in parentheses are to the present
translation:--
A. _Passages showing the G. L. to be a translation from the Italian,
and derived from the same Italian text as the_ Crusca.
Page
(1). G.T. 17 (I. 43). Il hi se laborent _le souran tapis_
dou monde.
Crusca, 17 .. E quivi si fanno _i sovrani tappeti_
del mondo.
G.L. 311 .. Et ibi fiunt _soriani et tapeti_
pulcriores de mundo.
(2). G.T. 23 (I. 69). Et adonc le calif mande par tuit les
cristiez ... _que en sa tere estoient_.
Crusca, 27 .. _Ora mandò_ lo aliffo per tutti gli
Cristiani _ch' erano di lá_.
G.L. 316 .. _Or misit_ califus pro Christianis
_qui erant ultra fluvium_
(the last words being clearly a
misunderstanding of the Italian _di là_).
(3). G.T. 198 (II. 313). Ont _sosimain_ (sesamum) de coi il
font le olio.
Crusca, 253 .. Hanno _sosimai_ onde fanno l' olio.
G.L. 448 .. Habent _turpes manus_ (taking _sosimani_
for _sozze mani_ "Dirty hands"!).
(4). Crusca, 52 (I. 158). _Cacciare e uccellare_ v' è lo migliore
del mondo.
G.L. 332 .. Et est ibi optimum _caciare et ucellare_.
(5). G.T. 124 (II. 36). Adonc treuve ... une Provence _qe est
encore_ de le confin dou Mangi.
Crusca, 162-3 .. L' uomo truova una Provincia _ch' è
chiamata ancora_ delle confine de' Mangi.
G.L. 396 .. Invenit unam Provinciam _quae vocatur
Anchota_ de confinibus Mangi.
(6). G.T. 146 (II. 119.) Les dames portent as jambes et es
braces, braciaus d'or et d'arjent de
grandisme vailance.
Crusca, 189 .. Le donne _portano alle braccia e alle
gambe bracciali d'oro_ e d'ariento
di gran valuta.
G.L. 411 .. Dominae eorum _portant ad brachia et
ad gambas brazalia de auro_ et de
argento magni valoris.
B. _Passages showing additionally the errors, or other peculiarities
of a translation from a French original, common to the Italian and the
Latin._
(7). G.T. 32 (I. 97.) Est celle plaingne mout _chaue_ (chaude).
Crusca, 35 .. Questo piano è molto _cavo_.
G.L. 322 .. Ista planities est multum _cava_.
(8). G.T. 36 (I. 110). Avent por ce que l'eive hi est _amer_.
Crusca, 40 .. E questo è _per lo mare_ che vi viene.
G.L. 324 .. Istud est _propter mare_ quod est ibi.
(9). G.T. 8 (I. 50.) Un roi qi est apelés par tout tens
Davit Melic, que veut à dir _en fransois_
Davit Roi.
Crusca, 20 .. Uno re il quale si chiama _sempre_
David Melic, ciò è a dire _in francesco_
David Re.
G.L. 312 .. Rex qui _semper_ vocatur David Mellic,
quod sonat _in gallico_ David Rex.
These passages, and many more that might be quoted, seem to me to
demonstrate (1) that the Latin and the Crusca have had a common
original, and (2) that this original was an Italian version from the
French.
[2] Thus the _Pucci_ MS. at Florence, in the passage regarding the Golden
King (vol. ii. p. 17) which begins in G. T. "_Lequel fist faire_ jadis
_un rois qe fu apellés le Roi Dor_," renders "_Lo quale fa fare_
Jaddis _uno re_," a mistake which is not in the Crusca nor in the
Latin, and seems to imply derivation from the French directly, or by
some other channel (_Baldelli Boni_).
[3] In the Prologue (vol. i. p. 34) this class of MSS. alone names the
King of England.
In the account of the Battle with Nayan (i. p. 337) this class alone
speaks of the two-stringed instruments which the Tartars played whilst
awaiting the signal for battle. But the circumstance appears elsewhere
in the G. T. (p. 250).
In the chapter on _Malabar_ (vol. ii. p. 390), it is said that the
ships which go with cargoes towards Alexandria are not one-tenth of
those that go to the further East. This is not in the older French.
In the chapter on _Coilun_ (ii. p. 375), we have a notice of the
Columbine ginger so celebrated in the Middle Ages, which is also
absent from the older text.
[4] See vol. ii. p. 439. It is, however, remarkable that a like mistake is
made about the Persian Gulf (see i. 63, 64). Perhaps Polo _thought_ in
Persian, in which the word _darya_ means either _sea_ or a _large
river_. The same habit and the ambiguity of the Persian _sher_ led him
probably to his confusion of lions and tigers (see i. 397).
[5] Such are Pasciai-_Dir_ and _Ariora_ Kesciemur (i. p. 98.)
[6] Thus the MSS. of this type have elected the erroneous readings
_Bolgara, Cogatra, Chiato, Cabanant_, etc., instead of the correcter
_Bolgana, Cocacin, Quiacatu, Cobinan_, where the G. T. presents both
(supra, p. 86). They read _Esanar_ for the correct _Etzina_; _Chascun_
for _Casvin_; _Achalet_ for _Acbalec_; _Sardansu_ for _Sindafu_,
_Kayteu, Kayton, Sarcon_ for _Zaiton_ or _Caiton_; _Soucat_ for
_Locac_; _Falec_ for _Ferlec_, and so on, the worse instead of the
better. They make the _Mer Occeane_ into _Mer Occident_; the wild
asses (_asnes_) of the Kerman Desert into wild geese (_oes_); the
_escoillez_ of Bengal (ii. p. 115) into _escoliers_; the _giraffes_ of
Africa into _girofles_, or cloves, etc., etc.
[7] There are about five-and-thirty such passages altogether.
[8] The Bern MS. I have satisfied myself is an actual _copy_ of the Paris
MS. C.
The Oxford MS. closely resembles both, but I have not made the
comparison minutely enough to say if it is an exact copy of either.
[9] The following comparison will also show that these two Latin versions
have probably had a common source, such as is here suggested.
At the end of the Prologue the Geographic Text reads simply:--
"Or puis que je voz ai contez tot le fat dou prolegue ensi con voz
avés oï, adonc (commencerai) le Livre."
Whilst the Geographic Latin has:--
"_Postquam recitavimus et diximus facta et condictiones morum,
itinerum_ et ea quae nobis contigerunt per vias, _incipiemus
dicere ea quae vidimus. Et primo dicemus de Minore Hermenia_."
And Pipino:--
"_Narratione facta nostri itineris, nunc ad ea narranda quae vidimus
accedamus. Primo autem Armeniam Minorem describemus breviter_."
[10] Friar Francesco Pipino of Bologna, a Dominican, is known also as the
author of a lengthy chronicle from the time of the Frank Kings down to
1314; of a Latin Translation of the French History of the Conquest of
the Holy Land, by Bernard the Treasurer; and of a short Itinerary of a
Pilgrimage to Palestine in 1320. Extracts from the Chronicle, and the
version of Bernard, are printed in Muratori's Collection. As Pipino
states himself to have executed the translation of Polo by order of
his Superiors, it is probable that the task was set him at a general
chapter of the order which was held at Bologna in 1315. (See
_Muratori_, IX. 583; and _Quétif, Script. Ord. Praed._ I. 539). We do
not know why Ramusio assigned the translation specifically to 1320,
but he may have had grounds.
[11] See _Bianconi_, 1st Mem. 29 seqq.
[12] C. Dickens somewhere narrates the history of the equivalents for a
sovereign as changed and rechanged at every frontier on a continental
tour. The final equivalent received at Dover on his return was some 12
or 13 shillings; a fair parallel to the comparative value of the first
and last copies in the circle of translation.
[13] The Ramusios were a family of note in literature for several
generations. Paolo, the father of Gian Battista, came originally from
Rimini to Venice in 1458, and had a great repute as a jurist, besides
being a littérateur of some eminence, as was also his younger brother
Girolamo. G. B. Ramusio was born at Treviso in 1485, and early entered
the public service. In 1533 he became one of the Secretaries of the
Council of X. He was especially devoted to geographical studies, and
had a school for such studies in his house. He retired eventually from
public duties, and lived at Villa Ramusia, near Padua. He died in the
latter city, 10th July, 1557, but was buried at Venice in the Church
of S. Maria dell' Orto. There was a portrait of him by Paul Veronese
in the Hall of the Great Council, but it perished in the fire of 1577;
and that which is now seen in the Sala dello Scudo is, like the
companion portrait of Marco Polo, imaginary. Paolo Ramusio, his son,
was the author of the well-known History of the Capture of
Constantinople. (_Cicogna_, II. 310 seqq.)
[14] The old French texts were unknown in Marsden's time. Hence this
question did not present itself to him.
[15] _Wangcheu_ in the Chinese Annals; _Vanchu_ in Ramusio. I assume that
Polo's _Vanchu_ was pronounced as in English; for in Venetian the _ch_
very often has that sound. But I confess that I can adduce no other
instance in Ramusio where I suppose it to have this sound, except in
the initial sound of _Chinchitalas_ and twice in _Choiach_ (see II.
364).
Professor Bianconi, who has treated the questions connected with the
Texts of Polo with honest enthusiasm and laborious detail, will admit
nothing genuine in the Ramusian interpolations beyond the preservation
of some _oral traditions_ of Polo's supplementary recollections. But
such a theory is out of the question in face of a chapter like that on
Ahmad.
[16] Old Purchas appears to have greatly relished Ramusio's comparative
lucidity: "I found (says he) this Booke translated by Master Hakluyt
out of the Latine (i.e. among Hakluyt's MS. collections). But where
the blind leade the blind both fall: as here the corrupt _Latine_
could not but yeeld a corruption of truth in _English_. Ramusio,
Secretarie to the _Decemviri_ in _Venice_, found a better Copie and
published the same, whence you have the worke in manner new: so
renewed, that I have found the Proverbe true, that it is better to
pull downe an old house and to build it anew, then to repaire it; as I
also should have done, had I knowne that which in the event I found.
The _Latine_ is Latten, compared to _Ramusio's_ Gold. And hee which
hath the _Latine_ hath but _Marco Polo's_ carkasse or not so much, but
a few bones, yea, sometimes stones rather then bones; things divers,
averse, adverse, perverted in manner, disjoynted in manner, beyond
beliefe. I have seene some Authors maymed, but never any so mangled
and so mingled, so present and so absent, as this vulgar _Latine_ of
_Marco Polo_; not so like himselfe, as the Three _Polo's_ were at
their returne to _Venice_, where none knew them.... Much are wee
beholden to _Ramusio_, for restoring this _Pole_ and Load-starre of
_Asia_, out of that mirie poole or puddle in which he lay drouned."
(III. p. 65.)
[17] Of these difficulties the following are some of the more prominent:--
1. The mention of the death of Kúblái (see note 7, p. 38 of this
volume), whilst throughout the book Polo speaks of Kúblái as if still
reigning.
2. Mr. Hugh Murray objects that whilst in the old texts Polo appears to
look on Kúblái with reverence as a faultless Prince, in the Ramusian
we find passages of an opposite tendency, as in the chapter about
Ahmad.
3. The same editor points to the manner in which one of the Ramusian
additions represents the traveller to have visited the Palace of the
Chinese Kings at Kinsay, which he conceives to be inconsistent with
Marco's position as an official of the Mongol Government. (See vol.
ii. p. 208.)
If we could conceive the Ramusian additions to have been originally
notes written by old Maffeo Polo on his nephew's book, this hypothesis
would remove almost all difficulty.
One passage in Ramusio seems to bear a reference to the date at which
these interpolated notes were amalgamated with the original. In the
chapter on Samarkand (i. p. 191) the conversion of the Prince Chagatai
is said in the old texts to have occurred "not a great while ago"
(_il ne a encore grament de tens_). But in Ramusio the supposed
event is fixed at "one hundred and twenty-five years since." This
number could not have been uttered with reference to 1298, the year of
the dictation at Genoa, nor to any year of Polo's own life. Hence it
is probable that the original note contained a date or definite term
which was altered by the compiler to suit the date of his own
compilation, some time in the 14th century.]
[18] In the first edition of Ramusio the preface contained the following
passage, which is omitted from the succeeding editions; but as even
the first edition was issued after Ramusio's own death, I do not see
that any stress can be laid on this:
"A copy of the Book of Marco Polo, as it was originally written in
Latin, marvellously old, and perhaps directly copied from the original
as it came from M. Marco's own hand, has been often consulted by me
and compared with that which we now publish, having been lent me by a
nobleman of this city, belonging to the Ca' Ghisi."
[19] For a moment I thought I had been lucky enough to light on a part of
the missing original of Ramusio in the Barberini Library at Rome.
A fragment of a Venetian version in that library (No. 56 in our list
of MSS.) bore on the fly-leaf the title "_Alcuni primi capi del Libro
di S. Marco Polo, copiati dall esemplare manoscritto di PAOLO
RANNUSIO._" But it proved to be of no importance. One brief passage of
those which have been thought peculiar to Ramusio; viz., the reference
to the Martyrdom of St. Blaize at Sebaste (see p. 43 of this volume),
is found also in the Geographic Latin.
It was pointed out by Lazari, that another passage (vol. i. p. 60) of
those otherwise peculiar to Ramusio, is found in a somewhat abridged
Latin version in a MS. which belonged to the late eminent antiquary
Emanuel Cicogna. (See List in Appendix F, No. 35.) This fact induced
me when at Venice in 1870 to examine the MS. throughout, and, though I
could give little time to it, the result was very curious.
I find that this MS. contains, not one only, but at least _seven_ of
the passages otherwise peculiar to Ramusio, and must have been one of
the elements that went to the formation of his text. Yet of his more
important interpolations, such as the chapter on Ahmad's oppressions
and the additional matter on the City of Kinsay, there is no
indication. The seven passages alluded to are as follows; the words
corresponding to Ramusian peculiarities are in italics, the references
are to my own volumes.
1. In the chapter on Georgia:
"Mare quod dicitur Gheluchelan _vel ABACU_"....
"Est ejus stricta via et dubia. Ab una parte est mare _quod dixi de
ABACU_ et ab aliâ nemora invia," etc. (See I. p. 59, note 8.)
2. "Et ibi optimi austures _dicti AVIGI_" (I. 50).
3. After the chapter on Mosul is another short chapter, already
alluded to:
"_Prope hanc civitatem (est) alia provincia dicta MUS e MEREDIEN in
quâ nascitur magna quantitas bombacis, et hic fiunt bocharini et alia
multa, et sunt mercatores homines et artiste_." (See i. p. 60.)
4. In the chapter on _Tarcan_ (for Carcan, i.e. Yarkand):
"_Et maior pars horum habent unum ex pedibus grossum et habent gosum
in gulâ_; et est hic fertilis contracta." (See i. p. 187.)
5. In the Desert of Lop:
"_Homines trasseuntes appendunt bestiis suis capanullas_ [i.e.
campanellas] _ut ipsas senciant et ne deviare possint_" (i. p. 197.)
6. "Ciagannor, _quod sonat in Latino STAGNUM ALBUM_." (i. p. 296.)
7. "Et in medio hujus viridarii est palacium sive logia, _tota super
columpnas. Et in summitate cujuslibet columnae est draco magnus
circundans totam columpnam, et hic substinet eorum cohoperturam cum
ore et pedibus_; et est cohopertura tota de cannis hoc modo," etc.
(See i. p. 299.)
[20] My valued friend Sir Arthur Phayre made known to me the passage in
_O'Curry's Lectures_. I then procured the extracts and further
particulars from Mr. J. Long, Irish Transcriber and Translator in
Dublin, who took them from the Transcript of the _Book of Lismore_, in
the possession of the Royal Irish Academy. [Cf. _Anecdota Oxoniensia.
Lives of the Saints from the Book of Lismore, edited with a
translation ... by_ Whitley Stokes, Oxford, 1890.--_Marco Polo_ forms
fo. 79 a, 1--fo. 89 b, 2, of the MS., and is described pp. xxii.-xxiv.
of Mr. Whitley Stokes' Book, who has since published the Text in the
_Zeit. f. Celtische Philol._ (See _Bibliography_, vol. ii. p. 573.)--
H. C.]
XI. SOME ESTIMATE OF THE CHARACTER OF POLO AND HIS BOOK.
[Sidenote: Grounds of Polo's pre-eminence among mediaeval travellers.]
66. That Marco Polo has been so universally recognised as the King of
Mediaeval Travellers is due rather to the width of his experience, the
vast compass of his journeys, and the romantic nature of his personal
history, than to transcendent superiority of character or capacity.
The generation immediately preceding his own has bequeathed to us, in the
Report of the Franciscan Friar William de Rubruquis,[1] on the Mission
with which St. Lewis charged him to the Tartar Courts, the narrative of
one great journey, which, in its rich detail, its vivid pictures, its
acuteness of observation and strong good sense, seems to me to form a Book
of Travels of much higher claims than _any one series_ of Polo's chapters;
a book, indeed, which has never had justice done to it, for it has few
superiors in the whole Library of Travel.
Enthusiastic Biographers, beginning with Ramusio, have placed Polo on the
same platform with Columbus. But where has our Venetian Traveller left
behind him any trace of the genius and lofty enthusiasm, the ardent and
justified previsions which mark the great Admiral as one of the lights of
the human race?[2] It is a juster praise that the spur which his Book
eventually gave to geographical studies, and the beacons which it hung out
at the Eastern extremities of the Earth helped to guide the aims, though
scarcely to kindle the fire, of the greater son of the rival Republic. His
work was at least a link in the Providential chain which at last dragged
the New World to light.[3]
[Sidenote: His true claims to glory.]
67. Surely Marco's real, indisputable, and, in their kind, unique claims
to glory may suffice! _He was the first Traveller to trace a route across
the whole longitude of_ ASIA, _naming and describing kingdom after kingdom
which he had seen with his own eyes; the Deserts of_ PERSIA, _the
flowering plateaux and wild gorges of_ BADAKHSHAN, _the jade-bearing
rivers of_ KHOTAN, _the_ MONGOLIAN _Steppes, cradle of the power that had
so lately threatened to swallow up Christendom, the new and brilliant
Court that had been established at_ CAMBALUC: _The first Traveller to
reveal_ CHINA _in all its wealth and vastness, its mighty rivers, its huge
cities, its rich manufactures, its swarming population, the inconceivably
vast fleets that quickened its seas and its inland waters; to tell us of
the nations on its borders with all their eccentricities of manners and
worship; of_ TIBET _with its sordid devotees; of_ BURMA _with its golden
pagodas and their tinkling crowns; of_ LAOS, _of_ SIAM, _of_ COCHIN CHINA,
_of_ JAPAN, _the Eastern Thule, with its rosy pearls and golden-roofed
palaces; the first to speak of that Museum of Beauty and Wonder, still so
imperfectly ransacked, the_ INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, _source of those aromatics
then so highly prized and whose origin was so dark; of_ JAVA _the Pearl of
Islands; of_ SUMATRA _with its many kings, its strange costly products,
and its cannibal races; of the naked savages of_ NICOBAR _and_ ANDAMAN;
_of_ CEYLON _the Isle of Gems with its Sacred Mountain and its Tomb of
Adam; of_ INDIA THE GREAT, _not as a dream-land of Alexandrian fables, but
as a country seen and partially explored, with its virtuous Brahmans, its
obscene ascetics, its diamonds and the strange tales of their acquisition,
its sea-beds of pearl, and its powerful sun; the first in mediaeval times
to give any distinct account of the secluded Christian Empire of_
ABYSSINIA, _and the semi-Christian Island of_ SOCOTRA; _to speak, though
indeed dimly, of_ ZANGIBAR _with its negroes and its ivory, and of the
vast and distant_ MADAGASCAR, _bordering on the Dark Ocean of the South,
with its Ruc and other monstrosities; and, in a remotely opposite region,
of_ SIBERIA _and the_ ARCTIC OCEAN, _of dog-sledges, white bears, and
reindeer-riding Tunguses_.
That all this rich catalogue of discoveries should belong to the
revelations of one Man and one Book is surely ample ground enough to
account for and to justify the Author's high place in the roll of Fame,
and there can be no need to exaggerate his greatness, or to invest him
with imaginary attributes.[4]
[Sidenote: His personal attributes seen but dimly.]
68. What manner of man was Ser Marco? It is a question hard to answer.
Some critics cry out against personal detail in books of Travel; but as
regards him who would not welcome a little more egotism! In his Book
impersonality is carried to excess; and we are often driven to discern by
indirect and doubtful indications alone, whether he is speaking of a place
from personal knowledge or only from hearsay. In truth, though there are
delightful exceptions, and nearly every part of the book suggests
interesting questions, a desperate meagreness and baldness does extend
over considerable tracts of the story. In fact his book reminds us
sometimes of his own description of Khorasan:--"_On chevauche par beaus
plains et belles costieres, là où il a moult beaus herbages et bonne
pasture et fruis assez.... Et aucune fois y treuve l'en un desert de
soixante milles ou de mains, esquels desers ne treuve l'en point d'eaue;
mais la convient porter o lui!_"
Still, some shadowy image of the man may be seen in the Book; a practical
man, brave, shrewd, prudent, keen in affairs, and never losing his
interest in mercantile details, very fond of the chase, sparing of speech;
with a deep wondering respect for Saints, even though they be Pagan
Saints, and their asceticism, but a contempt for Patarins and such like,
whose consciences would not run in customary grooves, and on his own part
a keen appreciation of the World's pomps and vanities. See, on the one
hand, his undisguised admiration of the hard life and long fastings of
Sakya Muni; and on the other how enthusiastic he gets in speaking of the
great Kaan's command of the good things of the world, but above all of his
matchless opportunities of sport![5]
[Illustration: PROBABLE VIEW OF MARCO POLO'S OWN GEOGRAPHY]
Of humour there are hardly any signs in his Book. His almost solitary joke
(I know but one more, and it pertains to the [Greek: ouk anaékonta])
occurs in speaking of the Kaan's paper-money when he observes that Kúblái
might be said to have the true Philosopher's Stone, for he made his money
at pleasure out of the bark of Trees.[6] Even the oddest eccentricities of
outlandish tribes scarcely seem to disturb his gravity; as when he relates
in his brief way of the people called Gold-Teeth on the frontier of Burma,
that ludicrous custom which Mr. Tylor has so well illustrated under the
name of the _Couvade_. There is more savour of laughter in the few lines
of a Greek Epic, which relate precisely the same custom of a people on the
Euxine:--
--"In the Tibarenian Land
When some good woman bears her lord a babe,
'Tis _he_ is swathed and groaning put to bed;
Whilst _she_, arising, tends his baths, and serves
Nice possets for her husband in the straw."[7]
[Sidenote: Absence of scientific notions.]
69. Of scientific notions, such as we find in the unveracious Maundevile,
we have no trace in truthful Marco. The former, "lying with a
circumstance," tells us boldly that he was in 33° of South Latitude; the
latter is full of wonder that some of the Indian Islands where he had been
lay so far to the south that you lost sight of the Pole-star. When it
rises again on his horizon he estimates the Latitude by the Pole-star's
being so many _cubits_ high. So the gallant Baber speaks of the sun having
mounted _spear-high_ when the onset of battle began at Paniput. Such
expressions convey no notion at all to such as have had their ideas
sophisticated by angular perceptions of altitude, but similar expressions
are common among Orientals,[8] and indeed I have heard them from educated
Englishmen. In another place Marco states regarding certain islands in the
Northern Ocean that they lie so very far to the north that in going
thither one actually leaves the Pole-star a trifle behind towards the
south; a statement to which we know only one parallel, to wit, in the
voyage of that adventurous Dutch skipper who told Master Moxon, King
Charles II.'s Hydrographer, that he had sailed two degrees beyond the
Pole!
[Sidenote: Map constructed on Polo's data.]
70. The Book, however, is full of bearings and distances, and I have
thought it worth while to construct a map from its indications, in order
to get some approximation to Polo's own idea of the face of that world
which he had traversed so extensively. There are three allusions to maps
in the course of his work (II. 245, 312, 424).
In his own bearings, at least on land journeys, he usually carries us
along a great general traverse line, without much caring about small
changes of direction. Thus on the great outward journey from the frontier
of Persia to that of China the line runs almost continuously "_entre
Levant et Grec_" or E.N.E. In his journey from Cambaluc or Peking to Mien
or Burma, it is always _Ponent_ or W.; and in that from Peking to Zayton
in Fo-kien, the port of embarkation for India, it is _Sceloc_ or S.E. The
line of bearings in which he deviates most widely from truth is that of
the cities on the Arabian Coast from Aden to Hormuz, which he makes to run
steadily _vers Maistre_ or N.W., a conception which it has not been very
easy to realise on the map.[9]
[Sidenote: Singular omissions of Polo in regard to China; Historical
inaccuracies.]
71. In the early part of the Book we are told that Marco acquired several
of the languages current in the Mongol Empire, and no less than four
written characters. We have discussed what these are likely to have been
(i. pp. 28-29), and have given a decided opinion that Chinese was not one
of them. Besides intrinsic improbability, and positive indications of
Marco's ignorance of Chinese, in no respect is his book so defective as in
regard to Chinese manners and peculiarities. The Great Wall is never
mentioned, though we have shown reason for believing that it was in his
mind when one passage of his book was dictated.[10] The use of Tea, though
he travelled through the Tea districts of Fo-kien, is never mentioned;[11]
the compressed feet of the women and the employment of the fishing
cormorant (both mentioned by Friar Odoric, the contemporary of his later
years), artificial egg-hatching, printing of books (though the notice of
this art seems positively challenged in his account of paper-money),
besides a score of remarkable arts and customs which one would have
expected to recur to his memory, are never alluded to. Neither does he
speak of the great characteristic of the Chinese writing. It is difficult
to account for these omissions, especially considering the comparative
fulness with which he treats the manners of the Tartars and of the
Southern Hindoos; but the impression remains that his associations in
China were chiefly with foreigners. Wherever the place he speaks of had a
Tartar or Persian name he uses that rather than the Chinese one. Thus
_Cathay, Cambaluc, Pulisanghin, Tangut, Chagannor, Saianfu, Kenjanfu,
Tenduc, Acbalec, Carajan, Zardandan, Zayton, Kemenfu, Brius, Caramoran,
Chorcha, Juju_, are all Mongol, Turki, or Persian forms, though all have
Chinese equivalents.[12]
In reference to the then recent history of Asia, Marco is often
inaccurate, e.g. in his account of the death of Chinghiz, in the list of
his successors, and in his statement of the relation ship between notable
members of that House.[13] But the most perplexing knot in the whole book
lies in the interesting account which he gives of the Siege of Sayanfu or
Siang-yang, during the subjugation of Southern China by Kúblái. I have
entered on this matter in the notes (vol. ii. p. 167), and will only say
here that M. Pauthier's solution of the difficulty is no solution, being
absolutely inconsistent with the story as told by Marco himself, and that
I see none; though I have so much faith in Marco's veracity that I am
loath to believe that the facts admit of no reconciliation.
Our faint attempt to appreciate some of Marco's qualities, as gathered
from his work, will seem far below the very high estimates that have been
pronounced, not only by some who have delighted rather to enlarge upon his
frame than to make themselves acquainted with his work,[14] but also by
persons whose studies and opinions have been worthy of all respect. Our
estimate, however, does not abate a jot of our intense interest in his
Book and affection for his memory. And we have a strong feeling that,
owing partly to his reticence, and partly to the great disadvantages under
which the Book was committed to writing, we have in it a singularly
imperfect image of the Man.
[Sidenote: Was Polo's Book materially affected by the Scribe Rusticiano?]
72. A question naturally suggests itself, how far Polo's narrative, at
least in its expression, was modified by passing under the pen of a
professed littérateur of somewhat humble claims, such as Rusticiano was.
The case is not a singular one, and in our own day the ill-judged use of
such assistance has been fatal to the reputation of an adventurous
Traveller.
We have, however, already expressed our own view that in the Geographic
Text we have the nearest possible approach to a photographic impression of
Marco's oral narrative. If there be an exception to this we should seek it
in the descriptions of battles, in which we find the narrator to fall
constantly into a certain vein of bombastic commonplaces, which look like
the stock phrases of a professed romancer, and which indeed have a strong
resemblance to the actual phraseology of certain metrical romances.[15]
Whether this feature be due to Rusticiano I cannot say, but I have not
been able to trace anything of the same character in a cursory inspection
of some of his romance-compilations. Still one finds it impossible to
conceive of our sober and reticent Messer Marco pacing the floor of his
Genoese dungeon, and seven times over rolling out this magniloquent
bombast, with sufficient deliberation to be overtaken by the pen of the
faithful amanuensis!
[Sidenote: Marco's reading embraced the Alexandrian Romances. Examples.]
73. On the other hand, though Marco, who had left home at fifteen years of
age, naturally shows very few signs of reading, there are indications that
he had read romances, especially those dealing with the fabulous
adventures of Alexander.
To these he refers explicitly or tacitly in his notices of the Irongate
and of Gog and Magog, in his allusions to the marriage of Alexander with
Darius's daughter, and to the battle between those two heroes, and in his
repeated mention of the _Arbre Sol_ or _Arbre Sec_ on the Khorasan
frontier.
The key to these allusions is to be found in that Legendary History of
Alexander, entirely distinct from the true history of the Macedonian
Conqueror, which in great measure took the place of the latter in the
imagination of East and West for more than a thousand years. This fabulous
history is believed to be of Graeco-Egyptian origin, and in its earliest
extant compiled form, in the Greek of the Pseudo-Callisthenes, can be
traced back to at least about A.D. 200. From the Greek its marvels spread
eastward at an early date; some part at least of their matter was known to
Moses of Chorene, in the 5th century;[16] they were translated into
Armenian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac; and were reproduced in the verses of
Firdusi and various other Persian Poets; spreading eventually even to the
Indian Archipelago, and finding utterance in Malay and Siamese. At an
early date they had been rendered into Latin by Julius Valerius; but this
work had probably been lost sight of, and it was in the 10th century that
they were re-imported from Byzantium to Italy by the Archpriest Leo, who
had gone as Envoy to the Eastern Capital from John Duke of Campania.[17]
Romantic histories on this foundation, in verse and prose, became diffused
in all the languages of Western Europe, from Spain to Scandinavia,
rivalling in popularity the romantic cycles of the Round Table or of
Charlemagne. Nor did this popularity cease till the 16th century was well
advanced.
The heads of most of the Mediaeval Travellers were crammed with these
fables as genuine history.[18] And by the help of that community of legend
on this subject which they found wherever Mahomedan literature had spread,
Alexander Magnus was to be traced everywhere in Asia. Friar Odoric found
Tana, near Bombay, to be the veritable City of King Porus; John
Marignolli's vainglory led him to imitate King Alexander in setting up a
marble column "in the corner of the world over against Paradise," i.e.
somewhere on the coast of Travancore; whilst Sir John Maundevile, with a
cheaper ambition, borrowed wonders from the Travels of Alexander to adorn
his own. Nay, even in after days, when the Portuguese stumbled with
amazement on those vast ruins in Camboja, which have so lately become
familiar to us through the works of Mouhot, Thomson, and Garnier, they
ascribed them to Alexander.[19]
Prominent in all these stories is the tale of Alexander's shutting up a
score of impure nations, at the head of which were Gog and Magog, within a
barrier of impassable mountains, there to await the latter days; a legend
with which the disturbed mind of Europe not unnaturally connected that
cataclysm of unheard-of Pagans that seemed about to deluge Christendom in
the first half of the 13th century. In these stories also the beautiful
Roxana, who becomes the bride of Alexander, is _Darius's_ daughter,
bequeathed to his arms by the dying monarch. Conspicuous among them again
is the Legend of the Oracular Trees of the Sun and Moon, which with
audible voice foretell the place and manner of Alexander's death. With
this Alexandrian legend some of the later forms of the story had mixed up
one of Christian origin about the Dry Tree, _L'Arbre Sec_. And they had
also adopted the Oriental story of the Land of Darkness and the mode of
escape from it, which Polo relates at p. 484 of vol. ii.
[Sidenote: Injustice long done to Polo. Singular modern instance.]
74. We have seen in the most probable interpretation of the nickname
_Milioni_ that Polo's popular reputation in his lifetime was of a
questionable kind; and a contemporary chronicler, already quoted, has told
us how on his death-bed the Traveller was begged by anxious friends to
retract his extraordinary stories.[20] A little later one who copied the
Book "_per passare tempo e malinconia_" says frankly that he puts no faith
in it.[21] Sir Thomas Brown is content "to carry a wary eye" in reading
"Paulus Venetus"; but others of our countrymen in the last century express
strong doubts whether he ever was in Tartary or China.[22] Marden's
edition might well have extinguished the last sparks of scepticism.[23]
Hammer meant praise in calling Polo "_der Vater orientalischer
Hodogetik_," in spite of the uncouthness of the eulogy. But another grave
German writer, ten years after Marsden's publication, put forth in a
serious book that the whole story was a clumsy imposture![24]
[1] M. d'Avezac has refuted the common supposition that this admirable
traveller was a native of Brabant.
The form _Rubruquis_ of the name of the traveller William de Rubruk
has been habitually used in this book, perhaps without sufficient
consideration, but it is the most familiar in England, from its use by
Hakluyt and Purchas. The former, who first published the narrative,
professedly printed from an imperfect MS. belonging to the Lord
Lumley, which does not seem to be now known. But all the MSS. collated
by Messrs. Francisque-Michel and Wright, in preparing their edition of
the Traveller, call him simply Willelmus de Rubruc or Rubruk.
Some old authors, apparently without the slightest ground, having
called him _Risbroucke_ and the like, it came to be assumed that he
was a native of Ruysbroeck, a place in South Brabant.
But there is a place still called _Rubrouck_ in French Flanders. This
is a commune containing about 1500 inhabitants, belonging to the
Canton of Cassel and _arrondissement_ of Hazebrouck, in the Department
du Nord. And we may take for granted, till facts are alleged against
it, that _this_ was the place from which the envoy of St. Lewis drew
his origin. Many documents of the Middle Ages, referring expressly to
this place Rubrouck, exist in the Library of St. Omer, and a detailed
notice of them has been published by M. Edm. Coussemaker, of Lille.
Several of these documents refer to persons bearing the same name as
the Traveller, e.g., in 1190, Thierry de Rubrouc; in 1202 and 1221,
Gauthier du Rubrouc; in 1250, Jean du Rubrouc; and in 1258, Woutermann
de Rubrouc. It is reasonable to suppose that Friar William was of the
same stock. See _Bulletin de la Soc. de Géographie_, 2nd vol. for
1868, pp. 569-570, in which there are some remarks on the subject by
M. d'Avezac; and I am indebted to the kind courtesy of that eminent
geographer himself for the indication of this reference and the main
facts, as I had lost a note of my own on the subject.
It seems a somewhat complex question whether a native even of _French_
Flanders at that time should be necessarily claimable as a
Frenchman;[A] but no doubt on this point is alluded to by M. d'Avezac,
so he probably had good ground for that assumption. [See also _Yule's_
article in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, and _Rockhill's Rubruck_,
Int., p. xxxv.--H. C.]
That cross-grained Orientalist, I. J. Schmidt, on several occasions
speaks contemptuously of this veracious and delightful traveller,
whose evidence goes in the teeth of some of his crotchets. But I am
glad to find that Professor Peschel takes a view similar to that
expressed in the text: "The narrative of Ruysbroek [Rubruquis], almost
immaculate in its freedom from fabulous insertions, may be indicated
on account of its truth to nature as the greatest geographical
masterpiece of the Middle Ages." (_Gesch. der Erdkunde_, 1865, p.
151.)
[A] The County of Flanders was at this time in large part a fief of
the French Crown. (See _Natalis de Wailly_, notes to Joinville,
p. 576.) But that would not much affect the question either one
way or the other.
[2] High as Marco's name deserves to be set, his place is not beside the
writer of such burning words as these addressed to Ferdinand and
Isabella: "From the most tender age I went to sea, and to this day I
have continued to do so. Whosoever devotes himself to this craft must
desire to know the secrets of Nature here below. For 40 years now have
I thus been engaged, and wherever man has sailed hitherto on the face
of the sea, thither have I sailed also. I have been in constant
relation with men of learning, whether ecclesiastic or secular, Latins
and Greeks, Jews and Moors, and men of many a sect besides. To
accomplish this my longing (to know the Secrets of the World) I found
the Lord favourable to my purposes; it is He who hath given me the
needful disposition and understanding. He bestowed upon me abundantly
the knowledge of seamanship: and of Astronomy He gave me enough to
work withal, and so with Geometry and Arithmetic.... In the days of my
youth I studied works of all kinds, history, chronicles, philosophy,
and other arts, and to apprehend these the Lord opened my
understanding. Under His manifest guidance I navigated hence to the
Indies; for it was the Lord who gave me the will to accomplish that
task, and it was in the ardour of that will that I came before your
Highnesses. All those who heard of my project scouted and derided it;
all the acquirements I have mentioned stood me in no stead; and if in
your Highnesses, and in you alone, Faith and Constancy endured, to
Whom are due the Lights that have enlightened you as well as me, but
to the Holy Spirit?" (Quoted in _Humboldt's Examen Critique_, I. 17,
18.)
[3] Libri, however, speaks too strongly when he says: "The finest of all
the results due to the influence of Marco Polo is that of having
stirred Columbus to the discovery of the New World. Columbus, jealous
of Polo's laurels, spent his life in preparing means to get to that
Zipangu of which the Venetian traveller had told such great things;
his desire was to reach China by sailing westward, and in his way he
fell in with America." (_H. des Sciences Mathém._ etc. II. 150.)
The fact seems to be that Columbus knew of Polo's revelations only at
second hand, from the letters of the Florentine Paolo Toscanelli and
the like; and I cannot find that he _ever_ refers to Polo by name.
[How deep was the interest taken by Colombus in Marco Polo's travels
is shown by the numerous marginal notes of the Admiral in the printed
copy of the latin version of Pipino kept at the Bib. Colombina at
Seville. See _Appendix H_. p. 558.--H. C.] Though to the day of his
death he was full of imaginations about Zipangu and the land of the
Great Kaan as being in immediate proximity to his discoveries, these
were but accidents of his great theory. It was the intense conviction
he had acquired of the absolute smallness of the Earth, of the vast
extension of Asia eastward, and of the consequent narrowness of the
Western Ocean, on which his life's project was based. This conviction
he seems to have derived chiefly from the works of Cardinal Pierre
d'Ailly. But the latter borrowed his collected arguments from Roger
Bacon, who has stated them, erroneous as they are, very forcibly in
his _Opus Majus_ (p. 137), as Humboldt has noticed in his _Examen_
(vol. i. p. 64). The Spanish historian Mariana makes a strange jumble
of the alleged guides of Columbus, saying that some ascribed his
convictions to "the information given by _one Marco Polo, a Florentine
Physician!_" ("como otros dizen, por aviso que le dio _un cierto Marco
Polo, Medico Florentin_;" _Hist. de España_, lib. xxvi. cap 3).
Toscanelli is called by Columbus _Maestro Paulo_, which seems to have
led to this mistake; see Sign. _G. Uzielli_, in _Boll. della Soc.
Geog. Ital._ IX. p. 119, [Also by the same: _Paolo dal Pozzo
Toscanelli iniziatore della scoperta d' America_, Florence, 1892;
_Toscanelli_, No. 1; _Toscanelli_, Vol. V. of the _Raccolta
Colombiana_, 1894.--H. C.]
[4] "C'est diminuer l'expression d'un éloge que de l'exagérer."
(_Humboldt, Examen_, III. 13.)
[5] See vol. ii. p. 318, and vol. i. p. 404.
[6] Vol. i. p. 423.
[7] Vol. ii. p. 85, and _Apollonius Rhodius, Argonaut_. II. 1012.
[8] Chinese Observers record the length of Comets' tails by _cubits_!
[9] The map, perhaps, gives too favourable an idea of Marco's geographical
conceptions. For in such a construction much has to be supplied for
which there are no data, and that is apt to take mould from modern
knowledge. Just as in the book illustrations of ninety years ago we
find that Princesses of Abyssinia, damsels of Otaheite, and Beauties
of Mary Stuart's Court have all somehow a savour of the high waists,
low foreheads, and tight garments of 1810.
We are told that Prince Pedro of Portugal in 1426 received from the
Signory of Venice a map which was supposed to be either an original or
a copy of one by Marco Polo's own hand. (_Majors P. Henry_, p. 62.)
There is no evidence to justify any absolute expression of disbelief;
and if any map-maker with the spirit of the author of the Carta
Catalana then dwelt in Venice, Polo certainly could not have gone to
his grave uncatechised. But I should suspect the map to have been a
copy of the old one that existed in the Sala dello Scudo of the Ducal
Palace.
The maps now to be seen painted on the walls of that Hall, and on
which Polo's route is marked, are not of any great interest. But in
the middle of the 15th century there was an old _Descriptio Orbis sive
Mappamundus_ in the Hall, and when the apartment was renewed in 1459 a
decree of the Senate ordered that such a map should be repainted on
the new walls. This also perished by a fire in 1483. On the motion of
Ramusio, in the next century, four new maps were painted. These had
become dingy and ragged, when, in 1762, the Doge Marco Foscarini
caused them to be renewed by the painter Francesco Grisellini. He
professed to have adhered closely to the old maps, but he certainly
did not, as Morelli testifies. Eastern Asia looks as if based on a
work of Ramusio's age, but Western Asia is of undoubtedly modern
character. (See _Operetti di Iacopo Morelli_, Ven. 1820, I. 299.)
[10] "Humboldt confirms the opinion I have more than once expressed that
too much must not be inferred from the silence of authors. He adduces
three important and perfectly undeniable matters of fact, as to which
no evidence is to be found where it would be most anticipated: In the
archives of Barcelona no trace of the triumphal entry of Columbus into
that city; _in Marco Polo no allusion to the Chinese Wall_; in the
archives of Portugal nothing about the voyages of Amerigo Vespucci in
the service of that crown." (_Varnhagen_ v. _Ense_, quoted by Hayward,
_Essays_, 2nd Ser. I. 36.) See regarding the Chinese Wall the remarks
referred to above, at p. 292 of this volume.
[11] [It is a strange fact that Polo never mentions the use of _Tea_ in
China, although he travelled through the Tea districts in Fu Kien, and
tea was then as generally drunk by the Chinese as it is now. It is
mentioned more than four centuries earlier by the Mohammedan merchant
Soleyman, who visited China about the middle of the 9th century. He
states (_Reinaud, Relation des Voyages faits par les Arabes et les
Persans dans l'Inde et à la Chine_, 1845, I. 40): "The people of China
are accustomed to use as a beverage an infusion of a plant, which they
call _sakh_, and the leaves of which are aromatic and of a bitter
taste. It is considered very wholesome. This plant (the leaves) is
sold in all the cities of the empire." (_Bretschneider, Hist. Bot.
Disc._I. p. 5.)--H. C.]
[12] It is probable that Persian, which had long been the language of
Turanian courts, was also the common tongue of foreigners at that of
the Mongols. _Pulisanghin_ and _Zardandán_, in the preceding list, are
pure Persian. So are several of the Oriental phrases noted at p. 84.
See also notes on _Ondanique_ and _Vernique_ at pp. 93 and 384 of this
volume, on _Tacuin_ at p. 448, and a note at p. 93 supra. The
narratives of Odoric, and others of the early travellers to Cathay,
afford corroborative examples. Lord Stanley of Alderley, in one of his
contributions to the Hakluyt Series, has given evidence from
experience that Chinese Mahomedans still preserve the knowledge of
numerous Persian words.
[13] Compare these errors with like errors of Herodotus, e.g., regarding
the conspiracy of the False Smerdis. (See Rawlinson's Introduction, p.
55.) There is a curious parallel between the two also in the supposed
occasional use of Oriental state records, as in Herodotus's accounts
of the revenues of the satrapies, and of the army of Xerxes, and in
Marco Polo's account of Kinsay, and of the Kaan's revenues. (Vol. ii
pp. 185, 216.)
[14] An example is seen in the voluminous _Annali Musulmani_ of _G. B.
Rampoldi_, Milan, 1825. This writer speaks of the Travels of Marco
Polo with his _brother_ and uncle; declares that he visited _Tipango_
(_sic_), Java, Ceylon, and the _Maldives_, collected all the
geographical notions of his age, traversed the two peninsulas of the
Indies, examined the islands of _Socotra, Madagascar, Sofala_, and
traversed with _philosophic eye_ the regions of Zanguebar, Abyssinia,
Nubia, and Egypt! and so forth (ix. 174). And whilst Malte-Brun
bestows on Marco the sounding and ridiculous title of "_the Humboldt
of the 13th century_," he shows little real acquaintance with his
Book. (See his _Précis_, ed. of 1836, I. 551 seqq.)
[15] See for example vol. i. p. 338, and note 4 at p. 341; also vol. ii.
p. 103. The descriptions in the style referred to recur in all seven
times; but most of them (which are in Book IV.) have been omitted in
this translation.
[16] [On the subject of Moses of Chorene and his works, I must refer to
the clever researches of the late Auguste Carrière, Professor of
Armenian at the École des Langues Orientales.--H. C.]
[17] _Zacher, Forschungen zur Critik, &c., der Alexandersage_, Halle,
1867, p. 108.
[18] Even so sagacious a man as Roger Bacon quotes the fabulous letter of
Alexander to Aristotle as authentic. (_Opus Majus_, p. 137.)
[19] _J. As._ sér. VI. tom. xviii. p. 352.
[20] See passage from Jacopo d'Acqui, supra, p. 54.
[21] It is the transcriber of one of the Florence MSS. who appends this
terminal note, worthy of Mrs. Nickleby:--"Here ends the Book of Messer
M. P. of Venice, written with mine own hand by me Amalio Bonaguisi
when Podestà of Cierreto Guidi, to get rid of time and _ennui_. The
contents seem to me incredible things, not lies so much as miracles;
and it may be all very true what he says, but I don't believe it;
though to be sure throughout the world very different things are found
in different countries. But these things, it has seemed to me in
copying, are entertaining enough, but not things to believe or put any
faith in; that at least is my opinion. And I finished copying this at
Cierreto aforesaid, 12th November, A.D. 1392."
[22] _Vulgar Errors_, Bk. I. ch. viii.; _Astley's Voyages_, IV. 583.
[23] A few years before Marsden's publication, the Historical branch of
the R. S. of Science at Göttingen appears to have put forth as the
subject of a prize Essay the Geography of the Travels of Carpini,
Rubruquis, and especially of Marco Polo. (See _L. of M. Polo_, by
_Zurla_, in _Collezione di Vite e Ritratti d'Illustri Italiani_. Pad.
1816.)
[24] See _Städtewesen des Mittelalters_, by _K. D. Hüllmann_, Bonn, 1829,
vol. iv.
After speaking of the Missions of Pope Innocent IV. and St. Lewis,
this author sketches the Travels of the Polos, and then proceeds:--
"Such are the clumsily compiled contents of this ecclesiastical
fiction (_Kirchengeschichtlichen Dichtung_) disguised as a Book of
Travels, a thing devised generally in the spirit of the age, but
specially in the interests of the Clergy and of Trade.... This
compiler's aim was analogous to that of the inventor of the Song of
Roland, to kindle enthusiasm for the conversion of the Mongols, and so
to facilitate commerce through their dominions.... Assuredly the Poli
never got further than Great Bucharia, which was then reached by many
Italian Travellers. What they have related of the regions of the
Mongol Empire lying further east consists merely of recollections of
the bazaar and travel-talk of traders from those countries; whilst the
notices of India, Persia, Arabia, and Ethiopia, are borrowed from
Arabic Works. The compiler no doubt carries his audacity in fiction a
long way, when he makes his hero Marcus assert that he had been
seventeen years in Kúblái's service," etc. etc. (pp. 360-362).
In the French edition of _Malcolm's History of Persia_ (II. 141),
Marco is styled "_prêtre Venetien_"! I do not know whether this is due
to Sir John or to the translator.
[Polo is also called "a Venetian Priest," in a note, vol. i., p. 409,
of the original edition of London, 1815, 2 vols., 4to.--H. C.]
XII. CONTEMPORARY RECOGNITION OF POLO AND HIS BOOK.
[Sidenote: How far was there diffusion of his Book in his own day?]
75. But we must return for a little to Polo's own times. Ramusio states,
as we have seen, that immediately after the first commission of Polo's
narrative to writing (in Latin as he imagined), many copies of it were
made, it was translated into the vulgar tongue, and in a few months all
Italy was full of it.
The few facts that we can collect do not justify this view of the rapid
and diffused renown of the Traveller and his Book. The number of MSS. of
the latter dating from the 14th century is no doubt considerable, but a
large proportion of these are of Pipino's condensed Latin Translation,
which was not put forth, if we can trust Ramusio, till 1320, and certainly
not much earlier. The whole number of MSS. in various languages that we
have been able to register, amounts to about eighty. I find it difficult
to obtain statistical data as to the comparative number of copies of
different works existing in manuscript. With Dante's great Poem, of which
there are reckoned close upon 500 MSS.,[1] comparison would be
inappropriate. But of the Travels of Friar Odoric, a poor work indeed
beside Marco Polo's, I reckoned thirty-nine MSS., and could now add at
least three more to the list. [I described seventy-three in my edition of
_Odoric_.--H. C.] Also I find that of the nearly contemporary work of
Brunetto Latini, the _Tresor_, a sort of condensed Encyclopaedia of
knowledge, but a work which one would scarcely have expected to approach
the popularity of Polo's Book, the Editor enumerates some fifty MSS. And
from the great frequency with which one encounters in Catalogues both MSS.
and early printed editions of Sir John Maundevile, I should suppose that
the lying wonders of our English Knight had a far greater popularity and
more extensive diffusion than the veracious and more sober marvels of
Polo.[2] To Southern Italy Polo's popularity certainly does not seem at
any time to have extended. I cannot learn that any MS. of his Book exists
in any Library of the late Kingdom of Naples or in Sicily.[3]
Dante, who lived for twenty-three years after Marco's work was written,
and who touches so many things in the seen and unseen Worlds, never
alludes to Polo, nor I think to anything that can be connected with his
Book. I believe that no mention of _Cathay_ occurs in the _Divina
Commedia_. That distant region is indeed mentioned more than once in the
poems of a humbler contemporary, Francesco da Barberino, but there is
nothing in his allusions besides this name to suggest any knowledge of
Polo's work.[4]
Neither can I discover any trace of Polo or his work in that of his
contemporary and countryman, Marino Sanudo the Elder, though this worthy
is well acquainted with the somewhat later work of Hayton, and many of the
subjects which he touches in his own book would seem to challenge a
reference to Marco's labours.
[Sidenote: Contemporary references to Polo.]
76. Of contemporary or nearly contemporary references to our Traveller by
name, the following are all that I can produce, and none of them are new.
First there is the notice regarding his presentation of his book to
Thibault de Cepoy, of which we need say no more (supra, p. 68).
Next there is the Preface to Friar Pipino's Translation, which we give at
length in the Appendix (E) to these notices. The phraseology of this
appears to imply that Marco was still alive, and this agrees with the date
assigned to the work by Ramusio. Pipino was also the author of a
Chronicle, of which a part was printed by Muratori, and this contains
chapters on the Tartar wars, the destruction of the Old Man of the
Mountain, etc., derived from Polo. A passage not printed by Muratori has
been extracted by Prof. Bianconi from a MS. of this Chronicle in the
Modena Library, and runs as follows:--
"The matters which follow, concerning the magnificence of the Tartar
Emperors, whom in their language they call _Cham_ as we have said, are
related by Marcus Paulus the Venetian in a certain Book of his which has
been translated by me into Latin out of the Lombardic Vernacular. Having
gained the notice of the Emperor himself and become attached to his
service, he passed nearly 27 years in the Tartar countries."[5]
Again we have that mention of Marco by Friar Jacopo d'Acqui, which we have
quoted in connection with his capture by the Genoese, at p. 54.[6] And the
Florentine historian GIOVANNI VILLANI,[7] when alluding to the Tartars,
says:--
"Let him who would make full acquaintance with their history examine the
book of Friar Hayton, Lord of Colcos in Armenia, which he made at the
instance of Pope Clement V., and also the Book called _Milione_ which
was made by Messer Marco Polo of Venice, who tells much about their
power and dominion, having spent a long time among them. And so let us
quit the Tartars and return to our subject, the History of Florence."[8]
[Sidenote: Further contemporary references.]
77. Lastly, we learn from a curious passage in a medical work by PIETRO OF
ABANO, a celebrated physician and philosopher, and a man of Polo's own
generation, that he was personally acquainted with the Traveller. In a
discussion on the old notion of the non-habitability of the Equatorial
regions, which Pietro controverts, he says:[9]
[Illustration: Star at the Antarctic as sketched by Marco Polo[10].]
"In the country of the ZINGHI there is seen a star as big as a sack. I
know a man who has seen it, and he told me it had a faint light like a
piece of a cloud, and is always in the south.[11] I have been told of
this and other matters by MARCO the Venetian, the most extensive
traveller and the most diligent inquirer whom I have ever known. He saw
this same star under the Antarctic; he described it as having a great
tail, and drew a figure of it _thus_. He also told me that he saw the
Antarctic Pole at an altitude above the earth apparently equal to the
length of a soldier's lance, whilst the Arctic Pole was as much below
the horizon. 'Tis from that place, he says, that they export to us
camphor, lign-aloes, and brazil. He says the heat there is intense, and
the habitations few. And these things he witnessed in a certain island
at which he arrived by Sea. He tells me also that there are (wild?) men
there, and also certain very great rams that have very coarse and stiff
wool just like the bristles of our pigs."[12]
In addition to these five I know no other contemporary references to Polo,
nor indeed any other within the 14th century, though such there must
surely be, excepting in a Chronicle written after the middle of that
century by JOHN of YPRES, Abbot of St. Bertin, otherwise known as Friar
John the Long, and himself a person of very high merit in the history of
Travel, as a precursor of the Ramusios, Hakluyts and Purchases, for he
collected together and translated (when needful) into French all of the
most valuable works of Eastern Travel and Geography produced in the age
immediately preceding his own.[13] In his Chronicle the Abbot speaks at
some length of the adventures of the Polo Family, concluding with a
passage to which we have already had occasion to refer:
"And so Messers Nicolaus and Maffeus, with certain Tartars, were sent a
second time to these parts; but Marcus Pauli was retained by the Emperor
and employed in his military service, abiding with him for a space of 27
years. And the Cham, on account of his ability despatched him upon
affairs of his to various parts of Tartary and India and the Islands, on
which journeys he beheld many of the marvels of those regions. And
concerning these he afterwards composed a book in the French vernacular,
which said Book of Marvels, with others of the same kind, we do
possess." (_Thesaur. Nov. Anecdot._ III. 747.)
[Sidenote: Curious borrowings from Polo in the Romance of Bauduin de
Sebourc.]
78. There is, however, a notable work which is ascribed to a rather early
date in the 14th century, and which, though it contains no reference to
Polo by name, shows a thorough acquaintance with his book, and borrows
themes largely from it This is the poetical Romance of Bauduin de Sebourc,
an exceedingly clever and vivacious production, partaking largely of that
bantering, half-mocking spirit which is, I believe, characteristic of many
of the later mediaeval French Romances.[14] Bauduin is a knight who, after
a very wild and loose youth, goes through an extraordinary series of
adventures, displaying great faith and courage, and eventually becomes
King of Jerusalem. I will cite some of the traits evidently derived from
our Traveller, which I have met with in a short examination of this
curious work.
Bauduin, embarked on a dromond in the Indian Sea, is wrecked in the
territory of Baudas, and near a city called Falise, which stands on the
River of Baudas. The people of this city were an unbelieving race.
"Il ne créoient Dieu, Mahon, né Tervogant,
Ydole, cruchéfis, déable, né tirant." P. 300.
Their only belief was this, that when a man died a great fire should be
made beside his tomb, in which should be burned all his clothes, arms, and
necessary furniture, whilst his horse and servant should be put to death,
and then the dead man would have the benefit of all these useful
properties in the other world.[15] Moreover, if it was the king that
died--
"Sé li rois de la terre i aloit trespassant,
* * * * *
Si fasoit-on tuer, .viij. jour en un tenant,
Tout chiaus c'on encontroit par la chité passant,
Pour tenir compaingnie leur ségnor soffisant.
Telle estoit le créanche ou païs dont je cant!"[16] P. 301.
Baudin arrives when the king has been dead three days, and through dread
of this custom all the people of the city are shut up in their houses. He
enters an inn, and helps himself to a vast repast, having been fasting for
three days. He is then seized and carried before the king, Polibans by
name. We might have quoted this prince at p. 87 as an instance of the
diffusion of the French tongue:
"Polibans sot Fransois, car on le doctrina:
j. renoiés de Franche. vij. ans i demora,
Qui li aprist Fransois, si que bel en parla." P. 309.
Bauduin exclaims against their barbarous belief, and declares the
Christian doctrine to the king, who acknowledges good points in it, but
concludes:
"Vassaus, dist Polibans, à le chière hardie,
Jà ne crerrai vou Dieux, à nul jour de ma vie;
Né vostre Loy ne vaut une pomme pourie!" P. 311.
Bauduin proposes to prove his Faith by fighting the prince, himself
unarmed, the latter with all his arms. The prince agrees, but is rather
dismayed at Bauduin's confidence, and desires his followers, in case of
his own death, to burn with him horses, armour, etc., asking at the same
time which of them would consent to burn along with him, in order to be
his companions in the other world:
"Là en i ot. ij'e. dont cascuns s'escria:
Nous morons volentiers, quant vo corps mort sara!"[17] P. 313.
Bauduin's prayer for help is miraculously granted; Polibans is beaten, and
converted by a vision. He tells Bauduin that in his neighbourhood, beyond
Baudas--
"ou. v. liewes, ou. vi.
Ché un felles prinches, orgoellieus et despis;
De la Rouge-Montaingne est Prinches et Marchis.
Or vous dirai comment il a ses gens nouris:
Je vous di que chius Roys a fait un Paradis
Tant noble et gratieus, et plain de tels déliis,
* * * * *
Car en che Paradis est un riex establis,
Qui se partist en trois, en che noble pourpris:
En l'un coert li clarés, d'espises bien garnis;
Et en l'autre li miés, qui les a resouffis;
Et li vins di pieument i queurt par droit avis--
* * * * *
Il n'i vente, né gèle. Che liés est de samis,
De riches dras de soie, bien ouvrés à devis.
Et aveukes tout che que je chi vous devis,
I a. ij'e puchelles qui moult ont cler les vis,
Carolans et tresquans, menans gales et ris.
Et si est li dieuesse, dame et suppellatis,
Qui doctrine les autres et en fais et en dis,
Celle est la fille au Roy c'on dist des _Haus-Assis_."[18]
Pp. 319-320.
This Lady Ivorine, the Old Man's daughter, is described among other points
as having--
"Les iex vairs com faucons, nobles et agentis."[19] P. 320.
The King of the Mountain collects all the young male children of the
country, and has them brought up for nine or ten years:
"Dedens un lieu oscur: là les met-on toudis
Aveukes males bestes; kiens, et cas, et soris,
Culoères, et lisaerdes, escorpions petis.
Là endroit ne peut nuls avoir joie, né ris." Pp. 320-321.
And after this dreary life they are shown the Paradise, and told that such
shall be their portion if they do their Lord's behest.
"S'il disoit à son homme: 'Va-t-ent droit à Paris;
Si me fier d'un coutel le Roy de Saint Denis,
Jamais n'aresteroit, né par nuit né par dis,
S'aroit tué le Roy, voïant tous ches marchis;
Et déuist estre à fources traïnés et mal mis.'" P. 321.
Bauduin determines to see this Paradise and the lovely Ivorine. The road
led by Baudas:
"Or avoit à che tamps, sé l'istoire ne ment,
En le chit de Baudas Kristiens jusqu' à cent;
Qui manonent illoec par tréu d'argent,
Que cascuns cristiens au Roy-Calife rent.
Li pères du Calife, qui régna longement,
Ama les Crestiens, et Dieu primièrement:
* * * * *
Et lor fist establir. j. monstier noble et gent,
Où Crestien faisoient faire lor sacrement.
Une mout noble pière lor donna proprement,
Où on avoit posé Mahon moult longement."[20] P. 322.
The story is, in fact, that which Marco relates of Samarkand.[21] The
Caliph dies. His son hates the Christians. His people complain of the
toleration of the Christians and their minister; but he says his father
had pledged him not to interfere, and he dared not forswear himself. If,
without doing so, he could do them an ill turn, he would gladly. The
people then suggest their claim to the stone:
"Or leur donna vos pères, dont che fu mesprisons.
Ceste pierre, biaus Sire, Crestiens demandons:
Il ne le porront rendre, pour vrai le vous disons,
Si li monstiers n'est mis et par pièches et par mons;
Et s'il estoit desfais, jamais ne le larons
Refaire chi-endroit. Ensément averons
Faites et acomplies nostres ententions." P. 324.
The Caliph accordingly sends for Maistre Thumas, the Priest of the
Christians, and tells him the stone must be given up:
"Il a. c. ans ut plus c'on i mist à solas
Mahon, le nostre Dieu: dont che n'est mie estas
Que li vous monstiers soit fais de nostre harnas!" P. 324.
Master Thomas, in great trouble, collects his flock, mounts the pulpit,
and announces the calamity. Bauduin and his convert Polibans then arrive.
Bauduin recommends confession, fasting, and prayer. They follow his
advice, and on the third day the miracle occurs:
"L'escripture le dist, qui nous achertéfie
Que le pierre Mahon, qui ou mur fut fiquie,
Sali hors du piler, coi que nul vous en die,
Droit enmi le monstier, c'onques ne fut brisie.
Et demoura li traus, dont le pière ert widie,
Sans pière est sans quailliel, à cascune partie;
Chou deseure soustient, par divine maistrie,
Tout en air proprement, n'el tenés a falie.
Encore le voit-on en ichelle partie:
Qui croire ne m'en voelt, si voist; car je l'en prie!" P. 327.
The Caliph comes to see, and declares it to be the Devil's doing. Seeing
Polibans, who is his cousin, he hails him, but Polibans draws back,
avowing his Christian faith. The Caliph in a rage has him off to prison.
Bauduin becomes very ill, and has to sell his horse and arms. His disease
is so offensive that he is thrust out of his hostel, and in his
wretchedness sitting on a stone he still avows his faith, and confesses
that even then he has not received his deserts. He goes to beg in the
Christian quarter, and no one gives to him; but still his faith and love
to God hold out:
"Ensément Bauduins chelle rue cherqua,
Tant qu'à .j. chavetier Bauduins s'arresta,
Qui chavates cousoit; son pain en garigna:
Jones fu et plaisans, apertement ouvra.
Bauduins le regarde, c'onques mot ne parla." P. 334.
The cobler is charitable, gives him bread, shoes, and a grey coat that was
a foot too short. He then asks Bauduin if he will not learn his trade; but
that is too much for the knightly stomach:
"Et Bauduins respont, li preus et li membrus:
J'ameroie trop miex que je fuisse pendus!" P. 335.
The Caliph now in his Council expresses his vexation about the miracle,
and says he does not know how to disprove the faith of the Christians. A
very sage old Saracen who knew Hebrew, and Latin, and some thirty
languages, makes a suggestion, which is, in fact, that about the moving of
the Mountain, as related by Marco Polo.[22] Master Thomas is sent for
again, and told that they must transport the high mountain of _Thir_ to
the valley of _Joaquin_, which lies to the westward. He goes away in new
despair and causes his clerk to _sonner le clocke_ for his people. Whilst
they are weeping and wailing in the church, a voice is heard desiring them
to seek a certain holy man who is at the good cobler's, and to do him
honour. God at his prayer will do a miracle. They go in procession to
Bauduin, who thinks they are mocking him. They treat him as a saint, and
strive to touch his old coat. At last he consents to pray along with the
whole congregation.
The Caliph is in his palace with his princes, taking his ease at a window.
Suddenly he starts up exclaiming:
"'Seignour, par Mahoumet que j'aoure et tieng chier,
Le Mont de Thir enportent le déable d'enfeir!'
Li Califes s'écrie: 'Seignour, franc palasin,
Voïés le Mont de Thir qui ch'est mis au chemin!
Vés-le-là tout en air, par mon Dieu Apolin;
Jà bientost le verrons ens ou val Joaquin!'" P. 345.
The Caliph is converted, releases Polibans, and is baptised, taking the
name of Bauduin, to whom he expresses his fear of the Viex de la Montagne
with his _Hauts-Assis_, telling anew the story of the Assassin's Paradise,
and so enlarges on the beauty of Ivorine that Bauduin is smitten, and his
love heals his malady. Toleration is not learned however:
"Bauduins, li Califes, fist baptisier sa gent,
Et qui ne voilt Dieu crore, li teste on li pourfent!" P. 350.
The Caliph gives up his kingdom to Bauduin, proposing to follow him to the
Wars of Syria. And Bauduin presents the Kingdom to the Cobler.
Bauduin, the Caliph, and Prince Polibans then proceed to visit the
Mountain of the Old Man. The Caliph professes to him that they want help
against Godfrey of Bouillon. The Viex says he does not give a _bouton_ for
Godfrey; he will send one of his _Hauts-Assis_ straight to his tent, and
give him a great knife of steel between _fie et poumon!_
After dinner they go out and witness the feat of devotion which we have
quoted elsewhere.[23] They then see the Paradise and the lovely Ivorine,
with whose beauty Bauduin is struck dumb. The lady had never smiled
before; now she declares that he for whom she had long waited was come.
Bauduin exclaims:
"'Madame, fu-jou chou qui sui le vous soubgis?'
Quant la puchelle l'ot, lors li geta. j. ris;
Et li dist: 'Bauduins, vous estes mes amis!'" Pp. 362-363.
The Old One is vexed, but speaks pleasantly to his daughter, who replies
with frightfully bad language, and declares herself to be a Christian. The
father calls out to the Caliph to kill her. The Caliph pulls out a big
knife and gives him a blow that nearly cuts him in two. The amiable
Ivorine says she will go with Bauduin:
"'Sé mes pères est mors, n'en donne. j. paresis!'" P. 364.
We need not follow the story further, as I did not trace beyond this point
any distinct derivation from our Traveller, with the exception of that
allusion to the incombustible covering of the napkin of St. Veronica,
which I have quoted at p. 216 of this volume. But including this, here are
at least seven different themes borrowed from Marco Polo's book, on which
to be sure his poetical contemporary plays the most extraordinary
variations.
[Sidenote: Chaucer and Marco Polo.]
[78 _bis._--In the third volume of _The Complete Works of Geoffrey
Chaucer_, Oxford, 1894, the Rev. Walter W. Skeat gives (pp. 372 seqq.) an
_Account of the Sources of the Canterbury Tales_. Regarding _The Squieres
Tales_, he says that one of his sources was the Travels of Marco; Mr.
Keighley in his _Tales and Popular Fictions_, published in 1834, at p. 76,
distinctly derives Chaucer's Tale from the travels of Marco Polo. (_Skeat,
l. c._, p. 463, note.) I cannot quote all the arguments given by the Rev.
W. W. Skeat to support his theory, pp. 463-477.
Regarding the opinion of Professor Skeat of Chaucer's indebtedness to
Marco Polo, cf. _Marco Polo and the Squire's Tale_, by Professor John
Matthews Manly, vol. xi. of the _Publications of the Modern Language
Association of America_, 1896, pp. 349-362. Mr. Manly says (p. 360): "It
seems clear, upon reviewing the whole problem, that if Chaucer used Marco
Polo's narrative, he either carelessly or intentionally confused all the
features of the setting that could possibly be confused, and retained not
a single really characteristic trait of any person, place or event. It is
only by twisting everything that any part of Chaucer's story can be
brought into relation with any part of Polo's. To do this might be
allowable, if any rational explanation could be given for Chaucer's
supposed treatment of his 'author,' or if there were any scarcity of
sources from which Chaucer might have obtained as much information about
Tartary as he seems really to have possessed; but such an explanation
would be difficult to devise, and there is no such scarcity. Any one of
half a dozen accessible accounts could be distorted into almost if not
quite as great resemblance to the _Squire's Tale_ as Marco Polo's can."
Mr. A. W. Pollard, in his edition of _The Squire's Tale_ (Lond., 1899)
writes: "A very able paper, by Prof. J. M. Manly, demonstrates the
needlessness of Prof. Skeat's theory, which has introduced fresh
complications into an already complicated story. My own belief is that,
though we may illustrate the Squire's Tale from these old accounts of
Tartary, and especially from Marco Polo, because he has been so well
edited by Colonel Yule, there is very little probability that Chaucer
consulted any of them. It is much more likely that he found these details
where he found more important parts of his story, i.e. in some lost
romance. But if we must suppose that he provided his own local colour, we
have no right to pin him down to using Marco Polo to the exclusion of
other accessible authorities." Mr. Pollard adds in a note (p. xiii.):
"There are some features in these narratives, e.g. the account of the
gorgeous dresses worn at the Kaan's feast, which Chaucer with his love of
colour could hardly have helped reproducing if he had known them."--H. C.]
[1] See _Ferrazzi, Manuele Dantesca_, Bassano, 1865, p. 729.
[2] In Quaritch's catalogue for Nov. 1870 there is only one old edition of
Polo; there are _nine_ of Maundevile. In 1839 there were nineteen MSS.
of the latter author _catalogued_ in the British Museum Library. There
are _now_ only six of Marco Polo. At least twenty-five editions of
Maundevile and only five of Polo were printed in the 15th century.
[3] I have made personal enquiry at the National Libraries of Naples and
Palermo, at the Communal Library in the latter city, and at the
Benedictine Libraries of Monte Cassino, Monreale, S. Martino, and
Catania.
In the 15th century, when Polo's book had become more generally
diffused we find three copies of it in the Catalogue of the Library of
Charles VI. of France, made at the Louvre in 1423, by order of the
Duke of Bedford.
The estimates of value are curious. They are in _sols parisis_, which
we shall not estimate very wrongly at a shilling each:--
"No. 295. _Item_. Marcus Paulus; _en ung cahier escript de lettre
formée en françois, à deux coulombes. Commt. ou ii'e fo._ 'deux frères
prescheurs,' _et ou derrenier_ 'que sa arrières.' _X. s. p._
"No. 334. _Item_. Marcus Paulus. _Couvert de drap d'or, bien escript &
enluminé, de lettre de forme en françois, à deux coulombes. Commt. ou
ii'e fol._; 'il fut Roys,' _& ou derrenier_ 'propremen,' _à deux
fermouers de laton. XV. s. p._
"No. 336. _Item_. Marcus Paulus; _non enluminé, escript en françois,
de lettre de forme. Commt. ou ii'e fo._ 'vocata moult grant,' _& ou
derrenier_ 'ilec dist il.' _Couvert de cuir blanc, à deux fermouers de
laton. XII. s. p._"
(_Inventaire de la Bibliothèque du Roi Charles VI._, etc.
Paris, Société des Bibliophiles, 1867.)
[4] See _Del Reggimento e de' Costumi delle donne di Messer Francesco da
Barberino_, Roma, 1815, pp. 166 and 271. The latter passage runs thus,
on _Slavery_:--
"E fu indutta prima da Noé,
E fu cagion lo vin, perchè si egge:
Ch' egli è un paese, dove
Son molti servi in parte di Cathay:
Che per questa cagione
Hanno a nimico il vino,
E non ne beon, nè voglion vedere."
The author was born the year before Dante (1264), and though he lived
to 1348 it is probable that the poems in question were written in his
earlier years. _Cathay_ was no doubt known by dim repute long before
the final return of the Polos, both through the original journey of
Nicolo and Maffeo, and by information gathered by the Missionary
Friars. Indeed, in 1278 Pope Nicolas III., in consequence of
information said to have come from Abaka Khan of Persia, that Kúblái
was a baptised Christian, sent a party of Franciscans with a long
letter to the Kaan _Quobley_, as he is termed. They never seem to have
reached their destination. And in 1289 Nicolas IV. entrusted a similar
mission to Friar John of Monte Corvino, which eventually led to very
tangible results. Neither of the Papal letters, however, mentions
_Cathay_. (See _Mosheim_, App. pp. 76 and 94.)
[5] See _Muratori_, IX. 583, seqq.; _Bianconi_, Mem. I. p. 37.
[6] This Friar makes a strange hotch-potch of what he had read, e.g.:
"The Tartars, when they came out of the mountains, made them a king,
viz., the son of Prester John, who is thus vulgarly termed _Vetulus de
la Montagna!_" (_Mon. Hist. Patr._ Script. III. 1557.)
[7] G. Villani died in the great plague of 1348. But his book was begun
soon after Marco's was written, for he states that it was the sight of
the memorials of greatness which he witnessed at Rome, during the
Jubilee of 1300, that put it into his head to write the history of the
rising glories of Florence, and that he began the work after his
return home. (Bk. VIII. ch. 36.)
[8] Book V. ch. 29.
[9] _Petri Aponensis Medici ac Philosophi Celeberrimi, Conciliator_,
Venice, 1521, fol. 97. Peter was born in 1250 at Abano, near Padua,
and was Professor of Medicine at the University in the latter city.
He twice fell into the claws of the Unholy Office, and only escaped
them by death in 1316.
[10] [It is curious that this figure is almost exactly that which among
oriental carpets is called a "cloud." I have heard the term so applied
by Vincent Robinson. It often appears in old Persian carpets, and also
in Chinese designs. Mr. Purdon Clarke tells me it is called _nebula_
in heraldry; it is also called in Chinese by a term signifying cloud;
in Persian, by a term which he called _silen-i-khitai_, but of this I
can make nothing.--_MS. Note by Yule_.]
[11] The great Magellanic cloud? In the account of Vincent Yanez Pinzon's
Voyage to the S.W. in 1499 as given in Ramusio (III. 15) after Pietro
Martire d'Anghieria, it is said:--"Taking the astrolabe in hand, and
ascertaining the Antarctic Pole, they did not see any star like our
Pole Star; but they related that they saw another manner of stars very
different from ours, and which they could not clearly discern because
of a certain dimness which diffused itself about those stars, and
obstructed the view of them." Also the Kachh mariners told Lieutenant
Leech that midway to Zanzibar there was a town (?) called Marethee,
where the North Pole Star sinks below the horizon, and they steer by
_a fixed cloud in the heavens_. (Bombay Govt. Selections, No. XV. N.S.
p. 215.)
The great Magellan cloud is mentioned by an old Arab writer as a white
blotch at the foot of Canopus, visible in the Tehama along the Red
Sea, but not in Nejd or 'Irák. Humboldt, in quoting this, calculates
that in A.D. 1000 the Great Magellan would have been visible at Aden
some degrees above the horizon. (_Examen_, V. 235.)
[12] This passage contains points that are omitted in Polo's book, besides
the drawing implied to be from Marco's own hand! The island is of
course Sumatra. The animal is perhaps the peculiar Sumatran wild-goat,
figured by Marsden, the hair of which on the back is "coarse and
strong, almost like bristles." (_Sumatra_, p. 115.)
[13] A splendid example of Abbot John's Collection is the _Livre des
Merveilles_ of the Great French Library (No. 18 in our _App. F._).
This contains Polo, Odoric, William of Boldensel, the Book of the
Estate of the Great Kaan by the Archbishop of Soltania, Maundevile,
Hayton, and Ricold of Montecroce, of which all but Polo and Maundevile
are French versions by this excellent Long John. A list of the Polo
miniatures is given in _App. F_. of this Edition, p. 527.
It is a question for which there is sufficient ground, whether the
Persian Historians Rashiduddin and Wassáf, one or other or both, did
not derive certain information that appears in their histories, from
Marco Polo personally, he having spent many months in Persia, and at
the Court of Tabriz, when either or both may have been there. Such
passages as that about the Cotton-trees of Guzerat (vol. ii. p. 393,
and note), those about the horse trade with Maabar (id. p. 340, and
note), about the brother-kings of that country (id. p. 331), about the
naked savages of Necuveram (id. p. 306), about the wild people of
Sumatra calling themselves subjects of the Great Kaan (id. pp. 285,
292, 293, 299), have so strong a resemblance to parallel passages in
one or both of the above historians, as given in the first and third
volumes of Elliot, that the probability, at least, of the Persian
writers having derived their information from Polo might be fairly
maintained.
[14] _Li Romans de Bauduin de Sebourc III'e Roy de Jhérusalem_; Poème du
XIV'e Siècle; Valenciennes, 1841. 2 vols. 8vo. I was indebted to two
references of M. Pauthier's for knowledge of the existence of this
work. He cites the legends of the Mountain, and of the Stone of the
Saracens from an abstract, but does not seem to have consulted the
work itself, nor to have been aware of the extent of its borrowings
from Marco Polo. M. Génin, from whose account Pauthier quotes,
ascribes the poem to an early date after the death of Philip the Fair
(1314). See _Pauthier_, pp. 57, 58, and 140.
[15] See Polo, vol. i. p. 204, and vol. ii. p. 191.
[16] See Polo, vol. i. p. 246.
[17] See Polo, vol. ii. p. 339.
[18] See Polo, vol. i. p. 140. _Hashishi_ has got altered into
_Haus Assis_.
[19] See vol. i. p. 358, note.
[20] See vol. i. p. 189, note 2.
[21] Vol. i. pp. 183-186.
[22] Vol. i. pp. 68 seqq. The virtuous cobler is not left out, but is made
to play second fiddle to the hero Bauduin
[23] Vol. i. p. 144.
XIII. NATURE OF POLO'S INFLUENCE ON GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE.
[Sidenote: Tardy operation, and causes thereof.]
79. Marco Polo contributed such a vast amount of new facts to the
knowledge of the Earth's surface, that one might have expected his book to
have had a sudden effect upon the Science of Geography: but no such result
occurred speedily, nor was its beneficial effect of any long duration.
No doubt several causes contributed to the slowness of its action upon the
notions of Cosmographers, of which the unreal character attributed to the
Book, as a collection of romantic marvels rather than of geographical and
historical facts, may have been one, as Santarem urges. But the essential
causes were no doubt the imperfect nature of publication before the
invention of the press; the traditional character which clogged geography
as well as all other branches of knowledge in the Middle Ages; and the
entire absence of scientific principle in what passed for geography, so
that there was no organ competent to the assimilation of a large mass of
new knowledge.
Of the action of the first cause no examples can be more striking than we
find in the false conception of the Caspian as a gulf of the Ocean,
entertained by Strabo, and the opposite error in regard to the Indian Sea
held by Ptolemy, who regards it as an enclosed basin, when we contrast
these with the correct ideas on both subjects possessed by Herodotus. The
later Geographers no doubt knew his statements, but did not appreciate
them, probably from not possessing the evidence on which they were based.
[Sidenote: General characteristics of Mediaeval Cosmography.]
80. As regards the second cause alleged, we may say that down nearly to
the middle of the 15th century cosmographers, as a rule, made scarcely any
attempt to reform their maps by any elaborate search for new matter, or by
lights that might be collected from recent travellers. Their world was in
its outline that handed down by the traditions of their craft, as
sanctioned by some Father of the Church, such as Orosius or Isidore, as
sprinkled with a combination of classical and mediaeval legend; Solinus
being the great authority for the former. Almost universally the earth's
surface is represented as filling the greater part of a circular disk,
rounded by the ocean; a fashion that already existed in the time of
Aristotle and was ridiculed by him.[1] No dogma of false geography was
more persistent or more pernicious than this. Jerusalem occupies the
central point, because it was found written in the Prophet Ezekiel: "_Haec
dicit Dominus Deus: Ista est Jerusalem_, in medio gentium _posui eam, et
in circuitu ejus terras_;"[2] a declaration supposed to be corroborated by
the Psalmist's expression, regarded as prophetic of the death of Our Lord:
"_Deus autem, Rex noster, ante secula operatus est salutem_ in medio
Terrae" (Ps. lxxiii. 12).[3] The Terrestrial Paradise was represented as
occupying the extreme East, because it was found in Genesis that the Lord
planted a garden east ward in Eden.[4] _Gog and Magog_ were set in the far
north or north-east, because it was said again in Ezekiel: "_Ecce Ego
super te Gog Principem capitis Mosoch et Thubal ... et ascendere te faciam
de lateribus Aquilonis_," whilst probably the topography of those
mysterious nationalities was completed by a girdle of mountains out of the
Alexandrian Fables. The loose and scanty nomenclature was mainly borrowed
from Pliny or Mela through such Fathers as we have named; whilst vacant
spaces were occupied by Amazons, Arimaspians, and the realm of Prester
John. A favourite representation of the inhabited earth was this [Symbol];
a great O enclosing a T, which thus divides the circle in three parts; the
greater or half-circle being Asia, the two quarter circles Europe and
Africa.[5] These Maps were known to St. Augustine.[6]
[Sidenote: Roger Bacon as a geographer.]
81. Even Ptolemy seems to have been almost unknown; and indeed had his
Geography been studied it might, with all its errors, have tended to some
greater endeavours after accuracy. Roger Bacon, whilst lamenting the
exceeding deficiency of geographical knowledge in the Latin world, and
purposing to essay an exacter distribution of countries, says he will not
attempt to do so by latitude and longitude, for that is a system of which
the Latins have learned nothing. He himself, whilst still somewhat
burdened by the authoritative dicta of "saints and sages" of past times,
ventures at least to criticise some of the latter, such as Pliny and
Ptolemy, and declares his intention to have recourse to the information of
those who have travelled most extensively over the Earth's surface. And
judging from the good use he makes, in his description of the northern
parts of the world, of the Travels of Rubruquis, whom he had known and
questioned, besides diligently studying his narrative,[7] we might have
expected much in Geography from this great man, had similar materials been
available to him for other parts of the earth. He did attempt a map with
mathematical determination of places, but it has not been preserved.[8]
It may be said with general truth that the world-maps current up to the
end of the 13th century had more analogy to the mythical cosmography of
the Hindus than to any thing properly geographical. Both, no doubt, were
originally based in the main on real features. In the Hindu cosmography
these genuine features are symmetrised as in a kaleidoscope; in the
European cartography they are squeezed together in a manner that one can
only compare to a pig in brawn. Here and there some feature strangely
compressed and distorted is just recognisable. A splendid example of this
kind of map is that famous one at Hereford, executed about A.D. 1275, of
which a facsimile has lately been published, accompanied by a highly
meritorious illustrative Essay.[9]
82. Among the Arabs many able men, from the early days of Islám, took an
interest in Geography, and devoted labour to geographical compilations, in
which they often made use of their own observations, of the itineraries of
travellers, and of other fresh knowledge. But somehow or other their maps
were always far behind their books. Though they appear to have had an
early translation of Ptolemy, and elaborate Tables of Latitudes and
Longitudes form a prominent feature in many of their geographical
treatises, there appears to be no Arabic map in existence, laid down with
meridians and parallels; whilst _all_ of their best known maps are on the
old system of the circular disk. This apparent incapacity for map-making
appears to have acted as a heavy drag and bar upon progress in Geography
among the Arabs, notwithstanding its early promise among them, and in
spite of the application to its furtherance of the great intellects of
some (such as Abu Rihán al-Biruni), and of the indefatigable spirit of
travel and omnivorous curiosity of others (such as Mas'údi).
[Sidenote: Marino Sanudo the Elder.]
83. Some distinct trace of acquaintance with the Arabian Geography is to
be found in the World-Map of Marino Sanudo the Elder, constructed between
1300 and 1320; and this may be regarded as an exceptionally favourable
specimen of the cosmography in vogue, for the author was a diligent
investigator and compiler, who evidently took a considerable interest in
geographical questions, and had a strong enjoyment and appreciation of a
map.[10] Nor is the map in question without some result of these
characteristics. His representation of Europe, Northern Africa, Syria,
Asia Minor, Arabia and its two gulfs, is a fair approximation to general
facts; his collected knowledge has enabled him to locate, with more or
less of general truth, Georgia, the Iron Gates, Cathay, the Plain of
Moghan, Euphrates and Tigris, Persia, Bagdad, Kais, Aden (though on the
wrong side of the Red Sea), Abyssinia (_Habesh_), Zangibar (_Zinz_), Jidda
(Zede), etc. But after all the traditional forms are too strong for him.
Jerusalem is still the centre of the disk of the habitable earth, so that
the distance is as great from Syria to Gades in the extreme West, as from
Syria to the India Interior of Prester John which terminates the extreme
East. And Africa beyond the Arabian Gulf is carried, according to the
Arabian modification of Ptolemy's misconception, far to the eastward until
it almost meets the prominent shores of India.
[Sidenote: The Catalan Map of 1375, the most complete mediaeval embodiment
of Polo's Geography.]
84. The first genuine mediaeval attempt at a geographical construction
that I know of, absolutely free from the traditional _idola_, is the Map
of the known World from the Portulano Mediceo (in the Laurentian Library),
of which an extract is engraved in the atlas of Baldelli-Boni's Polo. I
need not describe it, however, because I cannot satisfy myself that it
makes much use of Polo's contributions, and its facts have been embodied
in a more ambitious work of the next generation, the celebrated Catalan
Map of 1375 in the great Library of Paris. This also, but on a larger
scale and in a more comprehensive manner, is an honest endeavour to
represent the known world on the basis of collected facts, casting aside
all theories pseudo-scientific or pseudo-theological; and a very
remarkable work it is. In this map it seems to me Marco Polo's influence,
I will not say on geography, but on map-making, is seen to the greatest
advantage. His Book is the basis of the Map as regards Central and Further
Asia, and partially as regards India. His names are often sadly perverted,
and it is not always easy to understand the view that the compiler took of
his itineraries. Still we have Cathay admirably placed in the true
position of China, as a great Empire filling the south-east of Asia. The
Eastern Peninsula of India is indeed absent altogether, but the Peninsula
of Hither India is for the first time in the History of Geography
represented with a fair approximation to its correct form and
position,[11] and Sumatra also (_Java_) is not badly placed. Carajan,
Vocian, Mien, and Bangala, are located with a happy conception of their
relation to Cathay and to India. Many details in India foreign to Polo's
book,[12] and some in Cathay (as well as in Turkestan and Siberia, which
have been entirely derived from other sources) have been embodied in the
Map. But the study of his Book has, I conceive, been essentially the basis
of those great portions which I have specified, and the additional matter
has not been in mass sufficient to perplex the compiler. Hence we really
see in this Map something like the idea of Asia that the Traveller himself
would have presented, had he bequeathed a Map to us.
[Some years ago, I made a special study of the Far East in the Catalan
Map. (_L'Extrême-Orient dans l'Atlas catalan de Charles V._, Paris, 1895),
and I have come to the conclusion that the cartographer's knowledge of
Eastern Asia is drawn almost entirely from Marco Polo. We give a
reproduction of part of the Catalan Map.--H. C.]
[Illustration: Part of the Catalan Map (1375).]
[Sidenote: Confusions in Cartography of the 16th century, from the
endeavour to combine new and old information.]
85. In the following age we find more frequent indications that Polo's
book was diffused and read. And now that the spirit of discovery began to
stir, it was apparently regarded in a juster light as a Book of Facts, and
not as a mere _Romman du Grant Kaan_.[13] But in fact this age produced
new supplies of crude information in greater abundance than the knowledge
of geographers was prepared to digest or co-ordinate, and the consequence
is that the magnificent Work of Fra Mauro (1459), though the result of
immense labour in the collection of facts and the endeavour to combine
them, really gives a considerably less accurate idea of Asia than that
which the Catalan Map had afforded.[14]
And when at a still later date the great burst of discovery eastward and
westward took effect, the results of all attempts to combine the new
knowledge with the old was most unhappy. The first and crudest forms of
such combinations attempted to realise the ideas of Columbus regarding the
identity of his discoveries with the regions of the Great Kaan's
dominion;[15] but even after AMERICA had vindicated its independent
position on the surface of the globe, and the new knowledge of the
Portuguese had introduced CHINA where the Catalan Map of the 14th century
had presented CATHAY, the latter country, with the whole of Polo's
nomenclature, was shoved away to the north, forming a separate system.[16]
Henceforward the influence of Polo's work on maps was simply injurious;
and when to his nomenclature was added a sprinkling of Ptolemy's, as was
usual throughout the 16th century, the result was a most extraordinary
hotch-potch, conveying no approximation to any consistent representation
of facts.
Thus, in a map of 1522,[17] running the eye along the north of Europe and
Asia from West to East, we find the following succession of names:
Groenlandia, or Greenland, as a great peninsula overlapping that of
Norvegia and Suecia; Livonia, Plescovia and Moscovia, Tartaria bounded on
the South by _Scithia extra Imaum_, and on the East, by the Rivers
_Ochardes_ and _Bautisis_ (out of Ptolemy), which are made to flow into
the Arctic Sea. South of these are _Aureacithis_ and _Asmirea_ (Ptolemy's
_Auxacitis_ and _Asmiraea_), and _Serica Regio_. Then following the
northern coast _Balor Regio_,[18] _Judei Clausi_, i.e. the Ten Tribes who
are constantly associated or confounded with the Shut-up Nations of Gog
and Magog. These impinge upon the River _Polisacus_, flowing into the
Northern Ocean in Lat. 75°, but which is in fact no other than Polo's
_Pulisanghin!_[19] Immediately south of this is _Tholomon Provincia_
(Polo's again), and on the coast _Tangut_, _Cathaya_, the Rivers
_Caramoran_ and _Oman_ (a misreading of Polo's _Quian_), _Quinsay_ and
_Mangi_.
[Sidenote: Gradual disappearance of Polo's nomenclature.]
86. The Maps of Mercator (1587) and Magini (1597) are similar in
character, but more elaborate, introducing China as a separate system.
Such indeed also is Blaeu's Map (1663) excepting that Ptolemy's
contributions are reduced to one or two.
In Sanson's Map (1659) the data of Polo and the mediaeval Travellers are
more cautiously handled, but a new element of confusion is introduced in
the form of numerous features derived from Edrisi.
It is scarcely worth while to follow the matter further. With the increase
of knowledge of Northern Asia from the Russian side, and that of China
from the Maps of Martini, followed by the surveys of the Jesuits, and with
the real science brought to bear on Asiatic Geography by such men as De
l'Isle and D'Anville, mere traditional nomenclature gradually disappeared.
And the task which the study of Polo has provided for the geographers of
later days has been chiefly that of determining the true localities that
his book describes under obsolete or corrupted names.
[My late illustrious friend, Baron _A. E. Nordenskiöld_, who has devoted
much time and labour to the study of Marco Polo (see his _Periplus_,
Stockholm, 1897), and published a facsimile edition of one of the French
MSS. kept in the Stockholm Royal Library (see vol. ii. _Bibliography_, p.
570), has given to _The Geographical Journal_ for April, 1899, pp.
396-406, a paper on _The Influence of the "Travels of Marco Polo" on Jacobo
Gastaldi's Maps of Asia_. He writes (p. 398) that as far as he knows, none
"of the many learned men who have devoted their attention to the
discoveries of Marco Polo, have been able to refer to any maps in which all
or almost all those places mentioned by Marco Polo are given. All friends
of the history of geography will therefore be glad to hear that such an
atlas from the middle of the sixteenth century really does exist, viz.
Gastaldi's 'Prima, seconda e terza parte dell Asia.'" All the names of
places in Ramusio's Marco Polo are introduced in the maps of Asia of Jacobo
Gastaldi (1561). Cf. _Periplus_, liv., lv., and lvi.
I may refer to what both Yule and myself say supra of the Catalan
Map.--H. C.]
[Sidenote: Alleged introduction of Block-printed Books into Europe by
Marco Polo.]
87. Before concluding, it may be desirable to say a few words on the
subject of important knowledge other than geographical, which various
persons have supposed that Marco Polo must have introduced from Eastern
Asia to Europe.
Respecting the mariner's compass and gunpowder I shall say nothing, as no
one now, I believe, imagines Marco to have had anything to do with their
introduction. But from a highly respectable source in recent years we have
seen the introduction of Block-printing into Europe connected with the
name of our Traveller. The circumstances are stated as follows:[20]
"In the beginning of the 15th century a man named Pamphilo Castaldi, of
Feltre ... was employed by the Seignory or Government of the Republic,
to engross deeds and public edicts of various kinds ... the initial
letters at the commencement of the writing being usually ornamented with
red ink, or illuminated in gold and colours
"According to Sansovino, certain stamps or types had been invented some
time previously by Pietro di Natali, Bishop of Aquiloea.[21] These were
made at Murano of glass, and were used to stamp or print the outline of
the large initial letters of public documents, which were afterwards
filled up by hand.... Pamphilo Castaldi improved on these glass types,
by having others made of wood or metal, and having seen several Chinese
books which the famous traveller Marco Polo had brought from China, and
of which the entire text was printed with wooden blocks, he caused
moveable wooden types to be made, each type containing a single letter;
and with these he printed several broadsides and single leaves, at
Venice, in the year 1426. Some of these single sheets are said to be
preserved among the archives at Feltre....
"The tradition continues that John Faust, of Mayence ... became
acquainted with Castaldi, and passed some time with him, at his
_Scriptorium_,... at Feltre;"
and in short developed from the knowledge so acquired the great invention
of printing. Mr. Curzon goes on to say that Panfilo Castaldi was born in
1398, and died in 1490, and that he gives the story as he found it in an
article written by Dr. Jacopo Facen, of Feltre, in a (Venetian?) newspaper
called _Il Gondoliere_, No. 103, of 27th December, 1843.
In a later paper Mr. Curzon thus recurs to the subject:[22]
"Though none of the early block-books have dates affixed to them, many
of them are with reason supposed to be more ancient than any books
printed with moveable types. Their resemblance to Chinese block-books is
so exact, that they would almost seem to be copied from the books
commonly used in China. _The impressions are taken off on one side of
the paper only, and in binding, both the Chinese, and ancient German, or
Dutch block-books, the blank sides of the pages are placed opposite each
other_, and sometimes pasted together.... The impressions are not taken
off with printer's ink, but _with a brown paint or colour, of a much
thinner description, more in the nature of Indian ink, as we call it,
which is used in printing Chinese books_. Altogether the German and
Oriental block-books are so precisely alike, in almost every respect,
that ... we must suppose that the process of printing then must have
been copied from ancient Chinese specimens, brought from that country by
some early travellers, whose names have not been handed down to our
times."
The writer then refers to the tradition about _Guttemberg_ (so it is
stated on this occasion, not Faust) having learned Castaldi's art, etc.,
mentioning a circumstance which he supposes to indicate that Guttemberg
had relations with Venice; and appears to assent to the probability of the
story of the art having been founded on specimens brought home by Marco
Polo.
This story was in recent years diligently propagated in Northern Italy,
and resulted in the erection at Feltre of a public statue of Panfilo
Castaldi, bearing this inscription (besides others of like tenor):--
"_To Panfilo Castaldi the illustrious Inventor of Movable Printing
Types, Italy renders this Tribute of Honour, too long deferred._"
In the first edition of this book I devoted a special note to the exposure
of the worthlessness of the evidence for this story.[23] This note was,
with the present Essay, translated and published at Venice by Comm.
Berchet, but this challenge to the supporters of the patriotic romance, so
far as I have heard, brought none of them into the lists in its defence.
But since Castaldi has got his statue from the printers of Lombardy, would
it not be mere equity that the mariners of Spain should set up a statue at
Huelva to the Pilot Alonzo Sanchez of that port, who, according to Spanish
historians, after discovering the New World, died in the house of Columbus
at Terceira, and left the crafty Genoese to appropriate his journals, and
rob him of his fame?
Seriously; if anybody in Feltre cares for the real reputation of his
native city, let him do his best to have that preposterous and
discreditable fiction removed from the base of the statue. If Castaldi has
deserved a statue on other and truer grounds let _him_ stand; if not, let
him be burnt into honest lime! I imagine that the original story that
attracted Mr. Curzon was more _jeu d'esprit_ than anything else; but that
the author, finding what a stone he had set rolling, did not venture to
retract.
[Sidenote: Frequent opportunities for such introduction in the age
following Polo's.]
88. Mr. Curzon's own observations, which I have italicised about the
resemblance of the two systems are, however, very striking, and seem
clearly to indicate the derivation of the art from China. But I should
suppose that in the tradition, if there ever was any genuine tradition of
the kind at Feltre (a circumstance worthy of all doubt), the name of Marco
Polo was introduced merely because it was so prominent a name in Eastern
Travel. The fact has been generally overlooked and forgotten[24] that, for
many years in the course of the 14th century, not only were missionaries
of the Roman Church and Houses of the Franciscan Order established in the
chief cities of China, but a regular trade was carried on overland between
Italy and China, by way of Tana (or Azov), Astracan, Otrar and Kamul,
insomuch that instructions for the Italian merchant following that route
form the two first chapters in the Mercantile Handbook of Balducci
Pegolotti (circa 1340).[25] Many a traveller besides Marco Polo might
therefore have brought home the block-books. And this is the less to be
ascribed to him because he so curiously omits to speak of the art of
printing, when his subject seems absolutely to challenge its description.
[1] "They draw nowadays the map of the world in a laughable manner, for
they draw the inhabited earth as a circle; but this is impossible,
both from what we see and from reason." (_Meteorolog. Lib._ II.
cap. 5.) Cf. _Herodotus_, iv. 36.
[2] In Dante's Cosmography, Jerusalem is the centre of our [Greek:
oikouménae], whilst the Mount of Purgatory occupies the middle of the
Antipodal hemisphere:--
"Come ciò sia, se'l vuoi poter pensare,
Dentro raccolto immagina Sion
Con questo monte in su la terra stare,
Sì, ch' ambodue hann' un solo orrizon
E diversi emisperi"....
--_Purg._ IV. 67.
[3] The belief, with this latter ground of it, is alluded to in curious
verses by Jacopo Alighieri, Dante's son:--
"_E molti gran Profeti
Filosofi e Poeti_
Fanno il colco dell' Emme
Dov' è Gerusalemme;
_Se le loro scritture
Hanno vere figure:
E per la Santa fede
Cristiana ancor si vede
Che' l' suo principio Cristo_
Nel suo mezzo _conquisto
Per cui prese morte
E vi pose la sorte_."
--(_Rime Antiche Toscane_, III. 9.)
Though the general meaning of the second couplet is obvious, the
expression _il colco dell' Emme_, "the couch of the M," is puzzling.
The best solution that occurs to me is this: In looking at the world
map of Marino Sanudo, noticed on p. 133, as engraved by Bongars in the
_Gesta Dei per Francos_, you find geometrical lines laid down,
connecting the N.E., N.W., S.E., and S.W. points, and thus forming a
square inscribed in the circular disk of the Earth, with its diagonals
passing through the Central Zion. The eye easily discerns in these a
great M inscribed in the circle, with its middle angular point at
Jerusalem. Gervasius of Tilbury (with some confusion in his mind
between tropic and equinoxial, like that which Pliny makes in speaking
of the Indian Mons Malleus) says that "some are of opinion that the
Centre is in the place where the Lord spoke to the woman of Samaria at
the well, for there, at the summer solstice, the noonday sun descends
perpendicularly into the water of the well, casting no shadow; a thing
which the philosophers say occurs at Syene"! (_Otia Imperialia_, by
Liebrecht, p. 1.)
[4] This circumstance does not, however, show in the Vulgate.
[5] "Veggiamo in prima in general la terra
Come risiede e come il mar la serra.
Un T dentro ad un O mostra il disegno
Come in tre parti fu diviso il Mondo,
E la superiore è il maggior regno
Che quasi piglia la metà del tondo.
ASIA chiamata: il gambo ritto è segno
Che parte il terzo nome dal secondo
AFFRICA dico da EUROPA: il mare
Mediterran tra esse in mezzo appare."
--_La Sfera_, di F. Leonardo di Stagio Dati, Lib. iii. st. 11.
[6] _De Civ. Dei_, xvi. 17, quoted by _Peschel_, 92.
[7] _Opus Majus_, Venice ed. pp. 142, seqq.
[8] _Peschel_, p. 195. This had escaped me.
[9] By the Rev. W. L. Bevan, M.A., and the Rev. H. W. Phillott, M.A. In
Asia, they point out, the only name showing any recognition of modern
knowledge is Samarcand.
[10] His work, _Liber Secretorum Fidelium Crucis_, intended to stimulate a
new Crusade, has three capital maps, besides that of the World, one of
which, translated, but otherwise in facsimile, is given at p. 18 of
this volume. But besides these maps, he gives, in a tabular form of
parallel columns, the reigning sovereigns in Europe and Asia connected
with his historical retrospect, just on the plan presented in Sir
Harris Nicolas's Chronology of History.
[11] I do not see that al-Birúni deserves the credit in this respect
assigned to him by Professor Peschel, so far as one can judge from the
data given by Sprenger (_Peschel_, p. 128; _Post und Reise-Routen_,
81-82.)
[12] For example, _Delli_, which Polo does not name; _Diogil_ (Deogír); on
the Coromandel coast _Setemelti_, which I take to be a clerical error
for _Sette-Templi_, the Seven Pagodas; round the Gulf of Cambay we
have _Cambetum_ (Kambayat), _Cocintaya_ (Kokan-Tana, see vol. ii. p.
396), _Goga, Baroche, Neruala_ (Anharwala), and to the north _Moltan_.
Below Multan are _Hocibelch_ and _Bargelidoa_, two puzzles. The former
is, I think, _Uch-baligh_, showing that part of the information was
from Perso-Mongol sources.
[13] I see it stated by competent authority that _Romman_ is often applied
to any prose composition in a Romance language.
In or about 1426, Prince Pedro of Portugal, the elder brother of the
illustrious Prince Henry, being on a visit to Venice, was presented by
the Signory with a copy of Marco Polo's book, together with a map
already alluded to. (_Major's P. Henry_, pp. 61, 62.)
[14] This is partly due also to Fra Mauro's reversion to the fancy of the
circular disk limiting the inhabited portion of the earth.
[15] An early graphic instance of this is Ruysch's famous map (1508). The
following extract of a work printed as late as 1533 is an example of
the like confusion in verbal description: "The Territories which are
beyond the limits of Ptolemy's Tables have not yet been described on
certain authority. Behind the Sinae and the Seres, and beyond 180° of
East Longitude, many countries were discovered by one [_quendam_]
Marco Polo a Venetian and others, and the sea-coasts of those
countries have now recently again been explored by Columbus the
Genoese and Amerigo Vespucci in navigating the Western Ocean.... To
this part (of Asia) belong the territory called that of the
_Bachalaos_ [or Codfish, Newfoundland], _Florida_, _the Desert of
Lop_, _Tangut_, _Cathay_, the realm of _Mexico_ (wherein is the vast
city of _Temistitan_, built in the middle of a great lake, but which
the older travellers styled QUINSAY), besides _Paria_, _Uraba_, and
the countries of the _Canibals_." (_Joannis Schoneri Carolostadtii
Opusculum Geogr._, quoted by Humboldt, _Examen_, V. 171, 172.)
[16] In Robert Parke's Dedication of his Translation of Mendoza's, London,
1st of January, 1589, he identifies China and Japan with the regions
of which _Paulus Venetus_ and _Sir John Mandeuill_ "wrote long agoe."
--_MS. Note by Yule_.
[17] "_Totius Europae et Asiae Tabula Geographica, Auctore Thoma D.
Aucupario. Edita Argentorati_, MDXXII." Copied in Witsen.
[18] This strange association of _Balor_ (i.e., Bolor, that name of so
many odd vicissitudes, see pp. 178-179 infra) with the shut-up
Israelites must be traced to a passage which Athanasius Kircher quotes
from _R. Abraham Pizol_ (qu. Peritsol?): "_Regnum_, inquit, Belor
_magnum et excelsum nimis, juxta omnes illos qui scripserunt
Historicos_. Sunt in eo Judaei _plurimi inclusi, et illud in latere
Orientali et Boreali_," etc. (_China Illustrata_, p. 49.)
[19] Vol. ii. p. 1.
[20] _A short Account of Libraries of Italy_, by the Hon. R. Curzon
(the late Lord de la Zouche); in _Bibliog. and Hist. Miscellanies;
Philobiblon Society_, vol. i, 1854, pp. 6. seqq.
[21] P. del Natali was Bishop of Equilio, a city of the Venetian Lagoons,
in the latter part of the 14th century. (See _Ughelli, Italia Sacra_,
X. 87.) There is no ground whatever for connecting him with these
inventions. The story of the glass types appears to rest entirely and
solely on one obscure passage of Sansovino, who says that under the
Doge Marco Corner (1365-1367): "_certe Natale Veneto lasciò un libro
della materie delle forme da giustar intorno alle lettere, ed il modo
di formarle di vetro_." There is absolutely nothing more. Some kind of
stencilling seems indicated.
[22] _History of Printing in China and Europe_, in _Philobiblon_, vol. vi.
p. 23.
[23] See _Appendix L_. in First Edition.
[24] Ramusio himself appears to have been entirely unconscious of it,
vide supra, p. 3
[25] This subject has been fully treated in _Cathay and the Way Thither_.
XIV. EXPLANATIONS REGARDING THE BASIS ADOPTED FOR THE PRESENT TRANSLATION.
89. It remains to say a few words regarding the basis adopted for our
English version of the Traveller's record.
[Sidenote: Text followed by Marsden and by Pauthier.]
Ramusio's recension was that which Marsden selected for translation. But
at the date of his most meritorious publication nothing was known of the
real literary history of Polo's Book, and no one was aware of the peculiar
value and originality of the French manuscript texts, nor had Marsden seen
any of them. A translation from one of those texts is a translation at
first hand; a translation from Ramusio's Italian is, as far as I can
judge, the translation of a translated compilation from two or more
translations, and therefore, whatever be the merits of its matter,
inevitably carries us far away from the spirit and style of the original
narrator. M. Pauthier, I think, did well in adopting for the text of his
edition the MSS. which I have classed as of the second Type, the more as
there had hitherto been no publication from those texts. But editing a
text in the original language, and translating, are tasks substantially
different in their demands.
[Sidenote: Eclectic formation of the English Text of this Translation.]
90. It will be clear from what has been said in the preceding pages that I
should not regard as a fair or full representation of Polo's Work, a
version on which the Geographic Text did not exercise a material
influence. But to adopt that Text, with all its awkwardnesses and
tautologies, as the absolute subject of translation, would have been a
mistake. What I have done has been, in the first instance, to translate
from Pauthier's Text. The process of abridgment in this text, however it
came about, has been on the whole judiciously executed, getting rid of the
intolerable prolixities of manner which belong to many parts of the
Original Dictation, but _as a general rule_ preserving the matter. Having
translated this,--not always from the Text adopted by Pauthier himself,
but with the exercise of my own judgment on the various readings which
that Editor lays before us,--I then compared the translation with the
Geographic Text, and transferred from the latter not only all items of
real substance that had been omitted, but also all expressions of special
interest and character, and occasionally a greater fulness of phraseology
where condensation in Pauthier's text seemed to have been carried too far.
And finally I introduced _between brackets_ everything peculiar to
Ramusio's version that seemed to me to have a just claim to be reckoned
authentic, and that could be so introduced without harshness or
mutilation. Many passages from the same source which were of interest in
themselves, but failed to meet one or other of these conditions, have been
given in the notes.[1]
[Sidenote: Mode of rendering proper names.]
91. As regards the reading of proper names and foreign words, in which
there is so much variation in the different MSS. and editions, I have done
my best to select what seemed to be the true reading from the G. T. and
Pauthier's three MSS., only in some rare instances transgressing this
limit.
Where the MSS. in the repetition of a name afforded a choice of forms, I
have selected that which came nearest the real name when known. Thus the
G. T. affords _Baldasciain, Badascian, Badasciam, Badausiam, Balasian_. I
adopt BADASCIAN, or in English spelling BADASHAN, because it is closest to
the real name _Badakhshan_. Another place appears as COBINAN, _Cabanat,
Cobian_. I adopt the first because it is the truest expression of the real
name _Koh-benán_. In chapters 23, 24 of Book I., we have in the G. T.
_Asisim, Asciscin, Asescin_, and in Pauthier's MSS. _Hasisins, Harsisins_,
etc. I adopt ASCISCIN, or in English spelling ASHISHIN, for the same
reason as before. So with _Creman, Crerman, Crermain_, QUERMAN, Anglicè
KERMAN; Cormos, HORMOS, and many more.[2]
In two or three cases I have adopted a reading which I cannot show
_literatim_ in any authority, but because such a form appears to be the
just resultant from the variety of readings which are presented; as in
surveying one takes the mean of a number of observations when no one can
claim an absolute preference.
Polo's proper names, even in the French Texts, are _in the main_ formed on
an Italian fashion of spelling.[3] I see no object in preserving such
spelling in an English book, so after selecting the best reading of the
name I express it in English spelling, printing _Badashan, Pashai,
Kerman_, instead of _Badascian, Pasciai, Querman_, and so on.
And when a little trouble has been taken to ascertain the true form and
force of Polo's spelling of Oriental names and technical expressions, it
will be found that they are in the main as accurate as Italian lips and
orthography will admit, and not justly liable either to those disparaging
epithets[4] or to those exegetical distortions which have been too often
applied to them. Thus, for example, _Cocacin, Ghel_ or _Ghelan, Tonocain,
Cobinan, Ondanique, Barguerlac, Argon, Sensin, Quescican, Toscaol,
Bularguci, Zardandan, Anin, Caugigu, Coloman, Gauenispola, Mutfili,
Avarian, Choiach_, are not, it will be seen, the ignorant blunderings
which the interpretations affixed by some commentators would imply them to
be, but are, on the contrary, all but perfectly accurate utterances of the
names and words intended.
The _-tchéou_ (of French writers), _-choo_, _-chow_, or _-chau_[5] of
English writers, which so frequently forms the terminal part in the names
of Chinese cities, is almost invariably rendered by Polo as _-giu_. This
has frequently in the MSS., and constantly in the printed editions, been
converted into _-gui_, and thence into _-guy_. This is on the whole the
most constant canon of Polo's geographical orthography, and holds in
_Caagiu_ (Ho-chau), _Singiu_ (Sining-chau), _Cui-giu_ (Kwei-chau),
_Sin-giu_ (T'sining-chau), _Pi-giu_ (Pei-chau), _Coigangiu_
(Hwaingan-chau), _Si-giu_ (Si-chau), _Ti-giu_ (Tai-chau), _Tin-giu_
(Tung-chau), _Yan-giu_ (Yang-chau), _Sin-giu_ (Chin-chau), _Cai-giu_
(Kwa-chau), _Chinghi-giu_ (Chang-chau), _Su-giu_ (Su-chau), _Vu-giu_
(Wu-chau), and perhaps a few more. In one or two instances only (as
_Sinda-ciu_, _Caiciu_) he has _-ciu_ instead of _-giu_.
The chapter-headings I have generally taken from Pauthier's Text, but they
are no essential part of the original work, and they have been slightly
modified or enlarged where it seemed desirable.
* * * * *
"Behold! I see the Haven nigh at Hand,
To which I meane my wearie Course to bend;
Vere the maine Shete, and beare up with the Land,
The which afore is fayrly to be kend,
And seemeth safe from Storms that may offend.
* * * * *
There eke my Feeble Barke a while may stay,
Till mery Wynd and Weather call her thence away."
--THE FAERIE QUEENE, I. xii. 1.
[Illustration]
[1] This "eclectic formation of the English text," as I have called it for
brevity in the marginal rubric, has been disapproved by Mr. de
Khanikoff, a critic worthy of high respect. But I must repeat that the
duties of a translator, and of the Editor of an original text, at
least where the various recensions bear so peculiar a relation to each
other as in this case, are essentially different; and that, on
reconsidering the matter after an interval of four or five years, the
plan which I have adopted, whatever be the faults of execution, still
commends itself to me as the only appropriate one.
Let Mr. de Khanikoff consider what course he would adopt if he were
about to publish Marco Polo in Russian. I feel certain that with
whatever theory he might set out, before his task should be concluded
he would have arrived practically at the same system that I have
adopted.
[2] In Polo's diction C frequently represents H., e.g., _Cormos_ = Hormuz;
_Camadi_ probably = Hamadi; _Caagiu_ probably = Hochau; _Cacianfu_ =
Hochangfu, and so on. This is perhaps attributable to Rusticiano's
Tuscan ear. A true Pisan will absolutely contort his features in the
intensity of his efforts to aspirate sufficiently the letter C.
Filippo Villani, speaking of the famous Aguto (Sir J. Hawkwood), says
his name in English was _Kauchouvole_. (_Murat. Script._ xiv. 746.)
[3] In the Venetian dialect _ch_ and _j_ are often sounded as in English,
not as in Italian. Some traces of such pronunciation I think there
are, as in _Coja, Carajan_, and in the Chinese name _Vanchu_
(occurring only in Ramusio, supra, p. 99). But the scribe of the
original work being a Tuscan, the spelling is in the main Tuscan. The
sound of the _Qu_ is, however, French, as in _Quescican, Quinsai_,
except perhaps in the case of _Quenianfu_, for a reason given in vol.
ii. p. 29.
[4] For example, that enthusiastic student of mediaeval Geography, Joachim
Lelewel, speaks of Polo's "gibberish" (_le baragouinage du Venitien_)
with special reference to such names as _Zayton_ and _Kinsay_, whilst
we now know that these names were in universal use by all foreigners
in China, and no more deserve to be called gibberish than
_Bocca-Tigris_, _Leghorn_, _Ratisbon_, or _Buda_.
[5] I am quite sensible of the diffidence with which any outsider should
touch any question of Chinese language or orthography. A Chinese
scholar and missionary (Mr. Moule) objects to my spelling _chau_,
whilst he, I see, uses _chow_. I imagine we mean the same sound,
according to the spelling which I try to use throughout the book. Dr.
C. Douglas, another missionary scholar, writes _chau_.
[Illustration: MARCO POLO'S ITINERARIES,
No. I.
(Prologue; Book I. Chapters 1-36; and Book IV.)]
[Illustration: SKETCH SHOWING CHIEF MONARCHIES OF ASIA IN LATTER PART OF
13th CENTURY]
THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO.
PROLOGUE.
Great Princes, Emperors, and Kings, Dukes and Marquises, Counts, Knights,
and Burgesses! and People of all degrees who desire to get knowledge of
the various races of mankind and of the diversities of the sundry regions
of the World, take this Book and cause it to be read to you. For ye shall
find therein all kinds of wonderful things, and the divers histories of
the Great Hermenia, and of Persia, and of the Land of the Tartars, and of
India, and of many another country of which our Book doth speak,
particularly and in regular succession, according to the description of
Messer Marco Polo, a wise and noble citizen of Venice, as he saw them with
his own eyes. Some things indeed there be therein which he beheld not; but
these he heard from men of credit and veracity. And we shall set down
things seen as seen, and things heard as heard only, so that no jot of
falsehood may mar the truth of our Book, and that all who shall read it or
hear it read may put full faith in the truth of all its contents.
For let me tell you that since our Lord God did mould with his hands our
first Father Adam, even until this day, never hath there been Christian,
or Pagan, or Tartar, or Indian, or any man of any nation, who in his own
person hath had so much knowledge and experience of the divers parts of
the World and its Wonders as hath had this Messer Marco! And for that
reason he bethought himself that it would be a very great pity did he not
cause to be put in writing all the great marvels that he had seen, or on
sure information heard of, so that other people who had not these
advantages might, by his Book, get such knowledge. And I may tell you that
in acquiring this knowledge he spent in those various parts of the World
good six-and-twenty years. Now, being thereafter an inmate of the Prison
at Genoa, he caused Messer Rusticiano of Pisa, who was in the said Prison
likewise, to reduce the whole to writing; and this befell in the year 1298
from the birth of Jesus.
CHAPTER I.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS POLO SET FORTH FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO TRAVERSE THE
WORLD.
It came to pass in the year of Christ 1260, when Baldwin was reigning at
Constantinople,[NOTE 1] that Messer Nicolas Polo, the father of my lord
Mark, and Messer Maffeo Polo, the brother of Messer Nicolas, were at the
said city of CONSTANTINOPLE, whither they had gone from Venice with their
merchants' wares. Now these two Brethren, men singularly noble, wise, and
provident, took counsel together to cross the GREATER SEA on a venture of
trade; so they laid in a store of jewels and set forth from
Constantinople, crossing the Sea to SOLDAIA.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--Baldwin II (de Courtenay), the last Latin Emperor of
Constantinople, reigned from 1237 to 1261, when he was expelled by Michael
Palaeologus.
The date in the text is, as we see, that of the Brothers' voyage across
the Black Sea. It stands 1250 in all the chief texts. But the figure is
certainly wrong. We shall see that, when the Brothers return to Venice in
1269, they find Mark, who, according to Ramusio's version, was _born after
their departure_, a lad of fifteen. Hence, if we rely on Ramusio, they
must have left Venice about 1253-54. And we shall see also that they
reached the Volga in 1261. Hence their start from Constantinople may well
have occurred in 1260, and this I have adopted as the most probable
correction. Where they spent the interval between 1254 (if they really
left Venice so early) and 1260, nowhere appears. But as their brother,
Mark the Elder, in his Will styles himself "_whilom of Constantinople_,"
their headquarters were probably there.
[Illustration: Castle of Soldaia or Sudak]
NOTE 2.--In the Middle Ages the Euxine was frequently called _Mare Magnum_
or _Majus_. Thus Chaucer:--
"In the GRETE SEE,
At many a noble Armee hadde he be."
The term Black Sea (_Mare Maurum_ v. _Nigrum_) was, however, in use, and
Abulfeda says it was general in his day. That name has been alleged to
appear as early as the 10th century, in the form [Greek: Skoteinae], "The
Dark Sea"; but an examination of the passage cited, from Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, shows that it refers rather to the Baltic, whilst that
author elsewhere calls the Euxine simply Pontus. (_Reinaud's Abulf._ I.
38, _Const. Porph. De Adm. Imp._ c. 31, c. 42.)
+ _Sodaya, Soldaia_, or _Soldachia_, called by Orientals _Súdak_, stands
on the S.E. coast of the Crimea, west of Kaffa. It had belonged to the
Greek Empire, and had a considerable Greek population. After the Frank
conquest of 1204 it apparently fell to Trebizond. It was taken by the
Mongols in 1223 for the first time, and a second time in 1239, and during
that century was the great port of intercourse with what is now Russia. At
an uncertain date, but about the middle of the century, the Venetians
established a factory there, which in 1287 became the seat of a consul. In
1323 we find Pope John XXII. complaining to Uzbek Khan of Sarai that the
Christians had been ejected from Soldaia and their churches turned into
mosques. Ibn Batuta, who alludes to this strife, counts Sudak as one of
the four great ports of the World. The Genoese got Soldaia in 1365 and
built strong defences, still to be seen. Kaffa, with a good anchorage, in
the 14th century, and later on Tana, took the place of Soldaia as chief
emporium in South Russia. Some of the Arab Geographers call the Sea of
Azov the Sea of Sudak.
The Elder Marco Polo in his Will (1280) bequeaths to the Franciscan Friars
of the place a house of his in _Soldachia_, reserving life occupation to
his own son and daughter, then residing in it. Probably this establishment
already existed when the two Brothers went thither. (_Elie de
Laprimaudare_, passim; _Gold. Horde_, 87; _Mosheim_, App. 148; _Ibn Bat._
I. 28, II. 414; _Cathay_, 231-33; _Heyd_, II. passim.)
CHAPTER II.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS WENT ON BEYOND SOLDAIA.
Having stayed a while at Soldaia, they considered the matter, and thought
it well to extend their journey further. So they set forth from Soldaia
and travelled till they came to the Court of a certain Tartar Prince,
BARCA KAAN by name, whose residences were at SARA[NOTE 1] and at BOLGARA
[and who was esteemed one of the most liberal and courteous Princes that
ever was among the Tartars.][NOTE 2] This Barca was delighted at the
arrival of the Two Brothers, and treated them with great honour; so they
presented to him the whole of the jewels that they had brought with them.
The Prince was highly pleased with these, and accepted the offering most
graciously, causing the Brothers to receive at least twice its value.
[Illustration: Map to illustrate the Geographical Position of the CITY of
SARAI]
[Illustration: Part of the Remains of the CITY of SARAI near TZAREV North
of the AKHTUBA Branch of the VOLGA]
After they had spent a twelvemonth at the court of this Prince there broke
out a great war between Barca and Aláu, the Lord of the Tartars of the
Levant, and great hosts were mustered on either side.[NOTE 3]
But in the end Barca, the Lord of the Tartars of the Ponent, was defeated,
though on both sides there was great slaughter. And by reason of this war
no one could travel without peril of being taken; thus it was at least on
the road by which the Brothers had come, though there was no obstacle to
their travelling forward. So the Brothers, finding they could not retrace
their steps, determined to go forward. Quitting Bolgara, therefore, they
proceeded to a city called UCACA, which was at the extremity of the
kingdom of the Lord of the Ponent;[NOTE 4] and thence departing again, and
passing the great River Tigris, they travelled across a Desert which
extended for seventeen days' journey, and wherein they found neither town
nor village, falling in only with the tents of Tartars occupied with their
cattle at pasture.[NOTE 5]
NOTE 1.-- + Barka Khan, third son of Jújí, the first-born of Chinghiz,
ruled the _Ulús_ of Juji and Empire of Kipchak (Southern Russia) from 1257
to 1265. He was the first Musulman sovereign of his race. His chief
residence was at SARAI (Sara of the text), a city founded by his brother
and predecessor Bátú, on the banks of the Akhtuba branch of the Volga. In
the next century Ibn Batuta describes Sarai as a very handsome and
populous city, so large that it made half a day's journey to ride through
it. The inhabitants were Mongols, Aás (or Alans), Kipchaks, Circassians,
Russians, and Greeks, besides the foreign Moslem merchants, who had a
walled quarter. Another Mahomedan traveller of the same century says the
city itself was not walled, but, "The Khan's Palace was a great edifice
surmounted by a golden crescent weighing two _kantars_ of Egypt, and
encompassed by a wall flanked with towers," etc. Pope John XXII., on the
26th February 1322, defined the limits of the new Bishopric of Kaffa,
which were Sarai to the east and Varna to the west.
Sarai became the seat of both a Latin and a Russian metropolitan, and of
more than one Franciscan convent. It was destroyed by Timur on his second
invasion of Kipchak (1395-6), and extinguished by the Russians a century
later. It is the scene of Chaucer's half-told tale of Cambuscan:--
"At _Sarra_, in the Londe of Tartarie,
There dwelt a King that werried Russie."
["_Mesalek-al-absar_ (285, 287), says Sarai, meaning 'the Palace,' was
founded by Bereké, brother of Batu. It stood in a salty plain, and was
without walls, though the palace had walls flanked by towers. The town was
large, had markets, _madrasas_--and baths. It is usually identified with
Selitrennoyé Gorodok, about 70 miles above Astrakhan." (_Rockhill,
Rubruck_, p. 260, note.)--H. C.]
Several sites exhibiting extensive ruins near the banks of the Akhtuba
have been identified with Sarai; two in particular. One of these is not
far from the great elbow of the Volga at Tzaritzyn: the other much lower
down, at Selitrennoyé Gorodok or Saltpetre-Town, not far above Astrakhan.
The upper site exhibits by far the most extensive traces of former
population, and is declared unhesitatingly to be the sole site of Sarai by
M. Gregorieff, who carried on excavations among the remains for four
years, though with what precise results I have not been able to learn. The
most dense part of the remains, consisting of mounds and earth-works,
traces of walls, buildings, cisterns, dams, and innumerable canals,
extends for about 7-1/2 miles in the vicinity of the town of Tzarev, but a
tract of 66 miles in length and 300 miles in circuit, commencing from near
the head of the Akhtuba, presents remains of like character, though of
less density, marking the ground occupied by the villages which encircled
the capital. About 2-1/2 miles to the N.W. of Tzarev a vast mass of such
remains, surrounded by the traces of a brick rampart, points out the
presumable position of the Imperial Palace.
M. Gregorieff appears to admit no alternative. Yet it seems certain that
the indications of Abulfeda, Pegolotti, and others, with regard to the
position of the capital in the early part of the 14th century, are not
consistent with a site so far from the Caspian. Moreover, F. H. Müller
states that the site near Tzarev is known to the Tartars as the "Sarai of
Janibek Khan" (1341-1357). Now it is worthy of note that in the coinage of
Janibek we repeatedly find as the place of mintage, _New Sarai_. Arabsháh
in his History of Timur states that 63 years had elapsed from the
foundation to the destruction of Sarai. But it must have been at least 140
years since the foundation of Batu's city. Is it not possible, therefore,
that both the sites which we have mentioned were successively occupied by
the Mongol capital; that the original Sarai of Batu was at Selitrennoyé
Gorodok, and that the _New Sarai_ of Janibek was established by him, or by
his father Uzbeg in his latter days, on the upper Akhtuba? Pegolotti
having carried his merchant from Tana (Azov) to Gittarchan (Astrakhan),
takes him _one day_ by river to Sara, and from Sara to _Saracanco_, also
by river, eight days more. (_Cathay_, p. 287.) In the work quoted I have
taken Saracanco for Saraichik, on the Yaik. But it was possibly the Upper
or New Sarai on the Akhtuba. Ibn Batuta, marching on the frozen river,
reached Sarai in three days from Astrakhan. This could not have been at
Tzarev, 200 miles off.
In corroboration (_quantum valeat_) of my suggestion that there must have
been two Sarais near the Volga, Professor Bruun of Odessa points to the
fact that Fra Mauro's map presents _two_ cities of Sarai on the Akhtuba;
only the Sarai of Janibeg is with him no longer _New_ Sarai, but _Great_
Sarai.
The use of the latter name suggests the possibility that in the
_Saracanco_ of Pegolotti the latter half of the name may be the Mongol
_Kúnk_ "Great." (See _Pavet de Courteille_, p. 439.)
Professor Bruun also draws attention to the impossibility of Ibn Batuta's
travelling from Astrakhan to Tzarev in three days, an argument which had
already occurred to me and been inserted above.
[The Empire of Kipchak founded after the Mongol Conquest of 1224, included
also parts of Siberia and Khwarizm; it survived nominally until
1502.--H. C.]
(_Four Years of Archaeological Researches among the Ruins of Sarai_ [in
Russian] by M. Gregorieff [who appears to have also published a pamphlet
specially on the site, but this has not been available]; _Historisch-
geographische Darstellung des Stromsystems der Wolga, von Ferd. Heinr.
Müller_, Berlin, 1839, 568-577; _Ibn. Bat._ II. 447; _Not. et Extraits_,
XIII. i. 286; _Pallas, Voyages; Cathay_, 231, etc.; _Erdmann, Numi
Asiatici_, pp. 362 seqq.; _Arabs._ I. p. 381.)
NOTE 2.--BOLGHAR, our author's Bolgara, was the capital of the region
sometimes called Great Bulgaria, by Abulfeda _Inner Bulgaria_, and stood a
few miles from the left bank of the Volga, in latitude about 54° 54', and
90 miles below Kazan. The old Arab writers regarded it as nearly the limit
of the habitable world, and told wonders of the cold, the brief summer
nights, and the fossil ivory that was found in its vicinity. This was
exported, and with peltry, wax, honey, hazel-nuts, and Russia leather,
formed the staple articles of trade. The last item derived from Bolghar
the name which it still bears all over Asia. (See Bk. II. ch. xvi., and
Note.) Bolghar seems to have been the northern limit of Arab travel, and
was visited by the curious (by Ibn Batuta among others) in order to
witness the phenomena of the short summer night, as tourists now visit
Hammerfest to witness its entire absence.
Russian chroniclers speak of an earlier capital of the Bulgarian kingdom,
Brakhimof, near the mouth of the Kama, destroyed by Andrew, Grand Duke of
Rostof and Susdal, about 1160; and this may have been the city referred to
in the earlier Arabic accounts. The fullest of these is by Ibn Fozlán, who
accompanied an embassy from the Court of Baghdad to Bolghar, in A.D. 921.
The King and people had about this time been converted to Islam, having
previously, as it would seem, professed Christianity. Nevertheless, a
Mahomedan writer of the 14th century says the people had then long
renounced Islam for the worship of the Cross. (_Not. et Extr._ XIII. i.
270.)
[Illustration: Ruins of Bolghar.]
Bolghar was first captured by the Mongols in 1225. It seems to have
perished early in the 15th century, after which Kazan practically took its
place. Its position is still marked by a village called Bolgari, where
ruins of Mahomedan character remain, and where coins and inscriptions have
been found. Coins of the Kings of Bolghar, struck in the 10th century,
have been described by Fraehn, as well as coins of the Mongol period
struck at Bolghar. Its latest known coin is of A.H. 818 (A.D. 1415-16). A
history of Bolghar was written in the first half of the 12th century by
Yakub Ibn Noman, Kadhi of the city, but this is not known to be extant.
Fraehn shows ground for believing the people to have been a mixture of
Fins, Slavs, and Turks. Nicephorus Gregoras supposes that they took their
name from the great river on which they dwelt ([Greek: Boúlga]).
["The ruins [of Bolghar]," says Bretschneider, in his _Mediaeval
Researches_, published in 1888, vol. ii. p. 82, "still exist, and have
been the subject of learned investigation by several Russian scholars.
These remains are found on the spot where now the village _Uspenskoye_,
called also _Bolgarskoye_ (Bolgari), stands, in the district of Spask,
province of Kazan. This village is about 4 English miles distant from the
Volga, east of it, and 83 miles from Kazan." Part of the Bulgars removed
to the Balkans; others remained in their native country on the shores of
the Azov Sea, and were subjugated by the Khazars. At the beginning of the
9th century, they marched northwards to the Volga and the Kama, and
established the kingdom of Great Bulgaria. Their chief city, Bolghar, was
on the bank of the Volga, but the river runs now to the west; as the Kama
also underwent a change in its course, it is possible that formerly
Bolghar was built at the junction of the two rivers. (Cf. _Reclus, Europe
russe_, p. 761.) The Bulgars were converted to Islam in 922. Their country
was first invaded by the Mongols under Subutai in 1223; this General
conquered it in 1236, the capital was destroyed the following year, and
the country annexed to the kingdom of Kipchak. Bolghar was again destroyed
in 1391 by Tamerlan. In 1438, Ulugh Mohammed, cousin of Toka Timur,
younger son of Juji, transformed this country into the khanate of Kazan,
which survived till 1552. It had probably been the capital of the Golden
Horde before Sarai.
With reference to the early Christianity of the Bulgarians, to which Yule
refers in his note, the _Laurentian Chronicle_ (A.D. 1229), quoted by
Shpilevsky, adduces evidence to show that in the Great City, i.e.
_Bulgar_, there were Russian Christians and a Christian cemetery, and the
death of a Bulgarian Christian martyr is related in the same chronicle as
well as in the Nikon, Tver, and Tatischef annals in which his name is
given. (Cf. Shpilevsky, _Anc. towns and other Bulgaro-Tartar monuments_,
Kazan, 1877, p. 158 seq.; _Rockhill's Rubruck_, Hakl. Soc. p. 121, note.)
--H. C.]
The severe and lasting winter is spoken of by Ibn Folzán and other old
writers in terms that seem to point to a modern mitigation of climate. It
is remarkable, too, that Ibn Fozlán speaks of the aurora as of very
frequent occurrence, which is not now the case in that latitude. We may
suspect this frequency to have been connected with the greater cold
indicated, and perhaps with a different position of the magnetic pole. Ibn
Fozlán's account of the aurora is very striking:--"Shortly before sunset
the horizon became all very ruddy, and at the same time I heard sounds in
the upper air, with a dull rustling. I looked up and beheld sweeping over
me a fire-red cloud, from which these sounds issued, and in it movements,
as it were, of men and horses; the men grasping bows, lances, and swords.
This I saw, or thought I saw. Then there appeared a white cloud of like
aspect; in it also I beheld armed horsemen, and these rushed against the
former as one squadron of horse charges another. We were so terrified at
this that we turned with humble prayer to the Almighty, whereupon the
natives about us wondered and broke into loud laughter. We, however,
continued to gaze, seeing how one cloud charged the other, remained
confused with it a while, and then sundered again. These movements lasted
deep into the night, and then all vanished."
(_Fraehn, Ueber die Wolga Bulgaren_, Petersb. 1832; _Gold. Horde_, 8, 9,
423-424; _Not. et Extr._ II. 541; _Ibn Bat._ II. 398; _Büschings Mag._ V.
492; _Erdmann, Numi Asiat._ I. 315-318, 333-334, 520-535; _Niceph.
Gregoras_, II. 2, 2.)
NOTE 3.--ALAU is Polo's representation of the name of Hulákú, brother of
the Great Kaans Mangu and Kublai and founder of the Mongol dynasty in
Persia. In the Mongol pronunciation guttural and palatal consonants are
apt to be elided, hence this spelling. The same name is written by Pope
Alexander IV., in addressing the Khan, _Olao_, by Pachymeres and Gregoras
[Greek: Chalaù] and [Greek: Chalaon], by Hayton _Haolon_, by Ibn Batuta
_Huláún_, as well as in a letter of Hulaku's own, as given by Makrizi.
The war in question is related in Rashíduddín's history, and by Polo
himself towards the end of the work. It began in the summer of 1262, and
ended about eight months later. Hence the Polos must have reached Barka's
Court in 1261.
Marco always applies to the Mongol Khans of Persia the title of "Lords of
the East" (_Levant_), and to the Khans of Kipchak that of "Lords of the
West" (_Ponent_). We use the term _Levant_ still with a similar specific
application, and in another form _Anatolia_. I think it best to preserve
the terms _Levant_ and _Ponent_ when used in this way.
[Robert Parke in his translation out of Spanish of Mendoza, _The Historie
of the great and mightie kingdome of China_ ... London, printed by I.
Wolfe for Edward White, 1588, uses the word _Ponent_: "You shall
understande that this mightie kingdome is the Orientalest part of all
Asia, and his next neighbour towards the _Ponent_ is the kingdome of
_Quachinchina_ ... (p. 2)."--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--UCACA or UKEK was a town on the right bank of the Volga, nearly
equidistant between Sarai and Bolghar, and about six miles south of the
modern Saratov, where a village called _Uwek_ still exists. Ukek is not
mentioned before the Mongol domination, and is supposed to have been of
Mongol foundation, as the name Ukek is said in Mongol to signify a dam of
hurdles. The city is mentioned by Abulfeda as marking the extremity of
"the empire of the Barka Tartars," and Ibn Batuta speaks of it as "one day
distant from the hills of the Russians." Polo therefore means that it was
the frontier of the Ponent towards Russia. Ukek was the site of a
Franciscan convent in the 14th century; it is mentioned several times in
the campaigns of Timur, and was destroyed by his army. It is not mentioned
under the form Ukek after this, but appears as _Uwek_ and _Uwesh_ in
Russian documents of the 16th century. Perhaps this was always the
Slavonic form, for it already is written _Uguech_ (= Uwek) in Wadding's
14th century catalogue of convents. Anthony Jenkinson, in Hakluyt, gives
an observation of its latitude, as _Oweke_ (51° 40'), and Christopher
Burrough, in the same collection, gives a description of it as _Oueak_,
and the latitude as 51° 30' (some 7' too much). In his time (1579) there
were the remains of a "very faire stone castle" and city, with old tombs
exhibiting sculptures and inscriptions. All these have long vanished.
Burrough was told by the Russians that the town "was swallowed into the
earth by the justice of God, for the wickednesse of the people that
inhabited the same." Lepechin in 1769 found nothing remaining but part of
an earthen rampart and some underground vaults of larger bricks, which the
people dug out for use. He speaks of coins and other relics as frequent,
and the like have been found more recently. Coins with Mongol-Arab
inscriptions, struck at Ukek by Tuktugai Khan in 1306, have been described
by Fraehn and Erdmann.
(_Fraehn, Ueber die ehemalige Mong. Stadt Ukek_, etc., Petersb. 1835;
_Gold. Horde_; _Ibn Bat._ II. 414; _Abulfeda, in Büsching_, V. 365; _Ann.
Minorum_, sub anno 1400; _Pétis de la Croix_, II. 355, 383, 388;
_Hakluyt_, ed. 1809, I. 375 and 472; _Lepechin, Tagebuch der Reise_, etc.,
I. 235-237; _Rockhill, Rubruck_, 120-121, note 2.)
NOTE 5.--The great River Tigeri or Tigris is the Volga, as Pauthier
rightly shows. It receives the same name from the Monk Pascal of Vittoria
in 1338. (_Cathay_, p. 234.) Perhaps this arose out of some legend that
the Tigris was a reappearance of the same river. The ecclesiastical
historian, Nicephorus Callistus, appears to imply that the Tigris coming
from Paradise flows under the Caspian to emerge in Kurdistan. (See IX.
19.)
The "17 days" applies to one stretch of desert. The whole journey from
Ukek Bokhara would take some 60 days at least. Ibn Batuta is 58 days from
Sarai to Bokhara, and of the last section he says, "we entered the desert
which extends between Khwarizm and Bokhara, and _which has an extent of 18
days' journey_." (III. 19.)
CHAPTER III.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS, AFTER CROSSING A DESERT, CAME TO THE CITY OF BOCARA,
AND FELL IN WITH CERTAIN ENVOYS THERE.
After they had passed the desert, they arrived at a very great and noble
city called BOCARA, the territory of which belonged to a king whose name
was Barac, and is also called Bocara. The city is the best in all
Persia.[NOTE 1] And when they had got thither, they found they could
neither proceed further forward nor yet turn back again; wherefore they
abode in that city of Bocara for three years. And whilst they were
sojourning in that city, there came from Alau, Lord of the Levant, Envoys
on their way to the Court of the Great Kaan, the Lord of all the Tartars
in the world. And when the Envoys beheld the Two Brothers they were
amazed, for they had never before seen Latins in that part of the world.
And they said to the Brothers: "Gentlemen, if ye will take our counsel, ye
will find great honour and profit shall come thereof." So they replied
that they would be right glad to learn how. "In truth," said the Envoys,
"the Great Kaan hath never seen any Latins, and he hath a great desire so
to do. Wherefore, if ye will keep us company to his Court, ye may depend
upon it that he will be right glad to see you, and will treat you with
great honour and liberality; whilst in our company ye shall travel with
perfect security, and need fear to be molested by nobody."[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--Hayton also calls Bokhara a city of Persia, and I see Vámbéry
says that, up till the conquest by Chinghiz, Bokhara, Samarkand, Balkh,
etc., were considered to belong to Persia. (_Travels_, p. 377.) The first
Mongolian governor of Bokhara was Buka Bosha.
King Barac is Borrak Khan, great-grandson of Chagatai, and sovereign of
the Ulús of Chagatai, from 1264 to 1270. The Polos, no doubt, reached
Bokhara before 1264, but Borrak must have been sovereign some time before
they left it.
NOTE 2.--The language of the envoys seems rather to imply that they were
the Great Kaan's own people returning from the Court of Hulaku. And Rashid
mentions that Sartak, the Kaan's ambassador to Hulaku, returned from
Persia in the year that the latter prince died. It may have been his party
that the Venetians joined, for the year almost certainly was the same,
viz. 1265. If so, another of the party was Bayan, afterwards the greatest
of Kublai's captains, and much celebrated in the sequel of this book. (See
_Erdmann's Temudschin_, p. 214.)
Marsden justly notes that Marco habitually speaks of _Latins_, never of
_Franks_. Yet I suspect his own mental expression was _Farangi_.
CHAPTER IV.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS TOOK THE ENVOYS' COUNSEL, AND WENT TO THE COURT OF
THE GREAT KAAN.
So when the Two Brothers had made their arrangements, they set out on
their travels, in company with the Envoys, and journeyed for a whole year,
going northward and north-eastward, before they reached the Court of that
Prince. And on their journey they saw many marvels of divers and sundry
kinds, but of these we shall say nothing at present, because Messer Mark,
who has likewise seen them all, will give you a full account of them in
the Book which follows.
CHAPTER V.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS ARRIVED AT THE COURT OF THE GREAT KAAN.
When the Two Brothers got to the Great Kaan, he received them with great
honour and hospitality, and showed much pleasure at their visit, asking
them a great number of questions. First, he asked about the emperors, how
they maintained their dignity, and administered justice in their
dominions; and how they went forth to battle, and so forth. And then he
asked the like questions about the kings and princes and other potentates.
CHAPTER VI.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN ASKED ALL ABOUT THE MANNERS OF THE CHRISTIANS, AND
PARTICULARLY ABOUT THE POPE OF ROME.
And then he inquired about the Pope and the Church, and about all that is
done at Rome, and all the customs of the Latins. And the Two Brothers told
him the truth in all its particulars, with order and good sense, like
sensible men as they were; and this they were able to do as they knew the
Tartar language well.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--The word generally used for Pope in the original is _Apostoille_
(_Apostolicus_), the usual French expression of that age.
It is remarkable that for the most part the text edited by Pauthier has
the correcter Oriental form _Tatar_, instead of the usual _Tartar_.
_Tattar_ is the word used by Yvo of Narbonne, in the curious letter given
by Matthew Paris under 1243.
We are often told that _Tartar_ is a vulgar European error. It is in any
case a very old one; nor does it seem to be of European origin, but rather
Armenian;[1] though the suggestion of Tartarus may have given it readier
currency in Europe. Russian writers, or rather writers who have been in
Russia, sometimes try to force on us a specific limitation of the word
_Tartar_ to a certain class of Oriental Turkish race, to whom the Russians
appropriate the name. But there is no just ground for this. _Tátár_ is
used by Oriental writers of Polo's age exactly as Tartar was then, and is
still, used in Western Europe, as a generic title for the Turanian hosts
who followed Chinghiz and his successors. But I believe the name in this
sense was unknown to Western Asia before the time of Chinghiz. And General
Cunningham must overlook this when he connects the _Tátaríya_ coins,
mentioned by Arab geographers of the 9th century, with "the Scythic or
Tátár princes who ruled in Kabul" in the beginning of our era. Tartars on
the Indian frontier in those centuries are surely to be classed with the
Frenchmen whom Brennus led to Rome, or the Scotchmen who fought against
Agricola.
[1] See _J. As._ sér. V. tom. xi. p. 203.
CHAPTER VII.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN SENT THE TWO BROTHERS AS HIS ENVOYS TO THE POPE.
When that Prince, whose name was CUBLAY KAAN, Lord of the Tartars all over
the earth, and of all the kingdoms and provinces and territories of that
vast quarter of the world, had heard all that the Brothers had to tell him
about the ways of the Latins, he was greatly pleased, and he took it into
his head that he would send them on an Embassy to the Pope. So he urgently
desired them to undertake this mission along with one of his Barons; and
they replied that they would gladly execute all his commands as those of
their Sovereign Lord. Then the Prince sent to summon to his presence one
of his Barons whose name was COGATAL, and desired him to get ready, for it
was proposed to send him to the Pope along with the Two Brothers. The
Baron replied that he would execute the Lord's commands to the best of his
ability.
After this the Prince caused letters from himself to the Pope to be
indited in the Tartar tongue,[NOTE 1] and committed them to the Two
Brothers and to that Baron of his own, and charged them with what he
wished them to say to the Pope. Now the contents of the letter were to
this purport: He begged that the Pope would send as many as an hundred
persons of our Christian faith; intelligent men, acquainted with the Seven
Arts,[NOTE 2] well qualified to enter into controversy, and able clearly
to prove by force of argument to idolaters and other kinds of folk, that
the Law of Christ was best, and that all other religions were false and
naught; and that if they would prove this, he and all under him would
become Christians and the Church's liegemen. Finally he charged his Envoys
to bring back to him some Oil of the Lamp which burns on the Sepulchre of
our Lord at Jerusalem.[NOTE 3]
NOTE 1.-- + The appearance of the Great Kaan's letter may be illustrated
by two letters on so-called Corean paper preserved in the French archives;
one from Arghún Khan of Persia (1289), brought by Buscarel, and the other
from his son Oljaitu (May, 1305), to Philip the Fair. These are both in
the Mongol language, and according to Abel Rémusat and other authorities,
in the Uighúr character, the parent of the present Mongol writing.
Facsimiles of the letters are given in Rémusat's paper on intercourse with
Mongol Princes, in _Mém. de l' Acad. des Inscript._ vols. vii. and viii.,
reproductions in J. B. Chabot's _Hist. de Mar Jabalaha III._, Paris, 1895,
and preferably in Prince Roland Bonaparte's beautiful _Documents Mongols_,
Pl. XIV., and we give samples of the two in vol. ii.[1]
NOTE 2.--"The Seven Arts," from a date reaching back nearly to classical
times, and down through the Middle Ages, expressed the whole circle of a
liberal education, and it is to these Seven Arts that the degrees in arts
were understood to apply. They were divided into the _Trivium_ of
Rhetoric, Logic, and Grammar, and the _Quadrivium_ of Arithmetic,
Astronomy, Music, and Geometry. The 38th epistle of Seneca was in many
MSS. (according to Lipsius) entitled "_L. Annaei Senecae Liber de Septem
Artibus liberalibus._" I do not find, however, that Seneca there mentions
categorically more than five, viz., Grammar, Geometry, Music, Astronomy,
and Arithmetic. In the 5th century we find the Seven Arts to form the
successive subjects of the last seven books of the work of Martianus
Capella, much used in the schools during the early Middle Ages. The Seven
Arts will be found enumerated in the verses of Tzetzes (_Chil. XI._ 525),
and allusions to them in the mediaeval romances are endless. Thus, in one
of the "Gestes d'Alexandre," a chapter is headed "_Comment Aristotle
aprent à Alixandre les Sept Arts._" In the tale of the Seven Wise Masters,
Diocletian selects that number of tutors for his son, each to instruct him
in one of the Seven Arts. In the romance of _Erec and Eneide_ we have a
dress on which the fairies had portrayed the Seven Arts (_Franc. Michel,
Recherches_, etc. II. 82); in the _Roman de Mahommet_ the young impostor
is master of all the seven. There is one mediaeval poem called the
_Marriage of the Seven Arts_, and another called the _Battle of the Seven
Arts_. (See also Dante, _Convito_, Trat. II. c. 14; _Not. et Ex._ V., 491
seqq.)
NOTE 3.--The Chinghizide Princes were eminently liberal--or indifferent--
in religion; and even after they became Mahomedan, which, however, the
Eastern branch never did, they were rarely and only by brief fits
persecutors. Hence there was scarcely one of the non-Mahomedan Khans of
whose conversion to Christianity there were not stories spread. The first
rumours of Chinghiz in the West were as of a Christian conqueror; tales
may be found of the Christianity of Chagatai, Hulaku, Abaka, Arghun,
Baidu, Ghazan, Sartak, Kuyuk, Mangu, Kublai, and one or two of the
latter's successors in China, all probably false, with one or two doubtful
exceptions.
[1] See plates with ch. xvii. of Bk. IV. See also the Uighúr character in
the second _Païza_, Bk. II. ch. vii.
[Illustration: The Great Kaan delivering a Golden Tablet to the Brothers.
From a miniature of the 14th century.]
CHAPTER VIII.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN GAVE THEM A TABLET OF GOLD, BEARING HIS ORDERS IN THEIR
BEHALF.
When the Prince had charged them with all his commission, he caused to be
given them a Tablet of Gold, on which was inscribed that the three
Ambassadors should be supplied with everything needful in all the
countries through which they should pass--with horses, with escorts, and,
in short, with whatever they should require. And when they had made all
needful preparations, the three Ambassadors took their leave of the
Emperor and set out.
When they had travelled I know not how many days, the Tartar Baron fell
sick, so that he could not ride, and being very ill, and unable to proceed
further, he halted at a certain city. So the Two Brothers judged it best
that they should leave him behind and proceed to carry out their
commission; and, as he was well content that they should do so, they
continued their journey. And I can assure you, that whithersoever they
went they were honourably provided with whatever they stood in need of, or
chose to command. And this was owing to that Tablet of Authority from the
Lord which they carried with them.[NOTE 1]
So they travelled on and on until they arrived at Layas in Hermenia, a
journey which occupied them, I assure you, for three years.[NOTE 2] It
took them so long because they could not always proceed, being stopped
sometimes by snow, or by heavy rains falling, or by great torrents which
they found in an impassable state.
[Illustration: Castle of Ayas.]
NOTE 1.--On these Tablets, see a note under Bk. II. ch. vii.
NOTE 2.--AYAS, called also Ayacio, Aiazzo, Giazza, Glaza, La Jazza, and
_Layas_, occupied the site of ancient Aegae, and was the chief port of
Cilician Armenia, on the Gulf of Scanderoon. _Aegae_ had been in the 5th
century a place of trade with the West, and the seat of a bishopric, as we
learn from the romantic but incomplete story of Mary, the noble
slave-girl, told by Gibbon (ch. 33). As Ayas it became in the latter part
of the 13th century one of the chief places for the shipment of Asiatic
wares arriving through Tabriz, and was much frequented by the vessels of
the Italian Republics. The Venetians had a _Bailo_ resident there.
Ayas is the _Leyes_ of Chaucer's Knight,--
("At LEYES was he and at Satalie")--
and the Layas of Froissart. (Bk. III. ch. xxii.) The Gulf of Layas is
described in the xix. Canto of Ariosto, where Mafisa and Astolfo find on
its shores a country of barbarous Amazons:--
"Fatto è 'l porto a sembranza d' una luna," etc.
Marino Sanuto says of it: "Laiacio has a haven, and a shoal in front of it
that we might rather call a reef, and to this shoal the hawsers of vessels
are moored whilst the anchors are laid out towards the land." (II. IV. ch.
xxvi.)
The present Ayas is a wretched village of some 15 huts, occupied by about
600 Turkmans, and standing inside the ruined walls of the castle. This
castle, which is still in good condition, was built by the Armenian kings,
and restored by Sultan Suleiman; it was constructed from the remains of
the ancient city; fragments of old columns are embedded in its walls of
cut stone. It formerly communicated by a causeway with an advanced work on
an island before the harbour. The ruins of the city occupy a large space.
(_Langlois, V. en Cilicie_, pp. 429-31; see also _Beaufort's Karamania_,
near the end.) A plan of Ayas will be found at the beginning of Bk. I.
--H. Y. and H. C.
CHAPTER IX.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS CAME TO THE CITY OF ACRE.
[Ilustration: ACRE AS IT WAS WHEN LOST (A.D. 1291). FROM THE PLAN GIVEN BY
MARINO SANUTO]
They departed from Layas and came to ACRE, arriving there in the month of
April, in the year of Christ 1269, and then they learned that the Pope was
dead. And when they found that the Pope was dead (his name was Pope * *),
[NOTE 1] they went to a certain wise Churchman who was Legate for the
whole kingdom of Egypt, and a man of great authority, by name THEOBALD OF
PIACENZA, and told him of the mission on which they were come. When the
Legate heard their story, he was greatly surprised, and deemed the thing
to be of great honour and advantage for the whole of Christendom. So his
answer to the two Ambassador Brothers was this: "Gentlemen, ye see that
the Pope is dead; wherefore ye must needs have patience until a new Pope
be made, and then shall ye be able to execute your charge." Seeing well
enough that what the Legate said was just, they observed: "But while the
Pope is a-making, we may as well go to Venice and visit our households."
So they departed from Acre and went to Negropont, and from Negropont they
continued their voyage to Venice.[NOTE 2] On their arrival there, Messer
Nicolas found that his wife was dead, and that she had left behind her a
son of fifteen years of age, whose name was MARCO; and 'tis of him that
this Book tells.[NOTE 3] The Two Brothers abode at Venice a couple of
years, tarrying until a Pope should be made.
NOTE 1.--The deceased Pope's name is omitted both in the Geog. Text and in
Pauthier's, clearly because neither Rusticiano nor Polo remembered it. It
is supplied correctly in the Crusca Italian as _Clement_, and in Ramusio
as _Clement IV._
It is not clear that _Theobald_, though generally adopted, is the
ecclesiastic's proper name. It appears in different MSS. as _Teald_ (G.
T.), _Ceabo_ for _Teabo_ (Pauthier), _Odoaldo_ (Crusca), and in the
Riccardian as _Thebaldus de Vice-comitibus de Placentia_, which
corresponds to Ramusio's version. Most of the ecclesiastical chroniclers
call him _Tedaldus_, some _Thealdus_. _Tedaldo_ is a real name, occurring
in Boccaccio. (Day iii. Novel 7.)
NOTE 2.--After the expulsion of the Venetians from Constantinople,
Negropont was the centre of their influence in Romania. On the final
return of the travellers they again take Negropont on their way. [It was
one of the ports on the route from Venice to Constantinople, Tana,
Trebizond.--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--The _edition_ of the Soc. de Géographie makes Mark's age
_twelve_, but I have verified from inspection the fact noticed by Pauthier
that the _manuscript_ has distinctly xv. like all the other old texts. In
Ramusio it is _nineteen_, but this is doubtless an arbitrary correction to
suit the mistaken date (1250) assigned for the departure of the father
from Constantinople.
There is nothing in the old French texts to justify the usual statement
that Marco was born after the departure of his father from Venice. All
that the G. T. says is: "Meser Nicolau treuve que sa fame estoit morte, et
les remès un filz de xv. anz que avoit à nom Marc," and Pauthier's text is
to the same effect. Ramusio, indeed, has: "M. Nicolò trovò, che sua moglie
era morta, la quale nella sua partita haveva partorito un figliuolo," and
the other versions that are based on Pipino's seem all to have like
statements.
CHAPTER X.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS AGAIN DEPARTED FROM VENICE, ON THEIR WAY BACK TO THE
GREAT KAAN, AND TOOK WITH THEM MARK, THE SON OF MESSER NICOLAS.
When the Two Brothers had tarried as long as I have told you, and saw that
never a Pope was made, they said that their return to the Great Kaan must
be put off no longer. So they set out from Venice, taking Mark along with
them, and went straight back to Acre, where they found the Legate of whom
we have spoken. They had a good deal of discourse with him concerning the
matter, and asked his permission to go to JERUSALEM to get some Oil from
the Lamp on the Sepulchre, to carry with them to the Great Kaan, as he had
enjoined.[NOTE 1] The Legate giving them leave, they went from Acre to
Jerusalem and got some of the Oil, and then returned to Acre, and went to
the Legate and said to him: "As we see no sign of a Pope's being made, we
desire to return to the Great Kaan; for we have already tarried long, and
there has been more than enough delay." To which the Legate replied:
"Since 'tis your wish to go back, I am well content." Wherefore he caused
letters to be written for delivery to the Great Kaan, bearing testimony
that the Two Brothers had come in all good faith to accomplish his charge,
but that as there was no Pope they had been unable to do so.
NOTE 1.--In a Pilgrimage of date apparently earlier than this, the Pilgrim
says of the Sepulchre: "The Lamp which had been placed by His head (when
He lay there) still burns on the same spot day and night. _We took a
blessing from it_ (i.e. apparently took some of the oil as a beneficent
memorial), and replaced it." (_Itinerarium Antonini Placentini_ in
_Bollandists_, May, vol. ii. p. xx.)
["Five great oil lamps," says Daniel, the Russian Hégoumène, 1106-1107
(_Itinéraires russes en Orient_, trad. pour la Soc. de l'Orient Latin, par
Mme. B. de Khitrowo, Geneva, 1889, p. 13), "burning continually night and
day, are hung in the Sepulchre of Our Lord."--H. C.]
CHAPTER XI.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS SET OUT FROM ACRE, AND MARK ALONG WITH THEM.
When the Two Brothers had received the Legate's letters, they set forth
from Acre to return to the Grand Kaan, and got as far as Layas. But
shortly after their arrival there they had news that the Legate aforesaid
was chosen Pope, taking the name of Pope Gregory of Piacenza; news which
the Two Brothers were very glad indeed to hear. And presently there
reached them at Layas a message from the Legate, now the Pope, desiring
them, on the part of the Apostolic See, not to proceed further on their
journey, but to return to him incontinently. And what shall I tell you?
The King of Hermenia caused a galley to be got ready for the Two
Ambassador Brothers, and despatched them to the Pope at Acre.[NOTE 1]
[Illustration: Portrait of Pope Gregory X.]
NOTE 1.--The death of Pope Clement IV. occurred on St Andrew's Day (29th
November), 1268; the election of Tedaldo or Tebaldo of Piacenza, a member
of the Visconti family, and Archdeacon of Liège, did not take place till
1st September, 1271, owing to the factions among the cardinals. And it is
said that some of them, anxious only to get away, voted for Theobald in
full belief that he was dead. The conclave, in its inability to agree, had
named a committee of six with full powers which the same day elected
Theobald, on the recommendation of the Cardinal Bishop of Portus (John de
Toleto, said, in spite of his name, to have been an Englishman). This
facetious dignitary had suggested that the roof should be taken off the
Palace at Viterbo where they sat, to allow the divine influences to
descend more freely on their counsels (_quia nequeunt ad nos per tot tecta
ingredi_). According to some, these doggerel verses, current on the
occasion, were extemporised by Cardinal John in the pious exuberance of
his glee:--
"Papatûs munus tulit Archidiaconus unus
Quem Patrem Patrum fecit discordia Fratrum."
The Archdeacon, a man of great weight of character, in consequence of
differences with his Bishop (of Liège), who was a disorderly liver, had
gone to the Holy Land, and during his stay there he contracted great
intimacy with Prince Edward of England (Edward I.). Some authors, e.g.
John Villani (VIII. 39), say that he was Legate in Syria; others, as
Rainaldus, deny this; but Polo's statement, and the authority which the
Archdeacon took on himself in writing to the Kaan, seem to show that he
had some such position.
He took the name of Gregory X., and before his departure from Acre,
preached a moving sermon on the text, "_If I forget thee, O Jerusalem_,"
etc. Prince Edward fitted him out for his voyage.
Gregory reigned barely four years, dying at Arezzo 10th January, 1276. His
character stood high to the last, and some of the Northern Martyrologies
enrolled him among the saints, but there has never been canonisation by
Rome. The people of Arezzo used to celebrate his anniversary with
torch-light gatherings at his tomb, and plenty of miracles were alleged to
have occurred there. The tomb still stands in the Duomo at Arezzo, a
handsome work by Margaritone, an artist in all branches, who was the Pope's
contemporary. There is an engraving of it in _Gonnelli, Mon. Sepolc. di
Toscana_.
(_Fra Pipino_ in _Muratori_, IX. 700; _Rainaldi Annal._ III. 252 seqq.;
_Wadding_, sub. an. 1217: _Bollandists_, 10th January; _Palatii, Gesta
Pontif. Roman._ vol. iii., and _Fasti Cardinalium_, I. 463, etc.)
CHAPTER XII.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS PRESENTED THEMSELVES BEFORE THE NEW POPE.
And when they had been thus honourably conducted to Acre they proceeded to
the presence of the Pope, and paid their respects to him with humble
reverence. He received them with great honour and satisfaction, and gave
them his blessing. He then appointed two Friars of the Order of Preachers
to accompany them to the Great Kaan, and to do whatever might be required
of them. These were unquestionably as learned Churchmen as were to be
found in the Province at that day--one being called Friar Nicolas of
Vicenza, and the other Friar William of Tripoli.[NOTE 1] He delivered to
them also proper credentials, and letters in reply to the Great Kaan's
messages [and gave them authority to ordain priests and bishops, and to
bestow every kind of absolution, as if given by himself in proper person;
sending by them also many fine vessels of crystal as presents to the Great
Kaan].[NOTE 2] So when they had got all that was needful, they took leave
of the Pope, receiving his benediction; and the four set out together from
Acre, and went to Layas, accompanied always by Messer Nicolas's son Marco.
Now, about the time that they reached Layas, Bendocquedar, the Soldan of
Babylon, invaded Hermenia with a great host of Saracens, and ravaged the
country, so that our Envoys ran a great peril of being taken or slain.
[NOTE 3] And when the Preaching Friars saw this they were greatly
frightened, and said that go they never would. So they made over to Messer
Nicolas and Messer Maffeo all their credentials and documents, and took
their leave, departing in company with the Master of the Temple.[NOTE 4]
NOTE 1.--Friar William, of Tripoli, of the Dominican convent at Acre,
appears to have served there as early as 1250. [He was born circa 1220, at
Tripoli, in Syria, whence his name.--H. C.] He is known as the author of a
book, _De Statu Saracenorum post Ludovici Regis de Syriâ reditum_,
dedicated to Theoldus, Archdeacon of Liège (i.e. Pope Gregory). Of this
some extracts are printed in Duchesne's _Hist. Francorum Scriptores_.
There are two MSS. of it, with different titles, in the Paris Library, and
a French version in that of Berne. A MS. in Cambridge Univ. Library, which
contains among other things a copy of Pipino's Polo, has also the work of
Friar William:--"_Willelmus Tripolitanus, Aconensis Conventus, de Egressu
Machometi et Saracenorum, atque progressu eorumdem, de Statu
Saracenorum_," etc. It is imperfect; it is addressed THEOBALDO
_Ecclesiarcho digno Sancte Terre Peregrino Sancto_. And from a cursory
inspection I imagine that the Tract appended to one of the Polo MSS. in
the British Museum (Addl. MSS., No. 19,952) is the same work or part of
it. To the same author is ascribed a tract called _Clades Damiatae_.
(_Duchesne_, V. 432; _D'Avezac_ in _Rec. de Voyages_, IV. 406; _Quétif,
Script. Ord. Praed._ I. 264-5; _Catal. of MSS. in Camb. Univ. Library_, I.
22.)
NOTE 2.--I presume that the powers, stated in this passage from Ramusio to
have been conferred on the Friars, are exaggerated. In letters of
authority granted in like cases by Pope Gregory's successors, Nicolas III.
(in 1278) and Boniface VIII. (in 1299), the missionary friars to remote
regions are empowered to absolve from excommunication and release from
vows, to settle matrimonial questions, to found churches and appoint
_idoneos rectores_, to authorise Oriental clergy who should publicly
submit to the Apostolic See to enjoy the _privilegium clericale_, whilst
in the absence of bishops those among the missionaries who were priests
might consecrate cemeteries, altars, palls, etc., admit to the Order of
Acolytes, but nothing beyond. (See _Mosheim, Hist. Tartar. Eccles._ App.
Nos. 23 and 42.)
NOTE 3.--The statement here about Bundúkdár's invasion of Cilician Armenia
is a difficulty. He had invaded it in 1266, and his second devastating
invasion, during which he burnt both Layas and Sis, the king's residence,
took place in 1275, a point on which Marino Sanuto is at one with the
Oriental Historians. Now we know from Rainaldus that Pope Gregory left
Acre in November or December, 1271, and the text appears to imply that our
travellers left Acre before him. The utmost corroboration that I can find
lies in the following facts stated by Makrizi:--
On the 13th Safar, A.H. 670 (20th September 1271), Bundúkdár arrived
unexpectedly at Damascus, and after a brief raid against the Ismaelians he
returned to that city. In the middle of Rabi I. (about 20-25 October) the
Tartars made an incursion in northern Syria, and the troops of Aleppo
retired towards Hamah. There was great alarm at Damascus; the Sultan sent
orders to Cairo for reinforcements, and these arrived at Damascus on the
9th November. The Sultan then advanced on Aleppo, sending corps likewise
towards Marash (which was within the Armenian frontier) and Harran. At the
latter place the Tartars were attacked and those in the town slaughtered;
the rest retreated. The Sultan was back at Damascus, and off on a
different expedition, by 7th December. Hence, if the travellers arrived at
Ayas towards the latter part of November they would probably find alarm
existing at the advance of Bundúkdár, though matters did not turn out so
serious as they imply.
"Babylon," of which Bundúkdár is here styled Sultan, means Cairo, commonly
so styled (_Bambellonia d'Egitto_) in that age. Babylon of Egypt is
mentioned by Diodorus quoting Ctesias, by Strabo, and by Ptolemy; it was
the station of a Roman Legion in the days of Augustus, and still survives
in the name of _Babul_, close to old Cairo.
Malik Dáhir Ruknuddín Bíbars Bundúkdári, a native of Kipchak, was
originally sold at Damascus for 800 dirhems (about 18_l._), and returned
by his purchaser because of a blemish. He was then bought by the Amir
Aláuddín Aidekín _Bundúkdár_ ("The Arblasteer") whose surname he
afterwards adopted. He became the fourth of the Mameluke Sultans, and
reigned from 1259 to 1276. The two great objects of his life were the
repression of the Tartars and the expulsion of the Christians from Syria,
so that his reign was one of constant war and enormous activity. William
of Tripoli, in the work above mentioned, says: "Bondogar, as a soldier,
was not inferior to Julius Caesar, nor in malignity to Nero." He admits,
however, that the Sultan was sober, chaste, just to his own people, and
even kind to his Christian subjects; whilst Makrizi calls him one of the
best princes that ever reigned over Musulmans. Yet if we take Bibars as
painted by this admiring historian and by other Arabic documents, the
second of Friar William's comparisons is justified, for he seems almost a
devil in malignity as well as in activity. More than once he played tennis
at Damascus and Cairo within the same week. A strange sample of the man is
the letter which he wrote to Boemond, Prince of Antioch and Tripoli, to
announce to him the capture of the former city. After an ironically polite
address to Boemond as having by the loss of his great city had his title
changed from Princeship (_Al-Brensíyah_) to Countship (_Al-Komasíyah_),
and describing his own devastations round Tripoli, he comes to the attack
of Antioch: "We carried the place, sword in hand, at the 4th hour of
Saturday, the 4th day of Ramadhán,... Hadst thou but seen thy Knights
trodden under the hoofs of the horses! thy palaces invaded by plunderers
and ransacked for booty! thy treasures weighed out by the hundredweight!
thy ladies (_Dámátaka_, 'tes DAMES') bought and sold with thine own gear,
at four for a dinár! hadst thou but seen thy churches demolished, thy
crosses sawn in sunder, thy garbled Gospels hawked about before the sun,
the tombs of thy nobles cast to the ground; thy foe the Moslem treading
thy Holy of the Holies; the monk, the priest, the deacon slaughtered on
the Altar; the rich given up to misery; princes of royal blood reduced to
slavery! Couldst thou but have seen the flames devouring thy halls; thy
dead cast into the fires temporal with the fires eternal hard at hand; the
churches of Paul and of Cosmas rocking and going down--, then wouldst thou
have said, 'Would God that I were dust!' ... As not a man hath escaped to
tell thee the tale, I TELL IT THEE!"
A little later, when a mission went to treat with Boemond, Bibars himself
accompanied it in disguise, to have a look at the defences of Tripoli. In
drawing out the terms, the Envoys styled Boemond _Count_, not _Prince_, as
in the letter just quoted. He lost patience at their persistence, and made
a movement which alarmed them. Bibars nudged the Envoy Mohiuddin (who
tells the story) with his foot to give up the point, and the treaty was
made. On their way back the Sultan laughed heartily at their narrow
escape, "sending to the devil all the counts and princes on the face of
the earth."
(_Quatremère's Makrizi_, II. 92-101, and 190 seqq.; _J. As._ sér. I. tom.
xi. p. 89; _D'Ohsson_, III. 459-474; _Marino Sanuto_ in Bongars, 224-226,
etc.)
NOTE 4.--The ruling Master of the Temple was Thomas Berard (1256-1273),
but there is little detail about the Order in the East at this time. They
had, however, considerable possessions and great influence in Cilician
Armenia, and how much they were mixed up in its affairs is shown by a
circumstance related by Makrizi. In 1285, when Sultan Mansúr, the
successor of Bundúkdár, was besieging the Castle of Markab, there arrived
in Camp the Commander of the Temple (_Kamandúr-ul Dewet_) of the Country
of Armenia, charged to negotiate on the part of the King of Sis (i.e. of
Lesser Armenia, Leon III. 1268-1289, successor of Hayton I. 1224-1268),
and bringing presents from him and from the Master of the Temple, Berard's
successor, William de Beaujeu (1273-1291). (III. 201.)--H. Y. and H. C.
CHAPTER XIII.
HOW MESSER NICOLO AND MESSER MAFFEO POLO, ACCOMPANIED BY MARK, TRAVELLED
TO THE COURT OF THE GREAT KAAN.
So the Two Brothers, and Mark along with them, proceeded on their way, and
journeying on, summer and winter, came at length to the Great Kaan, who
was then at a certain rich and great city, called KEMENFU.[NOTE 1] As to
what they met with on the road, whether in going or coming, we shall give
no particulars at present, because we are going to tell you all those
details in regular order in the after part of this Book. Their journey
back to the Kaan occupied a good three years and a half, owing to the bad
weather and severe cold that they encountered. And let me tell you in good
sooth that when the Great Kaan heard that Messers Nicolo and Maffeo Polo
were on their way back, he sent people a journey of full 40 days to meet
them; and on this journey, as on their former one, they were honourably
entertained upon the road, and supplied with all that they required.
