The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2
by Marco Polo · English · Gutenberg #12410 · 2,332,330 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2
Author: Marco Polo
da Pisa Rusticiano
Editor: Henri Cordier
Translator: Sir Henry Yule
Release date: May 1, 2004 [eBook #12410]
Most recently updated: June 29, 2025
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12410
Credits: Charles Franks, Robert Connal, John Williams and PG Distributed Proofreaders, updated and HTML created by Robert Tonsing
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO — VOLUME 2 ***
[Illustration: “MARCVS POLVS VENETVS TOTIVS ORBIS ET INDIE PEREGRATOR
PRIMUS.”
Copied by permission from a painting bearing the above inscription
in the Gallery of Monsignore BADIA in Rome.]
THE TRAVELS OF
MARCO POLO
THE COMPLETE
YULE-CORDIER EDITION
Including the unabridged third edition (1903) of
Henry Yule’s annotated translation, as revised
by Henri Cordier; together with Cordier’s later
volume of notes and addenda (1920)
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME II
_Containing the second volume of the 1903 edition
and the 1920 volume of addenda
(two original volumes bound as one)_
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
PAGE
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS iii
EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvi
THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO
APPENDICES 503
INDEX 607
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.
BOOK SECOND—(_Continued_).
PART II.
_Journey to the West and South-West of Cathay._
CHAP. PAGE
XXXV.—HERE BEGINS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR OF CATHAY; AND
FIRST OF THE RIVER PULISANGHIN 3
NOTES.—1. _Marco’s Route._ 2. _The Bridge Pul-i-sangin, or
Lu-ku-k’iao._
XXXVI.—ACCOUNT OF THE CITY OF JUJU 10
NOTES.—1. _The Silks called |Sendals|._ 2. _Chochau._ 3.
_Bifurcation of Two Great Roads at this point._
XXXVII.—THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU 12
NOTES.—1. _Acbaluc._ 2. _T’ai-yuan fu._ 3. _Grape-wine of
that place._ 4. _P’ing-yang fu._
XXXVIII.—CONCERNING THE CASTLE OF CAICHU. THE GOLDEN KING AND
PRESTER JOHN 17
NOTES.—1. _The Story and Portrait of the |Roi d’Or|._ 2.
_Effeminacy reviving in every Chinese Dynasty._
XXXIX.—HOW PRESTER JOHN TREATED THE GOLDEN KING HIS PRISONER 21
XL.—CONCERNING THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN AND THE CITY OF
CACHANFU 22
NOTES.—1. _The Kará Muren._ 2. _Former growth of silk in
Shan-si and Shen-si._ 3. _The |akché| or |asper|._
XLI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF KENJANFU 24
NOTES.—1. _Morus alba._ 2. _Geography of the Route since
Chapter XXXVIII._ 3. _Kenjanfu or Si-ngan fu; the
Christian monument there._ 4. _Prince Mangala._
XLII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUNCUN, WHICH IS RIGHT WEARISOME
TO TRAVEL THROUGH 31
NOTE.—_The Mountain Road to Southern Shen-si._
XLIII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ACBALEC MANZI 33
NOTES.—1. _Geography, and doubts about Acbalec._ 2. _Further
Journey into Sze-ch’wan._
XLIV.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF SINDAFU 36
NOTES.—1. _Ch’êng-tu fu._ 2. _The Great River or |Kiang|._ 3.
_The word |Comercque|._ 4. _The Bridge-Tolls._ 5.
_Correction of Text._
XLV.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TEBET 42
NOTES.—1. _The Part of Tibet and events referred to._ 2.
_Noise of burning bamboos._ 3. _Road retains its
desolate character._ 4. _Persistence of eccentric
manners illustrated._ 5. _Name of the Musk animal._
XLVI.—FURTHER DISCOURSE CONCERNING TEBET 49
NOTES.—1. _Explanatory._ 2. “Or de Paliolle.” 3. _Cinnamon._
4. 5. _Great Dogs, and |Beyamini| oxen._
XLVII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CAINDU 53
NOTES.—1. _Explanation from Ramusio._ 2. _Pearls of Inland
Waters._ 3. _Lax manners._ 4. _Exchange of Salt for
Gold._ 5. _Salt currency._ 6. _Spiced Wine._ 7. _Plant
like the Clove, spoken of by Polo. Tribes of this
Tract._
XLVIII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN 64
NOTES.—1. _Geography of the Route between Sindafu or
Ch’êng-tu fu, and Carajan or Yun-nan._ 2. _Christians
and Mahomedans in Yun-nan._ 3. _Wheat._ 4. _Cowries._
5. _Brine-spring._ 6. _Parallel._
XLIX.—CONCERNING A FURTHER PART OF THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN 76
NOTES.—1. _City of Talifu._ 2. _Gold._ 3. _Crocodiles._ 4.
_Yun-nan horses and riders. Arms of the Aboriginal
Tribes._ 5. _Strange superstition and parallels._
L.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ZARDANDAN 84
NOTES.—1. _Carajan and Zardandan._ 2. _The Gold-Teeth._ 3.
_Male Indolence._ 4. _The Couvade._ (See App. L. 8.) 5.
_Abundance of Gold. Relation of Gold to Silver._ 6.
_Worship of the Ancestor._ 7. _Unhealthiness of the
climate._ 8. _Tallies._ 9.–12. _Medicine-men or
Devil-dancers; extraordinary identity of practice in
various regions._
LI.—WHEREIN IS RELATED HOW THE KING OF MIEN AND BANGALA VOWED
VENGEANCE AGAINST THE GREAT KAAN 98
NOTES.—1. _Chronology._ 2. _Mien or Burma. Why the King may
have been called King of Bengal also._ 3. _Numbers
alleged to have been carried on elephants._
LII.—OF THE BATTLE THAT WAS FOUGHT BY THE GREAT KAAN’S HOST AND
HIS SENESCHAL AGAINST THE KING OF MIEN 101
NOTES.—1. _Nasruddin._ 2. _Cyrus’s Camels._ 3. _Chinese
Account of the Action. General Correspondence of the
Chinese and Burmese Chronologies._
LIII.—OF THE GREAT DESCENT THAT LEADS TOWARDS THE KINGDOM OF MIEN 106
NOTES.—1. _Market-days._ 2. _Geographical difficulties._
LIV.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF MIEN, AND THE TWO TOWERS THAT ARE
THEREIN, ONE OF GOLD, AND THE OTHER OF SILVER 109
NOTES.—1. _Amien._ 2. _Chinese Account of the Invasion of
Burma. Comparison with Burmese Annals. The City
intended. The Pagodas._ 3. _Wild Oxen._
LV.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF BANGALA 114
NOTES.—1. _Polo’s view of Bengal; and details of his account
illustrated._ 2. _Great Cattle._
LVI.—DISCOURSES OF THE PROVINCE OF CAUGIGU 116
NOTE.—_A Part of Laos. Papesifu. Chinese Geographical
Etymologies._
LVII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ANIN 119
NOTES.—1. _The Name. Probable identification of territory._
2. _Textual._
LVIII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF COLOMAN 122
NOTES.—1. _The Name. The Kolo-man._ 2. _Natural defences of
Kwei-chau._
LIX.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUIJU 124
NOTES.—1. _Kwei-chau. Phungan-lu._ 2. _Grass-cloth._ 3.
_Tigers._ 4. _Great Dogs._ 5. _Silk._ 6. _Geographical
Review of the Route since Chapter LV._ 7. _Return to
Juju._
BOOK SECOND.
(_Continued_.)
PART III.
_Journey Southward through Eastern Provinces of Cathay and Manzi._
LX.—CONCERNING THE CITIES OF CACANFU AND CHANGLU 132
NOTES.—1. _Pauthier’s Identifications._ 2. _Changlu. The
Burning of the Dead ascribed to the Chinese._
LXI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF CHINANGLI, AND THAT OF TADINFU, AND
THE REBELLION OF LITAN 135
NOTES.—1. _T’si-nan fu._ 2. _Silk of Shan-tung._ 3. _Title
|Sangon|._ 4. _Agul and Mangkutai._ 5. _History of
Litan’s Revolt._
LXII.—CONCERNING THE NOBLE CITY OF SINJUMATU 138
NOTE.—_The City intended. The Great Canal._
LXIII.—CONCERNING THE CITIES OF LINJU AND PIJU 140
NOTES.—1. _Linju._ 2. _Piju._
LXIV.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF SIJU, AND THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN 141
NOTES.—1. _Siju._ 2. _The Hwang-Ho and its changes._ 3.
_Entrance to Manzi; that name for Southern China._
LXV.—HOW THE GREAT KAAN CONQUERED THE PROVINCE OF MANZI 144
NOTES.—1. _Meaning and application of the title |Faghfur|._
2. _Chinese self-devotion._ 3. _Bayan the Great
Captain._ 4. _His lines of Operation._ 5. _The Juggling
Prophecy._ 6. _The Fall of the Sung Dynasty._ 7.
_Exposure of Infants, and Foundling Hospitals._
LXVI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF COIGANJU 151
NOTE.—_Hwai-ngan fu._
LXVII.—OF THE CITIES OF PAUKIN AND CAYU 152
NOTE.—_Pao-yng and Kao-yu._
LXVIII.—OF THE CITIES OF TIJU, TINJU, AND YANJU 153
NOTES.—1. _Cities between the Canal and the Sea._ 2.
_Yang-chau._ 3. _Marco Polo’s Employment at this City._
LXIX.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF NANGHIN 157
NOTE.—_Ngan-king._
LXX.—CONCERNING THE VERY NOBLE CITY OF SAIANFU, AND HOW ITS
CAPTURE WAS EFFECTED 158
NOTES.—1. and 2. _Various Readings._ 3. _Digression on the
Military Engines of the Middle Ages._ 4. _Mangonels of
Cœur de Lion._ 5. _Difficulties connected with Polo’s
Account of this Siege._
LXXI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF SINJU AND THE GREAT RIVER KIAN 170
NOTES.—1. _I-chin hien._ 2. _The Great Kiang._ 3. _Vast
amount of tonnage on Chinese Waters._ 4. _Size of River
Vessels._ 5. _Bamboo Tow-lines._ 6. _Picturesque Island
Monasteries._
LXXII.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIJU 174
NOTES.—1. _Kwa-chau._ 2. _The Grand Canal and Rice-Transport._
3. _The Golden Island._
LXXIII.—OF THE CITY OF CHINGHIANFU 176
NOTE.—_Chin-kiang fu. Mar Sarghis, the Christian Governor._
LXXIV.—OF THE CITY OF CHINGINJU AND THE SLAUGHTER OF CERTAIN ALANS
THERE 178
NOTES.—1. _Chang-chau._ 2. _Employment of Alans in the Mongol
Service._ 3. _The Chang-chau Massacre. Mongol Cruelties._
LXXV.—OF THE NOBLE CITY OF SUJU 181
NOTES.—1. _Su-chau._ 2. _Bridges of that part of China._ 3.
_Rhubarb; its mention here seems erroneous._ 4. _The
Cities of Heaven and Earth. Ancient incised Plan of
Su-chau._ 5. _Hu-chau, Wu-kiang, and Kya-hing._
LXXVI.—DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY, WHICH IS THE
CAPITAL OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF MANZI 185
NOTES.—1. _King-szé now Hang-chau._ 2. _The circuit ascribed
to the City; the Bridges._ 3. _Hereditary Trades._ 4.
_The Si-hu or Western Lake._ 5. _Dressiness of the
People._ 6. _Charitable Establishments._ 7. _Paved
roads._ 8. _Hot and Cold Baths._ 9. _Kanp’u, and the
Hang-chau Estuary._ 10. _The Nine Provinces of Manzi._
11. _The Kaan’s Garrisons in Manzi._ 12. _Mourning
costume._ 13. 14. _Tickets recording inmates of houses._
LXXVII.—[FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY.] 200
(From Ramusio only.)
NOTES.—1. _Remarks on these supplementary details._ 2. _Tides
in the Hang-chau Estuary._ 3. _Want of a good Survey of
Hang-chau. The Squares._ 4. _Marco ignores pork._ 5.
_Great Pears: Peaches._ 6. _Textual._ 7. _Chinese use
of Pepper._ 8. _Chinese claims to a character for Good
Faith._ 9. _Pleasure-parties on the Lake._ 10. _Chinese
Carriages._ 11. _The Sung Emperor._ 12. _The Sung
Palace. Extracts regarding this Great City from other
mediæval writers, European and Asiatic. Martini’s
Description._
LXXVIII.—TREATING OF THE YEARLY REVENUE THAT THE GREAT KAAN HATH
FROM KINSAY 215
NOTES.—1. _Textual._ 2. _Calculations as to the values spoken
of._
LXXIX.—OF THE CITY OF TANPIJU AND OTHERS 218
NOTES.—1. _Route from Hang-chau southward._ 2. _Bamboos._ 3.
_Identification of places. Chang-shan the key to the
route._
LXXX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF FUJU 224
NOTES.—1. “_Fruit like Saffron._” 2. 3. _Cannibalism ascribed
to Mountain Tribes on this route._ 4. _Kien-ning fu._
5. _Galingale._ 6. _Fleecy Fowls._ 7. _Details of the
Journey in Fo-kien and various readings._ 8. _Unken.
Introduction of Sugar-refining into China._
LXXXI.—CONCERNING THE GREATNESS OF THE CITY OF FUJU 231
NOTES.—1. _The name |Chonka|, applied to Fo-kien here.
|Cayton| or |Zayton|._ 2. _Objections that have been
made to identity of |Fuju| and Fu-chau._ 3. _The Min
River._
LXXXII.—OF THE CITY AND GREAT HAVEN OF ZAYTON 234
NOTES.—1. _The Camphor Laurel._ 2. _The Port of Zayton or
T’swan-chau; Recent objections to this identity.
Probable origin of the word_ Satin. 3. _Chinese
Consumption of Pepper._ 4. _Artists in Tattooing._ 5.
_Position of the Porcelain manufacture spoken of.
Notions regarding the |Great River| of China._ 6.
_Fo-kien dialects and variety of spoken language in
China._ 7. _From Ramusio._
BOOK THIRD.
_Japan, the Archipelago, Southern India, and the Coasts and
Islands of the Indian Sea._
CHAP. PAGE
I.—OF THE MERCHANT SHIPS OF MANZI THAT SAIL UPON THE INDIAN
SEAS 249
NOTES.—1. _Pine Timber._ 2. _Rudder and Masts._ 3. _Watertight
Compartments._ 4. _Chinese substitute for Pitch._ 5.
_Oars used by Junks._ 6. _Descriptions of Chinese Junks
from other Mediæval Writers._
II.—DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF CHIPANGU, AND THE GREAT KAAN’S
DESPATCH OF A HOST AGAINST IT 253
NOTES.—1. _Chipangu or Japan._ 2. _Abundance of Gold._ 3.
_The Golden Palace._ 4. _Japanese Pearls. Red Pearls._
III.—WHAT FURTHER CAME OF THE GREAT KAAN’S EXPEDITION AGAINST
CHIPANGU 258
NOTES.—1. _Kúblái’s attempts against Japan. Japanese Narrative
of the Expedition here spoken of._ (See App. L. 9.) 2.
_Species of Torture._ 3. _Devices to procure
Invulnerability._
IV.—CONCERNING THE FASHION OF THE IDOLS 263
NOTES.—1. _Many-limbed Idols._ 2. _The Philippines and
Moluccas._ 3. _The name |Chin| or |China|._ 4. _The Gulf
of Cheinan._
V.—OF THE GREAT COUNTRY CALLED CHAMBA 266
NOTES.—1. _Champa, and Kúblái’s dealings with it._ (See App.
L. 10). 2. _Chronology._ 3. _Eagle-wood and Ebony.
Polo’s use of Persian words._
VI.—CONCERNING THE GREAT ISLAND OF JAVA 272
NOTE.—_Java; its supposed vast extent. Kúblái’s expedition
against it and failure._
VII.—WHEREIN THE ISLES OF SONDUR AND CONDUR ARE SPOKEN OF; AND
THE KINGDOM OF LOCAC 276
NOTES.—1. _Textual._ 2. _Pulo Condore._ 3. _The Kingdom of
Locac, Southern Siam._
VIII.—OF THE ISLAND CALLED PENTAM, AND THE CITY MALAIUR 280
NOTES.—1. _Bintang._ 2. _The Straits of Singapore._ 3.
_Remarks on the Malay Chronology. Malaiur probably
Palembang._
IX.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF JAVA THE LESS. THE KINGDOMS OF
FERLEC AND BASMA 284
NOTES.—1. _The Island of Sumatra: application of the term
|Java|._ 2. _Products of Sumatra. The six kingdoms._ 3.
_Ferlec or Parlák. The Battas._ 4. _Basma, Pacem, or
Pasei._ 5. _The Elephant and the Rhinoceros. The Legend
of Monoceros and the Virgin._ 6. _Black Falcon._
X.—THE KINGDOMS OF SAMARA AND DAGROIAN 292
NOTES.—1. _Samara, Sumatra Proper._ 2. _The Tramontaine and
the Mestre._ 3. _The Malay Toddy-Palm._ 4. _Dagroian._
5. _Alleged custom of eating dead relatives._
XI.—OF THE KINGDOMS OF LAMBRI AND FANSUR 299
NOTES.—1. _Lambri._ 2. _Hairy and Tailed Men._ 3. _Fansur and
Camphor Fansuri. Sumatran Camphor._ 4. _The Sago-Palm._
5. _Remarks on Polo’s Sumatran Kingdoms._
XII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF NECUVERAN 306
NOTE.—_Gauenispola, and the Nicobar Islands._
XIII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ANGAMANAIN 309
NOTE.—_The Andaman Islands._
XIV.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SEILAN 312
NOTES.—1. _Chinese Chart._ 2. _Exaggeration of Dimensions.
The Name._ 3. _Sovereigns then ruling Ceylon._ 4.
_Brazil Wood and Cinnamon._ 5. _The Great Ruby._
XV.—THE SAME CONTINUED. THE HISTORY OF SAGAMONI BORCAN AND THE
BEGINNING OF IDOLATRY 316
NOTES.—1. _Adam’s Peak, and the Foot thereon._ 2. _The Story
of Sakya-Muni Buddha. The History of Saints Barlaam and
Josaphat; a Christianised version thereof._ 3. _High
Estimate of Buddha’s Character._ 4. _Curious Parallel
Passages._ 5. _Pilgrimages to the Peak._ 6. _The Pâtra
of Buddha, and the Tooth-Relic._ 7. _Miraculous
endowments of the Pâtra; it is the Holy Grail of
Buddhism._
XVI.—CONCERNING THE GREAT PROVINCE OF MAABAR, WHICH IS CALLED
INDIA THE GREATER, AND IS ON THE MAINLAND 331
NOTES.—1. _Ma’bar, its definition, and notes on its Mediæval
History._ 2. _The Pearl Fishery._
XVII.—CONTINUES TO SPEAK OF THE PROVINCE OF MAABAR 338
NOTES.—1. _Costume._ 2. _Hindu Royal Necklace._ 3. _Hindu
use of the Rosary._ 4. _The Saggio._ 5. _Companions
in Death; the word |Amok|._ 6. _Accumulated Wealth of
Southern India at this time._ 7. _Horse Importation
from the Persian Gulf._ 8. _Religious Suicides._ 9.
_Suttees._ 10. _Worship of the Ox. The Govis_. 11.
_Verbal._ 12. _The Thomacides._ 13. _Ill-success of
Horse-breeding in S. India._ 14. _Curious Mode of
Arrest for Debt._ 15. _The Rainy Seasons._ 16. _Omens
of the Hindus._ 17. _Strange treatment of Horses._ 18.
_The Devadásis._ 19. _Textual._
XVIII.—DISCOURSING OF THE PLACE WHERE LIETH THE BODY OF ST. THOMAS
THE APOSTLE; AND OF THE MIRACLES THEREOF 353
NOTES.—1. _Mailapúr._ 2. _The word |Avarian|._ 3. _Miraculous
Earth._ 4. _The Traditions of St. Thomas in India. The
ancient Church at his Tomb; the ancient Cross preserved
on St. Thomas’s Mount._ 5. _White Devils._ 6. _The
Yak’s Tail._
XIX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF MUTFILI 359
NOTES.—1. _Motapallé. The Widow Queen of Telingana._ 2.
_The Diamond Mines, and the Legend of the Diamond
Gathering._ 3. _Buckram._
XX.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF LAR WHENCE THE BRAHMANS COME 363
NOTES.—1. _Abraiaman. The Country of Lar. Hindu Character._
2. _The Kingdom of Soli or Chola._ 3. _Lucky and
Unlucky Days and Hours. The Canonical Hours of the
Church._ 4. _Omens._ 5. _Jogis. The Ox-emblem._ 6.
_Verbal._ 7. _Recurrence of Human Eccentricities._
XXI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIL 370
NOTES.—1. _Káyal; its true position. |Kolkhoi| identified._
2. _The King Ashar or As-char._ 3. _Correa, Note._ 4.
_Betel-chewing._ 5. _Duels._
XXII.—OF THE KINGDOM OF COILUM 375
NOTES.—1. _Coilum, Coilon, Kaulam, Columbum, Quilon. Ancient
Christian Churches._ 2. _Brazil Wood: notes on the
name._ 3. _Columbine Ginger and other kinds._ 4.
_Indigo._ 5. _Black Lions._ 6. _Marriage Customs._
XXIII.—OF THE COUNTRY CALLED COMARI 382
NOTES.—1. _Cape Comorin._ 2. _The word |Gat-paul|._
XXIV.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM ELI 385
NOTES.—1. _Mount D’Ely, and the City of Hili-Máráwi._ 2.
_Textual._ 3. _Produce._ 4. _Piratical custom._ 5.
_Wooden Anchors._
XXV.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF MELIBAR 389
NOTES.—1. _Dislocation of Polo’s Indian Geography. The name
of Malabar._ 2. _Verbal._ 3. _Pirates._ 4. _Cassia:
Turbit: Cubebs._ 5. _Cessation of direct Chinese trade
with Malabar._
XXVI.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOZURAT 392
NOTES.—1. _Topographical Confusion._ 2. _Tamarina._ 3. _Tall
Cotton Trees._ 4. _Embroidered Leather-work._
XXVII.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF TANA 395
NOTES.—1. _Tana, and the Konkan._ 2. _Incense of Western
India._
XXVIII.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF CAMBAET 397
NOTE.—_Cambay._
XXIX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF SEMENAT 398
NOTE.—_Somnath, and the so-called Gates of Somnath._
XXX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF KESMACORAN 401
NOTES.—1. _Kij-Mekrán. Limit of India._ 2. _Recapitulation of
Polo’s Indian Kingdoms._
XXXI.—DISCOURSETH OF THE TWO ISLANDS CALLED MALE AND FEMALE, AND
WHY THEY ARE SO CALLED 404
NOTE.—_The Legend and its diffusion._
XXXII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SCOTRA 406
NOTES.—1. _Whales of the Indian Seas._ 2. _Socotra and its
former Christianity._ 3. _Piracy at Socotra._ 4.
