The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92409251 1 793 Ceu LivTrauenfelder, Palermo. If^^rj,/-X believed to liave teen cons Iviicled (■ire,'i.\.D,l279 by KO-SHAU-KING,CluefAstLoiiomerloKUBLA|-KAAN ,tud slill preserved in theCourt of Qie Obsci-vntorv ai Peking. brawn hy (.1 Cn mi from it I'hnloyriifili by j\J'. J 7'hoinfiim, F B.G.S. (oucovmnji)cliiiyt)oinfori)c(ialt* Iccwly'^onc into Snq(is-I). I P'^fi wmll.ai 5 ^ ^ London • "JoftN Murrjiy; 1874. uvapf mrm THE BOOK SER MARCO POLO, THE VENETIAN, Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East. NEWLY TRANSLATED AND EDITED, WITH NOTES, MAPS, AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. By colonel HENRY YULE, C.B., LATE OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS (BENGAL), Hon. Fellmo of the Geographical Society of Italy, Corresponding Member of ilie Geographical Society of Paris, Honorary Member of the Geographical Society of Berlin, and of the N.-China Branch of the R. Asiatic Society, &'c. IN TWO VOLUMES.— Vol. II. SECOND EDITION, REVISED. WITH THE ADDITION OF NEW MATTER AND MANY NEW ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. i87S- The right of Translation is reserved. AJ92¥. LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STEEET AND CHARING CROSS. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. Page Table" OF CoNl'ENTS iii Explanatory List of Illustrations xvi The Book of Marco Polo. BOOK SECOND. {Continued.) PART II. Journey to the West and South- West of Cathay. Chap. XXXV. — Here begins the Description of the Interior of Cathay; and first of the River Pulisanghin 3 Note. — The Bridge Pul-i-sangin, or Lu-kyu-kao. XXXVI. — Account of the City of Juju 6 Notes. — i. The Silks called S^xi&b\s,. 1. .Chochau. 3. Bifurcation of Two Great Roads at this point. XXXVII.— The Kingdom of Taianfu 8 Notes. — 1. Acbaluc. ■ 2. T'ai-yuanfu. 3^ Grape-wine of that place. 4. PHngyangfu. XXXVIII.— Concerning the Castle of Caichu. The Golden King and Prester John 12 Notes. — i. TheStory and Portrait of the 'R.oii'Or. z. Ejfeminacy reviving in every Chinese Dynasty. ' XXXIX.— How Prester John treated the Golden King HIS Prisoner 15 XL.— Concerning the Great River Caramoran and THE City of Cachanfu ;. 16 Notes. — l. The Karamuren, 2. Former growth of silk in Shansi and Shensi. 3. The akche or asper. XLL— Concerning the City of Kenjanfu 18 Notes. — i. Geography of the Route since Chapter XXXVIII. 2. Kenjanfu or Singanfu; the Christian monument there. 3. Prince Mangala. XLIL— Concerning the Province of Cuncun, which is RIGHT WEARISOME TO TRAVEL THROUGH 24 Note. — The Mountain Road to Southern Shensi. a 2 IV CONTENTS OF VOL. II. Chap. Page XLI II.— Concerning the Province of Acbalec Manzi •• 26 Notes. — i. Geography, and doubts about Acbalec. 1. Further Journey into Szechwan. XLI v.— Concerning the Province of Sindafu 29 Notes. — l. Chingtufu. 2. The Great River or Vim-ag. 3. The ■word CoraeKqas. 4. The Bridge- Tolls. 5. Correction of Text. XLV. — Concerning the Province of Tebet 33 NoTE.s. — I. 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 4° Notes. — i. Explanatory. 2. " Or de PalioUe." 3. Cinnamon. 4. 5. Great Dags, and Beyamini oxen. XLVII. — Concerning the Province of Caindu 44 Notes. — l. 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 52 Notes. — i. Geography of the Route between Sindafu or Chingtufu, and Carajan or Yunnan. 2. Christians and MahomeddnS in Yunnan. 3, Wheat. 4. Cowries. 5. Brine-spring. 6. Parallel. XLI X.— Concerning a further part of the Province of Carajan 61 Notes. — 1. City of Talifu. 2. Crocodiles. 3. Yunnan horses and riders. Arms of the Aboriginal Tribes. 4. Strange super- stition and parallels. L.— Concerning the Province of Zardandan .. .. 69 Notes. — i. The Gold- Teeth. 2. Male Indolence. 3. The Couvade. 4. Abundance of Gold. Relation of Gold to Silver. 5. Wor- ship of the Ancestor. 6. Unhealthiness of the climate. 7. Tallies. 8-1 1. Medicine-men or Devil-dancers ; extra- ordinary identity ofpracti£e in various regio7zs. LI. — Wherein is related how the King of Mien and Bangala vowed vengeance against the Great Kaan go Notes. — i. 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. LI I.— Of the Battle that was fought by the Great Kaan's Host and his Seneschal against the King of Mien g Notes. — l. Nasritddin. 2. Chinese account of the Action. General Correspondence of the Chinese and Burmese Chronologies. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. V O.HAi'. Page LIII. — Of the Great Descent that leads towards the Kingdom of Mien ■.. 88 Notes. — l. Market-days. 2. Geographical difficulties, LIV.— Concerning the Citv of Mien, and the Two Towers that are therein, one of Gold, and the other of Silver .. 91 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 97 Notes. — i. Polo''s view of Bengal; and details of his account illus- trated. 2. Great Cattle. LVI. — Discourses of the Province Of Caugigu .. .. 99 Note. — A Part of Laos. Papesifu. Chinese Geographical Etymologies. LVII. — Concerning the Province of Anin loi Notes. — i. The Name. Probable identification of territory. 2." Textual. LVIII. — Concerning the Province of Coloman 104 Notes. — i. The Name. The Kolo-man. 2, Natural defences of Kweiehau. LIX. — Concerning the Province of Cuiju 108 Notes. — i. Kweiehau. Phungan-lu. 2, Grass-cloth. 3. Tigers. 4. Great Dogs. 5. Silk. 6. Geographical Review of the Route since Chapter L V. BOOK SECOND. (Continued^ ■ PART III. ^Journey. Southward through Eastern Provinces of Cathay and Manzi. CHAP. LX.— Concerning the Cities of Cacanfu and Changlu 115 Notes. — i. Pauthiei^s Identifications. 2. Changlu. The Burning of the Dead ascribed to the Chinese. (See Appendix L, 12.) LXI.— Concerning the City of Chinangli, and that of Tadinfu, and the Rebellion of Litan .. .. 117 Notes. — i. T'sinanfu. 2. Silk of Shantung. 3. Title Sangon. 4. Agul and Mangkutai. 5. History of man's Revolt. yi CONTENTS OF VOL. II. Chap. Page LXII.— Concerning the Noble City Of Sinjumatu .. ■• 121 Note.-— ?%« CUy intended. The Great Canal. LXII I.— Concerning the Cities of Linju and Piju .. ■• 122 Notes. — ^^i. Linju. 2. Piju. LXIV. — Concerning the City of Siju, and the Great RivfiR CAraMoran ■.' 124 Notes. — i. 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 127 Notes. — i. 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. LXVL— Concerning the City of Coiganju i35 ■Note; — Hwai-ngan-fu. LXVII.— Of the Cities of Paukin and Cayu 136 Note. — Pao-yng and Kao-yu. LXVIII.— Of the Cities of Tiju, Tinju, and Yanju .. .. 137 Notes. — l. Cities between the Canal and the Sea. 2. Yangchau, 3. Marco Polo's Employment at this City. LXIX. — Concerning the City of Nanghin 139 N0TE.^A§3«&'«.f. LXX.— Concerning the Very Noble City of Saianfu, and how its Capture was effected 140 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 154 Notes. — l. Ichin-hien. 2. The Great Kiang. 3. Vast amount of tonnage on Chinese waters. 4. Size of River Vessels. 5. Bamboo Tcno-lines. 6, Picturesque Island Monasteries. LXXIL— Concerning the City of Caiju 159 Notes. — l. Kwa-chau. 2. The Grand Canal and Rice-Transport. 3. The Golden Island. LXXIIL— Of the City of Chinghianfu 161 Note. — Chinkiangfu. Mar Sarghis, the Christian Governor. LXXIV.— Of the City of Chinginju and the Slaughter of certain Alans there J62 Notes.' — l. Changchau. 2. Employment of Alans in the Mongol Service. 3. The Changchau Massacre. Mongol Cruelties. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. vii Chap. Page LXXV.— Of THE Noble City OF Suju 165 Notes. — l. Suchau. 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 Suchau. 5. Huchau, Wukiang, and Kyahing. LXXVI.— Description of»the Great City ob- Kinsay, which IS THE Capital of the whole Country of Manzi 169 Notes. — i. Kingszi, now Hangchau. 2. The circuit ascribed to tJie City; the ^Bridges. 3. Hereditary Trades. 4. The Si-hu or IVestern Lake. 5. Dressiness of the People. 6. Charitable Establishments. 7. Paved roads. 8. Hot and Cold Baths. 9. Kanpu, and the Hangchau Estuary. 10. The Nine Pro- vinces of Manzi. 11. The Kaaiis Garrisons in Manzi. 12. Mourning costume. 13. 14. Tickets recording inmates of houses. LXXVII. — [Further Particulars concerning the Great City of Kinsay] 183 (From Ramusio only.) Notes. — i. Remarks on these supplementary details. 2. Tides in the Hangchau Estuary. 3. Want of a good Survey of Hangchau. The Squares. (See Appendix L, 13.) 4. Marco ignores pork. 5. Great Pears : Peaches. 6. Textual. 7> ChiTiese use of Pepper. 8. Chinese claims to a character for Good Faith. 9. Pleasure-parties on the Lake. 10. Chinese Carriages. ii. The Sung Emperor. 12. The Sung Palace. Extracts regarding this Great City from other medieval writers^ European and Asiatic. Martinis s Description. LXXVI 1 1. — Treating .of the Yearly Revenue that the Great Kaan hath from Kinsay 199 Notes. — i. Textual. 2. Calculations as to the values spoken of. LXXIX.— Of the City of Tanpiju and Others 203 Notes. — i. Route from Hangchau southward. 2. Bamboos. 3. Identification of places. Changshan the key to the route. LXXX.^Concerning the Kingdom of Fuju 207 Notes. — l. " Fruit like Saffron." 2. 3. Cannibalism ascribed to Mountain Tribes on this route. 4. Kieniiingfu. 5. Galin- gale. 6. Fleecy Fowls. 7. Details of the Journey in Fokien and various readings. 8. Unken. Introduction of Sugar- refining into China. LXXXI. — Concerning the Greatness of the City of Fuju 213 Notes. — l. The name Chonka, applied to Fokien here. Cayton or Zayton. 2. Objections that have been made to identity ^Fuju and Fuchau. 3. The Min River. LXXXI I.— Of the City and Great Haven of Zayton .. .. 217 Notes.— I. The Camphor Laurel. 2. The Port of Zayton or Tswanchau ; Recent objections to this identity. Probable origin CONTENTS OF VOL. II. of the word Satin. 3. Chinese consumption of Pepper. /[.Artists- in Tattooing. 5. Position of the Porcelain manufac- ture spoken of. Notions regarding the Great River of China. 6. Fokien dialects, and variety of spoken language in China. . 7. From Ramusio. BOOK THIRD. Japan., the Archipelago, Southern India, and the Coasts and Islands of the Indian Sea. Chap. Page I. — Of the Merchant Ships of Manzi that sail upon THE Indian Seas 231 Notes. — l. Pine Timber. 2. Rudder and Masts. 3. Watertight Compartments. 4. Chinese substitute for Pitch. 5- Oars 2ised by Junks. 6. Descriptions of Chinese Junks from other Medieval Writers. II. — Description of the Island of Chipangu, and the Great Kaan's Despatch of a Host against it .. 235 Notes. — i. 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 Expedi- tion against Chipangu .. 240 Notes. — l. Kublats attempts against Japan. Japanese Narrative of the Expedition here spoken of, 2. Species of Torture. 3. Devices to procure Invulnerability. IV.— Concerning the Fashion of the Idols 245 Notes. — l. Many-limbed Idols. 2. The Philippines and Moluccas. 3. 7%e «fl»«e Chin or China. 4. The Gulf of Cheinan. v.— Of the Great Country called Chamba 248 Notes. — l. Champa, and Kublai^ s dealings with it. 2. Chronology. 3. Eagle-wood and Ebony. Polo's use of Persian words. VI.— Concerning THE Great Island OF Java 254 Note. — Java ; its supposed vast extent. Kublai's expedition against it and failure. Yl I.— Wherein the Isles of Sondur and Condur are SPOKEN OF; and THE KINGDOM OF LOCAC 256 Notes. — i. Textual. 2. Pulo Condore. 3. The Kingdom of Locac, Southern Siam. VIII.— Of the Island called Pentam, and the City Malaiur 261 Notes. — l. Bintang. :i. The Straits of Singapore. 3. Remarks on the Malay Chronology. Malaiur probably Palembang. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. ix Chap. Page IX. — Concerning the Island of Java the Less. The Kingdoms of Ferlec and Basma 264 Notes. — i. 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 RJiinoceros. Thf. Legfnd of Monoceros and the Virgin. 6. Black Falcon. X. — The Kingdoms of Samara and Dagroian 274 Notes. — l. Samara, Sumatra Proper. 2. The Tramontaine and the Mestrc. 3. The Malay Toddy-Palm. 4. Dagroian. 5. Alleged custom of eating dead relatives. XL— Of the Kingdoms of Lambri and Fansur 281 Notes. — l. Lambri. 2. Hairy and Tailed Men. 3. Fansur and Camphor Fansuri. Sumatran Camphor. 4. The Sago-Palm. 5. Remarks on Polo^s Suviatran Kingdoms. XIL— Concerning THE Island OF Necuveran 289 Note. — Gauenispola, and the Nicobar Islands. XIII. — Concerning the Island of Angamanain 292 Note. — The Andaman Islands. XIV.— Concerning the Island of Seilan 295 Notes. — ^i. Exaggeration of Dimensions. The Name. 2. Sovereigns then ruling Ceylon. 3. Brazil Wood and Cinnamon. 4. The Great Ruby. XV.— The same continued. The History of Sagamoni Borcan and the beginning of Idolatry .. .. 298 Notes. — i. Adam's Peak, and the Foot thereon. 2. The Story of Sakya-Muni Buddha. The History of Saints Barlaam and yosaphat ; a Christianized version thereof. 3. High Estimate of Buddha's Character. 4. Curious Parallel Passages. 5. Pilgrimages to the Peak. 6. The Pdtra of Buddha, and the Tooth-Relic. 7. Miraculous endo^timents of the Pdtra ; 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 313 Notes. — i. Ma'bar, its definition, and notes on its Medieval History. 2. The Pearl Fishery, XVIL— Continues to speak of the Province of Maabar.. 322 Notes. — l. Costume. 2. Hindu royal necklace. ^, Hindu use of the Rosary. 4. The Saggio. 5. Companions in Death ; the ivord Amok. 6. Accumulated Wealth of Southern India at this time. 7- Horse Importation from the Persian Gulf. 8. Reli- gious Suicides. 9. Suttees. 10. Worship of the Ox. The Govts, n. Verbal. 12. The Thomacides. 13. Ill-success of horse-breeding in S. India. 14. Curious Mode of Arrest for I CONTENTS OF VOL. 11. Chap. iPage Deit 15. TAe Rainy Seasons. 16. Omens of the Hindus. .17. Strange treatment of Horses. 18. The Devaddsis. 19. Textual. XVIII. — Discoursing of the Place where lieththe body OF St. Thomas the Apostle ; and of the Miracles thereof ■ ■• 338 Notes. — l. Mailapiir. 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 Yalis Tail. XIX.— Concerning THE Kingdom OF MuTFiLi , 346 Notes. — i. MotapalU. 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 .. ■ 350 Notes; — i. 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. Recur- rence of human eccentricities. XXL— Concerning the City of Cail 357 Notes.' — ^i. Kayal ; its true position. Kolkhoi identified. 2. The King Ashar or As-char. 3. Betel-chewing. 4. Duels. XXIL— Of the Kingdom of Coilum 363 Notes. — i. Coilum, Coilon, Kaulam, Columbum, Quilon (and see Appendix L, 14). 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 371 Notes. — i. Cape Comorin (and see Appendix L, 15). 2. The word Gat-paul. XXIV.— Concerning the Kingdom of Eli 374 Notes. — i.. Mount D''Ely, and the City of Hili-Marawi. 2. Textual. 3. Produce. 4. Piratical custom. Wooden Anchors. XXV. — Concerning the Kingdom of Melibar 378 Notes. — i. Dislocation of Polds Indian Geography. The name of Malabar. 2. Verbal. 3. Pirates. 4. Cassia : Turbit : Cubebs. 5. Cessation of direct Chinese trade with Malabar. XXVL— Concerning the Kingdom of Gozurat .... .. 382 Notes. — l. Topographical Confusion. 2. Tall Cotton Trees. 3. Embroidered Leather-work. XXVIL— Concerning the Kingdom of Tana 385 Notes. — l. Tana, and the Konkan. 2. Incense of Western India. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. xi Chap. Page XXVIII.— Concerning the Kingdom of Cambaet 388 •Note: — Cambay. XXIX.— Concerning THE Kingdom OF Semenat 389 Note. — Somnath, and the so-called Gates of Somnath. XXX.— Concerning the Kingdom of Kesmacoran .. .. 392 Notes. — l. Kij-Mekrdn, Limit of India. 2. Recapitulation of PoUs Indian Kingdoms. XXXI.— DiSCOURSETH OF THE TWO ISLANDS CALLED MALE AND Female, and why they are so called .. 395 Note. — The Legend and its diffusion. XXXII.— Concerning the Island of Scotra 398 Notes. — i. Whales of the Indian Seas. 2. Socotra and its former Christianity. 3. Piracy at Socotra. 4, Sorcerers. XXXI 1 1.— Concerning the Island of Madeigascar .. .. 403 Notes. — i. 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, 16). 6. More on the dimensions assigned thereto. 7. Hippopotamus teeth. XXXIV.— Concerning the Island of Zanghibar. A word ' on India in general 415 Notes.— I. Zangibar; Negroes. 2. Ethiopian Sheep. 3. Giraffes. 4. Ivory trade. 5. Error about Elephant-taming. 6. Num- ber of Islands assigned to the Indian Sea. 7. The Three Indies, and various distributions thereof. Polo's Indian Geo- graphy. XXXV.— Treating of the Great Province of Abash, which IS Middle India, and is on the Mainland .. 421 Notes. — l. 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. Tabuing of the African Elephant for War. 5. Marco's Story of the Abys- sinian Invasion of the Mahomedan Low- Country, and Kevieiu of Abyssinian Chronology in connexion therewith. 6. Textual. XXXVI.— Concerning the Province of Aden 434 Notes. — l. The Trade to Alexandria from India via Aden. 2. ,'' Rpncins a deux selles." 3. The Sultan of Aden. The City and its Great Tanks. 4. The Loss of Acre. XXXVI I.— Concerning the City of Esher 43^ Notes.— I. Shihr. 2. Frankincense, 3. Four-horned Sheep. 4. Cattle fed on Fish. 5- Parallel passage. XXXVIII.— Concerning the City of Dufar 441 Notes. — I. Dhofar. 2. Notes on Frankincense. XIV CONTENTS OF VOL. II. Chap. Pace XXIV.— Concerning the Tartars of the Ponent and THEIR Lords 491 Notes. — l. 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 495 {Extracts and Substance.) Notes.— I. Verbal. 2. The Sea of Sarai. 3. The War here spoken of. Wassdfs rigmarole. XXVL— fHow Barca and his Army advanced to meet Alau 496 XXVII. — fHow Alau addressed his followers 497 XXVIII. — fOF the Great Battle between Alau and Barca „ XXIX.— How ToTAMANGU was Lord of the Tartars of the PONENT ; AND after HIM TOCTAI „ Notes. — l. Confusions in the Text. Historical circumstances con- nected with the Persons spoken of Toctai and Noghai Khan. Symbolic Messages. XXX.— fOF THE Second. Message that Toctai sent to NoGAi SCO XXXI. — tHow Toctai marched against Nogai .. .. ,. „ XXXII. — tHow Toctai and Nogai address their People, AND the next Day join Battle 501 XXXIII.— tTHE Valiant Feats and Victory of King Nogai XXXIV. and Last. Conclusion APPENDICES. A. Genealogy of the House of Chinghiz to the End of the Thirteenth Century .. .. .. .. 505 B. The Polo Famihes :— (I.) Genealogy of the Family of Marco Polo the Traveller . . 506 (II.) The Polos of San Geremia 507 C. Calendar of Documents relating to Marco Polo and his Family .. 509 •J- Of chapters so marked nothihg is given but the substance in brief. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. xv Page D. Comparative Specimens of the Different Recensions of Polo's Text 513 E. Preface to Pipino's Latin Version 516 F. Abstract statement of MSS. of Marco Polo's Book, so far as known ; and List of Miniatures in two of the finer MSS 517 G. Diagram showing Filiation of Chief MSS. and Editions of Marco Polo 521 H. Bibliography : — (I.)- Principal Editions of Marco Polo's Book 522 (II.) Titles of Sundry Books and Papers treating of Marco Polo and his Book 523 I. Titles of Books quoted by Abbreviated References in this Work .. 527 K. Values of Certain Moneys, Weights, and Measures occurring in this Book 533 L. Supplementary Notes to the Book of Marco Polo 536 viz.; I. Nationality of the Traveller William DE RuBRUK 536 2. Sarai 537 3. The Wall of Alexander ,, 4. "Reobarles" 538 5. Famir SLnd the Ovis I'oU' 6. Chingintalas ,, 7. The Site of Karakorum 539 8. Prester John ,, 9. The Milk Libation of Kublai Kaan 543 10. The .5 ;7^c;77' or Sporting Eagle ,, 11. Astronomical Instruments of the Age of Kublai Kaan .. .. 544 12. Former Practice of Cremation by the Chinese 550 13. The Squares in the City of Kinsay . . ,, 14. Derivation of the Name of KOLl.AM or QuiLON 551 15. Cape CoMORiN ,, 16. The Rue 552 INDEX 553 EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME n. INSERTED PLATES AND MAPS. 7 oface Title. Outline of a Great Armillary Sphere cast in bronze, believed to have been constructed by Ko-shau-King Astronomer to Kublai Kaan, and now preserved in the Garden of the Pekiiig Observatory ; taken by permission of Mr. J. Thomson, F.R.G.S., from a photograph by him, (now published in vol. iv. of his Illustrations of China and its People) ; see Appendix L, at the end of this volume. Illuminated Title, by Mr. G. Frauenfelder ; with 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 the Editor. To face page 22. The celebrated Christian Inscription of Singanfu. Photo- lithographed 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. ,, 65. 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. ,' 91. 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. PagXn, the medieval capital of Burma. ;, 114. Itineraries of Marco Polo. No. V. The Indo-Chinese Coun- tries. With a small sketch extracted from a Chinese Map in the possession of Baron von Richthofen, showing the position of Kienchang, the Caindu of Marco Polo. ,, 126. Sketch Map exhibiting the Variations of the Two Great Rivers of China, within the Period of History. ,, ,, 166. The City of SucHAU. Reduced by the Editor from a Rubbing of a Plan incised on Marble, and preserved in the Great Con- fucian 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. iooo. 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. ,, 177. Map of Hangchaufu and its Lake, from Chinese Sources. The Map as published in the former edition was based on a Chinese Map in the possession of Mr. W. Lockhart, with LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II. xvu some particulars from Maps in a copy of the Local Topo- graphy, Hang-Chau-fu-chi, in the B. Museum Library. In the present 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. Maule of the Church Mission at Hangchau. These materials embrace a Paper read by Mr. Moule before the N. China Branch of the R. As. Soc. at Shanghai ; 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 Singanku, 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 ChapelofYang-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 Enquiiy. 1 3. 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 Investiga- tions. 21. Superintendent of Works. 22. Ka-yuen Monasteiy. 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." To face page 194. Plan of Southern Part of the City of Kingsze (or Hangchau), 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 Hangchau. 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. , ,, 222 Sketch Map of the Great Ports of Fokien, 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 Neigh- bouring Countiy,'' 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. ,, ,, 228 Itineraries of Marco Polo, No. VI. The Journey through Kiang-Nan, Chekiang, and Fokien. VOL. II. b xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II. 11. Map to illustrate Marco Polo's Chapters on the Malay To face page 294 \ Countries. 12. Map to illustrate his Chapters on Southern India. ii. Sketch showing the Position of Kayal in Tinnevelly. 2. Map showing the Position of the Kingdom of Ely in Malabar. „ ,, 438. 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 42J inches by \<)\ inches.) Photolithographic Reduction by Mr. G. B. Praetorius, through the assistance of R. H. Major, Esq. „ ,, 472. Facsimile of first three lines of a Mongol Letter in the Uighur character sent by Arghun Khan to Philip the Fair in a.d. 1289, and preserved in the Archives of France (after complete facsimile published by Abel-Remusat, in Memoircs de VAcadhnie des Inscriptions, vol. vii.). WOODCUTS PRINTED WITH THE TEXT. Book Second. — Part Second. Page 4. The Bridge of Pulisanghin, the Lu-kyu-kiao 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. ,, 14. 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. ,, 20. Plan of Kichau, after Duhalde. ,, 24 The Cross incised at the head of the Great Christian Inscription of Singanfu (a.d. 7S1); actual size, from copy of a pencil rubbing made on the original by the Rru. J. Lees. Received from Mr. A. Wylie. „ 31. Diagram to elucidate the cities of Chingtufu. ,, 36. Mountaineers of the Borders of Szechwan and Tibet, from one of the illustrations to Lieut. Garnier's Narrative (see p. 40). From Tour du Monde. „ 41. Village of Eastern Tibet on Szechwan P'rontier. From Mr. Cooper's Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce. „ 43. Example of Roads on the Tibetan Frontier of China (being actually a view of the Gorge of the Lantsang Kiang). From the same. ,, 46. The Valley of the Kinsha Kiang, near the lower end of the Caindu of Marco Polo. From Lieut. Garnier in the Tour du Monde. 49. Salt Pans in Yunnan. From the same. „ 54. Garden House on the Lake of YuNNAN-FU ; Yachi of Polo. From the same. 56. Road descending from the Table Land of Yunnan into the Valley of the Kinsha Kiang (the Brius of Polo). From the same. „ 60. " A Saracen of Carajan," being the portrait of a. Mahomedan Mullah in Western Yunnan. From the same. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II. xix Page 64. " Riding long like Frenchmen," exemplified from the Bayeux Tapestry. After La Croix, Vie Militaire du Moyen Age. 68. The Sang-miau tribe of Kweichau, with the Cross-bow. From a coloured drawing in a Chinese work on the Aboriginal Tribes, belonging to W. Lockhart, Esq. 74. Portraits of a Kakhyen man and woman. Drawn by Q. Cenni from a photograph (anonymous). 90. Temple called Gaudapalen in the city of Mien {i.e. Pagan in Burma), erected circa A. D. 1 160. Engraving after a sketch by present Editor, from Fergusson's History of Architecture. 94. The Palace of the King of Mien in modem times (viz., the Palace at Amarapura). From the same, being partly from a sketch by present Editor. 102. HONHI and other tribes in the Department of Lin-ngan in S. Yunnan, supposed to be the Anin country of Marco Polo. From Gamier in the Tour du Monde. 106. The Koloman tribe, on borders of Kweichau and Yunnan. From coloured drawing in Mr. Lockharts book as above (under p. 68). 113. Iron Suspension Bridge at Lowatong. From Gamier in Tour du Monde. 114. Fortified Villages on Western Frontier of Kweichau. From the ^ame. Book Second.— Part Third. 145. Medieval Artillery Engines. Figs, i, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are Chinese. The first four are from the Encyclopaedia San-Thsai-Thou-hoei (Vms 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 Fell GrSgeois, 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. oi Eashidziddin'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. oi Bib. Imp.). Fig. 10 from Shaw's Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages, vol. i. No. 21, after B. Mus. MS. Reg. 16, G. vi. Fig. 11 from Pertz as above, under A.D. 1 182. 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 &tudes de V Artillerie, and by him taken from the MS. of Paulus Santinus (Lat. MS. 7329 in Paris Library). Fig. 19 from Professor Moseley's resto- ration of a Trebuchet, after the data in the Medieval 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 jfustinger and Schilling. 154. Coin from a treasure hidden during the siege of Siangyang in 1268-73, and lately discovered in that city. 157. Island Monasteries on the Yangtsze-kiang ; vi^.: — I. Uppermost. Tlie "Little Orphan Rock," after a cut in Oliphant's Narrative. XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II. 2. Middle. The "Golden Island" near Chingkiangfu, after Fisher's China. -(This has been accidentally reversed in the drawing.) 3. Lmuer. The "Silver Island," below the last, after Mr. Lindley's book on the Taipings, Page 161. The West Gate of Chingkiangfu. From an engraving in .fi'j-i^r'j Cto^ after a sketch made by Admiral Stoddart, R.N., in 1842. „ 167. South-west Gate and Water Gate of SucHAU ; facsimile on half scale from the incised Map of 1247 (see List of Inserted Plates precedmg, under p. 166). „ 177. The old LUH-HO-TA or Pagoda of Six Harmonies near HangchaU, 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. „ 195. 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 Hangchau. Reduced from a pen-and-ink sketch by Mr. Moule. ,, 210. Scene in the Bohea Mountains, on Polo's route between Kiangsi and Fokien. From Fortune's Three Years Wanderings. ,, 216. Scene on the Min River below Fuchau. From the same. ,, 228. 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 Tswanchau), after a sketch by Ca^t. (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 Changchau River ; but the Editor has not been able to procure material for one of the Tswanchau River, and so he leaves it. Book Third. ,, 230. The Kaan's Fleet passing through the Indian Archipelago. From a drawing by the Editor. ,, 236. Ancient Japanese Emperor, after a Native Drawing. From the Tour du Monde, ,, 239. Ancient Japanese Archer, after a native drawing. Frovi the same. „ 243. The Japanese engaged in combat with the Chinese, after an ancient native drawing. From Charton, Voyageurs Anciens et Modernes. ,, 253. Java. A view in the interior. From a sketch of the slopes of the Gedeh Volcano, taken by the Editor in i860. ,, 255. 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. ,, 271. 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 present Editor whether the cut appeared in any other publication. ,, 273. MONOCEROS and the Maiden. From a medieval drawing engraved in Cahier et Martin, MHa7iges d' Archeologie, II. PI. 30. ,, 302. Adam's Peak from the Sea. 309. 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. , 312. Tooth Reliques of Buddha, i. At Kandy, after Emerson Tennent. 2. At Fuchau, after Fortune. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II. xxi Page 320. " Chinese Pagoda " (so called) at Negapatam. From a sketch taken by Sir Walter Elliot, K.C.S.I., in 1846. i> 337- Pagoda at Tanjore. From Fergusson's History of Architecture. „ 339. 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. ,, 341. The Little Mount of St. Thomas, near Madras. After Daniel. ,, 345. Small Map of the St. Thomas localities at Madras. ,, 366. Ancient Christian Church at Parijr or Paliir, on the Malabar Coast ; from an engraving in Pearson's Life of Claudius Buchanan, after a sketch by the latter. ,, 367. Syrian Church at Karanyachirra, showing the quasi-Jesuit Fagade generally adopted in modern times. From the Life of Bishop Daniel Wilson. „ 367. Interior of Syrian Church at Kottayam. From the same. „ 373. Cape Comorin. From an original sketch by Mr. Foote of the Geological Survey of India. ,, 377. Mount D'Ely. Yxam.s, nautical sketch of last century. ,, 382. Medieval Architecture in Guzerat, being a view of Gateway at Jinjawara, given in Forbes's Ras Mala. From Fergusson's History of Architecture. ,, 390. 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. ,, 408. The Rukh, after a Persian drawing. From Lane's Arabian Nights. ,, 418. The Ethiopian Sheep. Yxow.&^e.ti-h'o-^ Miss Catharine Frere. „ 437. View of Aden in 1840. From a sketch by Dr. R. Kirk in the Map-room of the Royal Geographical Society. ,, 445. The Harvest of Frankincense in Arabia,. Facsimile of an engraving in Thevefs Cosmografhie Universelle (I57S). Reproduced from CasselPs Bible Educator, by the courtesy of the publishers. ,, 447. 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 Dr. George Birdwood. ,, 451. A Persian Bad-gir, or Wind Tower. From a drawing in the Atlas to Hommaire de Hell's Persia. Engraved by Adeney. Book Fourth. ,, 477. Tomb of Oljaitu Khan, the brother of Polo's Casan, at Sultaniah. From Fergusson's History of Architecture. ,, 481. The Siberian Dog-sledge. From the Tour du Monde. „ 489. . Medieval Russian Church. From Fergusson's History of Architecture. „ 494. 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, April 9th, 1241. After a plate in Schlesische Fiirstenbilder des Mittelalters, Breslau, 1868. „ 502. Asiatic Warriors of Polo's Age. From the MS. of Rashiduddin's History, noticed under cut at p. 14. Engraved by Adeney. Appendices. ,, 551. Diagram, from a Chinese work, of the Fang or Squares in the City of Singanfu. Communicated by Mr. A. Wvlie. VOL. II. C BOOK SECOND— coj^T/Nusjj. Part II.— JOURNEY TO THE WEST AND SOUTH- WEST OF CATHAY. VOL. II. THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO. BOOK I \.— 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. And so now I will tell you all that he saw on his travels as he went and returned. When you leave the City of Cambaluc and have ridden ten miles, you come to a very large river which is called PuLisANGHiN, and flows into the ocean, so that merchants with their merchandise ascend it from the sea. Over this River there is a very fine stone bridge, so fine indeed that it has very few equals. The fashion of it is this : it is 300 paces in length, and it must have a good eight paces of width, for ten mounted men can ride across it abreast. It has 24 arches and as many water-mills, and 'tis all of very B 1 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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.' The Bridge of Pulisanghin (reduced from a Chinese original). — " tt Besus «Bt Hum a urt mout iiiaus pont Je piBtts : cat sacfjiej qc pant n'a en tou t h manSt tie si biaus ne son pateil." Note 1. — Pul-i-Sa7igin, the name which Marco gives the River means in Persian simply (as Marsden notice.d) " 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 Chap. XXXV. BRIDGE OF PULISANGHIN. .5 'Ali, travelling that way from India in the i6th century, applies the name, as it is applied here, to the river; for his journal tells us that beyond KuMb he crossed " the River Fulisangin." We may easily suppose, therefore, that near Cambaluc also, the Bridge, first, and then the River, came to be known to the Persian-speak- ing 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-'B.o 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. 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-kyu-Kiao or Bridge of Lukyu, adjoining the town which is called in the Russian map of 'Se!^\i\gFeuchen, but in the official Chinese Atlas Kung-Keih-cheng, (see Map at ch. xi. of Bk. II. in the first Volume). It is described both by Magaillans and Lecomte, with some curious discrepancies, whilst each affords parti- culars 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 geometri- cal 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-h had, as Polo specifies, twenty-four. The engraving which we give of the Lu-kyu Kiao 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 impracti- cable on account of rapids, whilst the Lieu-li Ho, or " Glass River," is, as its name implies, smooth, and navigable, and it is largely navigated by boats from the coal-mines of Fang-shan. The road crosses the latter about two leagues from Cho-chau (see next chapter). The Bridge of Lu-kyu is mentioned more than once in the history of the conquest of North China by Chinghiz. It was the scene of a nota- ble mutiny of the troops of the Kin Dynasty in 12 15, which induced Chinghiz to break a treaty just concluded, and led to his capture of Peking. 6 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. 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. 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 /i 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 Kanghi (i662-r723) built the bridge, and the other that Kienlung (1736-17 96) repaired it." These circumstances are strictly consistent with Magaillans' account of the destruction of the medieval bridge. Williamson describes the present bridge as about 700 feet long, and 1 2 feet wide in the middle part. {P. de la Croix, II. 11, &c. ; Erskine's Baber, p. xxxiii. ; Timour's Institutes, To;/. As. IX. 205; Cathay, 260; Magaillans, 14-18,35; Lecomte in Astley, III. 529; J. As. ser. 2, torn. i. 97-8; D'Ohsson, I. 144.) 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.' Here too there are many hostelries for travellers.^ After riding a mile beyond this city you find two roads, one of which goes west and the other south-east. CHAP. XXXVI. THE CITY OF JUJU. 7 The westerly road is that through Cathay, and the south- easterly one goes towards the province of Manzi.^ 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 abound- ing with trade and manufactures, besides the fine fields and vineyards and dwellings of civilized people ; but nothing occurs worthy of special mention ; and so I will only speak of a kingdom called Taianfu. Note 1. — The word is sendaus (Pauthier), pi. oi 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 Cceur de Lion ' we find " Many a pencel of sykelatoun And of sendel 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." The origin of the word seems also somewhat doubtful. The word SevSes occurs in Constant. Porphyrog. de Ceremoniis (Bonn, ed. I. 468), and this looks like a transfer of the Arabic Sdndas 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 modifica- tions of the ancient Sindon, and this is Mr. Marsh's view (see also Fr. -Michel, R'echerches, &'c., I. 212; Diet des Tissus, II. 171 seqq.). Note 2. — Juj6 is precisely the name given to this city by Rashid- uddin, who notices the vineyards. Juju is Cho-chau, just at the dis- tance specified from Peking, viz. 40 miles, and nearly 30 from Pulisanghin or Lu-kyu Kiao. The name of the town is printed Tsochow by Mr. Wil- hamson, 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 navi- 8 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. gable 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, &c. Presented to Parliament, 1869, p. 9.) The place is called 7«;z^ also in the Persian itinerary given by 'Izzat Ullah m / R. A. S. VII. 308 ; and in one procured by Mr. Shaw {Proc. R. G. S. XVI. p. 253). Note 3.—" About a li from the southern suburbs of this town, the great road to Shantung and the south-east diverged, causing an imme- diate diminution in the number of carts and travellers" {Oxenham). 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, where- at 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 Uberty to sport, if he be a gentleman. The Great Chap. XXXVII. THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU. 9 Kaan, however, scarcely ever went hunting in this direc- tion, and hence the game, particularly the hares, had in- creased 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.] ' Taianfu " 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 .^ 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."* 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 fredette died" by the words " At the end of five days' journey beyond the ten," but this is clearly wrong.* The place best suiting in position, as halfway between Chochau and T'ai-yuanfu, would be Ching- TiNGFU, and I have little doubt that this is the place intended. The title of Ak-Bdligh in Turki,t or Chaghdn Balghdsun in Mongol, meaning * And I see Ritter understood the passage as I do (IV. 515). t Bdligh is indeed properly Mongol. lo MARCO POLO. Book II. " White City," was applied by the Tartars to Royal Residences ; and possibly Chingtingfu 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-Apostohc of Chihli the ruined Imperial Palace at Chingtingfu for his cathedral and other mission establishments. Moreover, as a matter of fact, Rashiduddin's account of Chinghiz's campaign in northern China in 12 14, speaks of the city of " Chaghan Balghasun which the Chinese call Jintzinfu." This is almost exactly the way in which the name of Chingtingfu is represented in 'Izzat UUah's Persian Itinerary (Jigdzinfu, evidently a clerical error for Jingdzinfu), so I think there can be little doubt that Chintingfu is the place intended. The name of Hwai-lu-hian (see Note 2), which is the first stage beyond Chingtingfu, is said to mean the " Deer-lair," pointing apparently to the old character of the tract as a game-preserve. The city of Chingting 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 Shansi iron. {Consular Reports, p. 10; Erdmann, 331.) Between Chingtingfu and T'ai-yuanfu the traveller first crosses a high and rugged range of mountains, and then ascends by narrow defiles to the plateau of Shansi. But of these features Polo's excessive condensa- tion takes no notice. The traveller who quits the great plain of Chihli for " the kingdom of Taianfu," i.e. Northern Shansi, enters a tract in which predominates that very remarkable formation called by the CYimtst Hwang-tu, and to which the German name Loss 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 Loss is a brownish-yellow loam, highly porous, spread- ing over low and high ground alike, smoothing over irregularities of surface, and often more than 1000 feet in thickness. It has no stratifi- cation, 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 loss basin looks in a bird's-eye view, it is thus one of the most impracticable countries con- ceivable 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 loss ; as in S. China to the alluvial plains and the terraced hill-sides. The loss has some peculiar quality which renders its produc- tive power self-renewing without manure (unless it be in the form of a surface coat of fresh loss), and unfaihng 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 Chap. XXXVII. WINE OF TAIANFU. II plants combined with a large amount of material spread over the face of the ground by the winds and surface waters. Though we do not expect to find Polo taking note of geological features, we are surprised to find no mention of a characteristic of Shansi and the adjoining districts, which is due to the loss ; viz. the practice of forming cave dwellings in it ; these in fact form the habitations of a majority of the people in the loss country. Polo has noticed a similar usage in Badakhshan (I. p. i6i), and it will be curious if a better acquaintance with that region should disclose a surface formation analogous to the loss (Richthofen's Letters, VII. 13 et passim). Note 2. — Taianfu is, as Magaillans pointed out, T'aiyuan-fu, the capital of the Province of Shansi, and Shansi 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 Tdjah or Taiyiinah 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. There is still an Imperial factory of artillery, matchlocks, &c., 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 import- ance. The district used to be much noted for cutlery and hardware, iron as well as coal being abundantly produced in Shansi. Apparently the present Birmingham of this region is a town called Hwai-lu, or Hwo-lu-hian about 20 miles west of Chingting-fu, and just on the western verge of the great plain of Chihli. {Richthofen's Letters, 'iio. VII. 20; Cathay, xcvii, cxiii, cxciv; Rennie, II. 265; Williamson's Journeys in North China ; Oxenham, u. s. 11 ; Klaproth in/. As. ser. 2, tom. i. 100 ; Izzat Ullah's Pers. Itin. in/ R. A. S. VIL 307.) Note 3. — Martini observes that the grapes in Shansi 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'aiyuan-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-hian, 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. The river that flows down from Shansi by Chingting-fu is called Putu-ho, or the Grape River. (/. As. u. s. ; Richthofen, u. s.) 12 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. Note 4. — In no part of China probably, says Riclithofen, do the towns and villages consist of houses so substantial and costly as in this. Pianfu is undoubtedly, as Magaillans again notices, P'ingyang-fu. It is the Bika7* of Shah Rukh's ambassadors. It 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. The city, lying in a broad valley covered with the yellow loss, was destroyed by the Taeping rebels, but it is reviving. The vicinity is noted for large paper factories. {Cathay, ccxi. ; Ritter, IV. 516; D'Ohsson, II. 7° J Williamson, I. 336.) 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 A-ery fine sight they make. Each king in succession as he reigned added to those pictures.' [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.^] Now I will tell you a pretty passage that befel between * It seems to be called Piyingfu (miswritten Yvjmgku) in Mr. Shaw's ' Itinerary ' from Yarkand (Pr. R. G. S. xvi. 253). We often find the Western modifications of Chinese names very persistent. Chap. XXXVIII. THE GOLDEN KING. 13 this 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 14 MARCO POLO. BOOK. If. shall come with us, will ye nill ye, to Prester John our Lord." The " Roi d'Or." (From a MS. in the Royal Asiatic Society's Collection.) "!Et cn mtt rijasttaua f)a urt mout biaus pakia en quel a tine gtanSfeme aale la aii tl sunt povttatt a mnut belles pointures tout Ics tois Be teles prafaences que furent ansienemant, et ce est mout belle faiste a faoir." 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 Churchd (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 deduceable. 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 Chap. XXXIX. PRESTER JOHN AND THE GOLDEN KING. 15 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, Churchd, 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 (Ixxvii.) to the Sung Em- perors 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 Taiping sovereign during his reign at Nanking : " None but women are allowed in the interior of the Palace, and /le 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.) 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.* The King answered not a word, as if he wist not what it * ' ' Lui dist que il feust le mal venuz.' l6 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. 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. 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, so big that no bridge can be thrown across it; for it is of im- mense 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 Chap. XL. THE CITY OF CACHANFU. 1 7 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.'' 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.^ [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 west- ward 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. — Kard-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 medieval western writers, e.g., Odoric, John Marignolli, Rashiduddin. The River, where it skirts Shansi, 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 Shansi, 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 Shansi, at 4 feet per mile. The best part for navigation is above this, from Ninghia to Chaghan Kuren (in about 110° E. long.), in which Capt. Prshevalski's observations give a fall of less than 6 inches per mile. {Richthofen, Letter VH. 25 ; Williamson., I. 69 ; /. R. G. S. XLHL, p. 115 ; Peterpian7i, 1873, pp. 89-91.) Note 2. — It is remarkable that the abundance of silk in Shansi and Shensi is so distinctly mentioned in these chapters, whereas now there is VOL. II. («, ^ C 1 8 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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 Shensi and southern Shansi." Note 3. — The asper or akch'e (both meaning " white ") of the Mongols at Tana or Azov I have elsewhere calculated, from Pegblotti's data {Cathay, p. 298), to have contained about os. 2-8d. worth of silver, which is /ess than the grosso ; but the name may have had a loose appli- cation to small silver coins in other countries of Asia. Possibly the money intended may have been the 50 isien note (see note 1, ch. xxiv. suj>ra). . 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. 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.' 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.'' 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.3 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 Chap. XLI. PALACE OF THE PRINCE MANGALAI. 19 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 cham- bers, 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. — Having got to sure ground again at Kenjanfu, which is, as we shall explain presently, the city of Singanfu, capital of Shensi, let us look back at the geography of the route from P'ingyanfu. Its . difficulties are great. The traveller carries us two days' journey from P'ingyanfu 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 th? great city Cachanfu ; eight days more (or as in Ramusio seven) bring him to SingAnfu. There seems scarcely room for doubt that Cachanfu is the Ho- CHANGFU of those days, now called P'uchaufu, close to the great elbow of the Hwang Ho {Klaproth). But this city, instead of being Paw days west of the great river, stands near its eastern bank. Not maintaining the infallibility of our traveller's memory, we may conceive confusion here, between the recollections of his journey west- ward 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'uchaufu, and closing the passage between the river and the mountains, just where C 2 20 MARCO POLO. Book II. the boundaries of Honan, Shansi, and Shensi 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 con- tinued 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. 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 KicJiau of the maps, nearly due west of P'ingyangfu, 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'uchaufu, or possibly embarked and de- scended the river itself to that point. This last hypothesis would mitigate the apparent disproportion in the times as- signed 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 Shensi troubles a large garrison has been kept up at Kichau to watch it.* And this is the only direction in which 2 days' march, at Polo's rate, would bring him within 20 miles of the Yellow River. Whether there is any historic castle at Kichau 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, (i) 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 gieat bend. One is at T'ungkwan, where I crossed it; the other and Plan of Kichau, after Duhalde. 1 am indebted for this information to Baron Richthofen. Chap. XLI. CHRISTIAN MONUMENT OF SINGANFU. 21 more convenient, is at the fortress of Taiching-kwan, locally pronounced Tatgin-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 Tungchau-fu and thence to Singan-fu. T'aiching-kwan could not possibly (at Polo's rate) be reached in 2 days from P'ingyang-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 Shansi and Shensi are supplied with salt. It is 70 or 80 m. from P'ingyang-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 Chingtufu and Chuchau 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 Kiaichau 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." * Note 2. — The 8 days' journey through richly cultivated plains run up the basin of the Wei River, the most important agricultural region ot N.W. China, and the core of early Chinese History. The loss is here more than ever predominant, its yellow tinge affecting the whole land- scape, and even the atmosphere. Here, according to Baron v. Richt- hofen, 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 Loss." Kenjanfu, or, as Ramusio gives it, Quenzanfu, is Si-ngan-fu, or as it was called in the days of its greatest fame, Changgan, probably the most celebrated city in Chinese history, and the capital of several of the most potent dynasties. It was the metropolis of Shi Hwangti 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 Khumdin of the early Mahomedans, and the site of flourishing Christian Churches in the 7 th century, as well as of the remarkable monument, the discovery of which a thousand years later disclosed their forgotten existence, "j" Kingchao-fu * See the small Map attached to "Marco Polo's Itinerary Map, No. IV.," at end of Vol. I. t 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. Lockharl. 22 MARCO POLO. Book II. Was the name 'which, the city bore when the Mongol invasions brought China into communication with the west, and Klaproth supposes that 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 inscrip- tion is given in Cathay, pp. xcii. seqq., and pp. clxxxi. seqq., but the "subject is so interesting that it seems well to introduce here the most important particulars : — The stone slab, about 7j feet high by 3 feet wide, and some ten inches in thickness, which bears this inscription, was accidentally found in 1625 by some workmen who .were digging in the Changgan suburb of the city of Singanfu. The cross, which is engraved at page 24, 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 1 780 characters. Its chief contents are as follows : — ist. An abstract of Christian doctrine,- of a vague and figurative kind ; 2nd. An account of the arrival of the missionary Olopan (pro- bably a Chinese form of Rabban^Viorik), from Tat'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'aitsung, 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 Tat'sin (here apparently implying Syria) ; and then some account of the fortunes of the Church in China. ' Kaotsung (650-683, the devout patron also of the Buddhist traveller and Doctor Hwen T'sang) continued to favour it. In the end of the century, Buddhism gets the upper hand, but under HwAN-TSUNG (713-755) the Church recovers its prestige, and'KlHO, a new missionary, arrives. Under Tetsung (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 2nd year Kienchung of the Great T'ang dynasty, the 7th 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). There are added the name of the chief of the law, Ningchu (presumed to be the Chinese name of the Metropolitan), the name of the writer, and the official sanction. The monument exhibits, in addition to the Chinese text, a series of short in- scriptions 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 (/. e. China) ; and those of the clerical staff of the capital, which here bears the name, given it by the early Arab Travellers, of Ktlmddn. There follow sixty-seven names' of persons in Syriac characters, most of whom are characterized as priests (KasMshd), and sixty- one names of persons in Chinese, all priests save one. 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 pubUshed by the late M. Pauthier. The monument exists intact, and has been visited by the Rev. Mr. Williamson, Baron Richthofen. and Reduced FaGsimile of the oelebrated Christian Inscription^ of Singanjzo, in Chinese and Syriaa Gharaoters. (Photo-lithograph, from a I^ubhing. Ti^-fi^itlT SI !^ 'UX /t-Ak^-y^^-t ^t< fm #^^* ^ ^ ^t#l * &MM-i:r'&i^ m-f. ^^^ 9i.ig:^yf '^n. if-fS-^^JLt^ ^M K^it'U. Jl*-^- # AilrS- ^;^« m ^&>!^ i. 'n'^Jlf^i-^ a 4$-'^ :f » ^ft-^^ iti^ ^1^ ^ js r* i^ i-^ '^- iA i f |,/.^s ^i: ntyi: M (^-tt S -t $■ f ,f mr^ & ;if-*- 'A ^ ii fsj 4~-^ :^ . t^ t a fr ^--;ffc '*^ >'^ * = tf-.*.^v^^f Hff^r-k-^ v: > :f^^ If yl e#. a jX if 0; /^ ;& — • -;'F 'Jl'- ^^ i: ^ .fl^ 4- i^i*.-f Ts Jil ^4#^tJ- t'fT^:jgi p. € ^ -^ f-\-|. t,^t ti':^^ ^>5 vi ^t^ t, # #■ -^ •ivi ^ :t ^ iP^ i %4a~^ r nt ^U-^ Chap. XLI. CITY OF SINGANFU. 23 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 Sin^s or great provincial administrations, and we find it still known by this name in Sharffuddin's history of Timur. The same name is trace- able 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 R. C. missionaries there emphatically denied that Marco could ever have been at Singanfu, 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 remark- able 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. Martini speaks, apparently from personal knowledge, of the splen- dour of the city, as regarded 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 // in circum- ference, full of lakes, tanks, and canals from the Wei, and within which were seven fine palaces and a variety of theatres and other places of public diversion. To the S.E. of the city was an artificial lake with palaces, gardens, park, &c., 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 popula- tion, which in 1861-2 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 move- ment originated at Hwachau, some 60 m. east of Singan-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 m. S.W. of Lanchang-fu, the capital of that province. {Martini; Cathay, 148, 269 ; other recent travellers. Pauthier's works on the subject are — De rAuthenticiti de T Inscription Nestorienne, &c. B. Duprat, 1857; and V Inscription Syro-Chinoise ae Si-ngan-fou, &c. Firmin Didot, 1858. See also Kircher, China lUustrata ; and article by Mr. Wylie in J. Am. Or. Soc. V. 278. 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 Wutsung issued an edict, still extant, against the vast multi- plication of Buddhist convents, and ordering their destruction. A clause, in the edict also orders the foreign bonzes of Tafsin and Mvhvpa (Christian and Mobed or Magian ?), to return to secular life. 24 MARCO POLO. Book II. Petis de la Croix, III. 218 ; Russian paper on the Dungen, see supra, vol. i. p. 256 ; Williamson^ s North China, u. s. ; Richthojferi s Letters, and MS. Notes.) Note 3. — Mangalai, Kublai's third son, who governed the provinces of Shensi and Szechwan, 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 re- mained ten years ignorant of his death, yet he seems to speak of him as still governing. Cross on the Monument at Singanfu (actual size). From a rubbing. 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 Chap. XLII. THE PROVINCE OF CUNCUN. 25 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.' 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 you 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 Shensi, called Hanchung, 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 Shensi, and on the latter from Szechwan. Polo's c frequently expresses an If, especially the guttural ff of Chinese names, yet Cuncun is not satisfactory as the expression of Hanchung. The country was so rugged that in ancient times travellers from Singanfu had to make a long circuit eastward by the frontier of Honan to reach Hanchung ; 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 Liupang, the founder of the first Han dynasty (b.c. 202), and this date is current in Shansi, as Baron v. Richt- hofen tells me. But in Szechwan the work is asserted to have been executed during the 3rd century, when China was divided into several states, by Liupi, of the Han family, who, about a.d. 226, estabUshed himself as Emperor of Western China at Chingtu-fu.* 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 Paoki-hien, 100 * The last is also stated by Klaproth. Ritter has overlooked the discrepancy of the dates (B.C. and A.D.), and has supposed Liupi and Liupang 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. 2.6 MARCO POLO. Book II. miles west of Singanfu, and ended near the' town of Paoching-hien, some 15 or 20 miles N.W. from Hanchung. We are told that Tului, the son of Chinghiz, when directing his march against Honan 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 Hanchung and Szechwan ; 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 liupi, 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 Helung 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 clifis* 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 Aridenne, 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.) 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 * See cut from Mr. Cooper's 'book at p. 43 below. This so exactly illustrates Baron R. 's description that I may omit the latter. Chap. XLIII. THE PROVINCE OF ACBALEC MANZI. 27 come to a province called Acbalec Manzi, which is all level country, with plenty of towns and villages, and be- longs 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 "].' 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 1. — Though the termini of the route, described in these two chapters, are undoubtedly Singanfu and Chingtufu, 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 „ It seems to me almost impossible to doubt that the Plan 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 Tapa-Shan. But the time, as just stated, is extravagant for any- thing like a direct journey between the two termini. 28 MARCO POLO. Book II. The distance from Singanfu to Paoki is 450 U, which could he done in 3 days, but at Polo's rate would probably require 5. The distance by the mountain road from Paoki to the Plain of Hanchung 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 dis- tributed. Two days, though ample, would not be excessive for the journey across the Plain of Hanchung, especially if the traveller visited that city. And "20 days from Hanchung to Chingtufu would corres- pond with Marco Polo's rate of travel." — {Richthofeii). 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, vid, Hanchung. 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 " Achalec Mangi et est dictum in lingua nostra unus ex confini- bus Mangi." So also the Crusca; whilst Ramusio has '■'■ Achbaluch Mangi, che vuol dire Cittk 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 Hanchung on the extensive and populous Plain that here borders the Han. It seems so likely that the latter part of the name /'^-Maching (" White Maching ") might have been confounded by foreigners with Mdchin 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 2 to Book I. ch. Ix.), 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 Hanchung 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. Hanchung-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 Chap. XLIV. PROVINCE AND CITY OF SINDAFU. 29 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 Chingtu- 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). Note 2. — Polo's journey now continues through the lofty moun- tainous region in the north of Szechwan. The dividing range, Tapa-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 Hanchung to Chingtu- fu, is still older than that to the north, having been constructed, it is said, in the 3rd century B.C. Before that time Szechwan was a closed country, the only access from the north being the circuitous route down the Han and up the Yangtszd — {Ibid). Martini notes the musk-deer in northern Szechwan. 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 com- 30 , -MARCO POLO. Book II. mon 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 king- dom of these three Kings, and stripped them of their inheritance.' 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 ! ^ 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 Co- mercque, that is to say, his custom-house, where his toll and tax are levied.^ 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.* 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. Chap. XLIV. THE CITY OF SINDAFU. 3 1 I should have mentioned that the people of Sindu itself live by manufactures, for they make fine sendals and other stuffs .5 After travelling those five days' march, you reach a province called Tebet, which has been sadly laid waste ; we will now say something of it. B C A ■ Note 1. — We are on firm ground again, for Sindafu is certainly Chingtufu, the capital of Szechwan. 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 /. A. S. B. XXV. 488. The modern French missions have a bishop in Chingtufu, and the city has been visited of late years by Mr. T. T. Cooper, by Mr. A. VVyhe, and by Baron v. Richthofen. 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 inquiries on the subject during the 3 or 4 davs I spent there, as it t' S° ?!^''f S-''"' ° r ^ , B. The Little City. was not an object with me at the time to c. The imperial city, 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].* "The Imperial City (Hwang Ching) was the residence of the monarch Lew Pd (i.e. Liupi of p. 25) 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 misunder- standing about this historical period of the San-Kw'e, or Three King- doms (a.d. 222-264). And this tripartite division of the city may have been merely that which we see to exist at present. Baron Richthofen observes that Chingtu 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, * My lamented friend Lieut. F. Gamier had kindly undertaken to send me a plan of Chingtufu from the place itself, but, as is well known, he fell on^ a daring enterprise elsewhere. 32 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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 commemora- tive arches are sculptured with skill ; there is much display of artistic taste ; and the people are remarkably civil to foreigners. This charac- terizes the whole province ; and an air of wealth and refinement prevails even in the rural districts. The plain round Chingtufu is about 90 m. in length (S. E. to N. W.), by 40 m. in width, with a copious irrigation and great fertility, so that in wealth and population it stands almost unrivalled. — {Letter VII., pp. 48-66). 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," &c. " And after passing the city these rivers unite and form one immense river called Kian," &c. 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. Though our Geographies give the specific names of Wen and Min to the great branch which flows by Chingtufu, and treat the Tibetan branch which flows through northern Yunan under the name of Kinsha or " Goldensand," 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 chan- nels 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 Yangtszd at Lu-chau. Note 3. — (G. T.) ^^ Hi est le couiereque dou Grant Sire, ce est cih qe recevent la rente dou Seignor." Pauthier has convert. Both are, I doubt not, misreadings or misunderstandings of coniereque 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 Ko/xiJiipKiov and Kovfji.ipKLov, now Kofj-ipu ; in Arabic and Turkish as tSv^s and S*^ (kumruk and gyumruk), still in use ; in Romance dialects as comerchio, comerho, comergio, &c. Note 4. — The word in Pauthier's text which I have rendered pieces of gold is J>ois, probably equivalent to saggi or misMls.* The G. T. has * I find the same expression applied to the miskil 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 fesi d'oro, " che un peso val un ducato e un quai'to." Chap. XLV. THE PROVINCE OF TEBET. 33 "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/., that in Ramusio upwards of 50/. only. Note 5. — I have recast this passage which has got muddled, pro- bably in the original dictation, for it runs in the G. text : " Et de ceste cite se part Ten et chevauche cinq jornde por plain et por valde, et treve- I'en castiaus et casaus assez. Les homes vivent dou profit qu'il traient de la terre. II hi a bestes sauvajes assez, lions et orses et autres bestes. II vivent d^ ars : car il hi se laborent desbiaus sendal et autres dras. II sunt de Sindu meisme." I take it that in speaking of Chingtufu, 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 Szechwan ; and through extensive quarters of Chingtu-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). 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.' 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 VOL. II. D 34 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. that the Rons 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 tire 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.'-' Chap. XLV. STRANGE MARRIAGE CUSTOM. ^^ You ride for 20 days without finding any inhabited spot, so that travellers are obliged to carry all their pro- visions 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.' 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 thejr could wish coming to court them ! You must know too that the tra- veller 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 rnost run after, are in the highest esteem, and most sought in marriage, because they say the charms of such an one are greatest.'* But after marriage these people hold their wives very dear, and would consider D 2 36 MARCO POLO. Book II. Chap. XLV. PEOPLE OF TEBET. 3,7 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.^ They have a lan- guage 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 Chingtu- 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 Lh^sa enters it, lies the large and bustling city of Yachaufu, forming the key of the hill country, and the great entrepot of trade between Szechwan 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 Kinsha Kiang, but till the beginning of last century it lay much further ea.st, near Tafsianhi, or, as the Tibetans appear to call it, Tartskdo or Tachindo, which a Chinese Itinerary given by Ritter makes to be 920 //, or 11 marches, from Chingtufu. In Marco's time we must suppose that Tibet was considered to extend several marches further east still, or to the vicinity of Yachau.* Mr. Cooper's Journal * 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. 38 MARCO POLO. Book II. describes the country entered on the stk march from Chingtu 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 Tat'sianlu. Baron Richthofen also who, as we shall see, has thrown an entirely new light upon this part of Marco's itinerary, was exactly 5 days in travelling through a rich and populous country, from Chingtu to Yachau. {Rltter, 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 histo- rians. Yet it is alluded to by Piano Carpini, who ascribes the achieve- ment to an unnamed son of Chinghiz, and narrated by Sanang Setzen, who says that the King of Tibet submitted without fighting when Chin- ghiz invaded his country in the year of the Panther (1206). During the reign of Mangku Kaan, indeed, Uriangkadai, an eminent Mongol general, 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 Szechwan. Koeppen seems to consider it certain that there was no actual conquest of Tibet, and that Kublai extended his authority over it only by diplo- macy 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 organization of civil adminis- tration in Tibet to Kublai. Mati Dhwaja, a young and able member of the family which held the hereditary primacy of the Satya convent, and occupied the most influential position in Tibet, was formally recognized 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. 29) mentioned as the Passepa or Bishpah Lama, the inventor of Kublai's official alphabet. (Carpini, 658, 709 ; D'Avezac, 564 ; 5. Setzen, 89 ; U Ohsson, II. 3r7 ; 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 Szechwan, 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- Chap. XLV. PERSISTENCE OF STRANGE CUSTOMS. 39 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.) 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 Szechwan. In 1855 I took some pains to procure in Pegu a specimen of the largest attainable bamboo. It was ten inches in diameter. Note 3. — M. Gabriel Durand, a missionary priest, thus describes his journey in 1861 to Kiangka, via Tat'sianlu, 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 im- portant 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. 3S2 segq.) Note 4. — Such practices are ascribed to many nations. Martini quotes something similar from a Chinese author about tribes in Yunnan ; and Gamier says such loose practices are still ascribed to the Sifan near the southern elbow of the Kinsha Kiang. Even of the Mongols them- selves and kindred races, Pallas asserts that the young women regard a number of intrigues rather as a credit and recommendation than other- wise. Japanese ideas seem to be not very different. In old times ^lian gives much the same account of the Lydian women. Herodotus's Gin- danes of Lybia afford a perfect parallel, " whose women wear on their legs anklets of leather. Each lover that a woman has gives her one ; and she who can show most is the best esteemed, as she appears to have been loved by the greatest number of men." (Martini, 142 ; Gamier, I. 520 ; Pali Samml. II. 235 ; Jil. Var. Hist. III. i ; Rawl. Herod. Bk. IV. ch. clxxvi.) Mr. Cooper's Journal, when on the banks of the Kinsha Kiang, west of Bathang, affords a startling illustration of the persistence of manners in this region: "At i2h. 30m. we arrived at a road-side house, near which was a grove of walnut-trees ; here we alighted, when to my sur- prise 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 1 5 years old, tall and very 40 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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, chap. x.). Note 6. — 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. g6, from Lieut. Garnier's book, are there termed Mantse; but the context shows them to be of the race of these Lolos (see below, pp. SI, 52). 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 " lingud, TartaricA" and this is the fact. Klaproth informs us that Cw^misthe Mongol word. And it will be found (Kuderi) in Kovalevski's Dictionary, No. 2594. Musk is still the most valuable article that goes from Tat'sianlu to China. Much is smuggled, and single travellers will come all the way from Canton or Singanfu to take back a small load of it {Richthofen). 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.' It contains in several quarters rivers and lakes, in which gold- dust is found in great abundance.^' 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.' Chap. XLVI. PEOPLE OF TEBET. 41 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.'* village of Eastern Tibet on Szechwan Frontier (from Cooper). These people of Tebet are an ill-conditioned race. They have mastiff dogs as big 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.' 42 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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. 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 belong- ing 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 sub- ject to the Great Kaan ; and even if this be not specially mentioned, you must understand that it is so. Now let us have done with this matter, and I will tell you about the Province of Caindu. 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. delaFoi, 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 " auriim quod dicitur Deplaglola ; " whilst Zurla says erroneously thatpaj'ola is an old Italian word {or 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 navi- gators seem always to have used the same expression for the gold-dust oi hixvzz,, ouro de pajola. i^^^ Major's Prince Henry, pp. in, 112, 116; Capmany Memorias, &c., 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 pro- duced 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 Chap. XLVI. ROADS IN EASTERN TIBET. 43 Roads ill Eastern Tibet. (Gorge "1 the Lan t'sang Kiang, from Cooper ) ^|JQJ^Y^£{i tjiv ran 44 MARCO POLO. Book. II. 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. Book I. chap. Ixi. note 9. Note o. — The big Tibetan mastiffs are now well known. Mr. Cooper, at Tat'sianlu, 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 bad 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 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 Buemhii, 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.) CHAPTER XLVII. Concerning the Province of Caindu. Caindu is a province lying towards the west,' 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,* 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 * Ramusio alone has "a great salt lake." Chap. XLVI. EVIL CUSTOMS OF CAINDU. 45 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." I must tell you of a custom that they have in this country regarding their women. No man considers him- self 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 de- parted. The latter abides in the caitiff's house, be it three days or be it four, enjoying himself with the fellow's wife or daughter or sister, or whatsoever woman of the family it best likes him ; and as long as he abides there he leaves his hat or some other token hanging at the door, to let the master of the house know that he is still there. As long as the wretched fellow sees that token, he must not go in. And such is the custom over all that province.^ The money matters of the people are conducted in this way. They have gold in rods which they weigh, and they reckon its value bj-- 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 46 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. Chap. XLVI. PRODUCTS OF CAINDU. 47 [flat below and round above]/ 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.^ 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.^ 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.' 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 ter- minates 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. NoTB', 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 48 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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-d- pearl as a product of Lithang, and speak of turquoises as found in Djaya to the west of Bathang. {Ritter, IV. 235-6.) Neitlier of these places is however within tlie tract which we believe to be Caindu. Amyot states that pearls are found in a certain river of Yunnan. (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. 304-5). Polo has told nearly the same story already of the people of KamUl (Book I. ch. xli.). It is related by Strabo of the Massagetse ; 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; Miillet^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 civilized 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 mer- chants 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, p. 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 f of a ducat of Chap. XLVII. SALT AS CURRENCY. 49 gold. When they arrive at a certain fair . . . one day from the salt mine, these go s 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.) Lieut. Bower, in his account of Major Sladen's mission, says that at Momien the salt, which was a government monopoly, was " made up in rolls of one and twoviss" (a Rangoon viss is 3 lbs. 5 oz. 5-^ drs.), "and stamped" (p. 120). M. Desgodins, a missionary in this part of Tibet, gives some curious details of the way in which the civilized 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 Foi, XXXVI. 320.) Salt-pans in Yunnan (from Gamier). " 51 ptEtmmt la sel c fa font cuirc, ct puia fa gitmt tn fotmt." Gold is said still to be very plentiful in the mountains called Gulan- Sigong, to the N.W. of Yunnan, adjoining the great eastern branch of the Irawadi, and the Chinese traders go there to barter for it. (See /. 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 VOL. II. E 5o MARCO POLO. BOOK II. on Chinese villages {Richthofen in Verhandlungen, &c., 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" 4'] to Sheu-pin [in Yunan, about lat. 23" 43']. In the Shan markets, especially within the limits named, all purchases are made with salt. At Seumao and Pouheul \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 sahne 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, " // 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 pikul, i.e. i33|- lbs. In Szechwan 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 Yunnan the wells are much less deep, and a succession of hand pumps is used to raise the brine. Note 6. — The spiced wine of Kienchang (see note to next chapter) has even now a high repute {Richthofeii). 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 isth centuries. Friar Jordanus„in speaking of the cinnamon (or cassia) of Malabar, says, " it is the bark of a large tree which has fruit ^n^ 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. Chap. XLVII. CASSIA— ETHNOLOGY. 5 1 Williams says : " Cassia grows in all the southern provinces of China, especially Kwangsi and Yunnan, 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-t£) 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 Kinsha or Brius, near where I suppose Polo to cross it, is only 2600 feet. Positive evidence I cannot adduce. No cassia or cinna- mon 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 Kienchang (which is, as we shall see in the notes on next chapter, Caindu), though in no other part of Szechwan nor in northern Yunnan. Ethnology. — The Chinese at Chingtufu, according to Richthofen, classify the aborigines of the Szechwan frontier as Mantse, Lolo, Sifan, and Tibetan. Of these the Sifan are furthest north, and extend far into Tibet. The Mantsd (properly so called) are regarded as the remnant of the ancient occupants of Szechwan, and now dwell in the mountains about the parallel 30°, and along the Lh^sa road, Tat'sianlu being about the centre of their tract. The Lolo are the wildest and most independent, occupying the mountains on the left of the Kinsha-Kiang where it runs northwards (see above p. 40, and below p. 57) and also to some extent on its right. The Tibetan tribes lie to the west of the Mantsd, and to the west of Kienchang (see next chapter). Towards the Lantsang Kiang is the quasi-Tibetan tribe called by the Chinese Mossos, by the Tibetans Guions, and between the Lantsang and the Lii-Kiang or Salwen are the Lissus, wild hill-robbers and great musk hunters, like those described by Polo at p. 37. Gamier, who gives these latter particulars, mentions that near the confluence of the Yalung and Kinsha Kiang there are tribes called Pa^i, as there are in the south of Yunnan, and, like the latter, of distinctly Shan or Laotian character. He also speaks of Sifan tribes in the vicinity of Likiang-fu, and coming south of the Kinsha-Kiang even to the east of Tali. Of these are told such loose tales as Polo tells of Tebet and Caindu. These ethnological matters have to be handled cautiously, for there is great ambiguity in the nomenclature. Thus Mantsi is often used 52 MARCO POLO. Book II. generically for aborigines, and the Lolos of Richtliofen are called Mantsd by Garnier and Blakiston ; whilst Lolo again has in Yunnan apparently a very comprehensive generic meaning, and is so used by Garnier {Richt. Letter VII. 67-68 and MS. notes; Garnier, I. 519 seqq.) CHAPTER XLVIII. Concerning the Province of Carajan. When you have passed that River you enter on the pro- vince 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 Essen- TiMUR ; 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 agricul- ture. 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.' The people are of sundry kinds, for there are not only Saracens and Idolaters, but also a few Nestorian Christians.^ They have wheat and rice in plenty. Howbeit they never eat wheaten bread, because in that country it is unwhole- some.^ Rice they eat, and make of it sundry messes, be- sides 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 Chap. XLVIII. THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN. 53 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.+ 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.^ 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.^ 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 Yunnan, and at its capital Yachi, which — I was about to add — we know to be Yunnan-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 : " loth, Karajang. This used to be an independent kingdom, and the Sing is established at the great city of Yachi. All the inhabitants are Mahoraedans. The chiefs are Noyan Takin and Yakiib Beg, son of 'Ali Beg, the Beldch." And turning to Pauthier's corrected account of the same distribution of the empire from authentic Chinese sources (p. 334), we find : " 8. The adminis- trative province of Yunnan. ... Its capital, - chief town also of the canton of the same name, was called Ckwig-khing, now Yunnan-fu." Hence Yachi was Yunnan-fu. This is still a large city, having a rect- angular rampart with 6 gates, and a circuit of about 6^ miles. The 56 MARCO POLO. Book IL Road descending from the Table-Land of Yunnan, iiii-_ i_!,'_ v ._■_. (After Garnier.) jf the Kinsha Kiang (the Brizis of Polo). Chap. XLVIII. TRUE POSITION OF CAINDU. 57 also flows in a valley parallel to the meridian, like all that svagula.T fasds of great rivers between Assam and Szechwan. This River Nganning waters a valley called Kienchang, containing near its northern end a city known by the same name, but in our modern maps marked as Ningyuen-fu ; this last being the name of a department of which it is the capital, and which embraces much more than the valley of Kienchang. The town appears, however, as Kien- chang 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. This valley is bounded on the east by the mountain country of the Lolos, which extends north nearly to Yachau {supra pp. 37, 40, 51), and which, owing to the fierce intractable character of the race, forms throughout its whole length an impenetrable barrier between East and West. Two routes run from Chingtufu to Yunnan ; these fork at Yachau _ and thenceforward are entirely separated by this barrier. To the east of it is the route which descends the Min River to Siuchau, and then passes by Chaotong and Tongchuan to Yunnanfu : to the west of the barrier is a route leading through Kienchang to Talifu, but throwing off a branch from Ningyuan southward in the direction of Yunnanfu. This road from Chingtufu to Tali by Yachau and Ningyuan appears to be that by which the greater part of the goods for Bhamd and Ava used to travel before the recent Mahoraedan 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 Tali, then the head of an independent kingdom in Western Yunnan. As far as Tsingki- hian, 3 marches beyond Yachau, this route coincides with the great Tibet road by Tat'sianlu and Bathang to L'hdsa, 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 Yachau ; his 20 days' journey through a devastated and dispeopled tract is the journey to Ningyuanfu. Even now, from Tsingki onwards for several days, not a single inhabited place is seen. The official route from Yachau to Ningyuan lays down 13 stages, but it generally takes from 15 to 18 days. Polo, whose journeys seem often to have been shorter than the modem average,* took 20. On descending from the * Baron Richthofen, who has travelled hundreds of miles in his footsteps, con- siders his allowance of time to be generally from'l to \ greater than that now usual. 58 MARCO POLO. Book II. highlands he comes once more into a populated region, and enters the charming Valley of Kienchang. 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 Kinsha-Kiang would be crossed as already indicated, near its most southerly bend, and almost due north of Yunnan- fu (see Richthofen as quoted at p. 38). 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, &c.) ; whilst the Cain, as . Baron Richthofen has pointed out, probably survives in the first part of the name KienQh?cag. Turning to minor particulars, the Lake of Caindu in which the pearls were found is doubtless one lying near Ningyuan, whose beauty Richthofen heard greatly extolled, though nothing of the pearls. A small lake is marked by D'Anville, close to Kienchang, under the name of Geckoui-fang. The large quantities of gold derived from the Kinsha- 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 Yunnan 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. 54), from Gamier, shows this lake as seen from a villa on its banks. Returning now to the Karijang 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 Yunnanfu, 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 Talifu. 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 Tali as Carazan, whilst Marsden, following out his system for the con- version 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 chapter 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 Karajdng, in which the first element was the Chap. XLVIII. NESTORIANS, ETC., IN YUNNAN. 59 Mongol or Turki Kdrd, " Black." For we find in another passage of Rashid the following information :* — 'To the south-west of Cathay is the country called by the Chinese Dailiu or " Great Realm," and by the Mongols Karajdng, 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 Mahdrd, 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 Chaghdn-Jdng ("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 seem to have been Shans ; | 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 Likiangfu. {D' Ohsson, II. 317 ; J. R. Geog. Soc. III. 294.) Regarding Rasbiduddin's application of the name Kandahar or Gandhdra to Yunnan, 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, Yunnan represents Gandhira,J and is still so styled in state documents [Ganddlarit). 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 Tali, who fled from Kublai's invasion. Note 2. — The existence of Nestorians in this remote province is very notable ; and also the early prevalence of Mahomedanism, which Rashid- uddin intimates in stronger terms. " All the inhabitants of Yachi," he says, " are Mahomedans." This was no doubt an exaggeration, but the * See Quairemire' s Raskidwddiii, p. Ixxxvi.