NOTE 1.--The French texts read _Clemeinfu_, Ramusio _Clemenfu_. The Pucci
MS. guides us to the correct reading, having _Chemensu_ (_Kemensu_) for
_Chemenfu_. KAIPINGFU, meaning something like "City of Peace," and called
by Rashiduddin _Kaiminfu_ (whereby we see that Polo as usual adopted the
Persian form of the name), was a city founded in 1256, four years before
Kublai's accession, some distance to the north of the Chinese wall. It
became Kublai's favourite summer residence, and was styled from 1264
_Shangtu_ or "Upper Court." (See infra, Bk. I. ch. lxi.) It was known to
the Mongols, apparently by a combination of the two names, as _Shangdu
Keibung_. It appears in D'Anville's map under the name of _Djao-Naiman
Sumé_. Dr. Bushell, who visited Shangtu in 1872, makes it 1103 _li_ (367
miles) by road distance viâ Kalgan from Peking. The busy town of Dolonnúr
lies 26 miles S.E. of it, and according to Kiepert's _Asia_ that place is
about 180 miles in a direct line north of Peking.
(See _Klaproth_ in _J. As._ XI. 365; _Gaubil_, p. 115; _Cathay_, p. 260;
_J. R. G. S._ vol. xiiii.)
CHAPTER XIV.
HOW MESSER NICOLO AND MESSER MAFFEO POLO AND MARCO PRESENTED THEMSELVES
BEFORE THE GREAT KAAN.
And what shall I tell you? when the Two Brothers and Mark had arrived at
that great city, they went to the Imperial Palace, and there they found
the Sovereign attended by a great company of Barons. So they bent the knee
before him, and paid their respects to him, with all possible reverence
[prostrating themselves on the ground]. Then the Lord bade them stand up,
and treated them with great honour, showing great pleasure at their
coming, and asked many questions as to their welfare, and how they had
sped. They replied that they had in verity sped well, seeing that they
found the Kaan well and safe. Then they presented the credentials and
letters which they had received from the Pope, which pleased him right
well; and after that they produced the Oil from the Sepulchre, and at that
also he was very glad, for he set great store thereby. And next, spying
Mark, who was then a young gallant,[NOTE 1] he asked who was that in their
company? "Sire," said his father, Messer Nicolo, "'tis my son and your
liegeman."[NOTE 2] "Welcome is he too," quoth the Emperor. And why should
I make a long story? There was great rejoicing at the Court because of
their arrival; and they met with attention and honour from everybody.
So there they abode at the Court with the other Barons.
NOTE 1.--"_Joenne Bacheler_."
NOTE 2.--"_Sire, il est mon filz et vostre_ homme." The last word in the
sense which gives us the word _homage_. Thus in the miracle play of
Theophilus (13th century), the Devil says to Theophilus:--
"Or joing
Tes mains, et si devien _mes hom_.
_Theoph._ Vez ci que je vous faz _hommage_."
So infra (Bk. I. ch. xlvii.) Aung Khan is made to say of Chinghiz: "_Il
est_ mon homes _et mon serf_." (See also Bk. II. ch. iv. note.) St. Lewis
said of the peace he had made with Henry III.: "Il m'est mout grant
honneur en la paix que je foiz au Roy d'Angleterre pour ce qu'il est _mon
home_, ce que n'estoit pas devant." And Joinville says with regard to the
king, "Je ne voz faire point de serement, car je n'estoie pas _son home_"
(being a vassal of Champagne). A famous Saturday Reviewer quotes the term
applied to a lady: "_Eddeva puella_ homo _Stigandi Archiepiscopi_."
(_Théâtre Français au Moyen Age_, p. 145; _Joinville_, pp. 21, 37; _S.
R._, 6th September, 1873, p. 305.)
CHAPTER XV.
HOW THE EMPEROR SENT MARK ON AN EMBASSY OF HIS.
Now it came to pass 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 brief
space to know several languages, and four sundry written characters. And
he was discreet and prudent in every way, insomuch that the Emperor held
him in great esteem.[NOTE 1] And so when he discerned Mark to have so much
sense, and to conduct himself so well and beseemingly, he sent him on an
ambassage of his, to a country which was a good six months' journey
distant.[NOTE 2] The young gallant executed his commission well and with
discretion. Now he had taken note on several occasions that when the
Prince's ambassadors returned from different parts of the world, they were
able to tell him about nothing except the business on which they had gone,
and that the Prince in consequence held them for no better than fools and
dolts, and would say: "I had far liever hearken about the strange things,
and the manners of the different countries you have seen, than merely be
told of the business you went upon;"--for he took great delight in hearing
of the affairs of strange countries. Mark therefore, as he went and
returned, took great pains to learn about all kinds of different matters
in the countries which he visited, in order to be able to tell about them
to the Great Kaan.[NOTE 3]
NOTE 1.--The word Emperor stands here for _Seigneur_.
What the four characters acquired by Marco were is open to discussion.
The Chronicle of the Mongol Emperors rendered by Gaubil mentions, as
characters used in their Empire, the Uíghúr, the Persian and Arabic, that
of the Lamas (Tibetan), that of the Niuché, introduced by the Kin Dynasty,
the Khitán, and the _Báshpah_ character, a syllabic alphabet arranged, on
the basis of the Tibetan and Sanskrit letters chiefly, by a learned chief
Lama so-called, under the orders of Kublai, and established by edict in
1269 as the official character. Coins bearing this character, and dating
from 1308 to 1354, are extant. The forms of the Niuché and Khitán were
devised in imitation of Chinese writing, but are supposed to be syllabic.
Of the Khitán but one inscription was known, and no key. "The Khitan had
two national scripts, the 'small characters' (_hsiao tzu_) and the 'large
characters' (ta tzu)." S. W. Bushell, _Insc. in the Juchen and Allied
Scripts_, Cong. des Orientalistes, Paris, 1897.--_Die Sprache und Schrift
der Juchen_ von Dr. W. Grube, Leipzig, 1896, from a polyglot MS.
dictionary, discovered by Dr. F. Hirth and now kept in the Royal Library,
Berlin.--H. Y. and H. C.
Chinghiz and his first successors used the Uíghúr, and sometimes the
Chinese character. Of the Uíghúr character we give a specimen in Bk. IV.
It is of Syriac origin, undoubtedly introduced into Eastern Turkestan by
the early Nestorian missions, probably in the 8th or 9th century. The
oldest known example of this character so applied, the _Kudatku Bilik_, a
didactic poem in Uíghúr (a branch of Oriental Turkish), dating from A.D.
1069, was published by Prof. Vámbéry in 1870. A new edition of the
_Kudatku Bilik_ was published at St. Petersburg, in 1891, by Dr. W.
Radloff. Vámbéry had a pleasing illustration of the origin of the Uíghúr
character, when he received a visit at Pesth from certain Nestorians of
Urumia on a begging tour. On being shown the original MS. of the _Kudatku
Bilik_, they read the character easily, whilst much to their astonishment
they could not understand a word of what was written. This Uíghúr is the
basis of the modern Mongol and Manchu characters. (Cf. E. Bretschneider,
_Mediaeval Researches_, I. pp. 236, 263.)--H. Y. and H. C.
[Illustration: Hexaglot Inscription on the East side of the Kiu Yong Kwan]
[Illustration: Hexaglot Inscription on the West side of the Kiu Yong Kwan]
[At the village of Keuyung Kwan, 40 miles north of Peking, in the sub-
prefecture of Ch'ang Ping, in the Chih-li province, the road from Peking
to Kalgan runs beyond the pass of Nankau, under an archway, a view of
which will be found at the end of this volume, on which were engraved, in
1345, two large inscriptions in six different languages: Sanskrit,
Tibetan, Mongol, _Báshpah_, Uíghúr, Chinese, and a language unknown till
recently. Mr. Wylie's kindness enabled Sir Henry Yule to present a specimen
of this. (A much better facsimile of these inscriptions than Wylie's
having since been published by Prince Roland Bonaparte in his valuable
_Recueil des Documents de l'Époque Mongole_, this latter is, by
permission, here reproduced.) The Chinese and Mongol inscriptions have
been translated by M. Ed. Chavannes; the Tibetan by M. Sylvain Lévi
(_Jour. Asiat._, Sept.-Oct. 1894, pp. 354-373); the Uíghúr, by Prof. W.
Radloff (Ibid. Nov.-Dec. 1894, pp. 546, 550); the Mongol by Prof. G. Huth.
(Ibid. Mars-Avril 1895, pp. 351-360.) The sixth language was supposed by
A. Wylie (_J. R. A. S._ vol. xvii. p. 331, and N.S., vol. v. p. 14) to be
Neuchih, Niuché, Niuchen or Juchen. M. Devéria has shown that the
inscription is written in _Si Hia_, or the language of Tangut, and gave a
facsimile of a stone stèle (_pei_) in this language kept in the great
Monastery of the Clouds (Ta Yun Ssu) at Liangchau in Kansuh, together with
a translation of the Chinese text, engraved on the reverse side of the
slab. M. Devéria thinks that this writing was borrowed by the Kings of
Tangut from the one derived in 920 by the Khitans from the Chinese.
(_Stèle Si-Hia de Leang-tcheou_ ... _J. As._, 1898; _L'éctriture du
royaumes de Si-Hia ou Tangout_, par M. Devéria ... Ext. des Mém ...
présentés à l'Ac. des. Ins. et B. Let. 1'ère Sér. XI., 1898.) Dr. S. W.
Bushell in two papers (_Inscriptions in the Juchen and Allied Scripts,
Actes du XI. Congrés Orientalistes_, Paris, 1897, 2nd. sect., pp. 11, 35,
and the _Hsi Hsia Dynasty of Tangut, their Money and their peculiar
Script, J. China Br. R. A. S._, xxx. N.S. No. 2, pp. 142, 160) has also
made a special study of the same subject. The Si Hia writing was adopted
by Yuan Ho in 1036, on which occasion he changed the title of his reign to
Ta Ch'ing, i.e. "Great Good Fortune." Unfortunately, both the late M.
Devéria and Dr. S. W. Bushell have deciphered but few of the Si Hia
characters.--H. C.]
The orders of the Great Kaan are stated to have been published habitually
in six languages, viz., Mongol, Uíghúr, Arabic, Persian, Tangutan
(Si-Hia), and Chinese.--H. Y. and H. C.
Gházán Khan of Persia is said to have understood Mongol, Arabic, Persian,
something of Kashmiri, of Tibetan, of Chinese, and a little of the _Frank_
tongue (probably French).
The annals of the Ming Dynasty, which succeeded the Mongols in China,
mention the establishment in the 11th moon of the 5th year Yong-lo (1407)
of the _Sse yi kwan_, a linguistic office for diplomatic purposes. The
languages to be studied were Niuché, Mongol, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Bokharan
(Persian?) Uíghúr, Burmese, and Siamese. To these were added by the Manchu
Dynasty two languages called _Papeh_ and _Pehyih_, both dialects of the
S.W. frontier. (See infra, Bk. II. ch. lvi.-lvii., and notes.) Since 1382,
however, official interpreters had to translate Mongol texts; they were
selected among the Academicians, and their service (which was independent
of the _Sse yi kwan_ when this was created) was under the control of the
_Han-lin-yuen_. There may have been similar institutions under the Yuen,
but we have no proof of it. At all events, such an office could not then
be called _Sse yi kwan_ (_Sse yi_, Barbarians from four sides); Niuché
(Niuchen) was taught in Yong-lo's office, but not Manchu. The _Sse yi
kwan_ must not be confounded with the _Hui t'ong kwan_, the office for the
reception of tributary envoys, to which it was annexed in 1748. (_Gaubil_,
p. 148; _Gold. Horde_, 184; _Ilchan._ II. 147; _Lockhart_ in _J. R. G. S._
XXXVI. 152; _Koeppen_, II. 99; G. Devéria, _Hist. du Collége des
Interprétes de Peking_ in _Mélanges_ Charles de Harlez, pp. 94-102; MS.
Note of Prof. A. Vissière; _The Tangut Script in the Nan-K'ou Pass_, by
Dr. S. W. Bushell, _China Review_, xxiv. II. pp. 65-68.)--H. Y. and H. C.
Pauthier supposes Mark's four acquisitions to have been _Báshpah-Mongol,
Arabic, Uighúr_, and _Chinese_. I entirely reject the Chinese. Sir H. Yule
adds: "We shall see no reason to believe that he knew either language or
character" [Chinese]. The blunders Polo made in saying that the name of
the city, Suju, signifies in our tongue "Earth" and Kinsay "Heaven" show
he did not know the Chinese characters, but we read in Bk. II. ch.
lxviii.: "And Messer Marco Polo himself, of whom this Book speaks, did
govern this city (Yanju) for three full years, by the order of the Great
Kaan." It seems to me [H. C.] hardly possible that Marco could have for
three years been governor of so important and so Chinese a city as
Yangchau, in the heart of the Empire, without acquiring a knowledge of the
spoken language.--H. C. The other three languages seem highly probable.
The fourth may have been Tibetan. But it is more likely that he counted
separately two varieties of the same character (e.g. of the Arabic and
Persian) as two "_lettres de leur escriptures_"--H. Y. and H. C.
NOTE 2.--[Ramusio here adds: "Ad und città, detta Carazan," which, as we
shall see, refers to the Yun-nan Province.]--H. C.
NOTE 3.--From the context no doubt Marco's employments were honourable and
confidential; but _Commissioner_ would perhaps better express them than
Ambassador in the modern sense. The word _Ilchi_, which was probably in
his mind, was applied to a large variety of classes employed on the
commissions of Government, as we may see from a passage of Rashiduddin in
D'Ohsson, which says that "there were always to be found in every city
from one to two hundred _Ilchis_, who forced the citizens to furnish them
with free quarters," etc., III. 404. (See also 485.)
CHAPTER XVI.
HOW MARK RETURNED FROM THE MISSION WHEREON HE HAD BEEN SENT.
When Mark returned from his ambassage he presented himself before the
Emperor, and after making his report of the business with which he was
charged, and its successful accomplishment, he went on to give an account
in a pleasant and intelligent manner of all the novelties and strange
things that he had seen and heard; insomuch that the Emperor and all such
as heard his story were surprised, and said: "If this young man live, he
will assuredly come to be a person of great worth and ability." And so
from that time forward he was always entitled MESSER MARCO POLO, and thus
we shall style him henceforth in this Book of ours, as is but right.
Thereafter Messer Marco abode in the Kaan's employment some seventeen
years, continually going and coming, hither and thither, on the missions
that were entrusted to him by the Lord [and sometimes, with the permission
and authority of the Great Kaan, on his own private affairs.] And, as he
knew all the sovereign's ways, like a sensible man he always took much
pains to gather knowledge of anything that would be likely to interest
him, and then on his return to Court he would relate everything in regular
order, and thus the Emperor came to hold him in great love and favour. And
for this reason also he would employ him the oftener on the most weighty
and most distant of his missions. These Messer Marco ever carried out with
discretion and success, God be thanked. So the Emperor became ever more
partial to him, and treated him with the greater distinction, and kept him
so close to his person that some of the Barons waxed very envious thereat.
And thus it came about that Messer Marco Polo had knowledge of, or had
actually visited, a greater number of the different countries of the World
than any other man; the more that he was always giving his mind to get
knowledge, and to spy out and enquire into everything in order to have
matter to relate to the Lord.
CHAPTER XVII.
HOW MESSER NICOLO, MESSER MAFFEO, AND MESSER MARCO, ASKED LEAVE OF THE
GREAT KAAN TO GO THEIR WAY.
When the Two Brothers and Mark had abode with the Lord all that time that
you have been told [having meanwhile acquired great wealth in jewels and
gold], they began among themselves to have thoughts about returning to
their own country; and indeed it was time. [For, to say nothing of the
length and infinite perils of the way, when they considered the Kaan's
great age, they doubted whether, in the event of his death before their
departure, they would ever be able to get home.[NOTE 1]] They applied to
him several times for leave to go, presenting their request with great
respect, but he had such a partiality for them, and liked so much to have
them about him, that nothing on earth would persuade him to let them go.
Now it came to pass in those days that the Queen BOLGANA, wife of ARGON,
Lord of the Levant, departed this life. And in her Will she had desired
that no Lady should take her place, or succeed her as Argon's wife, except
one of her own family [which existed in Cathay]. Argon therefore
despatched three of his Barons, by name respectively OULATAY, APUSCA, and
COJA, as ambassadors to the Great Kaan, attended by a very gallant
company, in order to bring back as his bride a lady of the family of Queen
Bolgana, his late wife.[NOTE 2]
When these three Barons had reached the Court of the Great Kaan, they
delivered their message, explaining wherefore they were come. The Kaan
received them with all honour and hospitality, and then sent for a lady
whose name was COCACHIN, who was of the family of the deceased Queen
Bolgana. She was a maiden of 17, a very beautiful and charming person, and
on her arrival at Court she was presented to the three Barons as the Lady
chosen in compliance with their demand. They declared that the Lady
pleased them well.[NOTE 3]
Meanwhile Messer Marco chanced to return from India, whither he had gone
as the Lord's ambassador, and made his report of all the different things
that he had seen in his travels, and of the sundry seas over which he had
voyaged. And the three Barons, having seen that Messer Nicolo, Messer
Maffeo, and Messer Marco were not only Latins, but men of marvellous good
sense withal, took thought among themselves to get the three to travel
with them, their intention being to return to their country by sea, on
account of the great fatigue of that long land journey for a lady. And the
ambassadors were the more desirous to have their company, as being aware
that those three had great knowledge and experience of the Indian Sea and
the countries by which they would have to pass, and especially Messer
Marco. So they went to the Great Kaan, and begged as a favour that he
would send the three Latins with them, as it was their desire to return
home by sea.
The Lord, having that great regard that I have mentioned for those three
Latins, was very loath to do so [and his countenance showed great
dissatisfaction]. But at last he did give them permission to depart,
enjoining them to accompany the three Barons and the Lady.
NOTE 1.--Pegolotti, in his chapters on mercantile ventures to Cathay,
refers to the dangers to which foreigners were always liable on the death
of the reigning sovereign. (See _Cathay_, p. 292.)
NOTE 2.--Several ladies of the name of BULUGHAN ("Zibellina") have a place
in Mongol-Persian history. The one here indicated, a lady of great beauty
and ability, was known as the _Great Khátún_ (or Lady) Bulughan, and was
(according to strange Mongol custom) the wife successively of Abáka and of
his son ARGHUN, the Argon of the text, Mongol sovereign of Persia. She
died on the banks of the Kur in Georgia, 7th April, 1286. She belonged to
the Mongol tribe of Bayaut, and was the daughter of Hulákú's Chief
Secretary Gúgah. (_Ilchan._ I. 374 _et passim; Erdmann's Temudschin_, p.
216.)
The names of the Envoys, ULADAI, APUSHKA, and KOJA, are all names met with
in Mongol history. And Rashiduddin speaks of an Apushka of the Mongol
Tribe of Urnaut, who on some occasion was sent as Envoy to the Great Kaan
from Persia,--possibly the very person. (See _Erdmann_, 205.)
Of the Lady Cocachin we shall speak below.
NOTE 3.--Ramusio here has the following passage, genuine no doubt: "So
everything being ready, with a great escort to do honour to the bride of
King Argon, the Ambassadors took leave and set forth. But after travelling
eight months by the same way that they had come, they found the roads
closed, in consequence of wars lately broken out among certain Tartar
Princes; so being unable to proceed, they were compelled to return to the
Court of the Great Kaan."
CHAPTER XVIII.
HOW THE TWO BROTHERS AND MESSER MARCO TOOK LEAVE OF THE GREAT KAAN, AND
RETURNED TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY.
And when the Prince saw that the Two Brothers and Messer Marco were ready
to set forth, he called them all three to his presence, and gave them two
golden Tablets of Authority, which should secure them liberty of passage
through all his dominions, and by means of which, whithersoever they
should go, all necessaries would be provided for them, and for all their
company, and whatever they might choose to order.[NOTE 1] He charged them
also with messages to the King of France, the King of England,[NOTE 2] the
King of Spain, and the other kings of Christendom. He then caused thirteen
ships to be equipt, each of which had four masts, and often spread twelve
sails.[NOTE 3] And I could easily give you all particulars about these,
but as it would be so long an affair I will not enter upon this now, but
hereafter, when time and place are suitable. [Among the said ships were at
least four or five that carried crews of 250 or 260 men.]
And when the ships had been equipt, the Three Barons and the Lady, and the
Two Brothers and Messer Marco, took leave of the Great Kaan, and went on
board their ships with a great company of people, and with all necessaries
provided for two years by the Emperor. They put forth to sea, and after
sailing for some three months they arrived at a certain Island towards the
South, which is called JAVA,[NOTE 4] and in which there are many wonderful
things which we shall tell you all about by-and-bye. Quitting this Island
they continued to navigate the Sea of India for eighteen months more
before they arrived whither they were bound, meeting on their way also
with many marvels, of which we shall tell hereafter.
And when they got thither they found that Argon was dead, so the Lady was
delivered to CASAN, his son.
But I should have told you that it is a fact that, when they embarked,
they were in number some 600 persons, without counting the mariners; but
nearly all died by the way, so that only eight survived.[NOTE 5]
The sovereignty when they arrived was held by KIACATU, so they commended
the Lady to him, and executed all their commission. And when the Two
Brothers and Messer Marco had executed their charge in full, and done all
that the Great Kaan had enjoined on them in regard to the Lady, they took
their leave and set out upon their journey.[NOTE 6] And before their
departure, Kiacatu gave them four golden tablets of authority, two of
which bore gerfalcons, one bore lions, whilst the fourth was plain, and
having on them inscriptions which directed that the three Ambassadors
should receive honour and service all through the land as if rendered to
the Prince in person, and that horses and all provisions, and everything
necessary, should be supplied to them. And so they found in fact; for
throughout the country they received ample and excellent supplies of
everything needful; and many a time indeed, as I may tell you, they were
furnished with 200 horsemen, more or less, to escort them on their way in
safety. And this was all the more needful because Kiacatu was not the
legitimate Lord, and therefore the people had less scruple to do mischief
than if they had had a lawful prince.[NOTE 7]
Another thing too must be mentioned, which does credit to those three
Ambassadors, and shows for what great personages they were held. The Great
Kaan regarded them with such trust and affection, that he had confided to
their charge the Queen Cocachin, as well as the daughter of the King of
Manzi,[NOTE 8] to conduct to Argon the Lord of all the Levant. And those
two great ladies who were thus entrusted to them they watched over and
guarded as if they had been daughters of their own, until they had
transferred them to the hands of their Lord; whilst the ladies, young and
fair as they were, looked on each of those three as a father, and obeyed
them accordingly. Indeed, both Casan, who is now the reigning prince, and
the Queen Cocachin his wife, have such a regard for the Envoys that there
is nothing they would not do for them. And when the three Ambassadors took
leave of that Lady to return to their own country, she wept for sorrow at
the parting.
What more shall I say? Having left Kiacatu they travelled day by day till
they came to Trebizond, and thence to Constantinople, from Constantinople
to Negropont, and from Negropont to Venice. And this was in the year 1295
of Christ's Incarnation.
And now that I have rehearsed all the Prologue as you have heard, we shall
begin the Book of the Description of the Divers Things that Messer Marco
met with in his Travels.
NOTE 1.--On these plates or tablets, which have already been spoken of, a
note will be found further on. (Bk. II. ch. vii.) Plano Carpini says of
the Mongol practice in reference to royal messengers: "Nuncios, quoscunque
et quotcunque, et ubicunque transmittit, oportet quod dent eis sine morâ
equos subductitios et expensas" (669).
NOTE 2.--The mention of the King of England appears for the first time in
Pauthier's text. Probably we shall never know if the communication reached
him. But we have the record of several embassies in preceding and
subsequent years from the Mongol Khans of Persia to the Kings of England;
all with the view of obtaining co-operation in attack on the Egyptian
Sultan. Such messages came from Ábáka in 1277; from Arghún in 1289 and
1291; from Gházán in 1302; from Oljaitu in 1307. (See _Rémusat_ in _Mém.
de l'Acad._ VII.)
[Illustration: Ancient Chinese War Vessel.]
NOTE 3.--Ramusio has "_nine_ sails." Marsden thinks even this lower number
an error of Ramusio's, as "it is well known that Chinese vessels do not
carry any kind of topsail." This is, however, a mistake, for they do
sometimes carry a small topsail of cotton cloth (and formerly, it would
seem from Lecomte, even a topgallant sail at times), though only in quiet
weather. And the evidence as to the number of sails carried by the great
Chinese junks of the Middle Ages, which evidently made a great impression
on Western foreigners, is irresistible. Friar Jordanus, who saw them in
Malabar, says: "With a fair wind they carry ten sails;" Ibn Batuta: "One
of these great junks carries from three sails to twelve;" Joseph, the
Indian, speaking of those that traded to India in the 15th century: "They
were very great, and had sometimes twelve sails, with innumerable rowers."
(_Lecomte_, I. 389; _Fr. Jordanus_, Hak. Soc., p. 55; _Ibn Batuta_, IV.
91; _Novus Orbis_, p. 148.) A fuller account of these vessels is given at
the beginning of Bk. III.
NOTE 4.--I.e. in this case Sumatra, as will appear hereafter. "It is quite
possible for a fleet of fourteen junks which required to keep together to
take three months at the present time to accomplish a similar voyage. A
Chinese trader, who has come annually to Singapore in junks for many
years, tells us that he has had as long a passage as sixty days, although
the average is eighteen or twenty days." (_Logan_ in _J. Ind. Archip._ II.
609.)
NOTE 5.--Ramusio's version here varies widely, and looks more probable:
"From the day that they embarked until their arrival there died of
mariners and others on board 600 persons; and of the three ambassadors
only one survived, whose name was Goza (_Coja_); but of the ladies and
damsels died but one."
It is worth noting that in the case of an embassy sent to Cathay a few
years later by Gházán Khan, on the return by this same route to Persia,
the chief of the two Persian ambassadors, and the Great Khan's envoy, who
was in company, both died by the way. Their voyage, too, seems to have
been nearly as long as Polo's; for they were seven years absent from
Persia, and of these only four in China. (See _Wassáf_ in _Elliot_, III.
47.)
NOTE 6.--Ramusio's version states that on learning Arghún's death (which
they probably did on landing at Hormuz), they sent word of their arrival
to Kiacatu, who directed them to conduct the lady to Casan, who was then
in the region of the _Arbre Sec_ (the Province of Khorasan) guarding the
frontier passes with 60,000 men, and that they did so, and then turned
back to Kiacatu (probably at Tabriz), and stayed at his Court nine months.
Even the Geog. Text seems to imply that they had become personally known
to Casan, and I have no doubt that Ramusio's statement is an authentic
expansion of the original narrative by Marco himself, or on his authority.
Arghún Khan died 10th March, 1291. He was succeeded (23rd July) by his
brother Kaikhátú (_Quiacatu_ of Polo), who was put to death 24th March,
1295.
We learn from Hammer's History of the Ilkhans that when Gházán, the son of
Arghún (_Casan_ of Polo), who had the government of the Khorasan frontier,
was on his return to his post from Tabriz, where his uncle Kaikhatu had
refused to see him, "he met at Abher the ambassador whom he had sent to
the Great Khan to obtain in marriage a relative of the Great Lady Bulghán.
This envoy brought with him the Lady KÚKÁCHIN (our author's _Cocachin_),
with presents from the Emperor, and the marriage was celebrated with due
festivity." Abher lies a little west of Kazvín.
Hammer is not, I find, here copying from Wassáf, and I have not been able
to procure a thorough search of the work of Rashiduddin, which probably
was his authority. As well as the date can be made out from the History of
the Ilkhans, Gházán must have met his bride towards the end of 1293, or
quite the beginning of 1294. Rashiduddin in another place mentions the
fair lady from Cathay; "The _ordu_ (or establishment) of Tukiti Khatun was
given to KUKACHI KHATUN, who had been brought from the Kaan's Court, and
who was a kinswoman of the late chief Queen Bulghán. Kúkáchi, the wife of
the Padshah of Islam, Gházán Khan, died in the month of Shaban, 695," i.e.
in June, 1296, so that the poor girl did not long survive her promotion.
(See _Hammer's Ilch._ II. 20, and 8, and I. 273; and _Quatremère's
Rashiduddin_, p. 97.) Kukachin was the name also of the wife of Chingkim,
Kublai's favourite son; but she was of the Kungurát tribe. (_Deguignes_,
IV. 179.)
NOTE 7.--Here Ramusio's text says: "During this journey Messers Nicolo,
Maffeo, and Marco heard the news that the Great Khan had departed this
life; and this caused them to give up all hope of returning to those
parts."
NOTE 8.--This Princess of Manzi, or Southern China, is mentioned only in
the Geog. Text and in the Crusca, which is based thereon. I find no notice
of her among the wives of Gházán or otherwise.
On the fall of the capital of the Sung Dynasty--the Kinsay of Polo--in
1276, the Princesses of that Imperial family were sent to Peking, and were
graciously treated by Kublai's favourite Queen, the Lady Jamui. This young
lady was, no doubt, one of those captive princesses who had been brought
up at the Court of Khánbálik. (See _De Mailla_, IX. 376, and infra Bk. II.
ch. lxv., note 6.)
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.
[Illustration: Aias, the LAIAS of POLO, from an Admiralty Chart]
[Illustration: Position of _Diláwar_, the supposed Site of POLO'S DILAVAR]
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
HERE THE BOOK BEGINS; AND FIRST IT SPEAKS OF THE LESSER HERMENIA.
There are two Hermenias, the Greater and the Less. The Lesser Hermenia is
governed by a certain King, who maintains a just rule in his dominions,
but is himself subject to the Tartar.[NOTE 1] The country contains
numerous towns and villages,[NOTE 2] and has everything in plenty;
moreover, it is a great country for sport in the chase of all manner of
beasts and birds. It is, however, by no means a healthy region, but
grievously the reverse.[NOTE 3] In days of old the nobles there were
valiant men, and did doughty deeds of arms; but nowadays they are poor
creatures, and good at nought, unless it be at boozing; they are great at
that. Howbeit, they have a city upon the sea, which is called LAYAS, at
which there is a great trade. For you must know that all the spicery, and
the cloths of silk and gold, and the other valuable wares that come from
the interior, are brought to that city. And the merchants of Venice and
Genoa, and other countries, come thither to sell their goods, and to buy
what they lack. And whatsoever persons would travel to the interior (of
the East), merchants or others, they take their way by this city of
Layas.[NOTE 4]
Having now told you about the Lesser Hermenia, we shall next tell you
about Turcomania.
NOTE 1.--The _Petite Hermenie_ of the Middle Ages was quite distinct from
the Armenia Minor of the ancient geographers, which name the latter
applied to the western portion of Armenia, west of the Euphrates, and
immediately north of Cappadocia.
But when the old Armenian monarchy was broken up (1079-80), Rupen, a
kinsman of the Bagratid Kings, with many of his countrymen, took refuge in
the Taurus. His first descendants ruled as _barons_; a title adopted
apparently from the Crusaders, but still preserved in Armenia. Leon, the
great-great-grandson of Rupen, was consecrated King under the supremacy of
the Pope and the Western Empire in 1198. The kingdom was at its zenith
under Hetum or Hayton I., husband of Leon's daughter Isabel (1224-1269);
he was, however, prudent enough to make an early submission to the
Mongols, and remained ever staunch to them, which brought his territory
constantly under the flail of Egypt. It included at one time all Cilicia,
with many cities of Syria and the ancient Armenia Minor, of Isauria and
Cappadocia. The male line of Rupen becoming extinct in 1342, the kingdom
passed to John de Lusignan, of the royal house of Cyprus, and in 1375 it
was put an end to by the Sultan of Egypt. Leon VI., the ex-king, into
whose mouth Froissart puts some extraordinary geography, had a pension of
1000_l._ a year granted him by our Richard II., and died at Paris in 1398.
[Illustration: Coin of King Hetum and his Queen Isabel.]
The chief remaining vestige of this little monarchy is the continued
existence of a _Catholicos_ of part of the Armenian Church at Sis, which
was the royal residence. Some Armenian communities still remain both in
hills and plains; and the former, the more independent and industrious,
still speak a corrupt Armenian.
Polo's contemporary, Marino Sanuto, compares the kingdom of the Pope's
faithful Armenians to one between the teeth of four fierce beasts, the
_Lion_ Tartar, the _Panther_ Soldan, the Turkish _Wolf_, the Corsair
_Serpent_.
(_Dulaurier_, in _J. As._ sér. V. tom. xvii.; _St. Martin, Arm._; _Mar.
San._ p. 32; _Froissart_, Bk. II. ch. xxii. seqq.; _Langlois, V. en
Cilicie_, 1861, p. 19.)
NOTE 2.--"_Maintes villes et maint chasteaux_" This is a constantly
recurring phrase, and I have generally translated it as here, believing
_chasteaux (castelli)_ to be used in the frequent old Italian sense of a
_walled_ village or small walled town, or like the Eastern _Kala'_ applied
in Khorasan "to everything--town, village, or private residence--
surrounded by a wall of earth." (_Ferrier_, p. 292; see also _A. Conolly_,
I. p. 211.) Martini, in his _Atlas Sinensis_, uses "_Urbes_, _oppida_,
castella," to indicate the three classes of Chinese administrative cities.
NOTE 3.--"_Enferme durement_." So Marino Sanuto objects to Lesser Armenia
as a place of debarkation for a crusade "_quia terra est infirma_"
Langlois, speaking of the Cilician plain: "In this region once so fair,
now covered with swamps and brambles, fever decimates a population which
is yearly diminishing, has nothing to oppose to the scourge but incurable
apathy, and will end by disappearing altogether," etc. (_Voyage_, p. 65.)
Cilician Armenia retains its reputation for sport, and is much frequented
by our naval officers for that object. Ayas is noted for the extraordinary
abundance of turtles.
NOTE 4.--The phrase twice used in this passage for the _Interior_ is _Fra
terre_, an Italianism (_Fra terra_, or, as it stands in the Geog. Latin,
"_infra terram Orientis_"), which, however, Murray and Pauthier have read
as an allusion to the _Euphrates_, an error based apparently on a marginal
gloss in the published edition of the Soc. de Géographie. It is true that
the province of Comagene under the Greek Empire got the name of
_Euphratesia_, or in Arabic _Furátiýah_, but that was not in question
here. The great trade of Ayas was with Tabriz, viâ Sivas, Erzingan, and
Erzrum, as we see in Pegolotti. Elsewhere, too, in Polo we find the phrase
_fra terre_ used, where Euphrates could possibly have no concern, as in
relation to India and Oman. (See Bk. III. chs. xxix. and xxxviii., and
notes in each case.)
With regard to the phrase _spicery_ here and elsewhere, it should be noted
that the Italian _spezerie_ included a vast deal more than ginger and
other things "hot i' the mouth." In one of Pegolotti's lists of _spezerie_
we find drugs, dye-stuffs, metals, wax, cotton, etc.
CHAPTER II.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TURCOMANIA.
In Turcomania there are three classes of people. First, there are the
Turcomans; these are worshippers of Mahommet, a rude people with an
uncouth language of their own.[NOTE 1] They dwell among mountains and
downs where they find good pasture, for their occupation is
cattle-keeping. Excellent horses, known as _Turquans_, are reared in their
country, and also very valuable mules. The other two classes are the
Armenians and the Greeks, who live mixt with the former in the towns and
villages, occupying themselves with trade and handicrafts. They weave the
finest and handsomest carpets in the world, and also a great quantity of
fine and rich silks of cramoisy and other colours, and plenty of other
stuffs. Their chief cities are CONIA, SAVAST [where the glorious Messer
Saint Blaise suffered martyrdom], and CASARIA, besides many other towns and
bishops' sees, of which we shall not speak at present, for it would be too
long a matter. These people are subject to the Tartar of the Levant as
their Suzerain.[NOTE 2] We will now leave this province, and speak of the
Greater Armenia.
NOTE 1.--Ricold of Montecroce, a contemporary of Polo, calls the Turkmans
_homines bestiales_. In our day Ainsworth notes of a Turkman village: "The
dogs were very ferocious;... the people only a little better." (_J. R. G.
S._ X. 292.) The ill report of the people of this region did not begin
with the Turkmans, for the Emperor Constantine Porphyrog. quotes a Greek
proverb to the disparagement of the three _kappas_, Cappadocia, Crete, and
Cilicia. (In _Bandurit_ I. 6.)
NOTE 2.--In Turcomania Marco perhaps embraces a great part of Asia Minor,
but he especially means the territory of the decaying Seljukian monarchy,
usually then called by Asiatics _Rúm_, as the Ottoman Empire is now, and
the capital of which was Iconium, KUNIYAH, the Conia of the text, and
Coyne of Joinville. Ibn Batuta calls the whole country Turkey
(_Al-Turkiýah_), and the people _Turkmán_; exactly likewise does Ricold
(_Thurchia_ and _Thurchimanni_). Hayton's account of the various classes
of inhabitants is quite the same in substance as Polo's. [The Turkmans
emigrated from Turkestan to Asia Minor before the arrival of the Seljukid
Turks. "Their villages," says Cuinet, _Turquie d'Asie_, II. p. 767, "are
distinguished by the peculiarity of the houses being built of sun-baked
bricks, whereas it is the general habit in the country to build them of
earth or a kind of plaster, called _djès_"--H. C.] The migratory and
pastoral Turkmans still exist in this region, but the Kurds of like habits
have taken their place to a large extent. The fine carpets and silk
fabrics appear to be no longer produced here, any more than the excellent
horses of which Polo speaks, which must have been the remains of the
famous old breed of Cappadocia. [It appears, however (Vital Cuinet's
_Turquie d'Asie_, I. p. 224), that fine carpets are still manufactured at
Koniah, also a kind of striped cotton cloth, called _Aladja_.--H. C.]
A grant of privileges to the Genoese by Leon II., King of Lesser Armenia,
dated 23rd December, 1288, alludes to the export of horses and mules,
etc., from Ayas, and specifies the duties upon them. The horses now of
repute in Asia as Turkman come from the east of the Caspian. And Asia
Minor generally, once the mother of so many breeds of high repute, is now
poorer in horses than any province of the Ottoman empire.
(_Pereg. Quat._ p. 114; _I.B._ II. 255 seqq.; _Hayton_, ch. xiii.; _Liber
Jurium Reip. Januensis_, II. 184; _Tchihatcheff, As. Min._, 2'de partie,
631.)
[The Seljukian Sultanate of Iconium or Rúm, was founded at the expense of
the Byzantines by Suleiman (1074-1081); the last three sovereigns of the
dynasty contemporaneous with Marco Polo are Ghiath ed-din Kaïkhosru III.
(1267-1283), Ghiath ed-din Mas'ud II. (1283-1294), Ala ed-din Kaïkobad
III. (1294-1308), when this kingdom was destroyed by the Mongols of
Persia. Privileges had been granted to Venice by Ghiath ed-din Kaïkhosru
I. (+ 1211), and his sons Izz ed-din Kaikaua (1211-1220), and Ala ed-din
Kaïkobad I. (1220-1237); the diploma of 1220 is unfortunately the only one
of the three known to be preserved. (Cf. Heyd, I. p. 302.)--H. C.]
Though the authors quoted above seem to make no distinction between Turks
and Turkmans, that which we still understand does appear to have been made
in the 12th century: "That there may be some distinction, at least in
name, between those who made themselves a king, and thus achieved such
glory, and those who still abide in their primitive barbarism and adhere
to their old way of life, the former are nowadays termed _Turks_, the
latter by their old name of _Turkomans_." (_William of Tyre_, i. 7.)
Casaria is KAISARÍYA, the ancient Caesareia of Cappadocia, close to the
foot of the great Mount Argaeus. _Savast_ is the Armenian form (_Sevasd_)
of Sebaste, the modern SIVAS. The three cities, Iconium, Caesareia, and
Sebaste, were metropolitan sees under the Catholicos of Sis.
[The ruins of Sebaste are situated at about 6 miles to the east of modern
Sivas, near the village of Gavraz, on the _Kizil Irmak_. In the 11th
century, the King of Armenia, Senecherim, made his capital of Sebaste. It
belonged after to the Seljukid Turks, and was conquered in 1397 by Bayezid
Ilderim with Tokat, Castambol and Sinope. (Cf. _Vital Cuinet_.)
One of the oldest churches in Sivas is St. George (_Sourp-Kévork_),
occupied by the Greeks, but claimed by the Armenians; it is situated near
the centre of the town, in what is called the "Black Earth," the spot
where Timur is said to have massacred the garrison. A few steps north of
St. George is the Church of St. Blasius, occupied by the Roman Catholic
Armenians. The tomb of St. Blasius, however, is shown in another part of
the town, near the citadel mount, and the ruins of a very beautiful
Seljukian Medresseh. (From a MS. Note by Sir H. Yule. The information had
been supplied by the American Missionaries to General Sir C. Wilson, and
forwarded by him to Sir H. Yule.)
It must be remembered that at the time of the Seljuk Turks, there were
four Medressehs at Sivas, and a university as famous as that of Amassia.
Children to the number of 1000, each a bearer of a copy of the Koran, were
crushed to death under the feet of the horses of Timur, and buried in the
"Black Earth"; the garrison of 4000 soldiers were buried alive.
St. Blasius, Bishop of Sebaste, was martyred in 316 by order of Agricola,
Governor of Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia, during the reign of Licinius.
His feast is celebrated by the Latin Church on the 3rd of February, and by
the Greek Church on the 11th of February. He is the patron of the Republic
of Ragusa in Dalmatia, and in France of wool-carders.
At the village of Hullukluk, near Sivas, was born in 1676 Mekhitar,
founder of the well-known Armenian Order, which has convents at Venice,
Vienna, and Trieste.--H. C.]
CHAPTER III.
DESCRIPTION OF THE GREATER HERMENIA.
This is a great country. It begins at a city called ARZINGA, at which they
weave the best buckrams in the world. It possesses also the best baths
from natural springs that are anywhere to be found.[NOTE 1] The people of
the country are Armenians, and are subject to the Tartar. There are many
towns and villages in the country, but the noblest of their cities is
Arzinga, which is the See of an Archbishop, and then ARZIRON and
ARZIZI.[NOTE 2]
The country is indeed a passing great one, and in the summer it is
frequented by the whole host of the Tartars of the Levant, because it then
furnishes them with such excellent pasture for their cattle. But in winter
the cold is past all bounds, so in that season they quit this country and
go to a warmer region, where they find other good pastures. [At a castle
called PAIPURTH, that you pass in going from Trebizond to Tauris, there is
a very good silver mine.[NOTE 3]]
And you must know that it is in this country of Armenia that the Ark of
Noah exists on the top of a certain great mountain [on the summit of which
snow is so constant that no one can ascend;[NOTE 4] for the snow never
melts, and is constantly added to by new falls. Below, however, the snow
does melt, and runs down, producing such rich and abundant herbage that in
summer cattle are sent to pasture from a long way round about, and it
never fails them. The melting snow also causes a great amount of mud on
the mountain].
The country is bounded on the south by a kingdom called Mosul, the people
of which are Jacobite and Nestorian Christians, of whom I shall have more
to tell you presently. On the north it is bounded by the Land of the
Georgians, of whom also I shall speak. On the confines towards Georgiania
there is a fountain from which oil springs in great abundance, insomuch
that a hundred shiploads might be taken from it at one time. This oil is
not good to use with food, but 'tis good to burn, and is also used to
anoint camels that have the mange. People come from vast distances to
fetch it, for in all the countries round about they have no other
oil.[NOTE 5]
Now, having done with Great Armenia, we will tell you of Georgiania.
NOTE 1.--[Erzinjan, Erzinga, or Eriza, in the vilayet of Erzrum, was
rebuilt in 1784, after having been destroyed by an earthquake.
"Arzendjan," says Ibn Batuta, II. p. 294, "is in possession of
well-established markets; there are manufactured fine stuffs, which are
called after its name." It was at Erzinjan that was fought in 1244 the
great battle, which placed the Seljuk Turks under the dependency of the
Mongol Khans.--H. C.] I do not find mention of its hot springs by modern
travellers, but Lazari says Armenians assured him of their existence. There
are plenty of others in Polo's route through the country, as at Ilija,
close to Erzrum, and at Hássan Kalá.
The _Buckrams_ of Arzinga are mentioned both by Pegolotti (circa 1340) and
by Giov. d'Uzzano (1442). But what were they?
Buckram in the modern sense is a coarse open texture of cotton or hemp,
loaded with gum, and used to stiffen certain articles of dress. But this
was certainly _not_ the mediaeval sense. Nor is it easy to bring the
mediaeval uses of the term under a single explanation. Indeed Mr. Marsh
suggests that probably two different words have coalesced. Fr.-Michel says
that _Bouqueran_ was _at first_ applied to a light cotton stuff of the
nature of muslin, and _afterwards_ to linen, but I do not see that he
makes out this history of the application. Douet d'Arcq, in his _Comptes
de l'Argenterie_, etc., explains the word simply in the modern sense, but
there seems nothing in his text to bear this out.
A quotation in Raynouard's Romance Dictionary has "_Vestirs de polpra e
de_ bisso _que est_ bocaran," where Raynouard renders _bisso_ as _lin_; a
quotation in Ducange also makes Buckram the equivalent of Bissus; and
Michel quotes from an inventory of 1365, "_unam culcitram pinctam_ (qu.
punctam?) _albam factam_ de bisso _aliter_ boquerant."
Mr. Marsh again produces quotations, in which the word is used as a
proverbial example of _whiteness_, and inclines to think that it was a
bleached cloth with a lustrous surface.
It certainly was not _necessarily_ linen. Giovanni Villani, in a passage
which is curious in more ways than one, tells how the citizens of Florence
established races for their troops, and, among other prizes, was one which
consisted of a _Bucherame di bambagine_ (of cotton). Polo, near the end of
the Book (Bk. III. ch. xxxiv.), speaking of Abyssinia, says, according to
Pauthier's text: "_Et si y fait on moult beaux_ bouquerans et autres draps
de coton." The G. T. is, indeed, more ambiguous: "_Il hi se font maint
biaus dras_ banbacin e bocaran" (cotton _and_ buckram). When, however, he
uses the same expression with reference to the delicate stuffs woven on
the coast of Telingana, there can be no doubt that a cotton texture is
meant, and apparently a fine muslin. (See Bk. III. ch. xviii.) Buckram is
_generally_ named as an article of price, _chier bouquerant_, _rice
boquerans_, etc, but not always, for Polo in one passage (Bk. II. ch.
xlv.) seems to speak of it as the clothing of the poor people of Eastern
Tibet.
Plano Carpini says the tunics of the Tartars were either of buckram
(_bukeranum_), of _purpura_ (a texture, perhaps velvet), or of _baudekin_,
a cloth of gold (pp. 614-615). When the envoys of the Old Man of the
Mountain tried to bully St. Lewis, one had a case of daggers to be offered
in defiance, another a _bouqueran_ for a winding sheet (_Joinville_, p.
136.)
In accounts of materials for the use of Anne Boleyn in the time of her
prosperity, _bokeram_ frequently appears for "lyning and taynting" (?)
gowns, lining sleeves, cloaks, a bed, etc., but it can scarcely have been
for mere stiffening, as the colour of the buckram is generally specified
as the same as that of the dress.
A number of passages seem to point to a _quilted_ material. Boccaccio (Day
viii. Novel 10) speaks of a quilt (_coltre_) of the whitest buckram of
Cyprus, and Uzzano enters buckram quilts (_coltre di Bucherame_) in a list
of _Linajuoli_, or linen-draperies. Both his handbook and Pegolotti's
state repeatedly that buckrams were sold by the piece or the half-score
pieces--never by measure. In one of Michel's quotations (from _Baudouin de
Sebourc_) we have:
"Gaufer li fist premiers armer d'un auqueton
Qui fu de _bougherant_ et _plaine de bon coton_."
Mr. Hewitt would appear to take the view that Buckram meant a quilted
material; for, quoting from a roll of purchases made for the Court of
Edward I., an entry for Ten Buckrams to make sleeves of, he remarks, "The
sleeves appear to have been of _pourpointerie_," i.e. quilting. (_Ancient
Armour_, I. 240.)
This signification would embrace a large number of passages in which the
term is used, though certainly not all. It would account for the mode or
sale by the piece, and frequent use of the expression _a_ buckram, for its
habitual application to _coltre_ or counterpanes, its use in the
_auqueton_ of Baudouin, and in the jackets of Falstaff's "men in buckram,"
as well as its employment in the frocks of the Mongols and Tibetans. The
winter _chapkan_, or long tunic, of Upper India, a form of dress which, I
believe, correctly represents that of the Mongol hosts, and is probably
derived from them, is almost universally of quilted cotton.[1] This
signification would also facilitate the transfer of meaning to the
substance now called buckram, for that is used as a _kind_ of quilting.
The derivation of the word is very uncertain. Reiske says it is Arabic,
_Abu-Kairám_, "Pannus cum intextis figuris"; Wedgwood, attaching the
modern meaning, that it is from It., _bucherare_, to pierce full of holes,
which might be if _bucherare_ could be used in the sense of _puntare_, or
the French _piquer_; Marsh connects it with the _bucking_ of linen; and
D'Avezac thinks it was a stuff that took its name from _Bokhara_. If the
name be local, as so many names of stuffs are, the French form rather
suggests _Bulgaria_. [Heyd, II. 703, says that Buckram (Bucherame) was
principally manufactured at Erzinjan (Armenia), Mush, and Mardin
(Kurdistan), Ispahan (Persia), and in India, etc. It was shipped to the
west at Constantinople, Satalia, Acre, and Famagusta; the name is derived
from Bokhara.--H. C.]
(_Della Decima_, III. 18, 149, 65, 74, 212, etc.; IV. 4, 5, 6, 212;
_Reiske's_ Notes to _Const. Porphyrogen._ II.; _D'Avezac_, p. 524; _Vocab.
Univ. Ital.; Franc.-Michel, Recherches_, etc. II. 29 seqq.; _Philobiblon
Soc. Miscell._ VI.; _Marsh's Wedgwood's Etym. Dict._ sub voce.)
[Illustration: Castle of Baiburt.]
NOTE 2.--Arziron is ERZRUM, which, even in Tournefort's time, the Franks
called _Erzeron_ (III. 126); [it was named _Garine_, then
_Theodosiopolis_, in honour of Theodosius the Great; the present name was
given by the Seljukid Turks, and it means "Roman Country"; it was taken by
Chinghiz Khan and Timur, but neither kept it long. Odorico (_Cathay_, I.
p. 46), speaking of this city, says it "is mighty cold." (See also on the
low temperature of the place, Tournefort, _Voyage du Levant_, II. pp.
258-259.) Arzizi, ARJISH, in the vilayet of Van, was destroyed in the
middle of the 19th century; it was situated on the road from Van to Erzrum.
Arjish Kalá was one of the ancient capitals of the Kingdom of Armenia; it
was conquered by Toghrul I., who made it his residence. (Cf. Vital Cuinet,
_Turquie d'Asie_, II. p. 710).--H. C.]
Arjish is the ancient _Arsissa_, which gave the Lake Van one of its names.
It is now little more than a decayed castle, with a village inside.
Notices of Kuniyah, Kaisariya, Sivas, Arzan-ar-Rumi, Arzangan, and Arjish,
will be found in Polo's contemporary Abulfeda. (See _Büsching_, IV.
303-311.)
NOTE 3.--Paipurth, or Baiburt, on the high road between Trebizond and
Erzrum, was, according to Neumann, an Armenian fortress in the first
century, and, according to Ritter, the castle _Baiberdon_ was fortified by
Justinian. It stands on a peninsular hill, encircled by the windings of
the R. Charok. [According to Ramusio's version Baiburt was the third relay
from Trebizund to Tauris, and travellers on their way from one of these
cities to the other passed under this stronghold.--H. C.] The Russians, in
retiring from it in 1829, blew up the greater part of the defences. The
nearest silver mines of which we find modern notice, are those of
_Gumish-Khánah_ ("Silverhouse"), about 35 miles N.W. of Baiburt; they are
more correctly mines of lead rich in silver, and were once largely worked.
But the _Masálak-al-absár_ (14th century), besides these, speaks of two
others in the same province, one of which was near _Bajert_. This
Quatremère reasonably would read _Babert_ or Baiburt. (_Not. et Extraits_,
XIII. i. 337; _Texier_, _Arménie_, I. 59.)
NOTE 4.--Josephus alludes to the belief that Noah's Ark still existed, and
that pieces of the pitch were used as amulets. (_Ant._ I. 3. 6.)
Ararat (16,953 feet) was ascended, first by Prof. Parrot, September 1829;
by Spasski Aotonomoff, August 1834; by Behrens, 1835; by Abich, 1845; by
Seymour in 1848; by Khodzko, Khanikoff, and others, for trigonometrical
and other scientific purposes, in August 1850. It is characteristic of the
account from which I take these notes (_Longrimoff_, in _Bull. Soc. Géog.
Paris_, sér. IV. tom. i. p. 54), that whilst the writer's countrymen,
Spasski and Behrens, were "moved by a noble curiosity," the Englishman is
only admitted to have "gratified a tourist's whim"!
NOTE 5.--Though Mr. Khanikoff points out that springs of naphtha are
abundant in the vicinity of Tiflis, the mention of _ship-loads_ (in
Ramusio indeed altered, but probably by the Editor, to _camel-loads_), and
the vast quantities spoken of, point to the naphtha-wells of the Baku
Peninsula on the Caspian. Ricold speaks of their supplying the whole
country as far as Baghdad, and Barbaro alludes to the practice of
anointing camels with the oil. The quantity collected from the springs
about Baku was in 1819 estimated at 241,000 _poods_ (nearly 4000 tons),
the greater part of which went to Persia. (_Pereg. Quat._ p. 122;
_Ramusio_, II. 109; _El. de Laprim._ 276; _V. du Chev. Gamba_, I. 298.)
[The phenomenal rise in the production of the Baku oil-fields between
1890-1900, may be seen at a glance from the Official Statistics where the
total output for 1900 is given as 601,000,000 poods, about 9,500,000 tons.
(Cf. _Petroleum_, No. 42, vol. ii. p. 13.)]
[1] Polo's contemporary, the Indian Poet Amír Khusrú, puts in the mouth
of his king Kaikobád a contemptuous gibe at the Mongols with their
cotton-quilted dresses. (_Elliot_, III. p. 526.)
CHAPTER IV.
OF GEORGIANIA AND THE KINGS THEREOF.
In GEORGIANIA there is a King called David Melic, which is as much as to
say "David King"; he is subject to the Tartar.[NOTE 1] In old times all
the kings were born with the figure of an eagle upon the right shoulder.
The people are very handsome, capital archers, and most valiant soldiers.
They are Christians of the Greek Rite, and have a fashion of wearing their
hair cropped, like Churchmen.[NOTE 2]
This is the country beyond which Alexander could not pass when he wished
to penetrate to the region of the Ponent, because that the defile was so
narrow and perilous, the sea lying on the one hand, and on the other lofty
mountains impassable to horsemen. The strait extends like this for four
leagues, and a handful of people might hold it against all the world.
Alexander caused a very strong tower to be built there, to prevent the
people beyond from passing to attack him, and this got the name of the
IRON GATE. This is the place that the Book of Alexander speaks of, when it
tells us how he shut up the Tartars between two mountains; not that they
were really Tartars, however, for there were no Tartars in those days, but
they consisted of a race of people called COMANIANS and many besides.[NOTE
3]
[Illustration: Mediaeval Georgian Fortress, from a drawing dated 1634. "La
provence est tonte plene de grant montagne et d'estroit pas et de fort"]
[In this province all the forests are of box-wood.[NOTE 4]] There are
numerous towns and villages, and silk is produced in great abundance. They
also weave cloths of gold, and all kinds of very fine silk stuffs. The
country produces the best goshawks in the world [which are called
_Avigi_].[NOTE 5] It has indeed no lack of anything, and the people live
by trade and handicrafts. 'Tis a very mountainous region, and full of
strait defiles and of fortresses, insomuch that the Tartars have never
been able to subdue it out and out.
There is in this country a certain Convent of Nuns called St. Leonard's,
about which I have to tell you a very wonderful circumstance. Near the
church in question there is a great lake at the foot of a mountain, and in
this lake are found no fish, great or small, throughout the year till Lent
come. On the first day of Lent they find in it the finest fish in the
world, and great store too thereof; and these continue to be found till
Easter Eve. After that they are found no more till Lent come round again;
and so 'tis every year. 'Tis really a passing great miracle![NOTE 6]
That sea whereof I spoke as coming so near the mountains is called the Sea
of GHEL or GHELAN, and extends about 700 miles.[NOTE 7] It is twelve days'
journey distant from any other sea, and into it flows the great River
Euphrates and many others, whilst it is surrounded by mountains. Of late
the merchants of Genoa have begun to navigate this sea, carrying ships
across and launching them thereon. It is from the country on this sea also
that the silk called _Ghellé_ is brought.[NOTE 8] [The said sea produces
quantities of fish, especially sturgeon, at the river-mouths salmon, and
other big kinds of fish.][NOTE 9]
NOTE 1.--Ramusio has: "One part of the said province is subject to the
Tartar, and the other part, owing to its fortresses, remains subject to
the King David." We give an illustration of one of these mediaeval
Georgian fortresses, from a curious collection of MS. notices and drawings
of Georgian subjects in the Municipal Library at Palermo, executed by a
certain P. Cristoforo di Castelli of that city, who was a Theatine
missionary in Georgia, in the first half of the 17th century.
The G. T. says the King was _always_ called David. The Georgian Kings of
the family of Bagratidae claimed descent from King David through a prince
Shampath, said to have been sent north by Nebuchadnezzar; a descent which
was usually asserted in their public documents. Timur in his Institutes
mentions a suit of armour given him by the King of Georgia as forged by
the hand of the Psalmist King. David is a very frequent name in their
royal lists. [The dynasty of the Bagratidae, which was founded in 786 by
Ashod, and lasted until the annexation of Georgia by Russia on the 18th
January, 1801, had nine reigning princes named David. During the second
half of the 12th century the princes were: Dawith (David) IV. Narin
(1247-1259), Dawith V. (1243-1272), Dimitri II. Thawdadebuli (1272-1289),
Wakhtang II. (1289-1292), Dawith VI. (1292-1308).--H. C.] There were two
princes of that name, David, who shared Georgia between them under the
decision of the Great Kaan in 1246, and one of them, who survived to 1269,
is probably meant here. The name of David was borne by the last titular
King of Georgia, who ceded his rights to Russia in 1801. It is probable,
however, as Marsden has suggested, that the statement about the King
_always_ being called David arose in part out of some confusion with the
title of _Dadian_, which, according to Chardin (and also to P. di
Castelli), was always assumed by the Princes of Mingrelia, or Colchis as
the latter calls it. Chardin refers this title to the Persian _Dád_,
"equity." To a portrait of "Alexander, King of Iberia," or Georgia Proper,
Castelli attaches the following inscription, giving apparently his
official style: "With the sceptre of David, Crowned by Heaven, First King
of the Orient and of the World, King of Israel," adding, "They say that he
has on his shoulder a small mark of a cross, '_Factus est principatus
super humerum ejus_,' and they add that he has all his ribs in one piece,
and not divided." In another place he notes that when attending the King
in illness his curiosity moved him strongly to ask if these things were
true, but he thought better of it! (_Khanikoff; Jour. As._ IX. 370, XI.
291, etc.; _Tim. Instit._ p. 143; _Castelli_ MSS.)
[A descendant of these Princes was in St. Petersburg about 1870. He wore
the Russian uniform, and bore the title of Prince Bagration-Mukransky.]
NOTE 2.--This fashion of tonsure is mentioned by Barbaro and Chardin. The
latter speaks strongly of the beauty of both sexes, as does Della Valle,
and most modern travellers concur.
NOTE 3.--This refers to the Pass of Derbend, apparently the Sarmatic Gates
of Ptolemy, and _Claustra Caspiorum_ of Tacitus, known to the Arab
geographers as the "Gate of Gates" (_Báb-ul-abwáb_), but which is still
called in Turkish _Demír-Kápi_, or the Iron Gate, and to the ancient Wall
that runs from the Castle of Derbend along the ridges of Caucasus, called
in the East _Sadd-i-Iskandar_, the Rampart of Alexander. Bayer thinks the
wall was probably built originally by one of the Antiochi, and renewed by
the Sassanian Kobad or his son Naoshirwan. It is ascribed to the latter by
Abulfeda; and according to Klaproth's extracts from the _Derbend Námah_,
Naoshirwan completed the fortress of Derbend in A.D. 542, whilst he and
his father together had erected 360 towers upon the Caucasian Wall which
extended to the Gate of the Alans (i.e. the Pass of Dariel). Mas'údi says
that the wall extended for 40 parasangs over the steepest summits and
deepest gorges. The Russians must have gained some knowledge as to the
actual existence and extent of the remains of this great work, but I have
not been able to meet with any modern information of a very precise kind.
According to a quotation from _Reinegg's Kaukasus_ (I. 120, a work which I
have not been able to consult), the remains of defences can be traced for
many miles, and are in some places as much as 120 feet high. M. Moynet
indeed, in the _Tour du Monde_ (I. 122), states that he traced the wall to
a distance of 27 versts (18 miles) from Derbend, but unfortunately,
instead of describing remains of such high interest from his own
observation, he cites a description written by Alex. Dumas, which he says
is quite accurate.
["To the west of Narin-Kaleh, a fortress which from the top of a
promontory rises above the city, the wall, strengthened from distance to
distance by large towers, follows the ridge of the mountains, descends
into the ravines, and ascends the slopes to take root on some remote peak.
If the natives were to be believed, this wall, which, however, no longer
has any strategetical importance, had formerly its towers bristling upon
the Caucasus chain from one sea to another; at least, this rampart did
protect all the plains at the foot of the eastern Caucasus, since vestiges
were found up to 30 kilometres from Derbend." (_Reclus, Asie russe_, p.
160.) It has belonged to Russia since 1813. The first European traveller
who mentions it is Benjamin of Tudela.
Bretschneider (II. p. 117) observes: "Yule complains that he was not able
to find any modern information regarding the famous Caucasian Wall which
begins at Derbend. I may therefore observe that interesting details on the
subject are found in Legkobytov's _Survey of the Russian Dominions beyond
the Caucasus_ (in Russian), 1836, vol. iv. pp. 158-161, and in Dubois de
Montpéreux's _Voyage autour du Caucase_, 1840, vol. iv. pp. 291-298, from
which I shall give here an abstract."
(He then proceeds to give an abstract, of which the following is a part:)
"The famous _Dagh bary_ (mountain wall) now begins at the village of
_Djelgan_ 4 versts south-west of Derbend, but we know that as late as the
beginning of the last century it could be traced down to the southern gate
of the city. This ancient wall then stretches westward to the high
mountains of Tabasseran (it seems the Tabarestan of Mas'údi).... Dubois de
Montpéreux enumerates the following sites of remains of the wall:--In the
famous defile of _Dariel_, north-east of Kazbek. In the valley of the
_Assai_ river, near Wapila, about 35 versts north-east of Dariel. In the
valley of the Kizil river, about 15 versts north-west of Kazbek. Farther
west, in the valley of the _Fiag_ or _Pog_ river, between _Lacz_ and
_Khilak_. From this place farther west about 25 versts, in the valley of
the _Arredon_ river, in the district of _Valaghir_. Finally, the
westernmost section of the Caucasian Wall has been preserved, which was
evidently intended to shut up the maritime defile of _Gagry_, on the Black
Sea."--H. C.]
There is another wall claiming the title of _Sadd-i-Iskandar_ at the S.E.
angle of the Caspian. This has been particularly spoken of by Vámbéry, who
followed its traces from S.W. to N.E. for upwards of 40 miles. (See his
_Travels in C. Asia_, 54 seqq., and _Julius Braun_ in the _Ausland_, No.
22, of 1869.)
Yule (II. pp. 537-538) says, "To the same friendly correspondent
[Professor Braun] I owe the following additional particulars on this
interesting subject, extracted from _Eichwald, Periplus des Kasp. M._ I.
128.
"'At the point on the mountain, at the extremity of the fortress (of
Derbend), where the double wall terminates, there begins a single wall
constructed in the same style, only this no longer runs in a straight
line, but accommodates itself to the contour of the hill, turning now to
the north and now to the south. At first it is quite destroyed, and showed
the most scanty vestiges, a few small heaps of stones or traces of towers,
but all extending in a general bearing from east to west.... It is not
till you get 4 versts from Derbend, in traversing the mountains, that you
come upon a continuous wall. Thenceforward you can follow it over the
successive ridges ... and through several villages chiefly occupied by the
Tartar hill-people. The wall ... makes many windings, and every 3/4 verst
it exhibits substantial towers like those of the city-wall, crested with
loop-holes. Some of these are still in tolerably good condition; others
have fallen, and with the wall itself have left but slight vestiges.'
"Eichwald altogether followed it up about 18 versts (12 miles) not
venturing to proceed further. In later days this cannot have been
difficult, but my kind correspondent had not been able to lay his hand on
information.
[Illustration: View of Derbend
"Alexandre ne poit paser quand il vost aler au Ponent ... car de l'un les
est la mer, et de l'autre est gran montagne que ne se poent cavaucher. La
vre est mout estroit entre la montagne et la mer."]
"A letter from Mr. Eugene Schuyler communicates some notes regarding
inscriptions that have been found at and near Derbend, embracing Cufic of
A.D. 465, Pehlvi, and even Cuneiform. Alluding to the fact that the other
_Iron-gate_, south of Shahrsabz, was called also _Kalugah_, or _Kohlugah_
he adds: 'I don't know what that means, nor do I know if the Russian
Kaluga, south-west of Moscow, has anything to do with it, but I am told
there is a Russian popular song, of which two lines run:
'"Ah Derbend, Derbend Kaluga,
Derbend my little Treasure!"'
"I may observe that I have seen it lately pointed out that _Koluga_ is a
Mongol word signifying a _barrier_; and I see that Timkowski (I. 288)
gives the same explanation of _Kalgan_, the name applied by Mongols and
Russians to the gate in the Great Wall, called Chang-kia-Kau by the
Chinese, leading to Kiakhta."
The story alluded to by Polo is found in the mediaeval romances of
Alexander, and in the Pseudo-Callisthenes on which they are founded. The
hero chases a number of impure cannibal nations within a mountain barrier,
and prays that they may be shut up therein. The mountains draw together
within a few cubits, and Alexander then builds up the gorge and closes it
with gates of brass or iron. There were in all twenty-two nations with
their kings, and the names of the nations were Goth, Magoth, Anugi, Eges,
Exenach, etc. Godfrey of Viterbo speaks of them in his rhyming verses:--
"Finibus Indorum species fuit una virorum;
Goth erat atque Magoth dictum cognomen eorum
* * * * *
Narrat Esias, Isidorus et Apocalypsis,
Tangit et in titulis Magna Sibylla suis.
Patribus ipsorum tumulus fuit venter eorum," etc.
Among the questions that the Jews are said to have put, in order to test
Mahommed's prophetic character, was one series: "Who are Gog and Magog?
Where do they dwell? What sort of rampart did Zu'lkarnain build between
them and men?" And in the Koran we find (ch. xviii. _The Cavern_): "They
will question thee, O Mahommed, regarding Zu'lkarnain. Reply: I will tell
you his history"--and then follows the story of the erection of the
Rampart of Yájúj and Májúj. In ch. xxi. again there is an allusion to
their expected issue at the latter day. This last expectation was one of
very old date. Thus the Cosmography of Aethicus, a work long believed
(though erroneously) to have been abridged by St. Jerome, and therefore to
be as old at least as the 4th century, says that the Turks of the race of
Gog and Magog, a polluted nation, eating human flesh and feeding on all
abominations, never washing, and never using wine, salt, nor wheat, shall
come forth in the Day of Antichrist from where they lie shut up behind the
Caspian Gates, and make horrid devastation. No wonder that the irruption
of the Tartars into Europe, heard of at first with almost as much
astonishment as such an event would produce now, was connected with this
prophetic legend![1] The Emperor Frederic II., writing to Henry III. of
England, says of the Tartars: "'Tis said they are descended from the Ten
Tribes who abandoned the Law of Moses, and worshipped the Golden Calf.
They are the people whom Alexander Magnus shut up in the Caspian
Mountains."
[See the chapter _Gog et Magog dans le roman en alexandrins_, in Paul
Meyer's _Alexandre le Grand dans la Littérature française_. Paris, 1886,
II. pp. 386-389.--H. C.]:
"Gos et Margos i vienent de la tiere des Turs
Et. cccc. m. hommes amenerent u plus,
Il en jurent la mer dont sire est Neptunus
Et le porte d'infier que garde Cerberus
Que l'orguel d'Alixandre torneront a reüs
Por çou les enclot puis es estres desus.
Dusc' al tans Antecrist n'en istera mais nus."
According to some chroniclers, the Emperor Heraclius had already let loose
the Shut-up Nations to aid him against the Persians, but it brought him no
good, for he was beaten in spite of their aid, and died of grief.
The theory that the Tartars were Gog and Magog led to the Rampart of
Alexander being confounded with the Wall of China (see infra, Bk. I. ch.
lix.), or being relegated to the extreme N.E. of Asia, as we find it in
the Carta Catalana.
These legends are referred to by Rabbi Benjamin, Hayton, Rubruquis,
Ricold, Matthew Paris, and many more. Josephus indeed speaks of the Pass
which Alexander fortified with gates of steel. But his saying that the
King of Hyrcania was Lord of this Pass points to the Hyrcanian Gates of
Northern Persia, or perhaps to the Wall of Gomushtapah, described by
Vámbéry.
Ricold of Montecroce allows two arguments to connect the Tartars with the
Jews who were shut up by Alexander; one that the Tartars hated the very
name of Alexander, and could not bear to hear it; the other, that their
manner of writing was very like the Chaldean, meaning apparently the
Syriac (_anté_, p. 29). But he points out that they had no resemblance to
Jews, and no knowledge of the law.
Edrisi relates how the Khalif Wathek sent one Salem the Dragoman to
explore the Rampart of Gog and Magog. His route lay by Tiflis, the Alan
country, and that of the Bashkirds, to the far north or north-east, and
back by Samarkand. But the report of what he saw is pure fable.
In 1857, Dr. Bellew seems to have found the ancient belief in the legend
still held by Afghan gentlemen at Kandahar.
At Gelath in Imeretia there still exists one valve of a large iron gate,
traditionally said to be the relic of a pair brought as a trophy from
Derbend by David, King of Georgia, called the Restorer (1089-1130). M.
Brosset, however, has shown it to be the gate of Ganja, carried off in
1139.
(_Bayer in Comment. Petropol._ I. 401 seqq.; _Pseudo-Callisth._ by
_Müller_, p. 138; _Gott. Viterb._ in _Pistorii Nidani Script. Germ._ II.
228; _Alexandriade_, pp. 310-311; _Pereg._ IV. p. 118; _Acad. des Insc.
Divers Savans_, II. 483; _Edrisi_, II. 416-420, etc.)
NOTE 4.--The box-wood of the Abkhasian forests was so abundant, and formed
so important an article of Genoese trade, as to give the name of _Chao de
Bux_ (Cavo di Bussi) to the bay of Bambor, N.W. of Sukum Kala', where the
traffic was carried on. (See _Elie de Laprim._ 243.) Abulfeda also speaks
of the Forest of Box (_Shará' ul-buks_) on the shores of the Black Sea,
from which box-wood was exported to all parts of the world; but his
indication of the exact locality is confused. (_Reinaud's Abulf._ I. 289.)
At the present time "Boxwood abounds on the southern coast of the Caspian,
and large quantities are exported from near Resht to England and Russia.
It is sent up the Volga to Tsaritzin, from thence by rail to the Don, and
down that river to the Black Sea, from whence it is shipped to England."
(_MS. Note_, H. Y.)
[Cf. V. Helm's _Cultivated Plants_, edited by J. S. Stallybrass, Lond.,
1891, _The Box Tree_, pp. 176-179.--H. C.]
NOTE 5.--Jerome Cardan notices that "the best and biggest goshawks come
from Armenia," a term often including Georgia and Caucasus. The name of
the bird is perhaps the same as _'Afçi_, "Falco montanus." (See _Casiri_,
I. 320.) Major St. John tells me that the _Terlán_, or goshawk, much used
in Persia, is still generally brought from Caucasus. (_Cardan, de Rer.
Varietate_, VII. 35.)
NOTE 6.--A letter of Warren Hastings, written shortly before his death,
and after reading Marsden's Marco Polo, tells how a fish-breeder of
Banbury warned him against putting pike into his fish-pond, saying, "If
you should leave them where they are _till Shrove Tuesday_ they will be
sure to spawn, and then you will never get any other fish to breed in it."
(_Romance of Travel_, I. 255.) Edward Webbe in his Travels (1590,
reprinted 1868) tells us that in the "Land of Siria there is a River
having great store of fish like unto Salmon-trouts, but no Jew can catch
them, though either Christian and Turk shall catch them in abundance with
great ease." The circumstance of fish being got only for a limited time in
spring is noticed with reference to Lake Van both by Tavernier and Mr.
Brant.
But the exact legend here reported is related (as M. Pauthier has already
noticed) by Wilibrand of Oldenburg of a stream under the Castle of
Adamodana, belonging to the Hospitallers, near Naversa (the ancient
_Anazarbus_), in Cilicia under Taurus. And Khanikoff was told the same
story of a lake in the district of Akhaltziké in Western Georgia, in
regard to which he explains the substance of the phenomenon as a result of
the rise of the lake's level by the melting of the snows, which often
coincides with Lent. I may add that Moorcroft was told respecting a sacred
pond near Sir-i-Chashma, on the road from Kabul to Bamian, that the fish
in the pond were not allowed to be touched, but that they were accustomed
to desert it for the rivulet that ran through the valley regularly every
year _on the day of the vernal equinox_, and it was then lawful to catch
them.
Like circumstances would produce the same effect in a variety of lakes,
and I have not been able to identify the convent of St. Leonard's. Indeed
Leonard (_Sant Lienard_, G. T.) seems no likely name for an Armenian
Saint; and the patroness of the convent (as she is of many others in that
country) was perhaps Saint _Nina_, an eminent personage in the Armenian
Church, whose tomb is still a place of pilgrimage; or possibly St.
_Helena_, for I see that the Russian maps show a place called _Elenovka_
on the shores of Lake Sevan, N.E. of Erivan. Ramusio's text, moreover,
says that the lake was _four days in compass_, and this description will
apply, I believe, to none but the lake just named. This is, according to
Monteith, 47 miles in length and 21 miles in breadth, and as far as I can
make out he travelled round it in three very long marches. Convents and
churches on its shores are numerous, and a very ancient one occupies an
island on the lake. The lake is noted for its fish, especially magnificent
trout.
(_Tavern._ Bk. III. ch. iii.; _J. R. G. S._ X. 897; _Pereg. Quat._ p. 179;
_Khanikoff_, 15; _Moorcroft_, II. 382; _J. R. G. S._ III. 40 seqq.)
Ramusio has: "In this province there is a fine city called TIFLIS, and
round about it are many castles and walled villages. It is inhabited by
Christians, Armenians, Georgians, and some Saracens and Jews, but not
many."
NOTE 7.--The name assigned by Marco to the Caspian, "Mer de Gheluchelan"
or "Ghelachelan," has puzzled commentators. I have no doubt that the
interpretation adopted above is the correct one. I suppose that Marco said
that the sea was called "La Mer de Ghel ou (de) Ghelan," a name taken from
the districts of the ancient _Gelae_ on its south-western shores, called
indifferently _Gíl_ or _Gílán_, just as many other regions of Asia have
like duplicate titles (singular and plural), arising, I suppose, from the
change of a _gentile_ into a _local_ name. Such are Lár, Lárán, Khutl,
Khutlán, etc., a class to which Badakhshán, Wakhán, Shaghnán, Mungán,
Chág-hanián, possibly Bámián, and many others have formerly belonged, as
the adjectives in some cases surviving, _Badakhshi, Shaghni, Wákhi_, etc.,
show[2] The change exemplified in the induration of these _gentile
plurals_ into _local singulars_ is everywhere traced in the passage from
earlier to later geography. The old Indian geographical lists, such as are
preserved in the Puránas, and in Pliny's extracts from Megasthenes, are,
in the main, lists of _peoples_, not of provinces, and even where the real
name seems to be local a _gentile_ form is often given. So also _Tochari_
and _Sogdi_ are replaced by _Tokháristán_ and _Sughd_; the _Veneti_ and
_Taurini_ by Venice and Turin; the _Remi_ and the _Parisii_, by Rheims and
Paris; _East-Saxons_ and _South-Saxons_ by Essex and Sussex; not to
mention the countless _-ings_ that mark the tribal settlement of the
Saxons in Britain.
Abulfeda, speaking of this territory, uses exactly Polo's phrase, saying
that the districts in question are properly called _Kíl-o-Kílán_, but by
the Arabs _Jíl-o-Jílán_. Teixeira gives the Persian name of the sea as
_Darya Ghiláni_. (See _Abulf._ in _Büsching_, v. 329.)
[The province of Gíl (Gílán), which is situated between the mountains and
the Caspian Sea, and between the provinces of Azerbaíján and Mazandéran
(H. C.)], gave name to the silk for which it was and is still famous,
mentioned as _Ghelle_ (_Gílí_) at the end of this chapter. This _Seta
Ghella_ is mentioned also by Pegolotti (pp. 212, 238, 301), and by Uzzano,
with an odd transposition, as Seta _Leggi_, along with Seta _Masandroni_,
i.e. from the adjoining province of Mazanderán (p. 192). May not the
Spanish _Geliz_, "a silk-dealer," which seems to have been a puzzle to
etymologists, be connected with this? (See _Dosy and Engelmann_, 2nd ed.
p. 275.) [Prof. F. de Filippi (_Viaggo in Persia nel_ 1862,... Milan,
1865, 8vo) speaks of the silk industry of Ghílán (pp. 295-296) as the
principal product of the entire province.--H. C]
The dimensions assigned to the Caspian in the text would be very correct
if length were meant, but the Geog. Text with the same figure specifies
_circuit_ (_zire_). Ramusio again has "a circuit of 2800 miles." Possibly
the original reading was 2700; but this would be in excess.
NOTE 8.--The Caspian is termed by Vincent of Beauvais _Mare Seruanicum_,
the Sea of Shirwan, another of its numerous Oriental names, rendered by
Marino Sanuto as _Mare Salvanicum_. (III. xi. ch. ix.) But it was
generally known to the Franks in the Middle Ages as the SEA OF BACU. Thus
Berni:--
"Fuor del deserto la diritta strada
Lungo il Mar di Bacu miglior pareva."
(_Orl. Innam._ xvii. 60.)
And in the _Sfera_ of Lionardo Dati (circa 1390):--
"Da Tramontana di quest' Asia Grande
Tartari son sotto la fredda Zona,
Gente bestial di bestie e vivande,
Fin dove _l'Onda di Baccù_ risuona," etc. (p. 10.)
This name is introduced in Ramusio, but probably by interpolation, as well
as the correction of the statement regarding Euphrates, which is perhaps a
branch of the notion alluded to in _Prologue_, ch. ii. note 5. In a later
chapter Marco calls it the _Sea of Sarai_, a title also given in the Carta
Catalana. [Odorico calls it Sea of _Bacuc_ (_Cathay_) and Sea of _Bascon_
(Cordier). The latter name is a corruption of Abeskun, a small town and
island in the S.E. corner of the Caspian Sea, not far from Ashurada.--H.
C.]
We have little information as to the Genoese navigation of the Caspian,
but the great number of names exhibited along its shores in the map just
named (1375) shows how familiar such navigation had become by that date.
See also _Cathay_, p. 50, where an account is given of a remarkable
enterprise by Genoese buccaneers on the Caspian about that time. Mas'údi
relates an earlier history of how about the beginning of the 9th century a
fleet of 500 Russian vessels came out of the Volga, and ravaged all the
populous southern and western shores of the Caspian. The unhappy
population was struck with astonishment and horror at this unlooked-for
visitation from a sea that had hitherto been only frequented by peaceful
traders or fishermen. (II. 18-24.)
NOTE 9.--[The enormous quantity of fish found in the Caspian Sea is
ascribed to the mass of vegetable food to be found in the shallower waters
of the North and the mouth of the Volga. According to Reclus, the Caspian
fisheries bring in fish to the annual value of between three and four
millions sterling.--H. C.]
[1] See Letter of Frederic to the Roman Senate, of 20th June, 1241, in
_Bréholles_. Mahommedan writers, contemporary with the Mongol
invasions, regarded these as a manifest sign of the approaching end of
the world. (See Elliot's _Historians_, II. p. 265.)
[2] When the first edition was published, I was not aware of remarks to
like effect regarding names of this character by Sir H. Rawlinson in
the _J. R. As. Soc._ vol. xi. pp. 64 and 103.
CHAPTER V.
OF THE KINGDOM OF MAUSUL.
On the frontier of Armenia towards the south-east is the kingdom of
MAUSUL. It is a very great kingdom, and inhabited[NOTE 1] by several
different kinds of people whom we shall now describe.
First there is a kind of people called ARABI, and these worship Mahommet.
Then there is another description of people who are NESTORIAN and JACOBITE
Christians. These have a Patriarch, whom they call the JATOLIC, and this
Patriarch creates Archbishops, and Abbots, and Prelates of all other
degrees, and sends them into every quarter, as to India, to Baudas, or to
Cathay, just as the Pope of Rome does in the Latin countries. For you must
know that though there is a very great number of Christians in those
countries, they are all Jacobites and Nestorians; Christians indeed, but
not in the fashion enjoined by the Pope of Rome, for they come short in
several points of the Faith.[NOTE 2]
All the cloths of gold and silk that are called _Mosolins_ are made in
this country; and those great Merchants called _Mosolins_, who carry for
sale such quantities of spicery and pearls and cloths of silk and gold,
are also from this kingdom.[NOTE 3]
There is yet another race of people who inhabit the mountains in that
quarter, and are called CURDS. Some of them are Christians, and some of
them are Saracens; but they are an evil generation, whose delight it is to
plunder merchants.[NOTE 4]
[Near this province is another called MUS and MERDIN, producing an immense
quantity of cotton, from which they make a great deal of buckram[NOTE 5]
and other cloth. The people are craftsmen and traders, and all are subject
to the Tartar King.]
NOTE 1.--Polo could scarcely have been justified in calling MOSUL a very
great kingdom. This is a bad habit of his, as we shall have to notice
again. Badruddin Lúlú, the last Atabeg of Mosul of the race of Zenghi had
at the age of 96 taken sides with Hulaku, and stood high in his favour.
His son Malik Sálih, having revolted, surrendered to the Mongols in 1261
on promise of life; which promise they kept in Mongol fashion by torturing
him to death. Since then the kingdom had ceased to exist as such. Coins of
Badruddín remain with the name and titles of Mangku Kaan on their reverse,
and some of his and of other atabegs exhibit curious imitations of Greek
art. (_Quat. Rash._ p. 389 _Jour. As._ IV. VI. 141.).--H. Y. and H. C.
[Mosul was pillaged by Timur at the end of the 14th century; during the
15th it fell into the hands of the Turkomans, and during the 16th, of
Ismail, Shah of Persia.--H. C.]
[The population of Mosul is to-day 61,000 inhabitants--(48,000 Musulmans,
10,000 Christians belonging to various churches, and 3000 Jews).--H. C.]
[Illustration: Coin of Badruddín of Mausul.]
NOTE 2.--The Nestorian Church was at this time and in the preceding
centuries diffused over Asia to an extent of which little conception is
generally entertained, having a chain of Bishops and Metropolitans from
Jerusalem to Peking. The Church derived its name from Nestorius, Patriarch
of Constantinople, who was deposed by the Council of Ephesus in 431. The
chief "point of the Faith" wherein it came short, was (at least in its
most tangible form) the doctrine that in Our Lord there were two Persons,
one of the Divine Word, the other of the Man Jesus; the former dwelling in
the latter as in a Temple, or uniting with the latter "as fire with iron."
_Nestorin_, the term used by Polo, is almost a literal transcript of the
Arab form _Nastúri_. A notice of the Metropolitan sees, with a map, will
be found in _Cathay_, p. ccxliv.
_Játhalík_, written in our text (from G. T.) _Jatolic_, by Fr. Burchard
and Ricold _Jaselic_, stands for [Greek: Katholikós]. No doubt it was
originally _Gáthalík_, but altered in pronunciation by the Arabs. The term
was applied by Nestorians to their Patriarch; among the Jacobites to the
_Mafrián_ or Metropolitan. The Nestorian Patriarch at this time resided at
Baghdad. (_Assemani_, vol. iii. pt. 2; _Per. Quat._ 91, 127.)
The Jacobites, or Jacobins, as they are called by writers of that age (Ar.
_Ya'úbkiy_), received their name from Jacob Baradaeus or James Zanzale,
Bishop of Edessa (so called, Mas'údi says, because he was a maker of
_barda'at_ or saddle-cloths), who gave a great impulse to their doctrine
in the 6th century. [At some time between the years 541 and 578, he
separated from the Church and became a follower of the doctrine of
Eutyches.--H. C.] The Jacobites then formed an independent Church, which
at one time spread over the East at least as far as Sístán, where they had
a see under the Sassanian Kings. Their distinguishing tenet was
_Monophysitism_, viz., that Our Lord had but one Nature, the Divine. It
was in fact a rebound from Nestorian doctrine, but, as might be expected
in such a case, there was a vast number of shades of opinion among both
bodies. The chief locality of the Jacobites was in the districts of Mosul,
Tekrit, and Jazírah, and their Patriarch was at this time settled at the
Monastery of St. Matthew, near Mosul, but afterwards, and to the present
day, at or near Mardin. [They have at present two patriarchates: the
Monastery of Zapharan near Baghdad and Etchmiadzin.--H. C.] The Armenian,
Coptic, Abyssinian, and Malabar Churches all hold some shade of the
Jacobite doctrine, though the first two at least have Patriarchs apart.
(_Assemani_, vol. ii.; _Le Quien_, II. 1596; _Mas'údi_, II. 329-330; _Per.
Quat._ 124-129.)
NOTE 3.--We see here that _mosolin_ or _muslin_ had a very different
meaning from what it has now. A quotation from Ives by Marsden shows it to
have been applied in the middle of last century to a strong cotton cloth
made at Mosul. Dozy says the Arabs use _Mauçili_ in the sense of muslin,
and refers to passages in 'The Arabian Nights.' [Bretschneider (_Med.
Res._ II. p. 122) observes "that in the narrative of Ch'ang Ch'un's
travels to the west in 1221, it is stated that in Samarkand the men of the
lower classes and the priests wrap their heads about with a piece of white
_mo-sze_. There can be no doubt that mo-sze here denotes 'muslin,' and the
Chinese author seems to understand by this term the same material which we
are now used to call muslin."--H. C.] I have found no elucidation of
Polo's application of _mosolini_ to a class of merchants. But, in a letter
of Pope Innocent IV. (1244) to the Dominicans in Palestine, we find
classed as different bodies of Oriental Christians, "_Jacobitae,
Nestoritae, Georgiani, Graeci, Armeni, Maronitae, et_ Mosolini." (_Le
Quien_, III. 1342.)
NOTE 4.--"The Curds," says Ricold, "exceed in malignant ferocity all the
barbarous nations that I have seen.... They are called _Curti_, not
because they are curt in stature, but from the Persian word for
_Wolves_.... They have three principal vices, viz., Murder, Robbery, and
Treachery." Some say they have not mended since, but his etymology is
doubtful. _Kúrt_ is Turkish for a wolf, not Persian, which is _Gurg_; but
the name (_Karduchi, Kordiaei_, etc.) is older, I imagine, than the
Turkish language in that part of Asia. Quatremère refers it to the Persian
_gurd_, "strong, valiant, hero." As regards the statement that some of the
Kurds were Christians, Mas'údi states that the Jacobites and certain other
Christians in the territory of Mosul and Mount Judi were reckoned among
the Kurds. (_Not. et Ext._ XIII. i. 304.) [The Kurds of Mosul are in part
nomadic and are called _Kotcheres_, but the greater number are sedentary
and cultivate cereals, cotton, tobacco, and fruits. (_Cuinet._) Old
Kurdistan had Shehrizor (Kerkuk, in the sanjak of that name) as its
capital.--H. C.]
NOTE 5.--Ramusio here, as in all passages where other texts have
_Bucherami_ and the like, puts _Boccassini_, a word which has become
obsolete in its turn. I see both _Bochayrani_ and _Bochasini_ coupled, in
a Genoese fiscal statute of 1339, quoted by Pardessus. (_Lois Maritimes_,
IV. 456.)
MUSH and MARDIN are in very different regions, but as their actual
interval is only about 120 miles, they _may_ have been under one
provincial government. Mush is essentially Armenian, and, though the seat
of a Pashalik, is now a wretched place. Mardin, on the verge of the
Mesopotamian Plain, rises in terraces on a lofty hill, and there, says
Hammer, "Sunnis and Shias, Catholic and Schismatic Armenians, Jacobites,
Nestorians, Chaldaeans, Sun-, Fire-, Calf-, and Devil-worshippers dwell
one over the head of the other." (_Ilchan._ I. 191.)
CHAPTER VI.
OF THE GREAT CITY OF BAUDAS, AND HOW IT WAS TAKEN.
Baudas is a great city, which used to be the seat of the Calif of all the
Saracens in the world, just as Rome is the seat of the Pope of all the
Christians.[NOTE 1] A very great river flows through the city, and by this
you can descend to the Sea of India. There is a great traffic of merchants
with their goods this way; they descend some eighteen days from Baudas,
and then come to a certain city called KISI, where they enter the Sea of
India.[NOTE 2] 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.[NOTE 3]
In Baudas they weave many different kinds of silk stuffs and gold
brocades, such as _nasich_, and _nac_, and _cramoisy_, and many another
beautiful tissue richly wrought with figures of beasts and birds. It is
the noblest and greatest city in all those regions.[NOTE 4]
Now it came to pass on a day in the year of Christ 1255, that the Lord of
the Tartars of the Levant, whose name was Alaü, brother to the Great Kaan
now reigning, gathered a mighty host and came up against Baudas and took
it by storm.[NOTE 5] It was a great enterprise! for in Baudas there were
more than 100,000 horse, besides foot soldiers. And when Alaü had taken
the place he found therein a tower of the Califs, which was full of gold
and silver and other treasure; in fact the greatest accumulation of
treasure in one spot that ever was known.[NOTE 6] When he beheld that
great heap of treasure he was astonished, and, summoning the Calif to his
presence, he said to him: "Calif, tell me now why thou hast gathered such
a huge treasure? What didst thou mean to do therewith? Knewest thou not
that I was thine enemy, and that I was coming against thee with so great
an host to cast thee forth of thine heritage? Wherefore didst thou not
take of thy gear and employ it in paying knights and soldiers to defend
thee and thy city?"
The Calif wist not what to answer, and said never a word. So the Prince
continued, "Now then, Calif, since I see what a love thou hast borne thy
treasure, I will e'en give it thee to eat!" So he shut the Calif up in the
Treasure Tower, and bade that neither meat nor drink should be given him,
saying, "Now, Calif, eat of thy treasure as much as thou wilt, since thou
art so fond of it; for never shalt thou have aught else to eat!"
So the Calif lingered in the tower four days, and then died like a dog.
Truly his treasure would have been of more service to him had he bestowed
it upon men who would have defended his kingdom and his people, rather
than let himself be taken and deposed and put to death as he was.[NOTE 7]
Howbeit, since that time, there has been never another Calif, either at
Baudas or anywhere else.[NOTE 8]
Now I will tell you of a great miracle that befell at Baudas, wrought by
God on behalf of the Christians.
NOTE 1.--This form of the Mediaeval Frank name of BAGHDAD, _Baudas_ [the
Chinese traveller, Ch'ang Te, _Si Shi Ki_, XIII. cent., says, "the kingdom
of _Bao-da_," H. C.], is curiously like that used by the Chinese
historians, _Paota_ (_Pauthier; Gaubil_), and both are probably due to the
Mongol habit of slurring gutturals. (See _Prologue_, ch. ii. note 3.)
[Baghdad was taken on the 5th of February, 1258, and the Khalif
surrendered to Hulaku on the 10th of February.--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--Polo is here either speaking without personal knowledge, or is so
brief as to convey an erroneous impression that the Tigris flows to Kisi,
whereas three-fourths of the length of the Persian Gulf intervene between
the river mouth and Kisi. The latter is the island and city of KISH or
KAIS, about 200 miles from the mouth of the Gulf, and for a long time one
of the chief ports of trade with India and the East. The island, the
_Cataea_ of Arrian, now called Ghes or Kenn, is singular among the islands
of the Gulf as being wooded and well supplied with fresh water. The ruins
of a city [called Harira, according to Lord Curzon,] exist on the north
side. According to Wassáf, the island derived its name from one Kais, the
son of a poor widow of Síráf (then a great port of Indian trade on the
northern shore of the Gulf), who on a voyage to India, about the 10th
century, made a fortune precisely as Dick Whittington did. The proceeds of
the cat were invested in an establishment on this island. Modern attempts
to nationalise Whittington may surely be given up! It is one of the tales
which, like Tell's shot, the dog Gellert, and many others, are common to
many regions. (_Hammer's Ilch._ I. 239; _Ouseley's Travels_, I. 170;
_Notes and Queries_, 2nd s. XI. 372.)
Mr. Badger, in a postscript to his translation of the History of Omán
(_Hak. Soc._ 1871), maintains that Kish or Kais was at this time a city on
the mainland, and identical from Síráf. He refers to Ibn Batuta (II. 244),
who certainly does speak of visiting "the city of Kais, called also
Síráf." And Polo, neither here nor in Bk. III. ch. xl., speaks of Kisi as
an island. I am inclined, however, to think that this was from not having
visited it. Ibn Batuta says nothing of Síráf as a seat of trade; but the
historian Wassáf, who had been in the service of Jamáluddín al-Thaibi, the
Lord of Kais, in speaking of the export of horses thence to India, calls
it "the _Island_ of Kais." (Elliot, III. 34.) Compare allusions to this
horse trade in ch. xv. and in Bk. III. ch. xvii. Wassáf was precisely a
contemporary of Polo.
NOTE 3.--The name is _Bascra_ in the MSS., but this is almost certainly
the common error of _c_ for _t_. BASRA is still noted for its vast
date-groves. "The whole country from the confluence of the Euphrates and
Tigris to the sea, a distance of 30 leagues, is covered with these trees."
(_Tav._ Bk. II. ch. iii.)
NOTE 4.--From Baudas, or Baldac, i.e. Baghdad, certain of these rich silk
and gold brocades were called _Baldachini_, or in English _Baudekins_.
From their use in the state canopies and umbrellas of Italian dignitaries,
the word _Baldacchino_ has come to mean a canopy, even when architectural.
[_Baldekino, baldacchino_, was at first entirely made of silk, but
afterwards silk was mixed (_sericum mixtum_) with cotton or thread. When
Hulaku conquered Baghdad part of the tribute was to be paid with that kind
of stuff. Later on, says Heyd (II. p. 697), it was also manufactured in
the province of Ahwaz, at Damas and at Cyprus; it was carried as far as
France and England. Among the articles sent from Baghdad to Okkodai Khan,
mentioned in the _Yüan ch'ao pi shi_ (made in the 14th century), quoted by
Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ II. p. 124), we note: _Nakhut_ (a kind of gold
brocade), _Nachidut_ (a silk stuff interwoven with gold), _Dardas_ (a
stuff embroidered in gold). Bretschneider (p. 125) adds: "With respect to
_nakhut_ and _nachidut_, I may observe that these words represent the
Mongol plural form of _nakh_ and _nachetti_.... I may finally mention that
in the _Yüan shi_, ch. lxxviii. (on official dresses), a stuff, _na-shi-
shi_, is repeatedly named, and the term is explained there by _kin kin_
(gold brocade)."--H. C.] The stuffs called _Nasich_ and _Nac_ are again
mentioned by our traveller below (ch. lix.). We only know that they were
of silk and gold, as he implies here, and as Ibn Batuta tells us, who
mentions _Nakh_ several times and _Nasíj_ once. The latter is also
mentioned by Rubruquis (_Nasic_) as a present made to him at the Kaan's
court. And Pegolotti speaks of both _nacchi_ and _nacchetti_ of silk and
gold, the latter apparently answering to _Nasich_. _Nac, Nacques, Nachiz,
Nacíz, Nasís_, appear in accounts and inventories of the 14th century,
French and English. (See _Dictionnaire des Tissus_, II. 199, and _Douet d'
Arcq, Comptes de l'Argenterie des Rois de France_, etc., 334.) We find no
mention of _Nakh_ or _Nasíj_ among the stuffs detailed in the _Aín
Akbari_, so they must have been obsolete in the 16th century. [Cf. Heyd,
_Com. du Levant_, II. p. 698; _Nacco_, nachetto, comes from the Arabic
_nakh_ (_nekh_); _nassit_ (_nasith_) from the Arabic _nécidj_.--H. C.]
_Quermesis_ or Cramoisy derived its name from the Kermes insect (Ar.
_Kirmiz_) found on _Quercus coccifera_, now supplanted by cochineal. The
stuff so called is believed to have been originally a crimson velvet, but
apparently, like the mediaeval _Purpura_, if not identical with it, it
came to indicate a tissue rather than a colour. Thus Fr.-Michel quotes
velvet of vermeil cramoisy, of violet, and of blue cramoisy, and
_pourpres_ of a variety of colours, though he says he has never met with
_pourpre blanche_. I may, however, point to Plano Carpini (p. 755), who
describes the courtiers at Karakorum as clad in white _purpura_.
The London prices of _Chermisi_ and _Baldacchini_ in the early part of the
15th century will be found in Uzzano's work, but they are hard to
elucidate.
Babylon, of which Baghdad was the representative, was famous for its
variegated textures in very early days. We do not know the nature of the
goodly Babylonish garment which tempted Achan in Jericho, but Josephus
speaks of the affluence of rich stuffs carried in the triumph of Titus,
"gorgeous with life-like designs from the Babylonian loom," and he also
describes the memorable Veil of the Temple as a [Greek: péplos Babylónios]
of varied colours marvellously wrought. Pliny says King Attalus invented
the intertexture of cloth with gold; but the weaving of damasks of a
variety of colours was perfected at Babylon, and thence they were called
Babylonian.
The brocades wrought with figures of animals in gold, of which Marco
speaks, are still a _spécialité_ at Benares, where they are known by the
name of _Shikárgáh_ or hunting-grounds, which is nearly a translation of
the name _Thard-wahsh_ "beast-hunts," by which they were known to the
mediaeval Saracens. (See _Q. Makrizi_, IV. 69-70.) Plautus speaks of such
patterns in carpets, the produce of Alexandria--"_Alexandrina_ belluata
_conchyliata tapetia_." Athenaeus speaks of Persian carpets of like
description at an extravagant entertainment given by Antiochus Epiphanes;
and the same author cites a banquet given in Persia by Alexander, at which
there figured costly curtains embroidered with animals. In the 4th century
Asterius, Bishop of Amasia in Pontus, rebukes the Christians who indulge
in such attire: "You find upon them lions, panthers, bears, huntsmen,
woods, and rocks; whilst the more devout display Christ and His disciples,
with the stories of His miracles," etc. And Sidonius alludes to upholstery
of like character:
"Peregrina det supellex
* * *
Ubi torvus, et per artem
Resupina flexus ora,
It equo reditque telo
Simulacra bestiarum
Fugiens fugansque Parthus." (_Epist._ ix. 13.)
A modern Kashmír example of such work is shown under ch. xvii.
(_D'Avezac_, p. 524; _Pegolotti_, in _Cathay_, 295, 306; _I. B._ II. 309,
388, 422; III. 81; _Della Decima_, IV. 125-126; _Fr.-Michel, Recherches_,
etc., II. 10-16, 204-206; _Joseph. Bell. Jud._ VII. 5, 5, and V. 5, 4;
_Pliny_, VIII. 74 (or 48); _Plautus, Pseudolus_, I. 2; _Yonge's
Athenaeus_, V. 26 and XII. 54; _Mongez_ in _Mém. Acad._ IV. 275-276.)
NOTE 5.--[Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ I. p. 114) says: "Hulagu left
Karakorum, the residence of his brother, on the 2nd May, 1253, and
returned to his ordo, in order to organize his army. On the 19th October
of the same year, all being ready, he started for the west." He arrived at
Samarkand in September, 1255. For this chapter and the following of Polo,
see: _Hulagu's Expedition to Western Asia, after the Mohammedan Authors_,
pp. 112-122, and the _Translation of the Si Shi Ki_ (Ch'ang Te), pp.
122-156, in Bretschneider's _Mediaeval Researches_, I.--H. C.]
NOTE 6.--["Hulagu proceeded to the lake of _Ormia_ (Urmia), when he
ordered a castle to be built on the island of _Tala_, in the middle of the
lake, for the purpose of depositing here the immense treasures captured at
Baghdad. A great part of the booty, however, had been sent to Mangu Khan."
(_Hulagu's Exp._, Bretschneider, _Med. Res._ I. p. 120.) Ch'ang Te says
(_Si Shi Ki_, p. 139): "The palace of the Ha-li-fa was built of fragrant
and precious woods. The walls of it were constructed of black and white
jade. It is impossible to imagine the quantity of gold and precious stones
found there."--H. C.]
NOTE 7.--
"I said to the Kalif: 'Thou art old,
Thou hast no need of so much gold.
Thou shouldst not have heaped and hidden it here,
Till the breath of Battle was hot and near,
But have sown through the land these useless hoards
To spring into shining blades of swords,
And keep thine honour sweet and clear.
* * * * *
Then into his dungeon I locked the drone,
And left him to feed there all alone
In the honey-cells of his golden hive:
Never a prayer, nor a cry, nor a groan
Was heard from those massive walls of stone,
Nor again was the Kalif seen alive.'
This is the story, strange and true,
That the great Captain Alau
Told to his brother, the Tartar Khan,
When he rode that day into Cambalu.
By the road that leadeth to Ispahan." (_Longfellow_.)[1]
The story of the death of Mosta'sim Billah, the last of the Abbaside
Khalifs, is told in much the same way by Hayton, Ricold, Pachymeres, and
Joinville. The memory of the last glorious old man must have failed him,
when he says the facts were related by some merchants who came to King
Lewis, when before Saiette (or Sidon), viz. in 1253, for the capture of
Baghdad occurred five years later. Mar. Sanuto says melted gold was poured
down the Khalif's throat--a transfer, no doubt, from the old story of
Crassus and the Parthians. Contemporary Armenian historians assert that
Hulaku slew him with his own hand.
All that Rashiduddin says is: "The evening of Wednesday, the 14th of
Safar, 656 (20th February, 1258), the Khalif was put to death in the
village of Wakf, with his eldest son and five eunuchs who had never
quitted him." Later writers say that he was wrapt in a carpet and trodden
to death by horses.
[Cf. _The Story of the Death of the last Abbaside Caliph, from the Vatican
MS. of Ibn-al-Furat_, by G. le Strange (_Jour. R. As. Soc._, April, 1900,
pp. 293-300). This is the story of the death of the Khalif told by
Ibn-al-Furat (born in Cairo, 1335 A.D.):
"Then Hulagu gave command, and the Caliph was left a-hungering, until his
case was that of very great hunger, so that he called asking that somewhat
might be given him to eat. And the accursed Hulagu sent for a dish with
gold therein, and a dish with silver therein, and a dish with gems, and
ordered these all to be set before the Caliph al Musta'sim, saying to him,
'Eat these.' But the Caliph made answer, 'These be not fit for eating.'
Then said Hulagu: 'Since thou didst so well know that these be not fit for
eating, why didst thou make a store thereof? With part thereof thou
mightest have sent gifts to propitiate us, and with part thou shouldst
have raised an army to serve thee and defend thyself against us! And
Hulagu commanded them to take forth the Caliph and his son to a place
without the camp, and they were here bound and put into two great sacks,
being afterwards trampled under foot till they both died--the mercy of
Allah be upon them."--H. C.]
The foundation of the story, so widely received among the Christians, is
to be found also in the narrative of Nikbi (and Mirkhond), which is cited
by D'Obsson. When the Khalif surrendered, Hulaku put before him a plateful
of gold, and told him to eat it. "But one does not eat gold," said the
prisoner. "Why, then," replied the Tartar, "did you hoard it, instead of
expending it in keeping up an army? Why did you not meet me at the Oxus?"
The Khalif could only say, "Such was God's will!" "And that which has
befallen you was also God's will," said Hulaku.
Wassáf's narrative is interesting:--"Two days after his capture the Khalif
was at his morning prayer, and began with the verse (_Koran_, III. 25),
'Say God is the Possessor of Dominion! It shall be given to whom He will;
it shall be taken from whom He will: whom He will He raiseth to honour;
whom He will He casteth to the ground.' Having finished the regular office
he continued still in prayer with tears and importunity. Bystanders
reported to the Ilkhan the deep humiliation of the Khalif's prayers, and
the text which seemed to have so striking an application to those two
princes. Regarding what followed there are different stories. Some say
that the Ilkhan ordered food to be withheld from the Khalif, and that when
he asked for food the former bade a dish of gold be placed before him,
etc. Eventually, after taking counsel with his chiefs, the Padishah
ordered the execution of the Khalif. It was represented that the
blood-drinking sword ought not to be stained with the gore of Mosta'sim. He
was therefore rolled in a carpet, just as carpets are usually rolled up,
insomuch that his limbs were crushed."
The avarice of the Khalif was proverbial. When the Mongol army was
investing Miafarakain, the chief, Malik Kamál, told his people that
everything he had should be at the service of those in need: "Thank God, I
am not like Mosta'sim, a worshipper of silver and gold!"
(_Hayton_ in _Ram._ ch. xxvi.; _Per. Quat._ 121; _Pachym. Mic. Palaeol._
II. 24; _Joinville_, p. 182; _Sanuto_, p. 238; _J. As._ sér. V. tom. xi.
490, and xvi. 291; _D'Ohsson_, III. 243; _Hammer's Wassáf_, 75-76; _Quat.
Rashid._ 305.)
NOTE 8.--Nevertheless Froissart brings the Khalif to life again one
hundred and twenty years later, as "_Le Galifre de Baudas_." (Bk. III. ch.
xxiv.)
[1] Not that Alaü (_pace_ Mr. Longfellow) ever did see Cambalu.
CHAPTER VII.
HOW THE CALIF OF BAUDAS TOOK COUNSEL TO SLAY ALL THE CHRISTIANS IN HIS
LAND.
I will tell you then this great marvel that occurred between Baudas and
Mausul.
It was in the year of Christ[NOTE 1] ... that there was a Calif at Baudas
who bore a great hatred to Christians, and was taken up day and night with
the thought how he might either bring those that were in his kingdom over
to his own faith, or might procure them all to be slain. And he used daily
to take counsel about this with the devotees and priests of his
faith,[NOTE 2] for they all bore the Christians like malice. And, indeed,
it is a fact, that the whole body of Saracens throughout the world are
always most malignantly disposed towards the whole body of Christians.
Now it happened that the Calif, with those shrewd priests of his, got hold
of that passage in our Gospel which says, that if a Christian had faith as
a grain of mustard seed, and should bid a mountain be removed, it would be
removed. And such indeed is the truth. But when they had got hold of this
text they were delighted, for it seemed to them the very thing whereby
either to force all the Christians to change their faith, or to bring
destruction upon them all. The Calif therefore called together all the
Christians in his territories, who were extremely numerous. And when they
had come before him, he showed them the Gospel, and made them read the
text which I have mentioned. And when they had read it he asked them if
that was the truth? The Christians answered that it assuredly was so.
"Well," said the Calif, "since you say that it is the truth, I will give
you a choice. Among such a number of you there must needs surely be this
small amount of faith; so you must either move that mountain there,"--and
he pointed to a mountain in the neighbourhood--"or you shall die an ill
death; unless you choose to eschew death by all becoming Saracens and
adopting our Holy Law. To this end I give you a respite of ten days; if
the thing be not done by that time, ye shall die or become Saracens." And
when he had said this he dismissed them, to consider what was to be done
in this strait wherein they were.
NOTE 1.--The date in the G. Text and Pauthier is 1275, which of course
cannot have been intended. Ramusio has 1225.
[The Khalifs in 1225 were Abu'l Abbas Ahmed VII. en-Nassir lidini 'llah
(1180-1225) and Abu Nasr Mohammed IX. ed-Dhahir bi-emri 'llah
(1225-1226).--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--"_Cum sez regisles et cum sez casses._" (G. T.) I suppose the
former expression to be a form of _Regules_, which is used in Polo's book
for persons of a religious _rule_ or order, whether Christian or Pagan.
The latter word (_casses_) I take to be the Arabic _Kashísh_, properly a
Christian Presbyter, but frequently applied by old travellers, and
habitually by the Portuguese (_caxiz, caxix_), to Mahomedan Divines. (See
_Cathay_, p. 568.) It may, however, be _Kází_.
Pauthier's text has simply "à ses prestres de la Loi."
CHAPTER VIII.
HOW THE CHRISTIANS WERE IN GREAT DISMAY BECAUSE OF WHAT THE CALIF HAD
SAID.
The Christians on hearing what the Calif had said were in great dismay,
but they lifted all their hopes to God, their Creator, that He would help
them in this their strait. All the wisest of the Christians took counsel
together, and among them were a number of bishops and priests, but they
had no resource except to turn to Him from whom all good things do come,
beseeching Him to protect them from the cruel hands of the Calif.
So they were all gathered together in prayer, both men and women, for
eight days and eight nights. And whilst they were thus engaged in prayer
it was revealed in a vision by a Holy Angel of Heaven to a certain Bishop
who was a very good Christian, that he should desire a certain Christian
Cobler,[NOTE 1] who had but one eye, to pray to God; and that God in His
goodness would grant such prayer because of the Cobler's holy life.
Now I must tell you what manner of man this Cobler was. He was one who led
a life of great uprightness and chastity, and who fasted and kept from all
sin, and went daily to church to hear Mass, and gave daily a portion of
his gains to God. And the way how he came to have but one eye was this. It
happened one day that a certain woman came to him to have a pair of shoes
made, and she showed him her foot that he might take her measure. Now she
had a very beautiful foot and leg; and the Cobler in taking her measure
was conscious of sinful thoughts. And he had often heard it said in the
Holy Evangel, that if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from
thee, rather than sin. So, as soon as the woman had departed, he took the
awl that he used in stitching, and drove it into his eye and destroyed it.
And this is the way he came to lose his eye. So you can judge what a holy,
just, and righteous man he was.
NOTE 1.--Here the G. T. uses a strange word: "_Or te vais a tel_
cralantur." It does not occur again, being replaced by _chabitier_
(savetier). It has an Oriental look, but I can make no satisfactory
suggestion as to what the word meant.
CHAPTER IX.
HOW THE ONE-EYED COBLER WAS DESIRED TO PRAY FOR THE CHRISTIANS.
Now when this vision had visited the Bishop several times, he related the
whole matter to the Christians, and they agreed with one consent to call
the Cobler before them. And when he had come they told him it was their
wish that he should pray, and that God had promised to accomplish the
matter by his means. On hearing their request he made many excuses,
declaring that he was not at all so good a man as they represented. But
they persisted in their request with so much sweetness, that at last he
said he would not tarry, but do what they desired.
CHAPTER X.
HOW THE PRAYER OF THE ONE-EYED COBLER CAUSED THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE.
And when the appointed day was come, all the Christians got up early, men
and women, small and great, more than 100,000 persons, and went to church,
and heard the Holy Mass. And after Mass had been sung, they all went forth
together in a great procession to the plain in front of the mountain,
carrying the precious cross before them, loudly singing and greatly
weeping as they went. And when they arrived at the spot, there they found
the Calif with all his Saracen host armed to slay them if they would not
change their faith; for the Saracens believed not in the least that God
would grant such favour to the Christians. These latter stood indeed in
great fear and doubt, but nevertheless they rested their hope on their God
Jesus Christ.
So the Cobler received the Bishop's benison, and then threw himself on his
knees before the Holy Cross, and stretched out his hands towards Heaven,
and made this prayer: "Blessed LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, I pray Thee by Thy
goodness that Thou wilt grant this grace unto Thy people, insomuch that
they perish not, nor Thy faith be cast down, nor abused nor flouted. Not
that I am in the least worthy to prefer such request unto Thee; but for
Thy great power and mercy I beseech Thee to hear this prayer from me Thy
servant full of sin."
And when he had ended this his prayer to God the Sovereign Father and
Giver of all grace, and whilst the Calif and all the Saracens, and other
people there, were looking on, the mountain rose out of its place and
moved to the spot which the Calif had pointed out! And when the Calif and
all his Saracens beheld, they stood amazed at the wonderful miracle that
God had wrought for the Christians, insomuch that a great number of the
Saracens became Christians. And even the Calif caused himself to be
baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
Amen, and became a Christian, but in secret. Howbeit, when he died they
found a little cross hung round his neck; and therefore the Saracens would
not bury him with the other Califs, but put him in a place apart. The
Christians exulted greatly at this most holy miracle, and returned to
their homes full of joy, giving thanks to their Creator for that which He
had done.[NOTE 1]
And now you have heard in what wise took place this great miracle. And
marvel not that the Saracens hate the Christians; for the accursed law
that Mahommet gave them commands them to do all the mischief in their
power to all other descriptions of people, and especially to Christians;
to strip such of their goods, and do them all manner of evil, because they
belong not to their law. See then what an evil law and what naughty
commandments they have! But in such fashion the Saracens act, throughout
the world.
Now I have told you something of Baudas. I could easily indeed have told
you first of the affairs and the customs of the people there. But it would
be too long a business, looking to the great and strange things that I
have got to tell you, as you will find detailed in this Book.
So now I will tell you of the noble city of Tauris.
NOTE 1.--We may remember that at a date only three years before Marco
related this story (viz. in 1295), the cottage of Loreto is asserted to
have changed its locality for the third and last time by moving to the
site which it now occupies.
Some of the old Latin copies place the scene at Tauris. And I observe that
a missionary of the 16th century does the same. The mountain, he says, is
between Tauris and Nakhshiwan, and is called _Manhuc_. (_Gravina_,
_Christianita nell' Armenia_, etc., Roma, 1605, p. 91.)
The moving of a mountain is one of the miracles ascribed to Gregory
Thaumaturgus. Such stories are rife among the Mahomedans themselves. "I
know," says Khanikoff, "at least half a score of mountains which the
Musulmans allege to have come from the vicinity of Mecca."
Ramusio's text adds here: "All the Nestorian and Jacobite Christians from
that time forward have maintained a solemn celebration of the day on which
the miracle occurred, keeping a fast also on the eve thereof."
F. Göring, a writer who contributes three articles on Marco Polo to the
_Neue Züricher-Zeitung_, 5th, 6th, 8th April, 1878, says: "I heard related
in Egypt a report which Marco Polo had transmitted to Baghdad. I will give
it here in connection with another which I also came across in Egypt.
"'Many years ago there reigned in Babylon, on the Nile, a haughty Khalif
who vexed the Christians with taxes and corvées. He was confirmed in his
hate of the Christians by the Khakam Chacham Bashi or Chief Rabbi of the
Jews, who one day said to him: "The Christians allege in their books that
it shall not hurt them to drink or eat any deadly thing. So I have
prepared a potion that one of them shall taste at my hand: if he does not
die on the spot then call me no more Chacham Bashi!" The Khalif
immediately sent for His Holiness the Patriarch of Babylon, and ordered
him to drink up the potion. The Patriarch just blew a little over the cup
and then emptied it at a draught, and took no harm. His Holiness then on
his side demanded that the Chacham Bashi should quaff a cup to the health
of the Khalif, which he (the Patriarch) should first taste, and this the
Khalif found only fair and right. But hardly had the Chacham Bashi put the
cup to his lips than he fell down and expired.' Still the Musulmans and
Jews thirsted for Christian blood. It happened at that time that a mass of
the hill Mokattani became loose and threatened to come down upon Babylon.
This was laid to the door of the Christians, and they were ordered to stop
it. The Patriarch in great distress has a vision that tells him summon the
saintly cobbler (of whom the same story is told as here)--the cobbler bids
the rock to stand still and it does so to this day. 'These two stories may
still be heard in Cairo'--from whom is not said. The hill that threatened
to fall on the Egyptian Babylon is called in Turkish _Dur Dagh_, 'Stay, or
halt-hill.' (L.c. April, 1878")--_MS. Note_, H. Y.
CHAPTER XI.
OF THE NOBLE CITY OF TAURIS.
Tauris is a great and noble city, situated in a great province called
YRAC, in which are many other towns and villages. But as Tauris is the
most noble I will tell you about it.[NOTE 1]
The men of Tauris get their living by trade and handi crafts, for they
weave many kinds of beautiful and valuable stuffs of silk and gold. The
city has such a good position that merchandize is brought thither from
India, Baudas, CREMESOR,[NOTE 2] and many other regions; and that attracts
many Latin merchants, especially Genoese, to buy goods and transact other
business there; the more as it is also a great market for precious stones.
It is a city in fact where merchants make large profits.[NOTE 3]
The people of the place are themselves poor creatures; and are a great
medley of different classes. There are Armenians, Nestorians, Jacobites,
Georgians, Persians, and finally the natives of the city themselves, who
are worshippers of Mahommet. These last are a very evil generation; they
are known as TAURIZI.[NOTE 4] The city is all girt round with charming
gardens, full of many varieties of large and excellent fruits.[NOTE 5]
Now we will quit Tauris, and speak of the great country of Persia. [From
Tauris to Persia is a journey of twelve days.]
NOTE 1.--Abulfeda notices that TABRÍZ was vulgarly pronounced _Tauriz_,
and this appears to have been adopted by the Franks. In Pegolotti the name
is always _Torissi_.
Tabriz is often reckoned to belong to Armenia, as by Hayton. Properly it
is the chief city of _Azerbaiján_, which never was included in 'IRAK. But
it may be observed that Ibn Batuta generally calls the Mongol Ilkhan of
Persia _Sáhib_ or _Malik ul-'Irák_, and as Tabriz was the capital of that
sovereign, we can account for the mistake, whilst admitting it to be one.
[The destruction of Baghdad by Hulaku made Tabriz the great commercial and
political city of Asia, and diverted the route of Indian products from the
Mediterranean to the Euxine. It was the route to the Persian Gulf by
Kashan, Yezd, and Kermán, to the Mediterranean by Lajazzo, and later on by
Aleppo,--and to the Euxine by Trebizond. The destruction of the Kingdom of
Armenia closed to Europeans the route of Tauris.--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--_Cremesor_, as Baldelli points out, is GARMSIR, meaning a hot
region, a term which in Persia has acquired several specific applications,
and especially indicates the coast-country on the N.E. side of the Persian
Gulf, including Hormuz and the ports in that quarter.
NOTE 3.--[Of the Italians established at Tabriz, the first whose name is
mentioned is the Venetian Pietro Viglioni (Vioni); his will, dated 10th
December, 1264, is still in existence. (_Archiv. Venet._ XXVI. pp.
161-165; _Heyd_, French Ed., II. p. 110.)--H. C.] At a later date (1341)
the Genoese had a factory at Tabriz headed by a consul with a council of
twenty four merchants, and in 1320 there is evidence of a Venetian
settlement there. (_Elie de la Prim_, 161; _Heyd_, II. 82.)
Rashiduddin says of Tabriz that there were gathered there under the eyes
of the Padishah of Islam "philosophers, astronomers, scholars, historians,
of all religions, of all sects; people of Cathay, of Machin, of India, of
Kashmir, of Tibet, of the Uighúr and other Turkish nations, Arabs and
Franks." Ibn Batuta, "I traversed the bazaar of the jewellers, and my eyes
were dazzled by the varieties of precious stones which I beheld. Handsome
slaves, superbly dressed, and girdled with silk, offered their gems for
sale to the Tartar ladies, who bought great numbers. [Odoric (ed. Cordier)
speaks also of the great trade of Tabriz.] Tabriz maintained a large
population and prosperity down to the 17th century, as may be seen in
Chardin. It is now greatly fallen, though still a place of importance."
(_Quat. Rash._, p. 39; _I. B._ II. 130.)
[Illustration: Ghazan Khan's Mosque at Tabriz.--(From Fergusson.)]
NOTE 4.--In Pauthier's text this is _Touzi_, a mere clerical error, I
doubt not for _Torizi_, in accordance with the G. Text ("_le peuple de la
cité que sunt apelés_ Tauriz"), with the Latin, and with Ramusio. All that
he means to say is that the people are called _Tabrizís_. Not recondite
information, but 'tis his way. Just so he tells us in ch[*illegible*]u
that the people of Hermenia are called Hermins, and elsewhere that the
people of Tebet are called Tebet. So Hayton thinks it not inappropriate to
say that the people of Catay are called Cataini, that the people of
Corasmia are called Corasmins, and that the people of the cities of Persia
are called Persians.
NOTE 5.--Hamd Allah Mastaufi, the Geographer, not long after Polo's time,
gives an account of Tabriz, quoted in Barbier de Meynard's _Dict. de la
Perse_, p. 132. This also notices the extensive gardens round the city,
the great abundance and cheapness of fruits, the vanity, insolence, and
faithlessness of the Tabrízis, etc. (p. 132 seqq.) Our cut shows a relic
of the Mongol Dynasty at Tabriz.
CHAPTER XII.
OF THE MONASTERY OF ST. BARSAMO ON THE BORDERS OF TAURIS.
On the borders of (the territory of) Tauris there is a monastery called
after Saint Barsamo, a most devout Saint. There is an Abbot, with many
Monks, who wear a habit like that of the Carmelites, and these to avoid
idleness are continually knitting woollen girdles. These they place upon
the altar of St. Barsamo during the service, and when they go begging
about the province (like the Brethren of the Holy Spirit) they present
them to their friends and to the gentlefolks, for they are excellent
things to remove bodily pain; wherefore every one is devoutly eager to
possess them.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--Barsauma ("The Son of Fasting") was a native of Samosata, and an
Archimandrite of the Asiatic Church. He opposed the Nestorians, but became
himself still more obnoxious to the orthodox as a spreader of the
Monophysite Heresy. He was condemned by the Council of Chalcedon (451),
and died in 458. He is a Saint of fame in the Jacobite and Armenian
Churches, and several monasteries were dedicated to him; but by far the
most celebrated, and doubtless that meant here, was near Malatia. It must
have been famous even among the Mahomedans, for it has an article in
Bákúi's Geog. Dictionary. (_Dír-Barsúma_, see _N. et Ext._ II. 515.) This
monastery possessed relics of Barsauma and of St. Peter, and was sometimes
the residence of the Jacobite Patriarch and the meeting-place of the
Synods.
A more marvellous story than Marco's is related of this monastery by
Vincent of Beauvais: "There is in that kingdom (Armenia) a place called
St. Brassamus, at which there is a monastery for 300 monks. And 'tis said
that if ever an enemy attacks it, the defences of the monastery move of
themselves, and shoot back the shot against the besieger."
(_Assemani_ in vol. ii. _passim; Tournefort_, III. 260; _Vin. Bell. Spec.
Historiale_, Lib. XXX. c. cxlii.; see also _Mar. Sanut._ III. xi. c. 16.)
CHAPTER XIII.
OF THE GREAT COUNTRY OF PERSIA; WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE THREE KINGS.
Persia is a great country, which was in old times very illustrious and
powerful; but now the Tartars have wasted and destroyed it.
In Persia is the city of SABA, from which the Three Magi set out when they
went to worship Jesus Christ; and in this city they are buried, in three
very large and beautiful monuments, side by side. And above them there is
a square building, carefully kept. The bodies are still entire, with the
hair and beard remaining. One of these was called Jaspar, the second
Melchior, and the third Balthasar. Messer Marco Polo asked a great many
questions of the people of that city as to those Three Magi, but never one
could he find that knew aught of the matter, except that these were three
kings who were buried there in days of old. However, at a place three
days' journey distant he heard of what I am going to tell you. He found a
village there which goes by the name of CALA ATAPERISTAN,[NOTE 1] which is
as much as to say, "The Castle of the Fire-worshippers." And the name is
rightly applied, for the people there do worship fire, and I will tell you
why.
They relate that in old times three kings of that country went away to
worship a Prophet that was born, and they carried with them three manner
of offerings, Gold, and Frankincense, and Myrrh; in order to ascertain
whether that Prophet were God, or an earthly King, or a Physician. For,
said they, if he take the Gold, then he is an earthly King; if he take the
Incense he is God; if he take the Myrrh he is a Physician.
So it came to pass when they had come to the place where the Child was
born, the youngest of the Three Kings went in first, and found the Child
apparently just of his own age; so he went forth again marvelling greatly.
The middle one entered next, and like the first he found the Child
seemingly of his own age; so he also went forth again and marvelled
greatly. Lastly, the eldest went in, and as it had befallen the other two,
so it befell him. And he went forth very pensive. And when the three had
rejoined one another, each told what he had seen; and then they all
marvelled the more. So they agreed to go in all three together, and on
doing so they beheld the Child with the appearance of its actual age, to
wit, some thirteen days.[NOTE 2] Then they adored, and presented their
Gold and Incense and Myrrh. And the Child took all the three offerings,
and then gave them a small closed box; whereupon the Kings departed to
return into their own land.
NOTE 1.--_Kala' Atishparastán_, meaning as in the text. (_Marsden_.)
NOTE 2.--According to the Collectanea ascribed to Bede, Melchior was a
hoary old man; Balthazar in his prime, with a beard; Gaspar young and
beardless. (_Inchofer, Tres Magi Evangelici_, Romae, 1639.)
CHAPTER XIV.
WHAT BEFELL WHEN THE THREE KINGS RETURNED TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY.
And when they had ridden many days they said they would see what the Child
had given them. So they opened the little box, and inside it they found a
stone. On seeing this they began to wonder what this might be that the
Child had given them, and what was the import thereof. Now the
signification was this: when they presented their offerings, the Child had
accepted all three, and when they saw that they had said within themselves
that He was the True God, and the True King, and the True Physician.[NOTE
1] And what the gift of the stone implied was that this Faith which had
begun in them should abide firm as a rock. For He well knew what was in
their thoughts. Howbeit, they had no understanding at all of this
signification of the gift of the stone; so they cast it into a well. Then
straightway a fire from Heaven descended into that well wherein the stone
had been cast.
And when the Three Kings beheld this marvel they were sore amazed, and it
greatly repented them that they had cast away the stone; for well they
then perceived that it had a great and holy meaning. So they took of that
fire, and carried it into their own country, and placed it in a rich and
beautiful church. And there the people keep it continually burning, and
worship it as a god, and all the sacrifices they offer are kindled with
that fire. And if ever the fire becomes extinct they go to other cities
round about where the same faith is held, and obtain of that fire from
them, and carry it to the church. And this is the reason why the people of
this country worship fire. They will often go ten days' journey to get of
that fire.[NOTE 2]
Such then was the story told by the people of that Castle to Messer Marco
Polo; they declared to him for a truth that such was their history, and
that one of the three kings was of the city called SABA, and the second of
AVA, and the third of that very Castle where they still worship fire, with
the people of all the country round about.[NOTE 3]
Having related this story, I will now tell you of the different provinces
of Persia, and their peculiarities.
NOTE 1.--"_Mire_." This was in old French the popular word for a Leech;
the politer word was _Physicien_. (_N. et E._ V. 505.)
Chrysostom says that the Gold, Myrrh, and Frankincense were mystic gifts
indicating King, Man, God; and this interpretation was the usual one.
Thus Prudentius:--
"Regem, Deumque adnunciant
Thesaurus et fragrans odor
Thuris Sabaei, at myrrheus
Pulvis sepulchrum praedocet." (_Hymnus Epiphanius_.)
And the Paris Liturgy:--
"Offert Aurum _Caritas_,
Et Myrrham _Austeritas_,
Et Thus _Desiderium_.
Auro _Rex_ agnoscitur,
_Homo_ Myrrha, colitur
Thure _Deus_ gentium."
And in the "Hymns, Ancient and Modern":--
"Sacred gifts of mystic meaning:
Incense doth their God disclose,
Gold the King of Kings proclaimeth,
Myrrh His sepulchre foreshows."
NOTE 2.--"Feruntque (Magi), si justum est credi, etiam ignem caelitus
iapsum apud se sempiternis foculis custodire, cujus portionem exiguam, ut
faustam praeisse quondam Asiaticis Regibus dicunt." (_Ammian. Marcell._
XXIII. 6.)
NOTE 3.--Saba or Sava still exists as SÁVAH, about 50 miles S.W. of
Tehrân. It is described by Mr. Consul Abbott, who visited it in 1849, as
the most ruinous town he had ever seen, and as containing about 1000
families. The people retain a tradition, mentioned by Hamd Allah Mastaufi,
that the city stood on the shores of a Lake which dried up miraculously at
the birth of Mahomed. Sávah is said to have possessed one of the greatest
Libraries in the East, until its destruction by the Mongols on their first
invasion of Persia. Both Sávah and Ávah (or Ábah) are mentioned by
Abulfeda as cities of Jibal. We are told that the two cities were always
at loggerheads, the former being Sunni and the latter Shiya. [We read in
the _Travels_ of Thévenot, a most intelligent traveller, "qu'il n'a rien
érit de l'ancienne ville de Sava qu'il trouva sur son chemin, et où il a
marqué lui-même que son esprit de curiosité l'abandonna." (_Voyages_, éd.
1727, vol. v. p. 343. He died a few days after at Miana, in Armenia, 28th
November, 1667). (_MS. Note._--H. Y.)]
As regards the position of AVAH, Abbott says that a village still stands
upon the site, about 16 miles S.S.E. of Sávah. He did not visit it, but
took a bearing to it. He was told there was a mound there on which
formerly stood a Gueber Castle. At Sávah he could find no trace of Marco
Polo's legend. Chardin, in whose time Sávah was not quite so far gone to
decay, heard of an alleged tomb of Samuel, at 4 leagues from the city.
This is alluded to by Hamd Allah.
Keith Johnston and Kiepert put Ávah some 60 miles W.N.W. of Sávah, on the
road between Kazvin and Hamadan. There seems to be some great mistake
here.
Friar Odoric puts the locality of the Magi at _Kashan_, though one of
the versions of Ramusio and the Palatine MS. (see Cordier's Odoric, pp.
xcv. and 41 of his Itinerary), perhaps corrected in this, puts it at
_Saba_--H. Y. and H. C.
We have no means of fixing the _Kala' Atishparastán_. It is probable,
however, that the story was picked up on the homeward journey, and as it
seems to be implied that this castle was reached three days _after
leaving_ Sávah, I should look for it between Sávah and Abher. Ruins to
which the name _Kila'-i-Gabr_, "Gueber Castle," attaches are common in
Persia.
As regards the Legend itself, which shows such a curious mixture of
Christian and Parsi elements, it is related some 350 years earlier by
Mas'údi: "In the Province of Fars they tell you of a Well called the Well
of Fire, near which there was a temple built. When the Messiah was born
the King Koresh sent three messengers to him, the first of whom carried a
bag of Incense, the second a bag of Myrrh, and the third a bag of Gold.
They set out under the guidance of the Star which the king had described
to them, arrived in Syria, and found the Messiah with Mary His Mother.
This story of the three messengers is related by the Christians with
sundry exaggerations; it is also found in the Gospel. Thus they say that
the Star appeared to Koresh at the moment of Christ's birth; that it went
on when the messengers went on, and stopped when they stopped. More ample
particulars will be found in our Historical Annals, where we have given
the versions of this legend as current among the Guebers and among the
Christians. It will be seen that Mary gave the king's messengers a round
loaf, and this, after different adventures, they hid under a rock in the
province of Fars. The loaf disappeared underground, and there they dug a
well, on which they beheld two columns of fire to start up flaming at the
surface; in short, all the details of the legend will be found in our
Annals." The Editors say that Mas'údi had carried the story to Fars by
mistaking _Shíz_ in Azerbaiján (the Atropatenian Ecbatana of Sir H.
Rawlinson) for _Shiraz_. A rudiment of the same legend is contained in the
Arabic Gospel of the Infancy. This says that Mary gave the Magi one of the
bands in which the Child was swathed. On their return they cast this into
their sacred fire; though wrapt in the flame it remained unhurt.
We may add that there was a Christian tradition that the Star descended
into a well between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Gregory of Tours also relates
that in a certain well, at Bethlehem, from which Mary had drawn water, the
Star was sometimes seen, by devout pilgrims who looked carefully for it,
to pass from one side to the other. But only such as merited the boon
could see it.
(See _Abbott_ in _J. R. G. S._ XXV. 4-6; _Assemani_, III. pt. 2, 750;
_Chardin_, II. 407; _N. et Ext._ II. 465; _Dict. de la Perse_, 2, 56, 298;
_Cathay_, p. 51; _Mas'udi_, IV. 80; _Greg. Turon. Libri Miraculorum_,
Paris, 1858, I. 8.)
Several of the fancies that legend has attached to the brief story of the
Magi in St. Matthew, such as the royal dignity of the persons; their
location, now in Arabia, now (as here) at Saba in Persia, and again (as in
Hayton and the Catalan Map) in Tarsia or Eastern Turkestan; the notion
that one of them was a Negro, and so on, probably grew out of the
arbitrary application of passages in the Old Testament, such as: "_Venient
legati ex Aegypto_: AETHIOPIA _praevenit manus ejus Deo_" (Ps. lxviii.
31). This produced the Negro who usually is painted as one of the Three.
"_Reges_ THARSIS _et Insulae munera offerent: Reges_ ARABUM _et_ SABA
_dona adducent_" (lxxii. 10). This made the Three into Kings, and fixed
them in Tarsia, Arabia, and Sava. "_Mundatio Camelorum operiet te,
dromedarii Madian et_ EPHA: _omnes de_ SABA _venient aurum et thus
deferentes et laudem Domino annunciantes_" (Is. lx. 6). Here were Ava and
Sava coupled, as well as the gold and frankincense.
One form of the old Church Legend was that the Three were buried at
_Sessania Adrumetorum_ (Hadhramaut) in Arabia, whence the Empress Helena
had the bodies conveyed to Constantinople, [and later to Milan in the time
of the Emperor Manuel Comnenus. After the fall of Milan (1162), Frederic
Barbarossa gave them to Archbishop Rainald of Dassel (1159-1167), who
carried them to Cologne (23rd July, 1164).--H. C.]
The names given by Polo, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, have been
accepted from an old date by the Roman Church; but an abundant variety of
other names has been assigned to them. Hyde quotes a Syriac writer who
calls them Aruphon, Hurmon, and Tachshesh, but says that some call them
Gudphorbus, Artachshasht, and Labudo; whilst in Persian they were termed
Amad, Zad-Amad, Drust-Amad, i.e. _Venit, Cito Venit, Sincerus Venit_. Some
called them in Greek, Apellius, Amerus, and Damascus, and in Hebrew,
Magaloth, Galgalath, and Saracia, but otherwise Ator, Sator, and
Petatoros! The Armenian Church used the same names as the Roman, but in
Chaldee they were Kaghba, Badadilma, Badada Kharida. (_Hyde, Rel. Vet.
Pers._ 382-383; _Inchofer, ut supra; J. As._ sér. VI. IX. 160.)
[Just before going to press we have read Major Sykes' new book on
_Persia_. Major Sykes (ch. xxiii.) does not believe that Marco visited
Baghdád, and he thinks that the Venetians entered Persia near Tabriz, and
travelled to Sultania, Kashán, and Yezd. Thence they proceeded to Kerman
and Hormuz. We shall discuss this question in the Introduction.--H. C.]
CHAPTER XV.
OF THE EIGHT KINGDOMS OF PERSIA, AND HOW THEY ARE NAMED.
Now you must know that Persia is a very great country, and contains eight
kingdoms. I will tell you the names of them all.
The first kingdom is that at the beginning of Persia, and it is called
CASVIN; the second is further to the south, and is called CURDISTAN; the
third is LOR; the fourth [SUOLSTAN]; the fifth ISTANIT; the sixth SERAZY;
the seventh SONCARA; the eighth TUNOCAIN, which is at the further
extremity of Persia. All these kingdoms lie in a southerly direction
except one, to wit, Tunocain; that lies towards the east, and borders on
the (country of the) Arbre Sol.[NOTE 1]
In this country of Persia there is a great supply of fine horses; and
people take them to India for sale, for they are horses of great price, a
single one being worth as much of their money as is equal to 200 livres
Tournois; some will be more, some less, according to the quality.[NOTE 2]
Here also are the finest asses in the world, one of them being worth full
30 marks of silver, for they are very large and fast, and acquire a
capital amble. Dealers carry their horses to Kisi and Curmosa, two cities
on the shores of the Sea of India, and there they meet with merchants who
take the horses on to India for sale.
In this country there are many cruel and murderous people, so that no day
passes but there is some homicide among them. Were it not for the
Government, which is that of the Tartars of the Levant, they would do
great mischief to merchants; and indeed, maugre the Government, they often
succeed in doing such mischief. Unless merchants be well armed they run
the risk of being murdered, or at least robbed of everything; and it
sometimes happens that a whole party perishes in this way when not on
their guard. The people are all Saracens, i.e. followers of the Law of
Mahommet.[NOTE 3]
In the cities there are traders and artizans who live by their labour and
crafts, weaving cloths of gold, and silk stuffs of sundry kinds. They have
plenty of cotton produced in the country; and abundance of wheat, barley,
millet, panick, and wine, with fruits of all kinds.
[Some one may say, "But the Saracens don't drink wine, which is prohibited
by their law." The answer is that they gloss their text in this way, that
if the wine be boiled, so that a part is dissipated and the rest becomes
sweet, they may drink without breach of the commandment; for it is then no
longer called wine, the name being changed with the change of
flavour.[NOTE 4]]
NOTE 1.--The following appear to be Polo's Eight Kingdoms:--
I. KAZVÍN; then a flourishing city, though I know not why he calls it a
kingdom. Persian 'Irák, or the northern portion thereof, seems intended.
Previous to Hulaku's invasion Kazvín seems to have been in the hands of
the Ismailites or Assassins.
II. KURDISTAN. I do not understand the difficulties of Marsden, followed
by Lazari and Pauthier, which lead them to put forth that Kurdistan is not
Kurdistan but something else. The boundaries of Kurdistan according to
Hamd Allah were Arabian 'Irak, Khuzistán, Persian 'Irak, Azerbaijan and
Diarbekr. (_Dict. de la P._ 480.) [Cf. Curzon, _Persia pass._--H. C.]
Persian Kurdistan, in modern as in mediaeval times, extends south beyond
Kermanshah to the immediate border of Polo's next kingdom, viz.:
III. LÚR or Lúristán. [On Lúristán, see Curzon, _Persia_, II. pp. 273-303,
with the pedigree of the Ruling Family of the Feili Lurs (Pusht-i-Kuh), p.
278.--H. C.] This was divided into two principalities, Great Lúr and
Little Lúr, distinctions still existing. The former was ruled by a Dynasty
called the _Faslúyah_ Atabegs, which endured from about 1155 to 1424,
[when it was destroyed by the Timurids; it was a Kurd Dynasty, founded by
Emad ed-din Abu Thaher (1160-1228), and the last prince of which was
Ghiyas ed-din (1424). In 1258 the general Kitubuka (Hulagu's _Exp. to
Persia_, Bretschneider, _Med. Res._ I. p. 121) is reported to have reduced
the country of Lúr or Lúristán and its Atabeg Teghele.--H. C.]. Their
territory lay in the mountainous district immediately west of Ispahan, and
extended to the River of Dizfúl, which parted it from Little Lúr. The
stronghold of the Atabegs was the extraordinary hill fort of Mungasht, and
they had a residence also at Aidhej or Mal-Amir in the mountains south of
Shushan, where Ibn Batuta visited the reigning Prince in 1327. Sir H.
Rawlinson has described Mungasht, and Mr. Layard and Baron de Bode have
visited other parts, but the country is still very imperfectly known.
Little Lúristán lay west of the R. Dizfúl, extending nearly to the Plain
of Babylonia. Its Dynasty, called Kurshid, [was founded in 1184 by the
Kurd Shodja ed-din Khurshid, and existed till Shah-Werdy lost his throne
in 1593.--H. C.].
The Lúrs are akin to the Kurds, and speak a Kurd dialect, as do all those
Ilyáts, or nomads of Persia, who are not of Turkish race. They were noted
in the Middle Ages for their agility and their dexterity in thieving. The
tribes of Little Lúr "do not affect the slightest veneration for Mahomed
or the Koran; their only general object of worship is their great Saint
Baba Buzurg," and particular disciples regard with reverence little short
of adoration holy men looked on as living representatives of the Divinity.
(_Ilchan._ I. 70 seqq.; _Rawlinson_ in _J. R. G. S._ IX.; _Layard_ in
_Do._ XVI. 75, 94; _Ld. Strangford_ in _J. R. A. S._ XX. 64; _N. et E._
XIII. i. 330, _I. B._ II. 31; _D'Ohsson_, IV. 171-172.)
IV. SHÚLISTÁN, best represented by Ramusio's _Suolstan_, whilst the old
French texts have _Cielstan_ (i.e. Shelstán); the name applied to the
country of the _Shúls_, or _Shauls_, a people who long occupied a part of
Lúristán, but were expelled by the Lúrs in the 12th century, and settled
in the country between Shíráz and Khuzistán (now that of the Mamaseni,
whom Colonel Pelly's information identifies with the Shúls), their central
points being Naobanján and the fortress called Kala' Safed or "White
Castle." Ibn Batuta, going from Shiraz to Kazerun, encamped the first day
in the country of the Shúls, "a Persian desert tribe which includes some
pious persons." (_Q. R._ p. 385; _N. et E._ XIII. i. 332-333; _Ilch._ I.
71; _J. R. G. S._ XIII. Map; _I. B._ II. 88.) ["Adjoining the Kuhgelus on
the East are the tents of the Mamasenni (qy. Mohammed Huseini) Lúrs,
occupying the country still known as Shúlistán, and extending as far east
and south-east as Fars and the Plain of Kazerun. This tribe prides itself
on its origin, claiming to have come from Seistán, and to be directly
descended from Rustam, whose name is still borne by one of the Mamasenni
clans." (Curzon, _Persia_, II. p. 318.)--H. C.]
V. ISPAHAN? The name is in Ramusio _Spaan_, showing at least that he or
some one before him had made this identification. The unusual combination
_ff_, i.e. sf, in manuscript would be so like the frequent one _ft_, i.e.
st, that the change from Isfan to Istan would be easy. But why Istan_it_?
VI. SHÍRÁZ [(_Shir_ = milk, or _Shir_ = lion)--H. C.] representing the
province of Fars or Persia Proper, of which it has been for ages the chief
city. [It was founded after the Arab conquest in 694 A.D., by Mohammed,
son of Yusuf Kekfi. (Curzon, _Persia_, II. pp. 93-110.)--H. C.] The last
Dynasty that had reigned in Fars was that of the Salghur Atabegs, founded
about the middle of the 12th century. Under Abubakr (1226-1260) this
kingdom attained considerable power, embracing Fars, Kermán, the islands
of the Gulf and its Arabian shores; and Shíráz then flourished in arts and
literature; Abubakr was the patron of Saadi. From about 1262, though a
Salghurian princess, married to a son of Hulaku, had the nominal title of
Atabeg, the province of Fars was under Mongol administration. (_Ilch.
passim_.)
VII. SHAWÁNKÁRA or Shabánkára. The G. T. has _Soucara_, but the Crusca
gives the true reading _Soncara_. It is the country of the Shawánkárs, a
people coupled with the Shúls and Lúrs in mediaeval Persian history, and
like them of Kurd affinities. Their princes, of a family Faslúyah, are
spoken of as influential before the Mahomedan conquest, but the name of
the people comes prominently forward only during the Mongol era of Persian
history. [Shabánkára was taken in 1056 from the Buyid Dynasty, who ruled
from the 10th century over a great part of Persia, by Fazl ibn Hassan
(Fazluïeh-Hasunïeh). Under the last sovereign, Ardeshir, Shabánkára was
taken in 1355 by the Modhafferians, who reigned in Irak, Fars, and Kermán,
one of the Dynasties established at the expense of the Mongol Ilkhans
after the death of Abu Saïd (1335), and were themselves subjugated by
Timur in 1392.--H. C.] Their country lay to the south of the great salt
lake east of Shíráz, and included Niriz and Darábjird, Fassa, Forg, and
Tárum. Their capital was I/g or I/j, called also Irej, about 20 miles
north-west of Daráb, with a great mountain fortress; it was taken by
Hulaku in 1259. The son of the prince was continued in nominal authority,
with Mongol administrators. In consequence of a rebellion in 1311 the
Dynasty seems to have been extinguished. A descendant attempted to revive
their authority about the middle of the same century. The latest
historical mention of the name that I have found is in Abdurrazzák's
_History of Shah Rukh_, under the year H. 807 (1404). (See _Jour. As._ 3d.
s. vol. ii. 355.) But a note by Colonel Pelly informs me that the name
Shabánkára is still applied (1) to the district round the towns of Runiz
and Gauristan near Bandar Abbas; (2) to a village near Maiman, in the old
country of the tribe; (3) to a _tribe_ and district of Dashtistan, 38
farsakhs west of Shíráz.
With reference to the form in the text, _Soncara_, I may notice that in
two passages of the _Masálak-ul-Absár_, translated by Quatremère, the name
occurs as _Shankárah_. (_Q. R._ pp. 380, 440 seqq.; _N. et E._ XIII.;
_Ilch._ I. 71 and _passim; Ouseley's Travels_, II. 158 seqq.)
VIII. TÚN-O-KÂIN, the eastern Kuhistán or Hill country of Persia, of which
Tún and Káin are chief cities. The practice of indicating a locality by
combining two names in this way is common in the East. Elsewhere in this
book we find _Ariora-Keshemur_ and _Kes-macoran_ (Kij-Makrán). Upper Sind
is often called in India by the Sepoys _Rori-Bakkar_, from two adjoining
places on the Indus; whilst in former days, Lower Sind was often called
_Diul-Sind. Karra-Mánikpúr, Uch-Multán, Kunduz-Baghlán_ are other
examples.
The exact expression _Tún-o-Káin_ for the province here in question is
used by Baber, and evidently also by some of Hammer's authorities.
(_Baber_, pp. 201, 204; see _Ilch._ II. 190; I. 95, 104, and _Hist. de
l'Ordre des Assassins_, p. 245.)
[We learn from (Sir) C. Macgregor's (1875) _Journey through Khorasan_ (I.
p. 127) that the same territory including Gháín or Kaïn is now called by
the analogous name of Tabas-o-Tún. Tún and Kaïn (Gháín) are both described
in their modern state, by Macgregor. (Ibid. pp. 147 and 161.)--H. C.]
Note that the identification of _Suolstan_ is due to Quatremère (see _N.
et E._ XIII. i. circa p. 332); that of _Soncara_ to Defréméry (_J. As._
sér. IV. tom. xi. p. 441); and that of _Tunocain_ to Malte-Brun. (_N. Ann.
des V._ xviii. p. 261.) I may add that the _Lúrs_, the _Shúls_, and the
Shabánkáras are the subjects of three successive sections in the
_Masálak-al-Absár_ of _Shihábuddin Dimishki_, a work which reflects much of
Polo's geography. (See _N. et E._ XIII. i. 330-333; Curzon, _Persia_, II.
pp. 248 and 251.)
NOTE 2.--The horses exported to India, of which we shall hear more
hereafter, were probably the same class of "Gulf Arabs" that are now
carried thither. But the Turkman horses of Persia are also very valuable,
especially for endurance. Kinneir speaks of one accomplishing 900 miles in
eleven days, and Ferrier states a still more extraordinary feat from his
own knowledge. In that case one of those horses went from Tehran to
Tabriz, returned, and went again to Tabriz, within twelve days, including
two days' rest. The total distance is about 1100 miles.
The _livre tournois_ at this period was equivalent to a little over 18
francs of modern French silver. But in bringing the value to our modern
gold standard we must add one-third, as the ratio of silver to gold was
then 1:12 instead of 1:16. Hence the equivalent in gold of the livre
tournois is very little less than 1_l._ sterling, and the price of the
horse would be about 193_l._[1]
Mr. Wright quotes an ordinance of Philip III. of France (1270-1285) fixing
the maximum price that might be given for a palfrey at 60 _livres
tournois_, and for a squire's _roncin_ at 20 livres. Joinville, however,
speaks of a couple of horses presented to St. Lewis in 1254 by the Abbot
of Cluny, which he says would at the time of his writing (1309) have been
worth 500 livres (the pair, it would seem). Hence it may be concluded in a
general way that the _ordinary_ price of imported horses in India
approached that of the highest class of horses in Europe. (_Hist. of Dom.
Manners_, p. 317; _Joinville_, p. 205.)
About 1850 a very fair Arab could be purchased in Bombay for 60_l._, or
even less; but prices are much higher now.
With regard to the donkeys, according to Tavernier, the fine ones used by
merchants in Persia were imported from Arabia. The mark of silver was
equivalent to about 44_s._ of our silver money, and allowing as before for
the lower relative value of gold, 30 marks would be equivalent to 88_l._
sterling.
_Kisi_ or Kish we have already heard of. _Curmosa_ is Hormuz, of which we
shall hear more. With a Pisan, as Rusticiano was, the sound of _c_ is
purely and strongly aspirate. Giovanni d'Empoli, in the beginning of the
16th century, another Tuscan, also calls it _Cormus_. (See _Archiv. Stor.
Ital._ Append. III. 81.)
NOTE 3.--The character of the nomad and semi-nomad tribes of Persia in
those days--Kurds, Lúrs, Shúls, Karaunahs, etc.--probably deserved all
that Polo says, and it is not changed now. Take as an example Rawlinson's
account of the Bakhtyáris of Luristán: "I believe them to be individually
brave, but of a cruel and savage character; they pursue their blood feuds
with the most inveterate and exterminating spirit.... It is proverbial in
Persia that the Bakhtiyaris have been compelled to forego altogether the
reading of the _Fatihah_ or prayer for the dead, for otherwise they would
have no other occupation. They are also most dextrous and notorious
thieves." (_J. R. G. S._ IX. 105.)
NOTE 4.--The Persians have always been lax in regard to the abstinence
from wine.
According to Athenaeus, Aristotle, in his _Treatise on Drinking_ (a work
lost, I imagine, to posterity), says, "If the wine be moderately boiled it
is less apt to intoxicate." In the preparation of some of the sweet wines
of the Levant, such as that of Cyprus, the must is boiled, but I believe
this is not the case _generally_ in the East. Baber notices it as a
peculiarity among the Kafirs of the Hindu Kush. Tavernier, however, says
that at Shíráz, besides the wine for which that city was so celebrated, a
good deal of _boiled wine_ was manufactured, and used among the poor and
by travellers. No doubt what is meant is the sweet liquor or syrup called
_Dúsháb_, which Della Valle says is just the Italian _Mostocotto_, but
better, clearer, and not so mawkish (I. 689). (_Yonge's Athen._ X. 34;
_Baber_, p. 145; _Tavernier_, Bk. V. ch. xxi.)
[1] The _Encyc. Britann._, article "Money," gives the livre tournois of
this period as 18.17 francs. A French paper in _Notes and Queries_
(4th S. IV. 485) gives it under St. Lewis and Philip III. as
equivalent to 18.24 fr., and under Philip IV. to 17.95. And lastly,
experiment at the British Museum, made by the kind intervention of my
friend, Mr. E. Thomas, F.R.S., gave the weights of the _sols_ of St.
Lewis (1226-1270) and Philip IV. (1285-1314) respectively as 63 grains
and 61-1/2 grains of remarkably pure silver. These trials would give
the _livres_ (20 sols) as equivalent to 18.14 fr. and 17.70 fr.
respectively.
CHAPTER XVI.
CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF YASDI.
Yasdi also is properly in Persia; it is a good and noble city, and has a
great amount of trade. They weave there quantities of a certain silk
tissue known as _Yasdi_, which merchants carry into many quarters to
dispose of. The people are worshippers of Mahommet.[NOTE 1]
When you leave this city to travel further, you ride for seven days over
great plains, finding harbour to receive you at three places only. There
are many fine woods [producing dates] upon the way, such as one can easily
ride through; and in them there is great sport to be had in hunting and
hawking, there being partridges and quails and abundance of other game, so
that the merchants who pass that way have plenty of diversion. There are
also wild asses, handsome creatures. At the end of those seven marches
over the plain you come to a fine kingdom which is called Kerman.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--YEZD, an ancient city, supposed by D'Anville to be the
_Isatichae_ of Ptolemy, is not called by Marco a kingdom, though having a
better title to the distinction than some which he classes as such. The
atabegs of Yezd dated from the middle of the 11th century, and their
Dynasty was permitted by the Mongols to continue till the end of the 13th,
when it was extinguished by Ghazan, and the administration made over to
the Mongol Diwan.
Yezd, in pre-Mahomedan times, was a great sanctuary of the Gueber worship,
though now it is a seat of fanatical Mahomedanism. It is, however, one of
the few places where the old religion lingers. In 1859 there were reckoned
850 families of Guebers in Yezd and fifteen adjoining villages, but they
diminish rapidly.
[Heyd (_Com. du Levant_, II. p. 109) says the inhabitants of Yezd wove the
finest silk of Taberistan.--H. C.] The silk manufactures still continue,
and, with other weaving, employ a large part of the population. The
_Yazdi_, which Polo mentions, finds a place in the Persian dictionaries,
and is spoken of by D'Herbelot as _Kumásh-i-Yezdi_, "Yezd stuff." ["He
[Nadir Shah] bestowed upon the ambassador [Hakeem Ataleek, the prime
minister of Abulfiez Khan, King of Bokhara] a donation of a thousand
mohurs of Hindostan, twenty-five pieces of _Yezdy_ brocade, a rich dress,
and a horse with silver harness...." (_Memoirs of Khojah Abdulkurreem, a
Cashmerian of distinction ... transl. from the original Persian_, by
Francis Gladwin ... Calcutta, 1788, 8vo, p. 36.)--H. C.]
Yezd is still a place of important trade, and carries on a thriving
commerce with India by Bandar Abbási. A visitor in the end of 1865 says:
"The external trade appears to be very considerable, and the merchants of
Yezd are reputed to be amongst the most enterprising and respectable of
their class in Persia. Some of their agents have lately gone, not only to
Bombay, but to the Mauritius, Java, and China."
(_Ilch._ I. 67-68; _Khanikoff, Mém._ p. 202; _Report by Major R. M.
Smith_, R.E.)
Friar Odoric, who visited Yezd, calls it the third best city of the
Persian Emperor, and says (_Cathay_, I. p. 52): "There is very great store
of victuals and all other good things that you can mention; but especially
is found there great plenty of figs; and raisins also, green as grass and
very small, are found there in richer profusion than in any other part of
the world." [He also gives from the smaller version of Ramusio's an awful
description of the Sea of Sand, one day distant from Yezd. (Cf. Tavernier,
1679, I. p. 116.)--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--I believe Della Valle correctly generalises when he says of
Persian travelling that "you always travel in a plain, but you always have
mountains on either hand" (I. 462). [Compare Macgregor, I. 254: "I really
cannot describe the road. Every road in Persia as yet seems to me to be
exactly alike, so ... my readers will take it for granted that the road
went over a waste, with barren rugged hills in the distance, or near; no
water, no houses, no people passed."--H. C.] The distance from Yezd to
Kermán is, according to Khanikoff's survey, 314 _kilomètres_, or about 195
miles. Ramusio makes the time eight days, which is probably the better
reading, giving a little over 24 miles a day. Westergaard in 1844, and
Khanikoff in 1859, took _ten_ days; Colonel Goldsmid and Major Smith in
1865 _twelve_. ["The distance from Yezd to Kermán by the present high
road, 229 miles, is by caravans, generally made in nine stages; persons
travelling with all comforts do it in twelve stages; travellers whose time
is of some value do it easily in _seven_ days." (_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c.
pp. 490-491.)--H. C.]
Khanikoff observes on this chapter: "This notice of woods easy to ride
through, covering the plain of Yezd, is very curious. Now you find it a
plain of great extent indeed from N.W. to S.E., but narrow and arid;
indeed I saw in it only thirteen inhabited spots, counting two
caravanserais. Water for the inhabitants is brought from a great distance
by subterraneous conduits, a practice which may have tended to desiccate
the soil, for every trace of wood has completely disappeared."
Abbott travelled from Yezd to Kermán in 1849, by a road through Báfk,
_east_ of the usual road, which Khanikoff followed, and parallel to it;
and it is worthy of note that he found circumstances more accordant with
Marco's description. Before getting to Báfk he says of the plain that it
"extends to a great distance north and south, and is probably 20 miles in
breadth;" whilst Báfk "is remarkable for its _groves of date-trees_, in
the midst of which it stands, and which occupy a considerable space."
Further on he speaks of "wild tufts and bushes growing abundantly," and
then of "thickets of the _Ghez_ tree." He heard of the wild asses, but did
not see any. In his report to the Foreign Office, alluding to Marco Polo's
account, he says: "It is still true that wild asses and other game are
found in the _wooded spots_ on the road." The ass is the _Asinus Onager_,
the _Gor Khar_ of Persia, or _Kulan_ of the Tartars. (_Khan. Mém._ p. 200;
Id. _sur Marco Polo_, p. 21; _J. R. G. S._ XXV. 20-29; _Mr. Abbott's MS.
Report in Foreign office_.) [The difficulty has now been explained by
General Houtum-Schindler in a valuable paper published in the _Jour. Roy.
As. Soc._ N.S. XIII., October, 1881, p. 490. He says: "Marco Polo
travelled from Yazd to Kermán viâ Báfk. His description of the road, seven
days over great plains, harbour at three places only, is perfectly exact.
The fine woods, producing dates, are at Báfk itself. (The place is
generally called Báft.) Partridges and quails still abound; wild asses I
saw several on the western road, and I was told that there were a great
many on the Báfk road. Travellers and caravans now always go by the
eastern road viâ Anár and Bahrámábád. Before the Sefavíehs (i.e. before
A.D. 1500) the Anár road was hardly, if ever, used; travellers always took
the Báfk road. The country from Yazd to Anár, 97 miles, seems to have been
totally uninhabited before the Sefavíehs. Anár, as late as A.D. 1340, is
mentioned as the frontier place of Kermán to the north, on the confines of
the Yazd desert. When Sháh Abbás had caravanserais built at three places
between Yazd and Anár (Zein ud-dín, Kermán-sháhán, and Shamsh), the
eastern road began to be neglected." (Cf. Major Sykes' _Persia_, ch.
xxiii.)--H. C.]
CHAPTER XVII.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF KERMAN.
Kerman is a kingdom which is also properly in Persia, and formerly it had
a hereditary prince. Since the Tartars conquered the country the rule is
no longer hereditary, but the Tartar sends to administer whatever lord he
pleases.[NOTE 1] In this kingdom are produced the stones called turquoises
in great abundance; they are found in the mountains, where they are
extracted from the rocks.[NOTE 2] There are also plenty of veins of steel
and _Ondanique_.[NOTE 3] The people are very skilful in making harness of
war; their saddles, bridles, spurs, swords, bows, quivers, and arms of
every kind, are very well made indeed according to the fashion of those
parts. The ladies of the country and their daughters also produce
exquisite needlework in the embroidery of silk stuffs in different
colours, with figures of beasts and birds, trees and flowers, and a
variety of other patterns. They work hangings for the use of noblemen so
deftly that they are marvels to see, as well as cushions, pillows quilts,
and all sorts of things.[NOTE 4]
In the mountains of Kerman are found the best falcons in the world. They
are inferior in size to the Peregrine, red on the breast, under the neck,
and between the thighs; their flight so swift that no bird can escape
them.[NOTE 5]
On quitting the city you ride on for seven days, always finding towns,
villages, and handsome dwelling-houses, so that it is very pleasant
travelling; and there is excellent sport also to be had by the way in
hunting and hawking. When you have ridden those seven days over a plain
country, you come to a great mountain; and when you have got to the top of
the pass you find a great descent which occupies some two days to go down.
All along you find a variety and abundance of fruits; and in former days
there were plenty of inhabited places on the road, but now there are none;
and you meet with only a few people looking after their cattle at pasture.
From the city of Kerman to this descent the cold in winter is so great
that you can scarcely abide it, even with a great quantity of
clothing.[NOTE 6]
NOTE 1.--Kermán is mentioned by Ptolemy, and also by Ammianus amongst the
cities of the country so called (_Carmania_): "_inter quas nitet_ Carmana
_omnium mater_." (XXIII. 6.)
M. Pauthier's supposition that _Sirján_ was in Polo's time the capital, is
incorrect. (See _N. et E._ XIV. 208, 290.) Our Author's Kermán is the city
still so called; and its proper name would seem to have been _Kuwáshír_.
(See _Reinaud, Mém. sur l'Inde_, 171; also _Sprenger P. and R. R._ 77.)
According to Khanikoff it is 5535 feet above the sea.
Kermán, on the fall of the Beni Búya Dynasty, in the middle of the 11th
century, came into the hands of a branch of the Seljukian Turks, who
retained it till the conquests of the Kings of Khwarizm, which just
preceded the Mongol invasion. In 1226 the Amir Borák, a Kara Khitaian, who
was governor on behalf of Jaláluddin of Khwarizm, became independent under
the title of Kutlugh Sultan. [He died in 1234.] The Mongols allowed this
family to retain the immediate authority, and at the time when Polo
returned from China the representative of the house was a lady known as
the _Pádishah Khátún_ [who reigned from 1291], the wife successively of
the Ilkhans Abaka and Kaikhatu; an ambitious, clever, and masterful woman,
who put her own brother Siyurgutmish to death as a rival, and was herself,
after the decease of Kaikhatu, put to death by her brother's widow and
daughter [1294]. The Dynasty continued, nominally at least, to the reign
of the Ilkhan Khodabanda (1304-13), when it was extinguished. [See Major
Sykes' _Persia_, chaps, v. and xxiii.]
Kermán was a Nestorian see, under the Metropolitan of Fars. (_Ilch.
passim; Weil_, III. 454; _Lequien_, II. 1256.)
["There is some confusion with regard to the names of Kermán both as a
town and as a province or kingdom. We have the names Kermán, Kuwáshír,
Bardshír. I should say the original name of the whole country was Kermán,
the ancient Karamania. A province of this was called Kúreh-i-Ardeshír,
which, being contracted, became Kuwáshír, and is spoken of as the province
in which Ardeshír Bábekán, the first Sassanian monarch, resided. A part of
Kúreh-i-Ardeshír was called Bardshír, or Bard-i-Ardeshír, now occasionally
Bardsír, and the present city of Kermán was situated at its north-eastern
corner. This town, during the Middle Ages, was called Bardshír. On a coin
of Qara Arslán Beg, King of Kermán, of A.H. 462, Mr. Stanley Lane Poole
reads Yazdashír instead of Bardshír. Of Al Idrísí's Yazdashír I see no
mention in histories; Bardshír was the capital and the place where most of
the coins were struck. Yazdashír, if such a place existed, can only have
been a place of small importance. It is, perhaps, a clerical error for
Bardshír; without diacritical points, both words are written alike. Later,
the name of the city became Kermán, the name Bardshír reverting to the
district lying south-west of it, with its principal place Mashíz. In a
similar manner Mashíz was often, and is so now, called Bardshír. Another
old town sometimes confused with Bardshír was Sírján or Shírján, once more
important than Bardshír; it is spoken of as the capital of Kermán, of
Bardshír, and of Sardsír. Its name now exists only as that of a district,
with principal place S'aídábád. The history of Kermán, 'Agd-ul-'Olá,
plainly says Bardshír is the capital of Kermán, and from the description
of Bardshír there is no doubt of its having been the present town Kermán.
It is strange that Marco Polo does not give the name of the city. In
Assemanni's _Bibliotheca Orientalis_ Kuwáshír and Bardashír are mentioned
as separate cities, the latter being probably the old Mashíz, which as
early as A.H. 582 (A.D. 1186) is spoken of in the _History of Kermán_ as
an important town. The Nestorian bishop of the province Kermán, who stood
under the Metropolitan of Fars, resided at Hormúz." (_Houtum-Schindler_,
l.c. pp. 491-492.)
There does not seem any doubt as to the identity of Bardashir with the
present city of Kermán. (See _The Cities of Kirman in the time of
Hamd-Allah Mustawfi and Marco Polo_, by Guy le Strange, _Jour. R. As. Soc._
April, 1901, pp. 281, 290.) Hamd-Allah is the author of the Cosmography
known as the _Nuzhat-al-Kulub_ or "Heart's Delight." (Cf. Major Sykes'
_Persia_, chap. xvi., and the _Geographical Journal_ for February, 1902, p.
166.)--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--A MS. treatise on precious stones cited by Ouseley mentions
_Shebavek_ in Kermán as the site of a Turquoise mine. This is probably
_Shahr-i-Babek_, about 100 miles west of the city of Kermán, and not far
from _Párez_, where Abbott tells us there is a mine of these stones, now
abandoned. Goebel, one of Khanikoff's party, found a deposit of turquoises
at Taft, near Yezd. (_Ouseley's Travels_, I. 211; _J. R. G. S._ XXVI.
63-65; _Khan. Mém._ 203.)
["The province Kermán is still rich in turquoises. The mines of Páríz or
Párez are at Chemen-i-mó-aspán, 16 miles from Páríz on the road to
Bahrámábád (principal place of Rafsinján), and opposite the village or
garden called Gód-i-Ahmer. These mines were worked up to a few years ago;
the turquoises were of a pale blue. Other turquoises are found in the
present Bardshír plain, and not far from Mashíz, on the slopes of the
Chehel tan mountain, opposite a hill called the Bear Hill (tal-i-Khers).
The Shehr-i-Bábek turquoise mines are at the small village Kárík, a mile
from Medvár-i-Bálá, 10 miles north of Shehr-i-Bábek. They have two shafts,
one of which has lately been closed by an earthquake, and were worked up
to about twenty years ago. At another place, 12 miles from Shehr-i-Bábek,
are seven old shafts now not worked for a long period. The stones of these
mines are also of a very pale blue, and have no great value."
(_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. 1881, p. 491.)
The finest turquoises came from Khorasan; the mines were near Maaden,
about 48 miles to the north of Nishapür. (Heyd, _Com. du Levant_, II. p.
653; Ritter, _Erdk._ pp. 325-330.)
It is noticeable that Polo does not mention indigo at Kermán.--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--Edrisi says that excellent iron was produced in the "cold
mountains" N.W. of Jiruft, i.e. somewhere south of the capital; and _Jihán
Numá_, or Great Turkish Geography, that the steel mines of Niriz, on the
borders of Kermán, were famous. These are also spoken of by Teixeira.
Major St. John enables me to indicate their position, in the hills east of
Niriz. (_Edrisi_, vol. i. p. 430; _Hammer, Mém. lur la Perse_, p. 275;
_Teixeira, Relaciones_, p. 378; and see Map of Itineraries, No. II.)
["Marco Polo's steel mines are probably the Parpa iron mines on the road
from Kermán to Shíráz, called even to-day M'aden-i-fúlád (steel mine);
they are not worked now. Old Kermán weapons, daggers, swords, old
stirrups, etc., made of steel, are really beautiful, and justify Marco
Polo's praise of them" (_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. p. 491)--H. C.]
_Ondanique_ of the Geog. Text, _Andaine_ of Pauthier's, _Andanicum_ of the
Latin, is an expression on which no light has been thrown since Ramusio's
time. The latter often asked the Persian merchants who visited Venice, and
they all agreed in stating that it was a sort of steel of such surpassing
value and excellence, that in the days of yore a man who possessed a
mirror, or sword, of _Andanic_ regarded it as he would some precious
jewel. This seems to me excellent evidence, and to give the true clue to
the meaning of _Ondanique_. I have retained the latter form because it
points most distinctly to what I believe to be the real word, viz.
_Hundwáníy_, "Indian Steel."[1] (See _Johnson's Pers. Dict._ and _De
Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe_, II. 148.) In the _Vocabulista Arabico_, of
about A.D. 1200 (Florence, 1871, p. 211), _Hunduwán_ is explained by
_Ensis_. Vüllers explains _Hundwán_ as "anything peculiar to India,
especially swords," and quotes from Firdúsi, "_Khanjar-i-Hundwán_," a
hanger of Indian steel.