_Sorcerers._
XXXIII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF MADEIGASCAR 411
NOTES.—1. _Madagascar; some confusion here with Magadoxo._ 2.
_Sandalwood._ 3. _Whale-killing. The |Capidoglio| or
Sperm-Whale._ 4. _The Currents towards the South._ 5.
_The Rukh_ (and see Appendix L. 11). 6. _More on the
dimensions assigned thereto._ 7. _Hippopotamus Teeth._
XXXIV.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ZANGHIBAR. A WORD ON INDIA IN
GENERAL 422
NOTES.—1. _Zangibar; Negroes._ 2. _Ethiopian Sheep._ 3.
_Giraffes._ 4. _Ivory trade._ 5. _Error about
Elephant-taming._ 6. _Number of Islands assigned to the
Indian Sea._ 7. _The Three Indies, and various
distributions thereof. Polo’s Indian Geography._
XXXV.—TREATING OF THE GREAT PROVINCE OF ABASH, WHICH IS MIDDLE
INDIA, AND IS ON THE MAINLAND 427
NOTES.—1. _Ḥabash or Abyssinia. Application of the name India
to it._ 2. _Fire Baptism ascribed to the Abyssinian
Christians._ 3. _Polo’s idea of the position of Aden._
4. _Taming of the African Elephant for War._ 5. _Marco’s
Story of the Abyssinian Invasion of the Mahomedan
Low-Country, and Review of Abyssinian Chronology in
connection therewith._ 6. _Textual._
XXXVI.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ADEN 438
NOTES.—1. _The Trade to Alexandria from India |viâ| Aden._ 2.
“Roncins à deux selles.” 3. _The Sultan of Aden. The
City and its Great Tanks._ 4. _The Loss of Acre._
XXXVII.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF ESHER 442
NOTES.—1. _Shihr._ 2. _Frankincense._ 3. _Four-horned Sheep._
4. _Cattle fed on Fish._ 5. _Parallel passage._
XXXVIII.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF DUFAR 444
NOTES.—1. _Dhofar._ 2. _Notes on Frankincense._
XXXIX.—CONCERNING THE GULF OF CALATU, AND THE CITY SO CALLED 449
NOTES.—1. _Kalhát._ 2. “En fra terre.” 3. _Maskat._
XL.—RETURNS TO THE CITY OF HORMOS WHEREOF WE SPOKE FORMERLY 451
NOTES.—1. _Polo’s distances and bearings in these latter
chapters._ 2. _Persian |Bád-gírs| or wind-catching
chimneys._ 3. _Island of Kish._
BOOK FOURTH.
_Wars among the Tartar Princes, and some Account of the
Northern Countries._
CHAP. PAGE
I.—CONCERNING GREAT TURKEY 457
NOTES.—1. _Kaidu Khan._ 2. _His frontier towards the Great
Kaan._
II.—OF CERTAIN BATTLES THAT WERE FOUGHT BY KING CAIDU AGAINST
THE ARMIES OF HIS UNCLE THE GREAT KAAN 459
NOTES.—1. _Textual._ 2. “Araines.” 3. _Chronology in
connection with the events described._
III.—†WHAT THE GREAT KAAN SAID TO THE MISCHIEF DONE BY CAIDU
HIS NEPHEW 463
IV.—OF THE EXPLOITS OF KING CAIDU’S VALIANT DAUGHTER 463
NOTE.—_Her name explained. Remarks on the story._
V.—HOW ABAGA SENT HIS SON ARGON IN COMMAND AGAINST KING CAIDU 466
(Extract and Substance.)
NOTES.—1. _Government of the Khorasan frontier._ 2. _The
Historical Events._
VI.—HOW ARGON AFTER THE BATTLE HEARD THAT HIS FATHER WAS DEAD
AND WENT TO ASSUME THE SOVEREIGNTY AS WAS HIS RIGHT 467
NOTES.—1. _Death of Ábáká._ 2. _Textual._ 3. _Ahmad Tigudar._
VII.—†HOW ACOMAT SOLDAN SET OUT WITH HIS HOST AGAINST HIS
NEPHEW WHO WAS COMING TO CLAIM THE THRONE THAT BELONGED TO
HIM 468
VIII.—†HOW ARGON TOOK COUNSEL WITH HIS FOLLOWERS ABOUT
ATTACKING HIS UNCLE ACOMAT SOLDAN 468
IX.—†HOW THE BARONS OF ARGON ANSWERED HIS ADDRESS 469
X.—†THE MESSAGE SENT BY ARGON TO ACOMAT 469
XI.—HOW ACOMAT REPLIED TO ARGON’S MESSAGE 469
XII.—OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN ARGON AND ACOMAT, AND THE CAPTIVITY
OF ARGON 470
NOTES.—1. _Verbal._ 2. _Historical._
XIII.—HOW ARGON WAS DELIVERED FROM PRISON 471
XIV.—HOW ARGON GOT THE SOVEREIGNTY AT LAST 472
XV.—†HOW ACOMAT WAS TAKEN PRISONER 473
XVI.—HOW ACOMAT WAS SLAIN BY ORDER OF HIS NEPHEW 473
XVII.—HOW ARGON WAS RECOGNISED AS SOVEREIGN 473
NOTES.—1. _The historical circumstances and persons named in
these chapters._ 2. _Arghún’s accession and death._
XVIII.—HOW KIACATU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER ARGON’S DEATH 475
NOTE.—_The reign and character of Kaikhátú._
XIX.—HOW BAIDU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER THE DEATH OF KIACATU 476
NOTES.—1. _Baidu’s alleged Christianity._ 2. _Gházán Khan._
XX.—CONCERNING KING CONCHI WHO RULES THE FAR NORTH 479
NOTES.—1. _Kaunchi Khan._ 2. _Siberia._ 3. _Dog-sledges._ 4.
_The animal here styled |Erculin|. The Vair._ 5.
_Yugria._
XXI.—CONCERNING THE LAND OF DARKNESS 484
NOTES.—1. _The Land of Darkness._ 2. _The Legend of the Mares
and their Foals._ 3. _Dumb Trade with the People of the
Darkness._
XXII.—DESCRIPTION OF ROSIA AND ITS PEOPLE. PROVINCE OF LAC 486
NOTES.—1. _Old Accounts of Russia. Russian Silver and Rubles._
2. _Lac, or Wallachia._ 3. _Oroech, Norway (?) or the
Waraeg Country (?)_
XXIII.—HE BEGINS TO SPEAK OF THE STRAITS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, BUT
DECIDES TO LEAVE THAT MATTER 490
XXIV.—CONCERNING THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT AND THEIR LORDS 490
NOTES.—1. _The Comanians; the Alans; Majar; Zic; the Goths of
the Crimea; Gazaria._ 2. _The Khans of Kipchak or the
Golden Horde; errors in Polo’s list. Extent of their
Empire._
XXV.—OF THE WAR THAT AROSE BETWEEN ALAU AND BARCA, AND THE
BATTLES THAT THEY FOUGHT 494
(Extracts and Substance.)
NOTES.—1. _Verbal._ 2. _The Sea of Sarai._ 3._ The War here
spoken of. Wassáf’s rigmarole._
XXVI.—†HOW BARCA AND HIS ARMY ADVANCED TO MEET ALAU 495
XXVII.—†HOW ALAU ADDRESSED HIS FOLLOWERS 495
XXVIII.—†OF THE GREAT BATTLE BETWEEN ALAU AND BARCA 496
XXIX.—HOW TOTAMANGU WAS LORD OF THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT; AND
AFTER HIM TOCTAI 496
NOTE.—_Confusions in the Text. Historical circumstances
connected with the Persons spoken of. Toctai and Noghai
Khan. Symbolic Messages._
XXX.—†OF THE SECOND MESSAGE THAT TOCTAI SENT TO NOGAI 498
XXXI.—†HOW TOCTAI MARCHED AGAINST NOGAI 499
XXXII.—†HOW TOCTAI AND NOGAI ADDRESS THEIR PEOPLE, AND THE NEXT
DAY JOIN BATTLE 499
XXXIII.—†THE VALIANT FEATS AND VICTORY OF KING NOGAI 499
XXXIV.—AND LAST. CONCLUSION 500
----------------------------------------------------------------------
† Of chapters so marked nothing is given but the substance in brief.
APPENDICES.
A. Genealogy of the House of Chinghiz to the End of the
Thirteenth Century 505
B. The Polo Families:—
(I.) Genealogy of the Family of Marco Polo the Traveller 506
(II.) The Polos of San Geremia 507
C. Calendar of Documents relating to Marco Polo and his Family 510
D. Comparative Specimens of the Different Recensions of Polo’s
Text 522
E. Preface to Pipino’s Latin Version 525
F. Note of MSS. of Marco Polo’s Book, so far as known:
General Distribution of MSS. 526
List of Miniatures in two of the finer MSS. 527
List of MSS. of Marco Polo’s Book, so far as they are known 530
G. Diagram showing Filiation of Chief MSS. and Editions of Marco
Polo 552
H. Bibliography:—
(I.) Principal Editions of Marco Polo’s Book 553
(II.) Bibliography of Printed Editions 554
(III.) Titles of Sundry Books and Papers treating of Marco Polo
and his Book 574
I. Titles of Works quoted by Abbreviated References in this Book 582
K. Values of Certain Moneys, Weights, and Measures occurring in
this Book 590
L. Supplementary Notes to the Book of Marco Polo 593
1. The Polos at Acre. 8. La Couvade.
2. Sorcery in Kashmir. 9. Alacan.
3. PAONANO PAO. 10. Champa.
4. Pamir. 11. Ruck Quills.
5. Number of Pamirs. 12. A Spanish Marco Polo.
6. Site of Pein. 13. Sir John Mandeville.
7. Fire-arms.
INDEX 607
EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME II.
INSERTED PLATES AND MAPS.
_To face
page_
_Title_. Portrait bearing the inscription “MARCUS POLVS VENETVS TOTIVS
ORBIS ET INDIE PEREGRATOR PRIMVS.” In the Gallery of Monsignor
_Badia_ at Rome; copied by Sign. GIUSEPPE GNOLI, Rome.
xxiv. Medallion, representing _Marco Polo_ in the PRISON of GENOA,
dictating his story to Master RUSTICIAN of PISA, drawn by
Signor QUINTO CENNI from a rough design by Sir HENRY YULE.
29. The celebrated CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTION OF SI-NGAN FU.
Photolithographed by Mr. W. GRIGG, from a Rubbing of the
original monument, given to the Editor by the _Baron F. von
Richthofen_.
This rubbing is more complete than that used in the first
edition, for which the Editor was indebted to the kindness of
_William Lockhart, Esq._
79. The LAKE of TALI (CARAJAN of Polo) from the Northern End.
Woodcut after Lieut. DELAPORTE, borrowed from Lieut. GARNIER’S
Narrative in the _Tour du Monde_.
79. Suspension Bridge, neighbourhood of TALI. From a photograph by
M. Tannant.
111. The CITY of MIEN, with the Gold and Silver Towers. From a
drawing by the Editor, based upon his sketches of the remains
of the City so called by Marco Polo, viz., PAGÁN, the mediæval
capital of Burma.
131. Itineraries of Marco Polo. No. V. The INDO-CHINESE COUNTRIES.
With a small sketch extracted from a Chinese Map in the
possession of _Baron von Richthofen_, showing the position of
KIEN-CH’ANG, the _Caindu_ of Marco Polo.
143. Sketch Map exhibiting the VARIATIONS of the TWO GREAT RIVERS of
China, within the Period of History.
182. The CITY of SU-CHAU. Reduced by the Editor from a Rubbing of a
Plan incised on Marble, and preserved in the Great Confucian
Temple in the City.
The date of the original set of Maps, of which this was one,
is uncertain, owing to the partial illegibility of the
Inscription; but it is subsequent to A.D. 1000. They were
engraved on the Marble A.D. 1247. Many of the names have been
obliterated, and a few of those given in the copy are filled
up from modern information, as the Editor learns from _Mr.
Wylie_, to whom he owes this valuable illustration.
193. Map of HANG-CHAU FU and its LAKE, from Chinese Sources.
The Map as published in the former edition was based on a
Chinese Map in the possession of _Dr. W. Lockhart_, with some
particulars from Maps in a copy of the Local Topography,
_Hang-Chau-fu-chi_, in the B. Museum Library. In the second
edition the Map has been entirely redrawn by the Editor, with
many corrections, and with the aid of new materials, supplied
by the kindness of the _Rev. G. Moule_ of the Church Mission
at Hang-chau. These materials embrace a Paper read by Mr.
Moule before the N. China Branch of the R. As. Soc. at
Shang-hai; a modern engraved Map of the City on a large scale;
and a large MS. Map of the City and Lake, compiled by _John
Shing_, Tailor, a Chinese Christian and Catechist;
The small Side-plan is the City of SI-NGAN FU, from a plan
published during the Mongol rule, in the 14th century, a
tracing of which was sent by _Mr. Wylie_. The following
references could not be introduced in lettering for want of
space:—
1. Yuen-Tu-Kwan (Tauist Monastery).
2. Chapel of Hien-ning Prince.
3. Leih-Ching Square (_Fang_).
4. Tauist Monastery.
5. Kie-lin General Court.
6. Ancestral Chapel of Yang-Wan-Kang.
7. Chapel of the Mid-year Genius.
8. Temple of the Martial Peaceful King.
9. Stone where officers are selected.
10. Mews.
11. Jasper-Waves Square (_Fang_).
12. Court of Enquiry.
13. Gate of the Făng-Yuen Circuit.
14. Bright Gate.
15. Northern Tribunal.
16. Refectory.
17. Chapel of the Făng-Yuen Prince.
18. Embroidery manufactory.
19. Hwa-li Temple.
20. Old Superintendency of Investigations.
21. Superintendent of Works.
22. Ka-yuen Monastery.
23. Prefectural Confucian Temple.
24. Benevolent Institution.
25. Temple of Tu-Ke-King.
26. Balustrade enclosure.
27. Medicine-Bazar Street.
28. Tsin and Ching States Chapel.
29. Square of the Double Cassia Tree.
N.B.—The shaded spaces are marked in the original _Min-Keu_
“Dwellings of the People.”
213. Plan of SOUTHERN PART of the CITY of KING-SZÉ (or Hang-chau),
with the PALACE of the SUNG EMPERORS. From a Chinese Plan
forming part of a Reprint of the official Topography of the
City during the period _Hien-Shun_ (1265–1274) of the Sung
Dynasty, _i.e._ the period terminated by the Mongol conquest
of the City and Empire. Mr. Moule, who possesses the Chinese
plan (with others of the same set), has come to the
conclusion that it is a copy at second-hand. Names that are
underlined are such as are preserved in the modern Map of
Hang-chau. I am indebted for the use of the original plan to
_Mr. Moule_; for the photographic copy and rendering of the
names to _Mr. Wylie_.
241. Sketch Map of the GREAT PORTS of FO-KIEN, to illustrate the
identity of Marco Polo’s ZAYTON. Besides the Admiralty Charts
and other well-known sources the Editor has used in forming
this a “Missionary Map of Amoy and the Neighbouring Country,”
on a large scale, sent him by the _Rev. Carstairs Douglas_,
LL.D., of Amoy. This contains some points not to be found in
the others.
246. Itineraries of MARCO POLO, No. VI. The Journey through
KIANG-NAN, CHE-KIANG, and FO-KIEN.
313. {1. Map to illustrate Marco Polo’s Chapters on the MALAY
{ COUNTRIES.
{2. Map to illustrate his Chapters on SOUTHERN INDIA.
375. {1. Sketch showing the Position of KÁYAL in Tinnevelly.
{2. Map showing the Position of the Kingdom of ELY in MALABAR.
440. ADEN, with the attempted Escalade under Alboquerque in 1513,
being the Reduced Facsimile of a large contemporary Wood
Engraving in the Map Department of the British Museum. (Size
of the original 42½ inches by 19⅛ inches.) Photolithographic
Reduction by Mr. G. B. PRAETORIUS, through the assistance of
_R. H. Major_, Esq.
474. Facsimile of the Letters sent to PHILIP the FAIR, King of
France, by ARGHÚN KHAN, in A.D. 1289, and by OLJAÏTU, in A.D.
1305, preserved in the Archives of France, and reproduced
from the _Recueil des Documents de l’Époque Mongole_ by kind
permission of H.H. Prince ROLAND BONAPARTE.
594. Some of the objects found by Dr. M. A. Stein, in Central Asia.
From a photograph kindly lent by the Traveller.
WOODCUTS PRINTED WITH THE TEXT.
BOOK SECOND.—PART SECOND.
_Page_
4. The BRIDGE of PULISANGHIN, the _Lu-ku-k’iao_ of the Chinese,
reduced from a large Chinese Engraving in the Geographical
work called _Ki-fu-thung-chi_ in the Paris Library. I owe the
indication of this, and of the Portrait of Kúblái Kaan in
vol. i. to notes in M. Pauthier’s edition.
5. The BRIDGE of PULISANGHIN. From the _Livre des Merveilles_.
8. BRIDGE of LU-KU-K’IAO. From a photograph by Count de SEMALLÉ.
9. BRIDGE of LU-KU-K’IAO. From a photograph by Count de SEMALLÉ.
19. The ROI D’OR. Professed Portrait of the Last of the _Altun
Khans_ or Kin Emperors of Cathay, from the (fragmentary)
Arabic Manuscript of _Rashiduddin’s History_ in the Library
of the Royal Asiatic Society. This Manuscript is supposed to
have been transcribed under the eye of Rashiduddin, and the
drawings were probably derived from Chinese originals.
26. Plan of Ki-chau, after Duhalde.
30. The CROSS incised at the head of the GREAT CHRISTIAN
INSCRIPTION of SI-NGAN FU (A.D. 781); actual size, from copy
of a pencil rubbing made on the original by the _Rev. J.
Lees_. Received from _Mr. A. Wylie_.
38. Diagram to elucidate the cities of Ch’êng-tu fu.
39. Plan of Ch’êng-tu. From MARCEL MONNIER’S _Tour d’Asie_, by kind
permission of M. PLON.
41. Bridge near Kwan-hsien (Ch’êng-tu). From MARCEL MONNIER’S _Tour
d’Asie_, by kind permission of M. PLON.
47. MOUNTAINEERS on the Borders of SZE-CH’WAN and TIBET, from one
of the illustrations to Lieut. Garnier’s Narrative (see p.
48). From _Tour du Monde_.
50. VILLAGE of EASTERN TIBET on Sze-ch’wan Frontier. From _Mr.
Cooper’s Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce_.
52. Example of ROADS on the TIBETAN FRONTIER of China (being
actually a view of the Gorge of the Lan t’sang Kiang). From
_Mr. Cooper’s Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce_.
55. The VALLEY of the KIN-SHA KIANG, near the lower end of the
CAINDU of Marco Polo. From Lieut. Garnier in the _Tour du
Monde_.
58. SALT PANS in Yun-nan. _From the same._
61. Black Lolo.
62. White Lolo. From DEVÉRIA’S _Frontière Sino-annamite_.
66. _Pa-y_ Script. From the _T’oung-Pao_.
68. Garden-House on the LAKE of YUN-NAN-FU, YACHI of Polo. From
_Lieut. Garnier_ in the _Tour du Monde_.
72. Road descending from the Table-Land of YUN-NAN into the VALLEY
of the KIN-SHA KIANG (the BRIUS of Polo). _From the same._
73. “A SARACEN of CARAJAN,” being the portrait of a Mahomedan
Mullah in Western Yun-nan. _From the same._
75. The Canal at YUN-NAN FU. From a photograph by M. TANNANT.
78. “Riding long like FRENCHMEN,” exemplified from the Bayeux
Tapestry. After Lacroix, _Vie Militaire du Moyen Age_.
83. The SANG-MIAU tribe of KWEI-CHAU, with the Cross-bow. From a
coloured drawing in a Chinese work on the Aboriginal Tribes,
belonging to _W. Lockhart, Esq._
90. Portraits of a KAKHYEN man and woman. Drawn by Q. CENNI from a
photograph (anonymous).
108. Temple called GAUDAPALÉN in the city of MIEN (_i.e._ Pagán in
Burma), erected _circa_ A.D. 1160. Engraving after a sketch
by the first Editor, from _Fergusson’s History of
Architecture_.
111. The PALACE of the KING of MIEN in modern times (viz., the
Palace at Amarapura). From the same, being partly from a
sketch by the first Editor.
118. Script _Pa-pe_. From the _T’oung-Pao_.
122. HO-NHI and other Tribes in the Department of Lin-ngan in S.
Yun-nan, supposed to be the _Anin_ country of Marco Polo.
From _Garnier_ in the _Tour du Monde_.
125. The KOLOMAN tribe, on borders of Kwei-chau and Yun-nan. From
coloured drawing in _Mr. Lockhart’s_ book as above (under p.
83).
129. Script _thaï_ of Xieng-hung. From the _T’oung-Pao_.
130. Iron SUSPENSION BRIDGE at Lowatong. From _Garnier_ in _Tour du
Monde_.
131. FORTIFIED VILLAGES on Western Frontier of KWEI-CHAU. _From the
same._
BOOK SECOND.—PART THIRD.
_Page_
155. YANG-CHAU: the three Cities under the Sung.
156. YANG-CHAU: the Great City under the Sung. From Chinese Plans
kindly sent to the present Editor by the late Father H.
Havret, S.J., Zi-ka-wei.
162. MEDIÆVAL ARTILLERY ENGINES. Figs, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are
CHINESE. The first four are from the Encyclopædia
_San-Thsai-Thou-hoei_ (Paris Library), the last from _Amyot_,
vol. viii.
Figs. 6, 7, 8 are SARACEN, 6 and 7 are taken from the work of
_Reinaud and Favé, Du Feu Grégeois_, and by them from the
Arabic MS. of _Hassan al Raumah_ (_Arab Anc. Fonds_, No.
1127). Fig. 8 is from _Lord Munster’s Arabic Catalogue_ of
Military Works, and by him from a MS. of _Rashiduddin’s
History_.
The remainder are EUROPEAN. Fig. 9 is from _Pertz,
Scriptores_, vol. xviii., and by him from a figure of the
Siege of Arbicella, 1227, in a MS. of _Genoese Annals_ (No.