-xcvi. My quotation is made up from two citations by Quatremere, one from his text of Rashiduddin, and the other from the History of Benaketi, wliich Quatremere shows to have been drawn from Rashiduddin, whilst it contains some particulars not existing in his own text of that author. + The title Chao in Nan-Chao (infra p. 6$) 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. X Gand/idra, ■ Atabici A'andakdr, is properly the country about Peshawar, Gandaritis of Strabo. 6o MARCO POLO. Book II. Mahomedans seem always to have continued to be an important body in Yunnan 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 Yunnan 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.* Note 3. — Wheat grows as low as Ava, but there also it is not used by natives for bread, only for confectionary and the like. The same is the case in Eastern China (see ch. xxvi. note 4, and Middle Kingdom, n. 43). A Saracen of Carajan, being a portrait of a Mahomedan Mullah in Western Yunnan (from Garnier's Worlc). "ILes sunt Bes plosots •mxm.i%, tat il })i a jtns qe aottnt Hanmet." Note 4.— The word j^iccoli 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 * This is printed almost in full in the French Voyage en. 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 com- pleted 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. VOL. II. G 8,2 MARCO POLO. Book II. Note l.^This date is no doubt corrupt. See note 2, chap. lii. Note 2. — Mien is the name by which the kingdom of Burma or Ava was and is known to the Chinese. M. Gamier informs me that Mien-Kw'e or Mien-tisong is the name always given in Yunnan 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. Vaifali 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-Kard, a part of Bengal.* 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 Alaung- tsi-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 loi years, and to have reigned 75. Even then his death was hastened by his son Narathu, who smothered him in the temple called Shwd-Ku (" Golden Cave "), at Pagdn, 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 Kald-Kya Meng, or " King slain by the Hindus." He was building the great Temple at Pagdn called Bkanmiayangyi, at the time of his death, which occurred about the year 1171. The great grandson of this king was * Sir A. Phayre thinks this may have been Vikramptir, 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-Kard is apparently an attempt to represent some Hindi name such as Patthar- p-fl;-/^, "The Stone-Fort." Chap. LI. WAR-ELEPHANTS. 83 Narathihapade (presumably Narasinha-pati), the king reigning at tlie 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 .re- marks : "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 tjie 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 Sept. 6th, 18.18, 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 1823-24, which led to the wa:r 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 tliemselves kings of Burma and of Bengala." (MS. Note by .Sir Arihiir Phayre ; see also his paper in_/. 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 conceivd 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 even this would 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 Apollotiii/s, speaks of ro 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 Barri 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 fhnr 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 ; y^r^., p. 26-; PJlilost. trad, par A. Chassaing, liv. II. c. ii. ; Ilm. Bat. II. 223 ; N: and E. XIV. 510'; .Cochin China, &c., London, 1633, ed. 3; Armaudi, Hist. Militairc dcs Elephants, 259 seqq., 442.) 84 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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 1 2,000 horsemen. Natheless he was a most vaHant and able soldier, of great experience in arms and an excel- lent Captain ; and his name was Nescradin/ 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 Chap. LII. BATTLE WITH THE KING OF MIEN. 85 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. 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. -86 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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-arrhs 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.^ 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 re- turned 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 2,00 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. ■Ghap. LII. , ROUT OF THE BURMESE ARMY. 87 Note X.'—Nescradin for Nesradin, as we had iJsj'frs' for' Basra. ■ This Nasruddin was apparently an officer of vPhom Rashiduddin speaks,aad whom he calls governor (or perhaps commander) inKarij^ng; 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. Nasruddin retained his position in Yunnan 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, HaM, is also mentioned as one of the governors of the province of Fuchau (see Cathay, p. 265, 268, and D'Ohsson, II. 507-8). Nasruddin {Nasuldting) is also frequently mentioned as employed on this frontier by the Chinese authorities whom Pauthier cites. Note 2. — \ye 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 Yungchang 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 Nasruddin in connection with this battle. He names as the chief of the Mongol force Huthukh (Kutuka ?), commandant of Tali-fu. Nasruddin is mentioned as advanc- ing, a few months later (about December, 1277), with nearly 4000 men to Kiangtheu (which appears to liave been on the Irawadi somewhere near Bamd, and is perhaps the Kaungtaung of the Burmese), but effecting little (p. 415). These affairs of- the battle in the Yungchang territory, and the advance of Nasruddin to the Irawadi are, as Polo clearly implies in the beginning of chap, li., quite distinct from the invasion and conquest of Mien some years later of which he speaks in chapter 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 Yungchang in consequence of this absence from the Burmese Chronicle, and of its inconsistency with the purely defensive character •yvhich.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 88 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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 Yungchang or Vochan territory, but we have in the Chinese narrative a consistent chronology and tolerably full detail of the relations between the two countries. Between 1277 and the end of the century the Chinese Annals record three campaigns or expeditions against Mien ; viz. (i) that which Marco has related in this chapter ; (2) that which he relates in chapter 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 Demailla, and after the Burmese Chronicle by Bumey and Phayre. (See Demailla, IX. 476 seqq. ; andy. A. S. B, vol. VI. p. 121-2. and vol. XXXVII. Pt. 1. p. 102 and no.) CHAPTER LIIL 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 fivfe weights of fine silver ; so this induces merchants to conie Chap. LIII. THE PROVINCE OF AMIEN. 89 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 anjbody to accompany them so as to gain a knowledge of their abodes.' 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 l. — 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 Yunnan. 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 Momien, 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 Bamd. (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^ days should be reckoned from Yungchang ; the distance therefore to the capital city of Mien would be 17^ days. The real capital of Mien or Burma at this time was however Pagdn, in lat. 21° 13', and that city could hardly have been reached by a land traveller in any such time. We shall see that something may be said in behalf of the supposition that the point reached was Tagaung or Old Fagdn on the upper Irawadi, in lat 23° 28' ; and there was perhaps some 9° MARCO P.OLO. Book 11. •confusion in the traveller's mind between this and the great city. ' The descent might then be from Y«ngchang to the valley of the Shwdli, and that valley then followed to the Irawadi. Taking, as a scale Polo's 5 marches from Tali to Yungchang, I find we should by this route make just about 17 marches from Yungchang to Tagaung. We have no jdetailed knowledge of the route,- but there' is a road that way, and by no other does the plain country approach so near to Yungchang (see -Kvi.6ex'iQVL% Report on Expedition to Western Yunnan, -p. 160). Dr. Anderson's remarks on the present question do not in my opinion remove the difRculties. 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 Pagdn could, he conceives, " easily be accomplished in 1 5 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^ 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 Caraj an (or Tali) and Vochan (Yungchang), the result would be nonsense. Temple of Gaiidapalen fin the city of Mien), erected circa a.d. ii6o. The hypothesis that I have suggested would suit better with the tra- veller'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. ■Chap. LIV. THE' CITY OF MlKN. ., 91 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 Pro- vince of Mien, and it also is called Amien, and is a very great and noble city.' 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 exqui- sitely 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. 92 MARCO POLO. Book II. Now you must know that the Great Kaan conquered the country in this fashion. You see at the Court of the Great Kaan there was a great number of gleemen and jugglers ; and he said to them one day that he wanted them to go and conquer the aforesaid province of Mien, and that he would give them a good Captain to lead them and other good aid. And they replied that they would be delighted. So the Emperor caused them to be fitted out with all that an army requires, and gave them a Captain and a body 'of men-at-arms to help them ; and so they set out, and marched until they came to the country and province of Mien. And they did conquer the whole of it! And when they found in the city the two towers of gold and silver of which I have been telling you, they were greatly astonished, and sent word thereof to the Great Kaan, asking what he would have them do with the two towers, seeing what a great quantity of wealth there was upon them. And the Great Kaan, being well aware that the King had caused these towers to be made for the good of his soul, and to preserve his memory after his death, said that he would not have them injured, but would have them left precisely as they were. And that was no wonder either, for you must know that no Tartar in the world will ever, if he can help it, lay hand on anything appertaining to the dead.'' They have in this province numbers of elephants and wild oxen ; ^ 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). Chap. LTV. MONGOL INVASION OF BURMA. 93 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 Ndsruddin of the ease with which Mien could be conquered, an invasion was ordered under a Prince of the Blood called Siangtaur. 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 Yunnanfu, then called Chungkhing (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 2, chap, 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). 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/. A. S. B. (IV. 401, and XXXVII. Pt. I. p. loi). Those annals afford no mention of transactions with the Mongols previous to 128 1. 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 millions of horse and 20 millions of foot (!) to invade Burma. The Burmese generals had Xhtn point d' appui at the city o{ Nga-tshaung- gyan, apparently somewhere near the mouth of the Bamd 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 Maid, which they had for- tified. Here a decisive battle was fought, and the Burmese were entirely routed. The King on hearing of their retreat from Bam6 at first took measures for fortifying his capital Pagdn, and destroyed 6000 temples of various sizes to furnish material. But after all he lost heart, and embark- ing with his treasure and estabhshments on the Irawadi fled down that river, to^assein in the Delta. The Chinese continued the pursuit long past Pagdn till they reached the place now called Tarokmau or " Chinese Point," 30 miles below Prome. Here they were forced by want of pro- visions to return. The Burmese Annals place the abandonment of Pagdn 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 extinc- 94 MARCO POLO. Book II. tion, and the abandonment of the capital. , The King is knowp in the Burmese Annals as Tarok-py'e-Meng, " The King who fled from the^ Tarokr* The Palace of the King of MLeit in modern times. In Dr. Mason's abstract of the Pegu Chronicle we find' the notable statement with reference to this period that " the Emperor of China, * This is the name now applied in Burma to the Chinese. Sir A. Phayre supposes it to be Ttirk, in which case its use probably began at this time. Chap. LIV. CHINESE NOTICES OF BURMESE AFFAIRS. 95 having subjugated Pagdii, his troops with the Burmese entered Pegu and invested several cities." We see that the Chinese annals, as quoted, mention only the."capi- tale primitive " Taikung, which I have little doubt Pauthier is . right in identifying mth Tagaung, traditionally the most ancient, royal city of Burma, and the remains of which stand side by side witli those of Old Pagdn, a later but still very ancient capital, on the east bank of the Irawadi in about lat. 23° 28'. The Chinese extracts give no idea of the temporary completeness of the conquest, nor do they mention Great Pagin (lat. 21° 13'), a city whose vast remains I, have endeavoured partially to describe.* Sir Arthur Phayre, from a careful perusal of the Burmese Chronicle, assures me that there can be no doubt that this .was jit the time in question the Burmese Royal Residence, and the city alluded to in the Burmese narrative. M. Pauthier is mistaken in sup- posing that Tarok-Mau, the turning-point of the Chinese Invasion, lay north of this city ; he has not unnaturally confounded it with Taxdk-Myo or " China-Town," a district not far below Ava. Moreover MaW, the position of the decisive victory of the Chinese, is itself much to the south of Tagaung (about 22° 55'). Both Pagdn and Maid are mentioned in a remarkable Chinese notice extracted in Amyot's Mdmoires (XIV. 292): "Mien-Tien .... had five chief towns, of which the first was Kiangtheu (supra, pp. 69, 74), the second Taikung, the third Malai, the fourth Ngan-cheng-kw6 (? per- haps the Nga-tshaung gyati of the Burmese Annals), the fifth Pukan Mien-Wang (Pagdn of the Mien King?). The Yuen carried war into this country, particularly during the reign of Shunti, 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 Vijiyapdra, was the capital of Burma during part of the 14th century, between the decay of Pagin 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 inviided Pong and took Maung Maorong the capital.t The Shan King and his son fled * In the Narrative of Phayie's Mission, chap. ii. t Dr. Anderson has here hastily assumed a discrepancy of 60 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 tlie quotation above from Amyot that the Chinese Annals also contain an obscure indication of the later invasion. g6 MARCO POLO. Book II. to the King of Burma for protection, but ike 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 N^sruddin 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 con- ceive) 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 ; * 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 Pag^n, had in 1274 finished a magnificent Pagoda called Mengala-dzedi {Mangala Chaitya) respecting which ominous prophecies had been dif- fused. 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 5 1 predecessors in Pagdn, 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 ovpr 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, 2d ed. p. 26 ; Milne's Zi/e 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 * Compare the old Chinese Pilgrims Hwui Seng and Seng Yun, in their admira- tion 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 " (Beat, p. 204). Chap. LV. THE PROVINCE OF BANGALA. 97 south at least, a wild ox nearer the domestic species, Bos Sondakus. 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 (p. 326-7). 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.' The people have oxen as tall as elephants, but not so big.'' 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 Yunnan side and he had, as we shall presently see {infra, chap. lix. note 6), a wrong VOL. II. H 98 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. 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 AMuddin Masa'iid king of Dehli, in 1244, and stated to have been defeated by the local officers in Bengal. But Mr. Edward Thomas tells me he has most distinctly ascer- tained 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 Diccange in v. Escodatus, and Raynouard, Lex. Rom. VI. n) 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 ^liAyeen Akbery, II. 9-1 1, Barbosds chapter on Bengal, and De B arras {Ramusio I. 316 and 391). On the cheapness of slaves in Bengal, see Ibn Batuta, IV. 211-12. He says people from Persia used to call Bengal Biizakh pur-i 7ii'amat, " a hell crammed with good things,'' an appellation perhaps provoked by the official style often applied to it of Jannat-ul-bdldd or " Paradise of countries." Prof. 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 Bangdlah occurs, is in a poem of Hafiz, sent from Shiraz to Sultan Ghidssuddin, who reigned in Bengal from 1367 to 1373. Its occurrence in our text however shows that the name was in use among the Maho- medan 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 %.■ — " Big as elephants" is only a.fafon de parler, but Marsden quotes modem 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. CHAP. LVI. THE PROVINCE OF CAUGIGU. 99 710). Marco, however, seems to be speaking of domestic catfle. Some of the breeds of Upper India are very tall and noble animals, far sur- passing 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 Sharifdbid in Bengal, which appears to have corresponded to modern Bardwdn, as producing very beautiful white oxen, of great size, and capable of carrying a load of 15 fnans, 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.' 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 sfea 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. lOO MARCO POLO. BOOK II. 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 Zimmd of the Burmese (in about latitude 1 8° 48' and long. 99° 30') as the capital of the Papesifu and of the Caugigu of our text. It can scarcely however be the latter, unless we throw over entirely all the intervals stated in Polo's itinerary; and M. Gamier 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.* That the people called by the Chinese Papesifu were of the great race of Laotians, Shdns, or Thai, is very certain, from the vocabulary of their language published by Klaproth. 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 Tec/mica, and often probably bear no more relation to the name in its real meaning than Swift's AU-eggs-under-the- grate hears 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, Xwawa, which signifies " gourd-sound," and was given to that Island, we are told, because the voice of its in- * Indeed documents in Klaproth's Asia Polyglotta show that the Papi state was also called Muang- Yong (p. 364-5). I observe that the River running to the east of Pu-eul and Ssemao {Puer_and Esmok) is called Papien-YJixa^, the name of which is perhaps a memorial of the Pape. Chap. LVII. THE PROVINCE OF ANIN. lOI habitants is very like that of a dry gourd rolled upon the ground ! It is usually stated that Tungking was called Kiaochi, 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, repre- senting the Indian name of China, Chinasthdna, is explained to mean "Eastern-Dawn" (Aurore Orientale). {Amyot, XIV. loi ; 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 the knees ; in fact he has a pair of breeches tattooed on him. The pattern is a fanciful medley of animals and arab- esques, but it is scarcely distinguishable, save as a general tint, except on a fair skin." {Mission to Ava, 151.) 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 like- wise all the necessaries of life in abundance.' Now you must know that between Anin and Caugigu, which we have left behind us, there is a distance of [25] days' journey;^ and from Caugigu to Bangala, the third province in our rear, is 30 days' journey. We shall now Chap. LVII. PEOPLE OF ANIN. 103 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 Geographic, and most editions have Amu ; Pauthier reads Aniu, and considers the name to represent Tungking or Annam, called also Nan-yu'e. The latter word he supposes to be converted into Anyu'e, 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 Yunnan. 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 Yunnan-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 Lop'e, 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 Pai, wear large amounts of silver ornament ; great collars of silver round the neck, as well as on the legs and arms." Though the whitetiess 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 Honhi 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 Merveilks (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 Miiller, to which however we cannot ascribe much weight. But the two words are so nearly iden- tical in medieval 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 Honhi, M. Garnier writes again : I04 MARCO POLO. Book II. " All that Polo has said regarding the country of Aniu, though not con- taining 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 oi 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. " Beyond Lin-ngan we find the Honhi, 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 beheve that Anin represents either Honhi or Nooning, 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. Gamier writes Homi, is expressed by the same character as the first syllable of TSiconing. 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.* Coloured figures of some of these races will be found in the Atlas to Garnier's workj 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. CHAPTER LVIII. Concerning the Province of Coloman. CoLOMAN is a province towards the east, the people ot which are Idolaters and have a peculiar language, and are * 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 Lieut. 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 Honhi. Chap. LVIII. THE PROVINCE OF COLOMAN. 105 subject to the Great Kaan. They are a [tall and] very handsome people, though in complexion brown rather than white, and are good soldiers/ They have a good many towns, and a vast number of villages, among great moun- tains, and in strong positions.' 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, em- ploy 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 Cholo- man instead of Toloman or Tholoman, are the Bern MS., which has Colo- man 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 medieval 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. Mdn, whence Kolo-man or Kihlaic-mdn) very numerous on the frontier of Kweichau (see Bridgmaris transl. of Tract on Meautsze, pp. 265, 269, 270, 272, 273, 274, 275, 278, 279, 280). Among these the io6 MARCO POLO. Book: II. The Koloman, after a Chinese drawing. " Colmnan est unc ptDfacme facts lefaant EI sunt mult bclbs jens et m sunt mit bitn hlancts mes 6tum. Jfl sunt btm Ijomcs B'armts "... Chap. LVIII. PEOPLE OF COLOMAN. I07 Kolo, described as No. 38 in that Tract, appear to me from various par- ticulars 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."* They are at present found in the prefecture of Tating (one of the departments of Kweichau towards the Yunnan 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, in- voking 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, p. 272-3.) 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. Note 2. — Magaillahs, speaking of the semi-independent tribes of Kweichau and Kwangsi 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. 114. * 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 Yunnan." Does not this look as if Kolo were really the old name, Luluh or Lolo the later ? io8 MARCO POLO. Book II. CHAPTER LIX. Concerning the Province of Cuiju. CuiJU is a province towards the East/ 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.^ They are good soldiers, and have paper-money. For you must understand that hence- forward we are in the countries where the Great Kaan's paper-money is current. The country swarms with lions to that degree that no man can venture to sleep outside his house at night.' 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 Hon.* 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, per- petually giving tongue, and watching their chance to give Chap. LIX. THE PROVINCE OF CUIJU. 109 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.^ You travel along the river for twelve days more, find- ing 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 12 days you arrive at the city of Sindafu of which we spoke in this book some time ago.* 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. 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 no MARCO POLO. Book 11. Cuiju of the text is Kweichau, 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, Yunnan, 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 Kweichau. The name oiFungul, if that be a true reading, is suggestive oiPhungan, 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 posi- tion for the command of the three provinces Kwei-chau, Kwangsi, and Yunnan. (Biot, p. i68; Martini, p. 137.) But we shall explain pre- sently 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." Kweichau produces such. But perhaps that specially intended is a species of hemp ( Urtica Nivea f) of which M. Perny of the R. C. Missions says, in his notes on Kweichau : " It aifords 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." {Diet, des Tissus, VII. 404; Chin. Repos. XVIII. 217 and 529; Ann. de la Prop. delaFoi,XX.Xl. 137.) Note 3. — Tigers of course are meant (see supra, vol. i. p. 386). M. Perny speaks of tigers in the mountainous parts of Kweichau. {Op. cit. 139.) Note 4. — These great dogs were noticed by Lieut, (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 Maeleod' s Journal, p. 66). Note 5. — The trade in wild silk {i.e. from the oak-leaf silkworm) ig in truth an important branch of commerce in Kweichau. 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. Chingtufu in Szechwan, 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 Iv. to lix. are strung by Marco upon an easterly, or, as we must interpret, north-eastei'ly line of travel, real or hypothetical. Their names and intervals are as follows : (i) Bangala ; whence 30 marches to (2) Caugigu ; 25 marches Chap. LIX. REVIEW OF POLO'S TRACK. ill to (3) Anin ; 8 marches to (4) Toloman or Coloman ; 1 2 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) Chingtufu. Total from Ban- gala to Chingtufu 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 Yunnan and Mien. Bangala is reached per saltum with no indication of the 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 Kweichau and Szechwan, 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 Yunnan 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 Bagbh) may have contributed to his error, as well as the pro- bable 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 em- brace Kiang Hung, and probably the Papien River (see note at p. 100). As regards the name, it is possible that it may represent some specific name of the Upper Laos territory. But I am inclined to beheve that we are deahng 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 Cheh 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 Pau- thier's C at least once and possibly twice, and of the Bern MS. ; all which I have ascertained from personal examination of those manuscripts.* * A passing suggestion of the identity of Kafchi Kue and Caugigu is made by D'Olisson, and I formerly objected (see Cathay, p. 272). 112 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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. Gamier writes : " In starting from Muang Yong, or even if you prefer it from Xieng Hung (Kiang Hung of our maps) .... it would be physically im- possible in 25 days to get beyond the arc which I have laid down on your map. (viz., extending a few miles N.E. 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 organization in the part of Yunnan between Lin-ngan and Xieng Hung, dates in some degree from the Yuen, but in a far greater degree from Kanghi." Hence, even with the Ramusian reading of the itinerary, we cannot place Anin much beyond the position indicated already. Koloman. — We have seen that the position of this region is probably near the western frontier of Kweichau. Adhering to Homi as the repre- sentative of Anin, and to the 8 days' journey of the text, the most probable position of Koloman would be about Lo-fing, which lies about 100 English miles in a straight line N.E. from Homi. The first cha- racter 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 12 days' journey of Chingtufu, along the same river, or at least along rivers connected with it. In advancing from the S.W., 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 Chingtufu should have been reached in 1 2 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 Siuchau-fu at the union of the two great branches of the Yangtsze, viz. the Kinsha Kiang, and the Min Kiang from Chingtufu. (i) The distance from Siuchau to Chingtu 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 Yangtsze below Siuchau (or along that which joins above Siuchau mentioned further on). (3) The large trade in silk up and down the river is a characteristic that could only apply to the Yangtsze. These reasons are very strong ; though some little doubt must sub- Chap. LIX. REVIEW OF POLO'S TRACK. 11^ sist until we can explain the name (Fungul, or Sinugul) as applicable to Siuchau.* And assuming Siuchau to be the city we must needs carry the position of Coloman considerably further north than Loping, and must presume the interval between A7iin and Coloman to be greatly understated, through clerical or other error. With these assumptions we should place Polo's Coloman in the vicinity of Weining, one of the localities of Kolo tribes. From a position near Weining it would be quite possible to reach Siuchau in 1 2 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 'Kviexoi Lowato7ig, which was descended by our party, has a branch to the eastward which is navi- gable up to about the lati- tude of Chao- tong. Is not this probably Marco Polo's route? It is to this day a line much fre- quented, and one on which great works have been exe- cuted ; among others two iron suspen- sion bridges, works truly gigantic for the country in which we find them." An extract from a Chinese Itinerary of this route, which M. Garnier has since communicated to me, shows that at a point 4 days from Weining 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 Hberties with the text. Iron * Cuiju might be read Ciuju — representing Siuchau, but the difficulty about Fungul would remain. VOL. II. I 114 MARCO POLO. Book II. My theory of Polo's actual journey would be that he returned from Yunnanfu to Chingtufu through some part of the province of Kweichau, 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 Weining in Western Kweichau ; Fungul or Sinugul with Siuchau. Note 7. — Here the traveller gets back to the road-bifurcation near Juju, i.e. Chochau (ante p. 6), and thence commences to travel south- ward. Fortified Villages on Western frontier of Kweichau.— (From Gamier.) ' ffiijasttatts ont=tl grant quantity tn granliistnta montagnea et fottres." 104'" 106' Zoiidojv.Jnhi. Mjirfay. Albemtirle. Suret: E.Weller Litho FI CJJ-CJ.- J^LUIO { 1^5 ) JD O O JA. ± X . — 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 merchan- dize is carried to the city of Cambaluc, for by many channels and canals it is connected therewith.'] 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.' 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 I 2, Il6 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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 HoKiANFU in Pecheli, 52 m. in a direct line south by east of Chochau. It was the head of one of the Lii or circuits into which the Mongols divided China. {Pauthier^ Note 2. — Marsden and Murray have identified Changlu with T'sANG-CHAU in Pecheli, about 30 m. east by south of Hokianfu. This seems substantially right, but Pauthier shows that there was an old town actually called Changlu, separated from T'sang-chau only by the great canal. 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 Yangtse-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 m Astiey, IV. 310; Lettres Edif. XL 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 Chap. LXI. CREMATION OF THE DEAD. 1 17 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 gth 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 (isth century) gives of the Chinese mode of sepulture. Mendoza, in the i6th 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 Szechwan. 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." (Doolittle, 190 ; Deguignes, I. 69 ; Cathay, p. 247, 479 ; Reinaud. I. 56 ; India in XVth Century, p. 23 ; Semedo, p. 95 ; Rem. Mel. Asiat. I. 128.) CHAPTEE 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 Il8 MARCO POLO. Book II. mention on the way till you come, at the end of those five days, to Tadinfu/ 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." Now, you must know, that in the year of Christ, 1273, the Great Kaan had sent a certain Baron called Liytan SANGOisr,^ 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 ;■* giving them 100,000 horse and a great force of infantry. But the afiair 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 Chap. LXI. THE CITY OF T'SINANFU. I 19 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 thence- forward they conducted themselves with loyalty towards their lord.' 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'siNANFU, the chief city of Shantung. 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 Yenchau bore under the Kin the name of Taitingfu, which may fairly thus be recognized. It was not however Yenchau, but T' sinanfu, 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 rebel- lion. T'sinanfu lies in a direct line 86 miles south of T'sangchau {Changlu), near the banks of the Tat'sing-ho, a large river which com- municates with the great canal near T'siningchau, 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'sinanfu 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,!. 102.) Note 2. — The Chinese annals, more than 2000 years b.c, speak of silk as an article of tribute from Shantung ; and evidently it was one of the provinces most noted in the Middle Ages for that article. Compare I20 MARCO POLO. Book II. the quotation in note on next chapter from Friar Odoric. Yet the older modern accounts speak only of the wild silk of Shantung. Mr. Williamson, however, points out that there is an extensive produce from the genuine mulberry silkworm, and anticipates a very important trade in Shantung 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 Shantung, 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 hue illucque agitata colliguntur," &c. Compare this with Pliny's " Seres lanitia silvarum nobiles, per- fusam 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 Tsangkiun, a " general of division." John Bell calls an officer bearing the same title " Merin Sanguin." I suspect Tsangkiun is \h& 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 com- mand of the third Hazara (Thousand) of the right wing, in which he had succeeded his father Jedi Noyan. He was greatly distinguished in the invasion of South China under Bayan. {Erdmamis Temudschin, p. 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 Shantung and the conquered parts of Kiangnan. 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'sinan and T'singchau. Kublai despatched Prince Apichd and the General Ssetienchd against him. Litan, after some partial success, was beaten and driven into T'sinan, which the Mongols imme- diately 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'singchau then surrendered. {Gaubil, 139-140 ; Demailla, 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 tlie rebellion. The date in the text is wrong or corrupt, as is generally the case. Chap. LXII. THE CITY OF SINJUMATU. I2I 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 every- thing 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 Idola- ters 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 mxerchandize, so that the amount of goods borne to and fro on those two rivers is quite astonishing.' Note 1. — Friar Odoric, proceeding by water northward to Cam- baluc about 1324-5, 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," &c. When commenting on Odoric, I was inclined to identify this city with Lint'singchau, but its position with respect to the two last cities in Polo's itinerary renders this inadmissible; and laa MARCO POLO. BOOKIL Murray and Pauthier seem to be right in identifying it with T'sining- CHAU. The affix Matu {Ma-feu, 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 iden- tification with T'siningchau is the difficulty of making three days' journey of the short distance between Yenchau 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 Yenchau) flowing from the side of Shantung, and striking the canal line at right angles near T'siningchau, have been thence diverted north-west and south-east, so as to form the canal ; the point of their original con- fluence at Nanwang forming, apparently, the summit level of the canal. There is a little confusion in Polo's account, owing to his describing the river as coming from the south, which, according to his orientation, would be the side towards Honan. In this respect his words would apply more accurately to the Wei xivtr at Lint'sing (see BiotinJ. As. ser. 3, tom. xiv. 194, and J. N. C. B. R. A. S., 1866, p. 11 ; also the map with ch. Ixiv.). Duhalde calls T'siningchau " one of the most consider- able cities of the empire ;'' and Nieuhoff speaks of its large trade and population. CHAPTER LXIII. Concerning the Cities of Linju and Piju. On leaving the city of Sinju-matu you travel for eight days toward 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 Hfe 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 Chap. LXIII. LINJU AND PIJU. 123 I spoke before, and these transport a great amount of costly merchandize.' 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 any- where 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 1. — Murray suggests that Lingiu is a place which appears in D'Anville's Map of Shantung as Lintching-y, and in Arrowsmith's Map of China (also in those of Berghaus and Keith Johnston) as Lingchingkien. I cannot find it in Biot. 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. In any case, I imagine Lingiu (of which, perhaps, Lingin may be the correct reading) to be the Lcnzin 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 Peichau on the east bank of the canal. The abundance of game about here is noticed by Nieuhoff (in Astky, III. 417). 124 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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 Suu, 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.' 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, con- stantly 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." 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 Cauu ; the former is a large place, Chap. LXIV. CHANGES IN THE RIVER CARAMORAN. 125 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 1. — Siju can scarcely be other than Su-t'sian {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. 524-5.) Note 2. — We have again arrived on the banks of the Hwang-Ho, which was crossed higher up on our traveller's route to Kardjang. 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 Shansi 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 Hwainganfu, 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 Chihli, by two branches, the most northerly of which appears to have followed the present course of the Pei-ho below Tientsing. In the time of the Shang Dynasty (ending B.C. 1078) a branch more southerly than either of the above flowed towards T'sining, and combined with the Tsi river, which flowed by T'sinanfu, 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 Hwaingan, 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 Chihli. 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 Shantung thus forms a mountainous 126 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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 moun- tainous 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 Chihli ; 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 necessa- rily a constant source of danger, insomuch that the Emperor Kiaking 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 Kaifungfu : " 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 outwoiks 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 185 1 the Hwang-Ho burst its northern embankment nearly 30 miles east of Kaifungfu ; 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 Chihli. Soon after leaving its late channel it at present spreads, without defined banks, over the very low lands of South-Western Shantung, till it reaches the Great Canal, and then enters the Ta-t'sing channel, passing north of T'sinan to the sea. The old channel crossed by Polo in the present journey is quite deserted. The greater part of the bed is there culti- vated ; it is dotted with numerous villages ; and the vast trading town of Tsinkiangpu 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 Lint'singchau. (/. R. G. S., XXVIII. 294-5 ; Escayrac de Lauture, Mem. sur la Chine ; Cathay, p. 125 ; Reports of Journeys in China, &c. [by Consuls Alabaster, Oxenham, &c.. Pari. Blue Book] 1869, pp. 4-5, 14; Mr. Elias in J. R. G. S., XL. pp. I seqq) Note 3.— Coiganju will be noticed below. Caiju does not seem to ,ir*^ 118° Marco PoLO,Bookii.ckG4 . Chap. LXV. ' MANZI. 127 be traceable, having probably been carried away by the changes ia 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 giveii below (ch. Ixxii.) to the town {Kwachau) occupying the corresponding position on the Kiang. " Khatai," says Rashiduddin, " is bounded on one side by the country of Mdchin, which the Chinese call Manzi. ... In the Indian language Southern China is called Mahd-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 40 days' journey from Khanbalik." {Qiiat. 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 com- monly 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 Mantzii or Mantze signifies " Barbarians '' (" Sons of Bar- barians"), and was applied, it is said, by the Northern Chinese to their neighbours on the south, whose civilization was of later date.* The name is now specifically applied to a wild race on the banks of the Upper Kiang. But it retains its medieval application in Man- churia, where Mantszi is the name given to the Chinese immigrants, and in that use is said to date from the time of Kublai {Palladiits in / R. G. S., vol. XLIL, p. 154). And Mr. Moule has found the word, apparendy used in Marco's exact sense, in a Chinese extract of the period, contained in the topography of the famous Lake of Hangchau {infra, ch. Ixxvi.-lxxvii.). Though both Polo and Rashiduddin call the Karamoran the boundary between Cathay and Manzi, it was not so for any great distance. Honan belonged essentially to Cathay. 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, * Magaillans says the Southerns, in return, called the Northerns Pe-tai, "Fools of the North " ! 128 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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.' 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."" 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 Bay an 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 king- dom 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 ofBayan.^ 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 foot 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 Chap. LXV. THE CONQUEST OF MANZI. 1 29 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.* 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.^ 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 con- quest, for there was no realm on earth half so wealthy.* The amount that the King used to expend was perfectly marvellous ; and as an example I will tell you somewhat of his liberal acts. In those provinces they are wont to expose their new- born babes ; I speak of the poor, who have not the means of bringing them up. But the King used to have all those VOL. II. K 130 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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.' 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 thou- sand 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 disposi- tion 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 Chap. LXV. KUBLAI'S LIEUTENANT, BAYAN. 131 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 Baghbiir 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-tse, " Son of Heaven ;" Bagh-Pur = " The Son of the Divinity," as Sapor or S/idh-Piir = " 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, appUed 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. Defrdmdry says this is Armenian, Tagavor, "a king." (/. B., II. 393, 427.) 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, chap. Ixx.), 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 remon- strance, 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-sz'e (Linggan, now Hangchau) 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 1 7 years, his great business being to keep down the restless Kaidu. K 1 132 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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 cliaracter- istic 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 Demailla ; 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." Demailla gives a different account from Rashidud- din and Gaubil, of the manner in which Bayan first entered the Kaan's service. {Gaubil, 145, 159, 169, 179, 183, 221, 22 y^^. ;- Erdmann, 222-3; Demailla, IX. 335, 458, 461-3.) Note 4. — As regards Bayan personally, and the main body under his command, this seems to be incorrect. His advance took place from Siangyang along the lines of the Han River and of the Great Kiang. Another force indeed marched direct upon Yangchau, and therefore probably by Hwainganchau {infra, p. 135) ; and it is noted that Bayan's orders to the generals of this force were to spare bloodshed. {Gaubil, 159; nOhsson, II. 398.) Note 5. — So in our own age ran the Hindu prophecy that Bhartpdr 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 ! Chap. LXV. CONQUEST OF MANZI. 133 " 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 Fe-yen, the Chinese form of Bayan, that means, or rather may be punningly rendered, " One Hundred Eyes.'' Chincsan, i.e., Chingsiang, was the title of the superior ministers of state at Khanbaligh, as we have already seen. The title occurs pretty fre- quently 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. 314-15). But it is right to observe that in the Ramusian version the mistrans- lation which we have noticed is not so indubitable ; " Volendo sapere come avea nome il Capitano nemico, le fu detto, Chinsambaian, ciofe Cenfocchi." 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 (Fi-yen) will make their appearance." This, it is added, was not understood till the generalissimo Feyen 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 connexion with Marco's Polo's story." {N. and Q. China and Japan, vol. ii. p. 162.) But I should suppose that the Persian historian Wassdf had also heard a bungled version of the same story, which he tells in a pointless manner of the fortress of Sindfur (evidently a clerical error for Saianfu, see below, chap. Ixx.) : " 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 Wassdf s rigmarole) I heard my father tell that this fortress should be taken by a man called Fayan, 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.'' {Wassdf, Hammer's ed., p. 41.) Note 6. — There continues in this narrative, with a general truth as 134 MARCO POLO. Book II. to the course of events, a greater amount of error as to particulars than we should have expected. The Sung Emperor Tutsong, 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 hstened 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-szd, 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 com- mission 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 Kwachau {infra, chap. Ixxii.), to recapture the young emperor, but it failed. On their arrival at Tatu, Kublai's chief queen, Jamui Khatun, treated them with delicate consideration. This amiable lady, on being shown the spoils that came from Linggan, 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 Fuchau, in Fokien, 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 20 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 ; jy Ohsson ; Demailla; Cathay, p. 272.) There is a curious account in the Lettres Edifiantes (xxiv. 45, seqq) by P. Parrenin of a kind of Pariah caste at Shaohing (see ch. Ixxix. note 1), who were popularly beheved to be the de- scendants of the great lords of the Sung Court, condemned to that degraded condition for obstinately resisting the Mongols. Another Chap. LXVI. THE CITY OF COIGANJU. 135 notice, however, makes the degraded body rebels against the Sung {Milne, p. 218). Note 7. — Tliere is much about the exposure of children, and about Chinese foundhng hospitals, in the Lettres Edifiantes, especially in Eecueil xv. 83, seqq. It is there stated that frequently a person not in circumstances to fay 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. 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. — 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 136 MARCO POLO. Book II. when first seeking a discharge south of Shantung. The city extends for about three miles along the canal and much below its level. The head-quarters of the salt manufacture of Hwaingan is a place called Yen-ching (" Salt-Town ") some distance to the S. of the former city (Fauthier). 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 neces- saries, 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. — Paukin is PAO-YNG-Hien ; Cayu is KAO-YU-chau, both cities on the east side of the canal. At Kao-yu, the country east of the canal lies some 20 feet below the canal level ; so low indeed that the walls of the city are not visible from the further bank of the canal. To the west is the Kao-yu Lake, one of the expanses of water spoken of by Marco, and which threatens great danger to the low country on the east (see Alabaster's Journey in Consular Reports above quoted, p. 5). Chap. LXVIII. MARCO'S GOVERNMENT OF YANJU. 137 There is a fine drawing of Pao-yng, 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 Tuu, 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.' 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 pthejc-wealthy cities under its administration ; so that this fifanju : s, you see, a city of great importance.'' It is the se^t ot 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.^ The people live by trade and manufactures, for a great amount of harness for knights and men-at-arms is made there. 138 MARCO POLO. Book II. 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 Kaoyu and Yangchau, 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 five-and-twenty 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 hkely, 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 Yangtse, which might be fairly described as three days from Tai-chau. Mr. Kingsmill identifies it with Ichin-hien, the great port on the Kiang for the export of the Yangchau salt. This is possible ; but Ichin Hes west of the canal, and though the form Chinju would really represent Ichin 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 Ichin is spoken of hereafter. {Kingsmill vn 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. 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 langio. Yangchau suffered greatly in the Taeping rebellion, but its position is an " obligatory point " for commerce, and it appears to be rapidly recovering its pros- perity. It is the head-quarters of the salt manufacture, and it is also now noted for a great manufacture of sweetmeats (see Alabaster's Report, as above, p. 6). 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 reason- able conclusion that the original word was Sings (see I. 418, 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 Zu or circuit * from 1277, and also of a Sing ot * The Lii or Circuit was an administrative division under the Mongols, inter- mediate between the Sing and the Fu, or department. There were 185 tu in all China under Kublai (Pauth. 333). Chap. LXIX. THE CITY OF NANGHIN. 139 government-general, but only for the first year after the conquest, viz., 1276-77, 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 23 years of age, and had been but two years in Cathay — ^in charge either of the general government, or of an important district government in the most important province of the empire. In a later note M. Pauthier speaks of 1284 as the date at which the Sing of the province of Kiang-ch^ was transferred from Yangchau to Hangchau ; this is probably to be taken as a correction of the former citations, and it better justifies Polo's statement {Pauthier, pp. 467, 492). I do not think that we are to regard Marco as having held at any time the important post of Governor-general of Kiang-chd. The ex- pressions in the G. T. are : " Meser Marc Pol meisme, celui de cui trate ceste livre, seingneurie ceste cit'e pour trois anz." Pauthier's MS. A. appears to read : " Et of seigneurie Marc Pol, en ceste cite, trois ans." These expressions probably point to the government of the Lu or circuit of Yangchau, just as we find in chapter Ixxiii. another Christian, Mar Sarghis, mentioned as Governor of Chinkiang-fu for the same term of years, that city being also the head of a Lu. It is remarkable that in Pauthier's MS. C, which often contains readings of peculiar value, the passage runs (and also in the Bern MS.) : " Et si vous dy que ledit Messire Marc Pol, cellui meisme de qui nostre livre park, sejourna en ceste cite de Janguy III ans accompliz, par le commandement du Grant Kaan" in which the nature of his employment is not indicated at all (though sejourna may be an error for seigneura). The impression of his having been Governor-general is mainly due to the Ramusian version, which says distinctly indeed that " M. Marco Polo di commissione del Gran Can n' ebhe il governo tre a7ini continui in luogo di un dei detti Baroni," but it is very probable that this is a gloss of the translator. I should conjecture his rule at Yangchau to have been between 1282, when we know he was at the capital (vol. i. p. 408), and 1287-S, when he roust have gone on his first expedition to the Indian Seas. CHAPTER LXIX. Concerning the City of Nanghin. Nanghin is a very noble Province towards the west. The people are Idolaters (and so forth) and live by trade and manufactures. They have silk in great abundance, and they weave many fine tissues of silk and gold. They have 140 MARCO POLO. Book II. all sorts of corn and victuals very cheap, for the province is a most productive one. Game also is abundant, and lions too are found there. The merchants are great and opulent, and the Emperor draws a large revenue from them, in the shape of duties on the goods which they buy and sell." And now I will tell you of the very noble city of Saianfu, which well deserves a place in our book, for there is a matter of great moment to tell about it. Note 1. — The name and direction from Yangchau are probably suffi- cient to indicate (as Pauthier has said) that this is Nganking on the the Kiang, capital of the modem province of Ngan-hwai. The more celebrated city of Nanking did not bear that name in our traveller's time. Nganking, when recovered from the Taiping in 1861, was the scene of a frightful massacre by the Imperialists. They are said to have left neither man, woman, nor child alive in the unfortunate city. (Blakiston, P- SS-) CHAPTER LXX. Concerning the very noble City of Saianfu, and how its Capture was effected. Saianfu is a very great and noble city, and it rules over twelve other large and rich cities, and is itself a seat of great trade and manufacture. The people are Idolaters (and so forth). They have much silk, from which they weave fine silken stuffs ; they have also a quantity of game, and in short the city abounds in all that it behoves a noble city to possess. Now you must know that this city held out against the Great Kaan for three years after the rest of Manzi had surrendered. The Great Kaan's troops made incessant attempts to take it, but they could not succeed because Chap. LXX. THE POLOS MAKE MANGONELS. 141 of the great and deep waters that were round about it, so that they could approach from one side only, which was the north. And I tell you they never would have taken it, but for a circumstance that I am going to relate. You must know that when the Great Kaan's host had lain three years before the city without being able to take it, they were greatly chafed thereat. Then Messer Nicolo Polo and Messer MafFeo and Messer Marco said : " We could find you a way of forcing the city to surrender speedily ; " whereupon those of the army replied, that they would be right glad to know how that should be. All this talk took place in the presence of the Great Kaan. For messengers had been despatched from the camp to tell him that there was no taking the city by blockade, for it continually received supplies of victual from those sides which they were unable to invest ; and the Great Kaan had sent back word that take it they must, and find a way how. Then spoke up the two brothers and Messer Marco the son, and said : " Great Prince, we have with us among our followers men who are able to construct mangonels which shall cast such great stones that the garrison will never be able to stand them, but will surrender inconti- nently, as soon as the mangonels or trebuchets shall have shot into the town." ' The Kaan bade them with all his heart have such man- gonels made as speedily as possible. Now Messer Nicolo and his brother and his son immediately caused timber to be brought, as much as they desired, and fit for the work in hand. And they had two men among their followers, a German and a Nestorian Christian, who were masters of that business, and these they directed to construct two or three mangonels capable of casting stones of 300 lbs. weight. Accordingly they made three fine mangonels, each of which cast stones of 300 lbs. weight and more.^ And when they were complete and ready for use, the Emperor and the others were greatly pleased to see them. r42 MARCO POLO. Book II. and caused several stones to be shot in their presence ; whereat they marvelled greatly and greatly praised the work. And the Kaan ordered that the engines should be carried to his army which was at the leaguer of Saianfu.3 And when the engines were got to the camp they were forthwith set up, to the great admiration of the Tartars. And what shall I tell you ? When the engines were set up and put in gear, a stone was shot from each of them into the town. These took effect among the buildings, crashing and smashing through everything with huge din and com- motion. And when the townspeople witnessed this new and strange visitation they were so astonished and dismayed that they wist not what to do or say. They took counsel together, but no counsel could be suggested how to escape from these engines, for the thing seemed to them to be done by sorcery. They declared that they were all dead men if they yielded not, so they determined to surrender on such conditions as they could get.* Wherefore they straightway sent word to the commander of the army that they were ready to surrender on the same terms as the other cities of the province had done, and to become the subjects of the Great Kaan ; and to this the captain of the host consented. So the men of the city surrendered, and were received to terms ; and this all came about through the exertions of Messer Nicolo, and Messer MafFeo, and Messer Marco ; and it was no small matter. For this city and province is one of the best that the Great Kaan possesses, and brings him in great revenues.^ Note 1. — Pauthier's MS. C. here says : " When the Great Kaan, and the Barons about him, and the messengers from the camp heard this, they all marvelled greatly ; for I tell you that in all those parts they know nothing of mangonels or trebuchets ; and they were so far from being accustomed to employ them in their wars that they had never even seen them, nor knew what they were." The MS. in question Chap. LXX. CAPTURE OF SAIANFU. 143 has in this narrative several statements peculiar to itself,* as indeed it has in various other passages of the book ; and these often look very like the result of revision by Polo himself. Yet I have not introduced the words just quoted into our text, because they are, as we shall see presently, notoriously contrary to fact. Note 2. — The same MS. has here a passage which I am unable to understand. After the words " 300 lbs. and more," it goes on : " Et. la veoit Ten voler moult loing, desquelles pierres il en y avoit plus de Ix routes qui tant montoit I'une comme rautre!" The Bern has the same. Note 3.' — I propose here to enter into some detailed explanation regarding the military engines that were in use in. the Middle Ages.j None of these depended for their motive force on torsion like the chief engines used in classic times. However numerous the names applied to them, with reference to minor variations in construction or differences in power, they may all be reduced to two classes, viz., great slings and great crossbows. And this is equally true of all the three great branches of medieval civilization — European, Saracenic, and Chinese. To the first class belonged the Trebuchet and Mangonel ; to the second, the Winch-Arblast (ArbalSte k Tour), Springold, &c. Whatever the ancient Batista may have been, the word in medieval Latin seems always to mean some kind of crossbow. The heavier crossbows were wound up by various aids such as winches, ratchets, &c. They discharged stone shot, leaden bullets, and short, square-shafted arrows called quarrels, and these with such force we are told as to pierce a six-inch post (?). But they were worked so slowly in the field that they were no match for the long-bow, which shot five or six times to their once. The great machines of this kind were made of wood, of steel, and very frequently of horn ;% and the bow was sometimes more than 30 feet in length. Dufour calculates that such a machine could shoot an arrow of half a kilogram in weight to a distance of about 860 yards. The Trebuchet consisted of a long tapering shaft or beam, pivoted at * And to the Bern MS. which seems to be a copy of it, as is also I think (in substance) the Bodleian. t In this note I am particularly indebted to the researches of the Emp. Napoleon III. on this subject (£tudes sur le passi et Vavenir de P Artillerie : 1851). I Thus Joinville mentions the journey of Jehan li Ermin the king's artillerist, from Acre to Damascus, pour acheter comes et glus pour faire arbalestres — to buy horns and glue to make crossbows withal (p. 134). In the final defence of Acre (1291) we hear of balistae bipedaks (with a forked rest ?) and others vertiginates (traversing on a pivot ?) that shot 3 quarrels at once, and with such force as to stitch the Saracens to their bucklers — cum clypeis consutos inter- fecerunt. The crossbow, though apparently indigenous among various tribes of Indo-China, seems to have been a new introduction in European warfare in the 12th century. William of Brittany in a poem called the Philippis, speaking of the early days of Philip Augustus, says ; — 144 MARCO POLO. Book II. a short distance from the butt end on a pair of strong pyramidal trestles. At the other end of the shaft a sling was applied, one cord of which was firmly attached by a ring, whilst the other hung in a loop over an iron hook which formed the extremity of the shaft. The power employed to discharge the sling was either the strength of a number of men, applied to ropes which were attached to the short end of the shaft or lever, or the weight of a heavy counterpoise hung from the same, and suddenly released. Supposing the latter force to be employed, the long end of the shaft was drawn down by a windlass ; the sling was laid forward in a wooden trough provided for it, and charged with the shot. The coun- terpoise was, of course, now aloft, and was so maintained by a detent provided with a trigger. On pulling this, the counterpoise falls and the shaft flies upwards drawing the sling. When a certain point is reached the loop end of the sling releases itself from the hook, and the sling flies abroad whilst the' shot is projected in its parabolic flight* To secure the most favourable result the shot should have acquired its maximum velocity, and should escape at an angle of about 45°. The attainment of this required certain proportions between the different dimensions of the machine and the weight of the shot, for which, doubtless, traditional rules of thumb existed among the medieval engineers. The ordinary shot consisted of stones carefully rounded. But for these were substituted on occasion rough stones with fuses attached,t pieces of red-hot iron, pots of fused metal, or casks full of Greek fire or of foul niatter to corrupt the air of the besieged place. Thus carrion was shot into Negropont from such engines by Mahomed II. The Car- dinal Octavian besieging Modena in 1249, slings a dead ass into the town. Froissart several times mentions such measures, as at the siege of Thin I'Eveque on the Scheldt in 1340, when " the besiegers by their engines flung dead horses and other carrion into the castle to poison the garrison by their smell." In at least one instance the same author tells how a living man, an unlucky messenger from the Castle of " Francigenis nostris illis ignota diebus Res erat omnino quid balistarius arcus, Quid balista foret, nee habebat in agmine toto Rex quenquani sciret armis qui talibus uti." Duchesne, Hist. Franc. Script., V. 115. Anna Comnena calls it l^ayfa (whicli looks like Persian charkh) ' ' a barbaric bow, totally unknown to the Greeks ; " and she gives a very lengthy description of it, ending : " Such then are the facts about the Tzagra, and a truly diabolical affair it is." (Alex. X. — Paris ed. p. 291.) * The construction is best seen in Figs. 17 and 19. Figs, i, 2, 3, 4, 5 in the cut are from Chinese sources ; Figs. 6, 7, 8 from Arabic works ; the rest from European sources. t Christine de Pisan says that when keeping up a discharge by night lighted brands should be attached to the stones in order to observe and correct the practice. Livre des fails. Sec, du sage Roy Charles, Pt. II. ch. xxiv.) Chap. LXX. MEDIEVAL ARTILLERY ENGINES. H5 Auberoche, was caught by the besiegers, thrust into the sling with the letters that he bore hung round his neck, and shot into Auberoche, where he fell dead among his horrified comrades. And Lipsius quotes VOL. II. L 146 MARCO POLO. Book II. from a Spanish Chronicle the story of a virtuous youth Pelagius, who, by order of the Tyrant Abderramin, was shot across the Guadalquivir, but lighted unharmed upon the rocks beyond. Ramon de Muntaner relates how King James of Aragon, besieging Majorca in 1228, vowed vengeance against the Saracen King because he shot Christian prisoners into the besiegers' camp with his trebuchets (p. 223-4). We have mentioned one kind of corruption propagated by these engines; the historian Wassdf tells of another. When the garrison of Delhi i-efused to open the gates to AMuddin Khilji after the murder of his uncle Firiiz (1296), he loaded his mangonels with bags of gold and shot them into the fort, a measure which put an end to the opposition. Ibn Batuta, 40 years later, describes Mahomed Tughlak as entering Dehli accompanied by elephants carrying small balistae {ra'dddf), from which gold and silver pieces were shot among the crowd. And the same king, when he had given the crazy and cruel order that the population of Dehli should evacuate the city and depart to Deogir, 900 miles distant, having found two men skulking behind, one of whom was paralytic and the other blind, caused the former to be shot from a mangonel (Z B. ni. 395, 315)- Some old drawings represent the shaft as discharging the shot from a kind of spoon at its extremity, without the aid of a sling {e.g. fig. 13) ; but it may be doubted if this was actually used, for the sling was essential to the efldciency of the engine. The experiments and calculations of Dufour show that without the sling, other things remaining the same, the range of the shot would be reduced by more than a half In some of these engines the counterpoise, consisting of a timber case filled with stones, sand, or the like, was permanently fixed to the butt-end of the shaft. This seems to have been the Trebuchet proper. In others the counterpoise hung free on a pivot from the yard ; whilst a third kind (as in fig. 17) combined both arrangements. The first kind shot most steadily and truly ; the second with more force. Those machines, in which the force of men pulling cords took the place of the counterpoise, could not discharge such weighty shot, but they could be worked more rapidly, and no doubt could be made of lighter scantling. Mr. Hewitt points out a curious resemblance between this kind of Trebuchet and the apparatus used on the Thames to raise the cargo from the hold of a collier. The Emperor Napoleon deduces from certain passages in medieval writers that the Ma7igonel was similar to the Trebuchet, but of lighter structure and power. But often certainly the term Mangonel seems to be used generically for all machines of this class. Marino Sanudo uses no word but Machina, which he appears to employ as the Latin equivalent of Mang07tel, whilst the machine which he describes is a Trebuchet with moveable counterpoise. The history of the word appears to be the fol- lowing. The Greek word fxayyavov, " a piece of witchcraft," came to signify a juggler's trick, an unexpected contrivance (in modern slang " a Chap. LXX. MEDIEVAL ARTILLERY ENGINES. 147 jim "), and so specially a military engine. It seems to have reached this specific meaning by the time of Hero the Younger, who is believed to have written in the first half of the 7 th century. From the form /^ay- yavtKov the Orientals got Manganik and Manjdni]^* whilst the Franks adopted Matigona and Mangonella. Hence the verbs manganare and amanganarc, to batter and crush with such engines, and eventually our verb " to mangle." Again, when the use of gunpowder rendered these warlike engines obsolete, perhaps their ponderous counterweights were utilized in the peaceful arts of the laundry, and hence gave us our substantive " the Mangle " (It. Mangano) ! The Emperor Napoleon, when Prince President, caused some interest- ing experiments in the matter of medieval artillery to be carried out at Vincennes, and a full-sized trebuchet was constructed there. With a shaft of 33 ft. 9 in. in length, having a permanent counterweight of 3300 lbs. and a pivoted counterweight of 6600 lbs. more, the utmost effect attained was the discharge of an iron 24-kilo. shot to a range of 191 yds., whilst a 12^-inch shell, filled with earth, ranged to 131 yds. The machine suffered greatly at each discharge, and it was impracti- cable to increase the counterpoise to 8000 kilos., or 17,600 lbs., as the Prince desired. It was evident that the machine was not of sufficiently massive structure. But the officers in charge satisfied themselves that, with practice in such constructions and the use of very massive timber, even the exceptional feats recorded of medieval engineers might be realized. Such a case is that cited by Quatremfere, from an Oriental author, of the discharge of stones weighing 400 mans, certainly not less than 800 lbs., and possibly much more ; or that of the Men of Bern, who are reported, when besieging Nidau in 1388, to have employed trebuchets which shot daily into the town upwards of 200 blocks weighing 12 cwt. apiece, t Stella relates that the Genoese armament sent against Cyprus, in 1373, among other great machines had one called Troja {Truiaf), which cast stones of 12 to 18 hundredweights; and when the Venetians were besieging the revolted city of Zara in 1346, their Engineer, Master * Professor Sprenger informs me that the first mention of the Manjanik in Ma- homedan history is at the siege of Tayif by Mahomed liimself, A.D. 630 (and see Springer's Mohammed [German], III. 330). The Annales Marbacenses in Pertz, xvii. 172, say under 1212, speaking of wars of the Emperor Otho in Germany : "Ibi tmic cepit haberi usus instrumenti bellici quod vulgo tribok appellari solet." There is a ludicrous oriental derivation of Manjanik, from the Persian : " Man chi nek ! " How good am I " ! Ibn Khallikan remarlis that the word must be foreign, because the letters j and k ( and ^jj j never occur together in genuine Arabic words (Notes hy Mr. E. Thomas, F.R.S.). It maybe noticed that the letters in question occur together in another Arabic word of foreign origin used by Polo, viz. Jathaltk. t Dufour mentions that stone shot of the medieval engines exist at Zurich, of twenty and twenty-two inches diameter. The largest of these would however scarcely exceed 500 lbs. in weight. 148 MARCO POLO. Book II. Francesco delle Barche, shot into the city stones of 3000 lbs. weight.* In this case the unlucky engineer was " hoist with his own petard," for while he stood adjusting one of his engines, it went off, and shot him into the town. With reference to such cases the Emperor calculates that a stone of 3000 lbs. weight might be shot 77 yds. with a counterpoise of 36,000 lbs. weight, and a shaft 65 ft. long. The counterpoise, composed of stone shot of 55 lbs. each, might be contained in a cubical case of about 5-^ ft. to the side. The machine would be preposterous, but there is nothing impossible about it. Indeed in the Album of Villard de Honnecourt, an architect of the 13th century, which was published at Paris in 1858, in the notes accompanying a plan of a trebuchet (from which Prof Willis restored the machine as it is shown in our fig. 19), the artist remarks : " It is a great job to heave down the beam, for the counterpoise is very heavy. For it consists of a chest full of earth which is 2 great toises in length, 8 ft. in breadth, and 12 ft. in depth" ! (p. 203). Such calculations enable us to understand the enormous quantities of material said to have been used in some of the larger medieval machines. Thus Abulfeda speaks of one used at the final capture of Acre, which was intrusted to the troops of Hamath, and which formed a load for 100 carts, of which one was in charge of the historian himself. The romance of Richard Cceur de Lion tells how in the King's Fleet an entire ship was taken up by one such machine with its gear : — " Another schyp was laden yet With an engyne hyghte Robinet, (It was Richardys o mangonel) And all the takyi that thereto fel." Twenty-four machines, captured from the 'Saracens by St. Lewis in his first partial success on the Nile, afforded material for stockading his whole camp. A great machine which cumbered the Tower of St. Paul at Orleans, and was dismantled previous to the celebrated defence against the English, furnished 26 cart-loads of timber. {Abulf. Ann. Muslem, V. 95-97 ; Weber, II. 56 ; Michel's Joinville, App. p. 278 ; Jollois, H. du Siege d' Orleans , 1833, P- 12.) The number of such engines employed was sometimes very great. We have seen that St. Lewis captured 24 at once, and these had been employed in the field. Villehardouin says that the fleet which went from Venice to the attack of Constantinople carried more than 300 perriers and mangonels, besides quantities of other engines required for a siege (ch. xxxviii.). At the siege of Acre in 1291, just referred to, the Saracens, according to Makrizi, set 92 engines in battery against the city, whilst Abulfaraj says 300, and a Frank account, of great and small, 666. The larger ones are said to have shot stones of " a kantar and even * Georg. StdUe Ann. in Muratori, XVII. 1105 ; and Daru, Bk. viii. § 12. Chap. LXX. MEDIEVAL ARTILLERY ENGINES. 149 more.'' {Makrizi, IIL 125; Reinaud, Chroniques Arabes, &=€., p. 570; De Excidio Urbis Acconis, in Martine and Durand, V. 769.) How heavy a mangonade was sometimes kept up may be understood from the account of the operations on the Nile, already alluded to. The King was trying to run a dam across a branch of the river, and had protected the head of his work by " cat-castles " or towers of timber, occupied by archers, and these again supported by trebuchets, &c., in battery. " And," says Jean Pierre Sarrasin the King's Chamberlain, " when the Saracens saw what was going on, they planted a great number of engines against ours, and to destroy our towers and our causeway they shot such vast quantities of stones, great and small, that all men stood amazed. They slung stones, and discharged arrows, and shot quarrels from winch-arblasts, and pelted us with Turkish darts and Greek fire, and kept up such a harassment of every kind against our engines and our men working at the causeway, that it was horrid either to see or to hear. Stones, darts, arrows, quarrels, and Greek fire came down on them like rain." The Emperor Napoleon observes that the direct or grazing fire of the great arblasts may be compared to that of guns in more modern war, whilst the mangonels represent mortar-fire. And this vertical fire was by no means contemptible, at least against buildings of ordinary con- struction. At the sieges of Thin I'Evgque in 1340, and Auberoche in 1344, already cited, Froissart says the French cast stones in, night and day, so as in a few days to demolish all the roofs of the towers, and none within durst venture out of the vaulted basement. The Emperor's experiments showed that these machines were capable of surprisingly accurate direction. And the medieval histories present some remarkable feats of this kind. Thus, in the attack of Mortagne by the men of Hainault and Valenciennes (1340), the latter had an engine which was a great annoyance to the garrison ; there was a clever engineer in the garrison who set up another machine against it, and adjusted it so well that the first shot fell within 12 paces of the enemy's engine, the second fell near the box, and the third struck the shaft and split it in two. Already in the first half of the 13th century, a French poet (quoted by Weber) looks forward with disgust to the supercession of the feats of chivalry by more mechanical methods of war : — " Chevaliers sont esperdus, Cil ont auques leur tens perdus ; Arbalestier et mineor Et perrier et engigneor Seront dorenavant plus chier.'' When Ghazan Khan was about to besiege the castle of Damascus in 1300, so much importance was attached to .this art that whilst his Engineer, a man of reputation therein, was engaged in preparing the machines, the Governor of the castle offered a reward of 1000 dinars for I^O MARCO POLO. Book II. that personage's head. And one of the garrison was daring enough to enter the Mongol camp, stab the Engineer, and carry back his head into the castle ! Marino Sanudo, about the same time, speaks of the range of these engines with a prophetic sense of the importance of artillery in war : — " On this subject (length of range) the engineers and experts of the army should employ their very sharpest wits. For if the shot of one army, whether engine-stones or pointed projectiles, have a longer range than the shot of the enemy, rest assured that the side whose artillery hath the longest range will have a vast- advantage in action. Plainly, if the Christian shot can take effect on the Pagan forces, whilst the Pagan shot cannot reach the Christian forces, it may be safely asserted that the Christians will continually gain ground from the enemy, or, in other words, they will win the battle." The importance of these machines in war, and the efforts made to render them more effective went on augmenting till the introduction of the still more " villanous saltpetre," even then however coming to no sudden halt. Several of the instances that we have cited of machines of extraordinary power belong to a time when the use of cannon had made some progress. The old engines were employed by Timur ; in the wars of the Hussites as late as 1422 ; and, as we have seen, up to the middle of that century by Mahomed II. They are also distinctly represented on the towers of Aden, in the contemporary print of the escalade in 1514, reproduced in this volume (Bk. III. ch. xxxvi.). {^Etudes sur le Passe et I'Avemr de I'Artillerie, par L. JV. Bonaparte, &c., tom. II. ; Marinus Sanutius, Bk. II. Pt. 4, ch. xxi. and xxii. ; Kington's Fred. II., II. 488; Froissart, I. 69, 81, 182; Elliot, III. 41, &c. ; Hewitt's Ancient A rmoter, I. 350; Pertz, Scriptores, XVIII. 420, 751; Q.. R. 135-7 ; Weber, III. 103 ; Hammer, Ilch. II. 95.) Note 4. — Very like this is what the Romance of Coeur de Lion tells of the effects of Sir Fulke Doyley's mangonels on the Saracens of Ebedy :— " Sir Fouke brought good engynes Swylke knew but fewe Sarazynes — * * * A prys tour stood ovyr tlie Gate ; He bent his engynes and threw thereate A great stone that harde droff, That the Tour al to rofif * * * And slough the folk that therinne stood ; Tile other fledde and wer nygh wood, And sayde it was the devylys dent," &c. — Weber, II. 172. Note 5. — This chapter is one of the most perplexing in the whole book, owing to the chronological difficulties involved. Saianfu is SiANGYANG-Fu, which stands on the south bank of the Chap. LXX. SIEGE OF SAIANFU. 151 River Han, and with the sister city of Fanching, on the opposite bank, commands the junction of two important approaches to tlie southern provinces, viz. that from Shensi down the Han, and that from Shansi and Peking down the Pe-ho. Fanching seems now to be the more important place of the two. The name given to the city by Polo is precisely that which Siangyang bears in Rashiduddin, and there is no room for doubt as to its identity. The Chinese historians relate that Kublai was strongly advised to make the capture of Siangyang and Fanching a preliminary to his intended attack upon the Sung. The siege was undertaken in the latter part of 1268, and the twin cities held out till the spring of 1273. Nor did Kublai apparendy prosecute any other operations against the Sung during that long interval. Now Polo represents that the long siege of Saianfu, instead of being a prologue to the subjugation of Manzi, was the protracted epilogue of that enterprise ; and he also represents the fall of the place as caused by advice and assistance rendered by his father, his uncle, and himself, a circumstance consistent only with the siege's having really been such an epilogue to the war. For, according to the narrative as it stands in all the texts, the Polos could not have reached the Court of Kublai before the end of 1274, i.e. a year and a half after the fall of Siangyang as represented in the Chinese histories. The difficulty is not removed, nor, it appears to me, abated in any degree, by omitting the name of Marco as one of the agents in this affair, an omission which occurs both in Pauthier's MS. B and in Ramusio. Pauthier suggests that the father and uncle may have given the advice and assistance in question when, on their first visit to the Kaan, and when the siege of Siangyang was first contemplated. But this would be quite inconsistent with the assertion that the place had held out three years longer than the rest of Manzi, as well as with the idea that their aid had abridged the duration of the siege, and, in fact, with the spirit of the whole story. It is certainly very difficult in this case to justify Marco's veracity, but I am very unwilling to believe that there was no justification in the facts. It is a very curious circumstance that the historian Wassif also appears to represent Saianfu (see note 6, chap. Ixv.) as holding out after all the rest of Manzi had been conquered. Yet the Chinese annals are systematic, minute, and consequent, and it seems impossible to attribute to them such a misplacement of an event which they represent as the key to the conquest of Southern China. In comparing Marco's story with that of the Chinese, we find the same coincidence in prominent features, accompanying a discrepancy in details, that we have had occasion to notice in other cases where his narrative intersects history. TheChinese account runs as follows : — In 1 27 1, after Siangyang and Fanching had held out already nearly three years, an Uighur General serving at the siege, whose name was 152 MARCO POLO. Book II. Alihaiya, urged the Emperor to send to the West for engineers expert at the construction and working of machines casting stones of 150 lbs. weight. With such aid he assured Kublai the place would speedily be taken. Kublai sent to his nephew Abaka in Persia for such engineers, and two were accordingly sent post to China, Alawating of Mufali and his pupil Ysemain of Hull or Hiulie (probably Alduddin of Miafarakain and Ismael of Heri or Herat). Kublai on their arrival gave them mili- tary rank. They exhibited their skill before the Emperor at Tatu, and in the latter part of 1272 they reached the camp before Siangyang, and set up their engines. The noise made by the machines, and the crash of the shot as it broke through everything in its fall, caused great alarm in the garrison. Fanching was first taken by assault, and some weeks later Siangyang surrendered. The shot used on this occasion weighed 125 Chinese pounds (if catties, then equal to about 166 lbs. avoird.), and penetrated 7 or 8 feet into the earth. Rashiduddin also mentions the siege of Siangyang, as we learn from D'Ohsson. He states that as there were in China none of the Manjaniks or Mangonels called Kumgkd, the Kaan caused a certain engineer to be sent from Damascus or Balbek, and the three sons of this person, Abubakr, Ibrahim, and Mahomed, with their workmen, constructed seven great Manjaniks which were employed against Sayanfu, a frontier fortress and bulwark of Manzi. We thus see that three different notices of the siege of Siangyang, Chinese, Persian, and Venetian, all concur as to the employment of foreign engineers from the West, but all differ as to the individuals. We have seen that one of the MSS. makes Polo assert that till this event the Mongols and Chinese were totally ignorant of mangonels and trebuchets. This however is quite untrue ; and it is not very easy to reconcile even the statement, imphed in all versions of the story, that mangonels of considerable power were unknown in the far East, with other circumstances related in Mongol history. The Persian History called Tabakdt-i-Ndsiri speaks of Aikah Nowin the Manjaniki Khds or Engineer-in-Chief to Chinghiz Khan, and his corps of ten thousand Manjanikis or Mangonellers. The Chinese his- tories used by Gaubil also speak of these artillery-battalions of Chinghiz. At the siege of Kaifungfu on the Hwang-Ho, the latest capital of the Kin Emperors, in 1232, the Mongol General Subutai threw from his engines great quarters of millstones which smashed the battlements and watch- towers on the ramparts, and even the great timbers of houses in the city. In 1236 we iind the Chinese garrison of Chinchau {I-chin-hien on the Great Kiang near the Great Canal) repelling the Mongol attack, partly by means of their stone shot. When Hulaku was about to march against Persia (1253), his brother the Great Kaan Mangku sent to Cathay to fetch thence 1000 famihes of mangonellers, naphtha-shooters, and arblasteers. Some of the crossbows used by these latter had a range, we are told, of Chap. LXX. MONGOL ARTILLERY ENGINES. 