The like expression appears in the quotation from Edrisi below as
_Hindiah_, and found its way into Spanish in the shapes of _Alhinde,
Alfinde, Alinde_, first with the meaning of _steel_, then assuming, that
of _steel mirror_, and finally that of metallic foil of a glass mirror.
(See _Dozy_ and _Engelmann_, 2d ed. pp. 144-145.) _Hint_ or _Al-hint_ is
used in Berber also for steel. (See _J. R. A. S._ IX. 255.)
The sword-blades of India had a great fame over the East, and Indian
steel, according to esteemed authorities, continued to be imported into
Persia till days quite recent. Its fame goes back to very old times.
Ctesias mentions two wonderful swords of such material that he got from
the king of Persia and his mother. It is perhaps the _ferrum candidum_ of
which the Malli and Oxydracae sent a 100 talents weight as a present to
Alexander.[2] Indian Iron and Steel ([Greek: sídaeros Indikòs kaì
stómoma]) are mentioned in the _Periplus_ as imports into the Abyssinian
ports. _Ferrum Indicum_ appears (at least according to one reading) among
the Oriental _species_ subject to duty in the Law of Marcus Aurelius and
Commodus on that matter. Salmasius notes that among surviving Greek
chemical treatises there was one [Greek: perì baphaes Indikou sidaérou],
"On the Tempering of Indian Steel." Edrisi says on this subject: "The
Hindus excel in the manufacture of iron, and in the preparation of those
ingredients along with which it is fused to obtain that kind of soft Iron
which is usually styled _Indian Steel_ (HINDIAH).[3] They also have
workshops wherein are forged the most famous sabres in the world.... It is
impossible to find anything to surpass the edge that you get from Indian
Steel (_al-hadíd al-Hindí_)."
Allusions to the famous sword-blades of India would seem to be frequent in
Arabic literature. Several will be found in Hamása's collection of ancient
Arabic poems translated by Freytag. The old commentator on one of these
passages says: "_Ut optimos gladios significet_ ... Indicos _esse dixit_,"
and here the word used in the original is _Hundwániyah_. In Manger's
version of Arabshah's _Life of Timur_ are several allusions of the same
kind; one, a quotation from _Antar_, recalls the _ferrum candidum_ of
Curtius:
"Albi (gladii) Indici _meo in sanguine abluuntur_."
In the histories, even of the Mahomedan conquest of India, the Hindu
infidels are sent to _Jihannam_ with "the well-watered blade of the Hindi
sword"; or the sword is personified as "a Hindu of good family." Coming
down to later days, Chardin says of the steel of Persia: "They combine it
with Indian steel, which is more tractable ... and is much more esteemed."
Dupré, at the beginning of this century, tells us: "I used to believe ...
that the steel for the famous Persian sabres came from certain mines in
Khorasan. But according to all the information I have obtained, I can
assert that no mine of steel exists in that province. What is used for
these blades comes in the shape of disks from Lahore." Pottinger names
_steel_ among the imports into Kermán from India. Elphinstone the
Accurate, in his _Caubul_, confirms Dupré: "Indian Steel [in Afghanistan]
is most prized for the material; but the best swords are made in Persia
and in Syria;" and in his _History of India_, he repeats: "The steel of
India was in request with the ancients; it is celebrated in the oldest
Persian poem, and is still the material of the scimitars of Khorasan and
Damascus."[4]
Klaproth, in his _Asia Polyglotta_, gives _Andun_ as the Ossetish and
_Andan_ as the Wotiak, for Steel. Possibly these are essentially the same
with _Hundwáníy_ and _Alhinde_, pointing to India as the original source
of supply. [In the _Sikandar Nama, e Bará_ (or "Book of Alexander the
Great," written A.D. 1200, by Abu Muhammad bin Yusuf bin Mu,
Ayyid-i-Nizamu-'d-Din), translated by Captain H. Wilberforce Clarke
(Lond., 1881, large 8vo), steel is frequently mentioned: Canto xix. 257,
p. 202; xx. 12, p. 211; xlv. 38, p. 567; lviii. 32, pp. 695, 42, pp. 697,
62, 66, pp. 699; lix. 28, p. 703.--H. C.]
Avicenna, in his fifth book _De Animâ_, according to Roger Bacon,
distinguishes three very different species of iron: "1st. Iron which is
good for striking or bearing heavy strokes, and for being forged by hammer
and fire, but not for cutting-tools. Of this hammers and anvils are made,
and this is what we commonly call _Iron_ simply. 2nd. That which is purer,
has more heat in it, and is better adapted to take an edge and to form
cutting-tools, but is not so malleable, viz. _Steel_. And the 3rd is that
which is called ANDENA. This is less known among the Latin nations. Its
special character is that like silver it is malleable and ductile under a
very low degree of heat. In other properties it is intermediate between
iron and steel." (_Fr. R. Baconis Opera Inedita_, 1859, pp. 382-383.) The
same passage, apparently, of Avicenna is quoted by Vincent of Beauvais,
but with considerable differences. (See _Speculum Naturale_, VII. ch. lii.
lx., and _Specul. Doctrinale_, XV. ch. lxiii.) The latter author writes
_Alidena_, and I have not been able to refer to Avicenna, so that I am
doubtful whether his _Andena_ is the same term with the _Andaine_ of
Pauthier and our _Ondanique_.
The popular view, at least in the Middle Ages, seems to have regarded
_Steel_ as a distinct natural species, the product of a necessarily
different _ore_, from iron; and some such view is, I suspect, still common
in the East. An old Indian officer told me of the reply of a native friend
to whom he had tried to explain the conversion of iron into steel--"What!
You would have me believe that if I put an ass into the furnace it will
come forth a horse." And Indian Steel again seems to have been regarded as
a distinct natural species from ordinary steel. It is in fact made by a
peculiar but simple process, by which the iron is converted _directly_
into cast-steel, without passing through any intermediate stage analogous
to that of _blister-steel_. When specimens were first examined in England,
chemists concluded that the steel was made direct from the _ore_. The
_Ondanique_ of Marco no doubt was a fine steel resembling the Indian
article. (_Müller's Ctesias_, p. 80; _Curtius_, IX. 24; _Müller's Geog.
Gr. Min._ I. 262; _Digest. Novum_, Lugd. 1551, Lib. XXXIX. Tit. 4;
_Salmas. Ex. Plinian._ II. 763; _Edrisi_, I. 65-66; _J. R. S. A._ A. 387
seqq.; _Hamasae Carmina_, I. 526; _Elliot_, II. 209, 394; _Reynolds's
Utbi_, p. 216.)
[Illustration: Texture, with Animals, etc., from a Cashmere Scarf in the
Indian Museum.
"De deverses maineres laborés à bestes et ausiaus mout richement."]
NOTE 4.--Paulus Jovius in the 16th century says, I know not on what
authority, that Kermán was then celebrated for the fine temper of its
steel in scimitars and lance-points. These were eagerly bought at high
prices by the Turks, and their quality was such that one blow of a Kermán
sabre would cleave an European helmet without turning the edge. And I see
that the phrase, "Kermání blade" is used in poetry by Marco's contemporary
Amír Khusrú of Delhi. (_P. Jov. Hist. of his own Time_, Bk. XIV.;
_Elliot_, III. 537.)
There is, or was in Pottinger's time, still a great manufacture of
_matchlocks_ at Kerman; but rose-water, shawls, and carpets are the
staples of the place now. Polo says nothing that points to shawl-making,
but it would seem from Edrisi that some such manufacture already existed
in the adjoining district of Bamm. It is possible that the "hangings"
spoken of by Polo may refer to the carpets. I have seen a genuine Kermán
carpet in the house of my friend, Sir Bartle Frere. It is of very short
pile, very even and dense; the design, a combination of vases, birds, and
floral tracery, closely resembling the illuminated frontispiece of some
Persian MSS.
The shawls are inferior to those of Kashmir in exquisite softness, but
scarcely in delicacy of texture and beauty of design. In 1850, their
highest quality did not exceed 30 _tomans_ (14_l._) in price. About 2200
looms were employed on the fabric. A good deal of Kermán wool called
_Kurk_, goes viâ Bandar Abbási and Karáchi to Amritsar, where it is mixed
with the genuine Tibetan wool in the shawl manufacture. Several of the
articles named in the text, including _pardahs_ ("cortines") are woven in
shawl-fabric. I scarcely think, however, that Marco would have confounded
woven shawl with needle embroidery. And Mr. Khanikoff states that the silk
embroidery, of which Marco speaks, is still performed with great skill and
beauty at Kermán. Our cut illustrates the textures figured with animals,
already noticed at p. 66.
The Guebers were numerous here at the end of last century, but they are
rapidly disappearing now. The Musulman of Kermán is, according to
Khanikoff, an epicurean gentleman, and even in regard to wine, which is
strong and plentiful, his divines are liberal. "In other parts of Persia
you find the scribblings on the walls of Serais to consist of
philosophical axioms, texts from the Koran, or abuse of local authorities.
From Kermán to Yezd you find only rhymes in praise of fair ladies or good
wine."
(_Pottinger's Travels_; _Khanik. Mém._ 186 seqq., and _Notice_, p. 21;
_Major Smith's Report_; _Abbott's MS. Report_ in F. O.; _Notes by Major O.
St. John_, R.E.)
NOTE 5.--Parez is famous for its falcons still, and so are the districts
of Aktúr and Sirján. Both Mr. Abbott and Major Smith were entertained with
hawking by Persian hosts in this neighbourhood. The late Sir O. St. John
identifies the bird described as the _Sháhín_ (Falco _Peregrinator_), one
variety of which, the _Fársi_, is abundant in the higher mountains of S.
Persia. It is now little used in that region, the _Terlán_ or goshawk
being most valued, but a few are caught and sent for sale to the Arabs of
Oman. (_J. R. G. S._ XXV. 50, 63, and _Major St. John's Notes_.)
["The fine falcons, 'with red breasts and swift of flight,' come from
Páríz. They are, however, very scarce, two or three only being caught
every year. A well-trained Páríz falcon costs from 30 to 50 tomans (12_l._
to 20_l._), as much as a good horse." (_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. p. 491.)
Major Sykes, _Persia_, ch. xxiii., writes: "Marco Polo was evidently a
keen sportsman, and his description of the _Sháhin_, as it is termed,
cannot be improved upon." Major Sykes has a list given him by a Khán of
seven hawks of the province, all black and white, except the _Sháhin_,
which has yellow eyes, and is the third in the order of size.--H. C.]
NOTE 6.--We defer geographical remarks till the traveller reaches Hormuz.
[1] A learned friend objects to Johnson's _Hundwáníy_ = "Indian Steel," as
too absolute; some word for _steel_ being wanted. Even if it be so, I
observe that in three places where Polo uses _Ondanique_ (here, ch.
xxi., and ch. xlii.), the phrase is always "_steel and ondanique_."
This looks as if his mental expression were _Púlád-i-Hundwáni_,
rendered by an idiom like Virgil's _pocula et aurum_.
[2] Kenrick suggests that the "bright iron" mentioned by Ezekiel among the
wares of Tyre (ch. xxvii. 19) can hardly have been anything else than
Indian Steel, because named with cassia and _calamus_.
[3] Literally rendered by Mr. Redhouse: "The Indians do well the combining
of mixtures of the chemicals with which they (smelt and) cast the soft
iron, and it becomes _Indian_ (steel), being referred to India (in
this expression)."
[4] In _Richardson's Pers. Dict._, by Johnson, we have a word _Rohan,
Rohina_ (and other forms). "The finest Indian steel, of which the most
excellent swords are made; also the swords made of that steel."
CHAPTER XVIII.
OF THE CITY OF CAMADI AND ITS RUINS; ALSO TOUCHING THE CARAUNA ROBBERS.
After you have ridden down hill those two days, you find yourself in a
vast plain, and at the beginning thereof there is a city called CAMADI,
which formerly was a great and noble place, but now is of little
consequence, for the Tartars in their incursions have several times
ravaged it. The plain whereof I speak is a very hot region; and the
province that we now enter is called REOBARLES.
The fruits of the country are dates, pistachioes, and apples of Paradise,
with others of the like not found in our cold climate. [There are vast
numbers of turtledoves, attracted by the abundance of fruits, but the
Saracens never take them, for they hold them in abomination.] And on this
plain there is a kind of bird called francolin, but different from the
francolin of other countries, for their colour is a mixture of black and
white, and the feet and beak are vermilion colour.[NOTE 1]
The beasts also are peculiar; and first I will tell you of their oxen.
These are very large, and all over white as snow; the hair is very short
and smooth, which is owing to the heat of the country. The horns are short
and thick, not sharp in the point; and between the shoulders they have a
round hump some two palms high. There are no handsomer creatures in the
world. And when they have to be loaded, they kneel like the camel; once
the load is adjusted, they rise. Their load is a heavy one, for they are
very strong animals. Then there are sheep here as big as asses; and their
tails are so large and fat, that one tail shall weigh some 30 lbs. They
are fine fat beasts, and afford capital mutton.[NOTE 2]
In this plain there are a number of villages and towns which have lofty
walls of mud, made as a defence against the banditti,[NOTE 3] who are very
numerous, and are called CARAONAS. This name is given them because they
are the sons of Indian mothers by Tartar fathers. And you must know that
when these Caraonas wish to make a plundering incursion, they have certain
devilish enchantments whereby they do bring darkness over the face of day,
insomuch that you can scarcely discern your comrade riding beside you; and
this darkness they will cause to extend over a space of seven days'
journey. They know the country thoroughly, and ride abreast, keeping near
one another, sometimes to the number of 10,000, at other times more or
fewer. In this way they extend across the whole plain that they are going
to harry, and catch every living thing that is found outside of the towns
and villages; man, woman, or beast, nothing can escape them! The old men
whom they take in this way they butcher; the young men and the women they
sell for slaves in other countries; thus the whole land is ruined, and has
become well-nigh a desert.
The King of these scoundrels is called NOGODAR. This Nogodar had gone to
the Court of Chagatai, who was own brother to the Great Kaan, with some
10,000 horsemen of his, and abode with him; for Chagatai was his uncle.
And whilst there this Nogodar devised a most audacious enterprise, and I
will tell you what it was. He left his uncle who was then in Greater
Armenia, and fled with a great body of horsemen, cruel unscrupulous
fellows, first through BADASHAN, and then through another province called
PASHAI-DIR, and then through another called ARIORA-KESHEMUR. There he lost
a great number of his people and of his horses, for the roads were very
narrow and perilous. And when he had conquered all those provinces, he
entered India at the extremity of a province called DALIVAR. He
established himself in that city and government, which he took from the
King of the country, ASEDIN SOLDAN by name, a man of great power and
wealth. And there abideth Nogodar with his army, afraid of nobody, and
waging war with all the Tartars in his neighbourhood.[NOTE 4]
Now that I have told you of those scoundrels and their history, I must add
the fact that Messer Marco himself was all but caught by their bands in
such a darkness as that I have told you of; but, as it pleased God, he got
off and threw himself into a village that was hard by, called CONOSALMI.
Howbeit he lost his whole company except seven persons who escaped along
with him. The rest were caught, and some of them sold, some put to
death.[NOTE 5]
NOTE 1.--Ramusio has "Adam's apple" for apples of Paradise. This was some
kind of _Citrus_, though Lindley thinks it impossible to say precisely
what. According to Jacques de Vitry it was a beautiful fruit of the Citron
kind, in which the bite of human teeth was plainly discernible. (Note to
_Vulgar Errors_, II. 211; _Bongars_, I. 1099.) Mr. Abbott speaks of this
tract as "the districts (of Kermán) lying towards the South, which are
termed the Ghermseer or Hot Region, where the temperature of winter
resembles that of a charming spring, and where the palm, orange, and
lemon-tree flourish." (_MS. Report_; see also _J. R. G. S._ XXV. 56.)
["Marco Polo's apples of Paradise are more probably the fruits of the
Konár tree. There are no plantains in that part of the country. Turtle
doves, now as then, are plentiful, and as they are seldom shot, and are
said by the people to be unwholesome food, we can understand Marco Polo's
saying that the people do not eat them." (_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. pp.
492-493.)--H. C.]
The Francolin here spoken of is, as Major Smith tells me, the _Darráj_ of
the Persians, the _Black Partridge_ of English sportsmen, sometimes called
the Red-legged Francolin. The Darráj is found in some parts of Egypt,
where its peculiar call is interpreted by the peasantry into certain
Arabic words, meaning "Sweet are the corn-ears! Praised be the Lord!" In
India, Baber tells us, the call of the Black Partridge was (less piously)
rendered "_Shír dáram shakrak_," "I've got milk and sugar!" The bird seems
to be the [Greek: attagàs] of Athenaeus, a fowl "speckled like the
partridge, but larger," found in Egypt and Lydia. The Greek version of its
cry is the best of all: "[Greek: trìs tois kakoúrgois kaká]" ("Threefold
ills to the ill-doers!"). This is really like the call of the black
partridge in India as I recollect it. [_Tetrao francolinus_.--H. C.]
(_Chrestomathie Arabe_, II. 295; _Baber_, 320; _Yonge's Atken._ IX. 39.)
NOTE 2.--Abbott mentions the humped (though small) oxen in this part of
Persia, and that in some of the neighbouring districts they are taught to
kneel to receive the load, an accomplishment which seems to have struck
Mas'udi (III. 27), who says he saw it exhibited by oxen at Rai (near
modern Tehran). The Aín Akbari also ascribes it to a very fine breed in
Bengal. The whimsical name _Zebu_, given to the humped or Indian ox in
books of Zoology, was taken by Buffon from the exhibitors of such a beast
at a French Fair, who probably invented it. That the humped breeds of oxen
existed in this part of Asia in ancient times is shown by sculptures at
Kouyunjik. (See cut below.)
[Illustration: Humped Oxen from the Assyrian Sculptures at Koyunjik.]
A letter from Agassiz, printed in the Proc. As. Soc. Bengal (1865), refers
to wild "zebus," and calls the species a small one. There is no wild
"zebu," and some of the breeds are of enormous size.
["White oxen, with short thick horns and a round hump between the
shoulders, are now very rare between Kermán and Bender 'Abbás. They are,
however, still to be found towards Belúchistán and Mekrán, and they kneel
to be loaded like camels. The sheep which I saw had fine large tails; I
did not, however, hear of any having so high a weight as thirty pounds."
(_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. p. 493.)--H. C.]
The fat-tailed sheep is well known in many parts of Asia and part of
Africa. It is mentioned by Ctesias, and by Aelian, who says the shepherds
used to extract the tallow from the live animal, sewing up the tail again;
exactly the same story is told by the Chinese Pliny, Ma Twan-lin. Marco's
statements as to size do not surpass those of the admirable Kampfer: "In
size they so much surpass the common sheep that it is not unusual to see
them as tall as a donkey, whilst all are much more than three feet; and as
to the tail I shall not exceed the truth, though I may exceed belief, if I
say that it sometimes reaches 40 lbs. in weight." Captain Hutton was
assured by an Afghan sheep-master that tails had occurred in his flocks
weighing 12 Tabriz _mans_, upwards of 76 lbs.! The Afghans use the fat as
an aperient, swallowing a dose of 4 to 6 lbs! Captain Hutton's friend
testified that trucks to bear the sheep-tails were sometimes used among
the Taimúnis (north of Herat). This may help to locate that ancient and
slippery story. Josafat Barbaro says he had seen the thing, but is vague
as to place. (_Aelian Nat. An._ III. 3, IV. 32; _Amoen. Exoticae;
Ferrier_, H. of Afghans, p. 294; _J. A. S._ B. XV. 160.)
[Rabelais says (Bk. I. ch. xvi.): "Si de ce vous efmerveillez,
efmerveillez vous d'advantage de la queue des béliers de la Scythie, qui
pesait plus de trente livres; et des moutons de Surie, esquels fault (si
Tenaud, dict vray) affuster une charrette au cul, pour la porter tant
qu'elle est longue et pesante." (See G. Capus, _A travers le roy. de
Tamerlan_, pp. 21-23, on the fat sheep.)--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--The word rendered _banditti_ is in Pauthier _Carans_, in G. Text
_Caraunes_, in the Latin "_a_ scaranis _et malandrinis_." The last is no
doubt correct, standing for the old Italian _Scherani_, bandits. (See
_Cathay_, p. 287, note.)
NOTE 4.--This is a knotty subject, and needs a long note.
The KARAUNAHS are mentioned often in the histories of the Mongol regime in
Persia, first as a Mongol tribe forming a _Tuman_, i.e. a division or
corps of 10,000 in the Mongol army (and I suspect it was the phrase the
_Tuman of the Karaunahs_ in Marco's mind that suggested his repeated use
of the number 10,000 in speaking of them); and afterwards as daring and
savage freebooters, scouring the Persian provinces, and having their
headquarters on the Eastern frontiers of Persia. They are described as
having had their original seats on the mountains north of the Chinese wall
near _Karaún Jidun_ or _Khidun_; and their special accomplishment in war
was the use of Naphtha Fire. Rashiduddin mentions the _Karánut_ as a
branch of the great Mongol tribe of the Kunguráts, who certainly had their
seat in the vicinity named, so these may possibly be connected with the
Karaunahs. The same author says that the Tuman of the Karaunahs formed the
_Injú_ or _peculium_ of Arghún Khan.
Wassáf calls them "a kind of goblins rather than human beings, the most
daring of all the Mongols"; and Mirkhond speaks in like terms.
Dr. Bird of Bombay, in discussing some of the Indo-Scythic coins which
bear the word _Korano_ attached to the prince's name, asserts this to
stand for the name of the Karaunah, "who were a Graeco-Indo-Scythic tribe
of robbers in the Punjab, who are mentioned by Marco Polo," a somewhat
hasty conclusion which Pauthier adopts. There is, Quatremère observes, no
mention of the Karaunahs before the Mongol invasion, and this he regards
as the great obstacle to any supposition of their having been a people
previously settled in Persia. Reiske, indeed, with no reference to the
present subject, quotes a passage from Hamza of Ispahan, a writer of the
10th century, in which mention is made of certain troops called
_Karáunahs_. But it seems certain that in this and other like cases the
real reading was _Kazáwinah_, people of Kazvin. (See _Reiske's Constant.
Porphyrog._ Bonn. ed. II. 674; _Gottwaldt's Hamza Ispahanensis_, p. 161;
and _Quatremère_ in _J. A._ sér. V. tom. xv. 173.) Ibn Batuta only once
mentions the name, saying that Tughlak Sháh of Dehli was "one of those
Turks called _Karáunas_ who dwell in the mountains between Sind and
Turkestan." Hammer has suggested the derivation of the word _Carbine_ from
_Karáwinah_ (as he writes), and a link in such an etymology is perhaps
furnished by the fact that in the 16th century the word _Carbine_ was used
for some kind of irregular horseman.
(_Gold. Horde_, 214; _Ilch._ I. 17, 344, etc.; _Erdmann_, 168, 199, etc.;
_J. A. S._, B. X. 96; _Q. R._ 130; _Not. et Ext._ XIV. 282; _I. B._ III.
201; _Ed. Webbe, his Travailes_, p. 17, 1590. Reprinted 1868.)
As regards the account given by Marco of the origin of the Caraonas, it
seems almost necessarily a mistaken one. As Khanikoff remarks, he might
have confounded them with the Biluchis, whose Turanian aspect (at least as
regards the Brahuis) shows a strong infusion of Turki blood, and who might
be rudely described as a cross between Tartars and Indians. It is indeed
an odd fact that the word _Karáni_ (vulgo _Cranny_) is commonly applied in
India at this day to the mixed race sprung from European fathers and
Native mothers, and this might be cited in corroboration of Marsden's
reference to the Sanskrit _Karana_, but I suspect the coincidence arises
in another way. _Karana_ is the name applied to a particular class of mixt
blood, whose special occupation was writing and accounts. But the prior
sense of the word seems to have been "clever, skilled," and hence a writer
or scribe. In this sense we find _Karáni_ applied in Ibn Batuta's day to a
ship's clerk, and it is used in the same sense in the _Ain Akbari_.
Clerkship is also the predominant occupation of the East-Indians, and
hence the term Karáni is applied to them from their business, and not from
their mixt blood. We shall see hereafter that there is a Tartar term
_Arghún_, applied to fair children born of a Mongol mother and _white_
father; it is possible that there may have been a correlative word like
_Karáun_ (from _Kará_, black) applied to dark children born of Mongol
father and black mother, and that this led Marco to a false theory.
[Major Sykes (_Persia_) devotes a chapter (xxiv.) to _The Karwán
Expedition_ in which he says: "Is it not possible that the Karwánis are
the Caraonas of Marco Polo? They are distinct from the surrounding
Baluchis, and pay no tribute."--H. C.]
[Illustration: Portrait of a Hazára.]
Let us turn now to the name of Nogodar. Contemporaneously with the
Karaunahs we have frequent mention of predatory bands known as
_Nigúdaris_, who seem to be distinguished from the Karaunahs, but had a
like character for truculence. Their headquarters were about Sijistán, and
Quatremère seems disposed to look upon them as a tribe indigenous in that
quarter. Hammer says they were originally the troops of Prince Nigudar,
grandson of Chaghatai, and that they were a rabble of all sorts, Mongols,
Turkmans, Kurds, Shúls, and what not. We hear of their revolts and
disorders down to 1319, under which date Mirkhond says that there had been
one-and-twenty fights with them in four years. Again we hear of them in
1336 about Herat, whilst in Baber's time they turn up as _Nukdari_, fairly
established as tribes in the mountainous tracts of Karnúd and Ghúr, west
of Kabul, and coupled with the Hazáras, who still survive both in name and
character. "Among both," says Baber, "there are some who speak the Mongol
language." Hazáras and _Takdaris_ (read _Nukdaris_) again occur coupled in
the _History of Sind_. (See _Elliot_, I. 303-304.) [On the struggle
against Timur of Toumen, veteran chief of the Nikoudrians (1383-84), see
Major David Price's _Mahommedan History_, London, 1821, vol. iii. pp.
47-49, H. C.] In maps of the 17th century, as of Hondius and Blaeuw, we
find the mountains north of Kabul termed _Nochdarizari_, in which we cannot
miss the combination Nigudar-Hazárah, whencesoever it was got. The Hazáras
are eminently Mongol in feature to this day, and it is very probable that
they or some part of them are the descendants of the Karáunahs or the
Nigudaris, or of both, and that the origination of the bands so called,
from the scum of the Mongol inundation, is thus in degree confirmed. The
Hazáras generally are said to speak an old dialect of Persian. But one
tribe in Western Afghanistan retains both the name of Mongols and a
language of which six-sevenths (judging from a vocabulary published by
Major Leech) appear to be Mongol. Leech says, too, that the Hazáras
generally are termed _Moghals_ by the Ghilzais. It is worthy of notice that
Abu'l Fázl, who also mentions the Nukdaris among the nomad tribes of Kabul,
says the Hazáras were the remains of the Chaghataian army which Mangu Kaan
sent to the aid of Hulaku, under the command of Nigudar Oghlan. (_Not. et
Ext._ XIV. 284; _Ilch._ I. 284, 309, etc,; _Baber_, 134, 136, 140; _J. As._
sér. IV. tom. iv. 98; _Ayeen Akbery_, II. 192-193.)
So far, excepting as to the doubtful point of the relation between
Karáunahs and Nigudaris, and as to the origin of the former, we have a
general accordance with Polo's representations. But it is not very easy to
identify with certainty the inroad on India to which he alludes, or the
person intended by Nogodar, nephew of Chaghatai. It seems as if two
persons of that name had each contributed something to Marco's history.
We find in Hammer and D'Ohsson that one of the causes which led to the war
between Barka Khan and Hulaku in 1262 (see above, _Prologue_, ch. ii.) was
the violent end that had befallen three princes of the House of Juji, who
had accompanied Hulaku to Persia in command of the contingent of that
House. When war actually broke out, the contingent made their escape from
Persia. One party gained Kipchak by way of Derbend; another, in greater
force, led by NIGUDAR and Onguja, escaped to Khorasan, pursued by the
troops of Hulaku, and thence eastward, where they seized upon Ghazni and
other districts bordering on India.
But again: Nigudar Aghul, or Oghlan, son of (the younger) Juji, son of
_Chaghatai_, was the leader of the Chaghataian contingent in Hulaku's
expedition, and was still attached to the Mongol-Persian army in 1269,
when Borrak Khan, of the House of Chaghatai, was meditating war against
his kinsman, Abaka of Persia. Borrak sent to the latter an ambassador, who
was the bearer of a secret message to Prince Nigudar, begging him not to
serve against the head of his own House. Nigudar, upon this, made a
pretext of retiring to his own headquarters in _Georgia_, hoping to reach
Borrak's camp by way of Derbend. He was, however, intercepted, and lost
many of his people. With 1000 horse he took refuge in Georgia, but was
refused an asylum, and was eventually captured by Abaka's commander on
that frontier. His officers were executed, his troops dispersed among
Abaka's army, and his own life spared under surveillance. I find no more
about him. In 1278 Hammer speaks of him as dead, and of the Nigudarian
bands as having been formed out of his troops. But authority is not given.
The second Nigudar is evidently the one to whom Abu'l Fázl alludes.
Khanikoff assumes that the Nigudar who went off towards India about 1260
(he puts the date earlier) was Nigudar, the grandson of Chaghatai, but he
takes no notice of the second story just quoted.
In the former story we have bands under _Nigudar_ going off by Ghazni,
_and conquering country on the Indian frontier_. In the latter we have
_Nigudar, a descendant of Chaghatai_, trying to escape from his camp _on
the frontier of Great Armenia_. Supposing the Persian historians to be
correct, it looks as if Marco had rolled two stories into one.
Some other passages may be cited before quitting this part of the subject.
A chronicle of Herat, translated by Barbier de Meynard, says, under 1298:
"The King Fakhruddin (of Herat) had the imprudence to authorise _the Amir
Nigudar_ to establish himself in a quarter of the city, with 300
adventurers from 'Irak. This little troop made frequent raids in Kuhistan,
Sijistan, Farrah, etc., spreading terror. Khodabanda, at the request of
his brother Ghazan Khan, came from Mazanderan to demand the immediate
surrender of these brigands," etc. And in the account of the tremendous
foray of the Chaghataian Prince Kotlogh Shah, on the east and south of
Persia in 1299, we find one of his captains called _Nigudar_ Bahadur.
(_Gold. Horde_, 146, 157, 164; _D'Ohsson_, IV. 378 seqq., 433 seqq., 513
seqq.; _Ilch._ I. 216, 261, 284; II. 104; _J. A._ sér. V. tom. xvii.
455-456, 507; _Khan. Notice_, 31.)
As regards the route taken by Prince Nogodar in his incursion into India,
we have no difficulty with BADAKHSHAN. PASHAI-DIR is a copulate name; the
former part, as we shall see reason to believe hereafter, representing the
country between the Hindu Kush and the Kabul River (see infra, ch. xxx.);
the latter (as Pauthier already has pointed out), DIR, the chief town of
Panjkora, in the hill country north of Peshawar. In _Ariora-Keshemur_ the
first portion only is perplexing. I will mention the most probable of the
solutions that have occurred to me, and a second, due to that eminent
archaeologist, General A. Cunningham. (1) _Ariora_ may be some corrupt or
Mongol form of _Aryavartta_, a sacred name applied to the Holy Lands of
Indian Buddhism, of which Kashmir was eminently one to the Northern
Buddhists. _Oron_, in Mongol, is a Region or Realm, and may have taken the
place of _Vartta_, giving _Aryoron_ or Ariora. (2) "_Ariora_," General
Cunningham writes, "I take to be the _Harhaura_ of Sanscrit--i.e. the
Western Panjáb. Harhaura was the North-Western Division of the _Nava-
Khanda_, or Nine Divisions of Ancient India. It is mentioned between
_Sindhu-Sauvira_ in the west (i.e. Sind), and _Madra_ in the north (i.e.
the Eastern Panjáb, which is still called _Madar-Des_). The name of
Harhaura is, I think, preserved in the Haro River. Now, the Sind-Sagor
Doab formed a portion of the kingdom of Kashmir, and the joint names, like
those of Sindhu-Sauvira, describe only one State." The names of the Nine
Divisions in question are given by the celebrated astronomer, Varaha
Mihira, who lived in the beginning of the 6th century, and are repeated by
Al Biruni. (See _Reinaud, Mém. sur l'Inde_, p. 116.) The only objection to
this happy solution seems to lie in Al Biruni's remark, that the names in
question were in general no longer used even in his time (A.D. 1030).
There can be no doubt that _Asidin Soldan_ is, as Khanikoff has said,
Ghaiassuddin Balban, Sultan of Delhi from 1266 to 1286, and for years
before that a man of great power in India, and especially in the Panjáb,
of which he had in the reign of Ruknuddin (1236) held independent
possession.
Firishta records several inroads of Mongols in the Panjáb during the reign
of Ghaiassuddin, in withstanding one of which that King's eldest son was
slain; and there are constant indications of their presence in Sind till
the end of the century. But we find in that historian no hint of the chief
circumstances of this part of the story, viz., the conquest of Kashmir and
the occupation of _Dalivar_ or _Dilivar_ (G. T.), evidently (whatever its
identity) in the plains of India. I do find, however, in the history of
Kashmir, as given by Lassen (III. 1138), that in the end of 1259,
Lakshamana Deva, King of Kashmir, was killed in a campaign against the
_Turushka_ (Turks or Tartars), and that their leader, who is called
Kajjala, got hold of the country and held it till 1287.[1] It is difficult
not to connect this both with Polo's story and with the escapade of
Nigudar about 1260, noting also that this occupation of Kashmir extended
through the whole reign of Ghaiassuddin.
We seem to have a memory of Polo's story preserved in one of Elliot's
extracts from Wassáf, which states that in 708 (A.D. 1308), after a great
defeat of a Mongol inroad which had passed the Ganges, Sultan Ala'uddin
Khilji ordered a pillar of Mongol heads to be raised before the Badáun
gate, "_as was done with the_ Nigudari _Moghuls_" (III. 48).
We still have to account for the occupation and locality of _Dalivar_;
Marsden supposed it to be _Lahore_; Khanikoff considers it to be
_Diráwal_, the ancient desert capital of the Bhattis, properly (according
to Tod) _Deoráwal_, but by a transposition common in India, as it is in
Italy, sometimes called _Diláwar_, in the modern State of Bháwalpúr. But
General Cunningham suggests a more probable locality in DILÁWAR on the
west bank of the Jelam, close to Dárápúr, and opposite to Mung. These two
sites, Diláwar-Dárápúr on the west bank, and Mung on the east, are
identified by General Cunningham (I believe justly) with Alexander's
Bucephala and Nicaea. The spot, which is just opposite the battlefield of
Chiliánwála, was visited (15th December, 1868) at my request, by my friend
Colonel R. Maclagan, R.E. He writes: "The present village of Diláwar
stands a little above the town of Dárápúr (I mean on higher ground),
looking down on Dárápúr and on the river, and on the cultivated and wooded
plain along the river bank. The remains of the Old Diláwar, in the form of
quantities of large bricks, cover the low round-backed spurs and knolls of
the broken rocky hills around the present village, but principally on the
land side. They cover a large area of very irregular character, and may
clearly be held to represent a very considerable town. There are no
indications of the form of buildings,... but simply large quantities of
large bricks, which for a long time have been carried away and used for
modern buildings.... After rain coins are found on the surface.... There
can be no doubt of a very large extent of ground, of very irregular and
uninviting character, having been covered at some time with buildings. The
position on the Jelam would answer well for the Diláwar which the Mongol
invaders took and held.... The strange thing is that the name should not
be mentioned (I believe it is not) by any of the well-known Mahomedan
historians of India. So much for Diláwar.... The people have no
traditions. But there are the remains; and there is the name, borne by the
existing village on part of the old site." I had come to the conclusion
that this was almost certainly Polo's Dalivar, and had mapped it as such,
before I read certain passages in the _History of Zíyáuddín Barni_, which
have been translated by Professor Dowson for the third volume of Elliot's
_India_. When the comrades of Ghaiassuddin Balban urged him to conquests,
the Sultan pointed to the constant danger from the Mongols,[2] saying:
"These accursed wretches have heard of the wealth and condition of
Hindustan, and have set their hearts upon conquering and plundering it.
_They have taken and plundered Lahor within my territories, and no year
passes that they do not come here and plunder the villages_.... They even
talk about the conquest and sack of Delhi." And under a later date the
historian says: "The Sultan... marched to Lahor, and ordered the
rebuilding of the fort which the Mughals had destroyed in the reigns of
the sons of Shamsuddin. The towns and villages of Lahor which the Mughals
had devastated and laid waste he repeopled." Considering these passages,
and the fact that Polo had no personal knowledge of Upper India, I now
think it probable that Marsden was right, and that _Dilivar_ is really a
misunderstanding of "_Città_ di Livar" for _Lahàwar_ or Lahore.
The _Magical darkness_ which Marco ascribes to the evil arts of the
Karaunas is explained by Khanikoff from the phenomenon of _Dry Fog_, which
he has often experienced in Khorasan, combined with the _Dust Storm_ with
which we are familiar in Upper India. In Sind these phenomena often
produce a great degree of darkness. During a battle fought between the
armies of Sindh and Kachh in 1762, such a fog came on, obscuring the light
of day for some six hours, during which the armies were intermixed with
one another and fighting desperately. When the darkness dispersed they
separated, and the consternation of both parties was so great at the
events of the day that both made a precipitate retreat. In 1844 this
battle was still spoken of with wonder. (_J. Bomb. Br. R. A. S._ I. 423.)
Major St. John has given a note on his own experience of these curious
Kermán fogs (see _Ocean Highways_, 1872, p. 286): "Not a breath of air was
stirring, and the whole effect was most curious, and utterly unlike any
other fog I have seen. No deposit of dust followed, and the feeling of the
air was decidedly damp. I unfortunately could not get my hygrometer till
the fog had cleared away."
[_General Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. p. 493, writes: "The magical darkness
might, as Colonel Yule supposes, be explained by the curious dry fogs or
dust storms, often occurring in the neighbourhood of Kermán, but it must
be remarked that Marco Polo was caught in one of these storms down in
Jíruft, where, according to the people I questioned, such storms now never
occur. On the 29th of September, 1879, at Kermán, a high wind began to
blow from S.S.W. at about 5 P.M. First there came thick heavy clouds of
dust with a few drops of rain. The heavy dust then settled down, the
lighter particles remained in the air, forming a dry fog of such density
that large objects, like houses, trees, etc., could not even faintly be
distinguished at a distance of a hundred paces. The barometers suffered no
change, the three I had with me remained in _statu quo_." "The heat is
over by the middle of September, and after the autumnal equinox, there are
a few days of what is best described as a dense dry fog. This was
undoubtedly the haze referred to by Marco Polo." (_Major Sykes_, ch. iv.)
--H. C.]
Richthofen's remarkable exposition of the phenomena of the _löss_ in
North China, and of the sub-aerial deposits of the steppes and of Central
Asia throws some light on this. But this hardly applies to St John's
experience of "no deposit of dust." (See Richthofen, _China_, pp. 96-97 s.
_MS. Note_, H. Y.)
The belief that such opportune phenomena were produced by enchantment was
a thoroughly Tartar one. D'Herbelot relates (art. _Giagathai_) that in an
action with a rebel called Mahomed Tarabi, the Mongols were encompassed by
a dust storm which they attributed to enchantment on the part of the
enemy, and it so discouraged them that they took to flight.
NOTE 5.--The specification that only _seven_ were saved from Marco's
company is peculiar to Pauthier's Text, not appearing in the G. T.
Several names compounded of _Salm_ or _Salmi_ occur on the dry lands on
the borders of Kermán. Edrisi, however (I. p. 428), names a place called
KANÁT-UL-SHÁM as the first march in going from Jiruft to Walashjird.
Walashjird is, I imagine, represented by _Galashkird_, Major R. Smith's
third march from Jiruft (see my Map of Routes from Kermán to Hormuz); and
as such an indication agrees with the view taken below of Polo's route,
I am strongly disposed to identify Kanát-ul-Shám with his _castello_ or
walled village of _Canosalmi_.
["Marco Polo's Conosalmi, where he was attacked by robbers and lost the
greater part of his men, is perhaps the ruined town or village Kamasal
(Kahn-i-asal = the honey canal), near Kahnúj-i-pancheh and Vakílábád in
Jíruft. It lies on the direct road between Shehr-i-Daqíánús (Camadi) and
the Nevergún Pass. The road goes in an almost due southerly direction. The
Nevergún Pass accords with Marco Polo's description of it; it is very
difficult, on account of the many great blocks of sandstone scattered upon
it. Its proximity to the Bashakird mountains and Mekrán easily accounts
for the prevalence of robbers, who infested the place in Marco Polo's
time. At the end of the Pass lies the large village Shamíl, with an old
fort; the distance thence to the site of Hormúz or Bender 'Abbás (lying
more to the west) is 52 miles, two days' march. The climate of Bender
'Abbás is very bad, strangers speedily fall sick, two of my men died
there, all the others were seriously ill." (_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. pp.
495-496.) Major Sykes (ch. xxiii.) says: "Two marches from Camadi was
Kahn-i-Panchur, and a stage beyond it lay the ruins of Fariáb or Pariáb,
which was once a great city, and was destroyed by a flood, according to
local legend. It may have been Alexander's Salmous, as it is about the
right distance from the coast, and if so, could not have been Marco's
_Cono Salmi_. Continuing on, Galashkird mentioned by Edrisi, is the next
stage."--H. C.]
The raids of the Mekranis and Biluchis long preceded those of the
Karaunas, for they were notable even in the time of Mahmud of Ghazni, and
they have continued to our own day to be prosecuted nearly on the same
stage and in the same manner. About 1721, 4000 horsemen of this
description plundered the town of Bander Abbasi, whilst Captain Alex.
Hamilton was in the port; and Abbott, in 1850, found the dread of Bilúch
robbers to extend almost to the gates of Ispahan. A striking account of
the Bilúch robbers and their characteristics is given by General Ferrier.
(See _Hamilton_, I. 109; _J. R. G. S._ XXV.; _Khanikoff's Mémoire; Macd.
Kinneir_, 196; _Caravan Journeys_, p. 437 seq.)
[1] _Khajlak_ is mentioned as a leader of the Mongol raids in India by the
poet Amir Khusrú (A.D. 1289; see _Elliot_ III. 527).
[2] Professor Cowell compares the Mongol inroads in the latter part of the
13th and beginning of the 14th century, in their incessant recurrence,
to the incursions of the Danes in England. A passage in Wassáf
(_Elliot_, III. 38) shows that the Mongols were, circa 1254-55,
already in occupation of Sodia on the Chenab, and districts adjoining.
CHAPTER XIX.
OF THE DESCENT TO THE CITY OF HORMOS.
The Plain of which we have spoken extends in a southerly direction for
five days' journey, and then you come to another descent some twenty miles
in length, where the road is very bad and full of peril, for there are
many robbers and bad characters about. When you have got to the foot of
this descent you find another beautiful plain called the PLAIN OF FORMOSA.
This extends for two days' journey; and you find in it fine streams of
water with plenty of date-palms and other fruit-trees. There are also many
beautiful birds, francolins, popinjays, and other kinds such as we have
none of in our country. When you have ridden these two days you come to
the Ocean Sea, and on the shore you find a city with a harbour which is
called HORMOS.[NOTE 1] Merchants come thither from India, with ships
loaded with spicery and precious stones, pearls, cloths of silk and gold,
elephants' teeth, and many other wares, which they sell to the merchants
of Hormos, and which these in turn carry all over the world to dispose of
again. In fact, 'tis a city of immense trade. There are plenty of towns
and villages under it, but it is the capital. The King is called RUOMEDAM
AHOMET. It is a very sickly place, and the heat of the sun is tremendous.
If any foreign merchant dies there, the King takes all his property.
In this country they make a wine of dates mixt with spices, which is very
good. When any one not used to it first drinks this wine, it causes
repeated and violent purging, but afterwards he is all the better for it,
and gets fat upon it. The people never eat meat and wheaten bread except
when they are ill, and if they take such food when they are in health it
makes them ill. Their food when in health consists of dates and salt-fish
(tunny, to wit) and onions, and this kind of diet they maintain in order
to preserve their health.[NOTE 2]
Their ships are wretched affairs, and many of them get lost; for they have
no iron fastenings, and are only stitched together with twine made from
the husk of the Indian nut. They beat this husk until it becomes like
horse-hair, and from that they spin twine, and with this stitch the planks
of the ships together. It keeps well, and is not corroded by the
sea-water, but it will not stand well in a storm. The ships are not
pitched, but are rubbed with fish-oil. They have one mast, one sail, and
one rudder, and have no deck, but only a cover spread over the cargo when
loaded. This cover consists of hides, and on the top of these hides they
put the horses which they take to India for sale. They have no iron to make
nails of, and for this reason they use only wooden trenails in their
shipbuilding, and then stitch the planks with twine as I have told you.
Hence 'tis a perilous business to go a voyage in one of those ships, and
many of them are lost, for in that Sea of India the storms are often
terrible.[NOTE 3]
The people are black, and are worshippers of Mahommet. The residents avoid
living in the cities, for the heat in summer is so great that it would
kill them. Hence they go out (to sleep) at their gardens in the country,
where there are streams and plenty of water. For all that they would not
escape but for one thing that I will mention. The fact is, you see, that
in summer a wind often blows across the sands which encompass the plain,
so intolerably hot that it would kill everybody, were it not that when
they perceive that wind coming they plunge into water up to the neck, and
so abide until the wind have ceased.[NOTE 4] [And to prove the great heat
of this wind, Messer Mark related a case that befell when he was there.
The Lord of Hormos, not having paid his tribute to the King of Kerman the
latter resolved to claim it at the time when the people of Hormos were
residing away from the city. So he caused a force of 1600 horse and 5000
foot to be got ready, and sent them by the route of Reobarles to take the
others by surprise. Now, it happened one day that through the fault of
their guide they were not able to reach the place appointed for their
night's halt, and were obliged to bivouac in a wilderness not far from
Hormos. In the morning as they were starting on their march they were
caught by that wind, and every man of them was suffocated, so that not one
survived to carry the tidings to their Lord. When the people of Hormos
heard of this they went forth to bury the bodies lest they should breed a
pestilence. But when they laid hold of them by the arms to drag them to
the pits, the bodies proved to be so _baked_, as it were, by that
tremendous heat, that the arms parted from the trunks, and in the end the
people had to dig graves hard by each where it lay, and so cast them
in.][NOTE 5]
The people sow their wheat and barley and other corn in the month of
November, and reap it in the month of March. The dates are not gathered
till May, but otherwise there is no grass nor any other green thing, for
the excessive heat dries up everything.
When any one dies they make a great business of the mourning, for women
mourn their husbands four years. During that time they mourn at least once
a day, gathering together their kinsfolk and friends and neighbours for
the purpose, and making a great weeping and wailing. [And they have women
who are mourners by trade, and do it for hire.]
Now, we will quit this country. I shall not, however, now go on to tell
you about India; but when time and place shall suit we shall come round
from the north and tell you about it. For the present, let us return by
another road to the aforesaid city of Kerman, for we cannot get at those
countries that I wish to tell you about except through that city.
I should tell you first, however, that King Ruomedam Ahomet of Hormos,
which we are leaving, is a liegeman of the King of Kerman.[NOTE 6]
On the road by which we return from Hormos to Kerman you meet with some
very fine plains, and you also find many natural hot baths; you find
plenty of partridges on the road; and there are towns where victual is
cheap and abundant, with quantities of dates and other fruits. The wheaten
bread, however, is so bitter, owing to the bitterness of the water, that
no one can eat it who is not used to it. The baths that I mentioned have
excellent virtues; they cure the itch and several other diseases.[NOTE 7]
Now, then, I am going to tell you about the countries towards the north,
of which you shall hear in regular order. Let us begin.
NOTE 1.--Having now arrived at HORMUZ, it is time to see what can be made
of the Geography of the route from Kermán to that port.
The port of Hormuz, [which had taken the place of Kish as the most
important market of the Persian Gulf (H. C.)], stood upon the mainland. A
few years later it was transferred to the island which became so famous,
under circumstances which are concisely related by Abulfeda:--"Hormuz is
the port of Kermán, a city rich in palms, and very hot. One who has
visited it in our day tells me that the ancient Hormuz was devastated by
the incursions of the Tartars, and that its people transferred their abode
to an island in the sea called Zarun, near the continent, and lying west
of the old city. At Hormuz itself no inhabitants remain, but some of the
lowest order." (In _Büsching_, IV. 261-262.) Friar Odoric, about 1321,
found Hormuz "on an island some 5 miles distant from the main." Ibn
Batuta, some eight or nine years later, discriminates between Hormuz or
Moghistan on the mainland, and New Hormuz on the Island of Jeraun, but
describes only the latter, already a great and rich city.
The site of the Island Hormuz has often been visited and described; but I
could find no published trace of any traveller having verified the site of
the more ancient city, though the existence of its ruins was known to John
de Barros, who says that a little fort called _Cuxstac_ (_Kuhestek_ of P.
della Valle, II. p. 300) stood on the site. An application to Colonel
Pelly, the very able British Resident at Bushire, brought me from his own
personal knowledge the information that I sought, and the following
particulars are compiled from the letters with which he has favoured me:--
"The ruins of Old Hormuz, well known as such, stand several miles up a
creek, and in the centre of the present district of Minao. They are
extensive (though in large part obliterated by long cultivation over the
site), and the traces of a long pier or Bandar were pointed out to Colonel
Pelly. They are about 6 or 7 miles from the fort of Minao, and the Minao
river, or its stony bed, winds down towards them. The creek is quite
traceable, but is silted up, and to embark goods you have to go a farsakh
towards the sea, where there is a custom-house on that part of the creek
which is still navigable. Colonel Pelly collected a few bricks from the
ruins. From the mouth of the Old Hormuz creek to the New Hormuz town, or
town of Turumpak on the island of Hormuz, is a sail of about three
farsakhs. It may be a trifle more, but any native tells you at once that
it is three farsakhs from Hormuz Island to the creek where you land to go
up to Minao. _Hormuzdia_ was the name of the region in the days of its
prosperity. Some people say that Hormuzdia was known as _Jerunia_, and Old
Hormuz town as _Jerun_." (In this I suspect tradition has gone astray.)
"The town and fort of Minao lie to the N.E. of the ancient city, and are
built upon the lowest spur of the Bashkurd mountains, commanding a gorge
through which the Rudbar river debouches on the plain of Hormuzdia." In
these new and interesting particulars it is pleasing to find such precise
corroboration both of Edrisi and of Ibn Batuta. The former, writing in the
12th century, says that Hormuz stood on the banks of a canal or creek from
the Gulf, by which vessels came up to the city. The latter specifies the
breadth of sea between Old and New Hormuz as _three farsakhs_. (_Edrisi_,
I. 424; _I. B._ II. 230.)
I now proceed to recapitulate the main features of Polo's Itinerary from
Kermán to Hormuz. We have:--
Marches
1. From Kermán across a plain to the top of a
mountain-pass, where _extreme cold was
experienced_ . . . . . . . . 7
2. A descent, occupying . . . . . . . 2
3. A great plain, called _Reobarles_, in a much warmer
climate, abounding in francolin partridge, and in
dates and tropical fruit, with a ruined city of former
note, called _Camadi_, near the head of the plain,
which extends for . . . . . . . . 5
4. A second very bad pass, descending for 20 miles, say 1
5. A well-watered fruitful plain, which is crossed to
_Hormuz_, on the shores of the Gulf . . . . 2
--
Total 17
No European traveller, so far as I know, has described the most direct
road from Kermán to Hormuz, or rather to its nearest modern representative
Bander Abbási,--I mean the road by Báft. But a line to the eastward of
this, and leading through the plain of Jiruft, was followed partially by
Mr. Abbott in 1850, and completely by Major R. M. Smith, R.E., in 1866.
The details of this route, except in one particular, correspond closely in
essentials with those given by our author, and form an excellent basis of
illustration for Polo's description.
Major Smith (accompanied at first by Colonel Goldsmid, who diverged to
Mekran) left Kermán on the 15th of January, and reached Bander Abbási on
the 3rd of February, but, as three halts have to be deducted, his total
number of marches was exactly the same as Marco's, viz. 17. They divide as
follows:--
Marches
1. From Kermán to the caravanserai of Deh Bakri in the
pass so called. "The ground as I ascended became
covered with snow, and the weather bitterly cold"
(_Report_) . . . . . . . . . 6
2. Two miles _over very deep snow_ brought him to the
top of the pass; he then descended 14 miles to his halt.
Two miles to the south of the crest he passed a second
caravanserai: "The two are evidently built so near one
another to afford shelter to travellers who may be
unable to cross the ridge during heavy snow-storms."
The next march continued the descent for 14 miles, and
then carried him 10 miles along the banks of the
Rudkhanah-i-Shor. The approximate height of the pass
above the sea is estimated at 8000 feet. We have thus
for the descent the greater part of . . . . 2
3. "Clumps of date-palms growing near the village showed
that I had now reached a totally different climate."
(_Smith's Report_.) And Mr. Abbott says of the same
region: "Partly wooded ... and with thickets of reeds
abounding with francolin and _Jirufti_ partridge....
The lands yield grain, millet, pulse, French- and
horse-beans, rice, cotton, henna, Palma Christi, and dates,
and in part are of great fertility.... Rainy season from
January to March, after which a luxuriant crop of grass."
Across this plain (districts of Jiruft and Rudbar), the
height of which above the sea, is something under 2000
feet . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. 6-1/2 hours, "nearly the whole way over a most difficult
mountain-pass," called the Pass of Nevergun . . . 1
5. Two long marches over a plain, part of which is described
as "continuous cultivation for some 16 miles," and the rest
as a "most uninteresting plain" . . . . . 2
--
Total as before . . . . 17
In the previous edition of this work I was inclined to identify Marco's
route _absolutely_ with this Itinerary. But a communication from Major St.
John, who surveyed the section from Kermán towards Deh Bakri in 1872,
shows that this first section does not answer well to the description. The
road is not all plain, for it crosses a mountain pass, though not a
formidable one. Neither is it through a thriving, populous tract, for,
with the exception of two large villages, Major St. John found the whole
road to Deh Bakri from Kermán as desert and dreary as any in Persia. On
the other hand, the more direct route to the south, which is that always
used except in seasons of extraordinary severity (such as that of Major
Smith's journey, when this route was impassable from snow), answers
better, as described to Major St. John by muleteers, to Polo's account.
The first _six days_ are occupied by a gentle ascent through the districts
of Bardesir and Kairat-ul-Arab, which are the best-watered and most
fertile uplands of Kermán. From the crest of the pass reached in those six
marches (which is probably more than 10,000 feet above the sea, for it was
closed by snow on 1st May, 1872), an easy descent of _two days_ leads to
the Garmsir. This is traversed in four days, and then a very difficult
pass is crossed to reach the plains bordering on the sea. The cold of this
route is much greater than that of the Deh Bakri route. Hence the
correspondence with Polo's description, as far as the descent to the
Garmsir, or Reobarles, seems decidedly better by this route. It is
admitted to be quite possible that on reaching this plain the two routes
coalesced. We shall assume this provisionally, till some traveller gives
us a detailed account of the Bardesir route. Meantime all the remaining
particulars answer well.
[General Houtum-Schindler (l.c. pp. 493-495), speaking of the Itinerary
from Kermán to Hormúz and back, says: "Only two of the many routes between
Kermán and Bender 'Abbás coincide more or less with Marco Polo's
description. These two routes are the one over the Deh Bekrí Pass [see
above, Colonel Smith], and the one viâ Sárdú. The latter is the one, I
think, taken by Marco Polo. The more direct roads to the west are for the
greater part through mountainous country, and have not twelve stages in
plains which we find enumerated in Marco Polo's Itinerary. The road viâ
Báft, Urzú, and the Zendán Pass, for instance, has only four stages in
plains; the road, viâ Ráhbur, Rúdbár and the Nevergún Pass only six; and
the road viâ Sírján also only six."
Marches.
The Sárdú route, which seems to me to be the one
followed by Marco Polo, has five stages through fertile
and populous plains to Sarvízan . . . . . 5
One day's march ascends to the top of the Sarvízan Pass 1
Two days' descent to Ráhjird, a village close to the
ruins of old Jíruft, now called Shehr-i-Daqíánús . . 2
Six days' march over the "vast plain" of Jírúft and Rúdbár
to Faríáb, joining the Deh Bekrí route at Kerímábád, one
stage south of the Shehr-i-Daqíánús . . . . 6
One day's march through the Nevergún Pass to Shamíl,
descending . . . . . . . . . 1
Two days' march through the plain to Bender 'Abbás or
Hormúz . . . . . . . . . . 2
--
In all . . . . . . 17
The Sárdú road enters the Jíruft plain at the ruins of the old city, the
Deh Bekrí route does so at some distance to the eastward. The first six
stages performed by Marco Polo in seven days go through fertile plains and
past numerous villages. Regarding the cold, "which you can scarcely
abide," Marco Polo does not speak of it as existing on the mountains only;
he says, "From the city of Kermán to this descent the cold in winter is
very great," that is, from Kermán to near Jíruft. The winter at Kermán
itself is fairly severe; from the town the ground gradually but steadily
rises, the absolute altitudes of the passes crossing the mountains to the
south varying from 8000 to 11,000 feet. These passes are up to the month
of March always very cold; in one it froze slightly in the beginning of
June. The Sárdú Pass lies lower than the others. The name is Sárdú, not
Sardú from sard, "cold." Major Sykes (_Persia_, ch. xxiii.) comes to the
same conclusion: "In 1895, and again in 1900, I made a tour partly with
the object of solving this problem, and of giving a geographical existence
to Sárdu, which appropriately means the 'Cold Country.' I found that there
was a route which exactly fitted Marco's conditions, as at Sarbizan the
Sárdu plateau terminates in a high pass of 9200 feet, from which there is
a most abrupt descent to the plain of Jíruft, Komádin being about 35
miles, or two days' journey from the top of the pass. Starting from
Kermán, the stages would be as follows:--I. Jupár (small town); 2.
Bahrámjird (large village); 3. Gudar (village); 4. Ráin (small town)....
Thence to the Sarbizan pass is a distance of 45 miles, or three desert
stages, thus constituting a total of 110 miles for the seven days. This is
the camel route to the present day, and absolutely fits in with the
description given.... The question to be decided by this section of the
journey may then, I think, be considered to be finally and most
satisfactorily settled, the route proving to lie between the two selected
by Colonel Yule, as being the most suitable, although he wisely left the
question open."--H. C.]
In the abstract of Major Smith's Itinerary as we have given it, we do not
find Polo's city of _Camadi_. Major Smith writes to me, however, that this
is probably to be sought in "the ruined city, the traces of which I
observed in the plain of Jíruft near Kerimabad. The name of the city is
now apparently lost." It is, however, known to the natives as the _City of
Dakiánús_, as Mr. Abbott, who visited the site, informs us. This is a name
analogous only to the Arthur's ovens or Merlin's caves of our own country,
for all over Mahomedan Asia there are old sites to which legend attaches
the name of _Dakianus_ or the Emperor Decius, the persecuting tyrant of
the Seven Sleepers. "The spot," says Abbott, "is an elevated part of the
plain on the right bank of the Hali Rúd, and is thickly strewn with
kiln-baked bricks, and shreds of pottery and glass.... After heavy rain the
peasantry search amongst the ruins for ornaments of stone, and rings and
coins of gold, silver, and copper. The popular tradition concerning the
city is that it was destroyed by a flood long before the birth of Mahomed."
[General Houtum-Schindler, in a paper in the _Jour. R. As. Soc._, Jan.
1898, p. 43, gives an abstract of Dr. Houtsma's (of Utrecht) memoir, _Zur
Geschichte der Saljuqen von Kerman_, and comes to the conclusion that
"from these statements we can safely identify Marco Polo's Camadi with the
suburb Qumadin, or, as I would read it, Qamadin, of the city of Jiruft."--
(Cf. _Major Sykes' Persia_, chap. xxiii.: "Camadi was sacked for the first
time, after the death of Toghrul Shah of Kermán, when his four sons
reduced the province to a condition of anarchy.")
Major P. Molesworth Sykes, _Recent Journeys in Persia_ (_Geog. Journal_,
X. 1897, p. 589), says: "Upon arrival in Rudbar, we turned north wards
and left the Farman Farma, in order to explore the site of Marco Polo's
'Camadi.'... We came upon a huge area littered with yellow bricks eight
inches square, while not even a broken wall is left to mark the site of
what was formerly a great city, under the name of the Sher-i-Jiruft."--H.
C.] The actual distance from Bamm to the City of Dakianus is, by Abbott's
Journal, about 66 miles.
The name of REOBARLES, which Marco applies to the plain intermediate
between the two descents, has given rise to many conjectures. Marsden
pointed to _Rúdbár_, a name frequently applied in Persia to a district on
a river, or intersected by streams--a suggestion all the happier that he
was not aware of the fact that there is a district of RUDBAR exactly in
the required position. The last syllable still requires explanation.
I ventured formerly to suggest that it was the Arabic _Lass_, or, as Marco
would certainly have written it, _Les_, a robber. Reobarles would then be
RUDBAR-I-LASS, "Robber's River District." The appropriateness of the name
Marco has amply illustrated; and it appeared to me to survive in that of
one of the rivers of the plain, which is mentioned by both Abbott and
Smith under the title of _Rúdkhánah-i-Duzdi_, or Robbery River, a name
also applied to a village and old fort on the banks of the stream. This
etymology was, however, condemned as an inadmissible combination of
Persian and Arabic by two very high authorities both as travellers and
scholars--Sir H. Rawlinson and Mr. Khanikoff. The _Les_, therefore, has
still to be explained.[1]
[Major Sykes (_Geog. Journal_, 1902, p. 130) heard of robbers, some five
miles from Mináb, and he adds: "However, nothing happened, and after
crossing the Gardan-i-Pichal, we camped at Birinti, which is situated just
above the junction of Rudkhána Duzdi, or 'River of Theft,' and forms part
of the district of Rudán, in Fars."
"The Jíruft and Rúdbár plains belong to the germsír (hot region), dates,
pistachios, and konars (apples of Paradise) abound in them. Reobarles is
Rúdbár or Rüdbáris." (_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. 1881, p. 495.)--H. C.]
We have referred to Marco's expressions regarding the great cold
experienced on the pass which formed the first descent; and it is worthy
of note that the title of "The Cold Mountains" is applied by Edrisi to
these very mountains. Mr. Abbott's MS. Report also mentions in this
direction, _Sardu_, said to be a cold country (as its name seems to
express [see above,--H. C.]), which its population (Iliyáts) abandon in
winter for the lower plains. It is but recently that the importance of
this range of mountains has become known to us. Indeed the _existence_ of
the chain, as extending continuously from near Kashán, was first indicated
by Khanikoff in 1862. More recently Major St. John has shown the magnitude
of this range, which rises into summits of 15,000 feet in altitude, and
after a course of 550 miles terminates in a group of volcanic hills some
50 miles S.E. of Bamm. Yet practically this chain is ignored on all our
maps!
Marco's description of the "Plain of Formosa" does not apply, now at
least, to the _whole_ plain, for towards Bander Abbási it is barren. But
to the eastward, about Minao, and therefore about Old Hormuz, it has not
fallen off. Colonel Pelly writes: "The district of Minao is still for
those regions singularly fertile. Pomegranates, oranges, pistachio-nuts,
and various other fruits grow in profusion. The source of its fertility is
of course the river, and you can walk for miles among lanes and cultivated
ground, partially sheltered from the sun." And Lieutenant Kempthorne, in
his notes on that coast, says of the same tract: "It is termed by the
natives the Paradise of Persia. It is certainly most beautifully fertile,
and abounds in orange-groves, and orchards containing apples, pears,
peaches, and apricots; with vineyards producing a delicious grape, from
which was at one time made a wine called _amber-rosolli_"--a name not easy
to explain. _'Ambar-i-Rasúl_, "The Prophet's Bouquet!" would be too bold a
name even for Persia, though names more sacred are so profaned at Naples
and on the Moselle. Sir H. Rawlinson suggests _'Ambar-'asali_, "Honey
Bouquet," as possible.
When Nearchus beached his fleet on the shore of _Harmozeia_ at the mouth
of the _Anamis_ (the River of Minao), Arrian tells us he found the country
a kindly one, and very fruitful in every way except that there were no
olives. The weary mariners landed and enjoyed this pleasant rest from
their toils. (_Indica_, 33; _J. R. G. S._ V. 274.)
[Illustration: MARCO POLO'S ITINERARIES
No. II.
Kerman to Hormuz (Bk I. Ch. 19)]
The name Formosa is probably only Rusticiano's misunderstanding of
_Harmuza_, aided, perhaps, by Polo's picture of the beauty of the plain.
We have the same change in the old _Mafomet_ for Mahomet, and the converse
one in the Spanish _hermosa_ for _formosa_. Teixeira's Chronicle says that
the city of Hormuz was founded by Xa Mahamed Dranku, i.e. Shah Mahomed
Dirhem-Ko, in "a plain of the same name."
The statement in Ramusio that Hormuz stood upon an island, is, I doubt
not, an interpolation by himself or some earlier transcriber.
When the ships of Nearchus launched again from the mouth of the Anamis,
their first day's run carried them past a certain desert and bushy island
to another which was large and inhabited. The desert isle was called
_Organa_; the large one by which they anchored _Oaracta_. (_Indica_, 37.)
Neither name is quite lost; the latter greater island is Kishm or
_Brakht_; the former _Jerún_,[2] perhaps in old Persian _Gerún_ or
_Gerán_, now again desert though no longer bushy, after having been for
three centuries the site of a city which became a poetic type of wealth
and splendour. An Eastern saying ran, "Were the world a ring, Hormuz would
be the jewel in it."
["The _Yüan shi_ mentions several seaports of the Indian Ocean as carrying
on trade with China; Hormuz is not spoken of there. I may, however, quote
from the Yüan History a curious statement which perhaps refers to this
port. In ch. cxxiii., biography of Arsz-lan, it is recorded that his
grandson Hurdutai, by order of Kubilai Khan, accompanied _Bu-lo no-yen_ on
his mission to the country of _Ha-rh-ma-sz_. This latter name may be
intended for Hormuz. I do not think that by the Noyen _Bulo_, M. Polo
could be meant, for the title Noyen would hardly have been applied to him.
But Rashid-eddin mentions a distinguished Mongol, by name _Pulad_, with
whom he was acquainted in Persia, and who furnished him with much
information regarding the history of the Mongols. This may be the _Bu-lo
no-yen_ of the Yüan History." (Bretschneider, _Med. Res._ II. p. 132.)--H.
C.]
NOTE 2.--A spirit is still distilled from dates in Persia, Mekran, Sind,
and some places in the west of India. It is mentioned by Strabo and
Dioscorides, according to Kämpfer, who says it was in his time made under
the name of a medicinal stomachic; the rich added _Radix Chinae_,
ambergris, and aromatic spices; the poor, liquorice and Persian absinth.
(_Sir B. Frere_; _Amoen. Exot._ 750; _Macd. Kinneir_, 220.)
["The _date_ wine with spices is not now made at Bender 'Abbás. Date
arrack, however, is occasionally found. At Kermán a sort of wine or arrack
is made with spices and alcohol, distilled from sugar; it is called
Má-ul-Háyát (water of life), and is recommended as an aphrodisiac. Grain in
the Shamíl plain is harvested in April, dates are gathered in August."
(_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. p. 496.)
See "Remarks on the Use of Wine and Distilled Liquors among the
Mohammedans of Turkey and Persia," pp. 315-330 of _Narrative of a Tour
through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia, and Mesopotamia_.... By the Rev.
Horatio Southgate,... London, 1840, vol. ii.--H. C.]
[Sir H. Yule quotes, in a MS. note, these lines from Moore's _Light of the
Harem_:
"Wine, too, of every clime and hue,
Around their liquid lustre threw
_Amber Rosolli_[3]--the bright dew
From vineyards of the Green Sea gushing."] See above, p. 114.
[Illustration: The Double or Latin Rudder, as shown in the Navicella of
Giotto. (From Eastlake.)]
The date and dry-fish diet of the Gulf people is noticed by most
travellers, and P. del a Valle repeats the opinion about its being the
only wholesome one. Ibn Batuta says the people of Hormuz had a saying,
"_Khormá wa máhí lút-i-Pádshahi_," i.e. "Dates and fish make an Emperor's
dish!" A fish, exactly like the tunny of the Mediterranean in general
appearance and habits, is one of the great objects of fishery off the Sind
and Mekran coasts. It comes in pursuit of shoals of anchovies, very much
like the Mediterranean fish also. (_I. B._ II. 231; _Sir B. Frere_.)
[Friar Odoric (_Cathay_, I. pp. 55-56) says: "And there you find (before
arriving at Hormuz) people who live almost entirely on dates, and you get
forty-two pounds of dates for less than a groat; and so of many other
things."]
NOTE 3.--The stitched vessels of Kermán ([Greek: ploiária raptà]) are
noticed in the _Periplus_. Similar accounts to those of our text are given
of the ships of the Gulf and of Western India by Jordanus and John of
Montecorvino. (_Jord._ p. 53; _Cathay_, p. 217.) "Stitched vessels," Sir
B. Frere writes, "are still used. I have seen them of 200 tons burden; but
they are being driven out by iron-fastened vessels, as iron gets cheaper,
except where (as on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts) the pliancy of a
stitched boat is useful in a surf. Till the last few years, when steamers
have begun to take all the best horses, the Arab horses bound to Bombay
almost all came in the way Marco Polo describes." Some of them do still,
standing over a date cargo, and the result of this combination gives rise
to an extraordinary traffic in the Bombay bazaar. From what Colonel Pelly
tells me, the stitched build in the Gulf is _now_ confined to
fishing-boats, and is disused for sea-going craft.
[Friar Odoric (_Cathay_, I. p. 57) mentioned these vessels: "In this
country men make use of a kind of vessel which they call _Jase_, which is
fastened only with stitching of twine. On one of these vessels I embarked,
and I could find no iron at all therein." _Jase_ is for the Arabic
_Djehaz_.--H. C.]
The fish-oil used to rub the ships was whale-oil. The old Arab voyagers of
the 9th century describe the fishermen of Siraf in the Gulf as cutting up
the whale-blubber and drawing the oil from it, which was mixed with other
stuff, and used to rub the joints of ships' planking. (_Reinaud_, I. 146.)
Both Montecorvino and Polo, in this passage, specify _one rudder_, as if
it was a peculiarity of these ships worth noting. The fact is that, in the
Mediterranean at least, the double rudders of the ancients kept their
place to a great extent through the Middle Ages. A Marseilles MS. of the
13th century, quoted in Ducange, says: "A ship requires three rudders, two
in place, and one to spare." Another: "Every two-ruddered bark shall pay a
groat each voyage; every one-ruddered bark shall," etc. (See Due. under
_Timonus_ and _Temo_.) Numerous proofs of the use of two rudders in the
13th century will be found in "_Documenti inediti riguardanti le due
Crociate di S. Ludovico IX., Re di Francia_, etc., da _L. T. Belgrano_,
Genova, 1859." Thus in a specification of ships to be built at Genoa for
the king (p. 7), each is to have "_Timones duo_, affaiticos, grossitudinis
palmorum viiii et dimidiae, longitudinis cubitorum xxiiii." Extracts given
by Capmany, regarding the equipment of galleys, show the same thing, for
he is probably mistaken in saying that one of the _dos timones_ specified
was a spare one. Joinville (p. 205) gives incidental evidence of the same:
"Those Marseilles ships have each two rudders, with each a tiller (?
_tison_) attached to it in such an ingenious way that you can turn the
ship right or left as fast as you would turn a horse. So on the Friday the
king was sitting upon one of these tillers, when he called me and said to
me," etc.[4] Francesco da Barberino, a poet of the 13th century, in the
7th part of his _Documenti d'Amore_ (printed at Rome in 1640), which
instructs the lover to whose lot it may fall to escort his lady on a
sea-voyage (instructions carried so far as to provide even for the case of
her death at sea!), alludes more than once to these plural rudders. Thus--
"---- se vedessi avenire
Che vento ti rompesse
_Timoni_ ...
In luogo di timoni
Fa spere[5] e in aqua poni." (P. 272-273.)
[Illustration: ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DOUBLE RUDDER OF THE MIDDLE AGES
12th Century Illumination (After Pertz)
Seal of Winchelsea.
12th Century Illumination (After Pertz)
From Leaning Tower (After Jal)
After Spinello Aretini at Siena
From Monument of St Peter Martyr]
And again, when about to enter a port, it is needful to be on the alert
and ready to run in case of a hostile reception, so the galley should
enter stern foremost--a movement which he reminds his lover involves the
reversal of the ordinary use of the two rudders:--
"_L' un timon leva suso
L' altro leggier tien giuso_,
Ma convien levar mano
Non mica com soleàno,
Ma per contraro, e face
Cosi 'l guidar verace." (P. 275.)
A representation of a vessel over the door of the Leaning Tower at Pisa
shows this arrangement, which is also discernible in the frescoes of
galley-fights by Spinello Aretini, in the Municipal Palace at Siena.
[Godinho de Eredia (1613), describing the smaller vessels of Malacca which
he calls _bâlos_ in ch. 13, _De Embarcaçôes_, says: "At the poop they have
two rudders, one on each side to steer with." E por poupa dos bâllos, tem
2 lêmes, hum en cada lado pera o governo. (_Malacca, l'Inde mérid. et le
Cathay_, Bruxelles, 1882, 4to, f. 26.)--H. C.]
The midship rudder seems to have been the more usual in the western seas,
and the double quarter-rudders in the Mediterranean. The former are
sometimes styled _Navarresques_ and the latter _Latins_. Yet early seals
of some of the Cinque Ports show vessels with the double rudder; one of
which (that of Winchelsea) is given in the cut.
In the Mediterranean the latter was still in occasional use late in the
16th century. Captain Pantero Pantera in his book, _L'Armata Navale_
(Rome, 1614, p. 44), says that the Galeasses, or great galleys, had the
helm _alla Navarresca_, but also a great oar on each side of it to assist
in turning the ship. And I observe that the great galeasses which precede
the Christian line of battle at Lepanto, in one of the frescoes by Vasari
in the Royal Hall leading to the Sistine Chapel, have the quarter-rudder
very distinctly.
The Chinese appear occasionally to employ it, as seems to be indicated in
a woodcut of a vessel of war which I have traced from a Chinese book in
the National Library at Paris. (See above, p. 37.) [For the Chinese words
for _rudder_, see p. 126 of J. Edkins' article on _Chinese Names for Boats
and Boat Gear, Jour. N. China Br. R. As. Soc._ N.S. XI. 1876.--H. C.] It
is also used by certain craft of the Indian Archipelago, as appears from
Mr. Wallace's description of the Prau in which he sailed from Macassar to
the Aru Islands. And on the Caspian, it is stated in Smith's "Dict. of
Antiquities" (art. _Gubernaculum_), the practice remained in force till
late times. A modern traveller was nearly wrecked on that sea, because the
two rudders were in the hands of two pilots who spoke different languages,
and did not understand each other!
(Besides the works quoted see _Jal, Archéologie Navale_, II. 437-438, and
_Capmany, Memorias_, III. 61.)
[Major Sykes remarks (_Persia_, ch. xxiii.): "Some unrecorded event,
probably the sight of the unseaworthy craft, which had not an ounce of
iron in their composition, made our travellers decide that the risks of
the sea were too great, so that we have the pleasure of accompanying them
back to Kermán and thence northwards to Khorasán."--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--So also at Bander Abbási Tavernier says it was so unhealthy that
foreigners could not stop there beyond March; everybody left it in April.
Not a hundredth part of the population, says Kämpfer, remained in the
city. Not a beggar would stop for any reward! The rich went to the towns
of the interior or to the cool recesses of the mountains, the poor took
refuge in the palm-groves at the distance of a day or two from the city. A
place called 'Ishin, some 12 miles north of the city, was a favourite
resort of the European and Hindu merchants. Here were fine gardens,
spacious baths, and a rivulet of fresh and limpid water.
The custom of lying in water is mentioned also by Sir John Maundevile, and
it was adopted by the Portuguese when they occupied Insular Hormuz, as P.
della Valle and Linschoten relate. The custom is still common during great
heats, in Sind and Mekran (Sir B. F.).
An anonymous ancient geography (_Liber Junioris Philosophi_) speaks of a
people in India who live in the Terrestrial Paradise, and lead the life of
the Golden Age.... The sun is so hot _that they remain all day in the
river!_
The heat in the Straits of Hormuz drove Abdurrazzak into an anticipation
of a verse familiar to English schoolboys: "Even the bird of rapid flight
was burnt up in the heights of heaven, as well as the fish in the depths
of the sea!" (_Tavern._ Bk. V. ch. xxiii.; _Am. Exot._ 716, 762; _Müller,
Geog. Gr. Min._ II. 514; _India in XV. Cent._ p. 49.)
NOTE 5.--A like description of the effect of the _Simúm_ on the human body
is given by Ibn Batuta, Chardin, A. Hamilton, Tavernier, Thévenot, etc.;
and the first of these travellers speaks specially of its prevalence in
the desert near Hormuz, and of the many graves of its victims; but I have
met with no reasonable account of its poisonous action. I will quote
Chardin, already quoted at greater length by Marsden, as the most complete
parallel to the text: "The most surprising effect of the wind is not the
mere fact of its causing death, but its operation on the bodies of those
who are killed by it. It seems as if they became decomposed without losing
shape, so that you would think them to be merely asleep, when they are not
merely dead, but in such a state that if you take hold of any part of the
body it comes away in your hand. And the finger penetrates such a body as
if it were so much dust." (III. 286.)
Burton, on his journey to Medina, says: "The people assured me that this
wind never killed a man in their Allah-favoured land. I doubt the fact. At
Bir Abbas the body of an Arnaut was brought in swollen, and decomposed
rapidly, the true diagnosis of death by the poison-wind." Khanikoff is
very distinct as to the immediate fatality of the desert wind at Khabis,
near Kermán, but does not speak of the effect on the body after death.
This Major St. John does, describing a case that occurred in June, 1871,
when he was halting, during intense heat, at the post-house of Pasangan, a
few miles south of Kom. The bodies were brought in of two poor men, who
had tried to start some hours before sunset, and were struck down by the
poisonous blast within half-a-mile of the post-house. "It was found
impossible to wash them before burial.... Directly the limbs were touched
they separated from the trunk." (_Oc. Highways, ut. sup._) About 1790,
when Timúr Sháh of Kabul sent an army under the Sirdár-i-Sirdárán to put
down a revolt in Meshed, this force on its return was struck by Simúm in
the Plain of Farrah, and the Sirdár perished, with a great number of his
men. (_Ferrier, H. of the Afghans_, 102; _J. R. G. S._ XXVI. 217; _Khan.
Mém._ 210.)
NOTE 6.--The History of Hormuz is very imperfectly known. What I have met
with on the subject consists of--(1) An abstract by Teixeira of a
chronicle of Hormuz, written by Thurán Sháh, who was himself sovereign of
Hormuz, and died in 1377; (2) some contemporary notices by Wassáf, which
are extracted by Hammer in his History of the Ilkhans; (3) some notices
from Persian sources in the 2nd Decade of De Barros (ch. ii.). The last do
not go further back than Gordun Sháh, the father of Thurán Sháh, to whom
they erroneously ascribe the first migration to the Island.
One of Teixeira's Princes is called _Ruknuddin Mahmud_, and with him
Marsden and Pauthier have identified Polo's Ruomedam Acomet, or as he is
called on another occasion in the Geog. Text, _Maimodi Acomet_. This,
however, is out of the question, for the death of Ruknuddin is assigned to
A.H. 675 (A.D. 1277), whilst there can, I think, be no doubt that Marco's
account refers to the period of his return from China, viz. 1293 or
thereabouts.
We find in Teixeira that the ruler who succeeded in 1290 was _Amir
Masa'úd_, who obtained the Government by the murder of his brother
Saifuddin Nazrat. Masa'úd was cruel and oppressive; most of the
influential people withdrew to Baháuddin Ayaz, whom Saifuddin had made
Wazir of Kalhát on the Arabian coast. This Wazir assembled a force and
drove out Masa'úd after he had reigned three years. He fled to Kermán and
died there some years afterwards.
Baháuddin, who had originally been a slave of Saifuddin Nazrat's,
succeeded in establishing his authority. But about 1300 great bodies of
Turks (i.e. Tartars) issuing from Turkestan ravaged many provinces of
Persia, including Kermán and Hormuz. The people, unable to bear the
frequency of such visitations, retired first to the island of Kishm, and
then to that of Jerún, on which last was built the city of New Hormuz,
afterwards so famous. This is Teixeira's account from Thurán Sháh, so far
as we are concerned with it. As regards the transfer of the city it agrees
substantially with Abulfeda's, which we have already quoted (supra,
note 1).
Hammer's account from Wassáf is frightfully confused, chiefly I should
suppose from Hammer's own fault; for among other things he assumes that
Hormuz was always on an island, and he distinguishes between the Island of
Hormuz and the Island of Jerún! We gather, however, that Hormuz before the
Mongol time formed a government subordinate to the Salghur Atabegs of Fars
(see note 1, ch. xv.), and when the power of that Dynasty was falling, the
governor Mahmúd Kalháti, established himself as Prince of Hormuz, and
became the founder of a petty dynasty, being evidently identical with
Teixeira's Ruknuddin Mahmud above-named, who is represented as reigning
from 1246 to 1277. In Wassáf we find, as in Teixeira, Mahmúd's son Masa'úd
killing his brother Nazrat, and Baháuddin expelling Masa'úd. It is true
that Hammer's surprising muddle makes Nazrat kill Masa'úd; however, as a
few lines lower we find Masa'úd alive and Nazrat dead, we may safely
venture on this correction. But we find also that Masa'úd appears as
_Ruknuddin_ Masa'úd, and that Baháuddin does not assume the princely
authority himself, but proclaims that of _Fakhruddin Ahmed_ Ben Ibrahim
At-Thaibi, a personage who does not appear in Teixeira at all. A MS.
history, quoted by Ouseley, _does_ mention Fakhruddin, and ascribes to him
the transfer to Jerún. Wassáf seems to allude to Baháuddin as a sort of
Sea Rover, occupying the islands of Larek and Jerún, whilst Fakhruddin
reigned at Hormuz. It is difficult to understand the relation between the
two.
It is _possible_ that Polo's memory made some confusion between the names
of RUKNUDDIN Masa'úd and Fakhruddin AHMED, but I incline to think the
latter is his RUOMEDAN AHMED. For Teixeira tells us that Masa'úd took
refuge at the court of Kermán, and Wassáf represents him as supported in
his claims by the Atabeg of that province, whilst we see that Polo seems
to represent Ruomedan Acomat as in hostility with that prince. To add to
the imbroglio I find in a passage of Wassáf Malik Fakhruddin Ahmed
at-Thaibi sent by Ghazan Khan in 1297 as ambassador to Khanbalig, staying
there some years, and dying off the Coromandel coast on his return in
1305. (Elliot, iii. pp. 45-47.)
Masa'úd's seeking help from Kermán to reinstate him is not the first case
of the same kind that occurs in Teixeira's chronicle, so there may have
been some kind of colour for Marco's representation of the Prince of
Hormuz as the vassal of the Atabeg of Kermán ("_l'homme de cest roy de
Creman_;" see _Prologue_, ch. xiv. note 2). M. Khanikoff denies the
_possibility_ of the existence of any _royal dynasty_ at Hormuz at this
period. That there _was_ a dynasty of _Maliks_ of Hormuz, however, at this
period we must believe on the concurring testimony of Marco, of Wassáf,
and of Thurán Sháh. There was also, it would seem, another
_quasi_-independent principality in the Island of Kais. (_Hammer's Ilch._
II. 50, 51; _Teixeira, Relacion de los Reyes de Hormuz; Khan. Notice_,
p. 34.)
The ravages of the Tartars which drove the people of Hormuz from their
city may have begun with the incursions of the Nigudaris and Karaunahs,
but they probably came to a climax in the great raid in 1299 of the
Chaghataian Prince Kotlogh Shah, son of Dua Khan, a part of whose bands
besieged the city itself, though they are said to have been repulsed by
Baháuddin Ayas.
[The Dynasty of Hormuz was founded about 1060 by a Yemen chief Mohammed
Dirhem Ko, and remained subject to Kermán till 1249, when Rokn ed-din
Mahmúd III. Kalháti (1242-1277) made himself independent. The immediate
successors of Rokn ed-din were Saif ed-din Nazrat (1277-1290), Masa'úd
(1290-1293), Bahad ed-din Ayaz Sayfin (1293-1311). Hormuz was captured by
the Portuguese in 1510 and by the Persians in 1622.--H. C.]
NOTE 7.--The indications of this alternative route to Kermán are very
vague, but it may probably have been that through Finn, Tárum, and the
Sírján district, passing out of the plain of Hormuz by the eastern flank
of the Ginao mountain. This road would pass near the hot springs at the
base of the said mountain, Sarga, Khurkhu, and Ginao, which are described
by Kämpfer. Being more or less sulphureous they are likely to be useful in
skin-diseases: indeed, Hamilton speaks of their efficacy in these. (I.
95.) The salt-streams are numerous on this line, and dates are abundant.
The bitterness of the bread was, however, more probably due to another
cause, as Major Smith has kindly pointed out to me: "Throughout the
mountains in the south of Persia, which are generally covered with dwarf
oak, the people are in the habit of making bread of the acorns, or of the
acorns mixed with wheat or barley. It is dark in colour, and very hard,
bitter, and unpalatable."
Major St. John also noticed the bitterness of the bread in Kermán, but his
servants attributed it to the presence in the wheat-fields of a bitter
leguminous plant, with a yellowish white flower, which the Kermánis were
too lazy to separate, so that much remained in the thrashing, and imparted
its bitter flavour to the grain (surely the _Tare_ of our Lord's
Parable!).
[General Houtum-Schindler says (l.c. p. 496): "Marco Polo's return journey
was, I am inclined to think, viâ Urzú and Báft, the shortest and most
direct road. The road viâ Tárum and Sírján is very seldom taken by
travellers intending to go to Kermán; it is only frequented by the
caravans going between Bender 'Abbás and Bahrámábád, three stages west of
Kermán. Hot springs, 'curing itch,' I noticed at two places on the
Urzú-Báft road. There were some near Qal'ah Asgber and others near Dashtáb;
they were frequented by people suffering from skin-diseases, and were
highly sulphureous; the water of those near Dashtáb turned a silver ring
black after two hours' immersion. Another reason of my advocating the Urzú
road is that the bitter bread spoken of by Marco Polo is only found on it,
viz. at Báft and in Bardshír. In Sírján, to the west, and on the roads to
the east, the bread is sweet. The bitter taste is from the Khúr, a bitter
leguminous plant, which grows among the wheat, and whose grains the people
are too lazy to pick out. There is not a single oak between Bender 'Abbás
and Kermán; none of the inhabitants seemed to know what an acorn was. A
person at Báft, who had once gone to Kerbelá viâ Kermánsháh and Baghdád,
recognised my sketch of tree and fruit immediately, having seen oak and
acorn between Kermánsháh and Qasr-i-Shírín on the Baghdád road." Major
Sykes writes (ch. xxiii.): "The above description undoubtedly refers to the
main winter route, which runs viâ Sírján. This is demonstrated by the fact
that under the Kuh-i-Ginao, the summer station of Bandar Abbás, there is a
magnificent sulphur spring, which, welling from an orifice 4 feet in
diameter, forms a stream some 30 yards wide. Its temperature at the source
is 113 degrees, and its therapeutic properties are highly appreciated. As
to the bitterness of the bread, it is suggested in the notes that it was
caused by being mixed with acorns, but, to-day at any rate, there are no
oak forests in this part of Persia, and I would urge that it is better to
accept our traveller's statement, that it was due to the bitterness of the
water."--However, I prefer Gen. Houtum-Schindler's theory.--H. C.]
[1] It is but fair to say that scholars so eminent as Professors Sprenger
and Blochmann have considered the original suggestion lawful and
probable. Indeed, Mr. Blochmann says in a letter: "After studying a
language for years, one acquires a natural feeling for anything
un-idiomatic; but I must confess I see nothing un-Persian in
_rúdbár-i-duzd_, nor in _rúdbár-i-lass_.... How common _lass_ is, you
may see from one fact, that it occurs in children's reading-books." We
must not take _Reobarles_ in Marco's French as rhyming to (French)
_Charles_; every syllable sounds. It is remarkable that _Las_, as the
name of a small State near our Sind frontier, is said to mean, "in the
language of the country," _a level plain_. (_J. A. S. B._ VIII. 195.)
It is not clear what is meant by the language of the country. The
chief is a Brahui, the people are Lumri or Numri Bilúchis, who are,
according to Tod, of Jat descent.
[2] Sir Henry Rawlinson objects to this identification (which is the same
that Dr. Karl Müller adopts), saying that _Organa_ is more probably
"Angan, formerly Argan." To this I cannot assent. Nearchus sails 300
stadia from the mouth of Anamis to Oaracta, and _on his way_ passes
Organa. Taking 600 stadia to the degree (Dr. Müller's value), I make
it just 300 stadia from the mouth of the Hormuz creek to the eastern
point of Kishm. Organa must have been either Jerún or Lárek; Angan
(_Hanjám_ of Mas'udi) is out of the question. And as a straight run
must have passed quite close to Jerún, not to Larek, I find the former
most probable. Nearchus next day proceeds 200 stadia along Oaracta,
and anchors in sight of another island (Neptune's) which was separated
by 40 stadia from Oaracta. _This_ was Angan; no other island answers,
and for this the distances answer with singular precision.
[3] Moore refers to _Persian Tales_.
[4] This _tison_ can be seen in the cuts from the tomb of St. Peter Martyr
and the seal of Winchelsea.
[5] _Spere_, bundles of spars, etc., dragged overboard.
CHAPTER XX.
OF THE WEARISOME AND DESERT ROAD THAT HAS NOW TO BE TRAVELLED.
On departing from the city of Kerman you find the road for seven days most
wearisome; and I will tell you how this is.[NOTE 1] The first three days
you meet with no water, or next to none. And what little you do meet with
is bitter green stuff, so salt that no one can drink it; and in fact if
you drink a drop of it, it will set you purging ten times at least by the
way. It is the same with the salt which is made from those streams; no one
dares to make use of it, because of the excessive purging which it
occasions. Hence it is necessary to carry water for the people to last
these three days; as for the cattle, they must needs drink of the bad
water I have mentioned, as there is no help for it, and their great thirst
makes them do so. But it scours them to such a degree that sometimes they
die of it. In all those three days you meet with no human habitation; it
is all desert, and the extremity of drought. Even of wild beasts there are
none, for there is nothing for them to eat.[NOTE 2]
After those three days of desert [you arrive at a stream of fresh water
running underground, but along which there are holes broken in here and
there, perhaps undermined by the stream, at which you can get sight of it.
It has an abundant supply, and travellers, worn with the hardships of the
desert, here rest and refresh themselves and their beasts.][NOTE 3]
You then enter another desert which extends for four days; it is very much
like the former except that you do see some wild asses. And at the
termination of these four days of desert the kingdom of Kerman comes to an
end, and you find another city which is called Cobinan.
NOTE 1. ["The present road from Kermán to Kúbenán is to Zerend about 50
miles, to the Sár i Benán 15 miles, thence to Kúbenán 30 miles--total 95
miles. Marco Polo cannot have taken the direct road to Kúbenán, as it took
him seven days to reach it. As he speaks of waterless deserts, he probably
took a circuitous route to the east of the mountains, viâ Kúhpáyeh and
the desert lying to the north of Khabis." (_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. pp.
496-497.) (Cf. _Major Sykes_, ch. xxiii.)--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--This description of the Desert of Kermán, says Mr. Khanikoff, "is
very correct. As the only place in the Desert of Lút where water is found
is the dirty, salt, bitter, and green water of the rivulet called
_Shor-Rúd_ (the Salt River), we can have no doubt of the direction of Marco
Polo's route from Kermán so far." Nevertheless I do not agree with
Khanikoff that the route lay N.E. in the direction of Ambar and Kain, for a
reason which will appear under the next chapter. I imagine the route to
have been nearly due north from Kermán, in the direction of Tabbas or of
Tún. And even such a route would, according to Khanikoff's own map, pass
the Shor-Rúd, though at a higher point.
I extract a few lines from that gentleman's narrative: "In proportion as
we got deeper into the desert, the soil became more and more arid; at
daybreak I could still discover a few withered plants of _Caligonum_ and
_Salsola_, and not far from the same spot I saw a lark and another bird of
a whitish colour, the last living things that we beheld in this dismal
solitude.... The desert had now completely assumed the character of a land
accursed, as the natives call it. Not the smallest blade of grass, no
indication of animal life vivified the prospect; no sound but such as came
from our own caravan broke the dreary silence of the void." (_Mém._ p.
176.)
[Major P. Molesworth Sykes (_Geog. Jour._ X. p. 578) writes: "At Tun, I
was on the northern edge of the great Dash-i-Lut (Naked Desert), which lay
between us and Kerman, and which had not been traversed, in this
particular portion, since the illustrious Marco Polo crossed it, in the
opposite direction, when travelling from Kerman to 'Tonocain' viâ
Cobinan." Major Sykes (_Persia_, ch. iii.) seems to prove that geographers
have, without sufficient grounds, divided the great desert of Persia into
two regions, that to the north being termed Dasht-i-Kavir, and that
further south the Dasht-i-Lut--and that Lut is the one name for the whole
desert, Dash-i-Lut being almost a redundancy, and that _Kavir_ (the arabic
_Kafr_) is applied to every saline swamp. "This great desert stretches
from a few miles out of Tehrán practically to the British frontier, a
distance of about 700 miles."--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--I can have no doubt of the genuineness of this passage from
Ramusio. Indeed some such passage is necessary; otherwise why distinguish
between three days of desert and four days more of desert? The underground
stream was probably a subterraneous canal (called _Kanát_ or _Kárez_),
such as is common in Persia; often conducted from a great distance. Here
it may have been a relic of abandoned cultivation. Khanikoff, on the road
between Kermán and Yezd, not far west of that which I suppose Marco to be
travelling, says: "At the fifteen inhabited spots marked upon the map,
they have water which has been brought from a great distance, and at
considerable cost, by means of subterranean galleries, to which you
descend by large and deep wells. Although the water flows at some depth,
its course is tracked upon the surface by a line of more abundant
vegetation." (Ib. p. 200.) Elphinstone says he has heard of such
subterranean conduits 36 miles in length. (I. 398.) Polybius speaks of
them: "There is no sign of water on the surface; but there are many
underground channels, and these supply tanks in the desert, that are known
only to the initiated.... At the time when the Persians got the upper hand
in Asia, they used to concede to such persons as brought spring-water to
places previously destitute of irrigation, the usufruct for five
generations. And Taurus being rife with springs, they incurred all the
expense and trouble that was needed to form these underground channels to
great distances, insomuch that in these days even the people who make use
of the water don't know where the channels begin, or whence the water
comes." (X. 28.)
CHAPTER XXI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF COBINAN AND THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE THERE.
Cobinan is a large town.[NOTE 1] The people worship Mahommet. There is
much Iron and Steel and _Ondanique_, and they make steel mirrors of great
size and beauty. They also prepare both _Tutia_ (a thing very good for the
eyes) and _Spodium_; and I will tell you the process.
They have a vein of a certain earth which has the required quality, and
this they put into a great flaming furnace, whilst over the furnace there
is an iron grating. The smoke and moisture, expelled from the earth of
which I speak, adhere to the iron grating, and thus form _Tutia_, whilst
the slag that is left after burning is the _Spodium_.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--KUH-BANÁN is mentioned by Mokaddasi (A.D. 985) as one of the
cities of Bardesír, the most northerly of the five circles into which he
divides Kermán. (See _Sprenger, Post- und Reise-routen des Orients_, p.
77.) It is the subject of an article in the Geog. Dictionary of Yákút,
though it has been there mistranscribed into _Kubiyán_ and _Kukiyán_. (See
Leipzig ed. 1869, iv. p. 316, and _Barbier de Meynard_, _Dict. de la
Perse_, p. 498.) And it is also indicated by Mr. Abbott (_J. R. G. S._
XXV. 25) as the name of a district of Kermán, lying some distance to the
east of his route when somewhat less than half-way between Yezd and
Kermán. It would thus, I apprehend, be on or near the route between Kermán
and Tabbas; one which I believe has been traced by no modern traveller. We
may be certain that there is now no place at Kuh-Banán deserving the title
of _une cité grant_, nor is it easy to believe that there was in Polo's
time; he applies such terms too profusely. The meaning of the name is
perhaps "Hill of the Terebinths, or Wild Pistachioes," "a tree which grows
abundantly in the recesses of bleak, stony, and desert mountains, e.g.
about Shamákhi, about Shiraz, and in the deserts of Luristan and Lar."
(_Kämpfer_, 409, 413.)
["It is strange that Marco Polo speaks of Kúbenán only on his return
journey from Kermán; on the down journey he must have been told that
Kúbenán was in close proximity; it is even probable that he passed there,
as Persian travellers of those times, when going from Kermán to Yazd, and
_vice versá_, always called at Kúbenán." (_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. p.
490.) In all histories this name is written Kúbenán, not Kúhbenán; the
pronunciation to-day is Kóbenán and Kobenún.--H. C.]
I had thought my identification of _Cobinan_ original, but a communication
from Mr. Abbott, and the opportunity which this procured me of seeing his
MS. Report already referred to, showed that he had anticipated me many
years ago. The following is an extract: "_Districts of Kerman * * * Kooh
Benan_. This is a hilly district abounding in fruits, such as grapes,
peaches, pomegranates, _sinjid_ (sweet-willow), walnuts, melons. A great
deal of madder and some asafoetida is produced there. _This is no doubt
the country alluded to by Marco Polo, under the name of Cobinam_, as
producing iron, brass, and tutty, and which is still said to produce iron,
copper, and tootea." There appear to be lead mines also in the district,
as well as asbestos and sulphur. Mr. Abbott adds the names of nine
villages, which he was not able to verify by comparison. These are Púz,
Tarz, Gújard, Aspaj, Kuh-i-Gabr, Dahnah, Búghín, Bassab, Radk. The
position of Kuh Banán is stated to lie between Bahabád (a place also
mentioned by Yákút as producing _Tutia_) and Ráví, but this does not help
us, and for approximate position we can only fall back on the note in Mr.
Abbott's field-book, as published in the _J. R. G. S._, viz. that the
_District_ lay in the mountains E.S.E. from a caravanserai 10 miles S.E.
of Gudran. To get the seven marches of Polo's Itinerary we must carry the
_Town_ of Kuh Banán as far north as this indication can possibly admit,
for Abbott made only five and a half marches from the spot where this
observation was made to Kermán. Perhaps Polo's route deviated for the sake
of the fresh water. That a district, such as Mr. Abbott's Report speaks
of, should lie unnoticed, in a tract which our maps represent as part of
the Great Desert, shows again how very defective our geography of Persia
still is.
["During the next stage to Darband, we passed ruins that I believe to be
those of Marco Polo's 'Cobinan' as the modern Kúhbenán does not at all fit
in with the great traveller's description, and it is just as well to
remember that in the East the caravan routes seldom change." (Captain P.
M. Sykes, _Geog. Jour._ X. p. 580.--See _Persia_, ch. xxiii.)
Kuh Banán has been visited by Mr. E. Stack, of the Indian Civil Service.
(_Six Months in Persia_, London, 1882, I. 230.)--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--_Tutty_ (i.e. Tutia) is in modern English an impure oxide of
zinc, collected from the flues where brass is made; and this appears to be
precisely what Polo describes, unless it be that in his account the
production of tutia from an ore of zinc is represented as the object and
not an accident of the process. What he says reads almost like a condensed
translation of Galen's account of _Pompholyx_ and _Spodos_: "Pompholyx is
produced in copper-smelting as _Cadmia_ is; and it is also produced from
Cadmia (carbonate of zinc) when put in the furnace, as is done (for
instance) in Cyprus. The master of the works there, having no copper ready
for smelting, ordered some pompholyx to be prepared from cadmia in my
presence. Small pieces of cadmia were thrown into the fire in front of the
copper-blast. The furnace top was covered, with no vent at the crown, and
intercepted the soot of the roasted cadmia. This, when collected,
constitutes _Pompholyx_, whilst that which falls on the hearth is called
_Spodos_, a great deal of which is got in copper-smelting." Pompholyx, he
adds, is an ingredient in salves for eye discharges and pustules. (_Galen,
De Simpl. Medic._, p. ix. in Latin ed., Venice, 1576.) Matthioli, after
quoting this, says that Pompholyx was commonly known in the laboratories
by the Arabic name of _Tutia_. I see that pure oxide of zinc is stated to
form in modern practice a valuable eye-ointment.
Teixeira speaks of tutia as found only in Kermán, in a range of mountains
twelve parasangs from the capital. The ore got here was kneaded with
water, and set to bake in crucibles in a potter's kiln. When well baked,
the crucibles were lifted and emptied, and the _tutia_ carried in boxes to
Hormuz for sale. This corresponds with a modern account in Milburne, which
says that the tutia imported to India from the Gulf is made from an
argillaceous ore of zinc, which is moulded into tubular cakes, and baked
to a moderate hardness. The accurate Garcia da Horta is wrong for once in
saying that the tutia of Kermán is no mineral, but the ash of a certain
tree called _Goan_.
(_Matth. on Dioscorides_, Ven. 1565, pp. 1338-40; _Teixeira, Relacion de
Persia_, p. 121; _Milburne's Or. Commerce_, I. 139; _Garcia_, f. 21 v.;
_Eng. Cyc._, art. _Zinc_.)
[General A. Houtum-Schindler (_Jour. R. As. Soc._ N.S. XIII. October,
1881, p. 497) says: "The name Tútíá for collyrium is now not used in
Kermán. Tútíá, when the name stands alone, is sulphate of copper, which in
other parts of Persia is known as Kát-i-Kebúd; Tútíá-i-sabz (green Tútíá)
is sulphate of iron, also called Záj-i-síyah. A piece of Tútíá-i-zard
(yellow Tútíá) shown to me was alum, generally called Záj-i-safíd; and a
piece of Tútíá-í-safíd (white Tútíá) seemed to be an argillaceous zinc
ore. Either of these may have been the earth mentioned by Marco Polo as
being put into the furnace. The lampblack used as collyrium is always
called Surmah. This at Kermán itself is the soot produced by the flame of
wicks, steeped in castor oil or goat's fat, upon earthenware saucers. In
the high mountainous districts of the province, Kúbenán, Páríz, and
others, Surmah is the soot of the Gavan plant (Garcia's goan). This plant,
a species of Astragalus, is on those mountains very fat and succulent;
from it also exudes the Tragacanth gum. The soot is used dry as an
eye-powder, or, mixed with tallow, as an eye-salve. It is occasionally
collected on iron gratings.
"Tútíá is the Arabicised word dúdhá, Persian for smokes.
"The Shems-ul-loghát calls Tútíá a medicine for eyes, and a stone used for
the fabrication of Surmah. The Tohfeh says Tútíá is of three kinds--yellow
and blue mineral Tútíá, Tútíá-i-qalam (collyrium) made from roots, and
Tútíá resulting from the process of smelting copper ore. 'The best
Tútíá-i-qalam comes from Kermán.' It adds, 'Some authors say Surmah is
sulphuret of antimony, others say it is a composition of iron'; I should
say any _black_ composition used for the eyes is Surmah, be it lampblack,
antimony, iron, or a mixture of all.
"Teixeira's Tútíá was an impure oxide of zinc, perhaps the above-mentioned
Tútíá-i-safíd, baked into cakes; it was probably the East India Company's
Lapis Tútíá, also called Tutty. The Company's Tutenague and Tutenage,
occasionally confounded with Tutty, was the so-called 'Chinese Copper,'
an alloy of copper, zinc, and iron, brought from China."
Major Sykes (ch. xxiii.) writes: "I translated Marco's description of
_tutia_ (which is also the modern Persian name), to a khán of Kubenán, and
he assured me that the process was the same to-day; spodium he knew
nothing about, but the sulphate of zinc is found in the hills to the east
of Kubenán."
Heyd (_Com._ II. p. 675) says in a note: "Il résulte de l'ensemble de ce
passage que les matières désignées par Marco Polo sous le nom de 'espodie'
(spodium) étaient des scories métalliques; en général, le mot spodium
désigne les résidus de la combustion des matières végétales ou des os (de
l'ivoire)."--H. C.]
CHAPTER XXII.
OF A CERTAIN DESERT THAT CONTINUES FOR EIGHT DAYS' JOURNEY.
When you depart from this City of Cobinan, you find yourself again in a
Desert of surpassing aridity, which lasts for some eight days; here are
neither fruits nor trees to be seen, and what water there is is bitter and
bad, so that you have to carry both food and water. The cattle must needs
drink the bad water, will they nill they, because of their great thirst.
At the end of those eight days you arrive at a Province which is called
TONOCAIN. It has a good many towns and villages, and forms the extremity
of Persia towards the North.[NOTE 1] It also 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. And there, the people of the country
tell you, was fought the battle between Alexander and King Darius.[NOTE 2]
The towns and villages have great abundance of everything good, for the
climate is extremely temperate, being neither very hot nor very cold. The
natives all worship Mahommet, and are a very fine-looking people,
especially the women, who are surpassingly beautiful.
NOTE 1.--All that region has been described as "a country divided into
deserts that are salt, and deserts that are not salt." (_Vigne_, I. 16.)
_Tonocain_, as we have seen (ch. xv. note 1), is the Eastern Kuhistan of
Persia, but extended by Polo, it would seem to include the whole of
Persian Khorasan. No city in particular is indicated as visited by the
traveller, but the view I take of the position of the _Arbre Sec_, as well
as his route through Kuh-Banán, would lead me to suppose that he reached
the Province of TUN-O-KAIN about Tabbas.
["Marco Polo has been said to have traversed a portion of (the
Dash-i-Kavir, great Salt Desert) on his supposed route from Tabbas to
Damghan, about 1272; although it is more probable that he marched further
to the east, and crossed the northern portion of the Dash-i-Lut, Great Sand
Desert, separating Khorasan in the south-east from Kermán, and occupying a
sorrowful parallelogram between the towns of Neh and Tabbas on the north,
and Kermán and Yezd on the south." (Curzon, _Persia_, II. pp. 248 and 251.)
Lord Curzon adds in a note (p. 248): "The Tunogan of the text which was
originally mistaken for Damghan, is correctly explained by Yule as Tun-o-
(i.e. and) Káin." Major Sykes writes (ch. xxiii.): "The section of the Lut
has not hitherto been rediscovered, but I know that it is desert
throughout, and it is practically certain that Marco ended these unpleasant
experiences at Tabas, 150 miles from Kubenán. To-day the district is known
as Tun-o-Tabas, Káin being independent of it."--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--This is another subject on which a long and somewhat discursive
note is inevitable.
One of the Bulletins of the Soc. de Géographie (sér. III. tom. iii. p.
187) contains a perfectly inconclusive endeavour, by M. Roux de Rochelle,
to identify the _Arbre Sec_ or _Arbre Sol_ with a manna-bearing oak
alluded to by Q. Curtius as growing in Hyrcania. There can be no doubt
that the tree described is, as Marsden points out, a _Chínár_ or Oriental
Plane. Mr. Ernst Meyer, in his learned _Geschichte der Botanik_
(Königsberg, 1854-57, IV. 123), objects that Polo's description of the
_wood_ does not answer to that tree. But, with due allowance, compare with
his whole account that which Olearius gives of the Chinar, and say if the
same tree be not meant. "The trees are as tall as the pine, and have very
large leaves, closely resembling those of the vine. The fruit looks like a
chestnut, but has no kernel, so it is not eatable. The wood is of a very
brown colour, and full of veins; the Persians employ it for doors and
window-shutters, and when these are rubbed with oil they are incomparably
handsomer than our walnut-wood joinery." (I. 526.) The Chinar-wood is used
in Kashmir for gunstocks.
The whole tenor of the passage seems to imply that some eminent
_individual_ Chinar is meant. The appellations given to it vary in the
different texts. In the G. T. it is styled in this passage, "The _Arbre
Seule_ which the Christians call the _Arbre Sec_," whilst in ch. cci. of
the same (infra, Bk. IV. ch. v.) it is called "_L'Arbre Sol_, which in the
Book of Alexander is called _L'Arbre Seche_" Pauthier has here "_L'Arbre
Solque_, que nous appelons _L'Arbre Sec_," and in the later passage
"_L'Arbre Soul_, que le Livre Alexandre apelle _Arbre Sec_;" whilst
Ramusio has here "_L'Albero del Sole_ che si chiama per i Cristiani
_L'Albor Secco_," and does not contain the later passage. So also I think
all the old Latin and French printed texts, which are more or less based
on Pipino's version, have "The _Tree of the Sun_, which the Latins call
the _Dry Tree_."
[G. Capus says (_A travers le roy. de Tamerlan_, p. 296) that he found at
Khodjakent, the remains of an enormous plane-tree or _Chinar_, which
measured no less than 48 metres (52 yards) in circumference at the base,
and 9 metres diameter inside the rotten trunk; a dozen tourists from
Tashkent one day feasted inside, and were all at ease.--H. C.]
Pauthier, building as usual on the reading of his own text (_Solque_),
endeavours to show that this odd word represents _Thoulk_, the Arabic name
of a tree to which Forskal gave the title of _Ficus Vasta_, and this Ficus
Vasta he will have to be the same as the Chinar. _Ficus Vasta_ would be a
strange name surely to give to a Plane-tree, but Forskal may be acquitted
of such an eccentricity. The _Tholak_ (for that seems to be the proper
vocalisation) is a tree of Arabia Felix, very different from the Chinar,
for it is the well-known Indian Banyan, or a closely-allied species, as
may be seen in Forskal's description. The latter indeed says that the Arab
botanists called it _Delb_, and that (or _Dulb_) is really a synonym for
the Chinar. But De Sacy has already commented upon this supposed
application of the name Delb to the _Tholak_ as erroneous. (See _Flora
Aegyptiaco-Arabica_, pp. cxxiv. and 179; _Abdallatif, Rel. de l'Egypte_,
p. 80; _J. R. G. S._ VIII. 275; _Ritter_, VI. 662, 679.)
The fact is that the _Solque_ of M. Pauthier's text is a mere copyist's
error in the reduplication of the pronoun _que_. In his chief MS. which he
cites as A (No. 10,260 of Bibl. Nationale, now _Fr_. 5631) we can even see
how this might easily happen, for one line ends with _Solque_ and the next
begins with _que_. The true reading is, I doubt not, that which this MS.
points to, and which the G. Text gives us in the second passage quoted
above, viz. _Arbre_ SOL, occurring in Ramusio as _Albero del_ SOLE. To
make this easier of acceptation I must premise two remarks: first, that
_Sol_ is "the Sun" in both Venetian and Provençal; and, secondly, that in
the French of that age the prepositional sign is not _necessary_ to the
genitive. Thus, in Pauthier's own text we find in one of the passages
quoted above, "_Le Livre Alexandre_, i.e. Liber Alexandri;" elsewhere,
"_Cazan le fils Argon_," "_à la mère sa femme_," "_Le corps Monseigneur
Saint Thomas si est en ceste Province_;" in Joinville, "_le commandemant
Mahommet_" "_ceux de la_ Haulequa _estoient logiez entour les héberges le
soudanc, et establiz pour le cors le soudanc garder_;" in Baudouin de
Sebourc, "_De l'amour Bauduin esprise et enflambée_."
Moreover it is the TREE OF THE SUN that is prominent in the legendary
History of Alexander, a fact sufficient in itself to rule the reading. A
character in an old English play says:--
"_Peregrine_. Drake was a didapper to Mandevill:
Candish and Hawkins, Frobisher, all our Voyagers
Went short of Mandevil. But had he reached
To this place--here--yes, here--this wilderness,
And seen the _Trees of the Sun and Moon_, that speak
And told King Alexander of his death;
He then
Had left a passage ope to Travellers
That now is kept and guarded by Wild Beasts."
(_Broome's Antipodes_, in _Lamb's Specimens_.)
The same trees are alluded to in an ancient Low German poem in honour of
St. Anno of Cologne. Speaking of the Four Beasts of Daniel's Vision:--
"The third beast was a Libbard;
Four Eagle's Wings he had;
This signified the Grecian Alexander,
Who with four Hosts went forth to conquer lands
Even to the World's End,
Known by its Golden Pillars.
In India he the Wilderness broke through
_With Trees twain he there did speak_," etc.
(In _Schilteri Thesaurus Antiq. Teuton._ tom. i.[1])
These oracular Trees of the Sun and Moon, somewhere on the confines of
India, appear in all the fabulous histories of Alexander, from the
Pseudo-Callisthenes downwards. Thus Alexander is made to tell the story in
a letter to Aristotle: "Then came some of the towns-people and said, 'We
have to show thee something passing strange, O King, and worth thy
visiting; for we can show thee trees that talk with human speech.' So they
led me to a certain park, in the midst of which were the Sun and Moon, and
round about them a guard of priests of the Sun and Moon. And there stood
the two trees of which they had spoken, like unto cypress trees; and round
about them were trees like the myrobolans of Egypt, and with similar fruit.
And I addressed the two trees that were in the midst of the park, the one
which was male in the Masculine gender, and the one that was female in the
Feminine gender. And the name of the Male Tree was the Sun, and of the
female Tree the Moon, names which were in that language _Muthu_ and
_Emausae_.[2] And the stems were clothed with the skins of animals; the
male tree with the skins of he-beasts, and the female tree with the skins
of she-beasts.... And at the setting of the Sun, a voice, speaking in the
Indian tongue, came forth from the (Sun) Tree; and I ordered the Indians
who were with me to interpret it. But they were afraid and would not," etc.
(_Pseudo-Callisth._ ed. Müller, III. 17.)
The story as related by Firdusi keeps very near to the Greek as just
quoted, but does not use the term "Tree of the Sun." The chapter of the
Sháh Námeh containing it is entitled _Dídan Sikandar dirakht-i-goyárá_,
"Alexander's interview with the Speaking Tree." (_Livre des Rois_, V.
229.) In the _Chanson d'Alixandre_ of Lambert le Court and Alex. de
Bernay, these trees are introduced as follows:--
"'Signor,' fait Alixandre, 'je vus voel demander,
Se des merveilles d'Inde me saves rien conter.'
Cil li ont respondu: 'Se tu vius escouter
Ja te dirons merveilles, s'es poras esprover.
La sus en ces desers pues ii Arbres trover
Qui c pies ont de haut, et de grossor sunt per.
Li Solaus et La Lune les ont fait si serer
Que sevent tous langages et entendre et parler.'"
(Ed. 1861 (Dinan), p. 357.)
Maundevile informs us precisely where these trees are: "A 15 journeys in
lengthe, goynge be the Deserts of the tother side of the Ryvere Beumare,"
if one could only tell where that is![3] A mediaeval chronicler also tells
us that Ogerus the Dane (_temp. Caroli Magni_) conquered all the parts
beyond sea from Hierusalem to the Trees of the Sun. In the old Italian
romance also of _Guerino detto il Meschino_, still a chapbook in S. Italy,
the Hero (ch. lxiii.) visits the Trees of the Sun and Moon. But this is
mere imitation of the Alexandrian story, and has nothing of interest.
(_Maundevile_, pp. 297-298; _Fasciculus Temporum_ in _Germ. Script.
Pistorii Nidani_, II.)
It will be observed that the letter ascribed to Alexander describes the
two oracular trees as resembling two cypress-trees. As such the Trees of
the Sun and Moon are represented on several extant ancient medals, e.g. on
two struck at Perga in Pamphylia in the time of Aurelian. And Eastern
story tells us of two vast cypress-trees, sacred among the Magians, which
grew in Khorasan, one at Kashmar near Turshiz, and the other at Farmad
near Tuz, and which were said to have risen from shoots that Zoroaster
brought from Paradise. The former of these was sacrilegiously cut down by
the order of the Khalif Motawakkil, in the 9th century. The trunk was
despatched to Baghdad on rollers at a vast expense, whilst the branches
alone formed a load for 1300 camels. The night that the convoy reached
within one stage of the palace, the Khalif was cut in pieces by his own
guards. This tree was said to be 1450 years old, and to measure 33-3/4
cubits in girth. The locality of _this_ "Arbor Sol" we see was in
Khorasan, and possibly its fame may have been transferred to a
representative of another species. The plane, as well as the cypress, was
one of the distinctive trees of the Magian Paradise.
In the Peutingerian Tables we find in the N.E. of Asia the rubric "_Hic
Alexander Responsum accepit_," which looks very like an allusion to the
tale of the Oracular Trees. If so, it is remarkable as a suggestion of the
antiquity of the Alexandrian Legends, though the rubric may of course be
an interpolation. The Trees of the Sun and Moon appear as located in India
Ultima to the east of Persia, in a map which is found in MSS. (12th
century) of the _Floridus of Lambertus_; and they are indicated more or
less precisely in several maps of the succeeding centuries. (_Ouseley's
Travels_, I. 387; _Dabistan_, I. 307-308; _Santarem, H. de la Cosmog._ II.
189, III. 506-513, etc.)
Nothing could show better how this legend had possessed men in the Middle
Ages than the fact that Vincent of Beauvais discerns an allusion to these
Trees of the Sun and Moon in the blessing of Moses on Joseph (as it runs
in the Vulgate), "_de pomis fructuum Solis ac Lunae_." (Deut. xxxiii. 14.)
Marco has mixt up this legend of the Alexandrian Romance, on the
authority, as we shall see reason to believe, of some of the recompilers
of that Romance, with a famous subject of _Christian_ Legend in that age,
the ARBRE SEC or Dry Tree, one form of which is related by Maundevile and
by Johan Schiltberger. "A lytille fro Ebron," says the former, "is the
Mount of Mambre, of the whyche the Valeye taketh his name. And there is a
Tree of Oke that the Saracens clepen _Dirpe_, that is of Abraham's Tyme,
the which men clepen THE DRYE TREE." [Schiltberger adds that the heathen
call it _Kurru Thereck_, i.e. (Turkish) _Kúrú Dirakht_ = Dry Tree.] "And
theye seye that it hathe ben there sithe the beginnynge of the World; and
was sumtyme grene and bare Leves, unto the Tyme that Oure Lord dyede on
the Cros; and thanne it dryede; and so dyden alle the Trees that weren
thanne in the World. And summe seyn be hire Prophecyes that a Lord, a
Prynce of the West syde of the World, shalle wynnen the Lond of
Promyssioun, i.e. the Holy Lond, withe Helpe of Cristene Men, and he
schalle do synge a Masse under that Drye Tree, and than the Tree shall
wexen grene and bere both Fruyt and Leves. And thorghe that Myracle manye
Sarazines and Jewes schulle ben turned to Cristene Feithe. And, therefore,
they dou gret Worschipe thereto, and kepen it fulle besyly. And alle be it
so that it be drye, natheless yit he berethe great vertue," etc.
The tradition seems to have altered with circumstances, for a traveller of
nearly two centuries later (Friar Anselmo, 1509) describes the oak of
Abraham at Hebron as a tree of dense and verdant foliage: "The Saracens
make their devotions at it, and hold it in great veneration, for it has
remained thus green from the days of Abraham until now; and they tie
scraps of cloth on its branches inscribed with some of their writing, and
believe that if any one were to cut a piece off that tree he would die
within the year." Indeed even before Maundevile's time Friar Burchard
(1283) had noticed that though the famous old tree was dry, another had
sprung from its roots. And it still has a representative.
As long ago as the time of Constantine a fair was held under the Terebinth
of Mamre, which was the object of many superstitious rites and excesses.
The Emperor ordered these to be put a stop to, and a church to be erected
at the spot. In the time of Arculph (end of 7th century) the dry trunk
still existed under the roof of this church; just as the immortal
Banyan-tree of Prág exists to this day in a subterranean temple in the Fort
of Allahabad.
It is evident that the story of the Dry Tree had got a great vogue in the
13th century. In the _Jus du Pelerin_, a French drama of Polo's age, the
Pilgrim says:--
"S'ai puis en maint bon lieu et à maint saint esté,
S'ai esté au _Sec-Arbre_ et dusc'à Duresté."
And in another play of slightly earlier date (_Le Jus de St. Nicolas_),
the King of Africa, invaded by the Christians, summons all his allies and
feudatories, among whom appear the Admirals of Coine (_Iconium_) and
Orkenie (_Hyrcania_), and the _Amiral d'outre l'Arbre-Sec_ (as it were of
"the Back of Beyond") in whose country the only current coin is
millstones! Friar Odoric tells us that he heard at Tabriz that the _Arbor
Secco_ existed in a mosque of that city; and Clavijo relates a confused
story about it in the same locality. Of the _Dürre Baum_ at Tauris there
is also a somewhat pointless legend in a Cologne MS. of the 14th century,
professing to give an account of the East. There are also some curious
verses concerning a mystical _Dürre Bom_ quoted by Fabricius from an old
Low German Poem; and we may just allude to that other mystic _Arbor Secco_
of Dante--
--"una pianta dispogliata
Di fiori e d'altra fronda in ciascun ramo,"
though the dark symbolism in the latter case seems to have a different
bearing.
(_Maundevile_, p. 68; _Schiltberger_, p. 113; Anselm. in _Canisii
Thesaurus_, IV. 781; _Pereg. Quat._ p. 81; _Niceph. Callist._ VIII. 30;
_Théâtre Français au Moyen Age_, pp. 97, 173; _Cathay_, p. 48; _Clavijo_,
p. 90; _Orient und Occident_, Göttingen, 1867, vol. i.; _Fabricii Vet.
Test. Pseud._, etc., I. 1133; _Dante, Purgat._ xxxii. 35.)
But why does Polo bring this _Arbre Sec_ into connection with the Sun Tree
of the Alexandrian Legend? I cannot answer this to my own entire
satisfaction, but I can show that such a connection had been imagined in
his time.
Paulin Paris, in a notice of MS. No. 6985. (_Fonds Ancien_) of the
National Library, containing a version of the _Chansons de Geste
d'Alixandre_, based upon the work of L. Le Court and Alex. de Bernay, but
with additions of later date, notices amongst these latter the visit of
Alexander to the Valley Perilous, where he sees a variety of wonders,
among others the _Arbre des Pucelles_. Another tree at a great distance
from the last is called the ARBRE SEC, and reveals to Alexander the secret
of the fate which attends him in Babylon. (_Les MSS. Français de la Bibl.
du Roi_, III. 105.)[4] Again the English version of _King Alisaundre_,
published in Weber's Collection, shows clearly enough that in _its_ French
original the term _Arbre Sec_ was applied to the Oracular Trees, though
the word has been miswritten, and misunderstood by Weber. The King, as in
the Greek and French passages already quoted, meeting two old churls, asks
if they know of any marvel in those parts:--
"'Ye, par ma fay,' quoth heo,
'A great merveille we wol telle the;
That is hennes in even way
The mountas of ten daies journey,
Thou shalt find trowes[5] two:
Seyntes and holy they buth bo;
Higher than in othir countray all.
ARBESET men heom callith.'
* * * * *
'Sire Kyng,' quod on, 'by myn eyghe
Either Trough is an hundrod feet hygh,
They stondith up into the skye;
That on to the _Sonne_, sikirlye;
That othir, we tellith the nowe,
Is sakret in the _Mone_ vertue.'"
(_Weber_, I. 277.)
Weber's glossary gives "_Arbeset_ = Strawberry Tree, _arbous, arbousier,
arbutus_"; but that is nonsense.
Further, in the French Prose Romance of Alexander, which is contained in
the fine volume in the British Museum known as the Shrewsbury Book (Reg.
XV. e. 6), though we do not find the Arbre Sec so named, we find it
described and pictorially represented. The Romance (fol. xiiii. v.)
describes Alexander and his chief companions as ascending a certain
mountain by 2500 steps which were attached to a golden chain. At the top
they find the golden Temple of the Sun and an old man asleep within.
It goes on:--
"Quant le viellart les vit si leur demanda s'ils vouloient veoir les
Arbres sacrez de la Lune et du Soleil que nous annuncent les choses qui
sont à avenir. Quant Alexandre ouy ce si fut rempli de mult grant ioye. Si
lui respondirent, 'Ouye sur, nous les voulons veoir.' Et cil lui dist, 'Se
tu es nez de prince malle et de femelle il te convient entrer en celui
lieu.' Et Alexandre lui respondi, 'Nous somes nez de compagne malle et de
femelle.' Dont se leve le viellart du lit ou il gesoit, et leur dist,
'Hostez vos vestemens et vos chauces.' Et Tholomeus et Antigonus et
Perdiacas le suivrent. Lors comencèrent à aler parmy la forest qui estoit
enclose en merveilleux labour. Illec trouvèrent les arbres semblables à
loriers et oliviers. Et estoient de cent pies de haults, et decouroit
d'eulz incens ypobaume[6] à grant quantité. Après entrèrent plus avant en
la forest, et trouvèrent _une arbre durement hault qui n'avoit ne fueille
ne fruit_. Si seoit sur cet arbre une grant oysel qui avoit en son chief
une creste qui estoit semblable au paon, et les plumes du col
resplendissants come fin or. Et avoit la couleur de rose. Dont lui dist le
viellart, 'Cet oysel dont vous vous merveillez est appelés Fenis, lequel
n'a nul pareil en tout le monde.' Dont passèrent outre, et allèrent aux
Arbres du Soleil et de la Lune. Et quant ils y furent venus, si leur dist
le viellart, 'Regardez en haut, et pensez en votre coeur ce que vous
vouldrez demander, et ne le dites de la bouche.' Alisandre luy demanda en
quel language donnent les Arbres response aux gens. Et il lui respondit,
'L'Arbre du Soleil commence à parler Indien.' Dont baisa Alexandre les
arbres, et comença en son ceur à penser s'il conquesteroit tout le monde
et retourneroit en Macedonie atout son ost. Dont lui respondit l'Arbre du
Soleil, 'Alexandre tu seras Roy de tout le monde, mais Macedonie tu ne
verras jamais,'" etc.
The appearance of the Arbre Sec in Maps of the 15th century, such as those
of Andrea Bianco (1436) and Fra Mauro (1459), may be ascribed to the
influence of Polo's own work; but a more genuine evidence of the
prevalence of the legend is found in the celebrated Hereford Map
constructed in the 13th century by Richard de Haldingham. This, in the
vicinity of India and the Terrestrial Paradise, exhibits a Tree with the
rubric "_Albor Balsami est Arbor Sicca_."
The legends of the Dry Tree were probably spun out of the words of the
Vulgate in Ezekiel xvii. 24: "_Humiliavi lignum sublime et exaltavi lignum
humile; et siccavi lignum viride_ et frondescere feci lignum aridum."
Whether the _Rue de l'Arbre Sec_ in Paris derives its name from the legend
I know not. [The name of the street is taken from an old sign-board; some
say it is derived from the gibbet placed in the vicinity, but this is more
than doubtful.--H. C.]
[Illustration: Commentles arbres du soleil et De la lune prophe tiserent
la mort alixandre.]
The actual tree to which Polo refers in the text was probably one of those
so frequent in Persia, to which age, position, or accident has attached a
character of sanctity, and which are styled _Dirakht-i-Fazl_, Trees of
Excellence or Grace, and often receive titles appropriate to Holy Persons.
Vows are made before them, and pieces torn from the clothes of the
votaries are hung upon the branches or nailed to the trunks. To a tree of
such a character, imposing in decay, Lucan compares Pompey:
"Stat magni nominis umbra.
Qualis frugifero quercus sublimis in agro,
_Exuvias veteres populi sacrataque gestans
Dona ducum_ * * * * *
--Quamvis primo nutet casura sub Euro,
Tot circum silvae firmo se robore tollant,
Sola tamen colitur."
(_Pharsalia_, I. 135.)
The Tree of Mamre was evidently precisely one of this class; and those who
have crossed the Suez Desert before railway days will remember such a
_Dirakht-i-Fazl_, an aged mimosa, a veritable _Arbre Seul_ (could we
accept that reading), that stood just half-way across the Desert,
streaming with the _exuviae veteres_ of Mecca Pilgrims. The majority of
such holy trees in Persia appear to be Plane-trees. Admiration for the
beauty of this tree seems to have occasionally risen into superstitious
veneration from a very old date. Herodotus relates that the Carians, after
their defeat by the Persians on the Marsyas, rallied in the sacred grove
of Plane-trees at Labranda. And the same historian tells how, some years
later, Xerxes on his march to Greece decorated a beautiful Chinar with
golden ornaments. Mr. Hamilton, in the same region, came on the remains of
a giant of the species, which he thought might possibly be the very same.
Pliny rises to enthusiasm in speaking of some noble Plane-trees in Lycia
and elsewhere. Chardin describes one grand and sacred specimen, called
King Hosain's Chinar, and said to be more than 1000 years old, in a suburb
of Ispahan, and another hung with amulets, rags, and tapers in a garden at
Shiraz.[7] One sacred tree mentioned by the Persian geographer Hamd Allah
as distinguishing the grave of a holy man at Bostam in Khorasan (the
species is not named, at least by Ouseley, from whom I borrow this) comes
into striking relation with the passage in our text. The story went that
it had been the staff of Mahomed; as such it had been transmitted through
many generations, until it was finally deposited in the grave of Abu
Abdallah Dásitáni, where it struck root and put forth branches. And it is
explicitly called _Dirakht-i-Khushk_, i.e. literally L'ARBRE SEC.
This last legend belongs to a large class. The staff of Adam, which was
created in the twilight of the approaching Sabbath, was bestowed on him in
Paradise and handed down successively to Enoch and the line of Patriarchs.
After the death of Joseph it was set in Jethro's garden, and there grew
untouched, till Moses came and got his rod from it. In another form of the
legend it is Seth who gets a branch of the Tree of Life, and from this
Moses afterwards obtains his rod of power. These Rabbinical stories seem
in later times to have been developed into the Christian legends of the
wood destined to form the Cross, such as they are told in the Golden
Legend or by Godfrey of Viterbo, and elaborated in Calderon's _Sibila del
Oriente_. Indeed, as a valued friend who has consulted the latter for me
suggests, probably all the Arbre Sec Legends of Christendom bore mystic
reference to the Cross. In Calderon's play the Holy Rood, seen in vision,
is described as a Tree:--
----"cuyas hojas,
Secas mustias y marchitas,
Desnudo el tronco dejaban
Que, entre mil copas floridas
De los árboles, el solo
Sin pompa y sin bizaria
Era cadáver del prado."
There are several Dry-Tree stories among the wonders of Buddhism; one is
that of a sacred tree visited by the Chinese pilgrims to India, which had
grown from the twig which Sakya, in Hindu fashion, had used as a
tooth-brush; and I think there is a like story in our own country of the
Glastonbury Thorn having grown from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea.
["St Francis' Church is a large pile, neere which, yet a little without
the Citty, growes a tree which they report in their legend grew from the
Saint's Staff, which on going to sleepe he fixed in the ground, and at
his waking found it had grown a large tree. They affirm that the wood
of its decoction cures sundry diseases." (_Evelyn's Diary_, October,
1644.)--H. C.]
In the usual form of the mediaeval legend, Adam, drawing near his end,
sends Seth to the gate of Paradise, to seek the promised Oil of Mercy.
The Angel allows Seth to put his head in at the gate. Doing so (as an old
English version gives it)--
--"he saw a fair Well,
Of whom all the waters on earth cometh, as the Book us doth tell;
Over the Well stood a Tree, with bowës broad and lere
Ac it _ne bare leaf ne rind, but as it for-olded were_;
A nadder it had beclipt about, all naked withouten skin,
That was the Tree and the Nadder that first made Adam do sin!"
The Adder or Serpent is coiled about the denuded stem; the upper branches
reach to heaven, and bear at the top a new-born wailing infant, swathed in
linen, whilst (here we quote a French version)--
"Les larmes qui de lui issoient
Contreval l'Arbre en avaloient;
Adonc regarda l'enfant Seth
Tout contreval de L'ARBRE SECQ;
Les rachines qui le tenoient
Jusques en Enfer s'en aloient,
Les larmes qui de lui issirent
Jusques dedans Enfer cheïrent."
The Angel gives Seth three kernels from the fruit of the Tree. Seth
returns home and finds his father dead. He buries him in _the valley of
Hebron_, and places the three grains under his tongue. A triple shoot
springs up of Cedar, Cypress, and Pine, symbolising the three Persons of
the Trinity. The three eventually unite into one stem, and this tree
survives in various forms, and through various adventures in connection
with the Scripture History, till it is found at the bottom of the Pool of
Bethesda, to which it had imparted healing Virtue, and is taken thence to
form the Cross on which Our Lord suffered.
The English version quoted above is from a MS. of the 14th century in the
Bodleian, published by Dr. Morris in his collection of _Legends of the
Holy Rood_. I have modernised the spelling of the lines quoted, without
altering the words. The French citation is from a MS. in the Vienna
Library, from which extracts are given by Sign. Adolfo Mussafia in his
curious and learned tract (_Sulla Legenda del Legno della Croce_, Vienna,
1870), which gives a full account of the fundamental legend and its
numerous variations. The examination of these two works, particularly
Sign. Mussafia's, gives an astonishing impression of the copiousness with
which such Christian Mythology, as it may fairly be called, was diffused
and multiplied. There are in the paper referred to notices of between
fifty and sixty different _works_ (not MSS. or _copies_ of works merely)
containing this legend in various European languages.
(_Santarem_, III. 380, II. 348; _Ouseley_, I. 359 seqq. and 391;
_Herodotus_, VII. 31; _Pliny_, XII. 5; _Chardin_, VII. 410, VIII. 44 and
426; _Fabricius_, _Vet. Test. Pseud._ I. 80 seqq.; _Cathay_, p. 365;
_Beal's Fah-Hian_, 72 and 78; _Pèlerins Bouddhistes_, II. 292; _Della
Valle_, II. 276-277.)
[Illustration: Chinar, or Oriental Plane]
He who injured the holy tree of Bostam, we are told, perished the same
day: a general belief in regard to those _Trees of Grace_, of which we
have already seen instances in regard to the sacred trees of Zoroaster and
the Oak of Hebron. We find the same belief in Eastern Africa, where
certain trees, regarded by the natives with superstitious reverence, which
they express by driving in votive nails and suspending rags, are known to
the European residents by the vulgar name of _Devil Trees_. Burton relates
a case of the verification of the superstition in the death of an English
merchant who had cut down such a tree, and of four members of his
household. It is the old story which Ovid tells; and the tree which
Erisichthon felled was a _Dirakht-i-Fazl_:
"Vittae mediam, memoresque tabellae
Sertaque cingebant, voti argumenta potentis."
(_Metamorph._ VIII. 744.)
Though the coincidence with our text of Hamd Allah's Dry Tree is very
striking, I am not prepared to lay stress on it as an argument for the
geographical determination of Marco's _Arbre Sec_. His use of the title
more than once to characterise the whole frontier of Khorasan can hardly
have been a mere whim of his own: and possibly some explanation of that
circumstance will yet be elicited from the Persian historians or
geographers of the Mongol era.
Meanwhile it is in the vicinity of Bostam or Damghan that I should incline
to place this landmark. If no one _very_ cogent reason points to this, a
variety of minor ones do so; such as the direction of the traveller's
journey from Kermán through Kuh Banán; the apparent vicinity of a great
Ismailite fortress, as will be noticed in the next chapter; the connection
twice indicated (see _Prologue_, ch. xviii. note 6, and Bk. IV. ch. v.) of
the Arbre Sec with the headquarters of Ghazan Khan in watching the great
passes, of which the principal ones debouche at Bostam, at which place
also buildings erected by Ghazan still exist; and the statement that the
decisive battle between Alexander and Darius was placed there by local
tradition. For though no such battle took place in that region, we know
that Darius was murdered near Hecatompylos. Some place this city west of
Bostam, near Damghan; others east of it, about Jah Jerm; Ferrier has
strongly argued for the vicinity of Bostam itself. Firdusi indeed places
the final battle on the confines of Kermán, and the death of Darius within
that province. But this could not have been the tradition Polo met with.
I may add that the temperate climate of Bostam is noticed in words almost
identical with Polo's by both Fraser and Ferrier.
The Chinar abounds in Khorasan (as far as any tree can be said to _abound_
in Persia), and even in the Oases of Tun-o-Kain wherever there is water.
Travellers quoted by Ritter notice Chinars of great size and age at
Shahrúd, near Bostam, at Meyomid, and at Mehr, west of Sabzawar, which
last are said to date from the time of Naoshirwan (7th century). There is
a town to the N.W. of Meshid called _Chinárán_, "The Planes." P. Della
Valle, we may note, calls Tehran "la città dei platani."
The following note by De Sacy regarding the Chinar has already been quoted
by Marsden, and though it may be doubtful whether the term Arbre Sec had
any relation to the idea expressed, it seems to me too interesting to be
omitted: "Its sterility seems to have become proverbial among certain
people of the East. For in a collection of sundry moral sentences
pertaining to the Sabaeans or Christians of St. John ... we find the
following: 'The vainglorious man is like a showy Plane Tree, rich in
boughs but producing nothing, and affording no fruit to its owner.'" The
same reproach of sterility is cast at the Plane by Ovid's Walnut:--
"At postquam platanis, _sterilem praebentibus umbram_,
Uberior quâvis arbore venit honos;
Nos quoque fructiferae, si nux modo ponor in illis,
Coepimus in patulas luxuriare comas." (_Nux_, 17-20.)
I conclude with another passage from Khanikoff, though put forward in
special illustration of what I believe to be a mistaken reading (_Arbre
Seul_): "Where the Chinar is of spontaneous growth, or occupies the centre
of a vast and naked plain, this tree is even in our own day invested with
a quite exceptional veneration, and the locality often comes to be called
'The Place of the Solitary Tree.'" (_J. R. G. S._ XXIX. 345; _Ferrier_,
69-76; _Fraser_, 343; _Ritter_, VIII. 332, XI. 512 seqq.; _Della Valle_,
I. 703; _De Sacy's Abdallatif_, p. 81; _Khanikoff_, _Not._ p. 38.)
[See in Fr. Zarncke, _Der Priester Johannes_, II., in the chap. _Der Baum
des Seth_, pp. 127-128, from MS. (14th century) from Cambridge, this
curious passage (p. 128): "Tandem rogaverunt eum, ut arborem siccam, de
qua multum saepe loqui audierant, liceret videre. Quibus dicebat: 'Non est
appellata arbor sicca recto nomine, sed arbor Seth, quoniam Seth, filius
Adae, primi patris nostri, eam plantavit.' Et ad arborem Seth fecit eos
ducere, prohibens eos, ne arborem transmearent, sed [si?] ad patriam suam
redire desiderarent. Et cum appropinquassent, de pulcritudine arboris
mirati sunt; erat enim magnae immensitatis et miri decoris. Omnium enim
colorum varietas inerat arbori, condensitas foliorum et fructuum
diversorum; diversitas avium omnium, quae sub coelo sunt. Folia vero
invicem se repercutientia dulcissimae melodiae modulamine resonabant, et
aves amoenos cantus ultra quam credi potest promebant; et odor suavissimus
profudit eos, ita quod paradisi amoenitate fuisse. Et cum admirantes
tantam pulcritudinem aspicerent, unus sociorum aliquo eorum maior aetate,
cogitans [cogitavit?] intra se, quod senior esset et, si inde rediret,
cito aliquo casu mori posset. Et cum haec secum cogitasset, coepit arborem
transire, et cum transisset, advocans socios, iussit eos post se ad locum
amoenissimum, quem ante se videbat plenum deliciis sibi paratum [paratis?]
festinare. At illi retrogressi sunt ad regem, scilicet presbiterum
Iohannem. Quos donis amplis ditavit, et qui cum eo morari voluerunt
libenter et honorifice detinuit. Alii vero ad patriam reversi sunt."--In
common with Marsden and Yule, I have no doubt that the _Arbre Sec_ is the
_Chínár_. Odoric places it at Tabriz and I have given a very lengthy
dissertation on the subject in my edition of this traveller (pp. 21-29),
to which I must refer the reader, to avoid increasing unnecessarily the
size of the present publication.--H. C.]
[1] "Daz dritte Dier was ein Lebarte
Vier arin Vederich her havite;
Der beceichnote den Criechiskin Alexanderin,
Der mit vier Herin vür aftir Landin,
Unz her die Werilt einde,
Bi guldinin Siulin bikante.
In Indea her die Wusti durchbrach,
_Mit zwein Boumin her sich da gesprach_," etc.
[2] It is odd how near the word _Emausae_ comes to the E. African _Mwezi_;
and perhaps more odd that "the elders of U-nya-Mwezi ('the Land of the
Moon') declare that their patriarchal ancestor became after death the
first Tree, and afforded shade to his children and descendants.
According to the Arabs the people still perform pilgrimage to a holy
tree, and believe that the penalty of sacrilege in cutting off a twig
would be visited by sudden and mysterious death." (_Burton_ in _F. R.
G. S._ XXIX. 167-168.)
[3] "The River _Buemar_, in the furthest forests of India," appears
to come up in one of the versions of Alexander's Letter to Aristotle,
though I do not find it in Müller's edition. (See Zacher's
_Pseudo-Callisthenes_, p. 160.) 'Tis perhaps Ab-i-Ámú!
[4] It is right to notice that there may be some error in the _reference_
of Paulin Paris; at least I could not trace the _Arbre Sec_ in the MS.
which he cites, nor in the celebrated Bodleian Alexander, which
appears to contain the same version of the story. [The fact is that
Paulin Paris refers to the _Arbre_, but without the word _sec_, at the
top of the first column of fol. 79 _recto_ of the MS. No. _Fr._ 368
(late 6985).--H. C.]
[5] Trees.
[6] Opobalsamum.
[7] A recent traveler in China gives a perfectly similar description of
sacred trees in Shansi. Many bore inscriptions in large letters. "If
you pray, you will certainly be heard."--_Rev. A. Williamson_,
_Journeys in N. China_, I. 163, where there is a cut of such a tree
near Taiyuanfu. (See this work, I. ch. xvi.) Mr. Williamson describes
such a venerated tree, an ancient acacia, known as the Acacia of the
T'ang, meaning that it existed under that Dynasty (7th to 10th
century). It is renowned for its healing virtues, and every available
spot on its surface was crowded with votive tablets and inscriptions.
(Ib. 303.)
CHAPTER XXIII.
CONCERNING THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN.
Mulehet is a country in which the Old Man of the Mountain dwelt in former
days; and the name means "_Place of the Aram_." I will tell you his whole
history as related by Messer Marco Polo, who heard it from several natives
of that region.
The Old Man was called in their language ALOADIN. He had caused a certain
valley between two mountains to be enclosed, and had turned it into a
garden, the largest and most beautiful that ever was seen, filled with
every variety of fruit. In it were erected pavilions and palaces the most
elegant that can be imagined, all covered with gilding and exquisite
painting. And there were runnels too, flowing freely with wine and milk
and honey and water; and numbers of ladies and of the most beautiful
damsels in the world, who could play on all manner of instruments, and
sung most sweetly, and danced in a manner that it was charming to behold.
For the Old Man desired to make his people believe that this was actually
Paradise. So he had fashioned it after the description that Mahommet gave
of his Paradise, to wit, that it should be a beautiful garden running with
conduits of wine and milk and honey and water, and full of lovely women
for the delectation of all its inmates. And sure enough the Saracens of
those parts believed that it _was_ Paradise!
Now no man was allowed to enter the Garden save those whom he intended to
be his ASHISHIN. There was a Fortress at the entrance to the Garden,
strong enough to resist all the world, and there was no other way to get
in. He kept at his Court a number of the youths of the country, from 12 to
20 years of age, such as had a taste for soldiering, and to these he used
to tell tales about Paradise, just as Mahommet had been wont to do, and
they believed in him just as the Saracens believe in Mahommet. Then he
would introduce them into his garden, some four, or six, or ten at a time,
having first made them drink a certain potion which cast them into a deep
sleep, and then causing them to be lifted and carried in. So when they
awoke, they found themselves in the Garden.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--Says the venerable Sire de Joinville: "_Le Vieil de la Montaingne
ne créoit pas en Mahommet, ainçois créoit en la Loi de Haali, qui fu Oncle
Mahommet._" This is a crude statement, no doubt, but it has a germ of
truth. Adherents of the family of 'Ali as the true successors of the
Prophet existed from the tragical day of the death of Husain, and among
these, probably owing to the secrecy with which they were compelled to
hold their allegiance, there was always a tendency to all manner of
strange and mystical doctrines; as in one direction to the glorification
of 'Ali as a kind of incarnation of the Divinity, a character in which his
lineal representatives were held in some manner to partake; in another
direction to the development of Pantheism, and release from all positive
creed and precepts. Of these Aliites, eventually called _Shiáhs_, a chief
sect, and parent of many heretical branches, were the Ismailites, who took
their name, from the seventh Imam, whose return to earth they professed to
expect at the end of the World. About A.D. 1090 a branch of the Ismaili
stock was established by Hassan, son of Sabah, in the mountainous
districts of Northern Persia; and, before their suppression by the
Mongols, 170 years later, the power of the quasi-spiritual dynasty which
Hassan founded had spread over the Eastern Kohistan, at least as far as
Káïn. Their headquarters were at Alamút ("Eagle's Nest"), about 32 miles
north-east of Kazwin, and all over the territory which they held they
established fortresses of great strength. De Sacy seems to have proved
that they were called _Hashíshíya_ or _Hashíshín_, from their use of the
preparation of hemp called _Hashísh_; and thence, through their system of
murder and terrorism, came the modern application of the word Assassin.
The original aim of this system was perhaps that of a kind of
_Vehmgericht_, to punish or terrify orthodox persecutors who were too
strong to be faced with the sword. I have adopted in the text one of the
readings of the G. Text _Asciscin_, as expressing the original word with
the greatest accuracy that Italian spelling admits. In another author we
find it as _Chazisii_ (see _Bollandists_, May, vol. ii. p. xi.); Joinville
calls them _Assacis_; whilst Nangis and others corrupt the name into
_Harsacidae_, and what not.
The explanation of the name MULEHET as it is in Ramusio, or _Mulcete_ as
it is in the G. Text (the last expressing in Rusticiano's Pisan tongue the
strongly aspirated _Mulhete_), is given by the former: "This name of
Mulehet is as much as to say in the Saracen tongue '_The Abode of
Heretics_,'" the fact being that it does represent the Arabic term
_Mulhid_, pl. _Muláhidah_, "Impii, heretici," which is in the Persian
histories (as of Rashíduddín and Wassáf) the title most commonly used to
indicate this community, and which is still applied by orthodox Mahomedans
to the Nosairis, Druses, and other sects of that kind, more or less
kindred to the Ismaili. The writer of the _Tabakat-i-Násiri_ calls the
sectarians of Alamút _Muláhidat-ul-maut_, "Heretics of Death."[1] The
curious reading of the G. Text which we have preserved "_vaut à dire des_
Aram," should be read as we have rendered it. I conceive that Marco was
here unconsciously using one Oriental term to explain another. For it
seems possible to explain _Aram_ only as standing for _Harám_, in the
sense of "wicked" or "reprobate."
In Pauthier's Text, instead of _des aram_, we find "_veult dire en
françois_ Diex Terrien," or Terrestrial God. This may have been
substituted, in the correction of the original rough dictation, from a
perception that the first expression was unintelligible. The new phrase
does not indeed convey the meaning of _Muláhidah_, but it expresses a main
characteristic of the heretical doctrine. The correction was probably made
by Polo himself; it is certainly of very early date. For in the romance of
Bauduin de Sebourc, which I believe dates early in the 14th century, the
Caliph, on witnessing the extraordinary devotion of the followers of the
Old Man (see note 1, ch. xxiv.), exclaims:
"Par Mahon ...
Vous estes _Diex en terre_, autre coze n'i a!" (I. p. 360.)
So also Fr. Jacopo d'Aqui in the _Imago Mundi_, says of the Assassins:
"Dicitur iis quod sunt in Paradiso magno _Dei Terreni_"--expressions, no
doubt, taken in both cases from Polo's book.
Khanikoff, and before him J. R. Forster, have supposed that the name
_Mulehet_ represents _Alamút_. But the resemblance is much closer and more
satisfactory to _Mulhid_ or _Muláhidah_. _Mulhet_ is precisely the name by
which the kingdom of the Ismailites is mentioned in Armenian history, and
_Mulihet_ is already applied in the same way by Rabbi Benjamin in the 12th
century, and by Rubruquis in the 13th. The Chinese narrative of Hulaku's
expedition calls it the kingdom of _Mulahi_. (_Joinville_, p. 138; _J.
As._ sér. II., tom. xii. 285; _Benj. Tudela_, p. 106; _Rub._ p. 265;
_Rémusat_, _Nouv. Mélanges_, I. 176; _Gaubil_, p. 128; _Pauthier_, pp.
cxxxix.-cxli.; _Mon. Hist. Patr. Scriptorum_, III. 1559, Turin, 1848.)
[Cf. on _Mulehet_, _melahideh_, Heretics, plural of _molhid_. Heretic, my
note, pp. 476-482 of my ed. of Friar Odoric.--H. C.]
"Old Man of the Mountain" was the title applied by the Crusaders to the
chief of that branch of the sect which was settled in the mountains north
of Lebanon, being a translation of his popular Arabic title
_Shaikh-ul-Jibal_. But according to Hammer this title properly belonged, as
Polo gives it, to the Prince of Alamút, who never called himself Sultan,
Malik, or Amir; and this seems probable, as his territory was known as the
_Balad-ul-Jibal_. (See _Abulf._ in _Büsching_, V. 319.)
[1] Elliot, II. 290.
CHAPTER XXIV.
HOW THE OLD MAN USED TO TRAIN HIS ASSASSINS.
When therefore they awoke, and found themselves in a place so charming,
they deemed that it was Paradise in very truth. And the ladies and damsels
dallied with them to their hearts' content, so that they had what young
men would have; and with their own good will they never would have quitted
the place.
Now this Prince whom we call the Old One kept his Court in grand and noble
style, and made those simple hill-folks about him believe firmly that he
was a great Prophet. And when he wanted one of his _Ashishin_ to send on
any mission, he would cause that potion whereof I spoke to be given to one
of the youths in the garden, and then had him carried into his Palace. So
when the young man awoke, he found himself in the Castle, and no longer in
that Paradise; whereat he was not over well pleased. He was then conducted
to the Old Man's presence, and bowed before him with great veneration as
believing himself to be in the presence of a true Prophet. The Prince
would then ask whence he came, and he would reply that he came from
Paradise! and that it was exactly such as Mahommet had described it in the
Law. This of course gave the others who stood by, and who had not been
admitted, the greatest desire to enter therein.
So when the Old Man would have any Prince slain, he would say to such a
youth: "Go thou and slay So and So; and when thou returnest my Angels
shall bear thee into Paradise. And shouldst thou die, natheless even so
will I send my Angels to carry thee back into Paradise." So he caused them
to believe; and thus there was no order of his that they would not affront
any peril to execute, for the great desire they had to get back into that
Paradise of his. And in this manner the Old One got his people to murder
any one whom he desired to get rid of. Thus, too, the great dread that he
inspired all Princes withal, made them become his tributaries in order
that he might abide at peace and amity with them.[NOTE 1]
I should also tell you that the Old Man had certain others under him, who
copied his proceedings and acted exactly in the same manner. One of these
was sent into the territory of Damascus, and the other into
Curdistan.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--Romantic as this story is, it seems to be precisely the same that
was current over all the East. It is given by Odoric at length, more
briefly by a Chinese author, and again from an Arabic source by Hammer in
the _Mines de l'Orient_.
The following is the Chinese account as rendered by Rémusat: "The soldiers
of this country (Mulahi) are veritable brigands. When they see a lusty
youth, they tempt him with the hope of gain, and bring him to such a point
that he will be ready to kill his father or his elder brother with his own
hand. After he is enlisted, they intoxicate him, and carry him in that
state into a secluded retreat, where he is charmed with delicious music
and beautiful women. All his desires are satisfied for several days, and
then (in sleep) he is transported back to his original position. When he
awakes, they ask what he has seen. He is then informed that if he will
become an Assassin, he will be rewarded with the same felicity. And with
the texts and prayers that they teach him they heat him to such a pitch
that whatever commission be given him he will brave death without regret
in order to execute it."
The Arabic narrative is too long to extract. It is from a kind of
historical romance called The _Memoirs of Hakim_, the date of which Hammer
unfortunately omits to give. Its close coincidence in substance with
Polo's story is quite remarkable. After a detailed description of the
Paradise, and the transfer into it of the aspirant under the influence of
_bang_, on his awaking and seeing his chief enter, he says, "O chief! am I
awake or am I dreaming?" To which the chief: "O such an One, take heed
that thou tell not the dream to any stranger. Know that Ali thy Lord hath
vouchsafed to show thee the place destined for thee in Paradise....
Hesitate not a moment therefore in the service of the Imam who thus deigns
to intimate his contentment with thee," and so on.
William de Nangis thus speaks of the Syrian Shaikh, who alone was known to
the Crusaders, though one of their historians (_Jacques de Vitry_, in
_Bongars_, I. 1062) shows knowledge that the headquarters of the sect was
in Persia: "He was much dreaded far and near, by both Saracens and
Christians, because he so often caused princes of both classes
indifferently to be murdered by his emissaries. For he used to bring up in
his palace youths belonging to his territory, and had them taught a
variety of languages, and above all things to fear their Lord and obey him
unto death, which would thus become to them an entrance into the joys of
Paradise. And whosoever of them thus perished in carrying out his Lord's
behests was worshipped as an angel." As an instance of the implicit
obedience rendered by the _Fidáwí_ or devoted disciples of the Shaikh, Fra
Pipino and Marino Sanuto relate that when Henry Count of Champagne
(titular King of Jerusalem) was on a visit to the Old Man of Syria, one
day as they walked together they saw some lads in white sitting on the top
of a high tower. The Shaikh, turning to the Count, asked if he had any
subjects as obedient as his own? and without giving time for reply made a
sign to two of the boys, who immediately leapt from the tower, and were
killed on the spot. The same story is told in the _Cento Novelle Antiche_,
as happening when the Emperor Frederic was on a visit (imaginary) to the
Veglio. And it is introduced likewise as an incident in the Romance of
Bauduin de Sebourc:
"Vollés veioir merveilles? dist li Rois Seignouris"
to Bauduin and his friends, and on their assenting he makes the signal to
one of his men on the battlements, and in a twinkling
"Quant le vinrent en l'air salant de tel avis,
Et aussi liément, et aussi esjois,
Qu'il deust conquester mil livres de parisis!
Ains qu'il venist a tière il fut mors et fenis,
Surles roches agues desrompis corps et pis,"[1] etc.
(_Cathay_, 153; _Rémusat, Nouv. Mél._ I. 178; _Mines de l'Orient_, III.
201 seqq.; _Nangis_ in _Duchesne_, V. 332; _Pipino_ in _Muratori_, IX.
705; _Defrémery_ in _J. As._ sér. V. tom. v. 34 seqq.; _Cent. Nov.
Antiche_, Firenze, 1572, p. 91; _Bauduin de Sebourc_, I. 359.)
The following are some of the more notable murders or attempts at murder
ascribed to the Ismailite emissaries either from Syria or from Persia:--
A.D. 1092. Nizum-ul-Mulk, formerly the powerful minister of Malik Shah,
Seljukian sovereign of Persia, and a little later his two sons. 1102. The
Prince of Homs, in the chief Mosque of that city. 1113. Maudúd, Prince of
Mosul, in the chief Mosque of Damascus. About 1114. Abul Muzafar 'Ali,
Wazir of Sanjár Shah, and Chakar Beg, grand-uncle of the latter. 1116.
Ahmed Yel, Prince of Maragha, at Baghdad, in the presence of Mahomed,
Sultan of Persia. 1121. The Amir Afdhal, the powerful Wazir of Egypt, at
Cairo. 1126. Kasim Aksonkor, Prince of Mosul and Aleppo, in the Great
Mosque at Mosul. 1127. Moyin-uddin, Wazir of Sanjár Shah of Persia. 1129.
Amír Billah, Khalif of Egypt. 1131. Taj-ul Mulúk Buri, Prince of Damascus.
1134. Shams-ul-Mulúk, son of the preceding. 1135-38. The Khalif
Mostarshid, the Khalif Rashíd, and Daùd, Seljukian Prince of Azerbaijan.
1149. Raymond, Count of Tripoli. 1191. Kizil Arzlan, Prince of Azerbaijan.
1192. Conrad of Montferrat, titular King of Jerusalem; a murder which King
Richard has been accused of instigating. 1217. Oghulmish, Prince of
Hamadán.
And in 1174 and 1176 attempts to murder the great Saladin. 1271. Attempt
to murder Ala'uddin Juwaini, Governor of Baghdad, and historian of the
Mongols. 1272. The attempt to murder Prince Edward of England at Acre.
In latter years the _Fidáwí_ or Ismailite adepts appear to have let out
their services simply as hired assassins. Bibars, in a letter to his court
at Cairo, boasts of using them when needful. A Mahomedan author ascribes
to Bibars the instigation of the attempt on Prince Edward. (_Makrizi_, II.
100; _J. As._ XI. 150.)
NOTE 2.--Hammer mentions as what he chooses to call "Grand Priors" under
the Shaikh or "Grand Master" at Alamút, the chief, in Syria, one in the
Kuhistan of E. Persia (Tun-o-Kain), one in Kumis (the country about
Damghan and Bostam), and one in Irák; he does not speak of any in
Kurdistan. Colonel Monteith, however, says, though without stating
authority or particulars, "There were several divisions of them (the
Assassins) scattered throughout Syria, _Kurdistan_ (near the Lake of Wan),
and Asia Minor, but all acknowledging as Imaum or High Priest the Chief
residing at Alamut." And it may be noted that Odoric, a generation after
Polo, puts the Old Man at _Millescorte_, which looks like _Malasgird_,
north of Lake Van, (_H. des Assass._ p. 104; _J. R. G. S._ III. 16;
_Cathay_, p. ccxliii.)
[1] This story has been transferred to Peter the Great, who is alleged to
have exhibited the docility of his subjects in the same way to the
King of Denmark, by ordering a Cossack to jump from the Round Tower at
Copenhagen, on the summit of which they were standing.
CHAPTER XXV.
HOW THE OLD MAN CAME BY HIS END.
Now it came to pass, in the year of Christ's Incarnation, 1252, that Alaü,
Lord of the Tartars of the Levant, heard tell of these great crimes of the
Old Man, and resolved to make an end of him. So he took and sent one of
his Barons with a great Army to that Castle, and they besieged it for
three years, but they could not take it, so strong was it. And indeed if
they had had food within it never would have been taken. But after being
besieged those three years they ran short of victual, and were taken. The
Old Man was put to death with all his men [and the Castle with its Garden
of Paradise was levelled with the ground]. And since that time he has had
no successor; and there was an end to all his villainies.[NOTE 1]
Now let us go back to our journey.
NOTE 1.--The date in Pauthier is 1242; in the G. T. and in Ramusio 1262.
Neither is right, nor certainly could Polo have meant the former.
When Mangku Kaan, after his enthronement (1251), determined at a great
_Kurultai_ or Diet, on perfecting the Mongol conquests, he entrusted his
brother Kúblái with the completion of the subjugation of China and the
adjacent countries, whilst his brother Hulaku received the command of the
army destined for Persia and Syria. The complaints that came from the
Mongol officers already in Persia determined him to commence with the
reduction of the Ismailites, and Hulaku set out from Karakorum in
February, 1254. He proceeded with great deliberation, and the Oxus was not
crossed till January, 1256. But an army had been sent long in advance
under "one of his Barons," Kitubuka Noyan, and in 1253 it was already
actively engaged in besieging the Ismailite fortresses. In 1255, during
the progress of the war, ALA'UDDIN MAHOMED, the reigning Prince of the
Assassins (mentioned by Polo as Alaodin), was murdered at the instigation
of his son Ruknuddin Khurshah, who succeeded to the authority. A year
later (November, 1256) Ruknuddin surrendered to Hulaku. [Bretschneider
(_Med. Res._ II. p. 109) says that Alamút was taken by Hulaku, 20th
December, 1256.--H. C.] The fortresses given up, all well furnished with
provisions and artillery engines, were 100 in number. Two of them,
however, Lembeser and Girdkuh, refused to surrender. The former fell after
a year; the latter is stated to have held out for _twenty years_--
actually, as it would seem, about fourteen, or till December, 1270.
Ruknuddin was well treated by Hulaku, and despatched to the Court of the
Kaan. The accounts of his death differ, but that most commonly alleged,
according to Rashiduddin, is that Mangku Kaan was irritated at hearing of
his approach, asking why his post-horses should be fagged to no purpose,
and sent executioners to put Ruknuddin to death on the road. Alamút had
been surrendered without any substantial resistance. Some survivors of the
sect got hold of it again in 1275-1276, and held out for a time. The
dominion was extinguished, but the sect remained, though scattered indeed
and obscure. A very strange case that came before Sir Joseph Arnould in
the High Court at Bombay in 1866 threw much new light on the survival of
the Ismailis.
Some centuries ago a _Dai_ or Missionary of the Ismailis, named Sadruddín,
made converts from the Hindu trading classes in Upper Sind. Under the name
of _Khojas_ the sect multiplied considerably in Sind, Kach'h, and Guzerat,
whence they spread to Bombay and to Zanzibar. Their numbers in Western
India are now probably not less than 50,000 to 60,000. Their doctrine, or
at least the books which they revere, appear to embrace a strange jumble
of Hindu notions with Mahomedan practices and Shiah mysticism, but the
main characteristic endures of deep reverence, if not worship, of the
person of their hereditary Imám. To his presence, when he resided in
Persia, numbers of pilgrims used to betake themselves, and large
remittances of what we may call _Ismail's Pence_ were made to him. Abul
Hassan, the last Imám but one of admitted lineal descent from the later
Shaikhs of Alamút, and claiming (as they did) descent from the Imám Ismail
and his great ancestor 'Ali Abu Tálib, had considerable estates at
Meheláti, between Kúm and Hamadán, and at one time held the Government of
Kermán. His son and successor, Shah Khalilullah, was killed in a brawl at
Yezd in 1818. Fatteh 'Ali Sháh, fearing Ismailite vengeance, caused the
homicide to be severely punished, and conferred gifts and honours on the
young Imám, Agha Khan, including the hand of one of his own daughters. In
1840 Agha Khan, who had raised a revolt at Kermán, had to escape from
Persia. He took refuge in Sind, and eventually rendered good service both
to General Nott at Kandahár and to Sir C. Napier in Sind, for which he
receives a pension from our Government.
For many years this genuine Heir and successor of the _Viex de la
Montaingne_ has had his headquarters at Bombay, where he devotes, or for a
long time did devote, the large income that he receives from the faithful
to the maintenance of a racing stable, being the chief patron and promoter
of the Bombay Turf!
A schism among the Khojas, owing apparently to the desire of part of the
well-to-do Bombay community to sever themselves from the peculiarities of
the sect and to set up as respectable Sunnis, led in 1866 to an action in
the High Court, the object of which was to exclude Agha Khan from all
rights over the Khojas, and to transfer the property of the community to
the charge of Orthodox Mahomedans. To the elaborate addresses of Mr.
Howard and Sir Joseph Arnould, on this most singular process before an
English Court, I owe the preceding particulars. The judgment was entirely
in favour of the Old Man of the Mountain.
[Illustration: H. H. Agha Khán Meheláti, late Representative of the Old
Man of the Mountain.
"Le Seigneur Viel, que je vous ai dit si tient sa court ... et fait à
croire à cele simple gent qui li est entour que il est un grant
prophete."]
[Sir Bartle Frere writes of Agha Khan in 1875: "Like his ancestor, the Old
One of Marco Polo's time, he keeps his court in grand and noble style. His
sons, popularly known as 'The Persian Princes,' are active sportsmen, and
age has not dulled the Agha's enjoyment of horse-racing. Some of the best
blood of Arabia is always to be found in his stables. He spares no expense
on his racers, and no prejudice of religion or race prevents his availing
himself of the science and skill of an English trainer or jockey when the
races come round. If tidings of war or threatened disturbance should arise
from Central Asia or Persia, the Agha is always one of the first to hear
of it, and seldom fails to pay a visit to the Governor or to some old
friend high in office to hear the news and offer the services of a tried
sword and an experienced leader to the Government which has so long
secured him a quiet refuge for his old age." Agha Khan died in April,
1881, at the age of 81. He was succeeded by his son Agha Ali Sháh, one of
the members of the Legislative Council. (See _The Homeward Mail, Overland
Times of India_, of 14th April, 1881.)]
The _Bohras_ of Western India are identified with the Imámí-Ismáilís in
some books, and were so spoken of in the first edition of this work. This
is, however, an error, originally due, it would seem, to Sir John Malcolm.
The nature of their doctrine, indeed, seems to be very much alike, and the
Bohras, like the Ismáilís, attach a divine character to their _Mullah_ or
chief pontiff, and make a pilgrimage to his presence once in life. But the
_persons_ so reverenced are quite different; and the Bohras recognise all
the 12 Imáms of ordinary Shiahs. Their first appearance in India was
early, the date which they assign being A.H. 532 (A.D. 1137-1138). Their
chief seat was in Yemen, from which a large emigration to India took place
on its conquest by the Turks in 1538. Ibn Batuta seems to have met with
Bohras at Gandár, near Baroch, in 1342. (_Voyages_, IV. 58.)
A Chinese account of the expedition of Hulaku will be found in Rémusat's
_Nouveaux Mélanges_ (I.), and in Pauthier's Introduction. (_Q. R._
115-219, esp. 213; _Ilch._ vol. i.; _J. A. S. B._ VI. 842 seqq.) [A new and
complete translation has been given by Dr. E. Bretschneider, _Med. Res._ I.
112 seqq.--H. C.]
There is some account of the rock of Alamút and its exceedingly slender
traces of occupancy, by Colonel Monteith, in _J. R. G. S._ III. 15, and
again by Sir Justin Sheil in vol. viii. p. 431. There does not seem to be
any specific authority for assigning the Paradise of the Shaikh to Alamút;
and it is at least worthy of note that another of the castles of the
Muláhidah, destroyed by Hulaku, was called _Firdús_, i.e. Paradise. In any
case, I see no reason to suppose that Polo visited Alamút, which would
have been quite out of the road that he is following.
It is possible that "the Castle," to which he alludes at the beginning of
next chapter, and which set him off upon this digression, was
_Girdkuh_.[1] It has not, as far as I know, been identified by modern
travellers, but it stood within 10 or 12 miles of Damghan (to the west or
north-west). It is probably the _Tigado_ of Hayton, of which he thus
speaks: "The Assassins had an impregnable castle called Tigado, which was
furnished with all necessaries, and was so strong that it had no fear of
attack on any side. Howbeit, Haloön commanded a certain captain of his
that he should take 10,000 Tartars who had been left in garrison in
Persia, and with them lay siege to the said castle, and not leave it till
he had taken it. Wherefore the said Tartars continued besieging it for
seven whole years, winter and summer, without being able to take it. At
last the Assassins surrendered, from sheer want of clothing, but not of
victuals or other necessaries." So Ramusio; other copies read "27 years."
In any case it corroborates the fact that Girdkuh was said to have held
out for an extraordinary length of time. If Rashiduddin is right in naming
1270 as the date of surrender, this would be quite a recent event when the
Polo party passed, and draw special attention to the spot. (_J. As._ sér.
IV. tom. xiii. 48; _Ilch._ I. 93, 104, 274; _Q. R._ p. 278; _Ritter_,
VIII. 336.) A note which I have from _Djihan Numa_ (I. 259) connects
Girdkuh with a district called _Chinar_. This may be a clue to the term
_Arbre Sec_; but there are difficulties.
[1] [Ghirdkuh means "round mountain"; it was in the district of Kumis,
three parasangs west of Damghan. Under the year 1257, the _Yüan shi_
mentions the taking of the fortress of _Ghi-rh-du-kie_ by
_K'ie-di-bu-hua_. (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. p. 122;
II. 110.)--H. C.]
CHAPTER XXVI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF SAPURGAN.