773, _Supp. Lat._ of _Bib. Imp._). Fig. 10 from _Shaw’s
Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages_, vol. i.,
No. 21, after _B. Mus. MS. Reg._ 16, _G._ vi. Fig. 11 from
_Pertz_ as above, under A.D. 1182. Fig. 12, from _Valturius
de Re Militari_, Verona, 1483. Figs. 13 and 14 from the
_Poliorceticon_ of _Justus Lipsius_. Fig. 15 is after the
Bodleian MS. of the Romance of Alexander (A.D. 1338), but is
taken from the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, 3rd ser. vol. vii.
p. 467. Fig. 16 from Lacroix’s _Art au Moyen Age_, after a
miniature of 13th cent. in the Paris Library. Figs. 17 and 18
from the Emperor Napoleon’s _Études de l’Artillerie_, and by
him taken from the MS. of _Paulus Santinus_ (Lat. MS. 7329 in
Paris Library). Fig. 19 from Professor Moseley’s restoration
of a Trebuchet, after the data in the Mediæval Note-book of
_Villars de Honcourt_, in _Gentleman’s Magazine_ as above.
Figs. 20 and 21 from the Emperor’s Book. Fig. 22 from a
German MS. in the Bern Library, the _Chronicle of Justinger
and Schilling_.
169. COIN from a treasure hidden during the siege of SIANG-YANG in
1268–73, and lately discovered in that city.
172. Island MONASTERIES on the YANG-TZŬ KIANG; viz.:—
1. _Uppermost_. The “Little Orphan Rock,” after a cut in
_Oliphant’s Narrative_.
2. _Middle_. The “Golden Island” near Chin-kiang fu, after
_Fisher’s China_. (This has been accidentally reversed in
the drawing.)
3. _Lower_. The “_Silver Island_,” below the last, after Mr.
Lindley’s book on the T’ai-P’ings.
177. The West Gate of CHIN-KIANG FU. From an engraving in _Fisher’s
China_ after a sketch made by _Admiral Stoddart_, R.N., in
1842.
183. South-West Gate and Water Gate of SU-CHAU; facsimile on half
scale from the incised Map of 1247. (See List of Inserted
Plates preceding, under p. 182.)
193. The old LUH-HO-TA or Pagoda of Six Harmonies near HANG-CHAU,
and anciently marking the extreme S.W. angle of the city.
Drawn by Q. CENNI from an anonymous photograph received from
the _Rev. G. Moule_.
196. Imperial City of HANG-CHAU in the 13th Century.
197. Metropolitan City of HANG-CHAU in the 13th Century. From the
Notes of the Right Rev. _G. E. Moule_.
209. _Fang_ of SI-NGAN FU. Communicated by _A. Wylie_.
212. Stone _Chwang_ or UMBRELLA COLUMN, one of two which still mark
the site of the ancient Buddhist Monastery called
_Fan-T’ien-Sze_ or “Brahma’s Temple” at Hang-chau. Reduced
from a pen-and-ink sketch by _Mr. Moule_.
223. Mr. PHILLIPS’ Theory of Marco Polo’s Route through Fo-Kien.
228. Scene in the BOHEA MOUNTAINS, on Polo’s route between Kiang-Si
and Fo-Kien. From _Fortune’s Three Years’ Wanderings_.
233. Scene on the MIN RIVER below Fu-chau. _From the same._
245. The KAAN’S FLEET leaving the Port of ZAYTON. The scenery is
taken from an engraving in _Fisher’s China_, purporting
to represent the mouth of the Chinchew River (or River of
Tswan-chau), after a sketch by _Capt._ (now Adm.) _Stoddart_.
But the Rev. Dr. Douglas, having pointed out that this cut
really supported _his_ view of the identity of Zayton, being
a view of the _Chang-chau_ River, reference was made to
Admiral Stoddart, and Dr. Douglas proves to be quite right.
The View was really one of the Chang-chau River; but the
Editor has not been able to procure material for one of the
Tswan-chau River, and so he leaves it.
BOOK THIRD
_Page_
248. The KAAN’S FLEET passing through the Indian ARCHIPELAGO. From a
drawing by the Editor.
254. Ancient JAPANESE EMPEROR, after a Native Drawing. From the
_Tour du Monde_.
257. Ancient JAPANESE ARCHER, after a native drawing. _From the
same._
261. The JAPANESE engaged in combat with the CHINESE, after an
ancient native drawing. From _Charton, Voyageurs Anciens et
Modernes_.
273. JAVA. A view in the interior. From a sketch of the slopes of
the Gedéh Volcano, taken by the Editor in 1860.
274. Bas Relief of one of the VESSELS frequenting the Ports of JAVA
in the Middle Ages. From one of the sculptures of the BORO
BODOR, after a photograph.
289. The three Asiatic RHINOCEROSES. Adapted from a proof of a
woodcut given to the Editor for the purpose by the late
eminent zoologist, _Edward Blyth_. It is not known to the
Editor whether the cut appeared in any other publication.
291. MONOCEROS and the MAIDEN. From a mediæval drawing engraved in
_Cahier et Martin, Mélanges d’Archéologie_, II. Pl. 30.
310. The BORÚS. From a manuscript belonging to the late CHARLES
SCHEFER, now in the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, Paris.
311. The CYNOCEPHALI. From the _Livre des Merveilles_.
321. ADAM’S PEAK from the Sea.
327. SAKYA MUNI as a Saint of the Roman Martyrology. Facsimile from
an old German version of the story of Barlaam and Josaphat
(_circa_ 1477), printed by Zainer at Augsburg, in the British
Museum.
330. TOOTH Reliques of BUDDHA. 1. At Kandy, after Emerson Tennent.
2. At Fu-chau, after Fortune.
336. “CHINESE PAGODA” (so called) at Negapatam. From a sketch taken
by _Sir Walter Elliot_, K.C.S.I., in 1846.
352. PAGODA at TANJORE. From _Fergusson’s History of Architecture_.
353. Ancient CROSS with Pehlvi Inscription, preserved in the church
on ST. THOMAS’S MOUNT near Madras. From a photograph, the
gift of A. Burnell, Esq., of the Madras Civil Service,
assisted by a lithographic drawing in his unpublished
pamphlet on Pehlvi Crosses in South India. _N.B._—The
lithograph has now appeared in the _Indian Antiquary_,
November, 1874.
356. The Little MOUNT of ST. THOMAS, near Madras. After _Daniel_.
358. Small Map of the ST. THOMAS localities at Madras.
378. Ancient Christian CHURCH at PARÚR or Palúr, on the Malabar
Coast; from an engraving in Pearson’s _Life of Claudius
Buchanan_, after a sketch by the latter.
379. SYRIAN CHURCH at Caranyachirra, showing the quasi-Jesuit Façade
generally adopted in modern times. From the _Life of Bishop
Daniel Wilson_.
379. INTERIOR of Syrian CHURCH at Kötteiyam. _From the same._
384. CAPE COMORIN. From an original sketch by Mr. FOOTE of the
Geological Survey of India.
387. MOUNT D’ELY. From a _nautical sketch of last century_.
393. Mediæval ARCHITECTURE in GUZERAT, being a view of Gateway at
Jinjawára, given in Forbes’s _Ras Mala_. From _Fergusson’s
History of Architecture_.
399. The GATES of SOMNATH (so called), as preserved in the British
Arsenal at Agra. From a photograph by Messrs. SHEPHERD and
BOURNE, converted into an elevation.
415. The RUKH, after a Persian drawing. From _Lane’s Arabian Nights_.
416. Frontispiece of A. Müller’s _Marco Polo_, showing the Bird
_Rukh_.
425. The ETHIOPIAN SHEEP. From a sketch by _Miss Catherine Frere_.
441. View of ADEN in 1840. From a sketch by Dr. R. KIRK in the
Map-room of the Royal Geographical Society.
447. The Harvest of FRANKINCENSE in Arabia. Facsimile of an
engraving in _Thevet’s Cosmographie Universelle_ (1575).
Reproduced from _Cassell’s Bible Educator_, by the courtesy
of the publishers.
448. BOSWELLIA FREREANA, from a drawing by Mr. W. H. FITCH. The use
of this engraving is granted by the India Museum through the
kindness of _Sir George Birdwood_.
453. A Persian BÁD-GÍR, or Wind-Catcher. From a drawing in the Atlas
to _Hommaire de Hell’s Persia_. Engraved by ADENEY.
BOOK FOURTH.
_Page_
478. Tomb of OLJAITU KHAN, the brother of Polo’s CASAN, at
Sultaniah. From _Fergusson’s History of Architecture_.
483. The Siberian DOG-SLEDGE. From the _Tour du Monde_.
489. Mediæval RUSSIAN Church. From _Fergusson’s History of
Architecture_.
493. Figure of a TARTAR under the Feet of Henry Duke of Silesia,
Cracow, and Poland, from the tomb at Breslau of that Prince,
killed in battle with the Tartar host, 9th April, 1241. After
a plate in _Schlesische Fürstenbilder des Mittelalters_,
Breslau, 1868.
501. Asiatic WARRIORS of Polo’s Age. From the MS. of Rashiduddin’s
History, noticed under cut at p. 19. Engraved by ADENEY.
APPENDICES.
_Page_
555. FIGURE of MARCO POLO, from the first printed edition of his
Book, published in German at Nuremberg 1477. Traced from a
copy in the Berlin Library. (This tracing was the gift of
_Mr. Samuel D. Horton_, of Cincinnati, through Mr. Marsh.)
595. Marco Polo’s rectified Itinerary from Khotan to Nia.
[Illustration: MARCO POLO in the Prison of Genoa.]
THE
BOOK OF MARCO POLO
BOOK II.—_CONTINUED_.
PART II.—JOURNEY TO THE WEST AND SOUTH-WEST OF CATHAY.
CHAPTER XXXV.
HERE BEGINS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR OF CATHAY,
AND FIRST OF THE RIVER PULISANGHIN.
Now you must know that the Emperor sent the aforesaid Messer Marco
Polo, who is the author of this whole story, on business of his into
the Western Provinces. On that occasion he travelled from Cambaluc a
good four months’ journey towards the west.{1} And so now I will tell
you all that he saw on his travels as he went and returned.
When you leave the City of Cambaluc and have ridden ten miles, you
come to a very large river which is called PULISANGHIN, and flows into
the ocean, so that merchants with their merchandise ascend it from
the sea. Over this River there is a very fine stone bridge, so fine
indeed, that it has very few equals. The fashion of it is this: it is
300 paces in length, and it must have a good eight paces of width, for
ten mounted men can ride across it abreast. It has 24 arches and as
many water-mills, and ’tis all of very fine marble, well built and
firmly founded. Along the top of the bridge there is on either side a
parapet of marble slabs and columns, made in this way. At the beginning
of the bridge there is a marble column, and under it a marble lion,
so that the column stands upon the lion’s loins, whilst on the top of
the column there is a second marble lion, both being of great size and
beautifully executed sculpture. At the distance of a pace from this
column there is another precisely the same, also with its two lions,
and the space between them is closed with slabs of grey marble to
prevent people from falling over into the water. And thus the columns
run from space to space along either side of the bridge, so that
altogether it is a beautiful object.{2}
[Illustration: The Bridge of Pulisanghin. (Reduced from a Chinese
original.)
“=—et desus cest flum a un mout biaus pont de pieres: car sachiez qe
pont n’a en tout le monde de si biaus ne son pareil.=”]
NOTE 1.—[When Marco leaves the capital, he takes the main road,
the “Imperial Highway,” from Peking to Si-ngan fu, _viâ_ Pao-ting,
Cheng-ting, Hwai-luh, Taï-yuan, Ping-yang, and T’ung-kwan, on the
Yellow River. Mr. G. F. Eaton, writing from Han-chung (_Jour.
China Br. R. As. Soc._ XXVIII. No. 1) says it is a cart-road,
except for six days between Taï-yuan and Hwai-luh, and that it
takes twenty-nine days to go from Peking to Si-ngan, a figure
which agrees well with Polo’s distances; it is also the time which
Dr. Forke’s journey lasted; he left Peking on the 1st May, 1892,
reached Taï-yuan on the 12th, and arrived at Si-ngan on the 30th
(_Von Peking nach Ch’ang-an_). Mr. Rockhill left Peking on the
17th December, 1888, reached T’aï-yuan on the 26th, crossed the
Yellow River on the 5th January, and arrived at Si-ngan fu on the
8th January, 1889, in twenty-two days, a distance of 916 miles.
(_Land of the Lamas_, pp. 372–374.) M. Grenard left Si-ngan on
the 10th November and reached Peking on the 16th December, 1894 =
thirty-six days; he reckons 1389 kilometres = 863 miles. (See _Rev.
C. Holcombe, Tour through Shan-hsi and Shen-hsi_ in _Jour. North
China Br. R. A. S._ N. S. X. pp. 54–70.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—_Pul-i-Sangín_, the name which Marco gives the _River_,
means in Persian simply (as Marsden noticed) “The Stone Bridge.” In
a very different region the same name often occurs in the history
of Timur applied to a certain bridge, in the country north of
Badakhshan, over the Wakhsh branch of the Oxus. And the Turkish
admiral Sidi ’Ali, travelling that way from India in the 16th
century, applies the name, as it is applied here, to the river;
for his journal tells us that beyond Kuláb he crossed “the _River
Pulisangin_.”
[Illustration: _A Housselin d._
The Bridge of Pulisanghin. (From the _Livre des Merveilles_.)]
We may easily suppose, therefore, that near Cambaluc also,
the Bridge, first, and then the River, came to be known to
the Persian-speaking foreigners of the court and city by this
name. This supposition is however a little perplexed by the
circumstance that Rashiduddin calls the _River_ the _Sangín_, and
that _Sangkan_-Ho appears from the maps or citations of Martini,
Klaproth, Neumann, and Pauthier to have been one of the _Chinese_
names of the river, and indeed, Sankang is still the name of one of
the confluents forming the Hwan Ho.
[“By _Sanghin_, Polo renders the Chinese _Sang-kan_, by which name
the River Hun-ho is already mentioned, in the 6th century of our
era. _Hun-ho_ is also an ancient name; and the same river in
ancient books is often called _Lu-Kou_ River also. All these names
are in use up to the present time; but on modern Chinese maps, only
the upper part of the river is termed _Sang-Kan ho_, whilst south
of the inner Great Wall, and in the plain, the name of _Hun-ho_ is
applied to it. _Hun ho_ means “Muddy River,” and the term is quite
suitable. In the last century, the Emperor K’ien-lung ordered the
Hun-ho to be named _Yung-ting ho_, a name found on modern maps, but
the people always call it _Hun ho_.” (_Bretschneider, Peking_, p.
54.)—H. C.]
The River is that which appears in the maps as the Hwan Ho,
Hun-ho, or Yongting Ho, flowing about 7 miles west of Peking
towards the south-east and joining the Pe-Ho at Tientsin; and the
Bridge is that which has been known for ages as the _Lu-kou-K’iao_
or Bridge of Lukou, adjoining the town which is called in the
Russian map of Peking _Feuchen_, but in the official Chinese Atlas
_Kung-Keih-cheng_. (See Map at ch. xi. of Bk. II. in the first
Volume.) [“Before arriving at the bridge the small walled city
of _Kung-ki cheng_ is passed. This was founded in the first half
of the 17th century. The people generally call it _Fei-ch’eng_.”
(_Bretschneider, Peking_, p. 50.)—H. C.] It is described both by
Magaillans and Lecomte, with some curious discrepancies, whilst
each affords particulars corroborative of Polo’s account of the
character of the bridge. The former calls it the finest bridge in
China. Lecomte’s account says the bridge was the finest he had yet
seen. “It is above 170 geometrical paces (850 feet) in length.
The arches are small, but the rails or side-walls are made of a
hard whitish stone resembling marble. These stones are more than 5
feet long, 3 feet high, and 7 or 8 inches thick; supported at each
end by pilasters adorned with mouldings and bearing the figures
of lions.... The bridge is paved with great flat stones, so well
joined that it is even as a floor.”
Magaillans thinks Polo’s memory partially misled him, and that
his description applies more correctly to another bridge on the
same road, but some distance further west, over the Lieu-li Ho.
For the bridge over the Hwan Ho had really but _thirteen_ arches,
whereas that on the Lieu-li had, as Polo specifies, twenty-four.
The engraving which we give of the Lu-kou K’iao from a Chinese work
confirms this statement, for it shows but thirteen arches. And
what Polo says of the navigation of the river is almost conclusive
proof that Magaillans is right, and that our traveller’s memory
confounded the two bridges. For the navigation of the Hwan Ho, even
when its channel is full, is said to be impracticable on account of
rapids, whilst the Lieu-li Ho, or “Glass River,” is, as its name
implies, smooth, and navigable, and it is largely navigated by
boats from the coal-mines of Fang-shan. The road crosses the latter
about two leagues from Cho-chau. (See next chapter.)
[The Rev. W. S. Ament (_M. Polo in Cambaluc_, p. 116–117) remarks
regarding Yule’s quotation from Magaillans that “a glance at
Chinese history would have explained to these gentlemen that there
was no stone bridge over the Liu Li river till the days of Kia
Tsing, the Ming Emperor, 1522 A.D., or more than one hundred and
fifty years after Polo was dead. Hence he could not have confounded
bridges, one of which he never saw. The Lu Kou Bridge was first
constructed of stone by She Tsung, fourth Emperor of the Kin, in
the period Ta Ting 1189 A.D., and was finished by Chang Tsung 1194
A.D. Before that time it had been constructed of wood, and had been
sometimes a stationary and often a floating bridge. The oldest
account [end of 16th century] states that the bridge was pu 200
in length, and specifically states that each pu was 5 feet, thus
making the bridge 1000 feet long. It was called the Kuan Li Bridge.
The Emperor, Kia Tsing of the Ming, was a great bridge builder. He
reconstructed this bridge, adding strong embankments to prevent
injury by floods. He also built the fine bridge over the Liu Li Ho,
the Cho Chou Bridge over the Chü Ma Ho. What cannot be explained
is Polo’s statement that the bridge had twenty-four arches, when
the oldest accounts give no more than thirteen, there being eleven
at the present time. The columns which supported the balustrade in
Polo’s time rested upon the loins of sculptured lions. The account
of the lions after the bridge was repaired by Kia Tsing says that
there are so many that it is impossible to count them correctly,
and gossip about the bridge says that several persons have lost
their minds in making the attempt. The little walled city on the
east end of the bridge, rightly called Kung Chi, popularly called
Fei Ch’eng, is a monument to Ts’ung Chêng, the last of the Ming,
who built it, hoping to check the advance of Li Tzu ch’eng, the
great robber chief who finally proved too strong for him.”—H. C.]
[Illustration: Bridge of Lu-ku k’iao.]
The Bridge of Lu-kou is mentioned more than once in the history
of the conquest of North China by Chinghiz. It was the scene of a
notable mutiny of the troops of the _Kin_ Dynasty in 1215, which
induced Chinghiz to break a treaty just concluded, and led to his
capture of Peking.
This bridge was begun, according to Klaproth, in 1189, and was five
years a-building. On the 17th August, 1688, as Magaillans tells
us, a great flood carried away two arches of the bridge, and the
remainder soon fell. [Father Intorcetta, quoted by Bretschneider
(_Peking_, p. 53), gives the 25th of July, 1668, as the date of
the destruction of the bridge, which agrees well with the Chinese
accounts.—H. C.] The bridge was renewed, but with only nine arches
instead of thirteen, as appears from the following note of personal
observation with which Dr. Lockhart has favoured me:
“At 27 _li_ from Peking, by the western road leaving the gate of
the Chinese city called Kwang-’an-măn, after passing the old walled
town of Feuchen, you reach the bridge of _Lo-Ku-Kiao_. As it now
stands it is a very long bridge of nine arches (real _arches_)
spanning the valley of the Hwan Ho, and surrounded by beautiful
scenery. The bridge is built of green sandstone, and has a good
balustrade with short square pilasters crowned by small lions. It
is in very good repair, and has a ceaseless traffic, being on the
road to the coal-mines which supply the city. There is a pavilion
at each end of the bridge with inscriptions, the one recording
that K’ang-hi (1662–1723) _built_ the bridge, and the other that
Kienlung (1736–1796) _repaired_ it.” These circumstances are
strictly consistent with Magaillans’ account of the destruction of
the mediæval bridge. Williamson describes the present bridge as
about 700 feet long, and 12 feet wide in the middle part.
[Dr. Bretschneider saw the bridge, and gives the following
description of it: “The bridge is 350 ordinary paces long and 18
broad. It is built of sandstone, and has on either side a stone
balustrade of square columns, about 4 feet high, 140 on each
side, each crowned by a sculptured lion over a foot high. Beside
these there are a number of smaller lions placed irregularly on
the necks, behind the legs, under the feet, or on the back of the
larger ones. The space between the columns is closed by stone
slabs. Four sculptured stone elephants lean with their foreheads
against the edge of the balustrades. The bridge is supported
by eleven arches. At each end of the bridge two pavilions with
yellow roofs have been built, all with large marble tablets in
them; two with inscriptions made by order of the Emperor K’ang-hi
(1662–1723); and two with inscriptions of the time of K’ien-lung
(1736–1796). On these tablets the history of the bridge is
recorded.” Dr. Bretschneider adds that Dr. Lockhart is also right
in counting nine arches, for he counts only the waterways, not the
arches resting upon the banks of the river. Dr. Forke (p. 5) counts
11 arches and 280 stone lions.—H. C.]
(_P. de la Croix_, II. 11, etc.; _Erskine’s Baber_, p. xxxiii.;
_Timour’s Institutes_, 70; _J. As._ IX. 205; _Cathay_, 260;
_Magaillans_, 14–18, 35; _Lecomte_ in _Astley_, III. 529; _J. As._
sér. II. tom. i. 97–98; _D’Ohsson_, I. 144.)
[Illustration: Bridge of Lu-ku k’iao.]
CHAPTER XXXVI.
ACCOUNT OF THE CITY OF JUJU.
When you leave the Bridge, and ride towards the west, finding all the
way excellent hostelries for travellers, with fine vineyards, fields,
and gardens, and springs of water, you come after 30 miles to a fine
large city called JUJU, where there are many abbeys of idolaters, and
the people live by trade and manufactures. They weave cloths of silk
and gold, and very fine taffetas.{1} Here too there are many hostelries
for travellers.{2}
After riding a mile beyond this city you find two roads, one of which
goes west and the other south-east. The westerly road is that through
Cathay, and the south-easterly one goes towards the province of
Manzi.{3}
Taking the westerly one through Cathay, and travelling by it for ten
days, you find a constant succession of cities and boroughs, with
numerous thriving villages, all abounding with trade and manufactures,
besides the fine fields and vineyards and dwellings of civilized
people; but nothing occurs worthy of special mention; and so I will
only speak of a kingdom called TAIANFU.
NOTE 1.—The word is _sendaus_ (Pauthier), pl. of _sendal_, and in
G. T. _sandal_. It does not seem perfectly known what this silk
texture was, but as banners were made of it, and linings for richer
stuffs, it appears to have been a light material, and is generally
rendered _taffetas_. In _Richard Cœur de Lion_ we find
“Many a pencel of sykelatoun
And of sendel of grene and broun,”
and also _pavilions_ of sendel; and in the Anglo-French ballad of
the death of William Earl of Salisbury in St. Lewis’s battle on the
Nile—
“Le Meister du Temple brace les chivaux
Et le Count Long-Espée depli les _sandaux_.”