153 2500 paces! European history bears some similar evidence. One of the Tartar characteristics reported by a fugitive Russian archbishop, in Matt. Paris (p. 570 under 1244), is : " Mackinas habent multijilices, recte et fortiter jacientes. " It is evident therefore that the Mongols and Chinese /lad engines of war, but that they were deficient in some advantage possessed by those of the Western nations. Rashiduddin's expression as to their having no KumghA mangonels, seems to be unexplained. Is it perhaps an error for Kardbughd, the name given by the Turks and Arabs to a kind of great mangonel ? This was known also in Europe as Carabaga, Calabra, &c. It is mentioned under the former name by Marino Sanudo, and under the latter, with other quaintly-named engines, by William of Tudela, as used by Simon de Montfort the Elder against the Albi- genses : — ' ' E dressa sos Calabra, et foi Mai Vezina E sas autras pereiras, e Dona, e Reina ; Pessia les autz murs e la sala peirina." * ( " He set up his Calibers, and likewise his Ill-Neighbours, With many a more machine, this the Lady, that the Queen, And breached the lofty walls, and smashed the stately Halls.") Now, in looking at the Chinese representations of their ancient man- gonels, which are evidently genuine, and of which I have given some specimens (figs, i, 2, 3), I see none worked by the counterpoise ; all (and • there are 6 or 7 different representations in the work from which these are taken) are shown as worked by man-ropes. Hence probably the improvement brought from the West was essentially the use of the counterpoised lever. And, after I had come to this conclusion, I found it to be the view of Captain Favd (see Du Feu Gregeois, by MM. Rei- naud and Favd, p. 193). In Ramusio the two Polos propose to Kublai to make " mangani al modo di Fonente ; " and it is worthy of note that in the campaigns of Alaudin Khilji and his generals in the Deccan, circa 1300, frequent mention is made of the Western Manjaniks and their great power (see Elliot, III. 75, 78, &c.). Of the kind worked by man-ropes must have been that huge man- gonel which Mahomed Ibn Kisim, the conqueror of Sind, set in battery against the great Dagoba of Daibul, and which required 500 men to work it. Like Simon de Montfort's it had a tender name ; it was called " The Bride " {Elliot, I. 120). Before quitting this subject, I will quote a curious passage from the History of the Sung Dynasty contributed to the work of Reinaud and Fave by M. Stanislas Julien : " In the 9th year of the period Hien-shun (a.d. 1273) the frontier cities had fallen into the hands of the enemy (Tartars). The Fao (or engines for shooting) of the Hwei-Hwei (Mahomedans) were Shaw, Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages, vol. i. No. 21. 154 MARCO POLO. BoOKir. imitated, but in imitating them very ingenious improvements were intro- duced, axiApao of a different and very superior kind were constructed. Moreover an extraordinary method was invented of neutralizing the effects of the enemy's pao. Ropes were made of rice-straw 4 inches thick, and 34 feet in length. Twenty such ropes were joined, applied to the tops of buildings, and covered with clay. In this manner the fire- arrows, firt-pao, and even the pao casting stones of 100 lbs. weight, could cause no damage to the towers or houses" {Jb. 196 ; also for previous parts of this note, Visdelou, 188; Gaubil, 34, 155 segg. and 70; Demailla, 329; Pauthier in loca and Introduction; D'Ohsson, 11. 35, and 391; Notes by Mr. Edward Thomas, F.R.S. ; Q. Rashid., pp. 132, 136). Siangyang has been twice visited by Mr. A. Wylie. Just before his first visit (I believe in 1866) a discovery had been made in the city of a quantity of treasure buried at the time of Coin from a treasure hidden ai the sicge. One of the local officers gave Mr. STfe^^s^iately iis'ctereir Wylic ouc of the copper coins, not indeed in itself of any great rarity, but worth engraving here on account of its connexion with the siege commemorated in the text ; and a little on the principle of Smith the Weaver's evidence : — " The bricks are alive at this day to testify of it ; therefore deny it not." CHAPTER LXXI. Concerning the City of Sinju and the Great River Kian. You must know that when you leave the city of Yanju, after going 15 miles south-east, you come to a city called Sinju, of no great size, but possessing a very great amount of shipping and trade. The people are Idolaters and sub- ject to the Great Kaan, and use paper-money.' And you must know that this city stands on the greatest river in the world, the name of which is Kian. It is in some places ten miles wide, in others eight, in others six, and it is more than 100 days' journey in length from one end to the other. This it is that brings so much trade to the city we are speaking of; for on the waters of that river Chap. LXXI. THE GREAT RIVER KIAN. 1 55 merchandize is perpetually coming and going, from and to the various parts of the world, enriching the city, and bringing a great revenue to the Great Kaan. And I assure you this river flows so far and traverses so many countries and cities that in good sooth there pass and repass on its waters a great number of vessels, and more wealth and merchandize than on all the rivers and all the seas of Christendom put together ! It seems indeed more like a Sea than a River.^ Messer Marco Polo said that he once beheld at that city 15,000 vessels at one time. And you may judge, if this city, of no great size, has such a number, how many must there be altogether, considering that on the banks of this river there are more than sixteen provinces and more than 200 great cities, besides towns and villages, all possessing vessels ? Messer Marco Polo aforesaid tells us that he heard from the officer employed to collect the Great Kaan's duties on this river that there passed up-stream 200,000 vessels in the year, without counting those that passed down! [Indeed as it has a course of such great length, and receives so many other navigable rivers, it is no wonder that the merchandize which is borne on it is of vast amount and value. And the article in largest quantity of all is salt, which is carried by this river and its branches to all the cities on their banks, and thence to the other cities in the interior.3] The vessels which ply on this river are decked. They have but one mast, but they are of great burthen, for I can assure you they carry (reckoning by our weight) from 4000 up to 12,000 cantars each.* Now we will quit this matter and I will tell you of another city called Caiju. But first I must mention a point I had forgotten. You must know that the vessels on this river, in going up-stream have to be tracked, for the current is so strong that they could not make head in any , other manner. Now the tow-line, which is some 300 paces 156 MARCO POLO. Book II. in length, is made of nothing but cane. 'Tis in this way : they have those great canes of which I told you before that they are some fifteen paces in length ; these they take and split from end to end [into many slender strips], and then they twist these strips together so as to make a rope of any length they please. And the ropes so made are stronger than if they were made of hemp.^ [There are at many places on this river hills and rocky eminences on which the idol-monasteries and other edifices are built ; and you find on its shores a constant succession of villages and inhabited places.*] Note 1. — The traveller's diversion from his direct course — sceloc or south-east, as he regards it — towards Fokien, in order to notice Nganking (as we have supposed) and Siangyang, has sadly thrown out both the old translators and transcribers and the modern commentators. Though the G. Text has here " quant I' en se part de la cite de Angui," I cannot doubt that langui (Yanju) is the reading intended, and that Polo here comes back to the main line of his journey. I conceive Sinju to be the city which was then called Chin-chau, but now I-CHIN-HIEN,* and which stands on the Kiang as near as may be 15 miles from Yangchau. It is indeed south-west instead of south-east, but those who have noted the style of Polo's orientation will not attach much importance to this. I-chin-hien is still the great port of the Yangchau salt manufacture, for export by the Kiang and its branches to the interior provinces. It communicates with the Grand Canal by two branch canals. Admiral Collinson, in 1842, remarked the great numbers of vessels lying in the creek off Ichin (see note 1 to chap. Ixviii. above ; and/. R. G. S. XVII. 139). Note 2. — The river is of course the Great Kiang or Yangtsze-Kiang (already spoken of in chapter xliv. as the Kiansui), which Polo was justified in calling the greatest river in the world, whilst the New World was yet hidden. The breadth seems to be a good deal exaggerated, the length not at all. His expressions about it were perhaps accompanied by a mental reference to the term Dalai, " The Sea," which the Mongols appear to have given the river (see Fr. Odoric, p. 121). The Chinese have a popular saying " Hdi vu ping, Kiang vu ti," " Boundless is the Ocean, bottomless the Kiang ! " See Gaubil, p. 93, note 4, and Biot, p. 275. Chap. LXXI. ISLAND MONASTERIES ON THE KIANG. 157 • Soito sapraquestD fiunuin molti lunalji, collini: c montiaUi sassasi, sopra i qualt s ona jUificati mnnasteri B'SBoK, c altrc stanje " """ 158 MARCO POLO. Book II. Note 3. — " The assertion that there is a greater amount of tonnage belonging to the Chinese than to all other nations combined, does not appear overcharged to those who have seen the swarms of boats on their rivers, though it might not be found strictly true.'' {Mid. Kingd. II. 398.) Barrow's picture of the life, traffic, and population on the Kiang, except- ing as to specific numbers, quite bears out Marco's account. This part of China suffered so long from the wars of the Taiping rebellion that to recent travellers it has presented an aspect sadly belying its old fame. Such havoc is not readily repaired in a few years, nor in a few centuries, but prosperity is reviving, and European navigation is beginning to make an important figure on the Kiang. I see from Shanghai shipping-lists of December 1873, that between the 5th and i6th (inclusive) of that month there arrived from Ha:nkau (a port distant 600 miles from the sea) and the intermediate ports on the Kiang 10 British and American steamers, averaging 932 tons. Between the 3rd and loth (inclusive) there sailed for the same ports 1 1 steamers averaging 948 tons ; some of them near 1300. Note 4. — 12,000 cantars would be more than 500 tons, and I do not know if this can be justified by the burthen of Chinese vessels on the river, though we see it is more than doubled by that of some British or American steamers thereon. In the passage referred to under note 1, Admiral Collinson speaks of the salt-junks at Ichin as " very remark- able, being built nearly in the form of a crescent, the stern rising in some of them nearly 30 feet and the prow 20, whilst the mast is 90 feet high." These dimensions imply large capacity. Oliphant speaks of the old rice-junks for the canal traffic as transporting 200 and 300 tons (I- 197). Note 6. — The tow-line in river-boats is usually made (as here described) of strips of bamboo twisted. Hawsers are also made of bamboo. Ramusio, in this passage, says the boats are tracked by horses, 10 or 12 to each vessel. I do not find this mentioned anywhere else, nor has any traveller in China that I have consulted heard of such a thing. Note 6. — Such eminences as are here alluded to are the Little Orphan Rock, Silver Island, and the Golden Island, which is mentioned in the following chapter. We give on the preceding page illustrations of those three picturesque islands ; the Orphan Rock at the top. Golden Island in the middle, Silver Island below. Chap. LXXII. CAIJU. THE GREAT CANAL. 159 CHAPTER LXXII. Concerning the City of Caiju. Caiju is a small city towards the south-east. The people are subject to the Great Kaan and have paper-money. It stands upon the river before mentioned.' At this place are collected great quantities of corn and rice to be transported to the great city of Cambaluc for the use of the Kaan's Court ; for the grain for the Court all comes from this part of the country. You must understand that the Emperor hath caused a water-communication to be made from this city to Cambaluc, in the shape of a wide and deep channel dug between stream and stream, between lake and lake, forming as it were a great river on which large vessels can ply. And thus there is a communication all the way from this city of Caiju to Cambaluc ; so that great vessels with their loads can go the whole way. A land road also exists, for the earth dug from those channels has been thrown up so as to form an embanked road on either side."" Just opposite to the city of Caiju, in the middle of the River, there stands a rocky island on which there is an idol-monastery containing some 2,00 idolatrous friars, and a vast number of idols. And this Abbey holds supremacy over a number of other idol-monasteries, just like an arch- bishop's see among Christians.^ Now we will Jeave this and cross the river, and I will tell you of a city called Chinghianfu. Note 1. — No place in Polo's travels is better identified by his local indications than this. It is on the Kiang ; it is at the extremity of the Great Canal from Cambaluc; it is opposite the Golden Island and Chinkiangfu. Hence it is Kwachau, as Murray pointed out Marsden here misunderstands his text, and puts the place on the south side of the Kiang. Here Van Braam notices that there passed in the course of the day i6o MARCO POLO. Book II. more than 50 great rice-boats, most of which could easily carry more than 300,000 lbs. of rice. And Mr. Alabaster, in 1868, speaks of the canal from Yangchau to Kwachau as " full of junks." Note 2. — Rashiduddin gives the following account of the Grand Canal spoken of in this passage. " The river of Khanbaligh had," he says, " in the course of time, become so shallow as not to admit the entrance of shipping, so that they had to discharge their cargoes and send them up to Khanbaligh on pack-cattle. And the Chinese engineers and men of science having reported that the vessels from the provinces of Cathay, from Machin, and from the cities of Khingsai and Zaitdn, could no longer reach the court, the Kaan gave them orders to dig a great canal into which the waters of the said river, and of several others, should be introduced. This canal extends for a distance of 40 days' navigation from Khanbaligh to Khingsai and Zaitdn, the ports frequented by the ships that come from India, and from the city of Machin (Canton). The canal is provided with many sluices .... and when vessels arrive at these sluices they are hoisted up by means of machinery, whatever be their size, and let down on the other side into the water. The canal has a width of more than 30 ells. Kublai caused the sides of the embank- ments to be revetted with stone, in order to prevent the earth giving way. Along the side of the canal runs the high road to Machin, extending for a space of 40 days' journey, and this has been paved throughout, so that travellers and their animals may get along during the rainy season without sinking in the mud Shops, taverns, and villages line the road on both sides, so that dwelling succeeds dwelling without intermission throughout the whole space of 40 days' journey." {Cathay, 259-60.) The canal appears to have been completed in 1289, though large portions were in use earlier. Its chief object was to provide the capital with food. Pauthier gives the statistics of the transport of rice by this canal from 1283 to the end of Kublai's reign, and for some subsequent years up to 1329. In the latter year the quantity reached 3,522,163 ski or 1,247,633 quarters. As the supplies of rice for the capital and for the troops in the Northern Provinces always continued to be drawn from Kiangnan, the distress and derangement caused by the recent rebel occupation of that province must have been enormous. {Pauthier, p. 481-2 ; Demailla, p. 439.) Polo's account of the formation of the canal is exceedingly accurate. Compare that given by Mr. Williamson (I. 62). Note 3. — " On the Kiang, not far from the mouth, is that remark- ably beautiful little island called the .'Golden Isle,' surmounted by numerous temples inhabited by the votaries of Buddha or Fo, and very correctly described so many centuries since by Marco Polo " {Davis's Chinese, I. 149). The monastery, according to Pauthier, was founded in the 3rd or 4th century, but the name Kin-Shan, or "Golden Isle," dates only from a visit of the Emperor Kang-hi in 1684. Chap. LXXIII. THE CITY OF CHINGHIANFU. l6l The monastery contained one of the most famous Buddhist libraries in China. This was in the hands of our troops during the first China war, and, as it was intended to remove the books, there was no haste made in examining their contents. Meanwhile peace came, and the library was restored. It is a pity now that the jus belli had not been exercised promptly, for the whole establishment was destroyed by the Taipings in i860, and, with the exception of the Pagoda at the top of the hill, which was left in a dilapidated state, not one stone of the buildings remained upon another. The rock had also then ceased to be an island ; and the site of what not many years before had been a channel with four fathoms of water, separating it from the southern shore, was covered by flourishing cabbage-gardens. {Gutzlaff in J. R. A. S. XII. 87 ; Mid. Kingd. I. 84, 86 ; Oliphanfs Narrative, II. 301; N. and Q. Ch. and Jap. No. 5, p. 58.) CHAPTER LXXIII. Of the City of Chinghianfu. Chinghianpu is a city of Manzi. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan, and have paper-money, and live by handicrafts and trade. They have plenty of silk, West Gate of Chinkiangfu in 1842. VOL. II. M i6i MARCO POLO. Book II. from which they make sundry kinds of stuffs of silk and gold. There are great and wealthy merchants in the place ; plenty of game is to be had, and of all kinds of victual. There are in this city two churches of Nestorian Chris- tians which were established in the year of our Lord 1278 ; and I will tell you how that happened. You see, in the year just named, the Great Kaan sent a Baron of his whose name was Mar Sarghis, a Nestorian Christian, to be governor of this city for three years. And during the three years that he abode there he caused these two Chris- tian churches to be built, and since then there they are. But before his time there was no church, neither were there any Christians.' Note 1. — Chinkiangfu retains its name unchanged. It is one which became well known in the war of 1842. On its capture on the 2ist July in that year, the heroic Manchu commandant seated himself among his records and then set fire to the building, making it his funeral pyre. The city was totally destroyed in the Taiping wars, but is rapidly recovering its position as a place of native commerce. Mar Sarghis (or Dominus Sergius) appears to have been a common name among Armenian and other Oriental Christians. As Pauthier mentions, this very name is one of the names of Nestorian priests in- scribed in Syriac on the celebrated monument of Singanfu. From this second mention of three years as a term of government, we may probably gather that this was the usual period for the tenure of such office. {Mid. Kingd., I. 86 ; Cathay, p. xciii.) CHAPTER LXXIV. Of the City of Chinginju and the Slaughter of certain Alans there. Leaving the city of Chinghianfu and travelling three days south-east through a constant succession of busy and thriving towns and villages, you arrive at the great and noble city of Chinginju. The people are Idolaters, use Chap. LXXIV. MASSACRE OF THE ALANS. 163 paper-money, and are subject to the Great Kaan. They live by trade and handicrafts, and they have plenty of silk. They have also abundance of game, and of all manner of victuals, for it is a most productive territory.' Now I must tell you of an evil deed that was done, once upon a time, by the people of this city, and how dearly they paid for it. You see, at the time of the conquest of the great province of Manzi, when Bayan was in command, he sent a company of his troops, consisting of a people called Alans, who are Christians, to take this city.'' They took it accordingly, and when they had made their way in, they lighted upon some good wine. Of this they drank until they were all drunk, and then they lay down and slept like so many swine. So when night fell, the townspeople, seeing that they were all dead-drunk, fell upon them and slew them all ; not a man escaped. And when Bayan heard that the townspeople had thus treacherously slain his men, he sent another Admiral of his with a great force, and stormed the city, and put the whole of the inhabitants to the sword ; not a man of them escaped death. And thus the whole population of that city was exterminated.^ Now we will go on, and I will tell you of another city called Suju. Note 1. — Both the position and the story which follows identify this city with Changchau. The name is written in Pauthier's MSB. Ching- inguy, in the G. T. Cingiggui and Cinghingui, in Ramusio Tinguigui. The capture of Changchau by Gordon's force, nth May, 1864, was the final achievement of that " Ever Victorious Army.'' Regarding the territory here spoken of,, once so rich and densely peopled, Mr. Medhurst says, in reference to the effects- of the Taiping insurrection : " I can conceive of no more melancholy sight than the acres of ground that one passes through strewn with remains of once thriving cities, and the miles upon miles of rich land, once carefully parcelled out into fields and gardens, but now only growing coarse grass and brambles — the home of the pheasant, the deer, and the wild pig." (Foreigner in Far Cathay, p. 94.) M % 164 MARCO POLO. Book II. Note 2. — The relics of the Alans were settled on the northern skirts of the Caucasus, where they made a stout resistance to the Mongols, but eventually became subjects of the Khans of Sarai. The name by which they were usually known in Asia in the Middle Ages was Aas, and this name is assigned to them by Carpini, Rubruquis, and Josafat Barbaro, as well as by Ibn Batuta. Mr. Howorth has lately denied the identity of Alans and Aas; but he treats the question as all one with the identity of Alans and Ossethi, which is another matter, as may be seen in Vivien de St. Martin's elaborate paper on the Alans [N. Ann. des Voyages, 1848, tom. 3, pp. 129 seqq.). The Alans are mentioned by the Byzantine historian, Pachymeres, among nations whom the Mongols had assimilated to themselves and adopted into their military service. Gaubil, without being aware of the identity of the Asu (as the name Aas appears to be expressed in the Chinese Annals), beyond the fact that they dwelt some- where near the Caspian, observes that this people, after they were con- quered, furnished many excellent officers to the Mongols ; and he men- tions also that when the Mongol army was first equipt for the conquest of Southern China, many officers took service therein from among the Uighurs, Persians, and Arabs, Kincha (people of Kipchak), the Asu and other foreign nations. We find also, at a later period of the Mongol history (1336), letters reaching Pope Benedict XII. from several Chris- tian Alans holding high office at the court of Cambaluc — one of them being a Chingsang or Minister of the First Rank, and zxiOtYitr a. Fanchang or Minister of the Second Order — in which they conveyed their urgent request for the nomination of an Archbishop in succession to the de- ceased John of Monte Corvino. John Marignolh speaks of those Alans as " the greatest and noblest nation in the world, the fairest and bravest of men," and asserts that in his day there were 30,000 of them in the Great Kaan's service, and all, at least nominally. Christians.* Rashid- uddin also speaks of the Alans as Christians ; though Ibn Batuta cer- tainly mentions the Aas as Mahomedans. We find Alans about the same time (in 1306) fighting well in the service of the Byzantine Emperors {Muntaner, p. 449). All these circumstances render Marco's story of a corps of Christian Alans in the army of Bayan perfectly con- sistent with probability. {Carpini, p. 707 ; Rub., 243 ; Ramiisio, II. 92 ; /. B. II. 428 ; Gaubil, 40, 147 ; Cathay, 314 seqq.) Note 3. — The Chinese histories do not mention the story of the Alans and their fate ; but they tell how Changchau was first taken by the Mongols about April 1275, and two months later recovered by the Chinese ; how Bayan, some months afterwards, attacked it in person. * I must observe here that the learned Prof. Bruun has raised doubts whether these Alans of MarignoUi's could be Alans of the Caucasus, and if they were not rather Ohldiis, i.e., Mongol Princes and nobles. There are difficulties certainly about MarignoUi's Alans ; but obvious difficulties also in this explanation. Chap. LXXV. THE CITY OF SUJU. 165 meeting with a desperate resistance ; finally, how the place was stormed, and how Bayan ordered the whole of the inhabitants to be put to the sword. Gaubil remarks that some grievous provocation must have, been given, as Bayan was far from cruel. Pauthier gives original extracts on the subject, which are interesting. They picture the humane and chivalrous Bayan on this occasion as demoniacal in cruelty, sweeping together all the inhabitants of the suburbs, forcing them to construct his works of attack, and then butchering the whole of them, boiling down their carcases, and using the fat to grease his mangonels ! Perhaps there is some misunderstanding as to the use of this barbarous lubricant. For Carpini relates that the Tartars, when they cast Greek fire into a town, shot with it human fat, for this caused the fire to rage inextin- guishably. Cruelties, like Bayan's on this occasion, if exceptional with him, were common enough among the Mongols generally. Chinghiz, at an early period in his career, after a victory, ordered 70 great caldrons to be heated, and his prisoners to be boiled therein. And the " evil deed " of the citizens of Changchau fell far short of Mongol atrocities. Thus Hulaku, suspecting the Turkoman chief Nasiruddin, who had just quitted his camp with 300 men, sent a body of horse after him to cut him off. The Mongol officers told the Turkoman they had been ordered to give him and his men a parting feast ; they made them all drunk and then cut their throats. {Gaubil, 166, 167, 170 ; Carpini, 696 ; Erdmann, 262 ; Quat. Rashid. 357.) CHAPTER LXXV. Of the Noble City of Suju. SuJU is a very great and noble city. The people are Ido- laters, subjects of the Great Kaan, and have paper-money. They possess silk in great quantities, from which they make gold brocade and other stuffs, and they live by their manu- factures and trade.' The city is passing great, and has a circuit of some 60 miles ; it hath merchants of great wealth and an incal- culable number of people. Indeed, if the men of this city and of the rest of Manzi had but the spirit of soldiers they would conquer the world ; but they are no soldiers at all, only accomplished traders and most skilful craftsmen. 1 66 MARCO POLO. Book II. There are also in this city many philosophers and leeches, diligent students of nature. And you must know that in this city there are 6,000 bridges, all of stone, and so lofty that a galley, or even two galleys at once, could pass underneath one of them.'' In the mountains belonging to this city, rhubarb and ginger grow in great abundance ; insomuch that you may get some 40 pounds of excellent fresh ginger for a Venice groat.^ And the city has sixteen other great trading cities under its rule. The name of the city, Suju, signifies in our tongue, " Earth," and that of another near it, of which we shall speak presently, called Kinsay, signifies " Heaven ;" and these names are given because of the great splendour of the two cities.'' Now let us quit Suju, and go on to another which is called Vuju, one day's journey distant ; it is a great and fine city, rife with trade and manufactures. But as there is nothing more to say of it we shall go on and I will tell you of another great and noble city called Vughin. The people are Idolaters, &c., and possess much silk and other merchandize, and they are expert traders and craftsmen. Let us now quit Vughin and tell you of another city called Changan, a great and rich place. The people are Idolaters, &c., and they live by trade and manufactures. They make great quantities of sendal of different kinds, and they have much game in the neighbourhood. There is however nothing more to say about the place, so we shall now proceed.^ Note 1. — Suju is of course the celebrated city of Suchau in Kiang- nan — before the rebellion brought ruin on it, the Paris of China. " Every thing remarkable was alleged to come from it ; fine pictures, fine carved- work, fine silks, and fine ladies !" (Fortune, I. 186.) When the Em- peror Kang-hi visited Suchau, the citizens laid the streets with carpets and silk stuffs, but the Emperor dismounted and made his train do the like. {Davis, I. 186.) Note 2. — I believe we must not bring Marco to book for the literal MARCO POLO North Eookll,(li.M).LXXV Yini-ven_ ^ "\ I Re till led U) il) the Scale fromaRxibbin^ of a PLANincisedon MARBLE ADMCCXLV1J.& DreseTveflinllip(lEEA'rTF.MPl.FnrCOjYI'..T;C.l];.S.a.'i^U'«M V" Chap. LXXV. THE CITY OF SUJU. 167 accuracy of his statements as to the bridges ; but all travellers have noticed the number and elegance of the bridges of cut stone in this part of China; see, for instance, Van Braam, II. 107, 119-20, 124, 126; and Deguignes, I. 47, who gives a particular account of the arches. These are said to be often 50 or 60 feet in span. Note 3. — This statement about the abundance of rhubarb in the hills near Suchau is believed by the most competent authorities to be quite erroneous. Rhubarb is exported from Shanghai, but it is brought thither from Hankau on the Upper Kiang, and Hankau receives it from the further west. Indeed Mr. Hanbury, in a note on the subject, adds his disbelief also that ginger is produced in Kiangnan. And I see in the Shanghai trade-returns of 1865, that there is «o ginger among the exports. Some one, I forget where, has suggested a confusion with Suhchau in Kansuh, the great rhubarb mart, which seems possible. South- West Gate and Water-Gate of Suchau ; facsimile on half the scale from a medieval Map, incised on Marble, A.D. 1247. Note 4. — The meanings ascribed by Polo to the names of Suchau and Kingsze (Hangchau) show plainly enough that he was ignorant of Chinese. Odoric does not mention Suchau, but he gives the same explanation of Kinsay as signifying the "City of Heaven,'' and Wassif also in his notice of the same city has an obscure passage about Paradise and Heaven, which is not improbably a corrupted reference to the same interpretation.* I suspect therefore thftt it was a " Vulgar Error " of the * See Quatrem^re's Rasliid., p. Ixxxvii,, and Hammer's VVassAf, p. 42. i68 MARCO POLO. Book II. foreign residents in China, probably arising out of a misunderstanding of the Chinese adage quoted by Duhal'de and Davis ; — " Shangyeu fien fang, Hiayeu Su Hang ! " " There's Paradise above 'tis true, But here below we've Hang and Su ! " These two neighbouring cities, in the middle of the beautiful tea and silk districts, and with all the advantages of inland navigation and foreign trade, combined every source of wealth and prosperity, and were often thus coupled together by the Chinese. Both are, I believe, now reco- vering from the effects of devastation by Taiping occupation and Impe- rialist recapture ; but neither probably is one-fifth of what it was. The plan of Suchau which we give is of high interest. It is reduced {-^ the scale) from a rubbing of a plan of the city incised on marble measuring 6' 7" by 4' 4", and which has been preserved in the Con- fucian Temple in Suchau since a.d. 1247. Marco Polo's eyes have probably rested on this fine work, comparable to the famous Pianta Capitolina. The engraving on page 167 represents one of the gates traced from the rubbing and reduced to half the scale. It is therefore an authentic representation of Chinese fortification in or before the 13th century.* Note 5. — The Geographic Text only, at least of the principal Texts, has distinctly the three cities Vugui, Vughin, Ciangan. Pauthier iden- tifies the first and third with Huchaufu and Sungkiangfu. In favour of Vuju's being Huchau is the fact mentioned by Wilson that the latter city is locally called WuCHU.f If this be the place, the Traveller does not seem to be following a direct and consecutive route from Suchau to Hangchau. Nor is Huchau within a day's journey of Suchau. Mr. Kingsmill observes that the only town at that distance is Wukiang-hien once of some little importance but now much reduced. Wukiang, however, is suggestive of Vughin; and, in that supposition, Huchau must be considered the object of a digression from which the Traveller returns and takes up his route to Hangchau via AVukiang. Kyahing would then best answer to Ciangan, or Caingan, as it is written in the following chapter of the G. T. * I owe these valuable illustrations, as so much else, to the unwearied kindness of Mr. A. Wylie. There were originally four maps : (i) The City, (2) The Empire, (3) The Heavens, (4) no longer known. They were drawn originally by one Hwan-Kin- Shan, and presented by him to a high official in Szechwan. Wang-che-yuen, subse- quently holding office in the same province, got possession of the maps, and had them incised at Suchau in A.D. 1247. The inscription bearing these particulars is partially gone, and the date of the original drawings remains uncertain. (See List of Illustra- tions^ f The Ever Victorious Army, p. 395. Chap. LXXVI. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 169 CHAPTER LXXVI. Description of the Great City of Kinsay, which is the Capital OF the whole Country of Manzi. When you have left the city of Changan and have tra- velled for three days through a splendid country, passing a number of towns and villages, you arrive at the most noble city of Kinsay, a name which is as much as to say in our tongue " The City of Heaven," as I told you before.' And since we have got thither I will enter into parti- culars about its magnificence ; and these are well worth the telling, for the city is beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world. In this we shall speak according to the written statement which the Queen of this Realm sent to Bayan the conqueror of the country for transmission to the Great Kaan, in order that he might be aware of the surpassing grandeur of the city and might be moved to save it from destruction or injury. I will tell you all the truth as it was set down in that document. For truth it was, as the said Messer Marco Polo at a later date was able to witness with his own eyes. And now we shall rehearse those particulars. First and foremost, then, the document stated the city of Kinsay to be so great that it hath an hundred miles of compass. And there are in it twelve thousand bridges of stone, for the most part so lofty that a great fleet could pass beneath them. And let no man marvel that there are so many bridges, for you see the whole city stands as it were in the water and surrounded by water, so that a great many bridges are required to give free passage about it. [And though the bridges be so high the approaches are so well contrived that carts and horses do cross them.^] The document aforesaid also went on to state that there were in this city twelve guilds of the different crafts, and that each guild had 12,000 houses in the occupation of its 170 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. workmen. Each of these houses contains at least 12 men, whilst some contain 2,0 and some 40, — not that these are all masters, but inclusive of the journeymen who work under the masters. And yet all these craftsmen had full occu- pation, for many other cities of the kingdom are supplied from this city with what they require. The document aforesaid also stated that the number and wealth of the merchants, and the amount of goods that passed through their hands was so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof And I should have told you with regard to those masters of the different crafts who are at the head of such houses as I have mentioned, that neither they nor their wives ever touch a piece of work with their own hands, but live as nicely and delicately as if they were kings and queens. The wives indeed are most dainty and angelical creatures ! Moreover it was an ordinance laid down by the King that every man should follow his father's business and no other, no matter if he possessed 100,000 bezants.^ Inside the city there is a Lake which has a compass of some 30 miles : and all round it are erected beautiful palaces and mansions, of the richest and most exquisite structure that you can imagine, belonging to the nobles of the city. There are also on its shores many abbeys and churches of the Idolaters. In the middle of the Lake are two Islands, on each of which stands a rich, beautiful and spacious edifice, furnished in such style as to seem fit for the palace of an Emperor. And when any one of the citizens desired to hold a marriage feast, or to give any other entertainment, it used to be done at one of these palaces. And everything would be found there ready to order, such as silver plate, trenchers, and dishes [napkins and table-cloths], and whatever else was needful. The King made this provision for the gratification of his people, and the place was open to every one who desired to give an entertainment. [Sometimes there would be at these palaces Chap. LXXVI. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 171 an hundred different parties ; some holding a banquet, others celebrating a wedding ; and yet all would find good accommodation in the different apartments and pavilions, and that in so well ordered a manner that one party was never in the way of another .'*] The houses of the city are provided with lofty towers of stone in which articles of value are stored for fear of fire; for most of the houses themselves are of timber, and fires are very frequent in the city. The people are Idolaters ; and since they were con- quered by the Great Kaan they use paper-money. [Both men and women are fair and comely, and for the most part clothe themselves in silk, so vast is the supply of that material, both from the whole district of Kinsay, and from the imports by traders from other provinces.^] And you must know they eat every kind of flesh, even that of dogs and other unclean beasts, which nothing would induce a Christian to eat. Since the Great Kaan occupied the city he has ordained that each of the 1 2,000 bridges should be provided with a guard of ten men, in case of any disturbance, or of any being so rash as to plot treason or insurrection against him. [Each guard is provided with a hollow instrument of wood and with a metal basin, and with a time-keeper to enable them to know the hour of the day or night. And so when one hour of the night is past the sentry strikes one on the wooden instrument and on the basin, so that the whole quarter of the city is made aware that one hour of the night is gone. At the second hour he gives two strokes, and so on, keeping always wide awake and on the look out. In the morning again, from the sunrise, they begin to count anew, and strike one hour as they did in the night, and so on hour after hour. Part of the watch patrols the quarter, to see if any light or fire is burning after the lawful hours ; if they find any they mark the door, and in the morning the owner is sum- 172 MARCO POLO. Book II. moned before the magistrates, and unless he can plead a good excuse he is punished. Also if they find any one going about the streets at unlawful hours they arrest him, and in the morning they bring him before the magistrates. Likewise if in the daytime they find any poor cripple unable to work for his livelihood, they take him to one of the hospitals, of which there are many, founded by the ancient kings, and endowed with great revenues.^ Or if he be capable of work they oblige him to take up some trade. If they see that any house has caught fire they immediately beat upon that wooden instrument to give the alarm, and this brings together the watchmen from the other bridges to help to extinguish it, and to save the goods of the merchants or others, either by removing them to the towers above mentioned, or by putting them in boats and trans- porting them to the islands in the lake. For no citizen dares leave his house at night, or to come near the fire ; only those who own the property, and those watchmen who flock to help, of whom there shall come one or two thousand at the least.] Moreover, within the city there is an eminence on which stands a Tower, and at the top of the tower is hung a slab of wood. Whenever fire or any other alarm breaks out in the city a man who stands there with a mallet in his hand beats upon the slab, making a noise that is heard to a great distance. So when the blows upon this slab are heard, everybody is aware that fire has broken out, or that there is some other cause of alarm. The Kaan watches this city with especial diligence because it forms the head of all Manzi ; and because he has an immense revenue from the duties levied on the transactions of trade therein, the amount of which is such that no one would credit it on mere hearsay. All the streets of the city are paved with stone or brick, as indeed are all the highways throughout Manzi, so that you ride and travel in every direction without inconve- Chap. LXXVI. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 173 nience. Were it not for this pavement you could not do so, for the country is very low and flat, and after rain 'tis deep in mire and water. ' [But as the Great Kaan's couriers could not gallop their horses over the pavement, the side of the road is left unpaved for their convenience. The pavement of the main street of the city also is laid out in two parallel ways of ten paces in width on either side, leaving a space in the middle laid with fine gravel, under which are vaulted drains which convey the rain water into the canals ; and thus the road is kept ever dry .J ' You must know also that the city of Kinsay has some 3000 baths, the water of which is supplied by springs. They are hot baths, and the people take great delight in them, frequenting them several times a month, for they are very cleanly in their persons. They are the finest and largest baths in the world; large enough for 100 persons to bathe together.^ And the Ocean Sea comes within 25 miles of the city at a place called Ganfu, where there is a town and an excellent haven, with a vast amount of shipping which is engaged in the traffic to and from India and other foreign parts, exporting and importing many kinds of wares, by which the city benefits. And a great river flows from the city of Kinsay to that sea-haven, by which vessels can come up to the city itself. This river extends also to other places further inland.' Know also that the Great Kaan hath distributed the territory of Manzi into nine parts, which he hath consti- tuted into nine kingdoms. To each of these kingdoms a king is appointed who is subordinate to the Great Kaan, and every year renders the accounts of his kingdom to the fiscal oflSce at the capital.'" This city of Kinsay is the seat of one of these kings, who rules over 140 great and wealthy cities. For in the whole of this vast country of Manzi there are more than 12,00 great and wealthy cities, without counting the towns and villages, which are in great 174 MARCO POLO. BOOKIL numbers. And you may receive it for certain that in each of those 1 200 cities the Great Kaan has a garrison, and that the smallest of such garrisons musters 1000 men; whilst there are some of 10,000, 20,000 and 30,000; so that the total number of troops is something scarcely cal- culable. The troops forming these garrisons are not all Tartars. Many are from the province of Cathay, and good soldiers too. But you must not suppose they are by any means all of them cavalry ; a very large proportion of them are foot-soldiers, according to the special require- ments of each city. And ail of them belong to the army of the Great Kaan." I repeat that everything appertaining to this city is on so vast a scale, and the Great Kaan's yearly revenues there- from are so immense, that it is not easy even to put it in writing, and it seems past belief to one who merely hears it told. But I will write it down for you. First, however, I must mention another thing. The people of this country have a custom, that as soon as a child is born they write down the day and hour and the planet and sign under which its birth has taken place ; so that every one among them knows the day of his birth. And when any one intends a journey he goes to the astro- logers, and gives the particulars of his nativity in order to learn whether he shall have good luck or no. Sometimes they will say no, and in that case the journey is put off till such day as the astrologer may recommend. These astro- logers are very skilful at their business, and often their words come to pass, so the people have great faith in them. They burn the bodies of the dead. And when any one dies the friends and relations make a great mourning for the deceased, and clothe themselves in hempen garments," and follow the corpse playing on a variety of instruments and singing hymns to their idols. And when they come to the burning place, they take representations of things cut out of parchment, such as caparisoned horses, male Chap. LXXVI. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 175 and female slaves, camels, armour, suits of cloth of gold (and money), in great quantities, and these things they put on the fire along with the corpse, so that they are all burnt with it. And they tell you that the dead man shall have all these slaves and animals of which the effigies are burnt, alive in flesh and blood, and the money in gold, at his disposal in the next world ; and that the instruments which they have caused to be played at his funeral, and the idol hymns that have been chaunted, shall also be produced again to welcome him in the next world ; and that the idols themselves will come to do him honour."' Furthermore there exists in this city the palace of the king who fled, him who was Emperor of Manzi, and that is the greatest palace in the world, as I shall tell you more particularly. For you must know its demesne hath a compass of ten miles, all enclosed with lofty battlemented walls ; and inside the walls are the finest and most delect- able gardens upon earth, and filled too with the finest fruits. There are numerous fountains in it also, and lakes full of fish. In the middle is the palace itself, a great and splendid building. It contains 20 great and handsome halls, one of which is more spacious than the rest, and affords room for a vast multitude to dine. It is all painted in gold, with many histories and representations of beasts and birds, of knights and dames, and many marvellous things. It forms a really magnificent spectacle, for over all the walls and all the ceiling you see nothing but paint- ings in gold. And besides these halls the palace contains 1000 large and handsome chambers, all painted in gold and divers colours. Moreover, I must tell you that in this city there are 160 tomans of fires, or in other words 160 tomans of houses. Now I should tell you that the toman is 10,000, so that you can reckon the total as altogether 1,600,000 houses, among which are a great number of rich palaces. There is one church only, belonging to the Nestorian Christians. 176 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. There is another thing I must tell you. It is the custom for every burgess of this city, and in fact for every description of person in it, to write over his door his own name, the name of his wife, and those of his children, his slaves, and all the inmates of his house, and also the number of animals that he keeps. And if any one dies in the house then the name of that person is erased, and if any child is born its name is added. So in this way the sovereign is able to know exactly the population of the city. And this is the practice also throughout all Manzi and Cathay.''^ And I must tell you that every hosteler who keeps an hostel for travellers is bound to register their names and surnames, as well as the day and month of their arrival and departure. And thus the sovereign hath the means of knowing, whencA'er it pleases him, who come and go throughout his dominions. And certes this is a wise order and a provident. Note 1. — Kinsay represents closely enough the Chinese term Kingsze, " capital," which was then appHed to the great city, the proper name of which was at that time Lin-ngan and is now Hangchau, as being since 11 27 the capital of the Sung dynasty. The same term Kingsze is now on Chinese maps generally used to designate Peking. It would seem, however, that the term adhered long as a quasi-proper name to Hangchau; for in the Chinese Atlas, dating from 1595, which the traveller Carletti presented to the Magliabecchian Library, that city appears to be still marked with this name, transcribed by Carletti as Camse ; very near the form Campsay used by Marignolli in the 14th century. Note 2. — The Ramusian version says : " Messer Marco Polo was frequently at this city, and took great pains to learn everything about it, writing down the whole in his notes." The information being origin- ally derived from a Chinese document, there might be some ground for supposing that 100 miles of circuit stood for 100 li. Yet the circuit of the modern city is stated in the official book called Hang-chau-Fu-Chi, or topographical history of Hang-chau, at only 35 //. And the earliest record of the wall, as built under the Sung (circa a.d. 600), makes its extent little more (36 li and go paces.)* But the wall was reconstructed * In the first edition my best authority on this matter was a lecture on the city by the late Rev. D. D. Green, an American Missionary at Ningpo, which is printed in IS \A too 7! ^ ga; .1 V-'i>X 'm « 'S's; = !'li ftpt Willi l^tll (/» •-fi -^ ; i!ii '. ^"i I - I 3 V -.r^ -^; ^-,-i-e^ :i (=; nl 4'S i i-^cX' «p. ^<"^, g_g Chap. LXXVI. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 177 by Chaotsung, one of the last emperors of the T'ang dynasty (894), so as to embrace the Luh-ho-ta pagoda, on a high blufif over the Tsien- tang River,* 15 li distant from the present south gate, and had then a circuit of 70 //. Moreover, in 1130, after the city became the capital of the Sung em- perors, some fur- ther extension was given to it, so that, even ex- clusive of the suburbs, the cir- cuit of the city may have been not far short of 100 li. When the city was in its glory under the Sung, the Luh-ho- ta Pagoda may be taken as marking the extreme S.W. Another known point marks ap- proximately the chief north gate of that period, at a mile and a half or two miles be- yond the present north wall. The S. E. angle was apparently near the river bank. But, on the other hand, the waist of the city seems to have been a good deal narrower than it now is. Old descriptions compare its form to that of a slender-waisted drum (dice-box or hour-glass shape). Under the Mongols the walls were allowed to decay ; and in the dis- turbed years that closed that dynasty (1341-1368) they were rebuilt by an insurgent chief on a greatly reduced compass, probably that which The ancient Luh-ho-ta Pagoda at Hangchau. the Nov. and Dec. numbers for 1869 of the (Fuchau) Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal. In the present (second) edition I have on this, and other points embraced in this and the following chapter, benefitted largely by the remarks of the Rev. G. E. Moule of the Ch. Mission. See, now residing at Hangchau. These are partly con- tained in a paper (" Notes on Col. Yule's Edition of Marco Polo's 'Quinsay'") read before the North China Branch of the R. A. Soc. at Shanghai in December 1873, of which a proof has been most kindly sent to me by Mr. Moule, and partly in a special communication, both forwarded through Mr. A. Wylie. * The building of the present Luh-ho-ta (" Six Harmonies Tower"), after repeated destructions by fire, is recorded on a fine tablet of the Sung period, still standing {Moule). VOL. II. N 178 MARCO POLO. Book II. they still retain. Whatever may have been the facts, and whatever the origin of the estimate, I imagine that the ascription of 100 miles of cir^ cuit to Kinsay had become popular among westerns. Odoric makes the same statement. Wass^f calls it 24 parasangs, which will not be far short of the same amount. Ibn Batuta calls the length of the city 3 days' journey. Rashiduddin says the enceinte had a diameter of 1 1 parasangs, and that there were three post stages between the two extremities of the city, which is probably what Ibn Batuta had heard. The Masdlak-al-Absdr calls it one day's journey in length, and half a day's journey in breadth. The enthusiastic Jesuit Martini tries hard to justify Polo in this as in other points of his description. We shall quote the whole of his remarks at the end of the chapters on Kinsay. The 12,000 bridges have been much carped at, and modern accounts of Hangchau (desperately meagre as they are) do not speak of its bridges as notable. " There is, indeed," says Mr. Kingsmill, speaking of changes in the hydrography about Hangchau, " no trace in the city of the magni^ ficent canals and bridges described by Marco Polo." The number was no doubt in this case also a mere popular saw, and Friar Odoric repeats it. The sober and veracious John Marignolli, alluding apparently to their statements, and perhaps to others which have not reached us, says : " When authors tell of its ten thousand noble bridges of stone, adorned with sculptures and statues of armed princes, it passes the belief of one who has not been there, and yet peradventure these authors tell us no lie." Wassif speaks of 360 bridges only, but they make up in size what they lack in number, for they cross canals as big as the Tigris ! Marsden aptly quotes in reference to this point excessively oose and discrepant statements from modern authors as to the number of bridges in Venice. The great height of the arches of the canal bridges in this part of China is especially noticed by travellers. Barrow, quoted by Marsden, says : " Some have the piers of such an extraordinary height that the largest vessels of 200 tons sail under them without striking their masts." Mr. Moule has added up the lists of bridges in the whole department (or Fu) and found them to amount to 848, and many of these even are now unknown, their approximate sites being given from ancient topographies. The number represented in a large modern map of the city, which I owe to Mr. Moule's kindness, is in. Note 3. — Though Rubruquis (p. 292) says much the same thing, there is little trace of such an ordinance in modern China. Pbre Parrenin observes :' " As to the hereditary perpetuation of trades, it has never existed in China. On the contrary, very few Chinese will learn the trade of their fathers ; and it is only necessity that ever constrains them to do so." {Lett. Edif. XXIV. 40.) Mr. Moule remarks however that P. Parrenin is a little too absolute. Certain trades do run in families, even of the free classes of Chinese, not to mention the dis- Chap. LXXVI. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 179 franchised boatmen, barbers, chair-coolies, &c. But except in the latter cases there is no compulsion, though the Sacred Edict goes to encourage the perpetuation of the family calling. Note 4. — This sheet of water is the celebrated Si-hu, or " Western Lake," the fame of which had reached Abulfeda, and which has raised the enthusiasm even of modern travellers, such as Barrow and Van Braam. The latter speaks oi three islands (and this the Chinese maps confirm), on each of which were several villas, and of causeways across the lake, paved and bordered with trees, and provided with numerous bridges for the passage of boats. Barrow gives a bright description of the lake, with its thousands of gay, gilt, and painted pleasure boats, its margins studded with light and fanciful buildings, its gardens of choice flowering shrubs, its monuments, and beautiful variety of scenery. None surpasses that of Martini, whom it is always pleasant to quote, but here he is too lengthy. The most recent description that I have met with is that of Mr. C. Gardner, and it is as enthusiastic as any. It concludes : " Even to us foreigners . . . the spot is one of peculiar attraction, but to the Chinese it is as a paradise." The Emperor Kien Lung had erected a palace on one of the islands in the lake ; it was ruined by the Taipings. Many of the constructions about the lake date from the flourishing days of the T'ang dynasty, the 7th and 8th centuries. Polo's ascription of a circumference of 30 miles to the lake, cor- roborates the supposition that in the compass of the city a confusion had been made between miles and //, for Semedo gives the circuit of the lake really as 30 li. Probably the document to which Marco refers at the beginning of the chapter was seen by him in a Persian translation, in which li had been rendered by mil. A Persian work of the same age, quoted by Quatremfere (the Nuzh&t al-KuMb), gives the circuit of the lake as six parasangs, or some 24 miles, a statement which probably had a like origin. Polo says the lake was within the city. This might be merely a loose way of speaking, but it may on the other hand be a further indica- tion of the former existence of an extensive outer wall. The Persian author just quoted also speaks of the lake as within the city. (Barrow's Autobiog., p. 104; V. Braam, II. 154; Gardner in Proc. of the R. Geog. Soc, vol. xiii. p. 178; Q. R&shid, p. Ixxxviii.) Mr. Moule states that popular oral tradition does enclose the Lake within the walls, but he can find no trace of this in the Topographies. Elsewhere Mr. Moule says : " Of the luxury of the (Sung) period, and its devotion to pleasure, evidence occurs everywhere. Hangchow went at the time by the nickname of the melting-pot for money. The use, at houses of entertainment, of linen and silver plate appears somewhat out of keeping in a Chinese picture. I cannot vouch for the linen, but here is the plate. . . . ' The most famous Tea-houses of the day were the Pa-seen (" 8 genii "), the " Pure Delight," the " Pearl," the " House of the N 2 i8o MARCO POLO. Book II. Pwan Family," and the " Two and Two " and " Three and Three " houses (perhaps rather " Double honours " and " Treble honours "). In these places they always set out bouquets of fresh flowers, according to the season. ... At the counter were sold " Precious thunder Tea," Tea of fritters and onions, or else Pickle broth ; and in hot weather wine of snow bubbles and apricot blossom, or other kinds of refrigerating liquor. Saucers, ladles, and bowls were all of pure silver !' {Si-Hu-Chi.) " Note 5. — This is still the case : " The people of Hang-chow dress gaily, and are remarkable among the Chinese for their dandyism. All, except the lowest labourers and coolies, strutted about in dresses com- posed of silk, satin, and crape. . . . 'Indeed' (said the Chinese ser- vants) ' one can never tell a rich man in Hang-chow, for it is just pos- sible that all he possesses in the world is on his back.' " {Fortune, II. 20.) " The silk manufactures of Hangchau are said to give employ- ment to 60,000 persons within the city walls, and Huchau, Kiahing, and the surrounding villages, are reputed to employ 100,000 more" {Ningpo Trade Report, Jan. 1869, comm. by Mr. N. B. Dennys). The store-towers, as a precaution in case of fire, are still common both in China and Japan. Note 6. — Mr. Gardner found in this very city, in 1868, a large col- lection of cottages covering several acres, which were " erected, after the taking of the city from the rebels, by a Chinese charitable society for the refuge of the blind, sick, and infirm." This asylum sheltered 200 blind men with their families, amounting to 800 souls; basket- making and such work was provided for them; there were also 1200 other inmates, aged and infirm ; and doctors were maintained to look after them. " None are allowed to be absolutely idle, but all help towards their own sustenance." {Proc. R. G. Soc. XIII. 176-7.) Mr. Moule, whilst abating somewhat from the colouring of this description, admits the establishment to be a considerable charitable efibrt. It existed before the rebellion, as I see in the book of Mr. Milne, who gives ' interesting details on such Chinese charities {Life in China, pp. 46 seqq). Note 7. — The paved roads of Manzi are by no means extinct yet. Thus, Mr. Fortune, starting from Changshan (see below, chap. Ixxix.) in the direction of the Black-Tea mountains, says : " The road on which we were travelling was well paved with granite, about 12 feet in width, and perfectly free from weeds " (II. 148). Gamier, Sladen, and Richt- hofen speak of well-paved roads in Yunnan and Szechwan. The Topography quoted by Mr. Moule says that in the year 1272 the Governor renewed the pavement of the Imperial road (or Main Street), " after which nine cars might move abreast over a way perfectly smooth, and straight as an arrow." In the Mongol time the people were allowed to encroach on this grand street. Chap. LXXVI. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. l8l Note 8. — There is a curious discrepancy in the account of these baths. Pauthier's text does not say whether they are hot baths or cold. The latter sentence, beginning, "They are hot baths" (estuves), is from the G. Text. And Ramusio's account is quite different : " There are nume- rous baths of cold water, provided with plenty of attendants, male and female, to assist the visitors of the two sexes in the bath. For the people are used from their childhood to bathe in cold water at all sea- sons, and they reckon it a very wholesome custom. But in the bath- houses they have also certain chambers furnished with hot water, for foreigners who are unaccustomed to cold bathing, and cannot bear it. The people are used to bathe daily, and do not eat without having done so." This is in contradiction with the notorious Chinese horror of cold water for any purpose. A note from Mr. C. Gardner says : " There are numerous public baths at Hangchau, as at every Chinese city I have ever been in. In my experience natives always take hot baths. But only the poorer classes go to the public baths ; the tradespeople and middle classes are generally supplied by the bath-houses with hot water at a moderate charge." Note 9. — The estuary of the Tsien Tang, or river of Hangchau, has undergone great changes since Polo's day. The sea now comes up much nearer the city ; and the upper part of the Bay of Hangchau is believed to cover what was once the site of the port and town of Kanp'u, the Ganpu of the text. A modern representative of the name still sub- sists, a walled town, and one of the depots for the salt which is so extensively manufactured on this coast ; but the present port of Hang- chau, and till recently the sole seat of Chinese trade with Japan, is at Chapu, some 20 miles further seaward. It is supposed by Klaproth that Kanp'u was the port frequented by the early Arab voyagers, and of which they speak under the name of Khdnfii, confounding in their details Hangchau itself with the port. Neumann dissents from this, maintaining that the Khanfu of the Arabs was certainly Canton. Abulfeda, however, states expressly that Khanfu was known in his day as Khansd [i. e. Kinsay), and he speaks of its lake of fresh water called Sikhu (Si-hu). There seems to be an indication in Chinese records that a southern branch of the Great Kiang once entered the sea at Kanp'u ; the closing of it is assigned to the 7th century, or a little later. The changes of the Great Kiang do not seem to have attracted so much attention among the Chinese as those of the dangerous Hwang-Ho, nor does their history seem to have been so carefully recorded. But a paper of great interest on the subject was published by Mr. Edkins, in the Journal of the North China Branch of the R. A. S. for Sept. i860, which I know only by an abstract given by the late Comte d'Escayrac de Lauture. From this it would seem that about the time of our era the 1 82 MARCO POLO. Book II. Yangtsze Kiang had three great mouths. The most southerly of these was the Che-Kiang, which is said to have given its name to the Province still so called, of which Hangchau is the capital. This branch quitted the present channel at Chi-chau, passed by Ning-Kw^ and Kwang-td, communicating with the southern end of a great group of lakes which occupied the position of the Tai-Hu, and so by Shiming and Tangsi into the sea not far from Shaohing. The second branch quitted the main channel at Wu-hu, passed by I-hing (or I-shin) communicating with the northern end of the Tai-Hu (passed apparently by Su-chau), and then bifurcated, one arm entering the sea at Wu-sung, and the other at Kanp'u. The third, or northerly branch is that which forms the present channel of the Great Kiang. These branches are represented hypotheti- cally on the sketch-map attached to chapter Ixiv. supra. {Kings-mill, u. s. p. 53; Chin. Refos. III. 118; Middle Kingdom, I. 95-106 ; Biirck. p. 483 ; Cathay, p. cxciii. ; J. JV. Ch. Br. R. A. S., Dec. 1865, p. 3 se^^. ; Escayrac de Lauture, Mem. sur la Chine, H. du Sol, p. 114.) Note 10. — Pauthier's text has : Chascun Roy fait chascim an le compte de son royaume aicx comptes du grant siege," where I suspect the last word is again a mistake for sing or scieng, see supra. Book II. ch. xxv., note 1. It is interesting to find Polo applying the term king to the viceroys who ruled the great provinces ; Ibn Batuta uses a corresponding expression, sultan. It is not easy to make out the nine kingdoms or great provinces into which Polo considered Manzi to be divided. Per- haps his nine is after all merely a traditional number, for the " Nine Provinces " was an ancient synonyme for China proper, just as Nau- Khanda, with like meaning, was an ancient name of India (see Cathay, p. cxxxix, note ; and Reinaud, Inde, p. 116). But I observe that on the portage road between Changshan and Yuhshan (infra, p. 204) there are stone pillars inscribed " Highway (from Chekiang) to Eight Provinces," thus indicating Nine {Milne, p. 319). Note 11. — We have in Ramusio : " The men levied in the province of Manzi are not placed in garrison in their own cities, but sent to others at least 20 days' journey from their homes ; and there they serve for four or five years, after which they are relieved. This applies both to the Cathayans and to those of Manzi. " The great bulk of the revenue of the cities, which enters the ex- chequer of the Great Kaan, is expended in maintaining these garrisons. And if perchance any city rebel (as you often find that under a kind of madness or intoxication they rise and murder their governors), as soon as it is known, the adjoining cities despatch such large forces from their garrisons that the rebelhon is entirely crushed. For it would be too long an affair if troops from Cathay had to be waited for, involving perhaps a delay of two months." Chap. LXXVII. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 183 Note 12. — "The sons of the dead, wearing hempen clothes as badges of mourning, kneel down," &c. (Doolittle, p. 138). Note 13. — These practices have been noticed, supra Book I. ch. xl. Note 14. — This custom has come down to modem times. In Pau- thier's Chine Moderne, we find extracts from the statutes of the reigning dynasty and the comments thereon, of which a passage runs thus : "To determine the exact population of each province the governor and the lieut. -governor cause certain persons who are nominated as Pao-kia, or Tithing-Men, in all the places under their jurisdiction, to add up the figures inscribed on the wooden tickets attached to the doors of houses, and exhibiting the number of the inmates" (p. 167). Friar Odoric calls the number of fires 89 tomans ; but says 10 or 12 households would unite to have one fire only ! CHAPTER LXXVII. [Further Particulars concerning the Great City of Kinsay.'] [The position of the city is such that it has on one side a lake of fresh and exquisitely clear water (already spoken of), and on the other a very large river. The waters of the latter fill a number of canals of all sizes which run through the different quarters of the city, carry away all impurities, and then enter the Lake ; whence they issue again and flow to the Ocean, thus producing a most excellent atmosphere. By means of these channels, as well as by the streets, you can go all about the city. Both streets and canals are so wide and spacious, that carts on the one and boats on the other can readily pass to and fro, conveying necessary supplies to the inhabitants.^ At the opposite side the city is shut in by a channel, perhaps 40 miles in length, very wide, and full of water derived from the river aforesaid, which was made by the ancient kings of the country in order to relieve the river when flooding its banks. This serves also as a defence to the city, and the earth dug from it has been thrown inwards, forming a kind of mound enclosing the city.^ 184 MARCO POLO. Book II. In this part are the ten principal markets, though besides these there are a vast number of others in the different parts of the town. The former are all squares of half a mile to the side, and along their front passes the main street, which is 40 paces in width, and runs straight from end to end of the city, crossing many bridges of easy and commodious approach. At every four miles of its length comes one of those great squares of 2 miles (as we have mentioned) in compass. So also parallel to this great street, but at the back of the market places, there runs a very large canal, on the bank of which towards the squares are built great houses of stone, in which the merchants from India and other foreign parts store their wares, to be handy for the markets. In each of the squares is held a market three days in the week, frequented by 40,000 or 50,000 persons, who bring thither for sale every possible necessary of life, so that there is always an ample supply of every kind of meat and game, as of roebuck, red-deer, fallow-deer, hares, rabbits, partridges, pheasants, francolins, quails, fowls, capons, and of ducks and geese an infinite quantity ; for so many are bred on the Lake that for a Venice groat of silver you can have a couple of geese and two couple of ducks. Then there are the shambles where the larger animals are slaughtered, such as calves, beeves, kids, and lambs, the flesh of which is eaten by the rich and the great dignitaries.* Those markets make a daily display of every kind of vegetables and fruits ; and among the latter there are in particular certain pears of enormous size, weighing as much as ten pounds apiece, and the pulp of which is white and fragrant like a confection ; besides peaches in their season both yellow and white, of every delicate flavour.' Neither grapes nor wine are produced there, but very good raisins are brought from abroad, and wine likewise. The natives, however, do not much care about wine, being used to that kind of their own made from rice and spices. From the Ocean Sea also come daily supplies of fish in Chap. LXXVII. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY, 185 great quantity, brought 25 miles up the river, and there is also great store of fish from the lake, which is the constant resort of fishermen, who have no other business. Their fish is of sundry kinds, changing with the season ; and, owing to the impurities of the city which pass into the lake, it is remarkably fat and savoury. Any one who should see the supply of fish in the market would suppose it impossible that such a quantity could ever be sold ; and yet in a few hours the whole shall be cleared away ; so great is the number of inhabitants who are accustomed to delicate living. Indeed they eat fish and flesh at the same meal. All the ten market places are encompassed by lofty houses, and below these are shops where all sorts of crafts are carried on, and all sorts of wares are on sale, including spices and jewels and pearls. Some of these shops are entirely devoted to the sale of wine made from rice and spices, which is constantly made fresh and fresh, and is sold very cheap. Certain of the streets are occupied by the women of the town, who are in such a number that I dare not say what it is. They are found not only in the vicinity of the market places, where usually a quarter is assigned to them, but all over the city. They exhibit themselves splendidly attired and abundantly perfumed, in finely garnished houses, with trains of waiting-women. These women are extremely accomplished in all the arts of allurement, and readily adapt their conversation to all sorts of persons, insomuch that strangers who have once tasted their attractions seem to get bewitched, and are so taken with their blandishments and their fascinating ways that they never can get these out of their heads. Hence it comes to pass that when they return home they say they have been to Kinsay or the City of Heaven, and their only desire is to get back thither as soon as possible.* Other streets are occupied by the Physicians, and by the Astrologers, who are also teachers of reading and writing ; 1 86 MARCO POLO. Book II. and an infinity of other professions have their places round about those squares. In each of the squares there are two great palaces facing one another, in which are established the officers appointed by the King to decide differences arising between merchants, or other inhabitants of the quarter. It is the daily duty of these officers to see that the guards are at their posts on the neighbouring bridges, and to punish them at their discretion if they are absent. All along the main street that we have spoken of, as running from end to end of the city, both sides are lined with houses and great palaces and the gardens pertaining to them, whilst in the intervals are the houses of tradesmen engaged in their different crafts. The crowd of people that you meet here at all hours, passing this way and that on their different errands, is so vast that no one would believe it possible that victuals enough could be provided for their consumption, unless they should see how, on every market-day, all those squares, are thronged and crammed with purchasers, and with the traders who have brought in stores of provisions by land or water ; and everything they bring in is disposed of. To give you an example of the vast consumption in this city let us take the article oi pepper; and' that will enable you in some measure to estimate what must be the quantity of victual, such as meat, wine, groceries, which have to be provided for the general consumption. Now Messer Marco heard it stated by one of the Great Kaan's officers of customs that the quantity of pepper introduced daily for consumption into the city of Kin say amounted to 43 loads, each load being equal to 223 lbs.' The houses of the citizens are well built and elaborately finished ; and the delight they take in decoration, in paint- ing and in architecture, leads them to spend in this way sums of money that would astonish you. The natives of the city are men of peaceful character, both from education and from the example of their kings, CHAP. LXXVII. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 1 87 whose disposition was the same. They know nothing of handling arms, and keep none in their houses. You hear of no feuds or noisy quarrels or dissensions of any kind among them. Both in their commercial dealings and in their manufactures they are thoroughly honest and truthful, and there is such a degree of good will and neighbourly at- tachment among both men and women that you would take the people who live in the same street to be all one family.^ And this familiar intimacy is free from all jealousy or suspicion of the conduct of their women. These they treat with the greatest respect, and a man who should presume to make loose proposals to a married woman would be regarded as an infamous rascal. They also treat the foreigners who visit them for the sake of trade with great cordiality, and entertain them in the most winning manner, affording them every help and advice on their business. But on the other hand they hate to see soldiers, and not least those of the Great Kaan's garrisons, regarding them as the cause of their having lost their native kings and lords. On the Lake of which we have spoken there are num- bers of boats and barges of all sizes for parties of pleasure. These will hold 10, 15, 2,0, or more persons, and are from 15 to 20 paces in length, with flat bottoms and ample breadth of beam, so that they always keep their trim. Any one who desires to go a-pleasuring with the women, or with a party of his own sex, hires one of these barges, which are always to be found completely furnished with tables and chairs and all the other apparatus for a feast. The roof forms a level deck, on wjiich the crew stand, and pole the boat along whithersoever may be desired, for the lake is not more than 2 paces in depth. The inside of this roof and the rest of the interior is covered with ornamental painting in gay colours, with windows all round that can be shut or opened, so that the party at table can enjoy all the beauty and variety of the prospects on both sides as they pass along. And truly a trip on this lake is a much more -l88 MARCO POLO. BOOKII. charming recreation than can be enjoyed on land. For on the one side lies the city in its entire length, so that the spectators in the barges, from the distance at which they stand, take in the whole prospect in its full beauty and grandeur, with its numberless palaces, temples, monasteries, and gardens, full of lofty trees, sloping to the shore. And the lake is never without a number of other such boats, laden with pleasure parties ; for it is the great delight of the citizens here, after they have disposed of the day's business, to pass the afternoon in enjoyment with the ladies of their families, or perhaps with others less reputable, either in these barges or in driving about the city in carriages.' Of these latter we must also say something, for they afford one mode of recreation to the citizens in going about the town, as the boats afford another in going about the Lake. In the main street of the city you meet an infinite succession of these carriages passing to and fro. They are long covered vehicles, fitted with curtains and cushions, and affording room for six persons ; and they are in constant request for ladies and gentlemen going on parties of pleasure. In these they drive to certain gardens, where they are enter- tained by the owners in pavilions erected on purpose, and there they divert themselves the livelong day, with their ladies, returning home in the evening in those same carriages.'" (Further Particulars of the Palace of the King Facfur.) The whole enclosure of the Palace was divided into three parts. The middle one was entered by a very lofty gate, on each side of which there stood on the ground-level vast pavilions, the roofs of which were sustained by columns painted and wrought in gold and the finest azure. Opposite the gate stood the chief PaviHon, larger than the rest, and painted in like style, with gilded columns, and a ceiling wrought in splendid gilded sculpture, whilst the walls were artfully painted with the stories of departed kings. Chap. LXXVII. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 189 On certain days, sacred to his gods, the King Facfur * used to hold a great court and give a feast to his chief lords, dignitaries, and rich manufacturers of the city of Kinsay. On such occasions those pavilions used to give ample accommodation for 10,000 persons sitting at table. This court lasted for ten or twelve days, and exhibited an astonishing and incredible spectacle in the magnificence of the guests, all clothed in silk and gold, with a profusion of precious stones ; for they tried to outdo each other in the splendour and richness of their appointments. Behind this great Pavilion that faced the great gate, there was a wall with a passage in it shutting off the inner part of the Palace. On entering this you found another great edifice in the form of a cloister surrounded by a portico with columns, from which opened a variety of apartments for the King and the Queen, adorned like the outer walls with such elaborate work as we have mentioned. From the cloister again you passed into a covered corridor, six paces in width, of great length, and extending to the margin of the lake. On either side of this corridor were ten courts, in the form of oblong cloisters surrounded by colonnades ; and in each cloister or court were fifty chambers with gardens to each. In these chambers were quartered one thousand young ladies in the service of the King. The King would sometimes go with the Queen and some of these maidens to take his diversion on the lake, or to visit the Idol-temples, in boats all canopied with silk. The other two parts of the enclosure were distributed in groves, and lakes, and charming gardens planted with fruit- trees, and preserves for all sorts of animals, such as roe, red- deer, fallow-deer, hares, and rabbits. Here the king used to take his pleasure in company with those damsels of his ; some in carriages, some on horseback, whilst no man was permitted to enter. Sometimes the King would set the * Fanfur, in Ramusio. 190 MARCO POLO. Book II. girls a-coursing after the game with dogs, and when they were tired they would hie to the groves that overhung the lakes, and leaving their clothes there they would come forth naked and enter the water and swim about hither and thither, whilst it was the King's delight to watch them ; and then all would return home. Sometimes the King would have his dinner carried to those groves, which were dense with lofty trees, and there would be waited on by those young ladies. And thus he passed his life in this constant dalliance with women, without so much as knowing what arms meant ! And the result of all this cowardice and effeminacy was that he lost his dominion to the Great Kaan in that base and shameful way that you have heard." All this account was given me by a very rich merchant of Kinsay when I was in that city. He was a very old man, and had been in familiar intimacy with the King Facfur, and knew the whole history of his life ; and having seen the Palace in its glory was pleased to be my guide over it. As it is occupied by the King appointed by the Great Kaan, the first pavilions are still maintained as they used to be, but the apartments of the ladies are all gone to ruin and can only just be traced. So also the wall that enclosed the groves and gardens is fallen down, and neither trees nor animals are there any longer."] Note 1. — I have, after some consideration, followed the example of Mr. H. Murray, in his edition of Marco Polo, in collecting together in a separate chapter a number of additional particulars concerning the Great City, which are only found in Ramusio. Such of these as could be interpolated in the text of the older form of the narrative have been introduced between brackets in the last chapter. Here I bring together those particulars which could not be so interpolated without taking liberties with one or both texts. The picture in Ramusio, taken as a whole, is so much more brilliant, interesting, and complete than in the older texts, that I thought of sub- stituting it entirely for the other. But so much doubt and difficulty hangs over some passages of the Ramusian version that I could not satisfy my- self of the propriety of this, though I feelthat the dismemberment inflicted on that version is also objectionable. Chap. LXXVII. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 191 Note 2. — The tides in the Hangchau estuary are now so furious, entering in the form of a bore, and running sometimes, by Admiral CoHinson's measurement, 11 i^ knots, that it has been necessary to close by weirs the communication which formerly existed between the River Tsien-tang on the one side and the Lake Sihu and internal waters of the district on the other. Thus all cargoes are passed through the small city canal in barges, and are subject to transhipment at the river-bank, and at the great canal terminus outside the north gate, respectively. Mr. Kingsmill, to whose notices I am indebted for part of this infor- mation, is however mistaken in supposing that in Polo's time the tide stopped some 20 miles below the city. We have seen (note 6, chapter Ixv. supra) that the tide in the river before Kinsay was the object which first attracted the attention of Bayan, after his triumphant entrance into the city. The tides reach Fuyang, 20 miles higher. (^N. and Q., China and Japan^ vol. I. p. 53 ; Mid. Kingd. I. 95, 106; /. N. Ch. Br. R. A. S., Dec. 1865, p. 6 ; Mi/ne, p. 295 ; JVote by Mr. Moule.) Note 3. — For satisfactory elucidation as to what is or may have been authentic in these statements, we shall have to wait for a correct survey of Hangchau and its neighbourhood. We have already seen strong reason to suppose that miles have been substituted for li in the circuits assigned both to the city and to the lake, and we are yet more strongly impressed with the conviction that the same substitution has been made here in regard to the canal on the east of the city, as well as the streets and market-places spoken of in the next paragraph. Chinese plans of Hangchau do show a large canal encircling the city on the east and north, i.e., on the sides away from the lake. In some of them this is represented like a ditch to the rampart, but in others it is more detached. And the position of the main street, with its parallel canal, does answer fairly to the account in the next paragraph, setting aside the extravagant dimensions. The existence of the squares or market-places is alluded to by Wassif in a passage that we shall quote below ; and the Masdlak-al-Absdr speaks of the main street nmning from end to end of the city. On this Mr. Moule says : " I have found no certain account of market-squares, though the Fang* of which a few still exist, and a very large number are laid down in the Sung Map, mainly grouped along the * See the mention of the I-ning Fang at Singanfu, supra p. 22. Mr. Wylie writes that in a work on the latter city, pubhshed during the Yuen time, of which he has met with a reprint, there are figures to illustrate the division of the city into Fang, a word ' * which appears to indicate a certain space of ground, not an open square . . . but a block of buildings crossed by streets, and at the end of each street an open gateway." In one of the figures a first reference indicates "the market place," a second "the official establishment," a third "the office for regulating weights." These indications seem to explain Polo's squares. (See supp. note under Appendix L). 