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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)
[Illustration: "MARCVS POLVS VENETVS TOTIVS ORBIS ET INDIE PEREGRATOR
PRIMVS"
Copied by permission from a painting bearing the above inscription in the
Gallery of Monsignore Padia in Rome]
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS
EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO
APPENDICES
INDEX
SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.
BOOK SECOND--(Continued).
PART II.
Journey to the West and South-West of Cathay.
XXXV.--HERE BEGINS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR OF CATHAY; AND FIRST OF
THE RIVER PULISANGHIN
NOTES.--1. Marco's Route. 2. The Bridge Pul-i-sangin, or Lu-ku-k'iao.
XXXVI.--ACCOUNT OF THE CITY OF JUJU
NOTES.--1. The Silks called _Sendals_. 2. Chochau. 3. Bifurcation of Two
Great Roads at this point.
XXXVII.--THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU
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
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
XL.--CONCERNING THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN AND THE CITY OF CACHANFU
NOTES.--1. The Kara Muren. 2. Former growth of silk in Shan-si and
Shen-si. 3. The _akche_ or _asper_.
XLI.--CONCERNING THE CITY OF KENJANFU
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
NOTE.--The Mountain Road to Southern Shen-si.
XLIII.--CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ACBALEC MANZI
NOTES.--1. Geography, and doubts about Acbalec. 2. Further Journey into
Sze-ch'wan.
XLIV.--CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF SINDAFU
NOTES.--1. Ch'eng-tu fu. 2. The Great River or _Kiang_. 3. The word
_Comereque_. 4. The Bridge-Tolls. 5. Correction of Text.
XLV.--CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TEBET
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
NOTES.--1. Explanatory. 2. "_Or de Paliolle_." 3. Cinnamon. 4. 5. Great
Dogs, and _Beyamini_ oxen.
XLVII.--CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CAINDU
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
NOTES.--1. Geography of the Route between Sindafu or Ch'eng-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
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
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
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
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
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
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
NOTES.--1. Polo's view of Bengal; and details of his account illustrated.
2. Great Cattle.
LVI.--DISCOURSES OF THE PROVINCE OF CAUGIGU
NOTE.--A Part of Laos. Papesifu. Chinese Geographical Etymologies.
LVII.--CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ANIN
NOTES.--1. The Name. Probable identification of territory. 2. Textual.
LVIII.--CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF COLOMAN
NOTES.--1. The Name. The Kolo-man. 2. Natural defences of Kwei-chau.
LIX.--CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUIJU
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
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
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
NOTE.--The City intended. The Great Canal.
LXIII.--CONCERNING THE CITIES OF LINJU AND PIJU
NOTES.--1. Linju. 2. Piju.
LXIV.--CONCERNING THE CITY OF SIJU, AND THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN
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
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
NOTE.--Hwai-ngan fu.
LXVII.--OF THE CITIES OF PAUKIN AND CAYU
NOTE.--Pao-yng and Kao-yu.
LXVIII.--OF THE CITIES OF TIJU, TINJU, AND YANJU
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
NOTE.--Ngan-king.
LXX.--CONCERNING THE VERY NOBLE CITY OF SAIANFU, AND HOW ITS CAPTURE WAS
EFFECTED
NOTES.--1. and 2. Various Readings. 3. Digression on the Military Engines
of the Middle Ages. 4. Mangonels of Coeur de Lion. 5. Difficulties
connected with Polo's Account of this Siege.
LXXI.--CONCERNING THE CITY OF SINJU AND THE GREAT RIVER KIAN
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
NOTES.--1. Kwa-chau. 2. The Grand Canal and Rice-Transport. 3. The Golden
Island.
LXXIII.--OF THE CITY OF CHINGHIANFU
NOTE.--Chin-kiang fu. Mar Sarghis, the Christian Governor.
LXXIV.--OF THE CITY OF CHINGINJU AND THE SLAUGHTER OF CERTAIN ALANS THERE
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
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
NOTES.--1. King-sze 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. Kanpu, 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.]
(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 mediaeval writers, European and Asiatic. Martini's Description.
LXXVIII.--TREATING OF THE YEARLY REVENUE THAT THE GREAT KAAN HATH FROM
KINSAY
NOTES.--1. Textual. 2. Calculations as to the values spoken of.
LXXIX.--OF THE CITY OF TANPIJU AND OTHERS
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
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
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
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.
I.--OF THE MERCHANT SHIPS OF MANZI THAT SAIL UPON THE INDIAN SEAS
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 Mediaeval Writers.
II.--DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF CHIPANGU, AND THE GREAT KAAN'S DESPATCH
OF A HOST AGAINST IT.
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
NOTES.--1. Kublai'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
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
NOTES.--1. Champa, and Kublai'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
NOTE.--Java; its supposed vast extent. Kublai's expedition against it and
failure.
VII.--WHEREIN THE ISLES OF SONDUR AND CONDUR ARE SPOKEN OF; AND THE KINGDOM
OF LOCAC
NOTES.--1. Textual. 2. Pulo Condore. 3. The Kingdom of Locac, Southern
Siam.
VIII.--OF THE ISLAND CALLED PENTAM, AND THE CITY MALAIUR
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
NOTES.--1. The Island of Sumatra: application of the term _Java_.
2. Products of Sumatra. The six kingdoms. 3. Ferlec or Parlak. 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
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
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
NOTE.--Gauenispola, and the Nicobar Islands.
XIII.--CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ANGAMANAIN
NOTE.--The Andaman Islands.
XIV.--CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SEILAN
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
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 Patra of Buddha,
and the Tooth-Relic. 7. Miraculous endowments of the Patra; 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
NOTES.--1. Ma'bar, its definition, and notes on its Mediaeval History.
2. The Pearl Fishery.
XVII.--CONTINUES TO SPEAK OF THE PROVINCE OF MAABAR
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 Devadasis. 19. Textual.
XVIII.--DISCOURSING OF THE PLACE WHERE LIETH THE BODY OF ST. THOMAS THE
APOSTLE; AND OF THE MIRACLES THEREOF
NOTES.--1. Mailapur. 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
NOTES.--1. Motapalle. 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
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
NOTES.--1. Kayal; 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
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
NOTES.--1. Cape Comorin. 2. The word _Gat-paul_.
XXIV.--CONCERNING THE KINGDOM ELI
NOTES.--1. Mount D'Ely, and the City of Hili-Marawi. 2. Textual.
3. Produce. 4. Piratical custom. 5. Wooden Anchors.
XXV.--CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF MELIBAR
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
NOTES.--1. Topographical Confusion. 2. Tamarina. 3. Tall Cotton Trees.
4. Embroidered Leather-work.
XXVII.--CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF TANA
NOTES.--1. Tana, and the Konkan. 2. Incense of Western India.
XXVIII.--CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF CAMBAET
NOTE.--Cambay.
XXIX.--CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF SEMENAT
NOTE.--Somnath, and the so-called Gates of Somnath.
XXX.--CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF KESMACORAN
NOTES.--1. Kij-Mekran. 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
NOTE.--The Legend and its diffusion.
XXXII.--CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SCOTRA
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
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
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
NOTES.--1. Habash 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
NOTES.--1. The Trade to Alexandria from India via Aden. 2. "_Roncins a
deux selles_." 3. The Sultan of Aden. The City and its Great Tanks.
4. The Loss of Acre.
XXXVII.--CONCERNING THE CITY OF ESHER
NOTES.--1. Shihr. 2. Frankincense. 3. Four-horned Sheep. 4. Cattle fed on
Fish. 5. Parallel passage.
XXXVIII.--CONCERNING THE CITY OF DUFAR
NOTES.--1. Dhofar. 2. Notes on Frankincense.
XXXIX.--CONCERNING THE GULF OF CALATU, AND THE CITY SO CALLED
NOTES.--1. Kalhat. 2. "_En fra terre_." 3. Maskat.
XL.--RETURNS TO THE CITY OF HORMOS WHEREOF WE SPOKE FORMERLY
NOTES.--1. Polo's distances and bearings in these latter chapters.
2. Persian _Bad-girs_ or wind-catching chimneys. 3. Island of Kish.
BOOK FOURTH.
Wars among the Tartar Princes, and some Account of the Northern
Countries.
I.--CONCERNING GREAT TURKEY
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
NOTES.--1. Textual. 2. "_Araines_." 3. Chronology in connection with the
events described.
III.--[1]WHAT THE GREAT KAAN SAID TO THE MISCHIEF DONE BY CAIDU HIS NEPHEW
IV.--OF THE EXPLOITS OF KING CAIDU'S VALIANT DAUGHTER
NOTE.--Her name explained. Remarks on the story.
V.--HOW ABAGA SENT HIS SON ARGON IN COMMAND AGAINST KING CAIDU (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
NOTES.--1. Death of Abaka. 2. Textual. 3. Ahmad Tigudar.
VII.--[1]HOW ACOMAT SOLDAN SET OUT WITH HIS HOST AGAINST HIS NEPHEW WHO WAS
COMING TO CLAIM THE THRONE THAT BELONGED TO HIM
VIII.--[1]HOW ARGON TOOK COUNSEL WITH HIS FOLLOWERS ABOUT ATTACKING HIS
UNCLE ACOMAT SOLDAN
IX.--[1]HOW THE BARONS OF ARGON ANSWERED HIS ADDRESS
X.--[1]THE MESSAGE SENT BY ARGON TO ACOMAT
XI.--HOW ACOMAT REPLIED TO ARGON'S MESSAGE
XII.--OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN ARGON AND ACOMAT, AND THE CAPTIVITY OF ARGON
NOTES.--1. Verbal. 2. Historical.
XIII.--HOW ARGON WAS DELIVERED FROM PRISON
XIV.--HOW ARGON GOT THE SOVEREIGNTY AT LAST
XV.--[1]HOW ACOMAT WAS TAKEN PRISONER
XVI.--HOW ACOMAT WAS SLAIN BY ORDER OF HIS NEPHEW
XVII.--HOW ARGON WAS RECOGNISED AS SOVEREIGN
NOTES.--1. The historical circumstances and persons named in these
chapters. 2. Arghun's accession and death.
XVIII.--HOW KIACATU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER ARGON'S DEATH
NOTE.--The reign and character of Kaikhatu.
XIX.--HOW BAIDU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER THE DEATH OF KIACATU
NOTES.--1. Baidu's alleged Christianity. 2. Ghazan Khan.
XX.--CONCERNING KING CONCHI WHO RULES THE FAR NORTH
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
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
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
XXIV.--CONCERNING THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT AND THEIR LORDS
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 (Extracts and Substance.)
NOTES.--1. Verbal. 2. The Sea of Sarai. 3. The War here spoken of.
Wassaf's rigmarole.
XXVI.--[1]HOW BARCA AND HIS ARMY ADVANCED TO MEET ALAU
XXVII.--[1]HOW ALAU ADDRESSED HIS FOLLOWERS
XXVIII.--[1]OF THE GREAT BATTLE BETWEEN ALAU AND BARCA
XXIX.--HOW TOTAMANGU WAS LORD OF THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT; AND AFTER HIM
TOCTAI
NOTE.--Confusions in the Text. Historical circumstances connected with
the Persons spoken of. Toctai and Noghai Khan. Symbolic Messages.
XXX.--[1]OF THE SECOND MESSAGE THAT TOCTAI SENT TO NOGAI
XXXI.--[1]HOW TOCTAI MARCHED AGAINST NOGAI
XXXII.--[1]HOW TOCTAI AND NOGAI ADDRESS THEIR PEOPLE, AND THE NEXT DAY JOIN
BATTLE
XXXIII.--[1]THE VALIANT FEATS AND VICTORY OF KING NOGAI
XXXIV. AND LAST. CONCLUSION
[1] 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
B. The Polo Families:--
(I.) Genealogy of the Family of Marco Polo the Traveller
(II.) The Polos of San Geremia
C. Calendar of Documents relating to Marco Polo and his Family
D. Comparative Specimens of the Different Recensions of Polo's Text
E. Preface to Pipino's Latin Version
F. Note of MSS. of Marco Polo's Book, so far as known:
General Distribution of MSS.
List of Miniatures in two of the finer MSS.
List of MSS. of Marco Polo's Book, so far as they are known
G. Diagram showing Filiation of Chief MSS. and Editions of Marco Polo
H. Bibliography:--
(I.) Principal Editions of Marco Polo's Book
(II.) Bibliography of Printed Editions
(III.) Titles of Sundry Books and Papers treating of Marco Polo and his
Book
I. Titles of Works quoted by Abbreviated References in this Book
K. Values of Certain Moneys, Weights, and Measures occurring in this Book.
L. Supplementary Notes to the Book of Marco Polo
1. The Polos at Acre.
2. Sorcery in Kashmir.
3. PAONANO PAO.
4. Pamir.
5. Number of Pamirs.
6. Site of Pein.
7. Fire-arms.
8. La Couvade.
9. Alacan
10. Champa.
11. Ruck Quills.
12. A Spanish Marco Polo.
13. Sir John Mandeville.
INDEX
EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME II.
INSERTED PLATES AND MAPS.
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.
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.
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.
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_.
Suspension Bridge, neighbourhood of TALI. From a photograph by M. Tannant.
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., PAGAN, the mediaeval capital of Burma.
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.
Sketch Map exhibiting the VARIATIONS of the TWO GREAT RIVERS of China,
within the Period of History.
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.
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 Fang-Yuen Circuit.
14. Bright Gate.
15. Northern Tribunal.
16. Refectory.
17. Chapel of the Fang-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."
Plan of SOUTHERN PART of the CITY of KING-SZE (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.
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.
Itineraries of MARCO POLO, No. VI. The Journey through KIANG-NAN,
CHE-KIANG, and FO-XIEN.
1. Map to illustrate Marco Polo's Chapters on the MALAY COUNTRIES.
2. Map to illustrate his Chapters on SOUTHERN INDIA.
1. Sketch showing the Position of KAYAL in Tinnevelly.
2. Map showing the Position of the Kingdom of ELY in MALABAR.
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 42-1/2 inches by
19-1/8 inches.) Photolithographic Reduction by Mr. G.B. PRAETORIUS,
through the assistance of R. H. Major, Esq.
Facsimile of the Letters sent to PHILIP the FAIR, King of France, by ARGHUN
KHAN, in A.D. 1289, and by OLJAITU, in A.D. 1305, preserved in the Archives
of France, and reproduced from the _Recueil des Documents de l'Epoque
Mongole_ by kind permission of H.H. Prince ROLAND BONAPARTE.
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.
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
Kublai Kaan in vol. i. to notes in M. Pauthier's edition.
The BRIDGE of PULISANGHIN. From the _Livre des Merveilles_.
BRIDGE of LU-KU-K'IAO. From a photograph by Count de SEMALLE.
BRIDGE of LU-KU-K'IAO. From a photograph by Count de SEMALLE.
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.
Plan of Ki-chau, after Duhalde.
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.
Diagram to elucidate the cities of Ch'eng-tu fu.
Plan of Ch'eng-tu. From MARCEL MONNIER'S _Tour d'Asie_, by kind permission
of M. PLON.
Bridge near Kwan-hsien (Ch'eng-tu). From MARCEL MONNIER'S _Tour d'Asie_, by
kind permission of M. PLON.
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_.
VILLAGE of EASTERN TIBET on Sze-ch'wan Frontier. From _Mr. Cooper's Travels
of a Pioneer of Commerce_.
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_.
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_.
SALT PANS in Yun-nan. From the same.
Black Lolo.
White Lolo. From DEVERIA'S _Frontiere Sino-annamite_.
_Pa-y_ Script. From the _T'oung-Pao_.
Garden-House on the LAKE of YUN-NAN-FU, YACHI of Polo. _From_ Lieut.
Garnier in the _Tour du Monde_.
Road descending from the Table-Land of YUN-NAN into the VALLEY of the
KIN-SHA KIANG (the BRIUS of Polo). From the same.
"A SARACEN of CARAJAN," being the portrait of a Mahomedan Mullah in Western
Yun-nan. From the same.
The Canal at YUN-NAN FU. From a photograph by M. TANNANT.
"Riding long like FRENCHMEN," exemplified from the Bayeux Tapestry. After
Lacroix, _Vie Militaire du Moyen Age_.
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.
Portraits of a KAKHYEN man and woman. Drawn by Q. CENNI from a photograph
(anonymous).
Temple called GAUDAPALEN in the city of MIEN (i.e. Pagan in Burma), erected
circa A.D. 1160. Engraving after a sketch by the first Editor, from
_Fergusson's History of Architecture_.
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.
Script _Pa-pe_. From the _T'oung-Pao_.
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_.
The KOLOMAN tribe, on borders of Kwei-chau and Yun-nan. From coloured
drawing in Mr. Lockhart's book as above (under p. 83).
Script _thai_ of Xieng-hung. From the _T'oung-Pao_.
Iron SUSPENSION BRIDGE at Lowatong. From Garnier in _Tour du Monde_.
FORTIFIED VILLAGES on Western Frontier of KWEI-CHAU. From the same.
BOOK SECOND.--PART THIRD.
YANG-CHAU: the three Cities under the Sung.
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.
MEDIAEVAL ARTILLERY ENGINES. Figs, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are CHINESE. The
first four are from the Encyclopaedia _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 Fave, Du Feu Gregeois, 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 Perts 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 _Etudes 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 Mediaeval 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_.
COIN from a treasure hidden during the siege of SIANG-YANG in 1268-73, and
lately discovered in that city.
Island MONASTERIES on the YANG-TZU 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.
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.
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.)
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.
Imperial City of HANG-CHAU in the 13th Century.
Metropolitan City of HANG-CHAU in the 13th Century. From the Notes of the
Right Rev. G.E. Moule.
_Fang_ of SI-NGAN FU. Communicated by A. Wylie.
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.
Mr. PHILLIPS' Theory of Marco Polo's Route through Fo-Kien.
Scene in the BOHEA MOUNTAINS, on Polo's route between Kiang-Si and Fo-Kien.
From _Fortune's Three Years' Wanderings_.
Scene on the MIN RIVER below Fu-chau. From the same.
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
The KAAN'S FLEET passing through the Indian ARCHIPELAGO. From a drawing by
the Editor.
Ancient JAPANESE EMPEROR, after a Native Drawing. From the _Tour du Monde_.
Ancient JAPANESE ARCHER, after a native drawing. From the same.
The JAPANESE engaged in combat with the CHINESE, after an ancient native
drawing. From Charton, _Voyageurs Anciens et Modernes_.
JAVA. A view in the interior. From a sketch of the slopes of the Gedeh
Volcano, taken by the Editor in 1860.
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.
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.
MONOCEROS and the MAIDEN. From a mediaeval drawing engraved in _Cahier et
Martin, Melanges d'Archeologie_, II. Pl. 30.
The BORUS. From a manuscript belonging to the late CHARLES SCHEFER, now in
the _Bibliotheque Nationale_, Paris.
The CYNOCEPHALI. From the _Livre des Merveilles_.
ADAM'S PEAK from the Sea.
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.
TOOTH Reliques of BUDDHA. 1. At Kandy, after Emerson Tennent. 2. At
Fu-chau, after Fortune.
"CHINESE PAGODA" (so called) at Negapatam. From a sketch taken by Sir
Walter Elliot, K.C.S.I., in 1846.
PAGODA at TANJORE. From _Fergusson's History of Architecture_.
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.
The Little MOUNT of ST. THOMAS, near Madras. After Daniel.
Small Map of the ST. THOMAS localities at Madras.
Ancient Christian CHURCH at PARUR or Palur, on the Malabar Coast; from an
engraving in Pearson's _Life of Claudius Buchanan_, after a sketch by the
latter.
SYRIAN CHURCH at Karanyachirra, showing the quasi-Jesuit Facade generally
adopted in modern times. From the _Life of Bishop Daniel Wilson_.
INTERIOR of Syrian CHURCH at Koetteiyam. From the same.
CAPE COMORIN. From an original sketch by Mr. FOOTE of the Geological Survey
of India.
MOUNT D'ELY. From a _nautical sketch of last century_.
Mediaeval ARCHITECTURE in GUZERAT, being a view of Gateway at Jinjawara,
given in Forbes's _Ras Mala_. From _Fergusson's History of Architecture_.
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.
The RUKH, after a Persian drawing. From _Lane's Arabian Nights_.
Frontispiece of A. Mueller's _Marco Polo_, showing the Bird _Rukh_.
The ETHIOPIAN SHEEP. From a sketch by Miss Catherine Frere.
View of ADEN in 1840. From a sketch by Dr. R. KIRK in the Map-room of the
Royal Geographical Society.
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.
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.
A Persian BAD-GIR, or Wind-Catcher. From a drawing in the Atlas to
_Hommaire de Hell's Persia_. Engraved by ADENEY.
BOOK FOURTH.
Tomb of OLJAITU KHAN, the brother of Polo's CASAN, at Sultaniah. From
_Fergusson's History of Architecture_.
The Siberian DOG-SLEDGE. From the _Tour du Monde_.
Mediaeval RUSSIAN Church. From _Fergusson's History of Architecture_.
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 Fuerstenbilder
des Mittelalters_, Breslau, 1868.
Asiatic WARRIORS of Polo's Age. From the MS. of Rashiduddin's History,
noticed under cut at p. 19. Engraved by ADENEY.
APPENDICES.
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.)
Marco Polo's rectified Itinerary from Khotan to Nia.
THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO
[Illustration: MARCO POLO in the Prison of Genoa]
BOOK SECOND.--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.[NOTE 1] And so now I will tell you all that he
saw on his travels as he went and returned.
[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."]
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.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--[When Marco leaves the capital, he takes the main road, the
"Imperial Highway," from Peking to Si-ngan fu, via Pao-ting, Cheng-ting,
Hwai-luh, Tai-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 Tai-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 Tai-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'ai-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.]
[Illustration: The Bridge of Pulisanghin. (From the _Livre des
Merveilles_.)]
NOTE 2.--_Pul-i-Sangin_, 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 Kulib he crossed "the _River
Pulisangin_."
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 _Sangin_ 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-Kiao_ 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.)
[Illustration: Bridge of Lu-ku k'iao]
[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 Chue 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 Ch'eng, 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.]
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-man, 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'anghi
(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 mediaeval 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._ ser. II. tom. i. 97-98;
_D'Ohsson_, I. 144.)
[Illustration: Bridge of Lu ku Kiao]
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.[NOTE 1] Here too there are many hostelries for
travellers.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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 _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 Coeur 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-Espee depli les _sandaux_."
The oriflamme of France was made of _cendal_. Chaucer couples taffetas and
sendal. His "Doctor of Physic"
"In sanguin and in perse clad was alle,
Lined with taffata and with sendalle."
[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_, ... etoffe legere
de soie unie qui parait avoir ete analogue au taffetas." "'On faisait des
_cendaux_ forts ou faibles, et on leur donnait toute sorte de couleurs. On
s'en servait surtout pour vetements et corsets, pour doublures de draps, de
fourrures et d'autres etoffes de soie plus precieuses, 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 [Greek:
Sendes] occurs in _Constant. Porphyrog. de Ceremoniis_ (Bonn, ed. I. 468),
and this looks like a transfer of the Arabic _Sandas_ 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.--JUJU 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 _Juju_ 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.][NOTE 1]
Taianfu[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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-Baligh_
in Turki,[2] or _Chaghan Balghasun_ 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 _Loess_ 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 _Loess_ 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 loess 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 loess; as in S. China to the alluvial plains and the terraced
hill-sides. The loess 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 loess), 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, Lecons de Geographie Physique_, 2'e ed. 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 _loess_; viz. the practice of
forming cave dwellings in it; these in fact form the habitations of a
majority of the people in the loess 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 _loess_. (_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 _Tajah_ or _Taiyunah_ 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. II; _Klaproth_ in _J. As._ ser. 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'aiyuan 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'ai-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'ai-yuan dialect, and is more
like Pekingese.] The city, lying in a broad valley covered with the yellow
loess, was destroyed by the T'ai-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] _Baligh_ 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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."
[Illustration: The "Roi d'Or." (From a MS. in the Royal Asiatic Society's
Collection.)
"Et en ceste chastians ha un mout bians paleis en quel a une grandisme sale
la ou il sunt portrait a mont belles pointures tout les rois de celes
provences que furent ansienemant, et ce est mout belle viste a voir."]
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 Khan_, of which _Roi D'Or_ is a literal translation.
Of the legend itself I can find no trace. Rashiduddin relates a story of
the grandfather of Aung Khan (Polo's Prester John), Merghuz Boiruk Khan,
being treacherously made over to the King of the Churche (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 role 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
Vazir'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,
Churche, 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,[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.--_Kara-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 mediaeval 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 deg. 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 _akche_ (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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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 Kichau 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'eng-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 versa_). 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 _loess_ 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 _Loess_."
[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.]
[Illustration: Reduced Facsimile of the celebrated Christian Inscription
of Singan fu in Chinese and Syrian Characters]
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 Khumdan[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
Sharifuddin'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.
[The vocabulary _Hwei Hwei_ (Mahomedan) of the College of Interpreters at
Peking transcribes King chao from the Persian Kin-chang, a name it gives
to the Shen-si province. King chao was called Ngan-si fu in 1277.
(_Deveria, 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 Hsuen-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 Shih_, 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 Hsuen-hua t'ing, their chief town being known as Salar
Pakun or Paken."
[Illustration: Cross on the Monument at Si-ngan fu (actual size). (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
Ka-tzu, the oldest and largest, said to have over 1300 families living in
it, Chang-chia, Nemen, 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-ssu-to, Hei-ch'eng, Kan-tu and Kargan, inhabited by a few Salar and a
mixed population of Chinese and T'u-ssu: each of these wai-wu kiun has,
theoretically, fifteen villages in it. Tradition says that the first Salar
who came to China (from Rum 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; _Petis 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_, Kublai'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 Deveria (_Notes d'Epigraphie Mongolo-Chinoise_, p. 9) writes: "In
1264, the Emperor Kublai 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 Kublai, 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 Kublai 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. Kublai, 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 7-1/2 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 OLOPAN
(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 ISSE,
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 san wen_, and
rendered "Hosanna," appears in a Chinese work, without reference to
this inscription, as _Yao san wah_, 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 Tzinisthan (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 _Kumdan_. There follow sixty-seven
names of persons in Syriac characters, most of whom are characterised
as priests (_Kashisha_), 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 sutra, the Satparamita 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'Authenticite 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 Stele Chretienne 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-PEN = 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-ssu_) stand for foreign _ru_ or _ro_ alone. This word
would bear comparison with a Chinese transcription of the
Sanskrit word for silver, _rupya_ 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
pen_, 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 (_Stele
Chretienne_, 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.[NOTE 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'eng-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"].[NOTE 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.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--Though the termini of the route, described in these two chapters,
are undoubtedly Si-ngan fu and Ch'eng-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'eng-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'eng-tu, via K'i-shan, Fung-sien, Mien,
Kwang-yuan and Chao-hwa, about 30 days, in chairs." He says (p. 24): "From
Ch'eng-tu via 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'eng-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'eng-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,
via 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_ Citta 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 _Machin_ 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'eng-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'eng-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'u. (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 palaeozoic
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.[NOTE 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![NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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'ENG-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.
The modern French missions have a bishop in Ch'eng-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]
[Illustration:
|------------|
| |
|---| |---| |
| B | | C | A |
|___| |___| |
| |
|____________|
A. The Great City.
B. The Little City.
C. The Imperial City.]
"The Imperial City (_Hwang Ching_) was the residence of the monarch Lew Pe
(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-Kwe_ 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'eng-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'eng-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'eng-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.
Eglises ou Etablissements francais des "Missions etrangeres"
Reproduction d'une carte chinoise]
[Mr. Baber (_Travels_, p. 26) gives the following information regarding
the population of Ch'eng-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'eng-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'eng-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 'Yangtzu waterway.' He was,
however, correct enough, as usual, for the Chinese consider it to be the
main upper stream of the Yangtzu."--H.C.] Though our Geographies give the
specific names of Wen and Min to the great branch which flows by Ch'eng-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 Yangtzu 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'eng-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'eng-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'eng-tu--one arm 'branching east to form the To' (as in the terse
indication of the Yue-Kung)--viz. the To Kiang or Chung-Kiang flowing
south-east to join the great river at Lu-chau, whilst another flows south
to Sue-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'eng-tu, there is a fine suspension bridge,
mentioned by Marcel Monnier (_Itineraires_, 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'eng-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 _comereque_ 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 [Greek: kommerkion] and [Greek: koumerkion], now [Greek:
komerki]; in Arabic and Turkish as [Arabic] and [Turkish] (_kumruk_ 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 _miskals_.[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 _Dinar_, 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 cite se
part l'en et chevauche cinq jornee por plain et por valee, 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'eng-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'eng-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'eng-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
Itineraires_ will replace the promised one.
It will be seen that Ch'eng-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 miskal or dinar 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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'eng-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 Lhasa enters it,
lies the large and bustling city of Yachaufu, forming the key of the hill
country, and the great entrepot 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,
_Tartsedo_ or _Tachindo_, which a Chinese Itinerary given by Ritter makes
to be 920 _li_, or 11 marches from Ch'eng-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'eng-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'eng-tu to Yachau. [Captain Gill left Ch'eng-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, Uriangkadai,
an eminent Mongol general [son of Subudai] who had accompanied Prince
Kublai 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 Kublai (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 Kublai) led an
expedition to _T'u-fan_.' In chap, ccii., biography of _Ba-sz'-ba_, the
Lama priest who invented Kublai'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 Kublai 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 Kublai. 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 Bashpah Lama, the inventor of
Kublai'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, via 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 Aelian 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 Garnier_, I. 520; _Pall. Samml._ II. 235; _Ael. 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-tzu;
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 "_lingua Tartarica_,"
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.[NOTE 1] It contains in several
quarters rivers and lakes, in which gold-dust is found in great abundance.
[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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.
[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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 Szechwan 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.
[Illustration: Roads in Eastern Tibet. (Gorge of the Lan t'sang Kiang,
from Cooper.)]
Now let us have done with this matter, and I will tell you about the
Province of Caindu.
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 _Graberg, 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 _gavoeus_, of which Jerdan describes three species.
(See _Mammals of India_, pp. 301-307.) Mr. Hodgson describes the Gaur
(_Gavoeus 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,[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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 caitiffs 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.
[NOTE 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],[NOTE 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.[NOTE 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 ales ceste dix jornee adonc treuve-l'en un grant fluv
qe est apele Brius, auquel se fenist la provence de Cheindu."]
The musk animals are very abundant in that country, and thus of musk also
they have great store. They have likewise plenty of fish which they catch
in the lake in which the pearls are produced. Wild animals, such as lions,
bears, wolves, stags, bucks and roes, exist in great numbers; and there
are also vast quantities of fowl of every kind. Wine of the vine they have
none, but they make a wine of wheat and rice and sundry good spices, and
very good drink it is.[NOTE 6] There grows also in this country a quantity
of clove. The tree that bears it is a small one, with leaves like laurel
but longer and narrower, and with a small white flower like the
clove.[NOTE 7] They have also ginger and cinnamon in great plenty, besides
other spices which never reach our countries, so we need say nothing about
them.
Now we may leave this province, as we have told you all about it. But let
me tell you first of this same country of Caindu that you ride through it
ten days, constantly meeting with towns and villages, with people of the
same description that I have mentioned. After riding those ten days you
come to a river called Brius, which terminates the province of Caindu. In
this river is found much gold-dust, and there is also much cinnamon on its
banks. It flows to the Ocean Sea.
There is no more to be said about this river, so I will now tell you about
another province called Carajan, as you shall hear in what follows.
NOTE 1.--Ramusio's version here enlarges: "Don't suppose from my saying
_towards the west_ that these countries really lie in what we call the
_west_, but only that we have been travelling from regions in the
east-north-east _towards_ the west, and hence we speak of the countries we
come to as lying towards the west."
NOTE 2.--Chinese authorities quoted by Ritter mention _mother-o'-pearl_ as
a product of Lithang, and speak of turquoises as found in Djaya to the
west of Bathang. (_Ritter_, IV. 235-236.) Neither of these places is,
however, within the tract which we believe to be Caindu. Amyot states that
pearls are found in a certain river of Yun-nan. (See _Trans.R.A.Soc._
II. 91.)
NOTE 3.--This alleged practice, like that mentioned in the last chapter
but one, is ascribed to a variety of people in different parts of the
world. Both, indeed, have a curious double parallel in the story of two
remote districts of the Himalaya which was told to Bernier by an old
Kashmiri. (See Amst. ed. II. 304-305.) Polo has told nearly the same story
already of the people of Kamul. (Bk. I. ch. xli.) It is related by Strabo
of the Massagetae; by Eusebius of the Geli and the Bactrians; by
Elphinstone of the Hazaras; by Mendoza of the Ladrone Islanders; by other
authors of the Nairs of Malabar, and of some of the aborigines of the
Canary Islands. (_Caubul_, I. 209; _Mendoza_, II. 254; _Mueller's Strabo_,
p. 439; _Euseb. Praep. Evan._ vi. 10; _Major's Pr. Henry_, p. 213.)
NOTE 4.--Ramusio has here: "as big as a twopenny loaf," and adds, "on the
money so made the Prince's mark is printed; and no one is allowed to make
it except the royal officers.... And merchants take this currency and go
to those tribes that dwell among the mountains of those parts in the
wildest and most unfrequented quarters; and there they get a _saggio_
of gold for 60, or 50, or 40 pieces of this salt money, in proportion as
the natives are more barbarous and more remote from towns and civilised
folk. For in such positions they cannot dispose at pleasure of their gold
and other things, such as musk and the like, for want of purchasers; and
so they give them cheap.... And the merchants travel also about the
mountains and districts of Tebet, disposing of this salt money in like
manner to their own great gain. For those people, besides buying
necessaries from the merchants, want this salt to use in their food;
whilst in the towns only broken fragments are used in food, the whole
cakes being kept to use as money." This exchange of salt cakes for gold
forms a curious parallel to the like exchange in the heart of Africa,
narrated by Cosmas in the 6th century, and by Aloisio Cadamosto in the
15th. (See _Cathay_, pp. clxx-clxxi.) Ritter also calls attention to
an analogous account in Alvarez's description of Ethiopia. "The salt,"
Alvarez says, "is current as money, not only in the kingdom of Prester
John, but also in those of the Moors and the pagans, and the people here
say that it passes right on to Manicongo upon the Western Sea. This salt
is dug from the mountain, it is said, in squared blocks.... At the place
where they are dug, 100 or 120 such pieces pass for a drachm of
gold ... equal to 3/4 of a ducat of gold. When they arrive at a certain
fair ... one day from the salt mine, these go 5 or 6 pieces fewer to the
drachm. And so, from fair to fair, fewer and fewer, so that when they
arrive at the capital there will be only 6 or 7 pieces to the drachm."
(_Ramusio_, I. 207.) Lieutenant Bower, in his account of Major Sladen's
mission, says that at Momein the salt, which was a government monopoly, was
"made up in rolls of one and two viss" (a Rangoon viss is 3 lbs. 5 oz.
5-1/2 drs.), "and stamped" (p. 120).