The oriflamme of France was made of _cendal_. Chaucer couples
taffetas and sendal. His “Doctor of Physic”
“In sanguin and in persë clad was allë,
Linëd with taffata and with sendallë.”
[La Curne, _Dict., s.v. Sendaus_ has: Silk stuff: “Somme de
la delivrance des _sendaus_.” (_Nouv. Compt. de l’Arg._ p.
19).—Godefroy, _Dict._, gives: “_Sendain_, adj., made with the
stuff called cendal: Drap d’or _sendains_ (1392, _Test. de Blanche,
duch d’Orl._, Ste-Croix, Arch. Loiret).” He says _s.v._ CENDAL,
“_cendau, cendral, cendel, ... sendail_, ... étoffe légère de soie
unie qui paraît avoir été analogue au taffetas.” “‘On faisait des
_cendaux_ forts ou faibles, et on leur donnait toute sorte de
couleurs. On s’en servait surtout pour vêtements et corsets, pour
doublures de draps, de fourrures et d’autres étoffes de soie plus
précieuses, enfin pour tenture d’appartements.’ (_Bourquelot, Foir.
de Champ._ I. 261).”
“J’ay de toilles de mainte guise,
De sidonnes et de _cendaulx_.
Soyes, satins blancs et vermaulx.”
—_Greban, Mist. de la Pass._, 26826, _G. Paris_.—H. C.]
The origin of the word seems also somewhat doubtful. The word Σενδἑς
occurs in _Constant. Porphyrog. de Ceremoniis_ (Bonn, ed. I. 468),
and this looks like a transfer of the Arabic _Săndăs_ or _Sundus_,
which is applied by Bakui to the silk fabrics of Yezd. (_Not. et
Ext._ II. 469.) Reiske thinks this is the origin of the Frank word,
and connects its etymology with Sind. Others think that _sendal_
and the other forms are modifications of the ancient _Sindon_, and
this is Mr. Marsh’s view. (See also _Fr.-Michel, Recherches, etc._
I. 212; _Dict. des Tissus_, II. 171 _seqq._)
NOTE 2.—JÚJÚ is precisely the name given to this city by
Rashiduddin, who notices the vineyards. Juju is CHO-CHAU, just at
the distance specified from Peking, viz. 40 miles, and nearly 30
from Pulisanghin or Lu-kou K’iao. The name of the town is printed
_Tsochow_ by Mr. Williamson, and _Chechow_ in a late Report of a
journey by Consul Oxenham. He calls it “a large town of the second
order, situated on the banks of a small river flowing towards the
south-east, viz. the Kiu-ma-Ho, a navigable stream. It had the
appearance of being a place of considerable trade, and the streets
were crowded with people.” (_Reports of Journeys in China and
Japan_, etc. Presented to Parliament, 1869, p. 9.) The place is
called _Jújú_ also in the Persian itinerary given by ’Izzat Ullah
in _J. R. A. S._ VII. 308; and in one procured by Mr. Shaw. (_Proc.
R. G. S._ XVI. p. 253.)
[The Rev. W. S. Ament (_Marco Polo_, 119–120) writes, “the
historian of the city of Cho-chau sounds the praises of the
people for their religious spirit. He says:—‘It was the custom
of the ancients to worship those who were before them. Thus
students worshipped their instructors, farmers worshipped the
first husbandman, workers in silk, the original silk-worker.
Thus when calamities come upon the land, the virtuous among the
people make offerings to the spirits of earth and heaven, the
mountains, rivers, streams, etc. All these things are profitable.
These customs should never be forgotten.’ After such instruction,
we are prepared to find fifty-eight temples of every variety in
this little city of about 20,000 inhabitants. There is a temple
to the spirits of Wind, Clouds, Thunder, and Rain, to the god of
silk-workers, to the Horse-god, to the god of locusts, and the
eight destructive insects, to the Five Dragons, to the King who
quiets the waves. Besides these, there are all the orthodox temples
to the ancient worthies, and some modern heroes. Liu Pei and Chang
Fei, two of the three great heroes of the _San Kuo Chih_, being
natives of Cho Chou, are each honoured with two temples, one in
the native village, and one in the city. It is not often that one
locality can give to a great empire two of its three most popular
heroes: Liu Pei, Chang Fei, Kuan Yu.”
“Judging from the condition of the country,” writes the Rev. W. S.
Ament (p. 120), “one could hardly believe that this general region
was the original home of the silk-worm, and doubtless the people
who once lived here are the only people who ever saw the silk-worm
in his wild state. The historian of Cho-Chou honestly remarks that
he knows of no reason why the production of silk should have ceased
there, except the fact that the worms refused to live there.... The
palmy days of the silk industry were in the T’ang dynasty.”—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—“About a _li_ from the southern suburbs of this town,
the great road to Shantung and the south-east diverged, causing
an immediate diminution in the number of carts and travellers”
(_Oxenham_). [From Peking “to Cheng-ting fu”, says Colonel Bell
(_Proc. R. G. S._, XII. 1890, p. 58), “the route followed is the
Great Southern highway; here the Great Central Asian highway leaves
it.” The Rev. W. S. Ament says (_l.c._, 121) about the bifurcation
of the road, one branch going on south-west to Pao-Ting fu and
Shan-si, and one branch to Shantung and Ho-nan: “The union of
the two roads at this point, bringing the travel and traffic of
ten provinces, makes Cho Chou one of the most important cities
in the Empire. The magistrate of this district is the only one,
so far as we know, in the Empire who is relieved of the duty of
welcoming and escorting transient officers. It was the multiplicity
of such duties, so harassing, that persuaded Fang Kuan-ch’eng to
write the couplet on one of the city gateways: _Jih pien ch’ung
yao, wu shuang ti: T’ien hsia fan nan, ti yi Chou_. ‘In all the
world, there is no place so public as this: for multiplied cares
and trials, this is the first Chou.’ The people of Cho-Chou, of
old celebrated for their religious spirit, are now well known for
their literary enterprise.”—H. C.] This bifurcation of the roads
is a notable point in Polo’s book. For after following the western
road through Cathay, _i.e._ the northern provinces of China, to
the borders of Tibet and the Indo-Chinese regions, our traveller
will return, whimsically enough, not to the capital to take a fresh
departure, but to this bifurcation outside of Chochau, and thence
carry us south with him to Manzi, or China south of the Yellow
River.
Of a part of the road of which Polo speaks in the latter part of
the chapter Williamson says: “The drive was a very beautiful one.
Not only were the many villages almost hidden by foliage, but the
road itself hereabouts is lined with trees.... The effect was to
make the journey like a ramble through the avenues of some English
park.” Beyond Tingchau however the country becomes more barren. (I.
268.)
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU.
After riding then those ten days from the city of Juju, you find
yourself in a kingdom called TAIANFU, and the city at which you arrive,
which is the capital, is also called Taianfu, a very great and fine
city. [But at the end of five days’ journey out of those ten, they say
there is a city unusually large and handsome called ACBALUC, whereat
terminate in this direction the hunting preserves of the Emperor,
within which no one dares to sport except the Emperor and his family,
and those who are on the books of the Grand Falconer. Beyond this limit
any one is at liberty to sport, if he be a gentleman. The Great Kaan,
however, scarcely ever went hunting in this direction, and hence the
game, particularly the hares, had increased and multiplied to such an
extent that all the crops of the Province were destroyed. The Great
Kaan being informed of this, proceeded thither with all his Court, and
the game that was taken was past counting.]{1}
Taianfu{2} is a place of great trade and great industry, for here they
manufacture a large quantity of the most necessary equipments for the
army of the Emperor. There grow here many excellent vines, supplying
great plenty of wine; and in all Cathay this is the only place where
wine is produced. It is carried hence all over the country.{3} There is
also a great deal of silk here, for the people have great quantities of
mulberry-trees and silk-worms.
From this city of Taianfu you ride westward again for seven days,
through fine districts with plenty of towns and boroughs, all enjoying
much trade and practising various kinds of industry. Out of these
districts go forth not a few great merchants, who travel to India and
other foreign regions, buying and selling and getting gain. After
those seven days’ journey you arrive at a city called PIANFU, a large
and important place, with a number of traders living by commerce and
industry. It is a place too where silk is largely produced.{4}
So we will leave it and tell you of a great city called Cachanfu. But
stay—first let us tell you about the noble castle called Caichu.
NOTE 1.—Marsden translates the commencement of this passage, which
is peculiar to Ramusio, and runs “_E in capo di cinque giornate
delle predette dieci_,” by the words “At the end of five days’
journey _beyond_ the ten,” but this is clearly wrong.[1] The place
best suiting in position, as halfway between Cho-chau and T’ai-yuan
fu, would be CHENG-TING FU, and I have little doubt that this
is the place intended. The title of _Ak-Báligh_ in Turki,[2] or
_Chaghán Balghásun_ in Mongol, meaning “White City,” was applied
by the Tartars to Royal Residences; and possibly Cheng-ting fu
may have had such a claim, for I observe in the _Annales de la
Prop. de la Foi_ (xxxiii. 387) that in 1862 the Chinese Government
granted to the R. C. Vicar-Apostolic of Chihli the ruined _Imperial
Palace_ at Cheng-ting fu for his cathedral and other mission
establishments. Moreover, as a matter of fact, Rashiduddin’s
account of Chinghiz’s campaign in northern China in 1214, speaks of
the city of “Chaghan Balghasun which the Chinese call _Jintzinfu_.”
This is almost exactly the way in which the name of Cheng-ting fu
is represented in ’Izzat Ullah’s Persian Itinerary (_Jigdzinfu_,
evidently a clerical error for _Jingdzinfu_), so I think there
can be little doubt that Cheng-ting fu is the place intended. The
name of Hwai-luh’ien (see Note 2), which is the first stage beyond
Cheng-ting fu, is said to mean the “Deer-lair,” pointing apparently
to the old character of the tract as a game-preserve. The city of
Cheng-ting is described by Consul Oxenham as being now in a decayed
and dilapidated condition, consisting only of two long streets
crossing at right angles. It is noted for the manufacture of images
of Buddha from Shan-si iron. (_Consular Reports_, p. 10; _Erdmann_,
331.)
[The main road turns due west at Cheng-ting fu, and enters Shan-si
through what is known among Chinese travellers as the Ku-kwan,
Customs’ Barrier.—H. C.]
Between Cheng-ting fu and T’ai-yuan fu the traveller first crosses
a high and rugged range of mountains, and then ascends by narrow
defiles to the plateau of Shan-si. But of these features Polo’s
excessive condensation takes no notice.
The traveller who quits the great plain of Chihli [which terminates
at Fu-ch’eng-i, a small market-town, two days from Pao-ting.—H. C.]
for “the kingdom of Taianfu,” _i.e._ Northern Shan-si, enters a
tract in which predominates that very remarkable formation called
by the Chinese _Hwang-tu_, and to which the German name _Löss_ has
been attached. With this formation are bound up the distinguishing
characters of Northern Interior China, not merely in scenery but
in agricultural products, dwellings, and means of transport.
This _Löss_ is a brownish-yellow loam, highly porous, spreading
over low and high ground alike, smoothing over irregularities of
surface, and often more than 1000 feet in thickness. It has no
stratification, but tends to cleave vertically, and is traversed in
every direction by sudden crevices, almost glacier-like, narrow,
with vertical walls of great depth, and infinite ramification.
Smooth as the löss basin looks in a bird’s-eye view, it is thus
one of the most impracticable countries conceivable for military
movements, and secures extraordinary value to fortresses in
well-chosen sites, such as that of Tung-kwan mentioned in Note 2 to
chap. xli.
Agriculture may be said in N. China to be confined to the alluvial
plains and the löss; as in S. China to the alluvial plains and
the terraced hill-sides. The löss has some peculiar quality which
renders its productive power self-renewing without manure (unless
it be in the form of a surface coat of fresh löss), and unfailing
in returns if there be sufficient rain. This singular formation is
supposed by Baron Richthofen, who has studied it more extensively
than any one, to be no subaqueous deposit, but to be the
accumulated residue of countless generations of herbaceous plants
combined with a large amount of material spread over the face of
the ground by the winds and surface waters.
[I do not agree with the theory of Baron von Richthofen, of the
almost exclusive Eolian formation of _loess_; water has something
to do with it as well as wind, and I think it is more exact to say
that loess _in China_ is due to a double action, Neptunian as well
as Eolian. The climate was different in former ages from what it
is now, and rain was plentiful and to its great quantity was due
the fertility of this yellow soil. (Cf. _A. de Lapparent, Leçons de
Géographie Physique_, 2ᵉ éd. 1898, p. 566.)—H. C.]
Though we do not expect to find Polo taking note of geological
features, we are surprised to find no mention of a characteristic
of Shan-si and the adjoining districts, which is due to the _löss_;
viz. the practice of forming cave dwellings in it; these in fact
form the habitations of a majority of the people in the löss
country. Polo _has_ noticed a similar usage in Badakhshan (I. p.
161), and it will be curious if a better acquaintance with that
region should disclose a surface formation analogous to the _löss_.
(_Richthofen’s Letters_, VII. 13 _et passim_.)
NOTE 2.—Taianfu is, as Magaillans pointed out, T’AI-YUAN FU, the
capital of the Province of Shan-si, and Shan-si is the “Kingdom.”
The city was, however, the capital of the great T’ang Dynasty for a
time in the 8th century, and is probably the _Tájah_ or _Taiyúnah_
of old Arab writers. Mr. Williamson speaks of it as a very pleasant
city at the north end of a most fertile and beautiful plain,
between two noble ranges of mountains. It was a residence, he
says, also of the Ming princes, and is laid out in Peking fashion,
even to mimicking the Coal-Hill and Lake of the Imperial Gardens.
It stands about 3000 feet above the sea [on the left bank of the
Fen-ho.—H. C.]. There is still an Imperial factory of artillery,
matchlocks, etc., as well as a powder mill; and fine carpets like
those of Turkey are also manufactured. The city is not, however,
now, according to Baron Richthofen, very populous, and conveys no
impression of wealth or commercial importance. [In an interesting
article on this city, the Rev. G. B. Farthing writes (_North China
Herald_, 7th September, 1894): “The configuration of the ground
enclosed by T’ai-yuan fu city is that of a ‘three times to stretch
recumbent cow.’ The site was chosen and described by Li Chun-feng,
a celebrated professor of geomancy in the days of the T’angs, who
lived during the reign of the Emperor T’ai Tsung of that ilk. The
city having been then founded, its history reaches back to that
date. Since that time the cow has stretched twice.... T’ai-yuan
city is square, and surrounded by a wall of earth, of which the
outer face is bricked. The height of the wall varies from thirty to
fifty feet, and it is so broad that two carriages could easily pass
one another upon it. The natives would tell you that each of the
sides is three miles, thirteen paces in length, but this, possibly,
includes what it will be when the cow shall have stretched for the
third and last time. Two miles is the length of each side; eight
miles to tramp if you wish to go round the four of them.”—H. C.]
The district used to be much noted for cutlery and hardware, iron
as well as coal being abundantly produced in Shan-si. Apparently
the present Birmingham of this region is a town called Hwai-lu, or
Hwo-luh’ien, about 20 miles west of Cheng-ting fu, and just on the
western verge of the great plain of Chihli. [Regarding Hwai-lu,
the Rev. C. Holcombe calls it “a miserable town lying among the
foot hills, and at the mouth of the valley, up which the road into
Shan-si lies.” He writes (p. 59) that Ping-ting chau, after the
Customs’ barrier (Ku Kwan) between Chih-li and Shan-si, would,
under any proper system of management, at no distant day become
the Pittsburg, or Birmingham, of China.—H. C.] (_Richthofen’s
Letters_, No. VII. 20; _Cathay_, xcvii. cxiii. cxciv.; _Rennie_,
II. 265; _Williamson’s Journeys in North China; Oxenham_, u.s.
11; _Klaproth_ in _J. As._ sér. II. tom. i. 100; _Izzat Ullah’s
Pers. Itin._ in _J. R. A. S._ VII. 307; _Forke, Von Peking nach
Ch’ang-an_, p. 23.)
[“From Khavailu (Hwo-luh’ien), an important commercial centre
supplying Shansi, for 130 miles to Sze-tien, the road traverses
the loess hills, which extend from the Peking-Kalgan road in a
south-west direction to the Yellow River, and which are passable
throughout this length only by the Great Central Asian trade
route to T’ai-yuan fu and by the Tung-Kwan, Ho-nan, _i.e._ the
Yellow River route.” (_Colonel Bell, Proc. R. G. S._ XII. 1890, p.
59.) Colonel Bell reckons seven days (218 miles) from Peking to
Hwo-lu-h’ien and five days from this place to T’ai-yuan fu.—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—Martini observes that the grapes in Shan-si were very
abundant and the best in China. The Chinese used them only as
raisins, but wine was made there for the use of the early Jesuit
Missions, and their successors continue to make it. Klaproth,
however, tells us that the wine of T’ai-yuan fu was celebrated
in the days of the T’ang Dynasty, and used to be sent in tribute
to the Emperors. Under the Mongols the use of this wine spread
greatly. The founder of the Ming accepted the offering of wine
of the vine from T’ai-yuan in 1373, but prohibited its being
presented again. The finest grapes are produced in the district
of Yukau-hien, where hills shield the plain from north winds,
and convert it into a garden many square miles in extent. In the
vintage season the best grapes sell for less than a farthing a
pound. [Mr. Theos. Sampson, in an article on “Grapes in China,”
writes (_Notes and Queries on China and Japan_, April, 1869, p.
50): “The earliest mention of the grape in Chinese literature
appears to be contained in the chapter on the nations of Central
Asia, entitled _Ta Yuan Chwan_, or description of Fergana, which
forms part of the historical records (_Sze-Ki_) of Sze-ma Tsien,
dating from B.C. 100. Writing of the political relations instituted
shortly before this date by the Emperor Wu Ti with the nations
beyond the Western frontiers of China, the historian dwells at
considerable length, but unluckily with much obscurity, on the
various missions despatched westward under the leadership of Chang
K’ien and others, and mentions the grape vine in the following
passage:—‘Throughout the country of Fergana, wine is made from
grapes, and the wealthy lay up stores of wine, many tens of
thousands of _shih_ in amount, which may be kept for scores of
years without spoiling. Wine is the common beverage, and for horses
the _mu-su_ is the ordinary pasture. The envoys from China brought
back seeds with them, and hereupon the Emperor for the first time
cultivated the grape and the mu-su in the most productive soils.’
In the Description of Western regions, forming part of the History
of the Han Dynasty, it is stated that grapes are abundantly
produced in the country of K’i-pin (identified with Cophene, part
of modern Afghanistan) and other adjacent countries, and referring,
if I mistake not, to the journeys of Chang K’ien, the same work
says, that the Emperor Wu-Ti despatched upwards of ten envoys to
the various countries westward of Fergana, to search for novelties,
and that they returned with grape and mu-su seeds. These references
appear beyond question to determine the fact that grapes were
introduced from Western—or, as we term it, Central—Asia, by Chang
K’ien.”
Dr. Bretschneider (_Botanicon Sinicum_, I. p. 25), relating the
mission of Chang K’ien (139 B.C. Emperor Wu-Ti), who died about
B.C. 103, writes:—“He is said to have introduced many useful plants
from Western Asia into China. Ancient Chinese authors ascribe to
him the introduction of the Vine, the Pomegranate, Safflower, the
Common Bean, the Cucumber, Lucerne, Coriander, the Walnut-tree, and
other plants.”—H. C.] The river that flows down from Shan-si by
Cheng-ting-fu is called “Putu-ho, or the Grape River.” (_J. As._
u.s.; _Richthofen_, u.s.)
[Regarding the name of this river, the Rev. C. Holcombe (_l.c._ p.
56) writes: “Williamson states in his _Journeys in North China_
that the name of this stream is, properly _Poo-too Ho_—‘Grape
River,’ but is sometimes written Hu-t’ou River incorrectly. The
above named author, however, is himself in error, the name given
above [_Hu-t’o_] being invariably found in all Chinese authorities,
as well as being the name by which the stream is known all along
its course.”
West of the Fan River, along the western border of the Central
Plain of Shan-si, in the extreme northern point of which lies
T’aï-yuan fu, the Rev. C. Holcombe says (p. 61), “is a large
area, close under the hills, almost exclusively given up to the
cultivation of the grape. The grapes are unusually large, and of
delicious flavour.”—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—✛In no part of China probably, says Richthofen, do the
towns and villages consist of houses so substantial and costly
as in this. Pianfu is undoubtedly, as Magaillans again notices,
P’ING-YANG FU.[3] It is the _Bikan_ of Shah Rukh’s ambassadors.
[Old P’ing yang, 5 _lis_ to the south] is said to have been the
residence of the primitive and mythical Chinese Emperor Yao. A
great college for the education of the Mongols was instituted at
P’ing-yang, by Yeliu Chutsai, the enlightened minister of Okkodai
Khan. [Its dialect differs from the T’aï-yuan dialect, and is more
like Pekingese.] The city, lying in a broad valley covered with
the yellow löss, was destroyed by the T’aï-P’ing rebels, but it
is reviving. [It is known for its black pottery.] The vicinity is
noted for large paper factories. [“From T’ai-yuan fu to P’ing-yang
fu is a journey of 185 miles, down the valley of the Fuen-ho.”
(Colonel Bell, _Proc. R. G. S._ XII. 1890, p. 61.) By the way, Mr.
Rockhill remarks (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 10): “Richthofen has
transcribed the name of this river _Fuen_. This spelling has been
adopted on most of the recent maps, both German and English, but
_Fuen_ is an impossible sound in Chinese.” (Read _Fen ho_.)—H.
C.] (_Cathay_, ccxi.; _Ritter_, IV. 516; _D’Ohsson_, II. 70;
_Williamson_, I. 336.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] And I see Ritter understood the passage as I do (IV. 515).
[2] _Báligh_ is indeed properly Mongol.
[3] It seems to be called _Piyingfu_ (miswritten Piying_ku_) in Mr.
Shaw’s _Itinerary_ from Yarkand (_Pr. R. G. S._ XVI. 253.) We often
find the Western modifications of Chinese names very persistent.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CONCERNING THE CASTLE OF CAICHU.
On leaving Pianfu you ride two days westward, and come to the noble
castle of CAICHU, which was built in time past by a king of that
country, whom they used to call the GOLDEN KING, and who had there a
great and beautiful palace. There is a great hall of this palace, in
which are pourtrayed all the ancient kings of the country, done in gold
and other beautiful colours, and a very fine sight they make. Each king
in succession as he reigned added to those pictures.{1}
[This Golden King was a great and potent Prince, and during his stay at
this place there used to be in his service none but beautiful girls,
of whom he had a great number in his Court. When he went to take the
air about the fortress, these girls used to draw him about in a little
carriage which they could easily move, and they would also be in
attendance on the King for everything pertaining to his convenience or
pleasure.{2}]
Now I will tell you a pretty passage that befell between the Golden
King and Prester John, as it was related by the people of the Castle.