192 MARCO POLO. Book II. chief street, may perhaps represent them. . . . The names of some of these {Fani) and of the Sze or markets still remain." Noi'E 4. — There is no mention oipork, the characteristic'animal food of China, and the only one specified by Friar Odoric in his account of the same city. Probably Mark may have got a little Saracenized among the Mahomedans at the Kaan's Court, and doubted if 'twere good manners to mention it. It is perhaps a rehc of the same feeling, gen- dered by Saracen rule, that in Sicily pigs are called i neri. " The larger game, red-deer and fallow-deer, is now never seen for sale. Hog-deer, wild swine, pheasants, water-fowl, and every description of ' vermin ' and small birds, are exposed for sale, not now in markets, but at the retail wine shops. Wild-cats, racoons, otters, badgers, kites, owls, &c., &c., festoon the shop fronts along with game." (Moule) Note 5. — Van Braam, in passing through Shantung Province speaks of very large pears. " The colour is a beautiful golden yellow. Before it is pared the pear is somewhat hard, but in eating it the juice flows, the pulp melts, and the taste is pleasant enough." Williams says these Shantung pears are largely exported, but he is not so complimentary to them as Polo : " The pears are large and juicy, sometimes weighing 8 or 10 pounds, but remarkably tasteless and coarse." {V. Braam, II. 33-4 ; Mid. Kingd., I. 78 and II. 44.) In the beginning of 1867 I saw pears in Covent Garden Market which I should guess to have weighed 7 or 8 lbs. each. They were priced at 18 guineas a dozen ! As regards the " yellow and white " peaches, Marsden supposes the former to be apricots. Two kinds of peach, correctly so described, are indeed common in Sicily, where I write ; — and both are, in their raw state, equally good food for z neri! But I see Mr. Moule also identifies the yellow peach with "the hwaiig-mei or clingstone apricot," as he knows no yellow peach in China. Note 6. — " E non veggono mai Fora che di nuovo possano ritornarvi ; " a curious Italian idiom (see Vocab. It. Univ., sub. v. "vedere"). Note 7. — It would seem that the habits of the Chinese in reference to the use of pepper and such spices have changed. Besides this passage, implying that their consumption of pepper was large, Marco tells us below (ch. Ixxxii.) that for one shipload of pepper carried to Alexandria for the consumption of Christendom, a hundred went to Zayton in Mauzi. At the present day, according to Williams, the Chinese use little spice ; pepper chiefly as a febrifuge in the shape of pepper-tea, and that even less than they did some years ago. (See p. 220, infra, and Mid. K., II. 46, 408). On this, however, Mr. Moule observes . "Pepper is not so completely relegated to the doctors. A month or two ago, passing a portable cookshop in the city, I heard a girl-purchaser cry to the cook, ' Be sure you put in pepper and leeks !' " CHAP. LXXVII. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 193 Note 8. — Marsden, after referring to the ingenious frauds commonly related of Chinese traders, observes : " In the long continued intercourse that has subsisted between the agents of the European companies and the more eminent of the Chinese merchants .... complaints on the ground of commercial unfairness have been extremely rare, and on the contrary their transactions have been marked with the most perfect good faith and mutual confidence." Mr. Consul Medhurst bears similar strong testimony to the upright dealings of Chinese merchants. His remark that, as a rule, he has found that the Chinese deteriorate by intimacy with foreigners is worthy of notice ;* it is a remark capable of application wherever the East and West come into habitual contact. Favourable opinions among the nations on their frontiers of Chinese dealing, as expressed to Wood and Burnes in Turkestan, and to Macleod and Richardson in Laos, have been quoted by me elsewhere in reference to the old classical reputation of the Seres for integrity. Indeed, Marco's whole account of the people here might pass for an expanded paraphrase of the Latin commonplaces regarding the Seres. Mr. Milne, a mis- sionary for many years in China, stands up manfully against the whole- sale disparagement of Chinese character (p. 401). Note 9. — ^Semedo and Martini, in the 17th century, give a very similar account of the Lake Sihu, the parties of pleasure frequenting it, and their gay barges. {Seniedo, p. 20-21; Mart. p. 9.) But here is a Chinese picture of the very thing described by Marco, under the Sung Dynasty : " When Yaou Shunming was Prefect of Hangchow, there was an old woman, who said she was formerly a singing-girl, and in the service of Tung-po Seen-sheng.f She related that her master, whenever he found a leisure day in spring, would invite friends to take their pleasure on the lake. They used to take an early meal on some agree- able spot, and, the repast over, a chief was chosen for the company of each barge, who called a number of dancing-girls to follow them to any place they chose. As the day waned a gong sounded to assemble all once more at ' Lake Prospect Chambers,' or at the ' Bamboo Pavilion,' or some place of the kind, where they amused themselves to the top of their bent, and then, at the first or second drum, before the evening market dispersed, returned home by candle-light. In the city, gentlemen and ladies assembled in crowds, lining the way to see the return of the thousand Knights. It must have been a brave spectacle of that time." {Moule, from the Si-hu-Chi, or ' Topography of the West-Lake.') It is evident, from what Mr. Moule says, that this book abounds in interesting illustration of these two chapters of Polo. Barges with paddle-wheels are alluded to. Note 10. — Public carriages are still used in the great cities of the * Foreigner in Far Cathay, pp. 158, 176. t A famous poet and scholar of the nth century. VOL. II. 194 MARCO POLO. Book II. north, such as Peking. Possibly this is a revival. At one time car- riages appear to have been much more general in China than they were afterwards, or are now. Semedo says they were abandoned in China just about the time that they were adopted in Europe, viz., in the i6th century. And this disuse seems to have been either cause or effect of the neglect of the roads, of which so high an account is given in old times. {Semedo ; N. and Q. Ch. and Jap. I. 94.) Deguignes describes the public carriages of Peking, as " shaped like a palankin, but of a longer form, with a rounded top, lined outside and in with coarse blue cloth, and provided with black cushions" (I. 372). This corresponds with our author's description, and with a drawing by Alexander among his published sketches. The present Peking cab is evidently the same vehicle, but smaller. Note 11. — The character of the King of Manzi here given corre- sponds to that which the Chinese histories assign to the Emperor Tut- song, in whose time Kublai commenced his enterprise against Southern China, but who died two years before the fall of the capital. He is described as given up to wine and women, and indifferent to all public business, which he committed to unworthy ministers. The following words, quoted by Mr. Moule from the Hang-Chau Fu-Chi, are like an echo of Marco's : " In those days the dynasty was holding on to a mere corner of the realm, hardly able to defend even that ; and nevertheless all, high and low, devoted themselves to dress and ornament, to music and dancing on the lake and amongst the hills, with no idea of sym- pathy for the country.'' A garden called Tseu-king (" of many pros- pects ") near the Tsing-po Gate, and a monastery west of the lake, near the Lingin, are mentioned as pleasure haunts of the Sung Kings. Note 12. — The statement that the palace of Kingszd was occupied by the Great Kaan's lieutenant seems to be inconsistent with the notice in Demailla that Kublai made it over to the Buddhist priests. Perhaps Kublai' s name is a mistake ; for one of Mr. Moule's books {Jin-ho-hien- chi) says that under the last Mongol Emperor five convents were built on the area of the palace. Mr. H. Murray argues, from this closing passage especially, that Marco never could have been the author of the Ramusian interpola- tions ; but with this I cannot agree. Did this passage stand alone we might doubt if it were Marco's ; but the interpolations must be con- sidered as a whole. Many of them bear to my mind clear evidence of being his own, and I do not see that the present one may not be his. The picture conveyed of the ruined walls and half-obliterated buildings does, it is true, give the impression of a long interval between their abandonment and the traveller's visit, whilst the whole interval between the capture of the city and Polo's departure from China was not more than 15 or 16 years. But this is too vague a basis for theorizing. Mr. Moule has ascertained by maps of the Sung period, and by a '^^\':^?g -UJ ■^?J^ M U^^ ^ ■ e/1 >y ^^^x o S*" u 'II M o !^ o CM o '1— 1 tJ o !-i <:_^ "S Q pS jy Tj 1 1—2 § HI O &<2 1=5 S V H±nos Chap. LXXVII. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 195 variety of notices in the Topographies, tliat the palace lay to the south and south-east of the present city, and included a large part of the fine hills called Fung-hwang-Shan or Phoenix Mount,'"' and other names, ■whilst its southern gate opened near the Tsien-Tang River. Its north gate is supposed to have been the Fung Shan Gate of the present city, and the chief street thus formed the avenue to the palace. By the kindness of Messrs. Moule and Wylie, I am able to give a copy of the Sung Map of the Palace (for origin of which see list of illustrations). I should note that the orientation is different from that of the map of the city already given. This map eluci- dates Polo's account of the palace in a highly interesting manner. Before quitting Kinsay, the description of which forms the most striking feature in Polo's account of China, it is worth while to quote other notices from authors of nearly the same age. However exaggerated some of these may be, there can be little doubt that it was the greatest city then existing in the world. Friar Odoric (in China about 1324-27) : — " De- parting thence I came unto the city of Cansay, a name which signifieth the ' City of Heaven.' And 'tis the greatest city in the whole world, so great indeed that I should scarcely venture to tell of it, but that I have met at Venice people in plenty who have been there. It is a good hundred miles in compass, and there is not in it ^Tl^^"Z^£l^,'^^Sl{:. a span of ground which is not well peopled. And ma's Temple." Hangchau. many a tenement is there which shall have 10 or 12 households com- prised in it. And there be also great suburbs which contain a greater population than even the city itself. .... This city is situated upon lagoons of standing water, with canals hke the city of Venice. And it hath more than 12,000 bridges, on each of which are stationed * Mr. 'Wylie, after ascending this hill with Mr. Moule, writes : " It is about two miles from the south gate to the top, by a rather steep road. On the top is a remark- ably level plot of ground, with a cluster of rocks in one place. On the face of these rocks are a great many inscriptions, but so obliterated by age and weather that only a few characters can be decyphered. A stone road leads uji from the city gate, and another one, very steep, down to the lake. This is the only vestige remaining of the old palace grounds. There is no doubt about this being really a relic of the palace. . . . You will see on the map, just inside the walls of the Imperial city, the Temple of Brahma. There are still two stone columns standing with curious Buddhist inscriptions. . . . Although the temple is entirely gone, these columns retain the name and mark the place. They date from the 6th centur)', and there are few structures earlier in China." One is engraved above, after a sketch by Mr. Moule. O 2 196 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. guards, guarding the city on behalf of the Great Kaan. And at the side , of this city there flows a river near which it is built, like Ferrara by the Po, for it is longer than it is broad," and so on, relating how his host took him to see a great monastery of the idolaters, where there was a garden full of grottoes, and therein many animals of divers kinds, which they believed to be inhabited by the souls of gentlemen. " But if anyone should desire to tell all the vastness and great marvels of this city, a good quire of stationery would not hold the matter, I trow. For 'tis the greatest and noblest city, and the finest for merchandize that the whole world containeth." {Cathay, 113 seqq!) The Archbishop of Soltania (circa 1330): — "And so vast is the number of people that the soldiers alone who are posted to keep ward in the city of Cambalec are 40,000 men by sure tale. And in the city of Cassay there be yet more, for its people is greater in number, seeing that it is a city of very great trade. And to this city all the traders of the country come to trade ; and greatly it aboundeth in all manner of merchandize." {lb. 244-5.) John Marignolli (in China 1342-47): — "Now Manzi is a country which has countless cities and nations included in it, past all belief to one who has not seen them And among the rest is that most famous city of Campsay, the finest, the biggest, the richest, the most populous, and altogether the most marvellous city, the city of the greatest wealth and luxury, of the most splendid buildings (especially idol- temples, in some of which there are 1000 and 2000 monks dwelling together), that exists now upon the face of the earth, or mayhap that ever did exist." {lb. p. 354.) He also speaks, like Odoric, of the " cloister at Campsay, in that most famous monastery where they keep so many monstrous animals, which they believe to be the souls of the departed " (384). Perhaps this monastery may yet be identified. Odoric calls it Thebe. Turning now to Asiatic writers, we begin with Wassdf {a..t). 1300) : — • " Khanzai is the greatest of the cities of Chin, ' Stretching like Paradise through the breadth of Heaven.^ Its shape is oblong, and the measurement of its perimeter is about 24 parasangs. Its streets are paved with burnt brick and with stone. The public edifices and the houses are built of wood, and adorned with a profusion of paintings of exquisite elegance. Between one end of the city and the other there are three Yams (post-stations) established. The length of the chief streets is three parasangs, and the city con- tains 64 quadrangles corresponding to one another in structure, and with parallel ranges of columns. The salt excise brings in daily 700 balish in paper-money. The number of craftsmen is so great that 32,000 are employed at the dyer's art alone; from that fact you may estimate the rest. There are in the city 70 tomans of soldiers and 70 tomans of rayats, whose number is registered in the books of the Dew^n. There are 700 churches {Kalisid) resembling fortresses, and every one Chap. LXXVII. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY. 197 of them overflowing with presbyters without faith, and monks without religion, besides other officials, wardens, servants of the idols, and this, that, and the other, to tell the names of which would surpass number and space. All these are exempt from taxes of every kind. Four tomans of the garrison constitute the night-patrol Amid the city there are 360 bridges erected over canals ample as the Tigris, which are ramifications of the great river of Chin ; and diiferent kinds of vessels and ferry-boats, adapted to every class, ply upon the waters in such numbers as to pass all powers of enumeration The con- course of all kinds of foreigners from the four quarters of the world, such as the calls of trade and travel bring together in a kingdom like this, may easily be conceived." {^Revised on Hammer's Translation, p. 42-3.) The Persian work Nuzhat-al-Kuliib : — " Khinzai is the capital of the country of Mdchin. If one may believe what some travellers say, there exists no greater city on the face of the earth ; but anyhow, all agree that it is the greatest in all the countries in the East. Inside the place is a lake which has a circuit of six parasangs, and all round which houses are built. . . . The population is so numerous that the watchmen are some 10,000 in number." (Quat. Rash, p. Ixxxviii.) The Arabic work Masdlak-al-Absdr : — "Two routes lead from Khan- balik to Khinsa, one by land, the other by water ; and either way takes 40 days. The city of Khinsd extends a whole day's journey in length and half a da/s journey in breadth. In the middle of it is a street which runs right from one end to the other. The streets and squares are all paved ; the houses are five-storied (?), and are built with planks nailed together,'' &c. (Ibid.) JbnBatuta: — " We arrived at the city of Khansa. . . . This city is the greatest I have ever seen on the surface of the earth. It is three days' journey in length, so that a traveller passing through the city has to make his marches and his halts ! .... It is subdivided into six towns, each of which has a separate enclosure, while one great wall surrounds the whole,'' &c. {Cathay, p. 496 seqq.) Let us conclude with a writer of a later age, the worthy Jesuit Martin Martini, the author of the admirable Atlas Sinensis, one whose honourable zeal to maintain Polo's veracity, of which he was one of the first intelligent advocates, is apt, it must be confessed, a little to colour his own spectacles :—'•'■ That the cosmographers of Europe may no longer make such ridiculous errors as to the Quinsai of Marco Polo, I will here give you the very place. [He then explains the name.] . . . And to come to the point ; this is the very city that hath those bridges so lofty and so numberless, both within the walls 'and in the suburbs ; nor will they fall much short of the 10,000 which the Venetian alleges, if you count also the triumphal arches among the bridges, as he might easily do becauseof their analogous structure, just as he calls tigers /wot, ... or if you will, he may have meant to include not merely the bridges in the city and suburbs, but in the whole of the dependent territory. In that 19^ MARCO POLO. Book II. case indeed the number which Europeans find it so hard to believe might well be set still higher, so vast is everywhere the number of bridges and of triumphal arches. Another point in confirmation is that lake which he mentions of 40 Italian miles in circuit. This exists under the name of Sihu ; it is not, indeed, as the book says, inside the walls, but lies in contact with them for a long distance on the west and south- west, and a number of canals drawn from it do enter the city. More- over, the shores of the lake on every side are so thickly studded with temples, monasteries, palaces, museums, and private houses, that you would suppose yourself to be passing through the midst of a great city rather than a country scene. Quays of cut stone are built along the banks, affording a spacious promenade ; and causeways cross the lake itself, furnished with lofty bridges to allow of the passage of boats ; and thus you can readily walk all about the lake on this side and on that. 'Tis no wonder that Polo considered it to be part of the city. This, too, is the very city that hath within the walls, near the south side, a hill called Ching-hoang* on which stands that tower with the watchmen, on which there is a clepsydra to measure the hours, and where each hour is announced by the exhibition of a placard, with gilt letters of a foot and a half in height. This is the very city the streets of which are paved with squared stones : the city which lies in a swampy situation, and is intersected by a number of navigable canals ; this, in short, is the city from which the emperor escaped to seaward by the great river Tsien-tang, the breadth of which exceeds a German mile, flowing on the south of the city, exactly corresponding to the river described by the Venetian at Quinsai, and flowing eastward to the sea which it enters precisely at the distance which he mentions. I will add that the com- pass of the city will be 100 Italian miles and more, if you include its vast suburbs, which run out on every side an enormous distance ; inso- much that you may walk for 50 Chinese li in a straight line from north to south, the whole way through crowded blocks of houses, and without encountering a spot that is not full of dwellings and full of people ; whilst from east to west you can do very nearly the same thing." {Atlas Sinensis^ p. 99.) And so we quit what Mr. Moule appropriately calls " Marco's famous rhapsody of the Manzi capital ;" perhaps the most striking section of the whole book, as manifestly the subject was that which had made the strongest impression on the narrator. * See the plan of the city with last chapter. Chap. LXXVIII. THE REVENUE FROM KINSAY. 199 CHAPTER LXXVIII. Treating of the great Yearly Revenue that the Great Kaan HATH FROM KiNSAY. Now I will tell you about the great revenue which the Great Kaan draweth every year from the said city of Kinsay and its territory, forming a ninth part of the whole country of Manzi. First there is the salt, which brings in a great revenue. For it produces every year, in round numbers, fourscore tomans of gold ; and the toman is worth 70,000 saggi of gold, so that the total value of the fourscore tomans will be five millions and six hundred thousand saggi of gold, each saggio being worth more than a gold florin or ducat ; in sooth, a vast sum of money ! [This province, you see, adjoins the ocean, on the shores of which are many lagoons or salt marshes, in which the sea-water dries up during the summer time ; and thence they extract such a quantity of salt as suffices for the supply of five of the kingdoms of Manzi besides this one.] Having told you of the revenue from salt, I will now tell you of that which accrues to the Great Kaan from the duties on merchandize and other matters. You must know that in this city and its dependencies they make great quantities of sugar, as indeed they do in the other eight divisions of this country ; so that I believe the whole of the rest of the world together does not pro- duce such a quantity, at least, if that be true which many people have told me ; and the sugar alone again produces an enormous revenue. — However, I will not repeat the duties on every article separately, but tell you how they go in the lump. Well, all spicery pays three and a third per cent, on the value ; and all merchandize likewise pays three and a third per cent. [But sea-borne goods from 200 MARCO POLO. Book II. India and other distant countries pay ten per cent.] The rice-wine also makes a great return, and coals, of which there is a great quantity ; and so do the twelve guilds of craftsmen that I told you of, with their 12,000 stations apiece, for every article they make pays duty. And the silk which is produced in such abundance makes an immense return. But why should I make a long story of it? The silk, you must know, pays ten per cent., and many other articles also pay ten per cent. And you must know that Messer Marco Polo, who relates all this, was several times sent by the Great Kaan to inspect the amount of his customs and revenue from this ninth part of Manzi,' and he found it to be, exclusive of the salt revenue which we have mentioned already, 2,10 tomans of gold, equivalent to 14,700,000 saggi of gold; one of the most enormous revenues that ever was heard of. And if the sovereign has such a revenue from one-ninth part of the country, you may judge what he must have from the whole of it ! However, to speak the truth, this part is the greatest and most productive ; and because of the great revenue that the Great Kaan derives from it, it is his favourite province, and he takes all the more care to watch it well, and to keep the people contented.'' Now we will quit this city and speak of others. Note 1. — Pauthier's text seems to be the only one which says that Marco was sent by the Great Kaan. The G. Text says merely : " Si qejeo March Pol qe plusor foies hoi fair e k conte de la rende de tous cestes causes" — " had several times heard the calculations made." Note 2. — Toman is 10,000. And the first question that occurs in considering the statements of this chapter is as to the unit of these tomans, as intended by Polo. I believe it to have been the tael (or Chinese ounce) of gold. We do not know that the Chinese ever made monetary calculations in gold. But the usual unit of the revenue accounts appears from Pau- thier's extracts to have been the titig, i.e. a money of account equal to ten taels of silver, and we know {supra, ch. 1. note 4) that this was in those days the exact equivalent of one tael of gold. CHAP. LXXVIII. THE REVENUE FROM KINSAY. 201 The equation in our text is 10,000 x - 70,000 saggi of gold, giving X, or the unit sought, = 7 saggi. But in both Ramusio on the one hand, and in the Geog. Latiii and Crusca Italian texts on the other hand, the equivalent of the toman is 80,000 saggi ; though it is true that neither with one valuation nor the other are the calculations consistent in any of the texts, except Ramusio' s.* This consistency does not give any greater weight to Ramusio's reading, because we know that version to have been edited, and corrected when the editor thought it necessary : but I adopt his valuation, because we shall find other grounds for preferring it. The unit of the toman then is = 8 saggi. The Venice saggio was one-sixth of a Venice ounce. The Venice mark of 8 ounces I find stated to contain 3681 grains troy;! hence the saggio = •] 6 grains. But I imagine the term to be used by Polo here and in other Oriental computations, to express the Arabic misMl, the real weight of which, according to Mr. Maskelyne, is 74 grains troy. The miskdl of gold was, as Polo says, something more than a ducat or sequin, indeed, weight for weight, it was to a ducat nearly as f4 : i. Eight saggi or miskdls would be 592 grains troy. The tael is 580, and the approximation is as near as we can reasonably expect from a calculation in such terms. Taking the silver tael at 6j. "jd., the gold tael, or rather the ting, would be = 3/. 5^. 10^.; the toman = ^2,gi6l. 13^. ^d. ; and the whole salt revenue (80 tomans) = 2,633,333/. ; the revenue from other sources (210 tomans) = 6,912,500/,; total revenue from Kinsay and its pro- vince (290 tomans) = 9,545,833/ A sufficiently startling statement, and quite enough to account for the sobriquet of Marco Milioni. Pauthier, in reference to this chapter, brings forward a number of extracts regarding Mongol finance from the official history of that dynasty. The extracts are extremely interesting in themselves, but I cannot find in them that confirmation of Marco's accuracy which M. Pauthier sees. First as to the salt revenue of Kiangchd, or the province of Kinsay. The facts given by Pauthier amount to these : that in 1277, the year in which the Mongol salt department was organised, the manufacture of salt amounted to g2,i^?>yin, or 22,1 15,520 ,4//w. / in 1286 it had reached 450,000 j/z^, or 108,000,000 kilos. ; in 1289 it fell off by 100,000 y in. The price was, in 1277, 18 Hang o\ taels, in chao or paper-money of the years 1260-64 (see vol. I. p. 412); in 1282 it was raised to 22 taels; in 1284 a permanent and reduced price was fixed, the amount of which is not stated. * Pauthier's MSS. A and B are hopelessly corrupt here. His MS. C agrees with the Geog. Text in making the toman = 70,000 saggi, but 210 tomans = 15,700,000, instead of 14,700,000. The Crusca and Latin have 80,000 saggi in the first place, but 15,700,000 in the second. Ramusio alone has 80,000 in the iSrst place, and 16,800,000 in the second. t Eng. Cyclop., "Weights and Measures." 202 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. M. Pauthier assumes as a mean 400,000 yin, at 18 taels, which will give 7,200,000 taels; or, at 6s. id. to the tael, 2,370,000/. But this amount being in chao or paper-currency, which at its highest valuation was worth only 50 per cent, of the nominal value of the notes, we must halve the sum, giving the salt revenue on Pauthier's assumptions = 1,185,000/. Pauthier has also endeavoured to present a table of the whole revenue of Kiangchd under the Mongols, amounting to 12,955,710 paper taels, or 2,132,294/., including the salt revenue. This would leave only 947,294/. for the other sources of revenue, but the fact is that several of these are left blank, and among others one so important as the sea-customs. However, even making the extravagant supposition that the sea-customs and other omitted items were equal in amount to the whole of the other sources of revenue, salt included, the total would be only 4,264,585/. Marco's amount, as he gives it, is, I think, unquestionably a huge exaggeration, though I do not suppose an intentional one. In spite of his professed rendering of the amounts in gold, I have little doubt that his tomans really represent paper-currency, and that to get a valuation in gold, his total has to be divided at the very least by two. We may then compare his total of 290 tomans of paper ting with Pauthier's 130 tomans of paper ting, excluding sea-customs and some other items. No nearer comparison is practicable ; and besides the sources of doubt already indicated, it remains uncertain what in either calculation are the limits of the province intended. For the bounds of Kiangchd seem to have varied greatly, sometimes including and sometimes excluding Fokien. I may observe that Rashiduddin reports, on the authority of the Mongol minister Pulad Chingsang, that the whole of Manzi brought in a revenue of " 900 tomans." This Quatremfere renders " nine million pieces of gold," presumably meaning dinars. It is unfortunate that there should be uncertainty here again as to the unit. If it were the dinar the whole revenue of Manzi would be about 5,850,000/, whereas if the unit were, as in the case of Polo's toman, the ting, the revenue would be nearly 30 milhons sterling ! It does appear that in China a toman of some denomination of money near the dinar was known in account. For Friar Odoric states the revenue of Yangchau in tomans of Balish, the latter unit being, as he explains, a sum in paper-currency equivalent to a florin and a half (or something more than a dinar) ; perhaps, however, only the Hang or tael (see vol. i. p. 413). It is this calculation of the Kinsay revenue which Marco is supposed to be expounding to his fellow-prisoner on the title-page of this volume. Chap. LXXIX. CITIES TO THE SOUTH OF KINSAY. 203 CHAPTER LXXIX. Of the City of Tanpiju and Others. When you leave Kinsay and travel a day's journey to the south-east, through a plenteous region, passing a succession of dwellings and charming gardens, you reach the city of Tanpiju, a great, rich, and fine city, under Kinsay. The people are subject to the Kaan, and have paper-money, and are Idolaters, and burn their dead in the way described before. They live by trade and manufactures and handi- crafts, and have all necessaries in great plenty and cheapness.' But there is no more to be said about it, so we proceed, and I will tell you of another city called Vuju at three days' distance from Tanpiju. The people are Idolaters, &c., and the city is under Kinsay. They live by trade and manufactures. Travelling through a succession of towns and villages that look like one continuous city, two days further on to the south-east, you find the great and fine city of Ghiuju which is under Kinsay. The people are Idolaters, &c. They have plenty of silk, and live by trade and handicrafts, and have all things necessary in abundance. At this city you find the largest and longest canes that are in all Manzi; they are fiill four palms in girth and 15 paces in length.^ When you have left Ghiuju you travel four days S.E. through a beautiful country, in which towns and villages are very numerous. There is abundance of game both in beasts and birds ; and there are very large and fierce lions. After those four days you come to the great and fine city of Chanshan. It is situated upon a hill which divides the River, so that the one portion flows up country and the other down.* It is still under the government of Kinsay. * "Est sus un mont que parte le Flum, que le une moitii ala en sus e P autre moitil en jus'" (G. T.). 204 MARCO POLO. BOOK II. I should tell you that in all the country of Manzi they have no sheep, though they have beeves and kine, goats and kids and swine in abundance. The people are Idolaters here, &c. When you leave Changshan you travel three days through a very fine country with many towns and villages, traders and craftsmen, and abounding in game of all kinds, and arrive at the city of Cuju. The people are Idolaters, &c., and live by trade and manufactures. It is a fine, noble, and rich city, and is the last of the government of Kinsay in this direction.^ The other kingdom which we now enter, called Fuju, is also one of the nine great divisions of Manzi as Kinsay is. Note 1. — The traveller's route proceeds from Kinsay or Hang-chau southward to the mountains of Fokien, ascending the valley of the Tsien Tang, commonly called by Europeans the Green River. The general line, directed as we shall see upon Kienningfu in Fokien, is clear enough, but some of the details are very obscure, owing partly to vague indica- tions and partly to the excessive uncertainty in the reading of some of the proper names. No name resembling Tanpiju (G. T., Tanpigui ; Pauthier, Tacpiguy, Carpiguy, Capiguy ; Ram., Tapinzu) belongs, so far as has yet been shown, to any considerable town in the position indicated.* Both Pauthier and Mr. Kingsmill identify the place with Shaohingfu, a large and busy town, compared by Fortune, as regards population, to Shanghai. Shaohing is across the broad river, and somewhat further down than Hang-chau : it is out of the traveller's general direction ; and it seems unnatural that he should commence his journey by passing this wide river, and yet not mention it. For these reasons I formerly rejected Shaohing, and looked rather to Fuyang as the representative of Tanpiju. But my opinion is shaken when I find both Mr. Elias and Baron Richthofen decidedly opposed to Fuyang, and the latter altogether in favour of Shaohing. " The journey through a plenteous region, passing a succession of dwellings and charming gardens ; the epithets ' great, rich, and fine city ;' the ' trade, manufactures, and handicrafts,' and the ' necessaries in great plenty and * One of the Hien, forming the special districts of Hangchau itself, now called Tsien-tang, was formerly called Tang-wd-tang. But it embraces the eastern part of the district, and can, I think, have nothing to do with Tanpiju (see Biot, p. 257, and Chin. Repos. for Feb. 1842, p. 109). Chap. LXXIX. ASCENT OF THE TSIEN TANG VALLEY. 205 cheapness,' appear to apply rather to the populous plain and the large city of ancient fame, than to the small Fuyang-hien . . . shut in by a spur from the hills, which would hardly have allowed it in former days to have been a great city " {Note by Baron R.). The after route, as eluci- dated by the same authority, points with even more force to Shaohing. Note 2, — Chekiang produces bamboos more abundantly than any province of Eastern China. Dr. Medhurst mentions meeting, on the waters near Hangchau, with numerous rafts of bamboos, one of which was one-third of a mile in length {Glance at Int. of China, p. 53). Note 3. — Assuming Tanpiju to be Shaohing, thp remaining places as far as the Fokien Frontier run thus :— 3 days to Vuju (P. Vugui, G. T. Vug!ii, Vuigui, Ram. Uguiu). 2 ,, to Ghiuju (P. Guigity, G. T. Gkingui^ Gkengui, Chengid, Ram. Gengui). 4 „ to Chanshan (P. Ciancian^ G. T. Cianscian, Ram. Zengian). 3 ,, to Cuju or Chuju (P. Cinguy, G. T. Cugui, Ram. Gie^a). First as regards Chanshan, which, with the notable circumstances about the waters there, constitutes the key to the route, I extract the following remarks from a note which Mr. Fortune has kindly sent me : " When we get to Chanshan the proof as to the route is very strong. This is un- doubtedly my Changshan. The town is near the head of the Green River (the Tsien Tang) which flows in a N. E. direction and falls into the Bay of Hangchau. At Changshan the stream is no longer navigable even for small boats. Travellers going west or south-west walk or are carried in sedan-chairs across country in a westerly direction for about 30 miles to a town named Yuhshan. Here there is a river which flows westward (' the other half goes down '), taking the traveller rapidly in that direction, and passing en route the towns of Kwansinfu, Hokow or Hokeu, and onward to the Poyang Lake." From the careful study of Mr. Fortune's published narrative I had already arrived at the conclusion that this was the correct explanation of the remarkable expressions about the division of the waters, which are closely analogous to those used by the traveller in ch. Ixii. of this book when speaking of the watershed of the Great Canal at Sinjumatu. Paraphrased the words might run : "At Changshan you reach high ground, which interrupts the continuity of the River ; from one side of this ridge it flows up country towards the north, from the other it flows down towards the south." The expression " The River " will be elucidated in note 4 to ch. Ixxxii. below. This route by the Tsientang and the Changshan portage, which turns the dangers involved in the navigation of the Yangtsze and the Poyang Lake, was formerly a thoroughfare to the south much followed ; though now almost abandoned through one of the indirect results (as Baron Richthofen points out) of steam navigation. The portage from Changshan to Yukshan was passed by the English and Dutch embassies in the end of last century, on their journeys from ao6 MARCO POLO. Book II. Hangchau to Canton, and by Mr. Fortune on his way from Ningpo to the Bohea country of Fokien. It is probable that Polo on some occa- sion made the ascent of the Tsien Tang by water, and that this leads him to notice the interruption of the navigation. Kinhwafu, as Pauthier has observed, bore at this time the name of WucHAU, which Polo would certainly write Vugiu. And between Shaohing and Kinhwa there exists, as Baron Richthofen has pointed out, a line of depression which affords an easy connexion between Shaohing and Lanki-hien or Kinhwa-fu. This line is much used by travellers, and forms just 3 short stages. Hence Kinhwa, a fine city destroyed by the Taepings, is satisfactorily identified with Vugiu. The journey from Vugui to Ghiuju is said to be through a succes- sion of towns and villages, looking like a continuous city. Fortune, whose journey occurred before the Taeping devastations, speaks of the approach to Kiuchau as a vast and beautiful garden. And Mr. Milne's map of this route shows an incomparable density of towns in the Tsien Tang valley from Yenchau up to Kiuchau. Ghiuju then will be Kiuchau. But between Kiuchau and Changshan it is impossible to make four days ; barely possible to make two. My map {Itineraries, No. VI.), based on D'Anville and Fortune, makes the direct distance 24 miles; Milne's map barely 18; whilst from his book we deduce the distance travelled by water to be about 30. On the whole, it seems probable that there is a mistake in the figure here. From the head of the great Chekiang valley I find two roads across the mountains into Fokien described. One leads from Kiangshan (not Changshan) by a town called Chinghu, and then, nearly due south, across the mountains to Puching in Upper Fokien. This is specified by Martini (p. 113) : it seems to have been followed by the Dutch Envoy, Van Hoorn, in 1665 (see Astley, III. 463), and it was travelled by Fortune on his return /wot the Bohea country to Ningpo (II. 247, 271). The other route follows the portage spoken of above from Changshan to Yuhshan, and descends the river on that side to Hokeu, whence it strikes south-east across the mountains to Tsung-ngan-hien in Fokien. This route was followed by Fortune on his way to the Bohea country. Both from Puching on the former route, and from near Tsung-ngan on the latter, the waters are navigable down to Kienningfu and so to Fuchau. Mr. Fortune judges the first to have been Polo's route. There does not, however, seem to be on this route any place that can be identified with his Cuju or Chuju. Chinghu seems to be insignificant and the name has no resemblance. On the other route followed by Mr. Fortune himself from that side we have Kwansinfu, Hokeu, Yenshan, and (last town passed on that side) Chuchu. The latter, as to both name and position, is quite satisfactory, but it is described as a small poor town. Hokeu would be represented in Polo's spelling as Caghiu or-Cughiu. It Chap. LXXX. THE KWGDOM OF FUJU. 207 is now a place of great population and importance as the entrepot of the Black Tea Trade, but, like many important commercial cities in the interior, not being even a hien, it has no place either in Duhalde or in Biot, and I cannot learn its age. It is no objection to this line that Polo speaks of Cuju or Chuju as the last city of the government of Kinsay, whilst the towns just named are in Kiangsi. For KiangcM, the province of Kinsay, then included the eastern part of Kiangsi (see Cathay, p. 270). CHAPTER LXXX. Concerning -THE Kingdom of Fuju. On leaving Cuju, which is the last city of the kingdom of Kinsay, you enter the kingdom of Fuju, and travel six days in a south-easterly direction through a country of mountains and valleys, in which are a number of towns and villages with great plenty of victuals and abundance of game. Lions, great and strong, are also very numerous. The country produces ginger and galingale in immense quantities, insomuch that for a Venice groat you may buy fourscore pounds of good fine-flavoured ginger. They have also a kind of fruit resembling saffron, and which serves the purpose of saffron just as well.' And you must know the people eat all manner of unclean things, even the flesh of a man, provided he has not died a natural death. So they look out for the bodies of those that have been put to death and eat their flesh, which they consider excellent.'" Those who go to war in those parts do as I am going to tell you. They shave the hair off the forehead and cause it to be painted in blue like the blade of a glaive. They all go afoot except the chief; they carry spears and swords, and are the most savage people in the world, for they go about constantly kilUng people, whose blood they drink, and then devour the bodies.' '208 MARCO POLO. Book II. Now I will quit this and speak of other matters. You must know then that after going three days out of the six that I told you of you come to the city of Kelinfu, a very great and noble city, belonging to the Great Kaan. This city hath three stone bridges which are among the finest and best in the world. They are a mile long and some nine paces in width, and they are all decorated with rich marble columns. Indeed they are such fine and marvellous works that to build any one of them must have cost a treasure.* The people live by trade and manufactures, and have great store of silk [which they weave into various stuffs], and of ginger and galingale.^ [They also make much cotton cloth of dyed thread, which is sent all over Manzi.] Their women are particularly beautiful. And there is a strange thing there which I needs must tell you. You must know they have a kind of fowls which have no feathers, but hair only, like a cat's fur.* They are black all over; they lay eggs just like our fowls, and are very good to eat. In the other three days of the six that I have mentioned above,' you continue to meet with many towns and villages, with traders, and goods for sale, and craftsmen. The people have much silk, and are Idolaters, and subject to the Great Kaan. There is plenty of game of all kinds, and there are great and fierce lions which attack travellers. In the last of those three days' journey, when you have gone 15 miles you find a city called Unken, where there is an immense quantity of sugar made. From this city the Great Kaan gets all the sugar for the use of his Court, a quantity worth a great amount of money. [And before this city came under the Great Kaan these people knew not how to make fine sugar ; they only used to boil and skim the juice, which when cold left a black paste. But after they came under the Great Kaan some men of Babylonia who happened to be at the Court proceeded to this city and taught the people to refine the sugar with the ashes of certain trees. ^] Chap. LXXX. THE KINGDOM OF FUJU. 209 There is no more to say of the place, so now we shall speak of the splendour of Fuju. When you have gone 15 miles from the city of Unken, you come to this noble city which is the capital of the kingdom. So we will now tell you what we know of it. Note 1. — The vague description does not suggest the root turmeric with which Marsden and Pauthier identify this " fruit like saffron," It is probably one of the species of Gardenia, the fruits of which are used by the Chinese for their colouring properties. Their splendid yellow colour " is due to a body named crocine which appears to be identical with the polychroite of saffron." (Hanhurfs N'otes on Chinese Mat. Medica, p. 21-22.) For this identification, I am indebted to Dr. Fliickiger of Bern. Note 2. — See Vol. I. p. 303. Note 3. — These particulars as to a race of painted or tattooed caterans accused of cannibalism apparently apply to some aboriginal tribe which still maintained its ground in the mountains between Fokien and Chekiang or Kiangsi. Davis, alluding to the Upper part of the Province of Canton, says : " The Chinese History speaks of the aborigines of this wild region under the name oi Man (Barbarians), who within a com- paratively recent period were subdued and incorporated into the Middle Nation. Many persons have remarked a decidedly Malay cast in the features of the natives of this province : and it is highly probable that the Canton and Fokien people were originally the same race as the tribes which still retnain unreclaimed on the east side of Formosa " * {Supply. Vol., p. 260). Indeed Martini tells us that even in the 17th century this very range of mountains, farther to the south, in the Tingchau department of Fokien, contained a race of uncivihzed people, who were enabled by the inaccessible character of the country to maintain their in- dependence of the Chinese Government (p. 114; see also Semedo,\). 19). Note 4. — Padre Martini long ago pointed out that this Quelinfu is KiENNiNGFU, on the upper part of the Min River, an important city of Fokien. In the Fokien dialect he notices that / is often substituted for n, a well-known instance of which is Liampoo, the name applied by F. M. Pinto and the old Portuguese to Ningpo. " " It is not improbable that there is some admixture of aboriginal blood in the actual population (of Fuh-Kien), but if so, it cannot be much. The surnames in this province are the same as those in Central and North China The language also is pure Chinese ; actually much nearer the ancient form of Chinese than the modern Mandarin dialect. There are indeed many words in the vernacular for which no coreesponding character has been found in the literary style : but careful investigation is gradually diminishing the number." (Note by Rev. Dr. C. Douglas.) VOL. II. p 2IO MARCO POLO. Book II. Scene in the Bohea Mounn ns o i Polo s ro te between Kiangsi and Fokien —(From Fortune) "aBDiic cntte I'm cit raiautnc Bb JRigiu, et ici comanct. lEt alff bIj jornw par montangncs c pot balfe." . . . Chap. LXXX. THE KINGDOM OF FUJU. 211 In Ramusio the bridges are only " each more than 100 paces long and 8 paces wide." In Pauthier's text each is a mile long, and 20 feet wide. I translate from the G. T. Martini describes one beautiful bridge at Kienningfu : the piers of cut stone, the superstructure of timber, roofed in and lined with houses on each side (p. 112 -113). If this was over the Min it would seem not to survive. A recent journal says : " The river is crossed by a bridge of boats, the remains of a stone bridge being visible just a.bove water " {Chinese Recorder (Foochow), Aug. 1870, p. 65). Note 6. — Galanga or Galangal is an aromatic root belonging to a class of drugs once much more used than now. It exists of two kinds, I. Great ox Java Galangal, the root of the Alpinia Galanga. This is rarely imported and hardly used in Europe in modern times, but is still found in the Indian bazaars. 2. Lesser or China Galangal is imported into London from Canton, and is still sold by druggists in England. Its botanical origin is unknown. It is produced in Shansi, Fokien, and Kwantung, and is called by the Chinese Liang Kiang or " Mild Ginger." Galangal was much used as a spice in the Middle Ages. In a syrup for a capon, temp. Rich. II., we find ground-ginger, cloves, cinnamon and galingale. " Galingale " appears also as a growth in old English gardens, but this is believed to have been Cyperus Longiis, the tubers of which were substituted for the real article under the name of English Galingale. The name appears to be a modification of the Arabic Kiilijan, Pers. Kholinjdn, and these from the Sanskrit Kulanjana. (Mr. Hanbiiry ; China Comm.-Gidde, 120; Eng. Cycl. ; Garcias, £63; Wright, p. 352.) Note 6. — The cat in question is no doubt the fleecy Persian. These fowls, — but white, — are mentioned by Odoric at Fuchau ; and Mr. G. Phillips in a MS. note says that they are still abundant in Fokien, where he has often seen them ; all that he saw or heard of were white. The Chinese call them " velvet-hair fowls.'' I believe they are well known to poultry-fanciers in Europe. Note 7. — The times assigned in this chapter as we have given them, after the G. Text, appear very short; but I have followed that text because it is perfectly consistent and clear. Starting from the last city of Kinsay government, the traveller goes 6 days south-east; three out of those 6 days bring him to Kelinfu ; he goes on the other three days and at the 15th mile of the 3rd day reaches Unken ; 15 miles further bring him to.Fuju. This is interesting as showing that Polo reckoned his day at 30 mil eg. In Pauthier's text again we find : " Sachiez que quand on est ale six journ^es aprbs ces trois que je vous ay dit," not having mentioned trois at all, "o« treuve la citk de Quelifu.'' And on leaving Quelinfu : " Sachiez que es autres trois journ^es oultre et plus xv. milles treuve I'en p 1 2,12 MARCO POLO. Book II. une cite qui a nom Vuguen." This seems to mean from Cugui to Kelinfu 6 days, and thence to Vuguen (or Unken) 3t days more. But evidently there has been bunghng in the transcript, for the es autre trois journkes belongs to the same conception of the distance as that in tlie G. T. Pauthier's text does not say how far it is from Unken to Fuju. Ramusio makes 6 days to Kelinfu, 3 days more to Unguem, and then 15 miles more to Fuju (which he has erroneously as Cdgiu here, though previously given right, Fiigiii). The latter scheme looks probable certainly, but the times in the G. T. are quite admissible, if we suppose that water conveyance was adopted where possible. For assuming that Cugiu was Fortune's Chuchu at the western base of the Bohea mountains (see note 3, ch. Ixxix.), and that the traveller reached Tsun-ngan-hien in 2 marches, I see that from Tsin-tsun, near Tsun-ngan-hien, Fortune says he could have reached Fuchau in 4 days by boat. Again Martini, speaking of the skill with which the Fokien boatmen navigate the rocky rapids' of the upper waters, says that even froiTi Puching the descent to the capital could be made in three days. So the thing is quite possible, and the G. Text may be quite correct (see Fortune II. 171-183 and 210; Mart. no). A party which recently made the journey seem to have been 6 days from Hokeu to the Wu-e-shan and then 54- days by water (but in stormy weather) to Fuchau {Chinese Recorder^ as above). Note 8. — Pauthier supposes Unken, or Vuguen as he reads it, to be Hukwan, one oixhthiens under the immediate administration of Fuchau city. This cannot be, according to the lucid reading of the G. T., making Unken 15 miles from the chief city. The only place which the maps show about that position is Mint sing Men. And the Dutch mission of 1664-5 names this as " £inkin, by some called Min-sing." {Astky, III. 461). The Babylonia of the passage from Ramusio is Cairo, — Babylon of Egypt, the sugar of which was very famous in the Middle Ages. Zucchero di Bamhellonia is repeatedly named in Pegolotti's Handbook (210, 311 362, &c.). The passage as it stands represents the Chinese as not knowing even how to get sugar in the granular form : but perhaps the fact was that they did not know how to refine it. Local Chinese histories acknow- ledge that the people of Fokien did not know how to make fine suo-ar till, in the time of the Mongols, certain men from the west taught the art.* It is a curious illustration of the passage that in India * Note by Mr. G. Phillips. I omit a corroborative .quotation about sugar from the Turkish Geography, copied from Klaproth in the former edition; because the author, Hajji Khalfa, used European sources ; and I have now no doubt the passage was derived indirectly from Marco Polo. Chap. LXXXI. THE CITY OF FUJU. 213 coarse sugar is commonly called Chini, " the produce of China," and sugar candy or fine sugar Misri, the produce of Cairo {Baby- lonia) or Egypt. Nevertheless fine Misri has long been exported from Fokien to India, and down to 1862 went direct from Amoy. It is now, Mr. Phillips states, sent to India by steamers vid Hong Kong. I see it stated, in a late Report by Mr. Consul Medhurst, that the sugar at this day commonly sold and consumed throughout China is excessively coarse and repulsive in appearance (see Academy, Feb. 1874, p. 229). The fierce lions are, as usual, tigers. These are numerous in this province, and tradition points to the diversion of many roads, owing to their being infested by tigers. Tiger cubs are often offered for sale in Amoy.* CHAPTER LXXXI. Concerning the Greatness of the City of Fuju. Now this city of Fuju is tiie key of the kingdom which is called Chonka, and which is one of the nine great divisions of Manzi.' The city is a seat of great trade and great manufactures. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan. And a large garrison is maintained there by that prince to keep the kingdom in peace and subjection. For the city is one which is apt to revolt on very slight provocation. There flows through the middle of this city a great river, which is about a mile in width, and many ships are built at the city which are launched upon this river. Enormous quantities of sugar are made there, and there is a great traffic in pearls and precious stones. For many ships of India come to these parts bringing many merchants who traffic about the Isles of the Indies. For this city is, as I must tell you, in the vicinity of the Ocean Port of Zayton,'' which is greatly frequented by the ships of India with their cargoes of various merchandize ; and from * Note by Mr. G. Phillips. 214 - MARCO POLO. BOOKIL. Zayton ships come this way right up to the city of Fuju by the river I have told you of; and 'tis in this way that the precious wares of India come hither.' The city is really a very fine one and kept in good order, and all necessaries of life are there to be had in great abundance and cheapness. Note 1. — The name here applied to Fokien by Polo is variously written as Choncha, Chonka, Concha, Chouka. It has not been satisfac- torily explained. Klaproth and Neumann refer it to Kiangche, of which Fokien at one time of the Mongol rule formed a part. This is the more improbable as Polo expressly distinguishes this province or kingdom from that which was under Kinsay, viz. Kiangchd Pauthier supposes the word to represent Kien-Kwe, " the Kingdom of Kien," because in the 8th century this territory had formed a principality of which the seat was at Kien-chau, now Kienningfu. This is not satisfactory either, for no evidence is adduced that the name continued in use. One might suppose that Choncha represented Tswanchau, the Chinese name of the city of Zayton, or rather of the department attached to it, written by the French Thsiuan-tcheou, but by Medhurst Chwanchew, were it not that Polo's practice of writing the term tcJieu or chau by giu is so nearly invariable, and that the soft ch is almost always expressed in the old texts by the Italian ci (though the Venetian does use the soft ch).* It is again impossible not to be struck with the resemblance of Chonka to " Chung-kwe " " the Middle Kingdom," though I can suggest no ground for the application of such a title specially to Fokien, except a possible misapprehension. Chonkw'e occurs in the Persian Historia Cathaka published by Miiller, but is there specially appUed to North China (see Quat. Rashid., p. Ixxxvi). The city of course is Fuchau. It was visited also by Friar Odoric who •calls it Fiizo, and it appears in duplicate on the Catalan Map as Fugio and as Fozo. I used the preceding words, " the city of course is Fuchau," in the first edition. Since then Mr. G. Phillips, of the consular staff in Fokien, has tried to prove that Polo's Fuju is not Fuchau {Foochow is his spelling), but T'swanchau. This view is bound up with another regarding the identity of Zayton, which will involve lengthy notice under next chapter • and both views have met with an able advocate in the * Dr. Medhurst calls the proper name of the city, as distinct from the Fu, Chinkang (Did. of the Hok-keen dialect). Dr. Douglas has suggested Chinkang, and T'swan-kok, ic "Kingdom of T 'swan" (chau), as possible explanations of Chonka. Chap. LXXXI. THE CITY OF FUJU. 215 Rev. Dr. C. Douglas, of Amoy.* I do not in the least accept these views about Fuju. In considering the objections made to Fuchau, it must never be forgotten that, according to the spelling usual with Polo or his scribe, Fuju is not merely "a name with a great resemblance in sound to Foochow " (as Mr. Phillips has it) ; it is Mr. Phillips's word Foochow, just as absolutely as my word Fuchau is his word Foochow. (See remarks almost at the end of the Introductory Essay). And what has to be proved against me in this matter is, that when Polo speaks of Fuchau he does not 7nea!i Fuchau. It must also be observed that the distances as given by Polo (three days from Quelinfu to Fuju, five days from Fuju to Zayton) do correspond well with my interpretations, and do not correspond with the other. These are very strong fences of my position, and it demands strong arguments to level them. The adverse argu- ments (in brief) are these : (i.) That Fuchau was not the capital of Fokien (" chief dou reigne"). (2.) That the River of Fuchau does not flow through the middle of the city ("/ from the binding of a book. It is allegorical, and the Maiden is there the Virgin Mary. VOL. II. 2,74 MARCO POLO. Book III. CHAPTER X. The Kingdoms of Samara and Dagroian. So you must know that when you leave the kingdom of Basma you come to another kingdom called Samara, on the same Island.' And in that kingdom Messer Marco Polo was detained five months by the weather, which would not allow of his going on. And I tell you that here again neither the Pole-star nor the stars of the Maestro ^ were to be seen, much or little. The people here are wild Idolaters; they have a king who is great and rich ; but they also call themselves subjects of the Great Kaan. When Messer Mark was detained on this Island five months by contrary winds, [he landed with about 2000 men in his company ; they dug large ditches on the landward side to encompass the party, resting at either end on the sea-haven, and within these ditches they made bulwarks or stockades of timber] for fear of those brutes of man-eaters ; [for there is great store of wood there ; and the islanders having confidence in the party supplied them with victuals and other things needful]. There is abundance of fish to be had, the best in the world. The people have no wheat, but live on rice. Nor have they any wine except such as I shall now describe. You must know that they derive it from a certain kind of tree that they have. When they want wine they cut a branch of this, and attach a great pot to the stem of the tree at the place where the branch was cut ; in a day and a night they will find the pot filled. This wine is excellent drink, and is got both white and red. [It is of such sur- passing virtue that it cures dropsy and tisick and spleen.] The trees resemble small date-palms ; . . . and when cut- ting a branch no longer gives a flow of wi-ne, they water the root of the tree, and before long the branches again Chap. X. SAMARA AND DAGROIAN. 2,75 begin to give out wine as before.^ They have also great quantities of Indian nuts [as big as a man's head], which are good to eat when fresh ; [being sweet and savoury, and white as milk. The inside of the meat of the nut is filled with a liquor like clear fresh water, but better to the taste, and more delicate than wine or any other drink that ever existed]. Now we have done telling you about this kingdom, let us quit it, and we will tell you of Dagroian. When you leave the kingdom of Samara you come to another which is called Dagroian. It is an independent kingdom, and has a language of its own. The people are very wild, but they call themselves the subjects of the Great Kaan. I will tell you a wicked custom of theirs.'* When one of them is ill they send for their sorcerers, and put the question to them, whether the sick man shall recover of his sickness or no. If they say that he will recover, then they let him alone till he gets better. But if the sorcerers foretell that the sick man is to die, the friends send for certain judges of theirs to put to death him who has thus been condemned by the sorcerers to die. These men come, and lay so many clothes upon the sick man's mouth that they suffocate him. And when he is dead they have him cooked, and gather together all the dead man's kin, and eat him. And I assure you they do suck the very bones till not a particle of marrow remains in them; for they say that if any nourishment remained in the bones this would breed worms, and then the worms would die for want of food, and the death of those worms would be laid to the charge of the deceased man's soul. And so they eat him up stump and rump. And when they have thus eaten him they collect his bones and put them in fine chests, and carry them away, and place them in caverns among the mountains where no beast nor other creature can get at them. And you must know also that if they take prisoner a man of another country, and he T 2 276 MARCO POLO. Book III. cannot pay a ransom in coin, they kill him and eat him straightway. It is a very evil custom and a parlous.^ Now that I have told you about this kingdom let us leave it, and I will tell you of Lambri. Note 1. — I have little doubt that in Marco's dictation the name was really Samatra, and it is possible that we have a trace of this in the Samarcha (for Samarthd) of the Crusca MS. The Shijarat Malayu has a legend, with a fictitious etymology, of the foundation of the city and kingdom of Samudra or Sumatra, by Marah Silu, a fisherman near Pasangan, who had acquired great wealth, as wealth is got in fairy tales. The name is probably the Sanskrit Samudra, " the sea.'' Possibly it may have been imitated from Dw^ra Samudra, at that time a great state and city of Southern India. Mara Silu having become King of Samudra was converted to Islam, and took the name of Malik-al-Silih. He married the daughter of the King of Parldk, by whom he had two sons ; and to have a principality for each he founded the city and kingdom of Pasei. Thus we have Marco's three first kingdoms, Ferlec, Basma, and Samara, connected together in a satisfactory manner in the Malayan story. It goes on to relate the history of the two sons Al-Dhd,hir and Al-Mansur. Another version is given in the history of Pasei already alluded to, with such differences as might be expected when the oral traditions of several centuries came to be written down. Ibn Batuta, about 1346, on his way to China, spent fifteen days at the court of Samudra, which he calls Sdmathrah or Sdmuthrah. The king whom he found there reigning was the Sultan Al-Malik Al-Dh£hir, a most zealous Mussulman, surrounded by doctors of theology, and greatly addicted to religious discussions, as well as a great warrior and a powerful prince. The city was four miles from its port, which the traveller calls Sdrha , he describes the capital as a large and fine town, surrounded with an enceinte and bastions of timber. The court dis- played all the state of Mahomedan royalty, and the Sultan's dominions extended for many days along the coast. In accordance with Ibn Batuta's picture, the Malay Chronicle represents the court of Pasei (which we have seen to be intimately connected with Samudra) as a great focus of theological studies about this time. There can be little doubt that Ibn Batuta's Malik Al-Dhdhir is the prince of the Malay Chronicle, the son of the first Mahomedan king. We find in 1292 that Marco says nothing of Mahomedanism ; the people are still wild idolaters ; but the king is already a rich and power- ful prince. This may have been Malik Al-Salih before his conversion ; but it may be doubted if the Malay story be correct in representing him as th&foimder of the city. Nor is this apparently so represented in the Book of the Kings of Pasei. Chap. X. SAMARA AND DAGROIAN. %^'^ Before Ibn Batuta's time, Sumatra or Samudra appears in the travels of Fr. Odoric. After speaking of Lamori (to which we shall come pre- sently), he says : " In the same island, towards the south, is another kingdom, by name Sumoltra, in which is a singular generation of people, for they brand themselves on the face with a hot iron in some twelve places," &c. This looks as if the conversion to, Islam was still (circa 1323) very incomplete. Rashiduddin also speaks of Sumutra as lying beyond Lamuri (Elliot^ I. p. 70). The power attained by the dynasty of Malik Al-Salih, and the number of Mahomedans attracted to his court, probably led in the course of the 14th century to the extension of the name of Sumatra to the whole island. For when visited early in the next century by Nicolo Conti, we are told that he " went to a fine city of the island of Tapro- bana, which island is called by the natives Shamuthera.'' Strange to say, he speaks of the natives as all idolaters. Fra Mauro, who got much from Conti, gives us " Isola Siamotra over Taprobana; " and it shows at once his own judgment and want of confidence in it, when he notes else- where that " Ptolemy, professing to describe Taprobana, has really only described Saylan." We have no means of settling the exact position of the city of Sumatra, though possibly an enquiry among the natives of that coast might still determine the point. Marsden and Logan indicate Samar- langa, but I should look for it nearer Pasei. As pointed out by Mr. Braddell in they! Ind. Arch., Malay tradition represents the site of Pasei as selected on a hunting expedition from Samudra, which seems to imply tolerable proximity. And at the marriage of the Princess of Parlak to Malik Al- Salih, we are told that the latter went to receive her on landing at Jambu Ayer (near Diamond Point), and thence conducted her to the city of Samudra. I should seek Samudra near the head of the estuary-like Gulf of Pasei, called in the charts Tela (or Talak) Samawe ; a place very likely to have been sought as a shelter to the Great Kaan's fleet during the south-west monsoon. Fine timber, of great size, grows close to the shore of this bay,* and would furnish material for Marco's stockades. When the Portuguese first reached those regions Pedir was the leading state upon the coast, and certainly no state called Sumatra con- tinued to exist. Whether the city continued to exist even in decay is not easy to discern. The Ain-i-Akbari says that the best civet is that which is brought from the seaport town of Sumatra, in the territory of Achin, and is called Sumatra Zabdd ; but this may have been based on old information. Valentyn seems to recognize the existence of a place of note called Samadra or Samotdara, though it is not entered on his map. A famous mystic theologian who flourished under the great King of Achin, Iskandar Muda, and died in 1630, bore the name of Sham- * Marsden, 1st ed. p. 291. 278 MARCO POLO. Book III. suddfn Shamatrdni, which seems to point to the city of Sumatra as his birthplace.* The most distinct mention that I know of the city so called, in the Portuguese period, occurs in the soi-disant " Voyage which Juan Serano made when he fled from Malacca," in 1512, published by Lord Stanley of Alderley, at the end of his translation of Barbosa. This man speaks of the " island of Samatra " as named from " a city of this northern party And on leaving Pedir, having gone down the northern coast, he says, " I drew towards the south and south-east direction, and reached to another country and city which is called Samatra," and so on. Now this describes the position in which the city of Sumatra should have been if it existed. But all the rest of the tract is mere plunder from Varthema.f There is, however, a like intimation in a curious letter respecting the Portuguese discoveries, written from Lisbon in 15 15, by a German, Valen- tine Moravia, who was probably the same Valentyn Fernandez the German who published the Portuguese edition of Marco Polo at Lisbon in 1502, and who shows an extremely accurate conception of Indian geography. He says : " La maxima insula la quale fe chiamata da Marcho Polo Veneto lava Minor, et al presente si chiama Sumatra, da un emporio di dicta insula" (printed by De Gubernatis, Viagg. Ita. &c. p. 170). Several considerations point to the probability that the states of Pasei and Sumatra had become united, and that the town of Sumatra may have been represented by the Pacem of the Portuguese. J I have to thank Mr. G. Phillips for the copy of a small Chinese chart showing the northern coast of the island, which he states to be from " one of about . the 13th century." I much doubt the date, but the map is valuable as showing the town of Sumatra (Sumantald). This seems to be placed in the Gulf of Pasei, and very near where Pasei itself still exists. An extract of a " Chinese account of about a.d. 1413 " accompanied the map. This states that the town was situated some distance up a river, so as to be reached in two tides. There was a village at the mouth of the river called Talumangkin.% Among the Indian states which were prevailed on to send tribute (or presents) to Kublai in 1286, we find Sumutala. The chief of this state is called in the Chinese record Tu-'han-pa-ti, which seems to be just the Malay words Tuan Fati, " Lord Ruler." No doubt this was the rising * Veth's Atchin, 1873, P- 37- t It might be supposed that Varthema had stolen from Serano ; but the book of the former vizs, published va. 1 5 10. % Castanheda speaks of Pacem as the best port of the Island : " standing on the bank of a river on marshy ground about a league inland ; and at the mouth of the river there are some houses of timber where a customs collector was stationed to exact duties at the anchorage from the ships which touched there " (Bk. II. ch. iii.). This agrees with Ibn Batuta's account of Sumatra, four miles from its port. § If Mr. Phillips had given particulars about his map and quotations, as to date, author, &c., it would have given them more value. He leaves this vague. Chap. X. SAMARA AND DAGROIAN. 279 state of Sumatra, of which we have been speaking ; for it will be observed that Marco says the people of that state called themselves the Kaan's subjects. Rashiduddin makes the same statement regarding the people of Java {i.e. the island of Sumatra), and even of Nicobar • " they are all subject to the Kaan." It is curious to find just the same kind of state- ments about the princes of the Malay Islands acknowledging themselves subjects of Charles V., in the report of the surviving commander of Magellan's ship to that emperor (printed by Baldelli-Boni, I. Ixvii). Pauthier has curious Chinese extracts containing a notable passage respecting the disappearance of Sumatra Proper from history : " In the years Wen-chi (1573-1615), the kingdom of Sumatra divided in two, and the new state took the name of Achi (Achin). After that Sumatra was no more heard of" {Gaubil, 205 ; Demailla, IX. 429; Elliot, I. 71 ; Pauthier, p. 605, and 567.) Note 2.- — ^" Vos di que la Tramontaine ne fart. Et encore vos di que I'estoilles dou Meistre ne aparent ne pou ne grant" (G. T.). The Tramon- taine is the Pole star : — " De nostra Pfere I'Apostoille Volsisse qu'il semblast I'estoile Qui ne se muet Par cele estoile vont et viennent Et lor sen et lor voie tiennent II I'apelent la tres montaigne" — La Bible Guiot de Provins in Barbazan, by Mhn, II. 377, The Meistre is explained by Pauthier to be Arcturus ; but this makes Polo's error greater than it is. Brunetto Latini says : " Devers la tra- montane en a il i. autre (vent) plus debonaire, qui a non Chorus. Cestui apelent li marinier M.aist'ke por vij. estoiles qui sont en celui meisme leu" &c. {Li Tresors, p. 122). Magister or Magistra in medieval Latin, La Maistre in old French, signifies " the beam of a plough." Possibly this accounts for the application of Maistre to the Great Bear, or IHough. But on the other hand the pilot's art is called in old French maistrance. Hence this constellation may have had the name as the pilot's guide, — like our Lode-iX'AX. The name was probably given to the N.W. point under a latitude in which the Great Bear sets in that quarter. In this way many of the points of the old Arabian Rose des Vents were named from the rising or setting of certain constellations (see Reinaud's Abulfeda, Introd. p. cxcix-cci). Note 3. — The tree here intended, and which gives the chief supply of toddy and sugar in the Malay Islands, is the Areng Saccharifera (from the Javanese name), called by the Malays Gomuti, and by the Portu- guese Saguer. It has some resemblance to the date-palm, to which Polo compares it, but it is a much coarser and wilder-looking tree, with a general raggedness, " incompta et adspectu tristis" as Rumphius describes it. It is notable for the number of plants that find a footing in the joints 28o MARCO POLO. Book III. of its stem. On one tree in Java I have counted 13 species of such parasites, nearly all ferns. The tree appears in the foreground of the cut at p. 253. Crawfurd thus describes its treatment in obtaining toddy : " One of the spathae, or shoots of fructification, is, on the first appearance of the fruit, beaten for three successive days with a small stick, with the view of determining the sap to the wounded part. The shoot is then cut off, a little way from the root, and the liquor which pours out is received in pots. . . . The Gomuti palm is fit to yield toddy at 9 or 10 years old, and continues to yield it for 2 years at the average rate of 3 quarts a day." {Hist, of Ind. Arch. I. 398.) The words omitted in translation are unintelligible to me : " et sunt quatre raimes trois eel en'' (G. T.) Note 4. — No one has been able to identify this state. Its position, however, must have been near Pedir, and perhaps it was practically the same. Pedir was the most flourishing of those Sumatran states at the appearance of the Portuguese. Rashiduddin names among the towns of the Archipelago Balmian, which may perhaps be a corrupt transcript of Dagroian. Mr. Phillips's Chinese extracts, already cited (p. 278), state that west of Sumatra (proper) were two small kingdoms, the first Naku-urh, the second Liti. Nakii-urh, which seems to the Ting-'ho-'rh of Pauthier's extracts, which sent tribute to the Kaan, and may probably be Dagroian as Mr. Phillips supposes, was also called the Kingdom of Tattooed Folk. Tattooing is ascribed by Friar Odoricto the people of Sumoltra (Cathay, p. 86). Liti is evidently the Lide of de Barros, which by his list lay immediately east of Pedir. This would place Nakii-urh about Samar- langka. Beyond Liti was Lanmoli (i. e. Lambri). There is, or was 50 years ago, a small port between Ayer Labu and Samarlangka called Daridn-Q,&A€ {Great Darian ?). This is the nearest approach to Dagroian that I have met with. (N. Ann. des V., Tom. XVIII. p. 16.) Note 5. — Gasparo Balbi (1579-87) heard the like story of the Battas under Achin. True or false, the charge against them has come down to our times. The like is told by Herodotus of the Paddaei in India, of the Massagetae, and of the Issedonians ; by Strabo of the Caspians and of the Derbices ; by the Chinese of one of the wild tribes of Kweichau ; and was told to Wallace of some of the Aru Island tribes near New Guinea, and to Bickmore of a tribe on the south coast of Floris, called Rakka (probably a form of Hindu Rdkshasa, or ogre-gobhn). Similar charges are made against sundry tribes of the New World, from Brazil to Vancouver Island. Odoric tells precisely Marco's story of a certain island called Dondin. And in " King Alisaunder," the custom is related of a people of India, called most inappropriately Orphani : — Chap. XI. LAMBRI AND FANSUR. 2,01 " Another Folk woneth there beside ; Orphani he hatteth wide. When her eldrynges beth elde, And ne mowen hemselven welde Hy hem sleeth, and bidelve And," &c., &c. — fTefe-, I. p. 206. Benedetto Bordone, in )\\s, Isolario (1521 and 1547), makes the same charge against the Irish, but I am glad to say that this seems only copied from Strabo. Such stories are still rife in the East, like those of men with tails. I have myself heard the tale told, nearly as Raffles tells it of the Battas, of some of the wild tribes adjoining Arakan {Balbi, i. 1 30 ; Raffles, Mem. p. 427 ; Wallace, Malay Archip. 281 ; Bickmords Travels, p. Ill ; Cathay, p. 25, 100). The latest and most authentic statement of the kind refers to a small tribe called .ffzV/^Jrj, existing in the wildest parts of Ghota Nagpdr and Jash- pur, west of Bengal, and is given by an accomplished Indian ethnologist, Colonel Dalton. " They were wretched-looking objects .... assuring me that they had themselves given up the practice, they admitted that their fathers were in the habit of disposing of their dead in the manner indicated, viz. by feasting on the bodies ; but they declared that they never shortened life to provide such feast, and shrunk with horror at the idea of any bodies but those of their own blood relations being served up at them!" (/. .4. ^. ^. XXXIV. Pt. II. 18). The same practice has been attributed recently, but only on hearsay, to a tribe of N. Guinea called Tarungares. The Battas now bury their dead, after keeping the body a consider- able time. But the people of Nias and the Batu Islands, whom Jung- huhn considers to be of common origin with the Battas, do not bury, but expose the bodies in coffins upon rocks by the sea. And the small and very peculiar people of the Paggi Islands expose their dead on bamboo platforms in the forest. It is quite probable that such customs existed in the north of Sumatra also ; indeed they may still exist, for the interior seems unknown. We do hear of pagan hill-people inland from Pedir who make descents upon the coast. (Junghuhn II. 140 ; Tydschrift voor Indische Taal, &c., 2nd year, No. 4; Nouv. Ann. des V., XVIII.) CHAPTER XL Of the Kingdoms of Lambri and Fansur. When you leave that kingdom you come to another which is called Lambri.' The people are Idolaters, and call them- 282 MARCO POLO. Book III. selves the subjects of the Great Kaan. They have plenty of Camphor and of all sorts of other spices. They also have brazil in great quantities. This they sow, and when it is grown to the size of a small shoot they take it up and transplant it ; then they let it grow for three years, after which they tear it up by the root. You must know that Messer Marco Polo aforesaid brought some seed of the brazil, such as they sow, to Venice with him, and had it sown there ; but never a thing came up. And I fancy it was because the climate was too cold. Now you must know that in this kingdom of Lambri there are men with tails ; these tails are of a palm in length, and have no hair on them. These people live in the mountains and are a kind of wild men. Their tails are about the thickness of a dog's.^ There are also plenty of unicorns in that country, and abundance of game in birds and beasts. Now then I have told you about the kingdom of Lambri. You then come to another kingdom which is called Fansur. The people are Idolaters, and also call them- selves subjects of the Great Kaan ; and understand, they are still on the same Island that I have been telling you of In this kingdom of Fansur grows the best Camphor in the world called Canfora Fansuri. It is so fine that it sells for its weight in fine gold.^ The people have no wheat, but have rice which they eat with milk and flesh. They also have wine from trees such as I told you of. And I will tell you another great marvel. They have a kind of trees that produce flour, and excellent flour it is for food. These trees are very tall and thick, but have a very thin bark, and inside the bark they are crammed with flour. And I tell you that Messer Marco Polo, who witnessed all this, related how he and his party did sundry times partake of this flour made into bread, and found it excellent.-^ Chap. XI. LAMBRI AND FANSUR. 283 There is now no more to relate. For out of those eight kingdoms we have told you about six that lie at this side of the Island. I shall tell you nothing about the other two kingdoms that are at the other side of the Island, for the said Messer Marco Polo never was there. Howbeit we have told you about the greater part of this Island of the Lesser Java ; so now we will quit it, and I will tell you of a very small Island that is called Gauenispola.^ Note 1. — The name of Lambri is not now traceable on our maps, nor on any list of the ports of Sumatra that I have met with ; but in old times the name occurs frequently under one form or another, and its position can be assigned generally to the north part of the west coast, commencing from the neighbourhood of Achin Head. De Barros, detailing the 29 kingdoms which divided the coast of Sumatra. at the beginning of the Portuguese conquests, begins with Daya, and then passes round by the north. He names as next in order Lambrij, and then Achem. This would make Lambri lie between Daya and Achin, for which there is but little room. And there is an apparent inconsistency ; for in coming round again from the south, his 28th kingdom is Quinchel {Singkel of our modern maps), the 29th Mancopa, " which /a//j- upon Lambrij, which adjoins Daya the first that we named." Most of the data about Lambri render it very difficult to distinguish it from Achin. The name of Lambri occurs in the Malay Chronicle, in the account of the first Mahomedan mission to convert the Island. We shall quote the passage in a following note. The position of Lambri would render it one of the first points of Sumatra made by navigators from Arabia and India ; and this seems at one time to have caused the name to be applied to the whole Island. Thus Rashiduddin speaks of the very large Island Lamuri lying beyond Ceylon, and adjoining the country oi Sumatra ; Odoric also goes from India across the Ocean to a certain country called Lamori, where he began to lose sight of the North Star. He also speaks of the camphor, gold, and lign-aloes which it produced, and proceeds thence to Sumoltra in the same Island.* It is probable that the verzino or brazil-wood of Ameri (L'Ameri, i. e. Lambri ?) which appears in the mercantile details * I formerly supposed Al-Ramni, the oldest Arabic name of Sumatra, to be a corruption of Lambri ; but this is more probably of Hindu origin. One of the Dvipas of the ocean mentioned in the Puranas is called RAmanlyaka, " delightfuUiess " ( Williams's Skt. Did.). 284 MARCO POLO. Book III. of Pegolotti was from this part of Sumatra. It is probable also that the country called Nanwuliy which the Chinese Annals report, with Sumun- tula and others, to have sent tribute to the Great Kaan in 1286, was this same Lambri which Polo tells us called itself subject to the Kaan. In the time of the Sung dynasty ships from T'swanchau (or Zayton) bound for Tas/ii, or Arabia, used to sail in 40 days to a place called Lanli-fdi (probably this is also Lambri, Lambri-purif). There they passed the winter, i. e. the S.W. monsoon, just as Marco Polo's party did at Sumatra, and sailing again when the wind became fair they reached Arabia in 60 days {Bretschneider, p. 16). {I)e Barros, Dec. III. Bi . V. ch. i. ; Elliot, I. 70 ; Cathay, 84 seqg. ; Fegol. p. 361 ; Pauthier, p. 605.) Note 2. — Stories of tailed or hairy men are common in the Archi- pelago, as in many other regions. Kazwini tells of the hairy little men, that are found in Rimni (Sumatra) with a language like birds' chirping. Marsden was told of hairy people called Orang Gugu in the interior of the Island, who differed little, except in the use of speech, from the Orang utang. Since his time a French writer, giving the same name and same description, declares that he saw " a group " of these hairy people on the coast of Andragiri, and was told by them that they inhabited the interior of Menangkabau and formed a small tribe. It is rather remark- able that this writer makes no allusion to Marsden though his account is so nearly identical (L' Odanie in L' Univers Pittoresque, I. 24). Mr. Anderson says there are " a few wild people in the Siak country, very little removed in point of civilization above their companions the monkeys," but he says nothing of hairiness nor tails. For the earliest version of the tail story we must go back to Ptolemy and the Isles of the Satyrs in this quarter ; or rather to Ctesias who tells of tailed men on an Island in the Indian Sea. Jordanus also has the story of the hairy men. Galvano heard that there were on the Island certain people called Daraque Dara {?), which had tails like unto sheep. And the King of Tidore told him of another such tribe on the Isle of Batochina. Mr. St. John in Borneo met with a trader who had seen a.nd felt the tails of such a race inhabiting the north-east coast of that Island. The appendage was 4 inches long and very stiff: so the people all used perforated seats. This Borneo story has lately been brought forward in Calcutta, and stoutly maintained, on native evidence, by an English merchant. The Chinese also have their tailed men in the mountains above Canton. In Africa there have been many such stories, of some of which an account will be found in the Bulletin de la Soc. de Geog. ser. 4, tom. iii. p. 31. It was a story among medieval Mahomedans that the members of the Imperial House of Trebizond were endowed with short tails, whilst medieval Continentals had like stories about Englishmen, as Matthew Paris relates. Thus we find in the Romance of Coeur de Lion, Richard's messengers addressed by the " Emperor of Cyprus :" — Chap. XI. FANSURI CAMPHOR. 285 " Out, Taylards, of my palys ! Now go, and say your tayled King That I owe him nothing." Weber, II. 83. The Princes of Purbandar, in the Peninsula of Guzerat, claim descent from the monkey-god Hanumin, and allege in justification a spinal elongation which gets them the name ol Punchdriah, " Taylards." {EtMs Kazwini, p. 221 ; Anderson, p. 210 ; St. John, Forests of t lie Far East, I. 40; Galvano, Hak. Soc. 108, 120; Gildemeister, 194; Alletis Indian Mail, July 28, i86g ; Mid. Kingd. I. 293 ; N. et Ext. XIII. i. 380; Mat. Paris under a.d. 1250; Tod's Rajasthan, I. 114.) Note 3. — The Camphor called Fansuri is celebrated by Arab writers at least as old as the 9th century, e.g., by the author of the first part of the Relations, by Mas'udi in the next century, also by Avicenna, by Abulfeda, by Kazwini, and by Abul Fazl, &c. In the second and third the name is miswritten Kansur, and by the last Kaisuri, but there can be no doubt of the correction required. Reinaud, I. 7 ; Mas. I. 338 ; Liber Canonis, Ven. 1544, I. 116 ; Bicsching, IV. 277 ; Gildem. p. 209 ; Ain-i-Akb. p. 78.) In Serapion we find the same camphor described as that oi Pansor ; and when, leaving Arab authorities and the earlier Middle Ages we come to Garcias, he speaks of the same article under the name of Camphor oi Barros. And this is the name — Kdpur- B&rus, — derived from the port which has been the chief shipping-place of Sumatran camphor for at least three centuries, by which the native camphor is still known in eastern trade, as distinguished from the Kapicr- Chind or Kdpur-Japim, as the Malays term the article derived in those countries by distillation from the Laurus Camphora. The earliest western mention of camphor is in the same prescription by the physician Aetius (circa a.d. 540) that contains one of the earliest mentions of musk (supra, 1. p. 245.) The prescription ends : " and if you have a supply of camphor add two ounces of that." {Aetii Medici Graeci Tetrabiblos, &c., Froben, 1549, P- 91°-) It is highly probable that Fansur and Barus may be not only the same locality but mere variations of the same name.