[At Hsia-Kuan, near Ta-li, Captain Gill remarked to a friend (II. p. 312)
"that the salt, instead of being in the usual great flat cakes about two
or two and a half feet in diameter, was made in cylinders eight inches in
diameter and nine inches high. 'Yes,' he said, 'they make them here in a
sort of loaves,' unconsciously using almost the words of old Polo, who
said the salt in Yun-Nan was in pieces 'as big as a twopenny loaf.'" (See
also p. 334.)--H.C.]
M. Desgodins, a missionary in this part of Tibet, gives some curious
details of the way in which the civilised traders still prey upon the
simple hill-folks of that quarter; exactly as the Hindu Banyas prey upon
the simple forest-tribes of India. He states one case in which the account
for a pig had with interest run up to 2127 bushels of corn! (_Ann. de la
Prop de la Foi_, XXXVI. 320.)
Gold is said still to be very plentiful in the mountains called Gulan
Sigong, to the N.W. of Yun-nan, adjoining the great eastern branch of the
Irawadi, and the Chinese traders go there to barter for it. (See _J.A.S.B._
VI. 272.)
NOTE 5.--Salt is still an object highly coveted by the wild Lolos already
alluded to, and to steal it is a chief aim of their constant raids on
Chinese villages. (_Richthofen_ in _Verhandlungen_, etc., u.s. p. 36.) On
the continued existence of the use of salt currency in regions of the same
frontier, I have been favoured with the following note by M. Francis
Garnier, the distinguished leader of the expedition of the great Kamboja
River in its latter part: "Salt currency has a very wide diffusion from
Muang Yong [in the Burman-Shan country, about lat. 21 deg. 43'] to Sheu-pin
[in Yun-nan, about lat. 23 deg. 43']. In the Shan markets, especially
within the limits named, all purchases are made with salt. At Sse-mao and
Pou-erl [_Esmok_ and _Puer_ of some of our maps], silver, weighed and cut
in small pieces, is in our day tending to drive out the custom, but in
former days it must have been universal in the tract of which I am
speaking. The salt itself, prime necessity as it is, has there to be
extracted by condensation from saline springs of great depth, a very
difficult affair. The operation consumes enormous quantities of fuel, and
to this is partly due the denudation of the country". Marco's somewhat
rude description of the process, '_Il prennent la sel e la font cuire, et
puis la gitent en forme_,' points to the manufacture spoken of in this
note. The cut which we give from M. Garnier's work illustrates the process,
but the cakes are vastly greater than Marco's. Instead of a half pound they
weigh a _preul_, i.e. 133-1/3 lbs. In Sze-ch'wan the brine wells are bored
to a depth of 700 to 1000 feet, and the brine is drawn up in bamboo tubes
by a gin. In Yun-nan the wells are much less deep, and a succession of hand
pumps is used to raise the brine.
[Illustration: Salt pans in Yun-nan (From Garnier.)
"Il prennent la sel e la font cuire, et puis la gitent en forme."]
[Mr. Hosie has a chapter (_Three Years in W. China_, VII.) to which he
has given the title of _Through Caindu to Carajan_, regarding salt he
writes (p. 121). "The brine wells from which the salt is derived be at Pai
yen ching, 14 miles to the south west of the city [of Yen yuan] ... [they]
are only two in number, and comparatively shallow, being only 50 feet in
depth. Bamboo tubes, ropes and buffaloes are here dispensed with, and
small wooden tubs, with bamboos fixed to their sides as handles for
raising, are considered sufficient. At one of the wells a staging was
erected half way down, and from it the tubs of brine were passed up to the
workmen above. Passing from the wells to the evaporating sheds, we found a
series of mud furnaces with round holes at the top, into which cone shaped
pans, manufactured from iron obtained in the neighbourhood, and varying in
height from one to two and a half feet, were loosely fitted. When a pan
has been sufficiently heated, a ladleful of the brine is poured into it,
and, bubbling up to the surface, it sinks, leaving a saline deposit on the
inside of the pan. This process is repeated until a layer, some four
inches thick, and corresponding to the shape of the pan, is formed, when
the salt is removed as a hollow cone ready for market. Care must be taken
to keep the bottom of the pan moist; otherwise, the salt cone would crack,
and be rendered unfit for the rough carriage which it experiences on the
backs of pack animals. A soft coal, which is found just under the surface
of the yellow-soiled hills seven miles to the west of Pai-yen-ching, is
the fuel used in the furnaces. The total daily output of salt at these
wells does not exceed two tons a day, and the cost at the wells, including
the Government tax, amounts to about three half-pence a pound. The area of
supply, owing to the country being sparsely populated, is greater than the
output would lead one to expect."--H.C.]
NOTE 6.--The spiced wine of Kien-ch'ang (see note to next chapter) has
even now a high repute. (_Richthofen_.)
NOTE 7.--M. Pauthier will have it that Marco was here the discoverer of
Assam tea. Assam is, indeed, far out of our range, but his notice of this
plant, with the laurel-like leaf and white flower, was brought strongly to
my recollection in reading Mr. Cooper's repeated notices, almost in this
region, of the _large-leaved tea-tree, with its white flowers_; and,
again, of "the hills covered with _tea-oil_ trees, all white with
flowers." Still, one does not clearly see why Polo should give tea-trees
the name of cloves.
Failing explanation of this, I should suppose that the cloves of which the
text speaks were _cassia-buds_, an article once more prominent in commerce
(as indeed were all similar aromatics) than now, but still tolerably well
known. I was at once supplied with them at a _drogheria_, in the city where
I write (Palermo), on asking for _Fiori di Canella_, the name under which
they are mentioned repeatedly by Pegolotti and Uzzano, in the 14th and 15th
centuries. Friar Jordanus, in speaking of the cinnamon (or cassia) of
Malabar, says, "it is the bark of a large tree which has fruit and _flowers
like cloves_" (p. 28). The cassia-buds have indeed a general resemblance to
cloves, but they are shorter, lighter in colour, and not angular. The
cinnamon, mentioned in the next lines as abundantly produced in the same
region, was no doubt one of the inferior sorts, called cassia-bark.
Williams says: "Cassia grows in all the southern provinces of China,
especially Kwang-si and Yun-nan, also in Annam, Japan, and the Isles of the
Archipelago. The wood, bark, buds, seeds, twigs, pods, leaves, oil, are all
objects of commerce..... The buds (_kwei-tz'_) are the fleshy ovaries of
the seeds; they are pressed at one end, so that they bear some resemblance
to cloves in shape." Upwards of 500 _piculs_ (about 30 tons), valued at 30
dollars each, are annually exported to Europe and India. (_Chin. Commercial
Guide_, 113-114).
The only doubt as regards this explanation will probably be whether the
cassia would be found at such a height as we may suppose to be that of the
country in question above the sea-level. I know that cassia bark is
gathered in the Kasia Hills of Eastern Bengal up to a height of about 4000
feet above the sea, and at least the valleys of "Caindu" are probably not
too elevated for this product. Indeed, that of the Kin-sha or _Brius_, near
where I suppose Polo to cross it, is only 2600 feet. Positive evidence I
cannot adduce. No cassia or cinnamon was met with by M. Garnier's party
where they intersected this region.
But in this 2nd edition I am able to state on the authority of Baron
Richthofen that cassia is produced in the whole length of the valley of
Kien-ch'ang (which is, as we shall see in the notes on next chapter,
Caindu), though in no other part of Sze-ch'wan nor in Northern Yun-nan.
[Captain Gill (_River of Golden Sand_, II. p. 263) writes: "There were
chestnut trees..; and the Kwei-Hua, a tree 'with leaves like the laurel,
and with a small white flower, like the clove,' having a delicious, though
rather a luscious smell. This was the Cassia, and I can find no words more
suitable to describe it than those of Polo which I have just used."--H. C]
_Ethnology_.--The Chinese at Ch'eng-tu fu, according to Richthofen,
classify the aborigines of the Sze-ch'wan frontier as _Man-tzu, Lolo,
Si-fan_, and _Tibetan_. Of these the Si-fan are furthest north, and extend
far into Tibet. The Man-tzu (properly so called) are regarded as the
remnant of the ancient occupants of Sze-ch'wan, and now dwell in the
mountains about the parallel 30 deg., and along the Lhasa road, Ta-t'sien
lu being about the centre of their tract. The Lolo are the wildest and most
independent, occupying the mountains on the left of the Kin-sha Kiang where
it runs northwards (see above p. 48, and below p. 69) and also to some
extent on its right. The Tibetan tribes lie to the west of the Man-tzu, and
to the west of Kien-ch'ang. (See next chapter.)
Towards the Lan-ts'ang Kiang is the quasi-Tibetan tribe called by the
Chinese _Mossos_, by the Tibetans _Guions_, and between the Lan-ts'ang and
the Lu-Kiang or Salwen are the _Lissus_, wild hill-robbers and great musk
hunters, like those described by Polo at p. 45. Garnier, who gives these
latter particulars, mentions that near the confluence of the Yalung and
Kin-sha Kiang there are tribes called _Pa-i_, as there are in the south of
Yun-nan, and, like the latter, of distinctly Shan or Laotian character. He
also speaks of _Si-fan_ tribes in the vicinity of Li-kiang fu, and coming
south of the Kin-sha Kiang even to the east of Ta-li. Of these are told
such loose tales as Polo tells of _Tebet_ and _Caindu_.
[In the _Topography of the Yun-nan Province_ (edition of 1836) there is a
catalogue of 141 classes of aborigines, each with a separate name and
illustration, without any attempt to arrive at a broader classification.
Mr. Bourne has been led to the conviction that exclusive of the Tibetans
(including Si-fan and Ku-tsung), there are but three great non-Chinese
races in Southern China: the Lolo, the Shan, and the Miao-tzu. (_Report,
China_, No. 1, 1888, p. 87.) This classification is adopted by Dr.
Deblenne. (_Mission Lyonnaise_.)
_Man-tzu, Man_, is a general name for "barbarian" (see my note in _Odoric
de Pordenone_, p. 248 seqq.); it is applied as well to the Lolo as to
the Si-fan.
Mr. Parker remarks (_China Review_, XX. p. 345) that the epithet of
_Man-tzu_, or "barbarians," dates from the time when the Shans, Annamese,
Miao-tzu, etc., occupied nearly all South China, for it is essentially to
the Indo-Chinese that the term Man-tzu belongs.
Mr. Hosie writes (_Three years in W. China_, 122): "At the time when Marco
Polo passed through Caindu, this country was in the possession of the
Si-fans.... At the present day, they occupy the country to the west, and
are known under the generic name of Man-tzu."
"It has already been remarked that _Si-fan_, convertible with _Man-tzu_, is
a loose Chinese expression of no ethnological value, meaning nothing more
than Western barbarians; but in a more restricted sense it is used to
designate a people (or peoples) which inhabits the valley of the Yalung
and the upper T'ung, with contiguous valleys and ranges, from about the
twenty-seventh parallel to the borders of Koko-nor. This people is
sub-divided into eighteen tribes." (_Baber_, p. 81.)
Si-fan or Pa-tsiu is the name by which the Chinese call the Tibetan tribes
which occupy part of Western China. (_Deveria_, p. 167.)
Dr. Bretschneider writes (_Med. Res._ II. p. 24): "The north-eastern part
of Tibet was sometimes designated by the Chinese name Si-fan, and Hyacinth
[Bitchurin] is of opinion that in ancient times this name was even applied
to the whole of Tibet. _Si-fan_ means, 'Western Barbarians.' The biographer
of Hiuen-Tsang reports that when this traveller, in 629, visited Liang-chau
(in the province of Kan-Suh), this city was the entrepot for merchants from
_Si-fan_ and the countries east of the Ts'ung-ling mountains. In the
history of the Hia and Tangut Empire (in the _Sung-shi_) we read, _s.a._
1003, that the founder of this Empire invaded _Si-fan_ and then proceeded
to _Si-liang_ (Liang-chau). The _Yuen-shi_ reports, _s.a._ 1268: 'The
(Mongol) Emperor ordered _Meng-gu-dai_ to invade _Si-fan_ with 6000 men.'
The name Si-fan appears also in ch. ccii., biography of _Dan-ba_." It is
stated in the _Ming-shi_, "that the name _Si-fan_ is applied to the
territory situated beyond the frontiers of the Chinese provinces of Shen-si
(then including the eastern part of present Kan-Suh) and Sze-ch'wan, and
inhabited by various tribes of Tangut race, anciently known in Chinese
history under the name of _Si Kiang_.... The _Kuang yu ki_ notices that
_Si-fan_ comprises the territory of the south-west of Shen-si, west of
Sze-ch'wan and north-west of Yun-nan.... The tribute presented by the
Si-fan tribes to the Emperor used to be carried to the court at Peking by
way of Ya-chau in Sze-ch'wan." (_Bretschneider_, 203.) The Tangutans of
Prjevalsky, north-east of Tibet, in the country of Ku-ku nor, correspond to
the Si-fan.
"The Ta-tu River may be looked upon as the southern limit of the region
inhabited by Sifan tribes, and the northern boundary of the Lolo country
which stretches southwards to the Yang-tzu and east from the valley of
Kien-ch'ang towards the right bank of the Min." (_Hosie_, p. 102.)
[Illustration: Black Lolo.]
To Mr. E.C. Baber we owe the most valuable information regarding the Lolo
people:
"'Lolo' is itself a word of insult, of unknown Chinese origin, which
should not be used in their presence, although they excuse it and will
even sometimes employ it in the case of ignorant strangers. In the report
of Governor-General Lo Ping-chang, above quoted, they are called 'I,' the
term applied by Chinese to Europeans. They themselves have no objection to
being styled 'I-chia' (I families), but that word is not their native
name. Near Ma-pien they call themselves 'Lo-su'; in the neighbourhood of
Lui-po T'ing their name is 'No-su' or 'Ngo-su' (possibly a mere variant of
'Lo-su'); near Hui-li-chou the term is 'Le-su'--the syllable Le being
pronounced as in French. The subject tribes on the T'ung River, near Mount
Wa, also name themselves 'Ngo-su.' I have found the latter people speak
very disrespectfully of the Le-su, which argues an internal distinction;
but there can be no doubt that they are the same race, and speak the same
language, though with minor differences of dialect." (_Baber, Travels_,
66-67.)
"With very rare exceptions the male Lolo, rich or poor, free or subject,
may be instantly known by his _horn_. All his hair is gathered into a knot
over his forehead and there twisted up in a cotton cloth so as to resemble
the horn of a unicorn. The horn with its wrapper is sometimes a good nine
inches long. They consider this _coiffure_ sacred, so at least I was told,
and even those who wear a short pig-tail for convenience in entering
Chinese territory still conserve the indigenous horn, concealed for the
occasion under the folds of the Sze-ch'wan turban." (_Baber_, p. 61.) See
these horns on figures, Bk. II. ch. lviii.
[Illustration: White Lolo.]
"The principal clothing of a Lolo is his mantle, a capacious sleeveless
garment of grey or black felt gathered round his neck by a string, and
reaching nearly to his heels. In the case of the better classes the mantle
is of fine felt--in great request among the Chinese--and has a fringe of
cotton-web round its lower border. For journeys on horseback they have a
similar cloak differing only in being slit half-way up the back; a wide
lappet covering the opening lies easily along the loins and croup of the
horse. The colour of the felt is originally grey, but becomes brown-black
or black, in process of time. It is said that the insects which haunt
humanity never infest these gabardines. The Lolo generally gathers this
garment closely round his shoulders and crosses his arms inside. His legs,
clothed in trousers of Chinese cotton, are swathed in felt bandages bound
on with strings, and he has not yet been super-civilised into the use of
foot-gear. In summer a cotton cloak is often substituted for the felt
mantle. The hat, serving equally for an umbrella, is woven of bamboo, in a
low conical shape, and is covered with felt. Crouching in his felt mantle
under this roof of felt the hardy Lolo is impervious to wind or rain."
(_Baber, Travels_, 61-62.)
"The word, 'Black-bone,' is generally used by the Chinese as a name for
the independent Lolos, but in the mouth of a Lolo it seems to mean a
'freeman' or 'noble,' in which sense it is not a whit more absurd than the
'blue-blood,' of Europeans. The 'White-bones,' an inferior class, but
still Lolo by birth, are, so far as I could understand, the vassals and
retainers of the patricians--the people, in fact. A third class consists
of Wa-tzu, or slaves, who are all captive Chinese. It does not appear
whether the servile class is sub-divided, but, at any rate, the slaves
born in Lolodom are treated with more consideration than those who have
been captured in slave-hunts." (_Baber, Travels_, 67.)
According to the French missionary, Paul Vial (_Les Lolos_, Shang-hai,
1898) the Lolos say that they come from the country situated between Tibet
and Burma. The proper manner to address a Lolo in Chinese is
_Lao-pen-kia_. The book of Father Vial contains a very valuable chapter on
the writing of the Lolos. Mr. F.S.A. Bourne writes (_Report, China_, No.
I. 1888, p. 88):--"The old Chinese name for this race was 'Ts'uan Man'--
'Ts'uan barbarians,' a name taken from one of their chiefs. The _Yun-nan
Topography_ says:--'The name of "Ts'uan Man" is a very ancient one, and
originally the tribes of Ts'uan were very numerous. There was that called
"Lu-lu Man," for instance, now improperly called "Lo-Lo."' These people
call themselves 'Nersu,' and the vocabularies show that they stretch in
scattered communities as far as Ssu-mao and along the whole southern border
of Yun-nan. It appears from the _Topography_ that they are found also on
the Burmese border."
The _Moso_ call themselves _Nashi_ and are called _Djiung_ by the
Tibetans; their ancient capital is Li-kiang fu which was taken by their
chief Meng-ts'u under the Sung Dynasty; the Mongols made of their country
the kingdom of Chaghan-djang. Li-kiang is the territory of Yue-si Chao,
called also Mo-sie (Moso), one of the six Chao of Nan-Chao. The Moso of
Li-kiang call themselves _Ho_. They have an epic styled _Djiung-Ling_
(Moso Division) recounting the invasion of part of Tibet by the Moso. The
Moso were submitted during the 8th century, by the King of Nan-Chao. They
have a special hieroglyphic scrip, a specimen of which has been given by
Deveria. (_Frontiere_, p. 166.) A manuscript was secured by Captain Gill,
on the frontier east of Li-t'ang, and presented by him to the British
Museum (_Add_ SS. Or. 2162); T. de Lacouperie gave a facsimile of it.
(Plates I., II. of _Beginnings of Writing_.) Prince Henri d'Orleans and M.
Bonin both brought home a Moso manuscript with a Chinese explanation.
Dr. Anderson (_Exped. to Yunnan_, Calcutta, p. 136) says the _Li-sus_, or
_Lissaus_ are "a small hill-people, with fair, round, flat faces, high
cheek bones, and some little obliquity of the eye." These Li-su or Li-sie,
are scattered throughout the Yunnanese prefectures of Yao-ngan, Li-kiang,
Ta-li and Yung-ch'ang; they were already in Yun-Nan in the 4th century
when the Chinese general Ch'u Chouang-kiao entered the country. (_Deveria,
Front._, p. 164.)
The _Pa-y_ or _P'o-y_ formed under the Han Dynasty the principality of
P'o-tsiu and under the T'ang Dynasty the tribes of Pu-hiung and of Si-ngo,
which were among the thirty-seven tribes dependent on the ancient state of
Nan-Chao and occupied the territory of the sub-prefectures of Kiang-Chuen
(Ch'eng-kiang fu) and of Si-ngo (Lin-ngan fu). They submitted to China at
the beginning of the Yuen Dynasty; their country bordered upon Burma
(Mien-tien) and Ch'e-li or Kiang-Hung (Xieng-Hung), in Yun-Nan, on the
right bank of the Mekong River. According to Chinese tradition, the Pa-y
descended from Muong Tsiu-ch'u, ninth son of Ti Muong-tsiu, son of
Piao-tsiu-ti (Asoka). Deveria gives (p. 105) a specimen of the Pa-y writing
(16th century). (_Deveria, Front._, 99, 117; _Bourne, Report_, p. 88.)
Chapter iv. of the Chinese work, _Sze-i-kwan-k'ao_, is devoted to the
_Pa-y_, including the sub-divisions of Muong-Yang, Muong-Ting, Nan-tien,
Tsien-ngai, Lung-chuen, Wei-yuan, Wan-tien, Chen-k'ang, Ta-how, Mang-shi,
Kin-tung, Ho-tsin, Cho-lo tien. (_Deveria, Mel. de Harlez_, p. 97.) I give
a specimen of Pa-yi writing from a Chinese work purchased by Father Amiot
at Peking, now in the Paris National Library (Fonds chinois, No. 986). (See
on this scrip, _F.W.K. Mueller, T'oung-Pao_, III. p. 1, and V. p. 329;
_E.H. Parker, The Muong Language, China Review_, I. 1891, p. 267; _P.
Lefevre-Pontalis, Etudes sur quelques alphabets et vocab. Thais, T'oung
Pao_, III. pp. 39-64.)--H.C.
[Illustration: Pa-y script.]
These ethnological matters have to be handled cautiously, for there is
great ambiguity in the nomenclature. Thus _Man-tzu_ is often used
generically for aborigines, and the _Lolos_ of Richthofen are called
Man-tzu by Garnier and Blakiston; whilst _Lolo_ again has in Yun-nan
apparently a very comprehensive generic meaning, and is so used by Garnier.
(_Richt. Letter_ VII. 67-68 and MS. notes; _Garnier_, I. 519 seqq. [_T.W.
Kingsmill, Han Wu-ti, China Review_, XXV. 103-109.])
[1] Ramusio alone has "a great _salt_ lake."
CHAPTER XLVIII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN.
When you have passed that River you enter on the province of CARAJAN,
which is so large that it includes seven kingdoms. It lies towards the
west; the people are Idolaters, and they are subject to the Great Kaan. A
son of his, however, is there as King of the country, by name ESSENTIMUR;
a very great and rich and puissant Prince; and he well and justly rules
his dominion, for he is a wise man, and a valiant.
After leaving the river that I spoke of, you go five days' journey towards
the west, meeting with numerous towns and villages. The country is one in
which excellent horses are bred, and the people live by cattle and
agriculture. They have a language of their own which is passing hard to
understand. At the end of those five days' journey you come to the
capital, which is called YACHI, a very great and noble city, in which are
numerous merchants and craftsmen.[NOTE 1]
The people are of sundry kinds, for there are not only Saracens and
Idolaters, but also a few Nestorian Christians.[NOTE 2] They have wheat
and rice in plenty. Howbeit they never eat wheaten bread, because in that
country it is unwholesome.[NOTE 3] Rice they eat, and make of it sundry
messes, besides a kind of drink which is very clear and good, and makes a
man drunk just as wine does.
Their money is such as I will tell you. They use for the purpose certain
white porcelain shells that are found in the sea, such as are sometimes
put on dogs' collars; and 80 of these porcelain shells pass for a single
weight of silver, equivalent to two Venice groats, i.e. 24 piccoli.
Also eight such weights of silver count equal to one such weight of gold.
[NOTE 4]
They have brine-wells in this country from which they make salt, and all
the people of those parts make a living by this salt. The King, too, I can
assure you, gets a great revenue from this salt.[NOTE 5]
There is a lake in this country of a good hundred miles in compass, in
which are found great quantities of the best fish in the world; fish of
great size, and of all sorts.
They reckon it no matter for a man to have intimacy with another's wife,
provided the woman be willing.
Let me tell you also that the people of that country eat their meat raw,
whether it be of mutton, beef, buffalo, poultry, or any other kind. Thus
the poor people will go to the shambles, and take the raw liver as it
comes from the carcase and cut it small, and put it in a sauce of garlic
and spices, and so eat it; and other meat in like manner, raw, just as we
eat meat that is dressed.[NOTE 6]
Now I will tell you about a further part of the Province of Carajan, of
which I have been speaking.
NOTE 1.--We have now arrived at the great province of CARAJAN, the
KARAJANG of the Mongols, which we know to be YUN-NAN, and at its capital
YACHI, which--I was about to add--we know to be YUN-NAN-FU. But I find
all the commentators make it something else. Rashiduddin, however, in his
detail of the twelve Sings or provincial governments of China under the
Mongols, thus speaks: "10th, KARAJANG. This used to be an independent
kingdom, and the Sing is established at the great city of YACHI. All the
inhabitants are Mahomedans. The chiefs are Noyan Takin, and Yakub Beg, son
of 'Ali Beg, the Beluch." And turning to Pauthier's corrected account of
the same distribution of the empire from authentic Chinese sources (p.
334), we find: "8. The administrative province of Yun-nan.... Its capital,
chief town also of the canton of the same name, was called _Chung-khing_,
now YUN-NAN-FU," Hence Yachi was Yun-nan-fu. This is still a large city,
having a rectangular rampart with 6 gates, and a circuit of about 6 1/2
miles. The suburbs were destroyed by the Mahomedan rebels. The most
important trade there now is in the metallic produce of the Province.
[According to _Oxenham, Historical Atlas_, there were _ten_ provinces or
_sheng_ (Liao-yang, Chung-shu, Shen-si, Ho-nan, Sze-ch'wan, _Yun-nan_,
Hu-kwang, Kiang-che, Kiang-si and Kan-suh) and _twelve_ military
governorships.--H.C.]
_Yachi_ was perhaps an ancient corruption of the name _Yichau_, which the
territory bore (according to Martini and Biot) under the Han; but more
probably _Yichau_ was a Chinese transformation of the real name _Yachi_.
The Shans still call the city Muang _Chi_, which is perhaps another
modification of the same name.
We have thus got Ch'eng-tu fu as one fixed point, and Yun-nan-fu as
another, and we have to track the traveller's itinerary between the two,
through what Ritter called with reason a _terra incognita_. What
little was known till recently of this region came from the Catholic
missionaries. Of late the veil has begun to be lifted; the daring
excursion of Francis Garnier and his party in 1868 intersected the tract
towards the south; Mr. T.T. Cooper crossed it further north, by Ta-t'sien
lu, Lithang and Bathang; Baron v. Richthofen in 1872 had penetrated
several marches towards the heart of the mystery, when an unfortunate
mishap compelled his return, but he brought back with him much precious
information.
[Illustration: Garden-House on the Lake at Yun-nan-fu, Yachi of Polo.
(From Garnier).
"Je boz di q'il ont un lac qe gire environ bien cent miles."]
Five days forward from Ch'eng-tu fu brought us on Tibetan ground. Five
days backward from Yun-nan fu should bring us to the river Brius, with its
gold-dust and the frontier of Caindu. Wanting a local scale for a distance
of five days, I find that our next point in advance, Marco's city of
Carajan undisputably _Tali-fu_, is said by him to be ten days from Yachi.
The direct distance between the cities of Yun-nan and Ta-li I find by
measurement on Keith Johnston's map to be 133 Italian miles. [The distance
by road is 215 English miles. (See _Baber_, p. 191.)--H.C.] Taking half
this as radius, the compasses swept from Yun-nan-fu as centre, intersect
near its most southerly elbow the great upper branch of the Kiang, the
_Kin-sha Kiang_ of the Chinese, or "River of the Golden Sands," the MURUS
USSU and BRICHU of the Mongols and Tibetans, and manifestly the auriferous
BRIUS of our traveller.[1] Hence also the country north of this elbow is
CAINDU.
I leave the preceding paragraph as it stood in the first edition, because
it shows how _near_ the true position of Caindu these unaided deductions
from our author's data had carried me. That paragraph was followed by an
erroneous hypothesis as to the intermediate part of that journey, but,
thanks to the new light shed by Baron Richthofen, we are enabled now to
lay down the whole itinerary from Ch'eng-tu fu to Yun-nan fu with
confidence in its accuracy.
The Kin-sha Kiang or Upper course of the Great Yang-tzu, descending from
Tibet to Yun-nan, forms the great bight or elbow to which allusion has
just been made, and which has been a feature known to geographers ever
since the publication of D'Anville's atlas. The tract enclosed in this
elbow is cut in two by another great Tibetan River, the Yarlung, or
Yalung-Kiang, which joins the Kin-sha not far from the middle of the great
bight; and this Yalung, just before the confluence, receives on the left a
stream of inferior calibre, the Ngan-ning Ho, which also flows in a valley
parallel to the meridian, like all that singular _fascis_ of great rivers
between Assam and Sze-ch'wan.
This River Ngan-ning waters a valley called Kien-ch'ang, containing near
its northern end a city known by the same name, but in our modern maps
marked as Ning-yuan fu; this last being the name of a department of which
it is the capital, and which embraces much more than the valley of
Kien-ch'ang. The town appears, however, as Kien-ch'ang in the _Atlas
Sinensis_ of Martini, and as _Kienchang-ouei_ in D'Anville. This remarkable
valley, imbedded as it were in a wilderness of rugged highlands and wild
races, accessible only by two or three long and difficult routes, rejoices
in a warm climate, a most productive soil, scenery that seems to excite
enthusiasm even in Chinamen, and a population noted for amiable temper.
Towns and villages are numerous. The people are said to be descended from
Chinese immigrants, but their features have little of the Chinese type, and
they have probably a large infusion of aboriginal blood. [Kien-ch'ang,
"otherwise the Prefecture of Ning-yuan, is perhaps the least known of the
Eighteen Provinces," writes Mr. Baber. (_Travels_, p. 58.) "Two or three
sentences in the book of Ser Marco, to the effect that after crossing high
mountains, he reached a fertile country containing many towns and villages,
and inhabited by a very immoral population, constitute to this day the only
description we possess of _Cain-du_, as he calls the district." Baber adds
(p. 82): "Although the main valley of Kien-ch'ang is now principally
inhabited by Chinese, yet the Sifan or Menia people are frequently met
with, and most of the villages possess two names, one Chinese, and the
other indigenous. Probably in Marco Polo's time a Menia population
predominated, and the valley was regarded as part of Menia. If Marco had
heard that name, he would certainly have recorded it; but it is not one
which is likely to reach the ears of a stranger. The Chinese people and
officials never employ it, but use in its stead an alternative name,
_Chan-tu_ or _Chan-tui_, of precisely the same application, which I make
bold to offer as the original of Marco's Caindu, or preferably Ciandu."
--H.C.]
This valley is bounded on the east by the mountain country of the Lolos,
which extends north nearly to Yachau (supra, pp. 45, 48, 60), and which,
owing to the fierce intractable character of the race, forms throughout
its whole length an impenetrable barrier between East and West. [The Rev.
Gray Owen, of Ch'eng-tu, wrote (_Jour. China B.R.A.S._ xxviii.
1893-1894, p. 59): "The only great trade route infested by brigands is that
from Ya-chau to Ning-yuan fu, where Lo-lo brigands are numerous, especially
in the autumn. Last year I heard of a convoy of 18 mules with Shen-si goods
on the above-mentioned road captured by these brigands, muleteers and all
taken inside the Lo-lo country. It is very seldom that captives get out of
Lo-lo-dom, because the ransom asked is too high, and the Chinese officials
are not gallant enough to buy out their unfortunate countrymen. The Lo-los
hold thousands of Chinese in slavery; and more are added yearly to the
number."--H.C.] Two routes run from Ch'eng-tu fu to Yun-nan; these fork at
Ya-chau and thenceforward are entirely separated by this barrier. To the
east of it is the route which descends the Min River to Siu-chau, and then
passes by Chao-tong and Tong-chuan to Yun-nan fu: to the west of the
barrier is a route leading through Kien-ch'ang to Ta-li fu, but throwing
off a branch from Ning-yuan southward in the direction of Yun-nan fu.
This road from Ch'eng-tu fu to Ta-li by Ya-chau and Ning-yuan appears to
be that by which the greater part of the goods for Bhamo and Ava used to
travel before the recent Mahomedan rebellion; it is almost certainly the
road by which Kublai, in 1253, during the reign of his brother Mangku
Kaan, advanced to the conquest of Ta-li, then the head of an independent
kingdom in Western Yun-nan. As far as Ts'ing-k'i hien, 3 marches beyond
Ya-chau, this route coincides with the great Tibet road by Ta-t'sien lu
and Bathang to L'hasa, and then it diverges to the left.
We may now say without hesitation that by this road Marco travelled. His
_Tibet_ commences with the mountain region near Ya-chau; his 20 days'
journey through a devastated and dispeopled tract is the journey to
Ning-yuan fu. Even now, from Ts'ing-k'i onwards for several days, not a
single inhabited place is seen. The official route from Ya-chau to
Ning-yuan lays down 13 stages, but it generally takes from 15 to 18 days.
Polo, whose journeys seem often to have been shorter than the modern
average,[2] took 20. On descending from the highlands he comes once more
into a populated region, and enters the charming Valley of Kien-ch'ang.
This valley, with its capital near the upper extremity, its numerous towns
and villages, its cassia, its spiced wine, and its termination southward on
the River of the Golden Sands, is CAINDU. The traveller's road from
Ningyuan to Yunnanfu probably lay through Hwei-li, and the Kin-sha Kiang
would be crossed as already indicated, near its most southerly bend, and
almost due north of Yun-nan fu. (See _Richthofen_ as quoted at pp. 45-46.)
As regards the _name_ of CAINDU or GHEINDU (as in G.T.), I think we may
safely recognise in the last syllable the _do_ which is so frequent a
termination of Tibetan names (Amdo, Tsiamdo, etc.); whilst the _Cain_, as
Baron Richthofen has pointed out, probably survives in the first part of
the name _Kien_chang.
[Baber writes (pp. 80-81): "Colonel Yule sees in the word _Caindu_ a
variation of 'Chien-ch'ang,' and supposes the syllable 'du' to be the same
as the termination 'du,' 'do,' or 'tu,' so frequent in Tibetan names. In
such names, however, 'do' never means a district, but always a confluence,
or a town near a confluence, as might almost be guessed from a map of
Tibet.... Unsatisfied with Colonel Yule's identification, I cast about for
another, and thought for a while that a clue had been found in the term
'Chien-t'ou' (sharp-head), applied to certain Lolo tribes. But the idea
had to be abandoned, since Marco Polo's anecdote about the 'caitiff,' and
the loose manners of his family, could never have referred to the Lolos,
who are admitted even by their Chinese enemies to possess a very strict
code indeed of domestic regulations. The Lolos being eliminated, the
Si-fans remained; and before we had been many days in their neighbourhood,
stories were told us of their conduct which a polite pen refuses to record.
It is enough to say that Marco's account falls rather short of the truth,
and most obviously applies to the Si-fan."
[Illustration: Road descending from the Table-Land of Yun-nan into the
Valley of the Kin-sha Kiang (the _Brius_ of Polo).
(After Garnier.)]
Deveria (_Front._ p. 146 note) says that Kien-ch'ang is the ancient
territory of Kiung-tu which, under the Han Dynasty, fell into the hands of
the Tibetans, and was made by the Mongols the march of Kien-ch'ang
(_Che-Kong-t'u_); it is the _Caindu_ of Marco Polo; under the Han Dynasty
it was the Kiun or division of Yueh-sui or Yueh-hsi. Deveria quotes from
the _Yuen-shi-lei pien_ the following passage relating to the year 1284:
"The twelve tribes of the Barbarians to the south-west of _Kien-tou_ and
_Kin-Chi_ submitted; Kien-tou was administered by Mien (Burma); Kien-tou
submits because the Kingdom of Mien has been vanquished." Kien-tou is the
_Chien-t'ou_ of Baber, the Caindu of Marco Polo. (_Melanges de Harlez_, p.