It came to pass, as they told the tale, that this Golden King was at
war with Prester John. And the King held a position so strong that
Prester John was not able to get at him or to do him any scathe;
wherefore he was in great wrath. So seventeen gallants belonging to
Prester John’s Court came to him in a body, and said that, an he would,
they were ready to bring him the Golden King alive. His answer was,
that he desired nothing better, and would be much bounden to them if
they would do so.
So when they had taken leave of their Lord and Master Prester John,
they set off together, this goodly company of gallants, and went to
the Golden King, and presented themselves before him, saying that they
had come from foreign parts to enter his service. And he answered by
telling them that they were right welcome, and that he was glad to have
their service, never imagining that they had any ill intent. And so
these mischievous squires took service with the Golden King; and served
him so well that he grew to love them dearly.
And when they had abode with that King nearly two years, conducting
themselves like persons who thought of anything but treason, they one
day accompanied the King on a pleasure party when he had very few else
along with him: for in those gallants the King had perfect trust, and
thus kept them immediately about his person. So after they had crossed
a certain river that is about a mile from the castle, and saw that they
were alone with the King, they said one to another that now was the
time to achieve that they had come for. Then they all incontinently
drew, and told the King that he must go with them and make no
resistance, or they would slay him. The King at this was in alarm and
great astonishment, and said: “How then, good my sons, what thing is
this ye say? and whither would ye have me go?” They answered, and said:
“You shall come with us, will ye, nill ye, to Prester John our Lord.”
NOTE 1.—The name of the castle is very doubtful. But of that and
the geography, which in this part is tangled, we shall speak
further on.
Whilst the original French texts were unknown, the king here spoken
of figured in the old Latin versions as King _Darius_, and in
Ramusio as _Re Dor_. It was a most happy suggestion of Marsden’s,
in absence of all knowledge of the fact that the original narrative
was _French_, that this Dor represented the Emperor of the _Kin_ or
Golden Dynasty, called by the Mongols _Altun Khán_, of which _Roi
D’Or_ is a literal translation.
[Illustration: The “Roi d’Or.” (From a MS. in the Royal Asiatic
Society’s Collection.)
“=Et en ceste chastiaus ha un mout biaus paleis en quel a une
grandisme sale là ou il sunt portrait à mout belles pointures tout
les rois de celes provences que furent ansienemant, et ce est mout
belle viste à voir.=”]
Of the legend itself I can find no trace. Rashiduddin relates
a story of the grandfather of Aung Khan (Polo’s Prester John),
Merghuz Boirúk Khan, being treacherously made over to the King of
the Churché (the Kin sovereign), and put to death by being nailed
to a wooden ass. But the same author tells us that Aung Khan got
his title of Aung (Ch. _Wang_) or king from the Kin Emperor of his
day, so that no hereditary feud seems deducible.
Mr. Wylie, who is of opinion, like Baron Richthofen, that the
_Caichu_ which Polo makes the scene of that story, is Kiai-chau (or
Hiai-chau as it seems to be pronounced), north of the Yellow River,
has been good enough to search the histories of the Liao and Kin
Dynasties,[1] but without finding any trace of such a story, or of
the Kin Emperors having resided in that neighbourhood.
On the other hand, he points out that the story has a strong
resemblance to a real event which occurred in Central Asia in the
beginning of Polo’s century.
The Persian historians of the Mongols relate that when Chinghiz
defeated and slew Taiyang Khan, the king of the Naimans, Kushluk,
the son of Taiyang, fled to the Gur-Khan of Karakhitai and received
both his protection and the hand of his daughter (see i. 237); but
afterwards rose against his benefactor and usurped his throne. “In
the Liao history I read,” Mr. Wylie says, “that Chih-lu-ku, the
last monarch of the Karakhitai line, ascended the throne in 1168,
and in the 34th year of his reign, when out hunting one day in
autumn, Kushluk, who had 8000 troops in ambush, made him prisoner,
seized his throne and adopted the customs of the Liao, while he
conferred on Chih-lu-ku the honourable title of _Tai-shang-hwang_
‘the old emperor.’”[2]
It is this Kushluk, to whom Rubruquis assigns the rôle of King
(or Prester) John, the subject of so many wonderful stories.
And Mr. Wylie points out that not only was his father Taiyang
Khan, according to the Chinese histories, a much more important
prince than Aung Khan or Wang Khan the Kerait, but his name
_Tai-Yang-Khan_ is precisely “Great King John” as near as John
(or Yohana) can be expressed in Chinese. He thinks therefore that
Taiyang and his son Kushluk, the Naimans, and not Aung Khan and his
descendants, the Keraits, were the parties to whom the character of
Prester John properly belonged, and that it was probably this story
of Kushluk’s capture of the Karakhitai monarch (_Roi de Fer_) which
got converted into the form in which he relates it of the _Roi
d’Or_.
The suggestion seems to me, as regards the story, interesting and
probable; though I do not admit that the character of Prester John
properly belonged to any real person.
I may best explain my view of the matter by a geographical analogy.
Pre-Columbian maps of the Atlantic showed an Island of Brazil, an
Island of Antillia, founded—who knows on what?—whether on the real
adventure of a vessel driven in sight of the Azores or Bermudas,
or on mere fancy and fogbank. But when discovery really came to be
undertaken, men looked for such lands and found them accordingly.
And there they are in our geographies, Brazil and the Antilles!
The cut which we give is curious in connection with our traveller’s
notice of the portrait-gallery of the Golden Kings. For it is taken
from the fragmentary MS. of Rashiduddin’s History in the library
of the Royal Asiatic Society, a MS. believed to be one of those
executed under the great Vazír’s own supervision, and is presented
there as the portrait of the last sovereign of the Dynasty in
question, being one of a whole series of similar figures. There
can be little doubt, I think, that these were taken from Chinese
originals, though, it may be, not very exactly.
NOTE 2.—The history of the Tartar conquerors of China, whether
Khitan, Churché, Mongol, or Manchu, has always been the same. For
one or two generations the warlike character and manly habits were
maintained; and then the intruders, having adopted Chinese manners,
ceremonies, literature, and civilization, sank into more than
Chinese effeminacy and degradation. We see the custom of employing
only female attendants ascribed in a later chapter (lxxvii.) to
the Sung Emperors at Kinsay; and the same was the custom of the
later Ming emperors, in whose time the imperial palace was said
to contain 5000 women. Indeed, the precise custom which this
passage describes was in our own day habitually reported of the
T’ai-P’ing sovereign during his reign at Nanking: “None but women
are allowed in the interior of the Palace, and _he is drawn to the
audience-chamber in a gilded sacred dragon-car by the ladies_.”
(_Blakiston_, p. 42; see also _Wilson’s Ever-Victorious Army_, p.
41.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] [There is no trace of it in Harlez’s French translation from the
Manchu of the History of the Kin Empire, 1887.—H. C.]
[2] See also Oppert (p. 157), who cites this story from Visdelou, but
does not notice its analogy to Polo’s.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
HOW PRESTER JOHN TREATED THE GOLDEN KING HIS PRISONER.
And on this the Golden King was so sorely grieved that he was like
to die. And he said to them: “Good, my sons, for God’s sake have
pity and compassion upon me. Ye wot well what honourable and kindly
entertainment ye have had in my house; and now ye would deliver me
into the hands of mine enemy! In sooth, if ye do what ye say, ye will
do a very naughty and disloyal deed, and a right villainous.” But they
answered only that so it must be, and away they had him to Prester John
their Lord.
And when Prester John beheld the King he was right glad, and greeted
him with something like a malison.[1] The King answered not a word, as
if he wist not what it behoved him to say. So Prester John ordered him
to be taken forth straightway, and to be put to look after cattle, but
to be well looked after himself also. So they took him and set him to
keep cattle. This did Prester John of the grudge he bore the King, to
heap contumely on him, and to show what a nothing he was, compared to
himself.
And when the King had thus kept cattle for two years, Prester John sent
for him, and treated him with honour, and clothed him in rich robes,
and said to him: “Now Sir King, art thou satisfied that thou wast in
no way a man to stand against me?” “Truly, my good Lord, I know well
and always did know that I was in no way a man to stand against thee.”
And when he had said this Prester John replied: “I ask no more; but
henceforth thou shalt be waited on and honourably treated.” So he
caused horses and harness of war to be given him, with a goodly train,
and sent him back to his own country. And after that he remained ever
friendly to Prester John, and held fast by him.
So now I will say no more of this adventure of the Golden King, but I
will proceed with our subject.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] “Lui dist que il feust le mal venuz.”
CHAPTER XL.
CONCERNING THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN AND THE CITY OF CACHANFU.
When you leave the castle, and travel about 20 miles westward, you come
to a river called CARAMORAN,{1} so big that no bridge can be thrown
across it; for it is of immense width and depth, and reaches to the
Great Ocean that encircles the Universe,—I mean the whole earth. On
this river there are many cities and walled towns, and many merchants
too therein, for much traffic takes place upon the river, there being
a great deal of ginger and a great deal of silk produced in the
country.{2}
Game birds here are in wonderful abundance, insomuch that you may buy
at least three pheasants for a Venice groat of silver. I should say
rather for an _asper_, which is worth a little more.{3}
[On the lands adjoining this river there grow vast quantities of great
canes, some of which are a foot or a foot and a half (in girth), and
these the natives employ for many useful purposes.]
After passing the river and travelling two days westward you come
to the noble city of CACHANFU, which we have already named. The
inhabitants are all Idolaters. And I may as well remind you again that
all the people of Cathay are Idolaters. It is a city of great trade
and of work in gold-tissues of many sorts, as well as other kinds of
industry.
There is nothing else worth mentioning, and so we will proceed and tell
you of a noble city which is the capital of a kingdom, and is called
Kenjanfu.
NOTE 1.—_Ḳará-Muren_, or Black River, is one of the names applied
by the Mongols to the Hwang Ho, or Yellow River, of the Chinese,
and is used by all the mediæval western writers, _e.g._ Odoric,
John Marignolli, Rashiduddin.
The River, where it skirts Shan-si, is for the most part difficult
both of access and of passage, and ill adapted to navigation, owing
to the violence of the stream. Whatever there is of navigation is
confined to the transport of coal down-stream from Western Shan-si,
in large flats. Mr. Elias, who has noted the River’s level by
aneroid at two points 920 miles apart, calculated the fall over
that distance, which includes the contour of Shan-si, at 4 feet per
mile. The best part for navigation is above this, from Ning-hia
to Chaghan Kuren (in about 110° E. long.), in which Captain
Prjevalski’s observations give a fall of less than 6 inches per
mile. (_Richthofen_, _Letter_ VII. 25; _Williamson_, I. 69; _J. R.
G. S._ XLIII. p. 115; _Petermann_, 1873, pp. 89–91.)
[On 5th January, 1889, Mr. Rockhill coming to the Yellow River from
P’ing-yang, found (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 17) that “the river was
between 500 and 600 yards wide, a sluggish, muddy stream, then
covered with floating ice about a foot thick.... The Yellow River
here is shallow, in the main channel only is it four or five feet
deep.” The Rev. C. Holcombe, who crossed in October, says (p. 65):
that “it was nowhere more than 6 feet deep, and on returning, three
of the boatmen sprang into the water in midstream and waded ashore,
carrying a line from the ferry-boat to prevent us from rapidly
drifting down with the current. The water was just up to their
hips.”—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—It is remarkable that the abundance of silk in Shan-si and
Shen-si is so distinctly mentioned in these chapters, whereas now
there is next to no silk at all grown in these districts. Is this
the result of a change of climate, or only a commercial change?
Baron Richthofen, to whom I have referred the question, believes
it to be due to the former cause: “No tract in China would appear
to have suffered so much by a change of climate as Shen-si and
Southern Shan-si.” [See pp. 11–12.]
NOTE 3.—The _asper_ or _akché_ (both meaning “white”) of the
Mongols at Tana or Azov I have elsewhere calculated, from
Pegolotti’s data (_Cathay_, p. 298), to have contained about 0_s._
2·8_d._ worth of silver, which is _less_ than the grosso; but the
name may have had a loose application to small silver coins in
other countries of Asia. Possibly the money intended may have been
the 50 _tsien_ note. (See note 1, ch. xxiv. _supra_.)
CHAPTER XLI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF KENJANFU.
And when you leave the city of Cachanfu of which I have spoken, and
travel eight days westward, you meet with cities and boroughs abounding
in trade and industry, and quantities of beautiful trees, and gardens,
and fine plains planted with mulberries, which are the trees on the
leaves of which the silkworms do feed.{1} The people are all Idolaters.
There is also plenty of game of all sorts, both of beasts and birds.
And when you have travelled those eight days’ journey, you come to that
great city which I mentioned, called KENJANFU.{2} A very great and fine
city it is, and the capital of the kingdom of Kenjanfu, which in old
times was a noble, rich, and powerful realm, and had many great and
wealthy and puissant kings.{3} But now the king thereof is a prince
called MANGALAI, the son of the Great Kaan, who hath given him this
realm, and crowned him king thereof.{4} It is a city of great trade
and industry. They have great abundance of silk, from which they weave
cloths of silk and gold of divers kinds, and they also manufacture
all sorts of equipments for an army. They have every necessary of
man’s life very cheap. The city lies towards the west; the people are
Idolaters; and outside the city is the palace of the Prince Mangalai,
crowned king, and son of the Great Kaan, as I told you before.
This is a fine palace and a great, as I will tell you. It stands in a
great plain abounding in lakes and streams and springs of water. Round
about it is a massive and lofty wall, five miles in compass, well
built, and all garnished with battlements. And within this wall is the
king’s palace, so great and fine that no one could imagine a finer.
There are in it many great and splendid halls, and many chambers, all
painted and embellished with work in beaten gold. This Mangalai rules
his realm right well with justice and equity, and is much beloved by
his people. The troops are quartered round about the palace, and enjoy
the sport (that the royal demesne affords).
So now let us quit this kingdom, and I will tell you of a very
mountainous province called Cuncun, which you reach by a road right
wearisome to travel.
NOTE 1.—[“_Morus alba_ is largely grown in North China for feeding
silkworms.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 4.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Having got to sure ground again at Kenjanfu, which is,
as we shall explain presently, the city of SI-NGAN FU, capital
of Shen-si, let us look back at the geography of the route from
P’ing-yang fu. Its difficulties are great.
The traveller carries us two days’ journey from P’ing-yang fu to
his castle of the Golden King. This is called in the G. Text and
most other MSS. _Caicui_, _Caytui_, or the like, but in Ramusio
alone _Thaigin_. He then carries us 20 miles further to the
Caramoran; he crosses this river, travels two days further, and
reaches the great city Cachanfu; eight days more (or as in Ramusio
_seven_) bring him to Si-ngan fu.
There seems scarcely room for doubt that CACHANFU is the HO-CHUNG
FU [the ancient capital of Emperor Shun—H. C.] of those days,
now called P’U-CHAU FU, close to the great elbow of the Hwang Ho
(_Klaproth_). But this city, instead of being _two days west_ of
the great river, stands _near_ its _eastern_ bank.
[The Rev. C. Holcombe writes (pp. 64–65): “P’u-chau fu lies on a
level with the Yellow River, and on the edge of a large extent
of worthless marsh land, full of pools of brackish, and in some
places, positively salt water.... The great road does not pass
into the town, having succeeded in maintaining its position on the
high ground from which the town has _backslided_.... The great
road keeping to the bluff, runs on, turning first south, and then
a trifle to the east of south, until the road, the bluff, and
Shan-si, all end together, making a sudden plunge down a precipice
and being lost in the dirty waters of the Yellow River.”—H. C.]
Not maintaining the infallibility of our traveller’s memory, we may
conceive confusion here, between the recollections of his journey
westward and those of his return; but this does not remove all the
difficulties.
The most notable fortress of the Kin sovereigns was that of
T’ungkwan, on the right bank of the river, 25 miles below P’u-chau
fu, and closing the passage between the river and the mountains,
just where the boundaries of Ho-nan, Shan-si, and Shen-si meet. It
was constantly the turning-point of the Mongol campaigns against
that Dynasty, and held a prominent place in the dying instructions
of Chinghiz for the prosecution of the conquest of Cathay. This
fortress must have continued famous to Polo’s time—indeed it
continues so still, the strategic position being one which nothing
short of a geological catastrophe could impair,—but I see no way of
reconciling its position with his narrative.
[Illustration: Plan of Ki-chau, after Duhalde.]
The _name_ in Ramusio’s form might be merely that of the Dynasty,
viz. _Tai-Kin_ = Great Golden. But we have seen that Thaigin is
not the only reading. That of the MSS. seems to point rather to
some name like _Kaichau_. A hypothesis which has seemed to me to
call for least correction in the text is that the castle was at
the _Ki-chau_ of the maps, nearly due west of P’ing-yang fu, and
just about 20 miles from the Hwang Ho; that the river was crossed
in that vicinity, and that the traveller then descended the valley
to opposite P’u-chau fu, or possibly embarked and descended the
river itself to that point. This last hypothesis would mitigate the
apparent disproportion in the times assigned to the different parts
of the journey, and would, I think, clear the text of error. But
it is only a hypothesis. There is near Ki-chau one of the easiest
crossing places of the River, insomuch that since the Shen-si
troubles a large garrison has been kept up at Ki-chau to watch
it.[1] And this is the only direction in which two days’ march, at
Polo’s rate, would bring him within 20 miles of the Yellow River.
Whether there is any historic castle at Ki-chau I know not; the
plan of that place in Duhalde, however, has the aspect of a strong
position. Baron v. Richthofen is unable to accept this suggestion,
and has favoured me with some valuable remarks on this difficult
passage, which I slightly abridge:—
“The difficulties are, (1) that for either reading, _Thaigin_ or
_Caichu_, a corresponding place can be found; (2) in the position
of _Cachanfu_, setting both at naught.
“_Thaigin_. There are two passages of the Yellow River near its
great bend. One is at T’ungkwan, where I crossed it; the other,
and more convenient, is at the fortress of Taiching-kwan, locally
pronounced _Taigin_-kwan. This fortress, or rather fortified camp,
is a very well-known place, and to be found on native maps; it
is very close to the river, on the left bank, about 6 m. S.W. of
P’u-chau fu. The road runs hence to Tung-chau fu and thence to
Si-ngan fu. T’aiching-kwan could not possibly (at Polo’s rate) be
reached in 2 days from P’ing-yang fu.
“_Caichu_. If this reading be adopted Marsden may be right in
supposing _Kiai-chau_, locally _Khaidju_, to be meant. This city
dominates the important salt marsh, whence Shan-si and Shen-si
are supplied with salt. It is 70 or 80 m. from P’ing-yang fu, but
_could_ be reached in 2 days. It commands a large and tolerably
populous plain, and is quite fit to have been an imperial residence.
“May not the striking fact that there is a place corresponding to
either name suggest that one of them was passed by Polo in going,
the other in returning? and that, this being the only locality
between Ch’êng-tu fu and Chu-chau where there was any deviation
between the two journeys, his geographical ideas may have become
somewhat confused, as might now happen to any one in like case and
not provided with a map? Thus the traveller himself might have put
into Ramusio’s text the name of _Thaigin_ instead of _Caichu_. From
Kiai-chau he would probably cross the River at T’ungkwan, whilst in
returning by way of Taiching-kwan he would pass through P’uchau-fu
(or _vice versâ_). The question as to Caichu may still be settled,
as it must be possible to ascertain where the Kin resided.”[2]
[Mr. Rockhill writes (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 17): “One hundred and
twenty _li_ south-south-west of the city is Kiai Chou, with the
largest salt works in China.” Richthofen has estimated that about
150,000 tons of salt are produced annually from the marshes around
it.—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—The eight days’ journey through richly cultivated plains
run up the basin of the Wei River, the most important agricultural
region of North-West China, and the core of early Chinese History.
The _löss_ is here more than ever predominant, its yellow tinge
affecting the whole landscape, and even the atmosphere. Here,
according to Baron v. Richthofen, originated the use of the word
_hwang_ “yellow,” as the symbol of the Earth, whence the primeval
emperors were styled _Hwang-ti_, “Lord of the Earth,” but properly
“Lord of the _Löss_.”
[The Rev. C. Holcombe (_l.c._ p. 66) writes: “From T’ung-kwan to
Si-ngan fu, the road runs in a direction nearly due west, through
a most lovely section of country, having a range of high hills
upon the south, and the Wei River on the north. The road lies
through one long orchard, and the walled towns and cities lie
thickly along, for the most part at a little distance from the
highway.” Mr. Rockhill says (_Land of the Lamas_, pp. 19–20): “The
road between T’ung-kwan and Si-ngan fu, a distance of 110 miles,
is a fine highway—for China—with a ditch on either side, rows of
willow-trees here and there, and substantial stone bridges and
culverts over the little streams which cross it. The basin of the
Wei ho, in which this part of the province lies, has been for
thousands of years one of the granaries of China. It was the colour
of its loess-covered soil, called ‘yellow earth’ by the Chinese,
that suggested the use of yellow as the colour sacred to imperial
majesty. Wheat and sorghum are the principal crops, but we saw also
numerous paddy fields where flocks of flamingoes were wading, and
fruit-trees grew everywhere.”—H. C.]
Kenjanfu, or, as Ramusio gives it, Quenzanfu, is SI-NGAN FU, or
as it was called in the days of its greatest fame, Chang-ngan,
probably the most celebrated city in Chinese history, and the
capital of several of the most potent dynasties. It was the
metropolis of Shi Hwang-ti of the T’sin Dynasty, properly the
first emperor and whose conquests almost intersected those of his
contemporary Ptolemy Euergetes. It was, perhaps, the _Thinae_
of Claudius Ptolemy, as it was certainly the Khumdán[3] of the
early Mahomedans, and the site of flourishing Christian Churches
in the 7th century, as well as of the remarkable monument, the
discovery of which a thousand years later disclosed their forgotten
existence.[4] _Kingchao-fu_ was the name which the city bore when
the Mongol invasions brought China into communication with the
west, and Klaproth supposes that this was modified by the Mongols
into KENJANFU. Under the latter name it is mentioned by Rashiduddin
as the seat of one of the Twelve _Sings_ or great provincial
administrations, and we find it still known by this name in
Sharífuddin’s history of Timur. The same name is traceable in the
_Kansan_ of Odoric, which he calls the second best province in the
world, and the best populated. Whatever may have been the origin
of the name _Kenjanfu_, Baron v. Richthofen was, on the spot, made
aware of its conservation in the exact form of the Ramusian Polo.
The Roman Catholic missionaries there emphatically denied that
Marco could ever have been at Si-ngan fu, or that the city had ever
been known by such a name as Kenjan-fu. On this the Baron called in
one of the Chinese pupils of the Mission, and asked him directly
what had been the name of the city under the Yuen Dynasty. He
replied at once with remarkable clearness: “QUEN-ZAN-FU.” Everybody
present was struck by the exact correspondence of the Chinaman’s
pronunciation of the name with that which the German traveller had
adopted from Ritter.