On leaving the Castle, you ride over fine plains and beautiful valleys,
and pretty hill-sides producing excellent grass pasture, and abundance of
fruits, and all other products. Armies are glad to take up their quarters
here on account of the plenty that exists. 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. The
beasts do without drink until you have got across the desert tract and
come to watering places.
So after travelling for six days as I have told you, you come to a city
called SAPURGAN. It has great plenty of everything, but especially of the
very best melons in the world. They preserve them by paring them round and
round into strips, and drying them in the sun. When dry they are sweeter
than honey, and are carried off for sale all over the country. There is
also abundance of game here, both of birds and beasts.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--SAPURGAN may closely express the pronunciation of the name of the
city which the old Arabic writers call _Sabúrkán_ and _Shabúrkán_, now
called _Shibrgán_, lying some 90 miles west of Balkh; containing now some
12,000 inhabitants, and situated in a plain still richly cultivated,
though on the verge of the desert.[1] But I have seen no satisfactory
solution of the difficulties as to the time assigned. This in the G. T.
and in Ramusio is clearly six days. The point of departure is indeed
uncertain, but even if we were to place that at Sharakhs on the extreme
verge of cultivated Khorasan, which would be quite inconsistent with other
data, it would have taken the travellers something like double the time to
reach Shíbrgán. Where I have followed the G. T. in its reading "_quant
l'en a chevauchés six jornée tel che je vos ai contés, adunc treuve l'en
une cité_," etc., Pauthier's text has "_Et quant l'en a chevauchié_ les vi
cités, _si treuve l'en une cité qui a nom Sapurgan_," and to this that
editor adheres. But I suspect that _cités_ is a mere lapsus for _journées_
as in the reading in one of his three MSS. What could be meant by
"_chevauchier les_ vi _cités_"?
Whether the true route be, as I suppose, by Nishapúr and Meshid, 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 dropt out of it.
As a _probable_ conjecture I should apply the six days to the extent of
pleasing country described in the first lines of the chapter, and identify
it with the tract between Sabzawur and the cessation of fertile country
beyond Meshid. The distance would agree well, and a comparison with Fraser
or Ferrier will show that even now the description, allowing for the
compression of an old recollection, would be well founded; e.g. on the
first march beyond Nishapúr: "Fine villages, with plentiful gardens full
of trees, that bear fruit of the highest flavour, may be seen all along
the foot of the hills, and in the little recesses formed by the ravines
whence issues the water that irrigates them. It was a rich and pleasing
scene, and out of question by far the most populous and cultivated tract
that I had seen in Persia.... Next morning we quitted Derrood ... by a
very indifferent but interesting road, the glen being finely wooded with
walnut, mulberry, poplar, and willow-trees, and fruit-tree gardens rising
one above the other upon the mountain-side, watered by little rills....
These gardens extended for several miles up the glen; beyond them the bank
of the stream continued to be fringed with white sycamore, willow, ash,
mulberry, poplar, and woods that love a moist situation," and so on,
describing a style of scenery not common in Persia, and expressing
diffusely (as it seems to me) the same picture as Polo's two lines. In the
valley of Nishapúr, again (we quote Arthur Conolly): "'This is Persia!'
was the vain exclamation of those who were alive to the beauty of the
scene; 'this is Persia!' _Bah! Bah!_ What grass, what grain, what water!
_Bah! Bah!_
['If there be a Paradise on the face of the Earth,
This is it! This is it! This is it!'"]--(I. 209.)
(See _Fraser_, 405, 432-433, 434, 436.)
With reference to the dried melons of Shibrgán, Quatremère cites a history
of Herat, which speaks of them almost in Polo's words. Ibn Batuta gives a
like account of the melons of Khárizm: "The surprising thing about these
melons is the way the people have of slicing them, drying them in the sun,
and then packing them in baskets, just as Malaga figs are treated in our
part of the world. In this state they are sent to the remotest parts of
India and China. There is no dried fruit so delicious, and all the while I
lived at Delhi, when the travelling dealers came in, I never missed
sending for these dried strips of melon." (_Q. R._ 169; _I. B._ III. 15.)
Here, in the 14th century, we seem to recognise the Afghan dealers
arriving in the cities of Hindustan with their annual camel-loads of dried
fruits, just as we have seen them in our own day.
[1] The oldest form of the name is _Asapuragán_, which Rawlinson thinks
traceable to its being an ancient seat of the _Asa_ or _Asagartii_.
(_J. R. A. S._ XI. 63.)
CHAPTER XXVII.
OF THE CITY OF BALC.
Balc is a noble city and a great, though it was much greater in former
days. But the Tartars and other nations have greatly ravaged and destroyed
it. There were formerly many fine palaces and buildings of marble, and the
ruins of them still remain. The people of the city tell that it was here
that Alexander took to wife the daughter of Darius.
Here, you should be told, is the end of the empire of the Tartar Lord of
the Levant. And this city is also the limit of Persia in the direction
between east and north-east.[NOTE 1]
Now, let us quit this city, and I will tell you of another country called
DOGANA.[NOTE 2]
When you have quitted the city of which I have been speaking, you ride
some 12 days between north-east and east, without finding any human
habitation, for the people have all taken refuge in fastnesses among the
mountains, on account of the Banditti and armies that harassed them. There
is plenty of water on the road, and abundance of game; there are lions
too. You can get no provisions on the road, and must carry with you all
that you require for these 12 days.[NOTE 3]
NOTE 1.--BALKH, "the mother of cities," suffered mercilessly from
Chinghiz. Though the city had yielded without resistance, the whole
population was marched by companies into the plain, on the usual Mongol
pretext of counting them, and then brutally massacred. The city and its
gardens were fired, and all buildings capable of defence were levelled.
The province long continued to be harried by the Chaghataian inroads. Ibn
Batuta, sixty years after Marco's visit, describes the city as still in
ruins, and as uninhabited: "The remains of its mosques and colleges," he
says, "are still to be seen, and the painted walls traced with azure." It
is no doubt the Vaeq (Valq) of Clavijo, "very large, and surrounded by a
broad earthen wall, thirty paces across, but breached in many parts." He
describes a large portion of the area within as sown with cotton. The
account of its modern state in Burnes and Ferrier is much the same as Ibn
Batuta's, except that they found some population; two separate towns
within the walls according to the latter. Burnes estimates the circuit of
the ruins at 20 miles. The bulk of the population has been moved since
1858 to Takhtapul, 8 miles east of Balkh, where the Afghan Government is
placed.
(_Erdmann_, 404-405; _I. B._ III. 59; _Clavijo_, p. 117; _Burnes_, II.
204-206; _Ferrier_, 206-207.)
According to the legendary history of Alexander, the beautiful Roxana was
the daughter of Darius, and her father in a dying interview with Alexander
requested the latter to make her his wife:--
"Une fille ai mult bele; se prendre le voles.
Vus en seres de l'mont tout li mius maries," etc.
(_Lambert Le Court_, p. 256.)
NOTE 2.--The country called _Dogana_ in the G. Text is a puzzle. In the
former edition I suggested _Juzgána_, a name which till our author's time
was applied to a part of the adjoining territory, though not to that
traversed in quitting Balkh for the east. Sir H. Rawlinson is inclined to
refer the name to _Dehgán_, or "villager," a term applied in Bactria, and
in Kabul, to Tajik peasantry[1]. I may also refer to certain passages in
Baber's "Memoirs," in which he speaks of a place, and apparently a
district, called _Dehánah_, which seems from the context to have lain in
the vicinity of the Ghori, or Aksarai River. There is still a village in
the Ghori territory, called _Dehánah_. Though this is worth mentioning,
where the true solution is so uncertain, I acknowledge the difficulty of
applying it. I may add also that Baber calls the River of Ghori or
Aksarai, the _Dogh_-ábah. (_Sprenger, P. und R. Routen_, p. 39 and Map;
_Anderson_ in _J. A. S. B._ XXII. 161; _Ilch._ II. 93; _Baber_, pp. 132,
134, 168, 200, also 146.)
NOTE 3.--Though Burnes speaks of the part of the road that we suppose
necessarily to have been here followed from Balkh towards Taican, as
barren and dreary, he adds that the ruins of _aqueducts_ and houses proved
that the land had at one time been peopled, though now destitute of water,
and consequently of inhabitants. The country would seem to have reverted
at the time of Burnes' journey, from like causes, nearly to the state in
which Marco found it after the Mongol devastations.
_Lions_ seem to mean here the real king of beasts, and not tigers, as
hereafter in the book. Tigers, though found on the S. and W. shores of the
Caspian, do not seem to exist in the Oxus valley. On the other hand,
Rashiduddin tells us that, when Hulaku was reviewing his army after the
passage of the river, several lions were started, and two were killed. The
lions are also mentioned by Sidi 'Ali, the Turkish Admiral, further down
the valley towards Hazárasp: "We were obliged to fight with the lions day
and night, and no man dared to go alone for water." Moorcroft says of the
plain between Kunduz and the Oxus: "Deer, foxes, wolves, hogs, and _lions_
are numerous, the latter resembling those in the vicinity of Hariana" (in
Upper India). Wood also mentions lions in Kuláb, and at Kila'chap on the
Oxus. Q. Curtius tells how Alexander killed a great lion in the country
north of the Oxus towards Samarkand. [A similar story is told of Timur in
_The Mulfuzat Timury_, translated by Major Charles Stewart, 1830 (p. 69):
"During the march '(near Balkh)' two lions made their appearance, one of
them a male, the other a female. I (Timur) resolved to kill them myself,
and having shot them both with arrows, I considered this circumstance as a
lucky omen."--H. C.] (_Burnes_, II. 200; _Q. R._ 155; _Ilch._ I. 90; _J.
As._ IX. 217; _Moorcroft_, II. 430; _Wood_, ed. 1872, pp. 259,260; _Q. C._
VII. 2.)
[1] It may be observed that the careful Elphinstone distinguishes from
this general application of Dehgán or Dehkán, the name _Deggán_
applied to a tribe "once spread over the north-east of Afghanistan,
but now as a separate people only in Kunar and Laghman."
CHAPTER XXVIII.
OF TAICAN, AND THE MOUNTAINS OF SALT. ALSO OF THE PROVINCE OF CASEM.
After those twelve days' journey you come to a fortified place called
TAICAN, where there is a great corn market.[NOTE 1] It is a fine place,
and the mountains that you see towards the south are all composed of salt.
People from all the countries round, to some thirty days' journey, come to
fetch this salt, which is the best in the world, and is so hard that it
can only be broken with iron picks. 'Tis in such abundance that it would
supply the whole world to the end of time. [Other mountains there grow
almonds and pistachioes, which are exceedingly cheap.][NOTE 2]
When you leave this town and ride three days further between north-east
and east, you meet with many fine tracts full of vines and other fruits,
and with a goodly number of habitations, and everything to be had very
cheap. The people are worshippers of Mahommet, and are an evil and a
murderous generation, whose great delight is in the wine shop; for they
have good wine (albeit it be boiled), and are great topers; in truth, they
are constantly getting drunk. They wear nothing on the head but a cord
some ten palms long twisted round it. They are excellent huntsmen, and
take a great deal of game; in fact they wear nothing but the skins of the
beasts they have taken in the chase, for they make of them both coats and
shoes. Indeed, all of them are acquainted with the art of dressing skins
for these purposes.[NOTE 3]
When you have ridden those three days, you find a town called CASEM,[NOTE
4] which is subject to a count. His other towns and villages are on the
hills, but through this town there flows a river of some size. There are a
great many porcupines hereabouts, and very large ones too. When hunted
with dogs, several of them will get together and huddle close, shooting
their quills at the dogs, which get many a serious wound thereby.[NOTE 5]
This town of Casem is at the head of a very great province, which is also
called Casem. The people have a peculiar language. The peasants who keep
cattle abide in the mountains, and have their dwellings in caves, which
form fine and spacious houses for them, and are made with ease, as the
hills are composed of earth.[NOTE 6]
After leaving the town of Casem, you ride for three days without finding
a single habitation, or anything to eat or drink, so that you have to
carry with you everything that you require. At the end of those three days
you reach a province called Badashan, about which we shall now tell
you.[NOTE 7]
NOTE 1.--The _Taican_ of Polo is the still existing TALIKAN in the
province of Kataghan or Kunduz, but it bears the former name (_Tháîkán_)
in the old Arab geographies. Both names are used by Baber, who says it lay
in the _Ulugh Bágh_, or Great Garden, a name perhaps acquired by the
Plains of Talikan in happier days, but illustrating what Polo says of the
next three days' march. The Castle of Talikan resisted Chinghiz for seven
months, and met with the usual fate (1221). [In the Travels of Sidi Ali,
son of Housaïn (_Jour. Asiat._, October, 1826, p. 203), "Talikan, in the
country of Badakhschan" is mentioned.--H. C.] Wood speaks of Talikan in
1838 as a poor place of some 300 or 400 houses, mere hovels; a recent
account gives it 500 families. Market days are not usual in Upper India or
Kabul, but are universal in Badakhshan and the Oxus provinces. The bazaars
are only open on those days, and the people from the surrounding country
then assemble to exchange goods, generally by barter. Wood chances to
note: "A market was held at Talikan.... The thronged state of the roads
leading into it soon apprised us that the day was no ordinary one."
(_Abulf._ in _Büsching_, V. 352; _Sprenger_, p. 50; _P. de la Croix_, I.
63; _Baber_, 38, 130; _Burnes_, III. 8; _Wood_, 156; _Pandit Manphul's
Report_.)
The distance of Talikan from Balkh is about 170 miles, which gives very
short marches, if twelve days be the correct reading. Ramusio has _two_
days, which is certainly wrong. XII. is easily miswritten for VII., which
would be a just number.
NOTE 2.--In our day, as I learn from Pandit Manphul, the mines of rock
salt are at Ak Bulák, near the Lataband Pass, and at Darúná, near the
Kokcha, and these supply the whole of Badakhshan, as well as Kunduz and
Chitrál. These sites are due _east_ of Talikan, and are in Badakhshan. But
there is a mine at _Chál_, S.E. or S.S.E. of Talikan and within the same
province. There are also mines of rock-salt near the famous "stone bridge"
in Kuláb, north of the Oxus, and again on the south of the Alaï steppe.
(Papers by _Manphul_ and by _Faiz Baksh_; also _Notes_ by _Feachenko_.)
Both pistachioes and wild almonds are mentioned by Pandit Manphul; and see
_Wood_ (p. 252) on the beauty and profusion of the latter.
NOTE 3.--Wood thinks that the Tajik inhabitants of Badakhshan and the
adjoining districts are substantially of the same race as the Kafir tribes
of Hindu Kúsh. At the time of Polo's visit it would seem that their
conversion to Islam was imperfect. They were probably in that transition
state which obtains in our own day for some of the Hill Mahomedans
adjoining the Kafirs on the south side of the mountains the reproachful
title of _Nímchah Musulmán_, or Half-and-halfs. Thus they would seem to
have retained sundry Kafir characteristics; among others that love of wine
which is so strong among the Kafirs. The boiling of the wine is noted by
Baber (a connoisseur) as the custom of Nijrao, adjoining, if not then
included in, Kafir-land; and Elphinstone implies the continuance of the
custom when he speaks of the Kafirs as having wine of _the consistence of
jelly_, and very strong. The wine of _Kápishí_, the Greek Kapisa,
immediately south of Hindu Kúsh, was famous as early as the time of the
Hindu grammarian Pánini, say three centuries B.C. The cord twisted round
the head was probably also a relic of Kafir costume: "Few of the Kafirs
cover the head, and when they do, it is with a narrow band or fillet of
goat's hair ... about a yard or a yard and a half in length, wound round
the head." This style of head-dress seems to be very ancient in India, and
in the Sanchi sculptures is that of the supposed Dasyas. Something very
similar, i.e. a scanty turban cloth twisted into a mere cord, and wound
two or three times round the head, is often seen in the Panjab to this
day.
The _Postín_ or sheepskin coat is almost universal on both sides of the
Hindu Kúsh; and Wood notes: "The shoes in use resemble half-boots, made of
goatskin, and mostly of home manufacture." (_Baber_, 145; _J. A. S. B._
XXVIII. 348, 364; _Elphinst._ II. 384; _Ind. Antiquary_, I. 22; _Wood_,
174, 220; _J. R. A. S._ XIX. 2.)
NOTE 4.--Marsden was right in identifying _Scassem_ or _Casem_ with the
_Kechem_ of D'Anville's Map, but wrong in confounding the latter with the
_Kishmabad_ of Elphinstone--properly, I believe, _Kishnabad_--in the
Anderab Valley. Kashm, or Keshm, found its way into maps through Pétis de
la Croix, from whom probably D'Anville adopted it; but as it was ignored
by Elphinstone (or by Macartney, who constructed his map), and by Burnes,
it dropped out of our geography. Indeed, Wood does not notice it except as
giving name to a high hill called the Hill of Kishm, and the position even
of that he omits to indicate. The frequent mention of Kishm in the
histories of Timur and Humayun (e.g. _P. de la Croix_, I. 167; _N. et E._
XIV. 223, 491; _Erskine's Baber and Humayun_, II. 330, 355, etc.) had
enabled me to determine its position within tolerably narrow limits; but
desiring to fix it definitely, application was made through Colonel
Maclagan to Pandit Manphul, C.S.I., a very intelligent Hindu gentleman,
who resided for some time in Badakhshan as agent of the Panjab Government,
and from him arrived a special note and sketch, and afterwards a MS. copy
of a Report,[1] which set the position of Kishm at rest.
KISHM is the _Kilissemo_, i.e. Karisma or Krishma, of Hinen Tsang; and Sir
H. Rawlinson has identified the Hill of Kishm with the Mount Kharesem of
the Zend-Avesta, on which Jamshid placed the most sacred of all the fires.
It is now a small town or large village on the right bank of the Varsach
river, a tributary of the Kokcha. It was in 1866 the seat of a district
ruler under the Mír of Badakhshan, who was styled the Mír of Kishm, and is
the modern counterpart of Marco's _Quens_ or Count. The modern
caravan-road between Kunduz and Badakhshan does not pass through Kishm,
which is left some five miles to the right, but through the town of
Mashhad, which stands on the same river. Kishm is the warmest district of
Badakhshan. Its fruits are abundant, and ripen a month earlier than those
at Faizabad, the capital of that country. The Varsach or Mashhad river is
Marco's "_Flum auques grant_." Wood (247) calls it "the largest stream we
had yet forded in Badakhshan."
It is very notable that in Ramusio, in Pipino, and in one passage of the
G. Text, the name is written _Scasem_, which has led some to suppose the
_Ish-Káshm_ of Wood to be meant. That place is much too far east--in fact,
beyond the city which forms the subject of the next chapter. The apparent
hesitation, however, between the forms _Casem_ and _Scasem_ suggests that
the Kishm of our note may formerly have been termed S'kashm or Ish-Kashm,
a form frequent in the Oxus Valley, e.g. _Ish-Kimish, Ish-Káshm, Ishtrakh,
Ishpingao_. General Cunningham judiciously suggests (_Ladak_, 34) that
this form is merely a vocal corruption of the initial _S_ before a
consonant, a combination which always troubles the Musulman in India, and
converts every Mr. Smith or Mr. Sparks into Ismit or Ispak Sahib.
[There does not seem to me any difficulty about this note: "Shibarkhan
(Afghan Turkistan), Balkh, Kunduz, Khanabad, Talikan, Kishm, Badakhshan."
I am tempted to look for Dogana at Khanabad.--H. C.]
NOTE 5.--The belief that the porcupine _projected_ its quills at its
assailants was an ancient and persistent one--"_cum intendit cutem
missiles_," says Pliny (VIII. 35, and see also _Aelian. de Nat. An._ I.
31), and is held by the Chinese as it was held by the ancients, but is
universally rejected by modern zoologists. The huddling and coiling
appears to be a true characteristic, for the porcupine always tries to
shield its head.
NOTE 6.--The description of Kishm as a "very great" province is an example
of a bad habit of Marco's, which recurs in the next chapter. What he says
of the cave-dwellings may be illustrated by Burnes's account of the
excavations at Bamian, in a neighbouring district. These "still form the
residence of the greater part of the population.... The hills at Bamian
are formed of indurated clay and pebbles, which renders this excavation a
matter of little difficulty." Similar occupied excavations are noticed by
Moorcroft at Heibak and other places towards Khulm.
Curiously, Pandit Manphul says of the districts about the Kokcha: "Both
their hills and plains are productive, the former _being mostly composed
of earth, having very little of rocky substance_."
NOTE 7.--The capital of Badakhshan is now Faizabad, on the right bank of
the Kokcha, founded, according to Manphul, by Yarbeg, the first Mír of the
present dynasty. When this family was displaced for a time, by Murad Beg
of Kunduz, about 1829, the place was abandoned for years, but is now
re-occupied. The ancient capital of Badakhshan stood in the Dasht (or
Plain) of Bahárak, one of the most extensive pieces of level in Badakhshan,
in which the rivers Vardoj, Zardeo, and Sarghalan unite with the Kokcha,
and was apparently termed _Jaúzgún_. This was probably the city called
Badakhshan by our traveller.[2] As far as I can estimate, by the help of
Wood and the map I have compiled, this will be from 100 to 110 miles
distant from Talikan, and will therefore suit fairly with the six marches
that Marco lays down.
Wood, in 1838, found the whole country between Talikan and Faizabad nearly
as depopulated as Marco found that between Kishm and Badakhshan. The
modern depopulation was due--in part, at least--to the recent oppressions
and _razzias_ of the Uzbeks of Kunduz. On their decline, between 1840 and
1850, the family of the native Mírs was reinstated, and these now rule at
Faizabad, under an acknowledgment, since 1859, of Afghan supremacy.
[1] Since published in _J. K. G. S._ vol. xlii.
[2] Wilford, in the end of the 18th century, speaks of Faizabad as "the
new capital of Badakhshan, built near the site of the old one." The
Chinese map (vide _J. R. G. S._ vol. xlii.) represents the city of
_Badakhshan_ to the east of Faizabad. Faiz Bakhsh, in an unpublished
paper, mentions a tradition that the Lady Zobeidah, dear to English
children, the daughter of Al-Mansúr and wife of Ar-Rashid, delighted
to pass the spring at Jauzgún, and built a palace there, "the ruins of
which are still visible."
CHAPTER XXIX.
OF THE PROVINCE OF BADASHAN.
Badashan is a Province inhabited by people who worship Mahommet, and have
a peculiar language. It forms a very great kingdom, and the royalty is
hereditary. All those of the royal blood are descended from King Alexander
and the daughter of King Darius, who was Lord of the vast Empire of
Persia. And all these kings call themselves in the Saracen tongue
ZULCARNIAIN, which is as much as to say _Alexander_; and this out of
regard for Alexander the Great.[NOTE 1]
It is in this province that those fine and valuable gems the Balas Rubies
are found. They are got in certain rocks among the mountains, and in the
search for them the people dig great caves underground, just as is done by
miners for silver. There is but one special mountain that produces them,
and it is called SYGHINAN. The stones are dug on the king's account, and
no one else dares dig in that mountain on pain of forfeiture of life as
well as goods; nor may any one carry the stones out of the kingdom. But
the king amasses them all, and sends them to other kings when he has
tribute to render, or when he desires to offer a friendly present; and
such only as he pleases he causes to be sold. Thus he acts in order to
keep the Balas at a high value; for if he were to allow everybody to dig,
they would extract so many that the world would be glutted with them, and
they would cease to bear any value. Hence it is that he allows so few to
be taken out, and is so strict in the matter.[NOTE 2]
There is also in the same country another mountain, in which azure is
found; 'tis the finest in the world, and is got in a vein like silver.
There are also other mountains which contain a great amount of silver ore,
so that the country is a very rich one; but it is also (it must be said) a
very cold one.[NOTE 3] It produces numbers of excellent horses, remarkable
for their speed. They are not shod at all, although constantly used in
mountainous country, and on very bad roads. [They go at a great pace even
down steep descents, where other horses neither would nor could do the
like. And Messer Marco was told that not long ago they possessed in that
province a breed of horses from the strain of Alexander's horse
Bucephalus, all of which had from their birth a particular mark on the
forehead. This breed was entirely in the hands of an uncle of the king's;
and in consequence of his refusing to let the king have any of them, the
latter put him to death. The widow then, in despite, destroyed the whole
breed, and it is now extinct.[NOTE 4]]
The mountains of this country also supply Saker falcons of excellent
flight, and plenty of Lanners likewise. Beasts and birds for the chase
there are in great abundance. Good wheat is grown, and also barley without
husk. They have no olive oil, but make oil from sesamé, and also from
walnuts.[NOTE 5]
[In the mountains there are vast numbers of sheep--400, 500, or 600 in a
single flock, and all of them wild; and though many of them are taken,
they never seem to get aught the scarcer.[NOTE 6]
Those mountains are so lofty that 'tis a hard day's work, from morning
till evening, to get to the top of them. On getting up, you find an
extensive plain, with great abundance of grass and trees, and copious
springs of pure water running down through rocks and ravines. In those
brooks are found trout and many other fish of dainty kinds; and the air in
those regions is so pure, and residence there so healthful, that when the
men who dwell below in the towns, and in the valleys and plains, find
themselves attacked by any kind of fever or other ailment that may hap,
they lose no time in going to the hills; and after abiding there two or
three days, they quite recover their health through the excellence of that
air. And Messer Marco said he had proved this by experience: for when in
those parts he had been ill for about a year, but as soon as he was
advised to visit that mountain, he did so and got well at once.[NOTE 7]]
[Illustration: Ancient Silver Patera of debased Greek art, formerly in the
possession of the Princes of Badakhshan, now in the India Museum.
(Four-ninths of the diameter of the Original.)]
In this kingdom there are many strait and perilous passes, so difficult to
force that the people have no fear of invasion. Their towns and villages
also are on lofty hills, and in very strong positions.[NOTE 8] They are
excellent archers, and much given to the chase; indeed, most of them are
dependent for clothing on the skins of beasts, for stuffs are very dear
among them. The great ladies, however, are arrayed in stuffs, and I will
tell you the style of their dress! They all wear drawers made of cotton
cloth, and into the making of these some will put 60, 80, or even 100 ells
of stuff. This they do to make themselves look large in the hips, for the
men of those parts think that to be a great beauty in a woman.[NOTE 9]
NOTE 1.--"The population of Badakhshan Proper is composed of Tajiks,
Turks, and Arabs, who are all Sunnis, following the orthodox doctrines of
the Mahomedan law, and speak Persian and Turki, whilst the people of the
more mountainous tracts are Tajiks of the Shiá creed, having separate
provincial dialects or languages of their own, the inhabitants of the
principal places combining therewith a knowledge of Persian. Thus, the
_Shighnáni_ [sometimes called _Shighni_] is spoken in Shignán and Roshán,
the _Ishkáshami_ in Ishkásham, the _Wakhi_ in Wakhán, the _Sanglichì_ in
Sanglich and Zebák, and the _Minjáni_ in Minján. All these dialects
materially differ from each other." (_Pand. Manphul._) It may be
considered almost certain that Badakhshan Proper also had a peculiar
dialect in Polo's time. Mr. Shaw speaks of the strong resemblance to
_Kashmírís_ of the Badakhshán people whom he had seen.
The Legend of the Alexandrian pedigree of the Kings of Badakhshan is
spoken of by Baber, and by earlier Eastern authors. This pedigree is, or
was, claimed also by the chiefs of Karátegín, Darwáz, Roshán, Shighnán,
Wakhán, Chitrál, Gilgít, Swát, and Khapolor in Bálti. Some samples of
those genealogies may be seen in that strange document called "Gardiner's
Travels."
In Badakhshan Proper the story seems now to have died out. Indeed, though
Wood mentions one of the modern family of Mírs as vaunting this descent,
these are in fact _Sáhibzádahs_ of Samarkand, who were invited to the
country about the middle of the 17th century, and were in no way connected
with the old kings.
The traditional claims to Alexandrian descent were probably due to a
genuine memory of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom, and might have had an
origin analogous to the Sultan's claim to be "Caesar of Rome"; for the
real ancestry of the oldest dynasties on the Oxus was to be sought rather
among the Tochari and Ephthalites than among the Greeks whom they
superseded.
The cut on p. 159 presents an interesting memorial of the real relation of
Bactria to Greece, as well as of the pretence of the Badakhshan princes to
Grecian descent. This silver patera was sold by the family of the Mírs,
when captives, to the Minister of the Uzbek chief of Kunduz, and by him to
Dr. Percival Lord in 1838. It is now in the India Museum. On the bottom is
punched a word or two in Pehlvi, and there is also a word incised in
Syriac or Uighúr. It is curious that a _pair_ of paterae were acquired by
Dr. Lord under the circumstances stated. The other, similar in material
and form, but apparently somewhat larger, is distinctly Sassanian,
representing a king spearing a lion.
_Zu-'lkarnain_, "the Two-Horned," is an Arabic epithet of Alexander, with
which legends have been connected, but which probably arose from the
horned portraits on his coins. [Capus, l.c. p. 121, says, "Iskandr
Zoulcarneïn or Alexander _le Cornu_, horns being the emblem of strength."
--H. C.] The term appears in Chaucer (_Troil. and Cress._ III. 931) in the
sense of _non plus_:--
"I am, till God me better minde send,
At _dulcarnon_, right at my wittes end."
And it is said to have still colloquial existence in that sense in some
corners of England. This use is said to have arisen from the Arabic
application of the term (_Bicorne_) to the 47th Proposition of Euclid.
(_Baber_, 13; _N. et E._ XIV. 490; _N. An. des V._ xxvi. 296; _Burnes_,
III. 186 seqq.; _Wood_, 155, 244; _J. A. S. B._ XXII. 300; _Ayeen Akbery_,
II. 185; see _N. and Q._ 1st Series, vol. v.)
NOTE 2.--I have adopted in the text for the name of the country that one
of the several forms in the G. Text which comes nearest to the correct
name, viz. _Badascian_. But _Balacian_ also appears both in that and in
Pauthier's text. This represents _Balakhshán_, a form also sometimes used
in the East. Hayton has _Balaxcen_, Clavijo _Balaxia_, the Catalan Map
_Baldassia_. From the form _Balakhsh_ the Balas Ruby got its name. As Ibn
Batuta says: "'The Mountains of Badakhshan have given their name to the
Badakhshi Ruby, vulgarly called _Al Balaksh_." Albertus Magnus says the
_Balagius_ is the female of the Carbuncle or Ruby Proper, "and some say it
is his house, and hath thereby got the name, quasi _Palatium_ Carbunculi!"
The Balais or Balas Ruby is, like the Spinel, a kind inferior to the real
Ruby of Ava. The author of the _Masálak al Absár_ says the finest Balas
ever seen in the Arab countries was one presented to Malek 'Adil Ketboga,
at Damascus; it was of a triangular form and weighed 50 drachms. The
prices of _Balasci_ in Europe in that age may be found in Pegolotti, but
the needful problems are hard to solve.
"No sapphire in Inde, no Rubie rich of price,
There lacked than, nor Emeraud so grene,
_Balès_, Turkès, ne thing to my device."
(_Chaucer, 'Court of Love.'_)
"L'altra letizia, che m'era già nota,
Preclara cosa mi si fece in vista,
Qual fin _balascio_ in che lo Sol percuoto."
(_Paradiso_, ix. 67.)
Some account of the Balakhsh from Oriental sources will be found in _J.
As._ sér V. tom. xi. 109.
(_I. B._ III. 59, 394; _Alb. Mag. de Mineralibus; Pegol._ p. 307; _N. et
E._ XIII. i. 246.)
["The Mohammedan authors of the Mongol period mention Badakhshan several
times in connection with the political and military events of that period.
Guchluk, the 'gurkhan of Karakhitai,' was slain in Badakhshan in 1218
(_d'Ohsson_, I. 272). In 1221, the Mongols invaded the country (l.c. I.
272). On the same page, d'Ohsson translates a short account of Badakhshan
by Yakut (+ 1229), stating that this mountainous country is famed for its
precious stones, and especially rubies, called _Balakhsh_."
(Bretschneider, _Med. Res._ II. p. 66.)--H. C.]
The account of the royal monopoly in working the mines, etc., has
continued accurate down to our own day. When Murad Beg of Kunduz conquered
Badakhshan some forty years ago, in disgust at the small produce of the
mines, he abandoned working them, and sold nearly all the population of
the place into slavery! They continue still unworked, unless
clandestinely. In 1866 the reigning Mír had one of them opened at the
request of Pandit Manphul, but without much result.
The locality of the mines is on the right bank of the Oxus, in the
district of Ish Káshm and on the borders of SHIGNAN, the _Syghinan_ of the
text. (_P. Manph.; Wood_, 206; _N. Ann. des. V._ xxvi. 300.)
[The ruby mines are really in the Gháran country, which extends along both
banks of the Oxus. Barshar is one of the deserted villages; the boundary
between Gháran and Shignán is the Kuguz Parin (in Shighai dialect means
"holes in the rock"); the Persian equivalent is "Rafak-i-Somakh." (Cf.
Captain Trotter, _Forsyth's Mission_, p. 277.)--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--The mines of _Lájwurd_ (whence _l'Azur_ and _Lazuli_) have been,
like the Ruby mines, celebrated for ages. They lie in the Upper Valley of
the Kokcha, called Korán, within the Tract called _Yamgán_, of which the
popular etymology is _Hamah-Kán_, or "All-Mines," and were visited by Wood
in 1838. The produce now is said to be of very inferior quality, and in
quantity from 30 to 60 _poods_ (36 lbs each) annually. The best quality
sells at Bokhara at 30 to 60 tillas, or 12_l._ to 24_l._ the pood
(_Manphúl_). Surely it is ominous when a British agent writing of
Badakhshan products finds it natural to express weights in Russian poods!
The Yamgán Tract also contains mines of iron, lead, alum, salammoniac,
sulphur, ochre, and copper. The last are not worked. But I do not learn of
any silver mines nearer than those of Paryán in the Valley of Panjshir,
south of the crest of the Hindu-Kúsh, much worked in the early Middle
Ages. (See _Cathay_, p. 595.)
NOTE 4.--The Kataghan breed of horses from Badakhshan and Kunduz has still
a high reputation. They do not often reach India, as the breed is a
favourite one among the Afghan chiefs, and the horses are likely to be
appropriated in transit. (_Lumsden, Mission to Kandahar_, p. 20.)
[The Kirghiz between the Yangi Hissar River and Sirikol are the only
people using the horse generally in the plough, oxen being employed in the
plains, and yaks in Sirikol. (Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon, p. 222,
_Forsyth's Mission_.)--H. C.]
What Polo heard of the Bucephalid strain was perhaps but another form of a
story told by the Chinese, many centuries earlier, when speaking of this
same region. A certain cave was frequented by a wonderful stallion of
supernatural origin. Hither the people yearly brought their mares, and a
famous breed was derived from the foals. (_Rém. N. Mél. As._ I. 245.)
NOTE 5.--The huskless barley of the text is thus mentioned by Burnes in
the vicinity of the Hindu-Kúsh: "They rear a barley in this elevated
country which has no husk, and grows like wheat; but it is barley." It is
not properly _huskless_, but when ripe it bursts the husk and remains so
loosely attached as to be dislodged from it by a slight shake. It is grown
abundantly in Ladak and the adjoining Hill States. Moorcroft details six
varieties of it cultivated there. The kind mentioned by Marco and Burnes
is probably that named by Royle _Hordeum Aegiceras_, and which has been
sent to England under the name of Tartarian Wheat, though it is a genuine
barley. _Naked barley_ is mentioned by Galen as grown in Cappadocia; and
Matthioli speaks of it as grown in France in his day (middle of 16th
century). It is also known to the Arabs, for they have a name for it--
_Sult_. (_Burnes_, III. 205; _Moorc._ II. 148 seqq.; _Galen, de Aliment.
Facult._ Lat. ed. 13; _Matthioli_, Ven. 1585, p. 420; _Eng. Cyc._, art.
Hordeum.)
Sesamé is mentioned by P. Manphul as one of the products of Badakhshan;
linseed is another, which is also used for oil. Walnut-trees abound, but
neither he nor Wood mention the oil. We know that walnut oil is largely
manufactured in Kashmir. (_Moorcroft_, II. 148.)
[See on Saker and Lanner Falcons (_F. Sakar_, Briss.; _F. lanarius_,
Schlegel) the valuable paper by Edouard Blanc, _Sur l'utilisation des
Oiseaux de proie en Asie centrale_ _in Rev. des Sciences natur.
appliquées_, 20th June, 1895.
"Hawking is the favourite sport of Central Asian Lords," says G. Capus.
(_A travers le royaume de Tamerlan_, p. 132. See pp. 132-134.)
The Mirza says (l.c. p. 157) that the mountains of Wakhán "are only noted
for producing a breed of hawks or falcons which the hardy Wâkhânis manage
to catch among the cliffs. These hawks are much esteemed by the chiefs of
Badakhshan, Bokhara, etc. They are celebrated for their swiftness, and
known by their white colour."--H. C.]
NOTE 6.--These wild sheep are probably the kind called _Kachkár_,
mentioned by Baber, and described by Mr. Blyth in his Monograph of Wild
Sheep, under the name of _Ovis Vignei_. It is extensively diffused over
all the ramifications of Hindu-Kúsh, and westward perhaps to the Persian
Elburz. "It is gregarious," says Wood, "congregating in herds of _several
hundreds_." In a later chapter Polo speaks of a wild sheep apparently
different and greater. (See _J. A. S. B._, X. 858 seqq.)
NOTE 7.--This pleasant passage is only in Ramusio, but it would be heresy
to doubt its genuine character. Marco's recollection of the delight of
convalescence in such a climate seems to lend an unusual enthusiasm and
felicity to his description of the scenery. Such a region as he speaks of
is probably the cool Plateau of Shewá, of which we are told as extending
about 25 miles eastward from near Faizabad, and forming one of the finest
pastures in Badakhshan. It contains a large lake called by the frequent
name Sar-i-Kol. No European traveller in modern times (unless Mr. Gardner)
has been on those glorious table-lands. Burnes says that at Kunduz both
natives and foreigners spoke rapturously of the vales of Badakhshan, its
rivulets, romantic scenes and glens, its fruits, flowers, and
nightingales. Wood is reticent on scenery, naturally, since nearly all his
journey was made in winter. When approaching Faizabad on his return from
the Upper Oxus, however, he says: "On entering the beautiful lawn at the
gorge of its valley I was enchanted at the quiet loveliness of the scene.
Up to this time, from the day we left Talikan, we had been moving in snow;
but now it had nearly vanished from the valley, and the fine sward was
enamelled with crocuses, daffodils, and snowdrops." (_P. Manphul; Burnes_,
III. 176; _Wood_, 252.)
NOTE 8.--Yet scarcely any country in the world has suffered so terribly
and repeatedly from invasion. "Enduring decay probably commenced with the
wars of Chinghiz, for many an instance in Eastern history shows the
permanent effect of such devastations.... Century after century saw only
progress in decay. Even to our own time the progress of depopulation and
deterioration has continued." In 1759, two of the Khojas of Kashgar,
escaping from the dominant Chinese, took refuge in Badakhshan; one died of
his wounds, the other was treacherously slain by Sultan Shah, who then
ruled the country. The holy man is said in his dying moments to have
invoked curses on Badakhshan, and prayed that it might be three times
depopulated; a malediction which found ample accomplishment. The misery of
the country came to a climax about 1830, when the Uzbek chief of Kunduz,
Murad Beg Kataghan, swept away the bulk of the inhabitants, and set them
down to die in the marshy plains of Kunduz. (_Cathay_, p. 542; _Faiz
Bakhsh_, etc.)
NOTE 9.--This "bombasticall dissimulation of their garments," as the
author of _Anthropometamorphosis_ calls such a fashion, is no longer
affected by the ladies of Badakhshan. But a friend in the Panjab observes
that it still survives _there_. "There are ladies' trousers here which
might almost justify Marco's very liberal estimate of the quantity of
stuff required to make them;" and among the Afghan ladies, Dr. Bellew
says, the silken trousers almost surpass crinoline in amplitude. It is
curious to find the same characteristic attaching to female figures on
coins of ancient kings of these regions, such as Agathocles and Pantaleon.
(The last name is appropriate!)
CHAPTER XXX.
OF THE PROVINCE OF PASHAI
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.[NOTE 1]
Now let us proceed and speak of another country which is seven days'
journey from this one towards the south-east, and the name of which is
KESHIMUR.
NOTE 1.--The name of PASHAI has already occurred (see ch. xviii.) linked
with DIR, as indicating a tract, apparently of very rugged and difficult
character, through which the partizan leader Nigúdar passed in making an
incursion from Badakhshan towards Káshmir. The difficulty here lies in the
name _Pashai_, which points to the south-west, whilst _Dir_ and all other
indications point to the south-east. But Pashai seems to me the reading to
which all texts tend, whilst it is clearly expressed in the G. T.
(_Pasciai_), and it is contrary to all my experience of the interpretation
of Marco Polo to attempt to torture the name in the way which has been
common with commentators professed and occasional. But dropping this name
for a moment, let us see to what the other indications do point.
In the meagre statements of this and the next chapter, interposed as they
are among chapters of detail unusually ample for Polo, there is nothing to
lead us to suppose that the Traveller ever personally visited the
countries of which these two chapters treat. I believe we have here merely
an amplification of the information already sketched of the country
penetrated by the Nigudarian bands whose escapade is related in chapter
xviii., information which was probably derived from a Mongol source. And
these countries are in my belief _both_ regions famous in the legends of
the Northern Buddhists, viz. UDYÁNA and KÁSHMIR.
Udyána lay to the north of Pesháwar on the Swát River, but from the extent
assigned to it by Hiuen Tsang, the name probably covered a large part of
the whole hill-region south of the Hindu-Kúsh from Chitrál to the Indus,
as indeed it is represented in the Map of Vivien de St. Martin (_Pèlerins
Bouddhistes_, II.). It is regarded by Fahian as the most northerly
Province of India, and in his time the food and clothing of the people
were similar to those of Gangetic India. It was the native country of
Padma Sambhava, one of the chief apostles of Lamaism, i.e. of Tibetan
Buddhism, and a great master of enchantments. The doctrines of Sakya, as
they prevailed in Udyána in old times, were probably strongly tinged with
Sivaitic magic, and the Tibetans still regard that locality as the classic
ground of sorcery and witchcraft.
Hiuen Tsang says of the inhabitants: "The men are of a soft and
pusillanimous character, _naturally inclined to craft and trickery_. They
are fond of study, but pursue it with no ardour. _The science of magical
formulae is become a regular professional business with them_. They
generally wear clothes of white cotton, and rarely use any other stuff.
Their spoken language, in spite of some differences, has a strong
resemblance to that of India."
These particulars suit well with the slight description in our text, and
the Indian atmosphere that it suggests; and the direction and distance
ascribed to Pashai suit well with Chitral, which may be taken as
representing Udyána when approached from Badakhshan. For it would be quite
practicable for a party to reach the town of Chitrál in ten days from the
position assigned to the old capital of Badakhshan. And from Chitrál the
road towards Káshmir would lie over the high Lahori pass to DIR, which
from its mention in chapter xviii. we must consider an obligatory point.
(_Fah-hian_, p. 26; _Koeppen_, I. 70; _Pèlerins Boud._ II. 131-132.)
["Tao-lin (a Buddhist monk like Hiuen Tsang) afterwards left the western
regions and changed his road to go to Northern India; he made a pilgrimage
to _Kia-che-mi-louo_ (Káshmir), and then entered the country of
_U-ch'ang-na_ (Udyána)...." (Ed. Chavannes, _I-tsing_, p. 105.)--H. C.]
We must now turn to the name _Pashai_. The Pashai Tribe are now Mahomedan,
but are reckoned among the aboriginal inhabitants of the country, which
the Afghans are not. Baber mentions them several times, and counts their
language as one of the dozen that were spoken at Kabul in his time. Burnes
says it resembles that of the Kafirs. A small vocabulary of it was
published by Leech, in the seventh volume of the _J. A. S. B._, which I
have compared with vocabularies of Siah-posh Kafir, published by Raverty
in vol. xxxiii. of the same journal, and by Lumsden in his _Report of the
Mission to Kandahar_, in 1837. Both are Aryan, and seemingly of Professor
Max Müller's class _Indic_, but not very close to one another.[1]
Ibn Batuta, after crossing the Hindu-Kúsh by one of the passes at the head
of the Panjshir Valley, reaches the Mountain BASHÁI (Pashai). In the same
vicinity the Pashais are mentioned by Sidi 'Ali, in 1554. And it is still
in the neighbourhood of Panjshir that the tribe is most numerous, though
they have other settlements in the hill-country about Nijrao, and on the
left bank of the Kabul River between Kabul and Jalalabad. _Pasha_ and
_Pasha_-gar is also named as one of the chief divisions of the Kafirs, and
it seems a fair conjecture that it represents those of the Pashais who
resisted or escaped conversion to Islam. (See _Leech's Reports_ in
Collection pub. at Calcutta in 1839; _Baber_, 140; _Elphinstone_, I. 411;
_J. A. S. B._ VII. 329, 731, XXVIII. 317 seqq., XXXIII. 271-272; _I. B._
III. 86; _J. As._ IX. 203, and _J. R. A. S._ N.S. V. 103, 278.)
The route of which Marco had heard must almost certainly have been one of
those leading by the high Valley of Zebák, and by the Doráh or the Nuksán
Pass, over the watershed of Hindu-Kúsh into Chitrál, and so to Dir, as
already noticed. The difficulty remains as to how he came to apply the
name _Pashai_ to the country south-east of Badakhshan. I cannot tell. But
it is at least possible that the name of the Pashai tribe (of which the
branches even now are spread over a considerable extent of country) may
have once had a wide application over the southern spurs of the Hindu-
Kúsh.[2] Our Author, moreover, is speaking here from hearsay, and hearsay
geography without maps is much given to generalising. I apprehend that,
along with characteristics specially referable to the Tibetan and Mongol
traditions of Udyána, the term Pashai, as Polo uses it, vaguely covers the
whole tract from the southern boundary of Badakhshan to the Indus and the
Kabul River.
But even by extending its limits to Attok, we shall not get within seven
marches of Káshmir. It is 234 miles by road from Attok to Srinagar; more
than twice seven marches. And, according to Polo's usual system, the
marches should be counted from Chitrál, or some point thereabouts.
Sir H. Rawlinson, in his _Monograph on the Oxus_, has indicated the
probability that the name _Pashai_ may have been originally connected with
_Aprasin_ or _Paresín_, the Zendavestian name for the Indian Caucasus, and
which occurs in the Babylonian version of the Behistun Inscription as the
equivalent of Gaddra in the Persian, i.e. _Gandhára_, there applied to the
whole country between Bactria and the Indus. (See _J. R. G. S._ XLII.
502.) Some such traditional application of the term Pashai might have
survived.
[1] The Kafir dialect of which Mr. Trumpp collected some particulars shows
in the present tense of the substantive verb these remarkable forms:--
_Ei sum_, _Tu sis_, _siga se_; _Ima simis_, _Wi sik_, _Sige sin_.
[2] In the _Tabakat-i-Násiri_ (_Elliot_, II. 317) we find mention of the
Highlands of _Pasha-Afroz_, but nothing to define their position.
CHAPTER XXXI.
OF THE PROVINCE OF KESHIMUR.
Keshimur also is a Province inhabited by a people who are Idolaters and
have a language of their own.[NOTE 1] They have an astonishing
acquaintance with the devilries of enchantment; insomuch that they make
their idols to speak. They can also by their sorceries bring on changes of
weather and produce darkness, and do a number of things so extraordinary
that no one without seeing them would believe them.[NOTE 2] Indeed, this
country is the very original source from which Idolatry has spread
abroad.[NOTE 3]
In this direction you can proceed further till you come to the Sea of
India.
The men are brown and lean, but the women, taking them as brunettes, are
very beautiful. The food of the people is flesh, and milk, and rice. The
clime is finely tempered, being neither very hot nor very cold. There are
numbers of towns and villages in the country, but also forests and desert
tracts, and strong passes, so that the people have no fear of anybody, and
keep their independence, with a king of their own to rule and do
justice.[NOTE 4]
There are in this country Eremites (after the fashion of those parts), who
dwell in seclusion and practise great abstinence in eating and drinking.
They observe strict chastity, and keep from all sins forbidden in their
law, so that they are regarded by their own folk as very holy persons.
They live to a very great age.[NOTE 5]
There are also a number of idolatrous abbeys and monasteries. [The people
of the province do not kill animals nor spill blood; so if they want to
eat meat they get the Saracens who dwell among them to play the
butcher.[NOTE 6]] The coral which is carried from our parts of the world
has a better sale there than in any other country.[NOTE 7]
[Illustration: Ancient Buddhist Temple at Pandrethan in Káshmir]
Now we will quit this country, and not go any further in the same
direction; for if we did so we should enter India; and that I do not wish
to do at present. For, on our return journey, I mean to tell you about
India: all in regular order. Let us go back therefore to Badashan, for we
cannot otherwise proceed on our journey.
NOTE 1.--I apprehend that in this chapter Marco represents Buddhism (which
is to be understood by his expression _Idolatry_, not always, but usually)
as in a position of greater life and prosperity than we can believe it to
have enjoyed in Káshmir at the end of the 13th century, and I suppose that
his knowledge of it was derived in great part from tales of the Mongol and
Tibetan Buddhists about its past glories.
I know not if the spelling _Kesciemur_ represents any peculiar Mongol
pronunciation of the name. Plano Carpini, probably the first modern
European to mention this celebrated region, calls it _Casmir_ (p. 708).
"The Cashmeerians," says Abu'l Fazl, "have a language of their own, but
their books are written in the Shanskrit tongue, although the character is
sometimes Cashmeerian. They write chiefly upon _Tooz_ [birch-bark], which
is the bark of a tree; it easily divides into leaves, and remains perfect
for many years." (_Ayeen Akbery_, II. 147.) A sketch of Kashmiri Grammar
by Mr. Edgeworth will be found in vol. x. of the _J. A. S. B._, and a
fuller one by Major Leech in vol. xiii. Other contributions on the
language are in vol. xxxv. pt. i. p. 233 (Godwin-Austen); in vol. xxxix.
pt. i. p. 95 (Dr. Elmslie); and in _Proceedings_ for 1866, p. 62, seqq.
(Sir G. Campbell and Bábú Rájendra Lál Mitra). The language, though in
large measure of Sanskrit origin, has words and forms that cannot be
traced in any other Indian vernacular. (_Campbell_, pp. 67, 68). The
character is a modification of the Panjáb Nagari.
NOTE 2.--The Kashmirian conjurers had made a great impression on Marco,
who had seen them at the Court of the Great Kaan, and he recurs in a later
chapter to their weather sorceries and other enchantments, when we shall
make some remarks. Meanwhile let us cite a passage from Bernier, already
quoted by M. Pauthier. When crossing the Pír Panjál (the mountain crossed
on entering Káshmir from Lahore) with the camp of Aurangzíb, he met with
"an old Hermit who had dwelt upon the summit of the Pass since the days of
Jehangir, and whose religion nobody knew, although it was said that he
could work miracles, and used at his pleasure to produce extraordinary
thunderstorms, as well as hail, snow, rain, and wind. There was something
wild in his countenance, and in his long, spreading, and tangled hoary
beard. He asked alms fiercely, allowing the travellers to drink from
earthen cups that he had set out upon a great stone, but signing to them
to go quickly by without stopping. He scolded those who made a noise,
'for,' said he to me (after I had entered his cave and smoothed him down
with a half rupee which I put in his hand with all humility), 'noise here
raises furious storms. Aurangzíb has done well in taking my advice and
prohibiting it. Shah Jehan always did the like. But Jehangir once chose to
laugh at what I said, and made his drums and trumpets sound; the
consequence was he nearly lost his life.'" (_Bernier_, Amst. ed. 1699, II.
290.) A successor of this hermit was found on the same spot by P. Desideri
in 1713, and another by Vigne in 1837.
NOTE 3.--Though the earliest entrance of Buddhism into Tibet was from
India Proper, yet Káshmir twice in the history of Tibetan Buddhism played
a most important part. It was in Káshmir that was gathered, under the
patronage of the great King Kanishka, soon after our era, the Fourth
Buddhistic Council, which marks the point of separation between Northern
and Southern Buddhism. Numerous missionaries went forth from Káshmir to
spread the doctrine in Tibet and in Central Asia. Many of the Pandits who
laboured at the translation of the sacred books into Tibetan were
Kashmiris, and it was even in Káshmir that several of the translations
were made. But these were not the only circumstances that made Káshmir a
holy land to the Northern Buddhists. In the end of the 9th century the
religion was extirpated in Tibet by the Julian of the Lamas, the great
persecutor Langdarma, and when it was restored, a century later, it was
from Káshmir in particular that fresh missionaries were procured to
reinstruct the people in the forgotten Law. (See _Koeppen_, II. 12-13, 78;
_J. As._ sér. VI. tom. vi. 540.)
"The spread of Buddhism to Káshmir is an event of extraordinary importance
in the history of that religion. Thenceforward that country became a
mistress in the Buddhist Doctrine and the headquarters of a particular
school.... The influence of Káshmir was very marked, especially in the
spread of Buddhism beyond India. From Káshmir it penetrated to Kandahar
and Kabul,... and thence over Bactria. Tibetan Buddhism also had its
essential origin from Káshmir;... so great is the importance of this
region in the History of Buddhism." (_Vassilyev, Der Buddhismus_, I. 44.)
In the account which the Mahawanso gives of the consecration of the great
Tope at Ruanwelli, by Dutthagamini, King of Ceylon (B.C. 157), 280,000
priests (!) come from Káshmir, a far greater number than is assigned to
any other country except one. (_J. A. S. B._ VII. 165.)
It is thus very intelligible how Marco learned from the Mongols and the
Lamas with whom he came in contact to regard Káshmir as "the very original
source from which their Religion had spread abroad." The feeling with
which they looked to Káshmir must have been nearly the same as that with
which the Buddhists of Burma look to Ceylon. But this feeling towards
Káshmir does not _now_, I am informed, exist in Tibet. The reverence for
the holy places has reverted to Bahar and the neighbouring "cradle-lands"
of Buddhism.
It is notable that the historian Firishta, in a passage quoted by Tod,
uses Marco's expression in reference to Káshmir, almost precisely, saying
that the Hindoos derived their idolatry from Káshmir, "the foundry of
magical superstition." (_Rajasthan_, I. 219.)
NOTE 4.--The people of Káshmir retain their beauty, but they are morally
one of the most degraded races in Asia. Long oppression, now under the
Lords of Jamu as great as ever, has no doubt aggravated this. Yet it would
seem that twelve hundred years ago the evil elements were there as well as
the beauty. The Chinese traveller says: "Their manners are light and
volatile, their characters effeminate and pusillanimous.... They are very
handsome, but their natural bent is to fraud and trickery." (_Pèl. Boud._
II. 167-168.) Vigne's account is nearly the same. (II. 142-143.) "They are
as mischievous as monkeys, and far more malicious," says Mr. Shaw (p.
292).
[Bernier says: "The women [of Kachemire] especially are very handsome; and
it is from this country that nearly every individual, when first admitted
to the court of the Great Mogul, selects wives or concubines, that his
children may be whiter than the Indians, and pass for genuine Moguls.
Unquestionably, there must be beautiful women among the higher classes, if
we may judge by those of the lower orders seen in the streets and in the
shops." (_Travels in the Mogul Empire_, edited by Archibald Constable,
1891, p. 404.)]
NOTE 5.--In the time of Hiuen Tsang, who spent two years studying in
Káshmir in the first half of the 7th century, though there were many
Brahmans in the country, Buddhism was in a flourishing state; there were
100 convents with about 5000 monks. In the end of the 11th century a King
(Harshadeva, 1090-1102) is mentioned _exceptionally_ as a protector of
Buddhism. The supposition has been intimated above that Marco's picture
refers to a traditional state of things, but I must notice that a like
picture is presented in the Chinese account of Hulaku's war. One of the
thirty kingdoms subdued by the Mongols was "The kingdom of Fo (Buddha)
called _Kishimi_. It lies to the N.W. of India. There are to be seen the
men who are counted the successors of Shakia; their ancient and venerable
air recalls the countenance of Bodi-dharma as one sees it in pictures.
They abstain from wine, and content themselves with a gill of rice for
their daily food, and are occupied only in reciting the prayers and
litanies of Fo." (_Rém. N. Mél. Asiat._ I. 179.) Abu'l Fazl says that on
his third visit with Akbar to Káshmir he discovered some old men of the
religion of Buddha, but none of them were _literati_. The _Rishis_, of
whom he speaks with high commendation as abstaining from meat and from
female society, as charitable and unfettered by traditions, were perhaps a
modified remnant of the Buddhist Eremites. Colonel Newall, in a paper on
the Rishis of Káshmir, traces them to a number of Shiáh Sayads, who fled
to Káshmir in the time of Timur. But evidently the _genus_ was of much
earlier date, long preceding the introduction of Islam. (_Vie et V. de H.
T._ p. 390; _Lassen_, III. 709; _Ayeen Akb._ II. 147, III. 151; _J. A. S.
B._ XXXIX. pt. i. 265.)
We see from the _Dabistan_ that in the 17th century Káshmir continued to
be a great resort of Magian mystics and sages of various sects, professing
great abstinence and credited with preternatural powers. And indeed
Vámbéry tells us that even in our own day the Kashmiri Dervishes are
pre-eminent among their Mahomedan brethren for cunning, secret arts, skill
in exorcisms, etc. (_Dab._ I. 113 seqq. II. 147-148; _Vámb. Sk. of Cent.
Asia_, 9.)
NOTE 6.--The first precept of the Buddhist Decalogue, or Ten Obligations
of the Religious Body, is not to take life. But _animal food_ is not
forbidden, though restricted. Indeed it is one of the circumstances in the
Legendary History of Sakya Muni, which looks as if it _must_ be true, that
he is related to have aggravated his fatal illness by eating a dish of
pork set before him by a hospitable goldsmith. Giorgi says the butchers in
Tibet are looked on as infamous; and people selling sheep or the like will
make a show of exacting an assurance that these are not to be slaughtered.
In Burma, when a British party wanted beef, the owner of the bullocks
would decline to make one over, but would point one out that might be shot
by the foreigners.
In Tibetan history it is told of the persecutor Langdarma that he
compelled members of the highest orders of the clergy to become hunters
and butchers. A Chinese collection of epigrams, dating from the 9th
century, gives a facetious list of _Incongruous Conditions_, among which
we find a poor Parsi, a sick Physician, a fat Bride, a Teacher who does
not know his letters, and a _Butcher who reads the Scriptures_ (of
Buddhism)! (_Alph. Tib._ 445; _Koeppen_, I. 74; _N. and Q., C. and J._
III. 33.)
NOTE 7.--Coral is still a very popular adornment in the Himalayan
countries. The merchant Tavernier says the people to the north of the
Great Mogul's territories and in the mountains of Assam and Tibet were
the greatest purchasers of coral. (_Tr. in India_, Bk. II. ch. xxiii.)
CHAPTER XXXII.
OF THE GREAT RIVER OF BADASHAN.
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.[NOTE 1]
There are numbers of wild beasts of all sorts in this region. 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
clothed with the finest pasture in the world; insomuch that a lean beast
there will fatten to your heart's content in ten days. There are great
numbers of all kinds of wild beasts; among others, wild sheep of great
size, whose horns are good six palms in length. From these horns the
shepherds make great bowls to eat from, and they use the horns also to
enclose folds for their cattle at night. [Messer Marco was told also that
the wolves were numerous, and killed many of those wild sheep. Hence
quantities of their horns and bones were found, and these were made into
great heaps by the way-side, in order to guide travellers when snow was on
the ground.]
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. The region is so lofty and cold that you do not even see any
birds flying. And I must notice also that because of this great cold, fire
does not burn so brightly, nor give out so much heat as usual, nor does it
cook food so effectually.[NOTE 2]
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. The country is called BOLOR. The
people dwell high up in the mountains, and are savage Idolaters, living
only by the chase, and clothing themselves in the skins of beasts. They
are in truth an evil race.[NOTE 3]
NOTE 1.--["The length of Little Pamir, according to Trotter, is 68
miles.... To find the twelve days' ride in the plain of Marco Polo, it
must be admitted, says Severtsof (_Bul. Soc. Géog._ XI. 1890, pp.
588-589), that he went down a considerable distance along the south-north
course of the Aksu, in the Aktash Valley, and did not turn towards Tásh
Kurgán, by the Neza Tash Pass, crossed by Gordon and Trotter. The descent
from this pass to Tásh Kurgán finishes with a difficult and narrow defile,
which may well be overflowed at the great melting of snow, from the end of
May till the middle of June, even to July.
"Therefore he must have left the Aksu Valley to cross the Pass of
Tagharma, about 50 or 60 kilometres to the north of the Neza Tash Pass;
thence to Kashgar, the distance, in a straight line, is about 200
kilometres, and less than 300 by the shortest route which runs from the
Tagharma Pass to little Kara Kul, and from there down to Yangi Hissar,
along the Ghidjik. And Marco Polo assigns _forty_ days for this route,
while he allows but _thirty_ for the journey of 500 kilometres (at least)
from Jerm to the foot of the Tagharma Pass."
Professor Paquier (_Bul. Soc. Géog._ 6'e Sér. XII. pp. 121-125) remarks
that the Moonshee, sent by Captain Trotter to survey the Oxus between
Ishkashm and Kila Wamár, could not find at the spot marked by Yule on his
map, the mouth of the Shakh-Dara, but northward 7 or 8 miles from the
junction of the Murghab with the Oxus, he saw the opening of an important
water-course, the Suchnan River, formed by the Shakh-Dara and the
Ghund-Dara. Marco arrived at a place between Northern Wakhán and Shihgnan;
from the Central Pamir, Polo would have taken a route identical with that
of the Mirza (1868-1869) by the Chichiklik Pass. Professor Paquier adds: "I
have no hesitation in believing that Marco Polo was in the neighbourhood of
that great commercial road, which by the _Vallis Comedarum_ reached the
foot of the Imaüs. He probably did not venture on a journey of fifty
marches in an unknown country. At the top of the Shihgnan Valley, he
doubtless found a road marked out to Little Bukharia. This was the road
followed in ancient times from Bactrian to Serica; and Ptolemy has, so to
speak, given us its landmarks after Marinus of Tyre, by the _Vallis
Comedarum_ (Valley of actual Shihgnan); the _Turris Lapidea_ and the
_Statio Mercatorum_, neighbourhood of Tash Kurgan, capital of the present
province of Sar-i-kol."
I must say that accepting, as I do, for Polo's Itinerary, the route from
Wakhán to Kashgar by the Taghdum-Bash Pamir, and Tásh Kurgán, I do not
agree with Professor Paquier's theory. But though I prefer Sir H. Yule's
route from Badakhshan, by the River Vardoj, the Pass of Ishkashm, the
Panja, to Wakhán, I do not accept his views for the Itinerary from Wakhán
to Kashgar; see p. 175.--H. C.]
The river along which Marco travels from Badakhshan is no doubt the upper
stream of the Oxus, known locally as the Panja, along which Wood also
travelled, followed of late by the Mirza and Faiz Bakhsh. It is true that
the river is reached from Badaskhshan 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.
WAKHÁN was restored to geography by Macartney, in the able map which he
compiled for Elphinstone's _Caubul_, and was made known more accurately by
Wood's journey through it. [The district of Wakhán "comprises the valleys
containing the two heads of the Panjah branch of the Oxus, and the valley
of the Panjah itself, from the junction at Zung down to Ishkashím. The
northern branch of the Panjah has its principal source in the Lake
Victoria in the Great Pamir, which as well as the Little Pámir, belongs to
Wakhán, the Aktash River forming the well recognized boundary between
Kashgaria and Wakhán." (Captain Trotter, _Forsyth's Mission_, p. 275.) The
southern branch is the Sarhadd Valley.--H. C.] The lowest part is about
8000 feet above the sea, and the highest _Kishlak_, or village, about
11,500. A few willows and poplars are the only trees that can stand
against the bitter blasts that blow down the valley. Wood estimated the
total population of the province at only 1000 souls, though it might be
capable of supporting 5000.[1] He saw it, however, in the depth of winter.
As to the peculiar language, see note I, ch. xxix. It is said to be a very
old dialect of Persian. A scanty vocabulary was collected by Hayward. (_J.
R. G. S._ XXI. p. 29.) The people, according to Shaw, have Aryan features,
resembling those of the Kashmiris, but harsher.
[Cf. Captain Trotter's _The Oxus below Wakhan, Forsyth's Mission_, p.
276.]
We appear to see in the indications of this paragraph precisely the same
system of government that now prevails in the Oxus valleys. The central
districts of Faizabad and Jerm are under the immediate administration of
the Mír of Badakhshan, whilst fifteen other districts, such as _Kishm,
Rusták, Zebák, Ishkáshm, Wakhán_, are dependencies "held by the _relations
of the Mír_, or by hereditary rulers, on a feudal tenure, conditional on
fidelity and military service in time of need, the holders possessing
supreme authority in their respective territories, and paying little or no
tribute to the paramount power." (_Pandit Manphul_.) The first part of the
valley of which Marco speaks as belonging to a brother of the Prince, may
correspond to Ishkáshm, or perhaps to Vardoj; the second, Wakhán, seems to
have had a hereditary ruler; but both were vassals of the Prince of
Badakhshan, and therefore are styled _Counts_, not kings or _Seigneurs_.
The native title which Marco gives as the equivalent of Count is
remarkable. _Non_ or _None_, as it is variously written in the texts,
would in French form represent _Nono_ in Italian. Pauthier refers this
title to the "_Rao_-nana (or nano) _Rao_" which figures as the style of
Kanerkes in the Indo-Scythic coinage. But Wilson (_Ariana Antiqua_, p.
358) interprets _Raonano_ as most probably a genitive plural of Rao,
whilst the whole inscription answers precisely to the Greek one [Greek:
BASILEUS BASILEON KANAERKOU] which is found on other coins of the same
prince. General Cunningham, a very competent authority, adheres to this
view, and writes: "I do not think _None_ or _Non_ can have any connection
with the _Nana_ of the coins."
It is remarkable, however, that NONO (said to signify "younger," or
lesser) is in Tibet the title given to a younger brother, deputy, or
subordinate prince. In Cunningham's _Ladak_ (259) we read: "_Nono_ is the
usual term of respect which is used in addressing any young man of the
higher ranks, and when prefixed to _Kahlon_ it means the younger or deputy
minister." And again (p. 352): "_Nono_ is the title given to a younger
brother. Nono Sungnam was the younger brother of Chang Raphtan, the Kahlon
of Bazgo." I have recently encountered the word used independently, and
precisely in Marco's application of it. An old friend, in speaking of a
journey that he had made in our Tibetan provinces, said incidentally that
he had accompanied the commissioner _to the installation of a new_ NONO (I
think in Spiti). The term here corresponds so precisely with the
explanation which Marco gives of _None_ as a Count subject to a superior
sovereign, that it is difficult to regard the coincidence as accidental.
The _Yuechi_ or Indo-Scyths who long ruled the Oxus countries are said to
have been of Tibetan origin, and Al-Biruni repeats a report that this was
so. (_Elliot._ II. 9.)[2] Can this title have been a trace of their rule?
Or is it Indian?
NOTE 2.--This chapter is one of the most interesting in the book, and
contains one of its most splendid anticipations of modern exploration,
whilst conversely Lieutenant John Wood's narrative presents the most
brilliant confirmation in detail of Marco's narrative.
We have very old testimony to the recognition of the great altitude of the
Plateau of PAMIR (the name which Marco gives it and which it still
retains), and to the existence of the lake (or lakes) upon its surface.
The Chinese pilgrims Hwui Seng and Sung Yun, who passed this way A.D. 518,
inform us that these high lands of the Tsung Ling were commonly said to be
midway between heaven and earth. The more celebrated Hiuen Tsang, who came
this way nearly 120 years later (about 644) on his return to China, "after
crossing the mountains for 700 _li_, arrived at the valley of _Pomilo_
(Pamir). This valley is 1000 _li_ (about 200 miles) from east to west, and
100 _li_ (20 miles) from north to south, and lies between two snowy ranges
in the centre of the Tsung Ling mountains. The traveller is annoyed by
sudden gusts of wind, and the snow-drifts never cease, spring or summer.
As the soil is almost constantly frozen, you see but a few miserable
plants, and no crops can live. The whole tract is but a dreary waste,
without a trace of human kind. In the middle of the valley is a great lake
300 _li_ (60 miles) from east to west, and 500 _li_ from north to south.
This stands in the centre of Jambudwipa (the Buddhist [Greek: oikouménae])
on a plateau of prodigious elevation. An endless variety of creatures
peoples its waters. When you hear the murmur and clash of its waves you
think you are listening to the noisy hum of a great market in which vast
crowds of people are mingling in excitement.... The lake discharges to the
west, and a river runs out of it in that direction and joins the _Potsu_
(Oxus).... The lake likewise discharges to the east, and a great river
runs out, which flows eastward to the western frontier of _Kiesha_
(Káshgar), where it joins the River Sita, and runs eastward with it into
the sea." The story of an eastern outflow from the lake is, no doubt,
legend, connected with an ancient Hindu belief (see _Cathay_, p. 347), but
Burnes in modern times heard much the same story. And the Mirza, in 1868,
took up the same impression regarding the smaller lake called Pamir Kul,
in which the southern branch of the Panja originates.
"After quitting the (frozen) surface of the river," says Wood, "we ...
ascended a low hill, which apparently bounded the valley to the eastward.
On surmounting this, at 3 P.M. of the 19th February, 1838, we stood, to
use a native expression, upon the _Bám-i-Duniah_, or 'Roof of the World,'
while before us lay stretched a noble but frozen sheet of water, from
whose western end issued the infant river of the Oxus. This fine lake
(Sirikol) lies in the form of a crescent, about 14 miles long from east to
west, by an average breadth of 1 mile. On three sides it is bordered by
swelling hills about 500 feet high, while along its southern bank they
rise into mountains 3500 feet above the lake, or 19,000 feet above the
sea, and covered with perpetual snow, from which never-failing source the
lake is supplied.... Its elevation, measured by the temperature of boiling
water, is 15,600 feet."
The absence of birds on Pamir, reported by Marco, probably shows that he
passed very late or early in the season. Hiuen Tsang, we see, gives a
different account; Wood was there in the winter, but heard that in summer
the lake swarmed with water-fowl. [Cf. Captain Trotter, p. 263, in
_Forsyth's Mission_.]
The Pamir Steppe was crossed by Benedict Goës late in the autumn of 1603,
and the narrative speaks of the great cold and desolation, and the
difficulty of breathing. We have also an abstract of the journey of Abdul
Mejid, a British Agent, who passed Pamir on his way to Kokan in
1861:--"Fourteen weary days were occupied in crossing the steppe; the
marches were long, depending on uncertain supplies of grass and water,
which sometimes wholly failed them; food for man and beast had to be
carried with the party, for not a trace of human habitation is to be met
with in those inhospitable wilds.... The steppe is interspersed with
tamarisk jungle and the wild willow, and in the summer with tracts of high
grass." (_Neumann_, _Pilgerfahrten Buddh. Priester_, p. 50; _V. et V. de H.
T._ 271-272; _Wood_, 232; _Proc. R. G. S._ X. 150.)
There is nothing absolutely to decide whether Marco's route from Wakhán
lay by Wood's Lake "Sirikol," or Victoria, or by the more southerly source
of the Oxus in Pamir Kul. These routes would unite in the valley of
Táshkurgán, and his road thence to Kashgar was, I apprehend, nearly the
same as the Mirza's in 1868-1869, by the lofty Chichiklik Pass and Kin
Valley. But I cannot account for the forty days of wilderness. The Mirza
was but thirty-four days _from Faizabad to Kashgar_, and Faiz Bakhsh only
twenty-five.
[Severtsof (_Bul. Soc. Géog._ XI. 1890, p. 587), who accepts Trotter's
route, by the Pamir Khurd (Little Pamir), says there are three routes from
Wakhán to Little Pamir, going up the Sarhadd: one during the winter, by
the frozen river; the two others available during the spring and the
summer, up and down the snowy chain along the right bank of the Sarhadd,
until the valley widens out into a plain, where a swelling is hardly to be
seen, so flat is it; this chain is the dividing ridge between the Sarhadd
and the Aksu. From the summit, the traveller, looking towards the west,
sees _at his feet_ the mountains he has crossed; to the east, the Pamir
Kul and the Aksu, the river flowing from it. The pasture grounds around
the Pamir Kul and the sources of the Sarhadd are magnificent; but lower
down, the Aksu valley is arid, _dotted_ only with pasture grounds of
little extent, and few and far between. It is to this part of Pamir that
Marco Polo's description applies; more than any other part of this
_ensemble_ of high valleys, this line of water parting, of the Sarhadd and
the Aksu, has the aspect of a _Roof of the World_ (_Bam-i-dunya_, Persian
name of Pamir).--H. C.].
[We can trace Marco Polo's route from Wakhán, on comparing it with Captain
Younghusband's Itinerary from Kashgar, which he left on the 22nd July,
1891, for Little Pamir: Little Pamir at Bozai-Gumbaz, joins with the
Pamir-i-Wakhán at the Wakhijrui Pass, first explored by Colonel Lockhart's
mission. Hence the route lies by the old fort of Kurgan-i-Ujadbai at the
junction of the two branches of the Tagh-dum-bash Pamir (Supreme Head of
the Mountains), the Tagh-dum-bash Pamir, Tásh Kurgán, Bulun Kul, the Gez
Defile and Kashgar. (_Proc. R. G. S._ XIV. 1892, pp. 205-234.)--H. C.]
We may observe that Severtsof asserts _Pamir_ to be a generic term,
applied to all high plateaux in the Thian Shan.[3]
["The Pámír plateau may be described as a great, broad, rounded ridge,
extending north and south, and crossed by thick mountain chains, between
which lie elevated valleys, open and gently sloping towards the east, but
narrow and confined, with a rapid fall towards the west. The waters which
run in all, with the exception of the eastern flow from the Tághdúngbásh,
collect in the Oxus; the Áksú from the Little Pámír lake receiving the
eastern drainage, which finds an outlet in the Áktásh Valley, and joining
the Múrgháb, which obtains that from the Alichór and Síríz Pámirs. As the
eastern Tághdúngbásh stream finds its way into the Yarkand river, the
watershed must be held as extending from that Pámír, down the range
dividing it from the Little Pámír, and along the Neza Tásh mountains to
the Kizil Art Pass, leading to the Alái." (Colonel Gordon, _Forsyth's
Mission_, p. 231.)
Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon (_Forsyth's Mission_, p. 231) says also:
"Regarding the name 'Pámír,' the meaning appears to be wilderness--a place
depopulated, abandoned, waste, yet capable of habitation. I obtained this
information on the Great Pámír from one of our intelligent guides, who
said in explanation--'In former days, when this part was inhabited by
Kirghiz, as is shown by the ruins of their villages and burial-grounds,
the valley was not all called Pámír, as it is now. It was known by its
village names, as is the country beyond Sirikol, which being now occupied
by Kirghiz is not known by one name, but partly as Chárling, Bas Robát,
etc. If deserted it would be Pámír." In a note Sir T. D. Forsyth adds that
the same explanation of the word was given to him at Yangi-Hissar, and
that it is in fact a Khokandi-Turki word.--H. C.]
It would seem, from such notices as have been received, that there is not,
strictly speaking, one steppe called Pamir, but a variety of _Pamirs_,
which are lofty valleys between ranges of hills, presenting luxuriant
summer pasture, and with floors more or less flat, but nowhere more than 5
or 6 miles in width and often much less.
[This is quite exact; Mr. E. Delmar Morgan writes in the _Scottish Geog.
Mag._ January, 1892, p. 17: "Following the terminology of Yule adopted by
geographers, and now well established, we have (1) Pamir Alichur; (2)
Pamir Khurd (or "Little"); (3) Pamir Kalan (or "Great"); (4) Pamir
Khargosi ("of the hare"); (5) Pamir Sares; (6) Pamir Rang-kul."--H. C.]
[Illustration: Horns of _Ovis Poli_.]
Wood speaks of the numerous wolves in this region. And the great sheep is
that to which Blyth, in honour of our traveller, has given the name of
_Ovis Poli_.[4] A pair of horns, sent by Wood to the Royal Asiatic
Society, and of which a representation is given above, affords the
following dimensions:--Length of one horn on the curve, 4 feet 8 inches;
round the base 14-1/4 inches; distance of tips apart 3 feet 9 inches. This
sheep appears to be the same as the _Rass_, of which Burnes heard that the
horns were so big that a man could not lift a pair, and that foxes bred in
them; also that the carcass formed a load for two horses. Wood says that
these horns supply shoes for the Kirghiz horses, and also a good
substitute for stirrup-irons. "We saw numbers of horns strewed about in
every direction, the spoils of the Kirghiz hunter. Some of these were of
an astonishingly large size, and belonged to an animal of a species
between a goat and a sheep, inhabiting the steppes of Pamir. _The ends of
the horns projecting above the snow often indicated the direction of the
road_; and wherever they were heaped in large quantities and disposed in a
semicircle, there our escort recognised the site of a Kirghiz summer
encampment.... We came in sight of a rough-looking building, decked out
with the horns of the wild sheep, and all but buried amongst the snow. It
was a Kirghiz burying-ground." (Pp. 223, 229, 231)
[With reference to Wood's remark that the horns of the _Ovis Poli_ supply
shoes for the Kirghiz horses, Mr. Rockhill writes to me that a Paris
newspaper of 24th November, 1894, observes: "Horn shoes made of the horn
of sheep are successfully used in Lyons. They are especially adapted to
horses employed in towns, where the pavements are often slippery. Horses
thus shod can be driven, it is said, at the most rapid pace over the worst
pavement without slipping."
(Cf. Rockhill, _Rubruck_, p. 69; _Chasses et Explorations dans la Région
des Pamirs_, par le Vte. Ed. de Poncins, Paris, 1897, 8vo.--H. C.).]
[Illustration: _Ovis Poli_, the Great Sheep of Pamir. (After Severtsof.)
"El hi a grant montitude de monton sauvages qe sunt grandisme, car out lee
cornes bien six paumes"....]
In 1867 this great sheep was shot by M. Severtsof, on the Plateau of
Aksai, in the western Thian Shan. He reports these animals to go in great
herds, and to be very difficult to kill. However, he brought back two
specimens. The Narin River is stated to be the northern limit of the
species.[5] Severtsof also states that the enemies of the _Ovis Poli_ are
the wolves, [and Colonel Gordon says that the leopards and wolves prey
almost entirely upon them. (On the _Ovis Poli_, see Captain Deasy, _In
Tibet_, p. 361.)--H. C.]
Colonel Gordon, the head of the exploring party detached by Sir Douglas
Forsyth, brought away a head of _Ovis Poli_, which quite bears out the
account by its eponymus of horns "good 6 palms in length," say 60 inches.
This head, as I learn from a letter of Colonel Gordon's to a friend, has
one horn perfect which measures 65-1/2 inches on the curves; the other,
broken at the tip measures 64 inches; the straight line between the tips
is 55 inches.
[Captain Younghusband [1886] "before leaving the Altai Mountains, picked
up several heads of the _Ovis Poli_, called Argali by the Mongols. They
were somewhat different from those which I afterwards saw at Yarkand,
which had been brought in from the Pamir. Those I found in the Gobi were
considerably thicker at the base, there was a less degree of curve, and a
shorter length of horn." A full description of the _Ovis Poli_, with a
large plate drawing of the horns, may be seen in Colonel Gordon's _Roof of
the World_. (See p. 81.) (_Proc. R. G. S._ X. 1888, p. 495.) Some years
later, Captain Younghusband speaks repeatedly of the great sport of
shooting _Ovis Poli_. (_Proc. R. G. S._ XIV. 1892, pp. 205, 234.)--H. C.]
As to the pasture, Timkowski heard that "the pasturage of Pamir is so
luxuriant and nutritious, that if horses are left on it for more than
forty days they die of repletion." (I. 421.) And Wood: "The grass of
Pamir, they tell you, is so rich that a sorry horse is here brought into
good condition in less than twenty days; and its nourishing qualities are
evidenced in the productiveness of their ewes, which almost invariably
bring forth two lambs at a birth." (P. 365.)
With regard to the effect upon fire ascribed to the "great cold,"
Ramusio's version inserts the expression "_gli fu affermato per
miracolo_," "it was asserted to him as a wonderful circumstance." And
Humboldt thinks it so strange that Marco should not have observed this
personally that he doubts whether Polo himself passed the Pamir. "How is
it that he does not say that he himself had seen how the flames disperse
and leap about, as I myself have so often experienced at similar altitudes
in the Cordilleras of the Andes, especially when investigating the
boiling-point of water?" (_Cent. Asia_, Germ. Transl. I. 588.) But the
words quoted from Ramusio do not exist in the old texts, and they are
probably an editorial interpolation indicating disbelief in the statement.
MM. Huc and Gabet made a like observation on the high passes of
north-eastern Tibet: "The _argols_ gave out much smoke, but would not burn
with any flame"; only they adopted the native idea that this as well as
their own sufferings in respiration was caused by some pernicious
exhalation.
Major Montgomerie, R.E., of the Indian Survey, who has probably passed
more time nearer the heavens than any man living, sends me the following
note on this passage: "What Marco Polo says as to fire at great altitudes
not cooking so effectually as usual is perfectly correct as far as
anything _boiled_ is concerned, but I doubt if it is as to anything
_roasted_. The want of brightness in a fire at great altitudes is, I
think, altogether attributable to the poorness of the fuel, which consists
of either small sticks or bits of roots, or of _argols_ of dung, all of
which give out a good deal of smoke, more especially the latter if not
quite dry; but I have often seen a capital blaze made with the argols when
perfectly dry. As to cooking, we found that rice, _dál_, and potatoes
would never soften properly, no matter how long they were boiled. This, of
course, was due to the boiling-point being only from 170° to 180°. Our
tea, moreover, suffered from the same cause, and was never good when we
were over 15,000 feet. This was very marked. Some of my natives made
dreadful complaints about the rice and dál that they got from the
village-heads in the valleys, and vowed that they only gave them what was
very old and hard, as they could not soften it!"
[Illustration: MARCO POLO'S ITINERARIES
No. III
Regions on and near the Upper Oxus]
NOTE 3.--Bolor is a subject which it would take several pages to discuss
with fulness, and I must refer for such fuller discussion to a paper in
the _J. R. G. S._ vol. xlii. p. 473.
The name _Bolor_ is very old, occurring in Hiuen Tsang's Travels (7th
century), and in still older Chinese works of like character. General
Cunningham has told us that Balti is still termed _Balor_ by the Dards of
Gilghit; and Mr. Shaw, that _Palor_ is an old name still sometimes used by
the Kirghiz for the upper part of Chitrál. The indications of Hiuen Tsang
are in accordance with General Cunningham's information; and the fact that
Chitrál is described under the name of Bolor in Chinese works of the last
century entirely justifies that of Mr. Shaw. A Pushtu poem of the 17th
century, translated by Major Raverty, assigns the mountains of
_Bilaur_-istán, as the northern boundary of Swát. The collation of these
indications shows that the term Bolor must have been applied somewhat
extensively to the high regions adjoining the southern margin of Pamir.
And a passage in the _Táríkh Rashídí_, written at Kashgar in the 16th
century by a cousin of the great Baber, affords us a definition of the
tract to which, in its larger sense, the name was thus applied: "_Malaur_
(i.e. Balaur or Bolor) ... is a country with few level spots. It has a
circuit of four months' march. The eastern frontier borders on Kashgar and
Yarkand; it has Badakhshan to the north, Kabul to the west, and Kashmír to
the south." The writer was thoroughly acquainted with his subject, and the
region which he so defines must have embraced Sirikol and all the wild
country south of Yarkand, Balti, Gilghit, Yasin, Chitrál, and perhaps
Kafiristán. This enables us to understand Polo's use of the term.
The name of Bolor in later days has been in a manner a symbol of
controversy. It is prominent in the apocryphal travels of George Ludwig
von ----, preserved in the Military Archives at St. Petersburg. That work
represents a town of Bolor as existing to the north of Badakhshan, with
Wakhán still further to the north. This geography we now know to be
entirely erroneous, but it is in full accordance with the maps and tables
of the Jesuit missionaries and their pupils, who accompanied the Chinese
troops to Kashgar in 1758-1759. The paper in the _Geographical Society's
Journal_, which has been referred to, demonstrates how these erroneous
data must have originated. It shows that the Jesuit geography was founded
on downright accidental error, and, as a consequence, that the narratives
which profess _de visu_ to corroborate that geography must be downright
forgeries. When the first edition was printed, I retained the belief in a
_Bolor_ where the Jesuits placed it.
[The Chinese traveller, translated by M. Gueluy (_Desc. de la Chine
occid._ p. 53), speaks of Bolor, to the west of Yarkand, inhabited by
Mahomedans who live in huts; the country is sandy and rather poor.
Severtsof says, (_Bul. Soc. Géog._ XI. 1890, p. 591) that he believes that
the name of _Bolor_ should be expunged from geographical nomenclature as a
source of confusion and error. Humboldt, with his great authority, has too
definitely attached this name to an erroneous orographical system.
Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon says that he "made repeated enquiries from
Kirghiz and Wakhis, and from the Mír [of Wakhán], Fatteh Ali Shah,
regarding 'Bólór,' as a name for any mountain, country, or place, but all
professed perfect ignorance of it." (_Forsyth's Mission._)--H. C.]
The _J. A. S. Bengal_ for 1853 (vol. xxii.) contains extracts from the
diary of a Mr. Gardiner in those central regions of Asia. These read more
like the memoranda of a dyspeptic dream than anything else, and the only
passage I can find illustrative of our traveller is the following; the
region is described as lying twenty days south-west of Kashgar: "The Keiaz
tribe live in caves on the highest peaks, subsist by hunting, keep no
flocks, said to be anthropophagous, but have handsome women; eat their
flesh raw." (P. 295; _Pèlerins Boud._ III. 316, 421, etc.; _Ladak_, 34,
45, 47; _Mag. Asiatique_, I. 92, 96-97; _Not. et Ext._ II. 475, XIV. 492;
_J. A. S. B._ XXXI. 279; Mr. R. Shaw in _Geog. Proceedings_, XVI. 246,
400; _Notes regarding Bolor_, etc., _J. R. G. S._ XLII. 473.)
As this sheet goes finally to press we hear of the exploration of Pamir by
officers of Mr. Forsyth's Mission. [I have made use of the information
collected by them.--H. C.]
[1] "Yet this barren and inaccessible upland, with its scanty handful of
wild people, finds a place in Eastern history and geography from an
early period, and has now become the subject of serious correspondence
between two great European Governments, and its name, for a few weeks
at least, a household word in London. Indeed, this is a striking
accident of the course of modern history. We see the Slav and the
Englishman--representatives of two great branches of the Aryan race,
but divided by such vast intervals of space and time from the original
common starting-point of their migration--thus brought back to the lap
of Pamir to which so many quivering lines point as the centre of their
earliest seats, there by common consent to lay down limits to mutual
encroachment." (_Quarterly Review_, April, 1873, p. 548.)
[2] Ibn Haukal reckons Wakhán as an Indian country. It is a curious
coincidence (it can scarcely be more) that _Nono_ in the Garo tongue
of Eastern Bengal signifies "a younger brother." (_J. A. S. B._ XXII.
153, XVIII. 208.)
[3] According to Colonel Tod, the Hindu bard Chand speaks of "Pamer, chief
of mountains." (I. p. 24.) But one may like and respect Colonel Tod
without feeling able to rely on such quotations of his unconfirmed.
[4] Usually written _Polii_, which is nonsense.
[5] ["The Tian Shan wild sheep has since been described as the _Ovis
Karelini_, a species somewhat smaller than the true _Ovis Poli_ which
frequents the Pamirs." (Colonel Gordon, _Roof of the World_, p. 83,
note.)--H. C.]
CHAPTER XXXIII.
OF THE KINGDOM OF CASCAR.
[Illustration: Head of a Native of Kashgar]
Cascar is a region lying between north-east and east, and constituted a
kingdom in former days, but now it is subject to the Great Kaan. The
people worship Mahommet. There are a good number of towns and villages,
but the greatest and finest is Cascar itself. The inhabitants live by
trade and handicrafts; they have beautiful gardens and vineyards, and fine
estates, and grow a great deal of cotton. From this country many merchants
go forth about the world on trading journeys. The natives are a wretched,
niggardly set of people; they eat and drink in miserable fashion. There
are in the country many Nestorian Christians, who have churches of their
own. The people of the country have a peculiar language, and the territory
extends for five days' journey.[NOTE 1]
[Illustration: View of Kashgar (From Shaw's "Tartary")]
NOTE 1.--[There is no longer any difficulty in understanding how the
travellers, after crossing Pamir, should have arrived at Kashgar if they
followed the route from Táshkurgán through the Gez Defile.
The Itinerary of the Mirza from Badakhshan (Fáizabad) is the following:
Zebak, Ishkashm, on the Panja, which may be considered the beginning of
the Wakhán Valley, Panja Fort, in Wakhán, Raz Khan, Patur, near Lunghar
(commencement of Pamir Steppe), Pamir Kul, or Barkút Yassin, 13,300 feet,
Aktash, Sirikul Táshkurgán, Shukrab, Chichik Dawan, Akul, Kotul, Chahul
Station (road to Yarkand) Kila Karawal, Aghiz Gah, Yangi-Hissar, Opechan,
Yanga Shahr, Kashgar, where he arrived on the 3rd February, 1869. (Cf.
_Report of "The Mirza's" Exploration from Caubul to Kashgar_. By Major T.
G. Montgomerie, R.E.... (_Jour. R. Geog. Soc._ XLI. 1871, pp. 132-192.)
Major Montgomerie (l.c. p. 144) says: "The alterations in the positions of
Kashgar and Yarkund in a great measure explains why Marco Polo, in
crossing from Badakhshan to Eastern Turkestan, went first to Kashgar and
then to Yarkund. With the old positions of Yarkund and Kashgar it appeared
that the natural route from Badakhshan would have led first to Yarkund;
with the new positions, and guided by the light of the Mirza's route, from
which it is seen that the direct route to Yarkund is not a good one, it is
easy to understand how a traveller might prefer going to Kashgar first,
and then to Yarkund. It is satisfactory to have elicited this further
proof of the general accuracy of the great traveller's account of his
journey through Central Asia."
The Itinerary of Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon (_Sirikol, the Pámírs and
Wakhán_, ch. vi. of _Forsyth's Mission to Yarkund in_ 1873) runs thus:
"Left Káshgar (21st March), Yangi-Hissar, Kaskasú Pass, descent to Chihil
Gumbaz (forty Domes), where the road branches off to Yárkand (110 miles),
Torut Pass, Tangi-Tár (defile), 'to the foot of a great elevated slope
leading to the Chichiklik Pass, plain, and lake (14,700 feet), below the
Yámbulák and Kok-Moinok Passes, which are used later in the season on the
road between Yangi-Hissár and Sirikol, to avoid the Tangi-Tár and Shindi
defiles. As the season advances, these passes become free from snow, while
the defiles are rendered dangerous and difficult by the rush of the
melting snow torrents. From the Chichiklik plain we proceeded down the
Shindi ravine, over an extremely bad stony road, to the Sirikol River, up
the banks of which we travelled to Táshkurgán, reaching it on the tenth
day from Yangi-Hissar. The total distance is 125 miles.' Then Táshkurgán
(ancient name _Várshídi_): 'the open part of the Sirikol Valley extends
from about 8 miles below Táshkurgán to apparently a very considerable
distance towards the Kunjút mountain range;' left Táshkurgán for Wákhan
(2nd April, 1873); leave Sirikol Valley, enter the Shindán defile, reach
the Áktásh Valley, follow the Áktásh stream (called Áksú by the Kirghiz)
through the Little Pamir to the Gházkul (Little Pamir) Lake or Barkat
Yássín, from which it takes its rise, four days from Táshkurgán. Little
Pamir 'is bounded on the south by the continuation of the Neza Tásh range,
which separates it from the Tághdúngbásh Pámir,' west of the lake, Langar,
Sarhadd, 30 miles from Langar, and seven days from Sirikol, and Kila Panj,
twelve days from Sirikól."--H. C.]
[I cannot admit with Professor Paquier (l.c. pp. 127-128) that Marco Polo
did not visit Kashgar.--Grenard (II. p. 17) makes the remark that it took
Marco Polo seventy days from Badakhshan to Kashgar, a distance that, in
the Plain of Turkestan, he shall cross in sixteen days.--The Chinese
traveller, translated by M. Gueluy (_Desc. de la Chine occidentale_, p.
45), says that the name Kashgar is made of _Kash_, fine colour, and _gar_,
brick house.--H. C.]
Kashgar was the capital, from 1865 to 1877, of Ya'kúb Kúshbegi, a soldier
of fortune, by descent it is said a Tajik of Shighnan, who, when the
Chinese yoke was thrown off, made a throne for himself in Eastern
Turkestan, and subjected the whole basin to his authority, taking the
title of _Atalik Gházi_.
It is not easy to see how Kashgar should have been subject to the Great
Kaan, except in the sense in which all territories under Mongol rule owed
him homage. Yarkand, Polo acknowledges to have belonged to Kaidu, and the
boundary between Kaidu's territory and the Kaan's lay between Karashahr
and Komul [Bk. I. ch. xli.], much further east.
[Bretschneider, _Med. Res._ (II. p. 47), says: "Marco Polo states with
respect to the kingdom of _Cascar_ (I. 189) that it was subject to the
Great Khan, and says the same regarding _Cotan_ (I. 196), whilst _Yarcan_
(I. 195), according to Marco Polo, belonged to Kaidu. This does not agree
with Rashid's statements about the boundary between Kaidu's territory and
the Khan's."--H. C.]
Kashgar was at this time a Metropolitan See of the Nestorian Church.
(_Cathay_, etc. 275, ccxlv.)
Many strange sayings have been unduly ascribed to our traveller, but I
remember none stranger than this by Colonel Tod: "_Marco Polo calls
Cashgar, where he was in the 6th century_, the birthplace of the Swedes"!
(_Rajasthan_, I. 60.) Pétis de la Croix and Tod between them are
answerable for this nonsense. (See _The Hist. of Genghizcan the Great_, p.
116.)
On _cotton_, see ch. xxxvi.--On Nestorians, see Kanchau.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
OF THE GREAT CITY OF SAMARCAN.
Samarcan is a great and noble city towards the north-west, inhabited by
both Christians and Saracens, who are subject to the Great Kaan's nephew,
CAIDOU by name; he is, however, at bitter enmity with the Kaan.[NOTE 1]
I will tell you of a great marvel that happened at this city.
[Illustration: View of Samarcand. (From a sketch by Mr. Ivanoff.)
"Samarcan est une grandisme cité et noble."]
It is not a great while ago that SIGATAY, own brother to the Great Kaan,
who was Lord of this country and of many an one besides, became a
Christian.[NOTE 2] The Christians rejoiced greatly at this, and they built
a great church in the city, in honour of John the Baptist; and by his name
the church was called. And they took a very fine stone which belonged to
the Saracens, and placed it as the pedestal of a column in the middle of
the church, supporting the roof. It came to pass, however, that Sigatay
died. Now the Saracens were full of rancour about that stone that had been
theirs, and which had been set up in the church of the Christians; and
when they saw that the Prince was dead, they said one to another that now
was the time to get back their stone, by fair means or by foul. And that
they might well do, for they were ten times as many as the Christians. So
they gat together and went to the church and said that the stone they must
and would have. The Christians acknowledged that it was theirs indeed, but
offered to pay a large sum of money and so be quit. Howbeit, the others
replied that they never would give up the stone for anything in the world.
And words ran so high that the Prince heard thereof, and ordered the
Christians either to arrange to satisfy the Saracens, if it might be, with
money, or to give up the stone. And he allowed them three days to do
either the one thing or the other.
What shall I tell you? Well, the Saracens would on no account agree to
leave the stone where it was, and this out of pure despite to the
Christians, for they knew well enough that if the stone were stirred the
church would come down by the run. So the Christians were in great trouble
and wist not what to do. But they did do the best thing possible; they
besought Jesus Christ that he would consider their case, so that the holy
church should not come to destruction, nor the name of its Patron Saint,
John the Baptist, be tarnished by its ruin. And so when the day fixed by
the Prince came round, they went to the church betimes in the morning, and
lo, they found the stone removed from under the column; the foot of the
column was without support, and yet it bore the load as stoutly as before!
Between the foot of the column and the ground there was a space of three
palms. So the Saracens had away their stone, and mighty little joy withal.
It was a glorious miracle, nay, it _is_ so, for the column still so
standeth, and will stand as long as God pleaseth.[NOTE 3]
Now let us quit this and continue our journey.
NOTE 1.--Of Kaidu, Kúblái Kaan's kinsman and rival, and their long wars,
we shall have to speak later. He had at this time a kind of joint
occupancy of SAMARKAND and Bokhara with the Khans of Chagatai, his
cousins.
[On Samarkand generally see: _Samarqand_, by W. Radloff, translated into
French by L. Leger, _Rec. d'Itin. dans l'Asie Centrale_, Ecole des Langues
Orient., Paris, 1878, p. 284 et seq.; _A travers le royaume de Tamerlan
(Asie Centrale)_ ... par Guillaume Capus ... Paris, 1892, 8vo.--H. C.]
Marco evidently never was at Samarkand, though doubtless it was visited by
his Father and Uncle on their first journey, when we know they were long
at Bokhara. Having, therefore, little to say descriptive of a city he had
not seen, he tells us a story:--
"So geographers, in Afric maps,
With savage pictures fill their gaps,
And o'er unhabitable downs
Place elephants for want of towns."
As regards the Christians of Samarkand who figure in the preceding story,
we may note that the city had been one of the Metropolitan Sees of the
Nestorian Church since the beginning of the 8th century, and had been a
bishopric perhaps two centuries earlier. Prince Sempad, High Constable of
Armenia, in a letter written from Samarkand in 1246 or 1247, mentions
several circumstances illustrative of the state of things indicated in
this story: "I tell you that we have found many Christians scattered all
over the East, and many fine churches, lofty, ancient, and of good
architecture, which have been spoiled by the Turks. Hence, the Christians
of this country came to the presence of the reigning Kaan's grandfather
(i.e. Chinghiz); he received them most honourably, and granted them
liberty of worship, and issued orders to prevent their having any just
cause of complaint by word or deed. _And so the Saracens, who used to
treat them with contempt, have now the like treatment in double measure._"
Shortly after Marco's time, viz. in 1328, Thomas of Mancasola, a
Dominican, who had come from Samarkand with a Mission to the Pope (John
XXII.) from Ilchigadai, Khan of Chagatai, was appointed Latin Bishop of
that city. (_Mosheim_, p. 110, etc.; _Cathay_, p. 192.)
NOTE 2.--CHAGATAI, here called Sigatay, was Uncle, not Brother, to the
Great Kaan (Kúblái). Nor was Kaidu either Chagatai's son or Kúblái's
nephew, as Marco here and elsewhere represents him to be. (See Bk. IV. ch.
i.) The term used to describe Chagatai's relationship is _frère charnel_,
which excludes ambiguity, cousinship, or the like (such as is expressed by
the Italian _fratello cugíno_), and corresponds, I believe, to the
_brother german_ of Scotch law documents.
NOTE 3.--One might say, These things be an allegory! We take the fine
stone that belongs to the Saracens (or Papists) to build our church on,
but the day of reckoning comes at last, and our (Irish Protestant)
Christians are afraid that the Church will come about their ears. May it
stand, and better than that of Samarkand has done!
There is a story somewhat like this in D'Herbelot, about the Karmathian
Heretics carrying off the Black Stone from Mecca, and being obliged years
after to bring it back across the breadth of Arabia; on which occasion the
stone conducted itself in a miraculous manner.
There _is_ a remarkable Stone at Samarkand, the _Kok-Tash_ or Green Stone,
on which Timur's throne was set. Tradition says that, big as it is, it was
brought by him from Brusa;--but tradition may be wrong. (See _Vámbéry's
Travels_, p. 206.) [Also _H. Moser, A travers l'Asie centrale_, 114-115.
--H. C.]
[The Archimandrite Palladius (_Chinese Recorder_, VI. p. 108) quotes from
the _Chi shun Chin-kiang chi_ (Description of Chin-Kiang), 14th century,
the following passage regarding the pillar: "There is a temple (in
Samarcand) supported by four enormous wooden pillars, each of them 40 feet
high. One of these pillars is in a hanging position, and stands off from
the floor more than a foot."--H. C.]
CHAPTER XXXV.
OF THE PROVINCE OF YARCAN.
Yarcan is a province five days' journey in extent. The people follow the
Law of Mahommet, but there are also Nestorian and Jacobite Christians.
They are subject to the same Prince that I mentioned, the Great Kaan's
nephew. They have plenty of everything, [particularly of cotton. The
inhabitants are also great craftsmen, but a large proportion of them have
swoln legs, and great crops at the throat, which arises from some quality
in their drinking-water.] As there is nothing else worth telling we may
pass on.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--Yarkan or Yarken seems to be the general pronunciation of the
name to this day, though we write YARKAND.
[A Chinese traveller, translated by M. Gueluy (_Desc. de la Chine
occidentales_, p. 41), says that the word _Yarkand_ is made of _Iar_,
earth, and _Kiang_ (_Kand?_), large, vast, but this derivation is
doubtful. The more probable one is that Yarkand is made up of _Yar_, new,
and _Kand, Kend_, or _Kent_, city.--H. C.]
Mir 'Izzat Ullah in modern days speaks of the prevalence of goitre at
Yarkand. And Mr. Shaw informs me that during his recent visit to Yarkand
(1869) he had numerous applications for iodine as a remedy for that
disease. The theory which connects it with the close atmosphere of valleys
will not hold at Yarkand. (_J. R. A. S._ VII. 303.)
[Dr. Sven Hedin says that three-fourths of the population of Yarkand are
suffering from goitre; he ascribes the prevalence of the disease to the
bad quality of the water, which is kept in large basins, used
indifferently for bathing, washing, or draining. Only Hindu and
"Andijdanlik" merchants, who drink well water, are free from goitre.
Lieutenant Roborovsky, the companion of Pievtsov, in 1889, says: "In the
streets one meets many men and women with large goitres, a malady
attributed to the bad quality of the water running in the town conduits,
and drunk by the inhabitants in its natural state. It appears in men at
the age of puberty, and in women when they marry." (_Proc. R. G. S._ 2
ser. XII. 1890, p. 36.)
Formerly the Mirza (_J. R. G. S._ 1871, p. 181) said: "Goitre is very
common in the city [of Yarkund], and in the country round, but it is
unknown in Kashgar."
General Pievtsov gives to the small oasis of Yarkand (264 square miles) a
population of 150,000, that is, 567 inhabitants per square mile. He, after
Prjevalsky's death, started, with V. L. Roborovsky (botanist) and P. K.
Kozlov (zoologist), who were later joined by K. I. Bogdanovich
(geologist), on his expedition to Tibet (1889-1890). He followed the route
Yarkand, Khotan, Kiria, Nia, and Charchan.--H. C.]
CHAPTER XXXVI.
OF A PROVINCE CALLED COTAN.
Cotan is a province lying between north-east and east, and is eight days'
journey in length. The people are subject to the Great Kaan,[NOTE 1] and
are all worshippers of Mahommet.[NOTE 2] 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.[NOTE 3]
NOTE 1.--[The Buddhist Government of Khotan was destroyed by Boghra Khân
(about 980-990); it was temporarily restored by the Buddhist Kutchluk
Khân, chief of the Naïmans, who came from the banks of the Ili, destroyed
the Mahomedan dynasty of Boghra Khân (1209), but was in his turn
subjugated by Chinghiz Khan.
The only Christian monument discovered in Khotan is a bronze cross brought
back by Grenard (III. pp. 134-135); see also Devéria, _Notes d'Epigraphie
Mongole_, p. 80.--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--"_Aourent Mahommet_". Though this is Marco's usual formula to
define Mahomedans, we can scarcely suppose that he meant it literally. But
in other cases it was _very_ literally interpreted. Thus in _Baudouin de
Sebourc_, the Dame de Pontieu, a passionate lady who renounces her faith
before Saladin, says:--
"'Et je renoië Dieu, et le pooir qu'il a;
Et Marie, sa Mère, qu'on dist qui le porta;
_Mahom voel aourer_, aportez-le-moi chà!'
* * * * Li Soudans commanda
_Qu'on aportast Mahom; et celle l'aoura_." (I. p. 72.)
The same romance brings in the story of the Stone of Samarkand, adapted
from ch. xxxiv., and accounts for its sanctity in Saracen eyes because it
had long formed a pedestal for Mahound!
And this notion gave rise to the use of _Mawmet_ for an idol in general;
whilst from the _Mahommerie_ or place of Islamite worship the name of
_mummery_ came to be applied to idolatrous or unmeaning rituals; both very
unjust etymologies. Thus of mosques in _Richard Coeur de Lion_:
"Kyrkes they made of Crystene Lawe,
And her _Mawmettes_ lete downe drawe." (_Weber_, II. 228.)
So Correa calls a golden idol, which was taken by Da Gama in a ship of
Calicut, "an image of Mahomed" (372). Don Quixote too, who ought to have
known better, cites with admiration the feat of Rinaldo in carrying off,
in spite of forty Moors, a golden image of Mahomed.
NOTE 3.--800 _li_ (160 miles) east of _Chokiuka_ or Yarkand, Hiuen Tsang
comes to _Kiustanna_ (Kustána) or KHOTAN. "The country chiefly consists of
plains covered with stones and sand. The remainder, however, is favourable
to agriculture, and produces everything abundantly. From this country are
got woollen carpets, fine felts, well woven taffetas, white and black
jade." Chinese authors of the 10th century speak of the abundant grapes
and excellent wine of Khotan.
Chinese annals of the 7th and 8th centuries tell us that the people of
Khotan had chronicles of their own, a glimpse of a lost branch of history.
Their writing, laws, and literature were modelled upon those of India.
Ilchi, the modern capital, was visited by Mr. Johnson, of the Indian
Survey, in 1865. The country, after the revolt against the Chinese in
1863, came first under the rule of Habíb-ullah, an aged chief calling
himself _Khán Bádshah_ of Khotan; and since the treacherous seizure and
murder of Habíb-ullah by Ya'kub Beg of Kashgar in January 1867, it has
formed a part of the kingdom of the latter.
Mr. Johnson says: "The chief grains of the country are Indian corn, wheat,
barley of two kinds, _bájra, jowár_ (two kinds of _holcus_), buckwheat and
rice, all of which are superior to the Indian grains, and are of a very
fine quality.... The country is certainly superior to India, and in every
respect equal to Kashmir, over which it has the advantage of being less
humid, and consequently better suited to the growth of fruits. _Olives_
(?), pears, apples, peaches, apricots, mulberries, grapes, currants, and
melons, all exceedingly large in size and of a delicious flavour, are
produced in great variety and abundance.... Cotton of valuable quality,
and raw silk, are produced in very large quantities."
[Khotan is the chief place of Turkestan for cotton manufactures; its
_khàm_ is to be found everywhere. This name, which means raw in Persian,
is given to a stuff made with cotton thread, which has not undergone any
preparation; they manufacture also two other cotton stuffs: _alatcha_ with
blue and red stripes, and _tchekmen_, very thick and coarse, used to make
dresses and sacks; if _khàm_ is better at Khotan, _alatcha_ and _tchekmen_
are superior at Kashgar. (_Grenard_, II. pp. 191-192.)
Grenard (II. pp. 175-177), among the fruits, mentions apricots (_ourouk_),
ripe in June, and so plentiful that to keep them they are dried up to be
used like garlic against mountain sickness; melons (_koghoun_)
water-melons (_tarbouz_, the best are from Hami); vine (_tâl_)--the best
grapes (_uzum_) come from Boghâz langar, near Keria; the best dried grapes
are those from Turfan; peaches (_shaptâlou_); pomegranates (_anár_, best
from Kerghalyk), etc.; the best apples are those of Nia and Sadju; pears
are very bad; cherries and strawberries are unknown. Grenard (II. p. 106)
also says that grapes are very good, but that Khotan wine is detestable,
and tastes like vinegar.
The Chinese traveller, translated by M. Gueluy (_Desc. de la Chine
occidentale_, p. 45), says that all the inhabitants of Khotan are seeking
for precious stones, and that melons and fruits are more plentiful than at
Yarkand.--H. C.]
Mr. Johnson reports the whole country to be rich in soil and very much
under-peopled. Ilchi, the capital, has a population of about 40,000, and
is a great place for manufactures. The chief articles produced are silks,
felts, carpets (both silk and woollen), coarse cotton cloths, and paper
from the mulberry fibre. The people are strict Mahomedans, and speak a
Turki dialect. Both sexes are good-looking, with a slightly Tartar cast of
countenance. (_V. et V. de H. T._ 278; _Rémusat, H. de la V. de Khotan_,
37, 73-84; _Chin. Repos._ IX. 128; _J. R. G. S._ XXXVII. 6 seqq.)
[In 1891, Dutreuil de Rhins and Grenard at the small village of Yotkán,
about 8 miles to the west of the present Khotan, came across what they
considered the most important and probably the most ancient city of
southern Chinese Turkestan. The natives say that Yotkàn is the site of the
old Capital. (Cf. _Grenard_, III. p. 127 et seq. for a description and
drawings of coins and objects found at this place.)
The remains of the ancient capital of Khotan were accidentally discovered,
some thirty-five years ago, at Yotkàn, a village of the Borazân Tract. A
great mass of highly interesting finds of ancient art pottery, engraved
stones, and early Khotan coins with Kharosthi-Chinese legends, coming from
this site, have recently been thoroughly examined in Dr. Hoernle's Report
on the "British Collection of Central Asian Antiquities." _Stein_.--(See
_Three further Collections of Ancient Manuscripts from Central Asia_, by
Dr. A. F. R. Hoernle ... Calcutta, 1897, 8vo.)
"The sacred sites of Buddhist Khotan which Hiuen Tsang and Fa-hian
describe, can be shown to be occupied now, almost without exception, by
Mohamedan shrines forming the object of popular pilgrimages." (M. A.
Stein, _Archaeological Work about Khotan, Jour. R. As. Soc._, April, 1901,
p. 296.)
It may be justly said that during the last few years numerous traces of
Hindu civilisation have been found in Central Asia, extending from Khotan,
through the Takla-Makan, as far as Turfan, and perhaps further up.
Dr. Sven Hedin, in the year 1896, during his second journey through
Takla-Makan from Khotan to Shah Yar, visited the ruins between the Khotan
Daria and the Kiria Daria, where he found the remains of the city of
Takla-Makan now buried in the sands. He discovered figures of Buddha, a
piece of papyrus with unknown characters, vestiges of habitations. This
Asiatic Pompei, says the traveller, at least ten centuries old, is anterior
to the Mahomedan invasion led by Kuteïbe Ibn-Muslim, which happened at the
beginning of the 8th century. Its inhabitants were Buddhist, and of Aryan
race, probably originating from Hindustan.--Dutreuil de Rhins and Grenard
discovered in the Kumâri grottoes, in a small hill on the right bank of the
Karakash Daria, a manuscript written on birch bark in _K_harosh_t_hi
characters; these grottoes of Kumâri are mentioned in Hiuen Tsang. (II. p.
229.)
Dr. Sven Hedin followed the route Kashgar, Yangi-Hissar, Yarkand to
Khotan, in 1895. He made a stay of nine days at Ilchi, the population of
which he estimated at 5500 inhabitants (5000 Musulmans, 500 Chinese).
(See also Sven Hedin, _Die Geog. wissenschaft. Ergebnisse meiner Reisen in
Zentralasien_, 1894-1897. _Petermann's Mitt._, Ergänz. XXVIII. (Hft. 131),
Gotha, 1900.--H. C.]
CHAPTER XXXVII.
OF THE PROVINCE OF PEIN.
Pein is a province five days in length, lying between east and north-east.
The people are worshippers of Mahommet, and subjects of the Great Kaan.
There are a good number of towns and villages, but the most noble is PEIN,
the capital of the kingdom.[NOTE 1] There are rivers in this country, in
which quantities of Jasper and Chalcedony are found.[NOTE 2] The people
have plenty of all products, including cotton. They live by manufactures
and trade. But they have a custom that I must relate. If the husband of
any woman go away upon a journey and remain away for more than 20 days, as
soon as that term is past the woman may marry another man, and the husband
also may then marry whom he pleases.[NOTE 3]
I should tell you that all the provinces that I have been speaking of,
from Cascar forward, and those I am going to mention [as far as the city
of Lop] belong to GREAT TURKEY.
NOTE 1.--"In old times," says the _Haft Iklím._, "travellers used to go
from Khotan to Cathay in 14 (?) days, and found towns and villages all
along the road [excepting, it may be presumed, on the terrible Gobi], so
that there was no need to travel in caravans. In later days the fear of
the Kalmaks caused this line to be abandoned, and the circuitous one
occupied 100 days." This directer route between Khotan and China must have
been followed by Fa-hian on his way to India; by Hiuen Tsang on his way
back; and by Shah Rukh's ambassadors on their return from China in 1421.
The circuitous route alluded to appears to have gone north from Khotan,
crossed the Tarimgol, and fallen into the road along the base of the Thian
Shan, eventually crossing the Desert southward from Komul.
Former commentators differed very widely as to the position of Pein, and
as to the direction of Polo's route from Khotan. The information acquired
of late years leaves the latter no longer open to doubt. It must have been
nearly coincident with that of Hiuen Tsang.
The perusal of Johnson's Report of his journey to Khotan, and the
Itineraries attached to it, enabled me to feel tolerable certainty as to
the position of Charchan (see next chapter), and as to the fact that Marco
followed a direct route from Khotan to the vicinity of Lake Lop. Pein,
then, was identical with PIMA,[1] which was the first city reached by
Hiuen Tsang on his return to China after quitting Khotan, and which lay
330 _li_ east of the latter city.[2] Other notices of Pima appear in
Rémusat's history of Khotan; some of these agree exactly as to the
distance from the capital, adding that it stood on the banks of a river
flowing from the East and entering the sandy Desert; whilst one account
seems to place it at 500 _li_ from Khotan. And in the Turkish map of
Central Asia, printed in the _Jahán Numá_, as we learn from Sir H.
Rawlinson, the town of _Pím_ is placed a little way north of Khotan.
Johnson found Khotan rife with stories of former cities overwhelmed by the
shifting sands of the Desert, and these sands appear to have been
advancing for ages; for far to the north-east of Pima, even in the 7th
century, were to be found the deserted and ruined cities of the ancient
kingdoms of _Tuholo_ and _Shemathona_. "Where anciently were the seats of
flourishing cities and prosperous communities," says a Chinese author
speaking of this region, "is nothing now to be seen but a vast desert; all
has been buried in the sands, and the wild camel is hunted on those arid
plains."
Pima cannot have been very far from _Kiria_, visited by Johnson. This is a
town of 7000 houses, lying east of Ilchi, and about 69 miles distant from
it. The road for the most part lies through a highly cultivated and
irrigated country, flanked by the sandy desert at three or four miles to
the left. After passing _eastward_ by Kiria it is said to make a great
elbow, turning north; and within this elbow lie the sands that have buried
cities and fertile country. Here Mr. Shaw supposes Pima lay (perhaps upon
the river of Kiria). At Pima itself, in A. D. 644, there was a story of
the destruction of a city lying further north, a judgment on the luxury
and impiety of the people and their king, who, shocked at the eccentric
aspect of a holy man, had caused him to be buried in sand up to the mouth.
(_N. et E._ XIV. 477; _H. de la Ville de Khotan_, 63-66; _Klap. Tabl.
Historiques_, p. 182; _Proc. R. G. S._ XVI. 243.)
[Dutreuil de Rhins and Grenard took the road from Khotan to Charchan; they
left Khotan on the 4th May, 1893, passed Kiria, Nia, and instead of going
direct to Charchan through the desert, they passed Kara Say at the foot of
the Altyn tâgh, a route three days longer than the other, but one which
was less warm, and where water, meat, milk, and barley could be found.
Having passed Kapa, they crossed the Karamuren, and went up from Achan due
north to Charchan, where they stayed three months. Nowhere do they mention
Pein, or Pima, for it appears to be _Kiria itself_, which is the only real
town between Khotan and the Lobnor. Grenard says in a note (p. 54, vol.
ii.): "_Pi-mo_ (Keria) recalls the Tibetan _byé-ma_, which is pronounced
_Péma_, or _Tchéma_, and which means _sand_. Such is perhaps also the
origin of _Pialma_, a village near Khotan, and of the old name of
Charchan, _Tché-mo-to-na_, of which the two last syllables would represent
_grong_ (pronounce _tong_ = town), or _kr'om_ (_t'om_ = bazaar). Now, not
only would this etymology be justified because these three places are
indeed surrounded with sand remarkably deep, but as they were the first
three important places with which the Tibetans met coming into the desert
of Gobi, either by the route of Gurgutluk and of Polor, or by Karakoram
and Sandju, or by Tsadam, and they had thus as good a pretext to call them
'towns of sand' as the Chinese had to give to T'un-hwang the name of
_Shachau_, viz. City of Sand. Kiria is called _Ou-mi_, under the Han, and
the name of Pi-mo is found for the first time in Hiuen Tsang, that is to
say, before the Tibetan invasions of the 8th century. It is not possible
to admit that the incursion of the Tu-ku-hun in the 5th century could be
the cause of this change of name. The hypothesis remains that Pi-mo was
really the ancient name forced by the first Tibetan invaders spoken of by
legend, that _Ou-mi_ was either another name of the town, or a fancy name
invented by the Chinese, like Yu-t'ien for Khotan, Su-lo for Kashgar...."
Sir T. D. Forsyth (_J. R. G. S._, XLVII., 1877, p. 3) writes: "I should
say that Peim or Pima must be identical with Kiria."--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--The Jasper and Chalcedony of our author are probably only
varieties of the semi-precious mineral called by us popularly _Jade_, by
the Chinese _Yü_, by the Eastern Turks _Kásh_, by the Persians _Yashm_,
which last is no doubt the same word with [Greek: íaspis], and therefore
with _Jásper_. The Greek Jaspis was in reality, according to Mr. King, a
green Chalcedony.
The Jade of Turkestan is largely derived from water-rolled boulders fished
up by divers in the rivers of Khotan, but it is also got from mines in the
valley of the Karákásh River. "Some of the Jade," says Timkowski, "is as
white as snow, some dark green, like the most beautiful emerald (?),
others yellow, vermilion, and jet black. The rarest and most esteemed
varieties are the white speckled with red and the green veined with gold."
(I. 395.) The Jade of Khotan appears to be first mentioned by Chinese
authors in the time of the Han Dynasty under Wu-ti (B.C. 140-86). In A.D.
541 an image of Buddha sculptured in Jade was sent as an offering from
Khotan; and in 632 the process of fishing for the material in the rivers
of Khotan, as practised down to modern times, is mentioned. The
importation of Jade or _Yü_ from this quarter probably gave the name of
_Kia-yü Kwan_ or "Jade Gate" to the fortified Pass looking in this
direction on the extreme N. W. of China Proper, between Shachau and
Suhchau. Since the detachment from China the Jade industry has ceased, the
Musulmans having no taste for that kind of _virtù_. (_H. de la V. de
Khotan_, 2, 17, 23; also see _J. R. G. S._ XXXVI. 165, and _Cathay_, 130,
564; _Ritter_, II. 213; _Shaw's High Tartary_, pp. 98, 473.)
[On the 11th January, 1895, Dr. Sven Hedin visited one of the chief places
where Jade is to be found. It is to the north-east of Khotan, in the old
bed of the Yurun Kash. The bed of the river is divided into _claims_ like
gold-fields; the workmen are Chinese for the greater part, some few are
Musulmans.
Grenard (II. pp. 186-187) says that the finest Jade comes from the high
Karákásh (black Jade) River and Yurungkásh (white Jade); the Jade River is
called Su-tásh. At Khotan, Jade is polished up by sixty or seventy
individuals belonging to twenty-five workshops.
"At 18 miles from Su-chau, Kia-yu-kwan, celebrated as one of the gates of
China, and as the fortress guarding the extreme north-west entrance into
the empire, is passed." (_Colonel M. S. Bell, Proc. R. G. S._ XII. 1890,
p. 75.)
According to the Chinese characters, the name of Kia-yü Kwan does not mean
"Jade Gate," and as Mr. Rockhill writes to me, it can only mean something
like "barrier of the pleasant Valley."--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--Possibly this may refer to the custom of temporary marriages
which seems to prevail in most towns of Central Asia which are the
halting-places of caravans, and the morals of which are much on a par with
those of seaport towns, from analogous causes. Thus at Meshid, Khanikoff
speaks of the large population of young and pretty women ready, according
to the accommodating rules of Shiah Mahomedanism, to engage in marriages
which are perfectly lawful, for a month, a week, or even twenty-four
hours. Kashgar is also noted in the East for its _chaukans_, young women
with whom the traveller may readily form an alliance for the period of his
stay, be it long or short. (_Khan. Mém._ p. 98; _Russ. in Central Asia_,
52; _J. A. S. B._ XXVI. 262; _Burnes_, III. 195; Vigne, II. 201.)
[1] _Pein_ may easily have been miscopied for _Pem_ which is indeed the
reading of some MSS. Ramusio has _Peym_.
[2] M. Vivien de St. Martin, in his map of Hiuen Tsang's travels, places
Pima to the _west_ of Khotan. Though one sees bow the mistake
originated, there is no real ground for this in either of the versions
of the Chinese pilgrim's journey. (See _Vie et Voyages_, p. 288, and
_Mémoires_, vol. ii. 242-243.)
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
OF THE PROVINCE OF CHARCHAN.
Charchan is a Province of Great Turkey, lying between north-east and east.
The people worship Mahommet. There are numerous towns and villages, and
the chief city of the kingdom bears its name, Charchan. The Province
contains rivers which bring down Jasper and Chalcedony, and these are
carried for sale into Cathay, where they fetch great prices. The whole of
the Province 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. 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, whilst it is impossible to discover them; for the wind immediately
blows the sand over their track.
Quitting Charchan, you ride some five days through the sands, finding none
but bad and bitter water, and then you come to a place where the water is
sweet. And now I will tell you of a province called Lop, in which there is
a city, also called LOP, which you come to at the end of those five days.
It is at the entrance of the great Desert, and it is here that travellers
repose before entering on the Desert.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--Though the _Lake_ of Lob or Lop appears on all our maps, from
Chinese authority, the latter does not seem to have supplied information
as to a town so called. We have, however, indications of the existence of
such a place, both mediaeval and recent. The History of Mirza Haidar,
called the Táríkh-i-Rashídí, already referred to, in describing the Great
Basin of Eastern Turkestan, says: "Formerly there were several large
cities in this plain; the names of two have survived--_Lob_ and _Kank_,
but of the rest there is no trace or tradition; all is buried under the
sand." [Forsyth (_J. R. G. S._ XLVII. 1877, p. 5) says that he thinks that
this Kank is probably the Katak mentioned by Mirza Haidar.--H. C.] In
another place the same history says that a boy heir of the house of
Chaghatai, to save him from a usurper, was sent away to Sárígh Uighúr and
_Lob-Kank_, far in the East. Again, in the short notices of the cities of
Turkestan which Mr. Wathen collected at Bombay from pilgrims of those
regions on their way to Mecca, we find the following: "_Lopp_.--Lopp is
situated at a great distance from Yarkand. The inhabitants are principally
Chinese; but a few Uzbeks reside there. Lopp is remarkable for a
salt-water lake in its vicinity." Johnson, speaking of a road from Tibet
into Khotan, says: "This route ... leads not only to Ilchi and Yarkand, but
also viâ _Lob_ to the large and important city of Karashahr." And among the
routes attached to Mr. Johnson's original Report, we have:--
"Route No. VII. _Kiria_ (see note 1 to last chapter) to CHACHAN and LOB
(_from native information_)."
This first revealed to me the continued existence of Marco's Charchan; for
it was impossible to doubt that in the CHACHAN and LOB of this Itinerary
we had his Charchan and Lop; and his route to the verge of the Great
Desert was thus made clear.
Mr. Johnson's information made the journey from Kiria to Charchan to be 9
marches, estimated by him to amount to 154 miles, and adding 69 miles from
Ilchi to Kiria (which he actually traversed) we have 13 marches or 223
miles for the distance from Ilchi to Charchan. Mr. Shaw has since obtained
a route between Ilchi and Lob on very good authority. This makes the
distance to Charchan, or _Charchand_, as it is called, 22 marches, which
Mr. Shaw estimates at 293 miles. Both give 6 marches from Charchand to
Lob, which is in fair accordance with Polo's 5, and Shaw estimates the
whole distance from Ilchi to Lob at 373, or by another calculation at 384
miles, say roundly 380 miles. This higher estimate is to be preferred to
Mr. Johnson's for a reason which will appear under next chapter.
Mr. Shaw's informant, Rozi of Khotan, who had lived twelve years at
Charchand, described the latter as a small town with a district extending
on both sides of a stream which flows to Lob, _and which affords Jade_.
The people are Musulmans. They grow wheat, Indian corn, pears, and apples,
etc., but no cotton or rice. It stands in a great plain, but the mountains
are not far off. The nature of the products leads Mr. Shaw to think it
must stand a good deal higher than Ilchi (4000), perhaps at about 6000
feet. I may observe that the Chinese hydrography of the Kashgar Basin,
translated by Julien in the _N. An. des Voyages_ for 1846 (vol. iii.),
seems to imply that mountains from the south approach within some 20 miles
of the Tarim River, between the longitude of Shayar and Lake Lop. The
people of Lob are Musulman also, but very uncivilised. The Lake is salt.
The hydrography calls it about 200 _li_ (say 66 miles) from E. to W. and
half that from N. to S., and expresses the old belief that it forms the
subterranean source of the Hwang-Ho. Shaw's Itinerary shows "salt pools"
at six of the stations between Kiria and Charchand, so Marco's memory in
this also was exact.
_Nia_, a town two marches from Kiria according to Johnson, or four
according to Shaw, is probably the ancient city of Ni-jang of the ancient
Chinese Itineraries, which lay 30 or 40 miles on the China side of Pima,
in the middle of a great marsh, and formed the eastern frontier of Khotan
bordering on the Desert. (_J. R. G. S._ XXXVII. pp. 13 and 44; also Sir H.
Rawlinson in XLII. p. 503: _Erskine's Baber and Humayun_, I. 42; _Proc. R.
G. S._ vol. xvi. pp. 244-249; _J. A. S. B._ IV. 656; _H. de la V. de
Khotan_, u.s.)
[The Charchan of Marco Polo seems to have been built to the west of the
present oasis, a little south of the road to Kiria, where ruined houses
have been found. It must have been destroyed before the 16th century,
since Mirza Haidar does not mention it. It was not anterior to the 7th
century, as it did not exist at the time of Hiuen Tsang. (Cf. _Grenard_,
III. p. 146.)
Grenard says (pp. 183-184) that he examined the remains of what is called
the old town of Charchan, traces of the ancient canal, ruins of dwellings
deep into the sand, of which the walls built of large and solid-baked
bricks, are pretty well preserved. Save these bricks, "I found hardly
anything, the inhabitants have pillaged everything long ago. I attempted
some excavating, which turned out to be without result, as far as I was
concerned; but the superstitious natives declared that they were the cause
of a violent storm which took place soon after. There are similar ruins in
the environs, at Yantak Koudouk, at Tatrang, one day's march to the north,
and at Ouadjchahari at five days to the north-east, which corresponds to
the position assigned to Lop by Marco Polo." (See _Grenard's Haute Asie_
on _Nia_.)
Palladius is quite mistaken (l.c. p. 3.) in saying that the "Charchan" of
Marco Polo is to be found in the present province of Karashar. (Cf. _T. W.
Kingsmill's Notes on Marco Polo's Route from Khoten to China_, _Chinese
Recorder_, VII. pp. 338-343; _Notes on Doctor Sven Hedin's Discoveries in
the Valley of the Tarim, its Cities and Peoples_, _China Review_, XXIV.
No. II. pp. 59-64.)--H. C.]
CHAPTER XXXIX.
OF THE CITY OF LOP AND THE GREAT DESERT.
Lop is a large town at the edge of the Desert, which is called the Desert
of Lop, and is situated between east and north-east. It belongs to the
Great Kaan, and the people worship Mahommet. Now, such persons as propose
to cross the Desert take a week's rest in this town to refresh themselves
and their cattle; and then they make ready for the journey, taking with
them a month's supply for man and beast. On quitting this city they enter
the Desert.
The length of this Desert is so great that 'tis said it would take a year
and more to ride from one end of it to the other. And here, where its
breadth is least, it takes a month to cross it. 'Tis all composed of hills
and valleys of sand, and not a thing to eat is to be found on it. But
after riding for a day and a night you find fresh water, enough mayhap for
some 50 or 100 persons with their beasts, but not for more. And all across
the Desert you will find water in like manner, that is to say, in some 28
places altogether you will find good water, but in no great quantity; and
in four places also you find brackish water.[NOTE 1]
Beasts there are none; for there is nought for them to eat. But there is a
marvellous thing related of this Desert, which is that when travellers are
on the move by night, and one of them chances to lag behind or to fall
asleep or the like, when he tries to gain his company again he will hear
spirits talking, and will suppose them to be his comrades. Sometimes the
spirits will call him by name; and thus shall a traveller ofttimes be led
astray so that he never finds his party. And in this way many have
perished. [Sometimes the stray travellers will hear as it were the tramp
and hum of a great cavalcade of people away from the real line of road,
and taking this to be their own company they will follow the sound; and
when day breaks they find that a cheat has been put on them and that they
are in an ill plight.[NOTE 2]] Even in the day-time one hears those
spirits talking. And sometimes you shall hear the sound of a variety of
musical instruments, and still more commonly the sound of drums. [Hence in
making this journey 'tis customary for travellers to keep close together.
All the animals too have bells at their necks, so that they cannot easily
get astray. And at sleeping-time a signal is put up to show the direction
of the next march.]
So thus it is that the Desert is crossed.[NOTE 3]
NOTE 1.--LOP appears to be the _Napopo, i.e. Navapa_, of Hiuen Tsang,
called also the country of _Leulan_, in the Desert. (Mém. II. p. 247.)
_Navapa_ looks like Sanskrit. If so, this carries ancient Indian influence
to the verge of the great Gobi. [See supra, p. 190.] It is difficult to
reconcile with our maps the statement of a thirty days' journey across the
Desert from Lop to Shachau. Ritter's extracts, indeed, regarding this
Desert, show that the constant occurrence of sandhills and deep drifts
(our traveller's "hills and valleys of sand") makes the passage extremely
difficult for carts and cattle. (III. 375.) But I suspect that there is
some material error in the longitude of Lake Lop as represented in our
maps, and that it should be placed _something like three degrees_ more to
the westward than we find it (e.g.) in Kiepert's Map of Asia. By that map
Khotan is not far short of 600 miles from the western extremity of Lake
Lop. By Johnson's Itinerary (including his own journey to Kiria) it is
only 338 miles from Ilchi to Lob. Mr. Shaw, as we have seen, gives us a
little more, but it is only even then 380. Polo unfortunately omits his
usual estimate for the extent of the "Province of Charchan," so he affords
us no complete datum. But his distance between Charchan and Lob agrees
fairly, as we have seen, with that both of Johnson and of Shaw, and the
elbow on the road from Kiria to Charchan (supra, p. 192) necessitates our
still further abridging the longitude between Khotan and Lop. (See Shaw's
remarks in _Proc. R. G. S._ XVI. 243.)
[This desert was known in China of old by the name of _Lew-sha_, i.e.
"Quicksand," or literally, "Flowing sands." (_Palladius, Jour. N. China B.
R. As. Soc._ N.S. X. 1875, p. 4.)
A most interesting problem is connected with the situation of Lob-nor
which led to some controversy between Baron von Richthofen and Prjevalsky.
The latter placed the lake one degree more to the south than the Chinese
did, and found that its water was sweet. Richthofen agreed with the
Chinese Topographers and wrote in a letter to Sir Henry Yule: "I send you
two tracings; one of them is a true copy of the Chinese map, the other is
made from a sketch which I constructed to-day, and on which I tried to put
down the Chinese Topography together with that of Prjevalsky. It appears
evident--(1) That Prjevalsky travelled by the ancient road to a point
south of the true Lop-noor; (2) that long before he reached this point he
found the river courses quite different from what they had been formerly;
and (3) that following one of the new rivers which flows due south by a
new road, he reached the two sweet-water lakes, one of which answers to
the ancient Khas-omo. I use the word 'new' merely by way of comparison
with the state of things in Kien-long's time, when the map was made. It
appears that the Chinese map shows the Khas Lake too far north to cover
the Kara-Koshun. The bifurcation of the roads south of the lake nearly
resembles that which is marked by Prjevalsky." (Preface of E. D. Morgan's
transl. of _From Kulja across the Tian Shan to Lob-nor_, by Colonel N.
Prjevalsky, London, 1879, p. iv.) In this same volume Baron von
Richthofen's remarks are given (pp. 135-159, with a map, p. 144), showing
comparison between Chinese and Prjevalsky's Geography from tracings by
Baron von Richthofen and (pp. 160-165) a translation of Prjevalsky's
replies to the Baron's criticisms.
Now the Swedish traveller, Dr. Sven Hedin, claims to have settled this
knotty point. Going from Korla, south-west of Kara-shahr, by a road at the
foot of the Kurugh-tagh and between these mountains and the Koncheh Daria,
he discovered the ruins of two fortresses, and a series of milestones
(potaïs). These tall pyramids of clay and wood, indicating distances in
_lis_ show the existence at an ancient period of a road with a large
traffic between Korla and an unknown place to the south-east, probably on
the shores of the Chinese Lob-nor. Prjevalsky, who passed between the
Lower Tarim and the Koncheh Daria, could not see a lake or the remains of
a lake to the east of this river. The Koncheh Daria expands into a marshy
basin, the Malta Kul, from which it divides into two branches, the
Kuntiekkich Tarim (East River) and the Ilek (river) to the E.S.E. Dr. Sven
Hedin, after following the course of the Ilek for three days (4th April,
1896) found a large sheet of water in the valley at the very place marked
by the Chinese Topographers and Richthofen for the Lob-nor. This mass of
water is divided up by the natives into Avullu Kul, Kara Kul, Tayek Kul,
and Arka Kul, which are actually almost filled up with reeds. Dr. Sven
Hedin afterwards visited the Lob-nor of Prjevalsky, and reached its
western extremity, the Kara-buran (black storm) on the 17th April. In
1885, Prjevalsky had found the Lob-nor an immense lake; four years later
Prince Henri d'Orleans saw it greatly reduced in size, and Dr. Sven Hedin
discovered but pools of water. In the meantime, since 1885, the northern
(Chinese) Lob-nor has gradually filled up, so the lake is somewhat
vagrant. Dr. Sven Hedin says that from his observations he can assert that
Prjevalsky's lake is of recent formation.
So Marco Polo's Lob-nor should be the northern or Chinese lake.
Another proof of this given by Dr. Sven Hedin is that the Chinese give the
name of Lob to the region between Arghan and Tikkenlik, unknown in the
country of the southern lake. The existence of two lakes shows what a
quantity of water from the Thian Shan, the Eastern Pamir, and Northern
Tibet flows into the basin of the Tarim. The Russian Lieutenant K. P.
Kozlov has tried since to prove that the Chinese Lob-nor is the Kara-
Koshun (Black district), which is a second lake formed by the Tarim, which
discharges into and issues from the lake Kara-buran. Kozlov's arguments
are published in the _Isvestia_ of the Russian Geographical Society, and
in a separate pamphlet. _The Geog. Jour._ (June, 1898, pp. 652-658)
contains _The Lob-nor Controversy_, a full statement of the case,
summarising Kozlov's pamphlet. Among the documents relating to the
controversy, Kozlov "quotes passages from the Chinese work _Si-yui-shui-
dao-tsi_, published in 1823, relative to the region, and gives a reduced
copy of the Chinese Map published by Dr. Georg Wegener in 1863, upon which
map Richthofen and Sven Hedin based their arguments." Kozlov's final
conclusions (_Geog. Jour._ l.c. pp. 657-658) are the following: "The
Koncheh-daria, since very remote times till the present day, has moved a
long way. The spot Gherelgan may be taken as a spot of relative permanence
of its bed, while the basis of its delta is a line traced from the
farthest northern border of the area of salt clays surrounding the Lob-nor
to the Tarim. At a later period the Koncheh-daria mostly influenced the
lower Tarim, and each time a change occurred in the latter's discharge,
the Koncheh took a more westward course, to the detriment of its old
eastern branch (Ilek). Always following the gradually receding humidity,
the vegetable life changed too, while moving sands were taking its place,
conquering more and more ground for the desert, and marking their conquest
by remains of old shore-lines....
"The facts noticed by Sven Hedin have thus another meaning--the desert to
the east of the lakes, which he discovered, was formed, not by Lob-nor,
which is situated 1° southwards, but by the Koncheh-daria, in its
unremitted deflection to the west. The old bed Ilek, lake-shaped in
places, and having a belt of salt lagoons and swamps along its eastern
shores, represents remains of waters belonging, not to Lob-nor, but to the
shifting river which has abandoned this old bed.
"These facts and explanations refute the second point of the arguments
which were brought forward by Sven Hedin in favour of his hypothesis,
asserting the existence of some other Lob-nor.
"I accept the third point of his objections, namely, that the grandfathers
of the present inhabitants of the Lob-nor lived by a lake whose position
was more to the north of Lob-nor; that was mentioned already by Pievtsov,
and the lake was Uchu-Kul.
"Why Marco Polo never mentioned the Lob-nor, I leave to more competent
persons to decide.
"The only inference which I can make from the preceding account is that
the Kara-Koshun-Kul is not only the Lob-nor of my lamented teacher, N. M.
Prjevalsky, but also _the ancient, the historical, and the true Lob-nor_
of the Chinese geographers. So it was during the last thousand years, and
so will it remain, if 'the river of time' in its running has not effaced
it from the face of the Earth."
To Kozlov's query: "Why Marco Polo never mentioned the Lob-nor, I leave to
more competent persons to decide," I have little hesitation in replying
that he did not mention the Lob-nor because he did not see it. From
Charchan, he followed, I believe, neither Prjevalsky's nor Pievtsov's
route, but the old route from Khotan to Si-ngan fu, in the old bed of the
Charchan daria, above and almost parallel to the new bed, to the
Tarim,--then between Sven Hedin's and Prjevalsky's lakes, and across the
desert to Shachau to join the ancient Chinese road of the Han Dynasty,
partly explored by M. Bonin from Shachau.
There is no doubt as to the discovery of Prjevalsky's Lob-nor, but this
does not appear to be the old Chinese Lob-nor; in fact, there may have
been several lakes co-existent; probably there was one to the east of the
mass of water described by Dr. Sven Hedin, near the old route from Korla
to Shachau; there is no fixity in these waterspreads and the soil of this
part of Asia, and in the course of a few years some discrepancies will
naturally arise between the observations of different travellers. But as I
think that Marco Polo did not see one of the Lob-nor, but travelled
between them, there is no necessity to enlarge on this question, fully
treated of in this note.
See besides the works mentioned above: _Nord--Tibet und Lob-nur Gebiet_...
herausg. von Dr. G. Wegener. Berlin, 1893. (Sep. abd. _Zeit. Ges. f.
Erdk._)--_Die Geog. wiss. Ergebnisse meiner Reisen in Zentralasien_,
1894-1897, von Dr. Sven Hedin, Gotha, J. Perthes, 1900.
Bonvalot and Prince Henri d'Orléans (_De Paris au Tonkin, à travers le
Tibet inconnu_, Paris, 1892) followed this Itinerary: Semipalatinsk,
Kulja, Korla, Lob-nor, Charkalyk, Altyn Tagh, almost a straight line to
Tengri Nor, then to Batang, Ta Tsien lu, Ning-yuan, Yun-nan-fu, Mong-tsu,
and Tung-King.
Bonvalot (28th October, 1889) describes Lob in this manner: "The village
of Lob is situated at some distance from [the Charchan daria]; its
inhabitants come to see us; they are miserable, hungry, _étiques_; they
offer us for sale smoked fish, duck taken with _lacet_. Some small
presents soon make friends of them. They apprize us that news has spread
that Pievtsov, the Russian traveller, will soon arrive" (l.c. p. 75). From
Charkalyk, Prince Henri d'Orléans and Father Dedeken visited Lob-nor (l.c.
p. 77 et seq.), but it was almost dry; the water had receded since
Prjevalsky's visit, thirteen years before. The Prince says the Lob-nor he
saw was not Prjevalsky's, nor was the latter's lake the mass of water on
Chinese maps; an old sorceress gave confirmation of the fact to the
travellers. According to a tradition known from one generation to another,
there was at this place a large inland sea without reeds, and the elders
had seen in their youth large ponds; they say that the earth impregnated
with saltpetre absorbs the water. The Prince says, according to tradition,
_Lob_ is a local name meaning "wild animals," and it was given to the
country at the time it was crossed by Kalmuk caravans; they added to the
name _Lob_ the Mongol word _Nor_ (Great Lake). The travellers (p. 109)
note that in fact the name Lob-nor does not apply to a Lake, but to the
whole marshy part of the country watered by the Tarim, from the village of
Lob to end of the river.
The Pievtsov expedition "visited the Lob-nor (2650 feet) and the Tarim,
whose proper name is Yarkend-daria (_tarim_ means 'a tilled field' in
Kashgarian). The lake is rapidly drying up, and a very old man, 110 years
old, whom Pievtsov spoke to (his son, 52 years old, was the only one who
could understand the old man), said that he would not have recognized the
land if he had been absent all this time. Ninety years ago there was only
a narrow strip of rushes in the south-west part of the lake, and the
Yarkend-daria entered it 2-1/2 miles to the west of its present mouth,
where now stands the village of Abdal. The lake was then much deeper, and
several villages, now abandoned, stood on its shores. There was also much
more fish, and otters, which used to live there, but have long since
disappeared. As to the Yarkend-daria, tradition says that two hundred
years ago it used to enter another smaller lake, Uchukul, which was
connected by a channel with the Lob-nor. This old bed, named
Shirga-chapkan, can still be traced by the trees which grew along it. The
greater previous extension of the Lob-nor is also confirmed by the
freshwater molluscs (_Limnaea uricularia_, var. _ventricosa, L. stagnalis,
L. peregra_, and _Planorbis sibiricus_), which are found at a distance from
its present banks. Another lake, 400 miles in circumference, Kara-boyön
(_black isthmus_), lies, as is known, 27 miles to the south-west of Lob-
nor. To the east of the lake, a salt desert stretches for a seven days'
march, and further on begin the Kum-tagh sands, where wild camels live."
(_Geog. Jour._ IX. 1897, p. 552.)
Grenard (III. pp. 194-195) discusses the Lob-nor question and the
formation of four new lakes by the Koncheh-daria called by the natives
beginning at the north; Kara Kul, Tayek Kul, Sugut Kul, Tokum Kul. He does
not accept Baron v. Richthofen's theory, and believes that the old Lob is
the lake seen by Prjevalsky.
He says (p. 149): "Lop must be looked for on the actual road from Charchan
to Charkalyk. Ouash Shahri, five days from Charchan, and where small ruins
are to be found, corresponds well to the position of Lop according to
Marco Polo, a few degrees of the compass near. But the stream which passes
at this spot could never be important enough for the wants of a
considerable centre of habitation and the ruins of Ouash Shahri are more
of a hamlet than of a town. Moreover, Lop was certainly the meeting point
of the roads of Kashgar, Urumtsi, Shachau, L'Hasa, and Khotan, and it is
to this fact that this town, situated in a very poor country, owed its
relative importance. Now, it is impossible that these roads crossed at
Ouash Shahri. I believe that Lop was built on the site of Charkalyk
itself. The Venetian traveller gives five days' journey between Charchan
and Lop, whilst Charkalyk is really seven days from Charchan; but the
objection does not appear sufficient to me: Marco Polo may well have made
a mistake of two days." (III. pp. 149-150.)
The Chinese Governor of Urumtsi found some years ago to the north-west of
the Lob-nor, on the banks of the Tarim, and within five days of Charkalyk,
a town bearing the same name, though not on the same site as the Lop of
Marco Polo.--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--"The waste and desert places of the Earth are, so to speak, the
characters which sin has visibly impressed on the outward creation; its
signs and symbols there.... Out of a true feeling of this, men have ever
conceived of the Wilderness as the haunt of evil spirits. In the old
Persian religion Ahriman and his evil Spirits inhabit the steppes and
wastes of Turan, to the north of the happy Iran, which stands under the
dominion of Ormuzd; exactly as with the Egyptians, the evil Typhon is the
Lord of the Libyan sand-wastes, and Osiris of the fertile Egypt."
(_Archbp. Trench, Studies in the Gospels_, p. 7.) Terror, and the seeming
absence of a beneficent Providence, are suggestions of the Desert which
must have led men to associate it with evil spirits, rather than the
figure with which this passage begins; no spontaneous conception surely,
however appropriate as a moral image.
"According to the belief of the nations of Central Asia," says I. J.
Schmidt, "the earth and its interior, as well as the encompassing
atmosphere, are filled with Spiritual Beings, which exercise an influence,
partly beneficent, partly malignant, on the whole of organic and inorganic
nature.... Especially are Deserts and other wild or uninhabited tracts, or
regions in which the influences of nature are displayed on a gigantic and
terrible scale, regarded as the chief abode or rendezvous of evil
Spirits.... And hence the steppes of Turan, and in particular the great
sandy Desert of Gobi have been looked on as the dwelling-place of
malignant beings, from days of hoar antiquity."
The Chinese historian Ma Twan-lin informs us that there were two roads
from China into the Uighúr country (towards Karashahr). The longest but
easiest road was by Kamul. The other was much shorter, and apparently
corresponded, as far as Lop, to that described in this chapter. "By this
you have to cross a plain of sand, extending for more than 100 leagues.
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 those sounds might be have strayed from their course and
been entirely lost; for they were voices of spirits and goblins. 'Tis for
these reasons that travellers and merchants often prefer the much longer
route by Kamul." (_Visdelou_, p. 139.)
"In the Desert" (this same desert), says Fa-hian, "there are a great many
evil demons; there are also sirocco winds, which kill all who encounter
them. There are no birds or beasts to be seen; but so far as the eye can
reach, the route is marked out by the bleached bones of men who have
perished in the attempt to cross."
["The Lew-sha was the subject of various most exaggerated stories. We find
more trustworthy accounts of it in the _Chow shu_; thus it is mentioned in
that history, that there sometimes arises in this desert a 'burning wind,'
pernicious to men and cattle; in such cases the old camels of the caravan,
having a presentiment of its approach, flock shrieking to one place, lie
down on the ground and hide their heads in the sand. On this signal, the
travellers also lie down, close nose and mouth, and remain in this
position until the hurricane abates. Unless these precautions are taken,
men and beasts inevitably perish." (_Palladius_, l.c. p. 4.)
A friend writes to me that he thinks that the accounts of strange noises
in the desert would find a remarkable corroboration in the narratives of
travellers through the central desert of Australia. They conjecture that
they are caused by the sudden falling of cliffs of sand as the temperature
changes at night time.--H. C.]
Hiuen Tsang, in his passage of the Desert, both outward and homeward,
speaks of visual illusions; such as visions of troops marching and halting
with gleaming arms and waving banners, constantly shifting, vanishing, and
reappearing, "imagery created by demons." A voice behind him calls, "Fear
not! fear not!" Troubled by these fantasies on one occasion, he prays to
Kwan-yin (a Buddhist divinity); still he could not entirely get rid of
them; but as soon as he had pronounced a few words from the _Prajna_ (a
holy book), they vanished in the twinkling of an eye.
These Goblins are not peculiar to the Gobi, though that appears to be
their most favoured haunt. The awe of the vast and solitary Desert raises
them in all similar localities. Pliny speaks of the phantoms that appear
and vanish in the deserts of Africa; Aethicus, the early Christian
cosmographer, speaks, though incredulous, of the stories that were told of
the voices of singers and revellers in the desert; Mas'údi tells of the
_Ghúls_, which in the deserts appear to travellers by night and in lonely
hours; the traveller, taking them for comrades, follows and is led astray.
But the wise revile them and the Ghúls vanish. Thus also Apollonius of
Tyana and his companions, in a desert near the Indus by moonlight, see an
_Empusa_ or Ghúl taking many forms. They revile it, and it goes off
uttering shrill cries. Mas'údi also speaks of the mysterious voices heard
by lone wayfarers in the Desert, and he gives a rational explanation of
them. Ibn Batuta relates a like legend of the Western Sahara: "If the
messenger be solitary, the demons sport with him and fascinate him, so
that he strays from his course and perishes." The Afghan and Persian
wildernesses also have their _Ghúl-i-Beában_ or Goblin of the Waste, a
gigantic and fearful spectre which devours travellers; and even the Gael
of the West Highlands have the _Direach Ghlinn Eitidh_, the Desert
Creature of Glen Eiti, which, one-handed, one-eyed, one-legged, seems
exactly to answer to the Arabian Nesnás or _Empusa_. Nicolò Conti in the
Chaldaean desert is aroused at midnight by a great noise, and sees a vast
multitude pass by. The merchants tell him that these are demons who are in
the habit of traversing the deserts. (_Schmidt's San. Setzen_, p. 352; _V.
et V. de H. T._ 23, 28, 289; _Pliny_, VII. 2; _Philostratus_, Bk. II. ch.
iv.; _Prairies d'Or_, III. 315, 324; _Beale's Fahian_; _Campbell's Popular
Tales of the W. Highlands_, IV. 326; _I. B._ IV. 382; _Elphinstone_, I.
291; _Chodzko's Pop. Poetry of Persia_, p. 48; _Conti_, p. 4; _Forsyth, J.
R. G. S._ XLVII. 1877, p. 4.)
The sound of musical instruments, chiefly of drums, is a phenomenon of
another class, and is really produced in certain situations among
sandhills when the sand is disturbed. [See supra.] A very striking account
of a phenomenon of this kind regarded as supernatural is given by Friar
Odoric, whose experience I fancy I have traced to the _Reg Ruwán_ or
"Flowing Sand" north of Kabul. Besides this celebrated example, which has
been described also by the Emperor Baber, I have noted that equally
well-known one of the _Jibal Nakús_, or "Hill of the Bell," in the Sinai
Desert; Wadi Hamade, in the vicinity of the same Desert; the
_Jibal-ul-Thabúl_, or "Hill of the Drums," between Medina and Mecca; one on
the Island of Eigg, in the Hebrides, discovered by Hugh Miller; one among
the Medanos or Sandhills of Arequipa, described to me by Mr. C. Markham;
the Bramador or rumbling mountain of Tarapaca; one in hills between the
Ulba and the Irtish, in the vicinity of the Altai, called the Almanac
Hills, because the sounds are supposed to prognosticate weather-changes;
and a remarkable example near Kolberg on the shore of Pomerania. A Chinese
narrative of the 10th century mentions the phenomenon as known near
Kwachau, on the eastern border of the Lop Desert, under the name of the
"Singing Sands"; and Sir F. Goldsmid has recently made us acquainted with a
second _Reg Ruwán_, on a hill near the Perso-Afghan frontier, a little to
the north of Sístán. The place is frequented in pilgrimage. (See _Cathay_,
pp. ccxliv. 156, 398; _Ritter_, II. 204; _Aus der Natur_, Leipzig, No. 47
[of 1868], p. 752; _Rémusat, H. de Khotan_, p. 74; _Proc. R. G. S._ XVII.
91.)
NOTE 3.--[We learn from Joseph Martin, quoted by Grenard, p. 170 (who met
this unfortunate French traveller at Khotan, on his way from Peking to
Marghelan, where he died), that from Shachau to Abdal, on the Lob-nor,
there are twelve days of desert, sandy only during the first two days,
stony afterwards. Occasionally a little grass is to be found for the
camels; water is to be found everywhere. M. Bonin went from Shachau to the
north-west towards the Kara-nor, then to the west, but lack of water
compelled him to go back to Shachau. Along this road, every five _lis_,
are to be found towers built with clay, and about 30 feet high, abandoned
by the Chinese, who do not seem to have kept a remembrance of them in the
country; this route seems to be a continuation of the Kan Suh Imperial
highway. A wall now destroyed connected these towers together. "There is
no doubt," writes M. Bonin, "that all these remains are those of the great
route, vainly sought after till now, which, under the Han Dynasty, ran to
China through Bactria. Pamir, Eastern Turkestan, the Desert of Gobi, and
Kan Suh: it is in part the route followed by Marco Polo, when he went from
Charchan to Shachau, by the city of Lob." The route of the Han has been
also looked for, more to the south, and it was believed that it was the
same as that of the Astyn Tagh, followed by Mr. Littledale in 1893, who
travelled one month from Abdal (Lob-nor) to Shachau; M. Bonin, who
explored also this route, and was twenty-three days from Shachau to
Lob-nor, says it could not be a commercial road. Dr. Sven Hedin saw four or
five towers eastward of the junction of the Tarim and the Koncheh-daria; it
may possibly have been another part of the road seen by M. Bonin. (See _La
Géographie_, 15th March, 1901, p. 173.)--H. C.]
CHAPTER XL.
CONCERNING THE GREAT PROVINCE OF TANGUT.
After you have travelled thirty days through the Desert, as I have
described, you come to a city called SACHIU, lying between north-east and
east; it belongs to the Great Kaan, and is in a province called
TANGUT.[NOTE 1] The people are for the most part Idolaters, but there are
also some Nestorian Christians and some Saracens. The Idolaters have a
peculiar language, and are no traders, but live by their agriculture.[NOTE
2] 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. For example, such as have children
will feed up a sheep in honour of the idol, and at the New Year, or on the
day of the Idol's Feast, they will take their children and the sheep along
with them into the presence of the idol with great ceremony. Then they
will have the sheep slaughtered and cooked, and again present it before
the idol with like reverence, and leave it there before him, whilst they
are reciting the offices of their worship and their prayers for the idol's
blessing on their children. And, if you will believe them, the idol feeds
on the meat that is set before it! After these ceremonies they take up the
flesh and carry it home, and call together all their kindred to eat it
with them in great festivity [the idol-priests receiving for their portion
the head, feet, entrails, and skin, with some part of the meat]. After
they have eaten, they collect the bones that are left and store them
carefully in a hutch.[NOTE 3]
And you must know that all the Idolaters in the world burn their dead. And
when they are going to carry a body to the burning, the kinsfolk build a
wooden house on the way to the spot, and drape it with cloths of silk and
gold. When the body is going past this building they call a halt and set
before it wine and meat and other eatables; and this they do with the
assurance that the defunct will be received with the like attentions in
the other world. All the minstrelsy in the town goes playing before the
body; and when it reaches the burning-place the kinsfolk are prepared with
figures cut out of parchment and paper in the shape of men and horses and
camels, and also with round pieces of paper like gold coins, and all these
they burn along with the corpse. For they say that in the other world the
defunct will be provided with slaves and cattle and money, just in
proportion to the amount of such pieces of paper that has been burnt along
with him.[NOTE 4]
But they never burn their dead until they have [sent for the astrologers,
and told them the year, the day, and the hour of the deceased person's
birth, and when the astrologers have ascertained under what constellation,
planet, and sign he was born, they declare the day on which, by the rules
of their art, he ought to be burnt]. And till that day arrive they keep
the body, so that 'tis sometimes a matter of six months, more or less,
before it comes to be burnt.[NOTE 5]
Now the way they keep the body in the house is this: They make a coffin
first of a good span in thickness, very carefully joined and daintily
painted. This they fill up with camphor and spices, to keep off corruption
[stopping the joints with pitch and lime], and then they cover it with a
fine cloth. Every day as long as the body is kept, they set a table before
the dead covered with food; and they will have it that the soul comes and
eats and drinks: wherefore they leave the food there as long as would be
necessary in order that one should partake. Thus they do daily. And worse
still! Sometimes those soothsayers shall tell them that 'tis not good luck
to carry out the corpse by the door, so they have to break a hole in the
wall, and to draw it out that way when it is taken to the burning.[NOTE 6]
And these, I assure you, are the practices of all the Idolaters of those
countries.
However, we will quit this subject, and I will tell you of another city
which lies towards the north-west at the extremity of the desert.
NOTE 1.--[The Natives of this country were called by the Chinese
_T'ang-hiang_, and by the Mongols _T'angu_ or _T'ang-wu_, and with the
plural suffix _Tangut_. The kingdom of Tangut, or in Chinese, _Si Hia_
(Western Hia), or _Ho si_ (West of the Yellow River), was declared
independent in 982 by Li Chi Ch'ien, who had the dynastic title or _Miao
Hao_ of Tai Tsu. "The rulers of Tangut," says Dr. Bushell, "were scions of
the Toba race, who reigned over North China as the Wei Dynasty (A.D. 386-
557), as well as in some of the minor dynasties which succeeded. Claiming
descent from the ancient Chinese Hsia Dynasty of the second millennium
B.C., they adopted the title of _Ta Hsia_ ('Great Hsia'), and the dynasty
is generally called by the Chinese Hsi Hsia, or Western Hsia." This is a
list of the Tangut sovereigns, with the date of their accession to the
throne: Tai Tsu (982), Tai Tsung (1002), Ching Tsung (1032), Yi Tsung
(1049), Hui Tsung (1068), Ch'ung Tsung (1087), Jen Tsung (1140), Huan Tsung
(1194), Hsiang Tsung (1206), Shên Tsung (1213), Hien Tsung (1223), Mo Chu
(1227). In fact, the real founder of the Dynasty was Li Yuan-hao, who
conquered in 1031, the cities of Kanchau and Suhchau from the Uighúr Turks,
declaring himself independent in 1032, and who adopted in 1036 a special
script of which we spoke when mentioning the archway at Kiuyung Kwan. His
capital was Hia chau, now Ning hia, on the Yellow River. Chinghiz invaded
Tangut three times, in 1206, 1217, and at last in 1225; the final struggle
took place the following year, when Kanchau, Liangchau, and Suhchau fell
into the hands of the Mongols. After the death of Chinghiz (1227), the last
ruler of Tangut, Li H'ien, who surrendered the same year to Okkodaï, son of
the conqueror, was killed. The dominions of Tangut in the middle of the
11th century, according to the _Si Hia Chi Shih Pên Mo_, quoted by Dr.
Bushell, "were bounded, according to the map, by the Sung Empire on the
south and east, by the Liao (Khitan) on the north-east, the Tartars (Tata)
on the north, the Uighúr Turks (Hui-hu) on the west, and the Tibetans on
the south-west. The Alashan Mountains stretch along the northern frontier,
and the western extends to the Jade Gate (Yü Mên Kwan) on the border of the
Desert of Gobi." Under the Mongol Dynasty, Kan Suh was the official name of
one of the twelve provinces of the Empire, and the popular name was Tangut.
(Dr. S. W. Bushell: _Inscriptions in the Juchen and Allied Scripts_ and
_The Hsi Hsia Dynasty of Tangut_. See above, p. 29.)
"The word Tangutan applied by the Chinese and by Colonel Prjevalsky to a
Tibetan-speaking people around the Koko-nor has been explained to me in a
variety of ways by native Tangutans. A very learned lama from the Gserdkog
monastery, south-east of the Koko-nor, told me that Tangutan, Amdoans, and
Sifan were interchangeable terms, but I fear his geographical knowledge
was a little vague. The following explanation of the term Tangut is taken
from the _Hsi-tsang-fu_. 'The Tangutans are descendants of the
_Tang-tu-chüeh_. The origin of this name is as follows: In early days, the
Tangutans lived in the Central Asian Chin-shan, where they were workers of
iron. They made a model of the Chin-shan, which, in shape, resembled an
iron helmet. Now, in their language, "iron helmet" is _Tang-küeh_, hence
the name of the country. To the present day, the Tangutans of the Koko-nor
wear a hat shaped like a pot, high crowned and narrow, rimmed with red
fringe sewn on it, so that it looks like an iron helmet, and this is a
proof of [the accuracy of the derivation].' Although the proof is not very
satisfactory, it is as good as we are often offered by authors with greater
pretension to learning.
"If I remember rightly, Prjevalsky derives the name from two words meaning
'black tents.'" (_W. W. Rockhill, China Br. R. As. Soc._, XX. pp.
278-279.)
"Chinese authorities tell us that the name [Tangut] was originally borne
by a people living in the Altaï', and that the word is Turkish.... The
population of Tangut was a mixture of Tibetans, Turks, Uighúrs, Tukuhuns,
Chinese, etc." (_Rockhill_, _Rubruck_, p. 150, note.--H. C.)]
_Sachiu_ is SHACHAU, "Sand-district," an outpost of China Proper, at the
eastern verge of the worst part of the Sandy Desert. It is recorded to
have been fortified in the 1st century as a barrier against the Hiongnu.
[The name of Shachau dates from A.D. 622, when it was founded by the first
emperor of the T'ang Dynasty. Formerly, Shachau was one of the Chinese
colonies established by the Han, at the expense of the Hiongnu; it was
called T'ung hoang (B.C. 111), a name still given to Shachau; the other
colonies were Kiu-kaan (Suhchau, B.C. 121) and Chang-yé (Kanchau, B.C.
111). (See _Bretschneider, Med. Res._ II. 18.)
"Sha-chow, the present _Tun-hwang-hien_ (a few _li_ east of the ancient
town).... In 1820, or about that time, an attempt was made to re-establish
the ancient direct way between Sha-chow and Khotan. With this object in
view, an exploring party of ten men was sent from Khotan towards Sha-chow;
this party wandered in the desert over a month, and found neither
dwellings nor roads, but pastures and water everywhere. M. Polo omits to
mention a remarkable place at Sha-chow, a sandy hillock (a short distance
south of this town) known under the name of _Ming-sha shan_--the 'rumbling
sandhill.' The sand, in rolling down the hill, produces a particular
sound, similar to that of distant thunder. In M. Polo's time (1292),
Khubilaï removed the inhabitants of Sha-chow to the interior of China;
fearing, probably, the aggression of the seditious princes; and his
successor, in 1303, placed there a garrison of ten thousand men."
(_Palladius_, l.c. p. 5.)
"Sha-chau is one of the best oases of Central Asia. It is situated at the
foot of the Nan-shan range, at a height of 3700 feet above the sea, and
occupies an area of about 200 square miles, the whole of which is thickly
inhabited by Chinese. Sha-chau is interesting as the meeting-place of
three expeditions started independently from Russia, India, and China.
Just two months before Prjevalsky reached this town, it was visited by
Count Szechényi [April, 1879], and eighteen months afterwards Pundit A-k,
whose report of it agrees fairly well with that of our traveller, also
stayed here. Both Prejevalsky and Szechényi remark on some curious caves
in a valley near Sha-chau containing Buddhistic clay idols.[1] These caves
were in Marco Polo's time the resort of numerous worshippers, and are said
to date back to the Han Dynasty." (_Prejevalsky's Journeys_ ... by E.
Delmar Morgan, _Proc. R. G. S._ IX. 1887, pp. 217-218.)--H. C.]
(_Ritter_, II. 205; _Neumann_, p. 616; _Cathay_, 269, 274; _Erdmann_, 155;
_Erman_, II. 267; _Mag. Asiat._ II. 213.)
NOTE 2.--By _Idolaters_, Polo here means Buddhists, as generally. We do
not know whether the Buddhism here was a recent introduction from Tibet,
or a relic of the old Buddhism of Khotan and other Central Asian kingdoms,
but most probably it was the former, and the "peculiar language" ascribed
to them may have been, as Neumann supposes, Tibetan. This language in
modern Mongolia answers to the Latin of the Mass Book, indeed with a
curious exactness, for in both cases the holy tongue is not that of the
original propagators of the respective religions, but that of the
hierarchy which has assumed their government. In the Lamaitic convents of
China and Manchuria also the Tibetan only is used in worship, except at
one privileged temple at Peking. (_Koeppen_, II. 288.) The language
intended by Polo may, however, have been a Chinese dialect. (See notes 1
and 4.) The Nestorians must have been tolerably numerous in Tangut, for it
formed a metropolitan province of their Church.
NOTE 3.--A practice resembling this is mentioned by Pallas as existing
among the Buddhist Kalmaks, a relic of their old Shaman superstitions,
which the Lamas profess to decry, but sometimes take part in. "Rich
Kalmaks select from their flock a ram for dedication, which gets the name
of _Tengri Tockho_, 'Heaven's Ram.' It must be a white one with a yellow
head. He must never be shorn or sold, but when he gets old, and the owner
chooses to dedicate a fresh one, then the old one must be sacrificed. This
is usually done in autumn, when the sheep are fattest, and the neighbours
are called together to eat the sacrifice. A fortunate day is selected, and
the ram is slaughtered amid the cries of the sorcerer directed towards the
sunrise, and the diligent sprinkling of milk for the benefit of the
Spirits of the Air. The flesh is eaten, but the skeleton with a part of
the fat is burnt on a turf altar erected on four pillars of an ell and a
half high, and the skin, with the head and feet, is then hung up in the
way practised by the Buraets." (_Sammlungen_, II. 346.)
NOTE 4.--Several of the customs of Tangut mentioned in this chapter are
essentially Chinese, and are perhaps introduced here because it was on
entering Tangut that the traveller first came in contact with Chinese
peculiarities. This is true of the manner of forming coffins, and keeping
them with the body in the house, serving food before the coffin whilst it
is so kept, the burning of paper and papier-maché figures of slaves,
horses, etc., at the tomb. Chinese settlers were very numerous at Shachau
and the neighbouring Kwachau, even in the 10th century. (_Ritter_, II.
213.) ["Keeping a body unburied for a considerable time is called _khng
koan_, 'to conceal or store away a coffin,' or _thîng koan_, 'to detain a
coffin.' It is, of course, a matter of necessity in such cases to have the
cracks and fissures, and especially the seam where the case and the lid
join, hermetically caulked. This is done by means of a mixture of chunam
and oil. The seams, sometimes even the whole coffin, are pasted over with
linen, and finally everything is varnished black, or, in case of a
mandarin of rank, red. In process of time, the varnishing is repeated as
many times as the family think desirable or necessary. And in order to
protect the coffin still better against dust and moisture, it is generally
covered with sheets of oiled paper, over which comes a white pall." (_De
Groot_, I. 106.)--H. C.] Even as regards the South of China many of the
circumstances mentioned here are strictly applicable, as may be seen in
_Doolittle's Social Life of the Chinese_. (See, for example, p. 135; also
_Astley_, IV. 93-95, or Marsden's quotations from _Duhalde_.) The custom
of burning the dead has been for several centuries disused in China, but
we shall see hereafter that Polo represents it as general in his time. On
the custom of burning gilt paper in the form of gold coin, as well as of
paper clothing, paper houses, furniture, slaves, etc., see also
_Medhurst_, p. 213, and _Kidd_, 177-178. No one who has read Père Huc will
forget his ludicrous account of the Lama's charitable distribution of
paper horses for the good of disabled travellers. The manufacture of mock
money is a large business in Chinese cities. In Fuchau there are more than
thirty large establishments where it is kept for sale. (_Doolittle_, 541.)
[The Chinese believe that sheets of paper, partly tinned over on one side,
are, "according to the prevailing conviction, turned by the process of
fire into real silver currency available in the world of darkness, and
sent there through the smoke to the soul; they are called _gûn-tsoá_,
'silver paper.' Most families prefer to previously fold every sheet in the
shape of a hollow ingot, a 'silver ingot,' _gûn-khò_ as they call it. This
requires a great amount of labour and time, but increases the value of the
treasure immensely." (_De Groot_, I. 25.) "Presenting paper money when
paying a visit of condolence is a custom firmly established, and
accordingly complied with by everybody with great strictness.... The paper
is designed for the equipment of the coffin, and, accordingly, always
denoted by the term _koan-thaô-tsoá_, 'coffin paper.' But as the
receptacle of the dead is, of course, not spacious enough to hold the
whole mass offered by so many friends, it is regularly burned by lots by
the side of the corpse, the ashes being carefully collected to be
afterwards wrapped in paper and placed in the coffin, or at the side of
the coffin, in the tomb." (_De Groot_, I. 31-32.)--H. C.] There can be
little doubt that these latter customs are symbols of the ancient
sacrifices of human beings and valuable property on such occasions; so
Manetho states that the Egyptians in days of yore used human sacrifices,
but a certain King Amosis abolished them and substituted images of wax.