97.) According to Mr. E.H. Parker (_China Review_, xix. p. 69), Yueh-hsi
or Yueh-sui "is the modern Kien-ch'ang Valley, the Caindu of Marco Polo,
between the Yalung and Yang-tzu Rivers; the only non-Chinese races found
there now are the Si-fan and Lolos."--H.C.]
Turning to minor particulars, the Lake of Caindu in which the pearls were
found is doubtless one lying near Ning-yuan, whose beauty Richthofen heard
greatly extolled, though nothing of the pearls. [Mr. Hosie writes (_Three
Years_, 112-113): "If the former tradition be true (the old city of
Ning-yuan having given place to a large lake in the early years of the Ming
Dynasty), the lake had no existence when Marco Polo passed through Caindu,
and yet we find him mentioning a lake in the country in which pearls were
found. Curiously enough, although I had not then read the Venetian's
narrative, one of the many things told me regarding the lake was that
pearls are found in it, and specimens were brought to me for inspection."
The lake lies to the south-east of the present city.--H.C.] A small lake
is marked by D'Anville, close to Kien-ch'ang, under the name of
_Gechoui-tang_. The large quantities of gold derived from the Kin-sha
Kiang, and the abundance of musk in that vicinity, are testified to by
Martini. The Lake mentioned by Polo as existing in the territory of Yachi
is no doubt the _Tien-chi_, the Great Lake on the shore of which the city
of Yun-nan stands, and from which boats make their way by canals along the
walls and streets. Its circumference, according to Martini, is 500 _li_.
The cut (p. 68), from Garnier, shows this lake as seen from a villa on its
banks. [Deveria (p. 129) quotes this passage from the _Yuen-shi-lei pien_:
"Yachi, of which the _U-man_ or Black Barbarians made their capital, is
surrounded by Lake _Tien-chi_ on three sides." Tien-chi is one of the names
of Lake Kwen-ming, on the shore of which is built Yun-nan fu.--H.C.]
Returning now to the Karajang of the Mongols, or Carajan, as Polo writes
it, we shall find that the latter distinguishes this great province, which
formerly, he says, included seven kingdoms, into two Mongol Governments,
the seat of one being at Yachi, which we have seen to be Yun-nan fu, and
that of the other at a city to which he gives the name of the Province,
and which we shall find to be the existing Ta-li fu. Great confusion has
been created in most of the editions by a distinction in the form of the
name as applied to these two governments. Thus Ramusio prints the province
under Yachi as _Carajan_, and that under Ta-li as _Carazan_, whilst
Marsden, following out his system for the conversion of Ramusio's
orthography, makes the former _Karaian_ and the latter _Karazan_. Pauthier
prints _Caraian_ all through, a fact so far valuable as showing that his
texts make no distinction between the names of the two governments, but
the form impedes the recognition of the old Mongol nomenclature. I have no
doubt that the name all through should be read _Carajan_, and on this I
have acted. In the Geog. Text we find the name given at the end of ch.
xlvii. _Caragian_, in ch. xlviii. as _Carajan_, in ch. xlix. as _Caraian_,
thus just reversing the distinction made by Marsden. The Crusca has
_Charagia(n)_ all through.
The name then was _Kara-jang_, in which the first element was the Mongol
or Turki _Kara_, "Black." For we find in another passage of Rashid the
following information:[3]--"To the south-west of Cathay is the country
called by the Chinese _Dailiu_ or 'Great Realm,' and by the Mongols
_Karajang_, in the language of India and Kashmir _Kandar_, and by us
_Kandahar_. This country, which is of vast extent, is bounded on one side
by Tibet and Tangut, and on others by Mongolia, Cathay, and the country of
the Gold-Teeth. The King of Karajang uses the title of _Mahara_, i.e.
Great King. The capital is called Yachi, and there the Council of
Administration is established. Among the inhabitants of this country some
are black, and others are white; these latter are called by the Mongols
_Chaghan-Jang_ ('White Jang')." _Jang_ has not been explained; but
probably it may have been a Tibetan term adopted by the Mongols, and the
colours may have applied to their clothing. The dominant race at the
Mongol invasion seems to have been Shans;[4] and black jackets are the
characteristic dress of the Shans whom one sees in Burma in modern times.
The Kara-jang and Chaghan-jang appear to correspond also to the _U-man_
and _Pe-man_, or Black Barbarians and White Barbarians, who are mentioned
by Chinese authorities as conquered by the Mongols. It would seem from one
of Pauthier's Chinese quotations (p. 388), that the Chaghan-jang were
found in the vicinity of Li-kiang fu. (_D'Ohsson_, II. 317; _J. R. Geog.
Soc._ III. 294.) [Dr. Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ I. p. 184) says that in
the description of Yun-nan, in the _Yuen-shi_, "_Cara-jang_ and
_Chagan-jang_ are rendered by _Wu-man_ and _Po-man_ (Black and White
Barbarians). But in the biographies of _Djao-a-k'o-p'an_, _A-r-szelan_
(_Yuen-shi_, ch. cxxiii.), and others, these tribes are mentioned under the
names of _Ha-la-djang_ and _Ch'a-han-djang_, as the Mongols used to call
them; and in the biography of _Wu-liang-ho t'ai_. [Uriang kadai], the
conqueror of Yun-nan, it is stated that the capital of the Black Barbarians
was called _Yach'i_. It is described there as a city surrounded by lakes
from three sides."--H.C.]
[Illustration: A Saracen of Carajan, being a portrait of a Mahomedan
Mullah in Western Yun-nan. (From Garnier's Work.)
"Les sunt des plosors maineres, car il hi a jens qe aorent Maomet." ]
Regarding Rashiduddin's application of the name _Kandahar_ or Gandhara to
Yun-nan, and curious points connected therewith, I must refer to a paper
of mine in the _J.R.A.Society_ (N.S. IV. 356). But I may mention that
in the ecclesiastical translation of the classical localities of Indian
Buddhism to Indo-China, which is current in Burma, Yun-nan represents
Gandhara,[5] and is still so styled in state documents (_Gandalarit_).
What has been said of the supposed name _Caraian_ disposes, I trust, of
the fancies which have connected the origin of the _Karens_ of Burma with
it. More groundless still is M. Pauthier's deduction of the _Talains_ of
Pegu (as the Burmese call them) from the people of Ta-li, who fled from
Kublai's invasion.
NOTE 2.--The existence of Nestorians in this remote province is very
notable [see _Bonin, J. As._ XV. 1900, pp. 589-590.--H.C.] and also
the early prevalence of Mahomedanism, which Rashiduddin intimates in
stronger terms. "All the inhabitants of Yachi," he says, "are Mahomedans."
This was no doubt an exaggeration, but the Mahomedans seem always to have
continued to be an important body in Yun-nan up to our own day. In 1855
began their revolt against the imperial authority, which for a time
resulted in the establishment of their independence in Western Yun-nan
under a chief whom they called Sultan Suleiman. A proclamation in
remarkably good Arabic, announcing the inauguration of his reign, appears
to have been circulated to Mahomedans in foreign states, and a copy of it
some years ago found its way through the Nepalese agent at L'hasa, into
the hands of Colonel Ramsay, the British Resident at Katmandu.[6]
NOTE 3.--Wheat grows as low as Ava, but there also it is not used by
natives for bread, only for confectionery and the like. The same is the
case in Eastern China. (See ch. xxvi. note 4, and _Middle Kingdom_,
II. 43.)
NOTE 4.--The word _piccoli_ is supplied, doubtfully, in lieu of an unknown
symbol. If correct, then we should read "24 piccoli _each_" for this was
about the equivalent of a grosso. This is the first time Polo mentions
cowries, which he calls _porcellani_. This might have been rendered by the
corresponding vernacular name "_Pig-shells_," applied to certain shells of
that genus (_Cypraea_) in some parts of England. It is worthy of note that
as the name _porcellana_ has been transferred from these shells to
China-ware, so the word _pig_ has been in Scotland applied to crockery;
whether the process has been analogous, I cannot say.
Klaproth states that Yun-nan is the only country of China in which cowries
had continued in use, though in ancient times they were more generally
diffused. According to him 80 cowries were equivalent to 6 _cash_, or a
half-penny. About 1780 in Eastern Bengal 80 cowries were worth 3/8th of a
penny, and some 40 years ago, when Prinsep compiled his tables in Calcutta
(where cowries were still in use a few years ago, if they are not now), 80
cowries were worth 3/10 of a penny.
At the time of the Mahomedan conquest of Bengal, early in the 13th
century, they found the currency exclusively composed of cowries, aided
perhaps by bullion in large transactions, but with no coined money. In
remote districts this continued to modern times. When the Hon. Robert
Lindsay went as Resident and Collector to Silhet about 1778, cowries
constituted nearly the whole currency of the Province. The yearly revenue
amounted to 250,000 rupees, and this was entirely paid in cowries at the
rate of 5120 to the rupee. It required large warehouses to contain them,
and when the year's collection was complete a large fleet of boats to
transport them to Dacca. Before Lindsay's time it had been the custom to
_count_ the whole before embarking them! Down to 1801 the Silhet revenue
was entirely collected in cowries, but by 1813, the whole was realised in
specie. (_Thomas_, in _J.R.A.S._ N.S. II. 147; _Lives of the Lindsays_,
III. 169, 170.)
Klaproth's statement has ceased to be correct. Lieutenant Garnier found
cowries nowhere in use north of Luang Prabang; and among the Kakhyens in
Western Yun nan these shells are used only for ornament. [However, Mr. E.
H. Parker says (_China Review_, XXVI. p. 106) that the porcelain
money still circulates in the Shan States, and that he saw it there
himself.--H.C.]
[Illustration: The Canal at Yun nan fu.]
NOTE 5.--See ch. xlvii. note 4. Martini speaks of a great brine-well to
the N.E. of Yaogan (W.N.W. of the city of Yun-nan), which supplied the
whole country round.
NOTE 6.--Two particulars appearing in these latter paragraphs are alluded
to by Rashiduddin in giving a brief account of the overland route from
India to China, which is unfortunately very obscure: "Thence you arrive at
the borders of Tibet, where they _eat raw meat_ and worship images,
_and have no shame respecting their wives_." (Elliot, I. p. 73.)
[1] Baber writes (p. 107): "The river is never called locally by any other
name than _Kin-ke_ or 'Gold River.'[A] The term _Kin-sha-Kiang_ should
in strictness be confined to the Tibetan course of the stream; as
applied to other parts it is a mere book name. There is no great
objection to its adoption, except that it is unintelligible to the
inhabitants of the banks, and is liable to mislead travellers in
search of indigenous information, but at any rate it should not be
supposed to asperse Marco Polo's accuracy. _Gold River_ is the local
name from the junction of the Yalung to about P'ing-shan; below
P'ing-shan it is known by various designations, but the Ssu-ch'uanese
naturally call it 'the River,' or, by contrast with its affluents, the
'Big River' (_Ta-ho_)." I imagine that Baber here makes a slight
mistake, and that they use the name _kiang_, and not _ho_, for the
river.--H.C.
[Mr. Rockhill remarks (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 196 note) that "Marco
Polo speaks of the Yang-tzu as the _Brius_, and Orazio della Penna
calls it _Biciu_, both words representing the Tibetan _Dre ch'u_. This
last name has been frequently translated 'Cow yak River,' but this is
certainly not its meaning, as cow yak is _dri-mo_, never pronounced
_dre_, and unintelligible without the suffix, _mo_. _Dre_ may mean
either mule, dirty, or rice, but as I have never seen the word
written, I cannot decide on any of these terms, all of which have
exactly the same pronunciation. The Mongols call it _Murus osu_, and
in books this is sometimes changed to _Murui osu_, 'Tortuous river.'
The Chinese call it _Tung t'ien ho_, 'River of all Heaven.' The name
_Kin-sha kiang_, 'River of Golden Sand,' is used for it from Bat'ang
to Sui-fu, or thereabouts." The general name for the river is
_Ta-Kiang_ (Great River), or simply _Kiang_, in contradistinction to
_Ho_, for _Hwang-Ho_ (Yellow River) in Northern China.--H.C.]
[A] Marco Polo nowhere calls the river "Gold River," the name he
gives it is _Brius_.--H.Y.
[2] Baron Richthofen, who has travelled hundreds of miles in his
footsteps, considers his allowance of time to be generally from 1/4 to
1/9 greater than that now usual.
[3] See _Quatremere's Rashiduddin_, pp. lxxxvi.-xcvi. My quotation is
made up from _two_ citations by Quatremere, one from his text of
Rashiduddin, and the other from the History of Benakeli, which
Quatremere shows to have been drawn from Rashiduddin, whilst it
contains some particulars not existing in his own text of that author.
[4] The title _Chao_ in _Nan-Chao_ (infra, p. 79) is said by a Chinese
author (Pauthier, p. 391) to signify _King_ in the language of those
barbarians. This is evidently the _Chao_ which forms an essential part
of the title of all Siamese and Shan princes.
[Regarding the word _Nan-Chao_, Mr. Parker (_China Review_, XX. p.
339) writes "In the barbarian tongue 'prince is _Chao_," says the
Chinese author; and there were six _Chao_, of which the _Nan_ or
Southern was the leading power. Hence the name Nan-Chao ... it is
hardly necessary for me to say that _chao_ or _kyiao_ is still the
Shan-Siamese word for 'prince.' Pallegoix (_Dict._ p. 85) has _Chao_,
Princeps, rex.--H.C.]
[5] _Gandhara_, Arabice _Kandahar_, is properly the country about
Peshawar, _Gandaritis_ of Strabo.
[6] This is printed almost in full in the French _Voyage d'Exploration_,
I. 564.
CHAPTER XLIX.
CONCERNING A FURTHER PART OF THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN.
After leaving that city of Yachi of which I have been speaking, and
travelling ten days towards the west, you come to another capital city
which is still in the province of Carajan, and is itself called Carajan.
The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan; and the King is
COGACHIN, who is a son of the Great Kaan.[NOTE 1]
In this country gold-dust is found in great quantities; that is to say in
the rivers and lakes, whilst in the mountains gold is also found in pieces
of larger size. Gold is indeed so abundant that they give one _saggio_ of
gold for only six of the same weight in silver. And for small change they
use porcelain shells as I mentioned before. These are not found in the
country, however, but are brought from India.[NOTE 2]
In this province are found snakes and great serpents of such vast size as
to strike fear into those who see them, and so hideous that the very
account of them must excite the wonder of those to hear it. I will tell you
how long and big they are.
You may be assured that some of them are ten paces in length; some are
more and some less. And in bulk they are equal to a great cask, for the
bigger ones are about ten palms in girth. They have two forelegs near the
head, but for foot nothing but a claw like the claw of a hawk or that of a
lion. The head is very big, and the eyes are bigger than a great loaf of
bread. The mouth is large enough to swallow a man whole, and is garnished
with great [pointed] teeth. And in short they are so fierce-looking and so
hideously ugly, that every man and beast must stand in fear and trembling
of them. There are also smaller ones, such as of eight paces long, and of
five, and of one pace only.
The way in which they are caught is this. You must know that by day they
live underground because of the great heat, and in the night they go out
to feed, and devour every animal they can catch. They go also to drink at
the rivers and lakes and springs. And their weight is so great that when
they travel in search of food or drink, as they do by night, the tail
makes a great furrow in the soil as if a full ton of liquor had been
dragged along. Now the huntsmen who go after them take them by certain gyn
which they set in the track over which the serpent has past, knowing that
the beast will come back the same way. They plant a stake deep in the
ground and fix on the head of this a sharp blade of steel made like a
razor or a lance-point, and then they cover the whole with sand so that
the serpent cannot see it. Indeed the huntsman plants several such stakes
and blades on the track. On coming to the spot the beast strikes against
the iron blade with such force that it enters his breast and rives him up
to the navel, so that he dies on the spot [and the crows on seeing the
brute dead begin to caw, and then the huntsmen know that the serpent is
dead and come in search of him].
This then is the way these beasts are taken. Those who take them proceed
to extract the gall from the inside, and this sells at a great price; for
you must know it furnishes the material for a most precious medicine. Thus
if a person is bitten by a mad dog, and they give him but a small
pennyweight of this medicine to drink, he is cured in a moment. Again if a
woman is hard in labour they give her just such another dose and she is
delivered at once. Yet again if one has any disease like the itch, or it
may be worse, and applies a small quantity of this gall he shall speedily
be cured. So you see why it sells at such a high price.
They also sell the flesh of this serpent, for it is excellent eating, and
the people are very fond of it. And when these serpents are very hungry,
sometimes they will seek out the lairs of lions or bears or other large
wild beasts, and devour their cubs, without the sire and dam being able to
prevent it. Indeed if they catch the big ones themselves they devour them
too; they can make no resistance.[NOTE 3]
[Illustration: "Riding long like Frenchmen."
"Et encore sachie qe ceste gens chebauchent lonc come franchois."]
[Illustration: Suspension Bridge, neighbourhood of Tali]
In this province also are bred large and excellent horses which are taken
to India for sale. And you must know that the people dock two or three
joints of the tail from their horses, to prevent them from flipping their
riders, a thing which they consider very unseemly. They ride long like
Frenchmen, and wear armour of boiled leather, and carry spears and shields
and arblasts, and all their quarrels are poisoned.[NOTE 4] [And I was
told as a fact that many persons, especially those meditating mischief,
constantly carry this poison about with them, so that if by any chance
they should be taken, and be threatened with torture, to avoid this they
swallow the poison and so die speedily. But princes who are aware of this
keep ready dog's dung, which they cause the criminal instantly to swallow,
to make him vomit the poison. And thus they manage to cure those
scoundrels.]
I will tell you of a wicked thing they used to do before the Great Kaan
conquered them. If it chanced that a man of fine person or noble birth, or
some other quality that recommended him, came to lodge with those people,
then they would murder him by poison, or otherwise. And this they did, not
for the sake of plunder, but because they believed that in this way the
goodly favour and wisdom and repute of the murdered man would cleave to
the house where he was slain. And in this manner many were murdered before
the country was conquered by the Great Kaan. But since his conquest, some
35 years ago, these crimes and this evil practice have prevailed no more;
and this through dread of the Great Kaan who will not permit such
things.[NOTE 5]
NOTE 1.--There can be no doubt that this second chief city of Carajan is
TALI-FU, which was the capital of the Shan Kingdom called by the Chinese
Nan-Chao. This kingdom had subsisted in Yun-nan since 738, and probably
had embraced the upper part of the Irawadi Valley. For the Chinese tell us
it was also called _Maung_, and it probably was identical with the Shan
Kingdom of Muang Maorong or of _Pong_, of which Captain Pemberton procured
a Chronicle. [In A.D. 650, the Ai-Lao, the most ancient name by which the
Shans were known to the Chinese, became the Nan-Chao. The Meng family
ruled the country from the 7th century; towards the middle of the 8th
century, P'i-lo-ko, who is the real founder of the Thai kingdom of
Nan-Chao, received from the Chinese the title of King of Yun-Nan and made
T'ai-ho, 15 _lis_ south of Ta-li, his residence; he died in 748. In A.D.
938, Twan Sze-ying, of an old Chinese family, took Ta-li and established
there an independent kingdom. In 1115 embassies with China were exchanged,
and the Emperor conferred (1119) upon Twan Ch'eng-ya the title of King of
Ta-li (_Ta-li Kwo Wang_). Twan Siang-hing was the last king of Ta-li
(1239-1251). In 1252 the Kingdom of Nan-Chao was destroyed by the Mongols;
the Emperor She Tsu (Kublai) gave the title of Maharaja (_Mo-ho Lo-tso_) to
Twan Hing-che (son of Twan Siang-hing), who had fled to Yun-Nan fu and was
captured there. Afterwards (1261) the Twan are known as the eleven
_Tsung-Kwan_ (governors); the last of them, Twan Ming, was made a prisoner
by an army sent by the Ming Emperors, and sent to Nan-King (1381). (_E. H.
Parker, Early Laos and China, China Review_, XIX. and the _Old Thai or Shan
Empire of Western Yun-Nan_, Ibid., XX.; _E. Rocher, Hist. des Princes du
Yunnan, T'oung Pao_, 1899; _E. Chavannes, Une Inscription du roy de Nan
Tchao, J.A._, November-December, 1900; _M. Tchang, Tableau des Souverains
de Nan-Tchao, Bul. Ecole Franc. d'Ext. Orient_, I. No. 4.)--H.C.] The city
of Ta-li was taken by Kublai in 1253-1254. The circumstance that it was
known to the invaders (as appeals from Polo's statement) by the name of the
province is an indication of the fact that it was the capital of Carajan
before the conquest. ["That _Yachi_ and _Carajan_ represent Yuennan-fu and
Tali, is proved by topographical and other evidence of an overwhelming
nature. I venture to add one more proof, which seems to have been
overlooked.
"If there is a natural feature which must strike any visitor to those two
cities, it is that they both lie on the shore of notable lakes, of so
large an extent as to be locally called seas; and for the comparison, it
should be remembered that the inhabitants of the Yuennan province have easy
access to the ocean by the Red River, or Sung Ka. Now, although Marco does
not circumstantially specify the fact of these cities lying on large
bodies of water, yet in both cases, two or three sentences further on,
will be found mention of lakes; in the case of Yachi, 'a lake of a good
hundred miles in compass'--by no means an unreasonable estimate.
"Tali-fu is renowned as the strongest hold of Western Yuennan, and it
certainly must have been impregnable to bow and spear. From the western
margin of its majestic lake, which lies approximately north and south,
rises a sloping plain of about three miles average breadth, closed in by
the huge wall of the Tien-tsang Mountains. In the midst of this plain
stands the city, the lake at its feet, the snowy summits at its back. On
either flank, at about twelve and six miles distance respectively, are
situated Shang-Kuan and Hsia-Kuan (upper and lower passes), two strongly
fortified towns guarding the confined strip between mountain and lake; for
the plain narrows at the two extremities, and is intersected by a river at
both points." (_Baber_, _Travels_ 155.)--H.C.]
The distance from Yachi to this city of Karajang is ten days, and this
corresponds well with the distance from Yun-nan fu to Tali-fu. For we find
that, of the three Burmese Embassies whose itineraries are given by
Burney, one makes 7 marches between those cities, specifying 2 of them as
double marches, therefore equal to 9, whilst the other two make 11
marches; Richthofen's information gives 12. Ta-li-fu is a small old city
overlooking its large lake (about 24 miles long by 6 wide), and an
extensive plain devoid of trees. Lofty mountains rise on the south side of
the city. The Lake appears to communicate with the Mekong, and the story
goes, no doubt fabulous, that boats have come up to Ta-li from the Ocean.
[Captain Gill (II. pp. 299-300) writes: "Ta-li fu is an ancient city ...
it is the Carajan of Marco Polo.... Marco's description of the lake of
Yun-Nan may be perfectly well applied to the Lake of Ta-li.... The fish
were particularly commended to our notice, though we were told that there
were no oysters in this lake, as there are said to be in that of Yun-Nan;
if the latter statement be true, it would illustrate Polo's account of
another lake somewhere in these regions in which are found pearls (which
are white but not round)."--H.C.]
Ta-li fu was recently the capital of Sultan Suleiman [Tu Wen-siu]. It was
reached by Lieutenant Garnier in a daring detour by the north of Yun-nan,
but his party were obliged to leave in haste on the second day after their
arrival. The city was captured by the Imperial officers in 1873, when a
horrid massacre of the Mussulmans took place [19th January]. The Sultan
took poison, but his head was cut off and sent to Peking. Momein fell soon
after [10th June], and the _Panthe_ kingdom is ended.
We see that Polo says the King ruling for Kublai at this city was a son of
the Kaan, called COGACHIN, whilst he told us in the last chapter that the
King reigning at Yachi was also a son of the Kaan, called ESSENTIMUR. It
is probably a mere lapsus or error of dictation calling the latter a son
of the Kaan, for in ch. li. infra, this prince is correctly described as
the Kaan's grandson. Rashiduddin tells us that Kublai had given his son
HUKAJI (or perhaps _Hogachi_, i.e. Cogachin) the government of
Karajang,[1] and that after the death of this Prince the government was
continued to his son ISENTIMUR. Klaproth gives the date of the latter's
nomination from the Chinese Annals as 1280. It is not easy to reconcile
Marco's statements perfectly with a knowledge of these facts; but we may
suppose that, in speaking of Cogachin as ruling at Karajang (or Tali-fu)
and Esentimur at Yachi, he describes things as they stood when his visit
occurred, whilst in the second reference to "Sentemur's" being King in the
province and his father dead, he speaks from later knowledge. This
interpretation would confirm what has been already deduced from other
circumstances, that his visit to Yun-nan was prior to 1280. (_Pemberton's
Report on the Eastern Frontier_, 108 seqq.; _Quat. Rashid._ pp.
lxxxix-xc.; _Journ. Asiat._ ser. II. vol. i.)
NOTE 2.--[Captain Gill writes (II. p. 302): "There are said to be very
rich gold and silver mines within a few days' journey of the city" (of
Ta-li). Dr. Anderson says (_Mandalay to Momien_, p. 203): "Gold is brought
to Momein from Yonephin and Sherg-wan villages, fifteen days' march to the
north-east; but no information could be obtained as to the quantity found.
It is also brought in leaf, which is sent to Burma, where it is in
extensive demand."--H.C.]
NOTE 3.--It cannot be doubted that Marco's serpents here are crocodiles,
in spite of his strange mistakes about their having only two feet and one
claw on each, and his imperfect knowledge of their aquatic habits. He may
have seen only a mutilated specimen. But there is no mistaking the hideous
ferocity of the countenance, and the "eyes bigger than a fourpenny loaf,"
as Ramusio has it. Though the actual _eye_ of the crocodile does not bear
this comparison, the prominent _orbits_ do, especially in the case of the
_Ghariyal_ of the Ganges, and form one of the most repulsive features of
the reptile's physiognomy. In fact, its presence on the surface of an
Indian river is often recognisable only by three dark knobs rising above
the surface, viz. the snout and the two orbits. And there is some
foundation for what our author says of the animal's habits, for the
crocodile does sometimes frequent holes at a distance from water, of which
a striking instance is within my own recollection (in which the deep
furrowed track also was a notable circumstance).
The Cochin Chinese are very fond of crocodile's flesh, and there is or was
a regular export of this dainty for their use from Kamboja. I have known
it eaten by certain classes in India. (_J.R.G.S._ XXX. 193.)
The term _serpent_ is applied by many old writers to crocodiles and the
like, e.g. by Odoric, and perhaps allusively by Shakspeare ("_Where's my
Serpent of Old Nile_?"). Mr. Fergusson tells me he was once much struck
with the _snake-like_ motion of a group of crocodiles hastily descending
to the water from a high sand-bank, without apparent use of the limbs,
when surprised by the approach of a boat.[2]
Matthioli says the gall of the crocodile surpasses all medicines for the
removal of pustules and the like from the eyes. Vincent of Beauvais
mentions the same, besides many other medical uses of the reptile's
carcass, including a very unsavoury cosmetic. (_Matt._ p. 245; _Spec.
Natur._ Lib. XVII. c. 106, 108.)
["According to Chinese notions, Han Yue, the St. Patrick of China, having
persuaded the alligators in China that he was all-powerful, induced the
stupid saurians to migrate to Ngo Hu or 'Alligators' Lake' in the
Kwang-tung province." (_North-China Herald_, 5th July, 1895, p. 5.)
Alligators have been found in 1878 at Wu-hu and at Chen-kiang (Ngan-hwei
and Kiang-Su). (See _A. A. Fauvel, Alligators in China_, in _Jour. N.
China B.R.A.S._ XIII. 1879, 1-36.)--H.C.]
NOTE 4.--I think the _great_ horses must be an error, though running
through all the texts, and that _grant quantite de chevaus_ was probably
intended. Valuable _ponies_ are produced in those regions, but I have
never heard of large horses, and Martini's testimony is to like effect (p.
141). Nor can I hear of any race in those regions in modern times that
uses what we should call long stirrups. It is true that the Tartars rode
_very short--"brevissimas habent strepas,"_ as Carpini says (643); and the
Kirghiz Kazaks now do the same. Both Burmese and Shans ride what we should
call short; and Major Sladen observes of the people on the western border
of Yun-nan: "Kachyens and Shans ride on ordinary Chinese saddles. The
stirrups are of the usual average length, but the saddles are so
constructed as to rise at least a foot above the pony's back." He adds
with reference to another point in the text: "I noticed a few Shan ponies
_with docked tails_. But the more general practice is to loop up the tail
in a knot, the object being to protect the rider, or rather his clothes,
from the dirt with which they would otherwise be spattered from the
flipping of the animal's tail." (_MS. Notes_.)
[After Yung-ch'ang, Captain Gill writes (II. p. 356): "The manes were
hogged and the tails cropped of a great many of the ponies these men were
riding; but there were none of the docked tails mentioned by Marco
Polo."--H.C.]
Armour of boiled leather--"_armes cuiraces de cuir bouilli_"; so
Pauthier's text; the material so often mentioned in mediaeval costume;
e.g. in the leggings of Sir Thopas:--
"His jambeux were of cuirbouly,
His swerdes sheth of ivory,
His helme of latoun bright."
But the reading of the G. Text which is "_cuir de bufal_," is probably the
right one. Some of the Miau-tzu of Kweichau are described as wearing
armour of buffalo-leather overlaid with iron plates. (_Ritter_, IV.
768-776.) Arblasts or crossbows are still characteristic weapons of many of
the wilder tribes of this region; e.g. of some of the Singphos, of the
Mishmis of Upper Assam, of the Lu-tzu of the valley of the Lukiang, of
tribes of the hills of Laos, of the Stiens of Cambodia, and of several of
the Miau-tzu tribes of the interior of China. We give a cut copied from a
Chinese work on the Miau-tzu of Kweichau in Dr. Lockhart's possession,
which shows _three_ little men of the Sang-Miau tribe of Kweichau combining
to mend a crossbow, and a chief with _armes cuiraces_ and _jambeux_
also. [The cut (p. 83) is well explained by this passage of _Baber's
Travels_ among the Lolos (p. 71): "They make their own swords, three and a
half to five spans long, with square heads, and have bows which it takes
three men to draw, but no muskets."--H.C.]
NOTE 5.--I have nowhere met with a _precise_ parallel to this remarkable
superstition, but the following piece of Folk-Lore has a considerable
analogy to it. This extraordinary custom is ascribed by Ibn Fozlan to the
Bulgarians of the Volga: "If they find a man endowed with special
intelligence then they say: 'This man should serve our Lord God;' and so
they take him, run a noose round his neck and hang him on a tree, where
they leave him till the corpse falls to pieces." This is precisely what
Sir Charles Wood did with the Indian Corps of Engineers;--doubtless on the
same principle.
Archbishop Trench, in a fine figure, alludes to a belief prevalent among
the Polynesian Islanders, "that the strength and valour of the warriors
whom they have slain in battle passes into themselves, as their rightful
inheritance." (_Fraehn, Wolga-Bulgaren_, p. 50; _Studies in the Gospels_,
p. 22; see also _Lubbock_, 457.)
[Illustration: The Sangmiau Tribe of Kweichau, with the Crossbow. (From a
Chinese Drawing.)
"Ont armes corases de cuir de bufal, et ont lances et scuz et ont
balestres."]
There is some analogy also to the story Polo tells, in the curious Sindhi
tradition, related by Burton, of Baha-ul-hakk, the famous saint of Multan.
When he visited his disciples at Tatta they plotted his death, in order to
secure the blessings of his perpetual presence. The people of Multan are
said to have murdered two celebrated saints with the same view, and the
Hazaras to "make a point of killing and burying in their own country any
stranger indiscreet enough to commit a miracle or show any particular sign
of sanctity." The like practice is ascribed to the rude Moslem of Gilghit;
and such allegations must have been current in Europe, for they are the
motive of _Southey's St. Romuald_:
"'But,' quoth the Traveller, 'wherefore did he leave
A flock that knew his saintly worth so well?'
"'Why, Sir,' the Host replied,
'We thought perhaps that he might one day leave us;
And then, should strangers have
The good man's grave,
A loss like that would naturally grieve us;
For he'll be made a saint of, to be sure.
Therefore we thought it prudent to secure
His relics while we might;
And so we meant to strangle him one night.'"
(See _Sindh_, pp. 86, 388; _Ind. Antiq._ I. 13; _Southey's Ballads_,
etc., ed. Routledge, p. 330.)
[Captain Gill (I. p. 323) says that he had made up his mind to visit a
place called Li-fan Fu, near Ch'eng-tu. "I was told," he writes, "that
this place was inhabited by the Man-Tzu, or Barbarians, as the Chinese
call them; and Monseigneur Pinchon told me that, amongst other pleasing
theories, they were possessed of the belief that if they poisoned a rich
man, his wealth would accrue to the poisoner; that, therefore, the
hospitable custom prevailed amongst them of administering poison to rich
or noble guests; that this poison took no effect for some time, but that
in the course of two or three months it produced a disease akin to
dysentery, ending in certain death."--H.C.]
[1] Mr. E.H. Parker writes (_China Review_, XXIV. p. 106): "Polo's
Kogatin is _Hukoch'ih_, who was made King of Yun-nan in 1267,
with military command over Ta-li, Shen-shen, Chagan Chang,
Golden-Teeth, etc."--H.C.
[2] Though the bellowing of certain American crocodiles is often spoken
of, I have nowhere seen allusion to the roaring of the
_ghariyal_, nor does it seem to be commonly known. I have once
only heard it, whilst on the bank of the Ganges near Rampur Boliah,
waiting for a ferry-boat. It was like a loud prolonged snore; and
though it seemed to come distinctly from a crocodile on the surface of
the river, I made sure by asking a boatman who stood by: "It is the
ghariyal speaking," he answered.
CHAPTER L.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ZARDANDAN.
When you have left Carajan and have travelled five days westward, you find
a province called ZARDANDAN. The people are Idolaters and subject to the
Great Kaan. The capital city is called VOCHAN.[NOTE 1]
The people of this country all have their teeth gilt; or rather every man
covers his teeth with a sort of golden case made to fit them, both the
upper teeth and the under. The men do this, but not the women[NOTE 2]
[The men also are wont to gird their arms and legs with bands or fillets
pricked in black, and it is done thus; they take five needles joined
together, and with these they prick the flesh till the blood comes, and
then they rub in a certain black colouring stuff, and this is perfectly
indelible. It is considered a piece of elegance and the sign of gentility
to have this black band.] The men are all gentlemen in their fashion, and
do nothing but go to the wars, or go hunting and hawking. The ladies do
all the business, aided by the slaves who have been taken in war.[NOTE 3]
And when one of their wives has been delivered of a child, the infant is
washed and swathed, and then the woman gets up and goes about her
household affairs, whilst the husband takes to bed with the child by his
side, and so keeps his bed for 40 days; and all the kith and kin come to
visit him and keep up a great festivity. They do this because, say they,
the woman has had a hard bout of it, and 'tis but fair the man should have
his share of suffering.[NOTE 4]
They eat all kinds of meat, both raw and cooked, and they eat rice with
their cooked meat as their fashion is. Their drink is wine made of rice
and spices, and excellent it is. Their money is gold, and for small change
they use pig-shells. And I can tell you they give one weight of gold for
only five of silver; for there is no silver-mine within five months'
journey. And this induces merchants to go thither carrying a large supply
of silver to change among that people. And as they have only five weights
of silver to give for one of fine gold, they make immense profits by their
exchange business in that country.[NOTE 5]
These people have neither idols nor churches, but worship the progenitor
of their family, "for 'tis he," say they, "from whom we have all sprung."