[Illustration: _Reduced Facsimile of the celebrated Christian
Inscription of Singanfu, in Chinese and Syriac Characters_.
_Photo-lithograph, from a Rubbing._
W. GRIGGS, PHOTO-LITH.]
[The vocabulary _Hweï Hwei_ (Mahomedan) of the College of
Interpreters at Peking transcribes King chao from the Persian
Kin-chang, a name it gives to the Shen-si province. King chao was
called Ngan-si fu in 1277. (_Devéria, Epigraphie_, p. 9.) Ken-jan
comes from Kin-chang = King-chao = Si-ngan fu.—H. C.]
Martini speaks, apparently from personal knowledge, of the
splendour of the city, as regards both its public edifices and
its site, sloping gradually up from the banks of the River Wei,
so as to exhibit its walls and palaces at one view like the
interior of an amphitheatre. West of the city was a sort of
Water Park, enclosed by a wall 30 _li_ in circumference, full of
lakes, tanks, and canals from the Wei, and within this park were
seven fine palaces and a variety of theatres and other places of
public diversion. To the south-east of the city was an artificial
lake with palaces, gardens, park, etc., originally formed by the
Emperor Hiaowu (B.C. 100), and to the south of the city was another
considerable lake called _Fan_. This may be the Fanchan Lake,
beside which Rashid says that Ananda, the son of Mangalai, built
his palace.
The adjoining districts were the seat of a large Musulman
population, which in 1861–1862 [and again in 1895 (See _Wellby,
Tibet_, ch. xxv.)—H. C.] rose in revolt against the Chinese
authority, and for a time was successful in resisting it. The
capital itself held out, though invested for two years; the rebels
having no artillery. The movement originated at Hwachau, some 60
miles east of Si-ngan fu, now totally destroyed. But the chief seat
of the Mahomedans is a place which they call _Salar_, identified
with Hochau in Kansuh, about 70 miles south-west of Lanchau-fu, the
capital of that province. [Mr. Rockhill (_Land of the Lamas_, p.
40) writes: “Colonel Yule, quoting a Russian work, has it that the
word Salar is used to designate Ho-chou, but this is not absolutely
accurate. Prjevalsky (_Mongolia_, II. 149) makes the following
complicated statement: ‘The Karatangutans outnumber the Mongols
in Koko-nor, but their chief habitations are near the sources of
the Yellow River, where they are called Salirs; they profess the
Mohammedan religion, and have rebelled against China.’ I will
only remark here that the Salar have absolutely no connection
with the so-called Kara-tangutans, who are Tibetans. In a note by
Archimandrite Palladius, in the same work (II. 70), he attempts to
show a connection between the Salar and a colony of Mohammedans
who settled in Western Kan-Suh in the last century, but the _Ming
shih_ (History of the Ming Dynasty) already makes mention of the
Salar, remnants of various Turkish tribes (_Hsi-ch’iang_) who had
settled in the districts of Ho-chou, Huang-chou, T’ao-chou, and
Min-chou, and who were a source of endless trouble to the Empire.
(See _Wei Yuen, Sheng-wu-ki_, vii. 35; also _Huang ch’ing shih kung
t’u_, v. 7.) The Russian traveller, Potanin, found the Salar living
in twenty-four villages, near Hsün-hua t’ing, on the south bank
of the Yellow River. (See _Proc. R. G. S._ ix. 234.) The Annals
of the Ming Dynasty (_Ming Shíh_, ch. 330) say that An-ting wei,
1500 _li_ south-west of Kan-chou, was in old times known as _Sa-li
Wei-wu-ehr_. These Sari Uigurs are mentioned by Du Plan Carpin, as
_Sari_ Huiur. Can _Sala_ be the same as _Sari_?”
“Mohammedans,” says Mr. Rockhill (_Ibid._ p. 39), “here are divided
into two sects, known as ‘white-capped Hui-hui,’ and ‘black-capped
Hui-hui.’ One of the questions which separate them is the hour at
which fast can be broken during the Ramadan. Another point which
divides them is that the white-capped burn incense, as do the
ordinary Chinese; and the Salar condemn this as Paganish. The usual
way by which one finds out to which sect a Mohammedan belongs is
by asking him if he burns incense. The black-capped Hui-hui are
more frequently called _Salar_, and are much the more devout and
fanatical. They live in the vicinity of Ho-chou, in and around
Hsün-hua t’ing, their chief town being known as Salar Pakun or
Paken.”
[Illustration: Cross on the Monument at Si-ngan fu. (From a
rubbing.)]
Ho-chou, in Western Kan-Suh, about 320 _li_ (107 miles) from
Lan-chau, has a population of about 30,000 nearly entirely
Mahomedans with 24 mosques; it is a “hot-bed of rebellion.”
_Salar-pa-kun_ means “the eight thousand Salar families,” or “the
eight thousands of the Salar.” The eight _kiun_ (Chinese _t’sun_?
a village, a commune) constituting the Salar pa-kun are Kä-tzŭ,
the oldest and largest, said to have over 1300 families living
in it, Chang-chia, Némen, Ch’ing-shui, Munta, Tsu-chi, Antasu
and Ch’a-chia. Besides these Salar kiun there are five outer
(_wai_) kiun: Ts’a-pa, Ngan-ssŭ-to, Hei-ch’eng, Kan-tu and Kargan,
inhabited by a few Salar and a mixed population of Chinese and
T’u-ssŭ: each of these wai-wu kiun has, theoretically, fifteen
villages in it. Tradition says that the first Salar who came to
China (from Rúm or Turkey) arrived in this valley in the third year
of Hung-wu of the Ming (1370). (_Rockhill, Land of the Lamas,
Journey; Grenard_, II. p. 457)—H. C.] (_Martini; Cathay_, 148,
269; _Pétis de la Croix_, III. 218; _Russian paper on the Dungen_,
see _supra_, vol. i. p. 291; _Williamson’s North China_, u.s.;
_Richthofen’s Letters_, and MS. Notes.)
NOTE 4.—_Mangalai_, Kúblái’s third son, who governed the provinces
of Shen-si and Sze-ch’wan, with the title of _Wang_ or king
(_supra_ ch. ix. note 2), died in 1280, a circumstance which limits
the date of Polo’s journey to the west. It seems unlikely that
Marco should have remained ten years ignorant of his death, yet he
seems to speak of him as still governing.
[With reference to the translation of the oldest of the
Chinese-Mongol inscriptions known hitherto (1283) in the name of
Ananda, King of Ngan-si, Professor Devéria (_Notes d’Épigraphie
Mongolo-Chinoise_, p. 9) writes: “In 1264, the Emperor Kúbláï
created in this region [Shen si] the department of Ngan-si chau,
occupied by ten hordes of Si-fan (foreigners from the west). All
this country became in 1272, the apanage of the Imperial Prince
Mangala; this prince, third son of Kúbláï, had been invested with
the title of King of Ngan-si, a territory which included King-chao
fu (modern Si-ngan fu). His government extended hence over Ho-si
(west of the Yellow River), the T’u-po (Tibetans), and Sze-ch’wan.
The following year (1273) Mangala received from Kúbláï a second
investiture, this of the Kingdom of Tsin, which added to his domain
part of Kan-Suh; he established his royal residence at K’ia-ch’eng
(modern Ku-yuan) in the Liu-p’an shan, while King-chao remained
the centre of the command he exercised over the Mongol garrisons.
In 1277 this prince took part in military operations in the north;
he died in 1280 (17th year Che Yuan), leaving his principality of
Ngan-si to his eldest son Ananda, and this of Tsin to his second
son Ngan-tan Bu-hoa. Kúbláï, immediately after the death of his son
Mangala, suppressed administrative autonomy in Ngan-si.” (_Yuan-shi
lei pien_).—H. C.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] I am indebted for this information to Baron Richthofen.
[2] See the small map attached to “Marco Polo’s Itinerary Map, No.
IV.,” at end of vol. i.
[3] [It is supposed to come from _kang_ (king) _dang_.—H. C.]
[4] In the first edition I was able to present a reduced facsimile of
a _rubbing_ in my possession from this famous inscription, which I
owed to the generosity of Dr. Lockhart. To the Baron von Richthofen
I am no less indebted for the more complete rubbing which has
afforded the plate now published. A tolerably full account of this
inscription is given in _Cathay_, p. xcii. _seqq._, and p. clxxxi.
_seqq._, but the subject is so interesting that it seems well to
introduce here the most important particulars:—
The stone slab, about 7½ feet high by 3 feet wide, and some
10 inches in thickness,[A] which bears this inscription, was
accidentally found in 1625 by some workmen who were digging in
the Chang-ngan suburb of the city of Singanfu. The cross, which
is engraved at p. 30, is incised at the top of the slab, and
beneath this are 9 large characters in 3 columns, constituting the
heading, which runs: “_Monument commemorating the introduction and
propagation of the noble Law of_ Ta T’sin _in the Middle Kingdom;_”
_Ta T’sin_ being the term applied in Chinese literature to the
Roman Empire, of which the ancient Chinese had much such a shadowy
conception as the Romans had, conversely, of the Chinese as _Sinae_
and _Seres_. Then follows the body of the inscription, of great
length and beautiful execution, consisting of 1780 characters.
Its chief contents are as follows:— 1st. An abstract of Christian
doctrine, of a vague and figurative kind; 2nd. An account of
the arrival of the missionary OLOPĂN (probably a Chinese form
of _Rabban_ = Monk),[B] from Ta T’sin in the year equivalent to
A.D. 635, bringing sacred books and images; of the _translation
of the said books_; of the Imperial approval of the doctrine
and permission to teach it publicly. There follows a decree of
the Emperor (T’ai Tsung, a very famous prince) issued in 638, in
favour of the new doctrine, and ordering a church to be built in
the Square of Peace and Justice (_I-ning Fang_), at the capital.
The Emperor’s portrait was to be placed in the church. After this
comes a description of Ta T’sin (here apparently implying Syria);
and then some account of the fortunes of the Church in China. Kao
Tsung (650–683, the devout patron also of the Buddhist traveller and
Dr. Hiuen Tsang) continued to favour it. In the end of the century,
Buddhism gets the upper hand, but under HIUAN-TSUNG (713–755) the
Church recovers its prestige, and KIHO, a new missionary, arrives.
Under TE-TSUNG (780–783) the monument was erected, and this part
ends with the eulogy of ISSÉ, a statesman and benefactor of the
Church. 3rd. There follows a recapitulation of the purport in
octosyllabic verse.
The Chinese inscription concludes with the date of erection, viz.
the second year _Kienchung_ of the Great T’ang Dynasty, the seventh
day of the month _Tait’su_, the feast of the great _Yaosan_.
This corresponds, according to Gaubil, to 4th February, 781; and
_Yaosan_ is supposed to stand for _Hosanna_ (_i.e._ Palm Sunday;
but this apparently does not fit; see _infra_). There are added the
name chief of the law, NINGCHU (presumed to be the Chinese name
of the Metropolitan), the name of the writer, and the official
sanction.
The _Great Hosanna_ was, though ingenious, a misinterpretation
of Gaubil’s. Mr. Wylie has sent me a paper of his own (in _Chin.
Recorder and Miss. Journal_, July, 1871, p. 45), which makes
things perfectly clear. The expression transcribed by Pauthier,
_Yao-săn-wen_, and rendered “Hosanna,” appears in a Chinese work,
without reference to this inscription, as _Yao-săn-wăh_, and is in
reality only a Chinese transcript of the Persian word for Sunday,
“_Yak-shambah_.” Mr. Wylie verified this from the mouth of a Peking
Mahomedan. The 4th of February, 781 _was_ Sunday; why _Great_
Sunday? Mr. Wylie suggests, possibly because the first Sunday of
the (Chinese) year.
The monument exhibits, in addition to the Chinese text, a series
of short inscriptions in the Syriac language, and _Estranghelo_
character, containing the date of erection, viz. 1092 of the Greeks
(= A.D. 781), the name of the reigning Patriarch of the Nestorian
church MAR HANAN ISHUA (dead in 778, but the fact apparently had
not reached China), that of ADAM, Bishop and Pope of Tzinisthán
(_i.e._ China), and those of the clerical staff of the capital
which here bears the name, given it by the early Arab Travellers,
of _Kúmdán_. There follow sixty-seven names of persons in Syriac
characters, most of whom are characterised as priests (_Kashíshá_),
and sixty-one names of persons in Chinese, all priests save one.
[It appears that Adam (_King-tsing_), who erected the monument
under Te-Tsung was, under the same Emperor, with a Buddhist the
translator of a Buddhist sûtra, the Saṭpâramitâ from a Hu text.
(See a curious paper by Mr. J. Takakusu in the _T’oung Pao_, VII
pp. 589–591.)
Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 157, _note_) makes the following
remarks. “It is strange, however, that the two famous Uigur
Nestorians, Mar Jabalaha and Rabban Cauma, when on their journey
from Koshang in Southern Shan-hsi to Western Asia in about 1276,
while they mention ‘the city of Tangut,’ or Ning-hsia on the Yellow
River as an important Nestorian centre, do not once refer to
Hsi-anfu or Chang-an. Had Chang-an been at the time the Nestorian
Episcopal see, one would think that these pilgrims would have
visited it, or at least referred to it. (_Chabot, Mar Jabalaha_,
21)”—H. C.]
Kircher gives a good many more Syriac names than appear on the
rubbing, probably because some of these are on the edge of the slab
now built in. We have no room to speak of the controversies raised
by this stone. The most able defence of its genuine character,
as well as a transcript with translation and commentary, a work
of great interest, was published by the late M. Pauthier. The
monument exists intact, and has been visited by the Rev. Mr.
Williamson, Baron Richthofen, and other recent travellers. [The
Rev. Moir Duncan wrote from Shen-si regarding the present state
of the stone. (_London and China Telegraph_, 5th June, 1893): “Of
the covering rebuilt so recently, not a trace remains save the
pedestals for the pillars and atoms of the tiling. In answer to a
question as to when and how the covering was destroyed, the old
priest replied, with a twinkle in his eye as if his conscience
pinched, ‘There came a rushing wind and blew it down.’ He could
not say when, for he paid no attention to such mundane affairs.
More than one outsider however, said it had been deliberately
destroyed, because the priests are jealous of the interest
manifested in it.... The stone has evidently been recently tampered
with, several characters are effaced and there are other signs of
malicious hands.”—H. C.] Pauthier’s works on the subject are—_De
l’Authenticité de l’Inscription Nestorienne_, etc., B. Duprat,
1857; and _l’Inscription Syro-Chinoise de Si-ngan-fou_, etc.,
Firmin Didot, 1858. (See also _Kircher, China Illustrata_; and
article by Mr. Wylie in _J. Am. Or. Soc._, V. 278.) [Father Havret,
S.J., of Zi-ka-wei, near Shang-hai, has undertaken to write a large
work on this inscription with the title of _La Stèle Chrétienne de
Si-ngan-fou_; the first part giving the inscription in full size,
and the second containing the history of the monument, have been
published at Shang-hai in 1895 and 1897; the author died last year
(29th September, 1901), and the translation which was to form a
third part has not yet appeared. The Rev. Dr. J. Legge has given a
translation and the Chinese text of the monument, in 1888.—H. C.]
Stone monuments of character strictly analogous are frequent in
the precincts of Buddhist sanctuaries, and probably the idea of
this one was taken from the Buddhists. It is reasonably supposed
by Pauthier that the monument may have been buried in 845, when
the Emperor Wu-Tsung issued an edict, still extant, against the
vast multiplication of Buddhist convents, and ordering their
destruction. A clause in the edict also orders the _foreign bonzes
of Ta-T’sin_ and _Mubupa_ (Christian and _Mobed_ or Magian?) _to
return to secular life_.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[A] [M. Grenard, who reproduces (III. p. 152) a good facsimile of the
inscription, gives to the slab the following dimensions: high 2m.
36, wide 0m. 86, thick 0m. 25.—H. C.]
[B] [Dr. F. Hirth (_China and the Roman Orient_, p. 323) writes:
“O-LO-PÊN = Ruben, Rupen?” He adds (_Jour. China Br. R. As. Soc._
XXI. 1886, pp. 214–215): “Initial _r_ is also quite commonly
represented by initial _l_. I am in doubt whether the two
characters _o-lo_ in the Chinese name for Russia (_O-lo-ssŭ_) stand
for foreign _ru_ or _ro_ alone. This word would bear comparison
with a Chinese transcription of the Sanskrit word for silver,
_rūpya_, which in the _Pen-ts’ao-kang-mu_ (ch. 8, p. 9) is given
as _o-lu-pa_. If we can find further analogies, this may help us
to read that mysterious word in the Nestorian stone inscription,
being the name of the first Christian missionary who carried the
cross to China, _O-lo-pên_, as ‘Ruben’. This was indeed a common
name among the Nestorians, for which reason I would give it the
preference over Pauthier’s Syriac ‘Alopeno’. But Father Havret
(_Stèle Chrétienne_, Leide, 1897, p. 26) objects to Dr. Hirth that
the Chinese character _lo_, to which he gives the sound _ru_,
is not to be found as a Sanskrit phonetic element in Chinese
characters, but that this phonetic element _ru_ is represented by
the Chinese characters pronounced _lu_, and therefore, he, Father
Havret, adopts Colonel Yule’s opinion as the only one being fully
satisfactory.”—H. C.]
CHAPTER XLII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUNCUN, WHICH IS RIGHT WEARISOME TO
TRAVEL THROUGH.
On leaving the Palace of Mangalai, you travel westward for three days,
finding a succession of cities and boroughs and beautiful plains,
inhabited by people who live by trade and industry, and have great
plenty of silk. At the end of those three days, you reach the great
mountains and valleys which belong to the province of CUNCUN.{1} There
are towns and villages in the land, and the people live by tilling the
earth, and by hunting in the great woods; for the region abounds in
forests, wherein are many wild beasts, such as lions, bears, lynxes,
bucks and roes, and sundry other kinds, so that many are taken by
the people of the country, who make a great profit thereof. So this
way we travel over mountains and valleys, finding a succession of
towns and villages, and many great hostelries for the entertainment of
travellers, interspersed among extensive forests.
NOTE 1.—The region intended must necessarily be some part of the
southern district of the province of Shen-si, called HAN-CHUNG,
the axis of which is the River Han, closed in by exceedingly
mountainous and woody country to north and south, dividing it on
the former quarter from the rest of Shen-si, and on the latter from
Sze-ch’wan. Polo’s _C_ frequently expresses an _H_, especially the
Guttural _H_ of Chinese names, yet _Cuncun_ is not satisfactory as
the expression of _Hanchung_.
The country was so ragged that in ancient times travellers from
Si-ngan fu had to make a long circuit eastward by the frontier of
Ho-nan to reach Han-chung; but, at an early date, a road was made
across the mountains for military purposes; so long ago indeed that
various eras and constructors are assigned to it. Padre Martini’s
authorities ascribed it to a general in the service of Liu Pang,
the founder of the first Han Dynasty (B.C. 202), and this date
is current in Shan-si, as Baron v. Richthofen tells me. But in
Sze-ch’wan the work is asserted to have been executed during the
3rd century, when China was divided into several states, by Liu
Pei, of the Han family, who, about A.D. 226, established himself
as Emperor [Minor Han] of Western China at Ch’êng-tu fu.[1] This
work, with its difficulties and boldness, extending often for
great distances on timber corbels inserted in the rock, is vividly
described by Martini. Villages and rest-houses were established
at convenient distances. It received from the Chinese the name of
_Chien-tao_, or the “Pillar Road.” It commenced on the west bank
of the Wei, opposite Pao-ki h’ien, 100 miles west of Si-ngan fu,
and ended near the town of Paoching-h’ien, some 15 or 20 miles
north-west from Han-chung.
We are told that Tului, the son of Chinghiz, when directing his
march against Ho-nan in 1231 by this very line from Paoki, had
to _make_ a road with great difficulty; but, as we shall see
presently, this can only mean that the ancient road had fallen
into decay, and had to be repaired. The same route was followed
by Okkodai’s son Kutan, in marching to attack the Sung Empire in
1235, and again by Mangku Kaan on his last campaign in 1258. These
circumstances show that the road from Paoki was in that age the
usual route into Han-chung and Sze-ch’wan; indeed there is no other
road in that direction that is more than a mere jungle-track, and
we may be certain that this was Polo’s route.
This remarkable road was traversed by Baron v. Richthofen in
1872. To my questions, he replies: “The entire route is a work
of tremendous engineering, and all of this was done by Liu Pei,
who first ordered the construction. The hardest work consisted in
cutting out long portions of the road from solid rock, chiefly
where ledges project on the verge of a river, as is frequently the
case on the He-lung Kiang.... It had been done so thoroughly from
the first, that scarcely any additions had to be made in after
days. Another kind of work which generally strikes tourists like
Father Martini, or Chinese travellers, is the poling up of the road
on the sides of steep cliffs[2].... Extensive cliffs are frequently
rounded in this way, and imagination is much struck with the
perils of walking on the side of a precipice, with the foaming
river below. When the timbers rot, such passages of course become
obstructed, and thus the road is said to have been periodically
in complete disuse. The repairs, which were chiefly made in the
time of the Ming, concerned especially passages of this sort.”
Richthofen also notices the abundance of game; but inhabited places
appear to be rarer than in Polo’s time. (See _Martini_ in _Blaeu_;
_Chine Ancienne_, p. 234; _Ritter_, IV. 520; _D’Ohsson_, II. 22,
80, 328; _Lecomte_, II. 95; _Chin. Rep._ XIX. 225; _Richthofen_,
_Letter_ VII. p. 42, and MS. Notes).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] The last is also stated by Klaproth. Ritter has overlooked the
discrepancy of the dates (B.C. and A.D.) and has supposed Liu Pei
and Liu Pang to be the same. The resemblance of the names, and the
fact that both princes were founders of Han Dynasties, give ample
room for confusion.
[2] See cut from Mr. Cooper’s book at p. 51 below. This so exactly
illustrates Baron R.’s description that I may omit the latter.
CHAPTER XLIII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ACBALEC MANZI.
After you have travelled those 20 days through the mountains of CUNCUN
that I have mentioned, then you come to a province called ACBALEC
MANZI, which is all level country, with plenty of towns and villages,
and belongs to the Great Kaan. The people are Idolaters, and live
by trade and industry. I may tell you that in this province, there
grows such a great quantity of ginger, that it is carried all over
the region of Cathay, and it affords a maintenance to all the people
of the province, who get great gain thereby. They have also wheat
and rice, and other kinds of corn, in great plenty and cheapness; in
fact the country abounds in all useful products. The capital city is
called ACBALEC MANZI [which signifies “the White City of the Manzi
Frontier”].{1}
This plain extends for two days’ journey, throughout which it is
as fine as I have told you, with towns and villages as numerous.