Even when the present Manchu Dynasty first occupied the throne of China,
they still retained the practice of human sacrifice. At the death of
Kanghi's mother, however, in 1718, when four young girls offered
themselves for sacrifice on the tomb of their mistress, the emperor would
not allow it, and prohibited for the future the sacrifice of life or the
destruction of valuables on such occasions. (_Deguignes, Voy._ I. 304.)
NOTE 5.--Even among the Tibetans and Mongols burning is only one of the
modes of disposing of the dead. "They sometimes bury their dead: often
they leave them exposed in their coffins, or cover them with stones,
paying regard to the sign under which the deceased was born, his age, the
day and hour of his death, which determine the mode in which he is to be
interred (or otherwise disposed of). For this purpose they consult some
books which are explained to them by the Lamas." (_Timk._ II. 312.) The
extraordinary and complex absurdities of the books in question are given
in detail by Pallas, and curiously illustrate the paragraph in the text.
(See _Sammlungen_, II. 254 seqq.) ["The first seven days, including that
on which the demise has taken place, are generally deemed to be lucky for
the burial, especially the odd ones. But when they have elapsed, it
becomes requisite to apply to a day-professor.... The popular almanac
which chiefly wields sway in Amoy and the surrounding country, regularly
stigmatises a certain number of days as _tîng-sng jít_: 'days of
reduplication of death,' because encoffining or burying a dead person on
such a day will entail another loss in the family shortly afterwards."
(_De Groot_, I. 103, 99-100.)--H. C.]
NOTE 6.--The Chinese have also, according to Duhalde, a custom of making a
new opening in the wall of a house by which to carry out the dead; and in
their prisons a special hole in the wall is provided for this office. This
same custom exists among the Esquimaux, as well as, according to Sonnerat,
in Southern India, and it used to exist in certain parts both of Holland
and of Central Italy. In the "clean village of Broek," near Amsterdam,
those special doors may still be seen. And in certain towns of Umbria,
such as Perugia, Assisi, and Gubbio, this opening was common, elevated
some feet above the ground, and known as the "Door of the Dead."
I find in a list, printed by Liebrecht, of popular French superstitions,
amounting to 479 in number, condemned by Maupas du Tour, Bishop of Evreux
in 1664, the following: "When a woman lies in of a dead child, it must not
be taken out by the door of the chamber but by the window, for if it were
taken out by the door the woman would never lie in of any but dead
children." The Samoyedes have the superstition mentioned in the text, and
act exactly as Polo describes.
["The body [of the Queen of Bali, 17th century] was drawn out of a large
aperture made in the wall to the right hand side of the door, in the
absurd opinion of _cheating the devil_, whom these islanders believe to
lie in wait in the ordinary passage." (_John Crawfurd, Hist. of the Indian
Archipelago_, II. p. 245.)--H. C.]
And the Rev. Mr. Jaeschke writes to me from Lahaul, in British Tibet: "Our
Lama (from Central Tibet) tells us that the owner of a house and the
members of his family when they die are carried through the house-door;
but if another person dies in the house his body is removed by some other
aperture, such as a window, or the smokehole in the roof, or a hole in the
wall dug expressly for the purpose. Or a wooden frame is made, fitting
into the doorway, and the body is then carried through; it being
considered that by this contrivance the evil consequences are escaped that
might ensue, were it carried through the ordinary, and, so to say,
_undisguised_ house-door! Here, in Lahaul and the neighbouring countries,
we have not heard of such a custom."
(_Duhalde_, quoted by Marsden; _Semedo_, p. 175; _Mr. Sala_ in _N. and
Q._, 2nd S. XI. 322; _Lubbock_, p. 500; _Sonnerat_ I. 86; _Liebrecht's
Gervasius of Tilbury_, Hanover, 1856, p. 224; _Mag. Asiat._ II. 93.)
[1] M. Bonin visited in 1899 these caves which he calls "Grottoes of
Thousand Buddhas" (_Tsien Fo tung_). (_La Géographie_, 15th March,
1901, p. 171.) He found a stèle dated 1348, bearing a Buddhist prayer
in six different scripts like the inscription at Kiu Yung Kwan. (_Rev.
Hist. des Religions_, 1901, p. 393.)--H. C.
CHAPTER XLI.
OF THE PROVINCE OF CAMUL.
Camul is a province which in former days was a kingdom. It contains
numerous towns and villages, but the chief city bears the name of CAMUL.
The province lies between the two deserts; for on the one side is the
Great Desert of Lop, and on the other side is a small desert of three
days' journey in extent.[NOTE 1] The people are all Idolaters, and have a
peculiar language. They live by the fruits of the earth, which they have
in plenty, and dispose of to travellers. They are a people who take things
very easily, for they mind nothing but playing and singing, and dancing
and enjoying themselves.[NOTE 2]
And it is the truth that if a foreigner comes to the house of one of these
people to lodge, the host is delighted, and desires his wife to put
herself entirely at the guest's disposal, whilst he himself gets out of
the way, and comes back no more until the stranger shall have taken his
departure. The guest may stay and enjoy the wife's society as long as he
lists, whilst the husband has no shame in the matter, but indeed considers
it an honour. And all the men of this province are made wittols of by
their wives in this way.[NOTE 3] The women themselves are fair and wanton.
Now it came to pass during the reign of MANGU KAAN, that as lord of this
province he came to hear of this custom, and he sent forth an order
commanding them under grievous penalties to do so no more [but to provide
public hostelries for travellers]. And when they heard this order they
were much vexed thereat. [For about three years' space they carried it
out. But then they found that their lands were no longer fruitful, and
that many mishaps befell them.] So they collected together and prepared a
grand present which they sent to their Lord, praying him graciously to let
them retain the custom which they had inherited from their ancestors; for
it was by reason of this usage that their gods bestowed upon them all the
good things that they possessed, and without it they saw not how they
could continue to exist.[NOTE 4] When the Prince had heard their petition
his reply was "Since ye must needs keep your shame, keep it then," and so
he left them at liberty to maintain their naughty custom. And they always
have kept it up, and do so still.
Now let us quit Camul, and I will tell you of another province which lies
between north-west and north, and belongs to the Great Kaan.
NOTE 1.--Kamul (or Komul) does not fall into the great line of travel
towards Cathay which Marco is following. His notice of it, and of the next
province, forms a digression like that which he has already made to
Samarkand. It appears very doubtful if Marco himself had visited it; his
father and uncle may have done so on their first journey, as one of the
chief routes to Northern China from Western Asia lies through this city,
and has done so for many centuries. This was the route described by
Pegolotti as that of the Italian traders in the century following Polo; it
was that followed by Marignolli, by the envoys of Shah Rukh at a later
date, and at a much later by Benedict Goës. The people were in Polo's time
apparently Buddhist, as the Uighúrs inhabiting this region had been from
an old date: in Shah Rukh's time (1420) we find a mosque and a great
Buddhist Temple cheek by jowl; whilst Ramusio's friend Hajji Mahomed
(circa 1550) speaks of Kamul as the first Mahomedan city met with in
travelling from China.
Kamul stands on an oasis carefully cultivated by aid of reservoirs for
irrigation, and is noted in China for its rice and for some of its fruits,
especially melons and grapes. It is still a place of some consequence,
standing near the bifurcation of two great roads from China, one passing
north and the other south of the Thian Shan, and it was the site of the
Chinese Commissariat depôts for the garrisons to the westward. It was lost
to the Chinese in 1867.
Kamul appears to have been the see of a Nestorian bishop. A Bishop of
Kamul is mentioned as present at the inauguration of the Catholicos Denha
in 1266. (_Russians in Cent. Asia_, 129; _Ritter_, II. 357 seqq.; _Cathay,
passim_; _Assemani_, II. 455-456.)
[_Kamul_ is the Turkish name of the province called by the Mongols
_Khamil_, by the Chinese _Hami_; the latter name is found for the first
time in the _Yuen Shi_, but it is first mentioned in Chinese history in
the 1st century of our Era under the name of _I-wu-lu_ or _I-wu_
(_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ II. p. 20); after the death of Chinghiz, it
belonged to his son Chagataï. From the Great Wall, at the Pass of Kia Yü,
to Hami there is a distance of 1470 _li_. (_C. Imbault-Huart. Le Pays de
Hami ou Khamil_ ... d'après les auteurs chinois, _Bul. de Géog. hist. et
desc._, Paris, 1892, pp. 121-195.) The Chinese general Chang Yao was in
1877 at Hami, which had submitted in 1867 to the Athalik Ghazi, and made
it the basis of his operations against the small towns of Chightam and
Pidjam, and Yakúb Khan himself stationed at Turfan. The Imperial Chinese
Agent in this region bears the title of _K'u lun Pan She Ta Ch'en_ and
resides at K'urun (Urga); of lesser rank are the agents (_Pan She Ta
Ch'en_) of Kashgar, Kharashar, Kuché, Aksu, Khotan, and Hami. (See a
description of Hami by Colonel M. S. Bell, _Proc. R. G. S._ XII. 1890, p.
213.)--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--Expressed almost in the same words is the character attributed by
a Chinese writer to the people of Kuché in the same region. (_Chin.
Repos._ IX. 126.) In fact, the character seems to be generally applicable
to the people of East Turkestan, but sorely kept down by the rigid Islam
that is now enforced. (See _Shaw, passim_, and especially the
Mahrambáshi's lamentations over the jolly days that were no more, pp. 319,
376.)
NOTE 3.--Pauthier's text has "_sont si_ honni _de leur moliers comme vous
avez ouy_." Here the Crusca has "_sono_ bozzi _delle loro moglie_," and
the Lat. Geog. "_sunt_ bezzi _de suis uxoribus_." The Crusca Vocab. has
inserted _bozzo_ with the meaning we have given, on the strength of this
passage. It occurs also in Dante (_Paradiso_, XIX. 137), in the general
sense of _disgraced_.
The shameful custom here spoken of is ascribed by Polo also to a province
of Eastern Tibet, and by popular report in modern times to the Hazaras of
the Hindu-Kush, a people of Mongolian blood, as well as to certain nomad
tribes of Persia, to say nothing of the like accusation against our own
ancestors which has been drawn from Laonicus Chalcondylas. The old Arab
traveller Ibn Muhalhal (10th century) also relates the same of the Hazlakh
(probably _Kharlikh_) Turks: "Ducis alicujus uxor vel filia vel soror,
quum mercatorum agmen in terram venit, eos adit, eorumque lustrat faciem.
Quorum siquis earum afficit admiratione hunc domum suam ducit, eumque apud
se hospitio excipit, eique benigne facit. Atque marito suo et filio
fratrique rerum necessariarum curam demandat; neque dum hospes apud eam
habitat, nisi necessarium est, maritus eam adit." A like custom prevails
among the Chukchis and Koryaks in the vicinity of Kamtchatka.
(_Elphinstone's Caubul; Wood_, p. 201; _Burnes_, who discredits, II. 153,
III. 195; _Laon. Chalcond._ 1650, pp. 48-49; _Kurd de Schloezer_, p. 13;
_Erman_, II. 530.)
["It is remarkable that the Chinese author, _Hung Hao_, who lived a
century before M. Polo, makes mention in his memoirs nearly in the same
words of this custom of the Uighúrs, with whom he became acquainted during
his captivity in the kingdom of the _Kin_. According to the chronicle of
the Tangut kingdom of Si-hia, Hami was the nursery of Buddhism in Si-hia,
and provided this kingdom with Buddhist books and monks." (_Palladius_,
l.c. p. 6.)--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--So the Jewish rabble to Jeremiah: "Since we left off to burn
incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, we
have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by
famine." (_Jerem._ xliv. 18.)
CHAPTER XLII.
OF THE PROVINCE OF CHINGINTALAS.
Chingintalas is also a province at the verge of the Desert, and lying
between north-west and north. It has an extent of sixteen days' journey,
and belongs to the Great Kaan, and contains numerous towns and villages.
There are three different races of people in it--Idolaters, Saracens, and
some Nestorian Christians.[NOTE 1] At the northern extremity of this
province there is a mountain in which are excellent veins of steel and
ondanique.[NOTE 2] And you must know that in the same mountain there is a
vein of the substance from which Salamander is made.[NOTE 3] For the real
truth is that the Salamander is no beast, as they allege in our part of
the world, but is a substance found in the earth; and I will tell you
about it.
Everybody must be aware that it can be no animal's nature to live in fire,
seeing that every animal is composed of all the four elements.[NOTE 4] Now
I, Marco Polo, had a Turkish acquaintance of the name of Zurficar, and he
was a very clever fellow. And this Turk related to Messer Marco Polo how
he had lived three years in that region on behalf of the Great Kaan, in
order to procure those Salamanders for him.[NOTE 5] He said that the way
they got them was by digging in that mountain till they found a certain
vein. The substance of this vein was then taken and crushed, and when so
treated it divides as it were into fibres of wool, which they set forth to
dry. When dry, these fibres were pounded in a great copper mortar, and
then washed, so as to remove all the earth and to leave only the fibres
like fibres of wool. These were then spun, and made into napkins. When
first made these napkins are not very white, but by putting them into the
fire for a while they come out as white as snow. And so again whenever
they become dirty they are bleached by being put in the fire.
Now this, and nought else, is the truth about the Salamander, and the
people of the country all say the same. Any other account of the matter is
fabulous nonsense. And I may add that they have at Rome a napkin of this
stuff, which the Grand Kaan sent to the Pope to make a wrapper for the
Holy Sudarium of Jesus Christ.[NOTE 6]
We will now quit this subject, and I will proceed with my account of the
countries lying in the direction between north-east and east.
NOTE 1.--The identification of this province is a difficulty, because the
geographical definition is vague, and the name assigned to it has not been
traced in other authors. It is said to lie _between north-west and north_,
whilst Kamul was said to lie _towards the north-west_. The account of both
provinces forms a digression, as is clear from the last words of the
present chapter, where the traveller returns to take up his regular route
"in the direction between north-east and east." The point from which he
digresses, and to which he reverts, is Shachau, and 'tis presumably from
Shachau that he assigns bearings to the two provinces forming the subject
of the digression. Hence, as Kamul lies _vers maistre_, i.e. north-west,
and Chingintalas _entre maistre et tramontaine_, i.e. nor'-nor'-west,
Chingintalas can scarcely lie due west of Kamul, as M. Pauthier would
place it, in identifying it with an obscure place called _Saiyintala_, in
the territory of Urumtsi. Moreover, the province is said to belong to the
Great Kaan. Now, _Urumtsi_ or Bishbalik seems to have belonged, not to the
Great Kaan, but to the empire of Chagatai, or possibly at this time to
Kaidu. Rashiduddin, speaking of the frontier between the Kaan and Kaidu,
says:--"From point to point are posted bodies of troops under the orders
of princes of the blood or other generals, and they often come to blows
with the troops of Kaidu. Five of these are cantoned on the verge of the
Desert; a sixth in Tangut, near Chagan-Nor (White Lake); a seventh in the
vicinity of Karakhoja, a city of the Uighúrs, which lies between the two
States, and maintains neutrality."
Karakhoja, this neutral town, is near Turfan, to the south-east of
Urumtsi, which thus would lie _without_ the Kaan's boundary; Kamul and the
country north-east of it would lie within it. This country, to the north
and north-east of Kamul, has remained till quite recently unexplored by
any modern traveller, unless we put faith in Mr. Atkinson's somewhat hazy
narrative. But it is here that I would seek for Chingintalas.
Several possible explanations of this name have suggested themselves or
been suggested to me. I will mention two.
1. Klaproth states that the Mongols applied to Tibet the name of
_Baron-tala_, signifying the "Right Side," i.e. the south-west or south
quarter, whilst Mongolia was called _Dzöhn_ (or _Dzegun_) _Tala_, i.e. the
"Left," or north-east side. It is possible that _Chigin-talas_ might
represent _Dzegun Tala_ in some like application. The etymology of
_Dzungaria_, a name which in modern times covers the territory of which we
are speaking, is similar.
2. Professor Vámbéry thinks that it is probably _Chingin Tala_, "The Vast
Plain." But nothing can be absolutely satisfactory in such a case except
historical evidence of the application of the name.
I have left the identity of this name undecided, though pointing to the
general position of the region so-called by Marco, as indicated by the
vicinity of the Tangnu-Ola Mountains (p. 215). A passage in the Journey of
the Taouist Doctor, Changchun, as translated by Dr. Bretschneider
(_Chinese Recorder and Miss. Journ._, Shanghai, Sept.-Oct., 1874, p. 258),
suggests to me the strong probability that it may be the _Kem-kém-jút_ of
Rashiduddin, called by the Chinese teacher _Kien-kien_-chau.
Rashiduddin couples the territory of the Kirghiz with Kemkemjút, but
defines the country embracing both with some exactness: "On one side
(south-east?), it bordered on the Mongol country; on a second
(north-east?), it was bounded by the Selenga; on a third (north), by the
'great river called Angara, which flows on the confines of Ibir-Sibir'
(i.e. of Siberia); on a fourth side by the territory of the Naimans. This
great country contained _many towns and villages_, as well as many nomad
inhabitants." Dr. Bretschneider's Chinese Traveller speaks of it as a
country where _good iron was found_, where (grey) squirrels abounded, and
wheat was cultivated. Other notices quoted by him show that it lay to the
south-east of the Kirghiz country, and had its name from the _Kien_ or
_Ken_ R. (i.e. the Upper Yenisei).
The name (_Kienkien_), the general direction, the existence of good iron
("steel and ondanique"), the many towns and villages in a position where
we should little look for such an indication, all point to the identity of
this region with the Chingintalas of our text. The only alteration called
for in the Itinerary Map (No. IV.) would be to spell the name _Hinkin_, or
_Ghinghin_ (as it _is_ in the Geographic Text), and to shift it a very
little further to the north.
(See _Chingin_ in _Kovalevski's Mongol Dict._, No. 2134; and for
_Baron-tala_, etc., see _Della Penna, Breve Notizia del Regno del Thibet_,
with Klaproth's notes, p. 6; _D'Avezac_, p. 568; _Relation_ prefixed to
D'Anville's Atlas, p. 11; _Alphabetum Tibetanum_, 454; and _Kircher, China
Illustrata_, p. 65.)
Since the first edition was published, Mr. Ney Elias has traversed the
region in question from east to west; and I learn from him that at Kobdo
he found the most usual name for that town among Mongols, Kalmaks, and
Russians to be SANKIN-hoto. He had not then thought of connecting this
name with Chinghin-talas, and has therefore no information as to its
origin or the extent of its application. But he remarks that Polo's
bearing of between north and north-west, if understood to be _from Kamul_,
would point exactly to Kobdo. He also calls attention to the Lake
_Sankin_-dalai, to the north-east of Uliasut'ai, of which Atkinson gives a
sketch. The recurrence of this name over so wide a tract may have
something to do with the Chinghin-talas of Polo. But we must still wait
for further light.[1]
["Supposing that M. Polo mentions this place on his way from Sha-chow to
Su-chow, it is natural to think that it is _Chi-kin-talas_, i.e. 'Chi-kin
plain' or valley; Chi-kin was the name of a lake, called so even now, and
of a defile, which received its name from the lake. The latter is on the
way from Kia-yü kwan to Ansi chow." (_Palladius_, l.c. p. 7.) "_Chikin_,
or more correctly _Chigin_, is a Mongol word meaning 'ear.'" (Ibid.)
Palladius (p. 8) adds: "The Chinese accounts of Chi-kin are not in
contradiction to the statements given by M. Polo regarding the same
subject; but when the distances are taken into consideration, a serious
difficulty arises; Chi-kin is two hundred and fifty or sixty _li_ distant
from Su-chow, whilst, according to M. Polo's statement, ten days are
necessary to cross this distance. One of the three following explanations
of this discrepancy must be admitted: either Chingintalas is not Chi-kin,
or the traveller's memory failed, or, lastly, an error crept into the
number of days' journey. The two last suppositions I consider the most
probable; the more so that similar difficulties occur several times in
Marco Polo's narrative." (L.c. p. 8.)--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--[_Ondanique_.--We have already referred to this word, _Kermán_,
p. 90. _Cobinan_, p. 124. La Curne de Sainte-Palaye (_Dict._), F. Godefroy
(_Dict._), Du Cange (_Gloss._), all give to _andain_ the meaning of
_enjambée_, from the Latin _andare_. Godefroy, _s.v. andaine_, calls it
_sorte d'acier ou de fer_, and quotes besides Marco Polo:
"I. espiel, ou ot fer d'andaine,
Dont la lamele n'iert pas trouble."
(Huon de Mery, _Le Tornoiement de l'Antechrist_, p. 3, Tarbé.)
There is a forest in the department of Orne, arrondissement of Domfront,
which belonged to the Crown before 1669, and is now State property, called
Forêt d'Andaine; it is situated near some bed of iron. Is this the origin
of the name?--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--The Altai, or one of its ramifications, is probably the mountain
of the text, but so little is known of this part of the Chinese territory
that we can learn scarcely anything of its mineral products. Still Martini
does mention that asbestos is found "in the Tartar country of _Tangu_,"
which probably is the _Tangnu Oola_ branch of the Altai to the south of
the Upper Yenisei, and in the very region we have indicated as
Chingintalas. Mr. Elias tells me he inquired for asbestos by its Chinese
name at Uliasut'ai, but without success.
NOTE 4.--
"Degli elementi quattro principali,
Che son la Terra, e l'Acqua, e l'Aria, e'l Foco,
Composti sono gli universi Animali,
Pigliando di ciascuno assai o poco."
(_Dati_, _La Sfera_, p. 9.)
_Zurficar_ in the next sentence is a Mahomedan name, _Zu'lfikár_, the
title of [the edge of] Ali's sword.
NOTE 5.--Here the G. Text adds: "_Et je meisme le vi_," intimating, I
conceive, his having himself seen specimens of the asbestos--not to his
having been at the place.
NOTE 6.--The story of the Salamander passing unhurt through fire is at
least as old as Aristotle. But I cannot tell when the fable arose that
asbestos was a substance derived from the animal. This belief, however,
was general in the Middle Ages, both in Asia and Europe. "The fable of the
Salamander," says Sir Thomas Browne, "hath been much promoted by stories
of incombustible napkins and textures which endure the fire, whose
materials are called by the name of Salamander's wool, which many, too
literally apprehending, conceive some investing part or integument of the
Salamander.... Nor is this Salamander's wool desumed from any animal, but
a mineral substance, metaphorically so called for this received opinion."
Those who knew that the Salamander was a lizard-like animal were indeed
perplexed as to its woolly coat. Thus the Cardinal de Vitry is fain to say
the creature "_profert ex cute_ quasi quamdam lanam _de quâ zonae
contextae comburi non possunt igne._" A Bestiary, published by Cahier and
Martin, says of it: "_De lui naist une cose qui n'est ne soie ne lin ne
laine._" Jerome Cardan looked in vain, he says, for hair on the
Salamander! Albertus Magnus calls the incombustible fibre _pluma
Salamandri_; and accordingly Bold Bauduin de Sebourc finds the Salamander
in the Terrestrial Paradise _a kind of bird covered with the whitest
plumage_; of this he takes some, which he gets woven into a cloth; this he
presents to the Pope, and the Pontiff applies it to the purpose mentioned
in the text, viz. to cover the holy napkin of St. Veronica.
Gervase of Tilbury writes: "I saw, when lately at Rome, a broad strap of
Salamander skin, like a girdle for the loins, which had been brought
thither by Cardinal Peter of Capua. When it had become somewhat soiled by
use, I myself saw it cleaned perfectly, and without receiving harm, by
being put in the fire."
In Persian the creature is called _Samandar, Samandal_, etc., and some
derive the word from _Sam_, "fire," and _Andar_, "within." Doubtless it is
a corruption of the Greek [Greek: Salamándra], whatever be the origin of
that. Bakui says the animal is found at Ghur, near Herat, and is _like a
mouse_. Another author, quoted by D'Herbelot, says it is _like a marten_.
[Sir T. Douglas Forsyth, in his _Introductory Remarks_ to Prjevalsky's
_Travels to Lob-nor_ (p. 20), at Aksu says: "The asbestos mentioned by
Marco Polo as a utilized product of this region is not even so known in
this country."--H. C.]
+ Interesting details regarding the fabrication of cloth and paper from
amianth or asbestos are contained in a report presented to the French
Institute by M. Sage (_Mém. Ac. Sciences_, 2e Sem., 1806, p. 102), of
which large extracts are given in the _Diction. général des Tissus_, par
M. Bezon, 2e éd. vol. ii. Lyon, 1859, p. 5. He mentions that a _Sudarium_
of this material is still shown at the Vatican; we hope it is the cover
which Kúblái sent.
[This hope is not to be realized. Mgr. Duchesne, of the Institut de
France, writes to me from Rome, from information derived from the keepers
of the Vatican Museum, that there is no sudarium from the Great Khan, that
indeed part of a sudarium made of asbestos is shown (under glass) in this
Museum, about 20 inches long, but it is ancient, and was found in a Pagan
tomb of the Appian Way.--H. C.]
M. Sage exhibited incombustible paper made from this material, and had
himself seen a small furnace of Chinese origin made from it. Madame
Perpenté, an Italian lady, who experimented much with asbestos, found that
from a crude mass of that substance threads could be elicited which were
ten times the length of the mass itself, and were indeed sometimes several
metres in length, the fibres seeming to be involved, like silk in a
cocoon. Her process of preparation was much like that described by Marco.
She succeeded in carding and reeling the material, made gloves and the
like, as well as paper, from it, and sent to the Institute a work printed
on such paper.
The Rev. A. Williamson mentions asbestos as found in Shantung. The natives
use it for making stoves, crucibles, and so forth.
(_Sir T. Browne_, I. 293; _Bongars_, I. 1104; _Cahier et Martin_, III.
271; _Cardan, de Rer. Varietate_, VII. 33; _Alb. Mag. Opera_, 1551, II.
227, 233; _Fr. Michel, Recherches_, etc., II. 91; _Gerv. of Tilbury_, p.
13; _N. et E._ II. 493; _D. des Tissus_, II. 1-12; _J. N. China Branch R.
A. S._, December, 1867, p. 70.) [_Berger de Xivrey, Traditions
tératologiques_, 457-458, 460-463.--H. C.]
[1] The late Mr. Atkinson has been twice alluded to in this note. I take
the opportunity of saying that Mr. Ney Elias, a most competent judge,
who has travelled across the region in question whilst admitting, as
every one must, Atkinson's vagueness and sometimes very careless
statements, is not at all disposed to discredit the truth of his
narrative.
CHAPTER XLIII.
OF THE PROVINCE OF SUKCHUR.
On leaving the province of which I spoke before,[NOTE 1] you ride ten days
between north-east and east, and in all that way you find no human
dwelling, or next to none, so that there is nothing for our book to speak
of.
At the end of those ten days you come to another province called SUKCHUR,
in which there are numerous towns and villages. The chief city is called
SUKCHU.[NOTE 2] The people are partly Christians and partly Idolaters, and
all are subject to the Great Kaan.
The great General Province to which all these three provinces belong is
called TANGUT.
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.[NOTE 3] [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 lose their
hoofs. The cattle of the country know it and eschew it.[NOTE 4]] The
people live by agriculture, and have not much trade. [They are of a brown
complexion. The whole of the province is healthy.]
NOTE 1.--Referring apparently to Shachau; see Note 1 and the closing words
of last chapter.
NOTE 2.--There is no doubt that the province and city are those of
SUHCHAU, but there is a great variety in the readings, and several texts
have a marked difference between the name of the province and that of the
city, whilst others give them as the same. I have adopted those to which
the resultants of the readings of the best texts seem to point, viz.
_Succiur_ and _Succiu_, though with considerable doubt whether they should
not be identical. Pauthier declares that _Suctur_, which is the reading of
his favourite MS., is the exact pronunciation, after the vulgar Mongol
manner, of _Suh-chau-lu_, the _Lu_ or circuit of Suhchau; whilst Neumann
says that the Northern Chinese constantly add an euphonic particle _or_ to
the end of words. I confess to little faith in such refinements, when no
evidence is produced.
[Suhchau had been devastated and its inhabitants massacred by Chinghiz
Khan in 1226.--H. C.]
Suhchau is called by Rashiduddin, and by Shah Rukh's ambassadors,
_Sukchú_, in exact correspondence with the reading we have adopted for the
name of the city, whilst the Russian Envoy Boikoff, in the 17th century,
calls it "_Suktsey_, where the rhubarb grows"; and Anthony Jenkinson, in
Hakluyt, by a slight metathesis, _Sowchick_. Suhchau lies just within the
extreme north-west angle of the Great Wall. It was at Suhchau that
Benedict Goës was detained, waiting for leave to go on to Peking, eighteen
weary months, and there he died just as aid reached him.
NOTE 3.--The real rhubarb [_Rheum palmatum_] grows wild, on very high
mountains. The central line of its distribution appears to be the high
range dividing the head waters of the Hwang-Ho, Yalung, and Min-Kiang. The
chief markets are Siningfu (see ch. lvii.), and Kwan-Kian in Szechwan. In
the latter province an inferior kind is grown in fields, but the genuine
rhubarb defies cultivation. (See _Richthofen_, Letters, No. VII. p. 69.)
Till recently it was almost all exported by Kiakhta and Russia, but some
now comes viâ Hankau and Shanghai.
["See, on the preparation of the root in China, Gemelli-Careri.
(_Churchill's Collect._, Bk. III. ch. v. 365.) It is said that when
Chinghiz Khan was pillaging Tangut, the only things his minister, Yeh-lü
Ch'u-ts'ai, would take as his share of the booty were a few Chinese books
and a supply of rhubarb, with which he saved the lives of a great number
of Mongols, when, a short time after, an epidemic broke out in the army."
(_D'Ohsson_, I. 372.--_Rockhill, Rubruck_, p. 193, note.)
"With respect to rhubarb ... the _Suchowchi_ also makes the remark, that
the best rhubarb, with golden flowers in the breaking, is gathered in this
province (district of _Shan-tan_), and that it is equally beneficial to
men and beasts, preserving them from the pernicious effects of the heat."
(_Palladius_, l.c. p. 9.)--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--_Erba_ is the title applied to the poisonous growth, which may be
either "plant" or "grass." It is not unlikely that it was a plant akin to
the _Andromeda ovalifolia_, the tradition of the poisonous character of
which prevails everywhere along the Himalaya from Nepal to the Indus.
It is notorious for poisoning sheep and goats at Simla and other hill
sanitaria; and Dr. Cleghorn notes the same circumstance regarding it that
Polo heard of the plant in Tangut, viz. that its effects on flocks
imported from the plains are highly injurious, whilst those of the hills
do not appear to suffer, probably because they shun the young leaves,
which alone are deleterious. Mr. Marsh attests the like fact regarding the
_Kalmia angustifolia_ of New England, a plant of the same order
(_Ericaceae_). Sheep bred where it abounds almost always avoid browsing on
its leaves, whilst those brought from districts where it is unknown feed
upon it and are poisoned.
Firishta, quoting from the _Zafar-Námah_, says: "On the road from Kashmir
towards Tibet there is a plain on which no other vegetable grows but a
poisonous grass that destroys all the cattle that taste of it, and
therefore no horsemen venture to travel that route." And Abbé Desgodins,
writing from E. Tibet, mentions that sheep and goats are poisoned by
rhododendron leaves. (_Dr. Hugh Cleghorn_ in _J. Agricultural and Hortic.
Society of India_, XIV. part 4; _Marsh's Man and Nature_, p. 40; _Briggs
Firishta_, IV. 449; _Bul. de la Soc. de Géog._ 1873, I. 333.)
["This poisonous plant seems to be the _Stipa inebrians_ described by the
late Dr. Hance in the _Journal of Bot._ 1876, p. 211, from specimens sent
to me by Belgian Missionaries from the Ala Shan Mountains, west of the
Yellow River." (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 5.)
"M. Polo notices that the cattle not indigenous to the province lose their
hoofs in the Suh-chau Mountains; but that is probably not on account of
some poisonous grass, but in consequence of the stony ground."
(_Palladius_, l.c. p. 9.)--H. C.]
CHAPTER XLIV.
OF THE CITY OF CAMPICHU.
Campichu is also a city of Tangut, and a very great and noble one. Indeed
it is the capital and place of government of the whole province of
Tangut.[NOTE 1] The people are Idolaters, Saracens, and Christians, and
the latter have three very fine churches in the city, whilst 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.[NOTE 2]
And round about them there are other figures of considerable size, as if
adoring and paying homage before them.
Now, as I have not yet given you particulars about the customs of these
Idolaters, I will proceed to tell you about them.
You must know that there are among them certain religious recluses who
lead a more virtuous life than the rest. These abstain from all lechery,
though they do not indeed regard it as a deadly sin; howbeit if any one
sin against nature they condemn him to death. They have an Ecclesiastical
Calendar as we have; and there are five days in the month that they
observe particularly; and on these five days they would on no account
either slaughter any animal or eat flesh meat. On those days, moreover,
they observe much greater abstinence altogether than on other days.[NOTE
3]
Among these people a man may take thirty wives, more or less, if he can
but afford to do so, each having wives in proportion to his wealth and
means; but the first wife is always held in highest consideration. The men
endow their wives with cattle, slaves, and money, according to their
ability. And if a man dislikes any one of his wives, he just turns her off
and takes another. They take to wife their cousins and their fathers'
widows (always excepting the man's own mother), holding to be no sin many
things that we think grievous sins, and, in short, they live like
beasts.[NOTE 4]
Messer Maffeo and Messer Marco Polo dwelt a whole year in this city when
on a mission.[NOTE 5]
Now we will leave this and tell you about other provinces towards the
north, for we are going to take you a sixty days' journey in that
direction.
NOTE 1.--Campichiu is undoubtedly Kanchau, which was at this time, as
Pauthier tells us, the chief city of the administration of _Kansuh_
corresponding to Polo's Tangut. _Kansuh_ itself is a name compounded of
the names of the two cities _Kan_-chau and _Suh_-chau.
[Kanchau fell under the Tangut dominion in 1208. (_Palladius_, p. 10.) The
Musulmans mentioned by Polo at Shachau and Kanchau probably came from
Khotan.--H. C.]
The difficulties that have been made about the form of the name
_Campiciou_, etc., in Polo, and the attempts to explain these, are
probably alike futile. Quatremère writes the Persian form of the name
after Abdurrazzak as _Kamtcheou_, but I see that Erdmann writes it after
Rashid, I presume on good grounds, as _Ckamidschu_, i.e. _Kamiju_ or
_Kamichu_. And that this _was_ the Western pronunciation of the name is
shown by the form which Pegolotti uses, _Camexu_, i.e. Camechu. The _p_ in
Polo's spelling is probably only a superfluous letter, as in the
occasional old spelling of _dampnum_, _contempnere_, _hympnus_,
_tirampnus_, _sompnour_, _Dampne Deu_. In fact, Marignolli writes Polo's
_Quinsai_ as _Campsay_.
It is worthy of notice that though Ramusio's text prints the names of
these two cities as _Succuir_ and _Campion_, his own pronunciation of them
appears to have been quite well understood by the Persian traveller Hajji
Mahomed, for it is perfectly clear that the latter recognized in these
names Suhchau and Kanchau. (See _Ram._ II. f. 14v.) The second volume of
the _Navigationi_, containing Polo, was published after Ramusio's death,
and it is possible that the names as he himself read them were more
correct (e.g. _Succiur, Campjou_).
[Illustration: Colossal Figure, Buddha entering Nirvana.
"Et si voz di qu'il ont de ydres que sunt grant dix pas.... Ceste grant
ydres gigent."...]
NOTE 2.--This is the meaning of the phrase in the G. T.: "_Ceste grande
ydre_ gigent," as may be seen from Ramusio's _giaciono distesi_. Lazari
renders the former expression, "giganteggia un idolo," etc., a phrase very
unlike Polo. The circumstance is interesting, because this recumbent
Colossus at Kanchau is mentioned both by Hajji Mahomed and by Shah Rukh's
people. The latter say: "In this city of Kanchú there is an Idol-Temple
500 cubits square. In the middle is an idol lying at length which measures
50 paces. The sole of the foot is nine paces long, and the instep is 21
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."
These great recumbent figures are favourites in Buddhist countries still,
e.g. in Siam, Burma, and Ceylon. They symbolise Sakya Buddha entering
_Nirvána_. Such a recumbent figure, perhaps the prototype of these, was
seen by Hiuen Tsang in a Vihara close to the Sál Grove at Kusinágara,
where Sakya entered that state, i.e. died. The stature of Buddha was, we
are told, 12 cubits; but Brahma, Indra, and the other gods vainly tried to
compute his dimensions. Some such rude metaphor is probably embodied in
these large images. I have described one 69 feet long in Burma
(represented in the cut), but others exist of much greater size, though
probably none equal to that which Hiuen Tsang, in the 7th century, saw
near Bamian, which was 1000 feet in length! I have heard of but one such
image remaining in India, viz. in one of the caves at Dhamnár in Málwa.
This is 15 feet long, and is popularly known as "Bhim's Baby." (_Cathay_,
etc., pp. cciii., ccxviii.; _Mission to Ava_, p. 52; _V. et V. de H. T._,
p. 374: _Cunningham's Archael. Reports_, ii. 274; _Tod_, ii. 273.)
["The temple, in which M. Polo saw an idol of Buddha, represented in a
lying position, is evidently _Wo-fo-sze_, i.e. 'Monastery of the lying
Buddha.' It was built in 1103 by a Tangut queen, to place there three
idols representing Buddha in this posture, which have since been found in
the ground on this very spot." (_Palladius_, l.c. p. 10.)
Rubruck (p. 144) says, "A Nestorian, who had come from Cathay told me that
in that country there is an idol so big that it can be seen from two days
off." Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 144, _note_) writes, "The largest stone
image I have seen is in a cave temple at Yung kan, about 10 miles
north-west of Ta t'ung Fu in Shan-si. Père Gerbillon says the Emperor K'ang
hsi measured it himself and found it to be 57 _chih_ high (61 feet).
(_Duhalde, Description_, IV. 352.) I have seen another colossal statue in a
cave near Pinchou in north-west Shan-si, and there is another about 45
miles south of Ning hsia Fu, near the left bank of the Yellow River.
(_Rockhill, Land of the Lamas_, 26, and _Diary_, 47.) The great recumbent
figure of the 'Sleeping Buddha' in the Wo Fo ssu, near Peking, is of clay."
King Haython (Brosset's ed. p. 181) mentions the statue in clay, of an
extraordinary height, of a God (Buddha) aged 3040 years, who is to live
370,000 years more, when he will be superseded by another god called
_Madri_ (Maitreya).--H. C.]
[Illustration: Great Lama Monastery]
NOTE 3.--Marco is now speaking of the Lamas, or clergy of Tibetan
Buddhism. The customs mentioned have varied in details, both locally and
with the changes that the system has passed through in the course of time.
The institutes of ancient Buddhism set apart the days of new and full moon
to be observed by the _Sramanas_ or monks, by fasting, confession, and
listening to the reading of the law. It became usual for the laity to take
part in the observance, and the number of days was increased to three and
then to four, whilst Hiuen Tsang himself speaks of "the six fasts of every
month," and a Chinese authority quoted by Julien gives the days as the
8th, 14th, 15th, 23rd, 29th, and 30th. Fabian says that in Ceylon
preaching took place on the 8th, 14th, and 15th days of the month. Four is
the number now most general amongst Buddhist nations, and the days may be
regarded as a kind of Buddhist Sabbath. In the southern countries and in
Nepal they occur at the moon's changes. In Tibet and among the Mongol
Buddhists they are not at equal intervals, though I find the actual days
differently stated by different authorities. Pallas says the Mongols
observed the 13th, 14th, and 15th, the three days being brought together,
he thought, on account of the distance many Lamas had to travel to the
temple--just as in some Scotch country parishes they used to give two
sermons in one service for like reason! Koeppen, to whose work this note
is much indebted, says the Tibetan days are the 14th, 15th, 29th, 30th,
and adds as to the manner of observance: "On these days, by rule, among
the Lamas, nothing should be tasted but farinaceous food and tea; the very
devout refrain from all food from sunrise to sunset. The Temples are
decorated, and the altar tables set out with the holy symbols, with
tapers, and with dishes containing offerings in corn, meal, tea, butter,
etc., and especially with small pyramids of dough, or of rice or clay, and
accompanied by much burning of incense-sticks. The service performed by
the priests is more solemn, the music louder and more exciting, than
usual. The laity make their offerings, tell their beads, and repeat _Om
mani padma hom_," etc. In the _concordat_ that took place between the
Dalai-Lama and the Altun Khaghan, on the reconversion of the Mongols to
Buddhism in the 16th century, one of the articles was the entire
prohibition of hunting and the slaughter of animals on the monthly fast
days. The practice varies much, however, even in Tibet, with different
provinces and sects--a variation which the Ramusian text of Polo implies
in these words: "For five days, or _four days_, or _three_ in each month,
they shed no blood," etc.
In Burma the Worship Day, as it is usually called by Europeans, is a very
gay scene, the women flocking to the pagodas in their brightest attire.
(_H. T. Mémoires_, I. 6, 208; _Koeppen_, I. 563-564, II. 139, 307-308;
_Pallas, Samml._ II. 168-169).
NOTE 4.--These matrimonial customs are the same that are afterwards
ascribed to the Tartars, so we defer remark.
NOTE 5.--So Pauthier's text, "_en legation_." The G. Text includes Nicolo
Polo, and says, "on business of theirs that is not worth mentioning," and
with this Ramusio agrees.
CHAPTER XLV.
OF THE CITY OF ETZINA.
When you leave the city of Campichu you ride for twelve days, and then
reach a city called ETZINA, which is towards the north on the verge of the
Sandy Desert; it belongs to the Province of Tangut.[NOTE 1] The people are
Idolaters, and possess plenty of camels and cattle, and the country
produces a number of good falcons, both Sakers and Lanners. The
inhabitants live by their cultivation and their cattle, for they have no
trade. At this city you must needs lay in victuals for forty days, because
when you quit Etzina, you enter on a desert which extends forty days'
journey to the north, and on which you meet with no habitation nor
baiting-place.[NOTE 2] In the summer-time, indeed, you will fall in with
people, but in the winter the cold is too great. You also meet with wild
beasts (for there are some small pine-woods here and there), and with
numbers of wild asses.[NOTE 3] When you have travelled these forty days
across the Desert you come to a certain province lying to the north. Its
name you shall hear presently.
[Illustration: Wild Ass of Mongolia.]
NOTE 1.--Deguignes says that YETSINA is found in a Chinese Map of Tartary
of the Mongol era, and this is confirmed by Pauthier, who reads it
_Itsinai_, and adds that the text of the Map names it as one of the seven
_Lu_ or Circuits of the Province of Kansuh (or Tangut). Indeed, in
D'Anville's Atlas we find a river called _Etsina Pira_, running northward
from Kanchau, and a little below the 41st parallel joining another from
Suhchau. Beyond the junction is a town called _Hoa-tsiang_, which probably
represents Etzina. Yetsina is also mentioned in Gaubil's History of
Chinghiz as taken by that conqueror in 1226, on his last campaign against
Tangut. This capture would also seem from Pétis de la Croix to be
mentioned by Rashiduddin. Gaubil says the Chinese Geography places Yetsina
north of Kanchau and north-east of Suhchau, at a distance of 120 leagues
from Kanchau, but observes that this is certainly too great. (_Gaubil_, p.
49.)
[I believe there can be no doubt that Etzina must be looked for on the
river _Hei-shui_, called _Etsina_ by the Mongols, east of Suhchau. This
river empties its waters into the two lakes Soho-omo and Sopo-omo. Etzina
would have been therefore situated on the river on the border of the
Desert, at the top of a triangle whose bases would be Suhchau and Kanchau.
This river was once part of the frontier of the kingdom of Tangut. (Cf.
_Devéria, Notes d'épigraphie mongolo-chinoise_, p. 4.) Reclus (_Géog.
Univ., Asie Orientale_, p. 159) says: "To the east [of Hami], beyond the
Chukur Gobi, are to be found also some permanent villages and the remains
of cities. One of them is perhaps the 'cité d'Etzina' of which Marco Polo
speaks, and the name is to be found in that of the river Az-sind."
"Through Kanchau was the shortest, and most direct and convenient road to
_I-tsi-nay_.... I-tsi-nay, or _Echiné_, is properly the name of a lake.
Khubilaï, disquieted by his factious relatives on the north, established a
military post near lake I-tsi-nay, and built a town, or a fort on the
south-western shore of this lake. The name of I-tsi-nay appears from that
time; it does not occur in the chronicle of the Tangut kingdom; the lake
had then another name. Vestiges of the town are seen to this day; the
buildings were of large dimensions, and some of them were very fine. In
Marco Polo's time there existed a direct route from I-tsi-nay to
Karakorum; traces of this road are still noticeable, but it is no more
used. This circumstance, i.e. the existence of a road from I-tsi-nay to
Karakorum, probably led Marco Polo to make an excursion (a mental one, I
suppose) to the residence of the Khans in Northern Mongolia."
(_Palladius_, l.c. pp. 10-11.)--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--"_Erberge_" (G. T.). Pauthier has _Herbage_.
NOTE 3.--The Wild Ass of Mongolia is the _Dshiggetai_ of Pallas (_Asinus
hemionus_ of Gray), and identical with the Tibetan _Kyang_ of Moorcroft
and Trans-Himalayan sportsmen. It differs, according to Blyth, only in
shades of colour and unimportant markings from the _Ghor Khar_ of Western
India and the Persian Deserts, the _Kulan_ of Turkestan, which Marco has
spoken of in a previous passage (_suprà_, ch. xvi.; _J. A. S. B._ XXVIII.
229 seqq.). There is a fine Kyang in the Zoological Gardens, whose
portrait, after Wolf, is given here. But Mr. Ney Elias says of this animal
that he has little of the aspect of his nomadic brethren. [The wild ass
(Tibetan _Kyang_, Mongol _Holu_ or _Hulan_) is called by the Chinese _yeh
ma_, "wild horse," though "every one admits that it is an ass, and should
be called _yeh lo-tzu_." (_Rockhill, Land of the Lamas_, 151, note.)--H.
C.]
[Captain Younghusband (1886) saw in the Altaï Mountains "considerable
numbers of wild asses, which appeared to be perfectly similar to the Kyang
of Ladak and Tibet, and wild horses too--the _Equus Prejevalskii_--roaming
about these great open plains." (_Proc. R. G. S._ X. 1888, p. 495.) Dr.
Sven Hedin says the _habitat_ of the _Kulan_ is the heights of Tibet as
well as the valley of the Tarim; it looks like a mule with the mane and
tail of an ass, but shorter ears, longer than those of a horse; he gives a
picture of it.--H. C.]
CHAPTER XLVI.
OF THE CITY OF CARACORON.
Caracoron is a city of some three miles in compass. [It is surrounded by a
strong earthen rampart, for stone is scarce there. And beside it there is
a great citadel wherein is a fine palace in which the Governor resides.]
'Tis the first city that the Tartars possessed after they issued from
their own country. And now I will tell you all about how they first
acquired dominion and spread over the world.[NOTE 1]
Originally the Tartars[NOTE 2] dwelt in the north on the borders of
CHORCHA.[NOTE 3] Their country was one of great plains; and there were no
towns or villages in it, but excellent pasture-lands, with great rivers
and many sheets of water; in fact it was a very fine and extensive region.
But there was no sovereign in the land. They did, however, pay tax and
tribute to a great prince who was called in their tongue UNC CAN, the same
that we call Prester John, him in fact about whose great dominion all the
world talks.[NOTE 4] The tribute he had of them was one beast out of every
ten, and also a tithe of all their other gear.
Now it came to pass that the Tartars multiplied exceedingly. And when
Prester John saw how great a people they had become, he began to fear that
he should have trouble from them. So he made a scheme to distribute them
over sundry countries, and sent one of his Barons to carry this out. When
the Tartars became aware of this they took it much amiss, and with one
consent they left their country and went off across a desert to a distant
region towards the north, where Prester John could not get at them to
annoy them. Thus they revolted from his authority and paid him tribute no
longer. And so things continued for a time.
NOTE 1.--KARÁKORUM, near the upper course of the River Orkhon, is said by
Chinese authors to have been founded by Búkú Khan of the Hoei-Hu or
Uigúrs, in the 8th century, In the days of Chinghiz, we are told that it
was the headquarters of his ally, and afterwards enemy, Togrul Wang Khan,
the Prester John of Polo. ["The name of this famous city is Mongol,
_Kara_, 'black,' and _Kuren_, 'a camp,' or properly 'pailing.'" It was
founded in 1235 by Okkodai, who called it Ordu Balik, or "the City of the
Ordu," otherwise "The Royal City." Mohammedan authors say it took its name
of Karákorum from the mountains to the south of it, in which the Orkhon
had its source. (_D'Ohsson_, ii. 64.) The Chinese mention a range of
mountains from which the Orkhon flows, called _Wu-tê kien shan_. (_T'ang
shu_, bk. 43b.) Probably these are the same. Rashiduddin speaks of a tribe
of Utikien Uigúrs living in this country. (_Bretschneider, Med. Geog._
191; _D'Ohsson_, i. 437. _Rockhill, Rubruck_, 220, note.)--Karákorum was
called by the Chinese _Ho-lin_ and was chosen by Chinghiz, in 1206, as his
capital; the full name of it, _Ha-la Ho-lin_, was derived from a river to
the west. (_Yuen shi_, ch. lviii.) Gaubil (_Holin_, p. 10) says that the
river, called in his days in Tartar _Karoha_, was, at the time of the
Mongol Emperors, named by the Chinese _Ha-la Ho-lin_, in Tartar language
_Ka la Ko lin_, or _Cara korin_, or _Kara Koran_. In the spring of 1235,
Okkodai had a wall raised round Ho-lin and a palace called _Wang an_,
built inside the city. (_Gaubil, Gentchiscan_, 89.) After the death of
Kúblái, _Ho-lin_ was altered into _Ho-Ning_, and, in 1320, the name of the
province was changed into _Ling-pé_ (mountainous north, i.e. the
_Yin-shan_ chain, separating China Proper from Mongolia). In 1256, Mangu
Kaan decided to transfer the seat of government to Kaiping-fu, or Shangtu,
near the present Dolonnor, north of Peking. (_Suprà_ in Prologue, ch. xiii.
note 1.) In 1260, Kúblái transferred his capital to _Ta-Tu_ (Peking).
Plano Carpini (1246) is the first Western traveller to mention it by name
which he writes _Caracoron_; he visited the Sira Orda, at half a day's
journey from Karákorum, where Okkodai used to pass the summer; it was
situated at a place Ormektua. (_Rockhill, Rubruck_, 21, III.) Rubruquis
(1253) visited the city itself; the following is his account of it: "As
regards the city of Caracoron, you must understand that if you set aside
the Kaan's own Palace, it is not as good as the Borough of St. Denis; and
as for the Palace, the Abbey of St. Denis is worth ten of it! There are
two streets in the town; one of which is occupied by the Saracens, and in
that is the marketplace. The other street is occupied by the Cathayans,
who are all craftsmen. Besides these two streets there are some great
palaces occupied by the court secretaries. There are also twelve idol
temples belonging to different nations, two Mahummeries in which the Law
of Mahomet is preached, and one church of the Christians at the extremity
of the town. The town is enclosed by a mud-wall and has four gates. At the
east gate they sell millet and other corn, but the supply is scanty; at
the west gate they sell rams and goats; at the south gate oxen and
waggons; at the north gate horses.... Mangu Kaan has a great Court beside
the Town Rampart, which is enclosed by a brick wall, just like our
priories. Inside there is a big palace, within which he holds a
drinking-bout twice a year;... there are also a number of long buildings
like granges, in which are kept his treasures and his stores of victual"
(345-6; 334).
Where was Karákorum situated?
The Archimandrite Palladius is very prudent (l.c. p. 11): "Everything that
the studious Chinese authors could gather and say of the situation of
Karakhorum is collected in two Chinese works, _Lo fung low wen kao_
(1849), and _Mungku yew mu ki_ (1859). However, no positive conclusion can
be derived from these researches, chiefly in consequence of the absence of
a tolerably correct map of Northern Mongolia."
Abel Rémusat (_Mém. sur Géog. Asie Centrale_, p. 20) made a confusion
between Karábalgasun and Karákorum which has misled most writers after
him.
Sir Henry Yule says: "The evidence adduced in Abel Rémusat's paper on
Karákorum (_Mém. de l' Acad. R. des Insc._ VII. 288) establishes the site
on the north bank of the Orkhon, and about five days' journey above the
confluence of the Orkhon and Tula. But as we have only a very loose
knowledge of these rivers, it is impossible to assign the geographical
position with accuracy. Nor is it likely that ruins exist beyond an
outline perhaps of the Kaan's Palace walls."
In the _Geographical Magazine_ for July, 1874 (p. 137), Sir Henry Yule has
been enabled, by the kind aid of Madame Fedtchenko in supplying a
translation from the Russian, to give some account of Mr. Paderin's visit
to the place, in the summer of 1873, along with a sketch-map.
"The site visited by Mr. Paderin is shown, by the particulars stated in
that paper, to be sufficiently identified with Karákorum. It is precisely
that which Rémusat indicated, and which bears in the Jesuit maps, as
published by D'Anville, the name of _Talarho Hara Palhassoun_ (i.e. Kará
Balghásun), standing 4 or 5 miles from the left bank of the Orkhon, in
lat. (by the Jesuit Tables) 47° 32' 24". It is now known as Kara-Kharam
(Rampart) or Kara Balghasun (city). The remains consist of a quadrangular
rampart of mud and sun-dried brick, of about 500 paces to the side, and
now about 9 feet high, with traces of a higher tower, and of an inner
rampart parallel to the other. But these remains probably appertain to the
city as re-occupied by the descendants of the Yuen in the end of the 14th
century, after their expulsion from China."
Dr. Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ I. p. 123) rightly observes: "It seems,
however, that Paderin is mistaken in his supposition. At least it does not
agree with the position assigned to the ancient Mongol residence in the
Mongol annals _Erdenin erikhe_, translated into Russian, in 1883, by
Professor Pozdneiev. It is there positively stated (p. 110, note 2) that
the monastery of _Erdenidsu_, founded in 1585, was erected on the ruins of
that city, which once had been built by order of Ogotai Khan, and where he
had established his residence; and where, after the expulsion of the
Mongols from China, Togontemur again had fixed the Mongol court. This vast
monastery still exists, one English mile, or more, east of the Orkhon. It
has even been astronomically determined by the Jesuit missionaries, and is
marked on our maps of Mongolia. Pozdneiev, who visited the place in 1877,
obligingly informs me that the square earthen wall surrounding the
monastery of Erdenidsu, and measuring about an English mile in
circumference, may well be the very wall of ancient Karákorum."
Recent researches have fully confirmed the belief that the Erdeni Tso, or
Eideni Chao, Monastery occupies the site of Karákorum, near the bank of
the Orkhon, between this river and the Kokchin (old) Orkhon. (See map in
_Inscriptions de l'Orkhon_, Helsingfors, 1892; a plan of the vicinity and
of the Erdeni Tso is given (plate 36) in _W. Radloff's Atlas der
Alterthümer der Mongolei_, St. Pet., 1892.)
[Illustration]
According to a work of the 13th century quoted by the late Professor G.
Devéria, the distance between the old capital of the Uighúr, Kara
Balgasún, on the left bank of the Orkhon, north of Erdeni Tso, and the
Ho-lin or Karákorum of the Mongols, would be 70 _li_ (about 30 miles), and
such is the space between Erdeni Tso and Kara Balgasún. M. Marcel Monnier
(_Itinéraires_, p. 107) estimates the bird's-eye distance from Erdeni Tso
to Kara Balgasún at 33 kilom. (about 20-1/2 miles). "When the brilliant
epoch of the power of the Chinghizkhanides," says Professor Axel Heikel,
"was at an end, the city of Karákorum fell into oblivion, and towards the
year 1590 was founded, in the centre of this historically celebrated
region of the Orkhon, the most ancient of Buddhist monasteries of
Mongolia, this of Erdeni Tso [Erdeni Chao]. It was built, according to a
Mongol chronicle, on the ruins of the town built by Okkodaï, son of
Chinghiz Khan, that is to say, on the ancient Karákorum. (_Inscriptions de
l'Orkhon_.)" So Professor Heikel, like Professor Pozdneiev, concludes that
Erdeni Tso was built on the site of Karákorum and cannot be mistaken for
Karabalgásun. Indeed it is highly probable that one of the walls of the
actual convent belonged to the old Mongol capital. The travels and
researches by expeditions from Finland and Russia have made these
questions pretty clear. Some most interesting inscriptions have been
brought home and have been studied by a number of Orientalists: G.
Schlegel, O. Donner, G. Devéria, Vasiliev, G. von der Gabelentz, Dr.
Hirth, G. Huth, E. H. Parker, W. Bang, etc., and especially Professor
Vilh. Thomsen, of Copenhagen, who deciphered them (_Déchiffrement des
Inscriptions de l'Orkhon et de l'Iénissei, Copenhague_, 1894, 8vo;
_Inscriptions de l'Orkhon déchiffrées, par_ V. Thomsen, Helsingfors, 1894,
8vo), and Professor W. Radloff of St. Petersburg (_Atlas der Alterthumer
der Mongolei_, 1892-6, fol.; _Die alttürkischen Inschriften der Mongolei_,
1894-7, etc.). There is an immense literature on these inscriptions, and
for the bibliography, I must refer the reader to _H. Cordier, Etudes
Chinoises_ (1891-1894), Leide, 1895, Id. (1895-1898), Leide, 1898, 8vo.
The initiator of these discoveries was N. Iarindsev, of Irkutsk, who died
at Barnaoul in 1894, and the first great expedition was started from
Finland in 1890, under the guidance of Professor Axel Heikel.
(_Inscriptions de l'Orkhon recueillies par l'expédition finnoise, 1890, et
publiées par la Société Finno-Ougrienne_, Helsingfors, 1892, fol.) The
Russian expedition left the following year, 1891, under the direction of
the Academician W. Radloff.
M. Chaffanjon (_Nouv. Archiv. des Missions Scient._ IX., 1899, p. 81), in
1895, does not appear to know that there is a difference between Kará
Korum and Kará Balgásun, as he writes: "Forty kilometres south of Kara
Korum _or_ Kara Balgásun, the convent of Erdin Zoun."
A plan of Kara Balgásun is given (plate 27) in _Radloff's Atlas_. See also
_Henri Cordier et Gaubil, Situation de Holin en Tartarie_, Leide, 1893.
In Rubruquis's account of Karákorum there is one passage of great
interest: "Then master William [Guillaume L'Orfèvre] had made for us an
iron to make wafers ... he made also a silver box to put the body of
Christ in, with relics in little cavities made in the sides of the box."
Now M. Marcel Monnier, who is one of the last, if not the last traveller
who visited the region, tells me that he found in the large temple of
Erdeni Tso an iron (the cast bore a Latin cross; had the wafer been
Nestorian, the cross should have been Greek) and a silver box, which are
very likely the objects mentioned by Rubruquis. It is a new proof of the
identity of the sites of Erdeni Tso and Karákorum.--H. C.]
[Illustration: Entrance to the Erdeni Tso Great Temple.]
NOTE 2.--[Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, 113, note) says: "The earliest date to
which I have been able to trace back the name Tartar is A.D. 732. We find
mention made in a Turkish inscription found on the river Orkhon and
bearing that date, of the _Tokuz Tatar_, or 'Nine (tribes of) Tatars,' and
of the _Otuz Tatar_, or 'Thirty (tribes of) Tatars.' It is probable that
these tribes were then living between the Oguz or Uigúr Turks on the west,
and the Kitan on the east. (_Thomsen, Inscriptions de l'Orkhon_, 98, 126,
140.) Mr. Thos. Watters tells me that the Tartars are first mentioned by
the Chinese in the period extending from A.D. 860 to 874; the earliest
mention I have discovered, however, is under date of A.D. 880. (_Wu tai
shih_, Bk. 4.) We also read in the same work (Bk. 74, 2) that 'The Ta-ta
were a branch of the Mo-ho (the name the Nû-chen Tartars bore during the
Sui and T'ang periods: _Ma Tuan-lin_, Bk. 327, 5). They first lived to the
north of the Kitan. Later on they were conquered by this people, when they
scattered, a part becoming tributaries of the Kitan, another to the
P'o-hai (a branch of the Mo-ho), while some bands took up their abode in
the Yin Shan in Southern Mongolia, north of the provinces of Chih-li and
Shan-si, and took the name of _Ta-ta_.' In 981 the Chinese ambassador to
the Prince of Kao-chang (Karakhodjo, some 20 miles south-east of Turfan)
traversed the Ta-ta country. They then seem to have occupied the northern
bend of the Yellow River. He gives the names of some nine tribes of Ta-ta
living on either side of the river. He notes that their neighbours to the
east were Kitan, and that for a long time they had been fighting them after
the occupation of Kan-chou by the Uigúrs. (_Ma Tuan-lin_, Bk. 336, 12-14.)
We may gather from this that these Tartars were already settled along the
Yellow River and the Yin Shan (the valley in which is now the important
frontier mart of Kwei-hua Ch'eng) at the beginning of the ninth century,
for the Uigúrs, driven southward by the Kirghiz, first occupied Kan-chou in
north-western Kan-suh, somewhere about A.D. 842."]
NOTE 3.--CHORCHA (_Ciorcia_) is the Manchu country, whose people were at
that time called by the Chinese _Yuché_ or _Niuché_, and by the Mongols
_Churché_, or as it is in Sanang Setzen, _Jurchid_. The country in
question is several times mentioned by Rashiduddin as Churché. The
founders of the _Kin_ Dynasty, which the Mongols superseded in Northern
China, were of Churché race. [It was part of Nayan's appanage. (See Bk.
II. ch. v.)--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--The idea that a Christian potentate of enormous wealth and power,
and bearing this title, ruled over vast tracts in the far East, was
universal in Europe from the middle of the 12th to the end of the 13th
century, after which time the Asiatic story seems gradually to have died
away, whilst the Royal Presbyter was assigned to a locus in Abyssinia; the
equivocal application of the term _India_ to the East of Asia and the East
of Africa facilitating this transfer. Indeed I have a suspicion, contrary
to the view now generally taken, that the term may from the first have
belonged to the Abyssinian Prince, though circumstances led to its being
applied in another quarter for a time. It appears to me almost certain
that the letter of Pope Alexander III., preserved by R. Hoveden, and
written in 1177 to the _Magnificus Rex Indorum, Sacerdotum sanctissimus_,
was meant for the King of Abyssinia.
Be that as it may, the inordinate report of Prester John's magnificence
became especially diffused from about the year 1165, when a letter full of
the most extravagant details was circulated, which purported to have been
addressed by this potentate to the Greek Emperor Manuel, the Roman Emperor
Frederick, the Pope, and other Christian sovereigns. By the circulation of
this letter, glaring fiction as it is, the idea of this Christian
Conqueror was planted deep in the mind of Europe, and twined itself round
every rumour of revolution in further Asia. Even when the din of the
conquests of Chinghiz began to be audible in the West, he was invested
with the character of a Christian King, and more or less confounded with
the mysterious Prester John.
The first notice of a conquering Asiatic potentate so styled had been
brought to Europe by the Syrian Bishop of Gabala (_Jibal_, south of
Laodicea in Northern Syria), who came, in 1145, to lay various grievances
before Pope Eugene III. He reported that not long before a certain John,
inhabiting the extreme East, king and Nestorian priest, and claiming
descent from the Three Wise Kings, had made war on the _Samiard_ Kings of
the Medes and Persians, and had taken Ecbatana their capital. He was then
proceeding to the deliverance of Jerusalem, but was stopped by the Tigris,
which he could not cross, and compelled by disease in his host to retire.
M. d'Avezac first showed to whom this account must apply, and the subject
has more recently been set forth with great completeness and learning by
Dr. Gustavus Oppert. The conqueror in question was the founder of Kara
Khitai, which existed as a great Empire in Asia during the last two-thirds
of the 12th century. This chief was a prince of the Khitan dynasty of
Liao, who escaped with a body of followers from Northern China on the
overthrow of that dynasty by the _Kin_ or Niuchen about 1125. He is called
by the Chinese historians Yeliu Tashi; by Abulghazi, Nuzi Taigri Ili; and
by Rashiduddin, Nushi (or Fushi) Taifu. Being well received by the Uighúrs
and other tribes west of the Desert who had been subject to the Khitan
Empire, he gathered an army and commenced a course of conquest which
eventually extended over Eastern and Western Turkestan, including
Khwarizm, which became tributary to him. He took the title of _Gurkhan_,
said to mean Universal or Suzerain Khan, and fixed at Bala Sagun, north of
the Thian Shan, the capital of his Empire, which became known as _Kará_
(Black) _Khitai_.[1] [The dynasty being named by the Chinese _Si-Liao_
(Western Liao) lasted till it was destroyed in 1218.--H. C.] In 1141 he
came to the aid of the King of Khwarizm against _Sanjar_ the Seljukian
sovereign of Persia (whence the _Samiard_ of the Syrian Bishop), who had
just taken Samarkand, and defeated that prince with great slaughter.
Though the Gurkhan himself is not described to have extended his conquests
into Persia, the King of Khwarizm followed up the victory by an invasion
of that country, in which he plundered the treasury and cities of Sanjar.
Admitting this Karacathayan prince to be the first conqueror (in Asia, at
all events) to whom the name of Prester John was applied, it still remains
obscure how that name arose. Oppert supposes that _Gurkhan_ or _Kurkhan_,
softened in West Turkish pronunciation into _Yurkan_, was confounded with
_Yochanan_ or _Johannes_; but he finds no evidence of the conqueror's
profession of Christianity except the fact, notable certainly, that the
daughter of the last of his brief dynasty is recorded to have been a
Christian. Indeed, D'Ohsson says that the first Gurkhan was a Buddhist,
though on what authority is not clear. There seems a probability at least
that it was an error in the original ascription of Christianity to the
Karacathayan prince, which caused the confusions as to the identity of
Prester John which appear in the next century, of which we shall presently
speak. Leaving this doubtful point, it has been plausibly suggested that
the title of Presbyter Johannes was connected with the legends of the
immortality of John the Apostle ([Greek: ho presbýteros], as he calls
himself in the 2nd and 3rd epistles), and the belief referred to by some
of the Fathers that he would be the Forerunner of our Lord's second
coming, as John the Baptist had been of His first.
A new theory regarding the original Prester John has been propounded by
Professor Bruun of Odessa, in a Russian work entitled _The Migrations of
Prester John_. The author has been good enough to send me large extracts
of this essay in (French) translation; and I will endeavour to set forth
the main points as well as the small space that can be given to the matter
will admit. Some remarks and notes shall be added, but I am not in a
position to do justice to Professor Bruun's views, from the want of access
to some of his most important authorities, such as Brosset's _History of
Georgia_, and its appendices.
It will be well, before going further, to give the essential parts of the
passage in the History of Bishop Otto of Freisingen (referred to in vol i.
p. 229), which contains the first allusion to a personage styled Prester
John:
"We saw also there [at Rome in 1145] the afore-mentioned Bishop of Gabala,
from Syria.... We heard him bewailing with tears the peril of the Church
beyond-sea since the capture of Edessa, and uttering his intention on that
account to cross the Alps and seek aid from the King of the Romans and the
King of the Franks. He was also telling us how, not many years before, one
JOHN, KING and PRIEST, who dwells in the extreme Orient beyond Persia and
Armenia, and is (with his people) a Christian, but a Nestorian, had waged
war against the brother Kings of the Persians and Medes who are called the
Samiards, and had captured Ecbatana, of which we have spoken above, the
seat of their dominion. The said Kings having met him with their forces
made up of Persians, Medes, and Assyrians, the battle had been maintained
for 3 days, either side preferring death to flight. But at last PRESBYTER
JOHN (for so they are wont to style him), having routed the Persians, came
forth the victor from a most sanguinary battle. After this victory (he
went on to say) the aforesaid John was advancing to fight in aid of the
Church at Jerusalem; but when he arrived at the Tigris, and found there no
possible means of transport for his army, he turned northward, as he had
heard that the river in that quarter was frozen over in winter-time.
Halting there for some years[2] in expectation of a frost, which never
came, owing to the mildness of the season, he lost many of his people
through the unaccustomed climate, and was obliged to return homewards.
This personage is said to be of the ancient race of those Magi who are
mentioned in the Gospel, and to rule the same nations that they did, and
to have such glory and wealth that he uses (they say) only an emerald
sceptre. It was (they say) from his being fired by the example of his
fathers, who came to adore Christ in the cradle, that he was proposing to
go to Jerusalem, when he was prevented by the cause already alleged."
Professor Bruun will not accept Oppert's explanation, which identifies
this King and Priest with the Gur-Khan of Karacathay, for whose profession
of Christianity there is indeed (as has been indicated--supra) no real
evidence; who could not be said to have made an attack upon any pair of
brother Kings of the Persians and the Medes, nor to have captured Ecbatana
(a city, whatever its identity, of Media); who could never have had any
intention of coming to Jerusalem; and whose geographical position in no
way suggested the mention of Armenia.
Professor Bruun thinks he finds a warrior much better answering to the
indications in the Georgian prince John Orbelian, the general-in-chief
under several successive Kings of Georgia in that age.
At the time when the Gur-Khan defeated Sanjar the real brothers of the
latter had been long dead; Sanjar had withdrawn from interference with the
affairs of Western Persia; and Hamadán (if this is to be regarded as
Ecbatana) was no residence of his. But it was the residence of Sanjar's
nephew Mas'úd, in whose hands was now the dominion of Western Persia;
whilst Mas'úd's nephew, Dáúd, held Media, i.e. Azerbeiján, Arrán, and
Armenia. It is in these two princes that Professor Bruun sees the
_Samiardi fratres_ of the German chronicler.
Again the expression "extreme Orient" is to be interpreted by local usage.
And with the people of Little Armenia, through whom probably such
intelligence reached the Bishop of Gabala, the expression the _East_
signified specifically Great Armenia (which was then a part of the kingdom
of Georgia and Abkhasia), as Dulaurier has stated.[3]
It is true that the Georgians were not really Nestorians, but followers of
the Greek Church. It was the fact, however, that in general, the
Armenians, whom the Greeks accused of following the Jacobite errors,
retorted upon members of the Greek Church with the reproach of the
opposite heresy of Nestorianism. And the attribution of Nestorianism to a
Georgian Prince is, like the expression "_extreme East_," an indication of
the Armenian channel through which the story came.
The intention to march to the aid of the Christians in Palestine is more
like the act of a Georgian General than that of a Karacathayan Khan; and
there are in the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem several indications
of the proposal at least of Georgian assistance.
The personage in question is said to have come from the country of the
Magi, from whom he was descended. But these have frequently been supposed
to come from Great Armenia. E.g. Friar Jordanus says they came from
Moghán.[4]
The name _Ecbatana_ has been so variously applied that it was likely to
lead to ambiguities. But it so happens that, in a previous passage of his
History, Bishop Otto of Freisingen, in rehearsing some Oriental
information gathered apparently from the same Bishop of Gabala, has shown
what was the place that he had been taught to identify with Ecbatana, viz.
the old Armenian city of ANI.[5] Now this city was captured from the
Turks, on behalf of the King of Georgia, David the Restorer, by his great
_sbasalar_,[6] John Orbelian, in 1123-24.
Professor Bruun also lays stress upon a passage in a German chronicle of
date some years later than Otho's work:
"1141. Liupoldus dux Bawariorum obiit, Henrico fratre ejus succedente in
ducatu. Iohannes Presbyter Rex Armeniae et Indiae cum duobus regibus
fratribus Persarum et Medorum pugnavit et vicit."[7]
He asks how the Gur-Khan of Karakhitai could be styled King of _Armenia_
and of India? It may be asked, _per contra_, how either the King of
Georgia or his _Peshwa_ (to use the Mahratta analogy of John Orbelian's
position) could be styled King of Armenia and of _India_? In reply to
this, Professor Bruun adduces a variety of quotations which he considers
as showing that the term _India_ was applied to some Caucasian region.
My own conviction is that the report of Otto of Freisingen is not merely
the _first mention_ of a great Asiatic potentate called Prester John, but
that his statement is the whole and sole basis of good faith on which the
story of such a potentate rested; and I am quite as willing to believe, on
due evidence, that the nucleus of fact to which his statement referred,
and on which such a pile of long-enduring fiction was erected, occurred in
Armenia as that it occurred in Turan. Indeed in many respects the story
would thus be more comprehensible. One cannot attach any value to the
quotation from the Annalist in Pertz, because there seems no reason to
doubt that the passage is a mere adaptation of the report by Bishop Otto,
of whose work the Annalist makes other use, as is indeed admitted by
Professor Bruun, who (be it said) is a pattern of candour in controversy.
But much else that the Professor alleges is interesting and striking. The
fact that Azerbeijan and the adjoining regions were known as "the East" is
patent to the readers of this book in many a page, where the Khan and his
Mongols in occupation of that region are styled by Polo _Lord of the_
LEVANT, _Tartars of the_ LEVANT (i.e. of the East), even when the
speaker's standpoint is in far Cathay.[8] The mention of _Aní_ as
identical with the Ecbatana of which Otto had heard is a remarkable
circumstance which I think even Oppert has overlooked. That this Georgian
hero _was_ a Christian and that his name _was_ John are considerable
facts. Oppert's conversion of Korkhan into Yokhanan or John is anything
but satisfactory. The identification proposed again makes it quite
intelligible how the so-called Prester John should have talked about
coming to the aid of the Crusaders; a point so difficult to explain on
Oppert's theory, that he has been obliged to introduce a duplicate John in
the person of a Greek Emperor to solve that knot; another of the weaker
links in his argument. In fact, Professor Bruun's thesis seems to me more
than fairly successful in _paving the way_ for the introduction of a
Caucasian Prester John; the barriers are removed, the carpets are spread,
the trumpets sound royally--but the conquering hero comes not!
He does very nearly come. The almost royal power and splendour of the
Orbelians at this time is on record: "They held the office of _Sbasalar_
or Generalissimo of all Georgia. All the officers of the King's Palace
were under their authority. Besides that they had 12 standards of their
own, and under each standard 1000 warriors mustered. As the custom was for
the King's flag to be white and the pennon over it red, it was ruled that
the Orpelian flag should be red and the pennon white.... At banquets they
alone had the right to couches whilst other princes had cushions only.
Their food was served on silver; and to them it belonged to crown the
kings."[9] Orpel Ivané, i.e. John Orbelian, Grand _Sbasalar_, was for
years the pride of Georgia and the hammer of the Turks. In 1123-1124 he
wrested from them Tiflis and the whole country up to the Araxes, including
_Ani_, as we have said. His King David, the Restorer, bestowed on him
large additional domains from the new conquests; and the like brilliant
service and career of conquest was continued under David's sons and
successors, Demetrius and George; his later achievements, however, and
some of the most brilliant, occurring after the date of the Bishop of
Gabala's visit to Rome. But still we hear of no actual conflict with the
chief princes of the Seljukian house, and of no event in his history so
important as to account for his being made to play the part of Presbyter
Johannes in the story of the Bishop of Gabala. Professor Bruun's most
forcible observation in reference to this rather serious difficulty is
that the historians have transmitted to us extremely little detail
concerning the reign of Demetrius II., and do not even agree as to its
duration. Carebat vate sacro: "It was," says Brosset, "long and glorious,
but it lacked a commemorator." If new facts can be alleged, the identity
may still be proved. But meantime the conquests of the Gur-Khan and his
defeat of Sanjar, just at a time which suits the story, are indubitable,
and this great advantage Oppert's thesis retains. As regards the claim to
the title of _Presbyter_ nothing worth mentioning is alleged on either
side.
When the Mongol Conquests threw Asia open to Frank travellers in the
middle of the 13th century, their minds were full of Prester John; they
sought in vain for an adequate representative, but it was not in the
nature of things but they should find _some_ representative. In fact they
found _several_. Apparently no real tradition existed among the Eastern
Christians of any such personage, but the persistent demand produced a
supply, and the honour of identification with Prester John, after hovering
over one head and another, settled finally upon that of the King of the
Keraits, whom we find to play the part in our text.
Thus in Plano Carpini's single mention of Prester John as the King of the
Christians of India the Greater, who defeats the Tartars by an elaborate
stratagem, Oppert recognizes Sultan Jaláluddín of Khwarizm and his
temporary success over the Mongols in Afghanistan. In the Armenian Prince
Sempad's account, on the other hand, this Christian King of India is
_aided_ by the Tartars to defeat and harass the neighbouring Saracens, his
enemies, and becomes the Mongol's vassal. In the statement of Rubruquis,
though distinct reference is made to the conquering Gurkhan (under the
name of Coir Cham of Caracatay), the title of _King John_ is assigned to
the Naiman Prince (_Kushluk_), who had married the daughter of the last
lineal sovereign of Karakhitai, and usurped his power, whilst, with a
strange complication of confusion, UNC, Prince of the Crit and Merkit
(Kerait and Merkit, two great tribes of Mongolia)[10] and Lord of
Karákorum, is made the brother and successor of this Naiman Prince. His
version of the story, as it proceeds, has so much resemblance to Polo's,
that we shall quote the words. The Crit and Merkit, he says, were
Nestorian Christians. "But their Lord had abandoned the worship of Christ
to follow idols, and kept by him those priests of the idols who are all
devil-raisers and sorcerers. Beyond his pastures, at the distance of ten
or fifteen days' journey, were the pastures of the MOAL (Mongol), who were
a very poor people, without a leader and without any religion except
sorceries and divinations, such as all the people of those parts put so
much faith in. Next to Moal was another poor tribe called TARTAR. King
John having died without an heir, his brother Unc got his wealth, and
caused himself to be proclaimed Cham, and sent out his flocks and herds
even to the borders of Moal. At that time there was a certain blacksmith
called Chinghis among the tribe of Moal, and he used to lift the cattle of
Unc Chan as often as he had a chance, insomuch that the herdsmen of Unc
Chan made complaint to their master. The latter assembled an army, and
invaded the land of the Moal in search of Chinghis, but he fled and hid
himself among the Tartars. So Unc, having plundered the Moal and Tartars,
returned home. And Chinghis addressed the Tartars and Moal, saying: 'It is
because we have no leader that we are thus oppressed by our neighbours.'
So both Tartars and Moal made Chinghis himself their leader and captain.
And having got a host quietly together, he made a sudden onslaught upon
Unc and conquered him, and compelled him to flee into Cathay. On that
occasion his daughter was taken, and given by Chinghis to one of his sons,
to whom she bore Mangu, who now reigneth.... The land in which they (the
Mongols) first were, and where the residence of Chinghis still exists, is
called _Onan Kerule_.[11] But because Caracoran is in the country which
was their first conquest, they regard it as a royal city, and there hold
the elections of their Chan."
Here we see plainly that the Unc Chan of Rubruquis is the Unc Can or
Unecan of Polo. In the narrative of the former, Unc is only _connected_
with King or Prester John; in that of the latter, rehearsing the story as
heard some 20 or 25 years later, the two are _identified_. The shadowy
_rôle_ of Prester John has passed from the Ruler of Kara Khitai to the
Chief of the Keraits. This transfer brings us to another history.
We have already spoken of the extensive diffusion of Nestorian
Christianity in Asia during the early and Middle Ages. The Christian
historian Gregory Abulfaraj relates a curious history of the conversion,
in the beginning of the 11th century, of the King of _Kerith_ with his
people, dwelling in the remote north-east of the land of the Turks. And
that the Keraits continued to profess Christianity down to the time of
Chinghiz is attested by Rashiduddin's direct statement, as well as by the
numerous Christian princesses from that tribe of whom we hear in Mongol
history. It is the chief of this tribe of whom Rubruquis and Polo speak
under the name of Unc Khan, and whom the latter identifies with Prester
John. His proper name is called Tuli by the Chinese, and Togrul by the
Persian historians, but the Kin sovereign of Northern China had conferred
on him the title of _Wang_ or King, from which his people gave him the
slightly corrupted cognomen of [Arabic], which some scholars read _Awang_,
and _Avenk_ Khan, but which the spelling of Rubruquis and Polo shows
probably to have been pronounced as _Aung_ or _Ung_ Khan.[12] The
circumstance stated by Rubruquis of his having abandoned the profession of
Christianity, is not alluded to by Eastern writers; but in any case his
career is not a credit to the Faith. I cannot find any satisfactory
corroboration of the claims of supremacy over the Mongols which Polo
ascribes to Aung Khan. But that his power and dignity were considerable,
appears from the term _Pádsháh_ which Rashiduddin applies to him. He had
at first obtained the sovereignty of the Keraits by the murder of two of
his brothers and several nephews. Yessugai, the father of Chinghiz, had
been his staunch friend, and had aided him effectually to recover his
dominion from which he had been expelled. After a reign of many years he
was again ejected, and in the greatest necessity sought the help of
Temujin (afterwards called Chinghiz Khan), by whom he was treated with the
greatest consideration. This was in 1196. For some years the two chiefs
conducted their forays in alliance, but differences sprang up between
them; the son of Aung Khan entered into a plot to kill Temujin, and in
1202-1203 they were in open war. The result will be related in connection
with the next chapters.
We may observe that the idea which Joinville picked up in the East about
Prester John corresponds pretty closely with that set forth by Marco.
Joinville represents him as one of the princes to whom the Tartars were
tributary in the days of their oppression, and as "their ancient enemy";
one of their first acts, on being organized under a king of their own, was
to attack him and conquer him, slaying all that bore arms, but sparing all
monks and priests. The expression used by Joinville in speaking of the
original land of the Tartars, "_une grande_ berrie _de sablon_," has not
been elucidated in any edition that I have seen. It is the Arabic [Arabic]
_Bäríya_, "a Desert." No doubt Joinville learned the word in Palestine.
(See _Joinville_, p. 143 seqq.; see also _Oppert_, _Der Presb. Johannes in
Sage und Geschichte_, and _Cathay_, etc., pp. 173-182.) [_Fried. Zarncke,
Der Priester Johannes; Cordier, Odoric_.--H. C.]
[1] A passage in Mirkhond extracted by Erdmann (_Temudschín_, p. 532)
seems to make Bálá Sághún the same as Bishbálik, now Urumtsi, but this
is inconsistent with other passages abstracted by Oppert (_Presbyter
Johan._ 131-32); and Vámbéry indicates a reason for its being sought
very much further west (_H. of Bokhara_, 116). [Dr. Bretschneider
(_Med. Res._) has a chapter on Kara-Khitaí (I. 208 seqq.) and in a
long note on Bala Sagun, which he calls Belasagun, he says (p. 226)
that "according to the Tarikh Djihan Kúshai (_d'Ohsson_, i. 433), the
city of Belasagun had been founded by Buku Khan, sovereign of the
Uigurs, in a well-watered plain of Turkestan with rich pastures. The
Arabian geographers first mention Belasagun, in the ninth or tenth
century, as a city beyond the Sihun or Yaxartes, depending on
_Isfidjab_ (Sairam, according to Lerch), and situated east of Taras.
They state that the people of Turkestan considered Belasagun to
represent 'the navel of the earth,' on account of its being situated
in the middle between east and west, and likewise between north and
south." (_Sprenger's Poststr. d. Or., Mavarannahar_). Dr.
Bretschneider adds (p. 227): "It is not improbable that ancient
Belasagun was situated at the same place where, according to the T'ang
history, the Khan of one branch of the Western T'u Kue (Turks) had his
residence in the seventh century. It is stated in the T'ang shu that
_Ibi Shabolo Shehu Khan_, who reigned in the first half of the seventh
century, placed his ordo on the northern border of the river _Sui ye_.
This river, and a city of the same name, are frequently mentioned in
the T'ang annals of the seventh and eighth centuries, in connection
with the warlike expeditions of the Chinese in Central Asia. _Sui ye_
was situated on the way from the river _Ili_ to the city of Ta-lo-sz'
(Talas). In 679 the Chinese had built on the Sui ye River a fortress;
but in 748 they were constrained to destroy it." (Comp. _Visdelou_ in
_Suppl. Bibl. Orient._ pp. 110-114; _Gaubil's Hist. de la Dyn. des
Thang_, in _Mém. conc. Chin._ xv. p. 403 seqq.).--H. C.]
[2] Sic: _Per aliquot annos_, but an evident error.
[3] _J. As._ sér. V. tom. xi. 449.
[4] The Great Plain on the Lower Araxes and Cyrus. The word Moghán =
_Magi_: and Abulfeda quotes this as the etymology of the name.
(_Reinaud's Abulf._ I. 300.)--Y. [_Cordier, Odoric_, 36.]
[5] Here is the passage, which is worth giving for more reasons than one:
"That portion of ancient Babylon which is still occupied is (as we
have heard from persons of character from beyond sea) styled BALDACH,
whilst the part that lies, according to the prophecy, deserted and
pathless extends some ten miles to the Tower of Babel The inhabited
portion called Baldach is very large and populous; and though it
should belong to the Persian monarchy it has been conceded by the
Kings of the Persians to their High Priest, whom they call the
_Caliph_; in order that in this also a certain analogy [_quaedam
habitudo_] such as has been often remarked before, should be exhibited
between Babylon and Rome. For the same (privilege) that here in the
city of Rome has been made over to our chief Pontiff by the Christian
Emperor, has there been conceded to their High Priest by the Pagan
Kings of Persia, to whom Babylonia has for a long time been subject.
But the Kings of the Persians (just as our Kings have their royal
city, like Aachen) have themselves established the seat of their
kingdom at Egbatana, which, in the Book of Judith, Arphaxat is said to
have founded, and which in their tongue is called HANI, containing as
they allege 100,000 or more fighting men, and have reserved to
themselves nothing of Babylon except the nominal dominion. Finally,
the place which is now vulgarly called Babylonia, as I have mentioned,
is not upon the Euphrates (at all) as people suppose, but on the Nile,
about 6 days' journey from Alexandria, and is the same as Memphis, to
which Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, anciently gave the name of
Babylon."--Ottonis Frising. Lib. VII. cap. 3, in _Germanic Hist.
Illust. etc. Christiani Urstisii Basiliensis_, Francof. 1585.--Y.
[6] Sbasalar, or "General-in-chief," = Pers. _Sipáhsálár_.--Y.
[7] _Continuatio Ann. Admutensium_, in Pertz, Scriptores, IX. 580.
[8] E.g. ii. 42.
[9] _St. Martin, Mém. sur l'Arménie_, II. 77.
[10] ["The Keraits," says Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, 111, note), "lived on
the Orkhon and the Tula, south-east of Lake Baikal; Abulfaraj relates
their conversion to Christianity in 1007 by the Nestorian Bishop of
Merv. Rashideddin, however, says their conversion took place in the
time of Chingis Khan. (_D'Ohsson_, I. 48; _Chabot, Mar Jabalaha, III._
14.) D'Avezac (536) identifies, with some plausibility, I think, the
Keraits with the _Kí-lê_ (or _T'íeh-lê_) of the early Chinese annals.
The name K'í-lê was applied in the 3rd century A.D. to _all_ the
Turkish tribes, such as the _Hui-hu_ (Uigúrs), _Kieh-Ku_ (Kirghiz)
Alans, etc., and they are said to be the same as the _Kao-ch'ê_, from
whom descended the _Cangle_ of Rubruck. (_T'ang shu_, Bk. 217, i.;
_Ma Tuan-lin_, Bk. 344, 9, Bk. 347, 4.) As to the Merkits, or
Merkites, they were a nomadic people of Turkish stock, with a possible
infusion of Mongol blood. They are called by Mohammedan writers
Uduyut, and were divided into four tribes. They lived on the Lower
Selinga and its feeders. (_D'Ohsson_, i. 54; _Howorth, History_, I.,
pt. i. 22, 698.)"--H. C.]
[11] [_Onan Kerule_ is "the country watered by the Orkhon and Kerulun
Rivers, i.e. the country to the south and south-east of Lake Baikal.
The headquarters (_ya-chang_) of the principal chief of the Uigurs in
the eighth century was 500 _li_ (about 165 miles) south-west of the
confluence of the Wen-Kun ho (Orkhon) and the Tu-lo ho (Tura). Its
ruins, sometimes, but wrongly, confounded with those of the Mongol
city of Karakorum, some 20 miles from it, built in 1235 by Ogodai, are
now known by the name of Kara Balgasun, 'Black City.'" [See p. 228.]
The name _Onankerule_ seems to be taken from the form _Onan-ou-
Keloran_, which occurs in Mohammedan writers. (_Quatremère_, 115 et
seq.; see also _T'ang shu_, Bk. 43b; _Rockhill_, _Rubruck_, 116,
note.)--H. C.]
[12] Vámbéry makes _Ong_ an Uighúr word, signifying "right." [Palladius
(l.c. 23) says: "The consonance of the names of Wang-Khan and Wang-Ku
(Ung-Khan and Ongu--Ongot of Rashiduddin, a Turkish Tribe) led to the
confusion regarding the tribes and persons, which at M. Polo's time
seems to have been general among the Europeans in China; M. Polo and
Johannes de Monte Corvino transfer the title of Prester John from
Wang-Khan, already perished at that time, to the distinguished family
of Wang-Ku."--H. C.]
CHAPTER XLVII.
OF CHINGHIS, AND HOW HE BECAME THE FIRST KAAN OF THE TARTARS.
Now it came to pass in the year of Christ's Incarnation 1187 that the
Tartars made them a King whose name was CHINGHIS KAAN.[NOTE 1] He was a
man of great worth, and of great ability (eloquence), and valour. And as
soon as the news that he had been chosen King was spread abroad through
those countries, all the Tartars in the world came to him and owned him
for their Lord. And right well did he maintain the Sovereignty they had
given him. What shall I say? The Tartars gathered to him in astonishing
multitude, and when he saw such numbers he made a great furniture of
spears and arrows and such other arms as they used, and set about the
conquest of all those regions till he had conquered eight provinces. When
he conquered a province he did no harm to the people or their property,
but merely established some of his own men in the country along with a
proportion of theirs, whilst he led the remainder to the conquest of other
provinces. And when those whom he had conquered became aware how well and
safely he protected them against all others, and how they suffered no ill
at his hands, and saw what a noble prince he was, then they joined him
heart and soul and became his devoted followers. And when he had thus
gathered such a multitude that they seemed to cover the earth, he began to
think of conquering a great part of the world. Now in the year of Christ
1200 he sent an embassy to Prester John, and desired to have his daughter
to wife. But when Prester John heard that Chinghis Kaan demanded his
daughter in marriage he waxed very wroth, and said to the Envoys, "What
impudence is this, to ask my daughter to wife! Wist he not well that he
was my liegeman and serf? Get ye back to him and tell him that I had
liever set my daughter in the fire than give her in marriage to him, and
that he deserves death at my hand, rebel and traitor that he is!" So he
bade the Envoys begone at once, and never come into his presence again.
The Envoys, on receiving this reply, departed straightway, and made haste
to their master, and related all that Prester John had ordered them to
say, keeping nothing back.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--Temujin was born in the year 1155, according to all the Persian
historians, who are probably to be relied on; the Chinese put the event in
1162. 1187 does not appear to be a date of special importance in his
history. His inauguration as sovereign under the name of Chinghiz Kaan was
in 1202 according to the Persian authorities, in 1206 according to the
Chinese.
In a preceding note (p. 236) we have quoted a passage in which Rubruquis
calls Chinghiz "a certain blacksmith." This mistaken notion seems to have
originated in the resemblance of his name _Temújin_ to the Turki
_Temúrjí_, a blacksmith; but it was common throughout Asia in the Middle
Ages, and the story is to be found not only in Rubruquis, but in the books
of Hayton, the Armenian prince, and of Ibn Batuta, the Moor. That cranky
Orientalist, Dr. Isaac Jacob Schmidt, positively reviles William
Rubruquis, one of the most truthful and delightful of travellers, and
certainly not inferior to his critic in mother-wit, for adopting this
story, and rebukes Timkowski--not for adopting it, but for merely telling
us the very interesting fact that the story was still, in 1820, current in
Mongolia. (_Schmidt's San. Setz._ 376, and _Timkowski_, I. 147.)
NOTE 2.--Several historians, among others Abulfaraj, represent Chinghiz as
having married a daughter of Aung Khan; and this is current among some of
the mediaeval European writers, such as Vincent of Beauvais. It is also
adopted by Pétis de la Croix in his history of Chinghiz, apparently from a
comparatively late Turkish historian; and both D'Herbelot and St. Martin
state the same; but there seems to be no foundation for it in the best
authorities: either Persian or Chinese. (See _Abulfaragius_, p. 285;
_Speculum Historiale_, Bk. XXIX. ch. lxix.; _Hist. of Genghiz Can_, p. 29;
and _Golden Horde_, pp. 61-62.) But there is a real story at the basis of
Polo's, which seems to be this: About 1202, when Aung Khan and Chinghiz
were still acting in professed alliance, a double union was proposed
between Aung Khan's daughter Jaur Bigi and Chinghiz's son Juji, and
between Chinghiz's daughter Kijin Bigi and Togrul's grandson Kush Buka.
From certain circumstances this union fell through, and this was one of
the circumstances which opened the breach between the two chiefs. There
were, however, several marriages between the families. (_Erdmann_, 283;
others are quoted under ch. lix., note 2.)
CHAPTER XLVIII.
HOW CHINGHIS MUSTERED HIS PEOPLE TO MARCH AGAINST PRESTER JOHN.
When Chinghis Kaan heard the brutal message that Prester John had sent
him, such rage seized him that his heart came nigh to bursting within him,
for he was a man of a very lofty spirit. At last he spoke, and that so
loud that all who were present could hear him: "Never more might he be
prince if he took not revenge for the brutal message of Prester John, and
such revenge that insult never in this world was so dearly paid for. And
before long Prester John should know whether he were his serf or no!"
So then he mustered all his forces, and levied such a host as never before
was seen or heard of, sending word to Prester John to be on his defence.
And when Prester John had sure tidings that Chinghis was really coming
against him with such a multitude, he still professed to treat it as a
jest and a trifle, for, quoth he, "these be no soldiers." Natheless he
marshalled his forces and mustered his people, and made great
preparations, in order that if Chinghis did come, he might take him and
put him to death. In fact he marshalled such an host of many different
nations that it was a world's wonder.
And so both sides gat them ready to battle. And why should I make a long
story of it? Chinghis Kaan with all his host arrived at a vast and
beautiful plain which was called Tanduc, belonging to Prester John, and
there he pitched his camp; and so great was the multitude of his people
that it was impossible to number them. And when he got tidings that
Prester John was coming, he rejoiced greatly, for the place afforded a
fine and ample battle-ground, so he was right glad to tarry for him there,
and greatly longed for his arrival.
But now leave we Chinghis and his host, and let us return to Prester John
and his people.
CHAPTER XLIX.
HOW PRESTER JOHN MARCHED TO MEET CHINGHIS.
Now the story goes that when Prester John became aware that Chinghis with
his host was marching against him, he went forth to meet him with all his
forces, and advanced until he reached the same plain of Tanduc, and
pitched his camp over against that of Chinghis Kaan at a distance of 20
miles. And then both armies remained at rest for two days that they might
be fresher and heartier for battle.[NOTE 1]
So when the two great hosts were pitched on the plains of Tanduc as you
have heard, Chinghis Kaan one day summoned before him his astrologers,
both Christians and Saracens, and desired them to let him know which of
the two hosts would gain the battle, his own or Prester John's. The
Saracens tried to ascertain, but were unable to give a true answer; the
Christians, however, did give a true answer, and showed manifestly
beforehand how the event should be. For they got a cane and split it
lengthwise, and laid one half on this side and one half on that, allowing
no one to touch the pieces. And one piece of cane they called _Chinghis
Kaan_, and the other piece they called _Prester John_. And then they said
to Chinghis: "Now mark! and you will see the event of the battle, and who
shall have the best of it; for whose cane soever shall get above the
other, to him shall victory be." He replied that he would fain see it, and
bade them begin. Then the Christian astrologers read a Psalm out of the
Psalter, and went through other incantations. And lo! whilst all were
beholding, the cane that bore the name of Chinghis Kaan, without being
touched by anybody, advanced to the other that bore the name of Prester
John, and got on the top of it. When the Prince saw that he was greatly
delighted, and seeing how in this matter he found the Christians to tell
the truth, he always treated them with great respect, and held them for
men of truth for ever after.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--Polo in the preceding chapter has stated that this plain of
Tanduc was in Prester John's country. He plainly regards it as identical
with the Tanduc of which he speaks more particularly in ch. lix. as
belonging to Prester John's descendants, and which must be located near
the Chinese Wall. He is no doubt wrong in placing the battle there. Sanang
Setzen puts the battle between the two, the only one which he mentions,
"at the outflow of the Onon near Kulen Buira." The same action is placed
by De Mailla's authorities at Calantschan, by P. Hyacinth at Kharakchin
Schatu, by Erdmann after Rashid in the vicinity of Hulun Barkat and
Kalanchinalt, which latter was on the borders of the Churché or Manchus.
All this points to the vicinity of Buir Nor and Hulan or Kalon Nor (though
the Onon is far from these). But this was _not_ the final defeat of Aung
Khan or Prester John, which took place some time later (in 1203) at a
place called the Chacher Ondur (or Heights), which Gaubil places between
the Tula and the Kerulun, therefore near the modern Urga. Aung Khan was
wounded, and fled over the frontier of the Naiman; the officers of that
tribe seized and killed him. (_Schmidt_, 87, 383; _Erdmann_, 297;
_Gaubil_, p. 10.)
NOTE 2.--A Tartar divination by twigs, but different from that here
employed, is older than Herodotus, who ascribes it to the Scythians. We
hear of one something like the last among the Alans, and (from Tacitus)
among the Germans. The words of Hosea (iv. 12), "My people ask counsel at
their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them," are thus explained by
Theophylactus: "They stuck up a couple of sticks, whilst murmuring certain
charms and incantations; the sticks then, by the operation of devils,
direct or indirect, would fall over, and the direction of their fall was
noted," etc. The Chinese method of divination comes still nearer to that
in the text. It is conducted by tossing in the air two symmetrical pieces
of wood or bamboo of a peculiar form. It is described by Mendoza, and more
particularly, with illustrations, by Doolittle.[1]
But Rubruquis would seem to have witnessed nearly the same process that
Polo describes. He reprehends the conjuring practices of the Nestorian
priests among the Mongols, who seem to have tried to rival the indigenous
_Káms_ or Medicine-men. Visiting the Lady Kuktai, a Christian Queen of
Mangu Kaan, who was ill, he says: "The Nestorians were repeating certain
verses, I know not what (they said it was part of a Psalm), over two twigs
which were brought into contact in the hands of two men. The monk stood by
during the operation" (p. 326).[2] Pétis de la Croix quotes from
Thévenot's travels, a similar mode of divination as much used, before a
fight, among the Barbary corsairs. Two men sit on the deck facing one
another and each holding two arrows by the points, and hitching the
notches of each pair of arrows into the other pair. Then the ship's writer
reads a certain Arabic formula, and it is pretended that whilst this goes
on, the two sets of arrows, _of which one represents the Turks and the
other the Christians_, struggle together in spite of the resistance of the
holders, and finally one rises over the other. This is perhaps the
divination by arrows which is prohibited in the Koran. (_Sura_, V. v. 92.)
It is related by Abulfeda that Mahomed found in the Kaaba an image of
Abraham with such arrows in his hand.
P. della Valle describes the same process, conducted by a Mahomedan
conjuror of Aleppo: "By his incantations he made the four points of the
arrows come together without any movement of the holders, and by the way
the points spontaneously placed themselves, obtained answers to
interrogatories."
And Mr. Jaeschke writes from Lahaul: "There are many different ways of
divination practised among the Buddhists; and that also mentioned by Marco
Polo is known to our Lama, but in a slightly different way, making use of
_two arrows_ instead of a cane split up, wherefore this kind is called
_da-mo_, 'Arrow-divination.'" Indeed the practice is not extinct in India,
for in 1833 Mr. Vigne witnessed its application to detect the robber of a
government chest at Lodiana.
As regards Chinghiz's respect for the Christians there are other stories.
Abulfaragius has one about Chinghiz seeing in a dream a religious person
who promised him success. He told the dream to his wife, Aung Khan's
daughter, who said the description answered to that of the bishop who used
to visit her father. Chinghiz then inquired for a bishop among the Uighúr
Christians in his camp, and they indicated Mar Denha. Chinghiz
thenceforward was milder towards the Christians, and showed them many
distinctions (p. 285). Vincent of Beauvais also speaks of Rabbanta, a
Nestorian monk, who lived in the confidence of Chinghiz's wife, daughter
of "the Christian King David or Prester John," and who used by divination
to make many revelations to the Tartars. We have already said that there
seems no ground for assigning a daughter of Aung Khan as wife to Chinghiz.
But there was a _niece_ of the former, named Abika, among the wives of
Chinghiz. And Rashiduddin _does_ relate a dream of the Kaan's in relation
to her. But it was to the effect that he was divinely commanded to give
her away; and this he did next morning!
(_Rawlins. Herod._ IV. 67; _Amm. Marcell._ XXXI. 2; _Delvio, Disq. Magic._
558; _Mendoza_, Hak. Soc. I. 47; _Doolittle_, 435-436; _Hist. of
Genghizcan_, pp. 52-53; _Preston's al-Hariri_, p. 183; _P. della V._ II.
865-866; _Vigne_, I. 46; _D'Ohsson_, I. 418-419).
[1] [On the Chinese divining-twig, see _Dennys, Folk-lore of China_,
57.--H. C.]
[2] [With reference to this passage from _Rubruck_, Mr. Rockhill says
(195, note): "The mode of divining here referred to is apparently the
same as that described by Polo. It must not however be confounded with
rabdomancy, in which bundles of wands or arrows were used." Ammianus
Marcellinus (XXXI. 2. 350) says this mode of divination was practised
by the Alans. "They have a singular way of divining: they take
straight willow wands and make bundles of them, and on examining them
at a certain time, with certain secret incantations, they know what is
going to happen."--H. C.]
CHAPTER L.
THE BATTLE BETWEEN CHINGHIS KAAN AND PRESTER JOHN.
[Illustration: Death of Chinghiz Khan. (From a miniature in the _Livre des
Merveilles_.)]
And after both sides had rested well those two days, they armed for the
fight and engaged in desperate combat; and it was the greatest battle that
ever was seen. The numbers that were slain on both sides were very great,
but in the end Chinghis Kaan obtained the victory. And in the battle
Prester John was slain. And from that time forward, day by day, his
kingdom passed into the hands of Chinghis Kaan till the whole was
conquered.
I may tell you that Chinghis Kaan reigned six years after this battle,
engaged continually in conquest, and taking many a province and city and
stronghold. But at the end of those six years he went against a certain
castle that was called CAAJU, and there he was shot with an arrow in the
knee, so that he died of his wound. A great pity it was, for he was a
valiant man and a wise.[NOTE 1]
I will now tell you who reigned after Chinghis, and then about the manners
and customs of the Tartars.
NOTE 1.--Chinghiz in fact survived Aung Khan some 24 years, dying during
his fifth expedition against Tangut, 18th August 1227, aged 65 according
to the Chinese accounts, 72 according to the Persian. Sanang Setzen says
that Kurbeljin Goa Khatún, the beautiful Queen of Tangut, who had passed
into the tents of the conqueror, did him some bodily mischief (it is not
said what), and then went and drowned herself in the Karamuren (or
Hwang-ho), which thenceforth was called by the Mongols the _Khátún-gol_, or
Lady's River, a name which it in fact still bears. Carpini relates that
Chinghiz was killed by lightning. The Persian and Chinese historians,
however, agree in speaking of his death as natural. Gaubil calls the place
of his death Lou-pan, which he says was in lat. 38°. Rashiduddin calls it
Leung-Shan, which appears to be the mountain range still so called in the
heart of Shensi.
The name of the place before which Polo represents him as mortally wounded
is very variously given. According to Gaubil, Chinghiz was in reality
dangerously wounded by an arrow-shot at the siege of Taitongfu in 1212.
And it is possible, as Oppert suggests, that Polo's account of his death
before _Caagiu_ (as I prefer the reading), arose out of a confusion
between this circumstance and those of the death of _Mangku Kaan_, which
is said to have occurred at the assault of Hochau in Sze-ch'uan, a name
which Polo would write _Caagiu_, or nearly so. Abulfaragius specifically
says that Mangku Kaan died _by an arrow_; though it is true that other
authors say he died of disease, and Haiton that he was drowned; all which
shows how excusable were Polo's errors as to events occurring 50 to 100
years before his time. (See _Oppert's Presbyter Johannes_, p. 76; _De
Mailla_, IX. 275, and note; _Gaubil_, 18, 50, 52, 121; _Erdmann_, 443;
_Ss. Setzen_, 103.)
It is only by referring back to ch. xlvii., where we are told that
Chinghiz "began to think of conquering a great part of the world," that we
see Polo to have been really aware of the vast extent and aim of the
conquests of Chinghiz; the _aim_ being literally the conquest of the world
as he conceived it; the _extent_ of the empire which he initiated actually
covering (probably) one half of the whole number of the human race. (See
remarks in _Koeppen, Die Relig. des Buddha_, II. 86.)
CHAPTER LI.
OF THOSE WHO DID REIGN AFTER CHINGHIS KAAN, AND OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE
TARTARS.
Now the next that reigned after Chinghis Kaan, their first Lord,[NOTE 1]
was CUY KAAN, and the third Prince was BATUY KAAN, and the fourth was
ALACOU KAAN, the fifth MONGOU KAAN, the sixth CUBLAY KAAN, who is the
sovereign now reigning, and is more potent than any of the five who went
before him; in fact, if you were to take all those five together, they
would not be so powerful as he is.[NOTE 2] Nay, I will say yet more; for
if you were to put together all the Christians in the world, with their
Emperors and their Kings, the whole of these Christians,--aye, and throw
in the Saracens to boot,--would not have such power, or be able to do so
much as this Cublay, who is the Lord of all the Tartars in the world,
those of the Levant and of the Ponent included; for these are all his
liegemen and subjects. I mean to show you all about this great power of
his in this book of ours.
You should be told also that all the Grand Kaans, and all the descendants
of Chinghis their first Lord, are carried to a mountain that is called
ALTAY to be interred. Wheresoever the Sovereign may die, he is carried to
his burial in that mountain with his predecessors; no matter an the place
of his death were 100 days' journey distant, thither must he be carried to
his burial.[NOTE 3]
Let me tell you a strange thing too. When they are carrying the body of
any Emperor to be buried with the others, the convoy that goes with the
body doth put to the sword all whom they fall in with on the road, saying:
"Go and wait upon your Lord in the other world!" For they do in sooth
believe that all such as they slay in this manner do go to serve their
Lord in the other world. They do the same too with horses; for when the
Emperor dies, they kill all his best horses, in order that he may have the
use of them in the other world, as they believe. And I tell you as a
certain truth, that when Mongou Kaan died, more than 20,000 persons, who
chanced to meet the body on its way, were slain in the manner I have
told.[NOTE 4]
NOTE 1.--Before parting with Chinghiz let me point out what has not to my
knowledge been suggested before, that the name of "_Cambuscan_ bold" in
Chaucer's tale is only a corruption of the name of Chinghiz. The name of
the conqueror appears in Fr. Ricold as _Camiuscan_, from which the
transition to Cambuscan presents no difficulty. _Camius_ was, I suppose, a
clerical corruption out of _Canjus_ or _Cianjus_. In the chronicle of St.
Antonino, however, we have him called "_Chinghiscan rectius_ Tamgius
_Cam_" (XIX. c. 8). If this is not merely the usual blunder of _t_ for
_c_, it presents a curious analogy to the form _Tankiz Khán_ always used
by Ibn Batuta. I do not know the origin of the latter, unless it was
suggested by _tankis_ (Ar.) "Turning upside down." (See _Pereg. Quat._, p.
119; _I. B._ III. 22, etc.)
NOTE 2.--Polo's history here is inadmissible. He introduces into the list
of the supreme Kaans _Batu_, who was only Khan of Kipchak (the Golden
Horde), and _Hulaku_ who was Khan of Persia, whilst he omits _Okkodai_,
the immediate successor of Chinghiz. It is also remarkable that he uses
the form _Alacou_ here instead of _Alaü_ as elsewhere; nor does he seem to
mean the same person, for he was quite well aware that _Alaü_ was Lord of
the Levant, who sent ambassadors to the Great Khan Cúbláy, and could not
therefore be one of his predecessors. The real succession ran: 1.
Chinghiz; 2. Okkodai; 3. Kuyuk; 4. Mangku; 5. Kúblái.
There are quite as great errors in the history of Haiton, who had probably
greater advantages in this respect than Marco. And I may note that in
Teixeira's abridgment of Mirkhond, Hulaku is made to succeed Mangku Kaan
on the throne of Chinghiz. (_Relaciones_, p. 338.)
NOTE 3.--The ALTAI here certainly does not mean the Great South Siberian
Range to which the name is now applied. Both _Altai_ and _Altun-Khan_
appear sometimes to be applied by Sanang Setzen to the Khingan of the
Chinese, or range running immediately north of the Great Wall near Kalgan.
(See ch. lxi. note I.) But in reference to this matter of the burial of
Chinghiz, he describes the place as "the district of Yekeh Utek, between
the shady side of the Altai-Khan and the sunny side of the Kentei-Khan."
Now the Kentei-Khan (_khan_ here meaning "mountain") is near the sources
of the Onon, immediately to the north-east of Urga; and Altai-Khan in this
connection cannot mean the hills near the Great Wall, 500 miles distant.
According to Rashiduddin, Chinghiz was buried at a place called _Búrkán
Káldún_ ("God's Hill"), or _Yekeh Kúrúk_ ("The Great Sacred or Tabooed
Place"); in another passage he calls the spot _Búdah Undúr_ (which means,
I fancy, the same as Búrkán Káldún), near the River Selenga. Búrkán Kaldún
is often mentioned by Sanang Setzen, and Quatremère seems to demonstrate
the identity of this place with the mountain called by Pallas (and
Timkowski) _Khanoolla_. This is a lofty mountain near Urga, covered with
dense forest, and is indeed the first woody mountain reached in travelling
from Peking. It is still held sacred by the Mongols and guarded from
access, though the tradition of Chinghiz's grave seems to be extinct. Now,
as this Khanoolla ("Mount Royal," for _khan_ here means "sovereign," and
_oolla_ "mountain") stands immediately to the south of the _Kentei_
mentioned in the quotation from S. Setzen, this identification agrees with
his statement, on the supposition that the Khanoolla is the Altai of the
same quotation. The Khanoolla must also be the _Han_ mountain which Mongol
chiefs claiming descent from Chinghiz named to Gaubil as the burial-place
of that conqueror. Note that the Khanoolla, which we suppose to be the
Altai of Polo, and here of Sanang Setzen, belongs to a range known as
_Khingan_, whilst we see that Setzen elsewhere applies Altai and
Altan-Khan to the other Khingan near the Great Wall.
Erdmann relates, apparently after Rashiduddin, that Chinghiz was buried at
the foot of a tree which had taken his fancy on a hunting expedition, and
which he had then pointed out as the place where he desired to be
interred. It was then conspicuous, but afterwards the adjoining trees shot
up so rapidly, that a dense wood covered the whole locality, and it became
impossible to identify the spot. (_Q. R._ 117 seqq.; _Timk._ I. 115 seqq.,
II. 475-476; _San. Setz._ 103, 114-115, 108-109; _Gaubil_, 54; _Erd._
444.)
["There are no accurate indications," says Palladius (l.c. pp. 11-13), "in
the documents of the Mongol period on the burial-places of Chingiz Khan
and of the Khans who succeeded him. The _Yuan-shi_ or 'History of the
Mongol Dynasty in China,' in speaking of the burial of the Khans, mentions
only that they used to be conveyed from Peking to the north, to their
common burial-ground in the _K'i-lien_ Valley. This name cannot have
anything in common with the ancient _K'i-lien_ of the Hiung-nu, a hill
situated to the west of the Mongol desert; the _K'i-lien_ of the Mongols
is to be sought more to the east. When Khubilai marched out against Prince
Nayan, and reached the modern Talnor, news was received of the occupation
of the Khan's burial-ground by the rebels. They held out there very long,
which exceedingly afflicted Khubilai [_Yuan shi lui pien_]; and this goes
to prove that the tombs could not be situated much to the west. Some more
positive information on this subject is found in the diary of the campaign
in Mongolia in 1410, of the Ming Emperor Yung-lo [_Pe ching lu_]. He
reached the Kerulen at the place where this river, after running south,
takes an easterly direction. The author of the diary notes, that from a
place one march and a half before reaching the Kerulen, a very large
mountain was visible to the north-east, and at its foot a solitary high
and pointed hillock, covered with stones. The author says, that the
sovereigns of the house of Yuan used to be buried near this hill. It may
therefore be plausibly supposed that the tombs of the Mongol Khans were
near the Kerulen, and that the 'K'i-lien' of the _Yuan shi_ is to be
applied to this locality; it seems to me even, that K'i-lien is an
abbreviation, customary to Chinese authors, of Kerulen. The way of burying
the Mongol Khans is described in the _Yuan shi_ (ch. 'On the national
religious rites of the Mongols'), as well as in the _Ch'ue keng lu_,
'Memoirs of the time of the Yuan Dynasty.' When burying, the greatest care
was taken to conceal from outside people the knowledge of the locality of
the tomb. With this object in view, after the tomb was closed, a drove of
horses was driven over it, and by this means the ground was, for a
considerable distance, trampled down and levelled. It is added to this
(probably from hearsay) in the _Ts'ao mu tze Memoirs_ (also of the time of
the Yuan Dynasty), that a young camel used to be killed (in the presence
of its mother) on the tomb of the deceased Khan; afterwards, when the time
of the usual offerings of the tomb approached, the mother of this
immolated camel was set at liberty, and she came crying to the place where
it was killed; the locality of the tomb was ascertained in this way."
The Archimandrite Palladius adds in a footnote: "Our well-known Mongolist
N. Golovkin has told us, that according to a story actually current among
the Mongols, the tombs of the former Mongol Khans are situated near
Tasola Hill, equally in the vicinity of the Kerulen. He states also that
even now the Mongols are accustomed to assemble on that hill on the seventh
day of the seventh moon (according to an ancient custom), in order to adore
Chingiz Khan's tomb. Altan tobchi (translated into Russian by Galsan
Gomboeff), in relating the history of the Mongols after their expulsion
from China, and speaking of the Khans' tombs, calls them _Naiman tzagan
gher_, i.e. 'Eight White Tents' (according to the number of chambers for
the souls of the chief deceased Khans in Peking), and sometimes simply
_Tzagan gher_, 'the White Tent,' which, according to the translator's
explanation, denotes only Chingiz Khan's tomb."
"According to the Chinese Annals (_T'ung kien kang mu_), quoted by Dr. E.
Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ I. p. 157), Chinghiz died near the _Liu p'an
shan_ in 1227, after having subdued the Tangut empire. On modern Chinese
maps _Liu p'an shan_ is marked south of the city of _Ku yüan chou_,
department of _P'ing liang_, in _Kan suh_. The _Yüan shí_ however, implies
that he died in Northern Mongolia. We read there, in the annals, _s.a._
1227, that in the fifth intercalary month the Emperor moved to the
mountain _Liu p'an shan_ in order to avoid the heat of the summer. In the
sixth month the empire of the _Hia_ (Tangut) submitted. Chinghiz rested on
the river _Si Kiang_ in the district of _Ts'ing shui_ (in Kansuh; it has
still the same name). In autumn, in the seventh month (August), on the day
_jen wu_, the Emperor fell ill, and eight days later died in his palace
_Ha-lao-t'u_ on the River _Sa-li_. This river Sali is repeatedly mentioned
in the _Yüan shi_, viz. in the first chapter, in connection with the first
military doings of Chinghiz. Rashid reports (_D'Ohsson_, I. 58) that
Chinghiz in 1199 retired to his residence _Sari Kihar_. The _Yüan chao pi
shi_ (Palladius' transl., 81) writes the same name _Saari Keher_ (_Keher_
in modern Mongol means 'a plain'). On the ancient map of Mongolia found in
the _Yüan shi lei pien_, _Sa-li K'ie-rh_ is marked south of the river
_Wa-nan_ (the _Onon_ of our maps), and close to _Sa-li K'ie-rh_ we read:
'Here was the original abode of the Yüan' (Mongols). Thus it seems the
passage in the Yüan history translated above intimates that Chinghiz died
in Mongolia, and not near the _Liu p'an shan_, as is generally believed.
The _Yüan ch'ao pi shi_ (Palladius' transl., 152) and the _'Ts'in cheng lu_
(Palladius' transl., 195) both agree in stating that, after subduing the
Tangut empire, Chinghiz returned home, and then died. Colonel Yule, in his
_Marco Polo_ (I. 245), states 'that Rashid calls the place of Chinghiz'
death _Leung shan_, which appears to be the mountain range still so-called
in the heart of Shensi.' I am not aware from what translation of Rashid,
Yule's statement is derived, but d'Ohsson (I. 375, note) seems to quote the
same passage in translating from Rashid: '_Liu-p'an-shan_ was situated on
the frontiers of the _Churche_ (empire of the _Kin_), _Nangias_ (empire of
the _Sung_) and _Tangut_;' which statement is quite correct."
We now come to the Mongol tradition, which places the tomb of Chinghiz in
the country of the Ordos, in the great bend of the Yellow River.
Two Belgian missionaries, MM. de Vos and Verlinden, who visited the tomb
of Chinghiz Khan, say that before the Mahomedan invasion, on a hill a few
feet high, there were two courtyards, one in front of the other,
surrounded by palisades. In the second courtyard, there were a building
like a Chinese dwelling-house and six tents. In a double tent are kept the
remains of the _bokta_ (the Holy). The neighbouring tents contained
various precious objects, such as a gold saddle, dishes, drinking-cups, a
tripod, a kettle, and many other utensils, all in solid silver. (_Missions
Catholiques_, No. 315, 18th June, 1875.)--This periodical gives (p. 293) a
sketch of the tomb of the Conqueror, according to the account of the two
missionaries.
Prjevalsky (_Mongolia and Tangut_) relates the story of the _Khatún Gol_
(see supra, p. 245), and says that her tomb is situated at 11 versts
north-east of lake of Dzaïdemin Nor, and is called by the Mongols
Tumir-Alku, and by the Chinese Djiou-Djin Fu; one of the legends mentioned
by the Russian traveller gives the Ordo country as the burial-place of
Chinghiz, 200 versts south of lake Dabasun Nor; the remains are kept in two
coffins, one of wood, the other of silver; the Khan prophesied that after
eight or ten centuries he would come to life again and fight the Emperor of
China, and being victorious, would take the Mongols from the Ordos back to
their country of Khalka; Prjevalsky did not see the tomb, nor did Potanin.
"Their holiest place [of the Mongols of Ordos] is a collection of felt
tents called 'Edjen-joro,' reputed to contain the bones of Jenghiz Khan.
These sacred relics are entrusted to the care of a caste of Darhats,
numbering some fifty families. Every summer, on the twenty-first day of
the sixth moon, sacrifices are offered up in his honour, when numbers of
people congregate to join in the celebration, such gatherings being called
_táilgan_." On the southern border of the Ordos are the ruins of
Boro-balgasun [Grey town], said to date from Jenghiz Khan's time.
(_Potanin_, _Proc. R. G. S._ IX. 1887, p. 233.)
The last traveller who visited the tomb of Chinghiz is M. C. E. Bonin, in
July 1896; he was then on the banks of the Yellow River in the northern
part of the Ordo country, which is exclusively inhabited by nomadic and
pastoral Mongols, forming seven tribes or hords, Djungar, Talat, Wan,
Ottok, Djassak, Wushun and Hangkin, among which are eastward the Djungar
and in the centre the Wan; according to their own tradition, these tribes
descend from the seven armies encamped in the country at the time of
Chinghiz's death; the King of Djungar was 67 years of age, and was the
chief of all the tribes, being considered the 37th descendant of the
conqueror in a direct line. His predecessor was the Wushun Wang. M. Bonin
gives (_Revue de Paris_, 15th February 1898) the following description of
the tomb and of the country surrounding it. Between the _yamen_ (palace)
of the King (Wang) of Djungar and the tomb of Chinghiz-Khan, there are
five or six marches made difficult by the sands of the Gobi, but horses
and camels may be used for the journey. The road, southward through the
desert, passes near the great lama-monastery called _Barong-tsao_ or
_Si-tsao_ (Monastery of the West), and in Chinese _San-t'ang sse_ (Three
Temples). This celebrated monastery was built by the King of Djungar to
hold the tablets of his ancestors--on the ruins of an old temple, said to
have been erected by Chinghiz himself. More than a thousand lamas are
registered there, forty of them live at the expense of the Emperor of
China. Crossing afterwards the two upper branches of the Ulan Múren (Red
River) on the banks of which Chinghiz was murdered, according to local
tradition, close to the lake of Chahan Nor (White Lake), near which are
the tents of the Prince of Wan, one arrives at last at the spot called
_Yeke-Etjen-Koro_, in Mongol: the abode of the Great Lord, where the tomb
is to be found. It is erected to the south-east of the village, comprising
some twenty tents or tent-like huts built of earth. Two large white felt
tents, placed side by side, similar to the tents of the modern Mongols,
but much larger, cover the tomb; a red curtain, when drawn, discloses the
large and low silver coffin, which contains the ashes of the Emperor,
placed on the ground of the second tent; it is shaped like a big trunk,
with great rosaces engraved upon it. The Emperor, according to local
tradition, was cremated on the bank of the Ulan Muren, where he is
supposed to have been slain. On the twenty-first day of the third moon the
anniversary fête of Mongolia takes place; on this day of the year only are
the two mortuary tents opened, and the coffin is exhibited to be venerated
by people coming from all parts of Mongolia. Many other relics, dispersed
all over the Ordo land, are brought thither on this occasion; these relics
called in Mongol _Chinghiz Bogdo_ (Sacred remains of Chinghiz) number ten;
they are in the order adopted by the Mongols: the saddle of Chinghiz,
hidden in the Wan territory; the bow, kept at a place named Hu-ki-ta-lao
Hei, near Yeke Etjen-Koro; the remains of his war-horse, called
Antegan-tsegun (more), preserved at Kebere in the Djungar territory; a
fire-arm kept in the palace of the King of Djungar; a wooden and leather
vase called Pao-lao-antri, kept at the place Shien-ni-chente; a wax figure
containing the ashes of the Khan's equerry, called Altaqua-tosu, kept at
Ottok (one of the seven tribes); the remains of the second wife, who lay at
Kiasa, on the banks of the Yellow River, at a place called on Prjevalsky's
map in Chinese Djiou-Djin-fu, and in Mongol Tumir-Alku; the tomb of the
third wife of Chinghiz, who killed him, and lay to-day at Bagha-Ejen-Koro,
"the abode of the little Sovereign," at a day's march to the south of the
Djungar King's palace; the very tomb of Yeke-Etjen-Koro, which is supposed
to contain also the ashes of the first wife of the Khan; and last, his
great standard, a black wood spear planted in the desert, more than 150
miles to the south of the tomb; the iron of it never gets rusty; no one
dares touch it, and therefore it is not carried to Yeke-Etjen-Koro with the
other relics for the yearly festival. (See also _Rockhill, Diary_, p. 29.)
--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--Rashiduddin relates that the escort, in carrying Chinghiz to his
burial, slew all whom they met, and that forty noble and beautiful girls
were despatched to serve him in the other world, as well as superb horses.
As Mangku Kaan died in the heart of China, any attempt to carry out the
barbarous rule in his case would involve great slaughter. (_Erd._ 443;
_D'Ohsson_, I. 381, II. 13; and see _Cathay_, 507-508.)
Sanang Setzen ignores these barbarities. He describes the body of Chinghiz
as removed to his native land on a two-wheeled waggon, the whole host
escorting it, and wailing as they went: "And Kiluken Bahadur of the Sunid
Tribe (one of the Khan's old comrades) lifted up his voice and sang--
'Whilom Thou didst swoop like a Falcon: A rumbling waggon now
trundles thee off:
O My King!
Hast thou in truth then forsaken thy wife and thy children
and the Diet of thy People?
O My King!
Circling in pride like an Eagle whilom Thou didst lead us,
O My King!
But now Thou hast stumbled and fallen, like an unbroken Colt,
O My King!'" (p. 108.)
["The burying of living men with the dead was a general custom with the
tribes of Eastern Asia. Favourite servants and wives were usually buried
in this way. In China, the chief wives and those concubines who had
already borne children, were exempted from this lot. The Tunguz and other
tribes were accustomed to kill the selected victims by strangulation. In
China they used to be buried alive; but the custom of burying living men
ceased in A.D. 1464. [_Hwang ming ts'ung sin lu_.] In the time of the
present Manchu Dynasty, the burying of living men was prohibited by the
Emperor Kang-hi, at the close of the 17th century, i.e. the forced
burying; but voluntary sepulture remained in force [_Yu chi wen_].
Notwithstanding this prohibition, cases of forced burying occurred again
in remote parts of Manchuria; when a concubine refused to follow her
deceased master, she was forcibly strangled with a bow-string [_Ninguta
chi_]. I must observe, however, that there is no mention made in
historical documents of the existence of this custom with the Mongols; it
is only an hypothesis based on the analogy between the religious ideas and
customs of the Mongols and those of other tribes." (_Palladius_, p. 13.)
In his _Religious System of China_, II., Dr. J. J. M. de Groot devotes a
whole chapter (ix. 721 seqq.), _Concerning the Sacrifice of Human Beings
at Burials, and Usages connected therewith_. The oldest case on record in
China dates as far back as B.C. 677, when sixty-six men were killed after
the ruler Wu of the state of Ts'in died.
The Official Annals of the Tartar Dynasty of Liao, quoted by Professor J.
J. M. de Groot (_Religious System of China_, vol. ii. 698), state that "in
the tenth year of the T'ung hwo period (A.D. 692) the killing of horses
for funeral and burial rites was interdicted, as also the putting into the
tombs of coats of mail, helmets, and articles and trinkets of gold and
silver." Professor de Groot writes (l.c. 709): "But, just as the placing
of victuals in the graves was at an early date changed into sacrifices of
food outside the graves, so burying horses with the dead was also modified
under the Han Dynasty into presenting them to the dead without interring
them, and valueless counterfeits were on such occasions substituted for
the real animals."--H. C.]
CHAPTER LII.
CONCERNING THE CUSTOMS OF THE TARTARS.
Now that we have begun to speak of the Tartars, I have plenty to tell you
on that subject. The Tartar custom is to spend the winter in warm plains,
where they find good pasture for their cattle, whilst in summer they
betake themselves to a cool climate among the mountains and valleys, where
water is to be found as well as woods and pastures.
Their houses are circular, and are made of wands covered with felts.[NOTE
1] These are carried along with them whithersoever they go; for the wands
are so strongly bound together, and likewise so well combined, that the
frame can be made very light. Whenever they erect these huts the door is
always to the south. They also have waggons covered with black felt so
efficaciously that no rain can get in. These are drawn by oxen and camels,
and the women and children travel in them.[NOTE 2] The women do the buying
and selling, and whatever is necessary to provide for the husband and
household; for the men all lead the life of gentlemen, troubling
themselves about nothing but hunting and hawking, and looking after their
goshawks and falcons, unless it be the practice of warlike exercises.
They 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.[NOTE 3] Their drink is mare's milk.
They are very careful not to meddle with each other's wives, and will not
do so on any account, holding that to be an evil and abominable thing. The
women too are very good and loyal to their husbands, and notable
housewives withal.[NOTE 4] [Ten or twenty of them will dwell together in
charming peace and unity, nor shall you ever hear an ill word among them.]
The marriage customs of Tartars are as follows. Any man may take a hundred
wives an he so please, and if he be able to keep them. But the first wife
is ever held most in honour, and as the most legitimate [and the same
applies to the sons whom she may bear]. The husband gives a marriage
payment to his wife's mother, and the wife brings nothing to her husband.
They have more children than other people, because they have so many
wives. They may marry their cousins, and if a father dies, his son may
take any of the wives, his own mother always excepted; that is to say the
eldest son may do this, but no other. A man may also take the wife of his
own brother after the latter's death. Their weddings are celebrated with
great ado.[NOTE 5]
NOTE 1.--The word here in the G. T. is "_fennes_," which seems usually to
mean _ropes_, and in fact Pauthier's text reads: "_Il ont mesons de verges
et les cueuvrent de cordes_." Ramusio's text has _feltroni_, and both
Muller and the Latin of the S. G. have _filtro_. This is certainly the
right reading. But whether _fennes_ was ever used as a form of _feltres_
(as _pennes_ means _peltry_) I cannot discover. Perhaps some words have
dropped out. A good description of a Kirghiz hut (35 feet in diameter),
and exactly corresponding to Polo's account, will be found in _Atkinson's
Siberia_, and another in _Vámbéry's Travels_. How comfortable and
civilised the aspect of such a hut may be, can be seen also in Burnes's
account of a Turkoman dwelling of this kind. This description of hut or
tent is common to nearly all the nomade tribes of Central Asia. The
trellis-work forming the skeleton of the tent-walls is (at least among the
Turkomans) loosely pivoted, so as to draw out and compress like
"lazy-tongs."
[Illustration: Dressing up a tent.]
Rubruquis, Pallas, Timkowski, and others, notice the custom of turning the
door to the south; the reason is obvious. (_Atkinson_, 285; _Vámb._ 316;
_Burnes_, III. 51; _Conolly_, I. 96) But throughout the Altai, Mr. Ney
Elias informs me, K'alkas, Kirghiz, and Kalmaks all pitch their tents
facing _east_. The prevailing winter wind is there _westerly_.
[Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 56, note) says that he has often seen Mongol
tents facing east and south-east. He adds: "It is interesting to find it
noted in the _Chou Shu_ (Bk. 50, 3) that the Khan of the Turks, who lived
always on the Tu-kin mountains, had his tent invariably facing south, so
as to show reverence to the sun's rising place."--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--Aeschylus already knows the
"wandering Scyths who dwell
In latticed huts high-poised on easy wheels."
(_Prom. Vinct._ 709-710.)
And long before him Hesiod says Phineus was carried by the Harpies--
"To the Land of the Milk-fed nations, whose houses are waggons."
(_Strabo_, vii. 3-9.)
Ibn Batuta describes the Tartar waggon in which he travelled to Sarai as
mounted on four great wheels, and drawn by two or more horses:--
"On the waggon is put a sort of pavilion of wands laced together with
narrow thongs. It is very light, and is covered with felt or cloth, and
has latticed windows, so that the person inside can look out without being
seen. He can change his position at pleasure, sleeping or eating, reading
or writing, during the journey." These waggons were sometimes of enormous
size. Rubruquis declares that he measured between the wheel-tracks of one
and found the interval to be 20 feet. The axle was like a ship's mast, and
twenty-two oxen were yoked to the waggon, eleven abreast. (See opposite
cut.) He describes the huts as not usually taken to pieces, but carried
all standing. The waggon just mentioned carried a hut of 30 feet diameter,
for it projected beyond the wheels at least 5 feet on either side. In
fact, Carpini says explicitly, "Some of the huts are speedily taken to
pieces and put up again; such are packed on the beasts. Others cannot be
taken to pieces, but are carried bodily on the waggons. To carry the
smaller tents on a waggon one ox may serve; for the larger ones three oxen
or four, or even more, according to the size." The carts that were used to
transport the Tartar valuables were covered with felt soaked in tallow or
ewe's milk, to make them waterproof. The tilts of these were rectangular,
in the form of a large trunk. The carts used in Kashgar, as described by
Mr. Shaw, seem to resemble these latter. (_I. B._ II. 381-382; _Rub._ 221;
_Carp._ 6, 16.)
The words of Herodotus, speaking generally of the Scyths, apply perfectly
to the Mongol hordes under Chinghiz: "Having neither cities nor forts, and
carrying their dwellings with them wherever they go; accustomed, moreover,
one and all, to shoot from horseback; and living not by husbandry but on
their cattle, their waggons the only houses that they possess, how can
they fail of being unconquerable?" (Bk. IV. ch. 46, p. 41, _Rawlins._)
Scythian prisoners in their waggons are represented on the Column of
Theodosius at Constantinople; but it is difficult to believe that these
waggons, at least as figured in Banduri, have any really Scythian
character.
It is a curious fact that the practice of carrying these _yurts_ or felt
tents upon waggons appears to be entirely obsolete in Mongolia. Mr. Ney
Elias writes: "I frequently showed your picture [that opposite] to
Mongols, Chinese, and Russian border-traders, but none had ever seen
anything of the kind. The only cart I have ever seen used by Mongols is a
little low, light, roughly-made bullock-dray, _certainly_ of Chinese
importation." The old system would, however, appear to have been kept up
to our own times by the Nogai Tartars, near the Sea of Azof. (See note
from Heber, in _Clark's Travels_, 8vo ed. I. 440, and Dr. Clark's vignette
at p. 394 in the same volume.)
[Illustration: Mediaeval Tartar Huts and Waggons.]
NOTE 3.--_Pharaoh's Rat_ was properly the Gerboa of Arabia and North
Africa, which the Arabs also regard as a dainty. There is a kindred animal
in Siberia, called _Alactaga_, and a kind of Kangaroo-rat (probably the
same) is mentioned as very abundant on the Mongolian Steppe. There is also
the _Zieselmaus_ of Pallas, a Dormouse, I believe, which he says the
Kalmaks, even of distinction, count a delicacy, especially cooked in sour
milk. "They eat not only the flesh of all their different kinds of cattle,
including horses and camels, but also that of many wild animals which
other nations eschew, e.g. marmots and _zieselmice_, beavers, badgers,
otters, and lynxes, leaving none untouched except the dog and weasel kind,
and also (unless _very_ hard pressed) the flesh of the fox and the wolf."
(_Pallas, Samml._ I. 128; also _Rubr._ 229-230.)
["In the Mongol biography of Chinghiz Khan (Mongol text of the _Yuan ch'ao
pi shi_), mention is made of two kinds of animals (mice) used for food;
the tarbagat (_Aritomys Bobac_) and _kuchugur_." (_Palladius_, l.c. p.
14.) Regarding the marmots called _Sogur_ by Rubruquis, Mr. Rockhill
writes (p. 69): "Probably the _Mus citillus_, the _Suslik_ of the
Russians.... M. Grenard tells me that _Soghur_, more usually written
_sour_ in Turki, is the ordinary name of the marmot."--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--"Their wives are chaste; nor does one ever hear any talk of their
immodesty," says Carpini;--no Boccaccian and Chaucerian stories.
NOTE 5.--"The Mongols are not prohibited from having a plurality of wives;
the first manages the domestic concerns, and is the most respected."
(_Timk._ II. 310.) Naturally Polygamy is not so general among the Mongols
as when Asia lay at their feet. The Buraets, who seem to retain the old
Mongol customs in great completeness, are polygamists, and have as many
wives as they choose. Polygamy is also very prevalent among the Yakuts,
whose lineage seems to be Eastern Turk. (_Ritter_, III. 125; _Erman_, II.
346.)
Of the custom that entitled the son on succeeding to take such as he
pleased of his deceased father's wives, we have had some illustration (see
_Prologue_, ch. xvii. note 2), and many instances will be found in
Hammer's or other Mongol Histories. The same custom seems to be ascribed
by Herodotus to the Scyths (IV. 78). A number of citations regarding the
practice are given by Quatremère. (_Q. R._ p. 92.) A modern Mongol writer
in the _Mélanges Asiatiques_ of the Petersburg Academy, states that the
custom of taking a deceased brother's wives is now obsolete, but that a
proverb preserves its memory (II. 656). It is the custom of some Mahomedan
nations, notably of the Afghans, and is one of those points that have been
cited as a supposed proof of their Hebrew lineage.
"The Kalin is a present which the Bridegroom or his parents make to the
parents of the Bride. All the Pagan nations of Siberia have this custom;
they differ only in what constitutes the present, whether money or
cattle." (_Gmelin_, I. 29; see also _Erman_, II. 348.)
CHAPTER LIII.
CONCERNING THE GOD OF THE TARTARS.
This is the fashion of their religion. [They say there is a Most High God
of Heaven, whom they worship daily with thurible and incense, but they
pray to Him only for health of mind and body. But] they have [also] a
certain [other] god of theirs called NATIGAY, and they say he is the god
of the Earth, who watches over their children, cattle, and crops. They
show him great worship and honour, and every man hath a figure of him in
his house, made of felt and cloth; and they also make in the same manner
images of his wife and children. The wife they put on the left hand, and
the children in front. And when they eat, they take the fat of the meat
and grease the god's mouth withal, as well as the mouths of his wife and
children. Then they take of the broth and sprinkle it before the door of
the house; and that done, they deem that their god and his family have had
their share of the dinner.[NOTE 1]
Their drink is mare's milk, prepared in such a way that you would take
it for white wine; and a right good drink it is, called by them
_Kemiz_.[NOTE 2]
The clothes of the wealthy Tartars are for the most part of gold and silk
stuffs, lined with costly furs, such as sable and ermine, vair and
fox-skin, in the richest fashion.
NOTE 1.--There is no reference here to Buddhism, which was then of recent
introduction among the Mongols; indeed, at the end of the chapter, Polo
speaks of their new adoption of the Chinese idolatry, i.e. Buddhism. We
may add here that the Buddhism of the Mongols decayed and became
practically extinct after their expulsion from China (1368-1369). The old
Shamanism then apparently revived; nor was it till 1577 that the great
reconversion of Mongolia to Lamaism began. This reconversion is the most
prominent event in the Mongol history of Sanang Setzen, whose
great-grandfather Khutuktai Setzen, Prince of the Ordos, was a chief agent
in the movement.
The Supreme Good Spirit appears to have been called by the Mongols
_Tengri_ (Heaven), and _Khormuzda_, and is identified by Schmidt with the
Persian Hormuzd. In Buddhist times he became identified with Indra.
Plano Carpini's account of this matter is very like Marco's: "They believe
in one God, the Maker of all things, visible and invisible, and the
Distributor of good and evil in this world; but they worship Him not with
prayers or praises or any kind of service. Natheless, they have certain
idols of felt, imitating the human face, and having underneath the face
something resembling teats; these they place on either side of the door.
These they believe to be the guardians of the flocks, from whom they have
the boons of milk and increase. Others they fabricate of bits of silk, and
these are highly honoured;... and whenever they begin to eat or drink,
they first offer these idols a portion of their food or drink."
The account agrees generally with what we are told of the original
Shamanism of the Tunguses, which recognizes a Supreme Power over all, and
a small number of potent spirits called _Ongot_. These spirits among the
Buraets are called, according to one author, _Nougait_ or _Nogat_, and
according to Erman _Ongotui_. In some form of this same word, _Nogait,
Ongot, Onggod, Ongotui_, we are, I imagine, to trace the _Natigay_ of
Polo. The modern representative of this Shamanist _Lar_ is still found
among the Buraets, and is thus described by Pallas under the name of
_Immegiljin_: "He is honoured as the tutelary god of the sheep and other
cattle. Properly, the divinity consists of _two_ figures, hanging side by
side, one of whom represents the god's wife. These two figures are merely
a pair of lanky flat bolsters with the upper part shaped into a round
disk, and the body hung with a long woolly fleece; eyes, nose, breasts,
and navel, being indicated by leather knobs stitched on. The male figure
commonly has at his girdle the foot-rope with which horses at pasture are
fettered, whilst the female, which is sometimes accompanied by smaller
figures representing her children, has all sorts of little nicknacks and
sewing implements." Galsang Czomboyef, a recent Russo-Mongol writer
already quoted, says also: "Among the Buryats, in the middle of the hut
and place of honour, is the _Dsaiagaçhi_ or 'Chief Creator of Fortune.' At
the door is the _Emelgelji_, the Tutelary of the Herds and Young Cattle,
made of sheepskins. Outside the hut is the _Chandaghatu_, a name implying
that the idol was formed of a white hare-skin, the Tutelary of the Chase
and perhaps of War. All these have been expelled by Buddhism except
Dsaiagachi, who is called _Tengri_, and introduced among the Buddhist
divinities."
[Illustration: Tartar Idols and Kumis Churn.]
[Dorji Banzaroff, in his dissertation _On the Black Religion_, i.e.
Shamanism, 1846, "is disposed to see in Natigay of M. Polo, the Ytoga of
other travellers, i.e. the Mongol _Etugen_--'earth,' as the object of
veneration of the Mongol Shamans. They look upon it as a divinity, for its
power as _Delegei in echen_, i.e. 'the Lord of Earth,' and on account of
its productiveness, _Altan delegei_, i.e. 'Golden Earth.'" Palladius (l.c.
pp. 14-16) adds one new variant to what the learned Colonel Yule has
collected and set forth with such precision, on the Shaman household gods.
"The Dahurs and Barhus have in their dwellings, according to the number of
the male members of the family, puppets made of straw, on which eyes,
eyebrows, and mouth are drawn; these puppets are dressed up to the waist.
When some one of the family dies, his puppet is taken out of the house,
and a new puppet is made for every newly-born member of the family. On New
Year's Day offerings are made to the puppets, and care is taken not to
disturb them (by moving them, etc.), in order to avoid bringing sickness
upon the family." (_He lung kiang wai ki_.)
(Cf. _Rubruck_, 58-59, and Mr. Rockhill's note, 59-60.)--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--KIMIZ or KUMIZ, the habitual drink of the Mongols, as it still is
of most of the nomads of Asia. It is thus made. Fresh mare's milk is put
in a well-seasoned bottle-necked vessel of horse-skin; a little _kurút_
(see note 5, ch. liv.) or some sour cow's milk is added; and when acetous
fermentation is commencing it is violently churned with a peculiar staff
which constantly stands in the vessel. This interrupts fermentation and
introduces a quantity of air into the liquid. It is customary for visitors
who may drop in to give a turn or two at the churn-stick. After three or
four days the drink is ready.
Kumiz keeps long; it is wonderfully tonic and nutritious, and it is said
that it has cured many persons threatened with consumption. The tribes
using it are said to be remarkably free from pulmonary disease; and indeed
I understand there is a regular _Galactopathic_ establishment somewhere in
the province of Orenburg for treating pulmonary patients with Kumiz diet.
It has a peculiar fore- and after-taste which, it is said, everybody does
not like. Yet I have found no confession of a dislike to Kumiz. Rubruquis
tells us it is pungent on the tongue, like _vinum raspei_ (_vin rapé_ of
the French), whilst you are drinking it, but leaves behind a pleasant
flavour like milk of almonds. It makes a man's inside feel very cosy, he
adds, even turning a weak head, and is strongly diuretic. To this last
statement, however, modern report is in direct contradiction. The Greeks
and other Oriental Christians considered it a sort of denial of the faith
to drink Kumiz. On the other hand, the Mahomedan converts from the nomad
tribes seem to have adhered to the use of Kumiz even when strict in
abstinence from wine; and it was indulged in by the early Mamelukes as a
public solemnity. Excess on such an occasion killed Bibars Bundukdari, who
was passionately fond of this liquor.
The intoxicating power of Kumiz varies according to the _brew_. The more
advanced is the vinous fermentation the less acid is the taste and the
more it sparkles. The effect, however, is always slight and transitory,
and leaves no unpleasant sensation, whilst it produces a strong tendency
to refreshing sleep. If its good qualities amount to half what are
ascribed to it by Dr. W. F. Dahl, from whom we derive some of these
particulars, it must be the pearl of all beverages. "With the nomads it is
the drink of all from the suckling upwards, it is the solace of age and
illness, and the greatest of treats to all!"
There was a special kind called _Kará Kumiz_, which is mentioned both by
Rubruquis and in the history of Wassáf. It seems to have been strained and
clarified. The modern Tartars distil a spirit from Kumiz of which Pallas
gives a detailed account. (_Dahl, Ueber den Kumyss_ in _Baer's Beiträge_,
VII.; _Lettres sur le Caucase et la Crimée_, Paris, 1859, p. 81;
_Makrizi_, II. 147; _J. As._ XI. 160; _Levchine_, 322-323; _Rubr._
227-228, 335; _Gold. Horde_, p. 46; _Erman_, I. 296; _Pallas, Samml._ I.
132 seqq.)
[In the _Si yu ki_, Travels to the West of Ch'ang ch'un, we find a drink
called _tung lo_. "The Chinese characters, _tung lo_," says Bretschneider
(_Med. Res._ I. 94), "denote according to the dictionaries preparations
from mare's or cow's milk, as Kumis, sour milk, etc. In the _Yuan shi_
(ch. cxxviii.) biography of the Kipchak prince _Tú-tú-ha_, it is stated
that 'black mare's milk' (evidently the cara cosmos of Rubruck), very
pleasant to the taste, used to be sent from Kipchak to the Mongol court in
China." (On the drinks of the Mongols, see Mr. Rockhill's note, _Rubruck_,
p. 62.)--The Mongols indulge in sour milk (_tarak_) and distilled mare's
milk (_arreki_), but Mr. Rockhill (_Land of the Lamas_, 130) says he never
saw them drink _kumiz_.--H. C.]
The mare's-milk drink of Scythian nomads is alluded to by many ancient
authors. But the manufacture of Kumiz is particularly spoken of by
Herodotus. "The (mare's) milk is poured into deep wooden casks, about
which the blind slaves are placed, and then the milk is stirred round.
That which rises to the top is drawn off, and considered the best part;
the under portion is of less account." Strabo also speaks of the nomads
beyond the Cimmerian Chersonesus, who feed on horse-flesh and other flesh,
mare's-milk cheese, mare's milk, and sour milk ([Greek: óxygalakta])
"_which they have a particular way of preparing_." Perhaps Herodotus was
mistaken about the wooden tubs. At least all modern attempts to use
anything but the orthodox skins have failed. Priscus, in his narrative of
the mission of himself and Maximin to Attila, says the Huns brought them a
drink made from _barley_ which they called [Greek: Kámos]. The barley was,
no doubt, a misapprehension of his. (_Herod._ Bk. iv. p. 2, in _Rawl._;
_Strabo_, VII. 4, 6; _Excerpta de Legationibus_, in _Corp. Hist. Byzant._
I. 55.)
CHAPTER LIV.
CONCERNING THE TARTAR CUSTOMS OF WAR.
All their harness of war is excellent and costly. Their arms are bows and
arrows, sword and mace; but above all the bow, for they are capital
archers, indeed the best that are known. On their backs they wear armour
of cuirbouly, prepared from buffalo and other hides, which is very
strong.[NOTE 1] They are excellent soldiers, and passing valiant in
battle. They are also more capable of hardships than other nations; for
many a time, if need be, they will go for a month without any supply of
food, living only on the milk of their mares and on such game as their
bows may win them. Their horses also will subsist entirely on the grass of
the plains, so that there is no need to carry store of barley or straw or
oats; and they are very docile to their riders. These, in case of need,
will abide on horseback the livelong night, armed at all points, while the
horse will be continually grazing.
Of all troops in the world these are they which endure the greatest
hardship and fatigue, and which cost the least; and they are the best of
all for making wide conquests of country. And this you will perceive from
what you have heard and shall hear in this book; and (as a fact) there can
be no manner of doubt that now they are the masters of the biggest half of
the world. Their troops are admirably ordered in the manner that I shall
now relate.
You see, when a Tartar prince goes forth to war, he takes with him, say,
100,000 horse. Well, he appoints an officer to every ten men, one to every
hundred, one to every thousand, and one to every ten thousand, so that his
own orders have to be given to ten persons only, and each of these ten
persons has to pass the orders only to other ten, and so on; no one having
to give orders to more than ten. And every one in turn is responsible only
to the officer immediately over him; and the discipline and order that
comes of this method is marvellous, for they are a people very obedient to
their chiefs. Further, they call the corps of 100,000 men a _Tuc_; that of
10,000 they call a _Toman_; the thousand they call...; the hundred _Guz_;
the ten....[NOTE 2] And when the army is on the march they have always 200
horsemen, very well mounted, who are sent a distance of two marches in
advance to reconnoitre, and these always keep ahead. They have a similar
party detached in the rear, and on either flank, so that there is a good
look-out kept on all sides against a surprise. When they are going on a
distant expedition they take no gear with them except two leather bottles
for milk; a little earthenware pot to cook their meat in, and a little
tent to shelter them from rain.[NOTE 3] And in case of great urgency they
will ride ten days on end without lighting a fire or taking a meal. On
such an occasion they will sustain themselves on the blood of their
horses, opening a vein and letting the blood jet into their mouths,
drinking till they have had enough, and then staunching it.[NOTE 4]
They also have milk dried into a kind of paste to carry with them; and
when they need food they put this in water, and beat it up till it
dissolves, and then drink it. [It is prepared in this way; they boil the
milk, and when the rich part floats on the top they skim it into another
vessel, and of that they make butter; for the milk will not become solid
till this is removed. Then they put the milk in the sun to dry. And when
they go on an expedition, every man takes some ten pounds of this dried
milk with him. And of a morning he will take a half pound of it and put it
in his leather bottle, with as much water as he pleases. So, as he rides
along, the milk-paste and the water in the bottle get well churned
together into a kind of pap, and that makes his dinner.[NOTE 5]]
When they come to an engagement with the enemy, they will gain the victory
in this fashion. [They never let themselves get into a regular medley, but
keep perpetually riding round and shooting into the enemy. And] as they do
not count it any shame to run away in battle, they will [sometimes pretend
to] do so, and in running away they turn in the saddle and shoot hard and
strong at the foe, and in this way make great havoc. Their horses are
trained so perfectly that they will double hither and thither, just like a
dog, in a way that is quite astonishing. Thus they fight to as good
purpose in running away as if they stood and faced the enemy, because of
the vast volleys of arrows that they shoot in this way, turning round upon
their pursuers, who are fancying that they have won the battle. But when
the Tartars see that they have killed and wounded a good many horses and
men, they wheel round bodily, and return to the charge in perfect order
and with loud cries; and in a very short time the enemy are routed. In
truth they are stout and valiant soldiers, and inured to war. And you
perceive that it is just when the enemy sees them run, and imagines that
he has gained the battle, that he has in reality lost it; for the Tartars
wheel round in a moment when they judge the right time has come. And after
this fashion they have won many a fight.[NOTE 6]
All this that I have been telling you is true of the manners and customs
of the genuine Tartars. But I must add also that in these days they are
greatly degenerated; for those who are settled in Cathay have taken up the
practices of the Idolaters of the country, and have abandoned their own
institutions; whilst those who have settled in the Levant have adopted the
customs of the Saracens.[NOTE 7]
NOTE 1.--The bow was the characteristic weapon of the Tartars, insomuch
that the Armenian historians often call them "The Archers." (_St. Martin_,
II. 133.) "CUIRBOULY, leather softened by boiling, in which it took any
form or impression required, and then hardened." (_Wright's Dict._) The
English adventurer among the Tartars, whose account of them is given by
Archbishop Ivo of Narbonne, in Matthew Paris (_sub._ 1243), says: "De
coriis bullitis sibi arma levia quidem, sed tamen impenetrabilia
coaptarunt." This armour is particularly described by Plano Carpini
(p. 685). See the tail-piece to Book IV.
[Mr. E. H. Parker (_China Review_, XXIV. iv. p. 205) remarks that "the
first coats of mail were made in China in 1288: perhaps the idea was
obtained from the Malays or Arabs."--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--M. Pauthier has judiciously pointed out the omissions that have
occurred here, perhaps owing to Rusticiano's not properly catching the
foreign terms applied to the various grades. In the G. Text the passage
runs: "_Et sachiés que les cent mille est apellé un_ Tut (read _tuc_) _et
les dix mille un_ Toman, _et les por milier et por centenier et por
desme_." In Pauthier's (uncorrected) text one of the missing words is
supplied: "_Et appellent les C.M. un_ Tuc; _et les X.M. un_ Toman; _et un
millier_ Guz _por centenier et por disenier_." The blanks he supplies thus
from Abulghazi: "_Et un millier_: [un Miny]; _Guz, por centenier et_ [Un]
_por disenier_." The words supplied are Turki, but so is the _Guz_, which
appears already in Pauthier's text, whilst _Toman_ and _Tuc_ are common to
Turki and Mongol. The latter word, _Túk_ or _Túgh_, is the horse-tail or
yak-tail standard which among so many Asiatic nations has marked the
supreme military command. It occurs as _Taka_ in ancient Persian, and
Cosmas Indicopleustes speaks of it as _Tupha_. The Nine Orloks or Marshals
under Chinghiz were entitled to the _Tuk_, and theirs is probably the
class of command here indicated as of 100,000, though the figure must not
be strictly taken. Timur ordains that every Amir who should conquer a
kingdom or command in a victory should receive a title of honour, the
_Tugh_ and the _Nakkárá_. (Infra, Bk. II. ch. iv. note 3.) Baber on
several occasions speaks of conferring the _Tugh_ upon his generals for
distinguished service. One of the military titles at Bokhara is still
_Tokhsabai_, a corruption of _Túgh-Sáhibi_, (Master of the Tugh).
We find the whole gradation except the _Tuc_ in a rescript of Janibeg,
Khan of Sarai, in favour of Venetian merchants dated February 1347. It
begins in the Venetian version: "_La parola de Zanibeck allo puovolo di
Mogoli, alli_ Baroni di Thomeni,[1] delli miera, delli centenera, delle
dexiene." (_Erdmann_, 576; _D'Avezac_, 577-578; _Rémusat, Langues
Tartares_, 303; _Pallas, Samml._ I. 283; _Schmidt_, 379, 381; _Baber_,
260, etc.; _Vámbéry_, 374; _Timour Inst._ pp. 283 and 292-293; _Bibl. de
l'Ec. des Chartes_, tom. lv. p. 585.)
The decimal division of the army was already made by Chinghiz at an early
period of his career, and was probably much older than his time. In fact
we find the Myriarch and Chiliarch already in the Persian armies of Darius
Hystaspes. From the Tartars the system passed into nearly all the Musulman
States of Asia, and the titles _Min-bashi_ or _Bimbashi_, _Yuzbashi_,
_Onbashi_, still subsist not only in Turkestan, but also in Turkey and
Persia. The term _Tman_ or _Tma_ was, according to Herberstein, still used
in Russia in his day for 10,000. (_Ramus._ II. 159.)
[The King of An-nam, Dinh Tiên-hòang (A.D. 968) had an army of 1,000,000
men forming 10 corps of 10 legions; each legion forming 10 cohorts of 10
centuries; each century forming 10 squads of 10 men.--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--Ramusio's edition says that what with horses and mares there will
be an average of eighteen beasts (?) to every man.
NOTE 4.--See the Oriental account quoted below in Note 6.
So Dionysius, combining this practice with that next described, relates of
the Massagetae that they have no delicious bread nor native wine:
"But with horse's blood
And white milk mingled set their banquets forth."
(_Orbis Desc._ 743-744.)
And Sidonius:
"Solitosque cruentum
Lac potare Getas, et pocula tingere venis."
(_Parag. ad Avitum._)
["The Scythian soldier drinks the blood of the first man he overthrows in
battle." (_Herodotus_, _Rawlinson_, Bk. IV. ch. 64, p. 54.)--H. C.] "When
in lack of food, they bleed a horse and suck the vein. If they need
something more solid, they put a sheep's pudding full of blood under the
saddle; this in time gets coagulated and cooked by the heat, and then they
devour it." (_Georg. Pachymeres_, V. 4.) The last is a well-known story,
but is strenuously denied and ridiculed by Bergmann. (_Streifereien_, etc.
I. 15.) Joinville tells the same story. Hans Schiltberger asserts it very
distinctly: "Ich hon och gesehen wann sie in reiss ylten, das sie ein
fleisch nemen, und es dunn schinden und legents unter den sattel, und
riten doruff; und essents wann sie hungert" (ch. 35). Botero had "heard
from a trustworthy source that a Tartar of Perekop, travelling on the
steppes, lived for some days on the blood of his horse, and then, not
daring to bleed it more, cut off and ate its _ears_!" (_Relazione
Univers._ p. 93.) The Turkmans speak of such practices, but Conolly says
he came to regard them as hyperbolical talk (I. 45).
[Abul-Ghazi Khan, in his History of Mongols, describing a raid of Russian
(_Ourous_) Cossacks, who were hemmed in by the Uzbeks, says: "The Russians
had in continued fighting exhausted all their water. They began to drink
blood; the fifth day they had not even blood remaining to drink."
(_Transl. by Baron Des Maisons_, St. Petersburg, II. 295.)]
NOTE 5.--Rubruquis thus describes this preparation, which is called
_Kurút_: "The milk that remains after the butter has been made, they allow
to get as sour as sour can be, and then boil it. In boiling, it curdles,
and that curd they dry in the sun; and in this way it becomes as hard as
iron-slag. And so it is stored in bags against the winter. In the winter
time, when they have no milk, they put that sour curd, which they call
_Griut_, into a skin, and pour warm water on it, and they shake it
violently till the curd dissolves in the water, to which it gives an acid
flavour; that water they drink in place of milk. But above all things they
eschew drinking plain water." From Pallas's account of the modern
practice, which is substantially the same, these cakes are also made from
the leavings of distillation in making milk-arrack. The Kurút is
frequently made of ewe-milk. Wood speaks of it as an indispensable article
in the food of the people of Badakhshan, and under the same name it is a
staple food of the Afghans. (_Rubr._ 229; _Samml._ I. 136; _Dahl_, u.s.;
_Wood_, 311.)
[It is the _ch'ura_ of the Tibetans. "In the Kokonor country and Tibet,
this _krut_ or _chura_ is put in tea to soften, and then eaten either
alone or mixed with parched barley meal (_tsamba_)." (_Rockhill, Rubruck_,
p. 68, note.)--H. C.]
NOTE 6.--Compare with Marco's account the report of the Mongols, which was
brought by the spies of Mahomed, Sultan of Khwarizm, when invasion was
first menaced by Chinghiz: "The army of Chinghiz is countless, as a swarm
of ants or locusts. Their warriors are matchless in lion-like valour, in
obedience, and endurance. They take no rest, and flight or retreat is
unknown to them. On their expeditions they are accompanied by oxen, sheep,
camels, and horses, and sweet or sour milk suffices them for food. Their
horses scratch the earth with their hoofs and feed on the roots and
grasses they dig up, so that they need neither straw nor oats. They
themselves reck nothing of the clean or the unclean in food, and eat the
flesh of all animals, even of dogs, swine, and bears. They will open a
horse's vein, draw blood, and drink it.... In victory they leave neither
small nor great alive; they cut up women great with child and cleave the
fruit of the womb. If they come to a great river, as they know nothing of
boats, they sew skins together, stitch up all their goods therein, tie the
bundle to their horses' tails, mount with a hard grip of the mane, and so
swim over." This passage is an absolute abridgment of many chapters of
Carpini. Still more terse was the sketch of Mongol proceedings drawn by a
fugitive from Bokhara after Chinghiz's devastations there. It was set
forth in one unconscious hexameter:
"_Ámdand u khandand u sokhtand u kushtand u burdand u raftand!_"
"They came and they sapped, they fired and they slew, trussed up their
loot and were gone!"
Juwaini, the historian, after telling the story, adds: "The cream and
essence of whatever is written in this volume might be represented in
these few words."
A Musulman author quoted by Hammer, Najmuddin of Rei, gives an awful
picture of the Tartar devastations, "Such as had never been heard of,
whether in the lands of unbelief or of Islam, and can only be likened to
those which the Prophet announced as signs of the Last Day, when he said:
'The Hour of Judgment shall not come until ye shall have fought with the
Turks, men small of eye and ruddy of countenance, whose noses are flat,
and their faces like hide-covered shields. Those shall be Days of Horror!'
'And what meanest thou by horror?' said the Companions; and he replied,
'SLAUGHTER! SLAUGHTER!' This beheld the Prophet in vision 600 years ago.
And could there well be worse slaughter than there was in Rei, where I,
wretch that I am, was born and bred, and where the whole population of
five hundred thousand souls was either butchered or dragged into slavery?"
Marco habitually suppresses or ignores the frightful brutalities of the
Tartars, but these were somewhat less, no doubt, in Kúblái's time.
The Hindustani poet Amir Khosru gives a picture of the Mongols more
forcible than elegant, which Elliot has translated (III. 528).
This is Hayton's account of the Parthian tactics of the Tartars: "They
will run away, but always keeping their companies together; and it is very
dangerous to give them chase, for as they flee they shoot back over their
heads, and do great execution among their pursuers. They keep very close
rank, so that you would not guess them for half their real strength."
Carpini speaks to the same effect. Baber, himself of Mongol descent, but
heartily hating his kindred, gives this account of their military usage in
his day: "Such is the uniform practice of these wretches the Moghuls; if
they defeat the enemy they instantly seize the booty; if they are
defeated, they plunder and dismount their own allies, and, betide what
may, carry off the spoil." (_Erdmann_, 364, 383, 620; _Gold. Horde_, 77,
80; _Elliot_, II. 388; _Hayton_ in _Ram._ ch. xlviii.; _Baber_, 93;
_Carpini_, p. 694.)
NOTE 7.--"The Scythians" (i.e. in the absurd Byzantine pedantry,
_Tartars_), says Nicephorus Gregoras, "from converse with the Assyrians,
Persians, and Chaldaeans, in time acquired their manners and adopted their
religion, casting off their ancestral atheism.... And to such a degree
were they changed, that though in former days they had been wont to cover
the head with nothing better than a loose felt cap, and for other clothing
had thought themselves well off with the skins of wild beasts or
ill-dressed leather, and had for weapons only clubs and slings, or spears,
arrows, and bows extemporised from the oaks and other trees of their
mountains and forests, now, forsooth, they will have no meaner clothing
than brocades of silk and gold! And their luxury and delicate living came
to such a pitch that they stood far as the poles asunder from their
original habits" (II. v. 6).
[1] This is _Chomeni_ in the original, but I have ventured to correct it.
CHAPTER LV.
CONCERNING THE ADMINISTERING OF JUSTICE AMONG THE TARTARS.
The way they administer justice is this. When any one has committed a
petty theft, they give him, under the orders of authority, seven blows of
a stick, or seventeen, or twenty-seven, or thirty-seven, or forty-seven,
and so forth, always increasing by tens in proportion to the injury done,
and running up to one hundred and seven. Of these beatings sometimes they
die.[NOTE 1] But if the offence be horse-stealing, or some other great
matter, they cut the thief in two with a sword. Howbeit, if he be able to
ransom himself by paying nine times the value of the thing stolen, he is
let off. Every Lord or other person who possesses beasts has them marked
with his peculiar brand, be they horses, mares, camels, oxen, cows, or
other great cattle, and then they are sent abroad to graze over the plains
without any keeper. They get all mixt together, but eventually every beast
is recovered by means of its owner's brand, which is known. For their
sheep and goats they have shepherds. All their cattle are remarkably fine,
big, and in good condition.[NOTE 2]
They 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.[NOTE 3]
Now I have told you all about the manners and customs of the Tartars; but
you have heard nothing yet of the great state of the Grand Kaan, who is
the Lord of all the Tartars and of the Supreme Imperial Court. All that I
will tell you in this book in proper time and place, but meanwhile I must
return to my story which I left off in that great plain when we began to
speak of the Tartars.[NOTE 4]
NOTE 1.--The cudgel among the Mongols was not confined to thieves and such
like. It was the punishment also of military and state offences, and even
princes were liable to it without fatal disgrace. "If they give any
offence," says Carpini, "or omit to obey the slightest beck, the Tartars
themselves are beaten like donkeys." The number of blows administered was,
according to Wassáf, always odd, 3, 5, and so forth, up to 77. (_Carp._
712; _Ilchan._ I. 37.)
["They also punish with death grand larceny, but as for petty thefts, such
as that of a sheep, so long has one has not repeatedly been taken in the
act, they beat him cruelly, and if they administer an hundred blows they
must use an hundred sticks." (_Rockhill, Rubruck_, p. 80.)--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--"They have no herdsmen or others to watch their cattle, because
the laws of the Turks (i.e. Tartars) against theft are so severe.... A man
in whose possession a stolen horse is found is obliged to restore it to
its owner, _and to give nine of the same value_; if he cannot, his
children are seized in compensation; if he have no children, he is
slaughtered like a mutton." (_Ibn Batuta_, II. 364.)
NOTE 3.--This is a Chinese custom, though no doubt we may trust Marco for
its being a Tartar one also. "In the province of Shansi they have a
ridiculous custom, which is to marry dead folks to each other. F. Michael
Trigault, a Jesuit, who lived several years in that province, told it us
whilst we were in confinement. It falls out that one man's son and another
man's daughter die. Whilst the coffins are in the house (and they used to
keep them two or three years, or longer) the parents agree to marry them;
they send the usual presents, as if the pair were alive, with much
ceremony and music. After this they put the two coffins together, hold the
wedding dinner in their presence, and, lastly, lay them together in one
tomb. The parents, from this time forth, are looked on not merely as
friends but as relatives--just as they would have been had their children
been married when in life." (_Navarrete_, quoted by _Marsden._) Kidd
likewise, speaking of the Chinese custom of worshipping at the tombs of
progenitors, says: "So strongly does veneration for this tribute after
death prevail that parents, in order to secure the memorial of the
sepulchre for a daughter who has died during her betrothal, give her in
marriage after her decease to her intended husband, who receives with
nuptial ceremonies at his own house a paper effigy made by her parents,
and after he has burnt it, erects a tablet to her memory--an honour which
usage forbids to be rendered to the memory of unmarried persons. The law
seeks without effect to abolish this absurd custom." (_China_, etc., pp.
179-180.)
[Professor J. J. M. de Groot (_Religious System of China_) gives several
instances of marriages after death; the following example (II. 804-805)
will illustrate the custom: "An interesting account of the manner in which
such _post-mortem_ marriages were concluded at the period when the Sung
Dynasty governed the Empire, is given by a contemporary work in the
following words: 'In the northern parts of the Realm it is customary, when
an unmarried youth and an unmarried girl breathe their last, that the two
families each charge a match-maker to demand the other party in marriage.
Such go-betweens are called match-makers for disembodied souls. They
acquaint the two families with each other's circumstances, and then cast
lots for the marriage by order of the parents on both sides. If they augur
that the union will be a happy one, (wedding) garments for the next world
are cut out, and the match-makers repair to the grave of the lad, there to
set out wine and fruit for the consummation of the marriage. Two seats are
placed side by side, and a small streamer is set up near each seat. If
these streamers move a little after the libation has been performed, the
souls are believed to approach each other; but if one of them does not
move, the party represented thereby is considered to disapprove of the
marriage. Each family has to reward its match-maker with a present of
woven stuffs. Such go-betweens make a regular livelihood out of these
proceedings.'"--H. C.]
The Ingushes of the Caucasus, according to Klaproth, have the same custom:
"If a man's son dies, another who has lost his daughter goes to the father
and says, 'Thy son will want a wife in the other world; I will give him my
daughter; pay me the price of the bride.' Such a demand is never refused,
even though the purchase of the bride amount to thirty cows." (_Travels,
Eng. Trans._ 345.)
NOTE 4.--There is a little doubt about the reading of this last paragraph.
The G. T. has--"_Mès desormès volun retorner à nostre conte en_ la grant
plaingne _où nos estion quant nos comechames des fais des Tartars_,"
whilst Pauthier's text has "_Mais desormais vueil retourner à mon conte
que Je lessai_ d'or plain _quant nous commençames des faiz des Tatars."_
The former reading looks very like a misunderstanding of one similar to
the latter, where _d'or plain_ seems to be an adverbial expression, with
some such meaning as "just now," "a while ago." I have not, however, been
able to trace the expression elsewhere. Cotgrave has _or primes_, "but
even now," etc.; and has also _de plain_, "presently, immediately, out of
hand." It seems quite possible that _d'or plain_ should have had the
meaning suggested.
CHAPTER LVI.
SUNDRY PARTICULARS OF THE PLAIN BEYOND CARACORON.
And when you leave Caracoron and the Altay, in which they bury the bodies
of the Tartar Sovereigns, as I told you, you go north for forty days till
you reach a country called the PLAIN OF BARGU.[NOTE 1] 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. Their customs are like those of the Tartars, and they are
subject to the Great Kaan. They have neither corn nor wine.[They get birds
for food, for the country is full of lakes and pools and marshes, which
are much frequented by the birds when they are moulting, and when they
have quite cast their feathers and can't fly, those people catch them.