[NOTE 6] They have no letters or writing; and 'tis no wonder, for the
country is wild and hard of access, full of great woods and mountains
which 'tis impossible to pass, the air in summer is so impure and bad; and
any foreigners attempting it would die for certain.[NOTE 7] When these
people have any business transactions with one another, they take a piece
of stick, round or square, and split it, each taking half. And on either
half they cut two or three notches. And when the account is settled the
debtor receives back the other half of the stick from the creditor.
[NOTE 8]
And let me tell you that in all those three provinces that I have been
speaking of, to wit Carajan, Vochan, and Yachi, there is never a leech.
But when any one is ill they send for their magicians, that is to say the
Devil-conjurors and those who are the keepers of the idols. When these are
come the sick man tells what ails him, and then the conjurors
incontinently begin playing on their instruments and singing and dancing;
and the conjurors dance to such a pitch that at last one of them shall
fall to the ground lifeless, like a dead man. And then the devil entereth
into his body. And when his comrades see him in this plight they begin to
put questions to him about the sick man's ailment. And he will reply:
"Such or such a spirit hath been meddling with the man,[NOTE 9] for that
he hath angered the spirit and done it some despite." Then they say: "We
pray thee to pardon him, and to take of his blood or of his goods what
thou wilt in consideration of thus restoring him to health." And when they
have so prayed, the malignant spirit that is in the body of the prostrate
man will (mayhap) answer: "The sick man hath also done great despite unto
such another spirit, and that one is so ill-disposed that it will not
pardon him on any account;"--this at least is the answer they get, an the
patient be like to die. But if he is to get better the answer will be that
they are to bring two sheep, or may be three; and to brew ten or twelve
jars of drink, very costly and abundantly spiced.[NOTE 10] Moreover it
shall be announced that the sheep must be all black-faced, or of some
other particular colour as it may hap; and then all those things are to be
offered in sacrifice to such and such a spirit whose name is given.
[NOTE 11] And they are to bring so many conjurors, and so many ladies, and
the business is to be done with a great singing of lauds, and with many
lights, and store of good perfumes. That is the sort of answer they get if
the patient is to get well. And then the kinsfolk of the sick man go and
procure all that has been commanded, and do as has been bidden, and the
conjuror who had uttered all that gets on his legs again.
So they fetch the sheep of the colour prescribed, and slaughter them, and
sprinkle the blood over such places as have been enjoined, in honour and
propitiation of the spirit. And the conjurors come, and the ladies, in the
number that was ordered, and when all are assembled and everything is
ready, they begin to dance and play and sing in honour of the spirit. And
they take flesh-broth and drink and lign-aloes, and a great number of
lights, and go about hither and thither, scattering the broth and the
drink and the meat also. And when they have done this for a while, again
shall one of the conjurors fall flat and wallow there foaming at the
mouth, and then the others will ask if he have yet pardoned the sick man?
And sometimes he shall answer yea! and sometimes he shall answer no! And
if the answer be _no_, they shall be told that something or other has
to be done all over again, and then he will be pardoned; so this they do.
And when all that the spirit has commanded has been done with great
ceremony, then it shall be announced that the man is pardoned and shall be
speedily cured. So when they at length receive such a reply, they announce
that it is all made up with the spirit, and that he is propitiated, and
they fall to eating and drinking with great joy and mirth, and he who had
been lying lifeless on the ground gets up and takes his share. So when
they have all eaten and drunken, every man departs home. And presently the
sick man gets sound and well.[NOTE 12]
Now that I have told you of the customs and naughty ways of that people,
we will have done talking of them and their province, and I will tell you
about others, all in regular order and succession.
NOTE 1.--[Baber writes (_Travels_, p. 171) when arriving to the
Lan-tsang kiang (Mekong River): "We were now on the border-line between
Carajan and Zardandan: 'When you have travelled five days you find a
province called Zardandan,' says Messer Marco, precisely the actual number
of stages from Tali-fu to the present boundary of Yung-ch'ang. That this
river must have been the demarcation between the two provinces is obvious;
one glance into that deep rift, the only exit from which is by painful
worked artificial zigzags which, under the most favourable conditions,
cannot be called safe, will satisfy the most sceptical geographer. The
exact statement of distance is a proof that Marco entered the territory of
Yung-ch'ang." Captain Gill says (II. p. 343-344) that the five marches of
Marco Polo "would be very long ones. Our journey was eight days, but it
might easily have been done in seven, as the first march to Hsia-Kuan was
not worthy of the name. The Grosvenor expedition made eleven marches with
one day's halt--twelve days altogether, and Mr. Margary was nine or ten
days on the journey. It is true that, by camping out every night, the
marches might be longer; and, as Polo refers to the crackling of the
bamboos in the fires, it is highly probable that he found no '_fine
hostelries_' on this route. This is the way the traders still travel in
Tibet; they march until they are tired, or until they find a nice grassy
spot; they then off saddles, turn their animals loose, light a fire under
some adjacent tree, and halt for the night; thus the longest possible
distance can be performed every day, and the five days from Ta-li to
Yung-Ch'ang would not be by any means an impossibility."--H.C.]
NOTE 2.--Ramusio says that both men and women use this gold case. There
can be no better instance of the accuracy with which Polo is generally
found to have represented Oriental names, when we recover his _real_
representation of them, than this name _Zardandan_. In the old Latin
editions the name appeared as _Ardandan_, _Ardadam_, etc.; in
Ramusio as _Cardandan_, correctly enough, only the first letter
should have been printed C. Marsden, carrying out his systematic
conversion of the Ramusian spelling, made this into _Kardandan_, and
thus the name became irrecognizable. Klaproth, I believe, first showed
that the word was simply the Persian ZAR-DANDAN, "Gold-Teeth," and
produced quotations from Rashiduddin mentioning the people in question by
that identical name. Indeed that historian mentions them several times.
Thus: "North-west of China is the frontier of Tibet, and of the ZARDANDAN,
who lie between Tibet and Karajang. These people cover their teeth with a
gold case, which they take off when they eat." They are also frequently
mentioned in the Chinese annals about this period under the same name,
viz. _Kin-Chi_, "Gold-Teeth," and some years after Polo's departure
from the East they originated a revolt against the Mongol yoke, in which a
great number of the imperial troops were massacred. (_De Mailla_, IX.
478-479.)
[Baber writes (p. 159): "In Western Yuennan the betel-nut is chewed with
prepared lime, colouring the teeth red, and causing a profuse
expectoration. We first met with the practice near Tali-fu.
"Is it not possible that the red colour imparted to the teeth by the
practice of chewing betel with lime may go some way to account for the
ancient name of this region, 'Zar-dandan,' 'Chin-Ch'ih,' or
'Golden-Teeth'? Betel-chewing is, of course, common all over China; but
the use of lime is almost unknown and the teeth are not necessarily
discoloured.
"In the neighbourhood of Tali, one comes suddenly upon a lime-chewing
people, and is at once struck with the strange red hue of their teeth and
gums. That some of the natives used formerly to cover their teeth with
plates of gold (from which practice, mentioned by Marco Polo, and
confirmed elsewhere, the name is generally derived) can scarcely be
considered a myth; but the peculiarity remarked by ourselves would have
been equally noticeable by the early Chinese invaders, and seems not
altogether unworthy of consideration. It is interesting to find the name
'Chin-Ch'ih' still in use.
"When Tu Wen-hsiu sent his 'Panthay' mission to England with tributary
boxes of rock from the Tali Mountains, he described himself in his letter
'as a humble native of the golden-teeth country.'"--H.C.]
_Vochan_ seems undoubtedly to be, as Martini pointed out, the city called
by the Chinese YUNG-CH'ANG-FU. Some of the old printed editions read
_Unciam_, i.e. Uncham or Unchan, and it is probable that either this or
_Vocian_, i.e. VONCHAN, was the true reading, coming very close to the
proper name, which is WUNCHEN. (See _J.A.S.B._ VI. 547.) [In an itinerary
from Ava to Peking, we read on the 10th September, 1833: "Slept at the city
Wun-tsheng (Chinese Yongtchang fu and Burmese _Wun-zen_)." (_Chin. Rep._
IX. p. 474):--Mr. F.W.K. Mueller in a study on the Pa-yi language from a
Chinese manuscript entitled _Hwa-i-yi-yue_ found by Dr. F. Hirth in China,
and belonging now to the Berlin Royal Library, says the proper orthography
of the word is _Wan-chang_ in Pa-yi. (_T'oung Pao_, III. p. 20.) This helps
to find the origin of the name _Vochan_.--H.C.] This city has been a
Chinese one for several centuries, and previous to the late Mahomedan
revolt its population was almost exclusively Chinese, with only a small
mixture of Shans. It is now noted for the remarkable beauty and fairness of
the women. But it is mentioned by Chinese authors as having been in the
Middle Ages the capital of the Gold-Teeth. These people, according to
Martini, dwelt chiefly to the north of the city. They used to go to worship
a huge stone, 100 feet high, at Nan-ngan, and cover it annually with
gold-leaf. Some additional particulars about the Kin-Chi, in the time of
the Mongols, will be found in Pauthier's notes (p. 398).
[In 1274, the Burmese attacked Yung ch'ang, whose inhabitants were known
under the name of _Kin-Chi_ (Golden-Teeth). (_E. Rocher, Princes du
Yun-nan_, p. 71.) From the Annals of Momein, translated by Mr. E.H. Parker
(_China Review_, XX. p. 345), we learn that: "In the year 1271, the General
of Ta-li was sent on a mission to procure the submission of the Burmese,
and managed to bring a Burmese envoy named Kiai-poh back with him. Four
years later Fu A-pih, Chief of the Golden-Teeth, was utilised as a guide,
which so angered the Burmese that they detained Fu A-pih and attacked
Golden-Teeth: but he managed to bribe himself free. A-ho, Governor of the
Golden-Teeth, was now sent as a spy, which caused the Burmese to advance to
the attack once more, but they were driven back by Twan Sin-cha-jih. These
events led to the Burmese war," which lasted till 1301.
According to the _Hwang-tsing Chi-kung t'u_ (quoted by Deveria, _Front._ p.
130), the _Pei-jen_ were _Kin-chi_ of Pa-y race, and were surnamed
Min-kia-tzu; the Min-kia, according to F. Garnier, say that they come from
Nan-king, but this is certainly an error for the Pei-jen. From another
Chinese work, Deveeria (p. 169) gives this information: The Piao are the
Kin-Chi; they submitted to the Mongols in the 13th century; they are
descended from the people of Chu-po or Piao Kwo (Kingdom of Piao), ancient
Pegu; P'u-p'iao, in a little valley between the Mekong and the Salwen
Rivers, was the place through which the P'u and the Piao entered China.
The Chinese geographical work _Fang-yu-ki-yao_ mentions the name of
Kin-Chi Ch'eng, or city of Kin-Chi, as the ancient denomination of
Yung-ch'ang. A Chinese Pa-y vocabulary, belonging to Professor Deveria,
translates Kin-Chi by Wan-Chang (Yung-ch'ang). (_Deveria, Front._ p.
128.)--H.C.]
It has not been determined who are the representatives of these
Gold-Teeth, who were evidently distinct from the Shans, not Buddhist, and
without literature. I should think it probable that they were _Kakhyens_ or
_Singphos_, who, excluding Shans, appear to form the greatest body in that
quarter, and are closely akin to each other, indeed essentially identical
in race.[1] The Singphos have now extended widely to the west of the Upper
Irawadi and northward into Assam, but their traditions bring them from the
borders of Yunnan. The original and still most populous seat of the Kakhyen
or Singpho race is pointed out by Colonel Hannay in the Gulansigung
Mountains and the valley of the eastern source of the Irawadi. This agrees
with Martini's indication of the seat of the Kin-Chi as north of
Yung-ch'ang. One of Hannay's notices of Singpho customs should also be
compared with the interpolation from Ramusio about tattooing: "The men
tattoo their limbs slightly, and all married females are tattooed on both
legs from the ankle to the knee, in broad horizontal circular bands. Both
sexes also wear rings below the knee of fine shreds of rattan varnished
black" (p. 18). These rings appear on the Kakhyen woman in our cut.
[Illustration: Kakhyens. (From a Photograph.)]
The only other wild tribe spoken of by Major Sladen as attending the
markets on the frontier is that of the _Lissus_ already mentioned by
Lieutenant Garnier (supra, ch. xlvii. note 6), and who are said to
be the most savage and indomitable of the tribes in that quarter. Garnier
also mentions the Mossos, who are alleged once to have formed an
independent kingdom about Li-kiang fu. Possibly, however, the Gold-Teeth
may have become entirely absorbed in the Chinese and Shan population.
The characteristic of casing the teeth in gold should identify the tribe
did it still exist. But I can learn nothing of the continued existence of
such a custom among any tribe of the Indo-Chinese continent. The insertion
of gold studs or spots, which Buerck confounds with it, is common enough
among Indo-Chinese races, but that is quite a different thing. The actual
practice of the Zardandan is, however, followed by some of the people of
Sumatra, as both Marsden and Raffles testify: "The great men sometimes set
their teeth in gold, by casing with a plate of that metal the under
row ... it is sometimes indented to the shape of the teeth, but more
usually quite plain. They do not remove it either to eat or sleep." The
like custom is mentioned by old travellers at Macassar, and with the
substitution of _silver_ for gold by a modern traveller as existing in
Timor; but in both, probably, it was a practice of Malay tribes, as in
Sumatra. (_Marsden's Sumatra_, 3rd ed., p. 52; _Raffles's Java_, I. 105;
_Bickmore's Ind. Archipelago_.)
[In his second volume of _The River of Golden Sand_, Captain Gill has two
chapters (viii. and ix.) with the title: _In the footsteps of Marco Polo
and of Augustus Margary_ devoted to _The Land of the Gold-Teeth_ and _The
Marches of the Kingdom of Mien_.--H.C.]
NOTE 3.--This is precisely the account which Lieutenant Garnier gives of
the people of Laos: "The Laos people are very indolent, and when they are
not rich enough to possess slaves they make over to their women the
greatest part of the business of the day; and 'tis these latter who not
only do all the work of the house, but who husk the rice, work in the
fields, and paddle the canoes. Hunting and fishing are almost the only
occupations which pertain exclusively to the stronger sex." (_Notice sur
le Voyage d'Exploration_, etc., p. 34.)
NOTE 4.--This highly eccentric practice has been ably illustrated and
explained by Mr. Tylor, under the name of the _Couvade_, or "Hatching," by
which it is known in some of the Bearn districts of the Pyrenees, where it
formerly existed, as it does still or did recently, in some Basque
districts of Spain. [In a paper on _La Couvade chez les Basques_,
published in the _Republique Francaise_, of 19th January, 1877, and
reprinted in _Etudes de Linguistique et a' Ethnographie par A. Hovelacque
et Julien Vinson_, Paris, 1878, Prof. Vinson quotes the following curious
passage from the poem in ten cantos, _Luciniade_, by Sacombe, of
Carcassonne (Paris and Nimes, 1790):
"En Amerique, en Corse, et chez l'Iberien,
En France meme encor chez le Venarnien,
Au pays Navarrois, lorsqu'une femme accouche,
L'epouse sort du lit et le mari se couche;
Et, quoiqu'il soit tres sain et d'esprit et de corps,
Contre un mal qu'il n'a point l'art unit ses efforts.
On le met au regime, et notre faux malade,
Soigne par l'accouchee, en son lit fait _couvade_:
On ferme avec grand soin portes, volets, rideaux;
Immobile, on l'oblige a rester sur le dos,
Pour etouffer son lait, qui gene dans sa course,
Pourrait en l'etouffant remonter vers sa source.
Un mari, dans sa couche, au medecin soumis,
Recoit, en cet etat, parents, voisins, amis,
Qui viennent l'exhorter a prendre patience
Et font des voeux au ciel pour sa convalescence."
Professor Vinson, who is an authority on the subject, comes to the
conclusion that it is not possible to ascribe to the Basques the custom of
the _couvade_.
Mr. Tylor writes to me that he "did not quite begin the use of this good
French word in the sense of the 'man-child-bed' as they call it in
Germany. It occurs in Rochefort, _Iles Antilles_, and though Dr.
Murray, of the English Dictionary, maintains that it is spurious, if so,
it is better than any genuine word I know of."--H.C.] "In certain valleys
of Biscay," says Francisque-Michel, "in which the popular usages carry us
back to the infancy of society, the woman immediately after her delivery
gets up and attends to the cares of the household, whilst the husband
takes to bed with the tender fledgeling in his arms, and so receives the
compliments of his neighbours."
The nearest people to the Zardandan of whom I find this custom elsewhere
recorded, is one called _Langszi_,[2] a small tribe of aborigines in
the department of Wei-ning, in Kweichau, but close to the border of
Yun-nan: "Their manners and customs are very extraordinary. For example,
when the wife has given birth to a child, the husband remains in the house
and holds it in his arms for a whole month, not once going out of doors.
The wife in the mean time does all the work in doors and out, and provides
and serves up both food and drink for the husband, she only giving suck to
the child." I am informed also that, among the Miris on the Upper Assam
border, the husband on such occasions confines himself strictly to the
house for forty days after the event.
The custom of the Couvade has especially and widely prevailed in South
America, not only among the Carib races of Guiana, of the Spanish Main,
and (where still surviving) of the West Indies, but among many tribes of
Brazil and its borders from the Amazons to the Plate, and among the
Abipones of Paraguay; it also exists or has existed among the aborigines
of California, in West Africa, in Bouro, one of the Moluccas, and among a
wandering tribe of the Telugu-speaking districts of Southern India.
According to Diodorus it prevailed in ancient Corsica, according to Strabo
among the Iberians of Northern Spain (where we have seen it has lingered
to recent times), according to Apollonius Rhodius among the Tibareni of
Pontus. Modified traces of a like practice, not carried to the same extent
of oddity, are also found in a variety of countries besides those that
have been named, as in Borneo, in Kamtchatka, and in Greenland. In nearly
all cases some particular diet, or abstinence from certain kinds of food
and drink, and from exertion, is prescribed to the father; in some, more
positive and trying penances are inflicted.
Butler had no doubt our Traveller's story in his head when he made the
widow in _Hudibras_ allude in a ribald speech to the supposed fact
that
--"Chineses go to bed
And lie in, in their ladies' stead."
The custom is humorously introduced, as Pauthier has noticed, in the
Mediaeval Fabliau of _Aucasin and Nicolete_. Aucasin arriving at the
castle of Torelore asks for the king and is told he is in child-bed. Where
then is his wife? She is gone to the wars and has taken all the people
with her. Aucasin, greatly astonished, enters the palace, and wanders
through it till he comes to the chamber where the king lay:--
"En le canbre entre Aucasins
Li cortois et li gentis;
Il est venus dusqu'au lit
Alec u li Rois se gist.
Pardevant lui s'arestit
Si parla, Oes que dist;
Diva fau, que fais-tu ci?
Dist le Rois, Je gis d'un fil,
Quant mes mois sera complis,
Et ge serai bien garis,
Dont irai le messe oir
Si comme mes ancessor fist," etc.
Aucasin pulls all the clothes off him, and cudgels him soundly, making him
promise that never a man shall lie in again in his country.
This strange custom, if it were unique, would look like a coarse practical
joke, but appearing as it does among so many different races and in every
quarter of the world, it must have its root somewhere deep in the
psychology of the uncivilised man. I must refer to Mr. Tylor's interesting
remarks on the rationale of the custom, for they do not bear abridgment.
Professor Max Mueller humorously suggests that "the treatment which a
husband receives among ourselves at the time of his wife's confinement,
not only from mothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and other female relations,
but from nurses, and from every consequential maid-servant in the house,"
is but a "survival," as Mr. Tylor would call it, of the _couvade_; or
at least represents the same feeling which among those many uncivilised
nations thus drove the husband to his bed, and sometimes (as among the
Caribs) put him when there to systematic torture.
(_Tylor Researches_, 288-296; _Michel, Le Pays Basque_, p. 201;
_Sketches of the Meau-tsze_, transl. by _Bridgman_ in _J. of North China
Br. of R. As. Soc._, p. 277; _Hudibras_, Pt. III., canto I. 707; _Fabliaus
et Contes par Barbazan, ed. Meon_, I. 408-409; _Indian Antiq._ III. 151;
_Mueller's Chips_, II. 227 seqq.; many other references in TYLOR, and in a
capital monograph by Dr. H.H. Ploss of Leipzig, received during revision
of this sheet: '_Das Mannerkindbett_.' What a notable example of the
German power of compounding is that title!)
[This custom seems to be considered generally as a survival of the
matriarchate in a society with a patriarchal regime. We may add to the
list of authorities on this subject: _E. Westermarck, Hist. of Human
Marriage_, 106, seqq.; _G. A. Wilken, De Couvade bij de Volken v.d.
Indischen Archipel, Bijdr. Ind. Inst._, 5th ser., iv. p. 250. Dr. Ernest
Martin, late physician of the French Legation at Peking, in an article on
_La Couvade en Chine_ (_Revue Scientifique_, 24th March, 1894), gave a
drawing representing the couvade from a sketch by a native artist.
In the _China Review_ (XI. pp. 401-402), "Lao Kwang-tung" notes these
interesting facts: "The Chinese believe that certain actions performed by
the husband during the pregnancy of his wife will affect the child. If a
dish of food on the table is raised by putting another dish, or anything
else below it, it is not considered proper for a husband, who is expecting
the birth of a child, to partake of it, for fear the two dishes should
cause the child to have two tongues. It is extraordinary that the caution
thus exercised by the Chinese has not prevented many of them from being
double-tongued. This result, it is supposed, however, will only happen if
the food so raised is eaten in the house in which the future mother
happens to be. It is thought that the pasting up of the red papers
containing antithetical and felicitous sentences on them, as at New Year's
time, by a man under similar circumstances, and this whether the future
mother sees the action performed or not, will cause the child to have red
marks on the face or any part of the body. The causes producing _naevi
materni_ have probably been the origin of such marks, rather than the idea
entertained by the Chinese that the father, having performed an action by
some occult mode, influences the child yet unborn. A case is said to have
occurred in which ill effects were obviated, or rather obliterated, by the
red papers being torn down, after the birth of the infant, and soaked in
water, when as the red disappeared from the paper, so the child's face
assumed a natural hue. Lord Avebury also speaks of _la couvade_ as
existing among the Chinese of West Yun-Nan. (_Origin of Civilisation and
Primitive Condition of Man_, p. 18)."
Dr. J.A.H. Murray, editor of the _New English Dictionary_, wrote, in
_The Academy_, of 29th October, 1892, a letter with the heading of
_Couvade, The Genesis of an Anthropological Term_, which elicited an
answer from Dr. E.B. Tylor (_Academy_, 5th November): "Wanting a general
term for such customs," writes Dr. Tylor, "and finding statements in books
that this male lying-in lasted on till modern times, in the south of
France, and was there called _couvade_, that is brooding or hatching
(_couver_), I adopted this word for the set of customs, and it has since
become established in English." The discussion was carried on in _The
Academy_, 12th and 19th November, 10th and 17th December; Mr. A.L. Mayhew
wrote (12th November): "There is no doubt whatever that Dr. Tylor and
Professor Max Mueller (in a review of Dr. Tylor's book) share the glory of
having given a new technical sense to an old provincial French word, and
of seeing it accepted in France, and safely enshrined in the great
Dictionary of Littre."
Now as to the origin of the word; we have seen above that Rochefort was
the first to use the expression _faire la couvade_. This author, or at
least the author (see _Barbier, Ouvrages anonymes_) of the _Histoire
naturelle ... des Iles Antilles_, which was published for the first time
at Rotterdam, in 1658, 4to., writes: "C'est qu'au meme tems que la femme
est delivree le mary se met au lit, pour s'y plaindre et y faire
l'acouchee: coutume, qui bien que Sauvage et ridicule, se trouve
neantmoins a ce que l'on dit, parmy les paysans d'vne certaine Province de
France. Et ils appellent cela _faire la couvade_. Mais ce qui est de
facheus pour le pauvre Caraibe, qui s'est mis au lit au lieu de
l'acouchee, c'est qu'on luy fait faire diete dix on douze jours de suite,
ne luy donnant rien par jour qu'vn petit morceau de Cassave, et un peu
d'eau dans la quelle on a aussi fait boueillir un peu de ce pain de
racine.... Mais ils ne font ce grand jeusne qu'a la naissance de leur
premier enfant ..." (II. pp. 607-608).
Lafitau (_Maeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains_, I. pp. 49-50) says on the
authority of Rochefort: "Je la trouve chez les Iberiens ou les premiers
Peuples d'Espagne ... elle est aujourd'hui dans quelques unes de nos
Provinces d'Espagne."
The word _couvade_, forgotten in the sense of lying-in bed, recalled by
Sacombe, has been renovated in a happy manner by Dr. Tylor.
As to the custom itself, there can be no doubt of its existence, in spite
of some denials. Dr. Tylor, in the third edition of his valuable _Early
History of Mankind_, published in 1878 (Murray), since the last edition of
_The Book of Ser Marco Polo_, has added (pp. 291 seqq.) many more proofs
to support what he had already said on the subject.
There may be some strong doubts as to the _couvade_ in the south of
France, and the authors who speak of it in Bearn and the Basque Countries
seem to have copied one another, but there is not the slightest doubt of
its having been and of its being actually practised in South America.
There is a very curious account of it in the _Voyage dans le Nord du
Bresil_ made by Father Yves d'Evreux in 1613 and 1614 (see pp. 88-89 of
the reprint, Paris, 1864, and the note of the learned Ferdinand Denis, pp.
411-412). Compare with _Durch Central-Brasilien ... im Jahre_ 1884 _von
K.v. den Steinen_. But the following extract from _Among the Indians of
Guiana_.... _By Everard im Thurn_ (1883), will settle, I think, the
question:
"Turning from the story of the day to the story of the life, we may begin
at the beginning, that is, at the birth of the children. And here, at
once, we meet with, perhaps, the most curious point in the habits of the
Indians; the _couvade_ or male child-bed. This custom, which is common to
the uncivilized people of many parts of the world, is probably among the
strangest ever invented by the human brain. Even before the child is born,
the father abstains for a time from certain kinds of animal food. The
woman works as usual up to a few hours before the birth of the child. At
last she retires alone, or accompanied only by some other women, to the
forest, where she ties up her hammock; and then the child is born. Then in
a few hours--often less than a day--the woman, who, like all women living
in a very unartificial condition, suffers but little, gets up and resumes
her ordinary work. According to Schomburgk, the mother, at any rate among
the Macusis, remains in her hammock for some time, and the father hangs
his hammock, and lies in it, by her side; but in all cases where the
matter came under my notice, the mother left her hammock almost at once.
In any case, no sooner is the child born than the father takes to his
hammock and, abstaining from every sort of work, from meat and all other
food, except weak gruel of cassava meal, from smoking, from washing
himself, and, above all, from touching weapons of any sort, is nursed and
cared for by all the women of the place. One other regulation, mentioned
by Schomburgk, is certainly quaint; the interesting father may not scratch
himself with his finger-nails, but he may use for this purpose a splinter,
specially provided, from the mid-rib of a cokerite palm. This continues
for many days, and sometimes even weeks. _Couvade_ is such a wide-spread
institution, that I had often read and wondered at it; but it was not
until I saw it practised around me, and found that I was often suddenly
deprived of the services of my best hunters or boat-hands, by the
necessity which they felt, and which nothing could persuade them to
disregard, of observing _couvade_, that I realized its full strangeness.
No satisfactory explanation of its origin seems attainable. It appears
based on a belief in the existence of a mysterious connection between the
child and its father-far closer than that which exists between the child
and its mother,--and of such a nature that if the father infringes any of
the rules of the _couvade_, for a time after the birth of the child, the
latter suffers. For instance, if he eats the flesh of a water-haas
(_Capybara_), a large rodent with very protruding teeth, the teeth of the
child will grow as those of the animal; or if he eats the flesh of the
spotted-skinned labba, the child's skin will become spotted. Apparently
there is also some idea that for the father to eat strong food, to wash,
to smoke, or to handle weapons, would have the same result as if the
new-born babe ate such food, washed, smoked, or played with edged tools"
(pp. 217-219.)
I have to thank Dr. Edward B. Tylor for the valuable notes he kindly sent
me.--H.C.]
NOTE 5.--"The abundance of gold in Yun-nan is proverbial in China, so
that if a man lives very extravagantly they ask if his father is governor
of Yun-nan." (_Martini_, p. 140.)
Polo has told us that in Eastern Yun-nan the exchange was 8 of silver for
one of gold (ch. xlviii.); in the Western division of the province 6 of
silver for one of gold (ch. xlix.); and now, still nearer the borders of
Ava, only 5 of silver for one of gold. Such discrepancies within 15 days'
journey would be inconceivable, but that in both the latter instances at
least he appears to speak of the rates at which the gold was purchased
from secluded, ignorant, and uncivilised tribes. It is difficult to
reconcile with other facts the reason which he assigns for the high value
put on silver at Vochan, viz., that there was no silver-mine within five
months' journey. In later days, at least, Martini speaks of many
silver-mines in Yun-nan, and the "Great Silver Mine" (_Bau-dwen gyi_ of the
Burmese) or group of mines, which affords a chief supply to Burma in modern
times, is not far from the territory of our Traveller's Zardandan.
Garnier's map shows several argentiferous sites in the Valley of the
Lan-t'sang.
In another work[3] I have remarked at some length on the relative values
of gold and silver about this time. In Western Europe these seem to have
been as 12 to 1, and I have shown grounds for believing that in India, and
generally over civilised Asia, the ratio was 10 to 1. In Pauthier's
extracts from the _Yuen-shi_ or Annals of the Mongol Dynasty, there is an
incidental but precise confirmation of this, of which I was not then
aware. This states (p. 321) that on the issue of the paper currency of
1287 the official instructions to the local treasuries were to issue notes
of the nominal value of two strings, i.e. 2000 _wen_ or cash, for every
ounce of flowered silver, and 20,000 cash for every ounce of gold. Ten to
1 must have continued to be the relation in China down to about the end of
the 17th century if we may believe Lecomte; but when Milburne states the
same value in the beginning of the 19th he must have fallen into some
great error. In 1781 Sonnerat tells us that _formerly_ gold had been
exported from China with a profit of 25 per cent., but at that time a
profit of 18 to 20 per cent, was made by _importing_ it. At present[4]
the relative values are about the same as in Europe, viz. 1 to 15-1/2 or 1
to 16; but in Canton, in 1844, they were 1 to 17; and Timkowski states
that at Peking in 1821 the finest gold was valued at 18 to 1. And as
regards the precise territory of which this chapter speaks I find in
Lieutenant Bower's Commercial Report on Sladen's Mission that the price of
pure gold at Momein in 1868 was 13 times its weight in silver (p. 122);
whilst M. Garnier mentions that the exchange at Ta-li in 1869 was 12 to 1
(I. 522).
Does not Shakspeare indicate at least a memory of 10 to 1 as the
traditional relation of gold to silver when he makes the Prince of
Morocco, balancing over Portia's caskets, argue:
"Or shall I think in silver she's immured,
Being ten times undervalued to tried gold?
O sinful thought."
In Japan, at the time trade was opened, we know from Sir R. Alcock's work
the extraordinary fact that the proportionate value set upon gold and
silver currency by authority was as 3 to 1.
(_Cathay_, etc., p. ccl. and p. 442; _Lecomte_, II. 91; _Milburne's
Oriental Commerce_, II. 510; _Sonnerat_, II. 17; _Hedde, Etude, Pratique_,
etc., p. 14; _Williams, Chinese Commercial Guide_, p. 129; _Timkowski_,
II. 202; _Alcock_, I. 281; II. 411, etc.)
NOTE 6.--Mr. Lay cites from a Chinese authority a notice of a tribe of
"Western Miautsze," who "in the middle of autumn sacrifice to the Great
Ancestor or Founder of their Race." (_The Chinese as they are_, p. 321.)
NOTE 7.--Dr. Anderson confirms the depressing and unhealthy character of
the summer climate at Momein, though standing between 5000 and 6000 feet
above the sea (p. 41).
NOTE 8.--"Whereas before," says Jack Cade to Lord Say, "our forefathers
had no books but score and tally, thou hast caused printing to be used."
The use of such tallies for the record of contracts among the aboriginal
tribes of Kweichau is mentioned by Chinese authorities, and the French
missionaries of Bonga speak of the same as in use among the simple tribes
in that vicinity. But, as Marsden notes, the use of such rude records was
to be found in his day in higher places and much nearer home. They
continued to be employed as records of receipts in the British Exchequer
till 1834, "and it is worthy of recollection that the fire by which the
Houses of Parliament were destroyed was supposed to have originated in the
over-heating of the flues in which the discarded tallies were being
burnt." I remember often, when a child, to have seen the tallies of the
colliers in Scotland, and possibly among that class they may survive. They
appear to be still used by bakers in various parts of England and France,
in the Canterbury hop-gardens, and locally in some other trades.
(_Martini_, 135; _Bridgman_, 259, 262; _Eng. Cyclop._ sub v. _Tally; Notes
and Queries_, 1st ser. X. 485.)
[According to Father Crabouillet (_Missions Cath._ 1873, p. 105), the
Lolos use tallies for their contracts; Dr. Harmand mentions (_Tour du
Monde_, 1877, No. VII.) the same fact among the Khas of Central Laos; and
M. Pierre Lefevre-Pontalis _Populations du nord de l'Indo-Chine_, 1892,
p. 22, from the _J. As._ says he saw these tallies among the Khas of
Luang-Prabang.--H.C.]
"In Illustration of this custom I have to relate what follows. In the
year 1863 the Tsaubwa (or Prince) of a Shan Province adjoining Yun-nan was
in rebellion against the Burmese Government. He wished to enter into
communication with the British Government. He sent a messenger to a
British Officer with a letter tendering his allegiance, and accompanying
this letter was a piece of bamboo about five inches long. This had been
split down the middle, so that the two pieces fitted closely together,
forming a tube in the original shape of the bamboo. A notch at one end
included the edges of both pieces, showing that they were a pair. The
messenger said that if the reply were favourable one of the pieces was to
be returned and the other kept. I need hardly say the messenger received
no written reply, and both pieces of bamboo were retained." (_MS. Note
by Sir Arthur Phayre_.)
NOTE 9.--Compare Mr. Hodgson's account of the sub-Himalayan Bodos and
Dhimals: "All diseases are ascribed to supernatural agency. The sick man
is supposed to be possessed by one of the deities, who racks him with pain
as a punishment for impiety or neglect of the god in question. Hence not
the mediciner, but the exorcist, is summoned to the sick man's aid."
(_J.A.S.B._ XVIII. 728.)
NOTE 10.--Mr. Hodgson again: "Libations of fermented liquor always
accompany sacrifice--because, to confess the whole truth, sacrifice and
feast are commutable words, and feasts need to be crowned with copious
potations." (Ibid.)