After those two days, you again come to great mountains and valleys,
and extensive forests, and you continue to travel westward through
this kind of country for 20 days, finding however numerous towns
and villages. The people are Idolaters, and live by agriculture, by
cattle-keeping, and by the chase, for there is much game. And among
other kinds, there are the animals that produce the musk, in great
numbers.{2}
NOTE 1.—Though the termini of the route, described in these two
chapters, are undoubtedly Si-ngan fu and Ch’êng-tu fu, there are
serious difficulties attending the determination of the line
actually followed.
The time according to all the MSS., so far as I know, except those
of one type, is as follows:
In the plain of Kenjanfu 3 days.
In the mountains of Cuncun 20 „
In the plain of Acbalec 2 „
In mountains again 20 „
——
45 days.
——
[From Si-ngan fu to Ch’êng-tu (Sze-ch’wan), the Chinese reckon
2300 _li_ (766 miles). (Cf. _Rockhill, Land of the Lamas_, p. 23.)
Mr. G. F. Eaton, writing from Han-chung (_Jour. China Br. R. A.
S._ xxviii. p. 29) reckons: “From Si-ngan Fu S.W. to Ch’êng-tu,
_viâ_ K’i-shan, Fung-sien, Mien, Kwang-yuan and Chao-hwa, about 30
days, in chairs.” He says (p. 24): “From Ch’êng-tu _viâ_ Si-ngan
to Peking the road does not touch Han-chung, but 20 _li_ west of
the city strikes north to Pao-ch’eng.—The road from Han-chung to
Ch’êng-tu made by Ts’in Shi Hwang-ti to secure his conquest of
Sze-ch’wan, crosses the Ta-pa-shan.”—H. C.]
It seems to me almost impossible to doubt that the Plain of
Acbalec represents some part of the river-valley of the Han,
interposed between the two ranges of mountains called by Richthofen
_T’sing-Ling-Shan_ and _Ta-pa-Shan_. But the time, as just stated,
is extravagant for anything like a direct journey between the two
termini.
The distance from Si-ngan fu to Pao-ki is 450 _li_, which _could_
be done in 3 days, but at Polo’s rate would probably require 5.
The distance by the mountain road from Pao-ki to the Plain of
Han-chung, could never have occupied 20 days. It is really a 6 or 7
days’ march.
But Pauthier’s MS. C (and its double, the Bern MS.) has viii.
marches instead of xx., through the mountains of Cuncun. This
reduces the time between Kenjanfu and the Plain to 11 days, which
is just about a proper allowance for the whole journey, though
not accurately distributed. Two days, though ample, would not be
excessive for the journey across the Plain of Han-chung, especially
if the traveller visited that city. And “20 days from Han-chung, to
Ch’êng-tu fu would correspond with Marco Polo’s rate of travel.”
(_Richthofen_).
So far then, provided we admit the reading of the MS. C, there is
no ground for hesitating to adopt the usual route between the two
cities, _viâ_ Han-chung.
But the key to the exact route is evidently the position of Acbalec
Manzi, and on this there is no satisfactory light.
For the name of the province, Pauthier’s text has _Acbalec Manzi_,
for the name of the city _Acmalec_ simply. The G. T. has in the
former case _Acbalec Mangi_, in the latter “Acmelic Mangi _qe vaut
dire_ le une _de le confine dou Mangi_.” This is followed literally
by the Geographic Latin, which has “_Acbalec Mangi et est dictum
in lingua nostra_ unus _ex confinibus Mangi_.” So also the Crusca;
whilst Ramusio has “_Achbaluch Mangi, che vuol dire_ Città Bianca
de’ confini di Mangi.” It is clear that Ramusio alone has here
preserved the genuine reading.
Klaproth identified Acbalec conjecturally with the town of
_Pe-ma-ching_, or “White-Horse-Town,” a place now extinct, but
which stood like Mien and Han-chung on the extensive and populous
Plain that here borders the Han.
It seems so likely that the latter part of the name _Pe_-MACHING
(“_White_ Maching”) might have been confounded by foreigners with
_Máchín_ and _Manzi_ (which in Persian parlance were identical),
that I should be disposed to overlook the difficulty that we have
no evidence produced to show that Pemaching was a place of any
consequence.
It is possible, however, that the name _Acbalec_ may have been
given by the Tartars without any reference to Chinese etymologies.
We have already twice met with the name or its equivalent
(_Acbaluc_ in ch. xxxvii. of this Book, and _Chaghan Balghasun_ in
note 3 to Book I. ch. lx.), whilst Strahlenberg tells us that the
Tartars call all great residences of princes by this name (Amst.
ed. 1757, I. p. 7). It may be that Han-chung itself was so named
by the Tartars; though its only claim that I can find is, that it
was the first residence of the Han Dynasty. Han-chung fu stands
in a beautiful plain, which forms a very striking object to the
traveller who is leaving the T’sing-ling mountains. Just before
entering the plains, the Helung Kiang passes through one of its
wildest gorges, a mere crevice between vertical walls several
hundred feet high. The road winds to the top of one of the cliffs
in zigzags cut in the solid rock. From the temple of Kitau Kwan,
which stands at the top of the cliff, there is a magnificent view
of the Plain, and no traveller would omit this, the most notable
feature between the valley of the Wei and Ch’êng-tu-fu. It is,
moreover, the only piece of level ground, of any extent, that is
passed through between those two regions, whichever road or track
be taken. (_Richthofen_, MS. Notes.)
[In the _China Review_ (xiv. p. 358) Mr. E. H. Parker, has an
article on _Acbalec Manzi_, but does not throw any new light on the
subject.—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Polo’s journey now continues through the lofty mountainous
region in the north of Sze-ch’wan.
The dividing range Ta-pa-shan is less in height than the
T’sing-ling range, but with gorges still more abrupt and deep; and
it would be an entire barrier to communication but for the care
with which the road, here also, has been formed. But this road,
from Han-chung to Ch’êng-tu fu, is still older than that to the
north, having been constructed, it is said, in the 3rd century B.C.
[See _supra_.] Before that time Sze-ch’wan was a closed country,
the only access from the north being the circuitous route down the
Han and up the Yang-tz’ŭ. (_Ibid._)
[Mr. G. G. Brown writes (_Jour. China Br. R. As. Soc._ xxviii.
p. 53): “Crossing the Ta-pa-shan from the valley of the Upper
Han in Shen-si we enter the province of Sze-ch’wan, and are now
in a country as distinct as possible from that that has been
left. The climate which in the north was at times almost Arctic,
is now pluvial, and except on the summits of the mountains no
snow is to be seen. The people are ethnologically different....
More even than the change of climate the geological aspect is
markedly different. The loess, which in Shen-si has settled like
a pall over the country, is here absent, and red sandstone rocks,
filling the valleys between the high-bounding and intermediate
ridges of palæozoic formation, take its place. Sze-ch’wan is
evidently a region of rivers flowing in deeply eroded valleys,
and as these find but one exit, the deep gorges of Kwei-fu,
their disposition takes the form of the innervations of a leaf
springing from a solitary stalk. The country between the branching
valleys is eminently hilly; the rivers flow with rapid currents
in well-defined valleys, and are for the most part navigable
for boats, or in their upper reaches for lumber-rafts.... The
horse-cart, which in the north and north-west of China is the
principal means of conveyance, has never succeeded in gaining
an entrance into Sze-ch’wan with its steep ascents and rapid
unfordable streams; and is here represented for passenger traffic
by the sedan-chair, and for the carriage of goods, with the
exception of a limited number of wheel-barrows, by the backs of
men or animals, unless where the friendly water-courses afford the
cheapest and readiest means of intercourse.”—H. C.]
Martini notes the musk-deer in northern Sze-ch’wan.
CHAPTER XLIV.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE AND CITY OF SINDAFU.
When you have travelled those 20 days westward through the mountains,
as I have told you, then you arrive at a plain belonging to a province
called Sindafu, which still is on the confines of Manzi, and the
capital city of which is (also) called SINDAFU. This city was in former
days a rich and noble one, and the Kings who reigned there were very
great and wealthy. It is a good twenty miles in compass, but it is
divided in the way that I shall tell you.
You see the King of this Province, in the days of old, when he found
himself drawing near to death, leaving three sons behind him, commanded
that the city should be divided into three parts, and that each of his
three sons should have one. So each of these three parts is separately
walled about, though all three are surrounded by the common wall of the
city. Each of the three sons was King, having his own part of the city,
and his own share of the kingdom, and each of them in fact was a great
and wealthy King. But the Great Kaan conquered the kingdom of these
three Kings, and stripped them of their inheritance.{1}
Through the midst of this great city runs a large river, in which they
catch a great quantity of fish. It is a good half mile wide, and very
deep withal, and so long that it reaches all the way to the Ocean
Sea,—a very long way, equal to 80 or 100 days’ journey. And the name
of the River is KIAN-SUY. The multitude of vessels that navigate this
river is so vast, that no one who should read or hear the tale would
believe it. The quantities of merchandize also which merchants carry
up and down this river are past all belief. In fact, it is so big, that
it seems to be a Sea rather than a River!{2}
Let us now speak of a great Bridge which crosses this River within the
city. This bridge is of stone; it is seven paces in width and half a
mile in length (the river being that much in width as I told you); and
all along its length on either side there are columns of marble to bear
the roof, for the bridge is roofed over from end to end with timber,
and that all richly painted. And on this bridge there are houses in
which a great deal of trade and industry is carried on. But these
houses are all of wood merely, and they are put up in the morning and
taken down in the evening. Also there stands upon the bridge the Great
Kaan’s _Comercque_, that is to say, his custom-house, where his toll
and tax are levied.{3} And I can tell you that the dues taken on this
bridge bring to the Lord a thousand pieces of fine gold every day and
more. The people are all Idolaters.{4}
When you leave this city you travel for five days across a country of
plains and valleys, finding plenty of villages and hamlets, and the
people of which live by husbandry. There are numbers of wild beasts,
lions, and bears, and such like.
I should have mentioned that the people of Sindu itself live by
manufactures, for they make fine sendals and other stuffs.{5}
After travelling those five days’ march, you reach a province called
Tebet, which has been sadly laid waste; we will now say something of it.
NOTE 1.—We are on firm ground again, for SINDAFU is certainly
CH’ÊNG-TU FU, the capital of Sze-ch’wan. Probably the name used by
Polo was _Sindu-fu_, as we find _Sindu_ in the G. T. near the end
of the chapter. But the same city is, I observe, called _Thindafu_
by one of the Nepalese embassies, whose itineraries Mr. Hodgson has
given in the _J. A. S. B._ XXV. 488.
┌────────────┐
│ │
┌───┤ ┌───┐ │
│ B │ │ C │ A │
│ │ │ │ │
└───┤ └───┘ │
│ │
└────────────┘
A. The Great City.
B. The Little City.
C. The Imperial City.
The modern French missions have a bishop in Ch’êng-tu fu, and the
city has been visited of late years by Mr. T. T. Cooper, by Mr. A.
Wylie, by Baron v. Richthofen, [Captain Gill, Mr. Baber, Mr. Hosie,
and several other travellers]. Mr. Wylie has kindly favoured me
with the following note:—“My notice all goes to corroborate Marco
Polo. The covered bridge with the stalls is still there, the only
difference being the absence of the toll-house. I did not see any
traces of a tripartite division of the city, nor did I make any
enquiries on the subject during the 3 or 4 days I spent there, as
it was not an object with me at the time to verify Polo’s account.
The city is indeed divided, but the division dates more than a
thousand years back. It is something like this, I should say [see
diagram].[1]
“The Imperial City (_Hwang Ching_) was the residence of the
monarch Lew Pé (_i.e._ Liu Pei of p. 32) during the short period
of the ‘Three Kingdoms’ (3rd century), and some relics of the
ancient edifice still remain. I was much interested in looking
over it. It is now occupied by the Public Examination Hall and its
dependencies.”
I suspect Marco’s story of the Three Kings arose from a
misunderstanding about this historical period of the _San-Kwé_, or
Three Kingdoms (A.D. 222–264). And this tripartite division of the
city may have been merely that which we see to exist at present.
[Mr. Baber, leaving Ch’êng-tu, 26th July, 1877, writes (_Travels_,
p. 28): “We took ship outside the East Gate on a rapid narrow
stream, apparently the city moat, which soon joins the main river,
a little below the An-shun Bridge, an antiquated wooden structure
some 90 yards long. This is in all probability the bridge mentioned
by Marco Polo. The too flattering description he gives of it leads
one to suppose that the present handsome stone bridges of the
province were unbuilt at the time of his journey.” Baber is here
mistaken.
Captain Gill writes (_l.c._ II. p. 9): “As Mr. Wylie in recent days
had said that Polo’s covered bridge was still in its place, we went
one day on an expedition in search of it. Polo, however, speaks of
a bridge full half a mile long, whilst the longest now is but 90
yards. On our way we passed over a fine nine-arched stone bridge,
called the Chin-Yen-Ch’iao. Near the covered bridge there is a very
pretty view down the river.”—H. C.]
Baron Richthofen observes that Ch’êng-tu is among the largest of
Chinese cities, and is of all the finest and most refined. The
population is called 800,000. The walls form a square of about 3
miles to the side, and there are suburbs besides. The streets are
broad and straight, laid out at right angles, with a pavement of
square flags very perfectly laid, slightly convex and drained at
each side. The numerous commemorative arches are sculptured with
skill; there is much display of artistic taste; and the people
are remarkably civil to foreigners. This characterizes the whole
province; and an air of wealth and refinement prevails even in the
rural districts. The plain round Ch’êng-tu fu is about 90 miles
in length (S.E. to N.W.), by 40 miles in width, with a copious
irrigation and great fertility, so that in wealth and population it
stands almost unrivalled. (_Letter_ VII. pp. 48–66.)
[Illustration: PLAN OF CHENG-TU.
_Églises ou Établissements français des “Missions étrangères”_
_Reproduction d’une carte chinoise_]
[Mr. Baber (_Travels_, p. 26) gives the following information
regarding the population of Ch’êng-tu: “The census of 1877 returned
the number of families at about 70,000, and the total population
at 330,000—190,000 being males and 140,000 females; but probably
the extensive suburb was not included in the enumeration. Perhaps
350,000 would be a fair total estimate.” It is the seat of the
Viceroy of the Sze-ch’wan province. Mr. Hosie says (_Three Years in
Western China_, p. 86): “It is without exception the finest city I
have seen in China; Peking and Canton will not bear comparison with
it.” Captain Gill writes (_River of Golden Sand_, II. p. 4): “The
city of Ch’êng-Tu is still a rich and noble one, somewhat irregular
in shape, and surrounded by a strong wall, in a perfect state of
repair. In this there are eight bastions, four being pierced by
gates.”
“It is one of the largest of Chinese cities, having a circuit of
about 12 miles.” (_Baber_, p. 26.) “It is now three and a half
miles long by about two and a half miles broad, the longest side
lying about east-south-east, and west-north-west, so that its
compass in the present day is about 12 miles.” (_Captain Gill_, II.
p. 4.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Ramusio is more particular: “Through the city flow many
great rivers, which come down from distant mountains, and run
winding about through many parts of the city. These rivers vary in
width from half a mile to 200 paces, and are very deep. Across them
are built many bridges of stone,” etc. “And after passing the city
these rivers unite and form one immense river called Kian,” etc.
Here we have the Great River or KIANG, Kian (Quian) as in Ramusio,
or KIANG-SHUI, “Waters of the Kiang,” as in the text. So Pauthier
explains. [Mr. Baber remarks at Ch’êng-tu (_Travels_, p. 28): “When
all allowance is made for the diminution of the river, one cannot
help surmising that Marco Polo must have felt reluctant to call it
the _Chiang-Sui_ or ‘Yangtzŭ waterway.’ He was, however, correct
enough, as usual, for the Chinese consider it to be the main upper
stream of the Yangtzŭ.”—H. C.] Though our Geographies give the
specific names of Wen and Min to the great branch which flows by
Ch’êng-tu fu, and treat the Tibetan branch which flows through
northern Yunnan under the name of Kin sha or “Golden Sand,” as the
main river, the Chinese seem always to have regarded the former as
the true Kiang; as may be seen in Ritter (IV. 650) and Martini. The
latter describes the city as quite insulated by the ramifications
of the river, from which channels and canals pass all about it,
adorned with many quays and bridges of stone.
The numerous channels in reuniting form two rivers, one the Min,
and the other the To-Kiang, which also joins the Yangtzŭ at Lu-chau.
[In his _Introductory Essay to Captain Gill’s River of Golden
Sand_, Colonel Yule (p. 37) writes: “Captain Gill has pointed out
that, of the many branches of the river which ramify through the
plain of Ch’êng-tu, no one now passes through the city at all
corresponding in magnitude to that which Marco Polo describes,
about 1283, as running through the midst of Sin-da-fu, ‘a good
half-mile wide, and very deep withal.’ The largest branch adjoining
the city now runs on the south side, but does not exceed a hundred
yards in width; and though it is crossed by a covered bridge with
huxters’ booths, more or less in the style described by Polo, it
necessarily falls far short of his great bridge of half a mile
in length. Captain Gill suggests that a change may have taken
place in the last five (this should be _six_) centuries, owing to
the deepening of the river-bed at its exit from the plain, and
consequent draining of the latter. But I should think it more
probable that the ramification of channels round Ch’êng-tu, which
is so conspicuous even on a small general map of China, like that
which accompanies this work, is in great part due to art; that
the mass of the river has been drawn off to irrigate the plain;
and that thus the wide river, which in the 13th century may have
passed through the city, no unworthy representative of the mighty
Kiang, has long since ceased, on that scale, to flow. And I have
pointed out briefly that the fact, which Baron Richthofen attests,
of an actual bifurcation of waters on a large scale taking place
in the plain of Ch’êng-tu—one arm ‘branching east to form the To’
(as in the terse indication of the Yü-Kung)—viz. the To Kiang or
Chung-Kiang flowing south-east to join the great river at Lu-chau,
whilst another flows south to Sü-chau or Swi-fu, does render
change in the distribution of the waters about the city highly
credible.”] [See _Irrigation of the Ch’eng-tu Plain_, by _Joshua
Vale_, China Inland Mission in _Jour. China Br. R. A. S. Soc._
XXXIII. 1899–1900, pp. 22–36.—H. C.]
[Above Kwan Hsien, near Ch’êng-tu, there is a fine suspension
bridge, mentioned by Marcel Monnier (_Itinéraires_, p. 43), from
whom I borrow the cut reproduced on this page. This bridge is also
spoken of by Captain Gill (_l.c._ I. p. 335): “Six ropes, one above
the other, are stretched very tightly, and connected by vertical
battens of wood laced in and out. Another similar set of ropes is
at the other side of the roadway, which is laid across these, and
follows the curve of the ropes. There are three or four spans with
stone piers.”—H. C.]
[Illustration: Bridge near Kwan-hsien (Ch’êng-tu).]
NOTE 3.—(G. T.) “_Hi est le_ couiereque _dou Grant Sire, ce est
cilz qe recevent la rente dou Seignor_.” Pauthier has _couvert_.
Both are, I doubt not, misreadings or misunderstandings of
_comercque_ or _comerc_. This word, founded on the Latin
_commercium_, was widely spread over the East with the meaning
of _customs-duty_ or _custom-house_. In Low Greek it appeared as
κομμέρκιον and κουμέρκιον, now κομέρκι; in Arabic and Turkish as
قمرق and كمرك (_ḳumruḳ_ and _gyumruk_), still in use; in Romance
dialects as _comerchio, comerho, comergio_, etc.
NOTE 4.—The word in Pauthier’s text which I have rendered _pieces_
of gold is _pois_, probably equivalent to _saggi_ or _misḳáls_.[2]
The G. T. has “is well worth 1000 _bezants_ of gold,” no doubt
meaning _daily_, though not saying so. Ramusio has “100 bezants
daily.” The term Bezant may be taken as synonymous with _Dínár_,
and the statement in the text would make the daily receipt of
custom upwards of 500_l._, that in Ramusio upwards of 50_l._ only.
NOTE 5.—I have recast this passage, which has got muddled, probably
in the original dictation, for it runs in the G. text: “Et de ceste
cité se part l’en et chevauche cinq jornée por plain et por valée,
et treve-l’en castiaus et casaus assez. Les homes vivent dou profit
qu’il traient de la terre. Il hi a bestes sauvajes assez, lions et
orses et autres bestes. _Il vivent d’ars: car il hi se laborent des
biaus sendal et autres dras. Il sunt de Sindu meisme._” I take it
that in speaking of Ch’êng-tu fu, Marco has forgotten to fill up
his usual formula as to the occupation of the inhabitants; he is
reminded of this when he speaks of the occupation of the peasantry
on the way to Tibet, and reverts to the citizens in the words which
I have quoted in Italics. We see here _Sindu_ applied to the city,
suggesting _Sindu-fu_ for the reading at the beginning of the
chapter.
Silk is a large item in the produce and trade of Sze-ch’wan; and
through extensive quarters of Ch’êng-tu fu, in every house, the
spinning, dying, weaving, and embroidering of silk give occupation
to the people. And though a good deal is exported, much is consumed
in the province, for the people are very much given to costly
apparel. Thus silk goods are very conspicuous in the shops of the
capital. (_Richthofen_.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] My lamented friend Lieutenant F. Garnier had kindly undertaken to
send me a plan of Ch’êng-tu fu from the place itself, but, as is
well known, he fell on a daring enterprise elsewhere. [We hope
that the plan from a Chinese map we give from _M. Marcel Monnier’s
Itinéraires_ will replace the promised one.
It will be seen that Ch’êng-tu is divided into three cities: the
Great City containing both the Imperial and Tartar cities.—H. C.]
[2] I find the same expression applied to the misḳál or dínár in a
MS. letter written by Giovanni dell’Affaitado, Venetian Agent at
Lisbon in 1503, communicated to me by Signor Berchet. The King of
Melinda was to pay to Portugal a tribute of 1500 _pesi d’oro_, “che
un peso val un ducato e un quarto.”
CHAPTER XLV.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TEBET.
After those five days’ march that I spoke of, you enter a province
which has been sorely ravaged; and this was done in the wars of Mongu
Kaan. There are indeed towns and villages and hamlets, but all harried
and destroyed.{1}
In this region you find quantities of canes, full three palms in girth
and fifteen paces in length, with some three palms’ interval between
the joints. And let me tell you that merchants and other travellers
through that country are wont at nightfall to gather these canes and
make fires of them; for as they burn they make such loud reports that
the lions and bears and other wild beasts are greatly frightened, and
make off as fast as possible; in fact nothing will induce them to come
nigh a fire of that sort. So you see the travellers make those fires to
protect themselves and their cattle from the wild beasts which have so
greatly multiplied since the devastation of the country. And ’tis this
great multiplication of the wild beasts that prevents the country from
being reoccupied. In fact but for the help of these canes, which make
such a noise in burning that the beasts are terrified and kept at a
distance, no one would be able even to travel through the land.