* The place is called in the Shijarat Malayu, Pasuri, a name which the Arabs certainly made into Fansiiri in one direction, and which might easily in another, by a, very common kind of Oriental metathesis, pass into Bariisi. The legend in the Shijarat Malayu relates to the first Mahomedan mission for the conversion of Sumatra, sent by the Sherif of Mecca via India. After sailing from Malabar the first place the party arrived at was Pasuri, the people of which embraced Islam. They then proceeded to Lambri, which also accepted the Faith. Then they sailed on till they * Van der Tuuk says positively, I find : " Fantsur was the ancient name of Barus ' (J. R. A. S., n.s. 11. 232). 286 MARCO POLO. Book III. reached Haru (see on my map Aru on the East Coast), which did like- wise. At this last place they enquired for Samudra, which seems to have been the special object of their mission, and found that they had passed it. Accordingly they retraced their course to Perlak, and after converting that place went on to Samudra where they converted Mara Silu the King (see note 1, chap. x. above). This passage is of extreme interest as naming four out of Marco's six kingdoms, and in positions quite accordant with his indications. As noticed by Mr. Braddell, from whose abstract I take the passage, the circumstance of the party having passed Samudra unwittingly is especially consistent with the site we have assigned to it near the head of the Bay of Pasei, as a glance at the map will show. Valentyn observes : " Fansur can be nought else than the famous Pantsur, no longer known indeed by that name, but a kingdom which we become acquainted with through Hamza Pantsuri, a celebrated Poet, and native of this Pantsur. It lay in the north angle of the Island, and a little west of Achin ; it formerly was rife with trade and population, but would have been utterly lost in oblivion had not Hamza Pantsuri made us again acquainted with it." Nothing indeed could well be "a httle west of Achin;" this is doubtless a slip for "a little down the west coast from Achin." Hamza Fantsuri, as he is termed by Prof Veth, who also identifies Fantsur with Birds, was a poet of the first half of the 17 th century, who in his verses popularized the mystical theology of Shamsuddin Shamatrani {supra, p. 273), strongly tinged with pantheism. The works of both were solemnly burnt before the great mosque of Achin about 1640. {J. Ind. Arch. V. 312 segq. ; Valentyn, Sumatra, in Vol. v., p. 21 ; Veth, Atchin, Leiden, 1873, p. 38.) Mas'udi says that the Fansur Camphor was found most plentifully in years rife with storms and earthquakes. Ibn Batuta gives a jumbled and highly incorrect account of the product, but one circumstance that he mentions is possibly founded on a real superstition, viz., that no camphor was formed unless some animal had been sacrificed at the root of the tree, and the best quality only then when a human victim had been offered. Nicolo Conti has a similar statement : " The Camphor is found inside the tree and if they do not sacrifice to the gods before they cut the bark, it disappears and is no more seen." Beccari, in our day, mentions special ceremonies used by the Kayans of Borneo, before they commence the search. These superstitions hinge on the great uncertainty of finding camphor in any given tree, after the laborious process of cutting it down and splitting it, an uncertainty which also largely accounts for the high price. By far the best of the old accounts of the product is that quoted by Kazwini from Mahomed Ben Zakaria Al-Rdzi: "Among the number of marvellous things in this Island" {Zdnij for Zdbaj, i. e., Java or Sumatra) " is the Camphor Tree, which is of vast size, insomuch that its shade will cover 100 persons and more. They bore into the highest part of the tree and thence flows out the Chap. XI. FANSURI CAMPHOR, AND SAGO. 287 camphor-water, enough to fill many pitchers. Then they open the tree lower down about the middle, and extract the camphor in lumps." Compare this passage, which we may notice has been borrowed bodily by Sindbad of the Sea, with what is probably the best modern account, Junghuhn's: "Among the forest trees (of Tapanuli adjoining Barus) the Camphor Tree {Dryabalanqps Camphord) attracts beyond all the traveller's observation, by its straight columnar and colossal grey trunk, and its mighty crown of foliage, rising high above the canopy of the forest. It exceeds in dimensions the Rasamala* the loftiest tree of Java, and is probably the greatest tree of the Archipelago, if not of the world,t reaching a height of 200 feet. One of the middhng size which I had cut down measured at the base, where the camphor leaks out, 7^ Paris feet in diameter (about 8 feet English) ; its trunk rose to 100 feet, with an upper diameter of 5 feet, before dividing, and the height of the whole tree to the crown was 150 feet. The precious consolidated camphor is found in small quantities, i lb. to i lb. in a single tree, in fissure-like hollows in the stem. Yet many are cut down in vain, or split up the side without finding camphor. The camphor oil is prepared by the natives by bruising and boiling the twigs." The oil however appears also to -be found in the tree, as Crawfurd and Collingwood mention, corroborating the ancient Arab. It is well known that the Chinese attach an extravagantly superior value to the Malay camphor, and probably its value in Marco's day was higher than it is now, but still its estimate as worth its weight in gold looks like hyperbole. Forrest, a century ago, says Barus Camphor was in the Chinese market worth nearly its weight in silver, and this is true still. The price is commonly estimated at 100 times that of the Chinese camphor. The whole quantity exported from the Barus territory goes to China. De Vriese reckons the average annual export from Sumatra between 1839 and 1844 at less than 400 kilogrammes. The following table shows the wholesale rates in the Chinese market as given by Rondot in 1848 : — Qualities of Camphor. Perpikulofx-if^lbs Ordinary China, 1st quality 20 dollars. 2naj'=ApolIonius' (Tyanaeus). Chap. XV. HISTORY OF BUDDHA CHRISTIANIZED. 305 again enquired, ' Shall I become thus old and decrepit ?' and he was told that it was a state at which all beings must arrive." The prince returns home and informs his father of his intention to become an ascetic, seeing how undesirable is life tending to such decay. His father conjures him to put away such thoughts, and to enjoy himself with his princesses, and he strengthens the guards about the palaces. Four months later like circumstances recur, and the prince sees a leper, and after the same interval a dead body in corruption. Lastly, he sees a religious recluse, radiant with peace and tranquillity, and resolves to delay no longer. He leaves his palace at night, after a look at his wife Yasodhara and the boy just born to him, and betakes himself to the forests of Magadha, where he passes seven years in extreme asceticism. At the end of that time he attains the Buddhahood (see Hardy's Manual, p. 151 segg.). The latter part of the story told by Marco, about the body of the prince being brought to his father, &c., is erroneous. Sakya was 80 years of age when he died under the si\ trees in Kusi- ndra. The strange parallel between Buddhistic ritual, discipline, and cos- tume, and those which especially claim the name of Catholic in the Christian Church, has been often noticed ; and though the parallel has never been elaborated as it might be, some of the more salient facts are famihar to most readers. Still many may be unaware that Buddha him- self, Siddhdrta the son of Silddodhana, has found his way into the Roman martyrology as a Saint of the Church. In the first edition a mere allusion was made to this singular story, for it had recently been treated by Professor Max Miiller with charac- teristic learning and grace (see Contemporary Review for July, 1870, p. 588). But the matter is so curious and still so little familiar that I now venture to give it at some length. The religious romance called the History of Barlaam and Josaphat was for several centuries one of the most popular works in Christendom. It was translated into all the chief European languages, including Scan- dinavian and Sclavonic tongues. An Islandic version dates from about the year 1200 ; one in the Tagal language of the Philippines was printed at Manilla in 17 12.* The episodes and apologues with which the story abounds have furnished materials to poets and story-tellers in various ages and of very diverse characters; e.g. to Giovanni Boccaccio, John Gower, and to the compiler of the Gesta Romanorum, to Shakspere, and to the late W. Adams, author of the King's Messengers. The basis of this romance is the story of Siddhd,rta. The story of Barlaam and Josaphat first appears among the works (in Greek) of St. John of Damascus, a theologian of the early part of "" In 1870 I saw in the Library at Monte Cassino a long Frencli poem on the stoiy, in a MS. of our traveller's age. This is perhaps one referred to by Migne, as cited in ffist. Liit. dc la France, XV. 484. VOL. II. X 306 MARCO POLO. Book III. the 8th century, who before he devoted himself to divinity had held high office at the Court of the Khalif Abu Jifar AlmansUr. The outline of the story is as follows : — ■ St. Thomas had converted the people of India to the truth; and after the eremitic hfe originated in Egypt many in India adopted it. But a potent pagan King arose, by name Abenner, who persecuted the Christians and especially the ascetics. After this King had long been childless, a son, greatly desired, is born to him, a boy of match- less beauty. The King greatly rejoices, gives the child the name of JosAPHAT, and summons the astrologers to predict his destiny. They foretell for the prince glory and prosperity beyond all his pre- decessors in the kingdom. One sage, most learned of all, assents to this, but declares that the scene of these glories will not be the paternal realm, and that the child will adopt the faith that his father persecutes. This prediction greatly troubled King Abenner. In a secluded city he caused a splendid palace to be erected, within which his son was to abide, attended only by tutors and servants in the flower of youth and health. No one from without was to have access to the prince ; and he was to witness none of the afflictions of humanity, poverty, disease, old age, or death, but only what was pleasant, so that he should have no in- ducement to think of the future life ; nor was he ever to hear a word of Christ or his religion. And, hearing that some monks still survived in India, the King in his wrath ordered that any such, who should be found after three days, should be burnt alive. The Prince grows up in seclusion, acquires all manner of learning, and exhibits singular endowments of wisdom and acuteness. At last he urges his father to allow him to pass the limits of the palace, and this the King reluctantly permits, after taking all precautions to arrange divert- ing spectacles, and to keep all painful objects at a distance. Or let us proceed in the Old English of the Golden Legend.* " Whan his fader herde this he was full of sorowe, and anone he let do make redy horses, and joyfuU felawshyp to accompany him, in suche wyse that nothynge dyshonest sholde happen to hym. And on a tyme thus as the Kynges sone wente he mette a mesell and a blynde man, and wha he sawe them he was abasshed, and enquyred what them eyled. And his servantes sayd : These ben passions that comen to men. And he demaunded yf the passyons came to all men. And they sayd nay. Tha sayd he, ben they knowen whiche men shall suffre. . . . And they answered. Who is he that may knowe ye adventures of men. And he began to be moche anguysshous for the incustomable thynge hereof. And another tyme he found a man moche aged, which had his chere froiiced, his tethe fallen, and he was all croked for age. . . . And tha he demaiided what sholde " Imprynted at London in Flele Strete, at the sygne of the Sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde (1527). Chap. XV. HISTORY OF BUDDHA CHRISTIANIZED. 307 be ye ende. And they sayd deth. . . . And this yonge man remembred ofte in his herte these thynges, and was in grete dyscoforte, but he shewed hy moche glad tofore his fader, and he desyred moche to be enformed and taught in these thyges." At this time Barlaam, a monk of great sanctity and knowledge in divine things, who dwelt in the Wilderness of Sennaritis, having received a divine warning, travels to India in the disguise of a merchant, and gains access to Prince Josaphat to whom he unfolds the Christian doc- trine and the blessedness of the monastic life. Suspicion is raised against Barlaam, and he departs. But all efforts to shake the Prince's convictions are vain. As a last resource the King sends for a magician called Theudas, who removes the Prince's attendants and substitutes seductive girls, but all their blandishments are resisted through prayer. The King abandons these attempts and associates his son with himself in the government. The Prince uses his power to promote religion, and everything prospers in his hand. Finally King Abenner is drawn to the truth, and after some years of penitence dies. Josaphat then surrenders the kingdom to a friend called Barachias, and proceeds into the wilderness, where he wanders for two years seeking Bar- laam, and much buffetted by the demons. " And when Barlaam had accoplysshed his dayes he rested in peas about the yere of Our Lorde cccc & Ixxx. Josaphat lefte his realme the xxv yere of his age, & ledde the lyfe of an hermyte xxxv yere, and then rested in peas full of vertues, and was buryed by the body of Barlaam." The King Barachias afterwards arrives and transfers the bodies solemnly to India. This is but the skeleton of the story, but the episodes and apologues which round its dimensions, and gave it its medieval popularity, do not concern our subject. In this skeleton the story of Siddhdrta, mutatis mutandis, is obvious. The story was first popular in the Greek Church, and was embodied in the lives of the saints, as recooked by Simeon the Metaphrast, an author whose period is disputed, but was in any case not later than i\^o. A Cretan monk called Agapios made selections from the work of Simeon which were pubUshed in Romaic at Venice in 1541 under the name of the Paradise, and in which the first section consists of the story of Bar- laam and Josaphat. This has been frequently reprinted as a popular book of devotion. A copy before me is printed at Venice in 1865.* From the Greek Church the history of the two saints passed to the Latin, and they found a place in the Roman martyrology under the 27th November. When this first happened I have not been able to * The first Life is thus entitled : Bio5 koI no\iTe(a toC 'Oiriou norpis T))i.i!>v koI 'IffOTTOo-TiiXoi; 'Xieiisaj^ ToC PuaiKiws ttjs 'IcSi'as. Professor Miiller says all the Greek copies have loasaph. I have access to no copy in the ancient Greek. X 2 3o8 MARCO POLO. Book III. ascertain. Their history occupies a large space in 'Ca& Speculum His- toriale of Vincent of Beauvais, written in the 13th century, and is set forth, as we have seen, in the Golden Legend of nearly the same age. They are recognized by Baronius, and are to be found at p. 348 of " The Roman Martyrology set forth by command of Pope Gregory XIII. , and revised by the authority of Pope Urban VIII., translated out of Latin into English by G. K. of the Society of Jesus .... and now re-edited . . . by W. N. Skelly, Esq. London, T. Richardson & Son." (Printed at Derby, 1847). Here in Palermo is a church bearing the dedication Divo losaphat. Professor Miiller attributes the first recognition of the identity of the two stories to M. Laboulaye in 1859. But in fact I find that the historian de Couto had made the discovery long before.* He says, speaking oi Budao (Buddlia), and after relating his history : — " To this name the Gentiles throughout all India have dedicated great and superb pagodas. With reference to this story we have been diligent in enquiring if the ancient Gentiles of those parts had in their writings any knowledge of St. Josaphat who was converted by Barlam, who in his Legend is represented as the son of a great King of India, and who had just the same up-bringing, with all the same particulars that we have recounted of the life of the Budao And as a thing seems much to the purpose, which was told us by a very old man of the Salsette territory in Bagaim, about Josaphat, I think it well to cite it : As I was travelling in the Isle of Salsette and went to see that rare and admirable Pagoda (which we call the Canard Pagoda) t made in a mountain, with many halls cut out of one solid rock .... and enquiring from this old man about the work, and what he thought as to who had made it, he told us that without doubt the work was made by order of the father of St. Josaphat to bring him up therein in seclusion, as the story tells. And as it informs us that he was the son of a great King in India, it may well be, as we have just said, that he was the Budao, of whom they relate such marvels '' (Dec. V. liv. vi. cap. 2). Dominie Valentyn, not being well read in the Golden Legend, remarks on the subject of Buddha : " There be some who hold this Budhum for a fugitive Syrian Jew, or for an Israelite, others who hold him for a Disciple of the Apostle Thomas ; but how in that case he could have been born 622 years before Christ I leave them to explain. Diego de Couto stands by the belief that he was certainly /^j/^«a, which is still more absurd !" (V. deel, p. 374.) * Also Mignis Vict, des Legendes, quoting a letter of C. L. Struve, Director of ■ Kbnigsberg Gymnasium, to the Journal Ginlral de Plnst. Publ, says that "an earlier story is entirely reproduced in the Barlaam," but without saying what story. I have omitted to note the date of this dictionaiy ; one of a well-known modern series, t The well-known Kanhari Caves (see Handbook for India, p. 306). Chap. XV. HISTORY OF SAGAMONI BORCAN. 309 Note 3. — Marco is not the only eminent person who has expressed this view of Sakyamuni's life in such words. Prof. Max Miiller; («. s.) says : " And whatever we may think of the sanctity of saints, let those who doubt the right of Buddha to a place among them, read the story of his life as it is told in the Buddhistic canon. If he lived the life which is there described, few saints have a better claim to the tide than Buddha ; Sakya Muni as a Saint of the Roman Martyrology. " JUItc leg ifcuntjs Sun in "Bern aufscjtEcjjnx am ersten saJje in 5cm SKEeg jsnm ilinlien unB jgn aufsmowftigm unB t^m altm ktummtn iffian."* and no one either in the Greek or the Roman Church need be ashamed of having paid to his memory the honour that was intended for St. Josaphat, the prince, the hermit, and the saint." Note 4. — This is curiously like a passage in the Wisdom of Solomon : " Neque enim erant (idola) ab initio, neque erunt in perpetuum .... acerbo enim luctu dolens pater cito sibi rapti filii fecit imaginem : et ilium qui tunc quasi homo mortuus fuerat nunc tamquam deum colere coepit, et constituit inter servos suos sacra et sacrificia" (xiv. 13-15). Gower alludes to the same story ; I know not whence taken : — ' ' Of Cirophanes seeth the booke That he for sorow which he toke Of that he sigh liis sonne dede Of comfort knewe none other rede * The quotation and the cut are from an old German version of Barlaam and Josaphat printed by Zainer at Augsburg, circa 1477 (B. M., Grenv. Lib., No. 11,766). 3IO MARCO POLO. Book III. But lete do make in remembrance A faire image of his semblance, And set it in the market place, Whiche openly tofore his face Stood every day to done him ease ; And thei that than wolden please The Fader, shuld it obeye. When that thei comen thilke weye." — Confessio Amantis." Note 6. — Adam's Peak has for ages been a place of pilgrimage to Buddhists, Hindus, and Mahomedans, and appears still to be so. Ibn Batuta says the Mussulman pilgrimage was instituted in the loth century. The book on the history of the Mussulmans in Malabar, called Tohfat- ul-Majahidin (p. 48), ascribes their first settlement in that country to a party of pilgrims returning from Adam's Peak. MarignoUi, on his visit to the mountain, mentions " another pilgrim, a Saracen of Spain ; for many go on pilgrimage to Adam." The identification of Adam with objects of Indian worship occurs in various forms. Tod tells how an old Rajput Chief, as they stood before a famous temple of Mahddeo near Udipur, invited him to enter and worship " Father Adam.'' Another traveller relates how Brahmans of Bagesar on the Sarjii identified Mahadeo and Parvati with Adam and Eve. A Malay MS., treating of the origines of Java, represents Brahma, Mahadeo, and Vishnu to be descendants of Adam through Seth. And in a Malay paraphrase of the Ramdyana, NaU Adam takes the place of Vishnu. {Tod. I. 96 j / A. S. B. XVI. 233 ;/ R. A. S. n. s. II. 102 ; /. Asiaf. IV. s. VII. 438.) Note 6. — The P&tra, or alms-pot, was the most valued legacy of Buddha. It had served the three previous Buddhas of this world-period, and was destined to serve the future one, Maitreya. The Great Asoka sent it to Ceylon. Thence it was carried off by a Tamul chief in the ist century, a.d., but brought back we know not how, and is still shown in the Malagawa Vihara at Kandy. As usual in such cases, there were rival reliques, for Fahian found the alms-pot preserved at Peshawar. Hwen T'sang says in his time it was no longer there, but in Persia. And indeed the Patra from Peshawar, according to a remarkable note by Sir Henry Rawlinson, is still preserved at Kandahar, under the name of Kashkul (or the Begging-pot), and retains among the Mussulman Der- vishes the sanctity and miraculous repute which it bore among the Buddhist Bkikshus. Sir Henry conjectures that the deportation of this vessel, the palladium of the true Gandhdra (Peshawar), was accompanied by a popular emigration, and thus accounts for the transfer of that name * Ed. 1544, fol. xci. V. So also I find in A. Tostativ. Uisp. Comment, in priiiiam ptem. Exodi, Ven. 1695, p. 295-96 : " Idola autem sculpta in Aegypto primo inventa sunt per Syropheneni primum idolotrarum ; ante hoc enim pura elementa ut dii cole- bantur." I cannot trace the tale. Chap. XV. BUDDHA'S TOOTH. 3" also to the chief city of Arachosia. {Koeppen, I. 526; Fah-hian, p. 36 H. T'sang, II. io6; /. R. A. S. XL 127. Sir J. Tennent, through Mr. Wyhe (to whom this book owes so much), obtained tlie following curious Chinese extract referring to Ceylon, (written 1350): " In frontof the image of Buddha there is a sacred bowl, which is neither made of jade nor copper, nor iron ; it is of a purple colour, and glossy, and when struck it sounds like glass. At the commence- ment of the Yuen dynasty {i. e. under Kublai) three separate envoys were sent to obtain it." Sanang Setzen also corroborates Marco's statement : " Thus did the Khaghan (Kublai) cause the sun of religion to rise over the dark land of the Mongols ; he also procured from India images and reliques of Buddha ; among others the Patra of Buddha, which was pre- sented to him by the four kings (of the cardinal points), and also the chandana chu" (a miraculous sandal-wood image). {Tennent, I. 622; Schmidt, p. 119.) The text also says that several teeth of Buddha were preserved in Ceylon, and that the Kaan's embassy obtained two molars. Doubtless the envoys were imposed on ; no solitary case in the amazing history of that relique, for the Dalada, or tooth-relique, seems in all historic times to have been unique. This, " the left canine tooth " of the Buddha, is related to have been preserved for 800 years at Dantapura (" Odonto- J)olis"), in Kalinga, generally supposed to be the modem Pdri or Jagannith. Here the Brahmans once captured it and carried it off to Palibothra, where they tried in vain to destroy it. Its miraculous resistance converted the king, who sent it back to Kalinga. About a.d. 311 the daughter of King Guhasiva fled with it to Ceylon. In the beginning of the 14th century it was captured by the Tamuls and carried to the Pandya country on the continent, but recovered some years later by King Parakrama III., who went in person to treat for it. In 1560 the Portuguese got possession of it and took it to Goa. The King of Pegu who then reigned, probably the most powerful and wealthy monarch who has ever ruled in Further India, made unlimited offers in exchange for the tooth ; but the archbishop prevented the viceroy from yielding to these temptations, and it was solemnly pounded to atoms by the prelate, then cast into a charcoal fire, and finally its ashes thrown into the river of Goa. The King of Pegu was, however, informed by a crafty minister of the King of Ceylon that only a sham tooth had been destroyed by the Por- tuguese, and that the real relique was still safe. This he obtained by extraordinary presents, and the account of its reception at Pegu, as quoted by Tennent from De Couto, is a curious parallel to Marco's nar- rative of the Great Kaan's reception of the Ceylon reliques at Cambaluc. The extraordinary object still so solemnly preserved at Kandy is another forgery, set up about the same time. So the immediate result of the vice- roy's virtue was that two reliques were worshipped instead of one ! The possession of the tooth has always been a great object of desire 312 MARCO POLO. Book 111. to Buddhist sovereigns. In the nth century King Anarauhta, of Burmah, sent a mission to Ceylon to endeavour to procure it, but he could obtain only a " miraculous emanation " of the relique. A tower to contain the sacred tooth was (1855), however, one of the build- ings in the palace court of Amarapura. A few years ago the present King of Burma repeated the mission of his remote predecessor, but ob- tained only a model, and this has been deposited within the walls of the palace at Mandal^, the new capital. (Tumour in/ A. S. B. VI. 856 seqq. ; Koeppen, I. 521 ; Tenneiit, I. 388, II. 198 seqq. ; MS. Note by Sir A. Phayre ; Mission to Ava, 136.) Of the four eye-teeth of Sakya, one it is related, passed to the heaven of Indra ; the second to the capital of Gan- dhdra ; the third to Ka- linga ; the fourth to the snake-gods. The Gandhdra . tooth was perhaps, like the alms-bowl, carried off by a Sassanid invasion, and may be identical with that tooth of Fo, which the Chinese annals state to have been brought to China in a.d. 530 by a Persian embassy. A tooth of Buddha is now shown in a monastery at Fuchau ; but whether this be either the Sassanian present, or that got from Ceylon by Kublai, is unknown. Other teeth of Buddha were shown in Hwen T'sang's time at Balkh, at Nagarahira (or JaMMbd,d), in Kashmir, and at Kanauj. (Koeppen, u. s. ; Fortune, II. 108; H. T'sang, II. 31, 80, 263.) Note 7. — Fahian writes of the alms-pot at Peshawar, that poor people could fill it with a few flowers, whilst a rich man should not be able to do so with 100, nay, with 1000 or 10,000 bushels of rice; a parable doubtless originally carrying a lesson, like Our Lord's remark on the widow's mite, but which hardened eventually into some foolish story like that in the text. The modern Mussulman story at Kandahar is that the alms-pot will contain any quantity of liquor without overflowing. Teeth of Buddha. At, Candy, after Tennent. 2. At Fuchau, from Fortune. Chap. XVI. THE PEARL-FISHERY OF MAABAR. 313 This P&tra is the Holy Grail of Buddhism. Mystical powers of nourishment are ascribed also to the Grail in the European legends. German scholars have traced in the romances of the Grail remarkable indications of Oriental origin. It is not impossible that the alms-pot of Buddha was the prime source of them. Read the prophetic history of the PAtra as Fahian heard it in India (p. 161) ; its mysterious wanderings over Asia till it is takeo up into the heaven Tushita, where Maitreya the Future Buddha dwells. When it has disappeared from earth the Law gradually perishes, and violence and wickedness more and more prevail : "What is it? The phantom of a cup that comes and goes ? * * * * * If a man Could touch or see it, lie was healed at once By faith of all his ills. But then the times Grew to such evil, that the holy cup Was caught away to heaven and disappeared." ' Tennywn's Holy Grail. CHAPTER XVI. Concerning the great Province of Maabar, which is called India the Greater, and is on the Mainland. When you leave the Island of Seilan and sail westward about 60 miles, you come to the great province of Maabar which is styled India the Greater ; it is the best of all the Indies and is on the mainland. You must know that in this province there are five kings, who are own brothers. I will tell you about each in turn. The Province is the finest and noblest in the world. At this end of the Province reigns one of those five Royal Brothers, who is a crowned King, and his name is Sonder Bandi Davar. In his kingdom they find very fine and great pearls ; and I will tell you how they are got.' You must know that the sea here forms a gulf between the Island of Seilan and the mainland. And all round this SH MARCO POLO. Book III. gulf the water has a depth of no more than lo or 12 fathoms, and in some places no more than two' fathoms. The pearl-fishers take their vessels, great and small, and proceed into this gulf, where they stop from the beginning of April till the middle of May. They go first to a place called Bettelar, and (then) go 60 miles into the gulf. Here they cast anchor and shift from their large vessels into small boats. You must know that the many merchants who go divide into various companies, and each of these must engage a number of men on wages, hiring them for April and half of May. Of all the produce they have first to pay the King, as his royalty, the tenth part. And they must also pay those men who charm the great fishes, to pre- vent them from injuring the divers whilst engaged in seeking pearls under water, one twentieth part of all that they take. These fish-charmers are termed Abraiaman ; and their charm holds good for that day only, for at night they dissolve the charm so that the fishes can work mischief at their will. These Abraiaman know also how to charm beasts and birds and every living thing. When the men have got into the small boats they jump into the water and dive to the bottom, which may be at a depth of from 4 to \% fathoms, and there they remain as long as they are able. And there they find the shells that contain the pearls [and these they put into a net bag tied round the waist, and mount up to the surface with them, and then dive anew. When they can't hold their breath any longer they come up again, and after a little down they go once more, and so they go on all day]." The shells are in fashion like oysters or sea-hoods. And in these shells are found pearls, great and small, of every kind, sticking in the flesh of the shell-fish. In this manner pearls are fished in great quantities, for thence in fact come the pearls which are spread all over the world. And I can tell you the King of that State hath a very great receipt and treasure from his dues upon those pearls. Chap. XVI. SUNDAR BANDI DEVAR. 315 As soon as the middle of May is past, no more of those pearl-shells are found there. It is true, however, that a long way from that spot, some 300 miles distant, they are also found ; but that is in September and the first half of October. Note 1. — Maabar (Ma'bar) was the name given by the Mahomedans at this time (13th and 14th centuries) to a tract corresponding in a general way to what we call the Coromandel Coast. The word in Arabic signifies the Passage or Ferry, and may have referred either to the communication with Ceylon, or, as is more probable, to its being in that age the coast most frequented by travellers from Arabia and the Gulf* The name does not appear in Edrisi, nor I believe in any of the older geographers, and the earliest use of it that I am aware of is in Abdallatif's account of Egypt, a work written about 1203-4 {Be Sacy, Rel. lie VEgypt, p. 31). Abulfeda distinctly names Cape Comorin as the point where Malabar ended and Ma'bar began, and other authority to be quoted presently informs us that it extended to Nildwar, i. e., Nellore. There are difficulties as to the particular locality of the port or city which Polo visited in the territory of the Prince whom he calls Sondar Bandi Davar ,• and there are like doubts as to the identification, from the dark and scanty Tamul records, of the Prince himself, and the family to which he belonged ; though he is mentioned by more than one foreign writer besides Polo. Thus Wassdf : " Ma'bar extends in length from Kaulam to NiMwar, nearly 300 parasangs along the sea-coast ; and in the language of that country the king is called Devar, which signifies, " the Lord of Empire." The curiosities of Chin and Mdchin, and the beautiful products of Hind and Sind, laden on large ships which they call Junks, sailing like moun- tains with the wings of the wind on the surface of the water, are always arriving there. The wealth of the Isles of the Persian Gulf in particular, and in part the beauty and adornment of other countries, from 'Irak and Khurdsdn as far as Rum and Europe, are derived from Ma'bar, which is so situated as to be the key of Hind. " A few years since the Devar was Sundar Pandi, who had three brothers, each of whom established himself in independence in some different country. The eminent prince, the Margrave (Marzbdn) of Hind, Taki-uddin Abdu-r Rahman, son of Muhammad-ut-Tibi, whose virtues and accomplishments have for a long time been the theme of praise and admiration among the chief inhabitants of that beautiful * So the Barbary coast fiom Tunis westward was called by the Arabs Bdr-ul- 'Adwa/i, "Terra Transitus," because thence they used to pass into Spain (J. As. for Jan. 1846, p. 228). 3i6 MARCO POLO. Book III. country, was the Devar's deputy, minister, and adviser, and was a man of sound judgment. Fattan, Malifattan, and Kiil* were made over to his possession In the months of the year 692 H. (a.d. 1293) the above:mentioned Devar, the ruler of Ma'bar, died and left behind him much wealth and treasure. It is related by Malik-ul-Isl^m Jam^luddfn, that out of that treasure 7000 oxen laden with precious stones and pure gold and silver fell to the share of the brother who succeeded him. Malik-i 'Azam Taki-uddin continued prime minister as before, and in fact rulet- of that kingdom, and his glory and magnificence were raised a thousand times higher." f Seventeen years later (13 10) Wass^f introduces another king of Ma'bar called Kalesa Dmar, who had ruled for 40 years in prosperity, and had accumulated in the treasury of Shahr-Mandi {i.e., as Dr. Caldwell informs me Madura, entitled by the Mahomedan invaders Shahr-Pandi, and still occasionally mispronounced Shahr-Mandi) 1200 crores (!) in gold. He had two sons, Sxjndar Bandi by a lawful wife, and Pirabandi (Vira Pandi ?) illegitimate. He designated the latter as his successor. Sundar Bandi, enraged at this, slew his father and took forcible possession of Shahr-Mandi and its treasures. Pirabandi succeeded in driving him out ; Sundar Bandi went to AMuddin, Sultan of Delhi, and sought help. The Sultan eventually sent his general Haz^rdindri (alias Malik KdfUr) to conquer Ma'bar. In the 3rd volume of Elliot we find some of the same main facts, with some differences and greater detail, as recounted by Amir Khusru. Bir Pandiya and Sundara Pandiya are the Rais of Ma'bar, and are at war with one another, when the army of Alaiiddin, after reducing Bilil * Wassaf has Fitan, Mali Fitan, Kibil, and meant the names so, as he shows by silly puns. For my justification in presuming to correct the names, I must refer to an article, in the J. R. As. Soc, N.s. IV. p. 347, on Rashiduddin's Geography. t The same information is given in almost the same terms by Rashiduddin (see Elliot, I. 69). But he (at least in Elliot's translation) makes Shaikh Jumaluddin the successor of the Devar, instead of merely the narrator of the circumstances. This is evidently a mistake, probably of transcription, and Wassaf gives us the true version. The members of the Arab family bearing the surname of Al-Thaibi (or Thflji) appear to have been powerful on the coasts of the Indian Sea at this time. I. The Malik-ul-Islam Jamaluddin Ibrahim Al Thaibi was Farmer-General of Fars, besides being quasi-independent Prince of Kais and other Islands in the Persian Gulf, and at the time of his death (1306) governor of Shiraz. He had the horse trade with India greatly in his hands, as is mentioned in a note (7) on next chapter. 2. The son of Jumaluddin, Fakhruddin Ahmed, goes ambassador to the Great Kaan in 1297, and dies near the coast of Ma'bar on his way back in 1305. A Fakhruddin Ahmed Bin Ibrahim al-Thaibi also appears in Hammer's extracts as ruler of Hormuz about the time of Polo's return (see a«fe vol. I. p. 125) ; and though he is there represented as opposed by Shaikh Jumaluddin (perhaps through one of Hammer's too frequent con- fusions), one should suppose that he must be the son just mentioned. 3. Takiuddin Abdurrahman, the Wazir and Marzban in Ma'bar ; followed successively in that posi- tion by his son Surajuddm, and his grandson Nizamuddin. (Ilchan. II. 49-50, 197-8, 205-6 ; Elliot, III. 32, 34-5, 45-7.) Chap. XVI. SUNDAR BANDI DEVAR. 317 Deo of Dwdra Samudra, descends upon Ma'bar in the beginning of 131 1 (p. 87 seqq.). We see here two rulers in Ma'bar, within less than 20 years, bear- ing the name of Sundara Pandi. And strange to say, more than a century before, during the continental wars of Pardkrima Bahu I., the most martial of Singhalese Kings (a.d. ii 53-1 186), we find another Kulasaikera ( = Kalesa of Wassaf), King of Madura, with another Vira Pdndi for son, and another Sundara Pandi Rdja, figuring in the history of the Pandionis Regio. But let no one rashly imagine that there is a confusion in the chronology here. The Hindu chronology of the continental states is dark and confused enough, but not that of Ceylon, which in this, as in sundry other respects, comes under Indo-Chinese rather than Indian analogies. (See Tumour's Ceylonese Epitome,^. \\-d,2, ; and/. A. S. B., XLI. Pt, I. p. 197 seqq.) In a note with which Dr. Caldwell favoured me some time before the first publication of this work, he considers that the Sundar Bandi of Polo and the Persian Historians is undoubtedly to be identified with that Sundara Pandi Devar who is in the Tamul catalogues the last king of the ancient Pandya line, and who was (says Dr. Caldwell) " succeeded by Mahomedans, by a new line of Pandyas, by the Ndyak Kings, by the Nabobs of Arcot, and finally by the English. He became for a time a Jaina, but was reconverted to the worship of Siva, when his name was changed from Kun or Kubja, " Crook-backed," to Sundara, " Beautiful," in accordance with a change which then took place, the Saivas say, in his personal appearance. Probably his name, from the beginning, was Sundara. ... In the inscriptions belonging to the period of his reign he is invariably represented, not as a joint king or viceroy, but as an absolute monarch ruling over an extensive tract of country, including the Chola country or Tanjore, and Conjeveram, and as the only possessor for the time being of the title Pandi Devar. It is clear from the agree- ment of Rashiduddin with Marco Polo that Sundara Pandi's power was shared in some way with his brothers, but it seems certain also from the inscription that there was a sense in which he alone was king." I do not give the whole of Dr. Caldwell's remarks on this subject, because, the 3rd volume of Elliot not being then published, he had not before him the whole of the information from the Mussulman historians which shows so clearly that two princes bearing the name of Sundara Pandi are mentioned by them, and because I cannot see my way to adopt his view, great as is the weight due to his opinion on any such question. Extraordinary darkness hangs over the chronology of the South Indian kingdoms, as we may judge from the fact that Dr. Caldwell would have thus placed at the end of the 13th century, on the evidence of Polo and Rashiduddin, the reign of the last of the genuine Pandya kings, whom other calculations place earher even by centuries. Thus, to omit views more extravagant, Mr. Nelson, the learned official historian of Madura, 31 8 MARCO POLO. Book III. supposes it on the whole most probable that Kun Pandya, alias Sundara, reigned in the latter half of the nth century. "The Sri Tala Book, which appears to have been written about 60 years ago, and was probably compiled from brief Tamil chronicles then in existence, states that the Pandya race became extinct upon the death of Kiln Pandya ; and the children of concubines and of younger brothers who (had) lived in former ages, fought against one another, split up the country into factions, and got themselves crowned, and ruled one in one place, another in another. But none of these families succeeded in getting possession of Madura, the capital, which consequently fell into decay. And further on it tells us, rather inconsistently, that up to a.d. 1324 the kings 'who ruled the Madura country were part of the time Pandyas, at other times foreigners.' " And a variety of traditions referred to by Mr. Nelson appears to interpose such a period of unsettlement and shifting and divided sovereignty, extending over a considerable time, between the end of the genuine Pandya Dynasty and the Mahomedan invasion ; whilst lists of numerous princes who reigned in this period have been handed down. Now we have just seen that the Mahomedan invasion took place in 131 1, and we must throw aside the traditions and the lists altogether if we suppose that the Sundara Pandi of 1292 was the last prince of the Old Line. Indeed, though the indication is faint, the manner in which Wassdf speaks of Polo's Sundara and his brothers as having established themselves in different territories, and as in constant war with each other, is suggestive of the state of unsettlement which the Sri Tala and the traditions describe. There is a difficulty in co-ordinating these four or five brothers at constant war, whom Polo found in possession of different provinces of Ma'bar about 1 290, with the Devar Kalesa, of whom Wassd,f speaks as slain in 13 10 after a prosperous reign of 40 years. Possibly the brothers were adventurers who had divided the coast districts, whilst Kalesa still reigned with a more legitimate claim at Shahr-Mandi or Madura. And it is worthy of notice that the Ceylon Annals call the Pandi king whose array carried off the sacred tooth in 1303 Kulasaikera, a name which we may easily believe to represent Wassif s Kalesa. {Nelsotis Madura, 55, 67, 71-75 ; Tumour's Epitome, p. 47.) As regards the position of the port of Ma'bar visited, but not named, by Marco Polo, and at or near which his Sundara Pandi seems to have resided, I am inclined to look for it rather in Tanjore than on the Gulf of Manar south of the Rameshwaram shallows. The difficulties in this view are the indication of its being " 60 miles west of Ceylon," and the special mention of the Pearl Fishery in connexion with it. We cannot however lay much stress upon Polo's orientation. When his general direction is from east to west, every new place reached is for him west of that last visited ; whilst the Kaveri Delta is as near the north point of Ceylon as Ramnad is to Aripo. The pearl difficulty may be solved by the probability that the dominion of Sonder Bandi extended to the coast of the Gulf of Manar. Chap. XVI. "CHINA" PAGODA AT NEGAPATAM. 319 On the other hand Polo, below (chap, xx.), calls the province of Sundara Pandi Soli, which we can scarcely doubt to be Chola or Sola- desam, i. e. Tanjore. He calls it also " the best and noblest Province of India," a description which even with his limited knowledge of India he would scarcely apply to the coast of Ramnad, but which might be justifi- ably applied to the well-watered plains of Tanjore, even when as yet Arthur Cotton was not. Let it be noticed too that Polo in speaking (chapter xix.) of Mutfili (or Telingana) specifies its distance from Ma'bar as if he had made the run by sea from one to the other ; but afterwards when he proceeds to speak of Call, which stands on the Gulf of Manar, he does not specify its position or distance in regard to Sundara Pandi's territory ; an omission which he would not have been likely to make had both lain on the Gulf of Manar. Abulfeda tells us that the capital of the Prince of Ma'bar, who was the great horse-importer, was called Biyarddwal* a name which now appears in the extracts from Amir Khusru (Elliot, III. 90-91) 2ABirdhul, the capital of Bir Pandi mentioned above, whilst Madura was the resi- dence of his brother, the later Sundara Pandi. And from the indications in those extracts it can be gathered, I think, that Birdhul was not far from the Kaveri (called K^nobari), not far from the sea, and S or 6 days' march from Madura. These indications point to Tanjore, Kombakonam, or some other city in or near the Kaveri Delta.j I should suppose that this Birdhul was the capital of Polo's Sundara Pandi, and that the port visited was Kaveripattanam. This was a great sea-port at one of the mouths of the Kaveri, which is said to have been destroyed by an inun- dation about the year 1300. According to Mr. Burnell it was the " Pattanam ' par excellence ' of the Coromandel Coast, and the great port of the Chola kingdom." f Some corroboration of the supposition that the Tanjore ports were those frequented by Chinese trade may be found in the fact that a remarkable Pagoda of uncemented brickwork, about a mile to the N.W. of Negapatam, popularly bears (or bore) the name of the Chinese Pagoda. I do not mean to imply that the building was Chinese, but that the application of that name to a ruin of strange character pointed to some tradition of Chinese visitors.§ Sir Walter Elliot, to whom I am indebted t My learned friend Mr. A. Burnell suggests that Birdhul must have been Vriddachalam, Virdachellam of the maps, which is in South Arcot, about 50 miles north of Tanjore. There are old and well-known temples there, and relics of forti- fications. It is a rather famous place of pilgrimage. X It was also perhaps the Fattan of the Mahomedan writers ; but in that case its destruction must have been after Ibn Batuta's time (say middle of 14th century). § I leave this passage as it stood in the first edition. It is a mistake, but this mistake led to the engraving of Sir W. Elliot's sketch (perhaps unique) of a very interesting building which has disappeared. Dr. Caldwell writes : "The native name was 'the 320 MARCO POLO. Book III. for the sketch of it given here, states that this building differed essentially from any type of Hindu architecture with which he was acquainted, but being without inscription or sculpture it was impossible to assign to it any authentic origin. Negapatam was, however, cele- brated as a seat of Buddhist worship, and this may have been a remnant Chinese Pagoda (so called) at Negapatam. From a sketch taken in 1846 by Sir Walter Elliot. of their work. In 1846 it consisted of 3 stories divided by cornices of stepped brickwork. The interior was open to the top, and showed the marks of a floor about 20 feet from the ground. Its general appearance is shown by the cut. This interesting building was reported in 1859 to be in too dilapidated a state for repair, and now exists no longer. Sir W. Elliot also tells me that collectors employed by him picked up in the sand, at several stations on this coast, numerous Byzantine and Chinese Jaina Tower,'' turned by the English into China and Chinese. This I was told in Nega- patam 30 years ago, but to make sure of the matter I have now written to Negapatam, and obtained from the Munsiff of the place confirmation of what I had heard long ago. It bore also the name of the ' Tower of the Malla' The Chalukya Malla kings were at one time Jainas. The ' Seven Pagodas ' near Madras bear their name, yiorMallei puram, and their power may at one time have extended as far south as Negapatam." I have no 'doubt Dr. Caldwell is right in substance, but the name China Pagoda at Negapatam is at least as old as Baldaeus (1672, p. 149), and the ascription to the Chinese is in Valentyn (1726, torn. v. p. 6). It is, I find, in the Atlas of India, " Jayne Pagoda." Chap. XVI. THE PEARL-FISHERY. 321 as well as Hindu coins.* The brickwork of the pagoda, as described by him, very fine and closely fitted but without cement, corresponds to that of the Burmese and Ceylonese medieval Buddhist buildings. The architecture has a slight resemblance to that of PoUanarua in Ceylon (see Fergusson, II. p. 512). (Abulf. in Gildemeister, p. 185 ; Nelson, part II. p. 27 seqq. ; Taylor's Catalogue Raisonne, III. 386-89.) Ma'bar is mentioned {Mafarh) in the Chinese Annals as one of the foreign kingdoms which sent tribute to Kublai in 1286 {supra, p. 239) ; and Pauthier has given some very curious and novel extracts from Chinese sources regarding the diplomatic intercourse with Ma'bar in 1280 and the following years. Among other points these mention the " five brothers who were Sultans " (Suantaii), an envoy Chamalating (Jumaluddi'n) who had been sent from Ma'bar to the Mongol Court, &c. (see pp. 603 seqq.). Note 2. — Marco's account of the pearl-fishery is still substantially correct. Bettelar the rendezvous of the fishery was, I imagine, Patlam on the coast of Ceylon, called by Ibn Batuta Batthdla. Though the centre of the pearl-fishery is now at Aripo and Kondachi further north, its site has varied sometimes as low as Chilaw, the name of which is a corruption of that given by the Tamuls, Saldbham, which means " the Diving," i. e. the Pearl-fishery. Tennent gives the meaning erroneously as " the Sea of Gain." I owe the correction to Dr. Caldwell. {Ceylon, I. 440 ; Pridham, 409 ; Ibn. Bat. IV. 166 ; Ribeyro, ed. Columbo, 1847, App. p. 196.) The shark-charmers do not now seem to have any claim to be called Abraiaman or Brahmans, but they may have been so in former days. At the diamond-mines of the northern Circars Brahmans are employed in the analogous office of propitiating the tutelary genii. The shark-charmers are called in Tamul Kadal-Katti, "Sea-binders," and in Hindustani ZTa/- banda or " Shark-binders." At Aripo they belong to one family, supposed to have the monopoly of the charm. The chief operator is (or was, not many years ago) paid by Government, and he also received ten oysters from each boat daily during the fishery. Tennent, on his visit, found the incumbent of the office to be a Roman Catholic Christian, but that did not seem to affect the exercise or the validity of his functions. It is remarkable that when Tennent wrote, not more than one authenticated accident from sharks had taken place, during the whole period of the British occupation. The time of the fishery is a little earlier than Marco mentions, viz., in March and April, just between the cessation of the N.E. and com- mencement of the S.W. monsoon. His statement of the depth is quite correct; the diving is carried on in water of 4 to 10 fathoms deep, and never in a greater depth than thirteen. * Col. Mackenzie also mentions Chinese coins as found on this coast (J. R. A. S. I- 352-353)- VOL. II. Y 322 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. I do not know the site of the other fishery to which he alludes as prac- tised in September and October ; but the time implies shelter from the S.W. Monsoon, and it was probably on the east side of the island, where in 1750 there was a fishery, at Trincomalee. {Stewart in Trans. R. A. S. III. 456 seqg. ; Fridham, u. s. ; Tennent, II. 564-5 ; Ribeyro, as above, App. p. 196.) CHAPTER XVII. Continues to speak of the Province of Maabar. You must know that in all this Province of Maabar there is never a Tailor to cut a coat or stitch it, seeing that everybody goes naked ! For decency only do they wear a scrap of cloth ; and so 'tis with men and women, with rich and poor, aye, and with the King himself, except what I am going to mention.' It is a fact that the King goes as bare as the rest, only round his loins he has a piece of fine cloth, and round his neck he has a necklace entirely of precious stones, — rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and the like, insomuch that this collar is of great value.'' He wears also hanging in front of his chest from the neck downwards, a fine silk thread strung with 104 large pearls and rubies of great price. The reason why he wears this cord with the 104 great pearls and rubies, is (according to what they tell) that every day, morning and evening, he has to say 104 prayers to his idols. Such is their religion and their custom. And thus did all the Kings his ancestors before him, and they bequeathed the string of pearls to him that he should do the like. [The prayer that they say daily consists of these words, Pacauta! Pacauta! Pacauta ! And this they repeat 104 times. 3] The King aforesaid also wears on his arms three golden bracelets thickly set with pearls of great value, and anklets also of like kind he wears on his legs, and rings on his toes Chap. XVIL. THE PROVINCE OF MAABAR. ^23 likewise. So let me tell you what this King wears, between gold and gems and pearls, is worth more than a city's ransom. And 'tis no wonder ; for he hath great store of such gear; and besides they are found in his kingdom. Moreover nobody is permitted to take out of the kingdom a pearl weighing more than half a saggio, unless he manages to do it secretly .'^ This order has been given because the King desires to reserve all such to himself; and so in fact the quantity he has is something almost incredible. More- over several times every year he sends his proclamation through the realm that if any one who possesses a pearl or stone of great value will bring it to him, he will pay for it twice as much as it cost. Everybody is glad to do this, and thus the King gets all into his own hands, giving every man his price. Furthermore, this King hath some five hundred wives, for whenever he hears of a beautiful damsel he takes her to wife. Indeed he did a very sorry deed as I shall tell you. For seeing that his brother had a handsome wife, he took her by force and kept her for himself. His brother, being a discreet man, took the thing quietly and made no noise about it. The King hath many children. And there are about the King a number of Barons in attendance upon him. These ride with him, and keep always near him, and have great authority in the kingdom ; they are called the King's Trusty Lieges. And you must know that when the King dies, and they put him on the fire to burn him, these Lieges cast themselves into the fire round about his body, and suffer themselves to be burnt along with him. For they say they have been his comrades in this world, and that they ought also to keep him com- pany in the other world.^ When the King dies none of his children dares to touch his treasure. For they say, " as our father did gather together all this treasure, so we ought to accumulate as much in our turn." And in this way it comes to pass that Y 2 324 MARCO POLO. Book III. there is an immensity of treasure accumulated in this kingdom.* Here are no horses bred ; and thus a great part of the wealth of the country is wasted in purchasing horses ; I will tell you how. You must know that the merchants of Kis and HoRMES, Dopar and Soer and Aden collect great . numbers of destriers and other horses, and these they bring to the territories of this King and of his four brothers, who are kings likewise as I told you. For a horse will fetch among them 500 saggi of gold, worth more than 100 marks of silver, and vast numbers are sold there every year. Indeed this King wants to buy more than aooo horses every year, and so do his four brothers who are kings likewise. The reason why they want so many horses every year is that by the end of the year there shall not be one hundred of them remaining, for they all die off. And this arises from mismanagement, for those people do not know in the least how to treat a horse ; and besides they have no farriers. The horse-merchants not only never bring any farriers with them, but also prevent any farrier from going thither, lest that should in any degree baulk the sale of horses, which brings them in every year such vast gains. They bring these horses by sea aboard ship.' They have in this country the custom which I am going to relate. When a man is doomed to die for any crime, he may declare that he will put himself to death in honour of such or such an idol ; and the government then grants him permission to do so. His kinsfolk and friends then set him up on a cart, and provide him with twelve knives, and proceed to conduct him all about the city, proclaiming aloud: "This valiant man is going to slay himself for the love of (such an idol)." And when they be come to the place of execution he takes a knife and sticks it through his arm, and cries : " I slay myself for the love of (such a god) ! " Then he takes another knife and sticks it through his other arm, and takes a third knife Chap. XVII. THE PROVINCE OF- MAABAR. 325 and runs it into his belly, and so on until he kills himself outright. And when he is dead his kinsfolk take the body and burn it with a joyful celebration.^ Many of the women also, when their husbands die and are placed on the pile to be burnt, do burn themselves along with the bodies. And such women as do this have great praise from all.9 The people are Idolaters, and many of them worship the ox, because (say they), it is a creature of such excel- lence. They would not eat beef for anything in the world, nor would they on any account kill an ox. But there is another class of people who are called Govy, and these are very glad to eat beef, though they dare not kill the animal. Howbeit if an ox dies, naturally or otherwise, then they eat him.'° And let me tell you, the people of this country have a custom of rubbing their houses all over with cow-dung." Moreover all of them, great and small. King and Barons included, do sit upon the ground only, and the reason they give is that this is the most honourable way to sit, because we all spring from the Earth and to the Earth we must return ; so no one can pay the Earth too much honour, and no one ought to despise it. And about that race of Govis, I should tell you that nothing on earth would induce them to enter the place where Messer St. Thomas is — I mean where his body lies, which is in a certain city of the province of Maabar. Indeed, were even 20 or 30 men to lay hold of one of these Govis and to try to hold him in the place where the Body of the Blessed Apostle of Jesus Christ lies buried, they could not do it ! Such is the influence of the Saint ; for it was by people of this generation that he was slain, as you shall presently hear.'^ No wheat grows in this province, but rice only. And another strange thing to be told is that there is no possibility of breeding horses in this country, as hath often 326 MARCO POLO. Book III. been proved by trial. For even when a great blood-mare here has been covered by a great blood-horse, the produce is nothing but a wretched wry-legged weed, not fit to ride.'3 The people of the country go to battle all naked, with only a lance and a shield; and they are most wretched soldiers. They will kill neither beast nor bird, nor any- thing that hath life ; and for such animal food as they eat, they make the Saracens, or others who are not of their own religion, play the butcher. It is their practice that every one, male and female, do wash the whole body twice every day ; and those who do not wash are looked on much as we look on the Patarins. [You must know also that in eating they use the right hand only, and would on no account touch their food with the left hand. All cleanly and becoming uses are minis- tered to by the right hand, whilst the left is reserved for uncleanly and disagreeable necessities, such as cleansing the secret parts of the body and the like. So also they drink only from drinking vessels, and every man hath his own ; nor will any one drink from another's vessel. And when they drink they do not put the vessel to the lips, but hold it aloft and let the drink spout into the mouth. No one would on any account touch the vessel with his mouth, nor give a stranger drink with it. But if the stranger have no vessel of his own they will pour the drink into his hands and he may thus drink from his hands as from a cup. J They are very strict in executing justice upon criminals, and as strict in abstaining from wine. Indeed they have made a rule that wine-drinkers and seafaring men are never to be accepted as sureties. For they say that to be a seafaring man is all the same as to be an utter desperado, and that his testimony is good for nothing.* Howbeit they look on lechery as no sin. * " Audax omnia perpeti" &c. Chap. XVII. THE PROVINCE OF MAABAR. 327 [They have the following rule about debts. If a debtor shall have been several times asked by his creditor for pay- ment, and shall have put him off from day to day with proriiises, then if the creditor can once meet the debtor and succeed in drawing a circle round him, the latter must not pass out of this circle until he shall have satisfied the claim, or given security for its discharge. If he in any other case presume to pass the circle he is punished with death as a transgressor against right and justice. And the said Messer Marco, when in this kingdom on his return home, did himself witness a case of this. It was the King, who owed a foreign merchant a certain sum of money, and though the claim had often been presented, he always put it off with promises. Now, one day when the King was riding through the city, the merchant found his oppor- tunity, and drew a circle round both King and horse. The King, on seeing this, halted, and would ride no further; nor did he stir from the spot until the merchant was satisfied. And when the bystanders saw this they marvelled greatly, saying that the King was a most just King indeed, having thus submitted to justice.'*] You must know that the heat here is sometimes so great that 'tis something wonderful. And rain falls only for three months in the year, viz., in June, July, and August. Indeed but for the rain that falls in these three months, refreshing the earth and cooling the air, the drought would be so great that no one could exist.'^ They have many experts in an art which they call Phy- siognomy, by which they discern a man's character and qualities at once. They also know the import of meeting with any particular bird or beast ; for such omens are regarded by them more than by any people in the world. Thus if a man is going along the road and hears some one sneeze, if he deems it (say) a good token for himself he goes on, but if otherwise he stops a bit, or peradventure turns back altogether from his journey.'* 328 MARCO polo; Book III. As soon as a child is born they write down his nativity, that is to say the day and hour, the month, and the moon's age. This custom they observe because every single thing they do is done with reference to astrology, and by advice of diviners skilled in Sorcery and Magic and Geomancy, and such like diabolical arts ; and some of them are also acquainted with Astrology. [All parents who have male children, as soon as these have attained the age of 13, dismiss them from their home, and do not allow them further maintenance in the family. For they say that the boys are then of an age to get their living by trade ; so off they pack them with some twenty or four-and-twenty groats, or at least with money equivalent to that. And these urchins are running about all day from pillar to post, buying and selling. At the time of the pearl-fishery they run to the beach and purchase, from the fishers or others, five or six pearls, according to their ability, and take these to the merchants, who are keeping indoors for fear of the sun, and say to them : " These cost me such a price ; now give me what profit you please on them." So the merchant gives something over the cost price for their profit. They do in the same way with many other articles, so that they become trained to be very dex- terous and keen traders. And every day they take their food to their mothers to be cooked and served, but do not eat a scrap at the expense of their fathers.] In this kingdom and all over India the birds and beasts are entirely different from ours, all but one bird which is exactly Hke ours, and that is the Quail. But everything else is totally different. For example they have bats, — I mean those birds that fly by night and have no feathers of any kind ; well their birds of this kind are as big as a goshawk! Their goshawks again are as black as crows, a good deal bigger than ours, and very swift and sure. Another strange thing is that they feed their horses with boiled rice and boiled meat, and various other kinds Chap. XVII. THE PROVINCE OF MAABAR. 329 of cooked food. That is the reason why all the horses die off/' They have certain abbeys in which are gods and god- desses to whom many young girls are consecrated ; their fathers and mothers presenting them to that idol for which they entertain the greatest devotion. And when the [monks] of a convent* desire to make a feast to their god, they send for all those consecrated damsels and make them sing and dance before the idol with great festivity. They also bring meats to feed their idol withal ; that is to say, the damsels prepare dishes of meat and other good things and put the food before the idol, and leave it there a good while, and then the damsels all go to their dancing and singing and festivity for about as long as a great Baron might require to eat his dinner. By that time they say the spirit of the idols has consumed the substance of the food, so they remove the viands to be eaten by themselves with great jollity. This is performed by these damsels several times every year until they are married.'^ [The reason assigned for summoning the damsels to these feasts is, as the monks say, that the god is vexed and angry with the goddess, and will hold no communication with her ; and they say that if peace be not established between them things will go from bad to worse, and they never will bestow their grace and benediction. So they make those girls come in the way described, to dance and sing, all but naked, before the god and the goddess. And those people believe that the god often solaces himself with the society of the goddess. The men of this country have their beds made of very light canework, so arranged that, when they have got in and are going to sleep, they are drawn up by cords nearly to the ceiling and fixed there for the night. This is done to get out of the way of tarantulas which give terrible * The G. T. has nuns, '^ Li nosnain do viostier^' But in Ramusio it is monks, which is more probable, and I have adopted it. 330 MARCO POLO. Book III. bites, as well as of fleas and such vermin, and at the same time to get as much air as possible in the great heat which prevails in that region. Not that everybody does this, but only the nobles and great folks, for the others sleep on the streets. '9] Now I have told you about this kingdom of the pro- vince of Maabar, and I must pass on to the other king- doms of the same province, for I have much to tell of their peculiarities. Note 1. — The non-existence of tailors is not a mere figure of speech. Sundry learned pundits have been of opinion that the ancient Hindu knew no needle-made clothing, and Col. Meadows Taylor has alleged that they had not even a word for the tailor's craft in their language. These opinions have been patriotically refuted by Bibii R^jendraMl Mitra. (Proc. Ass. Soc. B. 187 1, p. 100.) Ibn Batuta describes the King of Calicut, the great " Zamorin," coming down to the beach to see the wreck of certain Junks ; — " his clothing consisted of a great piece of white stuff rolled about him from the navel to the knees, and a little scrap of a turban on his head ; his feet were bare, and a young slave carried an umbrella over him. (IV. 97.) Note 2. — The necklace taken from the neck of the Hindu King Jaipdl, captured by Mahmdd in a.d. iooi, was composed of large pearls, rubies, &c., and was valued at 200,000 dinars, or a good deal more than 100,000/. (Elliot, II. 26.) Compare Correa's account of the King of Calicut, in Stanley's V. da Gama, 194. Note 3. — The word is printed in Ramusio Pacauca, but no doubt Pacauta is the true reading. Dr. Caldwell has favoured me with a note on this : " The word .... was probably Bagavd or Pagav&, the Tamil form of the vocative of Bhagavata, ' Lord,' pronounced in the Tamil manner. This word is frequently repeated by Hindus of all sects in the utterance of their sacred formulae, especially by Vaishnava devotees, some of whom go about repeating this one word alone. When I men- tioned Marco Polo's word to two learned Hindus at different times, they said, ' No doubt he meant Bagava.'* The Saiva Rosary contains 32 beads ; the doubled form of the same, sometimes used, contains 64 ; the Vaishnava Rosary contains 108. Possibly the latter may have been meant by Marco." M. Pauthier has suggested the same explanation in his notes. Chap. XVII. "TRUSTY LIEGES." 331 Ward says : " The Hindds believe the repetition of the name of God is an act of adoration .... Jdpd (as this act is called) makes an essen- tial part of the daily worship. . . . The worshipper, taking a string of beads, repeats the name of his guardian deity, or that of any other god, counting by his beads 10, 28, 108, 208, adding to every 108 not less than 100 more. (Madras ed. 1863, p. 217-18.) No doubt the number in the text should have been 108, which is ap- parently a mystic number among both Brahmans and Buddhists. Thus at Gautama's birth 108 Brahmans were summoned to foretell his destiny ; round the great White Pagoda at Peking are 108 pillars for illumination ; 108 is the number of volumes constituting the Tibetan scripture called Kahgyur ; the merit of copying this work is enhanced by the quality of the ink used, thus a copy in red is 108 times more meritorious than one in black, one in silver 108^ times, one in gold 108^ times; according to the Malabar Chronicle Parasurama established in that country 108 Iswars, 108 places of worship, and 108 Durga images ; there are said to be 108 shrines of especial sanctity in India ; there are 108 Upanishads (a certain class of mystical Brahmanical sacred literature) ; 108 rupees is frequently a sum devoted to alms ; the rules of the Chinese Triad Society assign 108 blows as the punishment for certain offences ; — 108, according to Athenaeus, were the suitors of Penelope ! I find a Tibetan Tract quoted (by Koeppen, II. 284) as entitled "The Entire Victor over all the 104 Devils,'' and this is the only example I have met with of 104 as a mystic number. Note 4. — The Saggio, here as elsewhere, probably stands for the Miskdl. Note 5. — This is stated also by Abu Zaid in the beginning of the loth century. And Reinaud in his note refers to Mas'udi, who has a like passage in which he gives a name to these companions exactly corre- sponding to Polo's Feoilz or Trusty Lieges : " When a King in India dies, many persons voluntarily burn themselves with him. These are called Baldnjar'tyah (sing. Baldnjar), as if you should say ' Faithful Friends ' of the deceased, whose life was life to them, and whose death was death to them.'' {Anc. Rel. I. 121 and note; Mas. II. 85,) On the murder of Ajit Singh of Marwar, by two of his sons, there were 84 satis, and " so much was he beloved," says Tod, " that even men devoted themselves on his pyre " (I. 744). The same thing occurred at the death of the Sikh Giird Hargovind in 1645 (H. of Sikhs, p. 62). Barbosa briefly notices an institution like that described by Polo, in reference to the King of Narsinga, i. e. Vijayanagar {Ram. I. i. 302). Another form of the same bond seems to be that mentioned by other travellers as prevalent in Malabar, where certain of the Nairs bore the name oi Anmki, and were bound not only to defend the King's life with their own, but, if he fell, to sacrifice themselves by dashing among the enemy and slaying until slain. Even Christian churches in Malabar had 33^ MARCO POLO. Book III. such hereditary AmuM. (See F. Vine. Maria, Bk. IV. ch. vii., and Cesare Federici in Ram. III. 390, also Faria y Sousa, by Stevens, I. 348). There can be little doubt that this is the Malay Amuk, which would therefore appear to be of Indian origin, both in name and practice. I see that De Gubernatis, without noticing the Malay phrase, traces the term applied to the Malabar champions to the Sanskrit Amokhya, " in- dissoluble," and Amiikia, " not free, bound " {Pice. Eneic. Ind. I. 88). The same practice, by which the followers of a defeated prince devote themselves in amuk {vulgo running a-muek)* is called in the island of Bali Fela, a term applied also to one kind of female Sati, probably from S. Fali, " a sacrifice." (See Friedrich in Batavian Trans. XXIII.) In the first syllable of the Baldnjar of Mas'udi we have probably the same word. A similar institution is mentioned by Caesar among the Sotiates, a tribe of Aqiiitania. The Fioilz of the chief were 600 in number and were called Soldurii ; they shared all his good things in life and were bound to share with him in death also. Such also was a custom among the Spanish Iberians, and the name of these Amuki sig- nified '' sprinkled for sacrifice." Other generals, says Plutarch, might find a few such among their personal staff and dependents, but Sertorius was followed by many myriads who had thus devoted themselves. Procopius relates of the White Huns that the richer among them used to entertain a circle of friends, some score or more, as perpetual guests and partners of their wealth. But, when the chief died, the whole company were expected to go down alive into the tomb with him. The King of the Russians, in the tenth century, according to Ibn FozMn, was attended by 400 followers bound by like vows. And according to some writers the same practice was common in Japan, where the friends and vassals who were under the vow committed hara kiri at the death of their patron. The Likamankwas of the Abyssinian kings, who in battle wear the same dress with their master to mislead the enemy — " Six Richmonds in the field" — form apparently a kindred institution (Bell. Gall. iii. c. 22 ; Flutarch. in Vit. Sertorii; Procop. De B. Pers. I. 3 ; Jbn Fozlanhy Fraehn, p. 22; Sonnerat, I. 97). Note 6. — However frequent may have been wars between adjoining states, the south of the peninsula appears to have been for ages free from foreign invasion until the Dehli expeditions, which occurred a few years later than our traveller's visit; and there are many testimonies to the enormous accumulations of treasure. Gold, according to the Masdlak-al-Absdr, had been flowing into India for 3000 years, and had never been exported. Firishta speaks of the enormous spoils carried off by Malik Kdfiir, every soldier's share amounting to 25 lbs. of gold I Some years later Mahomed Tughlak loads 200 elephants and several * Running a-iimc/i in the genuine Malay fashion is not unknown among the Rajpiits ; see two notable instances in Tod, II. 45, and 315. Chap. XVII. THE HORSE TRADE. ^^^ thousand bullocks with the precious spoil of a single temple. We have quoted a like statement from Wass^f as to the wealth found in the treasury of this very Sundara Pandi Dewar, but the same author goes far beyond this when he tells that Kales Dewar, Raja of Ma'bar about 1309, had accumulated 1200 crores of gold, i. e. 12,000 millions of dinars, enough to girdle the earth with a fourfold belt of bezants ! {N. and E. XIII. 218, 220-1; Briggs's Firishta, I. 373-4; Hammer's Ilkhans, II. 205.) Note 7. — Of the ports mentioned as exporting horses to India we have already made acquaintance with Kais and Hormuz ; of Dofar and Aden we shall hear further on ; Soer is Sohar, the former capital of Oman, and still a place of some little trade. Edrisi calls it " one of the oldest cities of Oman, and of the richest. Anciently it was frequented by merchants from all parts of the world ; and voyages to China used to be made from it." (I. 152.) Rashiduddin and Wassdf have identical statements about the horse- trade, and so similar to Polo's in this chapter that one almost suspects that he must have been their authority. Wassdf says : " It was a matter of agreement that Malik-ul-IsMm Jamiluddin and the merchants should embark every year from the island of Kais and land at Ma'bar 1400 horses of his own breed It was also agreed that he should em- bark as many as he could procure from all the isles of Persia, such as K^tif, Lahsi, Bahrein, Hurmuz, and Kalhd,tii. The price of each horse was fixed from of old at 220 dinars of red gold, on this condition, that if any horses should happen to die, the value of them should be paid from the royal treasury. It is related by authentic writers that in the reign of Atdbek Abu Bakr (of Fars) 10,000 horses were annually exported from these places to Ma'bar, Kambiyat, and other ports in their neigh- bourhood, and the sum total of their value amounted to 2,200,000 dinars. .... They bind them for 40 days in a stable with ropes and pegs, in order that they may get fat ; and afterwards, without taking measures for training, and without stirrups and other appurtenances of riding, the Indian soldiers ride upon them like demons In a short time the most strong, swift, fresh, and active horses become weak, slow, useless, and stupid. In short, they all become wretched and good for nothing. .... There is, therefore, a constant necessity of getting new horses annually." Amir Khusru mentions among Malik Kafiir's plunder in Ma'bar, 5000 Arab and Syrian horses. {Elliot, III. 34, 93.) The price mentioned by Polo appears to be intended for 500 dinars, which in the then existing relations of the precious metals in Asia would be worth just about 100 marks of silver. Wassd,f's price, 220 dinars of red gold, seems very inconsistent with this, but is not so materially, for it would appear that the dinar of red gold (so called) was worth two dinars* * See yourn. Asiat. ser. 6, torn. xi. pp. 505 and 512. May not the dindr of red gold have been the gold mohr of those days, popularly known as the red tanga, which 334 MARCO POLO. Book III. I noted an early use of the term Arab chargers in the famous Bodleian copy of the Alexander Romance (1338) : " Alexand' descent du destrier Arrabis.'' Note 8. — I have not found other mention of a condemned criminal being allowed thus to sacrifice himself; but such suicides in performance of religious vows have occurred in almost all parts of India in all ages. Friar Jordanus, after giving a similar account to that in the text of the parade of the victim, represents him as cutting off his own head before the idol, with a peculiar two-handled knife " like those used in currying leather." And strange as this sounds it is undoubtedly true. Ibn Batuta witnessed the suicidal feat at the Court of the Pagan King of Mul-Java (somewhere on the coast of the Gulf of Siam), and Mr. Ward, without any knowledge of these authorities, had heard that an instru- ment for this purpose was formerly preserved at Kshira, a village of Bengal near Nadiya. The thing was called Karavat ; it was a crescent- shaped knife, with chains attached to it forming stirrups, so adjusted that when the fanatic placed the edge to the back of his neck and his feet in the stirrups, by giving the latter a violent jerk his head was cut off. Padre Tiefifentaller mentions a like instrument at Prdg (or Alla- habad). Durgavati, a famous Queen on the Nerbada, who fell in battle with the troops of Akbar, is asserted in a family inscription to have " severed her own head with a scimitar she held in her hand." Accord- ing to a wild legend told at Ujjain, the great king Vikramajit was in the habit of cutting off his own head daily, as an offering to Devi. On the last performance the head failed to reattach itself as usual : and it is now preserved, petrified, in the temple of Harsuddi at that place. I never heard of anybody in Europe performing this extraordinary feat except Sir Jonah Barrington's Irish mower, who made a dig at a salmon with the butt of his scythe-handle and dropt his own head in the pool ! [Jord. 33 ; / -5. IV. 246 ; Ward, Madras ed. 249-50 ;_/ A. S. B. XVII. 833 ; Rds Mala, 11. 387.) Note 9. — Satis were very numerous in parts of S. India. In 1815 there were one hundred in Tanjore alone. {Ritter, VI. 303 ; J. Cathay, p. 80). Note 10. — •" The people in this part of the country (Southern Mysore) consider the ox as a living god, who gives them bread; and in every village there are one or two bulls to whom weekly or monthly worship is performed." I^F. Buchanan, II. 174.) "The low-caste Hindus, called Gavi by Marco Polo, were probably the caste now called Paraiyar (by the English, Pariahs). The people of this caste do not venture to kill the cow, but when they find the carcase of a cow which Ibn Batuta repeatedly tells us was equal to 2J dinars of the west. 2:0 red tangas would be equivalent to 550 western dinars, or saggi of Polo (^Elliot, II. 332, III. 582). Chap. XVII. CURIOUS CUSTOM OF ARREST. 335 has died from disease, or any other cause, they cook and eat it. The name Paraiyar, which means ■ ' Drummers,' does not appear to be ancient." * {Note by the Rev. Dr. Caldwell.) In the history of Sind called Chach Namah, the Hindus revile the Mahomedan invaders as Chanddls and cow-eaters {Elliot, I. 172, 193). The low castes are often styled from their unrestricted diet, e. g. Haldl' Khor (P. " to whom all food is lawful "), Sab-khawa (H. " omnivorous "). Bdbii RdjendraMl Mitra has published a learned article on Beef in ancient India, showing that the ancient Brahmans were far from enter- taining the modern horror of cow-killing. We may cite two of his numerous illustrations. Goghna, " a guest,'' signifies literally " a cow- killer,'' i. e. he for whom a cow is killed. And one of the sacrifices prescribed in the S-Atras bears the name of Sula-gava " spit-cow," /. e. roast beef {J. A. S. B. XLI. Pt. I. p. 174 seqq.). Note 11. — The word in the G. T. is losci de buef, which Pauthier's text has converted into suif de buef — in reference to Hindus a prepos- terous statement. Yet the very old Latin of the Soc. Geog. also has pinguedinem, and in a parallel passage about the Jogis {infra, chap, xx.), Ramusio's text describes them as daubing themselves with powder of OTi-bones {Fossa). Apparently Fosci was not understood (It. uscito). Note 12. — Later travellers describe the descendants of St. Thomas's murderers as marked by having one leg of immense size, i. e. by elephan- tiasis. The disease was therefore called by the Portuguese Pejo de Santo Toma. Note 13, — Mr. Nelson says of the Madura country : " The horse is a miserable, weedy, and vicious pony ; having but one good quality, endurance. The breed is not indigenous, but the result of constant importations and a very limited amount of breeding." {The Madura Country, pt. ii. p. 94.) The ill success in breeding horses was exag- gerated to impossibility, and made to extend to all India. Thus a Persian historian, speaking of an elephant that was born in the stables of Khosru Parviz, observes that " never till then had a she-elephant borne young in Irin, any more than a lioness in Rum, a tabby cat in China (!), ox a mare in India." {J. A. S. ser. 3, torn. iii. p. 127.) Note 14. — This custom is described in much the same way by the Arabo-Persian Zakariah Kazwini, by Ludovico Varthema,' and by Alex- ander Hamilton. Kazwini ascribes it to Ceylon. " If a debtor does not pay, the King sends to him a person who draws a line round him, wheresoever he chance to be ; and beyond that circle he dares not to * I observe, however, that Sir Walter Elliot thinks it possible that the Paraya which appears on the oldest of Indian inscriptions as the name of a nation, coupled with Chola and Kerala (Coromandel and Malabar), is that of the modern despised tribe (J. Ethn. Soc. n. s. I, 103). 33^ MARCO POLO. Book III. move until he shall have paid what he owes, or come to an agreement with his creditor. For if he should pass the circle the King fines him three times the amount of his debt ; one- third of this fine goes to the creditor and two-thirds to the King." Pfere Bouchet describes the strict regard paid to the arrest, but does not notice the symbohc circle. {Gildem. 197; Varthema, 147 ; Ham. I. 318; Lett. Edif. XIV. 370.) " The custom undoubtedly prevailed in this part of India at a former time. It is said that it still survives amongst the poorer classes in out- of-the-way parts of the country, but it is kept up by schoolboys in a serio-comic spirit as vigorously as ever. Marco does not mention a very essential part of the ceremony. The person who draws a circle round another imprecates upon him the name of a particular divinity, whose curse is to fall upon him if he breaks through the circle without satisfying the claim." {MS. Note by the Rev. Dr. Caldwell.) Note 15. — The statement about the only rains falling in June, July, and August is perplexing. " It is entirely inapplicable to every part of the Coromandel coast, to which alone the name Ma'bar seems to have been given, but it is quite true of the western coast generally." {Rev. Dr. C.) One can only suppose that Polo inadvertently applied to Maabar that which he knew to be true of the regions both west of it and east of it. The Coromandel coast derives its chief supply of rain from the N.E. monsoon, beginning in October, whereas both eastern and western India have theirs from the S.W. monsoon, between June and September. Note 16. — Abraham Roger says of the Hindus of the Coromandel coast : " They judge of lucky hours and moments also by trivial acci- dents, to which they pay great heed. Thus 'tis held to be a good omen to everybody when the bird Garuda (which is a red hawk with a white ring round its neck) or the bird Pala flies across the road in front of the person from right to left; but as regards other birds they have just the opposite notion If they are in a house anywhere, and have moved to go, and then any one should sneeze, they will go in again, regarding it as an ill omen," &c. {Abr. Roger, p. 75-6.) Note 17. — Quoth Wassif: "It is a strange thing that when these horses arrive there, instead of giving them raw barley, they give them roasted barley and grain dressed with butter, and boiled cow's milk to drink : — " Who gives sugar to an owl or a crow ? Or who feeds a parrot with a carcase ? A crow should be fed with carrion, And a parrot with candy and sugar. Who loads jewels on the back of an ass ? Or who would approve of giving dressed almonds to a cow ? " Elliot, III. 33. \ " Horses," says Athanasius Nikitin, " are fed on peas ; also on Kicheri, Chap. XVII. TREATMENT OF IMPORTED HORSES. 