NOTE 11.--And again: "The god in question is asked what sacrifice he
requires? a buffalo, a hog, a fowl, or a duck, to spare the sufferer; ...
anxious as I am fully to illustrate the topic, I will not try the patience
of my readers by describing all that vast variety of black victims and
white, of red victims and blue, which each particular deity is alleged to
prefer." (Ibid. and p. 732.)
NOTE 12.--The same system of devil-dancing is prevalent among the tribes
on the Lu-kiang, as described by the R.C. Missionaries. The conjurors are
there called _Mumos_. (_Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi_, XXXVI. 323, and
XXXVII. 312-313.)
"Marco's account of the exorcism of evil spirits in cases of obstinate
illness exactly resembles what is done in similar cases by the Burmese,
except that I never saw animals sacrificed on such occasions." (_Sir A.
Phayre._)
Mouhot says of the wild people of Cambodia called _Stiens_: "When any one
is ill they say that the Evil Spirit torments him; and to deliver him they
set up about the patient a dreadful din which does not cease night or day,
until some one among the bystanders falls down as if in a syncope, crying
out, 'I have him,--he is in me,--he is strangling me!' Then they question
the person who has thus become possessed. They ask him what remedies will
save the patient; what remedies does the Evil Spirit require that he may
give up his prey? Sometimes it is an ox or a pig; but too often it is a
human victim." (_J.R.G.S._ XXXII. 147.)
See also the account of the Samoyede _Tadibei_ or Devil-dancer in
Klaproth's _Magasin Asiatique_ (II. 83).
In fact these strange rites of Shamanism, devil-dancing, or what not, are
found with wonderful identity of character among the non-Caucasian races
over parts of the earth most remote from one another, not only among the
vast variety of Indo-Chinese Tribes, but among the Tamulian tribes of
India, the Veddahs of Ceylon, the races of Siberia, and the red nations of
North and South America. Hinduism has assimilated these "prior
superstitions of the sons of Tur" as Mr. Hodgson calls them, in the form
of Tantrika mysteries, whilst, in the wild performance of the Dancing
Dervishes at Constantinople, we see perhaps again the infection of
Turanian blood breaking out from the very heart of Mussulman orthodoxy.
Dr. Caldwell has given a striking account of the practice of devil-dancing
among the Shanars of Tinnevelly, which forms a perfect parallel in modern
language to our Traveller's description of a scene of which he also had
manifestly been an eye-witness: "When the preparations are completed and
the devil-dance is about to commence, the music is at first comparatively
slow; the dancer seems impassive and sullen, and he either stands still or
moves about in gloomy silence. Gradually, as the music becomes quicker and
louder, his excitement begins to rise. Sometimes, to help him to work
himself up into a frenzy, he uses medicated draughts, cuts and lacerates
himself till the blood flows, lashes himself with a huge whip, presses a
burning torch to his breast, drinks the blood which flows from his own
wounds, or drains the blood of the sacrifice, putting the throat of the
decapitated goat to his mouth. Then, as if he had acquired new life, he
begins to brandish his staff of bells, and to dance with a quick but wild
unsteady step. Suddenly the afflatus descends; there is no mistaking that
glare, or those frantic leaps. He snorts, he stares, he gyrates. The demon
has now taken bodily possession of him, and though he retains the power of
utterance and motion, both are under the demon's control, and his separate
consciousness is in abeyance. The bystanders signalise the event by
raising a long shout, attended with a peculiar vibratory noise, caused by
the motion of the hand and tongue, or the tongue alone. The devil-dancer
is now worshipped as a present deity, and every bystander consults him
respecting his diseases, his wants, the welfare of his absent relatives,
the offerings to be made for the accomplishment of his wishes, and in
short everything for which superhuman knowledge is supposed to be
available." (_Hodgson, J.R.As.Soc._ XVIII. 397; _The Tinnevelly
Shanars_, by the _Rev. R. Caldwell, B.A._, Madras, 1849, pp. 19-20.)
[1] "_Singpho_," says Colonel Hannay, "signifies in the Kakhyen
language 'a man,' and all of this race who have settled in Hookong or
Assam are thus designated; the reason of their change of name I could
not ascertain, but so much importance seems to be attached to it, that
the Singphos, in talking of their eastern and southern neighbours,
call them Kakhyens or Kakoos, and consider it an insult to be called
so themselves." (_Sketch of the Singphos, or the Kakhyens of
Burma_, Calcutta, 1847, pp. 3-4.) If, however, the Kakhyens, or
_Kachyens_ (as Major Sladen calls them), are represented by the
_Go-tchang_ of Pauthier's Chinese extracts, these seem to be
distinguished from the Kin-Chi, though associated with them. (See pp.
397, 411.)
[2] [Mr. E.H. Parker (_China Review_, XIV. p. 359) says that Colonel
Yule's _Langszi_ are evidently the _Szilang_, one of the six
_Chao_, but turned upside down.--H.C.]
[3] _Cathay_, etc., pp. ccl. seqq. and p. 441.
[4] Written in 1870.
CHAPTER LI.
WHEREIN IS RELATED HOW THE KING OF MIEN AND BANGALA VOWED VENGEANCE
AGAINST THE GREAT KAAN.
But I was forgetting to tell you of a famous battle that was fought in the
kingdom of Vochan in the Province of Zardandan, and that ought not to be
omitted from our Book. So we will relate all the particulars.
You see, in the year of Christ, 1272,[NOTE 1] the Great Kaan sent a large
force into the kingdoms of Carajan and Vochan, to protect them from the
ravages of ill-disposed people; and this was before he had sent any of his
sons to rule the country, as he did afterwards when he made Sentemur king
there, the son of a son of his who was deceased.
Now there was a certain king, called the king of Mien and of Bangala, who
was a very puissant prince, with much territory and treasure and people;
and he was not as yet subject to the Great Kaan, though it was not long
after that the latter conquered him and took from him both the kingdoms
that I have named.[NOTE 2] And it came to pass that when this king of Mien
and Bangala heard that the host of the Great Kaan was at Vochan, he said
to himself that it behoved him to go against them with so great a force as
should insure his cutting off the whole of them, insomuch that the Great
Kaan would be very sorry ever to send an army again thither [to his
frontier].
So this king prepared a great force and munitions of war; and he had, let
me tell you, 2000 great elephants, on each of which was set a tower of
timber, well framed and strong, and carrying from twelve to sixteen
well-armed fighting men.[NOTE 3] And besides these, he had of horsemen and
of footmen good 60,000 men. In short, he equipped a fine force, as well
befitted such a puissant prince. It was indeed a host capable of doing
great things.
And what shall I tell you? When the king had completed these great
preparations to fight the Tartars, he tarried not, but straightway marched
against them. And after advancing without meeting with anything worth
mentioning, they arrived within three days of the Great Kaan's host, which
was then at Vochan in the territory of Zardandan, of which I have already
spoken. So there the king pitched his camp, and halted to refresh his
army.
NOTE 1.--This date is no doubt corrupt. (See note 3, ch. lii.)
NOTE 2.--MIEN is the name by which the kingdom of Burma or Ava was and is
known to the Chinese. M. Garnier informs me that _Mien-Kwe_ or
_Mien-tisong_ is the name always given in Yun-nan to that kingdom, whilst
the Shans at Kiang Hung call the Burmese _Man_ (pronounced like the English
word).
The title given to the sovereign in question of King of BENGAL, as well as
of Mien, is very remarkable. We shall see reason hereafter to conceive
that Polo did more or less confound Bengal with _Pegu_, which was subject
to the Burmese monarchy up to the time of the Mongol invasion. But apart
from any such misapprehension, there is not only evidence of rather close
relations between Burma and Gangetic India in the ages immediately
preceding that of our author, but also some ground for believing that he
may be right in his representation, and that the King of Burma may have at
this time arrogated the title of "King of Bengal," which is attributed to
him in the text.
Anaurahta, one of the most powerful kings in Burmese history (1017-1059),
extended his conquests to the frontiers of India, and is stated to have
set up images within that country. He also married an Indian princess, the
daughter of the King of _Wethali_ (i. e, _Vaicali_ in Tirhut).
There is also in the _Burmese Chronicle_ a somewhat confused story
regarding a succeeding king, Kyan-tsittha (A.D. 1064), who desired to
marry his daughter to the son of the King of _Patteik-Kara_, a part of
Bengal.[1] The marriage was objected to by the Burmese nobles, but the
princess was already with child by the Bengal prince; and their son
eventually succeeded to the Burmese throne under the name of
Alaungtsi-thu. When king, he travelled all over his dominions, and visited
the images which Anaurahta had set up in India. He also maintained
intercourse with the King of Patteik Kara and married his daughter.
Alaungtsi-thu is stated to have lived to the age of 101 years, and to have
reigned 75. Even then his death was hastened by his son Narathu, who
smothered him in the temple called Shwe-Ku ("Golden Cave"), at Pagan, and
also put to death his Bengali step-mother. The father of the latter sent
eight brave men, disguised as Brahmans, to avenge his daughter's death.
Having got access to the royal presence through their sacred character,
they slew King Narathu and then themselves. Hence King Narathu is known in
the Burmese history as the _Kala-Kya Meng_ or "King slain by the Hindus."
He was building the great Temple at Pagan called _Dhammayangyi_, at the
time of his death, which occurred about the year 1171. The great-grandson
of this king was Narathihapade (presumably _Narasinha-pati_), the king
reigning at the time of the Mongol invasion.
All these circumstances show tolerably close relations between Burma and
Bengal, and also _that the dynasty then reigning in Burma was descended
from a Bengal stock_. Sir Arthur Phayre, after noting these points,
remarks: "From all these circumstances, and from the conquests attributed
to Anaurahta, it is very probable that, after the conquest of Bengal by
the Mahomedans in the 13th century, the kings of Burma would assume the
title of _Kings of Bengal_. This is nowhere expressly stated in the
Burmese history, but the course of events renders it very probable. We
know that the claim to Bengal was asserted by the kings of Burma in long
after years. In the Journal of the Marquis of Hastings, under the date of
6th September, 1818, is the following passage: 'The king of Burma
favoured us early this year with the obliging requisition that we should
cede to him Moorshedabad and the provinces to the east of it, which he
deigned to say were all natural dependencies of his throne.' And at the
time of the disputes on the frontier of Arakan, in 1823-1824, which led to
the war of the two following years, the Governor of Arakan made a similar
demand. We may therefore reasonably conclude that at the close of the 13th
century of the Christian era the kings of Pagan called themselves kings of
Burma and of Bengala." (_MS. Note by Sir Arthur Phayre_; see also his
paper in _J.A.S.B._ vol. XXXVII. part I.)
NOTE 3.--It is very difficult to know what to make of the repeated
assertions of old writers as to the numbers of men carried by
war-elephants, or, if we could admit those numbers, to conceive how the
animal could have carried the enormous structure necessary to give them
space to use their weapons. The Third Book of Maccabees is the most
astounding in this way, alleging that a single elephant carried 32 stout
men, besides the Indian _Mahaut_. Bochart indeed supposes the number here
to be a clerical error for 12, but this would even be extravagant. Friar
Jordanus is, no doubt, building on the Maccabees rather than on his own
Oriental experience when he says that the elephant "carrieth easily more
than 30 men." Philostratus, in his _Life of Apollonius_, speaks of 10 to
15; Ibn Batuta of about 20; and a great elephant sent by Timur to the
Sultan of Egypt is said to have carried 20 drummers. Christopher Borri says
that in Cochin China the elephant did ordinarily carry 13 or 14 persons, 6
on each side in two tiers of 3 each, and 2 behind. On the other hand, among
the ancients, Strabo and Aelian speak of _three_ soldiers only in addition
to the driver, and Livy, describing the Battle of Magnesia, of _four_.
These last are reasonable statements.
(_Bochart_, _Hierozoicon_, ed. 3rd, p. 266; _Jord._, p. 26; _Philost._
trad. par _A. Chassaing_, liv. II. c. ii.; _Ibn Bat._ II. 223; _N. and
E._ XIV. 510; _Cochin China_, etc., London, 1633, ed. 3; _Armandi, Hist.
Militaire des Elephants_, 259 seqq. 442.)
[1] Sir A. Phayre thinks this may have been _Vikrampur_, for some
time the capital of Eastern Bengal before the Mahomedan conquest.
Vikrampur was some miles east of Dacca, and the dynasty in question
was that called _Vaidya_. (See _Lassen_, III. 749.)
_Patteik-Kara_ is apparently an attempt to represent some Hindi
name such as _Patthargarh_, "The Stone-Fort."
CHAPTER LII.
OF THE BATTLE THAT WAS FOUGHT BY THE GREAT KAAN'S HOST AND HIS SENESCHAL,
AGAINST THE KING OF MIEN.
And when the Captain of the Tartar host had certain news that the king
aforesaid was coming against him with so great a force, he waxed uneasy,
seeing that he had with him but 12,000 horsemen. Natheless he was a most
valiant and able soldier, of great experience in arms and an excellent
Captain; and his name was NESCRADIN.[NOTE 1] His troops too were very
good, and he gave them very particular orders and cautions how to act, and
took every measure for his own defence and that of his army. And why
should I make a long story of it? The whole force of the Tartars,
consisting of 12,000 well-mounted horsemen, advanced to receive the enemy
in the Plain of Vochan, and there they waited to give them battle. And
this they did through the good judgment of the excellent Captain who led
them; for hard by that plain was a great wood, thick with trees. And so
there in the plain the Tartars awaited their foe. Let us then leave
discoursing of them a while; we shall come back to them presently; but
meantime let us speak of the enemy.
After the King of Mien had halted long enough to refresh his troops, he
resumed his march, and came to the Plain of Vochan, where the Tartars were
already in order of battle. And when the king's army had arrived in the
plain, and was within a mile of the enemy, he caused all the castles that
were on the elephants to be ordered for battle, and the fighting-men to
take up their posts on them, and he arrayed his horse and his foot with
all skill, like a wise king as he was. And when he had completed all his
arrangements he began to advance to engage the enemy. The Tartars, seeing
the foe advance, showed no dismay, but came on likewise with good order
and discipline to meet them. And when they were near and nought remained
but to begin the fight, the horses of the Tartars took such fright at the
sight of the elephants that they could not be got to face the foe, but
always swerved and turned back; whilst all the time the king and his
forces, and all his elephants, continued to advance upon them.[NOTE 2]
And when the Tartars perceived how the case stood, they were in great
wrath, and wist not what to say or do; for well enough they saw that unless
they could get their horses to advance, all would be lost. But their
Captain acted like a wise leader who had considered everything beforehand.
He immediately gave orders that every man should dismount and tie his horse
to the trees of the forest that stood hard by, and that then they should
take to their bows, a weapon that they know how to handle better than any
troops in the world. They did as he bade them, and plied their bows
stoutly, shooting so many shafts at the advancing elephants that in a short
space they had wounded or slain the greater part of them as well as of the
men they carried. The enemy also shot at the Tartars, but the Tartars had
the better weapons, and were the better archers to boot.
And what shall I tell you? Understand that when the elephants felt the
smart of those arrows that pelted them like rain, they turned tail and
fled, and nothing on earth would have induced them to turn and face the
Tartars. So off they sped with such a noise and uproar that you would have
trowed the world was coming to an end! And then too they plunged into the
wood and rushed this way and that, dashing their castles against the trees,
bursting their harness and smashing and destroying everything that was on
them.
So when the Tartars saw that the elephants had turned tail and could not
be brought to face the fight again, they got to horse at once and charged
the enemy. And then the battle began to rage furiously with sword and
mace. Right fiercely did the two hosts rush together, and deadly were the
blows exchanged. The king's troops were far more in number than the
Tartars, but they were not of such metal, nor so inured to war; otherwise
the Tartars who were so few in number could never have stood against them.
Then might you see swashing blows dealt and taken from sword and mace;
then might you see knights and horses and men-at-arms go down; then might
you see arms and hands and legs and heads hewn off: and besides the dead
that fell, many a wounded man, that never rose again, for the sore press
there was. The din and uproar were so great from this side and from that,
that God might have thundered and no man would have heard it! Great was
the medley, and dire and parlous was the fight that was fought on both
sides; but the Tartars had the best of it.[NOTE 3]
In an ill hour indeed, for the king and his people, was that battle begun,
so many of them were slain therein. And when they had continued fighting
till midday the king's troops could stand against the Tartars no longer;
but felt that they were defeated, and turned and fled. And when the
Tartars saw them routed they gave chase, and hacked and slew so
mercilessly that it was a piteous sight to see. But after pursuing a while
they gave up, and returned to the wood to catch the elephants that had run
away, and to manage this they had to cut down great trees to bar their
passage. Even then they would not have been able to take them without the
help of the king's own men who had been taken, and who knew better how to
deal with the beasts than the Tartars did. The elephant is an animal that
hath more wit than any other; but in this way at last they were caught,
more than 200 of them. And it was from this time forth that the Great Kaan
began to keep numbers of elephants.
So thus it was that the king aforesaid was defeated by the sagacity and
superior skill of the Tartars as you have heard.
NOTE 1.--_Nescradin_ for Nesradin, as we had _Bascra_ for Basra.
This NASRUDDIN was apparently an officer of whom Rashiduddin speaks, and
whom he calls governor (or perhaps commander) in Karajang. He describes
him as having succeeded in that command to his father the Sayad Ajil of
Bokhara, one of the best of Kublai's chief Ministers. Nasr-uddin retained
his position in Yun-nan till his death, which Rashid, writing about 1300,
says occurred five or six years before. His son Bayan, who also bore the
grandfather's title of Sayad Ajil, was Minister of Finance under Kublai's
successor; and another son, Hala, is also mentioned as one of the
governors of the province of Fu-chau. (See _Cathay_, pp. 265, 268, and
_D'Ohsson_, II. 507-508.)
Nasr-uddin (_Nasulating_) is also frequently mentioned as employed on this
frontier by the Chinese authorities whom Pauthier cites.
[Na-su-la-ding [Nasr-uddin] was the eldest of the five sons of the
Mohammedan Sai-dien-ch'i shan-sze-ding, Sayad Ajil, a native of Bokhara,
who died in Yun-nan, where he had been governor when Kublai, in the reign
of Mangu, entered the country. Nasr-uddin "has a separate biography in ch.
cxxv of the _Yuen-shi_. He was governor of the province of Yun-nan, and
distinguished himself in the war against the southern tribes of _Kiao-chi_
(Cochin-China) and _Mien_ (Burma). He died in 1292, the father of twelve
sons, the names of five of which are given in the biography, viz.
_Bo-yen-ch'a-rh_ [Bayan], who held a high office, Omar, Djafar, Hussein,
and Saadi." (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. 270-271). Mr. E.H. Parker
writes in the _China Review_, February-March, 1901, pp. 196-197, that the
Mongol history states that amongst the reforms of Nasr-uddin's father in
Yun-nan, was the introduction of coffins for the dead, instead of burning
them.--H.C.]
[NOTE 2.--In his battle near Sardis, Cyrus "collected together all the
camels that had come in the train of his army to carry the provisions and
the baggage, and taking off their loads, he mounted riders upon them
accoutred as horsemen. These he commanded to advance in front of his other
troops against the Lydian horse.... The reason why Cyrus opposed his
camels to the enemy's horse was, because the horse has a natural dread of
the camel, and cannot abide either the sight or the smell of that
animal.... The two armies then joined battle, and immediately the Lydian
warhorses, seeing and smelling the camels, turned round and galloped off."
(_Herodotus_, Bk. I. i. p. 220, _Rawlinson's_ ed.)--H.C.]
NOTE 3.--We are indebted to Pauthier for very interesting illustrations of
this narrative from the Chinese Annalists (p. 410 seqq.). These latter
fix the date to the year 1277, and it is probable that the 1272 or
MCCLXXII of the Texts was a clerical error for MCCLXXVII. The Annalists
describe the people of Mien as irritated at calls upon them to submit to
the Mongols (whose power they probably did not appreciate, as their
descendants did not appreciate the British power in 1824), and as crossing
the frontier of Yung-ch'ang to establish fortified posts. The force of
Mien, they say, amounted to 50,000 men, with 800 elephants and 10,000
horses, whilst the Mongol Chief had but _seven hundred_ men. "When the
elephants felt the arrows (of the Mongols) they turned tail and fled with
the platforms on their backs into a place that was set thickly with sharp
bamboo-stakes, and these their riders laid hold of to prick them with."
This threw the Burmese army into confusion; they fled, and were pursued
with great slaughter.
The Chinese author does not mention Nasr-uddin in connection with this
battle. He names as the chief of the Mongol force _Huthukh_ (Kutuka?),
commandant of Ta-li fu. Nasr-uddin is mentioned as advancing, a few months
later (about December, 1277), with nearly 4000 men to Kiangtheu (which
appears to have been on the Irawadi, somewhere near Bhamo, and is perhaps
the Kaungtaung of the Burmese), but effecting little (p. 415).
[I have published in the _Rev. Ext. Orient_, II. 72-88, from the British
Museum _Add. MS._ 16913, the translation by Mgr. Visdelou, of Chinese
documents relating to the Kingdom of Mien and the wars of Kublai; the
battle won by _Hu-tu_, commandant of Ta-li, was fought during the 3rd
month of the 14th year (1277). (Cf. Pauthier, supra.)--H.C.]
These affairs of the battle in the Yung-ch'ang territory, and the advance
of Nasr-uddin to the Irawadi are, as Polo clearly implies in the beginning
of ch. li., quite distinct from the invasion and conquest of Mien some
years later, of which he speaks in ch. liv. They are not mentioned in the
Burmese Annals at all.
Sir Arthur Phayre is inclined to reject altogether the story of the battle
near Yung-ch'ang in consequence of this absence from the _Burmese
Chronicle_, and of its inconsistency with the purely defensive character
which that record assigns to the action of the Burmese Government in
regard to China at this time. With the strongest respect for my friend's
opinion I feel it impossible to assent to this. We have not only the
concurrent testimony of Marco and of the Chinese Official Annals of the
Mongol Dynasty to the facts of the Burmese provocation and of the
engagement within the Yung-ch'ang or Vochan territory, but we have in the
Chinese narrative a consistent chronology and tolerably full detail of the
relations between the two countries.
[Baber writes (p. 173): "Biot has it that Yung-ch'ang was first
established by the Mings, long subsequent to the time of Marco's visit,
but the name was well known much earlier. The mention by Marco of the
Plain of Vochan (Unciam would be a perfect reading), as if it were a plain
_par excellence_, is strikingly consistent with the position of the
city on the verge of the largest plain west of Yuennan-fu. Hereabouts was
fought the great battle between the 'valiant soldier and the excellent
captain Nescradin,' with his 12,000 well-mounted Tartars, against the King
of Burmah and a large army, whose strength lay in 2000 elephants, on each
of which was set a tower of timber full of well-armed fighting men.
"There is no reason to suppose this 'dire and parlous fight' to be
mythical, apart from the consistency of annals adduced by Colonel Yule;
the local details of the narrative, particularly the prominent importance
of the wood as an element of the Tartar success, are convincing. It seems
to have been the first occasion on which the Mongols engaged a large body
of elephants, and this, no doubt, made the victory memorable.
"Marco informs us that 'from this time forth the Great Khan began to keep
numbers of elephants.' It is obvious that cavalry could not manoeuvre in a
morass such as fronts the city. Let us refer to the account of the battle.
"'The Great Khan's host was at Yung-ch'ang, from which they advanced into
the plain, and there waited to give battle. This they did through the good
judgment of the captain, for hard by that plain was a great wood thick
with trees.' The general's purpose was more probably to occupy the dry
undulating slopes near the south end of the valley. An advance of about
five miles would have brought him to that position. The statement that
'the King's army arrived in the plain, and was within a mile of the
enemy,' would then accord perfectly with the conditions of the ground. The
Burmese would have found themselves at about that distance from their foes
as soon as they were fairly in the plain.
"The trees 'hard by the plain,' to which the Tartars tied their horses,
and in which the elephants were entangled, were in all probability in the
corner below the 'rolling hills' marked in the chart. Very few trees
remain, but in any case the grove would long ago have been cut down by the
Chinese, as everywhere on inhabited plains. A short distance up the hill,
however, groves of exceptionally fine trees are passed. The army, as it
seems to us, must have entered the plain from its southernmost point. The
route by which we departed on our way to Burmah would be very
embarrassing, though perhaps not utterly impossible, for so great a number
of elephants."--H.C.]
Between 1277 and the end of the century the Chinese Annals record three
campaigns or expeditions against MIEN; viz. (1) that which Marco has
related in this chapter; (2) that which he relates in ch. liv.; and (3)
one undertaken in 1300 at the request of the son of the legitimate Burmese
King, who had been put to death by an usurper. The Burmese Annals mention
only the two latest, but, concerning both the date and the main
circumstances of these two, Chinese and Burmese Annals are in almost
entire agreement. Surely then it can scarcely be doubted that the Chinese
authority is amply trustworthy for the _first_ campaign also,
respecting which the Burmese book is silent; even were the former not
corroborated by the independent authority of Marco.
Indeed the mutual correspondence of these Annals, especially as to
chronology, is very remarkable, and is an argument for greater respect to
the chronological value of the Burmese Chronicle and other Indo-Chinese
records of like character than we should otherwise be apt to entertain.
Compare the story of the expedition of 1300 as told after the Chinese
Annals by De Mailla, and after the Burmese Chronicle by Burney and Phayre.
(See _De Mailla_, IX. 476 seqq.; and _J.A.S.B._ vol. vi. pp. 121-122,
and vol. xxxvii. Pt. I. pp. 102 and 110.)
CHAPTER LIII.
OF THE GREAT DESCENT THAT LEADS TOWARDS THE KINGDOM OF MIEN.
After leaving the Province of which I have been speaking you come to a
great Descent. In fact you ride for two days and a half continually down
hill. On all this descent there is nothing worthy of mention except only
that there is a large place there where occasionally a great market is
held; for all the people of the country round come thither on fixed days,
three times a week, and hold a market there. They exchange gold for
silver; for they have gold in abundance; and they give one weight of fine
gold for five weights of fine silver; so this induces merchants to come
from various quarters bringing silver which they exchange for gold with
these people; and in this way the merchants make great gain. As regards
those people of the country who dispose of gold so cheaply, you must
understand that nobody is acquainted with their places of abode, for they
dwell in inaccessible positions, in sites so wild and strong that no one
can get at them to meddle with them. Nor will they allow anybody to
accompany them so as to gain a knowledge of their abodes.[NOTE 1]
After you have ridden those two days and a half down hill, you find
yourself in a province towards the south which is pretty near to India,
and this province is called AMIEN. You travel therein for fifteen days
through a very unfrequented country, and through great woods abounding in
elephants and unicorns and numbers of other wild beasts. There are no
dwellings and no people, so we need say no more of this wild country, for
in sooth there is nothing to tell. But I have a story to relate which you
shall now hear[NOTE 2].
NOTE 1.--In all the Shan towns visited by Major Sladen on this frontier he
found markets held _every fifth day_. This custom, he says, is borrowed
from China, and is general throughout Western Yun-nan. There seem to be
traces of this five-day week over Indo-China, and it is found in Java; as
it is in Mexico. The Kakhyens attend in great crowds. They do _not_ now
bring gold for sale to Momein, though it is found to some extent in their
hills, more especially in the direction of Mogaung, whence it is exported
towards Assam.
Major Sladen saw a small quantity of nuggets in the possession of a
Kakhyen who had brought them from a hill two days north of Bhamo. (_MS.
Notes by Major Sladen_.)
NOTE 2.--I confess that the indications in this and the beginning of the
following chapter are, to me, full of difficulty. According to the general
style of Polo's itinerary, the 2-1/2 days should be reckoned from
Yung-ch'ang; the distance therefore to the capital city of Mien would be
17-1/2 days. The real capital of Mien or Burma at this time was, however,
Pagan, in lat. 21 deg. 13', and that city could hardly have been reached by
a land traveller in any such time. We shall see that something may be said
in behalf of the supposition that the point reached was _Tagaung_ or _Old
Pagan_, on the upper Irawadi, in lat. 23 deg. 28'; and there was perhaps
some confusion in the traveller's mind between this and the great city.
The descent might then be from Yung-ch'ang to the valley of the Shweli,
and that valley then followed to the Irawadi. Taking as a scale Polo's 5
marches from Tali to Yung-ch'ang, I find we should by this route make just
about 17 marches from Yung-ch'ang to Tagaung. We have no detailed knowledge
of the route, but there is a road that way, and by no other does the plain
country approach so near to Yung-ch'ang. (See _Anderson's Report on
Expedition to Western Yunnan_, p. 160.)
Dr. Anderson's remarks on the present question do not in my opinion remove
the difficulties. He supposes the long descent to be the descent into the
plains of the Irawadi near Bhamo; and from that point the land journey to
Great Pagan could, he conceives, "easily be accomplished in 15 days." I
greatly doubt the latter assumption. By the scale I have just referred to
it would take at least 20 days. And to calculate the 2-1/2 days with which
the journey commences from an indefinite point seems scarcely admissible.
Polo is giving us a continuous _itinerary_; it would be ruptured if he
left an indefinite distance between his last station and his "long
descent." And if the same principle were applied to the 5 days between
Carajan (or Tali) and Vochan (Yung-ch'ang), the result would be nonsense.
[Illustration: Temple of Gaudapalen (in the city of Mien), erected circa
A.D. 1160.]
[_Mien-tien_, to which is devoted ch. vii. of the Chinese work
_Sze-i-kwan-k'ao_, appears to have included much more than Burma proper.
(See the passage supra, pp. 70-71, quoted by Deveria from the _Yuen-shi
lei pien_ regarding _Kien-tou_ and _Kin-Chi_.)--H.C.]
The hypothesis that I have suggested would suit better with the
traveller's representation of the country traversed as wild and
uninhabited. In a journey to Great Pagan the most populous and fertile
part of Burma would be passed through.
[Baber writes (p. 180): "The generally received theory that 'the great
descent which leads towards the Kingdom of Mien,' on which 'you ride for
two days and a half continually downhill,' was the route from Yung-ch'ang
to T'eng-Yueh, must be at once abandoned. Marco was, no doubt, speaking
from hearsay, or rather, from a recollection of hearsay, as it does not
appear that he possessed any notes; but there is good reason for supposing
that he had personally visited Yung-ch'ang. Weary of the interminable
mountain-paths, and encumbered with much baggage--for a magnate of Marco's
court influence could never, in the East, have travelled without a
considerable state--impeded, in addition, by a certain quantity of
merchandise, for he was 'discreet and prudent in every way,' he would have
listened longingly to the report of an easy ride of two and a half days
downhill, and would never have forgotten it. That such a route exists I am
well satisfied. Where is it? The stream which drains the Yung-ch'ang plain
communicates with the Salwen by a river called the 'Nan-tien,' not to be
confounded with the 'Nan-ting,' about 45 miles south of that city, a fair
journey of two and a half days. Knowing, as we now do, that it must
descend some 3500 feet in that distance, does it not seem reasonable to
suppose that the valley of this rivulet is the route alluded to? The great
battle on the Yung-ch'ang plain, moreover, was fought only a few years
before Marco's visit, and seeing that the king and his host of elephants
in all probability entered the valley from the south, travellers to Burma
would naturally have quitted it by the same route.
"But again, our mediaeval Herodotus reports that 'the country is wild and
hard of access, full of great woods and mountains which 'tis impossible to
pass, the air is so impure and unwholesome; and any foreigners attempting
it would die for certain.'
"This is exactly and literally the description given us of the district in
which we crossed the Salwen.
"To insist on the theory of the descent by this route is to make the
traveller ride downhill, 'over mountains it is impossible to pass.'
"The fifteen days' subsequent journey described by Marco need not present
much difficulty. The distance from the junction of the Nan-tien with the
Salwen to the capital of Burma (Pagan) would be something over 300 miles;
fifteen days seems a fair estimate for the distance, seeing that a great
part of the journey would doubtless be by boat."
Regarding this last paragraph, Captain Gill says (II. 345): "An objection
may be raised that no such route as this is known to exist; but it must be
remembered that the Burmese capital changes its position every now and
then, and it is obvious that the trade routes would be directed to the
capital, and would change with it. Altogether, with the knowledge at
present available, this certainly seems the most satisfactory
interpretation of the old traveller's story."--H.C.]
CHAPTER LIV.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF MIEN, AND THE TWO TOWERS THAT ARE THEREIN, ONE OF
GOLD AND THE OTHER OF SILVER.
And when you have travelled those 15 days through such a difficult country
as I have described, in which travellers have to carry provisions for the
road because there are no inhabitants, then you arrive at the capital city
of this Province of Mien, and it also is called AMIEN, and is a very great
and noble city.[NOTE 1] The people are Idolaters and have a peculiar
language, and are subject to the Great Kaan.
And in this city there is a thing so rich and rare that I must tell you
about it. You see there was in former days a rich and puissant king in
this city, and when he was about to die he commanded that by his tomb they
should erect two towers [one at either end], one of gold and the other of
silver, in such fashion as I shall tell you. The towers are built of fine
stone; and then one of them has been covered with gold a good finger in
thickness, so that the tower looks as if it were all of solid gold; and
the other is covered with silver in like manner so that it seems to be all
of solid silver. Each tower is a good ten paces in height and of breadth
in proportion. The upper part of these towers is round, and girt all about
with bells, the top of the gold tower with gilded bells and the silver
tower with silvered bells, insomuch that whenever the wind blows among
these bells they tinkle. [The tomb likewise was plated partly with gold,
and partly with silver.] The King caused these towers to be erected to
commemorate his magnificence and for the good of his soul; and really they
do form one of the finest sights in the world; so exquisitely finished are
they, so splendid and costly. And when they are lighted up by the sun they
shine most brilliantly and are visible from a vast distance.
Now you must know that the Great Kaan conquered the country in this
fashion.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF MIEN WITH THE GOLD AND SILVER TOWERS]
You see at the Court of the Great Kaan there was a great number of gleemen
and jugglers; and he said to them one day that he wanted them to go and
conquer the aforesaid province of Mien, and that he would give them a good
Captain to lead them and other good aid. And they replied that they would
be delighted. So the Emperor caused them to be fitted out with all that an
army requires, and gave them a Captain and a body of men-at-arms to help
them; and so they set out, and marched until they came to the country and
province of Mien. And they did conquer the whole of it! And when they
found in the city the two towers of gold and silver of which I have been
telling you, they were greatly astonished, and sent word thereof to the
Great Kaan, asking what he would have them do with the two towers, seeing
what a great quantity of wealth there was upon them. And the Great Kaan,
being well aware that the King had caused these towers to be made for the
good of his soul, and to preserve his memory after his death, said that he
would not have them injured, but would have them left precisely as they
were. And that was no wonder either, for you must know that no Tartar in
the world will ever, if he can help it, lay hand on anything appertaining
to the dead.[NOTE 2]
They have in this province numbers of elephants and wild oxen;[NOTE 3]
also beautiful stags and deer and roe, and other kinds of large game in
plenty.
Now having told you about the province of Mien, I will tell you about
another province which is called Bangala, as you shall hear presently.
NOTE 1.--The name of the city appears as _Amien_ both in Pauthier's text
here, and in the G. Text in the preceding chapter. In the Bern MS. it is
_Aamien_. Perhaps some form like _Amien_ was that used by the Mongols and
Persians. I fancy it may be traced in the _Arman_ or _Uman_ of
Rashiduddin, probably corrupt readings (in _Elliot_ I. 72).