They also live partly on fish.[NOTE 2]]
And when you have travelled forty days over this great plain you come to
the ocean, at the place where the mountains are in which the Peregrine
falcons have their nests. And in those mountains it is so cold that you
find neither man or woman, nor beast nor bird, except one kind of bird
called _Barguerlac_, on which the falcons feed. They are as big as
partridges, and have feet like those of parrots and a tail like a
swallow's, and are very strong in flight. And when the Grand Kaan wants
Peregrines from the nest, he sends thither to procure them.[NOTE 3] It is
also on islands in that sea that the Gerfalcons are bred. You must know
that the place is so far to the north that you leave the North Star
somewhat behind you towards the south! The gerfalcons are so abundant
there that the Emperor can have as many as he likes to send for. And you
must not suppose that those gerfalcons which the Christians carry into the
Tartar dominions go to the Great Kaan; they are carried only to the Prince
of the Levant.[NOTE 4]
Now I have told you all about the provinces northward as far as the Ocean
Sea, beyond which there is no more land at all; so I shall proceed to tell
you of the other provinces on the way to the Great Kaan. Let us, then,
return to that province of which I spoke before, called Campichu.
NOTE 1.--The readings differ as to the length of the journey. In
Pauthier's text we seem to have first a journey of forty days from near
Karakorúm to the Plain of Bargu, and then a journey of forty days more
across the plain to the Northern Ocean. The G. T. seems to present only
_one_ journey of forty days (Ramusio, of sixty days), but leaves the
interval from Karakorúm undefined. I have followed the former, though with
some doubt.
NOTE 2.--This paragraph from Ramusio replaces the following in Pauthier's
text: "In the summer they got abundance of game, both beasts and birds,
but in winter, there is none to be had because of the great cold."
Marco is here dealing, I apprehend, with hearsay geography, and, as is
common in like cases, there is great compression of circumstances and
characteristics, analogous to the like compression of little-known regions
in mediaeval maps.
The name _Bargu_ appears to be the same with that often mentioned in
Mongol history as BARGUCHIN TUGRUM or BARGUTI, and which Rashiduddin calls
the northern limit of the inhabited earth. This commenced about Lake
Baikal, where the name still survives in that of a river (_Barguzin_)
falling into the Lake on the east side, and of a town on its banks
(_Barguzinsk_). Indeed, according to Rashid himself, BARGU was the name of
one of the tribes occupying the plain; and a quotation from Father
Hyacinth would seem to show that the country is still called _Barakhu_.
[The Archimandrite Palladius (_Elucidations_, 16-17) writes:--"In the
Mongol text of Chingis Khan's biography, this country is called Barhu and
Barhuchin; it is to be supposed, according to Colonel Yule's
identification of this name with the modern Barguzin, that this country
was near Lake Baikal. The fact that Merkits were in Bargu is confirmed by
the following statement in Chingis Khan's biography: 'When Chingis Khan
defeated his enemies, the Merkits, they fled to Barhuchin tokum.' _Tokum_
signifies 'a hollow, a low place,' according to the Chinese translation of
the above-mentioned biography, made in 1381; thus Barhuchin tokum
undoubtedly corresponds to M. Polo's Plain of Bargu. As to M. Polo's
statement that the inhabitants of Bargu were Merkits, it cannot be
accepted unconditionally. The Merkits were not indigenous to the country
near Baikal, but belonged originally,--according to a division set forth
in the Mongol text of the _Yuan ch'ao pi shi_,--to the category of tribes
_living in yurts_, i.e. nomad tribes, or tribes of the desert. Meanwhile
we find in the same biography of Chingis Khan, mention of a people called
Barhun, which belonged to the category of tribes _living in the forests_;
and we have therefore reason to suppose that the Barhuns were the
aborigines of Barhu. After the time of Chingis Khan, this ethnographic
name disappears from Chinese history; it appears again in the middle of
the 16th century. The author of the _Yyu_ (1543-1544), in enumerating the
tribes inhabiting Mongolia and the adjacent countries, mentions the Barhu,
as a strong tribe, able to supply up to several tens of thousands (?) of
warriors, armed with steel swords; but the country inhabited by them is
not indicated. The Mongols, it is added, call them Black Ta-tze (Khara
Mongols, i.e. 'Lower Mongols').
"At the close of the 17th century, the Barhus are found inhabiting the
western slopes of the interior Hing'an, as well as between Lake Kulon and
River Khalkha, and dependent on a prince of eastern Khalkhas, Doro beile.
(Manchu title.)
"At the time of Galdan Khan's invasion, a part of them fled to Siberia
with the eastern Khalkhas, but afterwards they returned. [_Mung ku yew mu
ki_ and _Lung sha ki lio_.] After their rebellion in 1696, quelled by a
Manchu General, they were included with other petty tribes (regarding
which few researches have been made) in the category _butkha_, or hunters,
and received a military organisation. They are divided into Old and New
Barhu, according to the time when they were brought under Manchu rule. The
Barhus belong to the Mongolian, not to the Tungusian race; they are
sometimes considered even to have been in relationship with the Khalkhas.
(_He lung kiang wai ki_ and _Lung sha ki lio_.)
"This is all the substantial information we possess on the Barhu. Is there
an affinity to be found between the modern Barhus and the Barhuns of
Chingis Khan's biography?--and is it to be supposed, that in the course of
time, they spread from Lake Baikal to the Hing'an range? Or is it more
correct to consider them a branch of the Mongol race indigenous to the
Hing'an Mountains, and which received the general archaic name of Bargu,
which might have pointed out the physical character of the country they
inhabited [_Kin Shi_], just as we find in history the Urianhai of Altai
and the Urianhai of Western Manchuria? It is difficult to solve this
question for want of historical data."--H. C.]
_Mescript_, or _Mecri_, as in G. T. The _Merkit_, a great tribe to the
south-east of the Baikal, were also called _Mekrit_ and sometimes
_Megrin_. The Mekrit are spoken of also by Carpini and Rubruquis. D'Avezac
thinks that the _Kerait_, and not the _Merkit_, are intended by all three
travellers. As regards Polo, I see no reason for this view. The name he
uses is _Mekrit_, and the position which he assigns to them agrees fairly
with that assigned on good authority to the Merkit or Mekrit. Only, as in
other cases, where he is rehearsing hearsay information, it does not
follow that the identification of the name involves the correctness of all
the circumstances that he connects with that name. We saw in ch. xxx. that
under _Pashai_ he seemed to lump circumstances belonging to various parts
of the region from Badakhshan to the Indus; so here under _Mekrit_ he
embraces characteristics belonging to tribes extending far beyond the
Mekrit, and which in fact are appropriate to the Tunguses. Rashiduddin
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
birch bark, and their hunting on snow-shoes.
The mention of the Reindeer by Polo in this passage is one of the
interesting points which Pauthier's text omits. Marsden objects to the
statement that the stags are ridden upon, and from this motive mis-renders
"_li qual' anche_ cavalcano," as, "which they make use of for the purpose
of travelling." Yet he might have found in Witsen that the Reindeer are
_ridden_ by various Siberian Tribes, but especially by the Tunguses. Erman
is very full on the reindeer-riding of the latter people, having himself
travelled far in that way in going to Okhotsk, and gives a very detailed
description of the saddle, etc., employed. The reindeer of the Tunguses
are stated by the same traveller to be much larger and finer animals than
those of Lapland. They are also used for pack-carriage and draught. Old
Richard Eden says that the "olde wryters" relate that "certayne Scythians
doe ryde on Hartes." I have not traced to what he refers, but if the
statement be in any ancient author it is very remarkable. Some old
editions of Olaus Magnus have curious cuts of Laplanders and others riding
on reindeer, but I find nothing in the text appropriate. We hear from
travellers of the Lapland deer being occasionally mounted, but only it
would seem in sport, not as a practice. (_Erdmann_, 189, 191; _D'Ohsson_,
I. 103; _D'Avezac_, 534 seqq.; _J. As._ sér. II. tom. xi.; sér. IV. tom.
xvii. 107; _N. et E._ XIII. i. 274-276; _Witsen_, II. 670, 671, 680;
_Erman_, II. 321, 374, 429, 449 seqq., and original German, II. 347 seqq.;
_Notes on Russia_, Hac. Soc. II. 224; _J. A. S. B._ XXIX. 379.)
The numerous lakes and marshes swarming with water-fowl are very
characteristic of the country between Yakutsk and the Kolyma. It is
evident that Marco had his information from an eye-witness, though the
whole picture is compressed. Wrangell, speaking of Nijni Kolyma, says: "It
is at the moulting season that the great bird-hunts take place. The
sportsmen surround the nests, and slip their dogs, which drive the birds
to the water, on which they are easily knocked over with a gun or arrow,
or even with a stick.... This chase is divided into several periods. They
begin with the ducks, which moult first; then come the geese; then the
swans.... In each case the people take care to choose the time when the
birds have lost their feathers." The whole calendar with the Yakuts and
Russian settlers on the Kolyma is a succession of fishing and hunting
seasons which the same author details. (I. 149, 150; 119-121.)
NOTE 3.--What little is said of the _Barguerlac_ points to some bird of
the genus _Pterocles_, or Sand Grouse (to which belong the so-called Rock
Pigeons of India), or to the allied _Tetrao paradoxus_ of Pallas, now
known as _Syrrhaptes Pallasii_. Indeed, we find in Zenker's Dictionary
that _Boghurtlák_ (or _Baghírtlák_, as it is in Pavet de Courteille's) in
Oriental Turkish is the _Kata_, i.e. I presume, the _Pterocles alchata_ of
Linnaeus, or Large Pin-tailed Sand Grouse. Mr. Gould, to whom I referred
the point, is clear that the _Syrrhaptes_ is Marco's bird, and I believe
there can be no question of it.
[Passing through Ch'ang-k'ou, Mr. Rockhill found the people praying for
rain. "The people told me," he says, in his Journey (p. 9), "that they
knew long ago the year would be disastrous, for the sand grouse had been
more numerous of late than for years, and the saying goes _Sha-ch'i kuo,
mai lao-po_, 'when the sand grouse fly by, wives will be for sale.'"--H.
C.]
The chief difficulty in identification with the Syrrhaptes or any known
bird, would be "the feet like a parrot's." The feet of the Syrrhaptes are
not indeed like a parrot's, though its awkward, slow, and waddling gait on
the ground, may have suggested the comparison; and though it has very odd
and anomalous feet, a circumstance which the Chinese indicate in another
way by calling the bird (according to Hue) _Lung Kio_, or "Dragon-foot."
[Mr. Rockhill (_Journey_) writes in a note (p. 9): "I, for my part, never
heard any other name than _sha-ch'i_, 'sand-fowl,' given them. This name
is used, however, for a variety of birds, among others the partridge."--H.
C.] The hind-toe is absent, the toes are unseparated, recognisable only by
the broad flat nails, and fitted below with a callous couch, whilst the
whole foot is covered with short dense feathers like hair, and is more
like a quadruped's paw than a bird's foot.
The home of the Syrrhaptes is in the Altai, the Kirghiz Steppes, and the
country round Lake Baikal, though it also visits the North of China in
great flights. "On plains of grass and sandy deserts," says Gould (_Birds
of Great Britain_, Part IV.), "at one season covered with snow, and at
another sun-burnt and parched by drought, it finds a congenial home; in
these inhospitable and little-known regions it breeds, and when necessity
compels it to do so, wings its way ... over incredible distances to obtain
water or food." Hue says, speaking of the bird on the northern frontier of
China: "They generally arrive in great flights from the north, especially
when much snow has fallen, flying with astonishing rapidity, so that the
movement of their wings produces a noise like hail." It is said to be very
delicate eating. The bird owes its place in Gould's _Birds of Great
Britain_ to the fact--strongly illustrative of its being _moult volant_,
as Polo says it is--that it appeared in England in 1859, and since then,
at least up to 1863, continued to arrive annually in pairs or companies in
nearly all parts of our island, from Penzance to Caithness. And Gould
states that it was breeding in the Danish islands. A full account by Mr.
A. Newton of this remarkable immigration is contained in the _Ibis_ for
April, 1864, and many details in _Stevenson's Birds of Norfolk_, I. 376
seqq. There are plates of _Syrrhaptes_ in _Radde's Reisen im Süden von
Ost-Sibirien_, Bd. II.; in vol. v. of _Temminck_, Planches Coloriées, Pl.
95; in _Gould_, as above; in _Gray, Genera of Birds_, vol. iii. p. 517
(life size); and in the _Ibis_ for April, 1860. From the last our cut is
taken.
[See _A. David et Oustalet_, _Oiseaux de la Chine_, 389, on _Syrrhaptes
Pallasii_ or _Syrrhaptes Paradoxus_.--H. C.]
[Illustration: Syrrhaptes Pallasii.]
NOTE 4.--Gerfalcons (_Shonkár_) were objects of high estimation in the
Middle Ages, and were frequent presents to and from royal personages. Thus
among the presents sent with an embassy from King James II. of Aragon to
the Sultan of Egypt, in 1314, we find three white gerfalcons. They were
sent in homage to Chinghiz and to Kúblái, by the Kirghiz, but I cannot
identify the mountains where they or the Peregrines were found. The
Peregrine falcon was in Europe sometimes termed _Faucon Tartare_. (See
_Ménage_ s. v. _Sahin_.) The Peregrine of Northern Japan, and probably
therefore that of Siberia, is identical with that of Europe. Witsen speaks
of an island in the Sea of Tartary, from which falcons were got,
apparently referring to a Chinese map as his authority; but I know nothing
more of it. (_Capmany_, IV. 64-65; _Ibis_, 1862, p. 314; _Witsen_, II.
656.)
[On the _Falco peregrinus_, Lin., and other Falcons, see Ed. Blanc's paper
mentioned on p. 162. The _Falco Saker_ is to be found all over Central
Asia; it is called by the Pekingese _Hwang-yng_ (yellow falcon), (_David
et Oustalet_, _Oiseaux de la Chine_, 31-32.)--H. C.]
CHAPTER LVII.
OF THE KINGDOM OF ERGUIUL, AND PROVINCE OF SINJU.
On leaving Campichu, then, you travel five days across a tract in which
many spirits are heard speaking in the night season; and at the end of
those five marches, towards the east, you come to a kingdom called
ERGUIUL, belonging to the Great Kaan. It is one of the several kingdoms
which make up the great Province of Tangut. The people consist of
Nestorian Christians, Idolaters, and worshippers of Mahommet.[NOTE 1]
There are plenty of cities in this kingdom, but the capital is ERGUIUL.
You can travel in a south-easterly direction from this place into the
province of Cathay. Should you follow that road to the south-east, you
come to a city called SINJU, belonging also to Tangut, and subject to the
Great Kaan, which has under it many towns and villages.[NOTE 2] The
population is composed of Idolaters, and worshippers of Mahommet, but
there are some Christians also. There are wild cattle in that country
[almost] as big as elephants, splendid creatures, covered everywhere but
on the back with shaggy hair a good four palms long. They are partly
black, partly white, and really wonderfully fine creatures [and the hair
or wool is extremely fine and white, finer and whiter than silk. Messer
Marco brought some to Venice as a great curiosity, and so it was reckoned
by those who saw it]. There are also plenty of them tame, which have been
caught young. [They also cross these with the common cow, and the cattle
from this cross are wonderful beasts, and better for work than other
animals.] These the people use commonly for burden and general work, and
in the plough as well; and at the latter they will do full twice as much
work as any other cattle, being such very strong beasts.[NOTE 3]
In this country too is found the best musk in the world; and I will tell
you how 'tis produced. There exists in that region a kind of wild animal
like a gazelle. It has feet and tail like the gazelle's, and stag's hair
of a very coarse kind, but no horns. It has four tusks, two below and two
above, about three inches long, and slender in form, one pair growing
upwards, and the other downwards. It is a very pretty creature. The musk
is found in this way. When the creature has been taken, they find at the
navel between the flesh and the skin something like an impostume full of
blood, which they cut out and remove with all the skin attached to it. And
the blood inside this impostume is the musk that produces that powerful
perfume. There is an immense number of these beasts in the country we are
speaking of. [The flesh is very good to eat. Messer Marco brought the
dried head and feet of one of these animals to Venice with him.[NOTE 4]]
The people are traders and artizans, and also grow abundance of corn. The
province has an extent of 26 days' journey. Pheasants are found there
twice as big as ours, indeed nearly as big as a peacock, and having tails
of 7 to 10 palms in length; and besides them other pheasants in aspect
like our own, and birds of many other kinds, and of beautiful variegated
plumage.[NOTE 5] The people, who are Idolaters, are fat folks with little
noses and black hair, and no beard, except a few hairs on the upper lip.
The women too have very smooth and white skins, and in every respect are
pretty creatures. The men are very sensual, and marry many wives, which is
not forbidden by their religion. No matter how base a woman's descent may
be, if she have beauty she may find a husband among the greatest men in
the land, the man paying the girl's father and mother a great sum of
money, according to the bargain that may be made.
NOTE 1.--No approximation to the name of Erguiul in an appropriate
position has yet been elicited from Chinese or other Oriental sources. We
cannot go widely astray as to its position, five days east of Kanchau.
Klaproth identifies it with Liangchau-fu; Pauthier with the neighbouring
city of Yungchang, on the ground that the latter was, in the time of
Kúblái, the head of one of the _Lús_, or Circles, of Kansuh or Tangut,
which he has shown some reason for believing to be the "kingdoms" of
Marco.
It is probable, however, that the _town_ called by Polo Erguiul lay north
of both the cities named, and more in line with the position assigned
below to _Egrigaya_. (See note 1, ch. lviii.)
I may notice that the structure of the name Ergui-ul or Ergiu-ul, has a
look of analogy to that of _Tang-keu-ul_, named in the next note.
["Erguiul is Erichew of the Mongol text of the _Yuen ch'ao pi shi_,
Si-liang in the Chinese history, the modern _Liang chow fu_. Klaproth, on
the authority of Rashid-eddin, has already identified this name with that
of Si-liang." (_Palladius_, p. 18.) M. Bonin left Ning-h'ia at the end of
July, 1899, and he crossed the desert to Liangchau in fifteen days from
east to west; he is the first traveller who took this route: Prjevalsky
went westward, passing by the residence of the Prince of Alashan, and
Obrutchev followed the route south of Bonin's.--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--No doubt Marsden is right in identifying this with SINING-CHAU,
now Sining-fu, the Chinese city nearest to Tibet and the Kokonor frontier.
Grueber and Dorville, who passed it on their way to Lhasa, in 1661, call
it _urbs ingens_. Sining was visited also by Huc and Gabet, who are
unsatisfactory, as usually on geographical matters. They also call it "an
immense town," but thinly peopled, its commerce having been in part
transferred to Tang-keu-ul, a small town closer to the frontier.
[Sining belonged to the country called Hwang chung; in 1198, under the
Sung Dynasty, it was subjugated by the Chinese, and was named Si-ning
chau; at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (from 1368), it was named
Si-ning wei, and since 1726 Si-ning fu. (Cf. Gueluy, _Chine_, p. 62.) From
Liangchau, M. Bonin went to Sining through the Lao kou kau pass and the
Ta-Tung ho. Obrutchev and Grum Grijmaïlo took the usual route from Kanchau
to Sining. After the murder of Dutreuil de Rhins at Tung bu _m_do, his
companion, Grenard, arrived at Sining, and left it on the 29th July, 1894.
Dr. Sven Hedin gives in his book his own drawing of a gate of Sining-fu,
where he arrived on the 25th November, 1896.--H. C.]
Sining is called by the Tibetans _Ziling_ or Jiling, by the Mongols
_Seling Khoto_. A shawl wool texture, apparently made in this quarter, is
imported into Kashmir and Ladak, under the name of _S'ling_. I have
supposed Sining to be also the _Zilm_ of which Mr. Shaw heard at Yarkand,
and am answerable for a note to that effect on p. 38 of his _High
Tartary_. But Mr. Shaw, on his return to Europe, gave some rather strong
reasons against this. (See _Proc. R. G. S._ XVI. 245; _Kircher_, pp. 64,
66; _Della Penna_, 27; _Davies's Report_, App. p. ccxxix.; _Vigne_, II.
110, 129.) [At present Sining is called by the Tibetans Seling K'ar or
Kuar, and by the Mongols, Seling K'utun, _K'ar_ and _K'utun_ meaning
"fortified city." (_Rockhill, Land of the Lamas_, 49, note.)--H. C.]
[Mr. Rockhill (_Diary of a Journey_, 65) writes: "There must be some
Scotch blood in the Hsi-ningites, for I find they are very fond of oatmeal
and of cracked wheat. The first is called _yen-mei ch'en_, and is eaten
boiled with the water in which mutton has been cooked, or with neat's-foot
oil (_yang-t'i yu_). The cracked wheat (_mei-tzü fan_) is eaten prepared
in the same way, and is a very good dish."--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--The _Dong_, or Wild Yak, has till late years only been known by
vague rumour. It has always been famed in native reports for its great
fierceness. The _Haft Iklím_ says that "it kills with its horns, by its
kicks, by treading under foot, and by tearing with its teeth," whilst the
Emperor Humáyún himself told Sidi 'Ali, the Turkish admiral, that when it
had knocked a man down it skinned him from head to heels by licking him
with its tongue! Dr. Campbell states, in the _Journal of the As. Soc. of
Bengal_, that it was said to be four times the size of the domestic Yak.
The horns are alleged to be sometimes three feet long, and of immense
girth; they are handed round full of strong drink at the festivals of
Tibetan grandees, as the Urus horns were in Germany, according to Caesar.
A note, with which I have been favoured by Dr. Campbell (long the
respected Superintendent of British Sikkim) says: "Captain Smith, of the
Bengal Army, who had travelled in Western Tibet, told me that he had shot
many wild Yaks in the neighbourhood of the Mansarawar Lake, and that he
measured a bull which was 18 hands high, i.e. 6 feet. All that he saw were
_black_ all over. He also spoke to the fierceness of the animal. He was
once charged by a bull that he had wounded, and narrowly escaped being
killed. Perhaps my statement (above referred to) in regard to the relative
size of the Wild and Tame Yak, may require modification if applied to all
the countries in which the Yak is found. At all events, the finest
specimen of the tame Yak I ever saw, was not in Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet, or
Bootan, but in the _Jardin des Plantes_ at _Paris_; and that one, a male,
was brought from Shanghai. The best drawing of a Yak I know is that in
Turner's _Tibet_."
[Lieutenant Samuel Turner gave a very good description of the Yak of
Tartary, which he calls _Soora-Goy_ or the Bushy-tailed Bull of Tibet.
(_Asiat. Researches_, No. XXIII, pp. 351-353, with a plate.) He says with
regard to the colour: "There is a great variety of colours amongst them,
but black or white are the most prevalent. It is not uncommon to see the
long hair upon the ridge of the back, the tail, tuft upon the chest, and
the legs below the knee white, when all the rest of the animal is jet
black." A good drawing of "an enormous" Yak is to be found on p. 183 of
Captain Wellby's _Unknown Tibet_. (See also Captain Deasy's work on
_Tibet_, p. 363.) Prince Henri d'Orléans brought home a fine specimen,
which he shot during his journey with Bonvalot; it is now exhibited in the
galleries of the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle. Some Yaks were brought to
Paris on the 1st April, 1854, and the celebrated artist, Mme. Rosa
Bonheur, made sketches after them. (See _Jour. Soc. Acclimatation_, June,
1900, 39-40.)--H. C.]
Captain Prjevalsky, in his recent journey (1872-1873), shot twenty wild
Yaks south of the Koko Nor. He specifies one as 11 feet in length
exclusive of the tail, which was 3 feet more; the height 6 feet. He speaks
of the Yak as less formidable than it looks, from apathy and stupidity,
but very hard to kill; one having taken eighteen bullets before it
succumbed.
[Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, 151, note) writes: "The average load carried by
a Yak is about 250 lbs. The wild Yak bull is an enormous animal, and the
people of Turkestan and North Tibet credit him with extraordinary
strength. Mirza Haidar, in the _Tarikhi Rashidi_, says of the wild Yak or
_kutás_: 'This is a very wild and ferocious beast. In whatever manner it
attacks one it proves fatal. Whether it strikes with its horns, or kicks,
or overthrows its victim. If it has no opportunity of doing any of these
things, it tosses its enemy with its tongue twenty _gaz_ into the air, and
he is dead before reaching the ground. One male _kutás_ is a load for
twelve horses. One man cannot possibly raise a shoulder of the animal.'"
--Captain Deasy (_In Tibet_, 363) says: "In a few places on lofty ground in
Tibet we found Yaks in herds numbering from ten to thirty, and sometimes
more. Most of the animals are black, brown specimens being very rare. Their
roving herds move with great agility over the steep and stony ground,
apparently enjoying the snow and frost and wind, which seldom fail.... Yaks
are capable of offering formidable resistance to the sportsman....'"--H.
C.]
The tame Yaks are never, I imagine, "caught young," as Marco says; it is a
domesticated _breed_, though possibly, as with buffaloes in Bengal, the
breed may occasionally be refreshed by a cross of wild blood. They are
employed for riding, as beasts of burden, and in the plough. [Lieutenant
S. Turner, l.c., says, on the other hand: "They are never employed in
agriculture, but are extremely useful as beasts of burthen."--H. C.] In
the higher parts of our Himalayan provinces, and in Tibet, the Yak itself
is most in use; but in the less elevated tracts several breeds crossed
with the common Indian cattle are more used. They have a variety of names
according to their precise origin. The inferior Yaks used in the plough
are ugly enough, and "have more the appearance of large shaggy bears than
of oxen," but the Yak used for riding, says Hoffmeister, "is an infinitely
handsomer animal. It has a stately hump, a rich silky hanging tail nearly
reaching the ground, twisted horns, a noble bearing, and an erect head."
Cunningham, too, says that the _Dso_, one of the mixed breeds, is "a very
handsome animal, with long shaggy hair, generally black and white." Many
of the various tame breeds appear to have the tail and back white, and
also the fringe under the body, but black and red are the prevailing
colours. Some of the crossbred cows are excellent milkers, better than
either parent stock.
Notice in this passage the additional and interesting particulars given by
Ramusio, e.g. the use of the mixed breeds. "Finer than silk," is an
exaggeration, or say an _hyberbole_, as is the following expression, "As
big as elephants," even with Ramusio's apologetic _quasi_. Caesar says the
Hercynian Urus was _magnitudine paullo infra elephantos_.
The tame Yak is used across the breadth of Mongolia. Rubruquis saw them at
Karakorum, and describes them well. Mr. Ney Elias tells me he found Yaks
common everywhere along his route in Mongolia, between the Tui river
(long. circa 101°) and the upper valleys of the Kobdo near the Siberian
frontier. At Uliasut'ai they were used occasionally by Chinese settlers
for drawing carts, but he never saw them used for loads or for riding, as
in Tibet. He has also seen Yaks in the neighbourhood of Kwei-hwa-ch'eng.
(_Tenduc_, see ch. lix. note 1.) This may be taken as the eastern limit of
the employment of the Yak; the western limit is in the highlands of
Khokand.
These animals had been noticed by Cosmas [who calls them _agriobous_] in
the 6th century, and by Aelian in the 3rd. The latter speaks of them as
black cattle with white tails, from which fly-flappers were made for
Indian kings. And the great Kalidása thus sang of the Yak, according to a
learned (if somewhat rugged) version ascribed to Dr. Mill. The poet
personifies the Himálaya:--
"For Him the large Yaks in his cold plains that bide
Whisk here and there, playful, their tails' bushy pride,
And evermore flapping those fans of long hair
Which borrowed moonbeams have made splendid and fair,
Proclaim at each stroke (what our flapping men sing)
His title of Honour, 'The Dread Mountain King.'"
Who can forget Père Huc's inimitable picture of the hairy Yaks of their
caravan, after passing a river in the depth of winter, "walking with their
legs wide apart, and bearing an enormous load of stalactites, which hung
beneath their bellies quite to the ground. The monstrous beasts _looked
exactly as if they were preserved in sugar-candy_." Or that other, even
more striking, of a great troop of wild Yaks, caught in the upper waters
of the Kin-sha Kiang, as they swam, in the moment of congelation, and thus
preserved throughout the winter, gigantic "flies in amber."
(_N. et E._ XIV. 478; _J. As._ IX. 199; _J. A. S. B._ IX. 566, XXIV. 235;
_Shaw_, p. 91; _Ladak_, p. 210; _Geog. Magazine_, April, 1874;
_Hoffmeister's Travels_, p. 441; _Rubr._ 288; _Ael. de Nat. An._ XV. 14;
_J. A. S. B._ I. 342; _Mrs. Sinnett's Huc_, pp. 228, 235.)
NOTE 4.--Ramusio adds that the hunters seek the animal at New Moon, at
which time the musk is secreted.
The description is good except as to the _four_ tusks, for the musk deer
has canine teeth only in the upper jaw, slender and prominent as he
describes them. The flesh of the animal is eaten by the Chinese, and in
Siberia by both Tartars and Russians, but that of the males has a strong
musk flavour.
The "immense number" of these animals that existed in the Himalayan
countries may be conceived from Tavernier's statement, that on one visit
to Patna, then the great Indian mart for this article, he purchased 7673
pods of musk. These presumably came by way of Nepal; but musk pods of the
highest class were also imported from Khotan viâ Yarkand and Leh, and the
lowest price such a pod fetched at Yarkand was 250 tankas, or upwards of
4_l._ This import has long been extinct, and indeed the trade in the
article, except towards China, has altogether greatly declined, probably
(says Mr. Hodgson) because its repute as a medicine is becoming fast
exploded. In Sicily it is still so used, but apparently only as a sort of
decent medical _viaticum_, for when it is said "the Doctors have given him
musk," it is as much as to say that they have given up the patient.
["Here Marco Polo speaks of musk; musk and rhubarb (which he mentions
before, Sukchur, ch. xliii.) are the most renowned and valuable of the
products of the province of Kansu, which comparatively produces very
little; the industry in both these articles is at present in the hands of
the Tanguts of that province [_Su chow chi_]." (_Palladius_, p. 18.)
Writing under date 15th February, 1892, from Lusar (coming from Sining),
Mr. Rockhill says: "The musk trade here is increasing, Cantonese and
Ssu-ch'uanese traders now come here to buy it, paying for good musk four
times its weight in silver (_ssu huan_, as they say). The best test of its
purity is an examination of the colour. The Tibetans adulterate it by
mixing tsamba and blood with it. The best time to buy it is from the
seventh to the ninth moon (latter part of August to middle of November)."
Mr. Rockhill adds in a note: "Mongols call musk _owo_; Tibetans call it
_latsé_. The best musk they say is 'white musk,' _tsahan owo_ in Mongol,
in Tibetan _latsé karpo_. I do not know whether white refers to the colour
of the musk itself or to that of the hair on the skin covering the musk
pouch." (_Diary of a Journey_, p. 71.)--H. C.]
Three species of the _Moschus_ are found in the Mountains of Tibet, and
_M. Chrysogaster_ which Mr. Hodgson calls "the loveliest," and which
chiefly supplies the highly-prized pod called _Kághazi_, or
"Thin-as-paper," is almost exclusively confined to the Chinese frontier.
Like the Yak, the _Moschus_ is mentioned by Cosmas (circa A.D. 545), and
_musk_ appears in a Greek prescription by Aëtius of Amida, a physician
practising at Constantinople about the same date.
(_Martini_, p. 39; _Tav., Des Indes_, Bk. II. ch. xxiv.; _J. A. S. B._ XI.
285; _Davies's Rep._ App. p. ccxxxvii.; _Dr. Flückiger in Schweiz.
Wochenschr. für Pharmacie_, 1867; _Heyd, Commerce du Levant_, II.
636-640.)
NOTE 5.--The China pheasant answering best to the indications in the text,
appears to be _Reeves's Pheasant_. Mr. Gould has identified this bird with
Marco's in his magnificent _Birds of Asia_, and has been kind enough to
show me a specimen which, with the body, measured 6 feet 8 inches. The
tail feathers alone, however, are said to reach to 6 and 7 feet, so that
Marco's ten palms was scarcely an exaggeration. These tail-feathers are
often seen on the Chinese stage in the cap of the hero of the drama, and
also decorate the hats of certain civil functionaries.
[Illustration: Reeves's Pheasant]
_Size_ is the point in which the bird fails to meet Marco's description.
In that respect the latter would rather apply to the _Crossoptilon
auritum_, which is nearly as big as a turkey, or to the glorious _Múnál
(Lopophorus impeyanus)_, but then that has no length of tail. The latter
seems to be the bird described by Aelian: "Magnificent cocks which have
the crest variegated and ornate like a crown of flowers, and the tail
feathers not curved like a cock's, but broad and carried in a train like a
peacock's; the feathers are partly golden, and partly azure or
emerald-coloured." (_Wood's Birds_, 610, from which I have copied the
illustration; _Williams, M. K._ I. 261; _Ael. De Nat. An._ XVI. 2.) A
species of _Crossoptilon_ has recently been found by Captain Prjevalsky in
Alashan, the Egrigaia (as I believe) of next chapter, and one also by Abbé
Armand David at the Koko Nor.
[See on the Phasianidae family in Central and Western Asia, _David et
Oustalet, Oiseaux de la Chine_, 401-421; the _Phasianus Reevesii_ or
_veneratus_ is called by the Chinese of Tung-lin, near Peking, _Djeu-ky_
(hen-arrow); the _Crossoptilon auritum_ is named _Ma-ky_.--H. C.]
CHAPTER LVIII.
OF THE KINGDOM OF EGRIGAIA.
Starting again from Erguiul you ride eastward for eight days, and then
come to a province called EGRIGAIA, containing numerous cities and
villages, and belonging to Tangut.[NOTE 1] The capital city is called
CALACHAN.[NOTE 2] The people are chiefly Idolaters, but there are fine
churches belonging to the Nestorian Christians. They are all subjects of
the Great Kaan. They make in this city great quantities of camlets of
camel's wool, the finest in the world; and some of the camlets that they
make are white, for they have white camels, and these are the best of all.
Merchants purchase these stuffs here, and carry them over the world for
sale.[NOTE 3]
We shall now proceed eastward from this place and enter the territory that
was formerly Prester John's.
NOTE 1.--Chinghiz invaded Tangut in all five times, viz. in 1205, 1207,
1209 (or according to Erdmann, 1210-1211), 1218, and 1226-1227, on which
last expedition he died.
A. In the third invasion, according to D'Ohsson's Chinese guide (Father
Hyacinth), he took the town of _Uiraca_, and the fortress of Imen, and
laid siege to the capital, then called Chung-sing or Chung-hing, now
Ning-hsia.
Rashid, in a short notice of this campaign, calls the first city _Erica_,
_Erlaca_, or, as Erdmann has it, _Artacki_. In De Mailla it is _Ulahai_.
B. On the last invasion (1226), D'Ohsson's Chinese authority says that
Chinghiz took Kanchau and Suhchau, Cholo and Khola in the province of
Liangcheu, and then proceeded to the Yellow River, and invested Lingchau,
south of Ning-hsia.
Erdmann, following his reading of Rashiduddin, says Chinghiz took the
cities of Tangut, called _Arucki_, _Kachu_, _Sichu_, and _Kamichu_, and
besieged Deresgai (D'Ohsson, _Derssekai_), whilst Shidergu, the King of
Tangut, betook himself to his capital _Artackin_.
D'Ohsson, also professing to follow Rashid, calls this "his capital
_Irghai_, which the Mongols call _Ircaya_." Klaproth, illustrating Polo,
reads "Eyircai, which the Mongols call _Eyircayá_."
Pétis de la Croix, relating the same campaign and professing to follow
Fadlallah, i.e. Rashiduddin, says the king "retired to his fortress of
_Arbaca_."
C. Sanang Setzen several times mentions a city called _Irghai_,
_apparently_ in Tangut; but all we can gather as to his position is that
it seems to have lain east of Kanchau.
We perceive that the _Arbaca_ of P. de la Croix, the _Eyircai_ of
Klaproth, the _Uiraca_ of D'Ohsson, the _Artacki_ or _Artackin_ of
Erdmann, are all various readings or forms of the same name, and are the
same with the Chinese form _Ulahai_ of De Mailla, and most probably the
place is the _Egrigaia_ of Polo.
We see also that Erdmann mentions another place _Aruki_ ([Arabic]) in
connection with Kanchau and Suhchau. This is, I suspect, the _Erguiul_ of
Polo, and perhaps the Irghai of Sanang Setzen.
Rashiduddin seems wrong in calling Ircayá the capital of the king, a
circumstance which leads Klaproth to identify it with Ning-hsia. Pauthier,
identifying Ulahai with Egrigaya, shows that the former was one of the
circles of Tangut, but _not_ that of Ning-hsia. Its position, he says, is
uncertain. Klaproth, however, inserts it in his map of Asia, in the era of
Kúblái (_Tabl. Hist._ pl. 22), as _Ulakhai_ to the north of Ning-hsia,
near the great bend eastward of the Hwang-Ho. Though it may have extended
in this direction, it is probable, from the name referred to in next note,
that Egrigaia or Ulahai is represented by the modern principality of
ALASHAN, visited by Prjevalsky in 1871 and 1872.
[New travels and researches enable me to say that there can be no doubt
that _Egrigaia = Ning-hsia_. Palladius (l.c. 18) says: "_Egrigaia_ is
Erigaia of the Mongol text. Klaproth was correct in his supposition that
it is modern Ning-h'ia. Even now the Eleuths of Alashan call Ning-h'ia,
_Yargai_. In M. Polo's time this department was famous for the cultivation
of the Safflower (_carthamus tinctorius_). [_Siu t'ung kien_, A.D. 1292.]"
Mr. Rockhill (cf. his _Diary of a Journey_) writes to me that Ning-hsia is
still called _Irge Khotun_ by Mongols at the present day. M. Bonin (_J.
As._, 1900. I. 585) mentions the same fact.
Palladius (19) adds: "_Erigaia_ is not to be confounded with _Urahai_,
often mentioned in the history of Chingis Khan's wars with the Tangut
kingdom. Urahai was a fortress in a pass of the same name in the Alashan
Mountains. Chingis Khan spent five months there (an. 1208), during which
he invaded and plundered the country in the neighbourhood. [_Si hia shu
shi._] The Alashan Mountains form a semicircle 500 _li_ in extent, and
have over forty narrow passes leading to the department of Ning-hia; the
broadest and most practicable of these is now called Ch'i-mu-K'ow; it is
not more than 80 feet broad. [_Ning hia ju chi._] It may be that the
Urahai fortress existed near this pass."
"From Liang-chow fu, M. Polo follows a special route, leaving the modern
postal route on his right; the road he took has, since the time of the
Emperor K'ang-hi, been called the courier's route." (Palladius, 18.)--H.
C.]
NOTE 2.--_Calachan_, the chief town of Egrigaia, is mentioned, according
to Klaproth, by Rashiduddin, among the cities of Tangut, as KALAJÁN. The
name and approximate position suggest, as just noticed, identity with
Alashan, the modern capital of which, called by Prjevalsky Dyn-yuan-yin,
stands some distance west of the Hwang-Ho, in about lat. 39°. Polo gives
no data for the interval between this and his next stage.
[The _Dyn-yuan-yin_ of Prjevalsky is the camp of _Ting-yuan-yng_ or Fu-ma-
fu of M. Bonin, the residence of the Si-wang (western prince), of Alashan,
an abbreviation of Alade-shan (_shan_, mountain in Chinese), Alade =
Eleuth or Oelöt; the sister of this prince married a son of Prince Tuan,
the chief of the _Boxers_. (_La Géographie_, 1901. I. 118.) Palladius
(l.c. 19) says: "Under the name of Calachan, Polo probably means the
summer residence of the Tangut kings, which was 60 _li_ from Ning-hia, at
the foot of the Alashan Mountains. It was built by the famous Tangut king
Yuen-hao, on a large scale, in the shape of a castle, in which were high
terraces and magnificent buildings. Traces of these buildings are visible
to this day. There are often found coloured tiles and iron nails 1 foot,
and even 2 feet long. The last Tangut kings made this place their
permanent residence, and led there an indolent and sensual life. The
Chinese name of this residence was Ho-lan shan _Li-Kung_. There is
sufficient reason to suppose that this very residence is named (under the
year 1226) in the Mongol text _Alashai nuntuh_; and in the chronicles of
the Tangut Kingdom, _Halahachar_, otherwise _Halachar_ apparently in the
Tangut language. Thus M. Polo's Calachan can be identified with the
Halachar of the _Si hia shu shi_, and can be taken to designate the
Alashan residence of the Tangut kings."--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--Among the Buraets and Chinese at Kiakhta snow-white camels,
without albino character, are often seen, and probably in other parts of
Mongolia. (See _Erdmann_, II. 261.) Philostratus tells us that the King of
Taxila furnished white camels to Apollonius. I doubt if the present King
of Taxila, whom Anglo-Indians call the Commissioner of Ráwal Pindi, could
do the like.
_Cammellotti_ appear to have been fine woollen textures, by no means what
are now called camlets, nor were they necessarily of camel's wool, for
those of Angora goat's wool were much valued. M. Douet d'Arcq calls it "a
fine stuff of wool approaching to our Cashmere, and sometimes of silk."
Indeed, as Mr. Marsh points out, the word is Arabic, and has nothing to do
with _Camel_ in its origin; though it evidently came to be associated
therewith. _Khamlat_ is defined in F. Johnson's Dict.: "Camelot, silk and
camel's hair; also all silk or velvet, especially pily and plushy," and
_Khaml_ is "pile or plush." _Camelin_ was a different and inferior
material. There was till recently a considerable import of different kinds
of woollen goods from this part of China into Ladakh, Kashmir, and the
northern Panjáb. [Leaving Ning-hsia, Mr. Rockhill writes (_Diary_, 1892,
44): "We passed on the road a cart with Jardine and Matheson's flag,
coming probably from Chung-Wei Hsien, where camel's wool is sold in
considerable quantities to foreigners. This trade has fallen off very much
in the last three or four years on account of the Chinese middlemen
rolling the wool in the dirt so as to add to its weight, and practising
other tricks on buyers."--H. C.] Among the names of these were _Sling_,
_Shirum_, _Gurun_, and _Khoza_, said to be the names of the towns in China
where the goods were made. We have supposed _Sling_ to be Sining (note 2,
ch. lvii.), but I can make nothing of the others. Cunningham also mentions
"camlets of camel's hair," under the name of _Suklát_, among imports from
the same quarter. The term _Suklát_ is, however, applied in the _Panjáb_
trade returns to _broadcloth_. Does not this point to the real nature of
the _siclatoun_ of the Middle Ages? It is, indeed, often spoken of as used
for banners, which implies that it was not a _heavy_ woollen:
"There was mony gonfanoun
Of gold, sendel, and siclatoun."
(_King Alisaundre_, in Weber, I. 85.)
But it was also a material for ladies' robes, for quilts, leggings,
housings, pavilions. Franc. Michel does not decide what it was, only that
it was generally _red_ and wrought with gold. Dozy renders it "silk stuff
brocaded with gold"; but this seems conjectural. Dr. Rock says it was a
thin glossy silken stuff, often with a woof of gold thread, and seems to
derive it from the Arabic sakl, "polishing" (a sword), which is
improbable. Perhaps the name is connected with _Sikiliyat_, "Sicily."
(_Marsh on Wedgwood_, and _on Webster_ in _N. Y. Nation_, 1867; _Douet
D'Arcq_, p. 355; _Punjab Trade Rep._, App. ccxix.-xx.; _Ladak_, 242;
_Fr.-Michel Rech._ I. 221 seqq.; _Dozy_, _Dict. des Vêtements_, etc.;
_Dr. Rock's Ken. Catal._ xxxix.-xl.)
CHAPTER LIX.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TENDUC, AND THE DESCENDANTS OF PRESTER JOHN.
Tenduc is a province which lies towards the east, and contains numerous
towns and villages; among which is the chief city, also called TENDUC. The
king of the province is of the lineage of Prester John, George by name,
and he holds the land under the Great Kaan; not that he holds anything
like the whole of what Prester John possessed.[NOTE 1] It is a custom, I
may tell you, that these kings of the lineage of Prester John always
obtain to wife either daughters of the Great Kaan or other princesses of
his family.[NOTE 2]
In this province is found the stone from which Azure is made. It is
obtained from a kind of vein in the earth, and is of very fine
quality.[NOTE 3] There is also a great manufacture of fine camlets of
different colours from camel's hair. The people get their living by their
cattle and tillage, as well as by trade and handicraft.
The rule of the province is in the hands of the Christians, as I have told
you; but there are also plenty of Idolaters and worshippers of Mahommet.
And there is also here a class of people called _Argons_, which is as much
as to say in French _Guasmul_, or, in other words, sprung from two
different races: to wit, of the race of the Idolaters of Tenduc and of
that of the worshippers of Mahommet. They are handsomer men than the other
natives of the country, and having more ability, they come to have
authority; and they are also capital merchants.[NOTE 4]
You must know that it was in this same capital city of Tenduc that Prester
John had the seat of his government when he ruled over the Tartars, and
his heirs still abide there; for, as I have told you, this King George is
of his line, in fact, he is the sixth in descent from Prester John.
Here also is what _we_ call the country of GOG and MAGOG; _they_, however,
call it UNG and MUNGUL, after the names of two races of people that
existed in that Province before the migration of the Tartars. _Ung_ was
the title of the people of the country, and _Mungul_ a name sometimes
applied to the Tartars.[NOTE 5]
And when you have ridden seven days eastward through this province you get
near the provinces of Cathay. You find throughout those seven days'
journey plenty of towns and villages, the inhabitants of which are
Mahommetans, but with a mixture also of Idolaters and Nestorian
Christians. They get their living by trade and manufactures; weaving those
fine cloths of gold which are called _Nasich_ and _Naques_, besides silk
stuffs of many other kinds. For just as we have cloths of wool in our
country, manufactured in a great variety of kinds, so in those regions
they have stuffs of silk and gold in like variety.[NOTE 6]
All this region is subject to the Great Kaan. There is a city you come to
called SINDACHU, where they carry on a great many crafts such as provide
for the equipment of the Emperor's troops. In a mountain of the province
there is a very good silver mine, from which much silver is got: the place
is called YDIFU. The country is well stocked with game, both beast and
bird.[NOTE 7]
Now we will quit that province and go three days' journey forward.
NOTE 1.--Marco's own errors led commentators much astray about Tanduc or
Tenduc, till Klaproth put the matter in its true light.
Our traveller says that Tenduc had been the seat of Aung Khan's
sovereignty; he has already said that it had been the scene of his final
defeat, and he tells us that it was still the residence of his descendants
in their reduced state. To the last piece of information he can speak as a
witness, and he is corroborated by other evidence; but the second
statement we have seen to be almost certainly erroneous; about the first
we cannot speak positively.
Klaproth pointed out the true position of Tenduc in the vicinity of the
great northern bend of the Hwang-Ho, quoting Chinese authorities to show
that _Thianté_ or _Thianté-Kiun_ was the name of a district or group of
towns to the north of that bend, a name which he supposes to be the
original of Polo's _Tenduc_. The general position entirely agrees with
Marco's indications; it lies on his way eastward from Tangut towards
Chagannor, and Shangtu (see ch. lx., lxi.), whilst in a later passage (Bk.
II. ch. lxiv.), he speaks of the Caramoran or Hwang-Ho in its lower
course, as "coming from the lands of Prester John."
M. Pauthier finds severe fault with Klaproth's identification of the
_name_ Tenduc with the Thianté of the Chinese, belonging to a city which
had been destroyed 300 years before, whilst he himself will have that name
to be a corruption of _Tathung_. The latter is still the name of a city
and Fu of northern Shansi, but in Mongol time its circle of administration
extended beyond the Chinese wall, and embraced territory on the left of
the Hwang-Ho, being in fact the first _Lu_, or circle, entered on leaving
Tangut, and therefore, Pauthier urges, the "Kingdom of Tanduc" of our
text.
I find it hard to believe that Marco could get no nearer TATHUNG than in
the form of _Tanduc_ or _Tenduc_. The origin of the last may have been
some Mongol name, not recovered. But it is at least conceivable that a
name based on the old _Thianté-Kiun_ might have been retained among the
Tartars, from whom, and not from the Chinese, Polo took his nomenclature.
Thianté had been, according to Pauthier's own quotations, the _military
post of Tathung_; Klaproth cites a Chinese author of the Mongol era, who
describes the Hwang-Ho as passing through _the territory of the ancient
Chinese city of Thianté_; and Pauthier's own quotation from the Modern
Imperial Geography seems to imply that a place in that territory was
recently known as Fung-chau-_Thianté-Kiun_.
In the absence of preciser indications, it is reasonable to suppose that
the Plain of Tenduc, with its numerous towns and villages, was the
extensive and well-cultivated plain which stretches from the Hwang-Ho,
past the city of Kuku-Khotan, or "Blue Town." This tract abounds in the
remains of cities attributed to the Mongol era. And it is not improbable
that the city of Tenduc was Kuku-Khotan itself, now called by the Chinese
Kwei-hwa Ch'eng, but which was known to them in the Middle Ages as
_Tsing-chau_, and to which we find the Kin Emperor of Northern China
sending an envoy in 1210 to demand tribute from Chinghiz. The city is still
an important mart and a centre of Lamaitic Buddhism, being the residence of
a _Khutukhtu_, or personage combining the characters of cardinal and
voluntarily re-incarnate saint, as well as the site of five great convents
and fifteen smaller ones. Gerbillon notes that Kuku Khotan had been a place
of great trade and population during the Mongol Dynasty.
[The following evidence shows, I think, that we must look for the city of
Tenduc to _Tou Ch'eng_ or _Toto Ch'eng_, called _Togto_ or _Tokto_ by the
Mongols. Mr. Rockhill (_Diary_, 18) passed through this place, and 5 _li_
south of it, reached on the Yellow River, Ho-k'ou (in Chinese) or Dugus or
Dugei (in Mongol). Gerbillon speaks of Toto in his sixth voyage in
Tartary. (_Du Halde_, IV. 345.) Mr. Rockhill adds that he cannot but think
that Yule overlooked the existence of Togto when he identified Kwei-hwa
Ch'eng with Tenduc. Tou Ch'eng is two days' march west of Kwei-hwa Ch'eng,
"On the loess hill behind this place are the ruins of a large camp,
Orch'eng, in all likelihood the site of the old town" (l.c. 18). M. Bonin
(_J. As._ XV. 1900, 589) shares Mr. Rockhill's opinion. From Kwei-hwa
Ch'eng, M. Bonin went by the valley of the Hei Shui River to the Hwang Ho;
at the junction of the two rivers stands the village of Ho-k'au (Ho-k'ou)
south of the small town To Ch'eng, surmounted by the ruins of the old
square Mongol stronghold of Tokto, the walls of which are still in a good
state of preservation.--(_La Géographie_, I. 1901, p. 116.)
On the other hand, it is but fair to state that Palladius (21) says: "The
name of Tenduc obviously corresponds to T'ien-te Kiun, a military post,
the position of which Chinese geographers identify correctly with that of
the modern Kuku-hoton (_Ta tsing y t'ung chi_, ch. on the Tumots of
Kuku-hoton). The T'ien-te Kiun post existed under this name during the
K'itan (Liao) and Kin Dynasties up to Khubilai's time (1267); when under
the name of Fung-chow it was left only a district town in the department of
Ta-t'ung fu. The Kin kept in T'ien-te Kiun a military chief, _Chao-t'ao-
shi_, whose duty it was to keep an eye on the neighbouring tribes, and to
use, if needed, military force against them. The T'ien-te Kiun district was
hardly greater in extent than the modern aïmak of Tumot, into which
Kuku-hoton was included since the 16th century, i.e. 370 _li_ from north to
south, and 400 _li_ from east to west; during the Kin it had a settled
population, numbering 22,600 families."
In a footnote, Palladius refers to the geographical parts of the _Liao
shi, Kin shi_, and _Yuen shi_, and adds: "M. Polo's commentators are wrong
in suspecting an anachronism in his statement, or trying to find Tenduc
elsewhere."
We find in the _North-China Herald_ (29th April, 1887, p. 474) the
following note from the _Chinese Times_: "There are records that the
position of this city [Kwei-hwa Ch'eng] was known to the builder of the
Great Wall. From very remote times, it appears to have been a settlement
of nomadic tribes. During the last 1000 years it has been alternately
possessed by the Mongols and Chinese. About A.D. 1573, Emperor Wan-Li
reclaimed it, enclosed a space within walls, and called it Kwei-hwa
Ch'êng."
Potanin left Peking on the 13th May, 1884, for Kuku-khoto (or
Kwei-hwa-Ch'eng), passing over the triple chain of mountains dividing the
Plain of Peking from that on which Kuku-khoto is situate. The southernmost
of these three ridges bears the Chinese name of Wu-tai-shan, "the mountain
of five sacrificial altars," after the group of five peaks, the highest of
which is 10,000 feet above the sea, a height not exceeded by any mountain
in Northern China. At its southern foot lies a valley remarkable for its
Buddhist monasteries and shrines, one of which, "Shing-tung-tze," is
entirely made of brass, whence its name.
"Kuku-Khoto is the depôt for the Mongolian trade with China. It contains
two hundred tea-shops, five theatres, fifteen temples, and six Mongol
monasteries. Among its sights are the Buddhist convent of Utassa, with its
five pinnacles and has-reliefs, the convent of Fing-sung-si, and a temple
containing a statue erected in honour of the Chinese general, Pai-jin-
jung, who avenged an insult offered to the Emperor of China." (_Proc. R.
G. S._ IX. 1887, p. 233.)--H. C.]
A passage in Rashiduddin does seem to intimate that the Kerait, the tribe
of Aung Khan, _alias_ Prester John, did occupy territory close to the
borders of Cathay or Northern China; but neither from Chinese nor from
other Oriental sources has any illustration yet been produced of the
existence of Aung Khan's descendants as rulers in this territory under the
Mongol emperors. There is, however, very positive evidence to that effect
supplied by other European travellers, to whom the fables prevalent in the
West had made the supposed traces of Prester John a subject of strong
interest.
Thus John of Monte Corvino, afterwards Archbishop of Cambaluc or Peking,
in his letter of January, 1305, from that city, speaks of Polo's King
George in these terms: "A certain king of this part of the world, by name
George, belonging to the sect of the Nestorian Christians, and of the
illustrious lineage of that great king who was called Prester John of
India, in the first year of my arrival here [circa 1295-1296] attached
himself to me, and, after he had been converted by me to the verity of the
Catholic faith, took the Lesser Orders, and when I celebrated mass used to
attend me wearing his royal robes. Certain others of the Nestorians on
this account accused him of apostacy, but he brought over a great part of
his people with him to the true Catholic faith, and built a church of
royal magnificence in honour of our God, of the Holy Trinity, and of our
Lord, the Pope, giving it the name of _the Roman Church_. This King
George, six years ago, departed to the Lord, a true Christian, leaving as
his heir a son scarcely out of the cradle, and who is now nine years old.
And after King George's death, his brothers, perfidious followers of the
errors of Nestorius, perverted again all those whom he had brought over to
the Church, and carried them back to their original schismatical creed.
And being all alone, and not able to leave His Majesty the Cham, I could
not go to visit the church above-mentioned, which is twenty days' journey
distant.... I had been in treaty with the late King George, if he had
lived, to translate the whole Latin ritual, that it might be sung
throughout the extent of his territory; and whilst he was alive I used to
celebrate mass in his church according to the Latin rite." The distance
mentioned, twenty days' journey from Peking, suits quite well with the
position assigned to Tenduc, and no doubt the Roman Church was in the city
to which Polo gives that name.
Friar Odoric, travelling from Peking towards Shensi, about 1326-1327, also
visits the country of Prester John, and gives to its chief city the name
of _Tozan_, in which perhaps we may trace _Tathung_. He speaks as if the
family still existed in authority.
King George appears again in Marco's own book (Bk. IV. ch. ii.) as one of
Kúblái's generals against Kaidu, in a battle fought near Karakorúm.
(_Journ. As._ IX. 299 seqq.; _D'Ohsson_, I. 123; _Huc's Tartary_, etc.
I. 55 seqq.; _Koeppen_, II. 381; _Erdmann's Temudschin_; _Gerbillon_ in
_Astley_, IV. 670; _Cathay_, pp. 146 and 199 seqq.)
NOTE 2.--Such a compact is related to have existed reciprocally between
the family of Chinghiz and that of the chief of the Kunguráts; but I have
not found it alleged of the Kerait family except by Friar Odoric. We find,
however, many _princesses_ of this family married into that of Chinghiz.
Thus three nieces of Aung Khan became wives respectively of Chinghiz
himself and of his sons Juji and Tului; she who was the wife of the
latter, Serkukteni Bigi, being the mother of Mangú, Hulaku, and Kúblái.
Dukuz Khatun, the Christian wife of Hulaku, was a grand-daughter of Aung
Khan.
The name _George_, of Prester John's representative, may have been
actually Jirjis, Yurji, or some such Oriental form of Georgius. But it is
possible that the title was really _Gurgán_, "Son-in-Law," a title of
honour conferred on those who married into the imperial blood, and that
this title may have led to the statements of Marco and Odoric about the
nuptial privileges of the family. Gurgán in this sense was one of the
titles borne by Timur.[1]
[The following note by the Archimandrite Palladius (_Eluc._ 21-23) throws
a great light on the relations between the families of Chinghiz Khan and
of Prester John.
"T'ien-te Kiun was bounded on the north by the _Yn-shan_ Mountains, in and
beyond which was settled the Sha-t'o Tu-K'iu tribe, i.e. Tu-K'iu of the
sandy desert. The K'itans, when they conquered the northern borders of
China, brought also under their rule the dispersed family of these Tu-
K'iu. With the accession of the Kin, a Wang Ku [Ongot] family made its
appearance as the ruling family of those tribes; it issued from those Sha-
t'o Tu-K'iu, who once reigned in the north of China as the How T'ang
Dynasty (923-936 A.D.). It split into two branches, the Wang-Ku of the Yn-
shan, and the Wang-Ku of the Lin-t'ao (west of Kan-su). The Kin removed
the latter branch to Liao-tung (in Manchuria). The Yn-shan Wang-Ku guarded
the northern borders of China belonging to the Kin, and watched their
herds. When the Kin, as a protection against the inroads of the tribes of
the desert, erected a rampart, or new wall, from the boundary of the
Tángut Kingdom down to Manchuria, they intrusted the defence of the
principal places of the Yn-shan portion of the wall to the Wang-Ku, and
transferred there also the Liao-tung Wang-Ku. At the time Chingiz Khan
became powerful, the chief of the Wang-Ku of the Yn-shan was Alahush; and
at the head of the Liao-tung Wang-Ku stood _Pa-sao-ma-ie-li_. Alahush
proved a traitor to the Kin, and passed over to Chinghiz Khan; for this he
was murdered by the malcontents of his family, perhaps by Pa-sao-ma-ie-li,
who remained true to the Kin. Later on, Chingiz Khan married one of his
daughters to the son of Alahush, by name Po-yao-ho, who, however, had no
children by her. He had three sons by a concubine, the eldest of whom,
Kiun-pu-hwa, was married to Kuyuk Khan's daughter. Kiun-pu-hwa's son, Ko-
li-ki-sze, had two wives, both of imperial blood. During a campaign
against Haidu, he was made prisoner in 1298, and murdered. His title and
dignities passed over in A.D. 1310 to his son _Chuan_. Nothing is known of
Alahush's later descendants; they probably became entirely Chinese, like
their relatives of the Liao-tung branch.
"The Wang-Ku princes were thus _de jure_ the sons-in-law of the Mongol
Khans, and they had, moreover, the hereditary title of Kao-t'ang princes
(Kao-t'ang wang); it is very possible that they had their residence in
ancient T'ien-te Kiun (although no mention is made of it in history), just
as at present the Tumot princes reside in Kuku-hoton.
"The consonance of the names of Wang-Khan and Wang-Ku (Ung-Khan and Ongu)
led to the confusion regarding the tribes and persons, which at Marco
Polo's time seems to have been general among the Europeans in China; Marco
Polo and Johannes de Monte Corvino transfer the title of Prester John from
Wang-Khan, already perished at that time, to the distinguished family of
Wang-Ku. Their Georgius is undoubtedly Ko-li-ki-sze, Alahush's
great-grandson. That his name is a Christian one is confirmed by other
testimonies; thus in the Asu (Azes) regiment of the Khan's guards was
Ko-li-ki-sze, _aliàs_ Kow-r-ki (d. 1311), and his son Ti-mi-ti-r. There is
no doubt that one of them was Georgius, and the other Demetrius. Further,
in the description of _Chin-Kiang_ in the time of the Yuen, mention is made
of Ko-li-ki-sze Ye-li-ko-wen, i.e. Ko-li-ki-sze, the Christian, and of his
son Lu-ho (Luke).
"Ko-li-ki-sze of Wang-ku is much praised in history for his valour and his
love for Confucian doctrine; he had in consequence of a special favour of
the Khan two Mongol princesses for wives at the same time (which is rather
difficult to conciliate with his being a Christian). The time of his death
is correctly indicated in a letter of Joannes de M. Corvino of the year
1305: _ante sex annos migravit ad Dominum_. He left a young son _Chu-an_,
who probably is the Joannes of the letter of Ioannes (Giovani) de M.
Corvino, so called _propter nomen meum_, says the missionary. In another
Wang-ku branch, Si-li-ki-sze reminds one also of the Christian name
_Sergius_."--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--"The _Lapis Armenus_, or Azure,... is produced in the district of
Tayton-fu (i.e. _Tathung_), belonging to Shansi." (_Du Halde_ in _Astley_,
IV. 309; see also _Martini_, p. 36.)
NOTE 4.--This is a highly interesting passage, but difficult, from being
corrupt in the G. Text, and over-curt in Pauthier's MSS. In the former it
runs as follows: "_Hil hi a une jenerasion de jens que sunt appellés_
Argon, _qe vaut à dire en françois_ Guasmul, _ce est à dire qu'il sunt né
del deus generasions de la lengnée des celz_ Argon Tenduc et des celz
reduc et des celz que aorent Maomet. _Il sunt biaus homes plus que le
autre dou païs et plus sajes et plus mercaant_." Pauthier's text runs
thus: "_Il ont une generation de gens, ces Crestiens qui ont la
Seigneurie, qui s'appellent_ Argon, _qui vaut a dire_ Gasmul; _et sont
plus beaux hommes que les autres mescreans et plus sages. Et pour ce ont
il la seigneurie et sont bons marchans._" And Ramusio: "_Vi è anche una
sorte di gente che si chiamano_ Argon, _per che sono nati di due
generazioni_, cioè da quella di Tenduc che adorano gl' idoli, e da quella
che osservano la legge di Macometto. _E questi sono i piu belli uomini che
si trovino in quel paese e più savi, e più accorti nella mercanzia._"
In the first quotation the definition of the _Argon_ as sprung _de la
lengnée_, etc., is not intelligible as it stands, but seems to be a
corruption of the same definition that has been rendered by Ramusio, viz.
that the Argon were half-castes between the race of the Tenduc Buddhists
and that of the Mahomedan settlers. These two texts do not assert that the
Argon were Christians. Pauthier's text at first sight seems to assert
this, and to identify them with the Christian rulers of the province. But
I doubt if it means more than that the Christian _rulers have under them_
a people called Argon, etc. The passage has been read with a bias, owing
to an erroneous interpretation of the word _Argon_ in the teeth of Polo's
explanation of it.
Klaproth, I believe, first suggested that _Argon_ represents the term
_Arkhaiún_, which is found repeatedly applied to Oriental Christians, or
their clergy, in the histories of the Mongol era.[2] No quite satisfactory
explanation has been given of the origin of that term. It is barely
possible that it may be connected with that which Polo uses here; but he
tells us as plainly as possible that he means by the term, not a
Christian, but a _half-breed_.
And in this sense the word is still extant in Tibet, probably also in
Eastern Turkestan, precisely in Marco's form, ARGON. It is applied in
Ladak, as General Cunningham tells us, specifically to the mixt race
produced by the marriages of Kashmirian immigrants with Bot (Tibetan)
women. And it was apparently to an analogous cross between Caucasians and
Turanians that the term was applied in Tenduc. Moorcroft also speaks of
this class in Ladak, calling them _Argands_. Mr. Shaw styles them "a set
of ruffians called _Argoons_, half-bred between Toorkistan fathers and
Ladak mothers.... They possess all the evil qualities of both races,
without any of their virtues." And the author of the Dabistan, speaking of
the Tibetan Lamas, says: "Their king, if his mother be not of royal blood,
is by them called _Arghún_, and not considered their true king." [See p.
291, my reference to _Wellby's Tibet_.--H. C.] Cunningham says the word is
probably Turki, [Arabic], _Arghún_, "Fair," "not _white_," as he writes to
me, "but _ruddy_ or _pink_, and therefore 'fair.' _Arghún_ is both Turki
and Mogholi, and is applied to all fair children, both male and female, as
_Arghun Beg, Arghuna Khatun_," etc.[3] We find an _Arghún_ tribe named in
Timur's Institutes, which probably derived its descent from such
half-breeds. And though the Arghún Dynasty of Kandahar and Sind claimed
their descent and name from Arghún Khan of Persia, this may have had no
other foundation.
There are some curious analogies between these Argons of whom Marco speaks
and those Mahomedans of Northern China and Chinese Turkestan lately
revolted against Chinese authority, who are called _Tungani_, or as the
Russians write it _Dungen_, a word signifying, according to Professor
Vámbéry, in Turki, "a convert."[4] These Tungani are said by one account
to trace their origin to a large body of Uighúrs, who were transferred _to
the vicinity of the Great Wall_ during the rule of the Thang Dynasty (7th
to 10th century). Another tradition derives their origin from Samarkand.
And it is remarkable that Rashiduddin speaks of a town to the west or
north-west of Peking, "most of the inhabitants of which are natives of
Samarkand, and have planted a number of gardens in the Samarkand
style."[5] The former tradition goes on to say that marriages were
encouraged between the Western settlers and the Chinese women. In after
days these people followed the example of their kindred in becoming
Mahomedans, but they still retained the practice of marrying Chinese
wives, though bringing up their children in Islam. The Tungani are stated
to be known in Central Asia for their commercial integrity; and they were
generally selected by the Chinese for police functionaries. They are
passionate and ready to use the knife; but are distinguished from both
Manchus and Chinese by their strength of body and intelligent
countenances. Their special feature is their predilection for mercantile
speculations.
Looking to the many common features of the two accounts--the origin as a
half-breed between Mahomedans of Western extraction and Northern Chinese,
the position in the vicinity of the Great Wall, the superior physique,
intelligence, and special capacity for trade, it seems highly probable
that the Tungani of our day are the descendants of Marco's Argons.
Otherwise we may at least point to these analogies as a notable instance
of like results produced by like circumstances on the same scene; in fact,
of history repeating itself. (See _The Dungens_, by _Mr. H. K. Heins_, in
the _Russian Military Journal_ for August, 1866, and _Western China_, in
the _Ed. Review_ for April, 1868;[6] Cathay, p. 261.)
[Palladius (pp. 23-24) says that "it is impossible to admit that Polo had
meant to designate by this name the Christians, who were called by the
Mongols _Erkeun_ [_Ye li ke un_]. He was well acquainted with the
Christians in China, and of course could not ignore the name under which
they were generally known to such a degree as to see in it a designation
of a cross-race of Mahommetans and heathens." From the _Yuen ch'ao pi shi_
and the _Yuen shi_, Palladius gives some examples which refer to
Mahommedans.
Professor Devéria (_Notes d'Épig._ 49) says that the word [Greek: Árchon]
was used by the Mongol Government as a designation for the members of the
Christian clergy at large; the word is used between 1252 and 1315 to speak
of _Christian_ priests by the historians of the Yuen Dynasty; it is not
used before nor is it to be found in the Si-ngan-fu inscription (l.c. 82).
Mr. E. H. Parker (_China Review_, xxiv. p. 157) supplies a few omissions
in Devéria's paper; we note among others: "Ninth moon of 1329. Buddhist
services ordered to be held by the Uighúr priests, and by the Christians
[_Ye li ke un_]."
Captain Wellby writes (_Unknown Tibet_, p. 32): "We impressed into our
service six other muleteers, four of them being Argoons, who are really
half-castes, arising from the merchants of Turkestan making short
marriages with the Ladakhi women."--H. C.]
Our author gives the odd word _Guasmul_ as the French equivalent of Argon.
M. Pauthier has first, of Polo's editors, given the true explanation from
Ducange. The word appears to have been in use in the Levant among the
Franks as a name for the half-breeds sprung from their own unions with
Greek women. It occurs three times in the history of George Pachymeres.
Thus he says (_Mich. Pal._ III. 9), that the Emperor Michael "depended
upon the _Gasmuls_, or mixt breeds ([Greek: symmíktoi]), which is the
sense of this word of the Italian tongue, for these were born of Greeks
and Italians, and sent them to man his ships; for the race in question
inherited at once the military wariness and quick wit of the Greeks, and
the dash and pertinacity of the Latins." Again (IV. 26) he speaks of these
"Gasmuls, whom a Greek would call [Greek: digeneis], men sprung from Greek
mothers and Italian fathers." Nicephorus Gregoras also relates how Michael
Palaeologus, to oppose the projects of Baldwin for the recovery of his
fortunes, manned 60 galleys, chiefly with the tribe of Gasmuls ([Greek:
génos tou Gasmoulikou]), to whom he assigns the same characteristics as
Pachymeres. (IV. v. 5, also VI. iii. 3, and XIV. x. 2.) One MS. of Nicetas
Choniates also, in his annals of Manuel Comnenus (see Paris ed. p. 425),
speaks of "the light troops whom we call _Basmuls_." Thus it would seem
that, as in the analogous case of the _Turcopuli_, sprung from Turk
fathers and Greek mothers, their name had come to be applied technically
to a class of troops. According to Buchon, the laws of the Venetians in
Candia mention, as different races in that island, the _Vasmulo_, Latino,
Blaco, and Griego.
Ducange, in one of his notes on Joinville, says: "During the time that the
French possessed Constantinople, they gave the name of _Gas-moules_ to
those who were born of French fathers and Greek mothers; or more probably
_Gaste-moules_, by way of derision, as if such children by those irregular
marriages ... had in some sort debased the wombs of their mothers!" I have
little doubt (_pace tanti viri_) that the word is in a Gallicized form the
same with the surviving Italian _Guazzabúglio_, a hotch-potch, or
mish-mash. In Davanzati's _Tacitus_, the words "Colluviem _illam nationum_"
(_Annal._ II. 55) are rendered "_quello_ guazzabuglio _di nazioni_," in
which case we come very close to the meaning assigned to _Guasmul_. The
Italians are somewhat behind in matters of etymology, and I can get no
light from them on the history of this word. (See _Buchon_, _Chroniques
Etrangères_, p. xv.; _Ducange_, _Gloss. Graecitatis_, and his note on
_Joinville_, in _Bohn's Chron. of the Crusades_, 466.)
NOTE 5.--It has often been cast in Marco's teeth that he makes no mention
of the Great Wall of China, and that is true; whilst the apologies made
for the omission have always seemed to me unsatisfactory. [I find in Sir
G. Staunton's account of Macartney's Embassy (II. p. 185) this most
amusing explanation of the reason why Marco Polo did not mention the wall:
"A copy of Marco Polo's route to China, taken from the Doge's Library at
Venice, is sufficient to decide this question. By this route it appears
that, in fact, that traveller did not pass through Tartary to Pekin, but
that after having followed the usual track of the caravans, as far to the
eastward from Europe as Samarcand and Cashgar, he bent his course to the
south-east across the River Ganges to Bengal (!), and, keeping to the
southward of the Thibet mountains, reached the Chinese province of
Shensee, and through the adjoining province of Shansee to the capital,
without interfering with the line of the Great Wall."--H. C.] We shall see
presently that the Great Wall is spoken of by Marco's contemporaries
Rashiduddin and Abulfeda. Yet I think, if we read "between the lines," we
shall see reason to believe that the Wall _was_ in Polo's mind at this
point of the dictation, whatever may have been his motive for withholding
distincter notice of it.[7] I cannot conceive why he should say: "Here is
what we call the country of Gog and Magog," except as intimating "Here we
are _beside the_ GREAT WALL known as the Rampart of Gog and Magog," and
being there he tries to find a reason why those names should have been
applied to it. Why they were really applied to it we have already seen.
(Supra, ch. iv. note 3.) Abulfeda says: "The Ocean turns northward along
the east of China, and then expands in the same direction till it passes
China, and comes opposite to the Rampart of Yájúj and Májúj;" whilst the
same geographer's definition of the boundaries of China exhibits that
country as bounded on the west by the Indo-Chinese wildernesses; on the
south, by the seas; on the east, by the Eastern Ocean; on the north, by
the _land of Yájúj and Májúj_, and other countries unknown. Ibn Batuta,
with less accurate geography in his head than Abulfeda, maugre his
travels, asks about the Rampart of Gog and Magog (_Sadd Yájúj wa Majúj_)
when he is at Sin Kalán, i.e. Canton, and, as might be expected, gets
little satisfaction.
[Illustration: The Rampart of Gog and Magog]
Apart from this interesting point Marsden seems to be right in the general
bearing of his explanation of the passage, and I conceive that the two
classes of people whom Marco tries to identify with Gog and Magog do
substantially represent the two genera or species, TURKS and MONGOLS, or,
according to another nomenclature used by Rashiduddin, the _White_ and
_Black_ Tartars. To the latter class belonged Chinghiz and his MONGOLS
proper, with a number of other tribes detailed by Rashiduddin, and these I
take to be in a general way the MUNGUL of our text. The _Ung_ on the other
hand, are the UNG-_kut_, the latter form being presumably only the Mongol
plural of UNG. The Ung-kút were a Turk tribe who were vassals of the Kin
Emperors of Cathay, and were intrusted with the defence of the Wall of
China, or an important portion of it, which was called by the Mongols
_Ungu_, a name which some connect with that of the tribe. [See note pp.
288-9.] Erdmann indeed asserts that the wall by which the Ung-kut dwelt
was not the Great Wall, but some other. There are traces of other great
ramparts in the steppes north of the present wall. But Erdmann's arguments
seem to me weak in the extreme.
[Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 112) writes: "The earliest mention I have
found of the name _Mongol_ in Oriental works occurs in the Chinese annals
of the After T'ang period (A.D. 923-934), where it occurs in the form
_Meng-ku_. In the annals of the Liao Dynasty (A.D. 916-1125) it is found
under the form _Meng-ku-li_. The first occurrence of the name in the _Tung
chien kang mu_ is, however, in the 6th year Shao-hsing of Kao-tsung of the
Sung (A.D. 1136). It is just possible that we may trace the word back a
little earlier than the After T'ang period, and that the _Meng-wa_ (or
_ngo_ as this character may have been pronounced at the time), a branch of
the Shih-wei, a Tungusic or Kitan people living around Lake Keule, to the
east of the Baikal, and along the Kerulun, which empties into it, during
the 7th and subsequent centuries, and referred to in the _T'ang shu_ (Bk.
219), is the same as the later Meng-ku. Though I have been unable to find,
as stated by Howorth (_History_, i. pt. I. 28), that the name _Meng-ku_
occurs in the T'ang shu, his conclusion that the northern Shih-wei of that
time constituted the Mongol nation proper is very likely correct.... I. J.
Schmidt (_Ssanang Setzen_, 380) derives the name _Mongol_ from _mong_,
meaning 'brave, daring, bold,' while Rashiduddin says it means 'simple,
weak' (_d'Ohsson_, i. 22). The Chinese characters used to transcribe the
name mean 'dull, stupid,' and 'old, ancient,' but they are used purely
phonetically.... The Mongols of the present day are commonly called by the
Chinese _Ta-tzu_, but this name is resented by the Mongols as opprobrious,
though it is but an abbreviated form of the name _Ta-ta-tzu_, in which,
according to Rubruck, they once gloried."--H. C.]
Vincent of Beauvais has got from some of his authorities a conception of
the distinction of the Tartars into two races, to which, however, he
assigns no names: "_Sunt autem duo genera Tartarorum, diversa quidem
habentia idiomata, sed unicam legem ac ritum, sicut Franci et
Theutonici_." But the result of _his_ effort to find a realisation of Gog
and Magog is that he makes _Guyuk Kaan_ into Gog, and _Mangu Kaan_ into
Magog. Even the intelligent Friar Ricold says of the Tartars: "They say
themselves that they are descended from Gog and Magog: and on this account
they are called _Mogoli_, as if from a corruption of _Magogoli_."
(_Abulfeda_ in _Büsching_, IV. 140, 274-275; _I. B._ IV. 274; _Golden
Horde_, 34, 68; _Erdmann_, 241-242, 257-258; _Timk._ I. 259, 263, 268;
_Vinc. Bellov. Spec. Hist._ XXIX. 73, XXXI. 32-34; _Pereg. Quat._ 118;
_Not. et Ext._ II. 536.)
NOTE 6.--The towns and villages were probably those immediately north of
the Great Wall, between 112° and 115° East longitude, of which many
remains exist, ascribed to the time of the Yuen or Mongol Dynasty. This
tract, between the Great Wall and the volcanic plateau of Mongolia, is
extensively colonised by Chinese, and has resumed the flourishing aspect
that Polo describes. It is known now as the _Ku-wei_, or extramural
region.
[After Kalgan, Captain Younghusband, on the 12th April, 1886, "passed
through the [outer] Great Wall ... entering what Marco Polo calls the land
of Gog and Magog. For the next two days I passed through a hilly country
inhabited by Chinese, though it really belongs to Mongolia; but on the
14th I emerged on to the real steppes, which are the characteristic
features of Mongolia Proper." (_Proc. R. G. S._ X., 1888, p. 490.)--H. C.]
Of the cloths called _nakh_ and _nasij_ we have spoken before (supra ch.
vi. note 4). These stuffs, or some such as these, were, I believe, what
the mediaeval writers called _Tartary cloth_, not because they were made
in Tartary, but because they were brought from China and its borders
through the Tartar dominions; as we find that for like reason they were
sometimes called stuffs of _Russia_. Dante alludes to the supposed skill
of Turks and Tartars in weaving gorgeous stuffs, and Boccaccio, commenting
thereon, says that Tartarian cloths are so skilfully woven that no painter
with his brush could equal them. Maundevile often speaks of cloths of
Tartary (e.g. pp. 175, 247). So also Chaucer:
"On every trumpe hanging a broad banere Of fine _Tartarium_."
Again, in the French inventory of the _Garde-Meuble_ of 1353 we find two
pieces of _Tartary_, one green and the other red, priced at 15 crowns
each. (_Flower and Leaf_, 211; _Dante, Inf._ XVII. 17, and _Longfellow_,
p. 159; _Douet d'Arcq_, p. 328; _Fr.-Michel, Rech._ I. 315, II. 166 seqq.)
NOTE 7.--SINDACHU (Sindacui, Suidatui, etc., of the MSS.) is SIUEN-HWA-FU,
called under the Kin Dynasty _Siuen-te-chau_, more than once besieged and
taken by Chinghiz. It is said to have been a summer residence of the later
Mongol Emperors, and fine parks full of grand trees remain on the western
side. It is still a large town and the capital of a _Fu_, about 25 miles
south of the Gate on the Great Wall at Chang Kia Kau, which the Mongols
and Russians call Kalgan. There is still a manufacture of felt and woollen
articles here.
[Mr. Rockhill writes to me that this place is noted for the manufacture of
buckskins.--H. C.]
_Ydifu_ has not been identified. But Baron Richthofen saw old mines
north-east of Kalgan, which used to yield argentiferous galena; and
Pumpelly heard of silver-mines near Yuchau, in the same department.
[In the _Yuen-shi_ it is "stated that there were gold and silver mines in
the districts of Siuen-te-chow and Yuchow, as well as in the Kiming shan
Mountains. These mines were worked by the Government itself up to 1323,
when they were transferred to private enterprise. Marco Polo's _Ydifu_ is
probably a copyist's error, and stands instead of Yuchow." (_Palladius_,
24, 25.)--H. C.]
[1] Mr. Ney Elias favours me with a curious but tantalising communication
on this subject: "An old man called on me at Kwei-hwa Ch'eng (Tenduc),
who said he was neither Chinaman, Mongol, nor Mahomedan, and lived on
ground a short distance to the north of the city, especially allotted
to his ancestors by the Emperor, and where there now exist several
families of the same origin. He then mentioned the connection of his
family with that of the Emperor, but in what way I am not clear, and
said that he ought to be, or had been, a prince. Other people coming
in, he was interrupted and went away.... He was not with me more than
ten minutes, and the incident is a specimen of the difficulty in
obtaining interesting information, except by mere chance.... The idea
that struck me was, that he was perhaps a descendant of King George of
Tenduc; for I had your M. P. before me, and had been inquiring as much
as I dared about subjects it suggested.... At Kwei-hwa Ch'eng I was
very closely spied, and my servant was frequently told to warn me
against asking too many questions."
I should mention that Oppert, in his very interesting monograph, _Der
Presbyter Johannes_, refuses to recognise the Kerait chief at all in
that character, and supposes Polo's King George to be the
representative of a prince of the Liao (supra, p. 205), who, as we
learn from De Mailla's History, after the defeat of the Kin, in which
he had assisted Chinghiz, settled in Liaotung, and received from the
conqueror the title of King of the Liao. This seems to me
geographically and otherwise quite inadmissible.
[2] The term _Arkaiun_, or _Arkaun_, in this sense, occurs in the Armenian
History of Stephen Orpelian, quoted by St. Martin. The author of the
_Tárikh Jahán Kushai_, cited by D'Ohsson, says that Christians were
called by the Mongols _Arkáún_. When Hulaku invested Baghdad we are
told that he sent a letter to the Judges, Shaikhs, Doctors and
_Arkauns_, promising to spare such as should act peaceably. And in the
subsequent sack we hear that no houses were spared except those of a
few _Arkauns_ and foreigners. In Rashiduddin's account of the Council
of State at Peking, we are told that the four _Fanchan_, or Ministers
of the Second Class, were taken from the four nations of Tájiks,
Cathayans, Uighúrs, and _Arkaun_. Sabadin _Arkaun_ was the name of one
of the Envoys sent by Arghun Khan of Persia to the Pope in 1288.
Traces of the name appear also in Chinese documents of the Mongol era,
as denoting _some_ religious body. Some of these have been quoted by
Mr. Wylie; but I have seen no notice taken of a very curious extract
given by Visdelou. This states that Kúblái in 1289 established a Board
of nineteen chief officers to have surveillance of the affairs of the
Religion of the Cross, of the _Marha_, the _Siliepan_, and the
_Yelikhawen_. This Board was raised to a higher rank in 1315: and at
that time 72 minor courts presiding over the religion of the
_Yelikhawen_ existed under its supervision. Here we evidently have the
word _Arkhaiun_ in a Chinese form; and we may hazard the suggestion
that _Marha_, _Siliepan_ and _Yelikhawen_ meant respectively the
Armenian, Syrian, or Jacobite, and Nestorian Churches. (_St. Martin,
Mém._ II. 133, 143, 279; _D'Ohsson_, II. 264; _Ilchan_, I. 150, 152;
_Cathay_, 264; _Acad._ VII. 359; Wylie in _J. As._ V. xix. 406. Suppt.
to _D'Herbelot_, 142.)
[3] The word is not in Zenker or Pavet de Courteille.
[4] Mr. Shaw writes _Toongânee_. The first mention of this name that I
know of is in Izzat Ullah's Journal. (Vide _J. R. A. S._ VII. 310.)
The people are there said to have got the name from having first
settled in _Tungan_. Tung-gan is in the same page the name given to
the strong city of T'ung Kwan on the Hwang-ho. (See Bk. II. ch. xli.
note 1.) A variety of etymologies have been given, but Vámbéry's seems
the most probable.
[5] Probably no man could now say what this means. But the following note
from Mr. Ney Elias is very interesting in its suggestion of analogy:
"In my report to the Geographical Society I have noticed the peculiar
Western appearance of Kwei-hwa-ch'eng, and the little gardens of
creepers and flowers in pots which are displayed round the porches in
the court-yards of the better class of houses, and which I have seen
in no other part of China. My attention was especially drawn to these
by your quotation from Rashiduddin."
[6] A translation of _Heins'_ was kindly lent me by the author of this
article, the lamented Mr. J. W. S. Wyllie.
[7] I owe the suggestion of this to a remark in _Oppert's Presbyter
Johannes_, p. 77.
CHAPTER LX.
CONCERNING THE KAAN'S PALACE OF CHAGANNOR.
At the end of those three days you find a city called CHAGAN NOR [which is
as much as to say White Pool], at which there is a great Palace of the
Grand Kaan's;[NOTE 1] and he likes much to reside there on account of the
Lakes and Rivers in the neighbourhood, which are the haunt of swans[NOTE
2] and of a great variety of other birds. The adjoining plains too abound
with cranes, partridges, pheasants, and other game birds, so that the
Emperor takes all the more delight in staying there, in order to go
a-hawking with his gerfalcons and other falcons, a sport of which he is
very fond.[NOTE 3]
There are five different kinds of cranes found in those tracts, as I shall
tell you. First, there is one which is very big, and all over as black as
a crow; the second kind again is all white, and is the biggest of all; its
wings are really beautiful, for they are adorned with round eyes like
those of a peacock, but of a resplendent golden colour, whilst the head is
red and black on a white ground. The third kind is the same as ours. The
fourth is a small kind, having at the ears beautiful long pendent feathers
of red and black. The fifth kind is grey all over and of great size, with
a handsome head, red and black.[NOTE 4]
Near this city there is a valley in which the Emperor has had several
little houses erected in which he keeps in mew a huge number of _cators_
which are what we call the Great Partridge. You would be astonished to see
what a quantity there are, with men to take charge of them. So whenever
the Kaan visits the place he is furnished with as many as he wants.
[NOTE 5]
NOTE 1.--[According to the _Siu t'ung kien_, quoted by Palladius, the
palace in Chagannor was built in 1280.--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--"_Ou demeurent_ sesnes." _Sesnes, Cesnes, Cecini, Cesanae_, is a
mediaeval form of _cygnes, cigni_, which seems to have escaped the
dictionary-makers. It occurs in the old Italian version of _Brunetto
Latini's Tresor_, Bk. V. ch. xxv., as _cecino_; and for other examples,
see _Cathay_, p. 125.
NOTE 3.--The city called by Polo CHAGAN-NOR (meaning in Mongol, as he
says, "White Lake") is the _Chaghan Balghasun_ mentioned by Timkowski as
an old city of the Mongol era, the ruined rampart of which he passed about
30 miles north of the Great Wall at Kalgan, and some 55 miles from
Siuen-hwa, adjoining the Imperial pastures. It stands near a lake still
called Chaghan-Nor, and is called by the Chinese Pe-ching-tzu, or White
City, a translation of Chaghan Balghasun. Dr. Bushell says of one of the
lakes (Ichi-Nor), a few miles east of Chaghan-Nor: "We ... found the water
black with waterfowl, which rose in dense flocks, and filled the air with
discordant noises. _Swans_, geese, and ducks predominated, and _three
different species of cranes_ were distinguished."
The town appears as _Tchahan Toloho_ in D'Anville. It is also, I imagine,
the _Arulun Tsaghan Balghasun_ which S. Setzen says Kúblái built about the
same time with Shangtu and another city "on the shady side of the Altai,"
by which here he seems to mean the Khingan range adjoining the Great Wall.
(_Timk._ II. 374, 378-379; _J. R. G. S._ vol. xliii.; _S. Setz._ 115.)
I see Ritter has made the same identification of Chaghan-Nor (II. 141).
NOTE 4.--The following are the best results I can arrive at in the
identification of these five cranes.
1. Radde mentions as a rare crane in South Siberia _Grus monachus_, called
by the Buraits _Kará Togorü_, or "Black Crane." Atkinson also speaks of "a
beautiful black variety of crane," probably the same. The _Grus monachus_
is not, however, jet black, but brownish rather. (_Radde, Reisen_, Bd. II.
p. 318; _Atkinson. Or. and W. Sib._ 548.)
2. _Grus leucogeranus_ (?) whose chief habitat is Siberia, but which
sometimes comes as far south as the Punjab. It is the largest of the
genus, snowy white, with red face and beak; the ten largest quills are
black, but this barely shows as a narrow black line when the wings are
closed. The resplendent golden eyes on the wings remain unaccounted for;
no naturalist whom I have consulted has any knowledge of a crane or
crane-like bird with such decorations. When 'tis discovered, let it be the
_Grus Poli_!
3. _Grus cinerea_.
4. The colour of the pendants varies in the texts. Pauthier's and the G.
Text have _red and black_; the Lat. S. G. _black_ only, the Crusca _black
and white_, Ramusio _feathers red and blue_ (not pendants). The _red and
black_ may have slipt in from the preceding description. I incline to
believe it to be the Demoiselle, _Anthropoides Virgo_, which is frequently
seen as far north as Lake Baikal. It has a tuft of pure _white_ from the
eye, and a beautiful black pendent ruff or collar; the general plumage
purplish-grey.
5. Certainly the Indian _Sáras_ (vulgo Cyrus), or _Grus antigone_, which
answers in colours and grows to 52 inches high.
NOTE 5.--_Cator_ occurs only in the G. Text and the Crusca, in the latter
with the interpolated explanation "_cioè contornici_" (i.e. quails),
whilst the S. G. Latin has _coturnices_ only. I suspect this impression
has assisted to corrupt the text, and that it was originally written or
dictated _ciacor_ or _çacor_, viz. _chakór_, a term applied in the East to
more than one kind of "Great Partridge." Its most common application in
India is to the Himalayan red-legged partridge, much resembling on a
somewhat larger scale the bird so called in Europe. It is the "Francolin"
of Moorcroft's Travels, and the _Caccabis Chukor_ of Gray. According to
Cunningham the name is applied in Ladak to the bird sometimes called the
Snow-pheasant, Jerdan's Snow-cock, _Tetraogallus himalayensis_ of Gray.
And it must be the latter which Moorcroft speaks of as "the gigantic
Chukor, much larger than the common partridge, found in large coveys on
the edge of the snow;... one plucked and drawn weighed 5 lbs."; described
by Vigne as "a partridge as large as a hen-turkey"; the original perhaps
of that partridge "larger than a vulture" which formed one of the presents
from an Indian King to Augustus Caesar. [With reference to the large
Tibetan partridge found in the Nan-shan Mountains in the meridian of
Sha-chau by Prjevalsky, M. E. D. Morgan in a note (_P. R. Geog. S._ ix.
1887, p. 219), writes: "_Megaloperdrix thibetanus_. Its general name in
Asia is _ullar_, a word of Kirghiz or Turkish origin; the Mongols call it
_hailik_, and the Tibetans _kung-mo_. There are two other varieties of this
bird found in the Himalaya and Altai Mountains, but the habits of life and
call-note of all three are the same."] From the extensive diffusion of the
term, which seems to be common to India, Tibet, and Persia (for the latter,
see _Abbott_ in _J. R. G. S._ XXV. 41), it is likely enough to be of Mongol
origin, not improbably _Tsokhor_, "dappled or pied." (_Kovalevsky_, No.
2196, and _Strahlenberg's_ Vocabulary; see also _Ladak_, 205; _Moorcr._ I.
313, 432; _Jerdan's Birds of India_, III. 549, 572; _Dunlop, Hunting in
Himalaya_, 178; _J. A. S. B._ VI. 774.)
The chakór is mentioned by Baber (p. 282); and also by the Hindi poet
Chand (_Rás Mála_, I. 230, and _Ind. Antiquary_, I. 273). If the latter
passage is genuine, it is adverse to my Mongol etymology, as Chand lived
before the Mongol era.
The keeping of partridges for the table is alluded to by Chaucer in his
portrait of the Franklin, _Prologue, Cant. Tales_:
"It snewed in his hous of mete and drinke,
Of alle deyntees that men coud of thinke,
After the sondry sesons of the yere,
So changed he his mete and his soupere.
_Full many a fat partrich hadde he in mewe_,
And many a breme and many a luce in stewe."
CHAPTER LXI.
OF THE CITY OF CHANDU, AND THE KAAN'S PALACE THERE.
And when you have ridden three days from the city last mentioned, between
north-east and north, you come to a city called CHANDU,[NOTE 1] which was
built by the Kaan now reigning. There is at this place a very fine marble
Palace, the rooms of which are all gilt and painted with figures of men
and beasts and birds, and with a variety of trees and flowers, all
executed with such exquisite art that you regard them with delight and
astonishment.[NOTE 2]
Round this Palace a wall is built, inclosing a compass of 16 miles, and
inside the Park there are fountains and rivers and brooks, and beautiful
meadows, with all kinds of wild animals (excluding such as are of
ferocious nature), which the Emperor has procured and placed there to
supply food for his gerfalcons and hawks, which he keeps there in mew. Of
these there are more than 200 gerfalcons alone, without reckoning the
other hawks. The Kaan himself goes every week to see his birds sitting in
mew, and sometimes he rides through the park with a leopard behind him on
his horse's croup; and then if he sees any animal that takes his fancy, he
slips his leopard at it,[NOTE 3] and the game when taken is made over to
feed the hawks in mew. This he does for diversion.
Moreover [at a spot in the Park where there is a charming wood] he has
another Palace built of cane, of which I must give you a description. It
is gilt all over, and most elaborately finished inside. [It is stayed on
gilt and lackered columns, on each of which is a dragon all gilt, the tail
of which is attached to the column whilst the head supports the
architrave, and the claws likewise are stretched out right and left to
support the architrave.] The roof, like the rest, is formed of canes,
covered with a varnish so strong and excellent that no amount of rain will
rot them. These canes are a good 3 palms in girth, and from 10 to 15 paces
in length. [They are cut across at each knot, and then the pieces are
split so as to form from each two hollow tiles, and with these the house
is roofed; only every such tile of cane has to be nailed down to prevent
the wind from lifting it.] In short, the whole Palace is built of these
canes, which (I may mention) serve also for a great variety of other
useful purposes. The construction of the Palace is so devised that it can
be taken down and put up again with great celerity; and it can all be
taken to pieces and removed whithersoever the Emperor may command. When
erected, it is braced [against mishaps from the wind] by more than 200
cords of silk.[NOTE 4]
The Lord abides at this Park of his, dwelling sometimes in the Marble
Palace and sometimes in the Cane Palace for three months of the year, to
wit, June, July, and August; preferring this residence because it is by no
means hot; in fact it is a very cool place. When the 28th day of [the Moon
of] August arrives he takes his departure, and the Cane Palace is taken to
pieces.[NOTE 5] But I must tell you what happens when he goes away from
this Palace every year on the 28th of the August [Moon].
You must know that the Kaan keeps an immense stud of white horses and
mares; in fact more than 10,000 of them, and all pure white without a
speck. The milk of these mares is drunk by himself and his family, and by
none else, except by those of one great tribe that have also the privilege
of drinking it. This privilege was granted them by Chinghis Kaan, on
account of a certain victory that they helped him to win long ago. The
name of the tribe is HORIAD.[NOTE 6]
Now when these mares are passing across the country, and any one falls in
with them, be he the greatest lord in the land, he must not presume to
pass until the mares have gone by; he must either tarry where he is, or go
a half-day's journey round if need so be, so as not to come nigh them; for
they are to be treated with the greatest respect. Well, when the Lord sets
out from the Park on the 28th of August, as I told you, the milk of all
those mares is taken and sprinkled on the ground. And this is done on the
injunction of the Idolaters and Idol-priests, who say that it is an
excellent thing to sprinkle that milk on the ground every 28th of August,
so that the Earth and the Air and the False Gods shall have their share of
it, and the Spirits likewise that inhabit the Air and the Earth. And thus
those beings will protect and bless the Kaan and his children and his
wives and his folk and his gear, and his cattle and his horses, his corn
and all that is his. After this is done, the Emperor is off and away.[NOTE
7]
But I must now tell you a strange thing that hitherto I have forgotten to
mention. During the three months of every year that the Lord resides at
that place, if it should happen to be bad weather, there are certain
crafty enchanters and astrologers in his train, who are such adepts in
necromancy and the diabolic arts, that they are able to prevent any cloud
or storm from passing over the spot on which the Emperor's Palace stands.
The sorcerers who do this are called TEBET and KESIMUR, which are the
names of two nations of Idolaters. Whatever they do in this way is by the
help of the Devil, but they make those people believe that it is compassed
by dint of their own sanctity and the help of God.[NOTE 8] [They always go
in a state of dirt and uncleanness, devoid of respect for themselves, or
for those who see them, unwashed, unkempt, and sordidly attired.]
These people also have a custom which I must tell you. If a man is
condemned to death and executed by the lawful authority, they take his
body and cook and eat it. But if any one die a natural death then they
will not eat the body.[NOTE 9]
There is another marvel performed by those BACSI, of whom I have been
speaking as knowing so many enchantments.[NOTE 10] For when the Great Kaan
is at his capital and in his great Palace, seated at his table, which
stands on a platform some eight cubits above the ground, his cups are set
before him [on a great buffet] in the middle of the hall pavement, at a
distance of some ten paces from his table, and filled with wine, or other
good spiced liquor such as they use. Now when the Lord desires to drink,
these enchanters by the power of their enchantments cause the cups to move
from their place without being touched by anybody, and to present
themselves to the Emperor! This every one present may witness, and there
are ofttimes more than 10,000 persons thus present. 'Tis a truth and no
lie! and so will tell you the sages of our own country who understand
necromancy, for they also can perform it.[NOTE 11]
And when the Idol Festivals come round, these _Bacsi_ go to the Prince and
say: "Sire, the Feast of such a god is come" (naming him). "My Lord, you
know," the enchanter will say, "that this god, when he gets no offerings,
always sends bad weather and spoils our seasons. So we pray you to give us
such and such a number of black-faced sheep," naming whatever number they
please. "And we beg also, good my lord, that we may have such a quantity
of incense, and such a quantity of lignaloes, and"--so much of this, so
much of that, and so much of t'other, according to their fancy--"that we
may perform a solemn service and a great sacrifice to our Idols, and that
so they may be induced to protect us and all that is ours."
The _Bacsi_ say these things to the Barons entrusted with the Stewardship,
who stand round the Great Kaan, and these repeat them to the Kaan, and he
then orders the Barons to give everything that the Bacsi have asked for.
And when they have got the articles they go and make a great feast in
honour of their god, and hold great ceremonies of worship with grand
illuminations and quantities of incense of a variety of odours, which they
make up from different aromatic spices. And then they cook the meat, and
set it before the idols, and sprinkle the broth hither and thither, saying
that in this way the idols get their bellyful. Thus it is that they keep
their festivals. You must know that each of the idols has a name of his
own, and a feast-day, just as our Saints have their anniversaries.[NOTE
12]
They have also immense Minsters and Abbeys, some of them as big as a small
town, with more than two thousand monks (i.e. after their fashion) in a
single abbey.[NOTE 13] These monks dress more decently than the rest of
the people, and have the head and beard shaven. There are some among these
_Bacsi_ who are allowed by their rule to take wives, and who have plenty
of children.[NOTE 14]
Then there is another kind of devotees called SENSIN, who are men of
extraordinary abstinence after their fashion, and lead a life of such
hardship as I will describe. All their life long they eat nothing but
bran,[NOTE 15] which they take mixt with hot water. That is their food:
bran, and nothing but bran; and water for their drink. 'Tis a lifelong
fast! so that I may well say their life is one of extraordinary
asceticism. They have great idols, and plenty of them; but they sometimes
also worship fire. The other Idolaters who are not of this sect call these
people heretics--_Patarins_ as we should say[NOTE 16]--because they do not
worship their idols in their own fashion. Those of whom I am speaking
would not take a wife on any consideration.[NOTE 17] They wear dresses of
hempen stuff, black and blue,[NOTE 18] and sleep upon mats; in fact their
asceticism is something astonishing. Their idols are all feminine, that is
to say, they have women's names.[NOTE 19]
Now let us have done with this subject, and let me tell you of the great
state and wonderful magnificence of the Great Lord of Lords; I mean that
great Prince who is the Sovereign of the Tartars, CUBLAY by name, that
most noble and puissant Lord.
NOTE 1.--[There were two roads to go from Peking to Shangtu: the eastern
road through Tu-shi-k'ow, and the western (used for the return journey)
road by Ye-hu ling. Polo took this last road, which ran from Peking to
Siuen-te chau through the same places as now; but from the latter town it
led, not to Kalgan as it does now, but more to the west, to a place called
now Shan-fang pú where the pass across the Ye-hu ling range begins. "On
both these roads _nabo_, or temporary palaces, were built, as
resting-places for the Khans; eighteen on the eastern road, and twenty-four
on the western." (_Palladius_, p. 25.) The same author makes (p. 26) the
following remarks: "M. Polo's statement that he travelled three days from
Siuen-te chau to Chagannor, and three days also from the latter place to
Shang-tu, agrees with the information contained in the 'Researches on the
Routes to Shangtu.' The Chinese authors have not given the precise position
of Lake Chagannor; there are several lakes in the desert on the road to
Shangtu, and their names have changed with time. The palace in Chagannor
was built in 1280" (according to the _Siu t'ung kien_).--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--_Chandu_, called more correctly in Ramusio _Xandu_, i.e. SHANDU,
and by Fr. Odorico _Sandu_, viz. SHANG-TU or "Upper Court," the Chinese
title of Kúblái's summer residence at Kaipingfu, _Mongolicè_ Keibung (see
ch. xiii. of Prologue) [is called also _Loan king_, i.e. "the capital on
the Loan River," according to Palladius, p. 26.--H. C.]. The ruins still
exist, in about lat. 40° 22', and a little west of the longitude of
Peking. The site is 118 miles in direct line from Chaghan-nor, making
Polo's three marches into rides of unusual length.[1] The ruins bear the
Mongol name of _Chao Naiman Sumé Khotan_, meaning "city of the 108
temples," and are about 26 miles to the north-west of Dolon-nor, a
bustling, dirty town of modern origin, famous for the manufactory of
idols, bells, and other ecclesiastical paraphernalia of Buddhism. The site
was visited (though not described) by Père Gerbillon in 1691, and since
then by no European traveller till 1872, when Dr. Bushell of the British
Legation at Peking, and the Hon. T. G. Grosvenor, made a journey thither
from the capital, by way of the Nan-kau Pass (supra p. 26), Kalgan, and
the vicinity of Chaghan-nor, the route that would seem to have been
habitually followed, in their annual migration, by Kúblái and his
successors.
The deserted site, overgrown with rank weeds and grass, stands but little
above the marshy bed of the river, which here preserves the name of Shang-
tu, and about a mile from its north or left bank. The walls, of earth
faced with brick and unhewn stone, still stand, forming, as in the Tartar
city of Peking, a double _enceinte_, of which the inner line no doubt
represents the area of the "Marble Palace" of which Polo speaks. This
forms a square of about 2 _li_ (2/3 of a mile) to the side, and has three
gates--south, east, and west, of which the southern one still stands
intact, a perfect arch, 20 ft. high and 12 ft. wide. The outer wall forms
a square of 4 _li_ (1-1/3 mile) to the side, and has six gates. The
foundations of temples and palace-buildings can be traced, and both
enclosures are abundantly strewn with blocks of marble and fragments of
lions, dragons, and other sculptures, testifying to the former existence
of a flourishing city, but exhibiting now scarcely one stone upon another.
A broken memorial tablet was found, half buried in the ground, within the
north-east angle of the outer rampart, bearing an inscription in an
antique form of the Chinese character, which proves it to have been
erected by Kúblái, in honour of a Buddhist ecclesiastic called Yun-Hien.
Yun-Hien was the abbot of one of those great minsters and abbeys of
_Bacsis_, of which Marco speaks, and the exact date (no longer visible) of
the monument was equivalent to A.D. 1288.[2]
[Illustration: Heading In the Old Chinese Seal-Character, of an
INSCRIPTION on a Memorial raised by KÚBLÁI-KAAN to a Buddhist Ecclesiastic
in the vicinity of his SUMMER-PALACE at SHANG-TU in Mongolia. Reduced from
a facsimile obtained on the spot by Dr. _S. W. Bushell_, 1872. (About one-
Forth the Length and Breadth of Original.)]
This city occupies the south-east angle of a more extensive enclosure,
bounded by what is now a grassy mound, and embracing, on Dr. Bushell's
estimate, about 5 square miles. Further knowledge may explain the
discrepancy from Marco's dimension, but this must be the park of which he
speaks.[3] The woods and fountains have disappeared, like the temples and
palaces; all is dreary and desolate, though still abounding in the game
which was one of Kúblái's attractions to the spot. A small monastery,
occupied by six or seven wretched Lamas, is the only building that remains
in the vicinity. The river Shangtu, which lower down becomes the Lan [or
Loan]-Ho, was formerly navigated from the sea up to this place by flat
grain-boats.
[Mgr. de Harlez gave in the _T'oung Pao_ (x. p. 73) an inscription in
_Chuen_ character on a _stele_ found in the ruins of Shangtu, and built by
an officer with the permission of the Emperor; it is probably a token of
imperial favour; the inscription means: _Great Longevity_.--H. C.]
In the wail which Sanang Setzen, the poetical historian of the Mongols,
puts, perhaps with some traditional basis, into the mouth of Toghon Temur,
the last of the Chinghizide Dynasty in China, when driven from his throne,
the changes are rung on the lost glories of his capital _Daïtu_ (see
infra, Book II. ch. xi.) and his summer palace _Shangtu_; thus (I
translate from Schott's amended German rendering of the Mongol):
"My vast and noble Capital, My Daïtu, My splendidly adorned!
And Thou my cool and delicious Summer-seat, my Shangtu-Keibung!
Ye, also, yellow plains of Shangtu, Delight of my godlike Sires!
I suffered myself to drop into dreams,--and lo! my Empire was gone!
Ah Thou my Daïtu, built of the nine precious substances!
Ah my Shangtu-Keibung, Union of all perfections!
Ah my Fame! Ah my Glory, as Khagan and Lord of the Earth!
When I used to awake betimes and look forth, how the breezes blew
loaded with fragrance!
And turn which way I would all was glorious perfection of beauty!
* * * * *
Alas for my illustrious name as the Sovereign of the World!
Alas for my Daïtu, seat of Sanctity, Glorious work of the Immortal
KÚBLÁI!
All, all is rent from me!"
It was, in 1797, whilst reading this passage of Marco's narrative in old
Purchas that Coleridge fell asleep, and dreamt the dream of Kúblái's
Paradise, beginning:
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred River, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery."
It would be a singular coincidence in relation to this poem were
Klaproth's reading correct of a passage in Rashiduddin which he renders as
saying that the palace at Kaiminfu was "called Langtin, and was built
after a plan that Kúblái had seen in a dream, and had retained in his
memory." But I suspect D'Ohsson's reading is more accurate, which runs:
"Kúblái caused a Palace to be built for him east of Kaipingfu, called
Lengten; _but he abandoned it in consequence of a dream._" For we see from
Sanang Setzen that the Palaces of Lengten and Kaiming or Shangtu were
distinct; "Between the year of the Rat (1264), when Kúblái was fifty years
old, and the year of the Sheep (1271), in the space of eight years, he
built four great cities, viz. for Summer Residence SHANGTU KEIBUNG Kürdu
Balgasun, for Winter Residence Yeke DAÏTU Khotan, and on the shady side of
the Altai (see ch. li. note 3, supra) Arulun TSAGHAN BALGASUN, and
Erchügin LANGTING Balgasun." A valuable letter from Dr. Bushell enables me
now to indicate the position of Langtin: "The district through which the
river flows eastward from Shangtu is known to the Mongolians of the
present day by the name of _Lang-tírh_ (_Lang-ting'rh_).... The ruins of
the city are marked on a Chinese map in my possession Pai-dseng-tzu, i.e.
'White City,' implying that it was formerly an Imperial residence. The
remains of the wall are 7 or 8 _li_ in diameter, of stone, and situated
about 40 _li_ north-north-west from Dolon-nor."
(_Gerbillon_ in _Astley_, IV. 701-716; Klaproth, in _J. As._ sèr. II. tom.
xi. 345-350; _Schott, Die letzten Jahre der Mongolenherrschaft in China_
(Berl. Acad. d. Wissensch. 1850, pp. 502-503); _Huc's Tartary_, etc., p.
seqq.; _Cathay_, 134, 261; _S. Setzen_, p. 115; _Dr. S. W. Bushell,
Journey outside the Great Wall_, in _J. R. G. S._ for 1874, and MS.
notes.)
One of the pavilions of the celebrated Yuen-ming-Yuen may give some idea
of the probable style, though not of the scale, of Kúblái's Summer Palace.
Hiuen Tsang's account of the elaborate and fantastic ornamentation of the
famous Indian monasteries at Nalanda in Bahár, where Mr. Broadley has
lately made such remarkable discoveries, seems to indicate that these
fantasies of Burmese and Chinese architecture may have had a direct origin
in India, at a time when timber was still a principal material of
construction there: "The pavilions had pillars adorned with dragons, and
posts that glowed with all the colours of the rainbow, sculptured frets,
columns set with jade, richly chiselled and lackered, with balustrades of
vermilion, and carved open work. The lintels of the doors were tastefully
ornamented, and the roofs covered with shining tiles, the splendours of
which were multiplied by mutual reflection and from moment to moment took
a thousand forms." (_Vie et Voyages_, 157.)
NOTE 3.--[Rubruck says, (_Rockhill_, p. 248): "I saw also the envoy of
a certain Soldan of India, who had brought eight leopards and ten
_greyhounds_, taught to sit on horses' backs, as leopards sit."--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--Ramusio's is here so much more lucid than the other texts, that
I have adhered mainly to his account of the building. The roof described
is of a kind in use in the Indian Archipelago, and in some other parts of
Transgangetic India, in which the semi-cylinders of bamboo are laid just
like Roman tiles.
Rashiduddin gives a curious account of the way in which the foundations of
the terrace on which this palace stood were erected in a lake. He says,
too, in accord with Polo: "Inside the city itself a second palace was
built, about a bowshot from the first: but the Kaan generally takes up his
residence in the palace outside the town," i.e., as I imagine, in Marco's
Cane Palace. (_Cathay_, pp. 261-262.)
["_The Palace of canes_ is probably the Palm Hall, _Tsung tien_, alias
_Tsung mao tien_, of the Chinese authors, which was situated in the
western palace garden of Shangtu. Mention is made also in the _Altan
Tobchi_ of a cane tent in Shangtu." (_Palladius_, p. 27.)--H. C.]
[Illustration: Pavilion at Yuen-ming-Yuen.]
Marco might well say of the bamboo that "it serves also a great variety of
other purposes." An intelligent native of Arakan who accompanied me in
wanderings on duty in the forests of the Burmese frontier in the beginning
of 1853, and who used to ask many questions about Europe, seemed able to
apprehend almost everything except the possibility of existence in a
country without bamboos! "When I speak of bamboo huts, I mean to say that
posts and walls, wall-plates and rafters, floor and thatch, and the withes
that bind them, are all of bamboo. In fact, it might almost be said that
among the Indo-Chinese nations the staff of life is _a bamboo!_
Scaffolding and ladders, landing-jetties, fishing apparatus, irrigation
wheels and scoops, oars, masts, and yards [and in China, sails, cables,
and caulking, asparagus, medicine, and works of fantastic art], spears and
arrows, hats and helmets, bow, bowstring and quiver, oil-cans,
water-stoups and cooking-pots, pipe-sticks [tinder and means of producing
fire], conduits, clothes-boxes, pawn-boxes, dinner-trays, pickles,
preserves, and melodious musical instruments, torches, footballs, cordage,
bellows, mats, paper; these are but a few of the articles that are made
from the bamboo;" and in China, to sum up the whole, as Barrow observes, it
maintains order throughout the Empire! (_Ava Mission_, p. 153; and see also
_Wallace, Ind. Arch._ I. 120 seqq.)
NOTE 5.--"The Emperor ... began this year (1264) to depart from Yenking
(Peking) in the second or third month for Shangtu, not returning until the
eighth month. Every year he made this passage, and all the Mongol emperors
who succeeded him followed his example." (_Gaubil_, p. 144.)
["The Khans usually resorted to Shangtu in the 4th moon and returned to
Peking in the 9th. On the 7th day of the 7th moon there were libations
performed in honour of the ancestors; a shaman, his face to the north,
uttered in a loud voice the names of Chingiz Khan and of other deceased
Khans, and poured mare's milk on the ground. The propitious day for the
return journey to Peking was also appointed then." (_Palladius_,
p. 26.)--H. C.]
NOTE 6.--White horses were presented in homage to the Kaan on New Year's
Day (_the White Feast_), as we shall see below. (Bk. II. ch. xv.) Odoric
also mentions this practice; and, according to Huc, the Mongol chiefs
continued it at least to the time of the Emperor K'ang-hi. Indeed
Timkowski speaks of annual tributes of white camels and white horses from
the Khans of the Kalkas and other Mongol dignitaries, in the present
century. (_Huc's Tartary_, etc.; _Tim._ II. 33.)
By the HORIAD are no doubt intended the UIRAD or OIRAD, a name usually
interpreted as signifying the "Closely Allied," or Confederates; but
Vámbéry explains it as (Turki) _Oyurat_, "Grey horse," to which the
statement in our text appears to lend colour. They were not of the tribes
properly called Mongol, but after their submission to Chinghiz they
remained closely attached to him. In Chinghiz's victory over Aung-Khan, as
related by S. Setzen, we find Turulji Taishi, the son of the chief of the
Oirad, one of Chinghiz's three chief captains; perhaps that is the victory
alluded to. The seats of the Oirad appear to have been about the head
waters of the Kem, or Upper Yenisei.
In A.D. 1295 there took place a curious desertion from the service of
Gházán Khan of Persia of a vast corps of the Oirad, said to amount to
18,000 _tents_. They made their way to Damascus, where they were well
received by the Mameluke Sultan. But their heathenish practices gave dire
offence to the Faithful. They were settled in the _Sáhil_, or coast
districts of Palestine. Many died speedily; the rest embraced Islam,
spread over the country, and gradually became absorbed in the general
population. Their sons and daughters were greatly admired for their
beauty. (_S. Setz._ p. 87; _Erdmann_, 187; _Pallas, Samml._ I. 5 seqq.;
_Makrizi_, III. 29; _Bretschneider, Med. Res._ II. p. 159 seqq.)
[With reference to Yule's conjecture, I may quote Palladius (l.c. p. 27):
"It is, however, strange that the Oirats alone enjoyed the privilege
described by Marco Polo; for the highest position at the Mongol Khan's
court belonged to the Kunkrat tribe, out of which the Khans used to choose
their first wives, who were called Empresses of the first _ordo_."--H. C.]
NOTE 7.--Rubruquis assigns such a festival to the month of May: "On the
9th day of the May Moon they collect all the white mares of their herds
and consecrate them. The Christian priests also must then assemble with
their thuribles. They then sprinkle new cosmos (_kumíz_) on the ground,
and make a great feast that day, for according to their calendar, it is
their time of first drinking new cosmos, just as we reckon of our new wine
at the feast of St. Bartholomew (24th August), or that of St. Sixtus (6th
August), or of our fruit on the feast of St. James and St. Christopher"
(25th July). [With reference to this feast, Mr. Rockhill gives (_Rubruck_,
p. 241, note) extracts from _Pallas, Voyages_, IV. 579, and _Professor
Radloff, Aus Siberien_, I. 378.--H. C.] The Yakuts also hold such a
festival in June or July, when the mares foal, and immense wooden goblets
of kumíz are emptied on that occasion. They also pour out kumíz for the
Spirits to the four quarters of heaven.
The following passage occurs in the narrative of the Journey of Chang
Te-hui, a Chinese teacher, who was summoned to visit the camp of Kúblái in
Mongolia, some twelve years before that Prince ascended the throne of the
Kaans:[4]
"On the 9th day of the 9th Moon (October), the Prince, having called his
subjects before his chief tent, performed the libation of the milk of a
white mare. This was the customary sacrifice at that time. The vessels
used were made of birch-bark, not ornamented with either silver or gold.
Such here is the respect for simplicity....
"At the last day of the year the Mongols suddenly changed their
camping-ground to another place, for the mutual congratulation on the 1st
Moon. Then there was every day feasting before the tents for the lower
ranks. Beginning with the Prince, all dressed themselves in white fur
clothing....[5]
"On the 9th day of the 4th Moon (May) the Prince again collected his
vassals before the chief tent for the libation of the milk of a white
mare. This sacrifice is performed twice a year."
It has been seen (p. 308) that Rubruquis also names the 9th day of the May
moon as that of the consecration of the white mares. The autumn libation
is described by Polo as performed on the 28th day of the August moon,
probably because it was unsuited to the circumstances of the Court at
Cambaluc, where the Kaan was during October, and the day named was the
last of his annual stay in the Mongolian uplands.
Baber tells that among the ceremonies of a Mongol Review the Khan and his
staff took kumiz and sprinkled it towards the standards. An Armenian
author of the Mongol era says that it was the custom of the Tartars,
before drinking, to sprinkle drink towards heaven, and towards the four
quarters. Mr. Atkinson notices the same practice among the Kirghiz: and I
found the like in old days among the Kasias of the eastern frontier of
Bengal.
The time of year assigned by Polo for the ceremony implies some change.
Perhaps it had been made to coincide with the Festival of Water
Consecration of the Lamas, with which the time named in the text seems to
correspond. On that occasion the Lamas go in procession to the rivers and
lakes and consecrate them by benediction and by casting in offerings,
attended by much popular festivity.
Rubruquis seems to intimate that the Nestorian priests were employed to
consecrate the white mares by incensing them. In the rear of Lord
Canning's camp in India I once came upon the party of his _Shutr Suwárs_,
or dromedary-express riders, busily engaged in incensing with frankincense
the whole of the dromedaries, which were kneeling in a circle. I could get
no light on the practice, but it was very probably a relic of the old
Mongol custom. (_Rubr._ 363; _Erman_, II. 397; _Billings' Journey_, Fr.
Tr. I. 217; _Baber_, 103; _J. As._ sèr. V. tom. xi. p. 249; _Atk. Amoor_,
p. 47; _J. A. S. B._ XIII. 628; _Koeppen_, II. 313.)
NOTE 8.--The practice of weather-conjuring was in great vogue among the
Mongols, and is often alluded to in their history.
The operation was performed by means of a stone of magical virtues, called
_Yadah_ or _Jadah-Tásh_, which was placed in or hung over a basin of water
with sundry ceremonies. The possession of such a stone is ascribed by the
early Arab traveller Ibn Mohalhal to the _Kímák_, a great tribe of the
Turks. In the war raised against Chinghiz and Aung Khan, when still
allies, by a great confederation of the Naiman and other tribes in 1202,
we are told that Sengun, the son of Aung Khan, when sent to meet the
enemy, caused them to be enchanted, so that all their attempted movements
against him were defeated by snow and mist. The fog and darkness were
indeed so dense that many men and horses fell over precipices, and many
also perished with cold. In another account of (apparently) the same
matter, given by Mir-Khond, the conjuring is set on foot by the _Yadachi_
of Buyruk Khan, Prince of the Naiman, but the mischief all rebounds on the
conjurer's own side.
In Tului's invasion of Honan in 1231-1232, Rashiduddin describes him, when
in difficulty, as using the _Jadah_ stone with success.
Timur, in his Memoirs, speaks of the Jets using incantations to produce
heavy rains which hindered his cavalry from acting against them. A
_Yadachi_ was captured, and when his head had been taken off the storm
ceased.
Baber speaks of one of his early friends, Khwaja Ka Mulai, as excelling in
falconry and acquainted with _Yadagarí_ or the art of bringing on rain and
snow by means of enchantment. When the Russians besieged Kazan in 1552
they suffered much from the constant heavy rains, and this annoyance was
universally ascribed to the arts of the Tartar Queen, who was celebrated
as an enchantress. Shah Abbas believed he had learned the Tartar secret,
and put much confidence in it. (_P. Delia V._ I. 869.)
[Grenard says (II. p. 256) the most powerful and most feared of sorcerers
[in Chinese Turkestan] is the _djâduger_, who, to produce rain or fine
weather, uses a jade stone, given by Noah to Japhet. Grenard adds (II.
406-407) there are sorcerers (Ngag-pa-snags-pa) whose specialty is to make
rain fall; they are similar to the Turkish _Yadachi_ and like them use a
stone called "water cristal," _chu shel_; probably jade stone.
Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 245, note) writes: "Rashideddin states that
when the Urianghit wanted to bring a storm to an end, they said injuries
to the sky, the lightning and thunder. I have seen this done myself by
Mongol storm-dispellers. (See _Diary_, 201, 203.) 'The other Mongol
people,' he adds, 'do the contrary. When the storm rumbles, they remain
shut up in their huts, full of fear.' The subject of storm-making, and the
use of stones for that purpose, is fully discussed by Quatremère,
_Histoire_, 438-440." (Cf. also _Rockhill_, l.c. p. 254.)--H. C.]
An edict of the Emperor Shi-tsung, of the reigning dynasty, addressed in
1724-1725 to the Eight Banners of Mongolia, warns them against this
rain-conjuring: "If I," indignantly observes the Emperor, "offering prayer
in sincerity have yet room to fear that it may please Heaven to leave MY
prayer unanswered, it is truly intolerable that mere common people wishing
for rain should at their own caprice set up altars of earth, and bring
together a rabble of Hoshang (Buddhist Bonzes) and Taossé to conjure the
spirits to gratify their wishes."
["Lamas were of various extraction; at the time of the great assemblies,
and of the Khan's festivities in Shangtu, they erected an altar near the
Khan's tent and prayed for fine weather; the whistling of shells rose up
to heaven." These are the words in which Marco Polo's narrative is
corroborated by an eye-witness who has celebrated the remarkable objects
of Shangtu (_Loan king tsa yung_). These Lamas, in spite of the
prohibition by the Buddhist creed of bloody sacrifices, used to sacrifice
sheep's hearts to Mahakala. It happened, as it seems, that the heart of an
executed criminal was also considered an agreeable offering; and as the
offerings could be, after the ceremony, eaten by the sacrificing priests,
Marco Polo had some reason to accuse the Lamas of cannibalism.
(_Palladius_, 28.)--H. C.]
The practice of weather-conjuring is not yet obsolete in Tartary, Tibet,
and the adjoining countries.[6]
Weather-conjuring stories were also rife in Europe during the Middle Ages.
One such is conspicuously introduced in connection with a magical fountain
in the romance of the _Chevalier au Lyon_:
"Et s'i pant uns bacins d'or fin
A une si longue chaainne
Qui dure jusqu'a la fontainne,
Lez la fontainne troveras
Un perron tel con tu verras
* * * *
S'au bacin viaus de l'iaue prandre
Et dessor le perron espandre,
La verras une tel tanpeste
Qu'an cest bois ne remandra beste,"
etc. etc.[7]
The effect foretold in these lines is the subject of a woodcut
illustrating a Welsh version of the same tale in the first volume of the
_Mabinogion_. And the existence of such a fountain is alluded to by
Alexander Neckam. (_De Naturis Rerum_, Bk. II. ch. vii.)
In the _Cento Novelle Antiche_ also certain necromancers exhibit their
craft before the Emperor Frederic (Barbarossa apparently): "The weather
began to be overcast, and lo of a sudden rain began to fall with continued
thunders and lightnings, as if the world were come to an end, and
hailstones that looked like steel-caps," etc. Various other European
legends of like character will be found in _Liebrecht's Gervasius von
Tilbury_, pp. 147-148.
Rain-makers there are in many parts of the world; but it is remarkable
that those also of Samoa in the Pacific operate by means of a
_rain-stone_.
Such weather conjurings as we have spoken of are ascribed by Ovid to
Circe:
"Concipit illa preces, et verba venefica dicit;
Ignotosque Deos ignoto carmine adorat,
* * * *
_Tunc quoque cantato densetur carmine caelum,
Et nebulas exhalat humus_."--_Metam._ XIV. 365.
And to Medea:--
--"Quum volui, ripis mirantibus, amnes
In fontes rediere suos ... (another feat of the Lamas)
... _Nubila pello,
Nubilaque induco; ventos abigoque, vocoque_."--Ibid. VII. 199.
And by Tibullus to the _Saga_ (_Eleg._ I. 2, 45); whilst Empedocles, in
verses ascribed to him by Diogenes Laertius, claims power to communicate
like secrets of potency:--
"By my spells thou may'st
To timely sunshine turn the purple rains,
And parching droughts to fertilising floods."
(See _Cathay_, p. clxxxvii.; _Erdm._ 282; _Oppert_, 182 seqq.; _Erman_,
I. 153; _Pallas, Samml._ II. 348 seqq.; _Timk._ I. 402; _J. R. A. S._
VII. 305-306; _D'Ohsson_, II. 614; and for many interesting particulars,
_Q. R._ p. 428 seqq., and _Hammers Golden Horde_, 207 and 435 seqq.)
NOTE 9.--It is not clear whether Marco attributes this cannibalism to the
Tibetans and Kashmirians, or brings it in as a particular of Tartar custom
which he had forgotten to mention before.
The accusations of cannibalism indeed against the Tibetans in old accounts
are frequent, and I have elsewhere (see _Cathay_, p. 151) remarked on some
singular Tibetan practices which go far to account for such charges. Della
Penna, too, makes a statement which bears curiously on the present
passage. Remarking on the great use made by certain classes of the Lamas
of human skulls for magical cups, and of human thigh bones for flutes and
whistles, he says that to supply them with these _the bodies of executed
criminals were stored up of the disposal of the Lamas_; and a Hindu
account of Tibet in the _Asiatic Researches_ asserts that when one is
killed in a fight both parties rush forward and struggle for the liver,
which they eat (vol. xv).
[Carpini says of the people of Tibet: "They are pagans; they have a most
astonishing, or rather horrible, custom, for, when any one's father is
about to give up the ghost, all the relatives meet together, and they eat
him, as was told to me for certain." Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 152,
note) writes: "So far as I am aware, this charge [of cannibalism] is not
made by any Oriental writer against the Tibetans, though both Arab
travellers to China in the ninth century and Armenian historians of the
thirteenth century say the Chinese practised cannibalism. The Armenians
designate China by the name _Nankas_, which I take to be Chinese
_Nan-kuo_, 'southern country,' the _Manzi_ country of Marco Polo."--H. C.]
But like charges of cannibalism are brought against both Chinese and
Tartars very positively. Thus, without going back to the Anthropophagous
Scythians of Ptolemy and Mela, we read in the _Relations_ of the Arab
travellers of the ninth century: "In China it occurs sometimes that the
governor of a province revolts from his duty to the emperor. In such a
case he is slaughtered and eaten. _In fact, the Chinese eat the flesh of
all men who are executed by the sword_." Dr. Rennie mentions a
superstitious practice, the continued existence of which in our own day he
has himself witnessed, and which might perhaps have given rise to some
such statement as that of the Arab travellers, if it be not indeed a
relic, in a mitigated form, of the very practice they assert to have
prevailed. After an execution at Peking certain large pith balls are
steeped in the blood, and under the name of _blood-bread_ are sold as a
medicine for consumption. _It is only to the blood of decapitated
criminals that any such healing power is attributed_. It has been asserted
in the annals of the _Propagation de la Foi_ that the Chinese executioners
of M. Chapdelaine, a missionary who was martyred in Kwang-si in 1856 (28th
February), were seen to eat the heart of their victim; and M. Huot, a
missionary in the Yun-nan province, recounts a case of cannibalism which
he witnessed. Bishop Chauveau, at Ta Ts'ien-lu, told Mr. Cooper that he
had seen men in one of the cities of Yun-nan eating the heart and brains
of a celebrated robber who had been executed. Dr. Carstairs Douglas of
Amoy also tells me that the like practices have occurred at Amoy and
Swatau.
[With reference to cannibalism in China see _Medical Superstitions an
Incentive to Anti-Foreign Riots in China_, by _D. J. Macgowan, North China
Herald_, 8th July, 1892, pp. 60-62. Mr. E. H. Parker (_China Review_,
February-March, 1901, 136) relates that the inhabitants of a part of
Kwang-si boiled and ate a Chinese officer who had been sent to pacify
them. "The idea underlying this horrible act [cannibalism] is, that by
eating a portion of the victim, especially the heart, one acquires the
valour with which he was endowed." (_Dennys' Folk-lore of China_, 67.)--H.
C.]
Hayton, the Armenian, after relating the treason of a Saracen, called
Parwana (he was an Iconian Turk), against Abaka Khan, says: "He was taken
and cut in two, and orders were issued that in all the food eaten by Abaka
there should be put a portion of the traitor's flesh. Of this Abaka
himself ate, and caused all his barons to partake. _And this was in
accordance with the custom of the Tartars_." The same story is related
independently and differently by Friar Ricold, thus: "When the army of
Abaga ran away from the Saracens in Syria, a certain great Tartar baron
was arrested who had been guilty of treason. And when the Emperor Khan was
giving the order for his execution the Tartar ladies and women interposed,
and begged that he might be made over to them. Having got hold of the
prisoner they boiled him alive, and cutting his body up into mince-meat
gave it to eat to the whole army, as an example to others." Vincent of
Beauvais makes a like statement: "When they capture any one who is at
bitter enmity with them, they gather together and eat him in vengeance of
his revolt, and like infernal leeches suck his blood," a custom of which a
modern Mongol writer thinks that he finds a trace in a surviving proverb.
Among more remote and ignorant Franks the cannibalism of the Tartars was a
general belief. Ivo of Narbonne, in his letter written during the great
Tartar invasion of Europe (1242), declares that the Tartar chiefs, with
their dog's head followers and other _Lotophagi_ (!), ate the bodies of
their victims like so much bread; whilst a Venetian chronicler, speaking
of the council of Lyons in 1274, says there was a discussion about making
a general move against the Tartars, "_porce qu'il manjuent la char
humaine._" These latter writers no doubt rehearsed mere popular beliefs,
but Hayton and Ricold were both intelligent persons well acquainted with
the Tartars, and Hayton at least not prejudiced against them.
The old belief was revived in Prussia during the Seven Years' War, in
regard to the Kalmaks of the Russian army; and Bergmann says the old
Kalmak warriors confessed to him that they had done what they could to
encourage it by cutting up the bodies of the slain in presence of their
prisoners, and roasting them! But Levchine relates an act on the part of
the Kirghiz Kazaks which was no jest. They drank the blood of their victim
if they did not eat his flesh.
There is some reason to believe that cannibalism was in the Middle Ages
generally a less strange and unwonted horror than we should at first blush
imagine, and especially that it was an idea tolerably familiar in China.
M. Bazin, in the second part of _Chine Moderne_, p. 461, after sketching a
Chinese drama of the Mongol era ("The Devotion of Chao-li"), the plot of
which turns on the acts of a body of cannibals, quotes several other
passages from Chinese authors which indicate this. Nor is this wonderful
in the age that had experienced the horrors of the Mongol wars.
That was no doubt a fable which Carpini heard in the camp of the Great
Kaan, that in one of the Mongol sieges in Cathay, when the army was
without food, one man in ten of their own force was sacrificed to feed the
remainder.[8] But we are told in sober history that the force of Tului in
Honan, in 1231-1232, was reduced to such straits as to eat grass and human
flesh. At the siege of the Kin capital Kaifongfu, in 1233, the besieged
were reduced to the like extremity; and the same occurred the same year at
the siege of Tsaichau; and in 1262, when the rebel general Litan was
besieged in Tsinanfu. The Taiping wars the other day revived the same
horrors in all their magnitude. And savage acts of the same kind by the
Chinese and their Turk partisans in the defence of Kashgar were related to
Mr. Shaw.
Probably, however, nothing of the kind in history equals what Abdallatif,
a sober and scientific physician, describes as having occurred before his
own eyes in the great Egyptian famine of A.H. 597 (1200). The horrid
details fill a chapter of some length, and we need not quote from them.
Nor was Christendom without the rumour of such barbarities. The story of
King Richard's banquet in presence of Saladin's ambassadors on the head of
a Saracen curried (for so it surely was),--
"soden full hastily
With powder and with spysory,
And with saffron of good colour"--
fable as it is, is told with a zest that makes one shudder; but the tale
in the _Chanson d'Antioche_, of how the licentious bands of ragamuffins,
who hung on the army of the First Crusade, and were known as the
_Tafurs_,[9] ate the Turks whom they killed at the siege, looks very like
an abominable truth, corroborated as it is by the prose chronicle of worse
deeds at the ensuing siege of Marrha:--
"A lor cotiaus qu'il ont trenchans et afilés
Escorchoient les Turs, aval parmi les près.
Voiant Paiens, les ont par pièces découpés.
En l'iave et el carbon les ont bien quisinés,
Volontiers les menjuent sans pain et dessalés."[10]
(_Della Penna_, p. 76; _Reinaud, Rel._ I. 52; _Rennie's Peking_, II. 244;
_Ann. de la Pr. de la F._ XXIX. 353, XXI. 298; _Hayton_ in _Ram._ ch.
xvii.; _Per. Quat._ p. 116; _M. Paris_, sub. 1243; _Mél. Asiat. Acad. St.
Pétersb._ II. 659; _Canale_ in _Arch. Stor. Ital._ VIII.; _Bergm. Nomad.
Streifereien_, I. 14; _Carpini_, 638; _D'Ohsson_, II. 30, 43, 52;
_Wilson's Ever Victorious Army_, 74; _Shaw_, p. 48; _Abdallatif_, p. 363
seqq.; _Weber_, II. 135; _Littré, H. de la Langue Franç._ I. 191; _Gesta
Tancredi_ in _Thes. Nov. Anecd._ III. 172.)
NOTE 10.--_Bakhshi_ is generally believed to be a corruption of _Bhikshu_,
the proper Sanscrit term for a religious mendicant, and in particular for
the Buddhist devotees of that character. _Bakhshi_ was probably applied to
a class only of the Lamas, but among the Turks and Persians it became a
generic name for them all. In this sense it is habitually used by
Rashiduddin, and thus also in the Ain Akbari: "The learned among the
Persians and Arabians call the priests of this (Buddhist) religion
_Bukshee_, and in Tibbet they are styled Lamas."
According to Pallas the word among the modern Mongols is used in the sense
of _Teacher_, and is applied to the oldest and most learned priest of a
community, who is the local ecclesiastical chief. Among the Kirghiz
Kazzaks again, who profess Mahomedanism, the word also survives, but
conveys among them just the idea that Polo seems to have associated with
it, that of a mere conjuror or "medicine-man"; whilst in Western Turkestan
it has come to mean a Bard.
The word Bakhshi has, however, wandered much further from its original
meaning. From its association with persons who could read and write, and
who therefore occasionally acted as clerks, it came in Persia to mean a
clerk or secretary. In the Petrarchian Vocabulary, published by Klaproth,
we find _scriba_ rendered in _Comanian_, i.e. Turkish of the Crimea, by
_Bacsi_. The transfer of meaning is precisely parallel to that in regard
to our Clerk. Under the Mahomedan sovereigns of India, _Bakhshi_ was
applied to an officer performing something like the duties of a
quartermaster-general; and finally, in our Indian army, it has come to
mean a paymaster. In the latter sense, I imagine it has got associated in
the popular mind with the Persian _bakhshídan_, to bestow, and
_bakhshísh_. (See a note in _Q. R._ p. 184 seqq.; _Cathay_, p. 474; _Ayeen
Akbery_, III. 150; _Pallas, Samml._ II. 126; _Levchine_, p. 355; _Klap.
Mém._ III.; _Vámbéry, Sketches_, p. 81.)
The sketch from the life, on p. 326, of a wandering Tibetan devotee, whom
I met once at Hardwár, may give an idea of the sordid _Bacsis_ spoken of
by Polo.
NOTE 11.--This feat is related more briefly by Odoric: "And jugglers cause
cups of gold full of good wine to fly through the air, and to offer
themselves to all who list to drink." (_Cathay_, p. 143.) In the note on
that passage I have referred to a somewhat similar story in the _Life of
Apollonius_. "Such feats," says Mr. Jaeschke, "are often mentioned in
ancient as well as modern legends of Buddha and other saints; and our
Lamas have heard of things very similar performed by conjuring _Bonpos_."
(See p. 323.) The moving of cups and the like is one of the sorceries
ascribed in old legends to Simon Magus: "He made statues to walk; leapt
into the fire without being burnt; flew in the air; made bread of stones;
changed his shape; assumed two faces at once; converted himself into a
pillar; caused closed doors to fly open spontaneously; made the vessels in
a house seem to move of themselves," etc. The Jesuit Delrio laments that
credulous princes, otherwise of pious repute, should have allowed diabolic
tricks to be played before them, "as, for example, things of iron, and
silver goblets, or other heavy articles, to be moved by bounds from one
end of a table to the other, without the use of a magnet or of any
attachment." The pious prince appears to have been Charles IX., and the
conjuror a certain Cesare Maltesio. Another Jesuit author describes the
veritable mango-trick, speaking of persons who "within three hours' space
did cause a genuine shrub of a span in length to grow out of the table,
besides other trees that produced both leaves and fruit."
In a letter dated 1st December, 1875, written by Mr. R. B. Shaw, after his
last return from Kashgar and Lahore, this distinguished traveller says; "I
have heard stories related regarding a Buddhist high priest whose temple
is said to be not far to the east of Lanchau, which reminds me of Marco
Polo and Kúblái Khan. This high priest is said to have the magic power of
attracting cups and plates to him from a distance, so that things fly
through the air into his hands." (_MS. Note_.--H. Y.)
The profession and practice of exorcism and magic in general is greatly
more prominent in Lamaism or Tibetan Buddhism than in any other known form
of that religion. Indeed, the old form of Lamaism as it existed in our
traveller's day, and till the reforms of Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), and as it
is still professed by the _Red_ sect in Tibet, seems to be a kind of
compromise between Indian Buddhism and the old indigenous Shamanism. Even
the reformed doctrine of the Yellow sect recognises an orthodox kind of
magic, which is due in great measure to the combination of Sivaism with
the Buddhist doctrines, and of which the institutes are contained in the
vast collection of the _Jud_ or Tantras, recognised among the holy books.
The magic arts of this code open even a short road to the Buddhahood
itself. To attain that perfection of power and wisdom, culminating in the
cessation of sensible existence, requires, according to the ordinary
paths, a period of three _asankhyas_ (or say Uncountable Time × 3),
whereas by means of the magic arts of the _Tantras_ it may be reached in
the course of three _rebirths_ only, nay, of one! But from the Tantras
also can be learned how to acquire miraculous powers for objects entirely
selfish and secular, and how to exercise these by means of _Dhárani_ or
mystic Indian charms.
Still the orthodox Yellow Lamas professedly repudiate and despise the
grosser exhibitions of common magic and charlatanism which the Reds still
practise, such as knife-swallowing, blowing fire, cutting off their own
heads, etc. But as the vulgar will not dispense with these marvels, every
great orthodox monastery in Tibet _keeps a conjuror_, who is a member of
the unreformed, and does not belong to the brotherhood of the convent, but
lives in a particular part of it, bearing the name of _Choichong_, or
protector of religion, and is allowed to marry. The magic of these
Choichong is in theory and practice different from the orthodox Tantrist
magic. The practitioners possess no literature, and hand down their
mysteries only by tradition. Their fantastic equipments, their frantic
bearing, and their cries and howls, seem to identify them with the
grossest Shamanist devil dancers.
Sanang Setzen enumerates a variety of the wonderful acts which could be
performed through the _Dhárani_. Such were, sticking a peg into solid
rock; restoring the dead to life; turning a dead body into gold;
penetrating everywhere as air does; flying; catching wild beasts with the
hand; reading thoughts; making water flow backwards; eating tiles; sitting
in the air with the legs doubled under, etc. Some of these are precisely
the powers ascribed to Medea, Empedocles, and Simon Magus, in passages
already cited. Friar Ricold says on this subject: "There are certain men
whom the Tartars honour above all in the world, viz. the _Baxitae_ (i.e.
_Bakhshis_), who are a kind of idol-priests. These are men from India,
persons of deep wisdom, well-conducted, and of the gravest morals. They
are usually acquainted with magic arts, and depend on the counsel and aid
of demons; they exhibit many illusions, and predict some future events.
For instance, one of eminence among them was said to fly; the truth,
however, was (as it proved), that he did not fly, but did walk close to
the surface of the ground without touching it; and _would seem to sit down
without having any substance to support him_." This last performance was
witnessed by Ibn Batuta at Delhi, in the presence of Sultan Mahomed
Tughlak; and it was professedly exhibited by a Brahmin at Madras in the
present century, a descendant doubtless of those Brahmans whom Apollonius
saw walking two cubits from the ground. It is also described by the worthy
Francis Valentyn as a performance known and practised in his own day in
India. It is related, he says, that "a man will first go and sit on three
sticks put together so as to form a tripod; after which, first one stick,
then a second, then the third shall be removed from under him, and the man
shall not fall but shall still remain sitting in the air! Yet I have
spoken with two friends who had seen this at one and the same time; and
one of them, I may add, mistrusting his own eyes, had taken the trouble to
feel about with a long stick if there were nothing on which the body
rested; yet, as the gentleman told me, he could neither feel nor see any
such thing. Still, I could only say that I could not believe it, as a
thing too manifestly contrary to reason."
Akin to these performances, though exhibited by professed jugglers without
claim to religious character, is a class of feats which might be regarded
as simply inventions if told by one author only, but which seem to deserve
prominent notice from their being recounted by a series of authors,
certainly independent of one another, and writing at long intervals of
time and place. Our first witness is Ibn Batuta, and it will be necessary
to quote him as well as the others in full, in order to show how closely
their evidence tallies. The Arab Traveller was present at a great
entertainment at the Court of the Viceroy of Khansa (_Kinsay_ of Polo, or
Hang-chau fu): "That same night a juggler, who was one of the Kán's
slaves, made his appearance, and the Amír said to him, 'Come and show us
some of your marvels.' Upon this he took a wooden ball, with several holes
in it, through which long thongs were passed, and, laying hold of one of
these, slung it into the air. It went so high that we lost sight of it
altogether. (It was the hottest season of the year, and we were outside in
the middle of the palace court.) There now remained only a little of the
end of a thong in the conjuror's hand, and he desired one of the boys who
assisted him to lay hold of it and mount. He did so, climbing by the
thong, and we lost sight of him also! The conjuror then called to him
three times, but getting no answer, he snatched up a knife as if in a
great rage, laid hold of the thong, and disappeared also! By and bye he
threw down one of the boy's hands, then a foot, then the other hand, and
then the other foot, then the trunk, and last of all the head! Then he
came down himself, all puffing and panting, and with his clothes all
bloody, kissed the ground before the Amír, and said something to him in
Chinese. The Amír gave some order in reply, and our friend then took the
lad's limbs, laid them together in their places, and gave a kick, when,
presto! there was the boy, who got up and stood before us! All this
astonished me beyond measure, and I had an attack of palpitation like that
which overcame me once before in the presence of the Sultan of India, when
he showed me something of the same kind. They gave me a cordial, however,
which cured the attack. The Kazi Afkharuddin was next to me, and quoth he,
'_Wallah!_ 'tis my opinion there has been neither going up nor coming
down, neither marring nor mending; 'tis all hocus pocus!'"
Now let us compare with this, which Ibn Batuta the Moor says he saw in
China about the year 1348, the account which is given us by Edward Melton,
an Anglo-Dutch traveller, of the performances of a Chinese gang of
conjurors, which he witnessed at Batavia about the year 1670 (I have
forgotten to note the year). After describing very vividly the _basket-
murder_ trick, which is well known in India, and now also in Europe, and
some feats of bamboo balancing similar to those which were recently shown
by Japanese performers in England, only more wonderful, he proceeds: "But
now I am going to relate a thing which surpasses all belief, and which I
should scarcely venture to insert here had it not been witnessed by
thousands before my own eyes. One of the same gang took a ball of cord,
and grasping one end of the cord in his hand slung the other up into the
air with such force that its extremity was beyond reach of our sight. He
then immediately climbed up the cord with indescribable swiftness, and got
so high that we could no longer see him. I stood full of astonishment, not
conceiving what was to come of this; when lo! a leg came tumbling down out
of the air. One of the conjuring company instantly snatched it up and
threw it into the basket whereof I have formerly spoken. A moment later a
hand came down, and immediately on that another leg. And in short all the
members of the body came thus successively tumbling from the air and were
cast together into the basket. The last fragment of all that we saw tumble
down was the head, and no sooner had that touched the ground than he who
had snatched up all the limbs and put them in the basket turned them all
out again topsy-turvy. Then straightway we saw with these eyes all those
limbs creep together again, and in short, form a whole man, who at once
could stand and go just as before, without showing the least damage! Never
in my life was I so astonished as when I beheld this wonderful
performance, and I doubted now no longer that these misguided men did it
by the help of the Devil. For it seems to me totally impossible that such
things should be accomplished by natural means." The same performance is
spoken of by Valentyn, in a passage also containing curious notices of the
basket-murder trick, the mango trick, the sitting in the air (quoted
above), and others; but he refers to Melton, and I am not sure whether he
had any other authority for it. The cut on this page is taken from
Melton's plate.
[Illustration: Chinese Conjuring Extraordinary.]
Again we have in the Memoirs of the Emperor Jahángir a detail of the
wonderful performances of seven jugglers from Bengal who exhibited before
him. Two of their feats are thus described: "_Ninth_. They produced a man
whom they divided limb from limb, actually severing his head from the
body. They scattered these mutilated members along the ground, and in this
state they lay for some time. They then extended a sheet or curtain over
the spot, and one of the men putting himself under the sheet, in a few
minutes came from below, followed by the individual supposed to have been
cut into joints, in perfect health and condition, and one might have
safely sworn that he had never received wound or injury whatever ...
_Twenty-third_. They produced a chain of 50 cubits in length, and in my
presence threw one end of it towards the sky, _where it remained as if
fastened to something in the air_. A dog was then brought forward, and
being placed at the lower end of the chain, immediately ran up, and
reaching the other end, _immediately disappeared in the air_. In the same
manner a hog, a panther, a lion, and a tiger were successively sent up the
chain, and all equally disappeared at the upper end of the chain. At last
they took down the chain and put it into a bag, no one ever discovering in
what way the different animals were made to vanish into the air in the
mysterious manner above described."
[There would appear (says the _Times of India_, quoted by the _Weekly
Dispatch_, 15th September, 1889) to be a fine field of unworked romance in
the annals of Indian jugglery. One Siddeshur Mitter, writing to the
Calcutta paper, gives a thrilling account of a conjurer's feat which he
witnessed recently in one of the villages of the Hooghly district. He saw
the whole thing himself, he tells us, so there need be no question about
the facts. On the particular afternoon when he visited the village the
place was occupied by a company of male and female jugglers, armed with
bags and boxes and musical instruments, and all the mysterious
paraphernalia of the peripatetic _Jadugar_. While Siddeshur was looking
on, and in the broad, clear light of the afternoon, a man was shut up in a
box, which was then carefully nailed up and bound with cords. Weird spells
and incantations of the style we are all familiar with were followed by
the breaking open of the box, which, "to the unqualified amazement of
everybody, was found to be perfectly empty." All this is much in the usual
style; but what followed was so much superior to the ordinary run of
modern Indian jugglery that we must give it in the simple Siddeshur's own
words. When every one was satisfied that the man had really disappeared,
the principal performer, who did not seem to be at all astonished, told
his audience that the vanished man had gone up to the heavens to fight
Indra. "In a few moments," says Siddeshur, "he expressed anxiety at the
man's continued absence in the aerial regions, and said that he would go
up to see what was the matter. A boy was called, who held upright a long
bamboo, up which the man climbed to the top, whereupon we suddenly lost
sight of him, and the boy laid the bamboo on the ground. Then there fell
on the ground before us the different members of a human body, all
bloody,--first one hand, then another, a foot, and so on, until complete.
The boy then elevated the bamboo, and the principal performer, appearing
on the top as suddenly as he had disappeared, came down, and seeming quite
disconsolate, said that Indra had killed his friend before he could get
there to save him. He then placed the mangled remains in the same box,
closed it, and tied it as before. Our wonder and astonishment reached
their climax when, a few minutes later, on the box being again opened, the
man jumped out perfectly hearty and unhurt." Is not this rather a severe
strain on one's credulity, even for an Indian jugglery story?]
In Philostratus, again, we may learn the antiquity of some juggling tricks
that have come up as novelties in our own day. Thus at Taxila a man set
his son against a board, and then threw darts tracing the outline of the
boy's figure on the board. This feat was shown in London some fifteen or
twenty years ago, and humorously commemorated in _Punch_ by John Leech.
(_Philostratus_, Fr. Transl. Bk. III. ch. xv. and xxvii.; _Mich. Glycas_,
Ann. II. 156, Paris ed.; _Delrio, Disquis. Magic._ pp. 34, 100; _Koeppen_,
I. 31, II. 82, 114-115, 260, 262, 280; _Vassilyev_, 156; _Della Penna_,
36; _S. Setzen_, 43, 353; _Pereg. Quat._ 117; _I. B._ IV. 39 and 290
seqq.; _Asiat. Researches_, XVII. 186; _Valentyn_, V. 52-54; _Edward
Melton, Engelsch Edelmans, Zeldzaame en Gedenkwaardige Zee en Land Reizen,
etc., aangevangen in den Jaare 1660 en geendigd in den Jaare 1677_,
Amsterdam, 1702, p. 468; _Mem. of the Emp. Jahangueir_, pp. 99, 102.)
[Illustration: Grand Temple of Buddha at LHASA]
NOTE 12.--["The maintenance of the Lamas, of their monasteries, the
expenses for the sacrifices and for transcription of sacred books,
required enormous sums. The Lamas enjoyed a preponderating influence, and
stood much higher than the priests of other creeds, living in the palace
as if in their own house. The perfumes, which M. Polo mentions, were used
by the Lamas for two purposes; they used them for joss-sticks, and for
making small turrets, known under the name of _ts'a-ts'a_; the joss-sticks
used to be burned in the same way as they are now; the _ts'a-ts'a_ were
inserted in _suburgas_ or buried in the ground. At the time when the
_suburga_ was built in the garden of the Peking palace in 1271, there were
used, according to the Empress' wish, 1008 turrets made of the most
expensive perfumes, mixed with pounded gold, silver, pearls, and corals,
and 130,000 _ts'a-ts'a_ made of ordinary perfumes." (_Palladius_, 29.--H.
C.)]
NOTE 13.--There is no exaggeration in this number. Turner speaks of 2500
monks in one Tibetan convent. Huc mentions Chorchi, north of the Great
Wall, as containing 2000; and Kúnbúm, where he and Gabet spent several
months, on the borders of Shensi and Tibet, had nearly 4000. The
missionary itinerary from Nepal to L'hasa given by Giorgi, speaks of a
group of convents at a place called Brephung, which formerly contained
10,000 inmates, and at the time of the journey (about 1700) still
contained 5000, including attendants. Dr. Campbell gives a list of twelve
chief convents in L'hasa and its vicinity (not including the Potala or
Residence of the Grand Lama), of which one is said to have 7500 members,
resident and itinerary. Major Montgomerie's Pandit gives the same convent
7700 Lamas. In the great monastery at L'hasa called _Labrang_, they show a
copper kettle holding more than 100 buckets, which was used to make tea
for the Lamas who performed the daily temple service. The monasteries are
usually, as the text says, like small towns, clustered round the great
temples. That represented at p. 224 is at Jehol, and is an imitation of
the Potala at L'hasa. (_Huc's Tartary_, etc., pp. 45, 208, etc.; _Alph.
Tibetan_, 453; _J. A. S. B._ XXIV. 219; _J. R. G. S._ XXXVIII. 168;
_Koeppen_, II. 338.) [_La Géographie_, II. 1901, pp. 242-247, has an
article by Mr. J. Deniker, _La Première Photographie de Lhassa_, with a
view of _Potala_, in 1901, from a photograph by M. O. Norzunov; it is
interesting to compare it with the view given by Kircher in 1670.--H. C.]
["The monasteries with numbers of monks, who, as M. Polo asserts, behaved
decently, evidently belonged to Chinese Buddhists, _ho-shang_; in Kúblái's
time they had two monasteries in Shangtu, in the north-east and north-west
parts of the town." (_Palladius_, 29.) Rubruck (_Rockhill's_ ed. p. 145)
says: "All the priests (of the idolaters) shave their heads, and are
dressed in saffron colour, and they observe chastity from the time they
shave their heads, and they live in congregations of one or two
hundred."--H. C.]
[Illustration: Monastery of Lamas.]
NOTE 14.--There were many anomalies in the older Lamaism, and it
permitted, at least in some sects of it which still subsist, the marriage
of the clergy under certain limitations and conditions. One of Giorgi's
missionaries speaks of a Lama of high _hereditary_ rank as a spiritual
prince who marries, but separates from his wife as soon as he has a son,
who after certain trials is deemed worthy to be his successor. ["A good
number of Lamas were married, as M. Polo correctly remarks; their wives
were known amongst the Chinese, under the name of _Fan-sao_." (_Ch'ue keng
lu_, quoted by _Palladius_, 28.)--H. C.] One of the "_reforms_" of
Tsongkhapa was the absolute prohibition of marriage to the clergy, and in
this he followed the institutes of the oldest Buddhism. Even the _Red
Lamas_, or unreformed, cannot now marry without a dispensation.
But even the oldest orthodox Buddhism had its Lay brethren and Lay sisters
(_Upásaka_ and _Upásiká_), and these are to be found in Tibet and Mongolia
( _Voués au blanc_, as it were). They are called by the Mongols, by a
corruption of the Sanskrit, _Ubashi_ and _Ubashanza_. Their vows extend to
the strict keeping of the five great commandments of the Buddhist Law, and
they diligently ply the rosary and the prayer-wheel, but they are not
pledged to celibacy, nor do they adopt the tonsure. As a sign of their
amphibious position, they commonly wear a red or yellow girdle. These are
what some travellers speak of as the lowest order of Lamas, permitted to
marry; and Polo may have regarded them in the same light.
(_Koeppen_, II. 82, 113, 276, 291; _Timk._ II. 354; _Erman_, II. 304;
_Alph. Tibet._ 449.)
NOTE 15.--[Mr. Rockhill writes to me that "bran" is certainly Tibetan
_tsamba_ (parched barley).--H. C.]
NOTE 16.--Marco's contempt for _Patarins_ slips out in a later passage
(Bk. III. ch. xx.). The name originated in the eleventh century in
Lombardy, where it came to be applied to the "heretics," otherwise called
"Cathari." Muratori has much on the origin of the name Patarini, and
mentions a monument, which still exists, in the Piazza de' Mercanti at
Milan, in honour of Oldrado Podestà of that city in 1233, and which thus,
with more pith than grammar, celebrates his meritorious acts:--
"Qui solium struxit Catharos _ut debuit_ UXIT."
Other cities were as piously Catholic. A Mantuan chronicler records under
1276: "Captum fuit Sermionum seu redditum fuit Ecclesiae, et capti fuerunt
cercha CL Patarini contra fidem, inter masculos et feminas; qui omnes
ducti fuerunt Veronam, et ibi incarcerati, _et pro magna parte_ COMBUSTI."
(_Murat. Dissert._ III. 238; _Archiv. Stor. Ital._ N.S. I. 49.)
NOTE 17.--Marsden, followed by Pauthier, supposes these unorthodox
ascetics to be Hindu Sanyasis, and the latter editor supposes even the
name _Sensi_ or _Sensin_ to represent that denomination. Such wanderers do
occasionally find their way to Tartary; Gerbillon mentions having
encountered five of them at Kuku Khotan (supra, p. 286), and I think John
Bell speaks of meeting one still further north. But what is said of the
great and numerous idols of the _Sensin_ is inconsistent with such a
notion, as is indeed, it seems to me, the whole scope of the passage.
Evidently no occasional vagabonds from a far country, but some indigenous
sectaries, are in question. Nor would bran and hot water be a Hindu
regimen. The staple diet of the Tibetans is _Chamba_, the meal of toasted
barley, mixed sometimes with warm water, but more frequently with hot tea,
and I think it is probable that these were the elements of the ascetic
diet rather than the mere _bran_ which Polo speaks of. Semedo indeed says
that some of the Buddhist devotees professed never to take any food but
tea; knowing people said they mixed with it pellets of sun-dried beef. The
determination of the sect intended in the text is, I conceive, to be
sought in the history of Chinese or Tibetan Buddhism and their rivals.
Both Baldelli and Neumann have indicated a general opinion that the
_Taossé_ or some branch of that sect is meant, but they have entered into
no particulars except in a reference by the former to _Shien-sien_, a
title of perfection affected by that sect, as the origin of Polo's term
_Sensin_. In the substance of this I think they are right. But I believe
that in the text this Chinese sect are, rightly or wrongly, identified
with the ancient Tibetan sect of _Bon-po_, and that part of the characters
assigned belong to each.
First with regard to the Taossé. These were evidently the _Patarini_ of
the Buddhists in China at this time, and Polo was probably aware of the
persecution which the latter had stirred up Kúblái to direct against them
in 1281--persecution at least it is called, though it was but a mild
proceeding in comparison with the thing contemporaneously practised in
Christian Lombardy, for in heathen Cathay, books, and not human creatures,
were the subjects doomed to burn, and even that doom was not carried out.
["The Tao-sze," says M. Polo, "were looked upon as heretics by the other
sects; that is, of course; by the Lamas and Ho-shangs; in fact in his time
a passionate struggle was going on between Buddhists and Tao-sze, or
rather a persecution of the latter by the former; the Buddhists attributed
to the doctrine of the Tao-sze a pernicious tendency, and accused them of
deceit; and in support of these assertions they pointed to some of their
sacred books. Taking advantage of their influence at Court, they persuaded
Kúblái to decree the burning of these books, and it was carried out in
Peking." (_Palladius_, 30.)--H. C.]
The term which Polo writes as _Sensin_ appears to have been that popularly
applied to the Taossé sect at the Mongol Court. Thus we are told by
Rashíduddín in his History of Cathay: "In the reign of Din-Wang, the 20th
king of this (the 11th) Dynasty, TAI SHANG LÁI KÚN, was born. This person
is stated to have been accounted a prophet by the people of Khitá; his
father's name was Hán; like Shák-múni he is said to have been conceived by
light, and it is related that his mother bore him in her womb no less a
period than 80 years. The people who embraced his doctrine were called
[Arabic] (_Shan-shan_ or _Shinshin_)." This is a correct epitome of the
Chinese story of _Laokiun_ or _Lao-tsé_, born in the reign of _Ting Wang_
of the Cheu Dynasty. The whole title used by Rashíduddín, _Tai Shang Lao
Kiun_, "The Great Supreme Venerable Ruler," is that formerly applied by
the Chinese to this philosopher.
Further, in a Mongol [and Chinese] inscription of the year 1314 from the
department of Si-ngan fu, which has been interpreted and published by Mr.
Wylie, the Taossé priests are termed _Senshing_. [See _Devéria, Notes
d'Épigraphie_, pp. 39-43, and Prince _R. Bonaparte's Recueil_, Pl. xii.
No. 3.--H. C.]
Seeing then that the very term used by Polo is that applied by both Mongol
and Persian authorities of the period to the Taossé, we can have no doubt
that the latter are indicated, whether the facts stated about them be
correct or not.
The word Senshing-ud (the Mongol plural) is represented in the Chinese
version of Mr. Wylie's inscription by _Sín-sang_, a conventional title
applied to literary men, and this perhaps is sufficient to determine the
Chinese word which _Sensin_ represents. I should otherwise have supposed
it to be the _Shin-sian_ alluded to by Baldelli, and mentioned in the
quotations which follow; and indeed it seems highly probable that two
terms so much alike should have been confounded by foreigners. Semedo says
of the Taossé: "They pretend that by means of certain exercises and
meditations one shall regain his youth, and others shall attain to be
_Shien-sien_, i.e. 'Terrestrial Beati,' in whose state every desire is
gratified, whilst they have the power to transport themselves from one
place to another, however distant, with speed and facility." Schott, on
the same subject, says: "By _Sian_ or _Shin-sian_ are understood in the
old Chinese conception, and particularly in that of the Tao-Kiao [or
Taossé] sect, persons who withdraw to the hills to lead the life of
anchorites, and who have attained, either through their ascetic
observances or by the power of charms and elixirs, to the possession of
miraculous gifts and of terrestrial immortality." And M. Pauthier himself,
in his translation of the Journey of Khieu, an eminent doctor of this
sect, to the camp of the Great Chinghiz in Turkestan, has related how
Chinghiz bestowed upon this personage "a seal with a tiger's head and a
diploma" (surely a lion's head, _P'aizah_ and _Yarligh_; see infra, Bk.
II. ch. vii. note 2), "wherein he was styled _Shin Sien_ or Divine
Anchorite." _Sian-jin_ again is the word used by Hiuen Tsang as the
equivalent to the name of the Indian _Rishis_, who attain to supernatural
powers.
["_Sensin_ is a sufficiently faithful transcription of _Sien-seng_
(Sien-shing in Pekingese); the name given by the Mongols in conversation as
well as in official documents, to the Tao-sze, in the sense of preceptors,
just as Lamas were called by them _Bacshi_, which corresponds to the
Chinese _Sien-seng_. M. Polo calls them fasters and ascetics. It was one of
the sects of Taouism. There was another one which practised cabalistic and
other mysteries. The Tao-sze had two monasteries in Shangtu, one in the
eastern, the other in the western part of the town." (_Palladius_, 30.)
--H.C.]
One class of the Tao priests or devotees does marry, but another class
never does. Many of them lead a wandering life, and derive a precarious
subsistence from the sale of charms and medical nostrums. They shave the
sides of the head, and coil the remaining hair in a tuft on the crown, in
the ancient Chinese manner; moreover, says Williams, they "_are recognised
by their slate-coloured robes_." On the feast of one of their divinities
whose title Williams translates as "High Emperor of the Sombre Heavens,"
they assemble before his temple, "and having made a great fire, about 15
or 20 feet in diameter, go over it barefoot, preceded by the priests and
bearing the gods in their arms. They firmly assert that if they possess a
sincere mind they will not be injured by the fire; but both priests and
people get miserably burnt on these occasions." Escayrac de Lauture says
that on those days they leap, dance, and whirl round the fire, striking at
the devils with a straight Roman-like sword, and sometimes wounding
themselves as the priests of Baal and Moloch used to do.
(_Astley_, IV. 671; _Morley_ in _J. R. A. S._ VI. 24; _Semedo_, 111, 114;
_De Mailla_, IX. 410; _J. As._ sér. V. tom. viii. 138; _Schott über den
Buddhismus_ etc. 71; _Voyage de Khieou_ in _J. As._ sér. VI. tom. ix. 41;
_Middle Kingdom_, II. 247; _Doolittle_, 192; _Esc. de Lauture, Mém. sur la
Chine, Religion_, 87, 102; _Pèler. Boudd._ II. 370, and III. 468.)
Let us now turn to the _Bon-po_. Of this form of religion and its
sectaries not much is known, for it is now confined to the eastern and
least known part of Tibet. It is, however, believed to be a remnant of the
old pre-Buddhistic worship of the powers of nature, though much modified
by the Buddhistic worship with which it has so long been in contact. Mr.
Hodgson also pronounces a collection of drawings of Bonpo divinities,
which were made for him by a mendicant friar of the sect from the
neighbourhood of Tachindu, or Ta-t'sien-lu, to be saturated with _Sakta_
attributes, i.e. with the spirit of the Tantrika worship, a worship which
he tersely defines as "a mixture of lust, ferocity, and mummery," and
which he believes to have originated in an incorporation with the Indian
religions of the rude superstitions of the primitive Turanians. Mr.
Hodgson was told that the Bonpo sect still possessed numerous and wealthy
Vihars (or abbeys) in Tibet. But from the information of the Catholic
missionaries in Eastern Tibet, who have come into closest contact with the
sect, it appears to be now in a state of great decadence, "oppressed by
the Lamas of other sects, the _Peunbo_ (Bonpo) think only of shaking off
the yoke, and getting deliverance from the vexations which the smallness
of their number forces them to endure." In June, 1863, apparently from
such despairing motives, the Lamas of Tsodam, a Bonpo convent in the
vicinity of the mission settlement of Bonga in E. Tibet, invited the Rev.
Gabriel Durand to come and instruct them. "In this temple," he writes,
"are the _monstrous idols_ of the sect of Peunbo; horrid figures, whose
features only Satan could have inspired. They are disposed about the
enclosure according to their power and their seniority. Above the pagoda
is a loft, the nooks of which are crammed with all kinds of diabolical
trumpery; little idols of wood or copper, hideous masques of men and
animals, superstitious Lama vestments, drums, trumpets of human bones,
sacrificial vessels, in short, all the utensils with which the devil's
servants in Tibet honour their master. And what will become of it all? The
Great River, whose waves roll to Martaban (the Lu-kiang or Salwen), is not
more than 200 or 300 paces distant.... Besides the infernal paintings on
the walls, eight or nine monstrous idols, seated at the inner end of the
pagoda, were calculated by their size and aspect to inspire awe. In the
middle was _Tamba-Shi-Rob_, the great doctor of the sect of the Peunbo,
squatted with his right arm outside his red scarf, and holding in his left
the vase of knowledge.... On his right hand sat _Keumta-Zon-bo_, 'the All-
Good,' ... with ten hands and three heads, one over the other.... At his
right is _Dreuma_, the most celebrated goddess of the sect. On the left of
Tamba-Shi-Rob was another goddess, whose name they never could tell me. On
the left again of this anonymous goddess appeared _Tam-pla-mi-ber_,... a
monstrous dwarf environed by flames and his head garnished with a diadem
of skulls. _He trod with one foot on the head of Shakia-tupa_ [_Shakya
Thubba_, i.e. 'the Mighty Shakya,' the usual Tibetan appellation of Sakya
Buddha himself].... The idols are made of a coarse composition of mud and
stalks kneaded together, on which they put first a coat of plaster and
then various colours, or even silver or gold.... _Four oxen would scarcely
have been able to draw one of the idols_." Mr. Emilius Schlagintweit, in a
paper on the subject of this sect, has explained some of the names used by
the missionary. _Tamba-Shi-Rob_ is "_bs_tanpa _g_Shen-rabs," i.e. the
doctrine of Shen-rabs, who is regarded as the founder of the Bon religion.
[Cf. _Grenard_, II. 407.--H. C.] _Keun-tu-zon-bo_ is "Kun-tu-_b_zang-po,"
"_the All Best_."
[_Bon-po_ seems to be (according to Grenard, II. 410) a "coarse naturism
combined with ancestral worship" resembling Taoism. It has, however,
borrowed a good deal from Buddhism. "I noticed," says Mr. Rockhill
(_Journey_, 86), "a couple of grimy volumes of Bönbo sacred literature.
One of them I examined; it was a funeral service, and was in the usual
Bönbo jargon, three-fourths Buddhistic in its nomenclature." The Bon-po
Lamas are above all sorcerers and necromancers, and are very similar to
the _kam_ of the Northern Turks, the _bô_ of the Mongols, and lastly to
the _Shamans_. During their operations, they wear a tall pointed black
hat, surmounted by the feather of a peacock, or of a cock, and a human
skull. Their principal divinities are the White God of Heaven, the Black
Goddess of Earth, the Red Tiger and the Dragon; they worship an idol
called _Kye'-p'ang_ formed of a mere block of wood covered with garments.
Their sacred symbol is the _svastika_ turned from right to left [Symbol].
The most important of their monasteries is Zo-chen gum-pa, in the
north-east of Tibet, where they print most of their books. The Bonpos Lamas
"are very popular with the agricultural Tibetans, but not so much so with
the pastoral tribes, who nearly all belong to the Gélupa sect of the
orthodox Buddhist Church." A. K. says, "Buddhism is the religion of the
country; there are two sects, one named Mangba and the other Chiba or
Baimbu." _Explorations made by A----K----_, 34. _Mangba_ means "Esoteric,"
_Chiba_ (_p'yi-ba_), "Exoteric," and _Baimbu_ is Bönbo. _Rockhill,
Journey_, 289, _et passim.; Land of the Lamas_, 217-218; _Grenard, Mission
Scientifique_, II. 407 seqq.--H. C.]