337 boiled with sugar and oil; early in the morning they get shishenivor This last word is a mystery {India in XVth Century, p. lo). " Rice is frequently given by natives to their horses to fatten them, and a sheep's head occasionally to strengthen them" {Note by Br. Caldwell). The sheep's head is peculiar to the Deccan, but ghee (boiled butter) is given by natives to their horses, I believe, all over India. Even m the stables of Akbar an imperial horse drew daily 2 lbs. of flour, li lb. of sugar, and in winter -Jib. oighee! (Ain Akb. 134-) It is told of Sir John Malcolm that at an English table where he was present, a brother officer from India had ventured to speak of the sheep's- head custom to an unbelieving audience. He appealed to Sir John, who only shook his head deprecatingly. After dinner the unfortunate Pagoda at Tanjore. VOL. II. 338 MARCO POLO. Book III. story-teller remonstrated, but Sir John's answer was only, " My dear fellow, they took you for one Munchausen ; they would merely have taken me for another !" Note 18. — The nature of the institution of the Temple dancing-girls seems to have been scarcely understood by the Traveller. The like existed at ancient Corinth under the name of iep68ovXoi, which is nearly a translation of the Hindi name of the girls, Deva-ddsi [Strabo, VIII. 6, § 20). " Each (Disi) is married to an idol when quite young. The female children are generally brought up to the trade of the mothers. It is customary with a few castes to present their superfluous daughters to the Pagodas." {Nelson's Madura Country, pt. ii. 79.) A full account of this matter appears to have been read by Dr. Shortt of Madras before the Anthropological Society. But I have only seen a newspaper notice of it. Note 19. — The first part of this paragraph is rendered by Marsden : " The natives make use of a kind of bedstead or cot of very light cane- work, so ingeniously contrived that when they repose on them and are inclined to sleep, they can draw close the curtains about them by pulling a string." This is not translation. An approximate illustration of the real statement is found in Pyrard de la Val, who says (of the Maldive Islanders) : " Their beds are hung up by four cords to a bar supported by two pillars The beds of the king, the grandees, and rich folk are made thus that they may be swung and rocked with facility." {Charton, IV. 277.) In the Jids Mala swinging cots are several times alluded to (I. 173, 247, 423). In one case the bed is mentioned as sus- pended to the ceiling by chains. CHAPTER XVIII. Discoursing of the Place where lieth the Body of St. Thomas THE Apostle ; and of the Miracles thereof. The Body of Messer St. Thomas the Apostle lies in this province of Maabar at a certain little town having no great population ; *tis & place where few traders go, because there is very little merchandize to be got there, and it is a place not very accessible.' Both Christians and Saracens, how- ever, greatly frequent it in pilgrimage. For the Saracens also do hold the Saint in great reverence, and say that he Chap. XVIII. .SHRINE OF ST. THOMAS. 339 was one of their own Saracens and a great prophet, giving him the title of Avarian, which is as much as to say "Holy Man."'' The Christians who go thither in pil- grimage take of the earth from the place where the Saint was killed, and give a portion thereof to any one who is sick of a quartan or a tertian fever ; and by the power of God and of St. Thomas the sick man is incontinently cured.' The earth, I should tell you, is red.- A very fine miracle occurred there in the year of Christ, 1288, as I will now relate. A certain Baron of that country, having great store of a certain kind of corn that is called rice, had filled up with it all the houses that belonged to the church, and stood round about it. The Christian people in charge of the church were much distressed by his having thus stuffed their houses with his rice ; the pilgrims too had nowhere to lay their heads ; and they often begged the pagan Baron Ancient Cross with Pehlvi Inscription on St. Thomas's Mount, near Madras (from Photograph). Z 1 340 MARCO POLO. Book III. to remove his grain, but he would do nothing of the kind. So one night the Saint himself appeared with a fork in his hand, which he set at the Baron's throat, saying : " If thou void not my houses, that my pilgrims may have room, thou shalt die an evil death," and therewithal the Saint pressed hiiii so hard with the fork that he thought himself a dead man. And when morning came he caused all the houses to. be voided of his rice, and told everybody what had befallen him at the Saint's hands. So the Christians were greatly rejoiced at this grand miracle, and rendered thanks to God and to the blessed St. Thomas. Other great miracles do often come to pass there, such as the healing of those who are sick or deformed, or the like, especially such as be Christians. [The Christians who have charge of the church have a great number of the Indian Nut trees, whereby they get their living ; and they pay to one of those brother Kings six groats for each tree every month.*] Now, I will tell you the manner in which the Christian brethren who keep the church relate the story of the Saint's death. They tell that the Saint was in the wood outside his her- mitage saying his prayers ; and round about him were many peacocks, for these are more plentiful in that country than anywhere else. And one of the idolaters of that country being of the Hneage of those called Govi that I told you of, having gone with his bow and arrows to shoot pea- fowl, not seeing the Saint, let fly an arrow at one of the peacocks ; and this arrow struck the holy man in the right side, insomuch that he died of the wound, sweetly addressing himself to his Creator. Before he came to that place where he thus died he had been in Nubia, where he converted much people to the faith of Jesus Christ."* The children that are born here are black enough, but * Should be "year " no doubt. Chap. XVIII. SHRINE OF ST. THOMAS. 341 the blacker they be the more they are thought of; where- fore from the day of their birth their parents do rub them every week with oil of sesame, so that they become as black as devils. Moreover, they make their gods black and their devils white, and the images of their saints they do paint black all over.' They have such faith in the ox, and hold it for a thing so holy, that when they go to the wars they take of the hair of the wild-ox, whereof I have elsewhere spoken, and wear it tied to the necks of their horses ; or, if serving on foot, they hang this hair to their shields, or attach it to their own hair. And so this hair bears a high price, since without it nobody goes to the wars in any good heart. For they believe that any one who has it shall come scatheless out of battle.^ Note 1. — The little town where the body of St. Thomas lay was Mailapur, the name of which is still applied to a suburb of Madras about 3-^ miles south of Fort St. George. The Little Mount of St. Thomas, near Madras. Note 2. — The title of Avarian, given to St. Thomas by the Saracens, is judiciously explained by Joseph Scaliger to be the Arabic Hawdriy 342. MARCO POLO. Book III. (pi. Haw&riyuri), "An Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ." Scaliger somewhat hypercritically for the occasion finds fault with Marco for saying the word means " a holy man." {De Emendatione Temporum, Lib. VII., Geneva, 1629, p. 680.) Note 3. —The use of the earth from the tomb of St. Thomas for miraculous cures is mentioned also by John Marignolli, who was there about 1348-49. Assemani gives a special formula of the Nestorians for use in the application of this dust, which was administered to the sick in place of the unction of the Catholics. It ends with the words : " Signatur et sanctificatur hie Hanana (jpulvis) cum hac Taibutha {gratia) Sancti Thomae Apostoli in sanitatem et medelam corporis et animae, in nonien P. etF. et S.S." (III. Pt. 2, 278). The Abyssinians make a similar use of the earth from the tomb of their national Saint Tekla Haimanot. (/. Ji. G. S. X. 483.) And the Shiahs, on solemn occasions, partake of water in which has been mingled the dust of Kerbela. Fahian tells that the people of Magadha did the like, for the cure of headache, with earth from the place where lay the body of Kasyapa a former Buddha. {Beat, p. 133). Note 4. — Vague as is Polo's indication of the position of the Shrine of St. Thomas, it is the first geographical identification of it that I know of, save one. At the very time of Polo's homeward voyage, John of Monte Corvino on his way to China spent 13 months in Maabar, and in a letter thence in 1292-3 he speaks of the church of St. Thomas there, having buried in it the companion of his travels, Friar Nicholas of Pistoia. But the tradition of Thomas's preaching in India is very old, so old that it probably is, in its simple form, true. St. Jerome accepts it, speaking of the Divine Word as being everywhere present in His fulness : " cum Thomd, in India, cum PJitro Romae, cum Paulo in Illyrico," &c. {Scti. Hieron. Epistolae, LIX., ad Marcellam?) So dispassionate a scholar as Prof. H. H. Wilson speaks of the preaching and martyrdom of St. Thomas in ,S. India as " occurrences very far from invalidated by any arguments yet adduced against the truth of the tradition." I do not know if the date is ascertainable of the very remarkable legend of St. Thomas in the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, but it is presumably very old, though subsequent to'the translation of the relics (real or sup- posed) to Edessa, in the year 394, which is alluded to in the story. And it is worthy of note that this legend places the martyrdom and original burial-place of the Saint upon a mount. Gregory of Tours (a.d. 544-595) relates that " in that place in India where the body of Thomas lay before it was transported to Edessa, there is a monastery and a temple of great size and excellent structure and ornament. In it God shows a wonderful miracle ; for the lamp that stands alight before the place of sepulture keeps burning perpetually, night and day, by divine influence, for neither oil nor wick are ever renewed by human hands ;'' and this Gregory learned from one Theodorus who had ^'isited the spot. Chap. XVIII. TRADITIONS OF ST. THOMAS. 343 The apocryphal history of St. Thomas relates that while the Lord was still upon earth a certain King of India, whose name was Gondaphorus, sent to the west a certain merchant called Abban to seek a skilful architect to build him a palace, and the Lord sold Thomas to him as a slave of his own who was expert in such work. Thomas eventually converts King Gondaphorus, and proceeds to another country of India ruled by King Meodcus, where he is put to death by lances. M. Reinaud first, I believe, pointed out the remarkable fact that the name of the King Gondaphorus of the legend is the same with that of a King who has become known from the Indo-Scythian coins, Gondophares, Yndoferres, or Gondaferres. This gives great interest to a votive inscription found near Peshawar, and now in the Lahore Museum, which appears to bear the name of the same King. This Professor Dowson has partially read : " In the 26th year of the great King Guna . . pharasa, on the 7th seventh day of the month Vais^kha " . . . . Gen. Cunningham has read the date with more claim to precision : " In the 26th year of King Guduphara, in the Samvat year 103, in the month of Vaisdkh, the 4th day " . . . . But Professor Dowson does not assent to these modifica- tions. Lassen put Yndoferres about 90 B.C., as Cunningham did formerly about 26 B.C. The chronology is very doubtful, but the evidence does not appear to be strong against the synchronism of the King and the legend (see Prinsep's Essays, II. 176, 177, and Mr. Thomas's remarks at p. 214; Trubner's Record, June 30, 187 ; Cunningham's Desc. List, of Buddhist Sculptures in Lahore Central Museum ; Reinaud, Lnde, p. 95). Here then may be a faint trace of a true apostolic history. But in the 1 6th and 17 th centuries Roman Catholic ecclesiastical story-tellers seem to have striven in rivalry who should most recklessly expand the travels of St. Thomas. According to an abstract given by P. Vincenzo Maria, his preaching began in Mesopotamia, and extended through Bactria, &c., to China, "the States of the Great Mogul" (!) and Siam; he then revisited his first converts, and passed into Germany, thence to Brazil, " as relates P. Emanuel Nobriga," and from that to Ethiopia. After thus carrying light to the four quarters of the World, the indefati- gable Traveller and Missionary retook his way to India, converting Socotra as he passed, and then preached in Malabar, and on the Coro- mandel Coast, where he died, as already stated. Some parts of this strange rhapsody, besides the Indian mission, were no doubt of old date ; for the Chaldaean breviary of the Malabar Church in its office of St. Thomas contains such passages as this : "By St. Thomas were the Chinese and the Ethiopians converted to the Truth;" and in an Anthem: "The- Hindus, the Chinese, the Persians, and all the people of the Isles of the Sea, they who dwell in Syria and Armenia, in Javan and Romania, call Thomas to remembrance, and adore Thy Name, O Thou our Redeemer !" The Roman Martyrology calls the city of martyrdom Calamina, but there is (I think) a fair presumption that the spot alluded to by Gregory 344 MARCO POLO. Book III. of Tours was Mailapiir, and that the Shrine visited by King Alfred's envoy, Sighelm, may have been the same. Marco, as we see, speaks of certain houses belonging to the church, and of certain Christians who kept it. Odoric, some 30 years later, found beside the church " some 15 houses of Nestorians," but the church itself filled with idols. Conti, in the following century, speaks of the church in which St. Thomas lay buried, as large and beautiful, and says there were 1000 Nestorians in the city. Joseph of Cranganore, the Malabar Christian who came to Europe in 1501, speaks like our traveller of the worship paid to the Saint, even by the heathen, and compares the church to that of St. John and St. Paul at Venice. Certain Syrian bishops sent to India in 1504, whose report is given by Assemani, heard that the church had begun to be occupied by some Christian people. But Barbosa, a few years later, found it half in ruins and in the charge of a Mahomedan Fakir, who kept a lamp burning. There are two St. Thomas's Mounts in the same vicinity, the Great and the Little Mount. A church was built upon the former by the Portuguese and some sanctity attributed to it, especially in connexion with the cross mentioned below, but I believe there is no doubt that the Little Mount was the site of the ancient church. The Portuguese ignored the ancient translation of the Saint's remains to Edessa, and in 1522, under the Viceroyalty of Duarte Menezes, a com- mission was sent to Mailapdr, or San Tome as they called it, to search for the body. The narrative states circumstantially that the Apostle's bones were found, besides those of the king whom he had converted, &c. The supposed relics were transferred to Goa, where they are still pre- served in the Church of St. Thomas in that city. The question appears to have become a party one among Romanists in India, in connexion with other differences, and I see that the authorities now ruling the Catholics at Madras are strong in disparagement of the special sanctity of the localities, and of the whole story connecting St. Thomas with Maila- piir. {Greg. Turon. Lib. Mirac, I. p. 85 ; Tr. R. A. S. I. 761 ; Asse- mani, III. pt. ii. p. 32, 450; Noviis Orbis (ed. 1555), p. 210 ; Maffei, Bk. VIII. ; Cathay, pp. 81, 197, 374-7, &c.) The account of the Saint's death was no doubt that current among the native Christians, for it is told in much the same way by Marignolli and by Barbosa, and was related also in the same mariner by one Diogo Fernandes, who gave evidence before the commission of Duarte Menezes, and who claimed to have been the first Portuguese visitor of the site (see De Couto, Dec. V. Liv. vi. cap. 2, and Dec. VII. Liv. x. cap. 5). As Diogo de Couto relates the story of the localities, in the shape which it had taken by the middle of the 1 6th century, both Little and Great Mounts were the sites of Oratories which the Apostle had fre- quented ; during prayer on the Little Mount he was attacked and wounded, but fled to the Great Mount where he expired. In repairing a hermitage which here existed, in 1547, the workmen came upon a Chap. XVIII. TRADITIONS OF ST. THOMAS. 345 The interpretations of the In- stone slab with a cross and inscription carved upon it. The story speedily developed itself that this was the cross which had been em- braced by the dying Apostle, and its miraculous virtues soon obtained great fame. It was eventually set up over an altar in the Church of the Madonna which was afterwards erected on the Great Mount, and there it still exists. A Brahman impostor professed to give an interpre- tation of the inscription as relating to the death of St. Thomas, &c., and this was long accepted. The cross seemed to have been long forgotten, when lately Mr. Burnell turned his attention to these and other like relics in Southern India. He has shown the inscription to be Fehlvi, and probably of the 7th or 8th century. Mr. Fergusson considers the architectural character to be of the 9th. scription as yet given are tentative and somewhat dis- crepant. Thus Mr. Burnell reads : " In punishment (?) by the cross (was) the suffering of this (one) : (He) who is the true Christ and God above, and Guide for ever pure." Prof. Haug : " Whoever be- lieves in the Messiah, and in God above, and also in the Holy Ghost, is in the grace of Him who bore the pain of the Cross." Mr. Thomas reads the central part, between two small crosses, "-f- In the Name of Messiah -|- ". See Kircher, China lUustrata, p. 55 seqq. ; De Couto, u. s. (both of these have inaccurate representations of the cross); Academy, vol. V. (1874) p. 145, &c. ; and Mr. Burnell's pam- phlet " On some Pahlavi inscriptions in South India." To his kindness I am indebted for the illustration (p. 339). The etymology of the name Mayildppur, popular among the native Christians, is " Peacock-Town," and the peafowl are prominent in the old legend of St. Thomas. Polo gives it no name ; Marignolli (circa 1350) calls it Mirapolis, the Catalan Map (1375) Mirapor ; Conti (circa 1440) Malepor ; Joseph of Cranganore (1500) Milapar (or Milapor) ; De Barros and Couto, Meliapor. Mr. Burnell thinks it was probably jjfo/az-ppuram, " Mount-Town ;" and the same as the Malifatan of the Mahomedan writers ; the last point needs further inquiry. Note 5. — Dr. Caldwell, speaking of the devil-worship of the Shanars of Tinnevelly (an important part of Ma'bar), says : " Where they erect an image in imitation of their Brahman neighbours, the devil is generally St. Thomas Localities at Madras. 346 MARCO POLO. Book III. of Brahmanical lineage. Such images generally accord with those monstrous figures with which all over India orthodox Hindus depict the enemies of their gods, or the terrific forms of Siva or Durga. They are generally made of earthenware, 3.10.6. painted white to look horrible in Hindu eyes" {The Tinnevelly Shanars, Madras, 1849, p. 18). Note 6. — The use of the Yak's tail as a military ornament had nothing to do with the sanctity of the Brahmani ox, but is one of the Pan-Asiatic usages of which there are so many. A vivid account of the extravagant profusion with which swaggering heroes in South India used those ornaments will be found in P. delta Valle, II. 662. CHAPTER XIX. Concerning the Kingdom of Mutfili. When you leave Maabar and go about 1000 miles in a northerly direction you come to the kingdom of Mutfili. This was formerly under the rule of a King, and since his death, some forty years past, it has been under his Queen, a lady of much discretion, who for the great love she bore him never would marry another husband. And I can assure you that during all that space of forty years she had administered her realm as well as ever her husband did, or better ; and as she was a lover of justice, of equity, and of peace, she was more beloved by those of her kingdom than ever was Lady or Lord of theirs before. The people are Idolaters, and are tributary to nobody. They live on flesh, and rice, and milk.' It is in this kingdom that diamonds are got ; and I will tell you how. There are certain lofty mountains in those parts ; and when the winter rains fall, which are very heavy, the waters come roaring down the mountains in great torrents. When the rains are over, and the waters from the mountains have ceased to flow, they search the beds of the torrents and find plenty of diamonds. In summer also there are plenty to be found in the mountains, but the heat of the sun is so great that it is scarcely possible to go Chap. XIX. THE KINGDOM OF MUTFILI. 347 thither, nor is there then a drop of water to be found. Moreover in those mountains great serpents are rife to a marvellous degree, besides other vermin, and this owing to the great heat. The serpents are also the most venomous in existence, insomuch that any one going to that region runs fearful peril ; for many have been destroyed by these evil reptiles. Now among, these mountains there are certain great and deep valleys, to the bottom of which there is no access. Wherefore the men who go in search of the diamonds take with them pieces of flesh, as lean as they can get, and these they cast into the bottom of a valley. Now there are numbers of white eagles that haunt those mountains and feed upon the serpents. When the eagles see the meat thrown down they pounce upon it and carry it up to some rocky hill-top where they begin to rend it. But there are men on the watch, and as soon as they see that the eagles have settled they raise a loud shouting to drive them away. And when the eagles are thus frightened away the men recover the pieces of meat, and find them full of diamonds which have stuck to the meat down in the bottom. For the abundance of diamonds down there in the depths of the valleys is astonishing, but nobody can get down ; and if one could, it would be only to be incontinently devoured by the serpents which are so rife there. There is also another way of getting the diamonds. The people go to the nests of those white eagles, of which there are many, and in their droppings they find plenty of diamonds which the birds have swallowed in devouring the meat that was cast into the valleys. And, when the eagles themselves are taken, diamonds are found in their stomachs. So now I have told you three difi^erent ways in which these stones are found. No other country but this kingdom of Mutfili produces them, but there they are found both abundantly and of large size. Those that are brought to our part of the world are only the refuse, as it were, of the 348 MARCO POLO. Book III. finer and larger stones. For the flower of the diamonds and other large gems, as well as the largest pearls, are all carried to the Great Kaan and other Kings and Princes of those regions ; in truth they possess all the great treasures of the world.' In this kingdom also are made the best and most delicate buckrams, and those of highest price ; in sooth they look like tissue of spider's web ! There is no King nor Queen in the world but might be glad to wear them.^ The people have also the largest sheep in the world, and great abundance of all the necessaries of life. There is now no more to say ; so I will next tell you about a province called Lar from which the Abraiaman come. Note 1. — There is no doubt that the kingdom here spoken of is that of Telingana {Tiling of the Mahomedan writers) then ruled by the Kd,kateya or Ganapati dynasty reigning at Warangol, N.E. of Hyderabad. But Marco seems to give the kingdom the name of that place in it which was visited by himself or his informants. Mutfili is, with the usual Arab modification {e.g., Perlec, Ferlec — Pattan, Fattan) a port called MoTUPALLi;, in the Gantdr district of the Madras Presidency, about 170 miles north of Fort St. George. Though it has dropt out of most of our modern maps it still exists, and a notice of it is to be found in W. Hamilton and in Milburne. The former says : " Mutapali, a town situated near the S. extremity of the northern Circars. A considerable coasting trade is carried on from hence in the craft navigated by natives," which can come in closer to shore than at other ports on that coast. The proper territory of the Kingdom of Warangol lay inland, but the last reigning prince before Polo's visit to India, by name Kakateya Pratapa Ganapati Rudra Deva, had made extensive conquests on the coast, including Nellore, and thence northward to the frontier of Orissa. This prince left no male issue, and his widow, Rudrama Devi, daughter of the Raja of Devagiri, assumed the government and continued to hold it for 28, or, as another record states, for 38 years, till the son of her daughter had attained majority. This was in 1292, or by the other account 1295, when she transferred the royal authority to this grandson Pratapa Vira Rudra Deva, the " Luddur Deo " of Firishta, and the last Ganapati of any political moment. He was taken prisoner by the Dehh forces about 1323. We have evidently in Rudrama Devi the just and beloved Queen of our Traveller, who thus enables us to attach colour and character to what was an empty name in a dynastic list. (Compare Chap. XIX. THE KINGDOM OF MTJTFILI. 349 Wilson's Mackenzie, I. cxxx j Taylors Or. Hist. MSS., I. 18; Do.'s Catalogue Raisonne, III. 483.) Mutfili appears in the Carta Catalana as Butiflis, and is there by some mistake made the site of St. Thomas's Shrine. The distance from Maabar is in Ramusio only 500 miles — a preferable reading. Note 2. — Some of the Diamond Mines once so famous under the name of Golconda are in the alluvium of the Kistna River, some distance above the Delta, and others in the vicinity of Kadapa and Karndl, both localities being in the territory of the kingdom we have been speaking of. The strange legend related here is very ancient and widely diffused. Its earhest known occurrence is in the Treatise of St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, concerning the 12 Jewels in the Rationale or Breastplate of the Hebrew High Priest, a work written before the end of the fourth century, wherein the tale is told of 'Cos. Jacinth. It is distinctly referred to by Edrisi who assigns its locality to the land of the Kirkhtr (probably Khirghiz) in Upper Asia. It appears in Kazwini's Wonders of Creation, and is assigned by him to the Valley of the Moon among the Mountains of Serendib. Sindbad the Sailor relates the story, as is well known, and his version is the closest of all to our author's. It is found in the Chinese Narrative of the Campaigns of Hulaku, translated by both Rfemusat and Pauthier. It is told in two different versions, once of the Diamond, and again of the Jacinth of Serendib, in the work on Precious Stones by Ahmed Taifdshi. It is one of the many stories in the scrap-book of Tzetzes. Nicolo Conti relates it of a mountain called Albenigaras, 15 days' journey in a northerly direction from Vijayanagar ; and it is told again, apparently after Conti, by Julius Caesar Scaliger. It is related of diamonds and Balasses in the old Genoese MS., called that of Usodimare. A feeble form of the tale is quoted contemptuously by Garcias from one Francisco de Ta- marra. And Haxthausen found it as a popular legend in Armenia. {S. Epiph. deXIII. Gemmis, &c., Romae, 1743 ; Jaubert, Edrisi, I. 500 ; / A. S. B. XIII. 657 ; Lan^s Ar. Nights, ed. 1859, III. 88 ; Rhn. Nouv. Mil. Asiat. I. 183 ; Raineri, Fior di Fensieri di Ahmed Teifascite, pp. 13 and 30; Tzetzes, Chil. XI. 376; India' in XVth Cent. p. 29-30 ; J. C. Seal, de Subtilitate, CXIII. No. 3 ; An. des Voyages, VIII. 195 ; Garcias, p. 71. ; Transcaucasia, p. 360 ; J. A. S. B. I. 354). The story has a considerable resemblance to that which Herodotus tells of the way in which cinnamon was got by the Arabs (III. in). No doubt the two are ramifications of the same legend. Note 3. — Here buckram is clearly applied to fine cotton stuffs. The districts about Masulipatam were long famous both for mushns and for coloured chintzes. The fine muslins of Masalia are mentioned in the Periplus. Indeed even in the time of Sakya Muni Kalinga was already famous for diaphanous miislins, as may be seen in a story related in the Buddhist annals (/. A. S. B. VI. 1086). 350 MARCO POLO. Book III. CHAPTER XX. Concerning the Province of Lar whence the Brahmins come. Lar is a Province lying towards the west when you quit the place where the Body of St. Thomas lies ; and all the Abraiaman in the world come from that province.' You must know that these Abraiaman are the best merchants in the world, and the most truthful, for they would not tell a lie for anything on earth. [If a foreign merchant who does not know the ways of the country applies to them and entrusts his goods to them, they will take charge of these, and sell them in the most loyal manner, seeking zealously the profit of the foreigner and asking no commission except what he pleases to bestow.j They eat no flesh, and drink no wine, and live a life of great chastity, having intercourse with no women except with their wives ; nor would they on any account take what belongs to another ; so their law commands. And they are all distinguished by wearing a thread of cotton over one shoulder and tied under the other arm, so that it crosses the breast and the back. They have a rich and powerful King who is eager to purchase precious stones and large pearls ; and he sends these Abraiaman merchants into the kingdom of Maabar called Soli, which is the best and noblest Province of India, and where the best pearls are found, to fetch him as many of these as they can get, and he pays them double the cost price for all. So in this way he has a vast treasure of such valuables.^ These Abraiaman are Idolaters ; and they pay greater heed to signs and omens than any people that exists. I will mention as an example one of their customs. To every day of the week they assign an augury of this sort. Sup- pose that there is some purchase in hand, he who proposes Chap. XX. THE BRAHMANS. 351 to buy, when he gets up in the morning takes note of his own shadow in the sun, which he says ought to be on that day of such and such a length ; and if his shadow be of the proper length for the day he completes his purchase; if not, he will on no account do so, but waits till his shadow corresponds with that prescribed. For there is a length established for the shadow for every individual day of the week ; and the merchant will complete no business unless he finds his shadow of the length set down for that parti- cular day. [Also to each day in the week they assign one unlucky hour, which they term Choiach. For example, on Monday the hour of Half-tierce, on Tuesday that of Tierce, on Wednesday Nones, and so on.^] Again, if one of them is in the house, and is meditating a purchase, should he see a tarantula (such as are very common in that country) on the wall, provided it advances from a quarter that he deems lucky, he will complete his purchase at once ; but if it comes from a quarter that he considers unlucky he will not do so on any inducement. Moreover, if in going out, he hears any one sneeze, if it seems to him a good omen he will go on, but if the reverse he will sit down on the spot where he is, as long as he thinks that he ought to tarry before going on again. Or, if in travelling along the road he sees a swallow fly by, should its direction be lucky he will proceed, but if not he will turn back again ; in fact they are worse (in these whims) than so many Patarins ! ^ These Abraiaman are very long-lived, owing to their extreme abstinence in eating. And they never allow them- selves to be let blood in any part of the body. They have capital teeth, which is owing to a certain herb they chew which greatly improves their appearance, and is also very good for the health. There is another class of people called Chughi, who are indeed properly Abraiaman, but they form a religious order devoted to the Idols. They are extremely long-lived, every 35^ MARCO POLO. Book III. man of them living to 150 or 200 years. They eat very little, but what they do eat is good ; rice and milk chiefly. And these people make use of a very strange beverage ; for they make a potion of sulphur and quicksilver mixt to- gether and this they drink twice every month. This, they say, gives them long life ; and it is a potion they are used to take from their childhood.^ There are certain members of this Order who lead the most ascetic life in the world, going stark naked ; and these worship the Ox. Most of them have a small ox of brass or pewter or gold which they wear tied over the forehead. Moreover they take cow-dung and burn it, and make a powder thereof; and make an ointment of it, and daub themselves withal, doing this with as great devotion as Christians do show in using Holy Water. [Also if they meet any one who treats them well, they daub a little of this powder on the middle of his forehead.*] They eat not from bowls or trenchers, but put their victuals on leaves of the Apple of Paradise and other big leaves ; these however they use dry, never green. For they say the green leaves have a soul in them, and so it would be a sin. And they would rather die than do what they deem their Law pronounces to be sin. If any one asks how it comes that they are not ashamed to go stark naked as they do, they say, " We go naked because naked we came into the world, and we desire to have nothing about us that is of this world. Moreover we have no sin of the flesh to be conscious of, and therefore we are not ashamed of our nakedness, any more than you are to show your hand or your face. You who are conscious of the sins of the flesh do well to have shame, and to cover your nakedness." They would not kill an animal on any account, not even a fly, or a flea, or a louse,' or anything in fact that has life ; for they say these have all souls, and it would be sin to do so. They eat no vegetable in a green state, only such as are dry. And they, sleep on the ground stark naked. Chap. XX. THE JOGIS. 353 without a scrap of clothing on them or under them, so that it is a marvel they don't all die, in place of living so long as I have told you. They fast every day in the year, and drink nought but water. And when a novice has to be re- ceived among them they keep him awhile in their convent, and make him follow their rule of life. And then, when they desire to put him to the test, they send for some of those girls who are devoted to the Idols, and make them try the continence of the novice with their blandishments. If he remains indifferent they retain him, but if he shows any emotion they expel him from their society. For they say they will have no man of loose desires among them. They are such cruel and perfidious Idolaters that it is very devilry ! They say that they burn the bodies of the dead, because if they were not burnt worms would be bred which would eat the body ; and when no more food remained for them these worms would die, and the soul belonging to that body would bear the sin and the punishment of their death. And that is why they burn their dead ! Now I have told you about a great part of the people of the great Province of Maabar and their customs ; but I have still other things to tell of this same province of Maabar, so I will speak of a city thereof which is called Cail. Note 1. — The form of the word Abraiaman, -main or -min, by which Marco here and previously denotes the Brahmans, probably repre- sents an incorrect Arabic plural, such as Abrdhamin ; the correct Arabic form is Bardhimah. What is said here of the Brahmans coming from " Lar, a province west of St. Thomas's," of their having a special King, &c., is all very obscure, and that I suspect through erroneous notions. Lar-Desa, " The Country of Ldr," properly Ldt-desa, was an early name for the territory of Guzerat and the northern Konkan, embracing Saimur (the modern Chaul as I believe). Tana, and Baroch. It appears in Ptolemy in the form Larike. The sea to the west of that coast was in the early Mahomedan times called the Sea of Ldr, and the language spoken on its shores is called by Mas'udi Ldri. Abulfeda's authority, Ibn Said, speaks of Ldr and Guzerat as identical. That position would certainly be very ill described as lying west of Madras. The kingdom VOL. II. 2 A 354 MARCO POLO. Book III. most nearly answering to that description in Polo's age would be that of the BelMl Rajas of Dwara Samudra, which corresponded in a general way to modern Mysore. {Mas'udi, I. 330, 381 ; II. 85 ; Gildem. 185 ; Elliot, I. 66.) That Polo's ideas on this subject were incorrect seems clear from his conception of the Brahmans as a class of merchants. Occasionally they may have acted as such, and especially as agents ; but the only case I can find of Brahmans as a class adopting trade is that of the Konkani Brah- mans, and they are said to have taken this step when expelled from Goa, which was their chief seat, by the Portuguese. Marsden supposes that there has been confusion between Brahmans and Banyans ; and, as Gu- zerat or L^r was the country from which the latter chiefly came, there is much probability in this. The high virtues ascribed to the Brahmans and Indian merchants were perhaps in part matter of tradition, come down from the stories of Palladius and the like ; but the eulogy is so constant among medieval travellers that it must have had a solid foundation. In fact it would not be difficult to trace a chain of similar testimony from ancient times down to our own. Arrian says no Indian was ever accused of falsehood. Hwen T'sang ascribes to the people of India eminent uprightness, honesty, and disinterestedness. Friar Jordanus (circa 1330) says the people of Lesser India (Sind and Western India) were true in speech and eminent in justice ; and we may also refer to the high character given to the Hindus by Abul Fazl. After 150 years of European trade indeed we find a sad deterioration. Padre Vincenzo (1672) speaks of fraud as greatly prevalent among the Hindu traders. It was then com- monly said at Surat that it took 3 Jews to make a Chinaman, and 3 Chinamen to make a Banyan. Yet Pallas, in the last century, noticing the Banyan colony at Astrakhan, says its members were notable for an upright dealing that made them greatly preferable to Armenians. And that wise and admirable public servant, the late Sir William Sleeman, in our own time, has said that he knew no class of men in the world more strictly honourable than the mercantile classes of India. We know too well that there is a very different aspect of the matter. All extensive intercourse between two races far asunder in habits and ideas, seems to be demoralizing in some degree to both parties, especially to the weaker. But can we say that deterioration has been all on one side? In these days of lying labels and plastered shirtings does the character of English trade and English goods stand as high in Asia as it did half a century ago ? {Pel. Boudd. II. 83 ■ Jordanus, p. 22 ; Ayeen Akb. III. 8 ; P. Vincenzo, p. 1 14 ; Pallas, Beytrdge, III. 85 ; Rambles and Recns. II. 1 43). Note 2. — The kingdom of Maabar called Soli is Chola or Sola- DESAM, of which Kanchi (Conjeveram) was the ancient capital.* In the * From Sola was formed apparently Sola-mandala or Chola-mandala, which the Portuguese made into Choromandel and the Dutch into Coromandel. Chap. XX. CALENDAR OF THE BRAHMANS. 355 Ceylon Annals the continental invaders are frequently termed Solli. The high terms of praise applied to it as " the best and noblest province of India," seem to point to the well-watered fertility of Tanjore ; but what is said of the pearls would extend the territory included to the shores of the Gulf of Man^r. Note 3. — Abraham Roger gives from the Calendar of the Coro- mandel Brahmans the character, lucky or unlucky, of every hour of every day of the week ; and there is also a chapter on the subject in Sonnerat (I. 304 seqq). For a happy explanation of the term Choiach I am indebted to Dr. Caldwell : " This apparently difficult word can be iden- tified much more easily than most others. Hindu astrologers teach that there is an unlucky hour every day in the month, i. e. during the period of the moon's abode in every ndkshatra, or lunar mansion, throughout the lunation. This inauspicious period is called Tyajya, ' rejected.' Its mean length is one hour and thirty-six minutes, European time. The precise moment when this period commences differs in each nakshatra, or (which comes to the same thing) in every day in the lunar month. It sometimes occurs in the daytime and sometimes at night ; — see Col. Warren's Kala Sankatila, Madras, 1825, p. 388. The Tamil pronuncia- tion of the word is tiyacham, and when the nominative case-termination of the word is rejected, as all the Tamil case-terminations were by the Mahomedans, who were probably Marco Polo's informants, it becomes tiyach, to which form of the word Marco's Choiach is as near as could be expected" {MS. Note).* The phrases used in the passage from Ramusio to express the time of day are taken from the canonical hours of prayer. The following passage from Robert de Borron's Romance of Merlin illustrates these terms : Gauvain " quand il se levoit le matin, avoit la force al millor chevalier del monde ; et quant vint k heure de prime si li doubloit, et k heure de tierce aussi ; et quant il vint ^ eure de midi si revenoit k sa premifere force ou il avoit estd le matin; et quant vint k eure de nonne et k toutes les cures de la nuit estoit-il toudis en sa premifere force." (Quoted in introd. to Messire Gauvain, &c., edited by C. Hippeau, Paris, 1862, p. xii-xiii.) The term Half-Tierce is frequent in medieval Italian, e. g. in Dante : — ^* Lhati su, disse U Maestro, in piede. La via i lunga, e V cammino i malvagio, E gi& il Sole a mezza terza riede." (Inf. xxxiv.). Half-prime we have in Chaucer : — "Say forth thy tale and taiy not the time Lo Depeford, and it is halfway prime." — {Reevis Prologue.) Definitions of these terms as given by Sir H. Nicolas and Mr. Thomas * I may add that possibly the real reading may have been tkoiach. ^ A. 1 356 MARCO POLO. Book III. Wright (Chron. of Hist. p. 195, and Marco Polo, p. 392) do not agree with those of Italian authorities ; perhaps in the north they were applied with variation. Dante dwells on the matter in two passages of his Coiivito (Tratt. III. cap. 6, and Tratt. IV. cap. 23) ; and the following diagram elucidates the terms in accordance with his words, and with other Italian authority, oral and literary : — P m Mezza-Nona. Nona. Sesta. < re p fit n g P is" 1 t » .*.. ....f... ■ '.*.. ....* t * *•• ....f.... .•«• •*■ t £p 12 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 lO II 12 ^ !«- Ecclesiastical Hours. a ."^ 6 7 8 9 10 A. M. n 12 I 2 Civil Hours, p. m. 3 4 5 6 3 Note 4. — ^Valentyn mentions among what the Coromandel Hindus reckon unlucky rencounters which will induce a man to turn back on the road : an empty can, buffaloes, donkeys, a dog or he-goat without iood. in his mouth, a monkey, a loose hart, a goldsmith, a carpenter, a barber, a tailor, a cotton-cleaner, a smith, a widow, a corpse, a person coming from a funeral without having washed or changed, men carrying butter, oil, sweet milk, molasses, acids, iron, or weapons of war. Lucky objects to meet are an elephant, a camel, a laden cart, an unladen horse, a cow or bullock laden with water (if unladen 'tis an ill omen), a dog or he-goat with food in the mouth, a cat on the right hand, one carrying meat, curds, or sugar, &c., &c. (p. 91). See also Sonnerat, I. 73. Note 6. — Chiighi of course stands for Jogi, used loosely for any Hindu ascetic. Arghun Khan of Persia (see Prologue, ch. xvii.), who was much given to alchemy and secret science, had asked of the Indian Bakhshis how they prolonged their lives to such an extent. They assured him that a mixture of sulphur and mercury was the Elixir of Longevity. Arghun accordingly took this precious potion for eight months; — and died shortly after ! (See Hammer, Ilkhans, I. 391-3, and Q. R. p. 194.) Bernier mentions wandering Jogis who had the art of preparing mercury so admirably that one or two grains taken every morning restored the body to perfect health (II. r3o). The Mercuriiis Vitae of Paracelsus, which according to him renewed youth, was composed chiefly of mercury and antimony {Opera, II. 20). Sulphur and mercury, combined under different conditions and proportions, were regarded by the Alchemists both of East and West as the origin of all the metals. Quicksilver was called the mother of the metals, and sulphur the father. (See Vincent. Bellov. Spec. Natiir. VII. c. 60, 62, and JBl. Ain-i-Akbari, p. 40.) " The worship of the ox is still common enough, but I can find no Chap. XXI. THE CITY OF CAIL. 357 trace of the use of the effigy worn on the forehead. The two Tarn Pundits whom I consulted, said that there was no trace of the custom in Tamil hterature, but they added that the usage was so truly Hindu in character, and was so particularly described, that they had no doubt it prevailed in the time of the person who described it." {MS. Note by the Rev. Dr. Caldwell^ I may add that the Jangams, a Linga-worshipping sect of Southern India, wear a copper or silver linga either round the neck or on the forehead. The name of Jangam means " movable," and refers to their wearing and worshipping the portable symbol instead of the fixed one like the proper Saivas. ( Wilson, M^ack. Coll. II. 3 ; /i R. A. S. N.s. V. 142 seqq^ Note 6. — In G. T. proques, which the Glossary to that edition absurdly renders pore ; it is some form apparently oi pidocchio. Note 7. — It would seem that there is no eccentricity of man in any part of the world for which a close parallel shall not be found in some other part. Such strange probation as is here spoken of appears to have had too close a parallel in the old Celtic Church, and perhaps even, at an earlier date, in the Churches of Africa. See Todd's Life of St. Patrick, p. 91, note and references, and Saturday Review of 13th July, 1867, p. 65. The latter describes a system absolutely like that in the text, but does not quote authorities. CHAPTER XXI. Concerning the City of Cail. Cail is a great and noble city, and belongs to Ashar, the eldest of the five brother Kings. It is at this city that all the ships touch that come from the west, as from Hormos and from Kis and from Aden, and all Arabia, laden with horses and with other things for sale. And this brings a great concourse of people from the country round about, and so there is great business done in this city of Cail.' The King possesses vast treasures, and wears upon his person great store of rich jewels. He maintains great state and administers his kingdom with great equity, and extends great favour to merchants and foreigners, so that they are very glad to visit his city.'' 358 MARCO POLO. Book III. This King has some 300 wives ; for in those parts the man who has most wives is most thought of. As I told you before, there are in this great province of Maabar five crowned Kings, who are all own brothers born of one father and of one mother, afld this king is one of them. Their mother is still living. And when they dis- agree and go forth to war against one another, their mother throws herself between them to prevent their fighting. And should they persist in desiring to fight, she will take a knife and threaten that if they will do so she will cut off the paps that suckled them and rip open the womb that bare them, and so perish before their eyes. In this way hath she full many a time brought them to desist. But when she dies it will most assuredly happen that they will fall out and destroy one another. [All the people of this city, as well as of the rest of India, have a custom of perpetually keeping in the mouth a certain leaf called Tembul, to gratify a certain habit and desire they have, continually chewing it and spitting out the saliva that it excites. The lords and gentlefolks and the King have these leaves prepared with camphor and other aromatic spices, and also mixt with quicklime. And this practice was said to be very good for the health.^ If any one desires to offer a gross insult to another, when he meets him he spits this leaf or its juice in his face. The other immediately runs before the King, relates the insult that has been offered him, and demands leave to fight the offender. The King supplies the arms, which are sword and target, and all the people flock to see, and there the two fight till one of them is killed. They must not use the point of the sword, for this the King forbids.]"* Note 1. — ^Kail, now forgotten, was long a famous port on the coast of what is now the Tinnevelly District of the Madras Presidency. It is mentioned as a port of Ma'bar by our author's contemporary Rashid- uddin, though the name has been perverted by careless transcription Chap. XXI. THE CITY OF CAIL. 359 into Bdwal and Kdbal (see Elliot, I. pp. 69, 72). It is also mis- transcribed as Kdbil in Quatremfere's publication of Abdurrazzdk, who mentions it as " a place situated opposite the island of Serendib, other- wise called Ceylon," and as being the extremity of what he was led to regard as Malabar (p. 19). It is mentioned as Cahila, the site of the pearl-fishery, by Nicolo Conti (p. 7). The Roteiro of Vasco da Gama notes it as Caell, a state having a Mussulman King and a Christian (for which read Kafir) people. Here were many pearls. Giovanni d' Empoli notices it {Gael) also for the pearl-fishery, as do Varthema and Barbosa. From the latter we learn that it was still a considerable seaport, having rich Mahomedan merchants, and was visited by many ships from Malabar, Coromandel, and Bengal. In the time of the last writers it belonged to the King of Kaulam, who generally resided at Kail. The real site of this once celebrated port has, I believe, till now never been identified in any published work. I had supposed the still existing Kayalpattanam to have been in all probability the place, and I am again indebted to the kindness of the ^Rev. Dr. Caldwell for conclusive and most interesting information on this subject. He writes : " There are no relics of ancient greatness in Kdyalpattanam, and no traditions of foreign trade, and it is admitted by its inhabitants to be a place of recent origin, which came into existence after the abandon- ment of the true Kiyal. They state also that the name of Kayalpattanam has only recently been given to it, as a reminiscence of the older city, and that its original name was Sonagarpattanam.* There is another small port in the same neighbourhood, a little to the north of Kayal- pattanam, called Pinna Cael in the maps, properly Punnei-Kdyal, from Funnel, the Indian Laurel ; but this is also a place of recent origin, and many of the inhabitants of this place, as of KiCyalpattanam, state that their ancestors came originally from Kdyal, subsequently to the removal of the Portuguese from that place to Tuticorin. " The Cail of Marco Polo, commonly called in the neighbourhood Old Kdyal, and erroneously named Koil in the Ordnance Map of India, is situated on the Timraparni River, about a mile and a half from its mouth. The Tamil word kdyal means ' a backwater, a lagoon,' and the map shows the existence of a large number of these kdyals or back- waters near the mouth of the river. Many of these kayals have now dried up more or less completely, and in several of them salt-pans have been established. The name of K^yal was naturally given to a town erected on the margin of a kdyal ; and this circumstance occasioned * " Sonagar or Jonagar is a Tamil corruption of Yavanar, the Yavanas, the name by which the Arabs were known, and is the name most commonly used in the Tamil country to designate the mixed race descended from Arab colonists, who are called Mdpillas on the Malabar coast, and Lubbies in the neighbourhood of Madras." (Dr. C.'s note.) 360 MARCO POLO. Book III. also the adoption of the name of Punnei Kdyal, and served to give currency to the name of Kayalpattanam assumed by Sonagarpattanam, both those places being in the vicinity of kayals. " Kayal stood originally on or near the sea-beach, but it is now about a mile and a half inland, the sand carried down by the river having silted up the ancient harbour, and formed a waste sandy tract between the sea and the town. It has now shrunk into a petty village, inhabited partly by Mahommedans and partly by Roman Catholic fisher- men of the Parava caste, with a still smaller hamlet adjoining inhabited by Brahmahs and Vellalars ; but unlikely as the place may now seem to have been identical with ' the great and noble city ' described by Marco Polo, its identity is estabhshed by the relics of its ancient greatness which it still retains. Ruins of old fortifications, temples, storehouses, wells and tanks, are found everywhere along the coast for two or three miles north of the village of Kayal, and a mile and a half inland ; the whole plain is covered with broken tiles and remnants of pottery, chiefly of China manufacture, and several mounds are apparent, in which, besides the shells of the pearl-oyster and broken pottery, mineral drugs (cinna- bar, brimstone, &c.) such as are sold in the bazaars of sea-port towns, and a few ancient coins have been found, I send you herewith an interesting coin discovered in one of those mounds by Mr. R. Puckle, collector of Tinnevelly.* " The people of the place have forgotten the existence of any trade between Kayal and China, though the China pottery that lies all about testifies to its existence at some former period ; but they retain a distinct tradition of its trade with the Arabian and Persian coasts, as vouched for by Marco Polo, that trade having in some degree survived to com- paratively recent times Captain Phipps, the Master Attendant at Tuticorin, says : ' The roadstead of Old Cael (Kd,yal) is still used by native craft when upon the coast and meeting with south winds, from which it is sheltered. The depth of water is 1 6 to 14 feet ; I fancy years ago it was deeper There is a surf on the bar at the entrance (of the river), but boats go through it at all times.' * » « » " I am tempted to carry this long account of Kayal a little further, so as to bring to light the Kolkhoi [KoA;!(oi e/i7ro'piov] of the Greek mer- chants, the situation of the older city being nearly identical with that of the more modern one. Kolkhoi, described by Ptolemy and the author * I am sorry to say that the coin never reached its destination. In the latter part of 1872 a quantity of treasure was found near Kayal by the labourers on irrigation works. Much of it was dispersed without coming under intelligent eyes, and most of the coins recovered were Arabic. One, however, is stated to have been a coin of "Joanna of Castille, A.D. 1236" {Allenh India Mail, Jan. 5, 1874). There is no such queen. Qu. Joanna I. of Navarre (1274-1276)? or Joanna II. of Navarre (1328-1336)? Chap. XXI. THE CITY OF CAIL. 361 of the Periplus as an emporium of the pearl-trade, as situated on the sea-coast to the east of Cape Comorin, and as giving its name to the Kolkhic Gulf or Gulf of Manaar, has been identified by Lassen with Keelkarei; but this identification is merely conjectural, founded on nothing better than a slight apparent resemblance in the names. Lassen could not have failed to identify Kolkhoi with Korkai, the mother- city of Kayal, if he had been acquainted with its existence and claims. Korkai, properly Kolkai (the / being changed into- r hy a. modern refinement — it is still called Kolka in Malayalam), holds an important place in Tamil traditions, being regarded as the birthplace of the Pan- dyan dynasty, the place where the princes of that race ruled previously to their removal to Madura. One of the titles of the Pandyan Kings is ' Ruler of Korkai.' Korkai is situated two or three miles inland from Kayal, higher up the river. It is not marked, in the Ordnance Map of India, but a village in the immediate neighbourhood of it, called Mara- mangalam, 'the Good-fortune of the Pandyas,' will be found in the map. This place, together with several others in the neighbourhood, on both sides of the river, is proved by inscriptions and relics to have been formerly included in Korkai, and the whole intervening space between Korkai and Kayal exhibits traces of ancient dwellings. The people of Kayal maintain that their city was originally so large as to include Korkai, but there is much more probability in the tradition of the people of Korkai, which is to the effect that Korkai itself was originally a sea-port ; that as the sea retired it became less and less suitable for trade, that Kayal rose as Korkai fell, and that at length, as the sea continued to retire, Kayal also was abandoned. They add that the trade for which the place was famous in ancient times was the trade in pearls." In an article in the Madras Journal (VII. 379) it is stated that at the great Siva Pagoda at Tinnevelly the earth used ceremonially at the annual festival is brought from Korkai, but no position is indicated. Note 2. — Dr. Caldwell again brings his invaluable aid : — " Marco Polo represents Kayal as being governed by a king whom he calls Asciar (a name which you suppose to be intended to be. pro- nounced Ashar), and says that this king of Kayal was the elder brother of Sonderbandi, the king of that part of the district of Maabar where he landed. There is a distinct tradition, not only amongst the people now inhabiting Kayal, but in the district of Tinnevelly generally, that Kayal, during the period of its greatness, was ruled by a king. This king is sometimes spoken of as one of 'the Five Kings' who reigned in various parts of Tinnevelly, but whether he was independent of the King of Madura, or only a viceroy, the people cannot now say. .... The tradition of the people of Kayal is that Sur-Raja was the name of the last king of the place. They state that this last king was a Mahommedan, .... but though Sfir-Raja does not sound like the 362 MARCO POLO. Book III. name of a Mahommedan prince, they all agree in asserting that this was his name. . . . Can this Sdr be the person whom Marco calls Asciar ? Probably not, as Asciar seems to have been a Hindu by religion. I have discovered what appears to be a more probable identification in the name of a prince mentioned in an inscription on the walls of a temple at Sri-Vaikmitham, a town on the Tamraparni R., about 20 miles from Kayal. In the inscription in question a donation to the temple is recorded as having been given in the time of ' Asadia-deva called also Surya-deva.^ This name 'Asadia' is neither Sanscrit nor Tamil ; and as the hard d is often changed into r, Marco's Ashar may have been an attempt to render this Asad. If this Asadia or Surya-deva were really Sundara-pandi-deva's brother, he must have ruled over a narrow range of country, probably over Kayal alone, whilst his more eminent brother was alive ; for there is an inscription on the walls of a temple at Sindamangalam, a place only a few miles from Kayal, which records a donation made to the place ' in the reign of Sundara-pandi- deva.' "* Note 3. — Tembul is the Persian name for the betel-leaf or pan, from the Sanskrit TdmMda. The latter is also used in Tamul, though Vettilei is the proper Tamul word, whence Betel {Dr. Caldwell). Marsden supposes the mention of camphor among the ingredients with which the pd,n is prepared to be a mistake, and suggests as a possible origin of the error that kdpiir in the Malay language means not only camphor but quicklime. This is curious, but in addition to the fact that the lime is mentioned in the text, there seems ample evidence that his doubt about camphor is unfounded. Garcias da Horta says distinctly : " In chewing betre .... they mix areca with it and a little lime. . . . Some add Licio (i. e. catechu), hut the rich and grandees add some Borneo camphor, and some also lign-aloes, musk, and ambergris" (31 v. and 32). Abdurrazzak also says: "The manner of eating it is as follows. They bruise a portion oifaufel (areca), otherwise called sipari, and put it in the mouth. Moistening a leaf of the betel, together with a grain of lime, they rub the one upon the other, roll them together, and then place them in the mouth. They thus take as many as four leaves of betel at a time and chew them. Sometimes they add camphor to it" (p. 32). And Abiil Fazl : " They also put some betel-nut and kath (catechu) on one leaf, and some lime-paste on another, and roll them up ; this is called a berah. Some put camphor and musk into it, and tie both leaves with a silk thread," &c. (See Blochmamis * See above, p. 317, as to Dr. Caldwell's view of Polo's Sonderbandi. May not ^j/iflr very well represent ^j/^ad/Sa, "invincible," among the applications of which Williams gives " N. of a prince"? I observe also that Aichar C^zxi^. Akhariya " marvellous ") is the name of one of the objects of worship in the dark Saiti system, once apparently potent in S. India {see Taylor s Catalogue Raisonni, II. 414, 423, 426, 443, and remark p. xlix). Chap. XXII. THE KINGDOM OF COILUM. 363 Transl. p. 73.) Finally one of the Chinese notices of Kamboja, trans- lated by Abel Rdmusat, says : " When a guest comes it is usual to present him with areca^ camphor, and other aromatics." (Nouv. Mel. I. 84.) Note 4. — This is the only passage of Ramusio's version, so far as I know, that suggests interpolation from a recent author, as distinguished from mere editorial modification. There is in Barbosa a description of the duello as practised in Canara, which is rather too like this one. CHAPTER XXII. Of the Kingdom of Coilum. When you quit Maabar and go 500 miles towards the south-west you come to the kingdom of Coilum. The people are Idolaters, but there are also some Christians and some Jews. The natives have a language of their own, and a King of their own, and are tributary to no one.' A great deal of brazil is got here which is called brazil Coilumin from the country which produces it ; 'tis of very fine quality.'' Good ginger also grows here, and it is known by the same name of Coilumin after the country .^ Pepper too grows in great abundance throughout this country, and I will tell you how. You must know that the pepper-trees are (not wild but) cultivated, being regularly planted and watered ; and the pepper is gathered in the months of May, June, and July. They have also abundance of very fine indigo. This is made of a certain herb which is gathered, and [after the roots have been removed] is put into great vessels upon which they pour water and then leave it till the whole of the plant is decomposed. They then put this liquid in the sun, which is tremendously hot there, so that it boils and coagulates, and becomes such as we see it. [They then divide it into pieces of four ounces each, and in that form it is exported to our parts.] "^ And I assure you that the heat of the sun is so great there that it is scarcely to be endured ; in fact if you put an egg into one of the 364 MARCO POLO. Book III. rivers it will be boiled, before you have had time to go any distance, by the mere heat of the sun ! The merchants from Manzi, and from Arabia, and from the Levant come thither with their ships and their mer- chandize and make great profits both by what they import and by what they export. There are in this country many and divers beasts quite different from those of other parts of the world. Thus there are lions black all over, with no mixture of any other colour ; and there are parrots of many sorts, for some are white as snow with red beak and feet, and some are red, and some are blue, forming the most charming sight in the world ; there are green ones too. There are also some parrots of exceeding small size, beautiful creatures.^ They have also very beautiful peacocks, larger than ours, and different; and they have cocks and l;iens quite different from ours ; and what more shall I say ? In short, every- thing they have is different from ours, and finer and better. Neither is their fruit like ours, nor their beasts, nor their birds ; and this difference all comes of the excessive heat. Corn they have none but rice. So also their wine they make from [palm-]sugar ; capital drink it is, and very speedily it makes a man drunk. All other necessaries of man's life they have in great plenty and cheapness. They have very good astrologers and physicians. Man and woman, they are all black, and go naked, all save a fine cloth worn about the middle. They look not on any sin of the flesh as a sin. They marry their cousins german, and a man takes his brother's wife after the brother's death ; and all the people of India have this custom.^ There is no more to tell you there ; so we will proceed, and I will tell you of another country called Comari. Note 1. — Futile doubts were raised by Baldelli Boni and Hugh Murray as to the position of Coilum, because of Marco's mentioning it before Comari or Cape Comorin; and they have insisted on finding Chap. XXII. THE KINGDOM OF COILUM. ^6^ a Coilum to the east of that promontory. There is, however, in reaHty, no room for any question on this subject. For ages Coilum, Kaulam, or, as we now write it, Quilon, and properly KoUam, was one of the greatest ports of trade with Western Asia.* The earliest mention of it that I can indicate is in a letter written by the Nestorian Patriarch, Jesujabus of Adiabene, who died a.d. 660, to Simon Metropolitan of Ears, blaming his neglect of duty, through which he says, not only is India, " which extends from the coast of the Kingdom of Fars to Colon, a distance of ] 200 parasangs, deprived of a regular ministry, but Fars itself is lying in darkness." [Assent. III. pt. ii. 437.) The same place appears in the earlier part of the Arab Relations (a.d. 851) as Kaulam- Male, the port of India made by vessels from Maskat, and already frequented by great Chinese Junks. Abulfeda defines the position of Kaulam as at the extreme end of Balad-ul-Falfal, i. e. the Pepper country or Malabar, as you go east- ward, standing on an inlet of the sea, in a sandy plain, adorned with many gardens. The brazil-tree grew there, and the Mahomedans had a fine mosque and square. Ibn Batuta also notices the fine mosque and says the city was one of the finest in Malabar, with splendid markets and rich merchants, and was the chief resort of the Chinese traders in India. Odoric describes it as " at the extremity of the Pepper Forest towards the south," and astonishing in the abundance of its merchandise. Friar Jordanus of Sdvdrac was. there as a missionary some time previous to 1328, in which year he was at home and was nominated Bishop of the See of Kaulam, Latinized as Columhum or Columbus. Twenty years later John Marignolli visited " the very noble city of Columbum, where the whole world's pepper is produced," and found there a Latin church of St. George, probably founded by Jordanus.j Kaulam or Coilon con- tinued to be an important place to the beginning of the 16th century, when Varthema speaks of it as a fine port, and Barbosa as " a very great city,'' with a very good haven, and with many great merchants. Moors and Gentoos, whose ships traded to all the Eastern ports as far as Bengal, Pegu, and the Archipelago. But after this its decay must have been rapid, and in the following century it had sunk into entire in- significance. Throughout the Middle Ages it appears to have been one of the chief seats of the St. Thomas Christians. Indeed both it and * The etymology of the name seems to be doubtful. Dr. Caldwell tells me it is an error to connect it (as in the first edition) with the word for a. Tank, which is Kiilam. The apparent meaning oi Kollam is "slaughter," but he thinks the name is best explained as " Palace" or "Royal Residence." t There is still a, Syrian church of St. George at Quilon, and a mosque of some importance ; — the representatives at least of those noted above, though no actual trace of antiquity of any kind remains at the place. A vague tradition of extensive trade with China yet survives. The form Columbum is accounted for by an inscrip- tion, published by the Prince of Travancore [Ind. Antiq. II. 360), which shows that the city was called in Sanskrit Kolamba. May not the real etymology be Sansk. Kolain, " Black pepper"? 366 MARCO POLO. Book III. K^yal were two out of the seven ancient churches which Indo-Syrian tradition ascribed to St. Thomas himself.* I have been desirous to give some illustration of the churches of that mteresting body, certain of which must date from a very remote period, but I have found unlooked-for difficulties in procuring such illustration. Several are given in the Life of Dr. Claudius Buchanan from his own sketches, and a few others in the Life of Bishop D. Wilson Ancient Christian Church at ParUr, on the Malabar coast (after Claudins Buchanan). But nearly all represent the churches as they were perverted in the 17th centui-y and since, by a coarse imitation of a style of architecture bad enough m- its genuine form. I give, after Buchanan, the old church at Parur, not far from Cranganore, which had escaped masquerade, with one from Bishop Wilson's Life, showing the quasi-Jesuit deformation alluded to, and an interior also from the latter work, which appears to have some trace of genuine character. Panir church is probably FdMr orFazMr, which is one of those ascribed to St. Thomas; for Dr Bucha- nan says It bears the name of the Apostle, and "is supposed to be the oldest m Malabar" {Christ. Jies. p. 113). JIow Polo comes to mention Coilum before Comari is a question that will be treated further on, with other misplacements of like kind that occur in succeeding chapters. * BitrneH. Chap. XXII. ANCIENT CHURCHES OF S. INDIA. 367 ''" -*i'%^vsrs/^i2i, ^^^^^f*- ^^Ig^ Syrian Church at CaranyacWrra (from 'Life of Bp. D. Wilson") showing the quasi-Jesu.l fa?ade "'"■"' ^"" "■ ' generally adopted in modem times. Interior of Syrian Church at KOtteiyam in Travancore. (From ' Life of Bp. D. Wilson.') 368 MARCO POLO. Book III. Kublai had a good deal of diplomatic intercourse of his usual kind with Kaulam. Demailla mentions the arrival at T'swanchau (or Zayton) in 1282 of envoys from Kiulan, an Indian State, bringing presents of various rarities, including a black ape as big as a man. The Emperor had three times sent thither an officer called Yangtingpi (IX. 415). Some rather curious details of these missions are extracted by Pauthier from the Chinese Annals. The royal residence is in these called A-pu-hota* The king is styled Pinati. I may note that Barbosa also tells us that the King of Kaulam was called Benate-deri {devar ?). And Dr. Caldwell's kindness enables me to explain this title. Pinati ox Senate represents V'enadan, ' ' the Lord of the Vend,du,'' or Venattw, that being the name of the district to which belonged the family of the old kings of Kol- 1am, and Venddan being their regular dynastic name. The Rajas of Tra- vancore who superseded the Kings of Kollam, and inherit their titles, are still poetically styled Venddan. {Pauthier, p. 603 seqq. ; Ram. I. f. 304.) Note 2. — The brazil-wood of Kaulam appears in the Commercial Handbook of Pegolotti (circa 1340) as Verzino ColomUno, and under the same name in that of Giov. d'Uzzano a century later. Pegolotti in one passage details kinds of brazil under the names of Verzino salvatico, dimestico, and colombino. In another passage, where he enters into par- ticulars as to the respective values of different qualities, he names three kinds, as Colomni, Ameri, and Seni, of which the Colomni (or Colombino) was worth a sixth more than the Ameri and three times as much as the . Seni. I have already conjectured that Ameri may stand for Lameri referring to Lambri in Sumatra {supra ch. xi., note 1); and perhaps Seni is Sini or Chinese, indicating an article brought to India by the Chinese traders, probably from Siam. We have seen in the last note that the Kaulam brazil is spoken of by Abulfeda ; and Ibn Batuta, in describing his voyage by the back waters from Calicut to Kaulam, says : " All the trees that grow by this river are either cinnamon or brazil trees. They use these for firewood, and we cooked with them throughout our journey." Friar Odoric makes the same hyperbolic statement : " Here. they burn brazil- wood for fuel." It has been supposed popularly that the brazil-wood of commerce took its name from the great country so called ; but the verzino of the old Italian writers is only a form of the same word, and bresil is in fact the word used by Polo. So Chaucer :— " Him nedeth not his colour for to dien With brazil, ne witli grain of Portingale." — The Nun's Priest's Tale. The Eastern wood in question is now known in commerce by its Malay * The translated passage about 'Apithota is a little obscure. The name looks like Kaptikada, which was the site of a palace north of Calicut (not in Kaulam), the Capucate of the Portuguese. Chap. XXII. BRAZIL-WOOD. 3.69 name of Sappan (properly Sapang), which again is identical with the Tamil name Sappangi. This word properly means Japan, and seems to have been given to the wood as a supposed product of that region.* It is the wood of the Caesalpinia Sapan, and is known in Arabic (and in Hindustani) as Bakam. It is a thorny tree, indigenous in Western India from Goa to Trevandrum, and growing luxuriantly in South Malabar. It is extensively used by native dyers, chiefly for common and cheap cloths, and for fine mats. The dye is precipitated dark-brown with iron, and red with alum. It is said, in Western India, to furnish the red powder thrown about on the Hindu feast of the Huli. The tree is both wild and cultivated, and is grown rather extensively by the Mahomedans of Malabar, called Moplahs {Mapillas, see p. 354), whose custom it is to plant a number of seeds at the birth of a daughter. The trees require fourteen or fifteen years to come to maturity, and then become the girl's dowry. Though to a great extent superseded by the kindred wood from Pernambuco, the sappan is still a substantial object of importation into England. That American dye-stuff which now bears the name of brazil- wood is believed to be the produce of at least two species of Caesalpinia, but the question seems to partake of the singular obscurity which hangs over the origin of so many useful drugs and dye-stuffs. The variety called Braziletto is from C. bahamensis, a native of the Bahamas. The name of brazil has had a curious history. Etymologists refer it to the colour of braise or hot coals, and its first application was to this dye-wood from the far East. Then it was applied to a newly-discovered tract of South America, perhaps because producing a kindred dye-wood in large quantities : finally the original wood is robbed of its name, which is monopolized by that imported from the new country. The Region of Brazil had been originally styled Santa Cruz, and De Barros attributes the change of name to the suggestion of the Evil One, " as if the name of a wood for colouring cloth were of more moment than that of the Wood which imbues the Sacraments with the tincture of Salvation." There may perhaps be a doubt if the;Eand of Brazil derived its name from the dye-wood. For the Isle of Brazil, long before the discovery of America, was a name applied to an imaginary Island in the Atlantic. This island appears in the map of Andrea Bianco and in many others, down at least to Coronelli's splendid, Venetian Atlas (1696); the Irish • used to fancy that they could see it from the Isles of Arran ; and the legend of this Island of Brazil still persisted among sailors in the last century, t The story was no doubt the same as that of the green Island, or Island of Youth, which Mr. Campbell tells us the Hebrideans * Dr. Caldwell. t Indeed, Humboldt speaks of Brazil Isle as appearing to the west of Ireland in a modern Englisli map, — Purdy^s ; but I do not know its date. (See Examen, &c., II. 244-S.) VOL. II. 2 B 37° MARCO POLO. Book III. see to the west of their own Islands. (See Pop. Tales of West High- lands, IV. 163. For previous references, Delia Decitna, III. 298, 361 ; ly. bo; I. B. IV. 99 ; Cathay, p. 77 ; Note by Dr. H. Cleghorn; Marsh's ed. of Wedgwoods Etyni. Diet. I. 123 ; Southey, H. of Brazil, I. 22.) Note 3. — This is the Colombine ginger which appears not un- frequently in medieval writings. Pegolotti tells us that "ginger is of several sorts, to wit, Belledi, Colombino, and Mecchino. And these names are bestowed from the producing countries, at least this is the case with the Colombino and Mecchino, for the Belledi is produced in many districts of India. The Colombino grows in the Island of Colombo of India, and has a smooth, delicate, ash-coloured rind ; whilst the Mecchino comes from the districts about Mecca and is a small kind, hard to cut,'' &c. [Delia Dec. III. 359.) A century later, in G. da Uzzano, we still find the Colombino and Belladi ginger (IV. in, 210, &c.). The Baladi is also mentioned by Rashiduddin as an export of Guzerat, and by Barbosa and others as one of Calicut in the beginning of the 1 6th century. The Mecchino too is mentioned again in that era by a Venetian traveller as grown in the Island of Camran in the Red Sea. Both Columbine {gigembre coltimbin), and Baladi ginger {gig. baladit) appear among the purchases for King John of France, during his cap- tivity in England. And we gather from his accounts that the price of the former was 13^. a pound, and of the latter \zd., sums representing three times the amount of silver that they now indicate, with a higher value of silver also, and hence equivalent to about 4^^. and ^s. \d. a pound. The term Baladi (Ar.), Indigenous or "Country" ginger, indicated ordinary qualities of no particular repute. The word Baladi seems to have become naturalized in Spanish with the meaning " of small value." We have noticed on a former occasion the decay of the demand for pepper in China. Ginger affords a similar example. This spice, so highly prized and so well known throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, I have found to be quite unknown by name and qualities to servants in Palermo of more than average intelligence. {Elliot, I. 67 ; Ramusio, I. f. 275 V. 323; Dozy and Engelm. 1^. 232-3; Douet dArcq, p. 218; Philobiblon Soc. Miscellanies, vol. II. p. 116.) Note 4. — In Bengal Indigo factories artificial heiit is employed to promote the drying of the precipitated dye ; but this is not essential to the manufacture. Marco's account, though grotesque in its baldness, does describe the chief features of the manufacture of Indigo by fermen- tation. The branches are cut and placed stem upwards in the vat till it is three parts full ; they are loaded, and then the vat is filled with water. Fermentation soon begins and goes on till in 24 hours the contents of the vat are so hot that the hand cannot be retained in it. This is what Marco ascribes to the sun's heat. The liquor is then drawn off to another cistern and there agitated ; the indigo separates in flakes. A quantity of lime-water then is added, and the blue is allowed to subside. The Chap. XXII. GINGER. COMARI. 371 clear water is drawn off; the sediment is drained, pressed, and cut into small squares, &c. (See Madras Journal, vol. VIII. 198.) Indigo had been introduced into Sicily by the Jews during the time of Frederick II., in the early part of Polo's century. Jews and Indigo have long vanished from Sicily. The dye is often mentioned in Pegolotti's Book ; the finest quality being termed Indaco Baccadeo, a corruption of Bdghdddi. Probably it came from India by way of Baghdad. In the Barcelona Tariffs it appears as Indigo de Bagadel. Another quality often mentioned is Indigo di Golfo. (See Capmany, Memorias, II. App. p. 73.) In the bye-laws of the London Painters' Guild of the 13th century, quoted by Sir F. Palgrave from the Liber Home, it is forbidden to paint on gold or silver except with fine (mineral) colours, " e nient de brasil, ne de inde de Baldas, ne de nul autre mauveise couleurP (The Merchant and the Friar, p. xxiii.). There is now no indigo made or exported at Quilon, but there is still some feeble export of sappan- wood, ginger, and pepper. These, and previous particulars as to the present Quilon, I owe to the kindness of Mr. Ballard, British Resident at Trevandrum. Note 5. — Black Tigers and black Leopards are not very rare in Travancore (see WelsKs Mil. Reminiscences, II. 102). Note 6. — Probably founded on local or caste customs of marriage, several of which in South India are very peculiar; e.g., see Nelson's Madura, pt. ii. p. 51. CHAPTER XXII L Of the Country called Comarl CoMARi is a country belonging to India, and there you can see something of the North Star, which we had not been able to see from the Lesser Java thus far. In order to see it you must go some 30 miles out to sea, and then you see it about a cubit above the water ' This is a very wild country, and there are beasts of all kinds there, especially monkeys of such peculiar fashion that you would take them for men ! There are also gat- pauls" in wonderful diversity, with bears, lions, and leopards, in abundance. 2 B 2 372 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. Note 1. — Kumdri is in some versions of the Hindu cosmography the most southerly of the nine divisions of Jambodvipa, the Indian world. Polo's Comari can only be the country about Cape Comorin, the Kojuapta aKpov of Ptolemy, a name derived from the Sanskrit ^wwzir/, " a Virgin," an appellation of the goddess Durga. The monthly bathing in her honour, spoken of by the author of the Periplus, is still continued, though now the pilgrims are few.* Abulfeda speaks of Rds Kumhari as the limit between Malabar and Ma'bar. Kumdri is the Tamul pronunciation of the Sanskrit word and probably Comari was Polo's pronunciation. At the beginning of the Portuguese era in India we hear of a small Kingdom of Comori, the prince of which had succeeded to the kingdom of Kaulam. And this, as Dr. Caldwell points out, must have been the state which is now called Travancore. Kumari has been confounded by some of the Arabian Geographers, or their modern commentators, with Kumar, one of the regions supplying aloes-wood, and which was apparently Khmer or Kamboja. {Caldwell's Drav. Grammar, p. 67 ; Gildem. 185 ; Ra7)i. I. 333.) The cut that we give is, as far as I know, the first genuine view of Cape Comorin ever published. Note 2. — I have not been able to ascertain with any precision what animal is meant by Gat-paul. The term occurs again, coupled with monkeys as here, at p. 240 of the Geog. Text, where speaking of Abyssinia it is said : "// ont gat paulz et autre gat-maimon si divisez" &c. Gatto maimone, for an ape of some kind, is common in old ItaHan, the latter part of the term, from the Pers. Maimim, being possibly connected with our Baboon. And that the Gatpaul was also some kind of ape is confirmed by the Spanish Dictionaries. Cobarrubias gives : " Gato-Paus, a kind of tailed monkey. Gato pans, Gato pahlo ; perhaps as they call a monkey ' Martha,' they may have called this particular monkey 'Paul,'" &c. (f. 431 v.). So also the Diccion. de la Lengua Castellana comp. por la Real Academia (1783) gives : " Gato Paul, a kind of monkey of a grey colour, black muzzle and .very broad tail." In fact, the word is used by Columbus, who, in his own account of his third voyage, de- scribes a hill on the coast of Paria as covered with a species of Gatos Panics (see Navarrete, Fr. ed. III. 21, also 147-8). It also occurs in Marmol, Desc. General de Affrica, who says that one kind of monkeys has a black face; '■^ y estas comunemente se llaman en Espana Gatos Paules, las quales se crian en la' tierra de los JVegros" (I. £ 27). It is worth noting that the revisers of the text adopted by Pauthier have not understood the word. For they substitute for the " // hi a gat paul si divisez qe ce estoit mervoille" of the Geog. Text, " et si a moult de granz paluz et moult grans pantains a merveilles" — wonderful swamps and marshes ! The Pipino Latin has adhered to the correct reading " Ibi sunt cati qui dicuntur pauli, valde diversi ah aliis." ee Supplementary Note in Appendix L. Chap. XXIII. CAPE COMORIN. 'in 374 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. CHAPTER XXIV. Concerning the Kingdom of Eli. Eli is a kingdom towards the west, about 300 miles from Comari. The people are Idolaters and have a king, and are tributary to nobody; and have a peculiar language. We will tell you particulars about their manners and their products, and you will better understand things now because we are drawing near to places that are not so outlandish,' There is no proper harbour in the country, but there are many great rivers with good estuaries, wide and deep.' Pepper and ginger grow there, and other spices in quan- tities.3 The King is rich in treasure, but not very strong in forces. The approach to his kingdom however is so strong by nature that no one can attack him, so he is afraid of nobody. And you must know that if any ship enters their estuary and anchors there, having been bound for some other port, they seize her and plunder the cargo. For they say, " You were bound for somewhere else, and 'tis God has sent you hither to us, so we have a right to all your goods." And they think it no sin to act thus. And this naughty custom prevails all over these provinces of India, to wit, that if a ship be driven by stress of weather into some other port than that to which it was bound, it is sure to be plundered. But if a ship come bound originally to the place they receive it with all honour and give it due protection.* The ships of Manzi and other countries that come hither in summer lay in their cargoes in 6 or 8 days and depart as fast as possible, because there is no harbour other than the river-mouth, a mere roadstead and sandbanks, so that it is perilous to tarry there. The ships of Manzi indeed are not so much afraid of these roadsteads as others are, because they have such huge wooden anchors which hold in all weather.' Chap. XXIV. THE KINGDOM OF ELI. 375 There are many lions and other wild beasts here and plenty of game, both beast and bird. Note 1. — No city or district is now known by the name of Ely, but tlie name survives in tliat of Mount Bely, properly Monte d'ELV, the Yeli-mala of the Malabar people, and called also in the legends of the coast Sapta-shaila, or the Seven Hills. This is the only spur of the Ghdts that reaches the sea within the Madras territory. It is an isolated and very conspicuous hill, or cluster of hills, forming a promontory some 16 miles north of Cananore, the first Indian land seen by Vasco da Gama, on that memorable August morning in 1498, and formerly very well known to navigators, though it has been allowed to drop out of some of our most ambitious modern maps. Abulfeda describes it as " a great mountain projecting into the sea, and descried from a great distance, called Ras Haili " and it appears in Fra Mauro's map as Cava de Eli. Rashiduddin mentions " the country of Hili," between Manjarur (Mangalore) and Fandaraina (miswritten in Elliot's copy Sadarsa). Ibn Batuta speaks of Hili, which he reached on leaving Manjarur, as " a great and well-built city, situated on a large estuary accessible to great ships. The vessels of China come hither ; this, Kaulam, and Kalikut, are the only ports that they enter." From Hili he proceeds 12 miles further down the coast to Jor-fattan, which probably corresponds to Baliapatan. Elly appears in the Carta Catalana, and is marked as a Christian city. Nicolo Conti is the last to speak distinctly of the city. Sailing from Cambay, in 20 days he arrived at two cities on the sea- shore, Pacamima {Faknur, of Rashid and Firishta, Baccanor of old books, and now Bdrktir, the Malay^lim Vdkkam'tr) and Helli. But we read that in 1527 Simon de Melo was sent to burn ships in the River oi Marabia and at Monte d'Elli* When Da Gama on his second voyage was on his way from Baticala (in Canara) to Cananor, a squall having sprung his mainmast just before reaching Mt. d'Ely, " the captain- major anchored in the Bay of Marabia, because he saw there several Moorish ships, in order to get a mast from them." It seems clear that this was the bay just behind Mt. d'Ely. Indeed the name of Marabia or Mdrdwi is still preserved in Afdddvi or Middi, corruptly termed Maudoy in some of our maps, a township upon the river which enters the bay about 7 or 8 miles south-east of Mt. d'Ely, and which is called by De Barros the Rio Marabia. Mr. Ballard informs me that he never heard of ruins of importance at Madai, * The Town of Monte d'Ely appears [Monte Dil) in Coronelli's Atlas (1690) from some older source. Mr. Burnell thinks Baliapatan (properly Valarfattanam) which is still a prosperous Mappila town, on a broad and deep river, must be Hili. I see a little difficulty in this. 376 MARCO POLO. Book III. but there is a place on the river just mentioned, and witliin the Madai township, called PayangAdi (" Old Town "), which has the remains of an old fort of the Kolastri (or Kolatiri) Rajas. A palace at Madai (perhaps this fort) is alluded to by Dr. Gundert in the Madras Journal, and a Buddhist Vihara is spoken of in an old Malayalim poem as having existed at the same place. The same paper speaks of "the famous emporium of Cachilpatnam near Mt. d'Ely," which may have been our city of Hili, as the cities Hili and Marawi were apparently separate though near.