NOTE 2.--M. Pauthier's extracts are here again very valuable. We gather
from them that the first Mongol communication with the King of Mien or
Burma took place in 1271, when the Commandant of Tali-fu sent a deputation
to that sovereign to demand an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the
Emperor. This was followed by various negotiations and acts of offence on
both sides, which led to the campaign of 1277, already spoken of. For a
few years no further events appear to be recorded, but in 1282, in
consequence of a report from Nasruddin of the ease with which Mien could
be conquered, an invasion was ordered under a Prince of the Blood called
Siangtaur [called _Siam-ghu-talh_, by Visdelou.--H.C.]. This was probably
_Singtur_, great-grandson of one of the brothers of Chinghiz, who a few
years later took part in the insurrection of Nayan. (See _D'Ohsson_, II.
461.) The army started from Yun-nan fu, then called Chung-khing (and the
_Yachi_ of Polo) in the autumn of 1283. We are told that the army made use
of boats to descend the River _Oho_ to the fortified city of Kiangtheu
(see supra, note 3, ch. lii.), which they took and sacked; and as the
King still refused to submit, they then advanced to the "primitive
capital," _Taikung_, which they captured. Here Pauthier's details stop.
(Pp. 405, 416; see also _D'Ohsson_, II. 444 [and _Visdelou_].)
[Illustration: The Palace of the King of Mien in modern times]
It is curious to compare these narratives with that from the Burmese Royal
Annals given by Colonel Burney, and again by Sir A. Phayre in the
_J.A.S.B._ (IV. 401, and XXXVII. Pt. I. p. 101.) Those annals afford no
mention of transactions with the Mongols previous to 1281. In that year
they relate that a mission of ten nobles and 1000 horse came from the
Emperor to demand gold and silver vessels as symbols of homage on the
ground of an old precedent. The envoys conducted themselves disrespectfully
(the tradition was that they refused to take off their boots, an old
grievance at the Burmese court), and the King put them all to death. The
Emperor of course was very wroth, and sent an army of 6,000,000 of horse
and 20,000,000 of foot(!) to invade Burma. The Burmese generals had their
_point d'appui_ at the city of _Nga tshaung gyan_, apparently somewhere
near the mouth of the Bhamo River, and after a protracted resistance on
that river, they were obliged to retire. They took up a new point of
defence on the Hill of Male, which they had fortified. Here a decisive
battle was fought, and the Burmese were entirely routed. The King, on
hearing of their retreat from Bhamo, at first took measures for fortifying
his capital Pagan, and destroyed 6000 temples of various sizes to furnish
material. But after all he lost heart, and embarking with his treasure and
establishments on the Irawadi, fled down that river to Bassein in the
Delta. The Chinese continued the pursuit long past Pagan till they reached
the place now called _Tarokmau_ or "Chinese Point," 30 miles below Prome.
Here they were forced by want of provisions to return. The Burmese Annals
place the abandonment of Pagan by the King in 1284, a most satisfactory
synchronism with the Chinese record. It is a notable point in Burmese
history, for it marked the fall of an ancient Dynasty which was speedily
followed by its extinction, and the abandonment of the capital. The King is
known in the Burmese Annals as _Tarok-pye-Meng_, "The King who fled from
the _Tarok_."[1]
In Dr. Mason's abstract of the Pegu Chronicle we find the notable
statement with reference to this period that "the Emperor of China, having
subjugated Pagan, his troops with the Burmese entered Pegu and invested
several cities."
We see that the Chinese Annals, as quoted, mention only the "capitale
primitive" _Taikung_, which I have little doubt Pauthier is right in
identifying with _Tagaung_, traditionally the most ancient royal city of
Burma, and the remains of which stand side by side with those of _Old_
Pagan, a later but still very ancient capital, on the east bank of the
Irawadi, in about lat. 23 deg. 28'. The Chinese extracts give no idea of
the temporary completeness of the conquest, nor do they mention Great Pagan
(lat. 21 deg. 13'), a city whose vast remains I have endeavoured partially
to describe.[2] Sir Arthur Phayre, from a careful perusal of the Burmese
Chronicle, assures me that there can be no doubt that _this_ was at the
time in question the Burmese Royal Residence, and the city alluded to in
the Burmese narrative. M. Pauthier is mistaken in supposing that
Tarok-Mau, the turning-point of the Chinese Invasion, lay north of this
city: he has not unnaturally confounded it with Tarok-_Myo_ or
"China-Town," a district not far below Ava. Moreover Male, the position of
the decisive victory of the Chinese, is itself much to the south of Tagaung
(about 22 deg. 55').
Both Pagan and Male are mentioned in a remarkable Chinese notice extracted
in _Amyot's Memoires_ (XIV. 292): "Mien-Tien ... had five chief towns, of
which the first was _Kiangtheu_ (supra, pp. 105, 111), the second
_Taikung_, the third _Malai_, the fourth Ngan-cheng-kwe (? perhaps the
_Nga-tshaung gyan_ of the Burmese Annals), the fifth PUKAN MIEN-WANG
(Pagan of the Mien King?). The Yuen carried war into this country,
particularly during the reign of Shun-Ti, the last Mongol Emperor
[1333-1368], who, after subjugating it, erected at Pukan Mien-Wang a
tribunal styled _Hwen-wei-she-se_, the authority of which extended over
Pang-ya and all its dependencies." This is evidently founded on actual
documents, for Panya or Pengya, otherwise styled Vijayapura, was the
capital of Burma during part of the 14th century, between the decay of
Pagan and the building of Ava. But none of the translated extracts from the
Burmese Chronicle afford corroboration. From Sangermano's abstract,
however, we learn that the King of Panya from 1323 to 1343 was the _son of
a daughter of the Emperor of China_ (p. 42). I may also refer to
Pemberton's abstract of the Chronicle of the Shan State of Pong in the
Upper Irawadi valley, which relates that about the middle of the 14th
century the Chinese invaded Pong and took Maung Maorong, the capital.[3]
The Shan King and his son fled to the King of Burma for protection, but
_the Burmese surrendered them_ and they were carried to China. (_Report on
E. Frontier of Bengal_, p. 112.)
I see no sufficient evidence as to whether Marco himself visited the "city
of Mien." I think it is quite clear that his account of the _conquest_ is
from the merest hearsay, not to say gossip. Of the absurd story of the
jugglers we find no suggestion in the Chinese extracts. We learn from them
that Nasruddin had represented the conquest of Mien as a very easy task,
and Kublai may have in jest asked his gleemen if they would undertake it.
The haziness of Polo's account of the conquest contrasts strongly with his
graphic description of the rout of the elephants at Vochan. Of the latter
he heard the particulars on the spot (I conceive) shortly after the event;
whilst the conquest took place some years later than his mission to that
frontier. His description of the gold and silver pagodas with their
canopies of tinkling bells (the Burmese _Hti_), certainly looks like a
sketch from the life;[4] and it is quite possible that some negotiations
between 1277 and 1281 may have given him the opportunity of visiting
Burma, though he may not have reached the capital. Indeed he would in that
case surely have given a distincter account of so important a city, the
aspect of which in its glory we have attempted to realize in the plate of
"the city of Mien."
It is worthy of note that the unfortunate King then reigning in Pagan, had
in 1274 finished a magnificent Pagoda called _Mengala-dzedi (Mangala
Chaitya)_ respecting which ominous prophecies had been diffused. In this
pagoda were deposited, besides holy relics, golden images of the Disciples
of Buddha, golden models of the holy places, golden images of the King's
fifty-one predecessors in Pagan, and of the King and his Family. It is
easy to suspect a connection of this with Marco's story. "It is possible
that the King's ashes may have been intended to be buried near those
relics, though such is not now the custom; and Marco appears to have
confounded the custom of depositing relics of Buddha and ancient holy men
in pagodas with the _supposed_ custom of the burial of the dead. Still,
even now, monuments are occasionally erected over the dead in Burma,
although the practice is considered a vain folly. I have known a miniature
pagoda with a _hti_ complete, erected over the ashes of a favourite
disciple by a _P'hungyi_ or Buddhist monk." The latter practice is common
in China. (_Notes by Sir A. Phayre; J.A.S.B._ IV. _u.s._, also V. 164,
VI. 251; _Mason's Burmah_, 2nd ed. p. 26; _Milne's Life in China_, pp.
288, 450.)
NOTE 3.--The Gaur--_Bos Gaurus_, or _B. (Bibos) Cavifrons_ of
Hodgson--exists in certain forests of the Burmese territory; and, in the
south at least, a wild ox nearer the domestic species, _Bos Sondaicus_. Mr.
Gouger, in his book _The Prisoner in Burma_, describes the rare spectacle
which he once enjoyed in the Tenasserim forests of a herd of wild cows at
graze. He speaks of them as small and elegant, without hump, and of a light
reddish dun colour (pp. 326-327).
[1] This is the name now applied in Burma to the Chinese. Sir A. Phayre
supposes it to be _Turk_, in which case its use probably began at
this time.
[2] In the Narrative of Phayre's Mission, ch. ii.
[3] Dr. Anderson has here hastily assumed a discrepancy of sixty years
between the chronology of the Shan document and that of the Chinese
Annals. But this is merely because he arbitrarily identifies the
Chinese invasion here recorded with that of Kublai in the preceding
century. (See _Anderson's Western Yunnan_, p. 8.) We see in the
quotation above from Amyot that the Chinese Annals also contain an
obscure indication of the later invasion.
[4] Compare the old Chinese Pilgrims Hwui Seng and Seng Yun, in their
admiration of a vast pagoda erected by the great King Kanishka in
Gandhara (at Peshawur in fact): "At sunrise the gilded disks of the
vane are lit up with dazzling glory, whilst the gentle breeze of
morning causes the precious bells to tinkle with a pleasing sound."
(_Beal_, p. 204.)
CHAPTER LV.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF BANGALA.
Bangala is a Province towards the south, which up to the year 1290, when
the aforesaid Messer Marco Polo was still at the Court of the Great Kaan,
had not yet been conquered; but his armies had gone thither to make the
conquest. You must know that this province has a peculiar language, and
that the people are wretched Idolaters. They are tolerably close to India.
There are numbers of eunuchs there, insomuch that all the Barons who keep
them get them from that Province.[NOTE 1]
The people have oxen as tall as elephants, but not so big.[NOTE 2] They
live on flesh and milk and rice. They grow cotton, in which they drive a
great trade, and also spices such as spikenard, galingale, ginger, sugar,
and many other sorts. And the people of India also come thither in search
of the eunuchs that I mentioned, and of slaves, male and female, of which
there are great numbers, taken from other provinces with which those of
the country are at war; and these eunuchs and slaves are sold to the
Indian and other merchants who carry them thence for sale about the world.
There is nothing more to mention about this country, so we will quit it,
and I will tell you of another province called Caugigu.
NOTE 1.--I do not think it probable that Marco even touched at any port of
Bengal on that mission to the Indian Seas of which we hear in the
prologue; but he certainly never reached it from the Yun-nan side, and he
had, as we shall presently see (infra, ch. lix. note 6), a wrong
notion as to its position. Indeed, if he had visited it at all, he would
have been aware that it was essentially a part of India, whilst in fact he
evidently regarded it as an _Indo-Chinese_ region, like Zardandan,
Mien, and Caugigu.
There is no notice, I believe, in any history, Indian or Chinese, of an
attempt by Kublai to conquer Bengal. The only such attempt by the Mongols
that we hear of is one mentioned by Firishta, as made by way of Cathay and
Tibet, during the reign of Alauddin Masa'ud, king of Delhi, in 1244, and
stated to have been defeated by the local officers in Bengal. But Mr.
Edward Thomas tells me he has most distinctly ascertained that this
statement, which has misled every historian "from Badauni and Firishtah to
Briggs and Elphinstone, is founded purely on an erroneous reading" (and
see a note in Mr. Thomas's _Pathan Kings of Dehli_, p. 121).
The date 1290 in the text would fix the period of Polo's final departure
from Peking, if the dates were not so generally corrupt.
The subject of the last part of this paragraph, recurred to in the next,
has been misunderstood and corrupted in Pauthier's text, and partially in
Ramusio's. These make the _escuilles_ or _escoilliez_ (vide _Ducange_ in
v. _Escodatus_, and _Raynouard, Lex. Rom._ VI. 11) into _scholars_ and
what not. But on comparison of the passages in those two editions with the
Geographic Text one cannot doubt the correct reading. As to the fact that
Bengal had an evil notoriety for this traffic, especially the province of
Silhet, see the _Ayeen Akbery_, II. 9-11, _Barbosa's _chapter on Bengal,
and _De Barros_ (_Ramusio_ I. 316 and 391).
On the cheapness of slaves in Bengal, see _Ibn Batuta_, IV. 211-212. He
says people from Persia used to call Bengal _Duzakh pur-i ni'amat_, "a
hell crammed with good things," an appellation perhaps provoked by the
official style often applied to it of _Jannat-ul-balad_ or "Paradise of
countries."
Professor H. Blochmann, who is, in admirable essays, redeeming the long
neglect of the history and archaeology of Bengal Proper by our own
countrymen, says that one of the earliest passages, in which the name
_Bangalah_ occurs, is in a poem of Hafiz, sent from Shiraz to Sultan
Gbiassuddin, who reigned in Bengal from 1367 to 1373. Its occurrence in
our text, however, shows that the name was in use among the Mahomedan
foreigners (from whom Polo derived his nomenclature) nearly a century
earlier. And in fact it occurs (though corruptly in some MSS.) in the
history of Rashiduddin, our author's contemporary. (See _Elliot_, I. p.
72.)
NOTE 2.--"Big as elephants" is only a _facon de parler_, but Marsden
quotes modern exaggerations as to the height of the _Arna_ or wild
buffalo, more specific and extravagant. The unimpeachable authority of Mr.
Hodgson tells us that the Arna in the Nepal Tarai sometimes does reach a
height of 6 ft. 6 in. at the shoulder, with a length of 10 ft. 6 in.
(excluding tail), and horns of 6 ft. 6 in. (_J.A.S.B._, XVI. 710.)
Marco, however, seems to be speaking of _domestic_ cattle. Some of the
breeds of Upper India are very tall and noble animals, far surpassing in
height any European oxen known to me; but in modern times these are rarely
seen in Bengal, where the cattle are poor and stunted. The _Ain Akbari_,
however, speaks of Sharifabad in Bengal, which appears to have
corresponded to modern Bardwan, as producing very beautiful white oxen, of
great size, and capable of carrying a load of 15 _mans_, which at
Prinsep's estimate of Akbar's _man_ would be about 600 lbs.
CHAPTER LVI.
DISCOURSES OF THE PROVINCE OF CAUGIGU.
Caugigu is a province towards the east, which has a king.[NOTE 1] The
people are Idolaters, and have a language of their own. They have made
their submission to the Great Kaan, and send him tribute every year. And
let me tell you their king is so given to luxury that he hath at the least
300 wives; for whenever he hears of any beautiful woman in the land, he
takes and marries her.
They find in this country a good deal of gold, and they also have great
abundance of spices. But they are such a long way from the sea that the
products are of little value, and thus their price is low. They have
elephants in great numbers, and other cattle of sundry kinds, and plenty
of game. They live on flesh and milk and rice, and have wine made of rice
and good spices. The whole of the people, or nearly so, have their skin
marked with the needle in patterns representing lions, dragons, birds, and
what not, done in such a way that it can never be obliterated. This work
they cause to be wrought over face and neck and chest, arms and hands, and
belly, and, in short, the whole body; and they look on it as a token of
elegance, so that those who have the largest amount of this embroidery are
regarded with the greatest admiration.
NOTE 1.--No province mentioned by Marco has given rise to wider and wilder
conjectures than this, _Cangigu_ as it has been generally printed.
M. Pauthier, who sees in it Laos, or rather one of the states of Laos
called in the Chinese histories _Papesifu_, seems to have formed the most
probable opinion hitherto propounded by any editor of Polo. I have no
doubt that Laos or some part of that region is meant to be _described_,
and that Pauthier is right regarding the general direction of the course
here taken as being through the regions east of Burma, in a north-easterly
direction up into Kwei-chau. But we shall be able to review the geography
of this tract better, as a whole, at a point more advanced. I shall then
speak of the name CAUGIGU, and why I prefer this reading of it.
I do not believe, for reasons which will also appear further on, that Polo
is now following a route which he had traced in person, unless it be in
the latter part of it.
M. Pauthier, from certain indications in a Chinese work, fixes on
Chiangmai or Kiang-mai, the Zimme of the Burmese (in about latitude 18 deg.
48' and long. 99 deg. 30') as the capital of the Papesifu and of the
Caugigu of our text. It can scarcely however be the latter, unless we
throw over entirely all the intervals stated in Polo's itinerary; and M.
Garnier informs me that he has evidence that the capital of the Papesifu at
this time was _Muang-Yong_, a little to the south-east of Kiang-Tung, where
he has seen its ruins.[1] That the people called by the Chinese Papesifu
were of the great race of Laotians, Shans, or _Thai_, is very certain, from
the vocabulary of their language published by Klaproth.
[Illustration: Script _Pa-pe_.]
Pauthier's Chinese authority gives a puerile interpretation of _Papesifu_
as signifying "the kingdom of the 800 wives," and says it was called so
because the Prince maintained that establishment. This may be an
indication that there were popular stories about the numerous wives of the
King of Laos, such as Polo had heard; but the interpretation is doubtless
rubbish, like most of the so-called etymologies of proper names applied by
the Chinese to foreign regions. At best these seem to be merely a kind of
_Memoria Technica_, and often probably bear no more relation to the name
in its real meaning than Swift's _All-eggs-under-the-grate_ bears to
Alexander Magnus. How such "etymologies" arise is obvious from the nature
of the Chinese system of writing. If we also had to express proper names
by combining monosyllabic words already existing in English, we should in
fact be obliged to write the name of the Macedonian hero much as Swift
travestied it. As an example we may give the Chinese name of Java,
_Kwawa_, which signifies "gourd-sound," and was given to that Island, we
are told, because the voice of its inhabitants is very like that of a dry
gourd rolled upon the ground! It is usually stated that Tungking was
called _Kiao-chi_ meaning "crossed-toes," because the people often exhibit
that malformation (which is a fact), but we may be certain that the
syllables were originally a phonetic representation of an indigenous name
which has no such meaning. As another example, less ridiculous but not
more true, _Chin-tan_, representing the Indian name of China,
_Chinasthana_, is explained to mean "Eastern-Dawn" (_Aurore Orientale_).
(_Amyot_, XIV. 101; _Klapr. Mem._ III. 268.)
The states of Laos are shut out from the sea in the manner indicated; they
abound in domestic elephants to an extraordinary extent; and the people do
tattoo themselves in various degrees, most of all (as M. Garnier tells me)
about Kiang Hung. The _style_ of tattooing which the text describes is
quite that of the Burmese, in speaking of whom Polo has omitted to mention
the custom: "Every male Burman is tattooed in his boyhood from the middle
to his knees; in fact he has a pair of breeches tattooed on him. The
pattern is a fanciful medley of animals and arabesques, but it is scarcely
distinguishable, save as a general tint, except on a fair skin." (_Mission
to Ava_, 151.)
[1] Indeed documents in Klaproth's _Asia Polyglotta_ show that the
_Pape_ state was also called _Muang-Yong_ (pp. 364-365). I observe
that the river running to the east of Pu-eul and Ssemao (Puer and
Esmok) is called _Papien_-Kiang, the name of which is perhaps a
memorial of the Pape.
[The old Laocian kingdom of _Xieng-mai_ [Kiang-mai], called
_Muong-Yong_ by the Pa-y, was inhabited by the _Pa-pe Si-fu_ or Bat-ba
T'uc-phu; the inhabitants called themselves Thai-niai or great Thai.
(_Deveria, Frontiere_, p. 100. Ch. ix. of the Chinese work
_Sze-i-kwan-kao_ is devoted to Xieng-mai _Pa-pe_), which includes the
subdivisions of Laos, Xieng Hung [Kiang Hung] and Muong-Ken.
(_Deveria, Mel. de Harlez_, p. 97.)--H.C.]
CHAPTER LVII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ANIN.
Anin is a Province towards the east, the people of which are subject to
the Great Kaan, and are Idolaters. They live by cattle and tillage, and
have a peculiar language. The women wear on the legs and arms bracelets of
gold and silver of great value, and the men wear such as are even yet more
costly. They have plenty of horses which they sell in great numbers to the
Indians, making a great profit thereby. And they have also vast herds of
buffaloes and oxen, having excellent pastures for these. They have
likewise all the necessaries of life in abundance.[NOTE 1]
Now you must know that between Anin and Caugigu, which we have left behind
us, there is a distance of [25] days' journey;[NOTE 2] and from Caugigu to
Bangala, the third province in our rear, is 30 days' journey. We shall now
leave Anin and proceed to another province which is some 8 days' journey
further, always going eastward.
NOTE 1.--Ramusio, the printed text of the Soc. de Geographie, and most
editions have _Amu_; Pauthier reads _Aniu_ and considers the name to
represent Tungking or Annam, called also _Nan-yue_. The latter word he
supposes to be converted into _Anyue_, _Aniu_. And accordingly he carries
the traveller to the capital of Tungking.
Leaving the name for the present, according to the scheme of the route as
I shall try to explain it below, I should seek for Amu or Aniu or _Anin_
in the extreme south-east of Yun-nan. A part of this region was for the
first time traversed by the officers of the French expedition up the
Mekong, who in 1867 visited Sheu-ping, Lin-ngan and the upper valley of
the River of Tungking on their way to Yun-nan-fu. To my question whether
the description in the text, of Aniu or Anin and its fine pastures,
applied to the tract just indicated, Lieut. Garnier replied on the whole
favourably (see further on), proceeding: "The population about Sheu-ping
is excessively mixt. On market days at that town one sees a gathering of
wild people in great number and variety, and whose costumes are highly
picturesque, as well as often very rich. There are the _Pa-is_, who are
also found again higher up, the _Ho-nhi_, the _Khato_, the _Lope_, the
_Shentseu_. These tribes appear to be allied in part to the Laotians, in
part to the Kakhyens.... The wilder races about Sheuping are remarkably
handsome, and you see there types of women exhibiting an extraordinary
regularity of feature, and at the same time a complexion surprisingly
_white_. The Chinese look quite an inferior race beside them.... I may
add that all these tribes, especially the Ho-nhi and the Pa-i, wear large
amounts of silver ornament; great collars of silver round the neck, as
well as on the legs and arms."
Though the _whiteness_ of the people of Anin is not noticed by Polo, the
distinctive manner in which he speaks in the next chapter of the _dark_
complexion of the tribes described therein seems to indicate the probable
omission of the opposite trait here.
The prominent position assigned in M. Garnier's remarks to a race called
_Ho-nhi_ first suggested to me that the reading of the text might be ANIN
instead of _Aniu_. And as a matter of fact this seems to my eyes to be
clearly the reading of the Paris _Livre des Merveilles_ (Pauthier's MS.
B), while the Paris No. 5631 (Pauthier's A) has _Auin_, and what may be
either _Aniu_ or _Anin_. _Anyn_ is also found in the Latin Brandenburg MS.
of Pipino's version collated by Andrew Mueller, to which, however, we
cannot ascribe much weight. But the two words are so nearly identical in
mediaeval writing, and so little likely to be discriminated by scribes who
had nothing to guide their discrimination, that one need not hesitate to
adopt that which is supported by argument. In reference to the suggested
identity of _Anin_ and _Ho-nhi_, M. Garnier writes again: "All that Polo
has said regarding the country of Aniu, though not containing anything
_very_ characteristic, may apply perfectly to the different indigenous
tribes, at present subject to the Chinese, which are dispersed over the
country from Talan to Sheuping and Lin-ngan. These tribes bearing the
names (given above) relate that they in other days formed an independent
state, to which they give the name of _Muang Shung_. Where this Muang was
situated there is no knowing. These tribes have _langage par euls_, as
Marco Polo says, and silver ornaments are worn by them to this day in
extraordinary profusion; more, however, by the women than the men. They
have plenty of horses, buffaloes and oxen, and of sheep as well. It was
the first locality in which the latter were seen. The plateau of Lin-ngan
affords pasture-grounds which are exceptionally good for that part of the
world.
[Illustration: Ho-nhi and other Tribes in the Department of Lin-ngan in S.
Yun-nan (supposed to be the Anin country of Marco Polo). (From Garnier's
Work)]
"Beyond Lin-ngan we find the Ho-nhi, properly so called, no longer. But
ought one to lay much stress on mere names which have undergone so many
changes, and of which so many have been borne in succession by all those
places and peoples?.. I will content myself with reminding you that the
town of _Homi-cheu_ near Lin-ngan in the days of the Yuen bore the
name of _Ngo-ning_."
Notwithstanding M. Garnier's caution, I am strongly inclined to believe
that ANIN represents either HO-NHI or NGO-NING, if indeed these names be
not identical. For on reference to Biot I see that the first syllable of
the modern name of the town which M. Garnier writes Ho_mi_, is
expressed by the same character as the first syllable of NGO_ning_.
[The Wo-nhi are also called Ngo-ni, Kan-ni, Ho-ni, Lou-mi, No-pi, Ko-ni
and Wa-heh; they descend from the southern barbarians called Ho-nhi. At
the time of the kingdom of Nan-Chao, the Ho-nhi, called In-yuen, tribes
were a dependence of the Kiang (Xieng) of Wei-yuen (Prefecture of
P'u-erh). They are now to be found in the Yunnanese prefectures of
Lin-ngan, King-tung, Chen-yuen, Yuen-kiang and Yun-nan. (See _Deveria_, p.
135.)--H.C.]
We give one of M. Garnier's woodcuts representing some of the races in
this vicinity. Their dress, as he notices, has, in some cases, a curious
resemblance to costumes of Switzerland, or of Brittany, popular at fancy
balls.[1] Coloured figures of some of these races will be found in the
Atlas to Garnier's work; see especially Plate 35.
NOTE 2.--All the French MSS. and other texts except Ramusio's read 15. We
adopt Ramusio's reading, 25, for reasons which will appear below.
[1] There is a little uncertainty in the adjustment of names and figures
of some of these tribes, between the illustrations and the incidental
notices in Lieutenant Garnier's work. But all the figures in the
present cut certainly belong to the tract to which we point as Anin;
and the two middle figures answer best to what is said of the
_Ho-nhi_.
CHAPTER LVIII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF COLOMAN.
Coloman is a province towards the east, the people of which are Idolaters
and have a peculiar language, and are subject to the Great Kaan. They are
a [tall and] very handsome people, though in complexion brown rather than
white, and are good soldiers.[NOTE 1] They have a good many towns, and a
vast number of villages, among great mountains, and in strong
positions.[NOTE 2]
When any of them die, the bodies are burnt, and then they take the bones
and put them in little chests.
These are carried high up the mountains, and placed in great caverns,
where they are hung up in such wise that neither man nor beast can come at
them.
A good deal of gold is found in the country, and for petty traffic they
use porcelain shells such as I have told you of before. All these
provinces that I have been speaking of, to wit Bangala and Caugigu and
Anin, employ for currency porcelain shells and gold. There are merchants
in this country who are very rich and dispose of large quantities of
goods. The people live on flesh and rice and milk, and brew their wine
from rice and excellent spices.
NOTE 1.--The only MSS. that afford the reading _Coloman_ or _Choloman_
instead of _Toloman_ or _Tholoman_, are the Bern MS., which has _Coloman_
in the initial word of the chapter, Paris MS. 5649 (Pauthier's C) which
has _Coloman_ in the Table of Chapters, but not in the text, the Bodleian,
and the Brandenburg MS. quoted in the last note. These variations in
themselves have little weight. But the confusion between _c_ and _t_ in
mediaeval MSS., when dealing with strange names, is so constant that I
have ventured to make the correction, in strong conviction that it is the
right reading. M. Pauthier indeed, after speaking of tribes called _Lo_ on
the south-west of China, adds, "on les nommait _To-lo-man_ ('les nombreux
Barbares Lo')." Were this latter statement founded on actual evidence we
might retain that form which is the usual reading. But I apprehend from
the manner in which M. Pauthier produces it, without corroborative
quotation, that he is rather hazarding a conjecture than speaking with
authority. Be that as it may, it is impossible that Polo's Toloman or
Coloman should have been in the south of Kwangsi, where Pauthier locates
it.
On the other hand, we find tribes of both _Kolo_ and _Kihlau_ Barbarians
(i.e. _Man_, whence KOLO-MAN or _Kihlau-man_) very numerous on the
frontier of Kweichau. (See _Bridgman's transl. of Tract on Meautsze_, pp.
265, 269, 270, 272, 273, 274, 275, 278, 279, 280.) Among these the _Kolo_,
described as No. 38 in that Tract, appear to me from various particulars
to be the most probable representatives of the Coloman of Polo,
notwithstanding the sentence with which the description opens: "_Kolo_
originally called _Luluh_; the modern designation _Kolo_ is incorrect."[1]
They are at present found in the prefecture of Tating (one of the
departments of Kweichau towards the Yun-nan side). "They are _tall, of a
dark complexion_, with sunken eyes, aquiline nose, wear long whiskers, and
have the beard shaved off above the mouth. They pay great deference to
demons, and on that account are sometimes called 'Dragons of Lo.' ... At
the present time these Kolo are divided into 48 clans, the elders of which
are called Chieftains (lit. 'Head-and-Eyes') and are of nine grades....
The men bind their hair into a tuft with blue cloth and make it fast on
the forehead like a horn. Their upper dresses are short, with large
sleeves, and their lower garments are fine blue. When one of the
chieftains dies, all that were under him are assembled together clad in
armour and on horseback. Having dressed his corpse in silk and woollen
robes, they burn it in the open country; then, invoking the departed
spirit, they inter the ashes. Their attachment to him as their sole master
is such that nothing can drive or tempt them from their allegiance. Their
large bows, long spears, and sharp swords, are strong and well-wrought.
They train excellent horses, love archery and hunting; and so expert are
they in tactics that _their soldiers rank as the best among all the
uncivilized tribes_. There is this proverb: 'The Lo Dragons of Shwui-si
rap the head and strike the tail,' which is intended to indicate their
celerity in defence." (_Bridgman_, pp. 272-273.)
The character _Lo_, here applied in the Chinese Tract to these people, is
the same as that in the name of the Kwangsi _Lo_ of M. Pauthier.
I append a cut (opposite page) from the drawing representing these
Kolo-man in the original work from which Bridgman translated, and which is
in the possession of Dr. Lockhart.
[I believe we must read _To-lo-man. Man_, barbarian, _T'u-lao_ or
_Shan-tzu_ (mountaineers) who live in the Yunnanese prefectures of
Lin-ngan, Cheng-kiang, etc. T'u-la-Man or T'u-la barbarians of the Mongol
Annals. (_Yuen-shi lei-pien_, quoted by Deveria, p. 115.)--H.C.]
NOTE 2.--Magaillans, speaking of the semi-independent tribes of Kwei-chau
and Kwang-si, says: "Their towns are usually so girt by high mountains
and scarped rocks that it seems as if nature had taken a pleasure in
fortifying them" (p. 43). (See cut at p. 131.)
[1] On the other hand, M. Garnier writes: "I do not know any name at all
like _Kolo_, except _Lolo_, the generic name given by the
Chinese to the wild tribes of Yun-nan." Does not this look as if
_Kolo_ were really the old name, _Luluh_ or Lolo the later?
CHAPTER LIX.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUIJU.
Cuiju is a province towards the East.[NOTE 1] After leaving Coloman you
travel along a river for 12 days, meeting with a good number of towns and
villages, but nothing worthy of particular mention. After you have
travelled those twelve days along the river you come to a great and noble
city which is called FUNGUL.
The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan, and live by trade
and handicrafts. You must know they manufacture stuffs of the bark of
certain trees which form very fine summer clothing.[NOTE 2] They are good
soldiers, and have paper-money. For you must understand that henceforward
we are in the countries where the Great Kaan's paper-money is current.
[Illustration: The Koloman after a Chinese drawing
"Coloman est une provence vers levant
El sunt mult belles jens et ne
sunt mie bien blances mes biunz
El sunt bien homes d'armes"]
The country swarms with lions to that degree that no man can venture to
sleep outside his house at night.[NOTE 3] Moreover, when you travel on
that river, and come to a halt at night, unless you keep a good way from
the bank the lions will spring on the boat and snatch one of the crew and
make off with him and devour him. And but for a certain help that the
inhabitants enjoy, no one could venture to travel in that province,
because of the multitude of those lions, and because of their strength and
ferocity.
But you see they have in this province a large breed of dogs, so fierce
and bold that two of them together will attack a lion.[NOTE 4] So every
man who goes a journey takes with him a couple of those dogs, and when a
lion appears they have at him with the greatest boldness, and the lion
turns on them, but can't touch them for they are very deft at eschewing
his blows. So they follow him, perpetually giving tongue, and watching
their chance to give him a bite in the rump or in the thigh, or wherever
they may. The lion makes no reprisal except now and then to turn fiercely
on them, and then indeed were he to catch the dogs it would be all over
with them, but they take good care that he shall not. So, to escape the
dogs' din, the lion makes off, and gets into the wood, where mayhap he
stands at bay against a tree to have his rear protected from their
annoyance. And when the travellers see the lion in this plight they take
to their bows, for they are capital archers, and shoot their arrows at him
till he falls dead. And 'tis thus that travellers in those parts do
deliver themselves from those lions.
They have a good deal of silk and other products which are carried up and
down, by the river of which we spoke, into various quarters.[NOTE 5]
You travel along the river for twelve days more, finding a good many towns
all along, and the people always Idolaters, and subject to the Great Kaan,
with paper-money current, and living by trade and handicrafts. There are
also plenty of fighting men. And after travelling those twelve days you
arrive at the city of Sindafu of which we spoke in this book some time
ago.[NOTE 6]
From Sindafu you set out again and travel some 70 days through the
provinces and cities and towns which we have already visited, and all
which have been already particularly spoken of in our Book. At the end of
those 70 days you come to Juju where we were before.[NOTE 7]
From Juju you set out again and travel four days towards the south,
finding many towns and villages. The people are great traders and
craftsmen, are all Idolaters, and use the paper-money of the Great Kaan
their Sovereign. At the end of those four days you come to the city of
Cacanfu belonging to the province of Cathay, and of it I shall now speak.
NOTE 1.--In spite of difficulties which beset the subject (see Note 6
below) the view of Pauthier, suggested doubtingly by Marsden, that the
Cuiju of the text is KWEI-CHAU, seems the most probable one. As the latter
observes, the reappearance of paper money shows that we have got back into
a province of China Proper. Such, Yun nan, recently conquered from a Shan
prince, could not be considered. But, according to the best view we can
form, the traveller could only have passed through the extreme west of the
province of Kwei-chau.
The name of _Fungul_, if that be a true reading, is suggestive of
_Phungan_, which under the Mongols was the head of a district called
PHUNGAN-LU. It was founded by that dynasty, and was regarded as an
important position for the command of the three provinces Kwei-chau,
Kwang-si, and Yun-nan. (_Biot_, p. 168; _Martini_, p. 137.) But
we shall explain presently the serious difficulties that beset the
interpretation of the itinerary as it stands.