There is an indication in Koeppen's references that the followers of the
_Bon_ doctrine are sometimes called in Tibet _Nag-choi_, or "Black Sect,"
as the old and the reformed Lamas are called respectively the "Red" and
the "Yellow." If so, it is reasonable to conclude that the first
appellation, like the two last, has a reference to the colour of clothing
affected by the priesthood.
The Rev. Mr. Jaeschke writes from Lahaul: "There are no Bonpos in our part
of the country, and as far as we know there cannot be many of them in the
whole of Western Tibet, i.e. in Ladak, Spiti, and all the non-Chinese
provinces together; we know, therefore, not much more of them than has
been made known to the European public by different writers on Buddhism in
Tibet, and lately collected by Emil de Schlagintweit.... Whether they can
be with certainty identified with the Chinese _Taossé_ I cannot decide, as
I don't know if anything like historical evidence about their Chinese
origin has been detected anywhere, or if it is merely a conclusion from
the similarity of their doctrines and practices.... But the Chinese author
of the _Wei-tsang-tu-Shi_, translated by Klaproth, under the title of
_Description du Tubet_ (Paris, 1831), renders _Bonpo_ by _Taossé_. So much
seems to be certain that it was the ancient religion of Tibet, before
Buddhism penetrated into the country, and that even at later periods it
several times gained the ascendancy when the secular power was of a
disposition averse to the Lamaitic hierarchy. Another opinion is that the
Bon religion was originally a mere fetishism, and related to or identical
with Shamanism; this appears to me very probable and easy to reconcile
with the former supposition, for it may afterwards, on becoming acquainted
with the Chinese doctrine of the 'Taossé,' have adorned itself with many
of its tenets.... With regard to the following particulars, I have got
most of my information from our Lama, a native of the neighbourhood of
Tashi Lhunpo, whom we consulted about all your questions. The
extraordinary asceticism which struck Marco Polo so much is of course not
to be understood as being practised by all members of the sect, but
exclusively, or more especially, by the _priests_. That these _never_
marry, and are consequently more strictly celibatary than many sects of
the Lamaitic priesthood, was confirmed by our Lama." (Mr. Jaeschke then
remarks upon the _bran_ to much the same effect as I have done above.)
"The Bonpos are by all Buddhists regarded as heretics. Though they worship
idols partly the same, at least in name, with those of the Buddhists,...
their rites seem to be very different. The most conspicuous and most
generally known of their customs, futile in itself, but in the eyes of the
common people the greatest sign of their sinful heresy, is that they
perform the religious ceremony of making a turn round a sacred object _in
the opposite direction_ to that prescribed by Buddhism. As to their dress,
our Lama said that they had no particular colour of garments, but their
priests frequently wore red clothes, as some sects of the Buddhist
priesthood do. Mr. Heyde, however, once on a journey in our neighbouring
county of Langskar, saw a man _clothed in black with blue borders_, who
the people said was a _Bonpo_."
[Mr. Rockhill (_Journey _, 63) saw at Kao miao-tzu "a _red_-gowned,
long-haired Bönbo Lama," and at Kumbum (p. 68), "was surprised to see quite
a large number of Bönbo Lamas, recognisable by their huge mops of hair and
their _red_ gowns, and also from their being dirtier than the ordinary run
of people."--H. C.]
The identity of the Bonpo and Taossé seems to have been accepted by Csoma
de Kórös, who identifies the Chinese founder of the latter, Lao-tseu, with
the Shen-rabs of the Tibetan Bonpos. Klaproth also says, "Bhonbp'o,
Bhanpo, and _Shen_, are the names by which are commonly designated (in
Tibetan) the Taoszu, or follower of the Chinese philosopher Laotseu."[11]
Schlagintweit refers to Schmidt's Tibetan Grammar (p. 209) and to the
Calcutta edition of the _Fo-kouè-ki_ (p. 218) for the like identification,
but I do not know how far any two of these are independent testimonies.
General Cunningham, however, fully accepts the identity, and writes to me:
"Fahian (ch. xxiii.) calls the heretics who assembled at Râmagrâma
_Taossé_,[12] thus identifying them with the Chinese Finitimists. The
Taossé are, therefore, the same as the _Swâstikas_, or worshippers of the
mystic cross _Swasti_, who are also _Tirthakaras_, or 'Pure-doers.' The
synonymous word _Punya_ is probably the origin of _Pon_ or _Bon_, the
Tibetan Finitimists. From the same word comes the Burmese _P'ungyi_ or
_Pungi_." I may add that the Chinese envoy to Cambodia in 1296, whose
narrative Rémusat has translated, describes a sect which he encountered
there, apparently Brahminical, as _Taossé_. And even if the Bonpo and the
Taossé were not fundamentally identical, it is extremely probable that the
Tibetan and Mongol Buddhists should have applied to them one name and
character. Each played towards them the same part in Tibet and in China
respectively; both were heretic sects and hated rivals; both made high
pretensions to asceticism and supernatural powers; both, I think we see
reason to believe, affected the dark clothing which Polo assigns to the
_Sensin_; both, we may add, had "great idols and plenty of them." We have
seen in the account of the Taossé the ground that certain of their
ceremonies afford for the allegation that they "sometimes also worship
fire," whilst the whole account of that rite and of others mentioned by
Duhalde,[13] shows what a powerful element of the old devil-dancing
Shamanism there is in their practice. The French Jesuit, on the other
hand, shows us what a prominent place female divinities occupied in the
Bon-po Pantheon,[14] though we cannot say of either sect that "their idols
are all feminine." A strong symptom of relation between the two religions,
by the way, occurs in M. Durand's account of the Bon Temple. We see there
that _Shen-rabs_, the great doctor of the sect, occupies a chief and
central place among the idols. Now in the Chinese temples of the Taossé
the figure of _their_ Doctor _Lao-tseu_ is one member of the triad called
the "Three Pure Ones," which constitute the chief objects of worship. This
very title recalls General Cunningham's etymology of Bonpo.
[Illustration: Tibetan Bacsi]
[At the quarterly fair (_yueh kai_) of Ta-li (Yun-Nan), Mr. E. C. Baber
(_Travels_, 158-159) says: "A Fakir with a praying machine, which he
twirled for the salvation of the pious at the price of a few cash, was at
once recognised by us; he was our old acquaintance, the Bakhsi, whose
portrait is given in _Colonel Yule's Marco Polo_."--H. C.]
(_Hodgson_, in _J. R. A. S._ XVIII. 396 seqq.; _Ann. de la Prop, de la
Foi_, XXXVI. 301-302, 424-427; _E. Schlagintweit, Ueber die Bon-pa Sekte
in Tibet_, in the _Sitzensberichte_ of the Munich Acad. for 1866, Heft I.
pp. 1-12; _Koeppen_, II. 260; _Ladak_, p. 358; _J. As._ sér. II. tom. i.
411-412; _Rémusat. Nouv. Mél. Asiat._ I. 112; _Astley_, IV. 205;
_Doolittle_, 191.)
NOTE 18.--Pauthier's text has _blons_, no doubt an error for _blous_. In
the G. Text it is _bloies_. Pauthier interprets the latter term as "blond
ardent," whilst the glossary to the G. Text explains it as both _blue_ and
_white_. _Raynouard's Romance Dict._ explains _Bloi_ as "Blond." Ramusio
has _biave_, and I have no doubt that _blue_ is the meaning. The same word
(_bloie_) is used in the G. Text, where Polo speaks of the bright colours
of the Palace tiles at Cambaluc, and where Pauthier's text has "_vermeil
et jaune et vert_ et blou," and again (infra, Bk. II. ch. xix.), where the
two corps of huntsmen are said to be clad respectively in _vermeil_ and in
_bloie_. Here, again, Pauthier's text has _bleu_. The Crusca in the
description of the _Sensin_ omits the colours altogether; in the two other
passages referred to it has _bioda, biodo_.
["The Tao-sze, says Marco Polo, wear dresses of black and blue linen; i.e.
they wear dresses made of tatters of black and blue linen, as can be seen
also at the present day." (_Palladius_, 30.)--H. C.]
NOTE 19.--["The idols of the Tao-sze, according to Marco Polo's statement,
have female names; in fact, there are in the pantheon of Taoism a great
many female divinities, still enjoying popular veneration in China; such
are _Tow Mu_ (the 'Ursa major,' constellation), _Pi-hia-yuen Kiun_ (the
celestial queen), female divinities for lying-in women, for children, for
diseases of the eyes; and others, which are to be seen everywhere. The
Tao-sze have, besides these, a good number of male divinities, bearing the
title of _Kiun_ in common with female divinities; both these circumstances
might have led Marco Polo to make the above statement." (_Palladius_, p.
30.)--H. C.]
[1] This distance is taken from a tracing of the map prepared for Dr.
Bushell's paper quoted below. But there is a serious discrepancy
between this tracing and the observed position of Dolon-nor, which
determines that of Shang-tu, as stated to me in a letter from Dr.
Bushell. [See Note 1.]
[2] These particulars were obtained by Dr. Bushell through the
Archimandrite Palladius, from the MS. account of a Chinese traveller
who visited Shangtu about two hundred years ago, when probably the
whole inscription was above ground. The inscription is also mentioned
in the Imp. Geography of the present Dynasty, quoted by Klaproth. This
work gives the interior wall 5 _li_ to the side, instead of a _li_,
and the outer wall 10 _li_, instead of 4 _li_. By Dr. Bushell's
kindness, I give a reduction of his sketch plan (see _Itinerary Map_,
No. IV. at end of this volume), and also a plate of the heading of the
inscription. The translation of this is: "Monument conferred by the
Emperor of the August Yuen (Dynasty) in memory of His High Eminence
Yun Hien (styled) Chang-Lao (canonised as) Shou-Kung (Prince of
Longevity)." [See _Missions de Chine et du Congo_ No. 28, Mars, 1891,
Bruxelles.]
[3] Ramusio's version runs thus: "The palace presents one side to the
centre of the city and the other to the city wall. And from either
extremity of the palace where it touches the city wall, there runs
another wall, which fetches a compass and encloses a good 16 miles of
plain, and so that no one can enter this enclosure except by passing
through the palace."
[4] This narrative, translated from Chinese into Russian by Father
Palladius, and from the Russian into English by Mr. Eugene Schuyler,
Secretary of the U.S. Legation at St. Petersburg, was obligingly sent
to me by the latter gentleman, and appeared in the _Geographical
Magazine_ for January, 1875, p. 7.
[5] See Bk. II. chap. xiv. note 3.
[6] In the first edition I had supposed a derivation of the Persian words
_Jádú_ and _Jádúgari_, used commonly in India for conjuring, from the
Tartar use of _Yadah_. And Pallas says the Kirghiz call their witches
_Jádugar_. (_Voy._ II. 298.) But I am assured by Sir H. Rawlinson that
this etymology is more than doubtful, and that at any rate the Persian
(_Jádú_) is probably older than the Turkish term. I see that M. Pavet
de Courteille derives _Yadah_ from a Mongol word signifying "change of
weather," etc.
[7] [See W. Foerster's ed., _Halle_, 1887, p. 15, 386.--H. C.]
[8] A young Afghan related in the presence of Arthur Conolly at Herat that
on a certain occasion when provisions ran short the Russian General
gave orders that 50,000 men should be killed and served out as
rations! (I. 346.)
[9] Ar. _Táfir_, a sordid, squalid fellow.
[10] [Cf. Paulin Paris's ed., 1848, II. p. 5.--H. C.]
[11] _Shen_, or coupled with _jin_ "people," _Shenjin_, in this sense
affords another possible origin of the word _Sensin_; but it may in
fact be at bottom, as regards the first syllable, the same with the
etymology we have preferred.
[12] I do not find this allusion in Mr. Beal's new version of Fahian. [See
Rémusat's éd. p. 227; Klaproth says (Ibid. p. 230) that the _Tao-szu_
are called in Tibetan _Bonbò_ and Youngdhroungpa.--H. C.]
[13] Apparently they had at their command the whole encyclopaedia of
modern "Spiritualists." Duhalde mentions among their sorceries the art
of producing by their invocations the figures of Lao-tseu and their
divinities in the air, and of _making a pencil to write answers to
questions without anybody touching it_.
[14] It is possible that this may point to some report of the mystic
impurities of the Tantrists. The _Saktián_, or Tantrists, according to
the Dabistan, hold that the worship of a female divinity affords a
greater recompense. (II. 155.)
BOOK SECOND.
(1.) ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT KAAN CUBLAY; OF HIS PALACES AND CAPITAL; HIS
COURT, GOVERNMENT, AND SPORTS.
(2.) CITIES AND PROVINCES VISITED BY THE TRAVELLER ON ONE JOURNEY WESTWARD
FROM THE CAPITAL TO THE FRONTIERS OF MIEN IN THE DIRECTION OF INDIA.
(3.) AND ON ANOTHER SOUTHWARD FROM THE CAPITAL TO FUCHU AND ZAYTON.
BOOK II.
PART I.--THE KAAN, HIS COURT AND CAPITAL.
CHAPTER I.
OF CUBLAY KAAN, THE GREAT KAAN NOW REIGNING, AND OF HIS GREAT PUISSANCE.
Now am I come to that part of our Book in which I shall tell you of the
great and wonderful magnificence of the Great Kaan now reigning, by name
CUBLAY KAAN; _Kaan_ being a title which signifyeth "The Great Lord of
Lords," or Emperor. And of a surety he hath good right to such a title,
for all men know for a certain truth that he is the most potent man, as
regards forces and lands and treasure, that existeth in the world, or ever
hath existed from the time of our First Father Adam until this day. All
this I will make clear to you for truth, in this book of ours, so that
every one shall be fain to acknowledge that he is the greatest Lord that
is now in the world, or ever hath been. And now ye shall hear how and
wherefore.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--According to Sanang Setzen, Chinghiz himself discerned young
Kúblái's superiority. On his deathbed he said: "The words of the lad
Kúblái are well worth attention; see, all of you, that ye heed what he
says! One day he will sit in my seat and bring you good fortune such as
you have had in my day!" (p. 105).
The Persian history of Wassáf thus exalts Kúblái: "Although from the
frontiers of this country ('Irák) to the Centre of Empire, the Focus of
the Universe, the genial abode of the ever-Fortunate Emperor and Just
Kaan, is a whole year's journey, yet the stories that have been spread
abroad, even in these parts, of his glorious deeds, his institutes, his
decisions, his justice, the largeness and acuteness of his intellect, his
correctness of judgment, his great powers of administration, from the
mouths of credible witnesses, of well-known merchants and eminent
travellers, are so surpassing, that one beam of his glories, one fraction
of his great qualities, suffices to eclipse all that history tells of the
Caesars of Rome, of the Chosroes of Persia, of the Khagans of China, of
the (Himyarite) Kails of Arabia, of the Tobbas of Yemen, and the Rajas of
India, of the monarchs of the houses of Sassan and Búya, and of the
Seljukian Sultans." (_Hammer's Wassaf_, orig. p. 37.)
Some remarks on Kúblái and his government by a Chinese author, in a more
rational and discriminative tone, will be found below under ch. xxiii.,
note 2.
A curious Low-German MS. at Cologne, giving an account of the East, says
of the "Keyser von Kathagien--syn recht Name is der groisse _Hunt!_"
(Magnus Canis, the Big Bow-wow as it were. See _Orient und Occident_, vol.
i. p. 640.)
CHAPTER II.
CONCERNING THE REVOLT OF NAYAN, WHO WAS UNCLE TO THE GREAT KAAN CUBLAY.
Now this Cublay Kaan is of the right Imperial lineage, being descended
from Chinghis Kaan, the first sovereign of all the Tartars. And he is the
sixth Lord in that succession, as I have already told you in this book. He
came to the throne in the year of Christ, 1256, and the Empire fell to him
because of his ability and valour and great worth, as was right and
reason.[NOTE 1] His brothers, indeed, and other kinsmen disputed his
claim, but his it remained, both because maintained by his great valour,
and because it was in law and right his, as being directly sprung of the
imperial line.
Up to the year of Christ now running, to wit 1298, he hath reigned
two-and-forty years, and his age is about eighty-five, so that he must
have been about forty-three years of age when he first came to the
throne.[NOTE 2] Before that time he had often been to the wars, and had
shown himself a gallant soldier and an excellent captain. But after coming
to the throne he never went to the wars in person save once.[NOTE 3]
This befel in the year of Christ, 1286, and I will tell you why he went.
There was a great Tartar Chief, whose name was NAYAN,[NOTE 4] a young man
[of thirty], Lord over many lands and many provinces; and he was Uncle to
the Emperor Cublay Kaan of whom we are speaking. And when he found himself
in authority this Nayan waxed proud in the insolence of his youth and his
great power; for indeed he could bring into the field 300,000 horsemen,
though all the time he was liegeman to his nephew, the Great Kaan Cublay,
as was right and reason. Seeing then what great power he had, he took it
into his head that he would be the Great Kaan's vassal no longer; nay
more, he would fain wrest his empire from him if he could. So this Nayan
sent envoys to another Tartar Prince called CAIDU, also a great and potent
Lord, who was a kinsman of his, and who was a nephew of the Great Kaan and
his lawful liegeman also, though he was in rebellion and at bitter enmity
with his sovereign Lord and Uncle. Now the message that Nayan sent was
this: That he himself was making ready to march against the Great Kaan
with all his forces (which were great), and he begged Caidu to do likewise
from his side, so that by attacking Cublay on two sides at once with such
great forces they would be able to wrest his dominion from him.
And when Caidu heard the message of Nayan, he was right glad thereat, and
thought the time was come at last to gain his object. So he sent back
answer that he would do as requested; and got ready his host, which
mustered a good hundred thousand horsemen.
Now let us go back to the Great Kaan, who had news of all this plot.
NOTE 1.--There is no doubt that Kúblái was proclaimed Kaan in 1260 (4th
month), his brother Mangku Kaan having perished during the seige of Hochau
in Ssechwan in August of the preceding year. But Kúblái had come into
Cathay some years before as his brother's Lieutenant.
He was the _fifth_, not sixth, Supreme Kaan, as we have already noticed.
(Bk. I. ch. li. note 2.)
NOTE 2.--Kúblái was born in the eighth month of the year corresponding to
1216, and had he lived to 1298 would have been eighty-two years old.
[According to Dr. E. Bretschneider (_Peking_, 30), quoting the _Yuen-Shi_,
Kúblái died at Khanbaligh, in the Tze-t'an tien in February, 1294.--H. C.]
But by Mahomedan reckoning he would have been close upon eighty-five. He
was the fourth son of Tuli, who was the youngest of Chinghiz's four sons
by his favourite wife Burté Fujin. (See _De Mailla_, IX. 255, etc.)
NOTE 3.--This is not literally true; for soon after his accession (in
1261) Kúblái led an army against his brother and rival Arikbuga, and
defeated him. And again in his old age, if we credit the Chinese annalist,
in 1289, when his grandson Kanmala (or Kambala) was beaten on the northern
frontier by Kaidu, Kúblái took the field himself, though on his approach
the rebels disappeared.
Kúblái and his brother Hulaku, young as they were, commenced their
military career on Chinghiz's last expedition (1226-1227). His most
notable campaign was the conquest of Yunnan in 1253-1254. (_De Mailla_,
IX. 298, 441.)
NOTE 4.--NAYAN was no "uncle" of Kúblái's, but a cousin in a junior
generation. For Kúblái was the grandson of Chinghiz, and Nayan was the
great-great-grandson of Chinghiz's brother Uchegin, called in the Chinese
annals Pilgutai. [Belgutai was Chinghiz's step-brother. (_Palladius_.)--H.
C.] On this brother, the great-uncle of Kúblái, and the commander of the
latter's forces against Arikbuga in the beginning of the reign, both
Chinghiz and Kúblái had bestowed large territories in Eastern Tartary
towards the frontier of Corea, and north of Liaotong towards the Manchu
country. ["The situation and limits of his appanage are not clearly
defined in history. According to Belgutai's biography, it was between the
Onon and Kerulen (_Yuen shi_), and according to Shin Yao's researches (_Lo
fung low wen kao_), at the confluence of the Argun and Shilka. Finally,
according to Harabadur's biography, it was situated in Abalahu, which
geographically and etymologically corresponds to modern Butkha (_Yuen
shi_); Abalahu, as Kúblái himself said, was rich in fish; indeed, after
the suppression of Nayan's rebellion, the governor of that country used to
send to the Peking Court fishes weighing up to a thousand Chinese pounds
(_kin_.). It was evidently a country near the Amur River." (_Palladius_,
l.c. 31.)--H. C.] Nayan had added to his inherited territory, and become
very powerful. ["History has apparently connected Nayan's appanage with
that of Hatan (a grandson of Hachiun, brother of Chinghiz Khan), whose
_ordo_ was contiguous to Nayan's, on the left bank of the Amur,
hypothetically east of Blagovietschensk, on the spot, where still the
traces of an ancient city can be seen. Nayan's possessions stretched south
to Kwang-ning, which belonged to his appanage, and it was from this town
that he had the title of prince of Kwang-ning (_Yuen shi_)." (_Palladius_,
l.c. 31.)--H. C.] Kaidu had gained influence over Nayan, and persuaded him
to rise against Kúblái. A number of the other Mongol princes took part
with him. Kúblái was much disquieted at the rumours, and sent his great
lieutenant BAYAN to reconnoitre. Bayan was nearly captured, but escaped to
court and reported to his master the great armament that Nayan was
preparing. Kúblái succeeded by diplomacy in detaching some of the princes
from the enterprise, and resolved to march in person to the scene of
action, whilst despatching Bayan to the Karakorum frontier to intercept
Kaídu. This was in the summer of 1287. What followed will be found in a
subsequent note (ch. iv. note 6). (For Nayan's descent, see the
Genealogical Table in the Appendix (A).)
CHAPTER III.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN MARCHED AGAINST NAYAN.
When the Great Kaan heard what was afoot, he made his preparations in
right good heart, like one who feared not the issue of an attempt so
contrary to justice. Confident in his own conduct and prowess, he was in
no degree disturbed, but vowed that he would never wear crown again if he
brought not those two traitorous and disloyal Tartar chiefs to an ill end.
So swiftly and secretly were his preparations made, that no one knew of
them but his Privy Council, and all were completed within ten or twelve
days. In that time he had assembled good 360,000 horsemen, and 100,000
footmen,--but a small force indeed for him, and consisting only of those
that were in the vicinity. For the rest of his vast and innumerable forces
were too far off to answer so hasty a summons, being engaged under orders
from him on distant expeditions to conquer divers countries and provinces.
If he had waited to summon all his troops, the multitude assembled would
have been beyond all belief, a multitude such as never was heard of or
told of, past all counting. In fact, those 360,000 horsemen that he got
together consisted merely of the falconers and whippers-in that were about
the court![NOTE 1]
And when he had got ready this handful (as it were) of his troops, he
ordered his astrologers to declare whether he should gain the battle and
get the better of his enemies. After they had made their observations,
they told him to go on boldly, for he would conquer and gain a glorious
victory: whereat he greatly rejoiced.
So he marched with his army, and after advancing for 20 days they arrived
at a great plain where Nayan lay with all his host, amounting to some
400,000 horse. Now the Great Kaan's forces arrived so fast and so suddenly
that the others knew nothing of the matter. For the Kaan had caused such
strict watch to be made in every direction for scouts that every one that
appeared was instantly captured. Thus Nayan had no warning of his coming
and was completely taken by surprise; insomuch that when the Great Kaan's
army came up, he was asleep in the arms of a wife of his of whom he was
extravagantly fond. So thus you see why it was that the Emperor equipped
his force with such speed and secrecy.
NOTE 1.--I am afraid Marco, in his desire to impress on his readers the
great power of the Kaan, is here giving the reins to exaggeration on a
great scale.
Ramusio has here the following explanatory addition:--"You must know that
in all the Provinces of Cathay and Mangi, and throughout the Great Kaan's
dominions, there are too many disloyal folk ready to break into rebellion
against their Lord, and hence it is needful in every province containing
large cities and much population, to maintain garrisons. These are
stationed four or five miles from the cities, and the latter are not
allowed to have walls or gates by which they might obstruct the entrance
of the troops at their pleasure. These garrisons as well as their
commanders the Great Khan causes to be relieved every two years; and
bridled in this way the people are kept quiet, and can make no
disturbance. The troops are maintained not only by the pay which the Kaan
regularly assigns from the revenues of each province, but also by the vast
quantities of cattle which they keep, and by the sale of milk in the
cities, which furnishes the means of buying what they require. They are
scattered among their different stations, at distances of 30, 40, or 60
days (from the capital); and had Cublay decided to summon but the half of
them, the number would have been incredible," etc.
[Palladius says (p. 37) that in the Mongol-Chinese documents, the Mongol
garrisons cantoned near the Chinese towns are mentioned under the name of
_Aolu_, but no explanation of the term is given.--H. C.]
The system of controlling garrisons, quartered at a few miles from the
great cities, is that which the Chinese followed at Kashgar, Yarkand, etc.
It is, in fact, our own system in India, as at Barrackpúr, Dinapúr,
Sikandarábád, Mián Mír.
CHAPTER IV.
OF THE BATTLE THAT THE GREAT KAAN FOUGHT WITH NAYAN.
What shall I say about it? When day had well broken, there was the Kaan
with all his host upon a hill overlooking the plain where Nayan lay in his
tent, in all security, without the slightest thought of any one coming
thither to do him hurt. In fact, this confidence of his was such that he
kept no vedettes whether in front or in rear; for he knew nothing of the
coming of the Great Kaan, owing to all the approaches having been
completely occupied as I told you. Moreover, the place was in a remote
wilderness, more than thirty marches from the Court, though the Kaan had
made the distance in twenty, so eager was he to come to battle with Nayan.
And what shall I tell you next? The Kaan was there on the hill, mounted on
a great wooden bartizan,[NOTE 1] which was borne by four well-trained
elephants, and over him was hoisted his standard, so high aloft that it
could be seen from all sides. His troops were ordered in battles of 30,000
men apiece; and a great part of the horsemen had each a foot-soldier armed
with a lance set on the crupper behind him (for it was thus that the
footmen were disposed of);[NOTE 2] and the whole plain seemed to be
covered with his forces. So it was thus that the Great Kaan's army was
arrayed for battle.
When Nayan and his people saw what had happened, they were sorely
confounded, and rushed in haste to arms. Nevertheless they made them ready
in good style and formed their troops in an orderly manner. And when all
were in battle array on both sides as I have told you, and nothing
remained but to fall to blows, then might you have heard a sound arise of
many instruments of various music, and of the voices of the whole of the
two hosts loudly singing. For this is a custom of the Tartars, that before
they join battle they all unite in singing and playing on a certain
two-stringed instrument of theirs, a thing right pleasant to hear. And so
they continue in their array of battle, singing and playing in this
pleasing manner, until the great Naccara of the Prince is heard to sound.
As soon as that begins to sound the fight also begins on both sides; and in
no case before the Prince's Naccara sounds dare any commence fighting.
[NOTE 3]
So then, as they were thus singing and playing, though ordered and ready
for battle, the great Naccara of the Great Khan began to sound. And that
of Nayan also began to sound. And thenceforward the din of battle began to
be heard loudly from this side and from that. And they rushed to work so
doughtily with their bows and their maces, with their lances and swords,
and with the arblasts of the footmen, that it was a wondrous sight to see.
Now might you behold such flights of arrows from this side and from that,
that the whole heaven was canopied with them and they fell like rain. Now
might you see on this side and on that full many a cavalier and man-at-
arms fall slain, insomuch that the whole field seemed covered with them.
From this side and from that such cries arose from the crowds of the
wounded and dying that had God thundered, you would not have heard Him!
For fierce and furious was the battle, and quarter there was none
given.[NOTE 4]
But why should I make a long story of it? You must know that it was the
most parlous and fierce and fearful battle that ever has been fought in
our day. Nor have there ever been such forces in the field in actual
fight, especially of horsemen, as were then engaged--for, taking both
sides, there were not fewer than 760,000 horsemen, a mighty force! and
that without reckoning the footmen, who were also very numerous. The
battle endured with various fortune on this side and on that from morning
till noon. But at the last, by God's pleasure and the right that was on
his side, the Great Khan had the victory, and Nayan lost the battle and
was utterly routed. For the army of the Great Kaan performed such feats of
arms that Nayan and his host could stand against them no longer, so they
turned and fled. But this availed nothing for Nayan; for he and all the
barons with him were taken prisoners, and had to surrender to the Kaan
with all their arms.
Now you must know that Nayan was a baptized Christian, and bore the cross
on his banner; but this nought availed him, seeing how grievously he had
done amiss in rebelling against his Lord. For he was the Great Kaan's
liegeman,[NOTE 5] and was bound to hold his lands of him like all his
ancestors before him.[NOTE 6]
NOTE 1.--"_Une grande_ bretesche." _Bretesche, Bertisca_ (whence old
English _Brattice_, and _Bartizan_), was a term applied to any boarded
structure of defence or attack, but especially to the timber parapets and
roofs often placed on the top of the flanking-towers in mediaeval
fortifications; and this use quite explains the sort of structure here
intended. The term and its derivative _Bartizan_ came later to be applied
to projecting _guérites_ or watch-towers of masonry. _Brattice_ in English
is now applied to a fence round a pit or dangerous machinery. (See
_Muratori_, _Dissert._ I. 334; _Wedgwood's Dict. of Etym._ sub. v.
_Brattice_; _Viollet le Duc_, by _Macdermott_, p. 40; _La Curne de
Sainte-Palaye, Dict._; _F. Godefroy, Dict._)
[John Ranking (_Hist. Res. on the Wars and Sports of the Mongols and
Romans_) in a note regarding this battle writes (p. 60): "It appears that
it is an old custom in Persia, to use four elephants a-breast." The Senate
decreed Gordian III. to represent him triumphing after the Persian mode,
with chariots drawn with four elephants. _Augustan Hist._ vol. ii. p. 65.
See plate, p. 52.--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--This circumstance is mentioned in the extract below from Gaubil.
He _may_ have taken it from Polo, as it is not in Pauthier's Chinese
extracts; but Gaubil has other facts not noticed in these.
[Elephants came from the Indo-Chinese Kingdoms, Burma, Siam, Ciampa.
--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--The specification of the Tartar instrument of two strings is
peculiar to Pauthier's texts. It was no doubt what Dr. Clarke calls "the
_balalaika_ or two-stringed lyre," the most common instrument among the
Kalmaks.
The sounding of the Nakkára as the signal of action is an old Pan-Asiatic
custom, but I cannot find that this very striking circumstance of the
whole host of Tartars playing and singing in chorus, when ordered for
battle and waiting the signal from the boom of the Big Drum, is mentioned
by any other author.
The _Nakkárah_ or _Nagárah_ was a great kettledrum, formed like a brazen
caldron, tapering to the bottom and covered with buffalo-hide--at least
3-1/2 or 4 feet in diameter. Bernier, indeed, tells of _Nakkáras_ in use at
the Court of Delhi that were not less than a fathom across; and Tod speaks
of them in Rájpútána as "about 8 or 10 feet in diameter." The Tartar
Nakkárahs were usually, I presume, carried on a camel; but as Kúblái had
begun to use elephants, his may have been carried on an elephant, as is
sometimes the case in India. Thus, too, P. della Valle describes those of
an Indian Embassy at Ispahan: "The Indian Ambassador was also accompanied
by a variety of warlike instruments of music of strange kinds, and
particularly by certain Naccheras of such immense size that each pair had
an elephant to carry them, whilst an Indian astride upon the elephant
between the two Naccheras played upon them with both hands, dealing strong
blows on this one and on that; what a din was made by these vast drums, and
what a spectacle it was, I leave you to imagine."
Joinville also speaks of the Nakkara as the signal for action: "So he was
setting his host in array till noon, and then he made those drums of
theirs to sound that they call _Nacaires_, and then they set upon us horse
and foot." The Great Nakkara of the Tartars appears from several Oriental
histories to have been called _Kúrkah_. I cannot find this word in any
dictionary accessible to me, but it is in the _Ain Akbari_ (_Kawargah_) as
distinct from the _Nakkárah_. Abulfazl tells us that Akbar not only had a
rare knowledge of the science of music, but was likewise an excellent
performer--especially on the _Nakkárah!_
[Illustration: Nakkaras. (From a Chinese original.)]
The privilege of employing the Nakkara in personal state was one granted
by the sovereign as a high honour and reward.
The crusades naturalised the word in some form or other in most European
languages, but in our own apparently with a transfer of meaning. For
Wright defines _Naker_ as "a cornet or horn of brass." And Chaucer's use
seems to countenance this:--
"Pipes, Trompes, Nakeres, and Clariounes,
That in the Bataille blowen blody sounes."
--_The Knight's Tale_.
On the other hand, Nacchera, in Italian, seems always to have retained the
meaning of _kettle-drum_, with the slight exception of a local application
at Siena to a metal circle or triangle struck with a rod. The fact seems
to be that there is a double origin, for the Arabic dictionaries not only
have _Nakkarah_, but _Nakír_ and _Nákúr_, "cornu, tuba." The orchestra of
Bibars Bundukdári, we are told, consisted of 40 pairs of kettle-drums, 4
drums, 4 hautbois, and 20 trumpets (_Nakír_). (_Sir B. Frere; Della
Valle_, II. 21; _Tod's Rájasthán_, I. 328; _Joinville_, p. 83; _N. et E._
XIV. 129, and following note; Blochmann's _Ain-i-Akbari_, pp. 50-51;
_Ducange_, by Haenschel, s.v.; _Makrizi_, I. 173.)
[Dozy (_Supp. aux Dict. Arabes_) has [Arabic] [_naqqarè_] "petit tambour
ou timbale, bassin de cuivre ou de terre recouvert d'une peau tendue," and
"grosses timbales en cuivre portées sur un chameau ou un mulet."--Devic
(_Dict. Étym._) writes: "Bas Latin, _nacara_; bas grec, [Greek: anáchara].
Ce n'est point comme on l'a dit, l'Arabe [Arabic] _naqïr_ ou [Arabic]
_náqör_, qui signifient _trompette_, _clairon_, mais le persan [Arabic] en
arabe, [Arabic] _naqara_, _timbale_." It is to be found also in Abyssinia
and south of Gondokoro; it is mentioned in the _Sedjarat Malayu_.
In French, it gives _nacaire_ and _gnacare_ from the Italian _gnacare_.
"Quatre jouent de la guitare, quatre des castagnettes, quatre des
gnacares." (MOLIÈRE, _Pastorale Comique_.)--H. C.]
[Illustration: Nakkaras. (From an Indian original.)]
NOTE 4.--This description of a fight will recur again and again till we
are very tired of it. It is difficult to say whether the style is borrowed
from the historians of the East or the romancers of the West. Compare the
two following parallels. First from an Oriental history:--
"The Ear of Heaven was deafened with the din of the great _Kurkahs_ and
Drums, and the Earth shook at the clangour of the Trumpets and Clarions.
The shafts began to fall like the rain-drops of spring, and blood flowed
till the field looked like the Oxus." (_J. A. S._ sér. IV. tom. xix. 256)
Next from an Occidental Romance:--
"Now rist grete tabour betyng,
Blaweyng of pypes, and ek trumpyng,
Stedes lepyng, and ek arnyng,
Of sharp speres, and avalyng
Of stronge knighttes, and wyghth meetyng;
Launces breche and increpyng;
Knighttes fallyng, stedes lesyng;
Herte and hevedes thorough kervyng;
Swerdes draweyng, lymes lesyng
Hard assaylyng, strong defendyng,
Stiff withstondyng and wighth fleigheyng.
Sharp of takyng armes spoylyng;
So gret bray, so gret crieyng,
Ifor the folk there was dyeyng;
_So muche dent, noise of sweord,
The thondur blast no myghte beo hirde_,
No the sunne hadde beo seye,
For the dust of the poudré!
_No the weolkyn seon be myght,
So was arewes and quarels flyght_."
--_King Alisaunder, in Weber_, I. 93-94.
And again:--
"The eorthe quaked heom undur,
_No scholde mon have herd the thondur_."
--Ibid. 142.
Also in a contemporary account of the fall of Acre (1291): "Renovatur ergo
bellum terribile inter alterutros ... clamoribus interjectis hine et inde
ad terrorem; _ita ut nec Deus tonans in sublime coaudiri potuisset_."
(_De Excidio Acconis_, in _Martene et Durand_, V. 780.)
NOTE 5.--"_Car il estoit_ homme _au Grant Kaan_." (See note 2, ch. xiv.,
in Prologue.)
NOTE 6.--In continuation of note 4, chap. ii., we give Gaubil's conclusion
of the story of Nayan: "The Emperor had gone ahead with a small force,
when Nayan's General came forward with 100,000 men to make a
reconnaissance. The Sovereign, however, put on a bold front, and though in
great danger of being carried off, showed no trepidation. It was night,
and an urgent summons went to call troops to the Emperor's aid. They
marched at once, the horsemen taking the foot soldiers on the crupper
behind them. Nayan all this while was taking it quietly in his camp, and
his generals did not venture to attack the Emperor, suspecting an
ambuscade. Liting then took ten resolute men, and on approaching the
General's camp, caused a Fire-_Pao_ to be discharged; the report caused a
great panic among Nayan's troops, who were very ill disciplined at the
best. Meanwhile the Chinese and Tartar troops had all come up, and Nayan
was attacked on all sides: by Liting at the head of the Chinese, by
Yusitemur at the head of the Mongols, by Tutuha and the Emperor in person
at the head of his guards and the troops of _Kincha_ (Kipchak). The
presence of the Emperor rendered the army invincible, and Nayan's forces
were completely defeated. That prince himself was taken, and afterwards
put to death. The battle took place in the vicinity of the river Liao, and
the Emperor returned in triumph to Shangtu" (207). The Chinese record
given in detail by Pauthier is to the like effect, except as to the Kaan's
narrow escape, of which it says nothing.
As regards the Fire-_Pao_ (the latter word seems to have been applied to
military machines formerly, and now to artillery), I must refer to Favé
and Reinaud's very curious and interesting treatise on the Greek fire (_du
Feu Grégeois_). They do not seem to assent to the view that the arms of
this description which are mentioned in the Mongol wars were cannon, but
rather of the nature of rockets.
[Dr. G. Schlegel (_T'oung Pao_, No. 1, 1902), in a paper entitled, _On the
Invention and Use of Fire-Arms and Gunpowder in China, prior to the
Arrival of Europeans_, says that "now, notwithstanding all what has been
alleged by different European authors against the use of gunpowder and
fire-arms in China, I maintain that not only the Mongols in 1293 had
cannon, but that they were already acquainted with them in 1232." Among
his many examples, we quote the following from the Books of the Ming
Dynasty: "What were anciently called _P'ao_ were all machines for hurling
stones. In the beginning of the Mongol Dynasty (A.D. 1260), _p'ao_
(catapults) of the Western regions were procured. In the siege [in 1233]
of the city of _Ts'ai chow_ of the _Kin_ (Tatars), fire was for the first
time employed (in these _p'ao_), but the art of making them was not handed
down, and they were afterwards seldom used."--H. C.]
CHAPTER V.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSED NAYAN TO BE PUT TO DEATH.
And when the Great Kaan learned that Nayan was taken right glad was he,
and commanded that he should be put to death straightway and in secret,
lest endeavours should be made to obtain pity and pardon for him, because
he was of the Kaan's own flesh and blood. And this was the way in which he
was put to death: he was wrapt in a carpet, and tossed to and fro so
mercilessly that he died. And the Kaan caused him to be put to death in
this way because he would not have the blood of his Line Imperial spilt
upon the ground or exposed in the eye of Heaven and before the Sun.[NOTE
1]
And when the Great Kaan had gained this battle, as you have heard, all the
Barons and people of Nayan's provinces renewed their fealty to the Kaan.
Now these provinces that had been under the Lordship of Nayan were four in
number; to wit, the first called CHORCHA; the second CAULY; the third
BARSCOL; the fourth SIKINTINJU. Of all these four great provinces had
Nayan been Lord; it was a very great dominion.[NOTE 2]
And after the Great Kaan had conquered Nayan, as you have heard, it came
to pass that the different kinds of people who were present, Saracens and
Idolaters and Jews,[NOTE 3] and many others that believed not in God, did
gibe those that were Christians because of the cross that Nayan had borne
on his standard, and that so grievously that there was no bearing it. Thus
they would say to the Christians: "See now what precious help this God's
Cross of yours hath rendered Nayan, who was a Christian and a worshipper
thereof." And such a din arose about the matter that it reached the Great
Kaan's own ears. When it did so, he sharply rebuked those who cast these
gibes at the Christians; and he also bade the Christians be of good heart,
"for if the Cross had rendered no help to Nayan, in that It had done right
well; nor could that which was good, as It was, have done otherwise; for
Nayan was a disloyal and traitorous Rebel against his Lord, and well
deserved that which had befallen him. Wherefore the Cross of your God did
well in that It gave him no help against the right." And this he said so
loud that everybody heard him. The Christians then replied to the Great
Kaan: "Great King, you say the truth indeed, for our Cross can render no
one help in wrong-doing; and therefore it was that It aided not Nayan, who
was guilty of crime and disloyalty, for It would take no part in his evil
deeds."
And so thenceforward no more was heard of the floutings of the unbelievers
against the Christians; for they heard very well what the Sovereign said
to the latter about the Cross on Nayan's banner, and its giving him no
help.
NOTE 1.--Friar Ricold mentions this Tartar maxim: "One Khan will put
another to death, to get possession of the throne, but he takes great care
that the blood be not spilt. For they say that it is highly improper that
the blood of the Great Khan should be spilt upon the ground; so they cause
the victim to be smothered somehow or other." The like feeling prevails at
the Court of Burma, where a peculiar mode of execution without bloodshed
is reserved for Princes of the Blood. And Kaempfer, relating the
conspiracy of Faulcon at the Court of Siam, says that two of the king's
brothers, accused of participation, were beaten to death with clubs of
sandal-wood, "for the respect entertained for the blood-royal forbids its
being shed." See also note 6, ch. vi. Bk. I., on the death of the Khalif
Mosta'sim Billah. (_Pereg. Quat._ p. 115; _Mission to Ava_, p. 229;
_Kaempfer_; I. 19.)
NOTE 2.--CHORCHA is the Manchu country, Niuché of the Chinese. (Supra,
note 2, ch. xlvi. Bk. I.) ["Chorcha is Churchin.--Nayan, as vassal of the
Mongol khans, had the commission to keep in obedience the people of
Manchuria (subdued in 1233), and to care for the security of the country
(_Yuen shi_); there is no doubt that he shared these obligations with his
relative Hatan, who stood nearer to the native tribes of Manchuria."
(_Palladius_, 32.)--H. C.]
KAULI is properly Corea, probably here a district on the frontier thereof,
as it is improbable that Nayan had any rule over Corea. ["The Corean
kingdom proper could not be a part of the prince's appanage. Marco Polo
might mean the northern part of Corea, which submitted to the Mongols in
A.D. 1269, with sixty towns, and which was subordinated entirely to the
central administration in Liao-yang. As to the southern part of Corea, it
was left to the king of Corea, who, however, was a vassal of the Mongols."
(_Palladius_, 32.) The king of Corea (_Ko rye, Kao-li_) was in 1288
Chyoung ryel wang (1274-1298); the capital was Syong-to, now Kai syeng
(K'ai-ch'eng).--H. C.]
BARSKUL, "Leopard-Lake," is named in Sanang Setsen (p. 217), but seems
there to indicate some place in the west of Mongolia, perhaps the _Barkul_
of our maps. This Barskul must have been on the Manchu frontier. [There
are in the _Yuen-shi_ the names of the department of _P'u-yü-lu_, and of
the place _Pu-lo-ho_, which, according to the system of Chinese
transcription, approach to Barscol; but it is difficult to prove this
identification, since our knowledge of these places is very scanty; it
only remains to identify Barscol with Abalahu, which is already known; a
conjecture all the more probable as the two names of P'u-yü-lu and
Pu-lo-ho have also some resemblance to Abalahu. (_Palladius_, 32.) Mr. E.
H. Parker says (_China Review_, xviii. p. 261) that Barscol may be Pa-la
ssu or Bars Koto [in Tsetsen]. "This seems the more probable in that Cauly
and Chorcha are clearly proved to be Corea and Niuché or Manchuria, so that
Bars Koto would naturally fall within Nayan's appanage."--H. C.]
The reading of the fourth name is doubtful, _Sichuigiu, Sichingiu_ (G.
T.), _Sichin-tingiu_ etc. The Chinese name of Mukden is _Shing-king_, but
I know not if it be so old as our author's time. I think it very possible
that the real reading is _Sinchin-tingin_, and that it represents
SHANGKING-TUNGKING, expressing the two capitals of the Khitan Dynasty in
this region, the position of which will be found indicated in No. IV. map
of Polo's itineraries. (See _Schott, Aelteste Nachrichten von Mongolen und
Tartaren_, Berlin Acad. 1845, pp. 11-12.)
[Sikintinju is Kien chau "belonging to a town which was in Nayan's
appanage, and is mentioned in the history of his rebellion. There were two
Kien-chow, one in the time of the Kin in the modern aimak of Khorchin; the
other during the Mongol Dynasty, on the upper part of the river Ta-ling
ho, in the limits of the modern aimak of Kharachin (_Man chow yuen lew
k'ao_); the latter depended on Kuang-ning (_Yuen-shi_). Mention is made of
Kien-chow, in connection with the following circumstance. When Nayan's
rebellion broke out, the Court of Peking sent orders to the King of Corea,
requiring from him auxiliary troops; this circumstance is mentioned in the
Corean Annals, under the year 1288 (_Kao li shi_, ch. xxx. f. 11) in the
following words:--'In the present year, in the fourth month, orders were
received from Peking to send five thousand men with provisions to
Kien-chow, which is 3000 _li_ distant from the King's residence.' This
number of _li_ cannot of course be taken literally; judging by the
distances estimated at the present day, it was about 2000 _li_ from the
Corean K'ai-ch'eng fu (then the Corean capital) to the Mongol Kien-chow;
and as much to the Kien-chow of the Kin (through Mukden and the pass of Fa-
k'u mun in the willow palisade). It is difficult to decide to which of
these two cities of the same name the troops were ordered to go, but at any
rate, there are sufficient reasons to identify Sikintinju of Marco Polo
with Kien-chow." (_Palladius_, 33.)--H. C.]
We learn from Gaubil that the rebellion did not end with the capture of
Nayan. In the summer of 1288 several of the princes of Nayan's league,
under Hatan (apparently the _Abkan_ of Erdmann's genealogies), the
grandson of Chinghiz's brother Kajyun [Hachiun], threatened the provinces
north-east of the wall. Kúblái sent his grandson and designated heir,
Teimur, against them, accompanied by some of his best generals. After a
two days' fight on the banks of the River Kweilei, the rebels were
completely beaten. The territories on the said River _Kweilei_, the
_Tiro_, or _Torro_, and the _Liao_, are mentioned both by Gaubil and De
Mailla as among those which had belonged to Nayan. As the Kweilei and Toro
appear on our maps and also the better-known Liao, we are thus enabled to
determine with tolerable precision Nayan's country. (See _Gaubil_, p. 209,
and _De Mailla_, 431 seqq.)
["The rebellion of Nayan and Hatan is incompletely and contradictorily
related in Chinese history. The suppression of both these rebellions
lasted four years. In 1287 Nayan marched from his _ordo_ with sixty
thousand men through Eastern Mongolia. In the 5th moon (_var._ 6th) of the
same year Khubilai marched against him from Shangtu. The battle was fought
in South-Eastern Mongolia, and gained by Khubilai, who returned to Shangtu
in the 8th month. Nayan fled to the south-east, across the mountain range,
along which a willow palisade now stands; but forces had been sent
beforehand from Shin-chow (modern Mukden) and Kuang-ning (probably to
watch the pass), and Nayan was made prisoner.
"Two months had not passed, when Hatan's rebellion broke out (so that it
took place in the same year 1287). It is mentioned under the year 1288,
that Hatan was beaten, and that the whole of Manchuria was pacified; but
in 1290, it is again recorded that Hatan disturbed Southern Manchuria, and
that he was again defeated. It is to this time that the narratives in the
biographies of Liting, Yuesi Femur, and Mangwu ought to be referred.
According to the first of these biographies, Hatan, after his defeat by
Liting on the river Kui lui (Kuilar?), fled, and perished. According to
the second biography, Hatan's dwelling (on the Amur River) was destroyed,
and he disappeared. According to the third, Mangwu and Naimatai pursued
Hatan to the extreme north, up to the eastern sea-coast (the mouth of the
Amur). Hatan fled, but two of his wives and his son Lao-ti were taken; the
latter was executed, and this was the concluding act of the suppression of
the rebellion in Manchuria. We find, however, an important _variante_ in
the history of Corea; it is stated there that in 1290, Hatan and his son
Lao-ti were carrying fire and slaughter to Corea, and devastated that
country; they slew the inhabitants and fed on human flesh. The King of
Corea fled to the Kiang-hwa island. The Coreans were not able to withstand
the invasion. The Mongols sent to their aid in 1291, troops under the
command of two generals, Seshekan (who was at that time governor of
Liao-tung) and Namantai (evidently the above-mentioned Naimatai). The
Mongols conjointly with the Coreans defeated the insurgents, who had
penetrated into the very heart of the country; their corpses covered a
space 30 _li_ in extent; Hatan and his son made their way through the
victorious army and fled, finding a refuge in the Niuchi (Djurdji) country,
from which Laotai made a later incursion into Corea. Such is the
discrepancy between historians in relating the same fact. The statement
found in the Corean history seems to me more reliable than the facts given
by Chinese history." (_Palladius_, 35-37.)--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--This passage, and the extract from Ramusio's version attached to
the following chapter, contain the only allusions by Marco to Jews in
China. John of Monte Corvino alludes to them, and so does Marignolli, who
speaks of having held disputations with them at Cambaluc; Ibn Batuta also
speaks of them at Khansa or Hangchau. Much has been written about the
ancient settlement of Jews at Kaifungfu, in Honan. One of the most
interesting papers on the subject is in the _Chinese Repository_, vol. xx.
It gives the translation of a Chinese-Jewish Inscription, which in some
respects forms a singular parallel to the celebrated Christian Inscription
of Si-ngan fu, though it is of far more modern date (1511). It exhibits,
as that inscription does, the effect of Chinese temperament or language,
in modifying or diluting doctrinal statements. Here is a passage: "With
respect to the Israelitish religion, we find on inquiry that its first
ancestor, Adam, came originally from India, and that during the (period of
the) Chau State the Sacred Writings were already in existence. The Sacred
Writings, embodying Eternal Reason, consist of 53 sections. The principles
therein contained are very abstruse, and the Eternal Reason therein
revealed is very mysterious, being treated with the same veneration as
Heaven. The founder of the religion is Abraham, who is considered the
first teacher of it. Then came Moses, who established the Law, and handed
down the Sacred Writings. After his time, during the Han Dynasty (B.C. 206
to A.D. 221), this religion entered China. In (A.D.) 1164, a synagogue was
built at P'ien. In (A.D.) 1296, the old Temple was rebuilt, as a place in
which the Sacred Writings might be deposited with veneration."
[According to their oral tradition, the Jews came to China from _Si Yih_
(Western Regions), probably Persia, by Khorasan and Samarkand, during the
first century of our era, in the reign of the Emperor Ming-ti (A.D. 58-75)
of the Han Dynasty. They were at times confounded with the followers of
religions of India, _T'ien Chu kiao_, and very often with the Mohammedans
_Hwui-Hwui_ or _Hwui-tzu_; the common name of their religion was _Tiao kin
kiao_, "Extract Sinew Religion." However, three lapidary inscriptions,
kept at Kaï-fung, give different dates for the arrival of the Jews in
China: one dated 1489 (2nd year Hung Che, Ming Dynasty) says that seventy
Jewish families arrived at P'ien liang (Kaï-fung) at the time of the Sung
(A. D. 960-1278); one dated 1512 (7th year Chêng Têh) says that the Jewish
religion was introduced into China under the Han Dynasty (B.C. 206-A.D.
221), and the last one dated 1663 (2nd year K'ang-hi) says that this
religion was first preached in China under the Chau Dynasty (B.C.
1122-255); this will not bear discussion.
The synagogue, according to these inscriptions, was built in 1163, under
the Sung Emperor Hiao; under the Yuen, in 1279, the rabbi rebuilt the
ancient temple known as _Ts'ing Chen sse_, probably on the site of a
ruined mosque; the synagogue was rebuilt in 1421 during the reign of
Yung-lo; it was destroyed by an inundation of the Hwang-ho in 1642, and the
Jews began to rebuild it once more in 1653.
The first knowledge Europeans had of a colony of Jews at K'aï-fung fu, in
the Ho-nan province, was obtained through the Jesuit missionaries at
Peking, at the beginning of the 17th century; the celebrated Matteo Ricci
having received the visit of a young Jew, the Jesuits Aleni (1613), Gozani
(1704), Gaubil and Domenge who made in 1721 two plans of the synagogue,
visited Kaï-fung and brought back some documents. In 1850, a mission of
enquiry was sent to that place by the _London Society for promoting
Christianity among the Jews_; the results of this mission were published
at Shang-hai, in 1851, by Bishop G. Smith of Hongkong; fac-similes of the
Hebrew manuscripts obtained at the synagogue of Kaï-fung were also printed
at Shang-haï at the London Missionary Society's Press, in the same year.
The Jewish merchants of London sent in 1760 to their brethren of Kaï-fung
a letter written in Hebrew; a Jewish merchant of Vienna, J. L. Liebermann,
visited the Kaï-fung colony in 1867. At the time of the T'aï-P'ing rising,
the rebels marched against Kaï-fung in 1857, and with the rest of the
population, the Jews were dispersed. (_J. Tobar, Insc. juives de
Kaï-fong-fou_, 1900; _Henri Cordier_, _Les Juifs en Chine_, and _Fung and
Wagnall's Jewish Encyclopedia_.) Palladius writes (p. 38), "The Jews are
mentioned for the first time in the _Yuen shi_ (ch. xxxiii. p. 7), under
the year 1329, on the occasion of the re-establishment of the law for the
collection of taxes from dissidents. Mention of them is made again under
the year 1354, ch. xliii. fol. 10, when on account of several insurrections
in China, rich Mahommetans and Jews were invited to the capital in order to
join the army. In both cases they are named _Chu hu_ (Djuhud)."--H. C.]
The synagogue at Kaifungfu has recently been demolished for the sake of
its materials, by the survivors of the Jewish community themselves, who
were too poor to repair it. The tablet that once adorned its entrance,
bearing in gilt characters the name ESZLOYIH (Israel), has been
appropriated by a mosque. The 300 or 400 survivors seem in danger of
absorption into the Mahomedan or heathen population. The last Rabbi and
possessor of the sacred tongue died some thirty or forty years ago, the
worship has ceased, and their traditions have almost died away.
(_Cathay_, 225, 341, 497; _Ch. Rep._ XX. 436; _Dr. Martin_, in _J. N.
China Br. R. A. S._ 1866, pp. 32-33.)
CHAPTER VI.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN WENT BACK TO THE CITY OF CAMBALUC.
And after the Great Kaan had defeated Nayan in the way you have heard, he
went back to his capital city of Cambaluc and abode there, taking his ease
and making festivity. And the other Tartar Lord called Caydu was greatly
troubled when he heard of the defeat and death of Nayan, and held himself
in readiness for war; but he stood greatly in fear of being handled as
Nayan had been.[NOTE 1]
I told you that the Great Kaan never went on a campaign but once, and it
was on this occasion; in all other cases of need he sent his sons or his
barons into the field. But this time he would have none go in command but
himself, for he regarded the presumptuous rebellion of Nayan as far too
serious and perilous an affair to be otherwise dealt with.
NOTE 1.--Here Ramusio has a long and curious addition. Kúblái, it says,
remained at Cambaluc till March, "in which our Easter occurs; and learning
that this was one of our chief festivals, he summoned all the Christians,
and bade them bring with them the Book of the Four Gospels. This he caused
to be incensed many times with great ceremony, kissing it himself most
devoutly, and desiring all the barons and lords who were present to do the
same. And he always acts in this fashion at the chief Christian festivals,
such as Easter and Christmas. And he does the like at the chief feasts of
the Saracens, Jews, and Idolaters. On being asked why, he said: 'There are
Four Prophets worshipped and revered by all the world. The Christians say
their God is Jesus Christ; the Saracens, Mahommet; the Jews, Moses; the
Idolaters, Sogomon Borcan [_Sakya-Muni Burkhan_ or Buddha], who was the
first god among the idols; and I worship and pay respect to all four, and
pray that he among them who is greatest in heaven in very truth may aid
me.' But the Great Khan let it be seen well enough that he held the
Christian Faith to be the truest and best--for, as he says, it commands
nothing that is not perfectly good and holy. But he will not allow the
Christians to carry the Cross before them, because on it was scourged and
put to death a person so great and exalted as Christ.
"Some one may say: 'Since he holds the Christian faith to be best, why
does he not attach himself to it, and become a Christian?' Well, this is
the reason that he gave to Messer Nicolo and Messer Maffeo, when he sent
them as his envoys to the Pope, and when they sometimes took occasion to
speak to him about the faith of Christ. He said: 'How would you have me to
become a Christian? You see that the Christians of these parts are so
ignorant that they achieve nothing and can achieve nothing, whilst you see
the Idolaters can do anything they please, insomuch that when I sit at
table the cups from the middle of the hall come to me full of wine or
other liquor without being touched by anybody, and I drink from them. They
control storms, causing them to pass in whatever direction they please,
and do many other marvels; whilst, as you know, their idols speak, and
give them predictions on whatever subjects they choose. But if I were to
turn to the faith of Christ and become a Christian, then my barons and
others who are not converted would say: "What has moved you to be baptised
and to take up the faith of Christ? What powers or miracles have you
witnessed on His part?" (You know the Idolaters here say that their
wonders are performed by the sanctity and power of their idols.) Well, I
should not know what answer to make; so they would only be confirmed in
their errors, and the Idolaters, who are adepts in such surprising arts,
would easily compass my death. But now you shall go to your Pope, and pray
him on my part to send hither an hundred men skilled in your law, who
shall be capable of rebuking the practices of the Idolaters to their
faces, and of telling them that they too know how to do such things but
will not, because they are done by the help of the devil and other evil
spirits, and shall so control the Idolaters that these shall have no power
to perform such things in their presence. When we shall witness this we
will denounce the Idolaters and their religion, and then I will receive
baptism; and when I shall have been baptised, then all my barons and
chiefs shall be baptised also, and their followers shall do the like, and
thus in the end there will be more Christians here than exist in your part
of the world!'
"And if the Pope, as was said in the beginning of this book, had sent men
fit to preach our religion, the Grand Kaan would have turned Christian;
for it is an undoubted fact that he greatly desired to do so."
In the simultaneous patronage of different religions, Kúblái followed the
practice of his house. Thus Rubruquis writes of his predecessor Mangku
Kaan: "It is his custom, on such days as his diviners tell him to be
festivals, or any of the Nestorian priests declare to be holydays, to hold
a court. On these occasions the Christian priests enter first with their
paraphernalia, and pray for him, and bless his cup. They retire, and then
come the Saracen priests and do likewise; the priests of the Idolaters
follow. He all the while believes in none of them, though they all follow
his court as flies follow honey. He bestows his gifts on all of them, each
party believes itself to be his favourite, and all prophesy smooth things
to him." Abulfaragius calls Kúblái "a just prince and a wise, who loved
Christians and honoured physicians of learning, whatsoever their nation."
There is a good deal in Kúblái that reminds us of the greatest prince of
that other great Mongol house, Akbar. And if we trusted the first
impression of the passage just quoted from Ramusio, we might suppose that
the grandson of Chinghiz too had some of that real wistful regard towards
the Lord Jesus Christ, of which we seem to see traces in the grandson of
Baber. But with Kúblái, as with his predecessors, religion seems to have
been only a political matter; and this aspect of the thing will easily be
recognised in a re-perusal of his conversation with Messer Nicolas and
Messer Maffeo. The Kaan must be obeyed; how man shall worship God is
indifferent; this was the constant policy of his house in the days of its
greatness. Kúblái, as Koeppen observes, the first of his line to raise
himself above the natural and systematic barbarism of the Mongols,
probably saw in the promotion of Tibetan Buddhism, already spread to some
extent among them, the readiest means of civilising his countrymen. But he
may have been quite sincere in saying what is here ascribed to him in
_this_ sense, viz.: that if the Latin Church, with its superiority of
character and acquirement, had come to his aid as he had once requested,
he would gladly have used _its_ missionaries as his civilising instruments
instead of the Lamas and their trumpery. (_Rubr._ 313; _Assemani_, III.
pt. ii. 107; _Koeppen_, II. 89, 96.)
CHAPTER VII.
HOW THE KAAN REWARDED THE VALOUR OF HIS CAPTAINS.
So we will have done with this matter of Nayan, and go on with our account
of the great state of the Great Kaan.
We have already told you of his lineage and of his age; but now I must
tell you what he did after his return, in regard to those barons who had
behaved well in the battle. Him who was before captain of 100 he made
captain of 1000; and him who was captain of 1000 men he made to be captain
of 10,000, advancing every man according to his deserts and to his
previous rank. Besides that, he also made them presents of fine silver
plate and other rich appointments; gave them Tablets of Authority of a
higher degree than they held before; and bestowed upon them fine jewels of
gold and silver, and pearls and precious stones; insomuch that the amount
that fell to each of them was something astonishing. And yet 'twas not so
much as they had deserved; for never were men seen who did such feats of
arms for the love and honour of their Lord, as these had done on that day
of the battle.[NOTE 1]
Now those Tablets of Authority, of which I have spoken, are ordered in
this way. The officer who is a captain of 100 hath a tablet of silver; the
captain of 1000 hath a tablet of gold or silver-gilt; the commander of
10,000 hath a tablet of gold, with a lion's head on it. And I will tell
you the weight of the different tablets, and what they denote. The tablets
of the captains of 100 and 1000 weigh each of them 120 _saggi_; and the
tablet with the lion's head engraven on it, which is that of the commander
of 10,000, weighs 220 _saggi_. And on each of the tablets is inscribed a
device, which runs: "_By the strength of the great God, and of the great
grace which He hath accorded to our Emperor, may the name of the Kaan be
blessed; and let all such as will not obey him be slain and be
destroyed_." And I will tell you besides that all who hold these tablets
likewise receive warrants in writing, declaring all their powers and
privileges.
I should mention too that an officer who holds the chief command of
100,000 men, or who is general-in-chief of a great host, is entitled to a
tablet that weighs 300 _saggi_. It has an inscription thereon to the same
purport that I have told you already, and below the inscription there is
the figure of a lion, and below the lion the sun and moon. They have
warrants also of their high rank, command, and power.[NOTE 2] Every one,
moreover, who holds a tablet of this exalted degree is entitled, whenever
he goes abroad, to have a little golden canopy, such as is called an
umbrella, carried on a spear over his head in token of his high command.
And whenever he sits, he sits in a silver chair.[NOTE 3]
To certain very great lords also there is given a tablet with gerfalcons
on it; this is only to the very greatest of the Kaan's barons, and it
confers on them his own full power and authority; so that if one of those
chiefs wishes to send a messenger any whither, he can seize the horses of
any man, be he even a king, and any other chattels at his pleasure.
[NOTE 4]
NOTE 1.--So Sanang Setzen relates that Chinghiz, on returning from one of
his great campaigns, busied himself in reorganising his forces and
bestowing rank and title, according to the deserts of each, on his nine
_Orlok_, or marshals, and all who had done good service. "He named
commandants over hundreds, over thousands, over ten thousands, over
hundred thousands, and opened his treasury to the multitude of the people"
(p. 91).
NOTE 2.--We have several times already had mention of these tablets. (See
Prologue, ch. viii. and xviii.) The earliest European allusion to them is
in Rubruquis: "And Mangu gave to the Moghul (whom he was going to send to
the King of France) a bull of his, that is to say, a golden plate of a
palm in breadth and half a cubit in length, on which his orders were
inscribed. Whosoever is the bearer of that may order what he pleases, and
his order shall be executed straightway."
These golden bulls of the Mongol Kaans appear to have been originally
tokens of high favour and honour, though afterwards they became more
frequent and conventional. They are often spoken of by the Persian
historians of the Mongols under the name of _Páizah_, and sometimes
_Páizah Sir-i-Sher_, or "Lion's Head Paizah." Thus, in a firmán of Ghazan
Khan, naming a viceroy to his conquests in Syria, the Khan confers on the
latter "the sword, the august standard, the drum, and the _Lion's Head
Paizah_." Most frequently the grant of this honour is coupled with
_Yarlígh_; "to such an one were granted Yarlígh and Páizah" the former
word (which is still applied in Turkey to the Sultan's rescripts) denoting
the written patent which accompanies the grant of the tablet, just as the
sovereign's warrant accompanies the badge of a modern Order. Of such
written patents also Marco speaks in this passage, and as he uttered it,
no doubt the familiar words _Yarlígh u Páizah_ were in his mind. The
Armenian history of the Orpelians, relating the visit of Prince Sempad,
brother of King Hayton, to the court of Mangku Kaan, says: "They gave him
also a _P'haiza_ of gold, i.e. a tablet whereon the name of God is written
by the Great Kaan himself; and this constitutes the greatest honour known
among the Mongols. Farther, they drew up for him a sort of patent, which
the Mongols call _Iarlekh_," etc. The Latin version of a grant by Uzbek
Khan of Kipchak to the Venetian Andrea Zeno, in 1333,[1] ends with the
words: "_Dedimus_ baisa _et_ privilegium _cum bullis rubeis_," where the
latter words no doubt represent the _Yarlígh al-tamghá_, the warrant with
the red seal or stamp,[2] as it may be seen upon the letter of Arghun
Khan. (See plate at ch. xvii. of Bk. IV.). So also Janibek, the son of
Uzbek, in 1344, confers privileges on the Venetians, "_eisdem dando_
baissinum _de auro_"; and again Bardibeg, son, murderer, and successor of
Janibeg, in 1358, writes: "Avemo dado comandamento [i.e. Yarlíg] cum le
bolle rosse, et lo _paysam_."
Under the Persian branch, at least, of the house the degree of honour was
indicated by the _number_ of lions' heads upon the plate, which varied
from 1 to 5. The Lion and Sun, a symbol which survives, or has been
revived, in the modern Persian decoration so called, formed the emblem of
the Sun in Leo, i.e. in highest power. It had already been used on the
coins of the Seljukian sovereigns of Persia and Iconium; it appears on
coins of the Mongol Ilkhans Ghazan, Oljaitu, and Abusaid, and it is also
found on some of those of Mahomed Uzbek Khan of Kipchak.
[Illustration: Seljukian Coin with the Lion and Sun.]
Hammer gives regulations of Ghazan Khan's on the subject of the Paizah,
from which it is seen that the latter were of different _kinds_ as well as
degrees. Some were held by great governors and officers of state, and these
were cautioned against letting the Paizah out of their own keeping; others
were for officers of inferior order; and, again, "for persons travelling on
state commissions with post-horses, particular paizah (which Hammer says
were of brass) are appointed, on which their names are inscribed." These
last would seem therefore to be merely such permissions to travel by the
Government post-horses as are still required in Russia, perhaps in lineal
derivation from Mongol practice. The terms of Ghazan's decree and other
contemporary notices show that great abuses were practised with the Paizah,
as an authority for living at free quarters and making other arbitrary
exactions.
[Illustration: "TABLE D'OR DE COMMANDEMENT," THE PAIZA OF THE MONGOLS.
FROM A SPECIMEN FOUND IN E. SIBERIA.]
The word _Paizah_ is said to be Chinese, _Pai-tseu_, "a tablet." A trace
of the name and the thing still survives in Mongolia. The horse-_Bai_ is
the name applied to a certain ornament on the horse caparison, which gives
the rider a title to be furnished with horses and provisions on a journey.
[Illustration: Second Example of a MONGOL PAIZA, with Superscription in
the _Uighúr_ Character, found near the River Dnieper, 1845.]
Where I have used the Venetian term _saggio_, the French texts have here
and elsewhere _saics_ and _saies_, and sometimes _pois_. _Saic_ points to
_saiga_, which, according to Dupré de St. Maur, is in the Salic laws the
equivalent of a denier or the twelfth part of a sol. _Saggio_ is possibly
the same word, or rather may have been confounded with it, but the saggio
was a recognised Venetian weight equal to 1/6 of an ounce. We shall see
hereafter that Polo appears to use it to indicate the _miskál_, a weight
which may be taken at 74 grains Troy. On that supposition the smallest
tablet specified in the text would weigh 18-1/2 ozs. Troy.
I do not know if any gold Paizah has been discovered, but several of
silver have been found in the Russian dominions; one near the Dnieper, and
two in Eastern Siberia. The first of our plates represents one of these,
which was found in the Minusinsk circle of the Government of Yenisei in
1846, and is now in the Asiatic Museum of the Academy of St. Petersburg,
For the sake of better illustration of our text, I have taken the liberty
to represent the tablet as of gold, instead of silver with only the
inscription gilt. The moulded ring inserted in the orifice, to suspend the
plate by, is of iron. On the reverse side the ring bears some Chinese
characters engraved, which are interpreted as meaning "Publication No.
42." The inscription on the plate itself is in the Mongol language and
Baspa character (supra, Prologue, note 1, ch. xv.), and its purport is a
remarkable testimony to the exactness of Marco's account, and almost a
proof of his knowledge of the language and character in which the
inscriptions were engraved. It runs, according to Schmidt's version: "_By
the strength of the eternal heaven! May the name of the Khagan be holy!
Who pays him not reverence is to be slain, and must die!_" The
inscriptions on the other plates discovered were essentially similar in
meaning. Our second plate shows one of them with the inscription in the
Uighúr character.
The superficial dimensions of the Yenisei tablet, as taken from Schmidt's
full-size drawing, are 12.2 in. by 3.65 in. The weight is not given.
In the French texts nothing is said of the size of the tablets. But
Ramusio's copy in the Prologue, where the tables given by Kiacatu are
mentioned (supra, p. 35), says that they were a cubit in length and 5
fingers in breadth, and weighed 3 to 4 marks each, i.e. 24 to 32 ounces.
(_Dupré de St. Maur_, _Essai sur les Monnoies_, etc., 1746, p. viii.; also
(on _saiga_) see _Pertz_, _Script._ XVII. 357; _Rubruq._ 312; _Golden
Horde_, 219-220, 521; _Ilch._ II. 166 seqq., 355-356; _D'Ohsson_, III.
412-413; _Q. R._ 177-180; _Ham. Wassáf_, 154, 176; _Makrizi_, IV. 158;
_St. Martin_, _Mém. sur l'Arménie_, II. 137, 169; _M. Mas Latrie_ in
_Bibl. de l'Éc. des Chartes_, IV. 585 seqq.; _J. As._ sér. V. tom. xvii.
536 seqq.; _Schmidt, über eine Mongol. Quadratinschrift_, etc., Acad. St.
P., 1847; Russian paper by _Grigorieff_ on same subject, 1846.)
["The History tells us (_Liao Shih_, Bk. LVII. f. 2) that the official
silver tablets _p'ai tzu_ of the period were 600 in number, about a foot
in length, and that they were engraved with an inscription like the above
['Our imperial order for post horses. Urgent.'] in national characters
(_kuo tzu_), and that when there was important state business the Emperor
personally handed the tablet to the envoy, which entitled him to demand
horses at the post stations, and to be treated as if he were the Emperor
himself travelling. When the tablet was marked 'Urgent,' he had the right
to take private horses, and was required to ride, night and day, 700 _li_
in twenty-four hours. On his return he had to give back the tablet to the
Emperor, who handed it to the prince who had the custody of the state
tablets and seals." (_Dr. S. W. Bushell, Actes XI. Cong. Int. Orient._,
Paris, p. 17.)
"The Kin, in the thirteenth century, used badges of office made of silver.
They were rectangular, bore the imperial seal, and an inscription
indicative of the duty of the bearer. (_Chavannes, Voyageurs chez les
Khitans_, 102.) The Nü-chên at an earlier date used wooden _pai-tzu_ tied
to each horseman and horse, to distinguish them by. (_Ma Tuan-lin_, Bk.
327, 11.)" (_Rockhill, Rubruck_, p. 181, note.)
"Tiger's tablets--_Sinice Hu fu_, and _p'ai tsze_ in the common language.
The Mongols had them of several kinds, which differed by the metal, of
which they were made, as well as by the number of pearls (one, two, or
three in number), which were incrusted in the upper part of the tablet.
Falcon's tablets with the figure of a falcon were round, and used to be
given only to special couriers and envoys of the Khan. [_Yuen shi lui
pien_ and _Yuen ch'ao tien chang_.] The use of the _Hu-fu_ was adopted by
the Mongols probably from the Kin." (_Palladius_, l.c. p. 39.)
Rubruquis (Rockhill's ed. pp. 153-154) says:--"And whenever the principal
envoy [of Longa] came to court he carried a highly-polished tablet of
ivory about a cubit long and half a palm wide. Every time he spoke to the
chan or some great personage, he always looked at that tablet as if he
found there what he had to say, nor did he look to the right or the left,
nor in the face of him with whom he was talking. Likewise, when coming
into the presence of the Lord, and when leaving it, he never looked at
anything but his tablet." Mr. Rockhill observes: "These tablets are called
_hu_ in Chinese, and were used in China and Korea; in the latter country
down to quite recent times. They were made of jade, ivory, bamboo, etc.,
according to the rank of the owner, and were about three feet long. The
_hu_ was originally used to make memoranda on of the business to be
submitted by the bearer to the Emperor or to write the answers to
questions he had had submitted to them. Odoric also refers to 'the tablets
of white ivory which the Emperor's barons held in their hands as they
stood silent before him.'"
(Cf. the golden tablets which were of various classes with a tiger for
image and pearls for ornaments, _Devéria, Epigraphie_, p. 15 et seq.) --H.
C.]
NOTE 3.--_Umbrella_. The phrase in Pauthier's text is "_Palieque que on
dit_ ombrel." The Latin text of the Soc. de Géographie has "_unum pallium_
de auro," which I have adopted as probably correct, looking to Burma,
where the old etiquettes as to umbrellas are in full force. These
etiquettes were probably in both countries of old Hindu origin. _Pallium_,
according to Muratori, was applied in the Middle Ages to a kind of square
umbrella, by which is probably meant rather a canopy on four staves, which
was sometimes assigned by authority as an honourable privilege.
But the genuine umbrella would seem to have been used also, for Polo's
contemporary, Martino da Canale, says that, when the Doge goes forth of
his palace, "_si vait apres lui un damoiseau qui porte une umbrele de dras
à or sur son chief_," which umbrella had been given by "_Monseigneur
l'Apostoille_." There is a picture by Girolamo Gambarota, in the Sala del
Gran Consiglio, at Venice, which represents the investiture of the Doge
with the umbrella by Pope Alexander III., and Frederick Barbarossa
(concerning which see _Sanuto_ Junior, in _Muratori_, XXII. 512).
The word _Parasol_ also occurs in the Petrarchian vocabulary, (14th
century) as the equivalent of _saioual_ (Pers. _sáyában_ or _sáiwán_, an
umbrella). Carpini notices that umbrellas (_solinum vel tentoriolum in
hastâ_) were carried over the Tartar nobles and their wives, even on
horseback; and a splendid one, covered with jewels, was one of the
presents made to Kuyuk Kaan on his enthronement.
With respect to the honorary character attaching to umbrellas in China, I
may notice that recently an English resident of Ningpo, on his departure
for Europe, was presented by the Chinese citizens, as a token of honour,
with a pair of _Wan min sàn_, umbrellas of enormous size.
The umbrella must have gone through some curious vicissitudes; for at one
time we find it familiar, at a later date apparently unknown, and then
reintroduced as some strange novelty. Arrian speaks of the [Greek:
skiádia], or umbrellas, as used by all Indians of any consideration; but
the thing of which he spoke was familiar to the use of Greek and Roman
ladies, and many examples of it, borne by slaves behind their mistresses,
are found on ancient vase-paintings. Athenaeus quotes from Anacreon the
description of a "beggar on horseback" who
"like a woman bears
An ivory parasol over his delicate head."
An Indian prince, in a Sanskrit inscription of the 9th century, boasts of
having wrested from the King of Márwár the two umbrellas pleasing to
Parvati, and white as the summer moonbeams. Prithi Ráj, the last Hindu
king of Delhi, is depicted by the poet Chand as shaded by a white umbrella
on a golden staff. An unmistakable umbrella, copied from a Saxon MS. in
the Harleian collection, is engraved in _Wright's History of Domestic
Manners_, p. 75. The fact that the gold umbrella is one of the
paraphernalia of high church dignitaries in Italy seems to presume
acquaintance with the thing from a remote period. A decorated umbrella
also accompanies the host when sent out to the sick, at least where I
write, in Palermo. Ibn Batuta says that in his time all the people of
Constantinople, civil and military, great and small, carried great
umbrellas over their heads, summer and winter. Ducange quotes, from a MS.
of the Paris Library, the Byzantine court regulations about umbrellas,
which are of the genuine Pan-Asiatic spirit;--[Greek: skiádia
chrysokókkina] extend from the Hypersebastus to the grand Stratopedarchus,
and so on; exactly as used to be the case, with different titles, in Java.
And yet it is curious that John Marignolli, Ibn Batuta's contemporary in
the middle of the 14th century, and Barbosa in the 16th century, are alike
at pains to describe the umbrella as some strange object. And in our own
country it is commonly stated that the umbrella was first used in the last
century, and that Jonas Hanway (died 1786) was one of the first persons
who made a practice of carrying one. The word _umbrello_ is, however, in
Minsheu's dictionary. [See _Hobson-Jobson_, s.v. _Umbrella_.--H. C.]
(_Murat. Dissert._ II. 229; _Archiv. Storic. Ital._ VIII. 274, 560;
_Klapr. Mém._ III.; _Carp._ 759; _N. and Q., C. and J._ II. 180; _Arrian,
Indica_, XVI.; _Smith's Dict., G. and R. Ant._, s. v. _umbraculum_; _J. R.
A. S._ v. 351; _Rás Mála_, I. 221; _I. B._ II. 440; _Cathay_, 381;
_Ramus._ I. f. 301.)
Alexander, according to Athenaeus, feasted his captains to the number of
6000, and made them all sit upon silver chairs. The same author relates
that the King of Persia, among other rich presents, bestowed upon Entimus
the Gortynian, who went up to the king in imitation of Themistocles,
_a silver chair and a gilt umbrella_. (Bk. I. Epit. ch. 31, and II. 31.)
The silver chair has come down to our own day in India, and is much
affected by native princes.
NOTE 4.--I have not been able to find any allusion, except in our author,
to tablets, with gerfalcons (_shonkár_). The _shonkár_ appears, however,
according to Erdmann, on certain coins of the Golden Horde, struck at
Sarai.
There is a passage from Wassáf used by Hammer, in whose words it runs that
the Sayad Imámuddín, appointed (A.D. 683) governor of Shiraz by Arghun
Khan, "was invested with _both_ the Mongol symbols of delegated
sovereignty, the Golden Lion's Head, and the golden _Cat's Head_." It
would certainly have been more satisfactory to find "Gerfalcon's Head" in
lieu of the latter; but it is probable that the same object is meant. The
cut below exhibits the conventional effigy of a gerfalcon as sculptured
over one of the gates of Iconium, Polo's Conia. The head might easily pass
for a conventional representation of a cat's head, and is indeed
strikingly like the grotesque representation that bears that name in
mediaeval architecture. (_Erdmann, Numi Asiatici_, I. 339; _Ilch._ I.
370.)
[Illustration: Sculptured Gerfalcon. (From the Gate of Iconium.)]
[1] "In anno Simiae, octavâ lunâ, die quarto exeunte, juxta fluvium Cobam
(_the Kuban_), apud Ripam Rubeam existentes scripsimus." The original
was in _linguâ Persaycá_.
[2] See _Golden Horde_, p. 218.
CHAPTER VIII.
CONCERNING THE PERSON OF THE GREAT KAAN.
The personal appearance of the Great Kaan, Lord of Lords, whose name is
Cublay, is such as I shall now tell you. He is of a good stature, neither
tall nor short, but of a middle height. He has a becoming amount of flesh,
and is very shapely in all his limbs. His complexion is white and red, the
eyes black and fine,[NOTE 1] the nose well formed and well set on. He has
four wives, whom he retains permanently as his legitimate consorts; and
the eldest of his sons by those four wives ought by rights to be
emperor;--I mean when his father dies. Those four ladies are called
empresses, but each is distinguished also by her proper name. And each of
them has a special court of her own, very grand and ample; no one of them
having fewer than 300 fair and charming damsels. They have also many pages
and eunuchs, and a number of other attendants of both sexes; so that each
of these ladies has not less than 10,000 persons attached to her
court.[NOTE 2]
When the Emperor desires the society of one of these four consorts, he
will sometimes send for the lady to his apartment and sometimes visit her
at her own. He has also a great number of concubines, and I will tell you
how he obtains them.
You must know that there is a tribe of Tartars called UNGRAT, who are
noted for their beauty. Now every year an hundred of the most beautiful
maidens of this tribe are sent to the Great Kaan, who commits them to the
charge of certain elderly ladies dwelling in his palace. And these old
ladies make the girls sleep with them, in order to ascertain if they have
sweet breath [and do not snore], and are sound in all their limbs. Then
such of them as are of approved beauty, and are good and sound in all
respects, are appointed to attend on the Emperor by turns. Thus six of
these damsels take their turn for three days and nights, and wait on him
when he is in his chamber and when he is in his bed, to serve him in any
way, and to be entirely at his orders. At the end of the three days and
nights they are relieved by other six. And so throughout the year, there
are reliefs of maidens by six and six, changing every three days and
nights.[NOTE 3]
[Illustration: Portrait of Kúblái Kaan. (From a Chinese Engraving.)]
NOTE 1.--We are left in some doubt as to the colour of Kúblái's eyes, for
some of the MSS. read _vairs_ and _voirs_, and others _noirs_. The former
is a very common epithet for eyes in the mediaeval romances. And in the
ballad on the death of St. Lewis, we are told of his son Tristram:--
"Droiz fu comme un rosel, _iex vairs comme faucon_,
Dès le tens Moysel ne nasqui sa façon."
The word has generally been interpreted _bluish-grey_, but in the passage
just quoted, Fr.-Michel explains it by _brillans_. However, the evidence
for _noirs_ here seems strongest. Rashiduddin says that when Kúblái was
born Chinghiz expressed surprise at the child's being so _brown_, as its
father and all his other sons were fair. Indeed, we are told that the
descendants of Yesugai (the father of Chinghiz) were in general
distinguished by blue eyes and reddish hair. (_Michel's Joinville_, p.
324; _D'Ohsson_, II. 475; _Erdmann_, 252.)
NOTE 2.--According to Hammer's authority (Rashid?) Kúblái had _seven_
wives; Gaubil's Chinese sources assign him _five_, with the title of
empress (_Hwang-heu_). Of these the best beloved was the beautiful Jamúi
Khátún (Lady or Empress Jamúi, illustrating what the text says of the
manner of styling these ladies), who bore him four sons and five
daughters. Rashiduddin adds that she was called _Kún Kú_, or the great
consort, evidently the term _Hwang-heu_. (Gen. Tables in _Hammer's
Ilkhans_; _Gatibil_, 223; _Erdmann_, 200.)
["Kúblái's four wives, i.e. the empresses of the first, second, third, and
fourth _ordos_. _Ordo_ is, properly speaking, a separate palace of the
Khan, under the management of one of his wives. Chinese authors translate
therefore the word _ordo_ by 'harem.' The four _Ordo_ established by
Chingis Khan were destined for the empresses, who were chosen out of four
different nomad tribes. During the reign of the first four Khans, who
lived in Mongolia, the four _ordo_ were considerably distant one from
another, and the Khans visited them in different seasons of the year; they
existed nominally as long as China remained under Mongol domination. The
custom of choosing the empress out of certain tribes, was in the course of
time set aside by the Khans. The empress, wife of the last Mongol Khan in
China, was a Corean princess by birth; and she contributed in a great
measure to the downfall of the Mongol Dynasty." (_Palladius_, 40.)
I do not believe that Rashiduddin's _Kún Kú_ is the term _Hwang-keu_; it
is the term _Kiun Chu_, King or Queen, a sovereign.--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--_Ungrat_, the reading of the Crusca, seems to be that to which
the others point, and I doubt not that it represents the great Mongol
tribe of KUNGURAT, which gave more wives than any other to the princes of
the house of Chinghiz; a conclusion in which I find I have been
anticipated by De Mailla or his editor (IX. 426). To this tribe (which,
according to Vámbéry, took its name from (Turki) _Kongur-At_, "Chestnut
Horse") belonged Burteh Fujin, the favourite wife of Chinghiz himself, and
mother of his four heirs; to the same tribe belonged the two wives of
Chagatai, two of Hulaku's seven wives, one of Mangku Kaan's, two at least
of Kúblái's including the beloved Jamúi Khátún, one at least of Abaka's,
two of Ahmed Tigudar's, two of Arghun's, and two of Ghazan's.
The seat of the Kungurats was near the Great Wall. Their name is still
applied to one of the tribes of the Uzbeks of Western Turkestan, whose
body appears to have been made up of fractions of many of the Turk and
Mongol tribes. Kungurat is also the name of a town of Khiva, near the Sea
of Aral, perhaps borrowed from the Uzbek clan.
The conversion of _Kungurat_ into _Ungrat_ is due, I suppose, to that
Mongol tendency to soften gutturals which has been before noticed.
(_Erdm._ 199-200; _Hammer, passim; Burnes_, III. 143, 225.)
The Ramusian version adds here these curious and apparently genuine
particulars:--
"The Great Kaan sends his commissioners to the Province to select four or
five hundred, or whatever number may be ordered, of the most beautiful
young women, according to the scale of beauty enjoined upon them. And they
set a value upon the comparative beauty of the damsels in this way. The
commissioners on arriving assemble all the girls of the province, in
presence of appraisers appointed for the purpose. These carefully survey
the points of each girl in succession, as (for example) her hair, her
complexion, eyebrows, mouth, lips, and the proportion of all her limbs.
They will then set down some as estimated at 16 carats, some at 17, 18,
20, or more or less, according to the sum of the beauties or defects of
each. And whatever standard the Great Kaan may have fixed for those that
are to be brought to him, whether it be 20 carats or 21, the commissioners
select the required number from those who have attained that standard, and
bring them to him. And when they reach his presence he has them appraised
anew by other parties, and has a selection made of 30 or 40 of those, who
then get the highest valuation."
Marsden and Murray miss the meaning of this curious statement in a
surprising manner, supposing the carat to represent some absolute value, 4
grains of gold according to the former, whence the damsel of 20 carats was
estimated at 13_s._ 4_d._! This is sad nonsense; but Marsden would not
have made the mistake had he not been fortunate enough to live before the
introduction of Competitive Examinations. This Kungurat business was in
fact a competitive examination in beauty; total marks attainable 24; no
candidate to pass who did not get 20 or 21. _Carat_ expresses _n_ ÷ 24,
not any absolute value.
Apart from the mode of valuation, it appears that a like system of
selection was continued by the Ming, and that some such selection from the
daughters of the Manchu nobles has been maintained till recent times.
Herodotus tells that the like custom prevailed among the Adyrmachidae, the
Libyan tribe next Egypt. Old Eden too relates it of the "Princes of
Moscovia." (_Middle Km._ I. 318; _Herod._ IV. 168, Rawl.; _Notes on
Russia_, Hak. Soc. II. 253.)
CHAPTER IX.
CONCERNING THE GREAT KAAN'S SONS.
The Emperor hath, by those four wives of his, twenty-two male children;
the eldest of whom was called CHINKIN for the love of the good Chinghis
Kaan, the first Lord of the Tartars. And this Chinkin, as the Eldest Son
of the Kaan, was to have reigned after his father's death; but, as it came
to pass, he died. He left a son behind him, however, whose name is TEMUR,
and he is to be the Great Kaan and Emperor after the death of his
Grandfather, as is but right; he being the child of the Great Kaan's
eldest son. And this Temur is an able and brave man, as he hath already
proven on many occasions.[NOTE 1]
The Great Kaan hath also twenty-five other sons by his concubines; and
these are good and valiant soldiers, and each of them is a great chief. I
tell you moreover that of his children by his four lawful wives there are
seven who are kings of vast realms or provinces, and govern them well;
being all able and gallant men, as might be expected. For the Great Kaan
their sire is, I tell you, the wisest and most accomplished man, the
greatest Captain, the best to govern men and rule an Empire, as well as
the most valiant, that ever has existed among all the Tribes of
Tartars.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--Kúblái had a son older than CHIMKIN or CHINGKIM, to whom Hammer's
Genealogical Table gives the name of _Jurji_, and attributes a son called
Ananda. The Chinese authorities of Gaubil and Pauthier call him _Turchi_
or _Torchi_, i.e. _Dorjé_, "Noble Stone," the Tibetan name of a sacred
Buddhist emblem in the form of a dumb-bell, representing the _Vajra_ or
Thunderbolt. Probably Dorjé died early, as in the passage we shall quote
from Wassáf also Chingkim is styled the Eldest Son: Marco is probably
wrong in connecting the name of the latter with that of Chinghiz. Schmidt
says that he does not know what _Chingkim_ means.
[Mr. Parker says that Chen kim was the _third_ son of Kúblái (_China
Review_, xxiv. p. 94.) Teimur, son of Chen kim, wore the temple name
(_miao-hao_) of _Ch'êng Tsung_ and the title of reign (_nien-hao_) of
_Yuen Chêng_ and _Ta Téh._--H. C.]
Chingkim died in the 12th moon of 1284-1285, aged 43. He had received a
Chinese education, and the Chinese Annals ascribe to him all the virtues
which so often pertain in history to heirs apparent who have not reigned.
"When Kúblái approached his 70th year," says Wassáf, "he desired to raise
his eldest son Chimkin to the position of his representative and declared
successor, during his own lifetime; so he took counsel with the chiefs, in
view to giving the Prince a share of his authority and a place on the
Imperial Throne. The chiefs, who are the Pillars of Majesty and Props of
the Empire, represented that His Majesty's proposal to invest his Son,
during his own lifetime, with Imperial authority, was not in accordance
with the precedents and Institutes (_Yasa_) of the World-conquering
Padshah Chinghiz Khan; but still they would consent to execute a solemn
document, securing the Kaanship to Chimkin, and pledging themselves to
lifelong obedience and allegiance to him. It was, however, the Divine Fiat
that the intended successor should predecease him who bestowed the
nomination.... The dignitaries of the Empire then united their voices in
favour of TEIMUR, the son of Chimkin."
Teimur, according to the same authority, was the third son of Chimkin; but
the eldest, Kambala, _squinted_; the second, Tarmah (properly _Tarmabala_
for _Dharmaphala_, a Buddhist Sanskrit name) was rickety in constitution;
and on the death of the old Kaan (1294) Teimur was unanimously named to
the Throne, after some opposition from Kambala, which was put down by the
decided bearing of the great soldier Bayan. (_Schmidt_, p. 399; _De
Mailla_, IX. 424; _Gaubil_, 203; _Wassáf_, 46.)
[The Rev. W. S. Ament (_Marco Polo in Cambaluc_, p. 106), makes the
following remarks regarding this young prince (Chimkin): "The historians
give good reasons for their regard for Chen Chin. He had from early years
exhibited great promise and had shown great proficiency in the military
art, in government, history, mathematics, and the Chinese classics. He was
well acquainted with the condition and numbers of the inhabitants of
Mongolia and China, and with the topography and commerce of the Empire
(Howorth). He was much beloved by all, except by some of his father's own
ministers, whose lives were anything but exemplary. That Kúblái had full
confidence in his son is shown by the fact that he put the collecting of
taxes in his hands. The native historians represent him as economical in
the use of money and wise in the choice of companions. He carefully
watched the officers in his charge, and would tolerate no extortion of the
people. After droughts, famines or floods, he would enquire into the
condition of the people and liberally supply their needs, thus starting
them in life again. Polo ascribes all these virtues to the Khan himself.
Doubtless he possessed them in greater or less degree, but father and son
were one in all these benevolent enterprises."--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--The Chinese Annals, according to Pauthier and Gaubil, give only
_ten_ sons to Kúblái, at least by his legitimate wives; Hammer's Table
gives _twelve_. It is very probable that xxii. was an early clerical error
in the texts of Polo for xii. _Dodeci_ indeed occurs in one MS. (No. 37 of
our Appendix F), though not one of much weight.
Of these legitimate sons Polo mentions, in different parts of his work,
five by name. The following is the list from Hammer and D'Ohsson, with the
Chinese forms from Pauthier in parentheses. The seven whose names are in
capitals had the title of _Wang_ or "King" of particular territories, as
M. Pauthier has shown from the Chinese Annals, thus confirming Marco's
accuracy on that point.
I. Jurji or Dorjé (Torchi). II. CHIMKIN or CHINGKIM (Yu Tsung, King of
Yen, i.e. Old Peking). III. MANGALAI (Mankola, "King of the Pacified
West"), mentioned by Polo (infra, ch. xli.) as King of Kenjanfu or Shensi.
IV. NUMUGAN (Numukan, "Pacifying King of the North"), mentioned by Polo
(Bk. IV. ch. ii.) as with King George joint leader of the Kaan's army
against Kaidu. V. Kuridai (not in Chinese List). VI. HUKAJI (Hukochi,
"King of Yunnan"), mentioned by Polo (infra, ch. xlix.) as King of
Carajan. VII. AGHRUKJI or UKURUJI (Gaoluchi, "King of Siping" or Tibet).
VIII. Abaji (Gaiyachi?). IX. KUKJU or GEUKJU (Khokhochu, "King of Ning" or
Tangut). X. Kutuktemur (Hutulu Temurh). XI. TUKAN (Thohoan, "King of
Chinnan"). His command lay on the Tungking frontier, where he came to
great grief in 1288, in consequence of which he was disgraced. (See
_Cathay_, p. 272.) XII. Temkan (not in Chinese List). Gaubil's Chinese
List omits _Hutulu Temurh_, and introduces a prince called _Gantanpouhoa_
as 4th son.
M. Pauthier lays great stress on Polo's intimate knowledge of the Imperial
affairs (p. 263) because he knew the name of the Hereditary Prince to be
Teimur; this being, he says, the private name which could not be known
until after the owner's death, except by those in the most confidential
intimacy. The public only then discovered that, like the Irishman's dog,
his real name was Turk, though he had always been called Toby! But M.
Pauthier's learning has misled him. At least the secret must have been
very badly kept, for it was known in Teimur's lifetime not only to Marco,
but to Rashiduddin in Persia, and to Hayton in Armenia; to say nothing of
the circumstance that the name _Temur Khaghan_ is also used during that
Emperor's life by Oljaitu Khan of Persia in writing to the King of France
a letter which M. Pauthier himself republished and commented upon. (See
his book, p. 780.)
CHAPTER X.
CONCERNING THE PALACE OF THE GREAT KAAN.
You must know that for three months of the year, to wit December, January,
and February, the Great Kaan resides in the capital city of Cathay, which
is called CAMBALUC, [and which is at the north-eastern extremity of the
country]. In that city stands his great Palace, and now I will tell you
what it is like.
It is enclosed all round by a great wall forming a square, each side of
which is a mile in length; that is to say, the whole compass thereof is
four miles. This you may depend on; it is also very thick, and a good ten
paces in height, whitewashed and loop-holed all round.[NOTE 1] At each
angle of the wall there is a very fine and rich palace in which the
war-harness of the Emperor is kept, such as bows and quivers,[NOTE 2]
saddles and bridles, and bowstrings, and everything needful for an army.
Also midway between every two of these Corner Palaces there is another of
the like; so that taking the whole compass of the enclosure you find eight
vast Palaces stored with the Great Lord's harness of war.[NOTE 3] And you
must understand that each Palace is assigned to only one kind of article;
thus one is stored with bows, a second with saddles, a third with bridles,
and so on in succession right round.[NOTE 4]
The great wall has five gates on its southern face, the middle one being
the great gate which is never opened on any occasion except when the Great
Kaan himself goes forth or enters. Close on either side of this great gate
is a smaller one by which all other people pass; and then towards each
angle is another great gate, also open to people in general; so that on
that side there are five gates in all.[NOTE 5]
Inside of this wall there is a second, enclosing a space that is somewhat
greater in length than in breadth. This enclosure also has eight palaces
corresponding to those of the outer wall, and stored like them with the
Lord's harness of war. This wall also hath five gates on the southern
face, corresponding to those in the outer wall, and hath one gate on each
of the other faces, as the outer wall hath also. In the middle of the
second enclosure is the Lord's Great Palace, and I will tell you what it
is like.[NOTE 6]
You must know that it is the greatest Palace that ever was. [Towards the
north it is in contact with the outer wall, whilst towards the south there
is a vacant space which the Barons and the soldiers are constantly
traversing.[NOTE 7] The Palace itself] hath no upper story, but is all on
the ground floor, only the basement is raised some ten palms above the
surrounding soil [and this elevation is retained by a wall of marble
raised to the level of the pavement, two paces in width and projecting
beyond the base of the Palace so as to form a kind of terrace-walk, by
which people can pass round the building, and which is exposed to view,
whilst on the outer edge of the wall there is a very fine pillared
balustrade; and up to this the people are allowed to come]. The roof is
very lofty, and the walls of the Palace are all covered with gold and
silver. They are also adorned with representations of dragons [sculptured
and gilt], beasts and birds, knights and idols, and sundry other subjects.
And on the ceiling too you see nothing but gold and silver and painting.
[On each of the four sides there is a great marble staircase leading to
the top of the marble wall, and forming the approach to the Palace.]
[NOTE 8]
The Hall of the Palace is so large that it could easily dine 6000 people;
and it is quite a marvel to see how many rooms there are besides. The
building is altogether so vast, so rich, and so beautiful, that no man on
earth could design anything superior to it. The outside of the roof also
is all coloured with vermilion and yellow and green and blue and other
hues, which are fixed with a varnish so fine and exquisite that they shine
like crystal, and lend a resplendent lustre to the Palace as seen for a
great way round.[NOTE 9] This roof is made too with such strength and
solidity that it is fit to last for ever.
[On the interior side of the Palace are large buildings with halls and
chambers, where the Emperor's private property is placed, such as his
treasures of gold, silver, gems, pearls, and gold plate, and in which
reside the ladies and concubines. There he occupies himself at his own
convenience, and no one else has access.]
Between the two walls of the enclosure which I have described, there are
fine parks and beautiful trees bearing a variety of fruits. There are
beasts also of sundry kinds, such as white stags and fallow deer, gazelles
and roebucks, and fine squirrels of various sorts, with numbers also of
the animal that gives the musk, and all manner of other beautiful
creatures,[NOTE 10] insomuch that the whole place is full of them, and no
spot remains void except where there is traffic of people going and
coming. [The parks are covered with abundant grass; and the roads through
them being all paved and raised two cubits above the surface, they never
become muddy, nor does the rain lodge on them, but flows off into the
meadows, quickening the soil and producing that abundance of herbage.]
From that corner of the enclosure which is towards the north-west there
extends a fine Lake, containing foison of fish of different kinds which
the Emperor hath caused to be put in there, so that whenever he desires
any he can have them at his pleasure. A river enters this lake and issues
from it, but there is a grating of iron or brass put up so that the fish
cannot escape in that way.[NOTE 11]
Moreover on the north side of the Palace, about a bow-shot off, there is a
hill which has been made by art [from the earth dug out of the lake]; it
is a good hundred paces in height and a mile in compass. This hill is
entirely covered with trees that never lose their leaves, but remain ever
green. And I assure you that wherever a beautiful tree may exist, and the
Emperor gets news of it, he sends for it and has it transported bodily
with all its roots and the earth attached to them, and planted on that
hill of his. No matter how big the tree may be, he gets it carried by his
elephants; and in this way he has got together the most beautiful
collection of trees in all the world. And he has also caused the whole
hill to be covered with the ore of azure,[NOTE 12] which is very green.
And thus not only are the trees all green, but the hill itself is all
green likewise; and there is nothing to be seen on it that is not green;
and hence it is called the GREEN MOUNT; and in good sooth 'tis named
well.[NOTE 13]
On the top of the hill again there is a fine big palace which is all green
inside and out; and thus the hill, and the trees, and the palace form
together a charming spectacle; and it is marvellous to see their
uniformity of colour! Everybody who sees them is delighted. And the Great
Kaan had caused this beautiful prospect to be formed for the comfort and
solace and delectation of his heart.
You must know that beside the Palace (that we have been describing), i.e.
the Great Palace, the Emperor has caused another to be built just like his
own in every respect, and this he hath done for his son when he shall
reign and be Emperor after him.[NOTE 14] Hence it is made just in the same
fashion and of the same size, so that everything can be carried on in the
same manner after his own death. [It stands on the other side of the lake
from the Great Kaan's Palace, and there is a bridge crossing the water
from one to the other.][NOTE 15] The Prince in question holds now a Seal
of Empire, but not with such complete authority as the Great Kaan, who
remains supreme as long as he lives.
Now I am going to tell you of the chief city of Cathay, in which these
Palaces stand; and why it was built, and how.
NOTE 1.--[According to the _Ch'ue keng lu_, translated by Bretschneider,
25, "the wall surrounding the palace ... is constructed of bricks, and is
35 _ch'i_ in height. The construction was begun in A.D. 1271, on the 17th
of the 8th month, between three and five o'clock in the afternoon, and
finished next year on the 15th of the 3rd month."--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--_Tarcasci_ (G. T.) This word is worthy of note as the proper form
of what has become in modern French _carquois_. The former is a transcript
of the Persian _Tarkash_; the latter appears to be merely a corruption of
it, arising perhaps clerically from the constant confusion of _c_ and _t_
in MSS. (See _Defrémery_, quoted by Pauthier, _in loco._) [Old French
_tarquais_ (13th century), Hatzfeldt and Darmesteter's _Dict._ gives;
"Coivres orent ceinz et tarchais." (WACE, _Rou_, III., 7698; 12th
century).]
NOTE 3.--["It seems to me [Dr. Bretschneider] that Polo took the towers,
mentioned by the Chinese author, in the angles of the galleries and of the
Kung-ch'eng for palaces; for further on he states, that 'over each gate
[of Cambaluc] there is a great and handsome palace.' I have little doubt
that over the gates of Cambaluc, stood lofty buildings similar to those
over the gates of modern Peking. These tower-like buildings are called
_lou_ by the Chinese. It may be very likely, that at the time of Marco
Polo, the war harness of the Khan was stored in these towers of the palace
wall. The author of the _Ch'ue keng lu_, who wrote more than fifty years
later, assigns to it another place." (_Bretschneider, Peking_, 32.)
--H.C.]
[Illustration: IDEAL PLAN of the ANCIENT PALACES of the MONGOL EMPERORS AT
KHANBALIGH according to Dr. Bretschneider]
NOTE 4.--The stores are now outside the walls of the "Prohibited City,"
corresponding to Polo's Palace-Wall, but within the walls of the "Imperial
City." (_Middle Kingdom_, I. 61.) See the cut at p. 376.
NOTE 5.--The two gates near the corners apparently do not exist in the
Palace now. "On the south side there are three gates to the Palace, both
in the inner and the outer walls. The middle one is absolutely reserved
for the entrance or exit of the Emperor; all other people pass in and out
by the gate to the right or left of it." (_Trigautius_, Bk. I. ch. vii.)
This custom is not in China peculiar to Royalty. In private houses it is
usual to have three doors leading from the court to the guestrooms, and
there is a great exercise of politeness in reference to these; the guest
after much pressing is prevailed on to enter the middle door, whilst the
host enters by the side. (See _Deguignes, Voyages_, I. 262.) [See also _H.
Cordier's Hist. des Relat. de la Chine_, III. ch. x. _Audience
Impériale_.]
["It seems Polo took the three gateways in the middle gate (_Ta-ming men_)
for three gates, and thus speaks of five gates instead of three in the
southern wall." (_Bretschneider, Peking_, 27, note.)--H. C.]
NOTE 6.--Ramusio's version here diverges from the old MSS. It makes the
inner enclosure a mile square; and the second (the city of Taidu) six
miles square, as here, but adds, at a mile interval, a third of eight
miles square. Now it is remarkable that Mr. A. Wylie, in a letter dated
4th December 1873, speaking of a recent visit to Peking, says: "I found
from various inquiries that there are several remains of a very much
larger city wall, inclosing the present city; but time would not allow me
to follow up the traces."
Pauthier's text (which I have corrected by the G. T.), after describing
the _outer inclosure_ to be a _mile every way_, says that the inner
inclosure lay at _an interval of a mile within it!_
[Dr. Bretschneider observes "that in the ancient Chinese works, three
concentric inclosures are mentioned in connection with the palace. The
innermost inclosed the _Ta-nei_, the middle inclosure, called
_Kung-ch'eng_ or _Huang-ch'eng_, answering to the wall surrounding the
present prohibited city, and was about 6 _li_ in circuit. Besides this
there was an outer wall (a rampart apparently) 20 _li_ in circuit,
answering to the wall of the present imperial city (which now has 18 _li_
in circuit)." The _Huang-ch'eng_ of the Yuen was measured by imperial
order, and found to be 7 _li_ in circuit; the wall of the Mongol palace was
6 _li_ in circuit, according to the _Ch'ue keng lu_. (_Bretschneider,
Peking_, 24.)--Marco Polo's mile could be approximately estimated = 2.77
Chinese _li_. (Ibid. 24, note.) The common Chinese _li_ = 360 _pu_, or 180
chang, or 1800 _ch'i_ (feet); 1 _li_ = 1894 English feet or 575 mètres; at
least according to the old Venice measures quoted in _Yule's Marco Polo_,
II., one pace = 5 feet. Besides the common _li_, the Chinese have another
_li_, used for measuring fields, which has only 240 _pu_ or 1200 _ch'i_.
This is the _li_ spoken of in the _Ch'ue keng lu_. (Ibid. 13, note.)--H.
C.]
NOTE 7.--["Near the southern face of the wall are barracks for the Life
Guards." (_Ch'ue keng lu_, translated by Bretschneider, 25.)--H. C.]
NOTE 8.--This description of palace (see opposite cut), an elevated
basement of masonry with a superstructure of timber (in general carved and
gilded), is still found in Burma, Siam, and Java, as well as in China. If
we had any trace of the palaces of the ancient Asokas and Vikramadityas of
India, we should probably find that they were of the same character. It
seems to be one of those things that belonged to some ancient Panasiatic
fashion, as the palaces of Nineveh were of a somewhat similar construction.
In the Audience Halls of the Moguls at Delhi and Agra we can trace the
ancient form, though the superstructure has there become an arcade of
marble instead of a pavilion on timber columns.
[Illustration: Palace at Khan-baligh. (From the _Livre des Merveilles_.)]
["The _Ta-ming tien_ (Hall of great brightness) is without doubt what
Marco Polo calls 'the Lord's Great Palace.'... He states, that it 'hath no
upper story'; and indeed, the palace buildings which the Chinese call
_tien_ are always of one story. Polo speaks also of a 'very fine pillared
balustrade' (the _chu lang_, pillared verandah, of the Chinese author).
Marco Polo states that the basement of the great palace 'is raised some
ten palms above the surrounding soil.' We find in the _Ku kung i lu_: 'The
basement of the Ta-ming tien is raised about 10 _ch'i_ above the soil.'
There can also be no doubt that the Ta-ming tien stood at about the same
place where now the _T'ai-ho tien_, the principal hall of the palace, is
situated." (_Bretschneider, Peking_, 28, note.)
[Illustration: Winter Palace at Peking.]
The _Ch'ue keng lu_, translated by Bretschneider, 25, contains long
articles devoted to the description of the palace of the Mongols and the
adjacent palace grounds. They are too long to be reproduced here.--H. C.]
NOTE 9.--"As all that one sees of these palaces is varnished in those
colours, when you catch a distant view of them at sunrise, as I have done
many a time, you would think them all made of, or at least covered with,
pure gold enamelled in azure and green, so that the spectacle is at once
majestic and charming." (_Magaillans_, p. 353.)
NOTE 10.--[This is the _Ling yu_ or "Divine Park," to the east of the
_Wan-sui shan_, "in which rare birds and beasts are kept. Before the
Emperor goes to Shang-tu, the officers are accustomed to be entertained at
this place." (_Ch'ue keng lu_, quoted by Bretschneider, 36.)--H. C.]
NOTE 11.--"On the west side, where the space is amplest, there is a lake
very full of fish. It is in the form of a fiddle, and is an Italian mile
and a quarter in length. It is crossed at the narrowest part, which
corresponds to gates in the walls, by a handsome bridge, the extremities
of which are adorned by two triumphal arches of three openings each....
The lake is surrounded by palaces and pleasure houses, built partly in the
water and partly on shore, and charming boats are provided on it for the
use of the Emperor when he chooses to go a-fishing or to take an airing."
(Ibid. 282-283.) The marble bridge, as it now exists, consists of nine
arches, and is 600 feet long. (_Rennie's Peking_, II. 57.)
Ramusio specifies another lake in the _city_, fed by the same stream
before it enters the palace, and used by the public for watering cattle.
["The lake which Marco Polo saw is the same as the _T'ai-yi ch'i_ of our
days. It has, however, changed a little in its form. This lake and also
its name _T'ai-yi ch'i_ date from the twelfth century, at which time an
Emperor of the Kin first gave orders to collect together the water of some
springs in the hills, where now the summer palaces stand, and to conduct
it to a place north of his capital, where pleasure gardens were laid out.
The river which enters the lake and issues from it exists still, under its
ancient name _Kin-shui_." (_Bretschneider, Peking_, 34.)--H. C.]
NOTE 12.--The expression here is in the Geog. Text, "_Roze de l'açur_,"
and in Pauthier's "_de rose et de l'asur_." _Rose Minerale_, in the
terminology of the alchemists, was a red powder produced in the
sublimation of gold and mercury, but I can find no elucidation of the term
Rose of Azure. The Crusca Italian has in the same place _Terra dello
Azzurro_. Having ventured to refer the question to the high authority of
Mr. C. W. King, he expresses the opinion that _Roze_ here stands for
_Roche_, and that probably the term _Roche de l'azur_ may have been used
loosely for _blue-stone_, i.e. carbonate of copper, which would assume a
green colour through moisture. He adds: "Nero, according to Pliny,
actually used _chrysocolla_, the siliceous carbonate of copper, in powder,
for strewing the circus, to give the course the colour of his favourite
faction, the _prasine_ (or green). There may be some analogy between this
device and that of Kúblái Khan." This parallel is a very happy one.
[Illustration: Mei Shan]
NOTE 13.--Friar Odoric gives a description, short, but closely agreeing in
substance with that in the Text, of the Palace, the Park, the Lake, and
the Green Mount.
A green mount, answering to the description, and about 160 feet in height,
stands immediately in rear of the palace buildings. It is called by the
Chinese _King-Shan_, "Court Mountain," _Wan-su-Shan_, "Ten Thousand Year
Mount," and _Mei-Shan_, "Coal Mount," the last from the material of which
it is traditionally said to be composed (as a provision of fuel in case of
siege).[1] Whether this is Kúblái's Green Mount does not seem to be quite
certain. Dr. Lockhart tells me that, according to the information he
collected when living at Peking, it is not so, but was formed by the Ming
Emperors from the excavation of the existing lake on the site which the
Mongol Palace had occupied. There is another mount, he adds, adjoining the
east shore of the lake, which must be of older date even than Kúblái, for
a Dagoba standing on it is ascribed to the _Kin_.
[The "Green Mount" was an island called _K'iung-hua_ at the time of the
Kin; in 1271 it received the name of _Wan-sui shan_; it is about 100 feet
in height, and is the only hill mentioned by Chinese writers of the Mongol
time who refer to the palace grounds. It is not the present _King-shan_,
north of the palace, called also _Wan-sui-shan_ under the Ming, and now
the _Mei-shan_, of more recent formation. "I have no doubt," says
Bretschneider (_Peking_, l.c. 35), "that Marco Polo's handsome palace on
the top of the Green Mount is the same as the _Kuang-han tien_" of the
_Ch'ue keng lu_. It was a hall in which there was a jar of black jade, big
enough to hold more than 30 piculs of wine; this jade had white veins, and
in accordance with these veins, fish and animals have been carved on the
jar. (Ibid. 35.) "The _Ku kung i lu_, in describing the _Wan-sui-shan_,
praises the beautiful shady green of the vegetation there." (Ibid. 37.)
--H. C.]
["Near the eastern end of the bridge (_Kin-ao yü-tung_ which crosses the
lake) the visitor sees a circular wall, which is called _yüan ch'eng_
(round wall). It is about 350 paces in circuit. Within it is an imperial
building _Ch'eng-kuang tien_, dating from the Mongol time. From this
circular enclosure, another long and beautifully executed marble bridge
leads northwards, to a charming hill, covered with shady trees, and capped
by a magnificent white _suburga_." (_Bretschneider_, p. 22.)--H. C.]
In a plate attached to next chapter, I have drawn, on a small scale, the
existing cities of Peking, as compared with the Mongol and Chinese cities
in the time of Kúblái. The plan of the latter has been constructed (1)
from existing traces, as exhibited in the Russian Survey republished by
our War Office; (2) from information kindly afforded by Dr. Lockhart; and
(3) from Polo's description and a few slight notices by Gaubil and others.
It will be seen, even on the small scale of these plans, that the general
arrangement of the palace, the park, the lakes (including that in the
city, which appears in Ramusio's version), the bridge, the mount, etc., in
the existing Peking, very closely correspond with Polo's indications; and
I think the strong probability is that the Ming really built on the old
traces, and that the lake, mount, etc., as they now stand, are
substantially those of the Great Mongol, though Chinese policy or
patriotism may have spread the belief that the foreign traces were
obliterated. Indeed, if that belief were true, the Mongol Palace must have
been very much out of the axis of the City of Kúblái, which is in the
highest degree improbable. The _Bulletin de la Soc. de Geographie_ for
September 1873, contains a paper on Peking by the physician to the French
Embassy there. Whatever may be the worth of the meteorological and
hygienic details in that paper, I am bound to say that the historical and
topographical part is so inaccurate as to be of no value.
NOTE 14.--For son, read grandson. But the G. T. actually names the
Emperor's son Chingkim, whose death our traveller has himself already
mentioned.
[Illustration: Yuan ch'eng]
NOTE 15.--["Marco Polo's bridge, crossing the lake from one side to the
other, must be identified with the wooden bridge mentioned in the _Ch'ue
keng lu_. The present marble bridge spanning the lake was only built in
1392." "A marble bridge connects this island (an islet with the hall _I-
t'ien tien_) with the _Wan-sui shan_. Another bridge, made of wood, 120
_ch'i_ long and 22 broad, leads eastward to the wall of the Imperial
Palace. A third bridge, a wooden draw-bridge 470 _ch'i_ long, stretches to
the west over the lake to its western border, where the palace _Hing-sheng
kung_ [built in 1308] stands." (_Bretschneider_, _Peking_, 36.)--H. C.]
[1] Some years ago, in Calcutta, I learned that a large store of charcoal
existed under the soil of Fort William, deposited there, I believe, in
the early days of that fortress.
["The _Jihia_ says that the name of _Mei shan_ (Coal hill) was given
to it from the stock of coal buried at its foot, as a provision in
case of siege." (_Bretschneider, Peking_, 38.)--H. C.]
CHAPTER XI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAMBALUC.
Now there was on that spot in old times a great and noble city called
CAMBALUC, which is as much as to say in our tongue "The city of the
Emperor."[NOTE 1] But the Great Kaan was informed by his Astrologers that
this city would prove rebellious, and raise great disorders against his
imperial authority. So he caused the present city to be built close beside
the old one, with only a river between them.[NOTE 2] And he caused the
people of the old city to be removed to the new town that he had founded;
and this is called TAIDU. [However, he allowed a portion of the people
which he did not suspect to remain in the old city, because the new one
could not hold the whole of them, big as it is.]
As regards the size of this (new) city you must know that it has a compass
of 24 miles, for each side of it hath a length of 6 miles, and it is
four-square. And it is all walled round with walls of earth which have a
thickness of full ten paces at bottom, and a height of more than 10
paces;[NOTE 3] but they are not so thick at top, for they diminish in
thickness as they rise, so that at top they are only about 3 paces thick.
And they are provided throughout with loop-holed battlements, which are
all whitewashed.
There are 12 gates, and over each gate there is a great and handsome
palace, so that there are on each side of the square three gates and five
palaces; for (I ought to mention) there is at each angle also a great and
handsome palace. In those palaces are vast halls in which are kept the
arms of the city garrison.[NOTE 4]
The streets are so straight and wide that you can see right along them
from end to end and from one gate to the other. And up and down the city
there are beautiful palaces, and many great and fine hostelries, and fine
houses in great numbers. [All the plots of ground on which the houses of
the city are built are four-square, and laid out with straight lines; all
the plots being occupied by great and spacious palaces, with courts and
gardens of proportionate size. All these plots were assigned to different
heads of families. Each square plot is encompassed by handsome streets for
traffic; and thus the whole city is arranged in squares just like a
chess-board, and disposed in a manner so perfect and masterly that it is
impossible to give a description that should do it justice.][NOTE 5]
Moreover, in the middle of the city there is a great clock--that is to
say, a bell--which is struck at night. And after it has struck three times
no one must go out in the city, unless it be for the needs of a woman in
labour, or of the sick.[NOTE 6] And those who go about on such errands are
bound to carry lanterns with them. Moreover, the established guard at each
gate of the city is 1000 armed men; not that you are to imagine this guard
is kept up for fear of any attack, but only as a guard of honour for the
Sovereign, who resides there, and to prevent thieves from doing mischief
in the town.[NOTE 7]
NOTE 1.-- + The history of the city on the site of Peking goes back to
very old times, for it had been [under the name of _Ki_] the capital of
the kingdom of Yen, previous to B.C. 222, when it was captured by the
Prince of the T'sin Dynasty. [Under the T'ang dynasty (618-907) it was
known under the name of Yu-chau.] It became one of the capitals of the
Khitans in A.D. 936, and of the Kin sovereigns, who took it in 1125, in
1151 under the name of Chung-tu. Under the name of Yenking, [given to this
city in 1013] it has a conspicuous place in the wars of Chinghiz against
the latter dynasty. He captured it in 1215. In 1264, Kúblái adopted it as
his chief residence, and founded in 1267, the new city of TATU ("Great
Court"), called by the Mongols TAIDU or DAITU since 1271 (see Bk. I. ch.
lxi. note 1), at a little distance--Odoric says half a mile--to the
north-east of the old Yenking. Tatu was completed in the summer of 1267.
Old Yenking had, when occupied by the Kin, a circuit of 27 _li_ (commonly
estimated at 9 miles, but in early works the _li_ is not more than 1/5 of
a mile), afterwards increased to 30 _li_. But there was some kind of outer
wall about the city and its suburbs, the circuit of which is called 75
_li_. ["At the time of the Yuen the walls still existed, and the ancient
city of the Kin was commonly called Nan-ch'eng (Southern city), whilst the
Mongol capital was termed the northern city." _Bretschneider, Peking_,
10.--H. C.] (_Lockhart_; and see _Amyot_, II. 553, and note 6 to last
chapter.)
Polo correctly explains the name _Cambaluc_, i.e. _Kaan-baligh_, "The City
of the Kaan."
NOTE 2.--The river that ran between the old and new city must have been
the little river _Yu_, which still runs through the modern Tartar city,
and fills the city ditches.
[Dr. Bretschneider (_Peking_, 49) thinks that there is a strong
probability that Polo speaks of the _Wen-ming ho_, a river which,
according to the ancient descriptions, ran near the southern wall of the
Mongol capital.--H. C.]
[Illustration: South Gate of Imperial City at Peking.
"Elle a donze portes, et sor chascune porte a une grandisme palais et
biaus."]
NOTE 3.--This height is from Pauthier's Text; the G. Text has, "_twenty_
paces," i.e. 100 feet. A recent French paper states the dimensions of the
existing walls as 14 mètres (45-1/2 feet) high, and 14.50 (47-1/4 feet)
thick, "the top forming a paved promenade, unique of its kind, and
recalling the legendary walls of Thebes and Babylon." (_Ann. d'Hygiène
Publique_, 2nd s. tom, xxxii. for 1869, p. 21.)
[According to the French astronomers (Fleuriais and Lapied) sent to Peking
for the Transit of Venus in December, 1875, the present Tartar city is 23
kil. 55 in circuit, viz. if 1 _li_ = 575 m., 41 _li_; from the north to
the south 5400 mètres; from east to west 6700 mètres; the wall is 13
mètres in height and 12 mètres in width.--H. C.]
[Illustration: PEKING As it is and As it was, about 1290]
[Illustration: Yenking or Old Cambaluc A.D. 1290]
NOTE 4.--Our attempted plan of Cambaluc, as in 1290, differs somewhat from
this description, but there is no getting over certain existing facts.
The existing Tartar city of Peking (technically _Neï-ch'ing_, "The
Interior City," or _King-ch'ing_, "City of the Court") stands on the site
of Taidu, and represents it. After the expulsion of the Mongols (1368) the
new native Dynasty of Ming established their capital at Nanking. But this
was found so inconvenient that the third sovereign of the Dynasty re-
occupied Taidu or Cambaluc, the repairs of which began in 1409. He reduced
it in size by cutting off nearly a third part of the city at the north
end. The remains of this abandoned portion of wall are, however, still in
existence, approaching 30 feet in height all round. This old wall is
called by the Chinese _The Wall of the Yuen_ (i.e. the Mongol Dynasty),
and it is laid down in the Russian Survey. [The capital of the Ming was 40
_li_ in circuit, according to the _Ch'ang an k'o hua_.] The existing walls
were built, or restored rather (the north wall being in any case, of
course, entirely new), in 1437. There seems to be no doubt that the
present south front of the Tartar city was the south front of Taidu. The
whole outline of Taidu is therefore still extant, and easily measurable.
If the scale on the War Office edition of the Russian Survey be correct,
the long sides measure close upon 5 miles and 500 yards; the short sides,
3 miles and 1200 yards. Hence the whole perimeter was just about 18
English miles, or less than 16 Italian miles. If, however, a pair of
compasses be run round Taidu and Yenking (as we have laid the latter down
from such data as could be had) _together_, the circuit will be something
like 24 Italian miles, and this may have to do with Polo's error.
["The _Yuen shi_ states that _Ta-tu_ was 60 _li_ in circumference. The
_Ch'ue keng lu_, a work published at the close of the Yuen Dynasty, gives
the same number of _li_ for the circuit of the capital, but explains that
_li_ of 240 _pu_ each are meant. If this statement be correct, it would
give only 40 common or geographical _li_ for the circuit of the Mongol
town." (_Bretschneider_, _Peking_, 13.) Dr. Bretschneider writes (p. 20):
"The outlines of Khanbaligh, partly in contradiction with the ancient
Chinese records, if my view be correct, would have measured about 50
common _li_ in circuit (13 _li_ and more from north to south, 11.64 from
east to west.")--H. C.]
Polo [and Odoric] again says that there were 12 gates--3 to every side.
Both Gaubil and Martini also say that there were 12 gates. But I believe
that both are trusting to Marco. There are 9 gates in the present Tartar
city--viz. 3 on the south side and 2 on each of the other sides. The old
Chinese accounts say there were 11 gates in Taidu. (See _Amyot_, _Mém._
II. 553.) I have in my plan, therefore, assumed that one gate on the east
and one on the west were obliterated in the reduction of the _enceinte_ by
the Ming. But I must observe that Mr. Lockhart tells me he did not find
the traces of gates in those positions, whilst the 2 gates on the _north_
side of the old Mongol rampart are quite distinct, with the barbicans in
front, and the old Mongol bridge over the ditch still serving for the
public thoroughfare.[1]
["The _Yuen shi_ as well as the _Ch'ue keng lu_, and other works of the
Yuen, agree in stating that the capital had eleven gates. They are
enumerated in the following order: Southern wall--(1) The gate direct
south (mid.) was called _Li-cheng men_; (2) the gate to the left (east),
_Wen-ming men_; (3) the gate to the right (west), _Shun-ch'eng men_.
Eastern wall--(4) The gate direct east (mid.), _Ch'ung-jen men_; (5) the
gate to the south-east, _Ts'i-hua men_; (6) the gate to the north-east,
_Kuang-hi men_. Western wall--(7) The gate direct west (mid.), _Ho-i men_;
(8) the gate to the south-west, _P'ing-tse men_; (9) the gate to the
north-west, _Su-ts'ing men_. Northern Wall--(10) The gate to the
north-west, _K'ien-te men_; (11) the gate to the north-east, _An-chen
men_." (_Bretschneider_, _Peking_, 13-14.)--H. C.]
When the Ming established themselves on the old Mongol site, population
seems to have gathered close about the southern wall, probably using
material from the remains of Yenking. This excrescence was inclosed by a
new wall in 1554, and was called the "Outer Town." It is what is called by
Europeans the _Chinese City_. Its western wall exhibits in the base
sculptured stones, which seem to have belonged to the old palace of
Yenking. Some traces of Yenking still existed in Gaubil's time; the only
relic of it now pointed out is a pagoda outside of the Kwang-An-Man, or
western gate of the Outer City, marked in the War Office edition of the
Russian Map as "Tower." (Information from _Dr. Lockhart._)
The "Great Palaces" over the gates and at the corner bastions are no doubt
well illustrated by the buildings which still occupy those positions.
There are two such lofty buildings at each of the gates of the modern
city, the outer one (shown on p. 376) forming an elevated redoubt.
NOTE 5.--The French writer cited under note 3 says of the city as it
stands: "La ville est de la sorte coupée en échiquier à peu près régulier
dont les quadres circonscrits par des larges avenues sont percés eux-mêmes
d'une multitude de rues et ruelles ... qui toutes à peu prés sont
orientées N. et S., E. et O. Une seule volonté a évidemment présidé à ce
plan, et jamais édilité n'a eu à exécuter d'un seul coup aussi vaste
entreprise."
NOTE 6.--Martini speaks of the public clock-towers in the Chinese cities,
which in his time were furnished with water-clocks. A watchman struck the
hour on a great gong, at the same time exhibiting the hour in large
characters. The same person watched for fires, and summoned the public
with his gong to aid in extinguishing them.
[The Rev. G. B. Farthing mentions (_North-China Herald_, 7th September,
1884) at T'ai-yuen fu the remains of an object in the bell-tower, which
was, and is still known, as one of the eight wonders of this city; it is a
vessel of brass, a part of a water-clock from which water formerly used to
flow down upon a drum beneath and mark off time into equal divisions.--H.
C.]
The tower indicated by Marco appears still to exist. It occupies the place
which I have marked as Alarm Tower in the plan of Taidu. It was erected in
1272, but probably rebuilt on the Ming occupation of the city. ["The _Yuen
yi t'ung chi_, or 'Geography of the Mongol Empire' records: 'In the year
1272, the bell-tower and the drum-tower were built in the _middle_ of the
capital.' A bell-tower (_chung-lou_) and a drum-tower (_ku-lou_) exist
still in Peking, in the northern part of the Tartar City. The _ku-lou_ is
the same as that built in the thirteenth century, but the bell-tower dates
only from the last century. The bell-tower of the Yuen was a little to the
east of the drum-tower, where now the temple _Wan-ning sse_ stands. This
temple is nearly in the middle of the position I (Bretschneider) assign to
Khanbaligh." (_Bretschneider, Peking_, 20.)--H. C.] In the Court of the
Old Observatory at Peking there is preserved, with a few other ancient
instruments, which date from the Mongol era, a very elaborate water-clock,
provided with four copper basins embedded in brickwork, and rising in
steps one above the other. A cut of this courtyard, with its instruments
and aged trees, also ascribed to the Mongol time, will be found in ch.
xxxiii. (_Atlas Sinensis_, p. 10; _Magaillans_, 149-151; _Chine Moderne_,
p. 26; _Tour du Monde_ for 1864, vol. ii. p. 34.)
NOTE 7.--"Nevertheless," adds the Ramusian, "there does exist I know not
what uneasiness about the people of Cathay."
[1] Mr. Wylie confirms my assumption: "Whilst in Peking I traced the old
mud wall,... and found it quite in accordance with the outline in your
map. Mr. Gilmour (a missionary to the Mongols) and I rode round it, he
taking the outside and I the inside.... Neither of us observed the
arch that Dr. Lockhart speaks of.... _There_ are _gate-openings about
the middle of the east and west sides_, but no barbicans." (4th
December 1873.)
CHAPTER XII.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN MAINTAINS A GUARD OF TWELVE THOUSAND HORSE, WHICH ARE
CALLED KESHICAN.
You must know that the Great Kaan, to maintain his state, hath a guard of
twelve thousand horsemen, who are styled KESHICAN, which is as much as to
say "Knights devoted to their Lord." Not that he keeps these for fear of
any man whatever, but merely because of his own exalted dignity. These
12,000 men have four captains, each of whom is in command of 3000; and
each body of 3000 takes a turn of three days and nights to guard the
palace, where they also take their meals. After the expiration of three
days and nights they are relieved by another 3000, who mount guard for the
same space of time, and then another body takes its turn, so that there
are always 3000 on guard. Thus it goes until the whole 12,000, who are
styled (as I said) Keshican, have been on duty; and then the tour begins
again, and so runs on from year's end to year's end.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--I have _deduced_ a reading for the word _Quescican_ (Keshican),
which is not found precisely in any text. Pauthier reads _Questiau_ and
_Quesitau_; the G. Text has _Quesitam_ and _Quecitain_; the Crusca _Questi
Tan_; Ramusio, _Casitan_; the Riccardiana, _Quescitam_. Recollecting the
constant clerical confusion between _c_ and _t_, what follows will leave
no doubt I think that the true reading to which all these variations point
is _Quescican_.[1]
In the Institutes of Ghazan Khan, we find established among other
formalities for the authentication of the royal orders, that they should
be stamped on the back, in black ink, with the seals of the _Four
Commanders_ of the _Four Kiziks_, or _Corps of the Life Guard_.
Wassáf also, in detailing the different classes of the great dignitaries
of the Mongol monarchy, names (1) the _Noyáns_ of the Ulus, or princes of
the blood; (2) the great chiefs of the tribes; (3) the _Amírs of the four
Keshik_, or _Corps of the Body Guard_; (4) the officers of the army,
commanding ten thousands, thousands, and so on.
Moreover, in Rashiduddin, we find the identical plural form used by our
author. He says that, after the sack of Baghdad, Hulaku, who had escaped
from the polluted atmosphere of the city, sent "Ilká Noyán and Karábúgá,
with 3000 Moghul horse into Baghdad, in order to have the buildings
repaired, and to put things generally in order. These chiefs posted
sentries from the KISHÍKÁN ([Arabic]), and from their own followings in
the different quarters of the town, had the carcases of beasts removed
from the streets, and caused the bazaars to be rebuilt."
We find _Kishik_ still used at the court of Hindustan, under the great
kings of Timur's House, for the corps on tour of duty at the palace; and
even for the sets of matchlocks and sabres, which were changed weekly from
Akbar's armoury for the royal use. The royal guards in Persia, who watch
the king's person at night, are termed _Keshikchi_, and their captain
_Keshikchi Bashi_. ["On the night of the 11th of Jemady ul Sany, A.H. 1160
(or 8th June, 1747), near the city of Khojoon, three days' journey from
Meshed, Mohammed Kuly Khan Ardemee, who was of the same tribe with Nadir
Shah, his relation, and Kushukchee Bashee, with seventy of the _Kukshek_
or guard,... bound themselves by an oath to assassinate Nadir Shah."
(_Memoirs of Khojeh Abdulkurreem ... transl. by F. Gladwin_, Calcutta,
1788, pp. 166-167).]
Friar Odoric speaks of the four barons who kept watch by the Great Kaan's
side as the _Cuthé_, which probably represents the Chinese form _Kiesie_
(as in De Mailla), or _Kuesie_ (as in Gaubil). The latter applies the term
to four devoted champions of Chinghiz, and their descendants, who were
always attached to the Kaan's body-guard, and he identifies them with the
_Quesitan_ of Polo, or rather with the captains of the latter; adding
expressly that the word _Kuesie_ is Mongol.
I see _Kishik_ is a proper name among the Kalmak chiefs; and _Keshikten_
also is the name of a Mongol tribe, whose territory lies due north of
Peking, near the old site of Shangtu. (Bk. I. ch. lxi.) [_Keshikhteng_,
a tribe (_pu_; mong. _aimak_) of the Chao Uda League (_mêng_; mong.
_chogolgân_) among the twenty-four tribes of the _Nei Mung-ku_ (Inner
Mongols). (See _Mayers' Chinese Government_, p. 81.)--H. C.] In Kovalevsky,
I find the following:--
(No. 2459) "_Keshik_, grace, favour, bounty, benefit, good fortune,
charity."
(No. 2461) "_Keshikten_, fortunate, happy, blessed."
(No. 2541) "_Kichyeku_, to be zealous, assiduous, devoted."
(No. 2588) "_Kushiku_, to hinder, to bar the way to," etc.
The third of these corresponds closely with Polo's etymology of "knights
devoted to their lord," but perhaps either the first or the last may
afford the real derivation.
In spite of the different initials ([Arabic] instead of [Arabic]), it can
scarcely be doubted that the _Kalchi_ and _Kalakchi_ of Timur's Institutes
are mere mistranscriptions of the same word, e.g.: "I ordered that 12,000
_Kalchi_, men of the sword completely armed, should be cantoned in the
Palace; to the right and to the left, to the front, and in the rear of the
imperial diwán; thus, that 1000 of those 12,000 should be every night upon
guard," etc. The translator's note says of _Kalchi_, "A Mogul word
supposed to mean _guards_." We see that even the traditional number of
12,000, and its division into four brigades, are maintained. (See
_Timour's Inst._, pp. 299 and 235, 237.)
I must add that Professor Vámbéry does not assent to the form _Keshikán_,
on the ground that this Persian plural is impossible in an old Tartar
dialect, and he supposes the true word to be _Kechilan_ or _Kechiklen_,
"the night-watchers," from _Kiche_ or _Kichek_ (Chag. and Uighúr), =
"night."
I believe, however, that Persian was the colloquial language of foreigners
at the Kaan's court, who would not scruple to make a Persian plural when
wanted; whilst Rashid has exemplified the actual use of this one.
(_D'Ohsson_, IV. 410; _Gold. Horde_, 228, 238; _Ilch._ II. 184; _Q. R._
pp. 308-309; _Ayeen Akb._ I. 270, and _Blochmann's_, p. 115; _J. As._ sèr.
IV. tom. xix. 276; _Olearius_, ed. 1659, I. 656; _Cathay_, 135; _De
Mailla_, ix. 106; _Gaubil_, p. 6; _Pallas_, _Samml._ I. 35.)
["By _Keshican_ in _Colonel Yule's Marco Polo_, _Keshikten_ is evidently
meant. This is a general Mongol term to designate the Khan's lifeguard. It
is derived from the word _Keshik_, meaning a guard by turns; a corps on
tour of duty. _Keshik_ is one of the archaisms of the Mongol language, for
now this word has another meaning in Mongol. Colonel Yule has brought
together several explanations of the term. It seems to me that among his
suppositions the following is the most consistent with the ancient meaning
of the word:--
"We find _Kishik_ still used at the court of Hindustan, under the great
kings of Timur's House, for the corps on tour of duty at the palace....
The royal guards in Persia, who watch the King's person at night, are
termed _Keshikchi_."
"The Keshikten was divided into a day-watch called _Turgaut_ and a
night-watch _Kebteul_. The Kebte-ul consisted of pure Mongols, whilst the
Turgaut was composed of the sons of the vassal princes and governors of
the provinces, and of hostages. The watch of the Khan was changed every
three days, and contained 400 men. In 1330 it was reduced to 100 men."
(_Palladius_, 42-43.) Mr. E. H. Parker writes in the _China Review_,
XVIII. p. 262, that they "are evidently the 'body guards' of the modern
viceroys, now pronounced Kashiha, but, evidently, originally _Kêshigha_."
--H. C.]
[1] One of the nearest readings is that of the Brandenburg Latin collated
by Müller, which has _Quaesicam_.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE FASHION OF THE GREAT KAAN'S TABLE AT HIS HIGH FEASTS.
And when the Great Kaan sits at table on any great court occasion, it is
in this fashion. His table is elevated a good deal above the others, and
he sits at the north end of the hall, looking towards the south, with his
chief wife beside him on the left. On his right sit his sons and his
nephews, and other kinsmen of the Blood Imperial, but lower, so that their
heads are on a level with the Emperor's feet. And then the other Barons
sit at other tables lower still. So also with the women; for all the wives
of the Lord's sons, and of his nephews and other kinsmen, sit at the lower
table to his right; and below them again the ladies of the other Barons
and Knights, each in the place assigned by the Lord's orders. The tables
are so disposed that the Emperor can see the whole of them from end to
end, many as they are.[NOTE 1] [Further, you are not to suppose that
everybody sits at table; on the contrary, the greater part of the soldiers
and their officers sit at their meal in the hall on the carpets.] Outside
the hall will be found more than 40,000 people; for there is a great
concourse of folk bringing presents to the Lord, or come from foreign
countries with curiosities.
In a certain part of the hall near where the Great Kaan holds his table,
there [is set a large and very beautiful piece of workmanship in the form
of a square coffer, or buffet, about three paces each way, exquisitely
wrought with figures of animals, finely carved and gilt. The middle is
hollow, and in it] stands a great vessel of pure gold, holding as much as
an ordinary butt; and at each corner of the great vessel is one of smaller
size [of the capacity of a firkin], and from the former the wine or
beverage flavoured with fine and costly spices is drawn off into the
latter. [And on the buffet aforesaid are set all the Lord's drinking
vessels, among which are certain pitchers of the finest gold,] which are
called _verniques_,[NOTE 2] and are big enough to hold drink for eight or
ten persons. And one of these is put between every two persons, besides a
couple of golden cups with handles, so that every man helps himself from
the pitcher that stands between him and his neighbour. And the ladies are
supplied in the same way. The value of these pitchers and cups is
something immense; in fact, the Great Kaan has such a quantity of this
kind of plate, and of gold and silver in other shapes, as no one ever
before saw or heard tell of, or could believe.[NOTE 3]
[There are certain Barons specially deputed to see that foreigners, who do
not know the customs of the Court, are provided with places suited to
their rank; and these Barons are continually moving to and fro in the
hall, looking to the wants of the guests at table, and causing the
servants to supply them promptly with wine, milk, meat, or whatever they
lack. At every door of the hall (or, indeed, wherever the Emperor may be)
there stand a couple of big men like giants, one on each side, armed with
staves. Their business is to see that no one steps upon the threshold in
entering, and if this does happen, they strip the offender of his clothes,
and he must pay a forfeit to have them back again; or in lieu of taking
his clothes, they give him a certain number of blows. If they are
foreigners ignorant of the order, then there are Barons appointed to
introduce them, and explain it to them. They think, in fact, that it
brings bad luck if any one touches the threshold. Howbeit, they are not
expected to stick at this in going forth again, for at that time some are
like to be the worse for liquor, and incapable of looking to their
steps.[NOTE 4]]
And you must know that those who wait upon the Great Kaan with his dishes
and his drink are some of the great Barons. They have the mouth and nose
muffled with fine napkins of silk and gold, so that no breath nor odour
from their persons should taint the dish or the goblet presented to the
Lord. And when the Emperor is going to drink, all the musical instruments,
of which he has vast store of every kind, begin to play. And when he takes
the cup all the Barons and the rest of the company drop on their knees and
make the deepest obeisance before him, and then the Emperor doth drink.
But each time that he does so the whole ceremony is repeated.[NOTE 5]
I will say nought about the dishes, as you may easily conceive that there
is a great plenty of every possible kind. But you should know that in
every case where a Baron or Knight dines at those tables, their wives also
dine there with the other ladies. And when all have dined and the tables
have been removed, then come in a great number of players and jugglers,
adepts at all sorts of wonderful feats,[NOTE 6] and perform before the
Emperor and the rest of the company, creating great diversion and mirth,
so that everybody is full of laughter and enjoyment. And when the
performance is over, the company breaks up and every one goes to his
quarters.
NOTE 1.--We are to conceive of rows of small tables, at each of which were
set probably but two guests. This seems to be the modern Chinese practice,
and to go back to some very old accounts of the Tartar nations. Such
tables we find in use in the tenth century, at the court of the King of
Bolghar (see _Prologue_, note 2, ch. ii.), and at the Chinese
entertainments to Shah Rukh's embassy in the fifteenth century.
Megasthenes described the guests at an Indian banquet as having a table
set before each individual. (_Athenaeus_, IV. 39, _Yonge's Transl._)
[Compare Rubruck's account, Rockhill's ed., p. 210: "The Chan sits in a
high place to the north, so that he can be seen by all...." (See also
Friar Odoric, _Cathay_, p. 141.)--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--This word (G. T. and Ram.) is in the Crusca Italian transformed
into an adjective, "_vaselle_ vernicate _d'oro_," and both Marsden and
Pauthier have substantially adopted the same interpretation, which seems
to me in contradiction with the text. In Pauthier's text the word is
_vernigal_, pl. _vernigaux_, which he explains, I know not on what
authority, as "_coupes sans anses vernies ou laquées d'or_." There is,
indeed, a Venetian sea-term, _Vernegal_, applied to a wooden bowl in which
the food of a mess is put, and it seems possible that this word may have
been substituted for the unknown _Vernique_. I suspect the latter was some
Oriental term, but I can find nothing nearer than the Persian _Barni_, Ar.
_Al-Barníya_, "vas fictile in quo quid recondunt," whence the Spanish word
_Albornia_, "a great glazed vessel in the shape of a bowl, with handles."
So far as regards the form, the change of _Barniya_ into _Vernique_ would
be quite analogous to that change of _Hundwáníy_ into _Ondanique_, which
we have already met with. (See _Dozy et Engelmann, Glos. des Mots
Espagnols_, etc., 2nd ed., 1867, p. 73; and _Boerio, Diz. del. Dial.
Venez._)
[_F. Godefroy, Dict., s.v. Vernigal_, writes: "Coupe sans anse, vernie ou
laquée d'or," and quotes, besides Marco Polo, the _Regle du Temple_,
p. 214, éd. Soc. Hist. de France:
"Les _vernigaus_ et les escuelles."
About _vernegal_, cf. _Rockhill, Rubruck_, p. 86, note. Rubruck says
(_Soc. de Géog._ p. 241): "Implevimus unum _veringal_ de biscocto et
platellum unum de pomis et aliis fructibus." Mr. Rockhill translates
_veringal_ by _basket_.
Dr. Bretschneider (_Peking_, 28) mentions "a large jar made of wood
and _varnished_, the inside lined with silver," and he adds in a note
"perhaps this statement may serve to explain Marco Polo's _verniques_ or
_vaselle_ vernicate _d'oro_, big enough to hold drink for eight or ten
persons."--H. C.]
A few lines above we have "of the capacity of a _firkin_." The word is
_bigoncio_, which is explained in the _Vocab. Univ. Ital._ as a kind of
tub used in the vintage, and containing 3 _mine_, each of half a _stajo_.
This seems to point to the _Tuscan_ mina, or half stajo, which is = 1/3
of a bushel. Hence the _bigoncio_ would = a bushel, or, in old liquid
measure, about a firkin.
NOTE 3.--A buffet, with flagons of liquor and goblets, was an essential
feature in the public halls or tents of the Mongols and other Asiatic
races of kindred manners. The ambassadors of the Emperor Justin relate
that in the middle of the pavilion of Dizabulus, the Khan of the Turks,
there were set out drinking-vessels, and flagons and great jars, all of
gold; corresponding to the _coupes_ (or _hanas à mances_), the
_verniques_, and the _grant peitere_ and _petietes peiteres_ of Polo's
account. Rubruquis describes in Batu Khan's tent a buffet near the
entrance, where _Kumiz_ was set forth, with great goblets of gold and
silver, etc., and the like at the tent of the Great Kaan. At a festival at
the court of Oljaitu, we are told, "Before the throne stood golden buffets
... set out with full flagons and goblets." Even in the private huts of
the Mongols there was a buffet of a humbler kind exhibiting a skin of
_Kumiz_, with other kinds of drink, and cups standing ready; and in a
later age at the banquets of Shah Abbas we find the great buffet in a
slightly different form, and the golden flagon still set to every two
persons, though it no longer contained the liquor, which was handed round.
(_Cathay_, clxiv., cci.; _Rubr._ 224, 268, 305; _Ilch._ II. 183; _Della
Valle_, I. 654 and 750-751.)
[Referring to the "large and very beautiful piece of workmanship," Mr.
Rockhill, _Rubruck_, 208-209, writes: "Similar works of art and mechanical
contrivances were often seen in Eastern courts. The earliest I know of is
the golden plane-tree and grape vine with bunches of grapes in precious
stones, which was given to Darius by Pythius the Lydian, and which shaded
the king's couch. (Herodotus, IV. 24.) The most celebrated, however, and
that which may have inspired Mangu with the desire to have something like
it at his court, was the famous Throne of Solomon ([Greek: Solomónteos
Thrónos]) of the Emperor of Constantinople, Theophilus (A.D. 829-842)....
Abulfeda states that in A.D. 917 the envoys of Constantine Porphyrogenitus
to the Caliph el Moktader saw in the palace of Bagdad a tree with eighteen
branches, some of gold, some of silver, and on them were gold and silver
birds, and the leaves of the tree were of gold and silver. By means of
machinery, the leaves were made to rustle and the birds to sing. Mirkhond
speaks also of a tree of gold and precious stones in the city of
Sultanieh, in the interior of which were conduits through which flowed
drinks of different kinds. Clavijo describes a somewhat similar tree at
the court of Timur."
Dr. Bretschneider (_Peking_, 28, 29) mentions a clepsydra with a lantern.
By means of machinery put in motion by water, at fixed times a little man
comes forward exhibiting a tablet, which announces the hours. He speaks
also of a musical instrument which is connected, by means of a tube, with
two peacocks sitting on a cross-bar, and when it plays, the mechanism
causes the peacocks to dance.--H. C.]
Odoric describes the great jar of liquor in the middle of the palace hall,
but in his time it was made of a great mass of jade (p. 130).
NOTE 4.--This etiquette is specially noticed also by Odoric, as well as by
Makrizi, by Rubruquis, and by Plano Carpini. According to the latter the
breach of it was liable to be punished with death. The prohibition to
tread on the threshold is also specially mentioned in a Mahomedan account
of an embassy to the court of Barka Khan. And in regard to the tents,
Rubruquis says he was warned not to touch the ropes, for these were
regarded as representing the threshold. A Russo-Mongol author of our day
says that the memory of this etiquette or superstition is still preserved
by a Mongol proverb: "Step not on the threshold; it is a sin!" But among
some of the Mongols more than this survives, as is evident from a passage
in Mr. Michie's narrative: "There is a right and a wrong way of
approaching _yourt_ also. Outside the door there are generally ropes lying
on the ground, held down by stakes, for the purpose of tying up the
animals when they want to keep them together. There is a way of getting
over or round these ropes that I never learned, but on one occasion the
ignorant breach of the rule on our part excluded us from the hospitality
of the family." The feeling or superstition was in full force in Persia in
the 17th century, at least in regard to the threshold of the king's
palace. It was held a sin to tread upon it in entering. (_Cathay_, 132;
_Rubr._ 255, 268, 319; _Plan. Carp._ 625, 741; _Makrizi_, I. 214; _Mél.
Asiat. Ac. St. Petersb._ II. 660; _The Siberian Overland Route_, p. 97;
_P. Della Valle_, II. 171.)
[Mr. Rockhill writes (_Rubruck_, p. 104): "The same custom existed among
the Fijians, I believe. I may note that it also prevailed in ancient
China. It is said of Confucius 'when he was standing he did not occupy the
middle of the gate-way; when he passed in or out, he did not tread on the
threshold.' (_Lun-yü_, Bk. X. ch. iv. 2.) In China, the bride's feet must
not touch the threshold of the bridegroom's house, (Cf. _Denny's Folk-lore
in China_, p. 18.)
"The author of the _Ch'ue keng lu_ mentions also the athletes with clubs
standing at the door, at the time of the khan's presence in the hall. He
adds, that next to the Khan, two other life-guards used to stand, who held
in their hands 'natural' axes of jade (axes found fortuitously in the
ground, probably primitive weapons)." (_Palladius_, p. 43.)--H. C.]
NOTE 5.--Some of these etiquettes were probably rather Chinese than
Mongol, for the regulations of the court of Kúblái apparently combined the
two. In the visit of Shah Rukh's ambassadors to the court of the Emperor
Ch'êng Tsu of the Ming Dynasty in 1421, we are told that by the side of
the throne, at an imperial banquet, "there stood two eunuchs, each having
a band of thick paper over his mouth, and extending to the tips of his
ears.... Every time that a dish, or a cup of _darassun_ (rice-wine) was
brought to the emperor, all the music sounded." (_N. et Ext._ XIV. 408,
409.) In one of the Persepolitan sculptures, there stands behind the King
an eunuch bearing a fan, and with his mouth covered; at least so says
Heeren. (_Asia_, I. 178.)
NOTE 6.--"_Jongleours et entregetours de maintes plusieurs manieres de
granz experimenz_" (P.); "_de Giuculer et de Tregiteor_" (G. T.). Ital.
_Tragettatore_, a juggler; Romance, _Trasjitar, Tragitar_, to juggle. Thus
Chaucer:--
"There saw I playing Jogelours,
Magiciens, and _Tragetours_,
And Phetonisses, Charmeresses,
Old Witches, Sorceresses," etc.
--_House of Fame_, III. 169.
And again:--
"For oft at festes have I wel herd say,
That _Tregetoures_, within an halle large,
Have made come in a water and a barge,
And in the halle rowen up and doun.
Somtime hath semed come a grim leoun;
* * * * *
Somtime a Castel al of lime and ston,
And whan hem liketh, voideth it anon."
--_The Franklin's Tale_, II. 454.
Performances of this kind at Chinese festivities have already been spoken
of in note 9 to ch. lxi. of Book I. Shah Rukh's people, Odoric, Ysbrandt
Ides, etc., describe them also. The practice of introducing such
_artistes_ into the dining-hall after dinner seems in that age to have
been usual also in Europe. See, for example, _Wright's Domestic Manners_,
pp. 165-166, and the Court of the Emperor Frederic II., in _Kington's
Life_ of that prince, I. 470. (See also _N. et E._ XIV. 410; _Cathay_,
143; _Ysb. Ides_, p. 95.)
CHAPTER XIV.
CONCERNING THE GREAT FEAST HELD BY THE GRAND KAAN EVERY YEAR ON HIS
BIRTHDAY.
You must know that the Tartars keep high festival yearly on their
birthdays. And the Great Kaan was born on the 28th day of the September
moon, so on that day is held the greatest feast of the year at the Kaan's
Court, always excepting that which he holds on New Year's Day, of which
I shall tell you afterwards.[NOTE 1]
Now, on his birthday, the Great Kaan dresses in the best of his robes, all
wrought with beaten gold;[NOTE 2] and full 12,000 Barons and Knights on
that day come forth dressed in robes of the same colour, and precisely
like those of the Great Kaan, except that they are not so costly; but
still they are all of the same colour as his, and are also of silk and
gold. Every man so clothed has also a girdle of gold; and this as well as
the dress is given him by the Sovereign. And I will aver that there are
some of these suits decked with so many pearls and precious stones that a
single suit shall be worth full 10,000 golden bezants.
And of such raiment there are several sets. For you must know that the
Great Kaan, thirteen times in the year, presents to his Barons and Knights
such suits of raiment as I am speaking of.[NOTE 3] And on each occasion
they wear the same colour that he does, a different colour being assigned
to each festival. Hence you may see what a huge business it is, and that
there is no prince in the world but he alone who could keep up such
customs as these.
On his birthday also, all the Tartars in the world, and all the countries
and governments that owe allegiance to the Kaan, offer him great presents
according to their several ability, and as prescription or orders have
fixed the amount. And many other persons also come with great presents to
the Kaan, in order to beg for some employment from him. And the Great Kaan
has chosen twelve Barons on whom is laid the charge of assigning to each
of these supplicants a suitable answer.
On this day likewise all the Idolaters, all the Saracens, and all the
Christians and other descriptions of people make great and solemn
devotions, with much chaunting and lighting of lamps and burning of
incense, each to the God whom he doth worship, praying that He would save
the Emperor, and grant him long life and health and happiness.
And thus, as I have related, is celebrated the joyous feast of the Kaan's
birthday.[NOTE 4]
Now I will tell you of another festival which the Kaan holds at the New
Year, and which is called the White Feast.
NOTE 1.--The Chinese Year commences, according to Duhalde, with the New
Moon nearest to the Sun's Passage of the middle point of Aquarius;
according to Pauthier, with the New Moon immediately preceding the Sun's
entry into Pisces. (These would almost always be identical, but not
always.) Generally speaking, the first month will include part of February
and part of March. The eighth month will then be September-October
(_v. ante_, ch. ii. note 2).
[According to Dr. S. W. Williams (_Middle Kingdom_, II. p. 70): "The year
is lunar, but its commencement is regulated by the sun. New Year falls on
the first new moon after the sun enters Aquarius, which makes it come not
before January 21st nor after February 19th." "The beginning of the civil
year, writes Peter Hoang (_Chinese Calendar_, p. 13), depends upon the
good pleasure of the Emperors. Under the Emperor Hwang-ti (2697 B.C.) and
under the Hsia Dynasty (2205 B.C.), it was made to commence with the 3rd
month _yin-yüeh_ [Pisces]; under the Shang Dynasty (1766 B.C.) with the
2nd month _ch'ou-yüeh_ [Aquarius], and under the Chou Dynasty (1122 B.C.)
with the 1st month _tzu-yüeh_ [Capricorn]."--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--The expression "_à or batuz_" as here applied to robes, is common
among the mediaeval poets and romance-writers, e.g. Chaucer:--
"Full yong he was and merry of thought,
And in samette with birdes wrought
And with gold beaten full fetously,
His bodie was clad full richely."
--_Rom. of the Rose_, 836-839.
M. Michel thinks that in a stuff so termed the gold wire was _beaten out_
after the execution of the embroidery, a process which widened the
metallic surface and gave great richness of appearance. The fact was
rather, however, according to Dr. Rock, that the gold used in weaving such
tissues was _not_ wire but beaten sheets of gold cut into narrow strips.
This would seem sufficient to explain the term "beaten gold," though Dr.
Rock in another passage refers it to a custom which he alleges of sewing
goldsmith's work upon robes. (_Fr. Michel_, _Recherches_, II. 389, also I.
371; _Rock's Catalogue_, pp. xxv. xxix. xxxviii. cvi.)
NOTE 3.--The number of these festivals and distributions of dresses is
_thirteen_ in all the old texts, except the Latin of the Geog. Soc., which
has _twelve_. Thirteen would seem therefore to have been in the original
copy. And the Ramusian version expands this by saying, "Thirteen great
feasts that the Tartars keep with much solemnity to each of the thirteen
moons of the year."[1] It is possible, however, that this latter sentence
is an interpolated gloss; for, besides the improbability of munificence so
frequent, Pauthier has shown some good reasons why _thirteen_ should be
regarded as an error for _three_. The official History of the Mongol
Dynasty, which he quotes, gives a detail of raiment distributed in
presents on great state occasions _three_ times a year. Such a mistake
might easily have originated in the first dictation, _treize_ substituted
for _trois_, or rather for the old form _tres_; but we must note that the
number 13 is repeated and corroborated in ch. xvi. Odoric speaks of _four_
great yearly festivals, but there are obvious errors in what he says on
this subject. Hammer says the great Mongol Feasts were three, viz. New
Year's Day, the Kaan's Birthday, and the Feast of the Herds.
Something like the changes of costume here spoken of is mentioned by
Rubruquis at a great festival of four days' duration at the court of
Mangku Kaan: "Each day of the four they appeared in different raiment,
suits of which were given them for each day of a different colour, but
everything on the same day of one colour, from the boots to the turban."
So also Carpini says regarding the assemblies of the Mongol nobles at the
inauguration of Kuyuk Kaan: "The first day they were all clad in white
pourpre (? _albis purpuris_, see Bk. I. ch. vi. note 4), the second day in
ruby pourpre, the third day in blue pourpre, the fourth day in the finest
baudekins." (_Cathay_, 141; _Rubr._ 368; _Pl. Car._ 755.)
[Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 247, note) makes the following remarks:
"Odoric, however, says that the colours differed according to the rank.
The custom of presenting _khilats_ is still observed in Central Asia and
Persia. I cannot learn from any other authority that the Mongols ever wore
turbans. Odoric says the Mongols of the imperial feasts wore 'coronets'
(_in capite coronati_)."--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--["The accounts given by Marco Polo regarding the feasts of the
Khan and the festival dresses at his Court, agree perfectly with the
statements on the same subject of contemporary Chinese writers. Banquets
were called in the common Mongol language _chama_, and festival dresses
_chisun_. General festivals used to be held at the New Year and at the
Birthday of the Khan. In the _Mongol-Chinese Code_, the ceremonies
performed in the provinces on the Khan's Birthday are described. One month
before that day the civil and military officers repaired to a temple,
where a service was performed to the Khan's health. On the morning of the
Birthday a sumptuously adorned table was placed in the open air, and the
representatives of all classes and all confessions were obliged to
approach the table, to prostrate themselves and exclaim three times:
_Wan-sui_ (i.e. 'Ten thousand years' life to the Khan). After that the
banquet took place. In the same code (in the article on the _Ye li ke un_
[Christians, _Erke-un_]) it is stated, that in the year 1304,--owing to a
dispute, which had arisen in the province of Kiang-nan between the
_ho-shang_ (Buddhist priests) and the Christian missionaries, as to
precedence in the above-mentioned ceremony,--a special edict was published,
in which it was decided that in the rite of supplication, Christians should
follow the Buddhist and Taouist priests." (_Palladius_, pp. 44-45.)--H. C.]
[1] There are thirteen months to the Chinese year in seven out of every
nineteen.
["This interval of 10 years comprises 235 lunar months, generally 125
_long_ months of 30 days 110 _short_ months of 29 days, (but sometimes
124 _long_ and 111 _short_ months), and 7 _intercalary_ months. The
year of twelve months is called a common year, that of thirteen
months, an _intercalary_ year." (_P. Hoang, Chinese Calendar_, p. 12.
--H. C.)]
CHAPTER XV.
OF THE GREAT FESTIVAL WHICH THE KAAN HOLDS ON NEW YEAR'S DAY.
The beginning of their New Year is the month of February, and on that
occasion the Great Kaan and all his subjects made such a Feast as I now
shall describe.
It is the custom that on this occasion the Kaan and all his subjects
should be clothed entirely in white; so, that day, everybody is in white,
men and women, great and small. And this is done in order that they may
thrive all through the year, for they deem that white clothing is
lucky.[NOTE 1] On that day also all the people of all the provinces and
governments and kingdoms and countries that own allegiance to the Kaan
bring him great presents of gold and silver, and pearls and gems, and rich
textures of divers kinds. And this they do that the Emperor throughout the
year may have abundance of treasure and enjoyment without care. And the
people also make presents to each other of white things, and embrace and
kiss and make merry, and wish each other happiness and good luck for the
coming year. On that day, I can assure you, among the customary presents
there shall be offered to the Kaan from various quarters more than 100,000
white horses, beautiful animals, and richly caparisoned. [And you must
know 'tis their custom in offering presents to the Great Kaan (at least
when the province making the present is able to do so), to present nine
times nine articles. For instance, if a province sends horses, it sends
nine times nine or 81 horses; of gold, nine times nine pieces of gold, and
so with stuffs or whatever else the present may consist of.][NOTE 2]
On that day also, the whole of the Kaan's elephants, amounting fully to
5000 in number, are exhibited, all covered with rich and gay housings of
inlaid cloth representing beasts and birds, whilst each of them carries on
his back two splendid coffers; all of these being filled with the
Emperor's plate and other costly furniture required for the Court on the
occasion of the White Feast.[NOTE 3] And these are followed by a vast
number of camels which are likewise covered with rich housings and laden
with things needful for the Feast. All these are paraded before the
Emperor, and it makes the finest sight in the world.
Moreover, on the morning of the Feast, before the tables are set, all the
Kings, and all the Dukes, Marquesses, Counts, Barons, Knights, and
Astrologers, and Philosophers, and Leeches, and Falconers, and other
officials of sundry kinds from all the places round about, present
themselves in the Great Hall before the Emperor; whilst those who can find
no room to enter stand outside in such a position that the Emperor can see
them all well. And the whole company is marshalled in this wise. First are
the Kaan's sons, and his nephews, and the other Princes of the Blood
Imperial; next to them all Kings; then Dukes, and then all others in
succession according to the degree of each. And when they are all seated,
each in his proper place, then a great prelate rises and says with a loud
voice: "Bow and adore!" And as soon as he has said this, the company bow
down until their foreheads touch the earth in adoration towards the
Emperor as if he were a god. And this adoration they repeat four times,
and then go to a highly decorated altar, on which is a vermilion tablet
with the name of the Grand Kaan inscribed thereon, and a beautiful censer
of gold. So they incense the tablet and the altar with great reverence,
and then return each man to his seat.[NOTE 4]
When all have performed this, then the presents are offered, of which I
have spoken as being so rich and costly. And after all have been offered
and been seen by the Emperor, the tables are set, and all take their
places at them with perfect order as I have already told you. And after
dinner the jugglers come in and amuse the Court as you have heard before;
and when that is over, every man goes to his quarters.
NOTE 1.--The first month of the year is still called by the Mongols
_Chaghan_ or _Chaghan Sara_, "the White" or the "White Month"; and the
wearing of white clothing on this festive occasion must have been purely a
Mongol custom. For when Shah Rukh's ambassadors were present at the New
Year's Feast at the Court of the succeeding _Chinese_ Dynasty (2nd
February, 1421) they were warned that _no one_ must wear white, as that
among the Chinese was the colour of mourning. (_Koeppen_, I. 574, II. 309;
_Cathay_, p. ccvii.)
NOTE 2.--On the mystic importance attached to the number 9 on all such
occasions among the Mongols, see _Hammer's Golden Horde_, p. 208;
_Hayton_, ch. iii. in Ramusio II.; _Not. et Ext._ XIV. Pt. I. 32; and
_Strahlenberg_ (II. 210 of Amsterd. ed. 1757). Vámbéry, speaking of the
_Kálín_ or marriage price among the Uzbegs, says: "The question is always
how many times _nine_ sheep, cows, camels, or horses, or how many times
nine ducats (as is the custom in a town), the father is to receive for
giving up his daughter." (_Sketches of Cent. Asia_, p. 103.) Sheikh
Ibrahim of Darband, making offerings to Timur, presented _nines_ of
everything else, but of slaves _eight_ only. "Where is the ninth?"
enquired the court official. "Who but I myself?" said the Sheikh, and so
won the heart of Timur. (_A. Arabsiadis ... Timuri Hist._ p. 357.)
NOTE 3.--The elephant stud of the Son of Heaven had dwindled till in 1862
Dr. Rennie found but one animal; now none remain. [Dr. S. W. Williams
writes (_Middle Kingdom_, I. pp. 323-324): "Elephants are kept at Peking
for show, and are used to draw the state chariot when the Emperor goes to
worship at the Altars of Heaven and Earth, but the sixty animals seen in
the days of Kienlung, by Bell, have since dwindled to one or two. Van
Braam met six going into Peking, sent thither from Yun-Nan." These were no
doubt carrying tribute from Burmah.--H. C.] It is worth noticing that the
housings of cut cloth or _appliqué_ work ("_draps entaillez_") are still
in fashion in India for the caparison of elephants.
NOTE 4.--In 1263 Kúblái adopted the Chinese fashion of worshipping the
tablets of his own ancestors, and probably at the same time the adoration
of his own tablet by his subjects was introduced. Van Braam ingenuously
relates how he and the rest of the Dutch Legation of 1794 performed the
adoration of the Emperor's Tablet on first entering China, much in the way
described in the text.
There is a remarkable amplification in the last paragraph of the chapter
as given by Ramusio: "When all are in their proper places, a certain great
personage, or high prelate as it were, gets up and says with a loud voice:
'Bow yourselves and adore!' On this immediately all bend and bow the
forehead to the ground. Then the prelate says again: 'God save and keep
our Lord the Emperor, with length of years and with mirth and happiness.'
And all answer: 'So may it be!' And then again the prelate says: 'May God
increase and augment his Empire and its prosperity more and more, and keep
all his subjects in peace and goodwill, and may all things go well
throughout his Dominion!' And all again respond: 'So may it be!' And this
adoration is repeated four times."
One of Pauthier's most interesting notes is a long extract from the
official Directory of Ceremonial under the Mongol Dynasty, which admirably
illustrates the chapters we have last read. I borrow a passage regarding
this adoration: "The Musician's Song having ceased, the Ministers shall
recite with a loud voice the following Prayer: 'Great Heaven, that
extendest over all! Earth which art under the guidance of Heaven! We
invoke You and beseech You to heap blessings upon the Emperor and the
Empress! Grant that they may live ten thousand, a hundred thousand years!'
"Then the first Chamberlain shall respond: 'May it be as the prayer hath
said!' The Ministers shall then prostrate themselves, and when they rise
return to their places, and take a cup or two of wine."
The K'o-tow (_Khéu-théu_) which appears repeatedly in this ceremonial and
which in our text is indicated by the four prostrations, was, Pauthier
alleges, not properly a Chinese form, but only introduced by the Mongols.
Baber indeed speaks of it as the _Kornish_, a Moghul ceremony, in which
originally "the person who performed it kneeled nine times and touched the
earth with his brow each time." He describes it as performed very
elaborately (nine times _twice_) by his younger uncle in visiting the
elder. But in its essentials the ceremony must have been of old date at
the Chinese Court; for the Annals of the Thang Dynasty, in a passage cited
by M. Pauthier himself,[1] mention that ambassadors from the famous Hárún
ar Rashíd in 798 had to perform the "ceremony of kneeling and striking the
forehead against the ground." And M. Pauthier can scarcely be right in
saying that the practice was disused by the Ming Dynasty and only
reintroduced by the Manchus; for in the story of Shah Rukh's embassy the
performance of the K'o-tow occurs repeatedly.
["It is interesting to note," writes Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 22),
"that in A.D. 981 the Chinese Envoy, Wang Yen-tê, sent to the Uigur Prince
of Kao-chang, refused to make genuflexions (_pai_) to him, as being
contrary to the established usages as regards envoys. The prince and his
family, however, on receiving the envoy, all faced eastward (towards
Peking) and made an obeisance (_pai_) on receiving the imperial presents
(_shou-tzu_)." (_Ma Twan-lin_, Bk 336, 13.)--H. C.]
(_Gaubil_, 142; _Van Braam_, I. 20-21; _Baber_, 106; _N. et E._ XIV. Pt.
I. 405, 407, 418.)
The enumeration of _four_ prostrations in the text is, I fancy, quite
correct. There are several indications that this number was used instead
of the three times three of later days. Thus Carpini, when introduced to
the Great Kaan, "bent the left knee four times." And in the Chinese bridal
ceremony of "Worshipping the Tablets," the genuflexion is made four times.
At the court of Shah Abbas an obeisance evidently identical was repeated
four times. (_Carp._ 759; _Doolittle_, p. 60; _P. Della Valle_, I. 646.)
[1] _Gaubil_, cited in _Pauthier's Hist. des Relations Politiques de la
Chine_, etc., p. 226.
CHAPTER XVI.
CONCERNING THE TWELVE THOUSAND BARONS WHO RECEIVE ROBES OF CLOTH OF GOLD
FROM THE EMPEROR ON THE GREAT FESTIVALS, THIRTEEN CHANGES A-PIECE.
Now you must know that the Great Kaan hath set apart 12,000 of his men who
are distinguished by the name of _Keshican_, as I have told you before;
and on each of these 12,000 Barons he bestows thirteen changes of raiment,
which are all different from one another: I mean that in one set the
12,000 are all of one colour; the next 12,000 of another colour, and so
on; so that they are of thirteen different colours. These robes are
garnished with gems and pearls and other precious things in a very rich
and costly manner.[NOTE 1] And along with each of these changes of
raiment, i.e. 13 times in the year, he bestows on each of those 12,000
Barons a fine golden girdle of great richness and value, and likewise a
pair of boots of _Camut_, that is to say of _Borgal_, curiously wrought
with silver thread; insomuch that when they are clothed in these dresses
every man of them looks like a king![NOTE 2] And there is an established
order as to which dress is to be worn at each of those thirteen feasts.