I will tell you how it is that the canes make such a noise. The people
cut the green canes, of which there are vast numbers, and set fire to
a heap of them at once. After they have been awhile burning they burst
asunder, and this makes such a loud report that you might hear it ten
miles off. In fact, any one unused to this noise, who should hear it
unexpectedly, might easily go into a swound or die of fright. But those
who are used to it care nothing about it. Hence those who are not used
to it stuff their ears well with cotton, and wrap up their heads and
faces with all the clothes they can muster; and so they get along until
they have become used to the sound. ’Tis just the same with horses.
Those which are unused to these noises are so alarmed by them that they
break away from their halters and heel-ropes, and many a man has lost
his beasts in this way. So those who would avoid losing their horses
take care to tie all four legs and peg the ropes down strongly, and to
wrap the heads and eyes and ears of the animals closely, and so they
save them. But horses also, when they have heard the noise several
times, cease to mind it. I tell you the truth, however, when I say that
the first time you hear it nothing can be more alarming. And yet, in
spite of all, the lions and bears and other wild beasts will sometimes
come and do much mischief; for their numbers are great in those
tracts.{2}
You ride for 20 days without finding any inhabited spot, so that
travellers are obliged to carry all their provisions with them, and are
constantly falling in with those wild beasts which are so numerous and
so dangerous. After that you come at length to a tract where there
are towns and villages in considerable numbers.{3} The people of those
towns have a strange custom in regard to marriage which I will now
relate.
No man of that country would on any consideration take to wife a girl
who was a maid; for they say a wife is nothing worth unless she has
been used to consort with men. And their custom is this, that when
travellers come that way, the old women of the place get ready, and
take their unmarried daughters or other girls related to them, and go
to the strangers who are passing, and make over the young women to
whomsoever will accept them; and the travellers take them accordingly
and do their pleasure; after which the girls are restored to the
old women who brought them, for they are not allowed to follow the
strangers away from their home. In this manner people travelling that
way, when they reach a village or hamlet or other inhabited place,
shall find perhaps 20 or 30 girls at their disposal. And if the
travellers lodge with those people they shall have as many young women
as they could wish coming to court them! You must know too that the
traveller is expected to give the girl who has been with him a ring or
some other trifle, something in fact that she can show as a lover’s
token when she comes to be married. And it is for this in truth and for
this alone that they follow that custom; for every girl is expected to
obtain at least 20 such tokens in the way I have described before she
can be married. And those who have most tokens, and so can show they
have been most run after, are in the highest esteem, and most sought in
marriage, because they say the charms of such an one are greatest.{4}
But after marriage these people hold their wives very dear, and would
consider it a great villainy for a man to meddle with another’s wife;
and thus though the wives have before marriage acted as you have
heard, they are kept with great care from light conduct afterwards.
Now I have related to you this marriage custom as a good story to tell,
and to show what a fine country that is for young fellows to go to!
The people are Idolaters and an evil generation, holding it no sin to
rob and maltreat: in fact, they are the greatest brigands on earth.
They live by the chase, as well as on their cattle and the fruits of
the earth.
I should tell you also that in this country there are many of the
animals that produce musk, which are called in the Tartar language
_Gudderi_. Those rascals have great numbers of large and fine dogs,
which are of great service in catching the musk-beasts, and so they
procure great abundance of musk. They have none of the Great Kaan’s
paper money, but use salt instead of money. They are very poorly clad,
for their clothes are only of the skins of beasts, and of canvas, and
of buckram.{5} They have a language of their own, and they are called
Tebet. And this country of TEBET forms a very great province, of which
I will give you a brief account.
NOTE 1.—The mountains that bound the splendid plain of Ch’êng-tu fu
on the west rise rapidly to a height of 12,000 feet and upwards.
Just at the skirt of this mountain region, where the great road
to Lhása enters it, lies the large and bustling city of Yachaufu,
forming the key of the hill country, and the great entrepôt of
trade between Sze-ch’wan on the one side, and Tibet and Western
Yunnan on the other. The present political boundary between China
Proper and Tibet is to the west of Bathang and the Kin-sha Kiang,
but till the beginning of last century it lay much further east,
near _Ta-t’sien-lu_, or, as the Tibetans appear to call it,
_Tartsédo_ or _Tachindo_, which a Chinese Itinerary given by Ritter
makes to be 920 _li_, or 11 marches from Ch’êng-tu fu. In Marco’s
time we must suppose that Tibet was considered to extend several
marches further east still, or to the vicinity of Yachau.[1] Mr.
Cooper’s Journal describes the country entered _on the 5th march_
from Ch’êng-tu as very mountainous, many of the neighbouring peaks
being capped with snow. And he describes the people as speaking
a language mixed with Tibetan for some distance before reaching
Ta-t’sien-lu. Baron Richthofen also who, as we shall see, has
thrown an entirely new light upon this part of Marco’s itinerary,
was exactly five days in travelling through a rich and populous
country, from Ch’êng-tu to Yachau. [Captain Gill left Ch’êng-tu on
the 10th July, 1877, and reached Ya-chau on the 14th, a distance of
75 miles.—H. C.] (_Ritter_, IV. 190 _seqq._; _Cooper_, pp. 164–173;
_Richthofen_ in _Verhandl. Ges. f. Erdk. zu Berlin_, 1874, p. 35.)
Tibet was always reckoned as a part of the Empire of the Mongol
Kaans in the period of their greatness, but it is not very clear
how it came under subjection to them. No conquest of Tibet by their
armies appears to be related by either the Mahomedan or the Chinese
historians. Yet it is alluded to by Plano Carpini, who ascribes the
achievement to an unnamed son of Chinghiz, and narrated by Sanang
Setzen, who says that the King of Tibet submitted without fighting
when Chinghiz invaded his country in the year of the Panther
(1206). During the reign of Mangku Kaan, indeed, Uriangḳadai, an
eminent Mongol general [son of Subudai] who had accompanied Prince
Kúblái in 1253 against Yunnan, did in the following year direct
his arms against the Tibetans. But this campaign, that no doubt to
which the text alludes as “the wars of Mangu Kaan,” appears to have
occupied only a part of one season, and was certainly confined to
the parts of Tibet on the frontiers of Yunnan and Sze-ch’wan. [“In
the _Yuen-shi_, Tibet is mentioned under different names. Sometimes
the Chinese history of the Mongols uses the ancient name _T’u-fan_.
In the Annals, _s.a._ 1251, we read: ‘Mangu Khan entrusted
_Ho-li-dan_ with the command of the troops against _T’u-fan_.’ _Sub
anno_ 1254 it is stated that Kúblái (who at that time was still
the heir-apparent), after subduing the tribes of Yun-nan, entered
_T’u-fan_, when _So-ho-to_, the ruler of the country, surrendered.
Again, _s.a._ 1275: ‘The prince _Al-lu-chi_ (seventh son of
Kúblái) led an expedition to _T’u-fan_.’ In chap. ccii., biography
of _Ba-sz’-ba_, the Lama priest who invented Kúblái’s official
alphabet, it is stated that this Lama was a native of _Sa-sz’-kia_
in T’u-fan.” (_Bretschneider, Med Res._ II. p. 23.)—H. C.] Koeppen
seems to consider it certain that there was no actual conquest
of Tibet, and that Kúblái extended his authority over it only by
diplomacy and the politic handling of the spiritual potentates
who had for several generations in Tibet been the real rulers of
the country. It is certain that Chinese history attributes the
organisation of civil administration in Tibet to Kúblái. Mati
Dhwaja, a young and able member of the family which held the
hereditary primacy of the Satya [Sakya] convent, and occupied the
most influential position in Tibet, was formerly recognised by the
Emperor as the head of the Lamaite Church and as the tributary
Ruler of Tibet. He is the same person that we have already (vol. i.
p. 28) mentioned as the Passepa or Báshpah Lama, the inventor of
Kúblái’s official alphabet. (_Carpini_, 658, 709; _D’Avezac_, 564;
_S. Setzen_, 89; _D’Ohsson_, II. 317; _Koeppen_, II. 96; _Amyot_,
XIV. 128.)
With the caution that Marco’s Travels in Tibet were limited to the
same mountainous country on the frontier of Sze-ch’wan, we defer
further geographical comment till he brings us to Yunnan.
NOTE 2.—Marco exaggerates a little about the bamboos; but before
gunpowder became familiar, no sharp explosive sounds of this kind
were known to ordinary experience, and exaggeration was natural. I
have been close to a bamboo jungle on fire. There was a great deal
of noise comparable to musketry; but the bamboos were not of the
large kind here spoken of. The Hon. Robert Lindsay, describing his
elephant-catching in Silhet, says: “At night each man lights a fire
at his post, and furnishes himself with a dozen joints of the large
bamboo, one of which he occasionally throws into the fire, and the
air it contains being rarefied by the heat, it explodes with a
report as loud as a musket.” (_Lives of the Lindsays_, III. 191.)
[Dr. Bretschneider (_Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 3) says: “In
corroboration of Polo’s statement regarding the explosions produced
when burning bamboos, I may adduce Sir Joseph Hooker’s Himalayan
Journals (edition of 1891, p. 100), where in speaking of the fires
in the jungles, he says: ‘Their triumph is in reaching a great
bamboo clump, when the noise of the flames drowns that of the
torrents, and as the great stem-joints burst, from the expansion of
the confined air, the report is as that of a salvo from a park of
artillery.’”—H. C.]
[Illustration: Mountaineers on the Borders of Sze ch’wan and
Yun-nan.]
Richthofen remarks that nowhere in China does the bamboo attain
such a size as in this region. Bamboos of three palms in girth
(28 to 30 inches) exist, but are not ordinary, I should suppose,
even in Sze-ch’wan. In 1855 I took some pains to procure in Pegu
a specimen of the largest attainable bamboo. It was 10 inches in
diameter.
NOTE 3.—M. Gabriel Durand, a missionary priest, thus describes his
journey in 1861 to Kiangka, _viâ_ Ta-t’sien-lu, a line of country
partly coincident with that which Polo is traversing: “Every day
we made a journey of nine or ten leagues, and halted for the night
in a _Kung-kuan_. These are posts dotted at intervals of about
ten leagues along the road to Hlassa, and usually guarded by
three soldiers, though the more important posts have twenty. With
the exception of some Tibetan houses, few and far between, these
are the only habitations to be seen on this silent and deserted
road.... Lytang was the first collection of houses that we had seen
in ten days’ march.” (_Ann. de la Propag. de la Foi_, XXXV. 352
_seqq._)
NOTE 4.—Such practices are ascribed to many nations. Martini quotes
something similar from a Chinese author about tribes in Yunnan; and
Garnier says such loose practices are still ascribed to the Sifan
near the southern elbow of the Kin-sha Kiang. Even of the Mongols
themselves and kindred races, Pallas asserts that the young women
regard a number of intrigues rather as a credit and recommendation
than otherwise. Japanese ideas seem to be not very different. In
old times Ælian gives much the same account of the Lydian women.
Herodotus’s Gindanes of Lybia afford a perfect parallel, “whose
women wear on their legs anklets of leather. Each lover that a
woman has gives her one; and she who can show most is the best
esteemed, as she appears to have been loved by the greatest number
of men.” (_Martini_, 142; _Garnier_, I. 520; _Pall. Samml._ II.
235; _Æl. Var. Hist._ III. 1; _Rawl. Herod._ Bk. IV. ch. clxxvi.)
[“Among some uncivilised peoples, women having many gallants are
esteemed better than virgins, and are more anxiously desired in
marriage. This is, for instance, stated to be the case with the
Indians of Quito, the Laplanders in Regnard’s days, and the Hill
Tribes of North Aracan. But in each of these cases we are expressly
told that want of chastity is considered a merit in the bride,
because it is held to be the best testimony to the value of her
attractions.” (_Westermarck, Human Marriage_, p. 81.)—H. C.]
Mr. Cooper’s Journal, when on the banks of the Kin-sha Kiang, west
of Bathang, affords a startling illustration of the persistence of
manners in this region: “At 12h. 30m. we arrived at a road-side
house, near which was a grove of walnut-trees; here we alighted,
when to my surprise I was surrounded by a group of young girls and
two elderly women, who invited me to partake of a repast spread
under the trees.... I thought I had stumbled on a pic-nic party,
of which the Tibetans are so fond. Having finished, I lighted my
pipe and threw myself on the grass in a state of castle-building.
I had not lain thus many seconds when the maidens brought a young
girl about 15 years old, tall and very fair, placed her on the
grass beside me, and forming a ring round us, commenced to sing and
dance. The little maid beside me, however, was bathed in tears.
All this, I must confess, a little puzzled me, when Philip (the
Chinese servant) with a long face, came to my aid, saying, ‘_Well,
Sir, this is a bad business ... they are marrying you._’ Good
heavens! how startled I was.” For the honourable conclusion of this
Anglo-Tibetan idyll I must refer to Mr. Cooper’s Journal. (See the
now published _Travels_, ch. x.)
NOTE 5.—All this is clearly meant to apply only to the rude
people towards the Chinese frontier; nor would the Chinese (says
Richthofen) at this day think the description at all exaggerated,
as applied to the Lolo who occupy the mountains to the south of
Yachaufu. The members of the group at p. 47, from Lieutenant
Garnier’s book, are there termed Man-tzŭ; but the context shows
them to be of the race of these Lolos. (See below, pp. 60, 61.)
The passage about the musk animal, both in Pauthier and in the G.
T., ascribes the word _Gudderi_ to the language “of that people,”
_i.e._ of the Tibetans. The Geog. Latin, however, has “_linguâ
Tartaricâ_,” and this is the fact. Klaproth informs us that
_Guderi_ is the Mongol word. And it will be found (_Kuderi_) in
Kovalevski’s Dictionary, No. 2594. Musk is still the most valuable
article that goes from Ta-t’sien-lu to China. Much is smuggled, and
single travellers will come all the way from Canton or Si-ngan fu
to take back a small load of it. (_Richthofen_.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Indeed Richthofen says that the boundary lay a few (German) miles
west of Yachau. I see that Martini’s map puts it (in the 17th
century) 10 German geographical miles, or about 46 statute miles,
west of that city.
CHAPTER XLVI.
FURTHER DISCOURSE CONCERNING TEBET.
This province, called Tebet, is of very great extent. The people, as I
have told you, have a language of their own, and they are Idolaters,
and they border on Manzi and sundry other regions. Moreover, they are
very great thieves.
The country is, in fact, so great that it embraces eight kingdoms,
and a vast number of cities and villages.{1} It contains in several
quarters rivers and lakes, in which gold-dust is found in great
abundance.{2} Cinnamon also grows there in great plenty. Coral is in
great demand in this country and fetches a high price, for they delight
to hang it round the necks of their women and of their idols.{3} They
have also in this country plenty of fine woollens and other stuffs, and
many kinds of spices are produced there which are never seen in our
country.
Among this people, too, you find the best enchanters and astrologers
that exist in all that quarter of the world; they perform such
extraordinary marvels and sorceries by diabolic art, that it astounds
one to see or even hear of them. So I will relate none of them in this
book of ours; people would be amazed if they heard them, but it would
serve no good purpose.{4}
These people of Tebet are an ill-conditioned race. They have mastiff
dogs as bigs as donkeys, which are capital at seizing wild beasts
[and in particular the wild oxen which are called _Beyamini_, very
great and fierce animals]. They have also sundry other kinds of sporting
dogs, and excellent lanner falcons [and sakers], swift in flight and
well-trained, which are got in the mountains of the country.{5}
Now I have told you in brief all that is to be said about Tebet, and so
we will leave it, and tell you about another province that is called
Caindu.
[Illustration: Village of Eastern Tibet on Sze-ch’wan Frontier. (From
Cooper.)]
As regards Tebet, however, you should understand that it is subject
to the Great Kaan. So, likewise, all the other kingdoms, regions, and
provinces which are described in this book are subject to the Great
Kaan, nay, even those other kingdoms, regions, and provinces of which I
had occasion to speak at the beginning of the book as belonging to the
son of Argon, the Lord of the Levant, are also subject to the Emperor;
for the former holds his dominion of the Kaan, and is his liegeman
and kinsman of the blood Imperial. So you must know that from this
province forward all the provinces mentioned in our book are subject to
the Great Kaan; and even if this be not specially mentioned, you must
understand that it is so.
Now let us have done with this matter, and I will tell you about the
Province of Caindu.
[Illustration: Roads in Eastern Tibet. (Gorge of the Lan t’sang Kiang,
from Cooper.)]
NOTE 1.—Here Marco at least shows that he knew Tibet to be much
more extensive than the small part of it that he had seen. But
beyond this his information amounts to little.
NOTE 2.—“_Or de paliolle._” “_Oro di pagliuola_” (_pagliuola_, “a
spangle”) must have been the technical phrase for what we call
gold-dust, and the French now call _or en paillettes_, a phrase
used by a French missionary in speaking of this very region.
(_Ann. de la Foi_, XXXVII. 427.) Yet the only example of this use
of the word cited in the _Voc. Ital. Universale_ is from this
passage of the Crusca MS.; and Pipino seems not to have understood
it, translating “_aurum quod dicitur_ Deplaglola”; whilst Zurla
says erroneously that _pajola_ is an old Italian word for _gold_.
Pegolotti uses _argento in pagliuola_ (p. 219). A Barcelona tariff
of 1271 sets so much on every mark of _Pallola_. And the old
Portuguese navigators seem always to have used the same expression
for the gold-dust of Africa, _ouro de pajola_. (See _Major’s Prince
Henry_, pp. 111, 112, 116; _Capmany Memorias_, etc., II. App. p.
73; also “_Aurum_ de Pajola,” in Usodimare of Genoa, see _Gräberg,
Annali_, II. 290, quoted by Peschel, p. 178.)
NOTE 3.—The cinnamon must have been the coarser cassia produced
in the lower parts of this region. (See note to next chapter.) We
have already (Book I. ch. xxxi.) quoted Tavernier’s testimony to
the rage for coral among the Tibetans and kindred peoples. Mr.
Cooper notices the eager demand for coral at Bathang. (See also
_Desgodins, La Mission du Thibet_, 310.)
NOTE 4.—See _supra_, Bk. I. ch. lxi. note 11.
NOTE 5.—The big Tibetan mastiffs are now well known. Mr. Cooper,
at Ta-t’sien lu, notes that the people of Tibetan race “keep very
large dogs, as large as Newfoundlands.” And he mentions a pack of
dogs of another breed, tan and black, “fine animals of the size
of setters.” The missionary M. Durand also, in a letter from the
region in question, says, speaking of a large leopard: “Our brave
watch-dogs had several times beaten him off gallantly, and one of
them had even in single combat with him received a blow of the
paw which had laid his skull open.” (_Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi_,
XXXVII. 314.) On the title-page of vol. i. we have introduced one
of these big Tibetan dogs as brought home by the Polos to Venice.
The “wild oxen called _Beyamini_” are probably some such species as
the Gaur. _Beyamini_ I suspect to be no Oriental word, but to stand
for _Buemini_, _i.e._ Bohemian, a name which may have been given
by the Venetians to either the bison or urus. Polo’s contemporary,
Brunetto Latini, seems to speak of one of these as still existing
in his day in Germany: “Autre buef naissent en Alemaigne qui ont
grans cors, et sont bons por sommier et por vin porter.” (Paris
ed., p. 228; see also _Lubbock, Pre-historic Times_, 296–7.)
[Mr. Baber (_Travels_, pp. 39, 40) writes: “A special interest
attaches to the wild oxen, since they are unknown in any other
part of China Proper. From a Lolo chief and his followers, most
enthusiastic hunters, I afterwards learnt that the cattle are met
with in herds of from seven to twenty head in the recesses of the
Wilderness, which may be defined as the region between the T’ung
River and Yachou, but that in general they are rarely seen.... I
was lucky enough to obtain a pair of horns and part of the hide
of one of these redoubtable animals, which seem to show that they
are a kind of bison.” Sir H. Yule remarks in a footnote (_Ibid._
p. 40): “It is not possible to say from what is stated here what
the species is, but probably it is a _gavœus_, of which Jerdan
describes three species. (See _Mammals of India_, pp. 301–307.)
Mr. Hodgson describes the Gaur (_Gavœus gaurus_ of Jerdan) of the
forests below Nepaul as fierce and revengeful.”—H. C.]
CHAPTER XLVII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CAINDU.
CAINDU is a province lying towards the west,{1} and there is only one
king in it. The people are Idolaters, subject to the Great Kaan, and
they have plenty of towns and villages. [The chief city is also called
Caindu, and stands at the upper end of the province.] There is a lake
here,[1] in which are found pearls [which are white but not round].
But the Great Kaan will not allow them to be fished, for if people
were to take as many as they could find there, the supply would be so
vast that pearls would lose their value, and come to be worth nothing.
Only when it is his pleasure they take from the lake so many as he may
desire; but any one attempting to take them on his own account would be
incontinently put to death.
There is also a mountain in this country wherein they find a kind of
stone called turquoise, in great abundance; and it is a very beautiful
stone. These also the Emperor does not allow to be extracted without
his special order.{2}
I must tell you of a custom that they have in this country regarding
their women. No man considers himself wronged if a foreigner, or any
other man, dishonour his wife, or daughter, or sister, or any woman of
his family, but on the contrary he deems such intercourse a piece of
good fortune. And they say that it brings the favour of their gods and
idols, and great increase of temporal prosperity. For this reason they
bestow their wives on foreigners and other people as I will tell you.
When they fall in with any stranger in want of a lodging they are all
eager to take him in. And as soon as he has taken up his quarters the
master of the house goes forth, telling him to consider everything at
his disposal, and after saying so he proceeds to his vineyards or his
fields, and comes back no more till the stranger has departed. The
latter abides in the caitiff’s house, be it three days or be it four,
enjoying himself with the fellow’s wife or daughter or sister, or
whatsoever woman of the family it best likes him; and as long as he
abides there he leaves his hat or some other token hanging at the door,
to let the master of the house know that he is still there. As long as
the wretched fellow sees that token, he must not go in. And such is the
custom over all that province.{3}
The money matters of the people are conducted in this way. They have
gold in rods which they weigh, and they reckon its value by its weight
in _saggi_, but they have no coined money. Their small change again is
made in this way. They have salt which they boil and set in a mould
[flat below and round above],{4} and every piece from the mould weighs
about half a pound. Now, 80 moulds of this salt are worth one _saggio_
of fine gold, which is a weight so called. So this salt serves them for
small change.{5}
[Illustration: The Valley of the Kin-sha Kiang, near the lower end of
Caindu, _i.e._ Kienchang. (From Garnier.)
“=Et quant l’en est alés ceste dix jornée adonc treuve-l’en un grant
flun qe est apéle Brius, auquel se fenist la provence de Cheindu.=”]
The musk animals are very abundant in that country, and thus of musk
also they have great store. They have likewise plenty of fish which
they catch in the lake in which the pearls are produced. Wild animals,
such as lions, bears, wolves, stags, bucks and roes, exist in
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/12410