NOTE 2.--Several Chinese plants afford a fibre from the bark, and some of
these are manufactured into what we call _grass-cloths_. The light
smooth textures so called are termed by the Chinese _Hiapu_ or
"summer cloths." Kwei-chau produces such. But perhaps that specially
intended is a species of hemp (_Urtica Nivea?_) of which M. Perny of
the R.C. Missions says, in his notes on Kwei-chau: "It affords a texture
which may be compared to _batiste_. This has the notable property of
keeping so cool that many people cannot wear it even in the hot weather.
Generally it is used only for summer clothing." (_Dict. des Tissus_,
VII. 404; _Chin. Repos._ XVIII. 217 and 529; _Ann. de la Prop. de
la Foi_, XXXI. 137.)
NOTE 3.--Tigers of course are meant. (See supra, vol. i. p. 399.)
M. Perny speaks of tigers in the mountainous parts of Kwei-chau. (Op.
cit. 139.)
NOTE 4.--These great dogs were noticed by Lieutenant (now General)
Macleod, in his journey to Kiang Hung on the great River Mekong, as
accompanying the caravans of Chinese traders on their way to the Siamese
territory. (See _Macleod's Journal_, p. 66.)
NOTE 5.--The trade in wild silk (i.e. from the oak-leaf silkworm) is in
truth an important branch of commerce in Kwei-chau. But the chief seat of
this is at Tsuni-fu, and I do not think that Polo's route can be sought so
far to the eastward. (_Ann. de la Prop._ XXXI. 136; _Richthofen_, Letter
VII. 81.)
NOTE 6.--We have now got back to Sindafu, i.e. Ch'eng-tu fu in
Sze-ch'wan, and are better able to review the geography of the track we
have been following. I do not find it possible to solve all its
difficulties.
The different provinces treated of in the chapters from lv. to lix. are
strung by Marco upon an easterly, or, as we must interpret,
_north-easterly_ line of travel, real or hypothetical. Their names and
intervals are as follows: (1) Bangala; whence 30 marches to (2) Caugigu; 25
marches to (3) Anin; 8 marches to (4) Toloman or Coloman; 12 days in Cuiju
along a river to the city of (5) Fungul, Sinugul (or what not); 12 days
further, on or along the same river, to (6) Ch'eng-tu fu. Total from
Bangala to Ch'eng-tu fu 87 days.
I have said that the line of travel is real _or hypothetical_, for no
doubt a large part of it was only founded on hearsay. We last left our
traveller at Mien, or on the frontier of Yun-nan and Mien. _Bangala_ is
reached _per sallum_ with no indication of interval, and its position is
entirely misapprehended. Marco conceives of it, not as in India, but as
being, like Mien, a province _on the confines_ of India, as being under
the same king as Mien, as lying to the south of that kingdom, and as being
at the (south) western extremity of a great traverse line which runs
(north) east into Kwei-chau and Sze-ch'wan. All these conditions point
consistently to one locality; that, however, is not Bengal but _Pegu_. On
the other hand, the circumstances of manners and products, so far as they
go, _do_ belong to Bengal. I conceive that Polo's information regarding
these was derived from persons who had really visited Bengal by sea, but
that he had confounded what he so heard of the Delta of the Ganges with
what he heard on the Yun-nan frontier of the Delta of the Irawadi. It is
just the same kind of error that is made about those great Eastern Rivers
by Fra Mauro in his Map. And possibly the name of Pegu (in Burmese
_Bagoh_) may have contributed to his error, as well as the probable fact
that the Kings of Burma did at this time _claim_ to be Kings of Bengal,
whilst they actually _were_ Kings of Pegu.
_Caugigu_.--We have seen reason to agree with M. Pauthier that the
description of this region points to Laos, though we cannot with him
assign it to Kiang-mai. Even if it be identical with the Papesifu of the
Chinese, we have seen that the centre of that state may be placed at Muang
Yong not far from the Mekong; whilst I believe that the limits of Caugigu
must be drawn much nearer the Chinese and Tungking territory, so as to
embrace Kiang Hung, and probably the _Papien_ River. (See note at p. 117.)
As regards the name, it is _possible_ that it may represent some specific
name of the Upper Laos territory. But I am inclined to believe that we are
dealing with a case of erroneous geographical perspective like that of
Bangala; and that whilst the _circumstances_ belong to Upper Laos, the
_name_, read as I read it, _Caugigu_ (or Cavgigu), is no other than the
_Kafchikue_ of Rashiduddin, the name applied by him to Tungking, and
representing the KIAOCHI-KWE of the Chinese. D'Anville's Atlas brings
Kiaochi up to the Mekong in immediate contact with Che-li or Kiang Hung. I
had come to the conclusion that Caugigu was _probably_ the correct reading
before I was aware that it is an _actual_ reading of the Geog. Text more
than once, of Pauthier's A more than once, of Pauthier's C _at least_ once
and possibly twice, and of the Bern MS.; all which I have ascertained from
personal examination of those manuscripts.[1]
_Anin_ or _Aniu_.--I have already pointed out that I seek this in the
territory about Lin-ngan and Homi. In relation to this M. Garnier writes:
"In starting from Muang Yong, or even if you prefer it, from Xieng Hung
(Kiang Hung of our maps), ... it would be physically impossible in 25 days
to get beyond the arc which I have laid down on your map (viz. extending a
few miles north-east of Homi). There are scarcely any roads in those
mountains, and easy lines of communication begin only _after_ you have got
to the Lin-ngan territory. In Marco Polo's days things were certainly not
better, but the reverse. All that has been done of consequence in the way
of roads, posts, and organisation in the part of Yun-nan between Lin-ngan
and Xieng Hung, dates in some degree from the Yuen, but in a far greater
degree from K'ang-hi." Hence, even with the Ramusian reading of the
itinerary, we cannot place _Anin_ much beyond the position indicated
already.
[Illustration: Script _thai_ of Xieng-hung.]
_Koloman_.--We have seen that the position of this region is probably near
the western frontier of Kwei-chau. Adhering to _Homi_ as the
representative of Anin, and to the 8 days' journey of the text, the most
probable position of Koloman would be about _Lo-ping_ which lies about 100
English miles in a straight line north-east from Homi. The first character
of the name here is again the same as the _Lo_ of the Kolo tribes.
Beyond this point the difficulties of devising an interpretation,
consistent at once with facts and with the text as it stands, become
insuperable.
The narrative demands that from Koloman we should reach _Fungul_, a great
and noble city, by travelling 12 days along a river, and that Fungul
should be within twelve days' journey of Ch'eng-tu fu, along the same
river, or at least along rivers connected with it.
In advancing from the south-west guided by the data afforded by the texts,
we have not been able to carry the position of Fungul (_Sinugul_, or what
not of G.T. and other MSS.) further north than Phungan. But it is
impossible that Ch'eng-tu fu should have been reached in 12 days from this
point. Nor is it possible that a new post in a secluded position, like
Phungan, could have merited to be described as "a great and noble city."
Baron v. Richthofen has favoured me with a note in which he shows that in
reality the only place answering the more essential conditions of Fungul
is Siu-chau fu at the union of the two great branches of the Yang-tzu,
viz. the Kin-sha Kiang, and the Min-Kiang from Ch'eng-tu fu. (1) The
distance from Siu-chau to Ch'eng-tu by land travelling is just about 12
days, and the road is along a river. (2) In approaching "Fungul" from the
south Polo met with a good many towns and villages. This would be the case
along either of the navigable rivers that join the Yang-tzu below Siu-chau
(or along that which joins above Siu-chau, mentioned further on). (3) The
large trade in silk up and down the river is a characteristic that could
only apply to the Yang-tzu.
These reasons are very strong, though some little doubt must subsist until
we can explain the name (Fungul, or Sinugul) as applicable to Siu-chau.[2]
And assuming Siu-chau to be the city we must needs carry the position
of _Coloman_ considerably further north than Lo-ping, and must presume the
interval between _Anin_ and _Coloman_ to be greatly understated, through
clerical or other error. With these assumptions we should place Polo's
Coloman in the vicinity of Wei-ning, one of the localities of Kolo tribes.
From a position near Wei-ning it would be quite possible to reach Siu-chau
in 12 days, making use of the facilities afforded by one or other of the
partially navigable rivers to which allusion has just been made.
"That one," says M. Garnier in a letter, "which enters the Kiang a little
above Siu-chau fu, the River of _Lowa-tong_, which was descended by our
party, has a branch to the eastward which is navigable up to about the
latitude of Chao-tong. Is not this probably Marco Polo's route? It is to
this day a line much frequented, and one on which great works have been
executed; among others two iron suspension bridges, works truly gigantic
for the country in which we find them."
[Illustration: Iron Suspension Bridge at Lowatong. (From Garnier.)]
An extract from a Chinese Itinerary of this route, which M. Garnier has
since communicated to me, shows that at a point 4 days from Wei-ning the
traveller may embark and continue his voyage to any point on the great
Kiang.
We are obliged, indeed, to give up the attempt to keep to a line of
communicating rivers throughout the whole 24 days. Nor do I see how it is
possible to adhere to that condition literally without taking more
material liberties with the text.
[Illustration: MARCO POLO'S ITINERARIES No. V.
Indo Chinese Regions (Book II, Chaps. 44-59)]
My theory of Polo's actual journey would be that he returned from Yun-nan
fu to Ch'eng-tu fu through some part of the province of Kwei-chau, perhaps
only its western extremity, but that he spoke of Caugigu, and probably of
Anin, as he did of Bangala, from report only. And, in recapitulation, I
would identify provisionally the localities spoken of in this difficult
itinerary as follows: _Caugigu_ with Kiang Hung; _Anin_ with Homi;
_Coloman_ with the country about Wei-ning in Western Kwei-chau; _Fungul_
or Sinugul with Siu-chau.
[This itinerary is difficult, as Sir Henry Yule says. It takes Marco Polo
24 days to go from Coloman or Toloman to Ch'eng-tu. The land route is 22
days from Yun-nan fu to Swi-fu, via Tung-ch'wan and Chao-t'ung. (_J.
China B.R.A.S._ XXVIII. 74-75.) From the Toloman province, which I
place about Lin-ngan and Cheng-kiang, south of Yun-nan fu, Polo must have
passed a second time through this city, which is indeed at the end of all
the routes of this part of South-Western China. He might go back to
Sze-ch'wan by the western route, via Tung-ch'wan and Chao-t'ung to Swi-fu,
or, by the eastern, easier and shorter route by Siuen-wei chau, crossing a
corner of the Kwei-chau province (Wei-ning), and passing by Yun-ning hien
to the Kiang, this is the route followed by Mr. A. Hosie in 1883 and by Mr.
F.S.A. Bourne in 1885, and with great likelihood by Marco Polo; he may
have taken the Yun-ning River to the district city of Na-ch'i hien, which
lies on the right bank both of this river and of the Kiang; the Kiang up to
Swi-fu and thence to Ch'eng-tu. I do not attempt to explain the difficulty
about Fungul.
I fully agree with Sir H. Yule when he says that Polo spoke of Caugigu and
of Bangala, probably of Anin, from report only. However, I believe that
Caugigu is the _Kiao-Chi kwe_ of the Chinese, that Ani_n_ must be read
Ani_u_, that Aniu is but a transcription of _Nan-yue_ that both Nan-yue
and Kiao-Chi represent Northern Annam, i.e. the portion of Annam which
we call Tung-king. Regarding the tattooed inhabitants of Caugigu, let it
be remembered that tattooing existed in Annam till it was prohibited by
the Chinese during the occupation of Tung-king at the beginning of the
15th century.--H.C.]
NOTE 7.--Here the traveller gets back to the road-bifurcation near Juju,
i.e. Chochau (_ante_ p. 11), and thence commences to travel southward.
[Illustration: Fortified Villages on Western frontier of Kweichau. (From
Garnier.)
"Chastians ont-il grant quantite en grandismes montagnes et fortres."]
[1] A passing suggestion of the identity of Kafchi Kue and Caugigu is made
by D'Ohsson, and I formerly objected. (See _Cathay_, p. 272.)
[2] Cuiju might be read _Ciuju_--representing _Siuchau_, but the
difficulty about Fungul would remain.
BOOK II.--_Continued_.
PART III.--JOURNEY SOUTHWARD THROUGH EASTERN PROVINCES OF CATHAY AND MANZI.
CHAPTER LX.
CONCERNING THE CITIES OF CACANFU AND OF CHANGLU.
Cacanfu is a noble city. The people are Idolaters and burn their dead;
they have paper-money, and live by trade and handicrafts. For they have
plenty of silk from which they weave stuffs of silk and gold, and sendals
in large quantities. [There are also certain Christians at this place, who
have a church.] And the city is at the head of an important territory
containing numerous towns and villages. [A great river passes through it,
on which much merchandise is carried to the city of Cambaluc, for by many
channels and canals it is connected therewith.[NOTE 1]]
We will now set forth again, and travel three days towards the south, and
then we come to a town called CHANGLU. This is another great city
belonging to the Great Kaan, and to the province of Cathay. The people
have paper-money, and are Idolaters and burn their dead. And you must know
they make salt in great quantities at this place; I will tell you how 'tis
done.[NOTE 2]
A kind of earth is found there which is exceedingly salt. This they dig up
and pile in great heaps. Upon these heaps they pour water in quantities
till it runs out at the bottom; and then they take up this water and boil
it well in great iron cauldrons, and as it cools it deposits a fine white
salt in very small grains. This salt they then carry about for sale to
many neighbouring districts, and get great profit thereby.
There is nothing else worth mentioning, so let us go forward five days'
journey, and we shall come to a city called Chinangli.
NOTE 1.--In the greater part of the journey which occupies the remainder
of Book II., Pauthier is a chief authority, owing to his industrious
Chinese reading and citation. Most of his identifications seem well
founded, though sometimes we shall be constrained to dissent from them
widely. A considerable number have been anticipated by former editors, but
even in such cases he is often able to bring forward new grounds.
CACANFU is HO-KIEN FU in Pe Chih-li, 52 miles in a direct line south by
east of Chochau. It was the head of one of the _Lu_ or circuits into which
the Mongols divided China. (_Pauthier_.)
NOTE 2.--Marsden and Murray have identified Changlu with T'SANG-CHAU in Pe
Chih-li, about 30 miles east by south of Ho-kien fu. This seems
substantially right, but Pauthier shows that there was an old town
actually called CH'ANGLU, separated from T'sang-chau only by the great
canal. [Ch'ang-lu was the name of T'sang-chau under the T'ang and the Kin.
(See _Playfair, Dict._, p. 34.)--H.C.]
The manner of obtaining salt, described in the text, is substantially the
same as one described by Duhalde, and by one of the missionaries, as being
employed near the mouth of the Yang-tzu kiang. There is a town of the
third order some miles south-east of T'sang-chau, called _Yen-shan_ or
"salt-hill," and, according to Pauthier, T'sang-chau is the mart for salt
produced there. (_Duhalde_ in _Astley_, IV. 310; _Lettres Edif._ XI. 267
seqq.; _Biot._ p. 283.)
Polo here introduces a remark about the practice of burning the dead,
which, with the notice of the idolatry of the people, and their use of
paper-money, constitutes a formula which he repeats all through the
Chinese provinces with wearisome iteration. It is, in fact, his definition
of the Chinese people, for whom he seems to lack a comprehensive name.
A great change seems to have come over Chinese custom, since the Middle
Ages, in regard to the disposal of the dead. Cremation is now entirely
disused, except in two cases; one, that of the obsequies of a Buddhist
priest, and the other that in which the coffin instead of being buried has
been exposed in the fields, and in the lapse of time has become decayed.
But it is impossible to reject the evidence that it was a common practice
in Polo's age. He repeats the assertion that it was _the_ custom at every
stage of his journey through Eastern China; though perhaps his taking
absolutely no notice of the practice of burial is an instance of that
imperfect knowledge of strictly Chinese peculiarities which has been
elsewhere ascribed to him. It is the case, however, that the author of the
Book of the Estate of the Great Kaan (circa 1330) also speaks of
cremation as the usual Chinese practice, and that Ibn Batuta says
positively: "The Chinese are infidels and idolaters, and they burn their
dead after the manner of the Hindus." This is all the more curious,
because the Arab _Relations_ of the 9th century say distinctly that the
Chinese bury their dead, though they often kept the body long (as they do
still) before burial; and there is no mistaking the description which
Conti (15th century) gives of the Chinese mode of sepulture. Mendoza, in
the 16th century, alludes to no disposal of the dead except by burial, but
Semedo in the early part of the 17th says that bodies were occasionally
burnt, especially in Sze-ch'wan.
I am greatly indebted to the kindness of an eminent Chinese scholar, Mr.
W.F. Mayers, of Her Majesty's Legation at Peking, who, in a letter, dated
Peking, 18th September, 1874, sends me the following memorandum on the
subject:--
"_Colonel Yule's Marco Polo_, II. 97 [First Edition], _Burning of the
Dead_.
"On this subject compare the article entitled _Huo Tsang_, or 'Cremation
Burials,' in Bk. XV of the _Jih Che Luh_, or 'Daily Jottings,' a great
collection of miscellaneous notes on classical, historical, and
antiquarian subjects, by Ku Yen-wu, a celebrated author of the 17th
century. The article is as follows:--
"'The practice of burning the dead flourished (or flourishes) most
extensively in Kiang-nan, and was in vogue already in the period of the
Sung Dynasty. According to the history of the Sung Dynasty, in the 27th
year of the reign Shao-hing (A.D. 1157), the practice was animadverted
upon by a public official.' Here follows a long extract, in which the
burning of the dead is reprehended, and it is stated that cemeteries were
set apart by Government on behalf of the poorer classes.
"In A.D. 1261, Hwang Chen, governor of the district of Wu, in a memorial
praying that the erection of cremation furnaces might thenceforth be
prohibited, dwelt upon the impropriety of burning the remains of the
deceased, for whose obsequies a multitude of observances were prescribed
by the religious rites. He further exposed the fallacy of the excuse
alleged for the practice, to wit, that burning the dead was a fulfilment
of the precepts of Buddha, and accused the priests of a certain monastery
of converting into a source of illicit gain the practice of cremation."
[As an illustration of the cremation of a Buddhist priest, I note the
following passage from an article published in the _North-China Herald_,
20th May, 1887, p. 556, on Kwei Hua Ch'eng, Mongolia: "Several Lamas are
on visiting terms with me and they are very friendly. There are seven
large and eight small Lamaseries, in care of from ten to two hundred
Lamas. The principal Lamas at death are cremated. A short time ago, a
friendly Lama took me to see a cremation. The furnace was roughly made of
mud bricks, with four fire-holes at the base, with an opening in which to
place the body. The whole was about 6 feet high, and about 5 feet in
circumference. Greased fuel was arranged within and covered with glazed
foreign calico, on which were written some Tibetan characters. A tent was
erected and mats arranged for the Lamas. About 11:30 A.M. a scarlet
covered bier appeared in sight carried by thirty-two beggars. A box 2 feet
square and 2-1/2 feet high was taken out and placed near the furnace. The
Lamas arrived and attired themselves in gorgeous robes and sat
cross-legged. During the preparations to chant, some butter was being
melted in a corner of the tent. A screen of calico was drawn round the
furnace in which the cremator placed the body, and filled up the opening.
Then a dozen Lamas began chanting the burial litany in Tibetan in deep bass
voices. Then the head priest blessed the torches and when the fires were
lit he blessed a fan to fan the flames, and lastly some melted butter,
which was poured in at the top to make the whole blaze. This was frequently
repeated. When fairly ablaze, a few pieces of Tibetan grass were thrown in
at the top. After three days the whole cooled, and a priest with one gold
and one silver chopstick collects the bones, which are placed in a bag for
burial. If the bones are white it is a sign that his sin is purged, if
black that perfection has not been attained."--H.C.]
And it is very worthy of note that the Chinese envoy to Chinla (Kamboja)
in 1295, an individual who may have personally known Marco Polo, in
speaking of the custom prevalent there of exposing the dead, adds: "There
are some, however, who burn their dead. _These are all descendants of
Chinese immigrants._"
[Professor J.J.M. de Groot remarks that "being of religious origin,
cremation is mostly denoted in China by clerical terms, expressive of the
metamorphosis the funeral pyre is intended to effect, viz. 'transformation
of man'; 'transformation of the body'; 'metamorphosis by fire.' Without
the clerical sphere it bears no such high-sounding names, being simply
called 'incineration of corpses.' A term of illogical composition, and
nevertheless very common in the books, is 'fire burial.'" It appears that
during the Sung Dynasty cremation was especially common in the provinces
of Shan-si, Cheh-kiang, and Kiang-su. During the Mongol Dynasty, the
instances of cremation which are mentioned in Chinese books are,
relatively speaking, numerous. Professor de Groot says also that "there
exists evidence that during the Mongol domination cremation also throve in
Fuhkien." (_Religious System of China_, vol. iii. pp. 1391, 1409, 1410.)
--H.C.]
(_Doolittle_, 190; _Deguignes_, I. 69; _Cathay_, pp. 247, 479; _Reinaud_,
I. 56; _India in the XVth Century_, p. 23; _Semedo_, p. 95; _Rem. Mel.
Asiat._ I. 128.)
CHAPTER LXI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF CHINANGLI, AND THAT OF TADINFU, AND THE REBELLION
OF LITAN.
Chinangli is a city of Cathay as you go south, and it belongs to the Great
Kaan; the people are Idolaters, and have paper-money. There runs through
the city a great and wide river, on which a large traffic in silk goods
and spices and other costly merchandize passes up and down.
When you travel south from Chinangli for five days, you meet everywhere
with fine towns and villages, the people of which are all Idolaters, and
burn their dead, and are subject to the Great Kaan, and have paper-money,
and live by trade and handicrafts, and have all the necessaries of life in
great abundance. But there is nothing particular to mention on the way
till you come, at the end of those five days, to TADINFU.[NOTE 1]
This, you must know, is a very great city, and in old times was the seat
of a great kingdom; but the Great Kaan conquered it by force of arms.
Nevertheless it is still the noblest city in all those provinces. There
are very great merchants here, who trade on a great scale, and the
abundance of silk is something marvellous. They have, moreover, most
charming gardens abounding with fruit of large size. The city of Tadinfu
hath also under its rule eleven imperial cities of great importance, all
of which enjoy a large and profitable trade, owing to that immense produce
of silk.[NOTE 2]
Now, you must know, that in the year of Christ, 1273, the Great Kaan had
sent a certain Baron called LIYTAN SANGON,[NOTE 3] with some 80,000
horse, to this province and city, to garrison them. And after the said
captain had tarried there a while, he formed a disloyal and traitorous
plot, and stirred up the great men of the province to rebel against the
Great Kaan. And so they did; for they broke into revolt against their
sovereign lord, and refused all obedience to him, and made this Liytan,
whom their sovereign had sent thither for their protection, to be the
chief of their revolt.
When the Great Kaan heard thereof he straightway despatched two of his
Barons, one of whom was called AGUIL and the other MONGOTAY;[NOTE 4]
giving them 100,000 horse and a great force of infantry. But the affair
was a serious one, for the Barons were met by the rebel Liytan with all
those whom he had collected from the province, mustering more than 100,000
horse and a large force of foot. Nevertheless in the battle Liytan and his
party were utterly routed, and the two Barons whom the Emperor had sent
won the victory. When the news came to the Great Kaan he was right well
pleased, and ordered that all the chiefs who had rebelled, or excited
others to rebel, should be put to a cruel death, but that those of lower
rank should receive a pardon. And so it was done. The two Barons had all
the leaders of the enterprise put to a cruel death, and all those of lower
rank were pardoned. And thenceforward they conducted themselves with
loyalty towards their lord.[NOTE 5]
Now having told you all about this affair, let us have done with it, and I
will tell you of another place that you come to in going south, which is
called SINJU-MATU.
NOTE 1.--There seems to be no solution to the difficulties attaching to
the account of these two cities (Chinangli and Tadinfu) except that the
two have been confounded, either by a lapse of memory on the traveller's
part or by a misunderstanding on that of Rusticiano.
The position and name of CHINANGLI point, as Pauthier has shown, to
T'SI-NAN FU, the chief city of Shan-tung. The second city is called in the
G. Text and Pauthier's MSS. _Candinfu_, _Condinfu_, and _Cundinfu_, names
which it has not been found possible to elucidate. But adopting the reading
_Tadinfu_ of some of the old printed editions (supported by the _Tudinfu_
of Ramusio and the _Tandifu_ of the Riccardian MS.), Pauthier shows that
the city now called _Yen-chau_ bore under the Kin the name of TAI-TING FU,
which may fairly thus be recognised. [Under the Sung Dynasty Yen-chau was
named T'ai-ning and Lung-k'ing. (_Playfair's Dict._ p. 388.)--H.C.]
It was not, however, Yen-chau, but _T'si-nan fu_, which was "the noblest
city in all those provinces," and had been "in old times the seat of a
kingdom," as well as recently the scene of the episode of Litan's
rebellion. T'si-nan fu lies in a direct line 86 miles south of T'sang-chau
(_Changlu_), near the banks of the Ta-t'singho, a large river which
communicates with the great canal near T'si-ning chau, and which was, no
doubt, of greater importance in Polo's time than in the last six
centuries. For up nearly to the origin of the Mongol power it appears to
have been one of the main discharges of the Hwang-Ho. The recent changes
in that river have again brought its main stream into the same channel,
and the "New Yellow River" passes three or four miles to the north of the
city. T'si-nan fu has frequently of late been visited by European
travellers, who report it as still a place of importance, with much life
and bustle, numerous book-shops, several fine temples, two mosques, and
all the furniture of a provincial capital. It has also a Roman Catholic
Cathedral of Gothic architecture. (_Williamson_, I. 102.)
[Tsi-nan "is a populous and rich city; and by means of the river (Ta Tsing
ho, Great Clear River) carries on an extensive commerce. The soil is
fertile, and produces grain and fruits in abundance. Silk of an excellent
quality is manufactured, and commands a high price. The lakes and rivers
are well stored with fish." (_Chin. Rep._ XI. p. 562.)--H.C.]
NOTE 2.--The Chinese Annals, more than 2000 years B.C., speak of silk as
an article of tribute from Shan-tung; and evidently it was one of the
provinces most noted in the Middle Ages for that article. Compare the
quotation in note on next chapter from Friar Odoric. Yet the older modern
accounts speak only of the _wild_ silk of Shan-tung. Mr. Williamson,
however, points out that there is an extensive produce from the genuine
mulberry silkworm, and anticipates a very important trade in Shan-tung
silk. Silk fabrics are also largely produced, and some of extraordinary
quality. (_Williamson_, I. 112, 131.)
The expressions of Padre Martini, in speaking of the wild silk of
Shan-tung, strongly remind one of the talk of the ancients about the origin
of silk, and suggest the possibility that this may not have been mere
groundless fancy: "Non in globum aut ovum ductum, sed in longissimum filum
paulatim ex ore emissum, albi coloris, quae arbustis dumisque, adhaerentia,
atque a vento huc illucque agitata colliguntur," etc. Compare this with
Pliny's "Seres lanitia silvarum nobiles, perfusam aqua depectentes frondium
caniciem," or Claudian's "Stamine, quod molli tondent de stipite Seres,
Frondea lanigerae carpentes vellera silvae; Et longum tenues tractus
producit in aurum."
NOTE 3.--The title _Sangon_ is, as Pauthier points out, the Chinese
_Tsiang-kiun_, a "general of division", [or better "Military Governor".
--H.C.] John Bell calls an officer, bearing the same title, "Merin
_Sanguin_" I suspect _T'siang-kiun_ is the _Jang-Jang_ of Baber.
NOTE 4.--AGUL was the name of a distant cousin of Kublai, who was the
father of Nayan (supra, ch. ii. and Genealogy of the House of Chinghiz in
Appendix A). MANGKUTAI, under Kublai, held the command of the third Hazara
(Thousand) of the right wing, in which he had succeeded his father Jedi
Noyan. lie was greatly distinguished in the invasion of South China under
Bayan. (_Erdmann's Temudschin_, pp. 220, 455; _Gaubil_, p. 160.)
NOTE 5.--LITAN, a Chinese of high military position and reputation under
the Mongols, in the early part of Kublai's reign, commanded the troops in
Shan-tung and the conquered parts of Kiang-nan. In the beginning of 1262
he carried out a design that he had entertained since Kublai's accession,
declared for the Sung Emperor, to whom he gave up several important
places, put detached Mongol garrisons to the sword, and fortified T'si-nan
and T'sing-chau. Kublai despatched Prince Apiche and the General
Ssetienche against him. Litan, after some partial success, was beaten and
driven into T'si-nan, which the Mongols immediately invested. After a
blockade of four months, the garrison was reduced to extremities. Litan,
in despair, put his women to death and threw himself into a lake adjoining
the city; but he was taken out alive and executed. T'sing-chau then
surrendered. (_Gaubil_, 139-140; _De Mailla_, IX. 298 seqq.; _D'Ohsson_,
II. 381.)
Pauthier gives greater detail from the Chinese Annals, which confirm the
amnesty granted to all but the chiefs of the rebellion.
The date in the text is wrong or corrupt, as is generally the case.
CHAPTER LXII.
CONCERNING THE NOBLE CITY OF SINJUMATU.
On leaving Tadinfu you travel three days towards the south, always finding
numbers of noble and populous towns and villages flourishing with trade
and manufactures. There is also abundance of game in the country, and
everything in profusion.
When you have travelled those three days you come to the noble city of
SINJUMATU, a rich and fine place, with great trade and manufactures. The
people are Idolaters and subjects of the Great Kaan, and have paper-money,
and they have a river which I can assure you brings them great gain, and I
will tell you about it.
You see the river in question flows from the South to this city of
Sinjumatu. And the people of the city have divided this larger river in
two, making one half of it flow east and the other half flow west; that is
to say, the one branch flows towards Manzi and the other towards Cathay.
And it is a fact that the number of vessels at this city is what no one
would believe without seeing them. The quantity of merchandize also which
these vessels transport to Manzi and Cathay is something marvellous; and
then they return loaded with other merchandize, so that the amount of
goods borne to and fro on those two rivers is quite astonishing.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--Friar Odoric, proceeding by water northward to Cambaluc about
1324-1325, says: "As I travelled by that river towards the east, and
passed many towns and cities, I came to a certain city which is called
SUNZUMATU, which hath a greater plenty of silk than perhaps any place on
earth, for when silk is at the dearest you can still have 40 lbs. for less
than eight groats. There is in the place likewise great store of
merchandise," etc. When commenting on Odoric, I was inclined to identify
this city with Lin-t'sing chau, but its position with respect to the two
last cities in Polo's itinerary renders this inadmissible; and Murray and
Pauthier seem to be right in identifying it with T'SI-NING CHAU. The affix
_Matu_ (_Ma-t'eu_, a jetty, a place of river trade) might easily
attach itself to the name of such a great depot of commerce on the canal
as Marco here describes, though no Chinese authority has been produced for
its being so styled. The only objection to the identification with
T'si-ning chau is the difficulty of making 3 days' journey of the short
distance between Yen-chau and that city.
Polo, according to the route supposed, comes first upon the artificial
part of the Great Canal here. The rivers _Wen_ and _Sse_ (from near
Yen-chau) flowing from the side of Shan-tung, and striking the canal line
at right angles near T'si-ning chau, have been thence diverted north-west
and south-east, so as to form the canal; the point of their original
confluence at Nan-wang forming, apparently, the summit level of the canal.
There is a little confusion in Polo's account, owing to his describing the
river as coming from the _south_, which, according to his orientation,
would be the side towards Hunan. In this respect his words would apply more
accurately to the _Wei_ River at Lin-t'sing (see _Biot_ in _J. As._ ser.
III. tom. xiv. 194, and _J.N.C.B.R.A.S._, 1866, p. ii; also the map with
ch. lxiv.) [Father Gandar (_Canal Imperial_, p. 22, note) says that the
remark of Marco Polo: "The river flows from the south to this city of
Sinjumatu," cannot be applied to the _Wen-ho_ nor to the _Sse-ho_, which
are rivers of little importance and running from the east, whilst the
_Wei-ho_, coming from the south-east, waters Lin-ts'ing, and answers well
to our traveller's text.--H.C.] Duhalde calls T'si-ning chau "one of the
most considerable cities of the empire"; and Nieuhoff speaks of its large
trade and population. [Sir John F. Davis writes that Tsi-ning chau is a
town of considerable dimensions.... "The _ma-tow_, or platforms, before the
principal boats had ornamental gateways over them.... The canal seems to
render this an opulent and flourishing place, to judge by the gilded and
carved shops, temples, and public offices, along the eastern banks."
(Sketches of China, I. pp. 255-257.)--H.C.]
CHAPTER LXIII.
CONCERNING THE CITIES OF LINJU AND PIJU.
On leaving the city of Sinju-matu you travel for eight days towards the
south, always coming to great and rich towns and villages flourishing with
trade and manufactures. The people are all subjects of the Great Kaan, use
paper-money, and burn their dead. At the end of those eight days you come
to the city of LINJU, in the province of the same name of which it is the
capital. It is a rich and noble city, and the men are good soldiers,
natheless they carry on great trade and manufactures. There is great
abundance of game in both beasts and birds, and all the necessaries of
life are in profusion. The place stands on the river of which I told you
above. And they have here great numbers of vessels, even greater than
those of which I spoke before, and these transport a great amount of
costly merchandize[NOTE 1].
So, quitting this province and city of Linju, you travel three days more
towards the south, constantly finding numbers of rich towns and villages.
These still belong to Cathay; and the people are all Idolaters, burning
their dead, and using paper-money, that I mean of their Lord the Great
Kaan, whose subjects they are. This is the finest country for game,
whether in beasts or birds, that is anywhere to be found, and all the
necessaries of life are in profusion.
At the end of those three days you find the city of PIJU, a great, rich,
and noble city, with large trade and manufactures, and a great production
of silk. This city stands at the entrance to the great province of Manzi,
and there reside at it a great number of merchants who despatch carts from
this place loaded with great quantities of goods to the different towns of
Manzi. The city brings in a great revenue to the Great Kaan.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--Murray suggests that Lingiu is a place which appears in
D'Anville's Map of Shan-tung as _Lintching-y_ and in Arrowsmith's Map of
China (also in those of Berghaus and Keith Johnston) as _Lingchinghien_.
The position assigned to it, however, on the west bank of the canal,
nearly under the 35th degree of latitude, would agree fairly with Polo's
data. [_Lin-ch'ing, Lin-tsing_, lat. 37 deg. 03', _Playfair's Dict._
No. 4276; _Biot_, p. 107.--H.C.]
In any case, I imagine Lingiu (of which, perhaps, _Lingin_ may be the
correct reading) to be the _Lenzin_ of Odoric, which he reached in
travelling by water from the south, before arriving at Sinjumatu.
(_Cathay_, p. 125.)
NOTE 2.--There can be no doubt that this is PEI-CHAU on the east bank of
the canal. The abundance of game about here is noticed by Nieuhoff (in
_Astley_, III. 417). [See _D. Gandar, Canal Imperial_, 1894.--H.C.]