* The state of Hili-Mdrdwi is also mentioned in the Arabic work on the early history of the Mahomedans in Malabar, called Tuhfat-al-Mujd- hidin, and translated by Rowland son ; and as the prince is there called Kolturee, this would seem to identify him either in family or person with the Raja of Cananor, for that old dynasty always bore the name of Kolatiri. ^ The Ramusian version of Barbosa is very defective here, but in Stanley's version (Hak. Soc. East African and Malabar Coasts, p. 149) we find the topography in a passage from a Munich MS. clear enough : "After passing this place " (the river of Nirapura or Nileshwaram) " along the coast is the mountain Dely (of Ely) on the edge of the sea ; it is a round mountain, very lofty, in the midst of low land ; all the ships of the Moors and Gentiles that navigate in this sea of India, sight this mountain when coming from without, and make their reckoning by it ; .... after this, at the foot of the mountain to the south, is a town called Marave, very ancient and well off, in which live Moors and Gentiles and Jews; these Jews are of the language of the country; it is a long time that they have dwelt in this place." {Stanley's Correa, Hak. Soc. p. 145, 312-13; Gildem. p. 185; Elliot, 1.68; /. ^. IV. 81 ; Conti, p. 6; Madras Journal, XIII. No. 31, p. 14, 99, 102, 104; De Barros, III. 9, cap. 6, and IV. 2, cap. 13; De Coiito, IV. 5, cap. 4.) Note 2. — This is from Pauthier's text, and the map with ch. xxi. illustrates the fact of the many wide rivers. The G. T. has " a good river with a very good estuary " or mouth. The latter word is in the G. T. faces, afterwards more correctly foces, equivalent to fauces. We have seen that Ibn Batuta also speaks of the estuary or inlet at Hili. It may have been either that immediately east of Mount d'Ely, communicating with Kavviyi and the Nileshwaram River or the Madai * Mr. Burnell thinks Kachchil^Mfl.vAxa. must be an error (easy in Malayalim) for AflZ'Z'z/pattanam, i.e. Kavvayi (Kanwai in our map). \ As prinled hy Rowlandson, the name is corrupt (like many others in the book), being given as Hubaee Muraiaee. But suspecting what this pointed to, I examined the MS. in the R. A. Society's Library. The knowledge of the Arabic character was quite suiificient to enable me to trace the name as is^ I.Lo _X>jb; HIU Mdrdwi. (See Rowlandson, pp. 54, 58-59, and MS. pp. 23 and 26 ; also Indian Antiquary, IIL p. ZI3.) Chap. XXIV. THE KINGDOM OF ELI. 377 River. Neither could be entered by vessels now, but there have been great littoral changes. The land joining Mt. d'Ely to the main is mere alluvium. Note 3. — Barbosa says that throughout the kingdom of Cananor the pepper was of excellent quality, though not in great quantity. There was much ginger, not first-rate, which was called Hely from its growing about Mount d'Ely, with cardamoms (names of which. Eld in Sanskrit, Helm Persian, I have thought might be connected with that of the hill), mirobolans, cassia fistula, zerumbet, and zedoary. The two last items are two species of curcuma, formerly in much demand as aromatics ; the last is, I believe, the setewale of Chaucer : — ' ' There was eke wexing many a spice, As clowe gilofre and Licorice, Ginger and grein de Paradis, Canell and setewale of pris, And many a spice delitable To eaten when men rise from table." — R. of the Rose. The Hely ginger is also mentioned by Conti. Mount d Ely, from the Sea, in last century. Note 4. — This piratical practice is noted by Abdurrazzak also : " In other parts (than Calicut) a strange practice is adopted. When a vessel sets sail for a certain point, and suddenly is driven by a decree of Divine Providence into another roadstead, the inhabitants, under the pretext that the wind has driven it thither, plunder the ship. But at Calicut eveiy ship, whatever place it comes from, or wherever it may be bound, when it puts into this port, is treated like other vessels, and has no trouble of any kind to put up with" (p. 14). In 1673 Sivaji replied to the pleadings of an English embassy, that it was " against the Laws of 378 MARCO POLO. Book III. Conchon" (Ptolemy's Pirate Coast !) "to restore any ships or goods that were driven ashore." {Fryer, p. 261.) With regard to the anchors, Pauthier's text has just the opposite of the G. T. which we have preferred : " Les nefs du Manzi portent si grans ancres defust que il seufi'rent moult de grans fortunes aus plajes." Demailla says the Chinese consider their ironwood anchors to be much better than those of iron, because the latter are subject to strain {Lett. Edif. XIV. 10). Capt. Owen has a good word for wooden anchors {Narr. of Voyages, ^^c. I. 385). CHAPTER XXV. Concerning the Kingdom of Melibar. Melibar is a great kingdom lying towards the west. The people are Idolaters ; they have a language of their own, and a king of their own, and pay tribute to nobody.' In this country you see more of the North Star, for it shows two cubits above the water. And you must know that from this kingdom of Melibar, and from another near it called Gozurat, there go forth every year more than a hundred corsair vessels on cruize. These pirates take with them their wives and children, and stay out the whole summer. Their method is to join in fleets of 20 or 30 of these pirate vessels together, and then they form what they call a sea cordon,'' that is, they drop off till there is an interval of 5 or 6 miles between ship and ship, so that they cover something like an hundred miles of sea, and no merchant ship can escape them. For when any one corsair sights a vessel a signal is made by fire or smoke, and then the whole of them make for this, and seize the mer- chants and plunder them. After they have plundered them they let them go, saying : " Go along with you and get more gain, and that mayhap will fall to us also ! " But now the merchants are aware of this, and go so well manned and armed, and with such great ships, that they don't fear the corsairs. Still mishaps do befal them at times.^ Chap. XXV. THE KINGDOM OF MELIBAR. 379 There is in this kingdom a great quantity of pepper, and ginger, and cinnamon, and turbit, and of nuts of India.'' They also manufacture very deUcate and beautiful buck- rams. The ships that come from the east bring copper in ballast. They also bring hither cloths of silk and gold, and sendels ; also gold and silver, cloves and spikenard, and other fine spices for which there is a, demand here, and exchange them for the products of these countries. Ships come hither from many quarters, but especially from the great province of Manzi.= Coarse spices are exported hence both to Manzi and to the west, and that which is carried by the merchants to. Aden goes on to Alexandria, but the ships that go in the latter direction are not one to ten of those that go to the eastward ; a very notable fact that I have mentioned before. Now I have told you about the kingdom of Melibar ; we shall now proceed and tell you of the kingdom of Gozurat. And you must understand that in speaking of these kingdoms we note only the capitals ; there are great numbers of other cities and towns of which we shall say nothing, because it would make too long a story to speak of all. Note 1. — Here is another instance of that confusion which dislocates Polo's descriptions of the Indian coast ; we shall recur to it under Ch. XXX. Malabar is a name given by the Arabs, and varies in its form ; Ibn Batuta and Kazwini write it .LkjL»J), al-Malibdr, Edrisi and Abulfeda .LkAJ^I, al-Mambdr, Sec, and like variations occur among the old European travellers. The country so-called corresponded to the Kerala of the Brahmans, which in its very widest sense extended from about lat. 15" to Cape Comorin. This, too, seems to be the extension which Abulfeda gives to Malabar, viz., from Hun^war to Kumhari; Rash- iduddin includes Sindibur, i. e. Goa. But at a later date a point between Mt. d'Ely and Mangalore on the north, and Kaulam on the south, were the limits usually assigned to Malabar. Note 2. — ■" II font eschiel en mer" (G. T.). Eschiel is the equivalent of the Italian schera or schiera, a troop or squadron, and thence applied to order of battle, whether by land or sea. 380 MARCO POLO. Book III. Note 3. — The northern part of Malabar, Canara, and the Konkan, have been nests of pirates from the time of the ancients to a very recent date. Padre Paohno specifies the vicinity of Mt. d'Ely as a special haunt of them in his day, the latter half of last century. Somewhat further north Ibn Batuta fell into their hands, and was stripped to his drawers. Note 4. — There is something to be said about these Malabar spices. The cinnamon of Malabar is what we call cassia, the canella grossa of Conti, the canela 'brava of the Portuguese. Notices of it will be found in Rheede (I. 107) and in Garcias (f 26 seqq.). The latter says the Ceylon cinnamon exceeded it in value as 4 : i. Uzzano discriminates canella lunga. Salami, and Mabari. The Salami, I have no doubt, is Sailani, Ceylonese ; and as we do not hear of any cassia from Mabar, probably the last was Malabar cinnamon. Turbit: Radcx Ttij-pet/ti is still known in pharmacy, at least in some parts of the Continent and in India, though in England obsolete. It is mentioned in the Pharmacopceia of India (r868) as derived from Ipomaa Turpethu7n. But it is worthy of note that Ramusio has cubebs instead of turbit. The former does not seem now to be a product of Western India, though Garcias says that a small quantity grew there, and a Dutch report of 1675 in Valentyn also mentions it as an export of Malabar {v., Ceylon,'^. 243). There is some ambiguity in statements about it, because its popular name Kdbab-chini seems to be also applied to the cassia bud. Cubeb pepper was much used in the Middle Ages as a spice, and imported into Europe as such. But the importation had long practically ceased, when its medical uses became known during the British occupation of Java, and the demand was renewed. Budaeus and Salmasius have identified this drug with the Kw/xaKov, which Theophrastus joins with cinnamomum and cassia as an ingredient in aromatic confections. The inducement to this identification was no doubt the singular resemblance which the word bears to the Javanese name of cubeb pepper, viz., Kumiikus. If the foundation were a little firmer this would be curious evidence of intercourse and trade with Java in a time earlier than that of Theophrastus, viz., the fourth century B.C. In the detail of 3 cargoes from Malabar that arrived at Lisbon in Sept. rso4 we find the following proportions: Pepper, to,ooo cantars ; cinnamon, 500; cloves, 450; zz. (i.e. zenzaro, gmgtx), 130;- lac and brazil, 750 ; camphor, 7 ; cubebs, 191 ; mace, 2 J ; spikenard, 3 ; lign-aloes, i^-. (Buchanaiis Mysore, II. 31, III. 193, and App. p. v. ; Garcias, Ital. version 1576, f. 39-40; Salmas. Exerc. Plin. p. 923; Bud. on Theoph. 1004 and loro; Archiv. St. Ital, Append. II. p. 19.) Note 6. — We see that Marco speaks of the merchants and ships of Chap. XXV. THE KINGDOM OF MELIBAR. 381 Manzi, or Southern China, as frequenting Kaulam, Hili, and now Malabar of which Calicut was the chief port. This quite coincides with Ibn Batuta, who says those were the three ports of India which the Chinese junks frequented, adding Fandaraina {i.e. Pandarani, or PantaMni, 16 miles north of Calicut), as a port where they used to moor for the winter when they spent that season in India. By the winter he means the rainy season, as Portuguese writers on India do by the same expression (IV. 81, 88, 96). I have been ■unable to find anything definite as to the date of the cessation of this Chinese navigation to Malabar, but I believe it may be placed about the beginning of the isth century. The most distinct allusion to it that I am aware of is in the information of Joseph of Cran- ganor, in the Novus Orbis (Ed. of 1555, p. 208). He says: "These people of Cathay are men of remarkable energy, and formerly drove a first-rate trade at the city of Calicut. But the King of Cahcut having treated them badly, they quitted that city, and returning shortly after inflicted no small slaughter on the people of Calicut, and after that returned no more. After that they began to frequent Mailapetam, a city subject to the king of Narsingha ; a region towards the East, .... and there they now drive their trade." There is also in Caspar Correa's account of the Voyages of Da Gama a curious record of a tradition of the arrival in Malabar more than four centuries before of a vast merchant fleet " from the parts of Malacca, and China, and the Lequeos " (Lewchew) ; many from the company on board had settled in the country and left descendants. In the space of a hundred years none of these remained ; but their sumptuous idol temples were still to be seen {Stanley's Transl.., Hak. Soc, p. 147).* It is probable that both these stories must be referred to those extensive expeditions to the western countries with the object of restoring Chinese influence which were despatched by the Ming Emperor Ching-tsu (or Yung-lo), about 1406, and one of which seems actually to have brought Ceylon under a partial subjection to China, which endured half a century. (See Tennent, I. 623 seqq. ; ^iX^ii Letter of P. Gaubil in J. A. ser. 2, torn. x. p. 327-8.) De Barros says that the famous city of Diu was built by one of the Kings of Guzerat, whom he calls in one place Dariar Khan, and in another Peruxiah, in memory of victory in a sea-fight with the Chinese who then frequented the Indian shores. It is difficult to identify this King, though he is represented as the father of the famous toxico- phagous Sultan Mahmdd Begara (1459-15 11). De Barros has many other allusions to Chinese settlements and conquests in India which it is not very easy to account for. Whatever basis of facts there is " It appears from a paper in the Mackenzie MSS. that down to Colonel Mac- kenzie's, time there was a tribe in Calicut whose ancestors were believed to have been Chinese (see Taylor's Catal. Raisonne, III. 664). And there is a notable passage in Abdurrazzak which says the seafaring population of Calicut were nick-named C/iinl bachagdn, "China boys" (India in XVth Cent. p. ig). 382 MARCO POLO. Book III. must probably refer to the expeditions of Ching-tsu, but not a little probably grew out of the confusion of Jainas and Chinas already alluded to ; and to this I incline to refer Correa's " sumptuous idol- temples.'' There must have been some revival of Chinese trade in the last cen- tury, if P. Paolino is correct in speaking of Chinese vessels frequenting Travancore ports for pepper (De Barros, Dec. II. Liv. ii. cap. 9, and Dec. IV. Liv. v. cap. 3 ; Paolino, p. 74). CHAPTER XXVI. Concerning the Kingdom of Gozurat. — J* _ JMedieval Architecture in Guzerat (from Fergusson). Gozurat is a great kingdom. The people are Idolaters and have a peculiar language, and a king of their own, and are tributary to no one. It lies towards the west, and the Chap. XXVI. THE KINGDOM OF GOZURAT. 383 North Star is here still more conspicuous, showing itself at an altitude of about 6 cubits.' The people are the most desperate pirates in existence, and one of their atrocious practices is this. When they have taken a merchant-vessel they force the merchants to swallow a stuff called Tamarindi mixed in sea-water, which produces a violent purging. This is done in case the merchants, on seeing their danger, should have swallowed their most valuable stones and pearls. And in this way the pirates secure the whole. In this province of Gozurat there grows much pepper, and ginger, and indigo. They have also a great deal of cotton. Their cotton trees are of very great size, growing full six paces high, and attaining to an age of %o years. It is to be observed however that, when the trees are so old as that, the cotton is not good to spin, but only to quilt or stuff beds withal. Up to the age of 12 years indeed the trees give good spinning cotton, but from that age to 20 years the produce is inferior.^ They dress in this country great numbers of skins of various kinds, goat-skins, ox-skins, buffalo and wild ox- skins, as well as those of unicorns and other animals. In fact so many are dressed every year as to load a number of ships for Arabia and other quarters. They also work here beautiful mats in red and blue leather, exquisitely inlaid with figures of birds and beasts, and skilfully embroidered with gold and silver wire. These are marvellously beautiful things ; they are used by the Saracens to sleep upon, and capital they are for that purpose. They also work cushions embroidered with gold, so fine that they are worth six marks of silver a piece, whilst some of those sleeping-mats are worth ten marks.^ Note 1. — Again we note the topographical confusion. Guzerat is mentioned as if it were a province adjoining Malabar, and before arriving at Tana, Cambay, and Somnath ; though in fact it includes those three 384 MARCO POLO. BOOX III. cities, and Cambay was then its great mart. Wassdf, Polo's contempo- rary, perhaps acquaintance, speaks of " Gujarat which is commonly called Kambdyat {Elliot, III. 31). Note 2. — The notice of pepper here is hard to explain. But Hwen T'sang also speaks of Indian pepper and incense (see next chapter) as grown at ' Ochali which seems to be some place on the northern border of Guzerat (II. 161). Marsden, in regard to the cotton, supposes here some confused introduction of the silk-cotton tree {Bombax or Salmalia, the Semal of Hindustan), but the description would be entirely inapplicable to that great forest tree. It is remarkable that nearly the same statement with regard to Guzerat occurs in Rashiduddin's sketch of India, as translated in Sir H. Elliot's History of India {ed. by Prof. Dowson, I. 67) : " Grapes are produced twice during the year, and the strength of the soil is such that cotton-plants grow like willows and plane-trees, and yield produce ten years running." An author of later date, from whom extracts are given in the same work, viz., Mahommed Masiim in his History of Sind, describing the wonders of Siwi, says : " In Korzamin and Chhatur, which are districts of Siwi, cotton-plants grow as large as trees, insomuch that men pick the cotton mounted " (p. 237). These would appear to have been plants of the species of true cotton called by Royle Gossipiuin arboreum, and sometimes termed G. religiosum, from its being often grown in South India near temples or abodes of devotees ; though the latter name has been applied also to the nankeen cotton. That of which we speak is however, according to Dr. Cleghorn, termed in Mysore Deo kapds, of which G. religiosum would be a proper translation. It is grown in various parts of India, but generally rather for ornament than use. It is stated, however, to be specially used for the manufacture of turbans, and for the Brahmanical thread, and probably afforded the groundwork of the story told by Philostratus of the wild cotton which was used only for the sacred vest- ments of the Brahmans, and refused to lend itself to other uses. One of Royle's authorities (Mr. Vaupell) mentions that it was grown near large towns of Eastern Guzerat, and its wool regarded as the finest of any, and only used in delicate muslins. Tod speaks of it in Bikanir, and this kind of cotton appears to be grown also in China, as we gather from a passage in Amyot's Memoires (II. 606), which speaks of the " Cotoimiers arbres, qui ne devoient etre fertiles qu'aprfes un bon nombre d'ann^es." The height appears to have been a difficulty with Marsden, who refers to the G. arboreum, but does not admit that it could be intended. Yet I see in the Etiglish Cyclopadia that to this species is assigned a height of 15 to 20 feet. Polo's six paces therefore, even if it means 30 feet as I think, is not a great exaggeration. {Royle, Cult, of Cotton, 144, 145, 152 ; Eng. Cyd. art. Gossypium.) Note 3. — Embroidered and inlaid leather-work for bed covers. Chap. XXVII. THE KINGDOM OF TANA. 385 palankin mats and the like, is still a great manufacture in Rajkot and other places of Kattiawar in Peninsular Guzerat, as well as in the adjoin- ing region of Sind (Note from Sir Bartle Frere). The embroidery of Guzerat is highly commended by Barbosa, Linschoten, and A. Hamilton. The G. T. adds at the end of this passage : " 5 qe vos en diroi'i Sachies tout voiremant qe en ceste reingne se laboure roiaus dereusse de cuir et plus sotilment que ne fait en tout lo monde, et celz qe sunt de grei- gnors vailance" The two words in Roman type I cannot explain ; qu. royaux devises 1 CHAPTER XXVII. Concerning the Kingdom of Tana. Tana is a great kingdom lying towards the west, a kingdom great both in size and worth. The people are Idolaters, with a language of their own, and a king of their own, and tributary to nobody.^ No pepper grows there, nor other spices, but plenty of incense ; not the white kind however, but brown.^ There is much traffic here, and many ships and mer- chants frequent the place ; for there is a great export of leather of various excellent kinds, and also of good buckram and cotton. The merchants in their ships also import various articles, such as gold, silver, copper, and other things in demand. With the King's connivance many corsairs launch from this port to plunder merchants. These corsairs have a covenant with the King that he shall get all the horses they capture, and all other plunder shall remain with them. The King does this because he has no horses of his own, whilst many are shipped from abroad towards India ; for no ship ever goes thither without horses in addition to other cargo. The practice is naughty and unworthy of a king. VOL. II. 1 c 386 MARCO POLO. Book III. Note 1. — The town of Thana, on the landward side of the island of Salsette, still exists, about 20 miles from Bombay. The Great Penin- sular Railroad here crosses the strait which separates Salsette from the continent. The Konkan is no doubt what was intended by the kingdom of Thdna. Albimni speaks of that city as the capital of Konkan ; Rashiduddin calls it Konkan-Tdna, Ibn Batuta Kiikin-Tdna, the last a form which appears in the Carta Catalana as Cucintana. Tieffentaller writes Kokan, and this \s Sd.ii. {Cunningham' sAnc. Geog. 553) to be the local pronunciation. Abul- feda speaks of it as a very celebrated place of trade, producing a kind of cloth which was called Tdnasi, bamboos, and Tabashir derived from the ashes of the bamboo. As early as the i6th year of the Hijra (a.d. 637) an Arab fleet from Oman made a hostile descent on the Island of Thdna, i. e. Salsette. The place {Sri Sthdnaka) appears from inscriptions to have been the seat of a Hindu kingdom of the Konkan, in the nth century. In Polo's time Thina seems to have been still under a Hindu prince, but it soon afterwards became subject to the Dehli sovereigns ; and when visited by Jordanus and by Odoric some 30 years after Polo's voyage, a Mussulman governor was ruling there, who put to death four Fran- ciscans, the companions of Jordanus. Barbosa gives it the compound name of Tana-Maiambu, the latter part being the first indication I know of the name of Bombay {Mambai). It was still a place of many mosques, temples, and gardens, but the trade was small. Pirates still did business from the port, but on a reduced scale. Botero says that there were the remains of an immense city to be seen, and that the town still contained 5000 velvet-weavers (p. 104). Till the Mahrattas took Salsette in 1737, the Portuguese had many fine villas about Thina. Polo's dislocation of geographical order here has misled Fra Mauro into placing Tana to the west of Guzerat, though he has a duplicate Tana nearer the correct position. Note 2. — It has often been erroneously supposed that the frankincense {olibanum) of commerce, for which Bombay and the ports which preceded it in Western India have for centuries aflforded the chief mart, was an Indian product. But Marco is not making that mistake ; he calls the incense of Western India brown, evidently in contrast with the white incense or olibanum, which he afterwards assigns to its true locality {infra, ch. xxxvii., xxxviii.). Nor is Marsden justified in assuming that the brown incense of Tana must needs have been Be7izoin imported from Sumatra, though I observe Dr. Birdwood considers that the term Indian Frankincense which occurs in Dioscorides must have included Benzoin. Dioscorides describes the so-called Indian Frankincense as Maekish ; and Garcias supposes the name merely to refer to the colour, as he says the Arabs often gave the name of Indian to things of a dark colour. Chap. XXVII. THInA— BROWN INCENSE. 387 There seems to be no proof that Benzoin was known even to the older Arab writers. Western India supplies a variety of aromatic gum- resins, one of which was probably intended by our traveller : I. BoswELLiA THURIFERA of Colebrooke, whose description led to a general belief that this tree produced the Frankincense of commerce. The tree is found in Oudh and Rohilkhand, in Bah^r, Central India, Khandesh, and Kattiawd,r, &c. The gum-resin is used and sold locally as an incense, but is soft and sticky, and is not the olibanum of com- merce ; nor is it collected for exportation. The Coromandel Boswellia glabra of Roxburgh is now included (see Dr. Birdwood's Monograph) as a variety under the B. thurifera. Its gum-resin is a good deal used as incense in the Tamul regions, under the name of Kundrikam, with which is apparently connected Kundur, one of the Arabic words for olibanum (see ch. xxxviii, note 2). II. Valeria Indica (Roxb.), producing a gum-resin which when recent is known as Piney Varnish, and when hardened, is sold for export under the names of Indian Copal, White Dammar, and others. Its northern limit of growth is North Canara ; but the gum is exported from Bombay. The tree is the Chloroxylon Bupada of Buchanan, and is I imagine the Dupu or Incense Tree of Rheede (Hort. Malab. IV.). The tree is a fine one, and forms beautiful avenues in Malabar and Canara. The Hindus use the resin as an incense, and in Malabar it is also made into candles which burn fragrantly and with little smoke. It is, or was, also used as pitch, and is probably the thus with which Indian vessels, according to Joseph of Cranganore (in Novus Or bis), were payed. Garcias took it for the ancient Cancamum, but this Dr. Birdwood identifies with the next, viz. : — III. Gardenia lucida (Roxb.). It grows in the Konkan districts, producing a fragrant resin called Dikamdli in India, and by the Arabs Kankham. IV. Balsamodendron Mukul, growing in Sind, Kattiawar and the Deesa District, and producing the Indian Bdellium, Mukl of the Arabs and Persians, used as an incense and as a cordial medicine. It is believed to be the BScXXa mentioned in the Periplus as exported from the Indus, and also as brought down with Costus through Ozene (Ujjain) to Barygaza (Baroch — see Miiller's Geog. GrcBC. Minor. I. 287, 293). It is mentioned also {Mukl) by Albiruni as a special product of Kachh; and is probably the incense of that region alluded to by Hwen T'sang (see last chapter. Note 2). It is of a yellow, red, or brownish colour {Eng. Cyc. art. Bdellium; Dowsotis Elliot, I. 66 j ReinaudmJ. As. ser. IV. torn. IV. p. 263). V. Canarium strictum (Roxb.), of the Western Ghats, affording the Black Dammar of Malabar, which when fresh is aromatic and yellow in colour. It abounds in the country adjoining Tana. The natives use it as incense, and call the tree Dhup (incense) and Gugul (Bdellum). Besides these resinous substances, the Costus of the ancients may be 2 C a 388 MARCO POLO. Book III. mentioned (Sansk. Kushth), being still exported from Western India, as well as from Calcutta, to China, under the name of Putchok, to be burnt as incense in Chinese temples. Its identity has been ascertained in our own day by Drs. Royle and Falconer, as the root of a plant which they called Aucklandia Costtis. But the identity of the Pucho (which he gives as the Malay name) with Costus was known to Garcias. Alex. Hamilton, at the beginning of last century, calls it Ligna Dulcis {sic), and speaks of it as an export from Sind, as did the author of the Periplus 1 600 years earlier. My own impression is that MtM or Bdellium was the brown incense of Polo, especially because we see from Albiruni that this was regarded as a staple export from neighbouring regions. But Dr. Bird- wood considers that the B!ack Dammar of Canariwn strictum is in question {Report on Indian Gum-Resins, by Mr. Dalzell of Bot. Gard. Bombay, 1866 ; Birdwood's Bombay Products, 2nd ed, pp. 282, 287, &c. ; Driiry's Useful Plants of India, 2nd ed. ; Garcias ; A. Hamilton, I. 127 ; Eng. Cyc, art. Putchuk ; Buchanan's Journey, II. 44, 335, &c.). CHAPTER XXVIII. Concerning the Kingdom of Cambaet. Cambaet is a great kingdom lying further west. The people are Idolaters, and have a language of their own, and a king of their own, and are tributary to nobody.' The North Star is here still more clearly visible; and henceforward the further you go west the higher you see it. There is a great deal of trade in this country. It pro- duces indigo in great abundance ; and they also make much fine buckram. There is also a quantity of cotton which is exported hence to many quarters ; and there is a great trade in hides, which are very well dressed ; with many other kinds of merchandize too tedious to mention. Merchants come here with many ships and cargoes, but what they chiefly bring is gold, silver, copper [and tutia.J Chap. XXIX. CAMBAET AND SEMENAT. 389 There are no pirates from this country ; the inhabitants are good people, and hve by their trade and manufactures. Note 1 . — Cambaet is nearer the genuine name of the city than our Cambav. Its proper Hindu name was, according to Colonel Todd, Khambavati, " the City of the Pillar." The inhabitants write it Kam- bdyat. The ancient city is 3 miles from the existing Cambay, and is now overgrown with jungle. It is spoken of as a flourishing place by Mas'udi who visited it in a.d. 915. Ibn Batuta speaks of it also as a very fine city, remarkable for the elegance and solidity of its mosques, and houses built by wealthy foreign merchants. Cambeth is mentioned by Polo's contemporary Marino Sanudo, as one of the two chief Ocean Ports of India ; and in the fifteenth century Conti calls it fourteen miles in circuit. It was still in high prosperity in the early part of the i6th century, abounding in commerce and luxury, and one of the greatest Indian marts. Its trade continued considerable in the time of Federici, towards the end of that century ; but it has now long disappeared, the local part of it being transferred to Gogo and other ports having deeper water. Its chief or sole industry now is in the preparation of ornamental objects from agates, cornelians and the like. The Indigo of Cambay was long a staple export, and is mentioned by Conti, Nikitin, Santo Stefano, Federici, Linschoten, and Abu'l Fazl. The independence of Cambay ceased a few years after Polo's visit ; for it was taken in the end of the century by the armies of AMuddin Khilji of Dehli, a king whose name survived in Guzerat down to our own day as Alduddin Khuni — Bloody Alauddin {Rds Mdld, I. 235). CHAPTER XXIX. Concerning the Kingdom of Semenat. Semenat is a great kingdom towards the west. The people are Idolaters, and have a king and a language of their own, and pay tribute to nobody. They are not corsairs, but live by trade and industry as honest people ought. It is a place of very great trade. They are forsooth cruel Idolaters.' 39° MARCO POLO. Book III. Note 1. — Somnath is the site of the celebrated Temple on the coast of Saurdshtra, or Peninsular Guzerat, plundered by Mahmud of " The Gates of Somnath," as preserved in the British Arsenal at Agra, from a photograph (converted into elevation). Ghazni on his sixteenth expedition to India (a.d. 1023). The terra " great kingdom " is part of Polo's formula. But the place was at this Chap. XXIX. THE TEMPLE OF SOMNATH. 391 time of some importance as a commercial port, and much visited by the ships of Aden, as Abulfeda tells us. At an earlier date Albiruni speaks of it both as the seat of a great Mahadeo much frequented by Hindu pilgrims, and as a port of call for vessels on their way from Sofala in Africa to China, — a remarkable incidental notice of departed trade and civiUzation ! He does not give Somnath so good a character as Polo does ; for he names it as one of the chief pirate-haunts. And Col. Tod mentions that the sculptured memorial stones on this coast frequently exhibit the deceased as a pirate in the act of boarding. In fact, piratical habits continued in the islands off the coast of Kattiawar down to our own day. Properly speaking, three separate things are lumped together as Som- ndth : (i) The Port, properly called Verdwal, on a beautiful little bay : (2) The City of Deva-Pattan, SomndtlvPattan, or Prabhds, occupying a prominence on the south side of the bay, having a massive wall and towers, and many traces of ancient Hindu workmanship, though the vast multitude of tombs around shows the existence of a large Mussulman population at some time ; and among these are dates nearly as old as our Traveller's visit : (3) The famous Temple (or, strictly speaking, the object of worship in that Temple) crowning a projecting rock at the south-west angle of the city, and close to the walls. Portions of columns and sculptured fragments strew the soil around. Notwithstanding the famous story of Mahmdd and the image stuffed with jewels, there is little doubt that the idol really termed Somnith (Moon's Lord) was nothing but a huge columnar emblem of Mahadeo. Hindu authorities mention it as one of the twelve most famous emblems of that kind over India, and Ibn Asir's account, the oldest extant narra- tive of Mahmud's expedition, is to the same effect. Every day it was washed with water newly brought from the Ganges. Mahmiid broke it to pieces, and with a fragment a step was made at the entrance of the Jimi' Mosque at Ghazni. The temples and idols of Pattan underwent a second visitation at the hands of AMuddin's forces a few years after Polo's visit (1300)*, and this seems in great measure to have wiped out the memory of Mahmud. The temple, as it now stands deserted, bears evident tokens of having been converted into a mosque. A good deal of old and remarkable architecture remains, but mixed with Moslem work, and no part of the building as it stands is believed to be a survival from the time of Mah- miid ; though part may belong to a reconstruction which was carried out by Raja Bhima Deva of Anhilwaira about 25 years after Mahmud's invasion. It is remarkable that Ibn Asirspeaks of the temple plundered by Mahmdd as " built upon 56 pillars of teak-wood covered with lead." Is it possible that it was a wooden building ? * So in Elliol, II. 74. But Jacob says there is an inscription of a. Mussulman Governor in Pattan of 1297. 392 MARCO POLO. Book III. In connexion with this brief chapter on Somn^th we present a faith- ful representation of those Gates which Lord Ellenborough rendered so celebrated in connexion with that name, when he caused them to be removed from the Tomb of Mahmiid, on the retirement of our troops from Kabul in 1842. His intention, as announced in that once famous /««« of his, was to have them carried solemnly to Guzerat, and there restored to the (long desecrated) temple. Calmer reflection prevailed, and the Gates were consigned to the Fort of Agra, where they still remain. It is not probable that there was any real connexion between these Gates, of Saracenic design, carved (it is said) in Himalyan cedar, and the Temple of Somndth. But tradition did ascribe to them such a con- nexion, and the eccentric prank of a clever man in high place made this widely known. Nor in any case can we regard as alien to the scope of this book the illustration of a work of medieval Asiatic art, which is quite as remarkable for its own character and indisputable history, as for the questionable origin ascribed to it {Tod's Travels, 385, 504; Burgess, Visit to Somnath, &c. ; Jacob's Report on Kattywar, p. 18 ; Gildemeister, 185 ; Dawson's Elliot, II. 468 seqg. ; Asiatic Journal, 3d series, vol. I.). CHAPTER XXX. Concerning the Kingdom of Kesmacoran. Kesmacoran is a kingdom having a king of its own and a peculiar language. [Some of] the people are Idolaters, [but the most part are Saracens]. They live by mer- chandize and industry, for they are professed traders and carry on much traffic by sea and land in all directions. Their food is rice [and corn], flesh and milk, of which they have great store. There is no more to be said about them.' And you must know that this kingdom of Kesmacoran is the last in India as you go towards the west and north- west. You see, from Maabar on, this province is what is called the Greater India, and it is the best of all the Indies. I have now detailed to you all the kingdoms and provinces and (chief) cities of this India the Greater, that are upon Chap. XXX. THE KINGDOM OF KESMACORAN. 393 the seaboard ; but of those that He in the interior I have said nothing, because that would make too long a story .° And so now let us proceed, and I will tell you of some of the Indian Islands. And I will begin by two Islands which are called Male and Female. Note 1. — Though M. Pauthier has imagined objections there is no room for doubt that Kesmacoran is the province of Mekran, known habitually all over the East as Kij-Makran, from the combination with the name of the country of that of its chief town, just as we lately met with a converse combination in Konkan-tana. This was pointed out to Marsden by his illustrious friend Major Rennell. We find the term Kij-Makrdn used by Ibn Batuta (III. 47) ; by the Turkish Admiral Sidi 'Ah (/. As., ser. i, torn. ix. 72; and / A. S. B. V. 463); by Sharifuddin (P. de la Croix, 1. 379, 11. 417-18; in the famous Sindian Romeo-and-Juliet tale of Sassi and Panniin (^Elliot, I. 333) ; by Pietro della Valle (I. 724, II. 358) ; by Sir F. Goldsmid (J. R. A. S., N.S., I. 38) ; and see for other examples,/ A. S. B. VII. 298, 305, 308 ; VIII. 764; XIV. 158; XVII. pt. ii. 559; XX. 262, 263. The argument that Mekran was not a province of India only amounts to saying that Polo has made a mistake. But the fact is that it often wfflj- reckoned to belong to India, from ancient down to comparatively modern times. Pliny says : " Many indeed do not reckon the Indus to be the western boundary of India, but include in that term also four satrapies on this side the river, the Gedrosi, the Arachoti, the Arii, and the Parapomisadae {i. e. Mekran, Kandahar, Herat, and Kabul) .... whilst others class all these together under the name of Ariana " (VI. 23). Arachosia, according to Isidore of Charax, was termed by the Parthians " White India." Aelian calls Gedrosia a part of India (^Hist. Animal. XVII. 6). In the 6th century the Nestorian Patriarch Jesu- jabus, as we have seen (supra, ch. xxii. note 1), considered all to be India from the coast of Persia, i. e. of Fars, beginning from near the Gulf According to Ibn Khurdddbah the boundary between Persia and India was seven days' sail from Hormuz and eight from Daibul, or less than halfway from the mouth of the Gulf to the Indus. (/ As., ser. 6, tom. V. 283). Beladhori speaks of the Arabs in early expeditions as invading Indian territory about the Lake of Sijistan ; and Istakhri represents this latter country as bounded on the north and partly on the west by portions of India. Kabul was still reckoned in India. Chach, the last Hindu king of Sind but one, is related to have marched through Mekrdn to a river which formed the limit between Mekran and Kermin. On its banks he planted date-trees, and set up a monument which bore : " This was the boundary of Hind in the time of Chach, the son of SiMij, the son of Basibas." In the Geography of Bakui -we find it stated 394 MARCO POLO. Book III. that " Hind is a great country which begins at the province of Mekran." {N. and E. II. 54.) In the map of Marino Sanuto India begins from Hormuz ; and it is plain from what Polo says in quitting that city that he considered the next step from it south-eastward would have taken him to India (supra, I. p. 103). We may add a Romance definition of India from King Alisaunder : — " Lordynges, also I fynde At Mede begynneth Ynde : For sothe ich wote it stretcheth farest Of alle the Londes in the Est ; And oth the South half sikerlyk To the See taketh of Afryk ; And the north half to a Mountayne • That is ycleped Caucasayne." — L. 4824-4831. It is probable that Polo merely coasted Mekran ; he seems to know nothing of the Indus, and what he says of Mekran is vague. Note 2. — As Marco now winds up his detail of the Indian coast, it is proper to try to throw some light on his partial derangement of its geography. In the following columns the first shows the r^a/ geographical order from east to west of the Indian provinces as named by Polo, and the second shows the order as he puts them. The Italic narnes are brief and general identifications. Maabar, including Melifar,j including | GUZERAT, or Lar, including Jieal order. Mutfili (Telingand). St. Thomas's {Madras). Maabar Proper, Kingdom of Sonder Bandi (Tanjore). Call iTinnevelly). Comari (C. Comoriii). Coilum ( Travancore). Eli {Cananore). Tana {Bombay). Canbaet {Cambay). Semenat {Somnaih). Kesmacoran {Mekran). Maabar, including PoWs order. I. Mutfili. 12. St. Thomas's (Lar, west of do. ). 3. Maabar proper, or Soli. 4. Gail. 5. Goilum. 6. Comari. 7. Eli. 8. (Melibar). 9 (Gozurat) . 10. Tana. 11. Canbaet. 12. Semenat. 13. Kesmacoran. It is difficult to suppose that the fleet carrying the bride of Arghun went out of its way to Maabar, St. Thomas's, and Telingana. And on the other hand, what is said in chapter xxiii. on Comari, about the North Star not having been visible since they approached the Lesser Java, would have been grossly inaccurate if in the interval the travellers had been north as far as Madras and Motupalle. That passage suggests to me strongly that Comari was the first Indian land made by the fleet on arriving from the Archipelago (exclusive /(?r/^a/f of Ceylon). Note Chap. XXX. THE MALE AND FEMALE ISLANDS. 395 then that the position of Eli is marked by its distance of 300 miles from Comari, evidently indicating that this was a run made by the traveller on some occasion without an intermediate stoppage. Tana, Cambay, Somnath, would follow naturally as points of call. In Polo's order, again, the positions of Comari and Coilum are trans- posed, whilst Melibar is introduced as if it were a country westward (as Polo views it, northward we should say)* of Coilum and Eli, instead of including them, and Gozurat is introduced as a country lying eastward (or southward, as we should say) of Tana, Cambaet, and Semenat, in- stead of including them, or at least the two latter. Moreover, he names no cities in connexion with those two countries. The following hypothesis, really not a complex one, is the most probable that I can suggest to account for these confusions. I conceive, then, that Cape Comorin (Comari) was the first Indian land made by the fleet on the homeward voyage, and that Hili, Tana, Cambay, Somnath, were touched at successively as it proceeded towards Persia. I conceive that in a former voyage to India on the Great Kaan's business Marco had visited Maabar and Kaulam, and gained partly from actual visits and partly from information the substance of the notices he gives us of Telingana and St. Thomas's on the one side and of Malabar and Guzerat on the other, and that in combining into one series the results of the information acquired on two different voyages he failed rightly to co-ordinate the material, and thus those dislocations which we have noticed occurred, as they very easily might, in days when maps had practically no existence ; to say nothing of the accidents of dictation. The expression in this passage for " the cities that lie in the interior," is in the G. T. '■'• celz qe sunt en fra terres;" see I., 45. Pauthier's text has " celles qui sont en ferme terre," which is nonsense here. CHAPTER XXXI. DiSCOURSETH OF THE TWO ISLANDS CALLED MALE AND FEMALE, AND WHY THEY ARE SO CALLED. When you leave this Kingdom of Kesmacoran, which is on the mainland, you go by sea some 500 miles towards the south; and then you find the two Islands, Male and Female, lying about 30 miles distant from one another. The people are all baptized Christians, but maintain the * Abulfeda's orientation is the same as Polo's. 396 MARCO POLO. Book III ordinances of the Old Testament ; thus when their wives are with child they never go near them till their confine- ment, or for forty days thereafter. In the Island however which is called Male, dwell the men alone, without their wives or any other women. Every year when the month of March arrives the men all set out for the other Island, and tarry there for three months, to wit, March, April, May, dwelUng with their wives for that space. At the end of those three months they return to their own Island, and pursue their husbandry and trade for the other nine months. They find on this Island very fine ambergris. They live on flesh and milk and rice. They are capital fisher- men, and catch a great quantity of fine large sea-fish, and these they dry, so that all the year they have plenty of food, and also enough to sell to the traders who go thither. ■ They have no chief except a bishop, who is subject to the archbishop of another Island, of which we shall presently speak, called Scotra. They have also a peculiar language. As for the children which their wives bear to them, if they be girls they abide with their mothers ; but if they be boys the mothers bring them up till they are fourteen, and then send them to the fathers. Such is the custom of these two Islands. The wives do nothing but nurse their children and gather such fruits as their Island produces ; for their husbands do furnish them with all necessaries.' Note 1. — It is not perhaps of much use to seek a serious identifi- cation of the locahty of these Islands, or, as Marsden has done, to rationalize the fable. It ran from time immemorial, and as nobody ever found the Islands, their locality shifted with the horizon, though the legend long hung about Socotra and its vicinity. Coronelli's Atlas (Venice, 1696) identifies these islands with those called Abdul Kurinear Cape Gardafui, and the same notion finds favour with Marsden. No islands indeed exist in the position indicated by Polo if we look to his direction " south of Kesmacoran," but if we take his indication of " half way between Mekran and Socotra," the Kuria Muria Islands on the Chap. XXXI. THE MALE AND FEMALE ISLANDS. 397 Arabian coast, in which M. Pauthier longs to trace these veritable Male and Female Isles, will be nearer than any others. Marco's statement that they had a bishop subject to the metropolitan of Socotra certainly looks as if certain concrete islands had been associated with the tale. Friar Jordanus (p. 44) also places them between India the Greater and India Tertia {i. e. with him Eastern Africa). Conti locates them not more than five miles from Socotra, and yet 100 miles distant from one another. " Sometimes the men pass over to the women, and sometimes the women pass over to the men, and each return to their own respective island before the expiration of six months. Those who remain on the island of the others beyond this fatal period die immediately" (p. 21). Fra Mauro places the islands to the south of Zanzibar and gives them the names of Mangla and Nebila. One is curious to know whence came these names, one of which seems to be Sanskrit, the other (also in Sanudo's map) Arabic; {Nabilah, Ar., "Beautiful;" Mangala, Sansk., "Fortunate"). A savour of the story survived to the time of the Portuguese dis- coveries, and it had by that time attached itself to Socotra. {De Barros, Dec. II. Liv. i. cap. 3 ; Barioli, H. della Comp. di Gesu, Asia, I. p. 37 ; P. Vincenzo, p. 443.) The story was, I imagine, a mere ramification of the ancient and wide-spread fable of the Amazons, and is substantially the same that Palladius tells of the Brahmans ; how the men lived on one side of the Ganges and the women on the other. The husbands visited their wives for 40 days only in June, July, and August, " those being their cold months, as the sun was then to the north." And when a wife had once borne a child the husband returned no more. {Miilkr's Fs. Callisth. 105.) The Mahdbhdrata celebrates the Amazon country of R^n^ Para- mit^, where the regulations were much as in Polo's islands, only male children were put to death, and men if they overstayed a month. ( Wheeler's India, I. 400.) Hwen T'sang's version of the legend agrees with Marco's in placing the Woman's Island to the south of Persia. It was called the Kingdom of Western Women. There were none but women to be seen. It was under Folin (the Byzantine Empire), and the ruler thereof sent hus- bands every year ; if boys were born, the law prohibited their being brought up. {Vie et Voyages,'^. 268.) Alexander, in Ferdusi's poem, visits the City of Women on an island in the sea, where no man was allowed. The Chinese accounts, dating from the 5th century, of a remote Eastern Land called Fusaug, which Neumann fancied to have been Mexico, mention that to the east of that region again there was a Woman's Island, with the usual particulars. {Lassen, IV. 751.) Oddly enough Columbus heard the same story of an island called Matityna or Matinino (apparently Martinique) which he sighted on his second voyage. The Indians on board " asserted that it had no inhabitants but women, 398 MARCO POLO. Book III. who at a certain time of the year were visited by the Cannibals (Caribs) ; if the children born were boys they were brought up and sent to their fathers, if girls they were retained by the mothers. They reported also that these women had certain subterraneans caverns in which they took refuge if any one went thither except at the established season," &c. {F. Martyr in Ramusio, III. 3 v. and see 85.) Similar Amazons are placed by Adam of Bremen on the Baltic shores, a story there supposed to have originated in a confusion between Gwenland, i.e. Finland, and a land of Cwens or Women. Mendoza heard of the like in the vicinity of Japan (perhaps the real Fusang story), though he opines judiciously that " this is very doubtfuU to be beleeved, although I have bin certified by religious men that have talked with persons that within these two yeares have beene at the saide ilands, and have seene the saide women." {H. of China, 11. 301.) Lane quotes a like tale about a horde of Cossacks whose wives were said to live apart on certain islands in the Dnieper {Arab. Nights, 1859, III. 479). The same story is related by a missionary in the Lettres Edifiantes of certain unknown islands supposed to lie south of the Marian group. Pauthier, from whom I derive this last instance, draws the conclusion : " On voit que le ri^cit de Marc Pol est loin d'etre imaginaire." Mine from the premises would be different ! Sometimes the fable took another form ; in which the women are entirely isolated, as in that which Mela quotes from Hanno (III. 9). So with the Isle of Women which Kazwini and Bakui place to the south of China. They became enceintes by the Wind, or by eating a particular fruit, or, as in a Chinese edition related by Magaillans, by looking at their own faces in a well ! The like fable is localized by the Malays in the island of Engano off Sumatra, and was related to Pigafetta of an island under Great Java called Ocoloro, perhaps the same. {Magail. 76; Gildem. 196; N. et. Ex. II. 398; Pigafetta, 173; Marsderis Sumatra, ist ed. p. 264.) CHAPTER XXXII. Concerning the Island of Scotra. When you leave those two Islands and go about 500 miles further towards the south, then you come to an Island called Scotra. The people are all baptized Christians ; and they have an Archbishop. They have a great deal of ambergris ; and plenty also of cotton stuffs and other Chap. XXXII. THE ISLAND OF SCOTRA. 399 merchandize ; especially great quantities of salt fish of a large and excellent kind. They also eat flesh and milk and rice, for that is their only kind of corn ; and they all go naked like the other Indians. [The ambergris comes from the stomach of the whale, and as it is a great object of trade, the people contrive to take the whales with barbed iron darts, which, once they are fixed in the body, cannot come out again. A long cord is attached to this end, to that a small buoy which floats on the surface, so that when the whale dies they know where to find it. They then draw the body ashore and extract the ambergris from the stomach and the oil from the head.'] There is a great deal of trade there, for many ships come from all quarters with goods to sell to the natives. The merchants also purchase gold there, by which they make a great profit ; and all the vessels bound for Aden touch at this Island. Their Archbishop has nothing to do with the Pope of Rome, but is subject to the great Archbishop who lives at Baudas. He rules over the Bishop of that Island, and over many other Bishops in those regions of the world, just as our Pope does in these." A multitude of corsairs frequent the Island ; they come there and encamp and put up their plunder to sale ; and this they do to good profit, for the Christians of the Island purchase it, knowing well that it is Saracen or Pagan gear."" And you must know that in this Island there are the best enchanters in the world. It is true that their Arch- bishop forbids the practice to the best of his ability ; but 'tis all to no purpose, .for they insist that their forefathers followed it, and so must they also. I will give you a sample of their enchantments. Thus, if a ship be sailing past with a fair wind and a strong, they will raise a contrary wind and compel her to turn back. In fact they make the wind blow as they list, and produce great tempests and 400 MARCO POLO. Book III. disasters ; and other such sorceries they perform, which it will be better to say nothing about in our Book.* Note 1. — Mr. Blyth appears to consider that the only whale met with now-a-days in the Indian Sea north of the line is a great Rorqual or Balaenoptei-a, to which he gives the specific name of Indica (see/. A. S. B. XXVIII. 481). The text, however (from Ramusio), clearly points to the Spermaceti whale ; and Maury's Whale-Chart consists with this. " The best ambergris," says Mas'udi, " is found on the islands and coasts of the Sea of Zinj (Eastern Africa) ; it is round, of a pale blue, and sometimes as big as an ostrich egg. . . . These are morsels which have been swallowed by the fish called Awdl. When the sea is much agitated it casts up fragments of amber almost like lumps of rock, and the fish swallowing these is choked thereby, and floats on the surface. The men of Zinj, or wherever it be, then come in their canoes, and fall on the creature with harpoons and cables, draw it ashore, cut it up, and extract the ambergris" (I. 134). Kazwini speaks of whales as often imprisoned by the ebb tide in the channels about Basra. The people harpooned them, and got much oil out of the brain, which they used for lamps and smearing their ships. This also is clearly the sperm whale. {Ethe, p. 268.) After having been long doubted, scientific opinion seems to have come back to the opinion that ambergris is an excretion from the whale. " Ambergris is a morbid secretion in the intestines of the cachalot, deriving its origin either from the stomach or biliary ducts, and allied in its nature to gall-stones, . . . whilst the masses found floating on the sea are those that have been voided by the whale, or liberated from the dead animal by the process of putrefaction." {Bennett, Whaling Voyage Rou7id the Globe, 1840, II. 326.) Note 2. — Scotra probably represented the usual pronunciation of the name Socotra, which has been hypothetically traced to a Sanskrit original, Dvipa-Sukhddhdra, " the Island Abode of Bliss," from which (contracted Biuskadra) the Greeks made " the island of Dioscorides" So much painful interest attaches to the history of a people once Christian, but now degenerated almost to savagery, that some detail may be permitted on this subject. The Periplus calls the island very large, but desolate ; .... the inhabitants were few, and dwelt on the north side. They were of foreign origin, being a mixture of Arabs, Indians, and Greeks, who had come thither in search of gain. . . . The island was under the king of the Incense Country. . . . Traders came from Muza (near Mocha) and sometimes from Limyrica and Barygaza (Malabar and Guzerat), bringing rice, wheat, and Indian muslins, with female slaves, which had a ready Chap. XXXII. THE ISLAND OK SOCOTRA. 401 sale. Cosmas (6th century) says, there was in the island a bishop, appointed from Persia. The inhabitants spoke Greek, having been originally settled there by the Ptolemies. " There are clergy there also, ordained and sent from Persia to minister among the people of the island, and a multitude of Christians. We sailed past the island, but did not land. I met, however, with people from it who were on their way to Ethiopia, and they spoke Greek." The ecclesiastical historian Nicephorus Callistus seems to allude to the people of Socotra, when he says that among the nations visited by the missionary Theophilus, in the time of Constantius, were " tlie Assy- rians on the verge of the outer ocean towards the East .... whom Alexander the Great, after driving them from Syria, sent thither to settle, and to this day they keep their mother tongue, thougli all of the blackest, through the power of the sun's rays." The Arab voyagers of the 9th century say that the island was colonized with Greeks by Alexander the Great, in order to promote the culture of the Socotrine aloes ; when the other Greeks adopted Christianity these did likewise, and they had con- tinued to retain their profession of it. The colonizing by Alexander is probably a fable, but invented to account for facts. In the list of the metropolitan sees of the Nestorian Church we find one called Kofrobah, which is supposed to stand for Socotra. Accord- ing to Edrisi, Kotrobah was an island inhabited by Christians ; he speaks of Socotra separately, but no island suits his description of Kotrobah but Socotra itself; and I suspect that we have here geography in duplicate, no uncommon circumstance. There is an epistle extant from the Nestorian Patriarch Jesujabus (a.d. 650^660), ad Episcofos Catarensium, which Assemani interprets of the Christians in Socotra and the adjacent coasts of Arabia (III. 133). Abulfeda says the people of Socotra were Nestorian Christians and pirates. Nicolo Conti, in the first half of the T5th century, spent two months on the island {Sechutera). He says it was for the most part inhabited by Nestorian Christians. Some indications point rather to a connexion of the island's Chris- tianity with the Jacobite or Abyssinian Church. Thus they practised circumcision, as mentioned by Maffei in noticing the proceedings of Albuquerque at Socotra. De Barros calls them Jacobite Christians of the Abyssinian stock. Barbosa speaks of them as an olive-coloured people. Christian only in name, having neither baptism nor Christian knowledge, and having for many years lost all acquaintance with the Gospel. Andrea Corsali calls them Christian shepherds of Ethiopian race, like Abyssinians. They lived on dates, milk, and butter; some rice was imported. They had churches like mosques, but with altars in Christian fashion. When Francis Xavier visited the island there were still distinct traces of the Church. The people reverenced the cross, placing it on their altars, and hanging it round their necks. Every village had its minister, whom they called Kashis (^Ar. for a Christian Presbyter), to whom they VOL. II. 2 D 402 MARCO POLO. . Book III. paid tithe. No man could read. The Kashis repeated prayers anti- phonetically in a forgotten tongue, which De Barros calls Chaldee, frequently scattering incense ; a word like Alleluia often recurred. For bells they used wooden rattles. They assembled in their churches four times a day, and held St. Thomas in great veneration. The Kashfses married, but were very abstemious. They had two Lents, and then fasted strictly from meat, milk, and fish. The last vestiges of Christianity in Socotra, so far as we know, are those traced by P. Vincenzo, the Carmelite, who visited the island after the middle of the 17th century. The people still retained a profession oi Christianity, but without any knowledge, and with a strange jumble of rites ; sacrificing to the moon ; circumcising ; abominating wine and pork. They had churches which they called Moquame (Ar. Ma^dm, " Locus, Statio " ?), dark, low, and dirty, daily anointed with butter. On the altar was a cross and a candle. The cross was regarded with igno- rant reverence, and carried in processions. They assembled in their churches three times in the day, and three times in the night, and in their worship burned much incense. Sic. The priests were called Odamio, elected and consecrated by the people, and changed every year. Of baptism and other sacraments they had no knowledge. There were two races : one, black with crisp hair ; the other, less black, of better aspect and with straight hair. Each family had a cave in which they deposited their dead. They cultivated a few palms, and kept flocks ; had no money, no writing, and kept tale of their flocks by bags of stones. They often committed suicide in age, sickness, or defeat. When rain failed they selected a victim by lot, and placing him within a circle addressed prayers to the moon. If without suc- cess they cut off the poor wretch's hands. They had many who practised sorcery. The women were all called Maria, which the author regarded as a relic of Christianity ; this De Barros also notices a century earlier. Now, not a trace of former Christianity can be discovered — unless it be in the name of one of the villages on the coast, Cohsseeah, which looks as if it faintly commemorated both the ancient religion and the ancient language {iKKX-qtria). The remains of one building, traditionally a place of worship, were shown to Wellsted ; he could find nothing to connect it with Christianity. The social state of the people is much as Father Vincenzo described it; lower it could scarcely be. Mahomedanism is now the universal profession. The people of the interior are still of distinct race, with curly hair, Indian complexion, regular features. The coast people are a mongrel body, of Arab and other descent. Probably in old times the case was similar, and the civilization and Greek may have been confined to the littoral foreigners. {Milller''s Geog. Gr. Minores, I. p. 280-1 ; Relations, I. 139-140; Cathay, clxxi, ccxlv, 169; Conti, 20; Maffei, lib. III. ; Biisching, IV. 278; Faria, L 117-118; Ram. I, f 181 v. and Chap. XXXIII. THE ISLAND OF MADEIGASCAR. 403 292 ; Jarric, Thes. Her. Indie. I. io8-g ; P. Vine. 132, 442 ; J. R. G. S. V. 129 seqq.) Note 3. — As far back as the loth century Socotra was a noted haunt of pirates. Mas'udi says : " Socotra is one of the stations fre- quented by the Indian corsairs called Bawdrij, which chase the Arab ships bound for India and China, just as the Greek galleys chase the Mussulmans in the sea of Riim along the coasts of Syria and Egypt " (IIL 37). The Bawdrij were corsairs of Kach'h and Guzerat, so called from using a kind of war-vessel called B&rja {Elliot, I. 65). Ibn Batuta tells a story of a friend of his, the Shaikh Sa'id, superior of a convent at Mecca, who had been to India and got large presents at the court of Dehli. With a comrade called Hajji Washl, who was also carrying a large sum to buy horses, " when they arrived at the island of Socotra .... they were attacked by Indian corsairs with a great number of vessels. . . . The corsairs took everything out of the ship, and then left it to the crew with its tackle, so that they were able to reach Aden." Ibn Batuta's remark on this illustrates what Polo has said of the Malabar pirates, in chap. xxv. supra : " The custom of these pirates is not to kill or drown anybody when the actual fighting is over. They take all the property of the passengers, and then let them go whither they will with their vessel" (I. 362-3). Note 4. — -We have seen that P. Vincenzo alludes to the sorceries of the people; and De Barros also speaks of the feilieeria or witchcraft by which the women drew ships to the island, and did other marvels (u. s.). CHAPTER XXXIII. Concerning the Island of Madeigascar. Madeigascar is an Island towards the south, about a thousand miles from Scotra. The people are all Saracens, adoring Mahommet. They have four Esheks, i. e. four Elders, who are said to govern the whole Island. And you must know that it is a most noble and beautiful Island, and one of the greatest in the world, for it is about 4000 miles in compass. The people live by trade and handi- crafts. In this Island, and in another beyond it called Zan- GHiBAR, about which we shall tell you afterwards, there are 2 D 2 404 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. more elephants than in any country in the world. The amount of traffic in elephants' teeth in these two Islands is something astonishing. In this Island they eat no flesh but that of camels ; and of these they kill an incredible number daily. They say it is the best and wholesomest of all flesh ; and so they eat of it all the year round.' They have in this Island many trees of red sanders, of excellent quality; in fact, all their forests consist of it.' They have also a quantity of ambergris, for whales are abundant in that sea, and they catch numbers of them; and so are Oil-heads, which are a huge kind offish, which also produce ambergris like the whale.^ There are numbers of leopards, bears, and lions in the country, and other wild beasts in abundance. Many traders, and many ships go thither with cloths of gold and silk, and many other kinds of goods, and drive a profitable trade. You must know that this Island lies so far south that ships cannot go further south or visit other Islands in that direction, except this one, and that other of which we have to tell you, called Zanghibar. This is because the sea- current runs so strong towards the south that the ships which should attempt it never would get back again. Indeed, the ships of Maabar which visit this Island of Madeigascar, and that other of Zanghibar, arrive thither with marvellous speed, for great as the distance is they accomplish it in 20 days, whilst the return voyage takes them more than 3 months. This (I say) is because of the strong current running south, which continues with such singular force and in the same direction at all seasons.* 'Tis said that in those other Islands to the south, which the ships are unable to visit because this strong current prevents their return, is found the bird Gryphon, which appears there at certain seasons. The description given of it is however entirely different from what our stories and pictures make it. For persons who had been there and Chap. XXXIII. THE ISLAND OF MADEIGASCAR. 405 had seen it told Messer Marco Polo that it was for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size ; so big in fact that its wings covered an extent of 30 paces, and its quills were 1 1 paces long, and thick in proportion. And it is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air, and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces ; having so killed him the bird gryphon swoops down on him and eats him at leisure. The people of those isles call the bird Rue, and it has no other name.' So I wot not if this be the real gryphon, or if there be another manner of bird as great. But this I can tell you for certain, that they are not half lion and half bird as our stories do relate ; but enormous as they be they are fashioned just like an eagle. The Great Kaan sent to those parts to enquire about these curious matters, and the story was told by those who went thither. He also sent to procure the release of an envoy of his who had been despatched thither, and had been detained ; so both those envoys had many wonderful things to tell the Great Kaan about those strange islands, and about the birds I have mentioned. [They brought (as I heard) to the Great Kaan a feather of the said Rue, which was stated to measure 90 spans, whilst the quill part was two palms in circumference, a marvellous object ! The Great Kaan was delighted with it, and gave great presents to those who brought it.*] They also brought two boar's tusks, which weighed more than 14 lbs. a piece; and you may gather how big the boar must have been that had teeth like that I They related indeed that there were some of those boars as big as a great buffalo. There are also numbers of giraffes and wild asses ; and in fact a marvellous number of wild beasts of strange aspect.'' Note 1. — Marco is, I believe, the first writer, European or Asiatic, who unambiguously speaks of Madagascar; but his information about it 4o6 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. was very incorrect in many particulars. There are no elephants nor camels in the island, nor any leopards, bears, or lions. Indeed, I have no doubt that Marco, combining information from diiferent sources, made some confusion between Makdashau (Magadoxo) and Madagascar, and that particulars belonging to both are mixed up here. This accounts for Zanghibar being placed entirely beyond Mada- gascar, for the entirely Mahomedan character given to the population, for the hippopotamus-teeth and staple trade in ivory, as well for the lions, elephants, and other beasts. But above all the camel-killing indi- cates Sumdli Land and Magadoxo as the real locality of part of the information. Says Ibn Batuta : " After leaving Zaila we sailed on the sea for 15 days, and arrived at Makdashau, an extremely large town. The natives keep camels in great numbers, and they slaughter several hundreds daily " (II. 181). The slaughter of camels for food is still a Sumdli practice. (See_/. Ji. G. S. VI. 28, and XIX. 55.) Perhaps the Shaikhs [Escege) also belong to the same quarter, for the Arab traveller says that the Sultan of Makdashau had no higher title than Shaikh (183) ; and Brava, a neighbouring settlement, was governed by 12 shaikhs {De Barros, I. viii. 4). Indeed, this kind of local oligarchy still prevails on that coast. We may add that both Makdashau and Brava are briefly described in the Annals of the Ming Dynasty. The former Mu-ku-tu-su, lies on the sea, 20 days from Siao-Kolan (Quilon?), a barren mountainous country of wide extent, where it sometimes does not rain for years. In 1427, a mission came from this place to China. Pu-la-wa (Brava, pro- perly Bariwa) adjoins the former, and is also on the sea. It produces olibanum, myrrh, and ambergris ; and among animals elephants, camels, rhinoceroses, spotted animals like asses &c.* It is, however, true that there are traces of a considerable amount of ancient Arab colonization on the shores of Madagascar. Arab descent is ascribed to a class of the people of the province of Matit^nana on the east coast, in lat. 2 1°-23° south, and the Arabic writing is in use there. The people of the St. Mary's Isle of our maps off the east coast, in lat. 17", also call themselves the children of Ibrahim, and the island Nusi- Ibrahim. And on the north-west coast, at Bambeluka Bay, Capt. Owen found a large Arab population, whose forefathers had been settled there from time immemorial. The number of tombs here an-d in Magambo Bay showed that the Arab population had once been much greater. The government of this settlement, till conquered by Radama, was vested in three persons ; one a Malagash, the second an Arab, the third as guardian of strangers; a fact also suggestive of Polo's four sheikhs {Ellis, I. 131 ; Owe7t, II. 102, 132. See also Sonnerat, II. 56). Though the Arabs were in the habit of navigating to Sofala, in about * Bretschneider On the Kiinuledge possessed by the Ancient Chinese of the Arabs, &c. London, 1871, p. 21. CHAP. XXXIII. THE ISLAND OF MADEIGASCAR. 407 lat. 20° south, in the time of Mas'udi (beginning of loth century), and must have then known Madagascar, there is no intelhgible indication of it in any of their geographies that have been translated.* Note 2. — There is, or used to be, a trade in sandal-wood from Madagascar. (See Owen, II. 99.) In the map of S. Lorenzo (or Madagascar) in the Isole of Porcacchi (1576), a map evidently founded on fact, I observe near the middle of the Island : quivi sono boschi di sandari rossi. Note 3. — "The coast of this province" (Ivongo, the N.E. of the Island) " abounds with whales, and during a certain period of the year Antongil Bay is a favourite resort for whalers of all nations. The inha- bitants of Titingue are remarkably expert in spearing the whales from their slight canoes.'' {Lloyd va. J. R. G. S. XX. 56.) A description of the whale-catching process practised by the Islanders of St. Mary's, or Nusr Ibrahim, is given in the Quinta Pars Indiae- Orientalis of De Bry, p. 9. Owen gives a similar account (I. 170). The word which I have rendered Oil-heads is Capdoilles or Capdols, representing Capidoglio, the appropriate name still applied in Italy to the Spermaceti whale. The Vocab. Ital. Univ. quotes Ariosto (VII. 36) : — ■ " / Capidogli co' vecchi inarini Vengon turbati dal lor pigro sonno.^'' The Spermaceti-whale is described under this name by K.ondeletius, but from his cut it is clear he had not seen the animal. Note 4. — De Barros, after describing the dangers of the Channel of Mozambique, adds : " And as the Moors of this coast of Zanguebar make their voyages in ships and sambuks sewn with coir, instead of being nailed like ours, and thus strong enough to bear the force of the cold seas of the region about the Cape of Good Hope, .... they never dared to attempt the exploration of the regions to the westward of the Cape of Currents, although they greatly desired to do so " (Dec. I. viii. 4; and see also IV. i. 12). Kazwini says of the Ocean, quoting Al Biruni : " Then it extends to the sea known as that of Berbera, and stretches from Aden to the furthest extremity of Zanjibar ; beyond this goes no vessel on account of the great current. Then it extends to what are called the Mountains of the Moon, whence spring the sources of the Nile of Egypt, and thence to Western Sudan, to the Spanish Countries and the (Western) Ocean." There has been recent controversy * Mas'udi speaks of an island Kanbdhi, well-cultivated and populous, one or two days from the Zinj coast, and the object of voyages from Oman, from which it was about 500 parasangs distant. It was conquered by the Arabs, who captured the whole Zinj population of the island, about the beginning of the Abasside dynasty (circa a.d. 750). Barbier de Meynard thinks this may be Madagascar. I suspect it rather to be Pemba (see Prairies cTOr, I. 205, 232, and III. 31.) 4o8 MARCO POLO. Book III. between Capt. A. D. Taylor and Commodore Jansen of the Dutch navy, regarding the Mozambique currents, and (incidentally) Polo's accuracy. The currents in the Mozambique channel vary with the monsoons, but from Cape Corrientes southward along the coast runs the permanent LaguUas current, and Polo's statement requires but little correction. {Ethe, p. 214-15; see also Barbosa in Ram. I. 288; Owen, I. 269; Stanley's Correa, p. 261; J. R. G. S. II. 91; Fra Mauro in Zurla, p. 61 ; see also Reinaud's Abulfeda, vol. I. p. 15-16; and Ocean Highways, August to Nov. T873.) Note 5.— The fable of the Rukh was old and widely spread, like that of the Male and Female Islands, and, Just as in that case, one accidental circumstance or another would give it a local habitation, now here now there. The Garuda of the Hindus, the Simurgh of the old The Rukh (from Lane's 'Arabian Nights'), after a Persian drawing. Persians, the 'Angka of the Arabs, the Bar Yuchre of the Rabbinical legends, the Gryps of the Greeks, were probably all versions of the same original fable. Bochart quotes a bitter Arabic proverb which says, " Good-Faith, the Ghul, and the Gryphon {^Angkd) are three names of things that exist nowhere." And Mas'udi, after having said that whatever country he visited he always found that the people believed these monstrous creatures to exist in regions as remote as possible from their own, observes : " It is not that our reason absolutely rejects the possibility of Chap. XXXIII. THE RUKH. 409 the existence of the Nesnds (see vol. i. p. 206) or of the 'Angka, and other beings of that rare and wondrous order; for there is nothing in their existence incompatible with the Divine Power ; but we decline to beheve in them because their existence has not been manifested to us on any irrefragable authority." The circumstance which for the time localized the Rukh in the direction of Madagascar was perhaps some rumour of the great fossil Aepyornis and its colossal eggs, found in that island. According to GeofiFroy-St. Hilaire, the Malagashes assert that the bird which laid those great eggs still exists, that it has an immense power of flight, and preys upon the greater quadrupeds. Indeed the continued existence of the bird has been alleged as late as 1861 and 1863 ! On the great map of Fra Mauro (1459) near the extreme point of Africa which he calls Cava de Biab, and which is suggestive of the Cape of Good Hope, but was really perhaps Cape Corrientes, there is a rubric inscribed with the following remarkable story : " About the year of Our Lord 1420 a ship or junk of India in crossing the Indian Sea was driven by way of the Islands of Men and Women beyond the Cape of Diab, and carried between the Green Islands and the Darkness in a westerly and south-westerly direction for 40 days, without seeing any- thing but sky and sea, during which time they made to the best of their Judgment 2000 miles. The gale then ceasing they turned back, and were 70 days in getting to the aforesaid Cape Diab. The ship having touched on the coast to supply its wants the mariners beheld there the egg of a certain bird called Chrocho, which egg was as big as a butt.* And the bigness of the bird is such that between the extremities of the wings is said to be 60 paces. They say too that it carries away an elephant or any other great animal with the greatest ease, and does great, injury to the inhabitants of the country, and is most rapid in its flight." G.-St. Hilaire considered the Aepyornis to be of the Ostrich family ; Prince C. Buonaparte classed it with the Inepti or Dodos ; Duvernay of Valenciennes with aquatic birds ! There was clearly therefore room for difference of opinion, and Professor Bianconi of Bologna, who has written much on the subject, concludes that it was most probably a bird of the vulture family. This would go far, he urges, to justify Polo's account of the Rue as a bird of prey, though the story of its lifting any large animal could have had no foundation, as the feet of the vulture kind are unfit for such efforts. Humboldt describes the habit of the condor of the Andes as that of worrying, wearying, and frightening its four-footed prey until it drops ; sometimes the condor drives its victim over a precipice. * ' ' De la grandeza de una hota d'anfora." The lowest estimate that I find of the Venetian anfora makes it equal to about 108 imperial gallons, a little le.ss than the English butt. This seems intended. The ancient amphora would be more reasonable, being only 5'66 gallons. 4IO MARCO POLO. Book III. Bianconi concludes that on the same scale of proportion as the con- dor's, the great quills of the Aepyornis would be about lo feet long, and the spread of the wings about 32 feet, whilst the height of the bird would be at least four times that of the condor. These are indeed little more than conjectures. And I must add that in Professor Owen's opinion there is no reasonable doubt that the Aepyornis was a bird allied to the Ostriches. We gave, in the first edition of this work, a drawing of the great Aepyornis egg in the British Museum of its true size, as the nearest approach we could make to an illustration of the Rukh from nature. The actual content of this egg will be about 2 '3 5 gallons, which may be compared with Fra Mauro's anfora I Except in this matter of size, his story of the ship and the egg may be true. A passage from Temple's Travels in Peru has been quoted as ex- hibiting exagfjeration in the description of the condor surpassing any- thing that can be laid to Polo's charge here; but that is, in fact, only somewhat heavy banter directed against our traveller's own narrative. (See Travels in Various Parts of Peru, 1830, II. 414-417.) Recently fossil bones have been found in New Zealand which seem to bring us a step nearer to the realization of the Rukh. Dr. Haast discovered in a swamp at Glenmark in the Province of Otago, along with remains of the Dinornis or Moa, some bones (femur, ungual phalanges, and rib) of a gigantic bird which he pronounces to be a bird of prey, apparently allied to the Harriers, and calls Harpagornis. He supposes it to have preyed upon the Moa, and as that fowl is calculated to have been 10 feet and upwards in height, we are not so very far from the elephant-devouring Rukh. (See Comptes Jiendus, Ac. des Sciences 1872, p. 1782 ; and Ibis, Oct. 1872, p. 433.) This discovery may possibly throw a new light on the traditions of the New Zealanders. For Professor Owen, in first describing the Dinornis in 1839, mentioned that the natives had a tradition that the bones belonged to a bird of the eagle kind, (see Eng. Cyc. Nat. Hist, sub v. Dinornis). And Sir Geo. Grey appears to have read a paper, 23rd Oct. 1872,* which was the description by a Maori of the Hokiol, an extinct gigantic bird of prey of which that people have traditions come down from their ancestors, said to have been a black hawk of great size, as large as the Moa. Sindbad's adventures with the Rukh are too well known for quo- tation. A variety of stories of the same tenor hitherto unpublished, have been collected by M. Marcel de Vic from an Arabic work of the loth century on the 'Marvels of Hind,' by an author who professes only to repeat the narratives of merchants and mariners whom he had questioned. A specimen of these will be found under note 6. The story takes a peculiar form in the Travels of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela. He heard that when ships were in danger of being lost in the * The friend who noted this for me, omitted to name the Society. Chap. XXXIII. THE RUKH. 41: stormy sea that led to China the sailors were wont to sew themselves up in hides, and so when cast upon the surface they were snatched up by great eagles called gryphons, which carried their supposed prey ashore, &c. It is curious that this very story occurs in a Latin poem stated to be at least as old as the beginning of the 13th century, which relates the romantic adventures of a certain Duke Ernest of Bavaria; whilst the story embodies more than one other adventure belonging to the History of Sindbad.* The Duke and his comrades, navigating in some unknown ramification of the Euxine, fall within the fatal attraction of the Magnet Mountain. Hurried by this augmenting force, their ship is described as crashing through the rotten forest of masts already drawn to their doom : — " Et ferit impulsus majoris verbere montem Quam si diplosas impingat machina turres." There they starve, and the dead are deposited on the lofty poop to be carried away by the daily visits of the gryphons : — " Quae grifae membra, leonis Et pennas aquilae simulantes unguibus atris Tollentes miseranda suis dant prandia pullis." When only the Duke and six others survive, the wisest of the party suggests the scheme which Rabbi Benjamin has related : — ■ " Quaeramus tergora, et armis Vestiti prius, optatis volvamur in illis, Ut nos tollentes mentita cadavera Grifae Pullis objiciant, a quels facientibus armis Et cute dissuta, nos, si volet, lUe Deorum Optimus eripiet." Which scheme is successfully carried out. The wanderers then make a raft on which they embark on a river which plunges into a cavern in the heart of a mountain ; and after a time they emerge in the country of Arimaspia inhabited by the Cyclopes; and so on. The Gryphon story also appears in the romance of Huon de Bordeaux, as well as in the tale called 'Hasan of el-Basrah' in Lane's Version of the Arabian Nights. It is in the China Seas that Ibn Batuta beheld the Rukh, first like a mountain in the sea where no mountain should be, and then " when the sun rose," says he, " we saw the mountain aloft in the air, and the clear sky between it and the sea. We were in astonishment at this, and I observed that the sailors were weeping and bidding each other adieu, so I called out, 'What is the matter?' They replied, ' What we took for * I got the indication of this poem, I think, in Bochart. But I have since observed that its coincidences with Sindbad are briefly noticed by Mr. Lane {ed. 1859, III. 78) from an article in the ' Foreign Quarterly Review.' 412 MARCO POLO. Book III. a mountain is " the Rukh." If it sees us, it will send us to destruction.' It was then some lo miles "from the junk. But God Almighty was gracious unto us, and sent us a fair wind, which turned us from the direction in which the Rukh was ; so we did not see him well enough to take cognizance of his real shape." In this story we have evidently a case of abnormal refraction, causing an island to appear suspended in the air.* The Archipelago was perhaps the legitimate habitat of the Rukh, before circumstances localized it in the direction of Madagascar. In the Indian Sea, says Kazwini, is a bird of size so vast that when it is dead men take the half of its bill and make a ship of it ! And there too Pigafetta heard of this bird, under its Hindu name of Garuda, so big that it could fly away with an elephant.t Kazwini also says that the 'Angka carries off an elephant as a hawk flies off with a mouse ; his flight is like the loud thunder. Whilom he dwelt near the haunts of men, and wrought them great mischief But once on a time it had carried off a bride in her bridal array, and Hamdallah, the Prophet of those days, invoked a curse upon the bird. Wherefore the Lord banished it to an inaccessible Island in the Encircling Ocean. The Simurgh or 'Angka, dwelling behind veils of Light and Darkness on the inaccessible summits of Caucasus, is in Persian mysticism an emblem of the Almighty. In Northern Siberia the people have a firm belief in the former existence of birds of colossal size, suggested apparently by the fossil bones of great pachyderms which are so abundant there. And the com- pressed sabre-like horns of Rhinoceros tichorinus are constantly called, even by Russian merchants, birds' claws. Some of the native tribes fancy the vaulted skull of the same rhinoceros to be the bird's head, and the leg-bones of other pachyderms to be its quills ; and they relate that their forefathers used to fight wonderful battles with this bird. Erman ingeniously suggests that the Herodotean story of the Gryphons, from under which the Arimaspians drew their gold, grew out of the legends about these fossils. I may add that the name of our rook in chess is taken from that of this same bird ; though first perverted from (Sansc.) rath a chariot. Some eastern authors make the Rukh an enormous beast instead of a bird (seey. R. A. S. XIII. 64, and Elliot, II. 203). A Spanish author of the 1 6th century seems to take the same view of the Gryphon, but he * An intelligent writer, speaking of sucli effects on the same sea, says : " The boats floating on a calm sea, at a distance from the ship, were magnified to a great size ; the crew standing up in them appeared as masts or trees, and their arms in motion as tlie wings of windmills ; whilst the surrounding islands (especially at their low and tapered extremities) seemed to be suspended in the air, some" feet above the ocean's level " {Bennetts Whaling Voyage, II. 71-72). t An epithet of the Garuda is Gajakiirmdsin ' ' elephant-cum-tortoise-devourer, " because said to have swallowed both when engaged in a contest with each other. Chap. XXXIII. THE RUKH. 413 is prudently vague in describing it, which he does among the animals of Africa : " The Grifo which some call Camello pardal .... is called by the Arabs Yfrit (!). and is made just in that fashion in which we see it painted in pictures '' {Marmol, Descripcion General de Affrica, Granada, iS73> !