The Emperor himself also has his thirteen suits corresponding to those of
his Barons; in _colour_, I mean (though his are grander, richer, and
costlier), so that he is always arrayed in the same colour as his Barons,
who are, as it were, his comrades. And you may see that all this costs an
amount which it is scarcely possible to calculate.
Now I have told you of the thirteen changes of raiment received from the
Prince by those 12,000 Barons, amounting in all to 156,000 suits of so
great cost and value, to say nothing of the girdles and the boots which
are also worth a great sum of money. All this the Great Lord hath ordered,
that he may attach the more of grandeur and dignity to his festivals.
And now I must mention another thing that I had forgotten, but which you
will be astonished to learn from this Book. You must know that on the
Feast Day a great Lion is led to the Emperor's presence, and as soon as it
sees him it lies down before him with every sign of the greatest
veneration, as if it acknowledged him for its lord; and it remains there
lying before him, and entirely unchained. Truly this must seem a strange
story to those who have not seen the thing![NOTE 3]
NOTE 1.--On the _Keshican_, see note 1 to chap. xii., and on the changes
of raiment note 3 to chap. xiv., and the remarks there as to the number of
distributions. I confess that the stress laid upon the number 13 in this
chapter makes the supposition of error more difficult. But there is
something odd and unintelligible about the whole of the chapter except the
last paragraph. For the 12,000 _Keshican_ are here all elevated to
_Barons_; and at the same time the statement about their changes of
raiment seems to be merely that already made in chapter xiv. This
repetition occurs only in the French MSS., but as it is in all these we
cannot reject it.
NOTE 2.--The words _Camut_ and _Borgal_ appear both to be used here for
what we call _Russia-Leather_. The latter word in one form or another,
_Bolghár, Borgháli_, or _Bulkál_, is the term applied to that material to
this day nearly all over Asia. Ibn Batuta says that in travelling during
winter from Constantinople to the Wolga he had to put on three pairs of
boots, one of wool (which we should call stockings), a second of wadded
linen, and a third of _Borgháli_, "i.e. of horse-leather lined with
wolf-skin." Horse-leather seems to be still the favourite material for
boots among all the Tartar nations. The name was undoubtedly taken from
_Bolghar_ on the Wolga, the people of which are traditionally said to have
invented the art of preparing skins in that manner. This manufacture is
still one of the staple trades of Kazan, the city which in position and
importance is the nearest representative of Bolghar now.
_Camut_ is explained by Klaproth to be "leather made from the back-skin of
a camel." It appears in Johnson's Persian Dictionary as _Kámú_, but I do
not know from what language it originally comes. The word is in the Latin
column of the Petrarchian Vocabulary with the Persian rendering _Sagri_.
This shows us what is meant, for _Saghrí_ is just our word _Shagreen_, and
is applied to a fine leather granulated in that way, which is much used
for boots and the like by the people of Central Asia. [In Turkish _saghri_
or _saghri_ is the name both for the buttocks of a horse and the leather
called _shagreen_ prepared with them. (See _Devic, Dict. Étym._)--H. C.]
In the commercial lists of our Indian north-west frontier we find as
synonymous _Saghri_ or _Kímukht_, "Horse or Ass-hide." No doubt this
latter word is a form of _Kámú_ or _Camut_. It appears (as _Keimukht_, "a
sort of leather") in a detail of imports to Aden given by _Ibn al Wardi_,
a geographer of the 13th century.
Instead of Camut, Ramusio has _Camoscia_, i.e. Chamois, and the same seems
to be in all the editions based on Fra Pipino's version. It may be a
misrendering of _camutum_ or _camutium_; or is there any real connexion
between the Oriental _Kámú Kímukht_, and the Italian _camoscia_? (_I. B._
II. 445; _Klapr. Mém._ vol. III.; _Davies's Trade Report_, App. p. ccxx.;
_Vámbéry's Travels_, 423; _Not. et Ext._ II. 43.)
Fraehn (writing in 1832) observes that he knew no use of the word
_Bolghár_, in the sense of Russian leather, older than the 17th century.
But we see that both Marco and Ibn Batuta use it. (_F. on the Wolga
Bulghars_, pp. 8-9.)
Pauthier in a note (p. 285) gives a list of the garments issued to certain
officials on these ceremonial occasions under the Mongols, and sure enough
this list includes "pairs of boots in red leather." Odoric particularly
mentions the broad golden girdles worn at the Kaan's court.
[La Curne, _Dict._, has _Bulga_, leather bag; old Gallic word from which
are derived _bouge_ et _bougete, bourse_; he adds in a note, "Festus
writes: '_Bulgas_ galli sacculos scorteos vocant.'"--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--"Then come mummers leading lions, which they cause to salute the
Lord with reverence." (_Odoric_, p. 143.) A lion sent by Mirza Baisangar,
one of the Princes of Timur's House, accompanied Shah Rukh's embassy as
a present to the Emperor; and like presents were frequently repeated.
(See _Amyot_, XIV. 37, 38.)
CHAPTER XVII.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN ENJOINETH HIS PEOPLE TO SUPPLY HIM WITH GAME.
The three months of December, January, and February, during which the
Emperor resides at his Capital City, are assigned for hunting and fowling,
to the extent of some 40 days' journey round the city; and it is ordained
that the larger game taken be sent to the Court. To be more particular: of
all the larger beasts of the chase, such as boars, roebucks, bucks, stags,
lions, bears, etc., the greater part of what is taken has to be sent, and
feathered game likewise. The animals are gutted and despatched to the
Court on carts. This is done by all the people within 20 or 30 days'
journey, and the quantity so despatched is immense. Those at a greater
distance cannot send the game, but they have to send the skins after
tanning them, and these are employed in the making of equipments for the
Emperor's army.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--So Magaillans: "Game is so abundant, especially at the capital,
that every year during the three winter months you see at different
places, intended for despatch thither, besides great piles of every sort
of wildfowl, rows of four-footed game of a gunshot or two in length: the
animals being all frozen and standing on their feet. Among other species
you see three sundry kinds of bears ... and great abundance of other
animals, as stags and deer of different sorts, boars, elks, hares,
rabbits, squirrels, wild-cats, rats, geese, ducks, very fine jungle-fowl,
etc., and all so cheap that I never could have believed it" (pp. 177-178).
As this writer mentions _wild-cats_, we may presume that the "lions" of
Polo also were destined to be eaten.
["Kubilai Khan kept a whole army, 14,000 men, huntsmen, distributed in
Peking and other cities in the present province of Chili (_Yuen-shi_). The
Khan used to hunt in the Peking plain from the beginning of spring, until
his departure to Shang-tu. There are in the Peking department many low and
marshy places, stretching often to a considerable extent and abounding in
game. In the biography of _Ai-sie_ (_Yuen shi_, chap. cxxxiv.), who was a
Christian, it is mentioned that Kubilai was hunting also in the department
of Pao-ting fu." (_Palladius_, p. 45.)--H. C.]
CHAPTER XVIII.
OF THE LIONS AND LEOPARDS AND WOLVES THAT THE KAAN KEEPS FOR THE CHASE.
The Emperor hath numbers of leopards[NOTE 1] trained to the chase, and
hath also a great many lynxes taught in like manner to catch game, and
which afford excellent sport.[NOTE 2] He hath also several great Lions,
bigger than those of Babylonia, beasts whose skins are coloured in the
most beautiful way, being striped all along the sides with black, red, and
white. These are trained to catch boars and wild cattle, bears, wild
asses, stags, and other great or fierce beasts. And 'tis a rare sight, I
can tell you, to see those lions giving chase to such beasts as I have
mentioned! When they are to be so employed the Lions are taken out in a
covered cart, and every Lion has a little doggie with him. [They are
obliged to approach the game against the wind, otherwise the animals would
scent the approach of the Lion and be off.][NOTE 3]
There are also a great number of eagles, all broken to catch wolves,
foxes, deer, and wild goats, and they do catch them in great numbers. But
those especially that are trained to wolf-catching are very large and
powerful birds, and no wolf is able to get away from them.[NOTE 4]
NOTE 1.--The Cheeta or Hunting-Leopard, still kept for the chase by native
noblemen in India, is an animal very distinct from the true leopard. It is
much more lanky and long-legged than the pure felines, is unable to climb
trees, and has claws only partially retractile. Wood calls it a link
between the feline and canine races. One thousand Cheetas were attached to
Akbar's hunting establishment; and the chief one, called Semend-Manik, was
carried to the field in a palankin with a kettledrum beaten before him.
Boldensel in the first half of the 14th century speaks of the Cheeta as
habitually used in Cyprus; but, indeed, a hundred years before, these
animals had been constantly employed by the Emperor Frederic II. in Italy,
and accompanied him on all his marches. They were introduced into France
in the latter part of the 15th century, and frequently employed by Lewis
XI., Charles VIII., and Lewis XII. The leopards were kept in a ditch of
the Castle of Amboise, and the name still borne by a gate hard by, _Porte
des Lions_, is supposed to be due to that circumstance. The _Moeurs et
Usages du Moyen Age_ (Lacroix), from which I take the last facts, gives
copy of a print by John Stradanus representing a huntsman with the leopard
on his horse's crupper, like Kúblái's (supra, Bk. I. ch. lxi.); Frederic
II. used to say of his Cheetas, "they knew how to ride." This way of
taking the Cheeta to the field had been first employed by the Khalif
Yazid, son of Moáwiyah. The Cheeta often appears in the pattern of silk
damasks of the 13th and 14th centuries, both Asiatic and Italian. (_Ayeen
Akbery_, I. 304, etc.; _Boldensel_, in _Canisii Thesaurus_, by _Basnage_,
vol. IV. p. 339; _Kington's Fred. II._ I. 472, II. 156; _Bochart_,
_Hierozoica_, 797; _Rock's Catalogue, passim_.)
[The hunting equipment of the Sultan consisted of about thirty falconers
on horseback who carried each a bird on his fist. These falconers were in
front of seven horsemen, who had behind a kind of tamed tiger at times
employed by His Highness for hare-hunting, notwithstanding what may be
said to the contrary by those who are inclined not to believe the fact. It
is a thing known by everybody here, and cannot be doubted except by those
who admit that they believe nothing of foreign customs. These tigers were
each covered with a brocade cloth--and their peaceful attitude, added to
their ferocious and savage looks, caused at the same time astonishment and
fear in the soul of those whom they looked upon. (_Journal d'Antoine
Galland_, trad. par Ch. Schefer, I. p. 135.) The Cheeta (_Gueparda
jubata_) was, according to Sir W. Jones, first employed in hunting
antelopes by Hushing, King of Persia, 865 B.C.--H. C.]
NOTE 2.--The word rendered Lynxes is _Leu cervers_ (G. Text), _Louz
serviers_ of Pauthier's MS. C, though he has adopted from another _Loups_
simply, which is certainly wrong. The _Geog. Latin_ has "_Linceos i.e.
lupos cerverios_." There is no doubt that the _Loup-cervier_ is the Lynx.
Thus Brunetto Latini, describing the Loup-cervier, speaks of its
remarkable powers of vision, and refers to its agency in the production of
the precious stone called _Liguire_ (i.e. _Ligurium_), which the ancients
fancied to come from _Lync-urium_; the tale is in Theophrastus). Yet the
quaint Bestiary of Philip de Thaun, published by Mr. Wright, identifies it
with the Greek Hyena:--
"_Hyena_ e Griu num, que nus beste apellum,
Ceo est _Lucervere_, oler fait et mult est fere."
[The Abbé Armand David writes (_Missions Cathol._ XXI. 1889, p. 227) that
there is in China, from the mountains of Manchuria to the mountains of
Tibet, a lynx called by the Chinese _T'u-pao_ (earth-coloured panther);
a lynx somewhat similar to the _loup-cervier_ is found on the western
border of China, and has been named _Lyncus Desgodinsi_.--H. C.]
Hunting Lynxes were used at the Court of Akbar. They are also mentioned by
A. Hamilton as so used in Sind at the end of the 17th century. This author
calls the animal a _Shoe-goose! i.e. Siya-gosh_ (Black-ear), the Persian
name of the Lynx. It is still occasionally used in the chase by natives of
rank in India. (_Brunetto Lat. Tresor_, p. 248; _Popular Treatises on
Science written during Mid. Ages_, 94; _Ayeen Akbery_, u.s.; _Hamilt. E.
Indies_, I. 125; _Vigne_, I. 42.)
NOTE 3.--The conception of a Tiger seems almost to have dropped out of the
European mind during the Middle Ages. Thus in a mediaeval Bestiary, a
chapter on the Tiger begins: "_Une Beste est qui est apelée Tigre c'est
une manière de_ Serpent." Hence Polo can only call the Tigers, whose
portrait he draws here not incorrectly, _Lions_. So also nearly 200 years
later Barbaro gives a like portrait, and calls the animal _Leonza_.
Marsden supposes judiciously that the confusion may have been promoted by
the ambiguity of the Persian _Sher_.
[Illustration: The Búrgút Eagle. (After Atkinson)
"Il a encore aiglies qe sunt afaités à prendre leus et voupes et dain et
chavrion, et en prennent assez."]
The Chinese pilgrim, Sung-Yun (A.D. 518), saw two young lions at the Court
of Gandhára. He remarks that the pictures of these animals common in
China, were not at all good likenesses. (_Beal_, p. 200.)
We do not hear in modern times of Tigers trained to the chase, but Chardin
says of Persia: "In hunting the larger animals they make use of beasts of
prey trained for the purpose, _lions_, leopards, _tigers_, panthers,
ounces."
NOTE 4.--This is perfectly correct. In Eastern Turkestan, and among the
Kirghiz to this day, eagles termed _Búrgút_ (now well known to be the
Golden Eagle) are tamed and trained to fly at wolves, foxes, deer, wild
goats, etc. A Kirghiz will give a good horse for an eagle in which he
recognises capacity for training. Mr. Atkinson gives vivid descriptions
and illustrations of this eagle (which he calls "Bear coote"), attacking
both deer and wolves. He represents the bird as striking one claw into the
neck, and the other into the back of its large prey, and then tearing out
the liver with its beak. In justice both to Marco Polo and to Mr.
Atkinson, I have pleasure in adding a vivid account of the exploits of
this bird, as witnessed by one of my kind correspondents, the
Governor-General's late envoy to Kashgar. And I trust Sir Douglas Forsyth
will pardon my quoting his own letter just as it stands[1]:--"Now for a
story of the _Burgoot_--Atkinson's 'Bearcoote.' I think I told you it was
the Golden Eagle and supposed to attack wolves and even bears. One day we
came across a wild hog of enormous size, far bigger than any that gave
sport to the Tent Club in Bengal. The Burgoot was immediately let loose,
and went straight at the hog, which it kicked, and flapped with its wings,
and utterly _flabbergasted_, whilst our Kashgaree companions attacked him
with sticks and brought him to the ground. As Friar Odoric would say, I, T.
D. F., have seen this with mine own eyes."--Shaw describes the rough
treatment with which the Búrgút is tamed. Baber, when in the Bajaur Hills,
notices in his memoirs: "This day Búrgút took a deer." (_Timkowski_, I.
414; _Levchine_, p. 77; _Pallas_, _Voyages_, I. 421; _J. R. A. S._ VII.
305; _Atkinson's Siberia_, 493; and _Amoor_, 146-147; _Shaw_, p. 157;
_Baber_, p. 249.)
[The Golden Eagle (_Aquila chrysaetus_) is called at Peking _Hoy tiao_
(black eagle). (_David et Oustalet_, _Oiseaux de la Chine_, p. 8.)--H. C.]
[1] Dated Yangi Hissar, 10th April, 1874.
CHAPTER XIX.
CONCERNING THE TWO BROTHERS WHO HAVE CHARGE OF THE KAAN'S HOUNDS.
The Emperor hath two Barons who are own brothers, one called Baian and the
other Mingan; and these two are styled _Chinuchi_ (or _Cunichi_), which is
as much as to say, "The Keepers of the Mastiff Dogs."[NOTE 1] Each of
these brothers hath 10,000 men under his orders; each body of 10,000 being
dressed alike, the one in red and the other in blue, and whenever they
accompany the Lord to the chase, they wear this livery, in order to be
recognized. Out of each body of 10,000 there are 2000 men who are each in
charge of one or more great mastiffs, so that the whole number of these is
very large. And when the Prince goes a-hunting, one of those Barons, with
his 10,000 men and something like 5000 dogs, goes towards the right,
whilst the other goes towards the left with his party in like manner. They
move along, all abreast of one another, so that the whole line extends
over a full day's journey, and no animal can escape them. Truly it is a
glorious sight to see the working of the dogs and the huntsmen on such an
occasion! And as the Lord rides a-fowling across the plains, you will see
these big hounds coming tearing up, one pack after a bear, another pack
after a stag, or some other beast, as it may hap, and running the game
down now on this side and now on that, so that it is really a most
delightful sport and spectacle.
[The Two Brothers I have mentioned are bound by the tenure of their office
to supply the Kaan's Court from October to the end of March with 1000 head
of game daily, whether of beasts or birds, and not counting quails; and
also with fish to the best of their ability, allowing fish enough for
three persons to reckon as equal to one head of game.]
Now I have told you of the Masters of the Hounds and all about them, and
next will I tell you how the Lord goes off on an expedition for the space
of three months.
NOTE 1.--Though this particular Bayan and Mingan are not likely to be
mentioned in history, the names are both good Mongol names; _Bayan_ that
of a great soldier under Kúblái, of whom we shall hear afterwards; and
_Mingan_ that of one of Chinghiz's generals.
The title of "Master of the Mastiffs" belonged to a high Court official at
Constantinople in former days, _Sámsúnji Báshi_, and I have no doubt Marco
has given the exact interpretation of the title of the two Barons: though
it is difficult to trace its elements. It is read variously _Cunici_ (i.e.
_Kunichi_) and _Cinuci_ (i.e. _Chinuchi_). It is evidently a word of
analogous structure to _Kushchi_, the Master of the Falcons; _Parschi_,
the Master of the Leopards. Professor Schiefner thinks it is probably
corrupted from _Noghaichi_, which appears in Kovalevski's Mongol Dict. as
"_chaesseur qui a soins des chiens courants_." This word occurs, he points
out, in Sanang Setzen, where Schmidt translates it _Aufseher über Hunde_.
(See _S. S._ p. 39.)
The metathesis of _Noghai_-chi into _Kuni_-chi is the only drawback to
this otherwise apt solution. We generally shall find Polo's Oriental words
much more accurately expressed than this would imply--as in the next
chapter. I have hazarded a suggestion of (Or. Turkish) _Chong-lt-chi_,
"Keeper of the Big Dogs," which Professor Vámbéry thinks possible. (See
"_chong_, big, strong," in his _Tschagataische Sprachstudien_, p. 282, and
note in _Lord Strangford's Selected Writings_, II. 169.) In East Turkestan
they call the Chinese _Chong Káfir_, "The Big Heathen." This would exactly
correspond to the rendering of Pipino's Latin translation, "_hoc est canum
magnorum Praefecti_." _Chinuchi_ again would be (in Mongol)
"Wolf-keepers." It is at least possible that the great dogs which Polo
terms mastiffs may have been known by such a name. We apply the term Wolf-
dog to several varieties, and in Macbeth's enumeration we have--
----"Hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water rugs, and _Demi-Wolves_."
Lastly the root-word may be the Chinese _Kiuen_ "dog," as Pauthier says.
The mastiffs were probably Tibetan, but may have come through China, and
brought a name with them, like _Boule-dogues_ in France.
[Palladius (p. 46) says that _Chinuchi_ or _Cunici_ "have no resemblance
with any of the names found in the _Yuen shi_, ch. xcix., article _Ping
chi_ (military organisation), and relating to the hunting staff of the
Khan, viz.: _Si pao ch'i_ (falconers), _Ho r ch'i_ (archers), and _Ke lien
ch'i_ (probably those who managed the hounds)."--H. C.]
CHAPTER XX.
HOW THE EMPEROR GOES ON A HUNTING EXPEDITION.
After he has stopped at his capital city those three months that I
mentioned, to wit, December, January, February, he starts off on the 1st
day of March, and travels southward towards the Ocean Sea, a journey of
two days.[NOTE 1] He takes with him full 10,000 falconers, and some 500
gerfalcons besides peregrines, sakers, and other hawks in great numbers;
and goshawks also to fly at the water-fowl.[NOTE 2] But do not suppose
that he keeps all these together by him; they are distributed about,
hither and thither, one hundred together, or two hundred at the utmost, as
he thinks proper. But they are always fowling as they advance, and the
most part of the quarry taken is carried to the Emperor. And let me tell
you when he goes thus a-fowling with his gerfalcons and other hawks, he is
attended by full 10,000 men who are disposed in couples; and these are
called _Toscaol_, which is as much as to say, "Watchers." And the name
describes their business.[NOTE 3] They are posted from spot to spot,
always in couples, and thus they cover a great deal of ground! Every man
of them is provided with a whistle and hood, so as to be able to call in a
hawk and hold it in hand. And when the Emperor makes a cast, there is no
need that he follow it up, for those men I speak of keep so good a look
out that they never lose sight of the birds, and if these have need of
help they are ready to render it.
All the Emperor's hawks, and those of the Barons as well, have a little
label attached to the leg to mark them, on which is written the names of
the owner and the keeper of the bird. And in this way the hawk, when
caught, is at once identified and handed over to its owner. But if not,
the bird is carried to a certain Baron, who is styled the _Bularguchi_,
which is as much as to say "The Keeper of Lost Property." And I tell you
that whatever may be found without a known owner, whether it be a horse,
or a sword, or a hawk, or what not, it is carried to that Baron
straightway, and he takes charge of it. And if the finder neglects to
carry his trover to the Baron, the latter punishes him. Likewise the loser
of any article goes to the Baron, and if the thing be in his hands it is
immediately given up to the owner. Moreover, the said Baron always pitches
on the highest spot of the camp, with his banner displayed, in order that
those who have lost or found anything may have no difficulty in finding
their way to him. Thus nothing can be lost but it shall be incontinently
found and restored.[NOTE 4]
And so the Emperor follows this road that I have mentioned, leading along
in the vicinity of the Ocean Sea (which is within two days' journey of his
capital city, Cambaluc), and as he goes there is many a fine sight to be
seen, and plenty of the very best entertainment in hawking; in fact, there
is no sport in the world to equal it!
The Emperor himself is carried upon four elephants in a fine chamber made
of timber, lined inside with plates of beaten gold, and outside with
lions' skins [for he always travels in this way on his fowling
expeditions, because he is troubled with gout]. He always keeps beside him
a dozen of his choicest gerfalcons, and is attended by several of his
Barons, who ride on horseback alongside. And sometimes, as they may be
going along, and the Emperor from his chamber is holding discourse with
the Barons, one of the latter shall exclaim: "Sire! Look out for Cranes!"
Then the Emperor instantly has the top of his chamber thrown open, and
having marked the cranes he casts one of his gerfalcons, whichever he
pleases; and often the quarry is struck within his view, so that he has
the most exquisite sport and diversion, there as he sits in his chamber or
lies on his bed; and all the Barons with him get the enjoyment of it
likewise! So it is not without reason I tell you that I do not believe
there ever existed in the world or ever will exist, a man with such sport
and enjoyment as he has, or with such rare opportunities.[NOTE 5]
And when he has travelled till he reaches a place called CACHAR
MODUN,[NOTE 6] there he finds his tents pitched, with the tents of his
Sons, and his Barons, and those of his Ladies and theirs, so that there
shall be full 10,000 tents in all, and all fine and rich ones. And I will
tell you how his own quarters are disposed. The tent in which he holds his
courts is large enough to give cover easily to a thousand souls. It is
pitched with its door to the south, and the Barons and Knights remain in
waiting in it, whilst the Lord abides in another close to it on the west
side. When he wishes to speak with any one he causes the person to be
summoned to that other tent. Immediately behind the great tent there is a
fine large chamber where the Lord sleeps; and there are also many other
tents and chambers, but they are not in contact with the Great Tent as
these are. The two audience-tents and the sleeping-chamber are constructed
in this way. Each of the audience-tents has three poles, which are of
spice-wood, and are most artfully covered with lions' skins, striped with
black and white and red, so that they do not suffer from any weather. All
three apartments are also covered outside with similar skins of striped
lions, a substance that lasts for ever.[NOTE 7] And inside they are all
lined with ermine and sable, these two being the finest and most costly
furs in existence. For a robe of sable, large enough to line a mantle, is
worth 2000 bezants of gold, or 1000 at least, and this kind of skin is
called by the Tartars "The King of Furs." The beast itself is about the
size of a marten.[NOTE 8] These two furs of which I speak are applied and
inlaid so exquisitely, that it is really something worth seeing. All the
tent-ropes are of silk. And in short I may say that those tents, to wit
the two audience-halls and the sleeping-chamber, are so costly that it is
not every king could pay for them.
Round about these tents are others, also fine ones and beautifully
pitched, in which are the Emperor's ladies, and the ladies of the other
princes and officers. And then there are the tents for the hawks and their
keepers, so that altogether the number of tents there on the plain is
something wonderful. To see the many people that are thronging to and fro
on every side and every day there, you would take the camp for a good big
city. For you must reckon the Leeches, and the Astrologers, and the
Falconers, and all the other attendants on so great a company; and add
that everybody there has his whole family with him, for such is their
custom.
The Lord remains encamped there until the spring, and all that time he
does nothing but go hawking round about among the canebrakes along the
lakes and rivers that abound in that region, and across fine plains on
which are plenty of cranes and swans, and all sorts of other fowl. The
other gentry of the camp also are never done with hunting and hawking, and
every day they bring home great store of venison and feathered game of all
sorts. Indeed, without having witnessed it, you would never believe what
quantities of game are taken, and what marvellous sport and diversion they
all have whilst they are in camp there.
There is another thing I should mention; to wit, that for 20 days' journey
round the spot nobody is allowed, be he who he may, to keep hawks or
hounds, though anywhere else whosoever list may keep them. And furthermore
throughout all the Emperor's territories, nobody however audacious dares
to hunt any of these four animals, to wit, hare, stag, buck, and roe, from
the month of March to the month of October. Anybody who should do so would
rue it bitterly. But those people are so obedient to their Lord's command,
that even if a man were to find one of those animals asleep by the
roadside he would not touch it for the world! And thus the game multiplies
at such a rate that the whole country swarms with it, and the Emperor gets
as much as he could desire. Beyond the term I have mentioned, however, to
wit that from March to October, everybody may take these animals as he
list.[NOTE 9]
After the Emperor has tarried in that place, enjoying his sport as I have
related, from March to the middle of May, he moves with all his people,
and returns straight to his capital city of Cambaluc (which is also the
capital of Cathay, as you have been told), but all the while continuing to
take his diversion in hunting and hawking as he goes along.
NOTE 1.--"_Vait vers midi jusques à la Mer Occeane, ou il y a deux
journées._" It is not possible in any way to reconcile this description as
it stands with truth, though I do not see much room for doubt as to the
direction of the excursion. Peking is 100 miles as the crow flies from the
nearest point of the coast, at least six or seven days' march for such a
camp, and the direction is south-east, or nearly so. The last circumstance
would not be very material as Polo's compass-bearings are not very
accurate. We shall find that he makes the general line of bearing from
Peking towards Kiangnan, _Sciloc_ or S. East, hence his _Midi_ ought in
consistency to represent _S. West_, an impossible direction for the Ocean.
It is remarkable that Ramusio has _Greco_ or _N. East_, which would by the
same relative correction represent _East_. And other circumstances point
to the frontier of Liao-tong as the direction of this excursion. Leaving
the _two days_ out of question, therefore, I should suppose the "Ocean
Sea" to be struck at Shan-hai-kwan near the terminus of the Great Wall,
and that the site of the standing hunting-camp is in the country to the
north of that point. The Jesuit Verbiest accompanied the Emperor Kanghi on
a tour in this direction in 1682, and almost immediately after passing the
Wall the Emperor and his party seem to have struck off to the left for
sport. Kúblái started on the "1st of March," probably however the 1st of
the second Chinese month. Kanghi started from Peking on the 23rd of March,
on the hunting-journey just referred to.
NOTE 2.--We are told that Bajazet had 7000 falconers and 6000 dog-keepers;
whilst Sultan Mahomed Tughlak of India in the generation following Polo's,
is said to have had 10,000 falconers, and 3000 other attendants as
beaters. (_Not. et Ext._ XIII. p. 185.)
The Oriental practice seems to have assigned one man to the attendance on
every hawk. This Kaempfer says was the case at the Court of Persia at the
beginning of last century. There were about 800 hawks, and each had a
special keeper. The same was the case with the Emperor Kanghi's hawking
establishment, according to Gerbillon. (_Am. Exot._ p. 83; _Gerb._ 1st
Journey, in _Duhalde_.)
NOTE 3.--The French MSS. read _Toscaor_; the reading in the text I take
from Ramusio. It is Turki, _Toskáúl_, [Arabic], defined as "Gardien,
surveillant de la route; Wächter, Wache, Wegehüter." (See _Zenker_, and
_Pavet de Courteille_.) The word is perhaps also Mongol, for Rémusat has
_Tosiyal_ = "Veille." (_Mél. As._ I. 231.) Such an example of Polo's
correctness both in the form and meaning of a Turki word is worthy of
especial note, and shows how little he merits the wild and random
treatment which has been often applied to the solution of like phrases in
his book.
[Palladius (p. 47) says that he has heard from men well acquainted with
the customs of the Mongols, that at the present day in "battues," the
leaders of the two flanks which surround the game, are called _toscaul_ in
Mongol.--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--The remark in the previous note might be repeated here. The
_Bularguji_ was an officer of the Mongol camp, whose duties are thus
described by Mahomed Hindú Shah in a work on the offices of the Perso-
Mongol Court. "He is an officer appointed by the Council of State, who, at
the time when the camp is struck, goes over the ground with his servants,
and collects slaves of either sex, or cattle, such as horses, camels,
oxen, and asses, that have been left behind, and retains them until the
owners appear and prove their claim to the property, when he makes it over
to them. The _Bularguji_ sticks up a flag by his tent or hut to enable
people to find him, and so recover their lost property." (_Golden Horde_,
p. 245.) And in the Appendix to that work (p. 476) there is a copy of a
warrant to such a Bularguji or Provost Marshal. The derivation appears
therein as from _Bularghu_, "Lost property." Here again it was impossible
to give both form and meaning of the word more exactly than Polo has done.
Though Hammer writes these terminations in _ji_ (_dschi_), I believe _chi_
(tschi) is preferable. We have this same word _Bularghu_ in a grant of
privileges to the Venetians by the Ilkhan Abusaid, 22nd December, 1320,
which has been published by M. Mas Latrie: "_Item, se algun cavalo_
bolargo _fosse trovado apreso de algun vostro veneciano_," etc.--"If any
stray horse shall be found in the possession of a Venetian," etc. (See
_Bibl. de l'Ecole des Chartes, 1870--tirage à part_, p. 26.)
["There are two Mongol terms, which resemble this word _Bularguchi_, viz.
_Balagachi_ and _Buluguchi_. But the first was the name used for the
door-keeper of the tent of the Khan. By Buluguchi the Mongols understood
a hunter and especially sable hunters. No one of these terms can be made
consistent with the accounts given by M. Polo regarding the Bularguchi.
In the _Kui sin tsa shi_, written by Chow Mi, in the former part of the
14th century, interesting particulars regarding Mongol hunting are found."
(_Palladius_, 47.) In chapter 101. _Djan-ch'i_, of the _Yuen-shi_,
Falconers are called _Ying fang pu lie_, and a certain class of the
Falconers are termed _Bo-lan-ghi_. (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I.
p. 188.)--H. C.]
NOTE 5.--A like description is given by Odoric of the mode in which a
successor of Kúblái travelled between Cambaluc and Shangtu, with his
falcons also in the chamber beside him. What Kúblái had adopted as an
indulgence to his years and gout, his successors probably followed as a
precedent without these excuses.
[With regard to the gout of Kúblái Khan, Palladius (p. 48) writes: "In the
Corean history allusion is made twice to the Khan's suffering from this
disease. Under the year 1267, it is there recorded that in the 9th month,
envoys of the Khan with a letter to the King arrived in Corea. Kubilai
asked for the skin of the _Akirho munho_, a fish resembling a cow. The
envoy was informed that, as the Khan suffered from swollen feet it would
be useful for him to wear boots made of the skin of this animal, and in
the 10th month, the king of Corea forwarded to the Khan seventeen skins of
it. It is further recorded in the Corean history, that in the 8th month of
1292, sorcerers and _Shaman_ women from Corea were sent at the request of
the Khan to cure him of a disease of the feet and hands. At that time the
king of Corea was also in Peking, and the sorcerers and Shaman women were
admitted during an audience the King had of the Khan. They took the Khan's
hands and feet and began to recite exorcisms, whilst Kubilai was
laughing."--H. C.]
NOTE 6.--Marsden and Pauthier identify Cachar Modun with _Tchakiri
Mondou_, or _Moudon_, which appears in D'Anville's atlas as the title of a
"Levée de terre naturelle," in the extreme east of Manchuria, and in lat.
44°, between the Khinga Lake and the sea. This position is out of the
question. It is more than 900 miles, _in a straight line_ from Peking, and
the mere journey thither and back would have taken Kúblái's camp something
like six months. The name _Kachar Modun_ is probably Mongol, and as
_Katzar_ is = "land, region," and _Modun_ = "wood" or "tree," a fair
interpretation lies on the surface. Such a name indeed has little
individuality. But the Jesuit maps have a _Modun Khotan_ ("Wood-ville")
just about the locality supposed, viz. in the region north of the eastern
extremity of the Great Wall.
[Captain Gill writes (_River of Golden Sand_, I. p. 111): "This country
around Urh-Chuang is admirably described [in _Marco Polo_, pp. 403, 406],
and I should almost imagine that the Kaan must have set off south-east
from Peking, and enjoyed some of his hawking not far from here, before he
travelled to Cachar Modun, wherever that may have been."
"With respect to Cachar Modun, Marco Polo intends perhaps by this name
Ho-si wu, which place, together with Yang-ts'un, were comprised in the
general name _Ma t'ou_ (perhaps the _Modun_ of M. Polo). Ma-t'ou is even
now a general term for a jetty in Chinese. Ho-si in the Mongol spelling
was Ha-shin. D'Ohsson, in his translation of Rashid-eddin renders _Ho-si_
by _Co-shi_ (_Hist. des Mongols_, I. p. 95), but Rashid in that case
speaks not of Ho-si wu, but of the Tangut Empire, which in Chinese was
called Ho-si, meaning west of the (Yellow) River. (See supra, p. 205).
Ho-si wu, as well as Yang-ts'un, both exist even now as villages on the
Pei-ho River, and near the first ancient walls can be seen. Ho-si wu means:
'Custom's barrier west of the (Pei-ho) river.'" (_Palladius_, p. 45.) This
identification cannot be accepted on account of the position of Ho-si wu.
--H. C.]
NOTE 7.--I suppose the best accessible illustration of the Kaan's great
tent may be that in which the Emperor Kienlung received Lord Macartney in
the same region in 1793, of which one view is given in Staunton's plates.
Another exists in the Staunton Collection in the B. M., of which I give a
reduced sketch.
Kúblái's great tent, after all, was but a fraction of the size of Akbar's
audience-tents, the largest of which held 10,000 people, and took 1000
_farráshes_ a week's work to pitch it, with machines. But perhaps the
manner of _holding_ people is differently estimated. (_Aín Akb._ 53.)
In the description of the tent-poles, Pauthier's text has "_trois
coulombes de fust_ de pieces _moult bien encuierées_," etc. The G. T. has
"_de leing_ d'especies _mout bien curés_," etc. The Crusca, "_di_ spezie
_molto belle_," and Ramusio going off at a tangent, "_di legno intagliate
con grandissimo artificio e indorate_." I believe the translation in the
text to indicate the true reading. It might mean camphor-wood, or the
like. The tent-covering of tiger-skins is illustrated by a passage in
Sanang Setzen, which speaks of a tent covered with panther-skins, sent to
Chinghiz by the Khan of the Solongos (p. 77).
[Illustration: The Tents of the Emperor Kienlung.]
[Grenard (pp. 160-162) gives us his experience of Tents in Central Asia
(Khotan). "These Tents which we had purchased at Tashkent were the
'tentes-abris' which are used in campaign by Russian military workshops,
only we made them larger by a third. They were made of grey Kirghiz felt,
which cannot be procured at Khotan. The felt manufactured in this town not
having enough consistency or solidity, we took Aksu felt, which is better
than this of Khotan, though inferior to the felt of Russian Turkestan.
These felt tents are extremely heavy, and, once damp, are dried with
difficulty. These drawbacks are not compensated by any important
advantage; it would be an illusion to believe that they preserve from the
cold any better than other tents. In fact, I prefer the Manchu tent in use
in the Chinese army, which is, perhaps, of all military tents the most
practical and comfortable. It is made of a single piece of double cloth of
cotton, very strong, waterproof for a long time, white inside, blue
outside, and weighs with its three tipped sticks and its wooden poles, 25
kilog. Set up, it forms a ridge roof 7 feet high and shelters fully ten
men. It suits servants perfectly well. For the master who wants to work,
to write, to draw, occasionally to receive officials, the ideal tent would
be one of the same material, but of larger proportions, and comprising two
parallel vertical partitions and surmounted by a ridge roof. The round
form of Kirghiz and Mongol tents is also very comfortable, but it requires
a complicated and inconvenient wooden frame-work, owing to which it takes
some considerable time to raise up the tent."--H. C.]
NOTE 8.--The expressions about the sable run in the G. T., "_et l'apellent
les Tartarz les_ roi des pelaines," etc. This has been curiously
misunderstood both in versions based on Pipino, and in the Geog. Latin and
Crusca Italian. The Geog. Latin gives us "_vocant eas Tartari_ Lenoidae
Pellonae"; the Crusca, "_chiamanle li Tartari_ Leroide Pelame"; Ramusio in
a very odd way combines both the genuine and the blundered interpretation:
"_E li Tartari la chiamano_ Regina delle Pelli; _e gli animali si
chiamano_ Rondes." Fraehn ingeniously suggested that this _Rondes_ (which
proves to be merely a misunderstanding of the French words _Roi des_) was
a mistake for _Kunduz_, usually meaning a "beaver," but also a "sable."
(See _Ibn Foszlan_, p. 57.) _Condux_, no doubt with this meaning, appears
coupled with _vair_, in a Venetian Treaty with Egypt (1344), quoted by
Heyd. (II. 208.)
Ibn Batuta puts the ermine above the sable. An ermine pelisse, he says,
was worth in India 1000 dinárs of that country, whilst a sable one was
worth only 400 dinárs. As Ibn Batuta's Indian dinárs are _Rupees_, the
estimate of price is greatly lower than Polo's. Some years ago I find the
price of a _Sack_, as it is technically called by the Russian traders, or
robe of fine sables, stated to be in the Siberian market about 7000 banco
rubels, i.e. I believe about 350_l._ The same authority mentions that in
1591 the Tzar Theodore Ivanovich made a present of a pelisse valued at the
equivalent of 5000 _silver_ rubels of modern Russian money, or upwards of
750_l._ Atkinson speaks of a _single_ sable skin of the highest quality,
for which the trapper demanded 18_l._ The great mart for fine sables is at
Olekma on the Lena. (See _I. B._ II. 401-402; _Baer's Beiträge_, VII. 215
seqq.; _Upper and Lower Amoor_, 390.)
NOTE 9.--Hawking is still common in North China. Pétis de la Croix the
elder, in his account of the _Yasa_, or institutes of Chinghiz, quotes one
which lays down that between March and October "no one should take stags,
deer, roebucks, hares, wild asses, nor some certain birds," in order that
there might be ample sport in winter for the court. This would be just the
reverse of Polo's statement, but I suspect it is merely a careless
adoption of the latter. There are many such traps in Pétis de la Croix.
(Engl. Vers. 1722, p. 82.)
CHAPTER XXI.
REHEARSAL OF THE WAY THE YEAR OF THE GREAT KAAN IS DISTRIBUTED.
On arriving at his capital of Cambaluc,[NOTE 1] he stays in his palace
there three days and no more; during which time he has great court
entertainments and rejoicings, and makes merry with his wives. He then
quits his palace at Cambaluc, and proceeds to that city which he has
built, as I told you before, and which is called Chandu, where he has that
grand park and palace of cane, and where he keeps his gerfalcons in mew.
There he spends the summer, to escape the heat, for the situation is a
very cool one. After stopping there from the beginning of May to the 28th
of August, he takes his departure (that is the time when they sprinkle the
white mares' milk as I told you), and returns to his capital Cambaluc.
There he stops, as I have told you also, the month of September, to keep
his Birthday Feast, and also throughout October, November, December,
January, and February, in which last month he keeps the grand feast of the
New Year, which they call the White Feast, as you have heard already with
all particulars. He then sets out on his march towards the Ocean Sea,
hunting and hawking, and continues out from the beginning of March to the
middle of May; and then comes back for three days only to the capital,
during which he makes merry with his wives, and holds a great court and
grand entertainments. In truth, 'tis something astonishing, the
magnificence displayed by the Emperor in those three days; and then he
starts off again as you know.
Thus his whole year is distributed in the following manner: six months at
his chief palace in the royal city of Cambaluc, to wit, _September,
October, November, December, January, February_;
Then on the great hunting expedition towards the sea, _March, April, May_;
Then back to his palace at Cambaluc for _three days_;
Then off to the city of Chandu which he has built, and where the Cane
Palace is, where he stays _June, July, August_;
Then back again to his capital city of Cambaluc.
So thus the whole year is spent; six months at the capital, three months
in hunting, and three months at the Cane Palace to avoid the heat. And in
this way he passes his time with the greatest enjoyment; not to mention
occasional journeys in this or that direction at his own pleasure.
NOTE 1.--This chapter, with its wearisome and whimsical reiteration,
reminding one of a game of forfeits, is peculiar to that class of MSS.
which claims to represent the copy given to Thibault de Cepoy by Marco
Polo.
Dr. Bushell has kindly sent me a notice of a Chinese document (his
translation of which he had unfortunately mislaid), containing a minute
contemporary account of the annual migration of the Mongol Court to
Shangtu. Having traversed the Kiu Yung Kwan (or Nankau) Pass, where stands
the great Mongol archway represented at the end of this volume, they left
what is now the Kalgan post-road at Tumuyi, making straight for
Chaghan-nor (supra, p. 304), and thence to Shangtu. The return journey in
autumn followed the same route as far as Chaghan-nor, where some days were
spent in fowling on the lakes, and thence by Siuen-hwa fu ("_Sindachu_,"
supra, p. 295) and the present post-road to Cambaluc.
CHAPTER XXII.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAMBALUC, AND ITS GREAT TRAFFIC AND POPULATION.
You must know that the city of Cambaluc hath such a multitude of houses,
and such a vast population inside the walls and outside, that it seems
quite past all possibility. There is a suburb outside each of the gates,
which are twelve in number;[NOTE 1] and these suburbs are so great that
they contain more people than the city itself [for the suburb of one gate
spreads in width till it meets the suburb of the next, whilst they extend
in length some three or four miles]. In those suburbs lodge the foreign
merchants and travellers, of whom there are always great numbers who have
come to bring presents to the Emperor, or to sell articles at Court, or
because the city affords so good a mart to attract traders. [There are in
each of the suburbs, to a distance of a mile from the city, numerous fine
hostelries[NOTE 2] for the lodgment of merchants from different parts of
the world, and a special hostelry is assigned to each description of
people, as if we should say there is one for the Lombards, another for the
Germans, and a third for the Frenchmen.] And thus there are as many good
houses outside of the city as inside, without counting those that belong
to the great lords and barons, which are very numerous.
[Illustration: Plain of Cambaluc; the City in the distance; from the Hills
on the north-west]
You must know that it is forbidden to bury any dead body inside the city.
If the body be that of an Idolater it is carried out beyond the city and
suburbs to a remote place assigned for the purpose, to be burnt. And if it
be of one belonging to a religion the custom of which is to bury, such as
the Christian, the Saracen, or what not, it is also carried out beyond the
suburbs to a distant place assigned for the purpose. And thus the city is
preserved in a better and more healthy state.
Moreover, no public woman resides inside the city, but all such abide
outside in the suburbs. And 'tis wonderful what a vast number of these
there are for the foreigners; it is a certain fact that there are more
than 20,000 of them living by prostitution. And that so many can live in
this way will show you how vast is the population.
[Guards patrol the city every night in parties of 30 or 40, looking out
for any persons who may be abroad at unseasonable hours, i.e. after the
great bell hath stricken thrice. If they find any such person he is
immediately taken to prison, and examined next morning by the proper
officers. If these find him guilty of any misdemeanour they order him a
proportionate beating with the stick. Under this punishment people
sometimes die; but they adopt it in order to eschew bloodshed; for their
_Bacsis_ say that it is an evil thing to shed man's blood].
To this city also are brought articles of greater cost and rarity, and in
greater abundance of all kinds, than to any other city in the world. For
people of every description, and from every region, bring things
(including all the costly wares of India, as well as the fine and precious
goods of Cathay itself with its provinces), some for the sovereign, some
for the court, some for the city which is so great, some for the crowds of
Barons and Knights, some for the great hosts of the Emperor which are
quartered round about; and thus between court and city the quantity
brought in is endless.
As a sample, I tell you, no day in the year passes that there do not enter
the city 1000 cart-loads of silk alone, from which are made quantities of
cloth of silk and gold, and of other goods. And this is not to be wondered
at; for in all the countries round about there is no flax, so that
everything has to be made of silk. It is true, indeed, that in some parts
of the country there is cotton and hemp, but not sufficient for their
wants. This, however, is not of much consequence, because silk is so
abundant and cheap, and is a more valuable substance than either flax or
cotton.
Round about this great city of Cambaluc there are some 200 other cities at
various distances, from which traders come to sell their goods and buy
others for their lords; and all find means to make their sales and
purchases, so that the traffic of the city is passing great.
NOTE 1.--It would seem to have been usual to reckon _twelve_ suburbs to
Peking down to modern times. (See _Deguignes_, III. 38.)
NOTE 2.--The word here used is _Fondaco_, often employed in mediaeval
Italian in the sense nearly of what we call a _factory_. The word is from
the Greek [Greek: pandokeion], but through the Arabic _Fandúk_. The latter
word is used by Ibn Batuta in speaking of the hostelries at which the
Mussulman merchants put up in China.
CHAPTER XXIII.
[CONCERNING THE OPPRESSIONS OF ACHMATH THE BAILO, AND THE PLOT THAT WAS
FORMED AGAINST HIM.[NOTE 1]
You will hear further on how that there are twelve persons appointed who
have authority to dispose of lands, offices, and everything else at their
discretion. Now one of these was a certain Saracen named ACHMATH, a shrewd
and able man, who had more power and influence with the Grand Kaan than
any of the others; and the Kaan held him in such regard that he could do
what he pleased. The fact was, as came out after his death, that Achmath
had so wrought upon the Kaan with his sorcery, that the latter had the
greatest faith and reliance on everything he said, and in this way did
everything that Achmath wished him to do.
This person disposed of all governments and offices, and passed sentence
on all malefactors; and whenever he desired to have any one whom he hated
put to death, whether with justice or without it, he would go to the
Emperor and say: "Such an one deserves death, for he hath done this or
that against your imperial dignity." Then the Lord would say: "Do as you
think right," and so he would have the man forthwith executed. Thus when
people saw how unbounded were his powers, and how unbounded the reliance
placed by the Emperor on everything that he said, they did not venture to
oppose him in anything. No one was so high in rank or power as to be free
from the dread of him. If any one was accused by him to the Emperor of a
capital offence, and desired to defend himself, he was unable to bring
proofs in his own exculpation, for no one would stand by him, as no one
dared to oppose Achmath. And thus the latter caused many to perish
unjustly.[NOTE 2]
Moreover, there was no beautiful woman whom he might desire, but he got
hold of her; if she were unmarried, forcing her to be his wife, if
otherwise, compelling her to consent to his desires. Whenever he knew of
any one who had a pretty daughter, certain ruffians of his would go to the
father, and say: "What say you? Here is this pretty daughter of yours;
give her in marriage to the Bailo Achmath (for they called him 'the
Bailo,' or, as we should say, 'the Vicegerent'),[NOTE 3] and we will
arrange for his giving you such a government or such an office for three
years." And so the man would surrender his daughter. And Achmath would go
to the Emperor, and say: "Such a government is vacant, or will be vacant
on such a day. So-and-So is a proper man for the post." And the Emperor
would reply: "Do as you think best;" and the father of the girl was
immediately appointed to the government. Thus either through the ambition
of the parents, or through fear of the Minister, all the beautiful women
were at his beck, either as wives or mistresses. Also he had some
five-and-twenty sons who held offices of importance, and some of these,
under the protection of their father's name, committed scandals like his
own, and many other abominable iniquities. This Achmath also had amassed
great treasure, for everybody who wanted office sent him a heavy bribe.
In such authority did this man continue for two-and-twenty years. At last
the people of the country, to wit the Cathayans, utterly wearied with the
endless outrages and abominable iniquities which he perpetrated against
them, whether as regarded their wives or their own persons, conspired to
slay him and revolt against the government. Amongst the rest there was a
certain Cathayan named Chenchu, a commander of a thousand, whose mother,
daughter, and wife had all been dishonoured by Achmath. Now this man, full
of bitter resentment, entered into parley regarding the destruction of the
Minister with another Cathayan whose name was Vanchu, who was a commander
of 10,000. They came to the conclusion that the time to do the business
would be during the Great Kaan's absence from Cambaluc. For after stopping
there three months he used to go to Chandu and stop there three months;
and at the same time his son Chinkin used to go away to his usual haunts,
and this Achmath remained in charge of the city; sending to obtain the
Kaan's orders from Chandu when any emergency arose.
So Vanchu and Chenchu, having come to this conclusion, proceeded to
communicate it to the chief people among the Cathayans, and then by common
consent sent word to their friends in many other cities that they had
determined on such a day, at the signal given by a beacon, to massacre all
the men with beards, and that the other cities should stand ready to do
the like on seeing the signal fires. The reason why they spoke of
massacring the bearded men was that the Cathayans naturally have no beard,
whilst beards are worn by the Tartars, Saracens, and Christians. And you
should know that all the Cathayans detested the Grand Kaan's rule because
he set over them governors who were Tartars, or still more frequently
Saracens, and these they could not endure, for they were treated by them
just like slaves. You see the Great Kaan had not succeeded to the dominion
of Cathay by hereditary right, but held it by conquest; and thus having no
confidence in the natives, he put all authority into the hands of Tartars,
Saracens, or Christians who were attached to his household and devoted to
his service, and were foreigners in Cathay.
Wherefore, on the day appointed, the aforesaid Vanchu and Chenchu having
entered the palace at night, Vanchu sat down and caused a number of lights
to be kindled before him. He then sent a messenger to Achmath the Bailo,
who lived in the Old City, as if to summon him to the presence of Chinkin,
the Great Kaan's son, who (it was pretended) had arrived unexpectedly.
When Achmath heard this he was much surprised, but made haste to go, for
he feared the Prince greatly. When he arrived at the gate he met a Tartar
called Cogatai, who was Captain of the 12,000 that formed the standing
garrison of the City; and the latter asked him whither he was bound so
late? "To Chinkin, who is just arrived." Quoth Cogatai, "How can that be?
How could he come so privily that I know nought of it?" So he followed the
Minister with a certain number of his soldiers. Now the notion of the
Cathayans was that, if they could make an end of Achmath, they would have
nought else to be afraid of. So as soon as Achmath got inside the palace,
and saw all that illumination, he bowed down before Vanchu, supposing him
to be Chinkin, and Chenchu who was standing ready with a sword straightway
cut his head off. As soon as Cogatai, who had halted at the entrance,
beheld this, he shouted "Treason!" and instantly discharged an arrow at
Vanchu and shot him dead as he sat. At the same time he called his people
to seize Chenchu, and sent a proclamation through the city that any one
found in the streets would be instantly put to death. The Cathayans saw
that the Tartars had discovered the plot, and that they had no longer any
leader, since Vanchu was killed and Chenchu was taken. So they kept still
in their houses, and were unable to pass the signal for the rising of the
other cities as had been settled. Cogatai immediately dispatched
messengers to the Great Kaan giving an orderly report of the whole affair,
and the Kaan sent back orders for him to make a careful investigation, and
to punish the guilty as their misdeeds deserved. In the morning Cogatai
examined all the Cathayans, and put to death a number whom he found to be
ringleaders in the plot. The same thing was done in the other cities, when
it was found that the plot extended to them also.
After the Great Kaan had returned to Cambaluc he was very anxious to
discover what had led to this affair, and he then learned all about the
endless iniquities of that accursed Achmath and his sons. It was proved
that he and seven of his sons (for they were not all bad) had forced no
end of women to be their wives, besides those whom they had ravished. The
Great Kaan then ordered all the treasure that Achmath had accumulated in
the Old City to be transferred to his own treasury in the New City, and it
was found to be of enormous amount. He also ordered the body of Achmath to
be dug up and cast into the streets for the dogs to tear; and commanded
those of his sons that had followed the father's evil example to be flayed
alive.[NOTE 4]
These circumstances called the Kaan's attention to the accursed doctrines
of the Sect of the Saracens, which excuse every crime, yea even murder
itself, when committed on such as are not of their religion. And seeing
that this doctrine had led the accursed Achmath and his sons to act as
they did without any sense of guilt, the Kaan was led to entertain the
greatest disgust and abomination for it. So he summoned the Saracens and
prohibited their doing many things which their religion enjoined. Thus, he
ordered them to regulate their marriages by the Tartar Law, and prohibited
their cutting the throats of animals killed for food, ordering them to rip
the stomach in the Tartar way.
Now when all this happened Messer Marco was upon the spot.][NOTE 5]
NOTE 1.--This narrative is from Ramusio's version, and constitutes one of
the most notable passages peculiar to that version.
The name of the oppressive Minister is printed in Ramusio's Collection
_Achmach_. But the _c_ and _t_ are so constantly interchanged in MSS. that
I think there can be no question this was a mere clerical error for
_Achmath_, and so I write it. I have also for consistency changed the
spelling of _Xandu_, _Chingis_, etc., to that hitherto adopted in our text
of _Chandu_, _Chinkin_, etc.
NOTE 2.--The remarks of a Chinese historian on Kúblái's administration may
be appropriately quoted here: "Hupilai Han must certainly be regarded as
one of the greatest princes that ever existed, and as one of the most
successful in all that he undertook. This he owed to his judgment in the
selection of his officers, and to his talent for commanding them. He
carried his arms into the most remote countries, and rendered his name so
formidable that not a few nations spontaneously submitted to his
supremacy. Nor was there ever an Empire of such vast extent. He cultivated
literature, protected its professors, and even thankfully received their
advice. Yet he never placed a Chinese in his cabinet, and he employed
foreigners only as Ministers. These, however, he chose with discernment,
_always excepting the Ministers of Finance_. He really loved his subjects;
and if they were not always happy under his government, it is because they
took care to conceal their sufferings. There were in those days no Public
Censors whose duty it is to warn the Sovereign of what is going on: and no
one dared to speak out for fear of the resentment of the Ministers, who
were the depositaries of the Imperial authority, and the authors of the
oppressions under which the people laboured. Several Chinese, men of
letters and of great ability, who lived at Hupilai's court, might have
rendered that prince the greatest service in the administration of his
dominions, but they never were intrusted with any but subordinate offices,
and they were not in a position to make known the malversations of those
public blood-suckers." (_De Mailla_, IX. 459-460.)
AHMAD was a native of Fenáket (afterwards Sháh-Rúkhia), near the Jaxartes,
and obtained employment under Kúblái through the Empress Jamui Khatun, who
had known him before her marriage. To her Court he was originally
attached, but we find him already employed in high financial office in
1264. Kúblái's demands for money must have been very large, and he
eschewed looking too closely into the character of his financial agents or
the means by which they raised money for him. Ahmad was very successful in
this, and being a man of great talent and address, obtained immense
influence over the Emperor, until at last nothing was done save by his
direction, though he always _appeared_ to be acting under the orders of
Kúblái. The Chinese authorities in Gaubil and De Mailla speak strongly of
his oppressions, but only in general terms, and without affording such
particulars as we derive from the text.
The Hereditary Prince Chingkim was strongly adverse to Ahmad; and some of
the high Chinese officials on various occasions made remonstrance against
the Minister's proceedings; but Kúblái turned a deaf ear to them, and
Ahmad succeeded in ruining most of his opponents. (_Gaubil_, 141, 143,
151; _De Mailla_, IX. 316-317; _D'Ohsson_, II. 468-469.)
[The Rev. W. S. Ament (_Marco Polo in Cambaluc_, 105) writes: "No name is
more execrated than that of Ah-ha-ma (called Achmath by Polo), a Persian,
who was chosen to manage the finances of the Empire. He was finally
destroyed by a combination against him while the Khan was absent with
Crown Prince Chen Chin, on a visit to Shang Tu." Achmath has his biography
under the name of _A-ho-ma_ (Ahmed) in the ch. 205 of the _Yuen-shi_,
under the rubric "Villanous Ministers." (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I.
p. 272.)--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--This term _Bailo_ was the designation of the representative of
Venetian dignity at Constantinople, called _Podestà_ during the period of
the Latin rule there, and it has endured throughout the Turkish Empire to
our own day in the form _Balios_ as the designation of a Frank Consul.
[There was also a Venetian _bailo_ in Syria.--H. C.] But that term itself
could scarcely have been in use at Cambaluc, even among the handful of
Franks, to designate the powerful Minister, and it looks as if Marco had
confounded the word in his own mind with some Oriental term of like sound,
possibly the Arabic _Wáli_, "a Prince, Governor of a Province,... a chief
Magistrate." (_F. Johnson._) In the _Roteiro_ of the Voyage of Vasco da
Gama (2nd ed. Lisbon, 1861, pp. 53-54) it is said that on the arrival of
the ships at Calicut the King sent "a man who was called the _Bale_, which
is much the same as _Alquaide_." And the Editor gives the same explanation
that I have suggested.
I observe that according to Pandit Manphúl the native governor of Kashgar,
under the Chinese Amban, used to be called the _Baili Beg_. [In this case
_Baili_ stands for _beilêh_.--H. C.] (_Panjab Trade Report_, App.
p. cccxxxvii.)
NOTE 4.--The story, as related in De Mailla and Gaubil, is as follows. It
contains much less detail than the text, and it differs as to the manner
of the chief conspirator's death, whilst agreeing as to his name and the
main facts of the episode.
In the spring of 1282 (Gaubil, 1281) Kúblái and Prince Chingkim had gone
off as usual to Shangtu, leaving Ahmad in charge at the Capital. The whole
country was at heart in revolt against his oppressions. Kúblái alone knew,
or would know, nothing of them.
WANGCHU, a chief officer of the city, resolved to take the opportunity of
delivering the Empire from such a curse, and was joined in his enterprise
by a certain sorcerer called Kao Hoshang. They sent two Lamas to the
Council Board with a message that the Crown Prince was returning to the
Capital to take part in certain Buddhist ceremonies, but no credit was
given to this. Wangchu then, pretending to have received orders from the
Prince, desired an officer called CHANG-Y (perhaps the Chenchu of Polo's
narrative) to go in the evening with a guard of honour to receive him.
Late at night a message was sent to summon the Ministers, as the Prince
(it was pretended) had already arrived. They came in haste with Ahmad at
their head, and as he entered the Palace Wangchu struck him heavily with a
copper mace and stretched him dead. Wangchu was arrested, or according to
one account surrendered, though he might easily have escaped, confident
that the Crown Prince would save his life. Intelligence was sent off to
Kúblái, who received it at Chaghan-Nor. (See Book I. ch. lx.) He
immediately despatched officers to arrest the guilty and bring them to
justice. Wangchu, Chang-y, and Kao Hoshang were publicly executed at the
Old City; Wangchu dying like a hero, and maintaining that he had done the
Empire an important service which would yet be acknowledged. (_De Mailla_,
IX. 412-413; _Gaubil_, 193-194; _D'Ohsson_, II. 470.) [Cf. _G. Phillips_,
in _T'oung-Pao_, I. p. 220.--H. C.]
NOTE 5.--And it is a pleasant fact that Messer Marco's presence, and his
upright conduct upon this occasion, have not been forgotten in the Chinese
Annals: "The Emperor having returned from Chaghan-Nor to Shangtu, desired
POLO, Assessor of the Privy Council, to explain the reasons which had led
Wangchu to commit this murder. Polo spoke with boldness of the crimes and
oppressions of Ahama (Ahmad), which had rendered him an object of
detestation throughout the Empire. The Emperor's eyes were opened, and he
praised the courage of Wangchu. He complained that those who surrounded
him, in abstaining from admonishing him of what was going on, had thought
more of their fear of displeasing the Minister than of the interests of
the State." By Kúblái's order, the body of Ahmad was taken up, his head
was cut off and publicly exposed, and his body cast to the dogs. His son
also was put to death with all his family, and his immense wealth
confiscated. 714 persons were punished, one way or other, for their share
in Ahmad's malversations. (_De Mailla_, IX. 413-414.)
What is said near the end of this chapter about the Kaan's resentment
against the Saracens has some confirmation in circumstances related by
Rashiduddin. The refusal of some Mussulman merchants, on a certain
occasion at Court, to eat of the dishes sent them by the Emperor, gave
great offence, and led to the revival of an order of Chinghiz, which
prohibited, under pain of death, the slaughter of animals by cutting their
throats. This endured for seven years, and was then removed on the strong
representation made to Kúblái of the loss caused by the cessation of the
visits of the Mahomedan merchants. On a previous occasion also the
Mahomedans had incurred disfavour, owing to the ill-will of certain
Christians, who quoted to Kúblái a text of the Koran enjoining the killing
of polytheists. The Emperor sent for the Mullahs, and asked them why they
did not act on the Divine injunction? All they could say was that the time
was not yet come! Kúblái ordered them for execution, and was only appeased
by the intercession of Ahmad, and the introduction of a divine with more
tact, who smoothed over obnoxious applications of the text. (D'Ohsson, II.
492-493.)
CHAPTER XXIV.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSETH THE BARK OF TREES, MADE INTO SOMETHING LIKE
PAPER, TO PASS FOR MONEY OVER ALL HIS COUNTRY.
Now that I have told you in detail of the splendour of this City of the
Emperor's, I shall proceed to tell you of the Mint which he hath in the
same city, in the which he hath his money coined and struck, as I shall
relate to you. And in doing so I shall make manifest to you how it is that
the Great Lord may well be able to accomplish even much more than I have
told you, or am going to tell you, in this Book. For, tell it how I might,
you never would be satisfied that I was keeping within truth and reason!
The Emperor's Mint then is in this same City of Cambaluc, and the way it
is wrought is such that you might say he hath the Secret of Alchemy in
perfection, and you would be right! For he makes his money after this
fashion.
He makes them take of the bark of a certain tree, in fact of the Mulberry
Tree, the leaves of which are the food of the silkworms,--these trees
being so numerous that whole districts are full of them. What they take is
a certain fine white bast or skin which lies between the wood of the tree
and the thick outer bark, and this they make into something resembling
sheets of paper, but black. When these sheets have been prepared they are
cut up into pieces of different sizes. The smallest of these sizes is
worth a half tornesel; the next, a little larger, one tornesel; one, a
little larger still, is worth half a silver groat of Venice; another a
whole groat; others yet two groats, five groats, and ten groats. There is
also a kind worth one Bezant of gold, and others of three Bezants, and so
up to ten. All these pieces of paper are [issued with as much solemnity
and authority as if they were of pure gold or silver; and on every piece a
variety of officials, whose duty it is, have to write their names, and to
put their seals. And when all is prepared duly, the chief officer deputed
by the Kaan smears the Seal entrusted to him with vermilion, and impresses
it on the paper, so that the form of the Seal remains printed upon it in
red; the Money is then authentic. Any one forging it would be punished
with death.] And the Kaan causes every year to be made such a vast
quantity of this money, which costs him nothing, that it must equal in
amount all the treasure in the world.
With these pieces of paper, made as I have described, he causes all
payments on his own account to be made; and he makes them to pass current
universally over all his kingdoms and provinces and territories, and
whithersoever his power and sovereignty extends. And nobody, however
important he may think himself, dares to refuse them on pain of death. And
indeed everybody takes them readily, for wheresoever a person may go
throughout the Great Kaan's dominions he shall find these pieces of paper
current, and shall be able to transact all sales and purchases of goods by
means of them just as well as if they were coins of pure gold. And all the
while they are so light that ten bezants' worth does not weigh one golden
bezant.
Furthermore all merchants arriving from India or other countries, and
bringing with them gold or silver or gems and pearls, are prohibited from
selling to any one but the Emperor. He has twelve experts chosen for this
business, men of shrewdness and experience in such affairs; these appraise
the articles, and the Emperor then pays a liberal price for them in those
pieces of paper. The merchants accept his price readily, for in the first
place they would not get so good an one from anybody else, and secondly
they are paid without any delay. And with this paper-money they can buy
what they like anywhere over the Empire, whilst it is also vastly lighter
to carry about on their journeys. And it is a truth that the merchants
will several times in the year bring wares to the amount of 400,000
bezants, and the Grand Sire pays for all in that paper. So he buys such a
quantity of those precious things every year that his treasure is endless,
whilst all the time the money he pays away costs him nothing at all.
Moreover, several times in the year proclamation is made through the city
that any one who may have gold or silver or gems or pearls, by taking them
to the Mint shall get a handsome price for them. And the owners are glad
to do this, because they would find no other purchaser give so large a
price. Thus the quantity they bring in is marvellous, though these who do
not choose to do so may let it alone. Still, in this way, nearly all the
valuables in the country come into the Kaan's possession.
When any of those pieces of paper are spoilt--not that they are so very
flimsy neither--the owner carries them to the Mint, and by paying three
per cent, on the value he gets new pieces in exchange. And if any Baron,
or any one else soever, hath need of gold or silver or gems or pearls, in
order to make plate, or girdles, or the like, he goes to the Mint and buys
as much as he list, paying in this paper-money.[NOTE 1]
Now you have heard the ways and means whereby the Great Kaan may have, and
in fact _has_, more treasure than all the Kings in the World; and you know
all about it and the reason why. And now I will tell you of the great
Dignitaries which act in this city on behalf of the Emperor.
NOTE 1.--It is surprising to find that, nearly two centuries ago,
Magaillans, a missionary who had lived many years in China, and was
presumably a Chinese scholar, should have utterly denied the truth of
Polo's statements about the paper-currency of China. Yet the fact even
then did not rest on Polo's statement only. The same thing had been
alleged in the printed works of Rubruquis, Roger Bacon, Hayton, Friar
Odoric, the Archbishop of Soltania, and Josaphat Barbaro, to say nothing
of other European authorities that remained in manuscript, or of the
numerous Oriental records of the same circumstance.
The issue of paper-money in China is at least as old as the beginning of
the 9th century. In 1160 the system had gone to such excess that
government paper equivalent in nominal value to 43,600,000 ounces of
silver had been issued in six years, and there were local notes besides;
so that the Empire was flooded with rapidly depreciating paper.
The _Kin_ or "Golden" Dynasty of Northern Invaders who immediately
preceded the Mongols took to paper, in spite of their title, as kindly as
the native sovereigns. Their notes had a course of seven years, after
which new notes were issued to the holders, with a deduction of 15 per
cent.
The Mongols commenced their issues of paper-money in 1236, long before
they had transferred the seat of their government to China. Kúblái made
such an issue in the first year of his reign (1260), and continued to
issue notes copiously till the end. In 1287 he put out a complete new
currency, one note of which was to exchange against _five_ of the previous
series of equal nominal value! In both issues the paper-money was, in
official valuation, only equivalent to half its nominal value in silver; a
circumstance not very easy to understand. The paper-money was called
_Chao_.
The notes of Kúblái's first issue (1260-1287) with which Polo maybe
supposed most familiar, were divided into three classes; (1) _Notes of
Tens_, viz. of 10, 20, 30, and 50 _tsien_ or cash; (2) _Notes of
Hundreds_, viz. of 100, 200, and 500 _tsien_; and (3) _Notes of Strings_
or _Thousands_ of cash, or in other words of _Liangs_ or ounces of silver
(otherwise _Tael_), viz. of 1000 and 2000 _tsien_. There were also notes
printed on silk for 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 ounces each, valued at par in
silver, but these would not circulate. In 1275, it should be mentioned,
there had been a supplementary issue of small notes for 2, 3, and 5 cash
each.
Marsden states an equation between Marco's values of the Notes and the
actual Chinese currency, to which Biot seems to assent. I doubt its
correctness, for his assumed values of the groat or _grosso_ and tornesel
are surely wrong. The grosso ran at that time 18 to the gold ducat or
sequin, and allowing for the then higher relative value of silver, should
have contained about 5_d._ of silver. The ducat was also equivalent to 2
_lire_, and the _tornese_ (Romanin, III. 343) was 4 deniers. Now the
denier is always, I believe 1/240 of the _lira_. Hence the _tornese_ would
be 9/60 of the _grosso_.
But we are not to look for _exact_ correspondences, when we see Polo
applying round figures in European coinage to Chinese currency.
[Illustration: Bank-Note of the Ming Dynasty]
His bezant notes, I agree with Marsden, here represent the Chinese notes
for one and more ounces of silver. And here the correspondence of value is
much nearer than it seems at first sight. The Chinese _liang_ or ounce of
silver is valued commonly at 6_s._ 7_d._, say roundly 80_d._[1] But the
relation of gold and silver in civilized Asia was then (see ch. I. note 4,
and also _Cathay_, pp. ccl. and 442) as 10 to 1, not, as with us now, more
than 15 to 1. Wherefore the _liang_ in relation to gold would be worth
120_d._ or 10_s._, a little over the Venetian ducat and somewhat less than
the bezant or dínár. We shall then find the table of Chinese issues, as
compared with Marco's equivalents, to stand thus:--
CHINESE ISSUES, AS RECORDED. MARCO POLO'S STATEMENT.
For 10 ounces of silver (viz. }
the Chinese _Ting_)[2] } 10 bezants.
For 1 ounce of silver, i.e. 1 _liang_, }
or 1000 _tsien_ (cash) } 1 "
For 500 _tsien_ . . . . . . 10 groats.
200 " . . . . . . . 5 " (should have been 4).
100 " . . . . . . . 2 "
50 " . . . . . . . 1 "
30 " . . . . . . . 1/2 " (but the
proportionate
equivalent of half a groat
would be 25 _tsien_).
20 " . . . . . . .
10 " . . . . . . . 1 tornesel (but the
proportionate equivalent
would be 7-1/2 _tsien_).
5 " . . . . . . . 1/2 " (but prop. equivalent
3-3/4 _tsien_).
Pauthier has given from the Chinese Annals of the Mongol Dynasty a
complete Table of the Issues of Paper-Money during every year of Kúblái's
reign (1260-1294), estimated at their nominal value in _Ting_ or tens of
silver ounces. The lowest issue was in 1269, of 228,960 _ounces_, which at
the rate of 120_d._ to the ounce (see above) = 114,480_l._, and the
highest was in 1290, viz. 50,002,500 ounces, equivalent at the same
estimate to 25,001,250_l._! whilst the total amount in the 34 years was
249,654,290 ounces or 124,827,144_l._ in nominal value. Well might Marco
speak of the vast quantity of such notes that the Great Kaan issued
annually!
To complete the history of the Chinese paper-currency so far as we can:
In 1309, a new issue took place with the same provision as in Kúblái's
issue of 1287, i.e. each note of the new issue was to exchange against 5
of the old of the same nominal value. And it was at the same time
prescribed that the notes should exchange at par with metals, which of
course it was beyond the power of Government to enforce, and so the notes
were abandoned. Issues continued from time to time to the end of the
Mongol Dynasty. The paper-currency is spoken of by Odoric (1320-30), by
Pegolotti (1330-40), and by Ibn Batuta (1348), as still the chief, if not
sole, currency of the Empire. According to the Chinese authorities, the
credit of these issues was constantly diminishing, as it is easy to
suppose. But it is odd that all the Western Travellers speak as if the
notes were as good as gold. Pegolotti, writing for mercantile men, and
from the information (as we may suppose) of mercantile men, says
explicitly that there was no depreciation.
The Ming Dynasty for a time carried on the system of paper-money; with the
difference that while under the Mongols no other currency had been
admitted, their successors made payments in notes, but accepted only hard
cash from their people![3] In 1448 the _chao_ of 1000 cash was worth but
3. Barbaro still heard talk of the Chinese paper-currency from travellers
whom he met at Azov about this time; but after 1455 there is said to be no
more mention of it in Chinese history.
I have never heard of the preservation of any note of the Mongols; but
some of the Ming survive, and are highly valued as curiosities in China.
The late Sir G. T. Staunton appears to have possessed one; Dr. Lockhart
formerly had two, of which he gave one to Sir Harry Parkes, and retains
the other. The paper is so dark as to explain Marco's description of it as
black. By Dr. Lockhart's kindness I am enabled to give a reduced
representation of this note, as near a facsimile as we have been able to
render it, but with some _restoration_, e.g. of the _seals_, of which on
the original there is the barest indication remaining.
[Mr. Vissering (_Chinese Currency_, Addenda, I.-III.) gives a facsimile
and a description of a Chinese banknote of the Ming Dynasty belonging to
the collection of the Asiatic Museum of the Academy of Sciences at St.
Petersburg. "In the eighth year of the period _Hung-wu_ (1375), the
Emperor Tai-tsu issued an order to his minister of finances to make the
_Pao-tsao_ (precious bills) of the _Ta-Ming_ Dynasty, and to employ as raw
material for the composition of those bills the fibres of the mulberry
tree."--H. C.]
Notwithstanding the disuse of Government issues of paper-money from that
time till recent years, there had long been in some of the cities of China
a large use of private and local promissory notes as currency. In Fuchau
this was especially the case; bullion was almost entirely displaced, and
the banking-houses in that city were counted by hundreds. These were under
no government control; any individual or company having sufficient capital
or credit could establish a bank and issue their bills, which varied in
amount from 100 cash to 1000 dollars. Some fifteen years ago the Imperial
Government seems to have been induced by the exhausted state of the
Treasury, and these large examples of the local use of paper-currency, to
consider projects for resuming that system after the disuse of four
centuries. A curious report by a Committee of the Imperial Supreme
Council, on a project for such a currency, appears among the papers
published by the Russian Mission at Peking. It is unfavourable to the
particular project, but we gather from other sources that the Government
not long afterwards did open banks in the large cities of the Empire for
the issue of a new paper-currency, but that it met with bad success. At
Fuchau, in 1858, I learn from one notice, the dollar was worth from 18,000
to 20,000 cash in Government Bills. Dr. Rennie, in 1861, speaks of the
dollar at Peking as valued at 15,000, and later at 25,000 paper cash.
Sushun, the Regent, had issued a vast number of notes through banks of his
own in various parts of Peking. These he failed to redeem, causing the
failure of all the banks, and great consequent commotion in the city. The
Regent had led the Emperor [Hien Fung] systematically into debauched
habits which ended in paralysis. On the Emperor's death the Empress caused
the arrest and execution of Sushun. His conduct in connection with the
bank failures was so bitterly resented that when the poor wretch was led
to execution (8th November, 1861), as I learn from an eye-witness, the
defrauded creditors lined the streets and cheered.[4]
The Japanese also had a paper-currency in the 14th century. It is
different in form from that of China. That figured by Siebold is a strip
of strong paper doubled, 6-1/4 in. long by 1-3/4 in. wide, bearing a
representation of the tutelary god of riches, with long inscriptions in
Chinese characters, seals in black and red, and an indication of value in
ancient Japanese characters. I do not learn whether notes of considerable
amount are still used in Japan; but Sir R. Alcock speaks of banknotes for
small change from 30 to 500 cash and more, as in general use in the
interior.
Two notable and disastrous attempts to imitate the Chinese system of
currency took place in the Middle Ages; one of them in Persia, apparently
in Polo's very presence, the other in India some 36 years later.
The first was initiated in 1294 by the worthless Kaikhatu Khan, when his
own and his ministers' extravagance had emptied the Treasury, on the
suggestion of a financial officer called 'Izzuddín Muzaffar. The notes
were direct copies of Kúblái's, even the Chinese characters being imitated
as part of the device upon them.[5] The Chinese name _Chao_ was applied to
them, and the Mongol Resident at Tabriz, Pulad Chingsang, was consulted in
carrying out the measure. Expensive preparations were made for this
object; offices called _Cháo-Khánahs_ were erected in the principal cities
of the provinces, and a numerous staff appointed to carry out the details.
Ghazan Khan in Khorasan, however, would have none of it, and refused to
allow any of these preparations to be made within his government. After
the constrained use of the Chao for two or three days Tabriz was in an
uproar; the markets were closed; the people rose and murdered 'Izzuddín;
and the whole project had to be abandoned. Marco was in Persia at this
time, or just before, and Sir John Malcolm not unnaturally suggests that
he might have had something to do with the scheme; a suggestion which
excites a needless commotion in the breast of M. Pauthier. We may draw
from the story the somewhat notable conclusion that _Block-printing_ was
practised, at least for this one purpose, at Tabriz in 1294.
The other like enterprise was that of Sultan Mahomed Tughlak of Delhi, in
1330-31. This also was undertaken for like reasons, and was in professed
imitation of the Chao of Cathay. Mahomed, however, used copper tokens
instead of paper; the copper being made apparently of equal weight to the
gold or silver coin which it represented. The system seems to have had a
little more vogue than at Tabriz, but was speedily brought to an end by
the ease with which forgeries on an enormous scale were practised. The
Sultan, in hopes of reviving the credit of his currency, ordered that
every one bringing copper tokens to the Treasury should have them cashed
in gold or silver. "The people who in despair had flung aside their copper
coins like stones and bricks in their houses, all rushed to the Treasury
and exchanged them for gold and silver. In this way the Treasury soon
became empty, but the copper coins had as little circulation as ever, and
a very grievous blow was given to the State."
An odd issue of currency, not of paper, but of leather, took place in
Italy a few years before Polo's birth. The Emperor Frederic II., at the
siege of Faenza in 1241, being in great straits for money, issued pieces
of leather stamped with the mark of his mint at the value of his Golden
Augustals. This leather coinage was very popular, especially at Florence,
and it was afterwards honourably redeemed by Frederic's Treasury. Popular
tradition in Sicily reproaches William the Bad among his other sins with
having issued money of leather, but any stone is good enough to cast at a
dog with such a surname.
[Ma Twan-lin mentions that in the fourth year of the period Yuen Show
(B.C. 119), a currency of white metal and _deer-skin_ was made. Mr.
Vissering (_Chinese Currency_, 38) observes that the skin-tallies "were
purely tokens, and have had nothing in common with the leather-money,
which was, during a long time, current in Russia. This Russian skin-money
had a truly representative character, as the parcels were used instead of
the skins from which they were cut; the skins themselves being too bulky
and heavy to be constantly carried backward and forward, only a little
piece was cut off, to figure as a token of possession of the whole skin.
The ownership of the skin was proved when the piece fitted in the hole."
Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, 201 note) says: "As early as B.C. 118, we find the
Chinese using 'leather-money' (_p'i pi_). These were pieces of white
deer-skin, a foot square, with a coloured border. Each had a value of
40,000 cash. (_Ma Twan-lin_, Bk. 8, 5.)"
Mr. Charles F. Keary (_Coins and Medals_, by S. Lane Poole, 128) mentions
that "in the reign of Elizabeth there was a very extensive issue of
private tokens in lead, tin, latten, and _leather_."--H. C.]
(_Klapr._ in _Mém. Rel. à l'Asie_, I. 375 seqq.; _Biot_, in _J. As._ sér.
III. tom. iv.; _Marsden_ and _Pauthier_, in loco; _Parkes_, in _J. R. A.
S._ XIII. 179; _Doolittle_, 452 seqq.; _Wylie, J. of Shanghai Lit. and
Scient. Soc._ No. I.; _Arbeiten der kais. russ. Gesandsch. zu Peking_, I.
p. 48; _Rennie, Peking_, etc., I. 296, 347; _Birch_, in. _Num. Chron._
XII. 169; Information from _Dr. Lockhart_; _Alcock_, II. 86; _D'Ohsson_,
IV. 53; _Cowell_, in _J. A. S. B._ XXIX. 183 seqq.; _Thomas, Coins of
Patan Sovs. of Hind._, (from _Numism. Chron._ 1852), p. 139 seqq.;
_Kington's Fred. II._ II. 195; _Amari_, III. 816; _W. Vissering, On
Chinese Currency_, Leiden, 1877.)
["Without doubt the Mongols borrowed the bank-note system from the Kin. Up
to the present time there is in Si-ngan-fu a block kept, which was used
for printing the bank-notes of the Kin Dynasty. I have had the opportunity
of seeing a print of those bank-notes, they were of the same size and
shape as the bank-notes of the Ming. A reproduction of the text of the Kin
bank-notes is found in the _Kin shi ts'ui pien_. This copy has the
characters _pao kilan_ (precious charter) and the years of reign _Chêng
Yew_, 1213-1216. The first essay of the Mongols to introduce bank-notes
dates from the time of Ogodai Khan (1229-1242), but Chinese history only
mentions the fact without giving details. At that time silk in skeins was
the only article of a determinate value in the trade and on the project of
_Ye lü ch'u ts'ai_, minister of Ogodai, the taxes were also collected in
silk delivered by weight. It can therefore be assumed that the name _sze
ch'ao_ (i.e. bank-notes referring to the weight of silk) dates back to the
same time. At any rate, at a later time, as, under the reign of Kubilai,
the issuing of banknotes was decreed, silk was taken as the standard to
express the value of silver and 1000 _liang_ silk was estimated = 50
_liang_ (or 1 _ting_) silver. Thus, in consequence of those measures, it
gradually became a rule to transfer the taxes and rents originally paid in
silk, into silver. The wealth of the Mongol Khans in precious metals was
renowned. The accounts regarding their revenues, however, which we meet
with occasionally in Chinese history, do not surprise by their vastness.
In the year 1298, for instance, the amount of the revenue is stated in the
_Siu t'ung Kien_ to have been:--
19,000 _liang_ of gold = (190,000 _liang_ of silver, according to the
exchange of that time at the rate of 1 to 10).
60,000 _liang_ of silver.
3,600,000 _ting_ of silver in bank-notes (i.e. 180 millions _liang_);
altogether 180,250,000 _liang_ of silver.
The number seems indeed very high for that time. But if the exceedingly
low exchange of the bank-notes be taken into consideration, the sum will
be reduced to a modest amount." (_Palladius_, pp. 50-51.)--H. C.]
[Dr. Bretschneider (_Hist. Bot. Disc._, I. p. 4) makes the following
remark:--"Polo states (I. 409) that the Great Kaan causeth the bark of
great Mulberry-trees, made into something like paper, to pass for money."
He seems to be mistaken. Paper in China is not made from mulberry-trees
but from the _Broussonetia papyrifera_, which latter tree belongs to the
same order of Moraceae. The same fibres are used also in some parts of
China for making cloth, and Marco Polo alludes probably to the same tree
when stating (II. 108) "that in the province of Cuiju (Kwei chau) they
manufacture stuff of the bark of certain trees, which form very fine
summer clothing."--H. C.]
[1] Even now there are at least eight different _taels_ (or liangs) in
extensive use over the Empire, and varying as much as from 96 to 106;
and besides these are many local _taels_, with about the same limits
of variation.--(_Williamson's Journeys_, I. 60.)
[2] [The Archimandrite Palladius (l.c., p. 50, note) says that "the _ting_
of the Mongol time, as well as during the reign of the Kin, was a unit
of weight equivalent to fifty _liang_, but not to ten _liang_. Cf.
_Ch'u keng lu_, and _Yuen-shi_, ch. xcv. The _Yuen pao_, which as
everybody in China knows, is equivalent to fifty _liang_ (taels) of
silver, is the same as the ancient _ting_, and the character _Yuen_
indicates that it dates from the _Yuen_ Dynasty."--H. C.]
[3] This is also, as regards Customs payments, the system of the
Government of modern Italy.
[4] The first edition of this work gave a facsimile of one of this unlucky
minister's notes.
[5] On both sides, however, was the Mahomedan formula, and beneath that
the words _Yiranjín Túrjí_, a title conferred on the kings of Persia
by the Kaan. There was also an inscription to the following effect:
that the Emperor in the year 693 (A.H.) had issued these auspicious
_chao_, that all who forged or uttered false notes should be summarily
punished, with their wives and children, and their property
confiscated; and that when these auspicious notes were once in
circulation, poverty would vanish, provisions become cheap, and rich
and poor be equal (_Cowell_). The use of the term _chao_ at Tabriz may
be compared with that of _Banklot_, current in modern India.
CHAPTER XXV.
CONCERNING THE TWELVE BARONS WHO ARE SET OVER ALL THE AFFAIRS OF THE GREAT
KAAN.
You must know that the Great Kaan hath chosen twelve great Barons to whom
he hath committed all the necessary affairs of thirty-four great
provinces; and now I will tell you particulars about them and their
establishments.
You must know that these twelve Barons reside all together in a very rich
and handsome palace, which is inside the city of Cambaluc, and consists of
a variety of edifices, with many suites of apartments. To every province
is assigned a judge and several clerks, and all reside in this palace,
where each has his separate quarters. These judges and clerks administer
all the affairs of the provinces to which they are attached, under the
direction of the twelve Barons. Howbeit, when an affair is of very great
importance, the twelve Barons lay in before the Emperor, and he decides as
he thinks best. But the power of those twelve Barons is so great that they
choose the governors for all those thirty-four great provinces that I have
mentioned, and only after they have chosen do they inform the Emperor of
their choice. This he confirms, and grants to the person nominated a
tablet of gold such as is appropriate to the rank of his government.
Those twelve Barons also have such authority that they can dispose of the
movements of the forces, and send them whither, and in such strength, as
they please. This is done indeed with the Emperor's cognizance, but still
the orders are issued on their authority. They are styled SHIENG, which is
as much as to say "The Supreme Court," and the palace where they abide is
also called _Shieng_. This body forms the highest authority at the Court
of the Great Kaan; and indeed they can favour and advance whom they will.
I will not now name the thirty-four provinces to you, because they will be
spoken of in detail in the course of this Book.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--Pauthier's extracts from the Chinese Annals of the Dynasty, in
illustration of this subject, are interesting. These, as he represents
them, show the Council of Ministers usually to have consisted of twelve
high officials, viz.: two _Ch'ing-siang_ [Chinese] or (chief) ministers of
state, one styled, "of the Right," and the other "of the Left"; four
called _P'ing-chang ching-ssé_, which seems to mean something like
ministers in charge of special departments; four assistant ministers; two
Counsellors.
Rashiduddin, however, limits the Council to the first two classes:
"Strictly speaking, the Council of State is composed of four Ch'ing-sang
(_Ch'ing-siang_) or great officers (_Wazírs_ he afterwards terms them),
and four Fanchán (_P'ing-chang_) or associated members, taken from the
nations of the Tajiks, Cathayans, Ighurs, and Arkaun" (i.e. Nestorian
Christians). (Compare p. 418, supra.)
[A Samarkand man, Seyyd Tadj Eddin Hassan ben el Khallal, quoted in the
_Masálak al Absár_, says: "Near the Khan are two amírs who are his
ministers; they are called _Djing San_ [Arabic] (Ch'ing-siang). After them
come the two _Bidjan_ [Arabic] (P'ing Chang), then the two _Zoudjin_
[Arabic] (Tso Chen), then the two _Yudjin_ [Arabic] (Yu Chen), and at last
the _Landjun_ [Arabic] (Lang Chang), head of the scribes, and secretary of
the sovereign. The Khan holds a sitting every day in the middle of a large
building called _Chen_ [Arabic] (Sheng), which is very like our Palace of
Justice." (_C. Schefer, Cent. Ec. Langues Or._, pp. 18-19.)--H. C.]
In a later age we find the twelve Barons reappearing in the pages of
Mendoza: "The King hath in this city of Tabin (Peking), where he is
resident, a royal council of twelve counsellors and a president, chosen
men throughout all the kingdom, and such as have had experience in
government many years." And also in the early centuries of the Christian
era we hear that the Khan of the Turks had his twelve grandees, divided
into those of the Right and those of the Left, probably a copy from a
Chinese order then also existing.
But to return to Rashiduddin: "As the Kaan generally resides at the
capital, he has erected a place for the sittings of the Great Council,
called _Sing_.... The dignitaries mentioned above are expected to attend
daily at the Sing, and to make themselves acquainted with all that passes
there."
The _Sing_ of Rashid is evidently the Shieng or Sheng (_Scieng_) of Polo.
M. Pauthier is on this point somewhat contemptuous towards Neumann, who,
he says, confounds Marco Polo's twelve Barons or Ministers of State with
the chiefs of the twelve great provincial governments called _Sing_, who
had their residence at the chief cities of those governments; whilst in
fact Polo's _Scieng_ (he asserts) has nothing to do with the _Sing_, but
represents the Chinese word _Siang_ "a minister," and "the office of a
minister." [There was no doubt a confusion between _Siang_ [Chinese] and
_Sheng_ [Chinese].--H. C.]
It is very probable that two different words, _Siang_ and _Sing_, got
confounded by the non-Chinese attachés of the Imperial Court; but it seems
to me quite certain that they applied the same word, Sing or Sheng, to
both institutions, viz. to the High Council of State, and to the
provincial governments. It also looks as if Marco Polo himself had made
that very confusion with which Pauthier charges Neumann. For whilst here
he represents the twelve Barons as forming a Council of State at the
capital, we find further on, when speaking of the city of Yangchau, he
says: "_Et si siet en ceste cité uns des xii Barons du Grant Kaan; car
elle est esleue pour un des xii sieges_," where the last word is probably
a mistranscription of _Sciengs_, or _Sings_, and in any case the reference
is to a distribution of the empire into twelve governments.
To be convinced that _Sing_ was used by foreigners in the double sense
that I have said, we have only to proceed with Rashiduddin's account of
the administration. After what we have already quoted, he goes on: "The
_Sing_ of Khanbaligh is the most eminent, and the building is very
large.... _Sings_ do not exist in all the cities, but only in the capitals
of great provinces.... In the whole empire of the Kaan there are twelve of
these Sings; but that of Khanbaligh is the only one which has Ching-sangs
amongst its members." Wassáf again, after describing the greatness of
Khanzai (Kinsay of Polo) says: "These circumstances characterize the
capital itself, but four hundred cities of note, and embracing ample
territories, are dependent on its jurisdiction, insomuch that the most
inconsiderable of those cities surpasses Baghdad and Shiraz. In the number
of these cities are Lankinfu and Zaitun, and Chinkalán; for they call
Khanzai a _Shing_, i.e. a great city in which the high and mighty Council
of Administration holds its meetings." Friar Odoric again says: "This
empire hath been divided by the Lord thereof into twelve parts, each one
thereof is termed a Singo."
Polo, it seems evident to me, knew nothing of Chinese. His _Shieng_ is no
direct attempt to represent _any_ Chinese word, but simply the term that
he had been used to employ in talking Persian or Turki, in the way that
Rashiduddin and Wassáf employ it.
I find no light as to the thirty-four provinces into which Polo represents
the empire as divided, unless it be an enumeration of the provinces and
districts which he describes in the second and third parts of Bk. II., of
which it is not difficult to reckon thirty-three or thirty-four, but not
worth while to repeat the calculation.
[China was then divided into twelve _Sheng_ or provinces: Cheng-Tung,
Liao-Yang, Chung-Shu, Shen-Si, Ling-Pe (Karakorum), Kan-Suh, Sze-ch'wan,
Ho-Nan Kiang-Pe, Kiang-Ché, Kiang-Si, Hu-Kwang and Yun-Nan. Rashiduddin
(_J. As._, XI. 1883, p. 447) says that of the twelve Sing, Khanbaligh was
the only one with _Chin-siang_. We read in _Morrison's Dict._ (Pt. II.
vol. i. p. 70): "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. I imagine that the thirty-four
provinces refer to the _Fu_ cities, which numbered however _thirty-nine_,
according to _Oxenham's Historical Atlas_.--H. C.]
(_Cathay_, 263 seqq. and 137; _Mendoza_, I. 96; _Erdmann_, 142; _Hammer's
Wassáf_, p. 42, but corrected.)
CHAPTER XXVI.
HOW THE KAAN'S POSTS AND RUNNERS ARE SPED THROUGH MANY LANDS AND
PROVINCES.
Now you must know that from this city of Cambaluc proceed many roads and
highways leading to a variety of provinces, one to one province, another
to another; and each road receives the name of the province to which it
leads; and it is a very sensible plan.[NOTE 1] And the messengers of the
Emperor in travelling from Cambaluc, be the road whichsoever they will,
find at every twenty-five miles of the journey a station which they call
_Yamb_,[NOTE 2] or, as we should say, the "Horse-Post-House." And at each
of those stations used by the messengers, there is a large and handsome
building for them to put up at, in which they find all the rooms furnished
with fine beds and all other necessary articles in rich silk, and where
they are provided with everything they can want. If even a king were to
arrive at one of these, he would find himself well lodged.
At some of these stations, moreover, there shall be posted some four
hundred horses standing ready for the use of the messengers; at others
there shall be two hundred, according to the requirements, and to what the
Emperor has established in each case. At every twenty-five miles, as I
said, or anyhow at every thirty miles, you find one of these stations, on
all the principal highways leading to the different provincial
governments; and the same is the case throughout all the chief provinces
subject to the Great Kaan.[NOTE 3] Even when the messengers have to pass
through a roadless tract where neither house nor hostel exists, still
there the station-houses have been established just the same, excepting
that the intervals are somewhat greater, and the day's journey is fixed at
thirty-five to forty-five miles, instead of twenty-five to thirty. But
they are provided with horses and all the other necessaries just like
those we have described, so that the Emperor's messengers, come they from
what region they may, find everything ready for them.
And in sooth this is a thing done on the greatest scale of magnificence
that ever was seen. Never had emperor, king, or lord, such wealth as this
manifests! For it is a fact that on all these posts taken together there
are more than 300,000 horses kept up, specially for the use of the
messengers. And the great buildings that I have mentioned are more than
10,000 in number, all richly furnished, as I told you. The thing is on a
scale so wonderful and costly that it is hard to bring oneself to describe
it.[NOTE 4]
But now I will tell you another thing that I had forgotten, but which
ought to be told whilst I am on this subject. You must know that by the
Great Kaan's orders there has been established between those post-houses,
at every interval of three miles, a little fort with some forty houses
round about it, in which dwell the people who act as the Emperor's
foot-runners. Every one of those runners wears a great wide belt, set all
over with bells, so that as they run the three miles from post to post
their bells are heard jingling a long way off. And thus on reaching the
post the runner finds another man similarly equipt, and all ready to take
his place, who instantly takes over whatsoever he has in charge, and with
it receives a slip of paper from the clerk, who is always at hand for the
purpose; and so the new man sets off and runs his three miles. At the next
station he finds his relief ready in like manner; and so the post proceeds,
with a change at every three miles. And in this way the Emperor, who has an
immense number of these runners, receives despatches with news from places
ten days' journey off in one day and night; or, if need be, news from a
hundred days off in ten days and nights; and that is no small matter! (In
fact in the fruit season many a time fruit shall be gathered one morning in
Cambaluc, and the evening of the next day it shall reach the Great Kaan at
Chandu, a distance of ten days' journey.[NOTE 5] The clerk at each of the
posts notes the time of each courier's arrival and departure; and there are
often other officers whose business it is to make monthly visitations of
all the posts, and to punish those runners who have been slack in their
work.[NOTE 6]) The Emperor exempts these men from all tribute, and pays
them besides.
Moreover, there are also at those stations other men equipt similarly with
girdles hung with bells, who are employed for expresses when there is a
call for great haste in sending despatches to any governor of a province,
or to give news when any Baron has revolted, or in other such emergencies;
and these men travel a good two hundred or two hundred and fifty miles in
the day, and as much in the night. I'll tell you how it stands. They take
a horse from those at the station which are standing ready saddled, all
fresh and in wind, and mount and go at full speed, as hard as they can
ride in fact. And when those at the next post hear the bells they get
ready another horse and a man equipt in the same way, and he takes over
the letter or whatever it be, and is off full-speed to the third station,
where again a fresh horse is found all ready, and so the despatch speeds
along from post to post, always at full gallop, with regular change of
horses. And the speed at which they go is marvellous. (By night, however,
they cannot go so fast as by day, because they have to be accompanied by
footmen with torches, who could not keep up with them at full speed.)
Those men are highly prized; and they could never do it, did they not bind
hard the stomach, chest and head with strong bands. And each of them
carries with him a gerfalcon tablet, in sign that he is bound on an urgent
express; so that if perchance his horse break down, or he meet with other
mishap, whomsoever he may fall in with on the road, he is empowered to
make him dismount and give up his horse. Nobody dares refuse in such a
case; so that the courier hath always a good fresh nag to carry him.[NOTE
7]
Now all these numbers of post-horses cost the Emperor nothing at all; and
I will tell you the how and the why. Every city, or village, or hamlet,
that stands near one of those post-stations, has a fixed demand made on it
for as many horses as it can supply, and these it must furnish to the
post. And in this way are provided all the posts of the cities, as well as
the towns and villages round about them; only in uninhabited tracts the
horses are furnished at the expense of the Emperor himself.
(Nor do the cities maintain the full number, say of 400 horses, always at
their station, but month by month 200 shall be kept at the station, and
the other 200 at grass, coming in their turn to relieve the first 200. And
if there chance to be some river or lake to be passed by the runners and
horse-posts, the neighbouring cities are bound to keep three or four boats
in constant readiness for the purpose.)
And now I will tell you of the great bounty exercised by the Emperor
towards his people twice a year.
NOTE 1.--The G. Text has "_et ce est mout sçue chouse_"; Pauthier's Text,
"_mais il est moult celé_" The latter seems absurd. I have no doubt that
_sçue_ is correct, and is an Italianism, _saputo_ having sometimes the
sense of prudent or judicious. Thus P. della Valle (II. 26), speaking of
Shah Abbas: "_Ma noti V.S. i tiri di questo re_, saputo insieme e
bizzarro," "acute with all his eccentricity."
NOTE 2.--Both Neumann and Pauthier seek Chinese etymologies of this Mongol
word, which the Tartars carried with them all over Asia. It survives in
Persian and Turki in the senses both of a post-house and a post-horse, and
in Russia, in the former sense, is a relic of the Mongol dominion. The
ambassadors of Shah Rukh, on arriving at Sukchu, were lodged in the
_Yám-Khána_, or post-house, by the city gate; and they found ninety-nine
such Yams between Sukchu and Khanbaligh, at each of which they were
supplied with provisions, servants, beds, night-clothes, etc. Odoric
likewise speaks of the hostelries called _Yam_, and Rubruquis applies the
same term to quarters in the imperial camp, which were assigned for the
lodgment of ambassadors. (_Cathay_, ccii. 137; _Rubr._ 310.)
[Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, 101, note) says that these post-stations were
established by Okkodai in 1234 throughout the Mongol empire. (_D'Ohsson_,
ii. 63.) Dr. G. Schlegel (_T'oung Pao_, II. 1891, 265, note) observes that
_iam_ is not, as Pauthier supposed, a contraction of _yi-mà_, horse
post-house (_yi-mà_ means post-horse, and Pauthier makes a mistake), but
represents the Chinese character [Chinese], pronounced at present _chán_,
which means in fact a road station, a post. In Annamite, this character
[Chinese] is pronounced _tram_, and it means, according to _Bonet's Dict.
Annamite-Français_: "Relais de poste, station de repos." (See
_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. p. 187 note.)--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--Martini and Magaillans, in the 17th century, give nearly the same
account of the government hostelries.
NOTE 4.--Here Ramusio has this digression: "Should any one find it
difficult to understand how there should be such a population as all this
implies, and how they can subsist, the answer is that all the Idolaters,
and Saracens as well, take six, eight, or ten wives apiece when they can
afford it, and beget an infinity of children. In fact, you shall find many
men who have each more than thirty sons who form an armed retinue to their
father, and this through the fact of his having so many wives. With us, on
the other hand, a man hath but one wife; and if she be barren, still he
must abide by her for life, and have no progeny; thus we have not such a
population as they have.
"And as regards food, they have abundance; for they generally consume
rice, panic, and millet (especially the Tartars, Cathayans, and people of
Manzi); and these three crops in those countries render an hundred-fold.
Those nations use no bread, but only boil those kinds of grain with milk
or meat for their victual. Their wheat, indeed, does not render so much,
but this they use only to make vermicelli, and pastes of that description.
No spot of arable land is left untilled; and their cattle are infinitely
prolific, so that when they take the field every man is followed by six,
eight, or more horses for his own use. Thus you may clearly perceive how
the population of those parts is so great, and how they have such an
abundance of food."
NOTE 5.--The Burmese kings used to have the odoriferous _Durian_
transmitted by horse-posts from Tenasserim to Ava. But the most notable
example of the rapid transmission of such dainties, and the nearest
approach I know of to their despatch by telegraph, was that practised for
the benefit of the Fatimite Khalif Aziz (latter part of 10th century), who
had a great desire for a dish of cherries of Balbek. The Wazir Yakub
ben-Kilis caused six hundred pigeons to be despatched from Balbek to Cairo,
each of which carried attached to either leg a small silk bag containing a
cherry! (_Quat. Makrizi_, IV. 118.)
NOTE 6.--"Note is taken at every post," says Amyot, in speaking of the
Chinese practice of last century, "of the time of the courier's arrival,
in order that it may be known at what point delays have occurred."
(_Mém._ VIII. 185.)
NOTE 7.--The post-system is described almost exactly as in the text by
Friar Odoric and the Archbishop of Soltania, in the generation after Polo,
and very much in the same way by Magaillans in the 17th century. Posts had
existed in China from an old date. They are spoken of by Mas'udi and the
_Relations_ of the 9th century. They were also employed under the ancient
Persian kings; and they were in use in India, at least in the generation
after Polo. The Mongols, too, carried the institution wherever they went.
Polo describes the couriers as changed at short intervals, but more
usually in Asiatic posts the same man rides an enormous distance. The
express courier in Tibet, as described by "the Pandit," rides from Gartokh
to Lhasa, a distance of 800 miles, travelling day and night. The courier's
coat is _sealed_ upon him, so that he dares not take off his clothes till
the seal is officially broken on his arrival at the terminus. These
messengers had faces cracked, eyes bloodshot and sunken, and bodies raw
with vermin. (_J. R. G. S._ XXXVIII. p. 149.) The modern Turkish post from
Constantinople to Baghdad, a distance of 1100 miles, is done in twenty
days by four Tartars riding night and day. The changes are at Sivas,
Diarbekir, and Mosul. M. Tchihatcheff calculates that the night riding
accomplishes only one quarter of the whole. (_Asie Mineure_, 2'de Ptie.
632-635.)--See I. p. 352, _paï tze_.
CHAPTER XXVII.
HOW THE EMPEROR BESTOWS HELP ON HIS PEOPLE, WHEN THEY ARE AFFLICTED WITH
DEARTH OR MURRAIN.
Now you must know that the Emperor sends his Messengers over all his Lands
and Kingdoms and Provinces, to ascertain from his officers if the people
are afflicted by any dearth through unfavourable seasons, or storms or
locusts, or other like calamity; and from those who have suffered in this
way no taxes are exacted for that year; nay more, he causes them to be
supplied with corn of his own for food and seed. Now this is undoubtedly a
great bounty on his part. And when winter comes, he causes inquiry to be
made as to those who have lost their cattle, whether by murrain or other
mishap, and such persons not only go scot free, but get presents of
cattle. And thus, as I tell you, the Lord every year helps and fosters the
people subject to him.
[There is another trait of the Great Kaan I should tell you; and that is,
that if a chance shot from his bow strike any herd or flock, whether
belonging to one person or to many, and however big the flock may be, he
takes no tithe thereof for three years. In like manner, if the arrow
strike a boat full of goods, that boat-load pays no duty; for it is
thought unlucky that an arrow strike any one's property; and the Great
Kaan says it would be an abomination before God, were such property, that
has been struck by the divine wrath, to enter into his Treasury.[NOTE 1]]
NOTE 1.--The Chinese author already quoted as to Kúblái's character (Note
2, ch. xxiii. supra) says: "This Prince, at the sight of some evil
prognostic, or when there was dearth, would remit taxation, and cause
grain to be distributed to those who were in destitution. He would often
complain that there never lacked informers if balances were due, or if
_corvées_ had been ordered, but when the necessities of the people
required to be reported, not a word was said."
Wassáf tells a long story in illustration of Kúblái's justice and
consideration for the peasantry. One of his sons, with a handful of
followers, had got separated from the army, and halted at a village in the
territory of Bishbaligh, where the people gave them sheep and wine. Next
year two of the party came the same way and _demanded_ a sheep and a stoup
of wine. The people gave it, but went to the Kaan and told the story,
saying they feared it might grow into a perpetual exaction. Kúblái sharply
rebuked the Prince, and gave the people compensation and an order in their
favour. (_De Mailla_, ix. 460; _Hammer's Wassaf_, 38-39.)]
CHAPTER XXVIII.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSES TREES TO BE PLANTED BY THE HIGHWAYS.
The Emperor moreover hath taken order that all the highways travelled by
his messengers and the people generally should be planted with rows of
great trees a few paces apart; and thus these trees are visible a long way
off, and no one can miss the way by day or night. Even the roads through
uninhabited tracts are thus planted, and it is the greatest possible
solace to travellers. And this is done on all the ways, where it can be of
service. [The Great Kaan plants these trees all the more readily, because
his astrologers and diviners tell him that he who plants trees lives
long.[NOTE 1]
But where the ground is so sandy and desert that trees will not grow, he
causes other landmarks, pillars or stones, to be set up to show the way.]
NOTE 1.--In this Kúblái imitated the great King Asoka, or Priyadarsi, who
in his graven edicts (circa B.C. 250) on the Delhi Pillar, says: "Along
the high roads I have caused fig-trees to be planted, that they may be for
shade to animals and men. I have also planted mango-trees; and at every
half-coss I have caused wells to be constructed, and resting-places for
the night. And how many hostels have been erected by me at various places
for the entertainment of man and beast." (_J. A. S. B._ IV. 604.) There
are still remains of the fine avenues of Kúblái and his successors in
various parts of Northern China. (See _Williamson_, i. 74.)
CHAPTER XXIX.
CONCERNING THE RICE-WINE DRUNK BY THE PEOPLE OF CATHAY.
Most of the people of Cathay drink wine of the kind that I shall now
describe. It is a liquor which they brew of rice with a quantity of
excellent spice, in such fashion that it makes better drink than any
ther kind of wine; it is not only good, but clear and pleasing to the
eye.[NOTE 1] And being very hot stuff, it makes one drunk sooner than
any other wine.
NOTE 1.--The mode of making Chinese rice-wine is described in Amyot's
_Mémoires_, V. 468 seqq. A kind of yeast is employed, with which is often
mixed a flour prepared from fragrant herbs, almonds, pine-seeds, dried
fruits, etc. Rubruquis says this liquor was not distinguishable, except by
smell, from the best wine of Auxerre; a wine so famous in the Middle Ages,
that the Historian Friar, Salimbene, went from Lyons to Auxerre on purpose
to drink it.[1] Ysbrand Ides compares the rice-wine to Rhenish; John Bell
to Canary; a modern traveller quoted by Davis, "in colour, and a little in
taste, to Madeira." [Friar Odoric (_Cathay_, i. p. 117) calls this wine
_bigni_; Dr. Schlegel (_T'oung Pao_, ii. p. 264) says Odoric's wine was
probably made with the date _Mi-yin_, pronounced _Bi-im_ in old days. But
Marco's wine is made of rice, and is called _shao hsing chiu_. Mr.
Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 166, note) writes: "There is another stronger
liquor distilled from millet, and called _shao chiu_: in Anglo-Chinese,
_samshu_; Mongols call it _araka, arrak_, and _arreki_. Ma Twan-lin (Bk.
327) says that the Moho (the early Nu-chên Tartars) drank rice wine (_mi
chiu_), but I fancy that they, like the Mongols, got it from the Chinese."
Dr. Emil Bretschneider (_Botanicon Sinicum_, ii. pp. 154-158) gives a most
interesting account of the use and fabrication of intoxicating beverages
by the Chinese. "The invention of wine or spirits in China," he says, "is
generally ascribed to a certain I TI, who lived in the time of the Emperor
Yü. According to others, the inventor of wine was TU K'ANG." One may refer
also to Dr. Macgowan's paper _On the "Mutton Wine" of the Mongols and
Analogous Preparations of the Chinese_. (_Jour. N. China Br. R. As. Soc._,
1871-1872, pp. 237-240.)--H. C.]
[1] _Kington's Fred. II._ II. 457. So, in a French play of the 13th
century, a publican in his _patois_ invites custom, with hot bread,
hot herrings, and wine of Auxerre in plenty:--
"Chaiens, fait bon disner chaiens;
Chi a caut pain et caus herens,
_Et vin d'Aucheurre_ à plain tonnel."--
(_Théat. Franç. au Moyen Age_, 168.)
CHAPTER XXX.
CONCERNING THE BLACK STONES THAT ARE DUG IN CATHAY, AND ARE BURNT FOR
FUEL.
It is a fact that all over the country of Cathay there is a kind of black
stones existing in beds in the mountains, which they dig out and burn like
firewood. If you supply the fire with them at night, and see that they are
well kindled, you will find them still alight in the morning; and they
make such capital fuel that no other is used throughout the country. It is
true that they have plenty of wood also, but they do not burn it, because
those stones burn better and cost less.[NOTE 1]
[Moreover with that vast number of people, and the number of hot baths
that they maintain--for every one has such a bath at least three times a
week, and in winter if possible every day, whilst every nobleman and man
of wealth has a private bath for his own use--the wood would not suffice
for the purpose.]
NOTE 1.--There is a great consumption of coal in Northern China,
especially in the brick stoves, which are universal, even in poor houses.
Coal seems to exist in every one of the eighteen provinces of China, which
in this respect is justly pronounced to be one of the most favoured
countries in the world. Near the capital coal is mined at Yuen-ming-yuen,
and in a variety of isolated deposits among the hills in the direction of
the Kalgan road, and in the district round Siuen-hwa-fu. (_Sindachu_ of
Polo, ante ch. lix.) But the most important coal-fields in relation to the
future are those of Shan-tung Hu-nan, Ho-nan, and Shan-si. The last is
eminently _the_ coal and iron province of China, and its coal-field, as
described by Baron Richthofen, combines, in an extraordinary manner, all
the advantages that can enhance the value of such a field except (at
present) that of facile export; whilst the quantity available is so great
that from Southern Shan-si alone he estimates the whole world could be
supplied, at the present rate of consumption, for several thousand years.
"Adits, miles in length, could be driven within the body of the coal....
These extraordinary conditions ... will eventually give rise to some
curious features in mining... if a railroad should ever be built from the
plain to this region ... branches of it will be constructed within the
body of one or other of these beds of anthracite." Baron Richthofen, in
the paper which we quote from, indicates the revolution in the deposit of
the world's wealth and power, to which such facts, combined with other
characteristics of China, point as probable; a revolution so vast that its
contemplation seems like that of a planetary catastrophe.
In the coal-fields of Hu-nan "the mines are chiefly opened where the
rivers intersect the inclined strata of the coal-measures and allow the
coal-beds to be attacked by the miner immediately at their out-croppings."
At the highest point of the Great Kiang, reached by Sarel and Blakiston,
they found mines on the cliffs over the river, from which the coal was
sent down by long bamboo cables, the loaded baskets drawing up the empty
ones.
[Many coal-fields have been explored since; one of the most important is
the coal-field of the Yun-nan province; the finest deposits are perhaps
those found in the bend of the Kiang; coal is found also at Mong-Tzu,
Lin-ngan, etc.; this rich coal region has been explored in 1898 by the
French engineer A. Leclère. (See _Congrès int. Géog._, Paris, 1900, pp.
178-184.)--H. C.]
In various parts of China, as in Che-kiang, Sze-ch'wan, and at Peking,
they form powdered coal, mixed with mud, into bricks, somewhat like our
"patent fuel." This practice is noticed by Ibn Batuta, as well as the use
of coal in making porcelain, though this he seems to have misunderstood.
Rashiduddin also mentions the use of coal in China. It was in use,
according to citations of Pauthier's, before the Christian era. It is a
popular belief in China, that every provincial capital is bound to be
established over a coal-field, so as to have a provision in case of siege.
It is said that during the British siege of Canton mines were opened to
the north of the city.
(_The Distribution of Coal in China_, by Baron Richthofen, in _Ocean
Highways_, N.S., I. 311; _Macgowan_ in _Ch. Repos._ xix. 385-387;
_Blakiston_, 133, 265; _Mid. Kingdom_, I. 73, 78; _Amyot_, xi. 334;
_Cathay_, 261, 478, 482; _Notes by Rev. A. Williamson_ in _J. N. Ch. Br.
R. A. S._, December, 1867; _Hedde and Rondot_, p. 63.)
Aeneas Sylvius relates as a miracle that took place before his eyes in
Scotland, that poor and almost naked beggars, when _stones_ were given
them as alms at the church doors, went away quite delighted; for stones of
that kind were imbued either with brimstone or with some oily matter, so
that they could be burnt instead of wood, of which the country was
destitute. (Quoted by _Jos. Robertson, Statuta Eccles. Scotic._ I. xciii.)
CHAPTER XXXI.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSES STORES OF CORN TO BE MADE, TO HELP HIS PEOPLE
WITHAL IN TIME OF DEARTH.
You must know that when the Emperor sees that corn is cheap and abundant,
he buys up large quantities, and has it stored in all his provinces in
great granaries, where it is so well looked after that it will keep for
three or four years.[NOTE 1]
And this applies, let me tell you, to all kinds of corn, whether wheat,
barley, millet, rice, panic, or what not, and when there is any scarcity
of a particular kind of corn, he causes that to be issued. And if the
price of the corn is at one bezant the measure, he lets them have it at a
bezant for four measures, or at whatever price will produce general
cheapness; and every one can have food in this way. And by this providence
of the Emperor's, his people can never suffer from dearth. He does the
same over his whole Empire; causing these supplies to be stored
everywhere, according to calculation of the wants and necessities of the
people.
NOTE 1.--"_Le fait si bien_ estuier _que il dure bien trois ans ou
quatre_" (Pauthier): "_si bien_ estudier" (G.T.). The word may be
_estiver_ (It. _stivare_), to stow, but I half suspect it should be
_estuver_ in the sense of "kiln-dry," though both the Geog. Latin and the
Crusca render it _gubernare_.[1] Lecomte says: "Rice is always stored in
the public granaries for three or four years in advance. It keeps long if
care be taken to air it and stir it about; and although not so good to the
taste or look as new rice, it is said to be more wholesome."
The Archbishop of Soltania (A.D. 1330) speaks of these stores. "The said
Emperor is very pitiful and compassionate ... and so when there is a
dearth in the land he openeth his garners, and giveth forth of his wheat
and his rice for half what others are selling it at." Kúblái Kaan's
measures of this kind are recorded in the annals of the Dynasty, as quoted
by Pauthier. The same practice is ascribed to the sovereigns of the T'ang
Dynasty by the old Arab _Relations_. In later days a missionary gives in
the _Lettres Edifiantes_ an unfavourable account of the action of these
public granaries, and of the rascality that occurred in connection with
them. (_Lecomte_, II. 101; _Cathay_, 240; _Relat._ I. 39; _Let. Ed._ xxiv.
76.)
[The _Yuen-shi_ in ch. 96 contains sections on dispensaries (_Hui min yao
kü_), granary regulations (_Shi ti_), and regulations for a time of dearth
(_Chen Sü_). (_Bretschneider_, _Med. Res._ I. p. 187.)--H. C.]
[1] Marsden observes incidentally (_Hist. of Sumatra_, 1st edition, p. 71)
that he was told in Bengal they used to dry-kiln the rice for
exportation, "owing to which, or to some other process, it will
continue good for several years."
CHAPTER XXXII.
OF THE CHARITY OF THE EMPEROR TO THE POOR.
I have told you how the Great Kaan provides for the distribution of
necessaries to his people in time of dearth, by making store in time of
cheapness. Now I will tell you of his alms and great charity to the poor
of his city of Cambaluc.
You see he causes selection to be made of a number of families in the city
which are in a state of indigence, and of such families some may consist
of six in the house, some of eight, some of ten, more or fewer in each as
it may hap, but the whole number being very great. And each family he
causes annually to be supplied with wheat and other corn sufficient for
the whole year. And this he never fails to do every year. Moreover, all
those who choose to go to the daily dole at the Court receive a great loaf
apiece, hot from the baking, and nobody is denied; for so the Lord hath
ordered. And so some 30,000 people go for it every day from year's end to
year's end. Now this is a great goodness in the Emperor to take pity of
his poor people thus! And they benefit so much by it that they worship him
as he were God.
[He also provides the poor with clothes. For he lays a tithe upon all
wool, silk, hemp, and the like, from which clothing can be made; and he
has these woven and laid up in a building set apart for the purpose; and
as all artizans are bound to give a day's labour weekly, in this way the
Kaan has these stuffs made into clothing for those poor families, suitable
for summer or winter, according to the time of year. He also provides the
clothing for his troops, and has woollens woven for them in every city,
the material for which is furnished by the tithe aforesaid. You should
know that the Tartars, before they were converted to the religion of the
Idolaters, never practised almsgiving. Indeed, when any poor man begged of
them they would tell him, "Go with God's curse, for if He loved you as He
loves me, He would have provided for you." But the sages of the Idolaters,
and especially the _Bacsis_ mentioned before, told the Great Kaan that it
was a good work to provide for the poor, and that his idols would be
greatly pleased if he did so. And since then he has taken to do for the
poor so much as you have heard.[NOTE 1]]
NOTE 1.--This is a curious testimony to an ameliorating effect of Buddhism
on rude nations. The general establishment of medical aid for men and
animals is alluded to in the edicts of Asoka;[1] and hospitals for the
diseased and destitute were found by Fahian at Palibothra, whilst Hiuen
Tsang speaks of the distribution of food and medicine at the _Punyasálás_
or "Houses of Beneficence," in the Panjáb. Various examples of a
charitable spirit in Chinese Institutions will be found in a letter by
Père d'Entrecolles in the XVth Recueil of _Lettres Edifiantes_; and a
similar detail in _Nevius's China and the Chinese_, ch. xv. (See
_Prinsep's Essays_, II. 15; _Beal's Fah-hian_, 107; _Pèl. Boudd._ II.
190.) The Tartar sentiment towards the poor survives on the Arctic
shores:--"The Yakuts regard the rich as favoured by the gods; the poor as
rejected and cast out by them." (_Billings_, Fr. Tranls. I. 233.)
[1] As rendered by J. Prinsep. But I see that Professor H. H. Wilson did
not admit the passage to bear that meaning.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
[CONCERNING THE ASTROLOGERS IN THE CITY OF CAMBALUC.]
[There are in the city of Cambaluc, what with Christians, Saracens, and
Cathayans, some five thousand astrologers and soothsayers, whom the Great
Kaan provides with annual maintenance and clothing, just as he provides
the poor of whom we have spoken, and they are in the constant exercise of
their art in this city.
They have a kind of astrolabe on which are inscribed the planetary signs,
the hours and critical points of the whole year. And every year these
Christian, Saracen, and Cathayan astrologers, each sect apart, investigate
by means of this astrolabe the course and character of the whole year,
according to the indications of each of its Moons, in order to discover by
the natural course and disposition of the planets, and the other
circumstances of the heavens, what shall be the nature of the weather, and
what peculiarities shall be produced by each Moon of the year; as, for
example, under which Moon there shall be thunderstorms and tempests, under
which there shall be disease, murrain, wars, disorders, and treasons, and
so on, according to the indications of each; but always adding that it
lies with God to do less or more according to His pleasure. And they write
down the results of their examination in certain little pamphlets for the
year, which are called _Tacuin_, and these are sold for a groat to all who
desire to know what is coming. Those of the astrologers, of course whose
predictions are found to be most exact, are held to be the greatest adepts
in their art, and get the greater fame.[NOTE 1]
And if any one having some great matter in hand, or proposing to make a
long journey for traffic or other business, desires to know what will be
the upshot, he goes to one of these astrologers and says: "Turn up your
books and see what is the present aspect of the heavens, for I am going
away on such and such a business." Then the astrologer will reply that the
applicant must also tell the year, month, and hour of his birth; and when
he has got that information he will see how the horoscope of his nativity
combines with the indications of the time when the question is put, and
then he predicts the result, good or bad, according to the aspect of the
heavens.
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;[NOTE 2]
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.]
NOTE 1.--It is odd that Marsden should have sought a Chinese explanation
of the Arabic word _Takwím_ even with Tavernier before him: "They sell in
Persia an annual almanac called _Tacuim_, which is properly an ephemeris
containing the longitude and latitude of the planets, their conjunctions
and oppositions, and other such matter. The _Tacuim_ is full of
predictions regarding war, pestilence, and famine; it indicates the
favourable time for putting on new clothes, for getting bled or purged,
for making a journey, and so forth. They put entire faith in it, and
whoever can afford one governs himself in all things by its rules." (Bk.
V. ch. xiv.)
The use of the term by Marco may possibly be an illustration of what I
have elsewhere propounded, viz. that he was not acquainted with Chinese,
but that his intercourse and conversation lay chiefly with the foreigners
at the Kaan's Court, and probably was carried on in the Persian language.
But not long after the date of our Book we find the word used in Italian
by Jacopo Alighieri (Dante's son):--
"A voler giudicare
Si conviene adequare
Inprimo il _Taccuino_,
Per vedere il cammino
Come i Pianeti vanno
Per tutto quanto l'anno."
--_Rime Antiche Toscane_, III. 10.
Marco does not allude to the fact that almanacs were published by the
Government, as they were then and still are. Pauthier (515 seqq.) gives
some very curious details on this subject from the Annals of the Yuen. In
the accounts of the year 1328, it appears that no less than 3,123,185
copies were printed in three different sizes at different prices, besides
a separate almanac for the _Hwei-Hwei_ or Mahomedans. Had Polo not omitted
to touch on the issue of almanacs by Government he could scarcely have
failed to enter on the subject of printing, on which he has kept a silence
so singular and unaccountable.
The Chinese Government still "considers the publication of a Calendar of
the first importance and utility. It must do everything in its power, not
only to point out to its numerous subjects the distribution of the
seasons,... but on account of the general superstition it must mark in the
almanac the lucky and unlucky days, the best days for being married, for
undertaking a journey, for making their dresses, for buying or building,
for presenting petitions to the Emperor, and for many other cases of
ordinary life. By this means the Government keeps the people within the
limits of humble obedience; it is for this reason that the Emperors of
China established the Academy of Astronomy." (_Timk._ I. 358.) The
acceptance of the Imperial Almanac by a foreign Prince is considered an
acknowledgment of vassalage to the Emperor.
It is a penal offence to issue a pirated or counterfeit edition of the
Government Almanac. No one ventures to be without one, lest he become
liable to the greatest misfortunes by undertaking the important measures
on black-balled days.
The price varies now, according to Williams, from 1-1/2_d._ to 5_d._ a
copy. The price in 1328 was 1 _tsien_ or cash for the cheapest edition,
and 1 _liang_ or tael of silver for the _édition de luxe_; but as these
prices were in paper-money it is extremely difficult to say, in the
varying depreciation of that currency, what the price really amounted to.
[Illustration: Mongol Compendium Instrument seen in the Observatory
Garden]
[Illustration: Mongol Armillary Sphere in the Observatory Garden]
["The Calendars for the use of the people, published by Imperial command,
are of two kinds. The first, _Wan-nien-shu, the Calendar of Ten Thousand
Years_, is an abridgment of the Calendar, comprising 397 years, viz. from
1624 to 2020. The second and more complete Calendar is the _Annual
Calendar_, which, under the preceding dynasties, was named _Li-je, Order
of Days_, and is now called _Shih-hsien-shu, Book of Constant Conformity
(with the Heavens)_. This name was given by the Emperor _Shun-chih_, in
the first year of his reign (1644), on being presented by Father John
Schall (_Tang Jo-wang_) with a new Calendar, calculated on the principles
of European science. This _Annual Calendar_ gives the following
indications: (1°) The cyclical signs of the current year, of the months,
and of all the days; (2°) the _long_ and _short_ months, as well as the
_intercalary_ month, as the case maybe; (3°) the designation of each day
by the 5 _elements_, the 28 constellations, and the 12 _happy presages_;
(4°) the day and hour of the new moon, of the full moon, and of the two
dichotomies, _Shang-hsien_ and _Hsia-hsien_; (5°) the day and hour for the
_positions_ of the sun in the 24 zodiacal signs, calculated for the
various capitals of China as well as for Manchuria, Mongolia, and the
tributary Kingdoms; (6°) the hour of sunrise and sunset and the length of
day and night for the principal days of the month in the several capitals;
(7°) various superstitious indications purporting to point out what days
and hours are auspicious or not for such or such affairs in different
places. Those superstitious indications are stated to have been introduced
into the Calendar under the _Yüan_ dynasty." (_P. Hoang, Chinese
Calendar_, pp. 2-3.)--H. C.]
We may note that in Polo's time one of the principal officers of the
Mathematical Board was _Gaisue_, a native of _Folin_ or the Byzantine
Empire, who was also in charge of the medical department of the Court.
Regarding the Observatory, see note at p. 378, supra.
And I am indebted yet again to the generous zeal of Mr. Wylie of Shanghai,
for the principal notes and extracts which will, I trust, satisfy others
as well as myself that the instruments in the garden of the Observatory
belong to the period of Marco Polo's residence in China.[1]
The objections to the alleged age of these instruments were entirely based
on an inspection of photographs. The opinion was given very strongly that
no instrument of the kind, so perfect in theory and in execution, could
have been even imagined in those days, and that nothing of such scientific
quality could have been made except by the Jesuits. In fact it was
asserted or implied that these instruments must have been made about the
year 1700, and were therefore not earlier in age than those which stand on
the terraced roof of the Observatory, and are well known to most of us
from the representation in Duhalde and in many popular works.
The only authority that I could lay hand on was Lecomte, and what he says
was not conclusive. I extract the most pertinent passages:
"It was on the terrace of the tower that the Chinese astronomers had set
their instruments, and though few in number they occupied the whole area.
But Father Verbiest, the Director of the Observatory, considering them
useless for astronomical observation, persuaded the Emperor to let them be
removed, to make way for several instruments of his own construction. The
instruments set aside by the European astronomers are still in a hall
adjoining the tower, buried in dust and oblivion; and we saw them only
through a grated window. They appeared to us to be very large and well
cast, in form approaching our astronomical circles; that is all that we
could make out. There was, however, thrown into a back yard by itself, a
celestial globe of bronze, of about 3 feet in diameter. Of this we were
able to take a nearer view. Its form was somewhat oval; the divisions by
no means exact, and the whole work coarse enough.
"Besides this in a lower hall they had established a gnomon.... This
observatory, not worthy of much consideration for its ancient instruments,
much less for its situation, its form, or its construction, is now
enriched by several bronze instruments which Father Verbiest has placed
there. These are large, well cast, adorned in every case with figures of
dragons," etc. He then proceeds to describe them:
"(1). Armillary Zodiacal Sphere of 6 feet diameter. This sphere reposes on
the heads of four dragons, the bodies of which after various convolutions
come to rest upon the extremities of two brazen beams forming a cross, and
thus bear the entire weight of the instrument. These dragons ... are
represented according to the notion the Chinese form of them, enveloped in
clouds, covered above the horns with long hair, with a tufted beard on the
lower jaw, flaming eyes, long sharp teeth, the gaping throat ever vomiting
a torrent of fire. Four lion-cubs of the same material bear the ends of
the cross beams, and the heads of these are raised or depressed by means
of attached screws, according to what is required. The circles are divided
on both exterior and interior surface into 360 degrees; each degree into
60 minutes by transverse lines, and the minutes into sections of 10
seconds each by the sight-edge[2] applied to them."
Of Verbiest's other instruments we need give only the names: (2)
Equinoxial Sphere, 6 feet diameter. (3) Azimuthal Horizon, same diam. (4)
Great Quadrant, of 6 feet radius. (5) Sextant of about 8 feet radius. (6)
Celestial Globe of 6 feet diameter.
As Lecomte gives no details of the old instruments which he saw through a
grating, and as the description of this zodiacal sphere (No. 1)
corresponds in some of its main features with that represented in the
photograph, I could not but recognize the _possibility_ that this
instrument of Verbiest's had for some reason or other been removed from
the Terrace, and that the photograph might therefore possibly _not_ be a
representation of one of the ancient instruments displaced by him.[3]
The question having been raised it was very desirable to settle it, and I
applied to Mr. Wylie for information, as I had received the photographs
from him, and knew that he had been Mr. Thomson's companion and helper in
the matter.
"Let me assure you," he writes (21st August, 1874), "the Jesuits had
nothing to do with the manufacture of the so-called Mongol instruments;
and whoever made them, they were certainly on the Peking Observatory
before Loyola was born. They are not made for the astronomical system
introduced by the Jesuits, but are altogether conformable to the system
introduced by Kúblái's astronomer Ko Show-king.... I will mention one
thing which is quite decisive as to the Jesuits. _The circle is divided
into 365-1/4 degrees_, each degree into 100 minutes, and each minute into
100 seconds. The Jesuits always used the sexagesimal division. Lecomte
speaks of the imperfection of the division on the Jesuit-made instruments;
but _those on the Mongol instruments are immeasurably coarser_.
"I understand it is not the ornamentation your friend objects to?[4] If it
is, I would observe that there is no evidence of progress in the
decorative and ornamental arts during the Ming Dynasty; and even in the
Jesuit instruments that part of the work is purely Chinese, excepting in
one instrument, which I am persuaded must have been made in Europe.
"I have a Chinese work called _Luh-King-t'oo-Kaou_, 'Illustrations and
Investigations of the Six Classics.' This was written in A.D. 1131-1162,
and revised and printed in 1165-1174. It contains a representation of an
armillary sphere, which appears to me to be much the same as the sphere in
question. There is a solid horizon fixed to a graduated outer circle.
Inside the latter is a meridian circle, at right angles to which is a
graduated colure; then the equator, apparently a double ring, and the
ecliptic; also two diametric bars. The cut is rudely executed, but it
certainly shows that some one imagined something more perfect. The
instrument stands on a cross frame, with 4 dragon supporters and a prop
in the centre.[5]
"It should be remembered that under the Mongol Dynasty the Chinese had
much intercourse with Central Asia; and among others Yelewchootsae, as
confidential minister and astronomer, followed Chinghiz in his Western
campaign, held intercourse with the astronomers of Samarkand, and on his
return laid some astronomical inventions before the Emperor.
"I append a notice of the Observatory taken from a popular description of
Peking, by which it will be seen that the construction of these
instruments is attributed to Ko Show-king, one of the most renowned
astronomers of China. He was the chief astronomer under Kúblái Kaan" [to
whom he was presented in 1262; he was born in 1231.--H. C.]
"It must be remembered that there was a special vitality among the Chinese
under the Yuen with regard to the arts and sciences, and the Emperor had
the choice of artizans and men of science from all countries. From the age
of the Yuen till the arrival of the Jesuits, we hear nothing of any new
instruments having been made; and it is well known that astronomy was
never in a lower condition than under the Ming."[6]
Mr. Wylie then draws attention to the account given by Trigault of the
instruments that Matteo Ricci saw at Nanking, when he went (in the year
1599) to pay a visit to some of the _literati_ of that city. He
transcribes the account from the French _Hist. de l'Expédition Chrestienne
en la Chine_, 1618. But as I have the Latin, which is the original and is
more lucid, by me, I will translate from that.[7]
"Not only at Peking, but in this capital also (Nanking) there is a College
of Chinese Mathematicians, and this one certainly is more distinguished by
the vastness of its buildings than by the skill of its professors. They
have little talent and less learning, and do nothing beyond the
preparation of the almanacs on the rules of calculation made by the
ancients; and when it chances that events do not agree with their
calculation they assert that what they had calculated was the regular
course of things, but that the aberrant conduct of the stars was a
prognostic from heaven of something going to happen on the earth. This
something they make out according to their fancy, and so spread a veil
over their own blunders. These gentlemen did not much trust Father Matteo,
fearing, no doubt, lest he should put them to shame; but when at last they
were freed from this apprehension they came and amicably visited the
Father in hope of learning something from him. And when he went to return
their visit he saw something that really was new and beyond his
expectation.
"There is a high hill at one side of the city, but still within the walls.
On the top of the hill there is an ample terrace, capitally adapted for
astronomical observation, and surrounded by magnificent buildings which
form the residence of the Professors.... On this terrace are to be seen
astronomical instruments of cast-metal, well worthy of inspection whether
for size or for beauty; _and we certainly have never seen or read of
anything in Europe like them_. For nearly 250 years they have stood thus
exposed to the rain, the snow, and all other atmospheric inclemencies, and
yet they have lost absolutely nothing of their original lustre. And lest
I should be accused of raising expectations which I do not justify, I will
do my best in a digression, probably not unwelcome, to bring them before
the eyes of my readers.
"The larger of these instruments were four in number. First we inspected a
great globe [A], graduated with meridians and parallels; we estimated that
three men would hardly be able to embrace its girth.... A second
instrument was a great sphere [B], not less in diameter than that measure
of the outstretched arms which is commonly called a geometric pace. It had
a horizon and poles; instead of circles it was provided with certain
double hoops (_armillae_), the void space between the pair serving the
purpose of the circles of our spheres. All these were divided into 365
degrees and some odd minutes. There was no globe to represent the earth in
the centre, but there was a certain tube, bored like a gun-barrel, which
could readily be turned about and fixed to any azimuth or any altitude so
as to observe any particular star through the tube, just as we do with our
vane-sights;[8]--not at all a despicable device! The third machine was a
gnomon [C], the height of which was twice the diameter of the former
instrument, erected on a very large and long slab of marble, on the
northern side of the terrace. The stone slab had a channel cut round the
margin, to be filled with water in order to determine whether the slab was
level or not, and the style was set vertical as in hour-dials.[9] We may
suppose this gnomon to have been erected that by its aid the shadow at the
solstices and equinoxes might be precisely noted, for in that view both
the slab and the style were graduated. The fourth and last instrument, and
the largest of all, was one consisting as it were of three or four huge
astrolabes in juxtaposition [D]; each of them having a diameter of such a
geometrical pace as I have specified. The fiducial line, or _Alhidada_, as
it is called, was not lacking, nor yet the _Dioptra_.[10] Of these
astrolabes, one having a tilted position in the direction of the south,
represented the equator; a second, which stood crosswise on the first, in
a north and south plane, the Father took for a meridian; but it could be
turned round on its axis; a third stood in the meridian plane with its
axis perpendicular, and seemed to stand for a vertical circle; but this
also could be turned round so as to show any vertical whatever. Moreover
all these were graduated, and the degrees marked by prominent studs of
iron, so that in the night the graduation could be read by the touch
without a light. All this compound astrolabe instrument was erected on a
level marble platform with channels round it for levelling. On each of
these instruments explanations of everything were given in Chinese
characters; and there were also engraved the 24 zodiacal constellations
which answer to our 12 signs, 2 to each.[11] There was, however, one error
common to all the instruments, viz. that, in all, the elevation of the
Pole was assumed to be 36°. Now there can be no question about the fact
that the city of Nanking lies in lat. 32-1/4°; whence it would seem
probable that these instruments were made for another locality, and had
been erected at Nanking, without reference to its position, by some one
ill versed in mathematical science.[12]
[Illustration: Observatory Terrace]
[Illustration: Observatory Instruments of the Jesuits.]
"Some years afterwards Father Matteo saw similar instruments at Peking, or
rather the same instruments, so exactly alike were they, insomuch that
they had unquestionably been made by the same artist. And indeed it is
known that they were cast at the period when the Tartars were dominant in
China; and we may without rashness conjecture that they were the work of
some foreigner acquainted with our studies. But it is time to have done
with these instruments."--(_Lib._ IV. _cap._ 5.)
In this interesting description it will be seen that the Armillary Sphere
[B] agrees entirely with that represented in illustration facing p. 450.
And the second of his photographs in my possession, but not, I believe,
yet published, answers _perfectly_ to the curious description of the 4th
instrument [D]. Indeed, I should scarcely have been able to translate that
description intelligibly but for the aid of the photograph before me. It
shows the three _astrolabes_ or graduated circles with travelling indexes
arranged exactly as described, and pivoted on a complex frame of bronze;
(1) circle in the plane of the equator for measuring right ascensions; (2)
circle with its axis vertical to the plane of the last, for measuring
declinations: (3) circle with vertical axis, for zenith distances? The
Gnomon [A] was seen by Mr. Wylie in one of the lower rooms of the
Observatory (see below). Of the Globe we do not now hear; and that
mentioned by Lecomte among the ancient instruments was inferior to what
Ricci describes at Peking.
I now transcribe Mr. Wylie's translation of an extract from a Popular
Description of Peking:
"The observatory is on an elevated stage on the city wall, in the
south-east corner of the (Tartar) city, and was built in the year (A.D.
1279). In the centre was the _Tze-wei_[13] Palace, inside of which were a
pair of scrolls, and a cross inscription, by the imperial hand. Formerly it
contained the _Hwan-t'ien-e_ [B] 'Armillary Sphere'; the _Keen-e_ [D?]
'Transit Instrument' (?); the _Tung-kew_ [A] 'Brass Globe'; and the
_Leang-t'ien-ch'ih_, 'Sector,' which were constructed by Ko Show-king under
the Yuen Dynasty.
"In (1673) the old instruments having stood the wear of long past years,
had become almost useless, and six new instruments were made by imperial
authority. These were the _T'ien-t'ee_ 'Celestial Globe' (6); _Chih-taoue_
'Equinoctial Sphere' (2); _Hwang-taoue_ 'Zodiacal Sphere' (1); _Te-p'ing
kinge_ 'Azimuthal Horizon' (3); _Te-p'ing weie_ 'Altitude Instrument' (4);
_Ke-yene_ 'Sextant' (5). These were placed in the Observatory, and to the
present day are respectfully used. The old instruments were at the same
time removed, and deposited at the foot of the stage. In (1715) the
_Te-ping King-wei-e_ 'Azimuth and Altitude Instrument' was made;[14] and in
1744 the _Ke-hang-foo-chin-e_ (literally 'Sphere and Tube instrument for
sweeping the heavens'). All these were placed on the Observatory stage.
"There is a wind-index-pole called the 'Fair-wind-pennon,' on which is an
iron disk marked out in 28 points, corresponding in number to the 28
constellations."[15]
+ Mr. Wylie justly observes that the evidence is all in accord, and it
leaves, I think, no reasonable room for doubt that the instruments now in
the Observatory garden at Peking are those which were cast aside by Father
Verbiest[16] in 1673 (or 1668); which Father Ricci saw at Peking at the
beginning of the century, and of which he has described the duplicates at
Nanking; and which had come down from the time of the Mongols, or, more
precisely, of Kúblái Khan.
Ricci speaks of their age as nearly 250 years in 1599; Verbiest as nearly
300 years in 1668. But these estimates evidently point to the
_termination_ of the Mongol Dynasty (1368), to which the Chinese would
naturally refer their oral chronology. We have seen that Kúblái's reign
was the era of flourishing astronomy, and that the instruments are
referred to his astronomer Ko Shéu-king; nor does there seem any ground
for questioning this. In fact, it being once established that the
instruments existed when the Jesuits entered China, all the objections
fall to the ground.
We may observe that the number of the ancient instruments mentioned in the
popular Chinese account agrees with the number of important instruments
described by Ricci, and the titles of three at least out of the four seem
to indicate the same instruments. The catalogue of the new instruments of
1673 (or 1668) given in the native work also agrees _exactly_ with that
given by Lecomte.[17] And in reference to my question as to the
_possibility_ that one of Verbiest's instruments might have been removed
from the terrace to the garden, it is now hardly worth while to repeat Mr.
Wylie's assurance that there is no ground whatever for such a supposition.
The instruments represented by Lecomte are all still on the terrace, only
their positions have been somewhat altered to make room for the two added
in last century.
Probably, says Mr. Wylie, more might have been added from Chinese works,
especially the biography of Ko Shéu-king. But my kind correspondent was
unable to travel beyond the books on his own shelves. Nor was it needful.
It will have been seen that, beautiful as the art and casting of these
instruments is, it would be a mistake to suppose that they are entitled to
equally high rank in scientific accuracy. Mr. Wylie mentioned the question
that had been started to Freiherr von Gumpach, who was for some years
Professor of Astronomy in the Peking College. Whilst entirely rejecting
the doubts that had been raised as to the age of the Mongol instruments,
he said that he had seen those of Tycho Brahe, and the former are quite
unworthy to be compared with Tycho's in scientific accuracy.
The doubts expressed have been useful in drawing attention to these
remarkable reliques of the era of Kúblái's reign, and of Marco Polo's
residence in Cathay, though I fear they are answerable for having added
some pages to a work that required no enlargement!
[Mr. Wylie sent a most valuable paper on _The Mongol Astronomical
Instruments at Peking_ to the Congress of Orientalists held at St.
Petersburg, which was reprinted at Shanghai in 1897 in _Chinese
Researches_. Some of the astronomical instruments have been removed to
Potsdam by the Germans since the siege of the foreign Legations at Peking
in 1900.--H. C.]
On these auguries, and on diviners and fortune-tellers, see _Semedo_, p.
118 seqq.; _Kidd_, p. 313 (also for preceding references, _Mid. Kingdom_,
II. 152; _Gaubil_, 136).
NOTE 2.-- + The real cycle of the Mongols, which was also that of the
Chinese, runs: 1. Rat; 2. Ox; 3. Tiger; 4. Hare; 5. Dragon; 6. Serpent; 7.
Horse; 8. Sheep; 9. Ape; 10. Cock; 11. Dog; 12. Swine. But as such a cycle
[12 earthly branches, _Ti-chih_] is too short to avoid confusion, it is
combined with a co-efficient cycle of _ten_ epithets [celestial Stems,
_T'ien-kan_] in such wise as to produce a 60-year cycle of compound names
before the same shall recur. These co-efficient epithets are found in four
different forms: (1) From the Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water,
attaching to each a masculine and feminine attribute so as to make ten
epithets. (2) From the Colours: Blue, Red, Yellow, White, Black, similarly
treated. (3) By terms without meaning in Mongol, directly adopted or
imitated from the Chinese, _Ga_, Yi, Bing, Ting, etc. (4) By the five
Cardinal Points: East, South, Middle, West, North. Thus 1864 was the first
year of a 60-year cycle:--
1864 = (Masc.) _Wood-Rat_ Year = (Masc.) _Blue-Rat_ Year.
1865 = (Fem.) _Wood-Ox_ Year = (Fem.) _Blue-Ox_ Year.
1866 = (Masc.) _Fire-Tiger_ Year = (Masc.) _Red-Tiger_ Year.
1867 = (Fem.) _Fire-Hare_ Year = (Fem.) _Red-Hare_ Year.
1923 = (Fem.) _Water-Swine_ Year = (Fem.) _Black-Swine_ Year.
And then a new cycle commences just as before.
This Calendar was carried by the Mongols into all their dominions, and it
would appear to have long survived them in Persia. Thus a document issued
in favour of Sir John Chardin by the _Shaikh-ul-Islám_ of Ispahan, bears
the strange date for a Mahomedan luminary of "The year of the Swine." The
Hindus also had a 60-year cycle, but with them each year had an
independent name.
The Mongols borrowed their system from the Chinese, who attribute its
invention to the Emperor Hwang-ti, and its initiation to the 61st year of
his reign, corresponding to B.C. 2637. ["It was Ta-nao, Minister to the
Emperor Hwang-ti, who, by command of his Sovereign, devised the sexagenary
cycle. Hwang-ti began to reign 2697 B.C., and the 61st year of his reign
was taken for the first cyclical sign." _P. Hoang_, _Chinese Calendar_; p.
11.--H. C.] The characters representing what we have called the ten
coefficient epithets are called by the Chinese the "Heavenly Stems"; those
equivalent to the twelve animal symbols are the "Earthly Branches," and
they are applied in their combinations not to years only, but to cycles of
months, days, and hours, such hours being equal to two of ours. Thus every
year, month, day, and hour will have two appropriate characters, and the
four pairs belonging to the time of any man's birth constitute what the
Chinese call the "Eight Characters" of his age, to which constant
reference is made in some of their systems of fortune-telling, and in the
selection of propitious days for the transaction of business. To this
system the text alludes. A curious account of the principles of
prognostication on such a basis will be found in _Doolittle's Social Life
of the Chinese_ (p. 579 seqq.; on the Calendar, see Schmidt's Preface to
_S. Setzen_; _Pallas, Sammlungen_, II. 228 seqq.; _Prinsep's Essays_,
_Useful Tables_, 146.)
["Kubilai Khan established in Peking two astronomical boards and two
observatories. One of them was a Chinese Observatory (_sze t'ien t'ai_),
the other a Mohammedan Observatory (_hui hui sze t'ien t'ai_), each with
its particular astronomical and chronological systems, its particular
astrology and instruments. The first astronomical and calendar system was
compiled for the Mongols by Ye-liu Ch'u-ts'ai, who was in Chingis Khan's
service, not only as a high counsellor, but also as an astronomer and
astrologer. After having been convinced of the obsoleteness and
incorrectness of the astronomical calculations in the _Ta ming li_ (the
name of the calendar system of the Kin Dynasty), he thought out at the
time he was at Samarcand a new system, valid not only for China, but also
for the countries conquered by the Mongols in Western Asia, and named it
in memory of Chingis Khan's expedition _Si ching keng wu yüan li_, i.e.,
'Astronomical Calendar beginning with the year _Keng wu_, compiled during
the war in the west.' Keng-wu was the year 1210 of our era.
Ye-liu Ch'u-ts'ai chose this year, and the moment of the winter solstice,
for the beginning of his period; because, according to his calculations, it
coincided with the beginning of a new astronomical or planetary period. He
took also into consideration, that since the year 1211 Chingis Khan's glory
had spread over the whole world. Ye-liu Ch'u-ts'ai's calendar was not
adopted in China, but the system of it is explained in the _Yuen-shi_, in
the section on Astronomy and the Calendar.
"In the year 1267, the Mohammedans presented to Kubilai their astronomical
calendar (_wan nien li_, i.e.), the calendar of ten thousand years. By
taking this denomination in its literal sense, we may conclude that the
Mahommedans brought to China the ancient Persian system, founded on the
period of 10,000 years. The compilers of the _Yuen-shi_ seem not to have
had access to documents relating to this system, for they give no details
about it. Finally by order of Kubilai the astronomers _Hui-Heng_ and _Ko
Show-King_ composed a new calculation under the name of _Shou-shi-li_
which came into use from the year 1280. It is thoroughly explained in the
_Yuen-shi_. Notwithstanding the fame this system generally enjoyed, its
blemishes came soon to light. In the sixth month of 1302 an eclipse of the
sun happened, and the calculation of the astronomer proved to be erroneous
(it seems the calculation had anticipated the real time). The astronomers
of the Ming Dynasty explained the errors in the _Shou-shi-li_ by the
circumstance, that in that calculation the period for one degree of
precession of the equinox was taken too long (eighty-one years). But they
were themselves hardly able to overcome these difficulties." (_Palladius_,
pp. 51-53.)--H. C.]
[1] Besides the works quoted in the text I have only been able to consult
Gaubil's notices, as abstracted in Lalande; and the Introductory
Remarks to Mr. J. Williams's _Observations of Comets ... extracted
from the Chinese Annals_, London, 1871.
[2] _Pinnula_. The French _pinnule_ is properly a sight-vane at the end of
a traversing bar. The _transverse lines_ imply that minutes were read
by the system of our _diagonal scales_; and these I understand to have
been subdivided still further by aid of a divided edge attached to the
sight-vane; qu. a Vernier?
[3] Verbiest himself speaks of the displaced instruments thus ... "ut nova
instrumenta astronomica facienda mihi imponeret, quae scilicet more
Europaeo affabre facta, et in specula Astroptica Pekinensi collocata,
aeternam Imperii Tartarici memoriam apud posteritatem servarent,
_prioribus instrumentis Sinicis rudioris Minervae, quae jam a_
trecentis _proxime_ annis _speculam occupabant, inde amotis_.
Imperator statim annuit illorum postulatis. et totius rei curam,
publico diplomate mihi imposuit. Ego itaque intra quadriennis spatium
sex diversi generis instrumenta confeci." This is from an account of
the Observatory written by Verbiest himself, and printed at Peking in
1668 (_Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas Restitutae_,
etc.). My friend Mr. D. Hanbury made the extract from a copy of this
rare book in the London Institution Library. An enlarged edition was
published in Europe. (Dillingen, 1687.)
[4] On the contrary, he considered the photographs interesting, as showing
to how late a period the art of fine casting had endured.
[5] This ancient instrument is probably the same that is engraved in
Pauthier's _Chine Ancienne_ under the title of "The Sphere of the
Emperor Shun" (B.C. 2255!).
[6] After the death of Kúblái astronomy fell into neglect, and when
Hongwu, the first Ming sovereign, took the throne (1368) the subject
was almost forgotten. Nor was there any revival till the time of
Ching. The latter was a prince who in 1573 associated himself with the
astronomer Hing-yun-lu to reform the state of astronomy. (_Gaubil_.)
What Ricci has recorded (in Trigautius) of the dense ignorance of the
Chinese _literati_ in astronomical matters is entirely consistent with
the preceding statements.
[7] I had entirely forgotten to look at Trigault till Mr. Wylie sent me
the extract. The copy I use (_De Christianá Expeditione apud Sinas ...
Auct. Nicolao Trigautio_) is of _Lugdun_. 1616. The first edition was
published at _August. Vindelicorum_ (Augsburg) in 1615: the French, at
Lyons, in 1616.
[8] "Pinnulis."
[9] "_Et stilus eo modo quo in horologiis ad perpendiculum collocatus_."
[10] The _Alidada_ is the traversing index bar which carries the
_dioptra_, _pinnules_, or sight-vanes. The word is found in some older
English Dictionaries, and in France and Italy is still applied to the
traversing index of a plane table or of a sextant. Littré derives it
from (Ar.) _'adád_, enumeration; but it is really from a quite
different word, _al-idádat_ [Arabic] "a door-post," which is found in
this sense in an Arabic treatise on the Astrolabe. (See _Dozy and
Engelmann_, p. 140.)
[11] This is an error of Ricci's, as Mr. Wylie observes, or of his
reporter.
The Chinese divide their year into 24 portions of 15 days each.
Of these 24 divisions twelve called _Kung_ mark the twelve places in
which the sun and moon come into conjunction, and are thus in some
degree analogous to our 12 signs of the Zodiac. The names of these
_Kung_ are entirely different from those of our sign, though since the
17th century the Western Zodiac, with paraphrased names, has been
introduced in some of their books. But besides that, they divide the
heavens into 28 stellar spaces. The correspondence of this division to
the Hindu system of the 28 Lunar Mansions, called _Nakshatras_, has
given rise to much discussion. The Chinese _sieu_ or stellar spaces
are excessively unequal, varying from 24° in equatorial extent down to
24'. (_Williams_, op. cit.) [See _P. Hoang_, supra p. 449.]
[12] Mr. Wylie is inclined to distrust the accuracy of this remark, as the
only city nearly on the 36th parallel is P'ing-yang fu.
But we have noted in regard to this (Polo's Pianfu, vol. ii. p. 17)
that a college for the education of Mongol youth was instituted here,
by the great minister Yeliu Chutsai, whose devotion to astronomy Mr.
Wylie has noticed above. In fact, two colleges were established by
him, one at Yenking, i.e. Peking, the other at P'ing-yang; and
astronomy is specified as one of the studies to be pursued at these.
(See _D'Ohsson_, II. 71-72, quoting _De Mailla_.) It seems highly
probable that the two sets of instruments were originally intended for
these two institutions, and that one set was carried to Nanking, when
the Ming set their capital there in 1368.
[13] The 28 _sieu_ or stellar spaces, above spoken of, do not extend to
the Pole; they are indeed very unequal in extent on the meridian as
well as on the equator. And the area in the northern sky not embraced
in them is divided into three large spaces called _Yuen_ or
enclosures, of which the field of circumpolar stars (or circle of
perpetual apparition) forms one which is called _Tze-Wei_.
(_Williams_.)
The southern circumpolar stars form a fourth space, beyond the 28
_sieu_. Ibid.
[14] "This was obviously made in France. There is nothing Chinese about
it, either in construction or ornament. It is very different from all
the others." (_Note by Mr. Wylie._)
[15] "There follows a minute description of the brass clepsydra, and the
brass gnomon, which it is unnecessary to translate. I have seen both
these instruments, in two of the lower rooms."--Id.
[16] [Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J., was born at Pitthens, near Courtrai; he
arrived in China in 1659 and died at Peking on the 29th January,
1688.--H. C.]
[17] We have attached letters A, B, C, to indicate the correspondences of
the ancient instruments, and cyphers 1, 2, 3, to indicate the
correspondences of the modern instruments.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
[CONCERNING THE RELIGION OF THE CATHAYANS;[NOTE 1] THEIR VIEWS AS TO THE
SOUL; AND THEIR CUSTOMS.
As we have said before, these people are Idolaters, and as regards their
gods, each has a tablet fixed high up on the wall of his chamber, on which
is inscribed a name which represents the Most High and Heavenly God; and
before this they pay daily worship, offering incense from a thurible,
raising their hands aloft, and gnashing their teeth[NOTE 2] three times,
praying Him to grant them health of mind and body; but of Him they ask
nought else. And below on the ground there is a figure which they call
_Natigai_, which is the god of things terrestrial. To him they give a wife
and children, and they worship him in the same manner, with incense, and
gnashing of teeth,[NOTE 2] and lifting up of hands; and of him they ask
seasonable weather, and the fruits of the earth, children, and so
forth.[NOTE 3]
Their view of the immortality of the soul is after this fashion. They
believe that as soon as a man dies, his soul enters into another body,
going from a good to a better, or from a bad to a worse, according as he
hath conducted himself well or ill. That is to say, a poor man, if he have
passed through life good and sober, shall be born again of a gentlewoman,
and shall be a gentleman; and on a second occasion shall be born of a
princess and shall be a prince, and so on, always rising, till he be
absorbed into the Deity. But if he have borne himself ill, he who was the
son of a gentleman shall be reborn as the son of a boor, and from a boor
shall become a dog, always going down lower and lower.
The people have an ornate style of speech; they salute each other with a
cheerful countenance, and with great politeness; they behave like
gentlemen, and eat with great propriety.[NOTE 4] They show great respect
to their parents; and should there be any son who offends his parents, or
fails to minister to their necessities, there is a public office which has
no other charge but that of punishing unnatural children, who are proved
to have acted with ingratitude towards their parents.[NOTE 5]
Criminals of sundry kinds who have been imprisoned, are released at a time
fixed by the Great Kaan (which occurs every three years), but on leaving
prison they are branded on one cheek that they may be recognized.
The Great Kaan hath prohibited all gambling and sharping, things more
prevalent there than in any other part of the world. In doing this, he
said: "I have conquered you by force of arms, and all that you have is
mine; if, therefore, you gamble away your property, it is in fact my
property that you are gambling away." Not that he took anything from them
however.
I must not omit to tell you of the orderly way in which the Kaan's Barons
and others conduct themselves in coming to his presence. In the first
place, within a half mile of the place where he is, out of reverence for
his exalted majesty, everybody preserves a mien of the greatest meekness
and quiet, so that no noise of shrill voices or loud talk shall be heard.
And every one of the chiefs and nobles carries always with him a handsome
little vessel to spit in whilst he remain in the Hall of Audience--for no
one dares spit on the floor of the hall,--and when he hath spitten he
covers it up and puts it aside.[NOTE 6] So also they all have certain
handsome buskins of white leather, which they carry with them, and, when
summoned by the sovereign, on arriving at the entrance to the hall, they
put on these white buskins, and give their others in charge to the
servants, in order that they may not foul the fine carpets of silk and
gold and divers colours.]
NOTE 1.--Ramusio's heading has _Tartars_, but it is manifestly of the
Cathayans or Chinese that the author speaks throughout this chapter.
NOTE 2.--"_Sbattendo i denti_." This is almost certainly, as Marsden has
noticed, due to some error of transcription. Probably _Battono i fronti_,
or something similar, was the true reading. [See following note,
p. 461.--H. C.]
NOTE 3.--The latter part of this passage has, I doubt not, been more or
less interpolated, seeing that it introduces again as a _Chinese_ divinity
the rude object of primitive Tartar worship, of which we have already
heard in Bk. I. ch. liii. And regarding the former part of the passage,
one cannot but have some doubt whether what was taken for the symbol of
the Most High was not the ancestral tablet, which is usually placed in one
of the inner rooms of the house, and before which worship is performed at
fixed times, and according to certain established forms. Something, too,
may have been known of the Emperor's worship of Heaven at the great
circular temple at Peking, called _T'ien-t'ân_, or Altar of Heaven (see p.
459), where incensed offerings are made before a tablet, on which is
inscribed the name Yuh-Hwang Shang-ti, which some interpret as "The
Supreme Ruler of the Imperial Heavens," and regard as the nearest approach
to pure Theism of which there is any indication in Chinese worship (See
_Doolittle_, pp. 170, 625; and _Lockhart_ in _J. R. G. S._, xxxvi. 142).
This worship is mentioned by the Mahomedan narrator of Shah Rukh's embassy
(1421): "Every year there are some days on which the Emperor eats no
animal food.... He spends his time in an apartment which contains no idol,
and says that he is worshipping the God of Heaven."[1] (_Ind. Antiquary_,
II. 81.)
[Illustration: Great Temple of Heaven, Peking.]
The charge of irreligion against the Chinese is an old one, and is made by
Hayton in nearly the same terms as it often is by modern missionaries:
"And though these people have the acutest intelligence in all matters
wherein material things are concerned, yet you shall never find among them
any knowledge or perception of spiritual things." Yet it is a mistake to
suppose that this insensibility has been so universal as it is often
represented. To say nothing of the considerable numbers who have adhered
faithfully to the Roman Catholic Church, the large number of Mahomedans in
China, of whom many must have been proselytes, indicates an interest in
religion; and that Buddhism itself was in China once a spiritual power of
no small energy will, I think, be plain to any one who reads the very
interesting extracts in Schott's essay on Buddhism in Upper Asia and
China. (_Berlin Acad. of Sciences_, 1846.) These seem to be so little
known that I will translate two or three of them. "In the years _Yuan-yeu_
of the Sung (A.D. 1086-1093), a pious matron with her two servants lived
entirely to the Land of Enlightenment. One of the maids said one day to
her companion: 'To-night I shall pass over to the Realm of Amita.' The
same night a balsamic odour filled the house, and the maid died without
any preceding illness. On the following day the surviving maid said to the
lady: 'Yesterday my deceased companion appeared to me in a dream, and said
to me: "Thanks to the persevering exhortations of our mistress, I am
become a partaker of Paradise, and my blessedness is past all expression
in words."' The matron replied: 'If she will appear to me also then I will
believe what you say.' Next night the deceased really appeared to her, and
saluted her with respect. The lady asked: 'May I, for once, visit the Land
of Enlightenment?' 'Yea,' answered the Blessed Soul, 'thou hast but to
follow thy handmaiden.' The lady followed her (in her dream), and soon
perceived a lake of immeasurable expanse, overspread with innumerable red
and white lotus flowers, of various sizes, some blooming, some fading. She
asked what those flowers might signify? The maiden replied: 'These are all
human beings on the earth whose thoughts are turned to the Land of
Enlightenment. The very first longing after the Paradise of Amita produces
a flower in the Celestial Lake, and this becomes daily larger and more
glorious, as the self-improvement of the person whom it represents
advances; in the contrary case, it loses in glory and fades away.'[2] The
matron desired to know the name of an enlightened one who reposed on one
of the flowers, clad in a waving and wondrously glistening raiment. Her
whilom maiden answered: 'That is Yangkie.' Then asked she the name of
another, and was answered: 'That is Mahu.' The lady then said: 'At what
place shall I hereafter come into existence?' Then the Blessed Soul led
her a space further, and showed her a hill that gleamed with gold and
azure. 'Here,' said she, 'is your future abode. You will belong to the
first order of the blessed.' When the matron awoke she sent to enquire for
Yangkie and Mahu. The first was already departed; the other still alive
and well. And thus the lady learned that the soul of one who advances in
holiness and never turns back, may be already a dweller in the Land of
Enlightenment, even though the body still sojourn in this transitory
world" (pp. 55-56).
What a singular counterpart the striking conclusion here forms to Dante's
tremendous assault on a still living villain,--or enemy!
--"che per sua opra
In anima in Cocito già si bagna,
Ed in corpo par vivo ancor di sopra."
--_Infern._ xxxiii. 155.
Again: "I knew a man who during his life had killed many living beings,
and was at last struck with an apoplexy. The sorrows in store for his
sin-laden soul pained me to the heart; I visited him, and exhorted him to
call on the Amita; but he obstinately refused, and spoke only of
indifferent matters. His illness clouded his understanding; in consequence
of his misdeeds he had become hardened. What was before such a man when
once his eyes were closed? Wherefore let men be converted while there is
yet time! In this life the night followeth the day, and the winter
followeth the summer; that, all men are aware of. But that life is followed
by death, no man will consider. Oh, what blindness and obduracy is this!"
(p. 93).
Again: "Hoang-ta-tie, of T'ancheu (Changshu-fu in Honan), who lived under
the Sung, followed the craft of a blacksmith. Whenever he was at his work
he used to call without intermission on the name of Amita Buddha. One day
he handed to his neighbours the following verses of his own composing to
be spread about:--
'Ding dong! The hammer-strokes fall long and fast,
Until the Iron turns to steel at last!
Now shall the long long Day of Rest begin,
The Land of Bliss Eternal calls me in.'
Thereupon he died. But his verses spread all over Honan, and many learned
to call upon Buddha" (103).
Once more: "In my own town there lived a physician by name Chang-yan-ming.
He was a man who never took payment for his treatment from any one in poor
or indifferent circumstances; nay, he would often make presents to such
persons of money or corn to lighten their lot. If a rich man would have
his advice and paid him a fee, he never looked to see whether it were much
or little. If a patient lay so dangerously ill that Yanming despaired of
his recovery, he would still give him good medicine to comfort his heart,
but never took payment for it. I knew this man for many a year, and I
never heard the word _Money_ pass his lips! One day a fire broke out in
the town, and laid the whole of the houses in ashes; only that of the
physician was spared. His sons and grandsons reached high dignities" (p.
110).
Of such as this physician the apostle said: "Of a truth I perceive that
God is no respecter of persons; But in every nation he that feareth Him,
and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him."
["By the 'Most High and Heavenly God,' worshipped by the Chinese, as Marco
Polo reports, evidently the Chinese _T'ien_, 'Heaven' is meant, _Lao t'ien
ye_ in the common language. Regarding 'the God of things terrestrial,'
whose figure the Chinese, according to M. Polo, 'placed below on the
ground,' there can also be no doubt that he understands the _T'u-ti_, the
local 'Lar' of the Chinese, to which they present sacrifices on the floor,
near the wall under the table.
"M. Polo reports, that the Chinese worship their God offering incense,
raising their hands aloft, and gnashing their teeth. Of course he means
that they placed the hands together, or held kindled joss-stick bundles in
their hands, according to the Chinese custom. The statement of M. Polo
_sbattendo i denti_ is very remarkable. It seems to me, that very few of
the Chinese are aware of the fact, that this custom still exists among the
Taouists. In the rituals of the Taouists the _K'ow-ch'i_ (_Ko'w_ = 'to
knock against,'_ch'i_ = 'teeth') is prescribed as a comminatory and
propitiatory act. It is effected by the four upper and lower foreteeth.
The Taouists are obliged before the service begins to perform a certain
number of '_K'ow-ch'i_, turning their heads alternately to the left and to
the right, in order to drive away mundane thoughts and aggressions of bad
spirits. The _K'ow-ch'i_ repeated three times is called _ming fa ku_ in
Chinese, i.e. 'to beat the spiritual drum.' The ritual says, that it is
heard by the Most High Ruler, who is moved by it to grace.
"M. Polo observed this custom among the lay heathen. Indeed, it appears
from a small treatise, written in China more than a hundred years before
M. Polo, that at the time the Chinese author wrote, all devout men,
entering a temple, used to perform the _K'ow-ch'i_, and considered it an
expression of veneration and devotion to the idols. Thus this custom had
been preserved to the time of M. Polo, who did not fail to mention this
strange peculiarity in the exterior observances of the Chinese. As regards
the present time it seems to me, that this custom is not known among the
people, and even with respect to the Taouists it is only performed on
certain occasions, and not in all Taouist temples." (_Palladius_, pp.
53-54.)--H. C.]
NOTE 4.--"True politeness cannot of course be taught by rules merely, but
a great degree of urbanity and kindness is everywhere shown, whether owing
to the naturally placable disposition of the people, or to the effects of
their early instruction in the forms of politeness." (_Mid. Kingdom_, II.
68.) As regards the "ornate style of speech," a well-bred Chinaman never
says _I_ or _You_, but for the former "the little person," "the disciple,"
"the inferior," and so on; and for the latter, "the learned man," "the
master," or even "the emperor." These phrases, however, are not confined
to China, most of them having exact parallels in Hindustani courtesy. On
this subject and the courteous disposition of the Chinese, see _Fontaney_,
in _Lett. Edif._ VII. 287 seqq.; also XI. 287 seqq.; _Semedo_, 36;
_Lecomte_, II. 48 seqq. There are, however, strong differences of opinion
expressed on this subject; there is, apparently, much more genuine
courtesy in the north than in the south.
NOTE 5.--"Filial piety is the fundamental principle of the Chinese
polity." (_Amiot_, V. 129.) "In cases of extreme unfilial conduct, parents
sometimes accuse their children before the magistrate, and demand his
official aid in controlling or punishing them; but such instances are
comparatively rare.... If the parent require his son to be publicly
whipped by the command of the magistrate, the latter is obliged to order
the infliction of the whipping.... If after punishment the son remain
undutiful and disobedient, and his parents demand it at the hands of the
magistrate, the latter must, with the consent of the maternal uncles of
the son, cause him to be taken out to the high wall in front of the yamun,
and have him there publicly whipped to death." (_Doolittle_, 102-103.)
NOTE 6.--[Mr. Rockhill writes to me that pocket-spitoons are still used in
China.--H. C.]
[1] "In the worship carried on here the Emperor acts as a high priest. HE
only worships; and no subject, however high in rank, can join in the
adoration." (_Lockhart_.) The actual temple dates from 1420-1430; but
the _Institution_ is very ancient, and I think there is evidence that
such a structure existed under the Mongols, probably only _restored_
by the Ming. [It was built during the 18th year of the reign of the
third Ming Emperor Yung Loh (1403-1425); it was entirely restored
during the 18th year of K'ien Lung; it was struck by lightning and
burnt down in 1889; it is being re-built.--H. C.]
[2] In 1871 I saw in Bond Street an exhibition of (so-called) "spirit"
drawings, i.e. drawings alleged to be executed by a "medium" under
extraneous and invisible guidance. A number of these extraordinary
productions (for extraordinary they were undoubtedly) professed to
represent the "Spiritual Flowers" of such and such persons; and the
explanation of this as presented in the catalogue was in substance
exactly that given in the text. It is highly improbable that the
artist had any cognizance of Schott's Essay, and the coincidence was
assuredly very striking.
END OF VOL I.
[Illustration: MARCO POLO'S ITINERARIES No. IV
(Book I, Chapter 36 to end & chief part of Book II.)]
[Illustration: PLAN OF SHANGTU
From an Eye Sketch by Dr. S W Bushell 1872]
[Illustration: Archway erected under the Mongol Dynasty at Kiu Yung Kwan,
N.W. of Peking.[1]]
[1] On the walls of this archway is engraved the inscription in six
characters, of which a representation accompanies ch. xv. of Prologue,
note 1.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1" ***
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