CHAPTER LXIV.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF SIJU, AND THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN.
When you leave Piju you travel towards the south for two days, through
beautiful districts abounding in everything, and in which you find
quantities of all kinds of game. At the end of those two days you reach
the city of SIJU, a great, rich, and noble city, flourishing with trade
and manufactures. The people are Idolaters, burn their dead, use
paper-money, and are subjects of the Great Kaan. They possess extensive and
fertile plains producing abundance of wheat and other grain.[NOTE 1] But
there is nothing else to mention, so let us proceed and tell you of the
countries further on.
On leaving Siju you ride south for three days, constantly falling in with
fine towns and villages and hamlets and farms, with their cultivated lands.
There is plenty of wheat and other corn, and of game also; and the people
are all Idolaters and subjects of the Great Kaan.
At the end of those three days you reach the great river CARAMORAN, which
flows hither from Prester John's country. It is a great river, and more
than a mile in width, and so deep that great ships can navigate it. It
abounds in fish, and very big ones too. You must know that in this river
there are some 15,000 vessels, all belonging to the Great Kaan, and kept
to transport his troops to the Indian Isles whenever there may be
occasion; for the sea is only one day distant from the place we are
speaking of. And each of these vessels, taking one with another, will
require 20 mariners, and will carry 15 horses with the men belonging to
them, and their provisions, arms, and equipments.[NOTE 2]
Hither and thither, on either bank of the river, stands a town; the one
facing the other. The one is called COIGANJU and the other CAIJU; the
former is a large place, and the latter a little one. And when you pass
this river you enter the great province of MANZI. So now I must tell you
how this province of Manzi was conquered by the Great Kaan.[NOTE 3]
NOTE 1.--SIJU can scarcely be other than Su-t'sien (_Sootsin_ of Keith
Johnston's map) as Murray and Pauthier have said. The latter states that
one of the old names of the place was _Si-chau_, which corresponds to that
given by Marco. Biot does not give this name.
The town stands on the flat alluvial of the Hwang-Ho, and is approached by
high embanked roads. (_Astley_, III. 524-525.)
[Sir J.F. Davis writes: "From _Sootsien Hien_ to the point of junction
with the Yellow River, a length of about fifty miles, that great stream
and the canal run nearly parallel with each other, at an average distance
of four or five miles, and sometimes much nearer." (_Sketches of China_,
I. p. 265.)--H.C.]
[Illustration: Sketch Map, exhibiting the VARIATIONS of the TWO GREAT
RIVERS OF CHINA Within the Period of History]
NOTE 2.--We have again arrived on the banks of the Hwang-Ho, which was
crossed higher up on our traveller's route to Karajang.
No accounts, since China became known to modern Europe, attribute to the
Hwang-Ho the great utility for navigation which Polo here and elsewhere
ascribes to it. Indeed, we are told that its current is so rapid that its
navigation is scarcely practicable, and the only traffic of the kind that
we hear of is a transport of coal in Shan-si for a certain distance down
stream. This rapidity also, bringing down vast quantities of soil, has so
raised the bed that in recent times the tide has not entered the river, as
it probably did in our traveller's time, when, as it would appear from his
account, seagoing craft used to ascend to the ferry north of Hwai-ngan fu,
or thereabouts. Another indication of change is his statement that the
passage just mentioned was only one day's journey from the sea, whereas it
is now about 50 miles in a direct line. But the river has of late years
undergone changes much more material.
In the remotest times of which the Chinese have any record, the Hwang-Ho
discharged its waters into the Gulf of Chih-li, by two branches, the most
northerly of which appears to have followed the present course of the
Pei-ho below Tien-tsing. In the time of the Shang Dynasty (ending B.C.
1078) a branch more southerly than either of the above flowed towards
T'si-ning, and combined with the _T'si_ River, which flowed by T'si-nan fu,
the same in fact that was till recently called the Ta-t'sing. In the time
of Confucius we first hear of a branch being thrown off south-east towards
the Hwai, flowing north of Hwai-ngan, in fact towards the embouchure which
our maps still display as that of the Hwang-Ho. But, about the 3rd and 4th
centuries of our era, the river discharged exclusively by the T'si; and up
to the Mongol age, or nearly so, the mass of the waters of this great river
continued to flow into the Gulf of Chih-li. They then changed their course
bodily towards the Hwai, and followed that general direction to the sea;
this they had adopted before the time of our traveller, and they retained
it till a very recent period. The mass of Shan-tung thus forms a
mountainous island rising out of the vast alluvium of the Hwang-Ho, whose
discharge into the sea has alternated between the north and the south of
that mountainous tract. (_See Map opposite_.)
During the reign of the last Mongol emperor, a project was adopted for
restoring the Hwang-Ho to its former channel, discharging into the Gulf of
Chih-li; and discontents connected with this scheme promoted the movement
for the expulsion of the dynasty (1368).
A river whose regimen was liable to such vast changes was necessarily a
constant source of danger, insomuch that the Emperor Kia-K'ing in his will
speaks of it as having been "from the remotest ages China's sorrow." Some
idea of the enormous works maintained for the control of the river may be
obtained from the following description of their character on the north
bank, some distance to the west of Kai-fung fu:
"In a village, apparently bounded by an earthen wall as large as that of
the Tartar city of Peking, was reached the first of the outworks erected
to resist the Hwang-Ho, and on arriving at the top that river and the
gigantic earthworks rendered necessary by its outbreaks burst on the view.
On a level with the spot on which I was standing stretched a series of
embankments, each one about 70 feet high, and of breadth sufficient for
four railway trucks to run abreast on them. The mode of their arrangement
was on this wise: one long bank ran parallel to the direction of the
stream; half a mile distant from it ran a similar one; these two
embankments were then connected by another series exactly similar in size,
height, and breadth, and running at right angles to them right down to the
edge of the water."
In 1851, the Hwang-Ho burst its northern embankment nearly 30 miles east
of Kai-fung fu; the floods of the two following years enlarged the breach;
and in 1853 the river, after six centuries, resumed the ancient direction
of its discharge into the Gulf of Chih-li. Soon after leaving its late
channel, it at present spreads, without defined banks, over the very low
lands of South-Western Shan-tung, till it reaches the Great Canal, and
then enters the Ta-t'sing channel, passing north of T'si-nan to the sea.
The old channel crossed by Polo in the present journey is quite deserted.
The greater part of the bed is there cultivated; it is dotted with
numerous villages; and the vast trading town of Tsing-kiang pu was in 1868
extending so rapidly from the southern bank that a traveller in that year
says he expected that in two years it would reach the northern bank.
The same change has destroyed the Grand Canal as a navigable channel for
many miles south of Lin-t'sing chau. (_J.R.G.S._ XXVIII. 294-295;
_Escayrac de Lauture, Mem. sur la Chine; Cathay_, p. 125; _Reports of
Journeys in China_, etc. [by Consuls Alabaster, Oxenham, etc., Parl. Blue
Book], 1869, pp. 4-5, 14; _Mr. Elias_ in _J.R.G.S._ XL. p. 1 seqq.)
[Since the exploration of the Hwang-Ho in 1868 by Mr. Ney Elias and by Mr.
H.G. Hollingworth, an inspection of this river was made in 1889 and a
report published in 1891 by the Dutch Engineers J.G.W. Fijnje van
Salverda, Captain P.G. van Schermbeek and A. Visser, for the improvement
of the Yellow River.--H.C.]
NOTE 3.--Coiganju will be noticed below. _Caiju_ does not seem to be
traceable, having probably been carried away by the changes in the river.
But it would seem to have been at the mouth of the canal on the north side
of the Hwang-Ho, and the name is the same as that given below (ch. lxxii.)
to the town (_Kwachau_) occupying the corresponding position on the Kiang.
"Khatai," says Rashiduddin, "is bounded on one side by the country of
Machin, which the Chinese call MANZI.... In the Indian language Southern
China is called Maha-chin, i.e. 'Great China,' and hence we derive the
word _Machin_. The Mongols call the same country _Nangiass_. It is
separated from Khatai by the river called KARAMORAN, which comes from the
mountains of Tibet and Kashmir, and which is never fordable. The capital
of this kingdom is the city of _Khingsai_, which is forty days' journey
from Khanbalik." (_Quat. Rashid._, xci.-xciii.)
MANZI (or Mangi) is a name used for Southern China, or more properly for
the territory which constituted the dominion of the Sung Dynasty at the
time when the Mongols conquered Cathay or Northern China from the Kin, not
only by Marco, but by Odoric and John Marignolli, as well as by the
Persian writers, who, however, more commonly call it _Machin_. I imagine
that some confusion between the two words led to the appropriation of the
latter name, also to _Southern_ China. The term _Man-tzu_ or _Man-tze_
signifies "Barbarians" ("Sons of Barbarians"), and was applied, it is
said, by the Northern Chinese to their neighbours on the south, whose
civilisation was of later date.[1] The name is now specifically applied
to a wild race on the banks of the Upper Kiang. But it retains its
mediaeval application in Manchuria, where _Mantszi_ is the name given to
the Chinese immigrants, and in that use is said to date from the time of
Kublai. (_Palladius_ in _J.R.G.S._ vol. xlii. p. 154.) And Mr. Moule
has found the word, apparently used in Marco's exact sense, in a Chinese
extract of the period, contained in the topography of the famous Lake of
Hang-chau (infra, ch. lxxvi.-lxxvii.)
Though both Polo and Rashiduddin call the Karamoran the boundary between
Cathay and Manzi, it was not so for any great distance. Ho-nan belonged
essentially to Cathay.
[1] Magaillans says the Southerns, in return, called the Northerns
_Pe-tai_, "Fools of the North"!
CHAPTER LXV.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN CONQUERED THE PROVINCE OF MANZI.
You must know that there was a King and Sovereign lord of the great
territory of Manzi who was styled FACFUR, so great and puissant a prince,
that for vastness of wealth and number of subjects and extent of dominion,
there was hardly a greater in all the earth except the Great Kaan himself.
[NOTE 1] But the people of his land were anything rather than warriors;
all their delight was in women, and nought but women; and so it was above
all with the King himself, for he took thought of nothing else but women,
unless it were of charity to the poor.
In all his dominion there were no horses; nor were the people ever inured
to battle or arms, or military service of any kind. Yet the province of
Manzi is very strong by nature, and all the cities are encompassed by
sheets of water of great depth, and more than an arblast-shot in width; so
that the country never would have been lost, had the people but been
soldiers. But that is just what they were not; so lost it was.[NOTE 2]
Now it came to pass, in the year of Christ's incarnation, 1268, that the
Great Kaan, the same that now reigneth, despatched thither a Baron of his
whose name was BAYAN CHINCSAN, which is as much as to say "Bayan Hundred
Eyes." And you must know that the King of Manzi had found in his horoscope
that he never should lose his Kingdom except through a man that had an
hundred eyes; so he held himself assured in his position, for he could not
believe that any man in existence could have an hundred eyes. There,
however, he deluded himself, in his ignorance of the name of Bayan.[NOTE 3]
This Bayan had an immense force of horse and foot entrusted to him by the
Great Kaan, and with these he entered Manzi, and he had also a great
number of boats to carry both horse and food when need should be. And when
he, with all his host, entered the territory of Manzi and arrived at this
city of COIGANJU--whither we now are got, and of which we shall speak
presently--he summoned the people thereof to surrender to the Great Kaan;
but this they flatly refused. On this Bayan went on to another city, with
the same result, and then still went forward; acting thus because he was
aware that the Great Kaan was despatching another great host to follow him
up.[NOTE 4]
What shall I say then? He advanced to five cities in succession, but got
possession of none of them; for he did not wish to engage in besieging
them and they would not give themselves up. But when he came to the sixth
city he took that by storm, and so with a second, and a third, and a
fourth, until he had taken twelve cities in succession. And when he had
taken all these he advanced straight against the capital city of the
kingdom, which was called KINSAY, and which was the residence of the King
and Queen.
And when the King beheld Bayan coming with all his host, he was in great
dismay, as one unused to see such sights. So he and a great company of his
people got on board a thousand ships and fled to the islands of the Ocean
Sea, whilst the Queen who remained behind in the city took all measures in
her power for its defence, like a valiant lady.
Now it came to pass that the Queen asked what was the name of the captain
of the host, and they told her that it was Bayan Hundred-Eyes. So when she
wist that he was styled Hundred-Eyes, she called to mind how their
astrologers had foretold that a man of an hundred eyes should strip them
of the kingdom.[NOTE 5] Wherefore she gave herself up to Bayan, and
surrendered to him the whole kingdom and all the other cities and
fortresses, so that no resistance was made. And in sooth this was a goodly
conquest, for there was no realm on earth half so wealthy.[NOTE 6] The
amount that the King used to expend was perfectly marvellous; and as an
example I will tell you somewhat of his liberal acts.
In those provinces they are wont to expose their newborn babes; I speak of
the poor, who have not the means of bringing them up. But the King used to
have all those foundlings taken charge of, and had note made of the signs
and planets under which each was born, and then put them out to nurse
about the country. And when any rich man was childless he would go to the
King and obtain from him as many of these children as he desired. Or, when
the children grew up, the King would make up marriages among them, and
provide for the couples from his own purse. In this manner he used to
provide for some 20,000 boys and girls every year.[NOTE 7]
I will tell you another thing this King used to do. If he was taking a
ride through the city and chanced to see a house that was very small and
poor standing among other houses that were fine and large, he would ask
why it was so, and they would tell him it belonged to a poor man who had
not the means to enlarge it. Then the King would himself supply the means.
And thus it came to pass that in all the capital of the kingdom of Manzi,
Kinsay by name, you should not see any but fine houses.
This King used to be waited on by more than a thousand young gentlemen and
ladies, all clothed in the richest fashion. And he ruled his realm with
such justice that no malefactors were to be found therein. The city in
fact was so secure that no man closed his doors at night, not even in
houses and shops that were full of all sorts of rich merchandize. No one
could do justice in the telling to the great riches of that country, and
to the good disposition of the people. Now that I have told you about the
kingdom, I will go back to the Queen.
You must know that she was conducted to the Great Kaan, who gave her an
honourable reception, and caused her to be served with all state, like a
great lady as she was. But as for the King her husband, he never more did
quit the isles of the sea to which he had fled, but died there. So leave
we him and his wife and all their concerns, and let us return to our
story, and go on regularly with our account of the great province of Manzi
and of the manners and customs of its people. And, to begin at the
beginning, we must go back to the city of Coiganju, from which we
digressed to tell you about the conquest of Manzi.
NOTE 1.--_Faghfur_ or _Baghbur_ was a title applied by old Persian and
Arabic writers to the Emperor of China, much in the way that we used to
speak of the _Great Mogul_, and our fathers of the _Sophy_. It is, as
Neumann points out, an old Persian translation of the Chinese title
_Tien-tzu_, "Son of Heaven"; _Bagh-Pur_ = "The Son of the Divinity," as
Sapor or _Shah-Pur_ = "The Son of the King." _Faghfur_ seems to have been
used as a proper name in Turkestan. (See _Baber_, 423.)
There is a word, _Takfur_, applied similarly by the Mahomedans to the
Greek emperors of both Byzantium and Trebizond (and also to the Kings of
Cilician Armenia), which was perhaps adopted as a jingling match to the
former term; Faghfur, the great infidel king in the East; Takfur, the
great infidel king in the West. Defremery says this is Armenian,
_Tagavor_, "a king." (_I.B._, II. 393, 427.)
["The last of the Sung Emperors (1276) 'Facfur' (i.e. the Arabic for
_Tien Tzu_) was freed by Kublai from the (ancient Kotan) indignity of
surrendering with a rope round his neck, leading a sheep, and he received
the title of Duke: In 1288 he went to Tibet to study Buddhism, and in 1296
he and his mother, Ts'iuen T'ai How, became a bonze and a nun, and were
allowed to hold 360 _k'ing_ (say 5000 acres) of land free of taxes under
the then existing laws." (_E. H. Parker, China Review_, February, March
1901, p. 195.)--H.C.]
NOTE 2.--Nevertheless the history of the conquest shows instances of
extraordinary courage and self-devotion on the part of Chinese officers,
especially in the defence of fortresses--virtues often shown in like
degree, under like circumstances, by the same class, in the modern history
of China.
NOTE 3.--Bayan (signifying "great" or "noble") is a name of very old
renown among the Nomad nations, for we find it as that of the Khagan of
the Avars in the 6th century. The present BAYAN, Kublai's most famous
lieutenant, was of princely birth, in the Mongol tribe called Barin. In
his youth he served in the West of Asia under Hulaku. According to
Rashiduddin, about 1265 he was sent to Cathay with certain ambassadors of
the Kaan's who were returning thither. He was received with great
distinction by Kublai, who was greatly taken with his prepossessing
appearance and ability, and a command was assigned him. In 1273, after the
capture of Siang-Yang (infra, ch. lxx.) the Kaan named him to the chief
command in the prosecution of the war against the Sung Dynasty. Whilst
Bayan was in the full tide of success, Kublai, alarmed by the ravages of
Kaidu on the Mongolian frontier, recalled him to take the command there,
but, on the general's remonstrance, he gave way, and made him a minister
of state (CHINGSIANG). The essential part of his task was completed by the
surrender of the capital _King-sze_ (Lin-ngan, now Hang-chau) to his arms
in the beginning of 1276. He was then recalled to court, and immediately
despatched to Mongolia, where he continued in command for seventeen years,
his great business being to keep down the restless Kaidu. ["The biography
of this valiant captain is found in the _Yuen-shi_ (ch. cxxvii.). It is
quite in accordance with the biographical notices Rashid gives of the same
personage. He calls him _Bayan_." (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. p. 271,
note).]
["The inventory, records, etc., of Kinsai, mentioned by Marco Polo, as
also the letter from the old empress, are undoubted facts: complete stock
was taken, and 5,692,656 souls were added to the population (in the two
Chen alone). The Emperor surrendered in person to Bayan a few days after
his official surrender, which took place on the 18th day of the 1st moon
in 1276. Bayan took the Emperor to see Kublai." (_E. H. Parker, China
Review_, XXIV. p. 105.)--H.C.]
In 1293, enemies tried to poison the emperor's ear against Bayan, and they
seemed to have succeeded; for Kublai despatched his heir, the Prince
Teimur, to supersede him in the frontier command. Bayan beat Kaidu once
more, and then made over his command with characteristic dignity. On his
arrival at court, Kublai received him with the greatest honour, and named
him chief minister of state and commandant of his guards and the troops
about Cambaluc. The emperor died in the beginning of the next year (1294),
and Bayan's high position enabled him to take decisive measures for
preserving order, and maintaining Kublai's disposition of the succession.
Bayan was raised to still higher dignities, but died at the age of 59,
within less than a year of the master whom he had served so well for 30
years (about January, 1295). After his death, according to the peculiar
Chinese fashion, he received yet further accessions of dignity.
The language of Chinese historians in speaking of this great man is thus
rendered by De Mailla; it is a noble eulogy of a Tartar warrior:--
"He was endowed with a lofty genius, and possessed in the highest measure
the art of handling great bodies of troops. When he marched against the
Sung, he directed the movements of 200,000 men with as much ease and
coolness as if there had been but one man under his orders. All his
officers looked up to him as a prodigy; and having absolute trust in his
capacity, they obeyed him with entire submission. Nobody knew better how
to deal with soldiers, or to moderate their ardour when it carried them
too far. He was never seen sad except when forced to shed blood, for he
was sparing even of the blood of his enemy.... His modesty was not
inferior to his ability.... He would attribute all the honour to the
conduct of his officers, and he was ever ready to extol their smallest
feats. He merited the praises of Chinese as well as Mongols, and both
nations long regretted the loss of this great man." De Mailla gives a
different account from Rashiduddin and Gaubil, of the manner in which
Bayan first entered the Kaan's service. (_Gaubil_, 145, 159, 169, 179,
183, 221, 223-224; _Erdmann_, 222-223; _De Mailla_, IX. 335, 458,
461-463.)
NOTE 4.--As regards Bayan personally, and the main body under his command,
this seems to be incorrect. His advance took place from Siang-yang along
the lines of the Han River and of the Great Kiang. Another force indeed
marched direct upon Yang-chau, and therefore probably by Hwai-ngan chau
(infra, p. 152); and it is noted that Bayan's orders to the generals of
this force were to spare bloodshed. (_Gaubil_, 159; _D'Ohsson_, II. 398.)
NOTE 5.--So in our own age ran the Hindu prophecy that Bhartpur should
never fall till there came a great alligator against it; and when it fell
to the English assault, the Brahmans found that the name of the leader was
Combermere = _Kumhir-Mir_, the Crocodile Lord!
--"Be those juggling fiends no more believed
That palter with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear
And break it to our hope!"
It would seem from the expression, both in Pauthier's text and in the G.
T., as if Polo intended to say that _Chincsan_ (Cinqsan) meant "One
Hundred Eyes"; and if so we could have no stronger proof of his ignorance
of Chinese. It is _Pe-yen_, the Chinese form of _Bayan_, that means, or
rather may be punningly rendered, "One Hundred Eyes." Chincsan, i.e.
_Ching-siang_, was the title of the superior ministers of state at
Khanbaligh, as we have already seen. The title occurs pretty frequently in
the Persian histories of the Mongols, and frequently as a Mongol title in
Sanang Setzen. We find it also disguised as _Chyansam_ in a letter from
certain Christian nobles at Khanbaligh, which Wadding quotes from the
Papal archives. (See _Cathay_, pp. 314-315.)
But it is right to observe that in the Ramusian version the mistranslation
which we have noticed is not so undubitable: "Volendo sapere come avea
nome il Capitano nemico, le fu detto, _Chinsambaian_, cioe _Cent'occhi_."
A kind of corroboration of Marco's story, but giving a different form to
the pun, has been found by Mr. W.F. Mayers, of the Diplomatic Department
in China, in a Chinese compilation dating from the latter part of the 14th
century. Under the heading, "_A Kiang-nan Prophecy_," this book states
that prior to the fall of the Sung a prediction ran through Kiang-nan: "If
Kiang-nan fall, a hundred wild geese (_Pe-yen_) will make their
appearance." This, it is added, was not understood till the generalissimo
_Peyen Chingsiang_ made his appearance on the scene. "Punning prophecies
of this kind are so common in Chinese history, that the above is only
worth noticing in connection with Marco Polo's story." (_N. and Q., China
and Japan_, vol. ii. p. 162.)
But I should suppose that the Persian historian Wassaf had also heard a
bungled version of the same story, which he tells in a pointless manner of
the fortress of _Sinafur_ (evidently a clerical error for _Saianfu_, see
below, ch. lxx.): "Payan ordered this fortress to be assaulted. The
garrison had heard how the capital of China had fallen, and the army of
Payan was drawing near. The commandant was an experienced veteran who had
tasted all the sweets and bitters of fortune, and had borne the day's heat
and the night's cold; he had, as the saw goes, milked the world's cow dry.
So he sent word to Payan: 'In my youth' (here we abridge Wassaf's
rigmarole) 'I heard my father tell that this fortress should be taken by a
man called _Payan_, and that all fencing and trenching, fighting and
smiting, would be of no avail. You need not, therefore, bring an army
hither; we give in; we surrender the fortress and all that is therein.' So
they opened the gates and came down." (_Wassaf_, Hammer's ed., p. 41).
NOTE 6.--There continues in this narrative, with a general truth as to the
course of events, a greater amount of error as to particulars than we
should have expected. The Sung Emperor Tu Tsong, a debauched and
effeminate prince, to whom Polo seems to refer, had died in 1274, leaving
young children only. Chaohien, the second son, a boy of four years of age,
was put on the throne, with his grandmother Siechi, as regent. The
approach of Bayan caused the greatest alarm; the Sung Court made humble
propositions, but they were not listened to. The brothers of the young
emperor were sent off by sea into the southern provinces; the empress
regent was also pressed to make her escape with the young emperor, but,
after consenting, she changed her mind and would not move. The Mongols
arrived before King-sze, and the empress sent the great seal of the empire
to Bayan. He entered the city without resistance in the third month (say
April), 1276, riding at the head of his whole staff with the standard of
the general-in-chief before him. It is remarked that he went to look at
the tide in the River Tsien Tang, which is noted for its bore. He declined
to meet the regent and her grandson, pleading that he was ignorant of the
etiquettes proper to such an interview. Before his entrance Bayan had
nominated a joint-commission of Mongol and Chinese officers to the
government of the city, and appointed a committee to take charge of all
the public documents, maps, drawings, records of courts, and seals of all
public offices, and to plant sentinels at necessary points. The emperor,
his mother, and the rest of the Sung princes and princesses, were
despatched to the Mongol capital. A desperate attempt was made, at
Kwa-chau (infra, ch. lxxii.) to recapture the young emperor, but it failed.
On their arrival at Ta-tu, Kublai's chief queen, Jamui Khatun, treated them
with delicate consideration. This amiable lady, on being shown the spoils
that came from Lin-ngan, only wept, and said to her husband, "So also shall
it be with the Mongol empire one day!" The eldest of the two boys who had
escaped was proclaimed emperor by his adherents at Fu-chau, in Fo-kien, but
they were speedily driven from that province (where the local histories, as
Mr. G. Phillips informs me, preserve traces of their adventures in the
Islands of Amoy Harbour), and the young emperor died on a desert island off
the Canton coast in 1278. His younger brother took his place, but a battle,
in the beginning of 1279 finally extinguished these efforts of the expiring
dynasty, and the minister jumped with his young lord into the sea. It is
curious that Rashiduddin, with all his opportunities of knowledge, writing
at least twenty years later, was not aware of this, for he speaks of the
Prince of Manzi as still a fugitive in the forests between Zayton and
Canton. (_Gaubil; D'Ohsson; De Mailla; Cathay_, p. 272.) [See _Parker_,
supra, p. 148 and 149.--H.C.]
There is a curious account in the _Lettres Edifiantes_ (xxiv. 45 seqq.)
by P. Parrenin of a kind of _Pariah_ caste at Shao-hing (see ch. lxxix.
note 1), who were popularly believed to be the descendants of the great
lords of the Sung Court, condemned to that degraded condition for
obstinately resisting the Mongols. Another notice, however, makes the
degraded body rebels against the Sung. (_Milne_, p. 218.)
NOTE 7.--There is much about the exposure of children, and about Chinese
foundling hospitals, in the _Lettres Edifiantes_, especially in Recueil
xv. 83, seqq. It is there stated that frequently a person not in
circumstances to _pay_ for a wife for his son, would visit the foundling
hospital to seek one. The childless rich also would sometimes get children
there to pass off as their own; _adopted_ children being excluded from
certain valuable privileges.
Mr. Milne (_Life in China_), and again Mr. Medhurst (_Foreigner in Far
Cathay_), have discredited the great prevalence of infant exposure in
China; but since the last work was published, I have seen the translation
of a recent strong remonstrance against the practice by a Chinese writer,
which certainly implied that it was _very_ prevalent in the writer's own
province. Unfortunately, I have lost the reference. [See _Father G.
Palatre, L'Infanticide et l'Oeuvre de la Ste. Enfance en Chine_, 1878.
--H.C.]
CHAPTER LXVI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF COIGANJU.
Coiganju is, as I have told you already, a very large city standing at the
entrance to Manzi. The people are Idolaters and burn their dead, and are
subject to the Great Kaan. They have a vast amount of shipping, as I
mentioned before in speaking of the River Caramoran. And an immense
quantity of merchandize comes hither, for the city is the seat of
government for this part of the country. Owing to its being on the river,
many cities send their produce thither to be again thence distributed in
every direction. A great amount of salt also is made here, furnishing some
forty other cities with that article, and bringing in a large revenue to
the Great Kaan.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--Coiganju is HWAI-NGAN CHAU, now _-Fu_ on the canal, some
miles south of the channel of the Hwang-Ho; but apparently in Polo's time
the great river passed close to it. Indeed, the city takes its name from
the River _Hwai_, into which the Hwang-Ho sent a branch when first
seeking a discharge south of Shantung. The city extends for about 3 miles
along the canal and much below its level. [According to Sir J.F. Davis,
the situation of Hwai-ngan "is in every respect remarkable. A part of the
town was so much below the level of the canal, that only the tops of the
walls (at least 25 feet high) could be seen from our boats.... It proved
to be, next to Tien-tsin, by far the largest and most populous place we
had yet seen, the capital itself excepted." (_Sketches of China_, I.
pp. 277-278.)--H.C.]
The headquarters of the salt manufacture of Hwai-ngan is a place called
Yen-ching ("Salt-Town"), some distance to the S. of the former city
(_Pauthier_).
CHAPTER LXVII.
OF THE CITIES OF PAUKIN AND CAYU.
When you leave Coiganju you ride south-east for a day along a causeway
laid with fine stone, which you find at this entrance to Manzi. On either
hand there is a great expanse of water, so that you cannot enter the
province except along this causeway. At the end of the day's journey you
reach the fine city of PAUKIN. The people are Idolaters, burn their dead,
are subject to the Great Kaan, and use paper-money. They live by trade and
manufactures and have great abundance of silk, whereof they weave a great
variety of fine stuffs of silk and gold. Of all the necessaries of life
there is great store.
When you leave Paukin you ride another day to the south-east, and then you
arrive at the city of CAYU. The people are Idolaters (and so forth). They
live by trade and manufactures and have great store of all necessaries,
including fish in great abundance. There is also much game, both beast and
bird, insomuch that for a Venice groat you can have three good pheasants.
[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1.--Paukin is PAO-YING-Hien [a populous place, considerably below the
level of the canal (_Davis, Sketches_, I. pp. 279-280)]; Caya is
KAO-YU-chan, both cities on the east side of the canal. At Kao-yu, the
country east of the canal lies some 20 feet below the canal level; so low
indeed that the walls of the city are not visible from the further bank of
the canal. To the west is the Kao-yu Lake, one of the expanses of water
spoken of by Marco, and which threatens great danger to the low country on
the east. (See _Alabaster's Journey_ in _Consular Reports_ above quoted, p.
5 [and _Gandar, Canal Imperial_, p. 17.--H.C.])
There is a fine drawing of Pao-ying, by Alexander, in the Staunton
collection, British Museum.
CHAPTER LXVIII.
OF THE CITIES OF TIJU, TINJU, AND YANJU.
When you leave Cayu, you ride another day to the south-east through a
constant succession of villages and fields and fine farms until you come
to TIJU, which is a city of no great size but abounding in everything. The
people are Idolaters (and so forth). There is a great amount of trade, and
they have many vessels. And you must know that on your left hand, that is
towards the east, and three days' journey distant, is the Ocean Sea. At
every place between the sea and the city salt is made in great quantities.
And there is a rich and noble city called TINJU, at which there is
produced salt enough to supply the whole province, and I can tell you it
brings the Great Kaan an incredible revenue. The people are Idolaters and
subject to the Kaan. Let us quit this, however, and go back to Tiju.
[NOTE 1]
Again, leaving Tiju, you ride another day towards the south-east, and at
the end of your journey you arrive at the very great and noble city of
YANJU, which has seven-and-twenty other wealthy cities under its
administration; so that this Yanju is, you see, a city of great
importance.[NOTE 2] It is the seat of one of the Great Kaan's Twelve
Barons, for it has been chosen to be one of the Twelve _Sings_. The
people are Idolaters and use paper-money, and are subject to the Great
Kaan. And Messer Marco Polo himself, of whom this book speaks, did govern
this city for three full years, by the order of the Great Kaan.[NOTE 3]
The people live by trade and manufactures, for a great amount of harness
for knights and men-at-arms is made there. And in this city and its
neighbourhood a large number of troops are stationed by the Kaan's orders.
There is no more to say about it. So now I will tell you about two great
provinces of Manzi which lie towards the west. And first of that called
Nanghin.
NOTE 1.--Though the text would lead us to look for _Tiju_ on the direct
line between Kao-yu and Yang-chau, and like them on the canal bank (indeed
one MS., C. of Pauthier, specifies its standing on the same river as the
cities already passed, i.e. on the canal), we seem constrained to admit
the general opinion that this is TAI-CHAU, a town lying some 25 miles at
least to the eastward of the canal, but apparently connected with it by a
navigable channel.
_Tinju_ or _Chinju_ (for both the G.T. and Ramusio read _Cingui_) cannot
be identified with certainty. But I should think it likely, from Polo's
"geographical style," that when he spoke of the sea as three days distant
he had this city in view, and that it is probably TUNG-CHAU, near the
northern shore of the estuary of the Yang-tzu, which might be fairly
described as three days from Tai-chau. Mr. Kingsmill identifies it with
I-chin hien, the great port on the Kiang for the export of the Yang-chau
salt. This is possible; but I-chin lies _west_ of the canal, and though the
form _Chinju_ would really represent I-chin as then named, such a position
seems scarcely compatible with the way, vague as it is, in which Tinju or
Chinju is introduced. Moreover, we shall see that I-chin is spoken of
hereafter. (_Kingsmill_ in _N. and Q. Ch. and Japan_, I. 53.)
NOTE 2.--Happily, there is no doubt that this is YANG-CHAU, one of the
oldest and most famous great cities of China. [Abulfeda (_Guyard_, II. ii.
122) says that Yang-chau is the capital of the Faghfur of China, and that
he is called Tamghadj-khan.--H.C.] Some five-and-thirty years after
Polo's departure from China, Friar Odoric found at this city a House of
his own Order (Franciscans), and three Nestorian churches. The city also
appears in the Catalan Map as _Iangio_. Yang-chau suffered greatly in the
T'ai-P'ing rebellion, but its position is an "obligatory point" for
commerce, and it appears to be rapidly recovering its prosperity. It is
the headquarters of the salt manufacture, and it is also now noted for a
great manufacture of sweetmeats (See _Alabaster's Report_, as above, p 6)
[Illustration: Yang chau: the three Cities Under the Sung]
[Through the kindness of the late Father H. Havret, S J, of Zi ka wei, I
am enabled to give two plans from the Chronicles of Yang chau, _Yang chau
fu che_ (ed. 1733); one bears the title "The Three Cities under the Sung,"
and the other. "The Great City under the Sung" The three cities are _Pao
yew cheng_, built in 1256, _Sin Pao cheng_ or _Kia cheng_, built after
1256, and _Tacheng_, the "Great City," built in 1175; in 1357, Ta cheng
was rebuilt, and in 1557 it was augmented, taking the place of the three
cities; from 553 B.C. until the 12th century, Yang-chau had no less than
five enclosures; the governor's yamen stood where a cross is marked in the
Great City. Since Yang-chau has been laid in ruins by the T'ai-P'ing
insurgents, these plans offer now a new interest.--H.C.]
[Illustration: Yang-chau: the Great City under the Sung.]
NOTE 3.--What I have rendered "Twelve _Sings_" is in the G.T. "douze
_sajes_," and in Pauthier's text "_sieges_." It seems to me a reasonable
conclusion that the original word was _Sings_ (see I. 432, supra);
anyhow that was the proper term for the thing meant.
In his note on this chapter, Pauthier produces evidence that Yang-chau was
the seat of a _Lu_ or circuit[1] from 1277, and also of a _Sing_ or
Government-General, but only for the first year after the conquest, viz.
1276-1277, and he seems (for his argument is obscure) to make from this
the unreasonable deduction that at this period Kublai placed Marco
Polo--who could not be more than twenty-three years of age, and had been
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