• f- 3°)- The Zorafa is described as a different beast, which it certainly is ! (Bochart, Hierozoica, II. 852 seqq.; Mas'udi, IV. 16 ; Mem. dell' Acad. delV Instil, di Bologna, III. 174 seqq., V. 1 1 2 seqq.; Zurla on Fra Mauro, p. 62 ; Lan^s Arabian Nights, Notes on Sindbad ; Benj. of Tudela, p. 117; De Varia Fortuna Ernesti Bavariae Duds, in Thesaurus Novus Anecdotorum of Martene and Durand, vol. III. col. 353 seqq.; I. B. IV. 305; Gildem. p. 220; Pigafetta, p. 174; Major's Prince Henry, p. 311 ; Brman, II. 88 ; Garcin de Tassy, La Po'esie philos. (S^c, chez les Persans, 30 seqq) Note 6.' — Sir Thomas Brown says that if any man will say he desires before belief to behold such a creature as is the Rukh in Paulus Venetus, for his own part he will not be angry with his incredulity. But M. Pauthier is of more liberal belief; for he considers that, after all, the dimensions which Marco assigns to the wings and quills of the Rukh are not so extravagant that we should refuse to admit their possibility. Ludolf will furnish him with corroborative evidence, that of Padre Bolivar a Jesuit, as communicated to Thdv&ot; the assigned position will suit well enough with Marco's report : " The bird condor differs in size in different parts of the world. The greater species was seen by many of the Portuguese in their expedition against the Kingdoms of Sofala and Cuama and the Land of the Caffres from Monomotapa to the Kingdom of Angola and the Mountains of Teroa. In some countries I have myself seen the wing-feathers of that enormous fowl, although the bird itself I never beheld. The feather in question, as could be deduced from its form, was one of the middle ones, and it was 28 palms in length and three in breadth. The quill part, from the root to the extremity was 5 palms in length, of the thickness of an average man's arm, and of extreme strength and hardness. The fibres of the feather were equal in length and closely fitted, so that they could scarcely be parted without some exertion of force ; and they were jet black, whilst the quill part was white. Those who had seen the bird stated that it was bigger than the bulk of a couple of elephants, and that hitherto nobody had succeeded in killing one. It rises to the clouds with such extraordinary swiftness that it seems scarcely to stir its wings. Inform it is like an eagle. But although its size and swiftness are so extraordinary, it has much trouble in procuring food, on account of the density of the forests with which all that region is clothed. Its own dwelling is in cold and desolate tracts such as the Mountains of Teroa, /. e. of the Moon ; and in the valleys of that range it shows itself at certain periods. 414 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. Its black feathers are held in very high estimation, and it is with the greatest difficulty that one can be got from the natives, for one such serves to fan ten people, and to keep otf the terrible heat from them, as well as the vrasps and flies." {Ludolf. Hist. Aethiop. Comment. p. 164.) Abu Mahomed, of Spain, relates that a merchant arrived in Barbary who had lived long among the Chinese. He had with him the quill of a chick Rukh, and this held nine skins of water. He related the story of how he came by this, — a story nearly the same as one of Sindbad's about the Rukh's egg. {Bochart, II. 854.) Another story of a seaman wrecked on the coast of Africa is among those collected by M. Marcel de Vic. By a hut that stood in the middle of a field of rice and durra there was a trough. " A man came up leading a pair of oxen, laden with 12 skins of water, and emptied these into the trough. I drew near to drink, and found the trough to be polished like a steel blade, quite different from either glass or pottery. ' It is the hollow of a quill ' said the man. I would not believe a word of the sort, until, after rubbing it inside and outside, I found it to be transparent, and to retain the traces of the barbs'' (Comptes Rendus S^c, lit supra). Fr. Jordanus also says : " In this India Tertia (Eastern Africa) are certain birds which are called Roc^ so big that they easily carry an elephant up into the air. I have seen a certain person who said that he had seen one of those birds, one wing only of which stretched to a length of 80 palms " (p. 42). The Japanese Encyclopaedia states that in the country of the Tsengsz' (Zinjis) in the S. W. Ocean, there is a bird called pheng, which in its flight eclipses the sun. It can swallow a camel; and its quills are used for water casks. This was probably got from the Arabs. {J. As., sen 2, torn. xii. 235-6.) I should note that the Geog. Text in the first passage where the feathers are spoken of says : "e ce qeje en vi voz dirai en autre leu, par ce qe il convient ensi faire a nostre livre" — " that which / have seen of them I will tell you elsewhere, as it suits the arrangement of our book." No such other detail is found in that text, but we have in Ramusio this passage about the quill brought to the Great Kaan, and I suspect that the phrase, " as I have heard," is an interpolation, and that Polo is here telling ce qe il en vit. What are we to make of the story? I have sometimes thought that possibly some vegetable production, such as a great frond of the Ravenala, may have been cooked to pass as a Rukh's quill. Note 7. — The giraffes are an error. The Eng. Cyc. says that wild asses and zebras (?) do exist in Madagascar, but I cannot trace authority for this. The great boar's teeth were indubitably hippopotamus-teeth, which Chap. XXXIV. THE ISLAND OF ZANGHIBAR. 415 form a considerable article of export from Zanzibar* (not Madagascar). Burton speaks of their reaching 1 2 lbs. in weight. And Cosmas tells us : " The hippopotamus I have not seen indeed, but I had some great teeth of his that weighed thirteen pounds, which I sold here (in Alexandria). And I have seen many such teeth in Ethiopia and in Egypt." (See / R. G. S. XXIX. 444 ; Cathay, p. clxxv.) CHAPTER XXXIV. Concerning the Island of Zanghibar. A word on India IN GENERAL. Zanghibar is a great and noble Island, with a compass of some 2,000 miles.' The people are all Idolaters, and have a king and a language of their own, and pay tribute to nobody. They are both tall and stout, but not tall in proportion to their stoutness, for if they were, being so stout and brawny, they would be absolutely like giants ; and they are so strong that they will carry for four men and eat for five. They are all black, and go stark naked, with only a little covering for decency. Their hair is as black as pepper, and so frizzly that even with water you can scarcely straighten it. And their mouths are so large, their noses so turned up, their lips so thick, their eyes so big and bloodshot, that they look like very devils ; they are in fact so hideously ugly that the world has nothing to show more horrible. Elephants are produced in this country in wonderful profusion. There are also lions that are black and quite different from ours. And their sheep and wethers are all exactly alike in colour ; the body all white and the head black ; no other kind of sheep is found there, you may rest assured." They have also many giraffes. This is a beauti- * The name as pronounced seems to have been Zangibar (hard g), which polite Arabic changed into Zanjibdr, whence the Portuguese made Zanzibar. 4l6 MARCO POLO. Book III. ful creature, and I must give you a description of it. Its body is short and somewhat sloped to the rear, for its hind legs are short whilst the fore-legs and the neck are both very long, and thus its head stands about three paces from the ground. The head is small, and the animal is not at all mischievous. Its colour is all red and white in round spots, and it is really a beautiful object.^ * * The women of this Island are the ugliest in the world, with their great mouths and big eyes and thick noses; their breasts too are four times bigger than those of any other women ; a very disgusting sight. The people live on rice and flesh and milk and dates ; and they make wine of dates and of rice and of good spices and sugar. There is a great deal of trade, and many mer- chants and vessels go thither. But the staple trade of the Island is in elephants' teeth, which are very abundant ; and they have also much ambergris, as whales are plenti- ful.-* They have among them excellent and valiant warriors, and have little fear of death. They have no horses, but fight mounted on camels and elephants. On the latter they set wooden castles which carry from ten to sixteen persons, armed with lances, swords, and stones, so that they fight to great purpose from these castles. They wear no armour, but carry only a shield of hide, besides their swords and lances, and so a marvellous number of them fall in battle. When they are going to take an elephant into battle they ply him well with their wine, so that he is made half drunk. They do this because the drink makes him more fierce and bold, and of more service in battle.^ As there is no more to say on this subject I will go on to tell you about the Great Province of Abash, which constitutes the Middle India; — but I must first say some- thing about India in general. You must understand that in speaking of the Indian Islands we have described only the most noble provinces Chap. XXXIV. INDIA IN GENERAL. 417 and kingdoms among them ; for no man on earth could give you a true account of the whole of the Islands of India. Still, what I have described are the best, and as it were the Flower of the Indies. For the greater part of the other Indian Islands that I have omitted are subject to those that I have described. It is a fact that in this Sea of India there are 12,700 Islands, inhabited and uninhabited, accor- ding to the charts and documents of experienced mariners who navigate that Indian Sea. India the Greater is that which extends from Ma- abar to Kesmacoran ; audit contains 13 great kingdoms, of which we have described ten. These are all on the mainland. India the Lesser extends from the Province of Champa to Mutfili, and contains eight great kingdoms. These are likewise all on the mainland. And neither of these numbers includes the Islands, among which also there are very numerous kingdoms, as I have told you.' Note 1. — Zangibar, " the Region of the Blacks,'' known to the ancients as Zingis and Zingium. The name was applied by the Arabs, according to De Barros, to the whole stretch of coast from the Kilimanchi River, which seems to be the Jubb, to Cape Corrientes beyond the Southern Tropic, i. e. as far as Arab traffic extended ; Burton says now from the Jubb to Cape Delgado. According to Abulfeda, the King of Zinjis dwelt at Mombasa. In recent times the name is by Europeans almost appropriated to the Island on which resides the Sultan of the Maskat family, to whom Sir B. Frere lately went as envoy. Our author's " Island " has no reference to this ; it is an error simply. Our traveller's information is here, I think, certainly at second hand, though no doubt he had seen the negroes whom he describes with such disgust, and apparently the sheep and the giraffes. Note 2. — These sheep are common at Aden, whither they are im- ported from the opposite African coast. They have hair like smooth goats, no wool. Varthema also describes them (p. 87). In the Cairo Museum, among ornaments found in the mummy-pits, there is a little figure of one of these sheep, the head and neck in some blue stone and the body in white agate {Note by Author of the sketch on next page). VOL. II. 2 E 4i8 MARCO POLO. Book III. Note 3. — A giraffe — made into a seraph by the Italians — had been frequently seen in Italy in the early part of the century, there being one in the train of the Emperor Frederic II. Another was sent by Bibars to the Imperial Court in 1261, and several to Barka Khan at Sarai in 1263 ; whilst the King of Nubia was bound by treaty in 1275 to deliver to the Sultan three elephants, three giraffes, and five she-panthers {Kington, I. 471 ; Makrizi, I. 216; 11. 106, 108). The giraffe is some- times wrought in the patterns of medieval Saracenic damasks, and in Sicilian ones imitated from the former. Of these there are examples in the Kensington Collection. I here omit a passage about the elephant. It recounts an old and long persistent fable, exploded by Sir T. Brown, and indeed before him by the sensible Garcias da Horta. Ethiopian Sheep. Note 4. — The port of Zanzibar is probably the chief ivory mart in the world. Ambergris is mentioned by Burton among miscellaneous exports, but it is not now of any consequence. Owen speaks of it as brought for sale at Delagoa Bay in the south. Note 5.— Mas'udi more correctly says : " The country abounds with wild elephants, but you don't find a single tame one. The Zinjes em- ploy them neither in war nor otherwise, and if they hunt them 'tis only to kill them " (III. 7). It is difficult to conceive how Marco could have got so much false information. The only beast of burden in Zanzibar, at least north of Mozambique, is the ass. His particulars seem jumbled Chap. XXXIV. THE THREE INDIES. 419 from various parts of Africa. The camel-riders suggest the Bejas of the Red Sea coast, of whom there were in Mas'udi's time 30,000 warriors so mounted, and armed with lances and bucklers (III. 34). The elephant stories may have arisen from the occasional use of these animals by the Kings of Abyssinia. (See Note 4 to next chapter.) Note 6. — An approximation to 12,000 as a round number seems to have been habitually used in reference to the Indian Islands ; John of Montecorvino says they are many more than 12,000; Jordanus had heard that there were 10,000 inhabited. Linschoten says some esti- mated the Maldives at 11,100. And we learn from Pyrard de Laval that the Sultan of the Maldives called himself Ibrahim Sultan of Thirteen AtoUons (or coral groups) and of 12,000 Islands ! This is probably the origin of the proverbial number. Ibn Batuta, in his excellent account of the Maldives, estimates them at only about 2000. But Captain Owen, commenting on Pyrard, says that he believes the actual number of islands to be treble or fourfold of 12,000. (P. de Laval ra. Charton, IV. 25s ; /. B. IV. 40 ; /. R. G. S. II. 84.) Note 7. — The term " India" became very vague from an early date. In fact, Alcuin divides the whole world into three parts, Europe, Africa, and India. Hence it was necessary to discriminate different Indias, but there is very little agreement among different authors as to this discrimination. The earliest use that I can find of the terms India Major and Minor is in the Liber Junioris Philosophi published by Hudson, and which is believed to be translated from a lost Greek original of the middle of the 4th century. In this author India Minor adjoins Persia. So it does with Friar Jordanus. His India Minor appears to embrace Sind (pos- sibly Mekran), and the western coast exclusive of Malabar. India Major extends from Malabar indefinitely eastward. His India Tertia is Zanjibar. The Three Indies appear in a map contained in a MS. by Guido Pisanus, written in 1118. Conti divides India into three; (i) From Persia to the Indus (z. e. Mekran and Sind) ; (2) From the Indus to the Ganges ; (3) All that is beyond Ganges (Indo-China and China). In a map of Andrea Bianco at Venice (No. 12) the divisions are — (i) India Minor, extending westward to the Persian Gulf; (2) India Media, " containing 14 regions and 12 nations;" and (3) India Superior, containing 8 regions and 24 nations. Marino Sanuto places immediately east of the Persian Gulf " India Minor quaeet Ethiopia!' John Marignolli again has three Indias ; (i) Manzi or India Maxima (S. China); (2) Mynibar (Malabar); (3) Maabar. The last two with Guzerat are Abulfeda's divisions, exclusive of Sind. We see that there was a traditional tendency to make out Three Indies, but little concord as to. their identity. With regard to the expressions Greater and Lesser India, I would recall attention to what 2 E a 420 MARCO POLO. Book III. has been said about Greater and Lesser Java (supra, chap. ix. note 1). Greater India was originally intended, I imagine, for the real India, what our maps call Hindustan. And the threefold division, with its inclination to place one of the Indies in Africa, I think may have originated with the Arab Hind, Sind, and Zinj. I may add that our vernacular expression " the Indies " is itself a vestige of the twofold or threefold division of which we have been speaking. The partition of the Indies made by King Sebastian of Portugal in 157 1, when he constituted his eastern possessions into three govern- ments, recalled the old division into Three Indias. The first, India, extending from Cape Gardafui to Ceylon, stood in a general way for Polo's India Major ; the second Monomotapa, from Gardafui to Cape Corrientes (IndiaTertia of Jordanus) ; the third Malacca, from Pegu to China (India Minor). {Faria y Souza, II. 319.) Polo's knowledge of India, as a whole, is so little exact that it is too indefinite a problem to consider which are the three kingdoms that he has not described. The ten which he has described appear to be — (i) Maabar, (2) Coilum, (3) Comari, (4) Eli, (5) Malabar, (6) Guzerat, (7) Tana, (8) Canbaet, (9) Semenat, (10) Kesmacoran. On the one hand this distribution in itself contains serious misapprehensions, as we have seen, and on the other there must have been many dozens of king- doms in India Major instead of 13, if such states as Comari, Hili, and Somnath were to be separately counted. Probably it was a common saying that there were 12 kings in India, and the fact of his having himself described so many, which he knew did not nearly embrace the whole, may have made Polo convert this into 13. Jordanus says : "In this Greater India are 12 idolatrous kings and more;" but his Greater India is much more extensive than Polo's. Those which he names are Molebar (probably the kingdom of the Zamorin of Calicut), Singuyli (Cranganor), Columbum (Quilon), Molephatan (on the east coast, uncertain, see above pp. 316, 381), and Sylen (Ceylon), Java, three or four kings, Telenc (Polo's Mutfili), Maratha (Deogir), Batigala (in Canara), and in Champa (apparently put for all Indo-China) many kings. According to Firishta there were about a dozen itnportant principalities in India at the time of the Mahomedan conquest, of which he mentions eleven, viz., (i) Kanauj, (2) Mirat (or Dehli), (3) Mahdvan (Mathra), (4) Lahore, (5) Malwa, (6) Guzerat, (7) AJmir, (8) Gwalior, (9) Kalinjar, (10) Multdn, (11) Ujjain. {Ritter, V. 535.) This omits Bengal, Orissa, and all the Deccan. Twelve is a round number which constantly occurs in such statements. Ibn Batuta tells us there were 1 2 princes in Malabar alone. Chinghiz, in Sanang-Setzen, speaks of his vow to subdue the twelve kings of the human race (91). Certain figures in a temple at Anhilwara in Guzerat are said by local tradition to be the effigies of the twelve great kings of Europe. {Todd's Travels, p. 107.) The King of Arakan used to take the title of " Lord of the 1 2 provinces of Bengal" {Reinaud, Inde, p. 139.) Chap. XXXV. THE KINGDOM OF ABASH. 421 The Masdlak-al-Absdr of Shihabuddin Dimishki, written some forty years after Polo's book, gives a list of the provinces (twice twelve in number) into which India was then considered to be divided. It runs — (i) Dehli, (2) JDeogir, (3) Multdn, (4) Kehran {Kohrdm, in Sirhind Division of Province of Dehli ?), (5) Sdmdn (Samdna, N.W. of Dehli ?), (6) Siwastdn (Sehwd.n), (7) Ujah (Uchh), (8) ZT^fjz (Hansi), (9) Sarsati (Sirsa), (10) Ma'bar, (11) Tiling, (ra) Gujerat, (13) Baddiin, (14) Audh, (15). Kanauj, (16) Laknaoti (Upper Bengal), (17) Bahdr, (r8) Karrdh (in the Doab), (19) Maldwa, (Mdlwa), (20) Lahaur, (21) Kdldnur (in the Ed,ri Dodb above Lahore), (22) Jdjnagar (according to Elphinstone, Tipura in Bengal), (23) Tilinj (a repetition or error), (24) Diirsamand (Dwara Samudra, the kingdom of the BelMls in Mysore). Neither Malabar nor Orissa is accounted for. (See Not. et Ext. XIII. 170). Another list, given by the historian Zid-uddm Barni some years later, embraces again only twelve provinces. These are (i) Dehli, (2) Gujerat, (3) Milwah, (4) Deogir, (5) Tiling, (6) Kampilah (in the Dod,b, between Koil and Farakhdb^d), (7) Dur Samandar, (8) Ma'bar, (9) Tirhut, (10) Lakhnaoti, (11) Satganw, (12) Sundrgdnw (these two last forming the Western and Eastern portions of Lower Bengal).* CHAPTER XXXV. ' Treating of the Great Province of Abash which is Middle India, and is on the Mainland. Abash is a very great Province, and you must know that it constitutes the Middle India; and it is on the mainland. There are in it six great Kings with six great Kingdoms ; and of these six Kings there are three that are Christians and three that are Saracens; but the greatest of all the six is a Christian, and all the others are subject to him." The Christians in this country bear three marks on the face ;= one from the forehead to the middle of the nose, and one on either cheek. These marks are made with a hot iron, and form part of their baptism ; for after that they have been baptised with water, these three marks are made, partly as a token of gentility, and partly as the * E. Thomas, Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Dehli, p. 203. 4-2,2 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. completion of their baptism. There are also Jews in the country and these bear two marks, one on either cheek ; and the Saracens have but one, to wit, on the forehead extending halfway down the nose. The Great King lives in the middle of the country ; the Saracens towards Aden. St. Thomas the Apostle preached in this region, and after he had converted the people he went away to the province of Maabar, where he died; and there his body lies, as I have told you in a former place. The people here are excellent soldiers, and they go on horseback, for they have horses in plenty. Well they may; for they are in daily war with the Soldan of Aden, and with the Nubians, and a variety of other nations.^ I will tell you a famous story of what befel in the year of Christ, 12,88. You must know that this Christian King, who is the Lord of the Province of Abash, declared his intention to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to adore the Holy Sepulchre of Our Lord God Jesus Christ the Saviour. But his Barons said that for him to go in person would be to run too great a risk ; and they recommended him to send some bishop or prelate in his stead. So the King assented to the counsel which his Barons gave, and despatched a certain Bishop of his, a m'an of very holy life. The Bishop then departed and travelled by land and by sea till he arrived at the Holy Sepulchre, and there he paid it such honour as Christian man is bound to do, and presented a great offering on the part of his King who had sent him in his own stead. And when he had done all that behoved him, he set out again and travelled day by day till he got to Aden. Now that is a Kingdom wherein Christians are held in great detestation, for the people are all Saracens, and their enemies unto the death. So when the Soldan of Aden heard that this man was a Christian and a Bishop, and Chap. XXXV. VENGEANCE OF THE KING OF ABASH. 423 an envoy of the Great King of Abash, he had him seized and demanded of him if he were a Christian ? To this the Bishop replied that he was a Christian indeed. The Soldan then told him that unless he would turn to the Law of Mahommet he should work him great shame and dishonour. The Bishop answered that they might kill him ere he would deny his Creator. When the Soldan heard that he waxed wroth, and ordered that the Bishop should be circumcised. So they took and circumcised him after the manner of the Saracens. And then the Soldan told him that he had been thus put to shame in despite to the King his master. And so they let him go. The Bishop \yas sorely cut to the heart for the shame that had been wrought him, but he took comfort because it had befallen him in holding fast by the Law of Our Lord Jesus Christ ; and the Lord God would recompense his soul in the world to come. So when he was healed he set out and travelled by land and by sea till he reached the King his Lord in the Kingdom of Abash. And when the King beheld him, he welcomed him with great joy and gladness. And he asked him all about the Holy Sepulchre ; and the Bishop related all about it truly, the King listening the while as to a most holy matter in all faith. But when the Bishop had told all about Jerusalem, he then related the outrage done on him by the Soldan of Aden in the King's despite. Great was the King's wrath and grief when he heard that ; and it so disturbed him that he was like to die of vexation. And at length his words waxed so loud that all those round about could hear what he was saying. He vowed that he would never wear crown or hold kingdom if he took not such condign vengeance on the Soldan of Aden that all the world should ring therewithal, even until the insult had been well and thoroughly redressed. And what shall I say of it ? He straightway caused the 424 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. array of his horse and foot to be mustered, and great numbers of elephants with castles to be prepared to accom- pany them ■,'^ and when all was ready he set- out with his army and advanced till he entered the Kingdom of Aden in great force. The Kings of this province of Aden were well aware of the King's advance against them, and went to encounter him at the strongest pass on their frontier, with a great force of armed men, in order to bar the enemy from entering their territory. When the King arrived at this strong pass where the Saracens had taken post, a battle began, fierce and fell on both sides, for they were very bitter against each other. But it came to pass, as it pleased our Lord God Jesus Christ, that the Kings of the Saracens, who were three in number, could not stand against the Christians, for they are not such good soldiers as the Christians are. So the Saracens were defeated, and a marvellous number of them slain, and the King of Abash entered the Kingdom of Aden with all his host. The Saracens made various sallies on them in the narrow defiles, but it availed nothing ; they were always beaten and slain. And when the King had greatly wasted and destroyed the kingdom of his enemy, and had remained in it more than a month with all his host, continually slaying the Saracens, and ravaging their lands (so that great numbers of them perished), he thought it time to return to his own kingdom, which he could now do with great honour. Indeed he could tarry no longer, nor could he, as he was aware, do more injury to the enemy ; for he would have had to force a way by still stronger passes, where, in the narrow defiles, a handful of men might cause him heavy loss. So he quitted the enemy's Kingdom of Aden and began to retire. And he with his host got back to their own country of Abash in great triumph and rejoicing; for he had well avenged the shame cast on him and on his Bishop for his sake. For they had slain so many Saracens, and so wasted and harried the land , that 'twas something to be astonished at. Chap. XXXV. ABYSSINIA STYLED MIDDLE INDIA. 425 And in sooth 'twas a deed well done! For it is not to be borne that the dogs of Saracens should lord it over good Christian people ! Now you have heard the story.s I have still some particulars to tell you of the same province. It abounds greatly in all kinds of victual ; and the people live on flesh and rice and milk and sesame. They have plenty of elephants, not that they are bred in the country, but they are brought from the Islands of the other India. They have however many giraflfes, which are produced in the country ; besides bears, leopards, lions in abundance, and many other passing strange beasts. They have also numerous wild asses ; and cocks and hens the most beautiful that exist, and many other kinds of birds. For instance they have ostriches that are nearly as big as asses ; and plenty of beautiful parrots, with apes of sundry kinds, and baboons and other monkeys that have counte- nances all but human.* There are numerous cities and villages in this province of Abash, and many merchants ; for there is much trade to be done there. The people also manufacture very fine buckrams and other cloths of cotton. There is no more to say on the subject ; so now let us go forward and tell you of the province of Aden. Note 1. — Abash (Abasce) is a close enough representation of tlie Arabic Habsh or Habash, i. e. Abyssinia. He gives as an alternative title Middle India. I am not aware that the term India is applied to Abyssinia by any Oriental (Arabic or Persian) writer, and one feels curious to know where our Traveller got the appellation. We find nearly the same application of the term in Benjamin of Tudela : " Eight days from thence is Middle India, which is Aden, and in Scripture Eden in Thelasar. This country is very mountainous, and contains many independent Jews who are not subject to the power of the Gentiles, but possess cities and fortresses on the summits of the mountains, from whence they descend into the country of Maatum, with which they are at war. Maatum, called also Nubia, is a Christian king- dpm and the inhabitants are called Nubians," &c. (p. 117). Here the Rabbi seems to transfer Aden to the west of the Red Sea (as Polo also seems to do in this chapter) ; for the Jews warring against Nubian Chris- 426 MARCO POLO. Book III. tians must be sought in the Falasha strongholds among the mountains of Abyssinia. His Middle India is therefore the same as Polo's or nearly so. In Jordanus, as already mentioned, we have India Tertia, which combines some characters of Abyssinia and Zanjibar, but is distinguished from the Ethiopia of Prester John, which adjoins it. But for the occurrence of the name in R. Benjamin I should have supposed the use of it to have been of European origin and current at most among Oriental Christians and Frank merchants. The European confusion of India and Ethiopia comes down from Virgil's time, who brings the Nile from India. And Servius (4th century) commenting on a more ambiguous passage — " Sola India nigrum Fcrt ebi7ttim." says explicitly ^^ Indiatn omnem plagam Ethiopia accipimus." Procopius brings the Nile into Egypt tf '\vhwv ; and the Ecclesiastical Historians Sozomen and Socrates (I take these citations, like the last, from Ludolf), in relating the conversion of the Abyssinians by Frumentius, speak of them only as of the 'IvSSv tSiv ivSorepa, " Interior Indians," a phrase intended to imply remoter, but which might perhaps give rise to the term Middle India. Thus Cosmas says of China : " ^s ivSoTepuy, there is no other country;'' and Nicolo Conti calls the Chinese Interiores Indi, which Mr. Winter Jones misrenders " natives of Central India." * St. Epiphanius (end of 4th century) says India was formerly divided into nine kingdoms, viz., those of the (i) Alabastri, (2) Homeritae, (3) Azumiti, and Dulites, (4) Bugaei, (5) Taiani, (6) Isabeni, and so on, several of which are manifestly provinces subject to Abyssinia.t Roger Bacon speaks of the " Ethiopes de Nubia et ultimi illi qui vocantur Indi, propter approximationem ad Indiani." The term India Minor is applied to some Ethiopic region in a letter which Matthew Paris gives under 1237. And this confusion which prevailed more or less till the 1 6th century was at the bottom of that other confusion, what- ever be its exact history, between Prester John in remote Asia and Prester John in Abyssinia. In fact the narrative by Damian de Goes of the Embassy from the King of Abyssinia to Portugal in 1513, which was printed at Antwerp in 1532, bears the title " Legatio Magni Indorum Imperatoris," &c. {ludolf, Comment, p. 2 and 75-76; Epiph. de Gemmis, &.C., p. 15 ; J?. Bacon, Opus Majus, p. 148; Matt. Paris, P- 372-) " Reinaud (Abulf. I. 8i) says the word Interior applied by the Arabs to a country, is the equivalent of citerior, whilst by exterior they mean itlterior. But the truth is just the reverse, even in the case before him, where Bolghdr al-Dakhila, 'Bulgari Interiores,' are the Volga Bulgars. So also the Arabs called Armenia on the Araxes Literior, Armenia on Lake Van Exterior {St. Martin, I. 31). t Thus (2) the Homeritae of Yemen, {3) the people of Axum, and AdulisorZulla, (5) the Bugaei or Bejahs of the Red Sea coast, (6) Taiani or Tiamo, appear in Salt's Axum Inscription as subject to the King of Axum in the middle of the 4th century. Chap. XXXV. ABYSSINIA STYLED "MIDDLE INDIA." 427 Wadding gives a letter from the Pope (Alex. II.) under date 3rd Sept. 1329, addressed to the Emperor of Ethiopia, to inform him of the appointment of a Bishop of Diagorgan. As this place is the capital of a district near Tabriz (Dehi-Khorkh^n) the papal geography looks a little hazy. Note 2. — The allegation against the Abyssinian Christians, some- times extended to the whole Jacobite Church, that they accompanied the rite of Baptism by branding with a hot iron on the face, is pretty old and persistent. The letter quoted from Matt. Paris in the preceding note relates of the Jacobite Christians " who occupy the kingdoms between Nubia and India,'' that some of them brand the foreheads of their children before Baptism with a hot iron" (p. 302). A quaint Low-German account of the East, in a MS. of the 14th century, tells of the Christians of India that when a Bishop ordains a priest he fires him with a sharp and hot iron from the forehead down the nose, and the scar of this wound abides till the day of his death. And this they do for a token that the Holy Ghost came on the Apostles with fire. Frescobaldi says those called the Christians of the Girdle were the sect which baptized by branding on the head and temples. Clavijo says there is such a sect among the Christians of India, but they are despised by the rest. Bar- bosa, speaking of the Abyssinians, has this passage : "According to what is said, their baptism is threefold, viz., by blood, by fire, and by water. For they use circumcision like the Jews, they brand on the forehead with a hot iron, and they baptize with water like Catholic Christians." The respectable Pierre Belon speaks of the Christians of Prester John, called Abyssinians, as baptized with fire and branded in three places, i. e. between the eyes and on either cheek. Linschoten repeats the like, and one of his plates is entitled Habitus AUssinorum quibus loco Baptismatis frons inuritur. Ariosto, referring to the Emperor of Ethiopia, has : — *' Gli ^, j' io noji piglio err ore, iji questo loco Ove al battesimo loro usano il fiioco^'' As late as 1819 the traveller Dupr^ published the same statement about the Jacobites generally. And so sober and learned a man as Assemani, himself an Oriental, says : "^thiopes vero, seu Abissini, praeter circumcisionem adhibent etiam ferrum candens, quo pueris notam inurunt." Yet Ludolf's Abyssinian friend, Abba Gregory, denied that there was any such practice among them. Ludolf says it is the custom of various African tribes, both Pagan and Mussulman, to cauterize their children in the veins of the temples, in order to inure them against colds, and that this, being practised by some Abyssinians, was taken for a religious rite. In spite of the terms " Pagan and Mussulman," I suspect that Herodotus was the authority for this practice. He states that many of 4a8 MARCO POLO. Book III. the nomad Libyans, when their children reached the age of four, used to burn the veins at the top of the head with a flock of wool ; others burned the veins about the temples. And this they did, he says, to prevent their being troubled with rheum in after life. Indeed Andrea Corsali denies that the branding had aught to do with baptism, " but only to observe Solomon's custom of marking his slaves, the King of Ethiopia claiming to be descended from him." And it is remarkable that Salt mentions that most of the people of Dixan had a cross marked (i. e. branded) on the breast, right arm, or forehead. This he elsewhere explains as a mark of their attachment to the ancient metropolitan church of Axum, and he supposes that such a practice may have originated the stories of fire-baptism. And we find it stated in Marino Sanudo that " some of the Jacobites and Syrians who had crosses branded on them said this was done for the destruction of the Pagans, and out of reverence to the Holy Rood." Matthew Paris, com- menting on the letter quoted above, says that many of the Jacobites before baptism brand their children on the forehead with a hot iron, whilst others brand a cross upon the cheeks or temples. He had seen such marks also on the arms of both Jacobites and Syrians who dwelt among the Saracens. It is clear, from Salt, that such branding was prac- tised by many Abyssinians, and that to a recent date, though it may have been entirely detached from baptism. A similar practice is followed at Dwirika and Koteswar (on the old Indus mouth, now called Lakpat River), where the Hindu pilgrims to these sacred sites are branded with the mark of the god. {Orient und Occident, Gottingen, 1862, I. 453; Frescob. 114; Clavijo, 163; Ramus. I. £ 290, v., f 184; Marin. Sanud. 185, and Bk. iii. pt. viii. ch. iv. ; Clusius, Exotica, pt. ii. p. 142 ; Orland. Fur. XXXIII. st. 102 ; Voyage en Perse, dans les Annees 1807-9 ; Assemani, II. c ; Ludolf, iii. 6, § 41 ; Salt, in Valentids Trav. II. p. 505, and his Second Journey, French Tr., II. 219 ; M. Paris, p. 373 ; /. P. A. S. I. 42.) Note 8. — It is pretty clear from what follows (as Marsden and others have noted) that the narrative requires us to conceive of the Sultan of Aden as dominant over the territory between Abyssinia and the sea, or what was in former days called Adel, between which and Aden confusion seems to have been made. I have noticed in note 1 the appearance of this confusion in R. Benjamin ; and I may add that also in the Map of Marino Sanudo Aden is represented on the western shore of the Red Sea. But is it not possible that in the origin of the Mahomedan States of Adel the Sultan of Aden had some power over them ? For we find in the account of the correspondence between the King of Abyssinia and Sultan Bibars, quoted in the next note but one, that the Abyssinian letters and presents for Egypt were sent to the Sultan of Yemen or Aden to be forwarded. Note 4. — This passage is not authoritative enough to justify us in Chap. XXXV. USE OF AFRICAN ELEPHANTS IN WAR. 429 believing that the medieval Abyssinians or Nubians did use elephants in war, for Marco has already erred in ascribing that practice to the Blacks of Zanjibar. There can indeed be no doubt that elephants from the countries on the west of the Red Sea were caught and tamed and used for war, systematically and on a great scale, by the second and third Ptolemies, and the latter (Euergetes) has commemorated this, and his own use of Troglodytic and Ethiopic elephants, and the fact of their encountering the elephants of India, in the Adulitic Inscription recorded by Cosmas. This author however, who wrote about a.d. 545, and had been at the Court of Axum, then in its greatest prosperity, says distinctly : " The Ethiopians do not understand the art of taming elephants ; but if their King should want one or two for show they catch them young, and bring them up in captivity." Hence, when we find a few years later (a.d. 570) that there was one great elephant, and some say thirteen elephants,* employed in the army which Abraha the Abyssinian Ruler of Yemen led against Mecca, an expedition famous in Arabian history as the War of the Elephant, we are disposed to believe that these must have been elephants imported from India. There is indeed a notable statement quoted by Ritter, which if trustworthy would lead to another conclusion : " Already in the 20th year of the Hijra (a.d. 641) had the Nubas and Bejas hastened to the help of the Greek Christians of Oxy- rhynchus (-Sffi/i^ffj-a of the Arabs) against the first invasion of the Mahommedans, and according to the exaggerated representations of the Arabian Annalists, the army which they brought consisted of 50,000 men and 1300 war-elephants." \ The Nubians certainly must have tamed elephants on some scale down to a late period in the Middle Ages, for elephants, — in one case three annually, — formed a frequent part of the tribute paid by Nubia to the Mahomedan sovereigns of Egypt at least to the end of the 13th century; but the passage quoted is too isolated to be accepted without corroboration. The only approach to such a corroboration that I know of is a statement by Poggio in the matter appended to his account of Conti's Travels. He there repeats some information derived from the Abyssinian envoys who visited Pope Eugenius IV. about 1440, and one of his notes is : " They have elephants very large and in great numbers ; some kept for ostentation or pleasure, some as useful in war. They are hunted ; the old ones killed, the young ones taken and tamed." But the facts on which this was founded probably amounted to no more than what Cosmas had stated. I believe no trustworthy authority since the Portuguese discoveries confirms the * Muir's Life of Mahomet, I. cclxiii. \ Ritter, Africa, p. 605. The statement appears to be taken from Burckhaidt's Nuiia, but the reference is not quite clear. ^There is nothing about this army in Quatremere's Mem. sur la Nubie {^Miin. sur V Egypte, vol. ii.). 430 MARCO POLO. Book III. use of the elephant in Abyssinia;* and Ludolf, whose information was excellent, distinctly says that the Abyssinians did not tame them. {Cathay, p. clxxxi ; Qiiat, Mem. sur VEgypte, II. 98, 113; India in XV. cent. 37 ; Liidolf, I. 10, 32 ; Armandi, H. Militaire des Elephants, P- S47-) Note 5. — To the tenth century at least the whole coast country of the Red Sea, from near Berbera probably to Suakin, was still subject to Abyssinia. At this time we hear only of " Musalman families " residing in Zaila' and the other ports, and tributary to the Christians (see Mas'udi, HI. 34). According to Bruce's abstract of the Abyssinian chronicles, the royal line was superseded in the loth century by Falasha Jews, then by other Christian famiUes, and three centuries of weakness and disorder suc- ceeded. In 1268, according to Bruce's chronology, Icon Amlac of the House of Solomon, which had continued to rule in Shoa, regained the empire, and was followed by seven other princes whose reigns come down to 13 1 2. The history of this period is very obscure, but Bruce gathers that it was marked by civil wars, during which the Mahomedan communities that had by this time grown up in the coast-country became powerful and expelled the Abyssinians from the sea-ports. Inland pro- vinces of the low country also, such as Ifat and Dawaro, had fallen under Mahomedan governors, whose allegiance to the Negush, if not re- nounced, had become nominal. One of the principal Mahomedan communities was called Adel, the name, according to modern explanation, of the tribes now called Da- nikil. The capital of the Sultan of Adel was according to Bruce at Aussa, some distance inland from the port of Zaila', which also belonged, to Adel. Amda Zion, who succeeded to the Abyssinian throne, according to Bruce's chronology, in 13 12, two or three years later, provoked by the Governor of Ifat, who had robbed and murdered one of his Mahomedan agents in the Lowlands, descended on Ifat, inflicted severe chastisement on the offenders, and removed the governor. A confederacy was then formed against the Abyssinian King by several of the Mahomedan States or chieftainships, among which Adel is conspicuous. Bruce gives- a long and detailed account of Amda Zion's resolute and successful campaigns against this confederacy. It bears a strong general resemblance to Marco's narrative, always excepting the story of the Bishop, of which Bruce has no trace, and always admitting that our traveller has con- founded Aden with Adel. * Armandi indeed quotes a statement in support of such use from a Spaniard, Marviol, who travelled (he says) in Abyssinia in the beginning of the i6th century. But the author in question, already quoted at pp. 368 and 407, was no traveller, only a compiler ; and the passage cited by Armandi is evidently made up from the state- ment in Poggio and from what our traveller has said about Zanjibar [supra, p. 411. See Marmol, Desc. de Affrica, I. f. 27. v.) Chap. XXXV. CHRONOLOGY OF THE ABYSSINIAN STORY. 431 But the chronology is obviously in the way of identification of the histories. Marco could not have related in 1298 events that did not occur till 1315-16. Mr. Salt however, in his version of the chronology, not only puts the accession of Amda Zion eleven years earlier than Bruce, but even then has so little confidence in its accuracy, and is so much disposed to identify the histories, that he suggests that the Abyssinian dates should be carried back further still by some 20 years, on the authority of the narrative in our text. M. Pauthier takes a like view. I was for some time much disposed to do likewise, but after exam- ining the subject more minutely, I am obliged to reject this view, and to abide by Bruce's Chronology. To elucidate this I must exhibit the whole list of the Abyssinian Kings from the restoration of the line of Solomon to the middle of the 1 6th century, at which period Bruce finds a check to the chronology in the record of a solar eclipse. The chrono- logies have been extracted independently by Bruce, Riippell, and Salt ; the latter using a diiferent version of the Annals from the other two. I set down all three. Bruce. RUPPEL. Reigns. Duration of reign. Dates. Duration of reign. Icon Amiac Igba Zion Bahar Segued TzenafF , Jan ,. .... Hazeb Araad Kedem Segued . . . Wedem Arad Amda Zion Saif Arad Wedem Asferi .... David II Theodoras years. 15 9 5 IS 30 28 ID 29 3 17 °7. } 4 34 10 } - 13 32 1268— 1283 1283— 1292 1292 — 1297 1297—1312 1312— 1342 1342-1370 1370— 1380 1380 — 1409 ■409—1412 1412— 1429 1429 14=9-1433 1433— 1434 1434— 1468 1468—1478 1478 -1495 1495-1508 1508-1540 1540 years. 15 9 5 15 30 28 10 29 3 15 °h 4 I 34| 10 13 32 Haseb Nanya .... Sarwe Yasus Ameda Yasus Zara Jacob Beda Mariana Ameda Zion Naod Bavidlll Salt. Reigns. Woudein Arad Kudma Asgud Asfa Sinfa , , Bar ,, Igba Zion .... Duration of reign. years. 14 15 30 28 15 7 S Dates. 1255 — 1269 1269 — 1284 1284 — 1287 1287 — 1292 1292 — 1301 1301— T331 1331—1359 1359- 1369 1369 — 1 401 I 40 I — 1402 1402 — 1417 1417— 1424 1424— 1429 5 1429—1434 34 10 1434— 14S8 1468— 147B 16 1478—1494 13 3» 1494—1507 1507—1536 Bruce checks his chronology by an eclipse which took place in 1553, and which the Abyssinian chronicle assigns to the 13th year of Claudius. This alone would be scarcely satisfactory as a basis for the retrospective control of reigns extending through nearly three centuries ; but we find some other checks. Thus in Quatrembre's Makrizi we find a correspondence between Sultan Bibars and the King of Habasha, or of Amhara, Ma/iar Amlak, which occurred in a.h. 672 or 673, i.e. a.d. 1273-74. This would fall 432 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. within the reign of Icon Amlak according to Bruce's clironology, but not according to Salt's, and ^ fortiori not according to any chronology throwing the reigns further back still. In Quatremfere's Mgypte we find another notice of a letter which came to the Sultan of Egypt from the King of Abyssinia, Iakba Siun, in Ramadhan 689, i. e. in the end of a.d. 1289. Again, this is perfectly consistent with Bruce's order and dates, but not with Salt's. The same work contains a notice of an inroad on the Mussulman territory of Assuan by David (II.) the son of Saif Arad, in the year 783 (a.d. 1381-2). In Rink's translation of a work of Makrizi's it is stated that this same King David died in a.h. 812, i. e. a.d. 1409 ; that he was succeeded by Theodorus whose reign was very brief, and he again by Isaac, who died in Dhulkada 833, i. e. July-August 1430. These dates are in close or substantial agreement with Bruce's chronology, but not at all with Salt's or any chronology throwing the reigns further back. Makrizi goes on to say that Isaac was succeeded by Andreas who reigned only 4 months, and then by Hazbana who died in Ramadhan 834, i. e. May-June, 1431. This last date does not agree, but we are now justified in suspecting an error in the Hijra date,* whilst the 4 months^ reign ascribed to Andreas shows that Salt again is wrong in extending it to 7 years, and Bruce pre- sumably right in making it 7 months. These coincidences seem to me sufficient to maintain the substantial accuracy of Bruce's chronology, and to be fatal to the identification of Marco's story with that of the wars of Amda Zion. The general identity in the duration of reigns as given by Riippell shows that Bruce did not tamper with these. It is remarkable that in Makrizi's report of the letter of Igba Zion in 1289 (the very year when according to the text this anti-Mahomedan war was going on), that Prince tells the Sultan that he is a protector of the Mahomedans in Abyssinia, acting in that respect quite differently from his Father who had been so hostile to them. I suspect therefore that Icon Amlak must have been the true hero of Marco's story, and that the date must be thrown back, probably to 1278. Riippell is at a loss to understand where Bruce got the long story of Amda Zion's heroic deeds, which enters into extraordinary detail, em- bracing speeches after the manner of the Roman historians and the like, and occupies some 60 pages in th^e (French) edition of Bruce which I have been using. The German traveller could find no trace of this story in any of the versions of the Abyssinian chronicle which he con- sulted, nor was it known to a learned Abyssinian whom he names. Bruce himself says that the story which he has " a little abridged and accommodated to our manner of writing, was derived from a work 834 for 836. Chap. XXXV. CHRONOLOGY OF THE ABYSSINIAN STORY. 433 written in very pure Gheez, in Shoa, under the reign of Zara Jacob;'' and though it is possible that his amplifications outweigh his abridg- ments, we cannot doubt that he had an orig-nal groundwork for his narrative. The work of Makrizi already quoted speaks of seven kingdoms in Zaila' (here used for the Mahomedan low country) originally tributary to the Hati (or Negush) of Amhara, viz., Aufat* Dawaro, Arababni, Hadiah, Shirha, Bali, Darah. Of these Ifat, Dawaro, and Hadiah repeatedly occur in Bruce's story of the war. Bruce also tells us that Amda Zion, when he removed Hakeddin the Governor of Ifat, who had murdered his agent, replaced him by his brother Sabreddin. Now we find in Makrizi that about a.h. 700, the reigning governor of Aufat under the Hati was Sabreddin Mahomed Valahui ; and that it was 'Ali the son of this Sabreddin who first threw off allegiance to the Abyssinian King, then Saif Arad (son of Amda Zion). The latter displaces 'Ali and gives the government to his son Ahmed. After various vicissitudes Hakeddin, the son of Ahmed, obtains the mastery in Aufat, defeats Saif Arad com- pletely, and founds a city in Shoa called Vahal, which superseded Aufat or Ifat. Here the Sabreddin of Makrizi appears to be identical with Amda Zion's governor in Bruce's story, whilst the Hakeddins belong to two different generations of the same family. But Makrizi does not notice the wars of Amda Zion any more than the Abyssinian Chronicles notice the campaign recorded by Marco Polo. (Bruce, vol. III. and vol. IV., pp. 23-90, and Salts Second Journey to Abyssinia, II. 270, &c. ; both these are quoted from French versions which are alone available to me, the former by Castera, Londres, 1790, the latter by P. Henry, Paris, 18 16; Fr. Th. Rink, Al Macrisi, Hist. Rerum Islamiticarum in Abyssinia, &c., Lugd. Bat. 1798;. Rilppell, Dissert, on Abyss. Hist, and Chronology in his work on that country; Quat. Makr. II. 122-3; Qpat Mem. sur I'Egypte, II. 268, 276.) Note 6. — The last words run in the G. T. : " // ont singles de plo- sors maineres. II ont gat paulz (see note 2, chap, xxiii. supra), et autre gat maimon si devisez qe pou s'en faut de tiel hi a qe ne senblent a vix d'omes." The beautiful cocks and hens are, I suppose, Guinea fowl. * On Aufat, see De Sacy, Crestom Arabs, I. 457. VOL. II. 2, F 434- MARCO POLO. Book III. CHAPTER XXXVI. Concerning the Province of Aden. You must know that in the province of Aden there is a Prince who is called the Soldan. The people are all Sara- cens and adorers of Mahommet, and have a great hatred of Christians. There are many towns and villages in the country. This Aden is the port to which many of the ships of India come with their cargoes ; and from this haven the merchants carry the goods a distance of seven days further in small vessels. At the end of those seven days they land the goods and load them on camels, and so carry them a land journey of 30 days. This brings them to the river of Alexandria, and by it they descend to the latter city. It is by this way through Aden that the Saracens of Alex- andria receive all their stores of pepper and other spicery ; and there is no other route equally good and convenient by which these goods could reach that place.^ And you must know that the Soldan of Aden receives a large amount in duties from the ships that traffic between India and his country, importing different kinds of goods ; and from the exports also he gets a revenue, for there are despatched from the port of Aden to India a very large number of Arab chargers, and palfreys, and stout nags adapted for all work, which are a source of great profit to those who export them.= For horses fetch very high prices in India, there being none bred there, as I have told you before; insomuch that a charger will sell there for 100 marks of silver and more. On these also the Soldan of Aden receives heavy payments in port charges, so that 'tis said he is one of the richest princes in the world.^ And it is a fact that when the Soldan of Babylon went against the city of Acre and took it, this Soldan of Aden Chap. XXXVI. THE PROVINCE OF ADEN. 435 sent to his assistance 30,000 horsemen and full 40,000 camels, to the great help uf the Saracens and the grievous injury of the Christians. He did this a great deal more for the hate he bears the Christians than for any love he bears the Soldan of Babylon ; for these two do hate one another heartily.'' Now we will have done with the Soldan of Aden, and I will tell you of a city which is subject to Aden, called Esher. Note 1. — This is from Pauthier's text, which is here superior to the G. T. The latter has : " They put the goods in small vessels, which proceed on a river about seven days." Ram. has, "in other smaller vessels, with which they make a voyage on a gulf of the sea for 20 days, more or less, as the weather may be. On reaching a certain port they load the goods on camels, and carry them a 30 days' journey by land to the River Nile, where they embark them in small vessels called Zerms.^ and in these descend the current to Cairo, and thence by an artificial cut, called Calizene, to Alexandria." The last looks as if it had been edited ; Polo never uses the name Cairo. The canal, the predecessor of the Mahmudiah, is also called // Caligine in the journey of Simon Sigoli {Frescobaldi, p. 168). Brunetto Latini, too, discoursing of the Nile, says : — " Cosi serva suo filo Ed e chiamato Nilo : D' uii suo ramo si dice Ch' e chiamato Calked'' — Tesoretto^ p. 63. Also in the Sfera of Dati : — " Chiamasi Caligine £ Gion e Nilo, e non si sa 1' origine." The word is (Ar.) Khalij, applied in one of its senses specially to the canals drawn from the full Nile. The port on the Red Sea would be either Su^kin or Aidhib ; the 30 days' journey seems to point to the former. Polo's contemporary, Marino Sanudo, gives the following ac- count of the transit, omitting entirely the Red Sea navigation, though his line correctly represented would apparently go by Kosseir : " The fourth haven is called Ahaden, and stands on a certain little island joining, as it were, to the main, in the land of the Saracens. The spices and other goods from India are landed there, loaded on camels, and so carried by a journey of nine days to a place on the River Nile, called Chus {Kiis, the ancient Cos below Luksor), where they are put into boats and conveyed in 15 days to Babylon. But in the month of a F -1 436 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. October and thereabouts the river rises to such an extent that the spices, &c., continue to descend the stream from Babylon and enter a certain long canal, and so are conveyed over the 200 miles between Babylon and Alexandria." (Book I. pt. i. ch. i.). Makrizi relates that up to A. H. 725 (1325), from time immemorial the Indian ships had discharged at Aden, but in that year the exactions of the Sultan induced a shipmaster to pass on into the Red Sea, and eventually the trade came to Jidda. (See De Sacy, Crest. Arabe, II. 556.) Aden is mentioned {Atan) in the Ming history as having sent an embassy to China in 1427. The country, which lay 22 days' voyage west oi KuU (supposed Calicut, but perhaps Kdyal), was devoid of grass or trees. {Bretschneider, p. 18.) Note 2. — The words describing the horses are (P.'s text) : " de bans destriers Arrabins et chevaux et grans roncins k ij selles.'' The meaning seems to be what I have expressed in the text, fit either for saddle or packsaddle. In one application the Deux selles of the old riding-schools were the two styles of riding, called in Spanish Montar a la Gineta and Mon- tar d la Brida. The latter stands for the old French style, with heavy bit and saddle, and long stirrups just reached by the toes ; the former the Moorish style, with short stirrups and lighter bit. But the phrase would also seem to have meant saddle and packsaddle. Thus Cobarru- vias explains the phrase Hombre de dos sillas, " Conviene saber de la gineta y brida, ser de silla ' y albarda (packsaddle), servir de todo]' and we find the converse expression, No ser para silla ni para albarda, good for nothing. But for an example of the exact phrase of the French text I am indebted to P. della Valle. Speaking of the Persian horses, be says : "Few of them are of any great height, and you seldom see thorough- breds among them ; probably because here they have no liking for such and don't seek to breed them. For the most part they are of that very useful style that we call horses for both saddles {che noi chiamiamo da due selle)" &LC. (See Cobarruvias, under .SiV/a zxyd. Brida, Dice, de laLengua Castellana por la Real Acade?nia Espafiola, under Silla, Gineta, Brida ; P. della Valle, Let. XV. da Sciraz, § 3, vol. ii. p. 240.) Note 3. — The supposed confusion between Adel and Aden does not affect this chapter. The " Soldan of Aden '' was the Sultan of Yemen, whose chief resi- dence was at Ta'izz, N.E. of Mokha. The prince reigning in Polo's day was Malik Muzaffar Shamsuddin Abiil Mahasen Yusuf His father, Malik Mansiir, a retainer of the Ayubite dynasty, had been sent by Saladin as Wazir to Yemen, with his brother Malik Muazzam Turan Shah. After the death of the latter, and of his successor, the Wazir assumed the government and became the founder of a dynasty. Aden Chap. XXXVI. THE PROVINCE OF ADEN. 437 was the chief port of his dominions, with China in the early centuries of Islam. Ibn Batuta speaks of it thus correctly : " It is enclosed by mountains, and you can enter by one side only. It is a large town, but has neither corn nor trees, nor fresh water, except from reser- voirs made to catch the rainwater; for other drinking water is at a great distance froin the town. The Arabs often prevent the towns- people coming to fetch it until the latter have come to terms with them, and paid them a bribe in money or cloths. The heat at Aden is great. It is the port frequented by the people from India, and great ships come thither from Kunbdyat, Tdna, Kaulam, Kaliktt, Fandariina, Shdlid.t, Manjarur, Fdkandr, Hinaur, Sinddbiir,* Sec. There are Indian merchants residing in the city, and Egyptian merchants as well." The tanks of which the Moor speaks had been buried by ddbris ; of late years they have been cleared and repaired. They are grand works. They are said to have been formerly 50 in number, with a x;apacity of 30 million gallons. This cut, from a sketch by Dr. Kirk, gives an excellent idea of Aden as seen by a ship approaching from India. The large plate again, reduced from a grand and probably unique con- temporary wood engraving of great size, shows the impression It had been a seat of direct trade * All ports of Western India : Pan- darani, Shalia (near Calicut), Manga- lore, Baccanore, Onore, Goa. 438 MARCO POLO. BOOK III. that the city made upon European eyes in the beginning of the 1 6th century. It will seem absurd, especially to those who knew Aden in the early days of our occupation, and no doubt some of the details are extravagant, but the general impression is quite con- sonant with that derived from the description of De Barros and Andrea Corsali : "In site and aspect from the seaward," says the former, " the city forms a beautiful object, for besides the part which lies along the shore with its fine walls and towers, its many public buildings and rows of houses rising aloft in many stories with terraced roofs, you have all that ridge of mountain facing the sea and presenting to its very summit a striking picture of the operations of Nature, and still more of the industry of man." This historian says that the prosperity of Aden increased on the arrival of the Portu- guese in those seas, for the Mussulman traders from Jidda and the Red Sea ports now dreaded these western corsairs, and made Aden an entrepot, instead of passing it by as they used to do in days of unobstructed navigation. This prosperity however must have been of very brief duration. Corsali's account of Aden (in 15 17) is excellent, but too long for extract. {Makrizi, IV. 26-27; Playfair, H. of Yemen, p. 7 ; Ibn Batuta, II. 177; De Barros, II. vii. 8; Ram. I. f. 182.) Note 4. — I have not been able to trace any other special notice of the part taken by the Sultan of Yemen in the capture of Acre by the Mameluke Sultan, Malik Ashraf Khalil, in lagr. Ibn Ferat, quoted by Reinaud, says that the Sultan sent into all the pro- vinces the most urgent orders for the supply of troops and machines ; and there gathered from all sides the warriors of Damascus, of Hamath, and the rest of Syria, of Egypt, and of Arabia. (Michaud, Bibl. des Croisades, 1829, IV. 569.) " I once " (says Joinville), " rehearsed to the Legate two cases of sin that a priest of mine had been telling me of, and he answered me thus : ' No man knows as much of the heinous sins that are done in Acre as I do ; and it cannot be but God will take vengeance on them, in such a way that the city of Acre shall be washed in the blood of its inhabitants, and that another people shall come to occupy atter them.' The good man's prophecy hath come true in part, for of a truth the city hath been washed in the blood of its inhabitants, but those to replace them are not yet come : may God send them good when it pleases Him !" (p. 192). Blm«l)awa8bt(to!mtenBtuiitljtfaMlfonla64ibomcrtiftapittui8(ncrartu<litcrtifiumBi»K.Bm l«motafimftlhtfrtnifiMmra5Bnwl»Briifarfald«ftittt(Sl»o«afB.frrro^ fRedncedFajcsunilB of a IfuyeContemporcav WdodUnqravma, uttheMapJ^epariment, of the BRITISH MUSEUM^ supposed to have been Executed atAntverpJ Size of the Orvainal fintrwfheetsj 4^ilnchjes try f 9s Inches. Chap. XXXVII. THE CITY OF ESHER. 439 CHAPTER XXXVII. Concerning the City of' Esher. EsHER is a great city lying in a north-westerly directioti from the last, and 400 miles distant from the Port of Aden. It has a king, who is subject to the Soldan of Aden. He has a number of towns and villages under him, and admi- nisters his territory well and justly. The people are Saracens. The place has a very good haven, wherefore many ships from India come thither with various cargoes ; and they export many good chargers thence to India.' A great deal of white incense grows in this country, and brings in a great revenue to the Prince ; for no one dares sell it to any one else ; and whilst he takes it from the people at 10 livres of gold for the hundredweight, he sells it to the merchants at 60 livres, so his profit is immense.'' Dates also grow very abundantly here. The people have no corn but rice, and very little of that ; but plenty is brought from abroad, for it sells here at a good profit. They have fish in great profusion, and notably plenty of tunny of large size ; so plentiful indeed that you may buy two big ones for a Venice groat of silver. The natives live on meat and rice and fish. They have no wine of the vine, but they make good wine from sugar, from rice, and from dates also. And I must tell you another very strange thing. You must know that their sheep have no ears, but where the ear ought to be they have a little horn ! They are pretty little beasts.^ And I must not omit to tell you that all their cattle, including horses, oxen, and camels, live upon small fish and nought besides, for 'tis all they get to eat. You see 44° MARCO POLO. Book III. in all this country there is no grass or forage of any kind ; it is the driest country on the face of the earth. The fish which are given to the cattle are very small, and during March, April, and May, are caught in such quantities as would astonish you. They are then dried and stored, and the beasts are fed on them from year's end to year's end. The cattle will also readily eat these fish all alive and just out of the water.-* The people here have likewise many other kinds of fish of large size and good quality, exceedingly cheap; these they cut in pieces of about a pound each, and dry them in the sun, and then store them, and eat them all the year through, like so much biscuit.' Note 1. — Shihr or Shehr, with the article, Es-Shehr, still exists on the Arabian coast, as a town and district about 330 m. east of Aden. In 1839 Captain Haines described the modern town as extending in a scattered manner for a mile along the shore, the population about 6000, and the trade considerable, producing duties to the amount of 5000/. a year. It was then the residence of the Sultan of the Hamum tribe of Arabs. There is only an open roadstead for anchorage. Perhaps, how- ever, the old city is to be looked for about ten miles to the westward, where there is another place bearing the same name, " once a thriving town,, but now a desolate group of houses with an old fort, formerly the residence of the chief of the Kasaidi tribe." (_/! R. G. S. IX. 151-2.) Shehr is spoken of by Barbosa {Xaer in Lisbon ed. ; Pecher in Ramusio ; Xeher in Stanley ; in the two last misplaced to the east of Dhofar) : " It is a very large place, and there is a great traffic in goods imported by the Moors of Cambaia, Chaul, Dabul, Batticala, and the cities of Mala- bar, such as cotton-stuffs .... strings of garnets, and many other stones of inferior value ; also much rice and sugar, and spices of all sorts, with coco-nuts ; . . . . their money they invest in horses for India, which are here very large and good. Every one of them is worth in India 500 or 600 ducats." {Ram. £ 292.) The name Shehr in some of the Oriental geographies, includes the whole coast up to Om^n. Note 2. — The hills of the Shehr and Dhafdr districts were the great source of produce of the Arabian frankincense. Barbosa says of Shehr : " They carry away much incense, which is produced at this place and in the interior ; .... it is exported hence all over the world, and here it is used to pay ships with, for on the spot it is worth only 150 farthings Chap. XXXVIII. THE CITY OF DUFAR. 441 the hundredweight." See note 2, ch. xxvii. supra; and next chapter, note 2. Note 3. — This was no doubt a breed of four-horned sheep, and Polo, or his informant, took the lower pair of horns for abnormal ears. Probably the breed exists, but we have little information on details in reference to this coast. The Rev. G. P. Badger, D.C.L., writes : "There are sheep on the eastern coast of Arabia, and as high up as Mohammerah on the Shatt-al-Arab, with very small ears indeed ; so small as to be almost imperceptible at first sight near the projecting horns. I saw one at Mohammerah having six horns.'' And another friend, Mr, Arthur Grote, tells me he had for some time at Calcutta a 4-horned sheep from Aden. Note 4. — This custom holds more or less on all the Arabian coast from Shehr to the Persian Gulf, and on the coast east of the Gulf also. Edrisi mentions it at Shehr (printed Shajr, 1. 152), and the Admiral Sidi 'Ali says : " On the coast of Shehr, men and animals all live on fish " (/. A. S. B. V. 461). Ibn Batuta tells the same of Dhafir, the subject of next chapter : " The fish consist for the most part of sardines, which are here of the fattest. The surprising thing is that all kinds of cattle are fed on these sardines, and sheep likewise. I have never seen any- thing like that elsewhere" (II. 197). Compare Strabo's account of the Ichthyophagi on the coast of Mekran (XV. 1 1), and the like account in the life of Apollonius of Tyana (III. 56). Note 5. — At Hdsik, east of Dhafir, Ibn Batuta says : " The people here live on a kind of fish called Al-Lukham, resembling that called the sea-dog. They cut it in slices and strips, dry it in the sun, salt it, and feed on it. Their houses are made with fish-bones, and their roofs with camel-hides" (II. 214). CHAPTER XXXVIII. Concerning the City of Dufar. DuFAR is a great and noble and fine city, and lies 500 miles to the north-west of Esher. The people are Saracens, and have a Count for their chief, who is subject to the Soldan of Aden ; for this city still belongs to the Province of Aden. It stands upon the sea and has a very good haven, so that there is a great traffic of shipping between this and 442 MARCO POLO. Book III. India; and the merchants take hence great numbers of Arab horses to that market, making great profits thereby. This city has under it many other towns and villages.' Much white incense is produced here, and I will tell you how it grows. The trees are like small fir-trees ; these are notched with a knife in several places, and from these notches the incense is exuded. Sometimes also it flows from the tree without any notch ; this is by reason of the great heat of the sun there.' Note 1. — Dufar. The name ,ULli is variously pronounced Dhafdr, Dhofar, ThsHix, and survives attached to a well-watered and fertile plain district opening on the sea, nearly 400 miles east of Shehr, though according to Haines there is now no town of the name. Ibn Batuta speaks of the city as situated at the extremity of Yemen (" the province of Aden"), and mentions its horse-trade, its unequalled dirt, stench, and flies, and consequent diseases. (See II. 196 seqq.) What he says of the desert character of the tract round the town is not in accordance with modern descriptions of the plain of Dhafd,r, nor seemingly with his own statements of the splendid bananas grown there, as well as other Indian products, betel, and coco-nut. His account of the Sultan of Zhafdr in his time corroborates Polo's, for he says that prince was the son of a cousin of the King of Yemen, who had been chief of Zhafdr under the suzerainete of that King and tributary to him. The only ruins mentioned by Haines are extensive ones near Haffer, towards the western part of the plain ; and this Fresnel considers to be the site of the former city. A lake which exists here, on the landward side of the ruins, was, he says, formerly a gulf, and formed the port, " the very good haven," of which our author speaks. A quotation in the next note however indicates Merbdt, which is at the eastern extremity of the plain, as having been the port of Dhaf^r in the Middle Ages. Professor Sprenger is of opinion that the city itself was in the eastern part of the plain. The matter evidently needs further examination. This Dhafir, or the bold mountain above it, is supposed to be the Sephar of Genesis (X. 30). But it does not seem to be the Sapphara metropolis of Ptolemy, which is rather an inland city of the same name : " Dhafdr was the name of two cities of Yemen, one of which was near Sana'd .... it was the residence of the Himyarite Princes ; some authors allege that it is identical with Sana'^ " {Mardsid-al-Ittild , in Reinaud's Abulfeda, I. p. 124). Dofar is noted by Camoens for its fragrant incense. It was believed in Malabar that the famous King Cheram Perumal, converted to Isldm Chap. XXXVIII. THE CITY OF DUFAR. 443 (lied on the pilgrimage to Mecca and was buried at Dhaf^r, where his tomb was much visited for its sanctity. The place is mentioned {Tsafarh) in the Ming Annals of China as a Mahomedan country lying, with a fair wind, to days N.W. of Kuli (supra p. 436). Ostriches were found there, and among the products are named drugs which Dr. Bretschneider renders as Olibanum, Storax liquida, Myrrh, Catechu (?), Dragon's Mood. This state sent an embassy (so-called) to China in 1422 {Haines va. J. R. G. S. XV. 116 seqq. ; Play fair's Yemen., p. 31; Fresnel in J. As. ser. 3, tom. V. 517 seqq.; Tohfut-ul-Mujahideen, p. 56 ; Bretschneider, p. 19). Note 2. — Frankincense presents a remarkable example of the ob- scurity which so often attends the history of familiar drugs ; though in this case the darkness has been, like that of which Marco spoke in his account of the Caraonas (vol. I. p. 99), much of man's making. This coast of Hadhramaut is the true and ancient y^pa. Xi/3avo^6po^ or \Ll3av(OTo(j>6po's, indicated or described under those names by Theo- phrastus, Ptolemy, Pliny, Pseudo-Arrian, and other classical writers ; 1. e. the country producing the fragrant gum-resin called by the Hebrews Lebonah, by the Brahmans apparently Kundu and Kunduru, by the Arabs Lubdn and Kundur, by the Greeks Libanos, by the Romans Thus, in medieval Latin Olibanum, and in English Frankincense, i. e., I appre- hend, " Genuine Incense," or " Incense Proper."* It is still produced in this region and exported from it : but the larger part of that which enters the markets of the world is exported from the roadsteads of the opposite Sumdli coast. In ancient times also an important quantity was exported from the latter coast, immediately west of Cape Gardafui {Aromatum Prom.), and in the Periplus this frankincense is distinguished by the title Peratic, " from over the water." The Mardsid-al-Ittila' , a Geog. Dictionary of the end of the 14th century, in a passage of which we have quoted the commencement in the preceding note, proceeds as follows : " The other Dhafir, which still subsists, is on the shore of the Indian Sea, distant 5 parasangs from M^rbdth in the province of Shehr. Merbath lies below Dhafir, and serves as its port. Olibanum is found nowhere except in the mountains * " Drogue franche : — Qui a les qualites requises sans melange" (Littri). '^ Franc .... Vrai, veritable" [Raynouard]. The medieval Olibanum was probably the Arabic Al-lubdn, but was popularly interpreted as Oleum Libani. Dr. Birdwood saw at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 samples of frankincense solemnly labelled as the produce of Mount Lebanon ! "Professor Diimichen, of Strasburg, has discovered at the Temple of Dayr-el- Bahri, in Upper Egypt, paintings illustrating the traiiRc carried on between Egypt and Arabia, as early as the 17th century B.C. In these paintings there are representa- tions, not only of bags of olibanum, but also of olibanum-trees planted in tubs or boxes, being conveyed by ship from Arabia to Egypt " (ITanbury and Flikkiger, Pharinn- , p. 121). 444 MARCO POLO. Book III. of Dhafdr, in the territory of Shehr ; in a tract which extends 3 days in length and the same in breadth. The natives make incisions in the trees with a knife, and the incense flows down. This incense is carefully watched, and can be taken only to Dhafir, where the Sultan keeps the best part for himself; the rest is made over to the people. But any one who should carry it elsewhere than to Dhaf^r would be put to death." The elder Niebuhr seems to have been the first to disparage the Arabian produce of olibanum. He recognizes indeed its ancient cele- brity, and the fact that it was still to some extent exported from Dhafdr and other places on this coast, but he says that the Arabs preferred foreign kinds of incense, especially benzoin ; and also repeatedly speaks of the superiority of that from India (des Indes and de I'lnde), by which it is probable that he meant the same thing — viz., benzoin from the Indian Archipelago. Niebuhr did not himself visit Hadhramaut. Thus the fame of Arabian olibanum was dying away, and so was our knowledge of that and the opposite African coast, when Colebrooke (1807) published his Essay on Olibanum, in which he showed that a gum-resin, identical as he considered with frankincense, and so named {Kundur), was used in India, and was the produce of an indigenous tree, Boswellia serrata of Roxburgh, but thereafter known as B. thurifera. This dis- covery, connecting itself, it may be supposed, with Niebuhr' s statements about Indian olibanum (though probably misunderstood), and with the older tradition coming down from Dioscorides of a so-called Indian libanos (supra p. 386), seems to have induced a hasty and general assumption that the Indian resin was the olibanum of commerce ; insomuch that the very existence of Arabian olibanum came to be treated as a matter of doubt in some respectable books, and that down to a very recent date. In the Atlas to Bruce's Travels is figured a plant under the name of Angoiia, which the Abyssinians beheved to produce true olibanum, and which Bruce says did really produce a gum resembling it. In 1837 Lieut. Cruttenden of the Indian Navy saw the frankincense tree of Arabia on a journey inland from Merbdt, and during the ensuing year the trees of the Sumali country were seen, and partially described by Kempthorne, and Vaughan of the same service, and by Cruttenden himself. Captain Haines also in his report of the Survey of the Hadhra- maut coast in 1843-4,* speaks, apparently as an eye witness, of the frankincense trees about Dhafar as extremely numerous, and adds that from 3000 to 10,000 maunds were annually exported " from Merb£t and Dhafir." " 3 to 10" is vague enough; but as the kind oi maund is no't specified it is vaguer still. Maunds differ as much as livres Fran^ais and livres sterling. In 1844 and 1846 Dr. Carter also had opportunities of examining olibanum trees on this coast, which he turned to good ac- count, sending to Government cuttings, specimens, and drawings, and * Published in J. R. G. S., vol. XV. (for 1845). Chap. XXXVIII. FRANKINCENSE. 445 publishing a paper on the subject in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the R. As. Society (1847). But neither Dr. Carter's paper and specimens, nor the previous looser notices of the naval officers, seemed to attract any attention, and men of no small repute went on repeating in their manuals the old story about Indian olibanum. Dr. G. Birdwood however, at Bombay, in the The Harvest of Frankincense in Arabia. Facsimile of an engraving in Thevet's Caimografhie Universelle {1575}, reproduced from the Bible hditcator.* years following 1859 took up the subject with great zeal and intelligence, procuring numerous specimens of the Sumali trees and products ; and By couttesy of the publishers, Messrs. Cassell, Pelter, and Galpii 446 MARCO POLO. Book III. his monograph of the genus Boswellia in the Linnaean Transactions (read April i86g), to which this note is very greatly indebted, is a most interesting paper, and may be looked on, I believe, as embodying the most correct knowledge as yet attainable. The species as ranked in his table are the following : 1. Boswellia Carterii (Birdw.), including the Arabian tree of Dhafdr, and the larger variety called Mohr Madau by the Sumilis. 2. B. Bhaii-dajiana (Birdw.), Mohr Ad oi^hf: Sumalis. 3. B. papyrifera (Richard). Abyssinian species. 4. B. thurifera (Colebr.), see p. 387 supra. 5. B. Frereana (Birdw.), Yegdr of the Sumdh's — named after Mr. William Frere, Member of Council at Bombay. No. 2 was named from Bhau Ddji, a very eminent Hindu scholar and physician at Bombay (Birdw.). No. I produces the Arabian olibanum, and Nos 1 and 2 together the bulk of the olibanum exported from the Sumdli coast under the name Lubdn-Shehri. Both are said to give an inferior kind besides, called L. Bedawi. No. 3 is, according to Birdwood, the same as Bruce's Angoua. No. 5 is distinctly a new species, and affords a highly fragrant resin sold under the name of Lubdn Meti. Bombay is now the great mart of frankincense. The quantity exported thence in 1872-73 was 25,000 «£//., of which nearly one quarter went to China. Frankincense when it first exudes is milky white ; whence the name "White Incense " by which Polo speaks of it. And the Arabic name lubdn apparently refers to milk. The Chinese have so translated, calling \X Ju-siang ox Milk-perfume. Polo, we see, says the tree was like a fir tree ; and it is remarkable that a Chinese Pharmacology quoted by Bretschneider says the like, which looks as if their information came from a common source. And yet I think Polo's must have been oral. One of the meanings of Lubdn, from the Kdmiis, is Pinus (Freytag). This may have to do with the error. Dr. Birdwood, in a paper in Cassell's Bible Educator, has given a copy of a remarkable wood engraving from Thevet's Cosmographie Universelle {li,"] t,) representing the collection of Arabian olibanum, and this through his kind intervention I am able to reproduce here. The text (probably after Polo) speaks of the tree as resembling a fir, but in the cut the firs are in the background ; the incense-trees have some real suggestion of Boswellia, and the whole design has singular spirit and verisimilitude. Dr. Birdwood thus speaks of the B. Frereana,, the only species that he has seen in flower : " As I saw the plant in Playfair's garden at Aden .... in young leaf and covered with bloom, I was much struck by its elegant singularity. The long racemes of green star-like flowers, tipped with the red anthers of the stamens (like aigrettes of little stars of emerald set with minute rubies), droop gracefully over the clusters of glossy, Chap. XXXVIII. FRANKINCENSE. 447 glaucous leaves ; and every part of the plant (bark, leaves, and flowers) gives out the most refreshing lemon-like fragrance." (Birdwood in -iZt c-£f£r/'£yf, s-c Boswellia Frereana. Birdw, Linnaean Transactions for 1869, PP- i°9 seqq. ; Hanbury a.yxd Flikkigcr' s Pharmacographia, pp. 120 seqq. ; Ritter, xii. 356 seqq. ; Niebuhr, Desc. de r Arabic, I. p. 202, II. pp. 125-132.) 448 ■ MARCO POLO. Book III. CHAPTER XXXIX. Concerning the Gulf of Calatu and the City so called. Calatu is a great city, within a gulf which bears the name of the Gulf of Calatu. It is a noble city, and lies 600 miles from Dufar towards the north-west, upon the sea-shore. The people are Saracens, and are subject to Hormos. And whenever the Melic of Hormos is at war with some prince more potent than himself, he betakes himself to this city of Calatu, because it is very strong, both from its position and its fortifications.' They grow no corn here, but get it from abroad ; for every merchant-vessel that comes brings some. The haven is very large and good, and is frequented by numerous ships with goods from India, and from this city the spices and other merchandize are distributed among the cities and towns of the interior. They also export many good Arab horses from this to India.' For, as I have told you before, the number of horses exported from this and the other cities to India yearly is something astonishing. One reason is that no horses are bred there, and another that they die as soon as they get there, through ignorant handling ; for the people there do not know how to take care of them, and they feed their horses with cooked victuals and all sorts of trash, as I have told you fully heretofore ; and besides all that they have no farriers. This City of Calatu stands at the mouth of the Gulf, so that no ship can enter or go forth without the will of the chief. And when the Melic of Hormos, who is Melic of Calatu also, and is vassal to the Soldan of Kerman, fears anything at the hand of the latter, he gets on board his ships and comes from Hormos to Calatu. And then he prevents any ship from entering the Gulf This causes Chap. XXXIX. THE CITY OF HORMOS. 449 great injury to the Soldan of Kerman ; for he thus loses all the duties that he is wont to receive from merchants frequenting his territories from India or elsewhere ; for ships with cargoes of merchandize come in great numbers, and a very large revenue is derived from them. In this way he is constrained to give way to the demands of the Melic of Hormos. This Melic has also a castle which is still stronger than the city, and has a better command of the entry to the Gulf.3 The people of this country live on dates and salt fish, which they have in great abundance ; the nobles, however, have better fare. There is no more to say on this subject. So now let us go on and speak of the city of Hormos, of which we told you before. Note 1. — Kalhdt, the Calaiate of the old Portuguese writers, is about 500 m. by shortest sea-line north-east of Dhafir. " The city of Kalhit," says Ibn Batuta, " stands on the shore ; it has fine bazaars, and one of the most beautiful mosques that you could see anywhere, the walls of which are covered with enamelled tiles of K^shdn The city is inhabited by merchants, who draw their support from Indian import trade .... Although they are Arabs, they don't speak correctly. •After every phrase they have a habit of adding the particle no. Thus they will say, ' You are eating, — no ?' ' You are walking, — no ?' ' You are doing this or that, — no?' Most of them are schismatics, but they cannot openly practise their tenets, for they are under the rule of Sultan Kutbuddin Tehemten Malik, of Hormuz, who is orthodox " (II. 226). Calaiate, when visited by d' Albuquerque, showed by its buildings and ruins that it had been a noble city. Its destruction was ascribed to an earthquake. {Be Barros, II. ii. i.) It seems to exist no longer. Wellsted says its remains cover a wide space ; but only one building, an old mosque, has escaped destruction. Near the ruins is a small fishing-village, the people of which also dig for gold coins. {J. R. G. S. VII. 104.) What is said about the Prince of Hormuz betaking himself to Kalhat in times of trouble is quite in accordance with what we read in Teixeira's abstract of the Hormuz history. When expelled by revolution at Hor- muz or the like, we find the princes taking refuge at Kalhat. VOL. II. 1 G 4i;o MARCO POLO. Book III. Note 2. — " Of the interior." Here the phrase of the G. T. is again " en fra tere a mainte cite et castiaus." (See supra, Bk. I. ch. i. note 2.) There was still a large horse-trade from Kalhat in 15 17, but the Portuguese compelled all to enter the port of Goa, where according to Andrea CorsaU they had to pay a duty of 40 saraffi per head. If these ashrafis were pagodas, this would be^ about 15/. a head; if they were dinars, it would be more than 20/. The term is now commonly applied in Hindustan to the gold mohr. Note 3. — This no doubt is Maskat. CHAPTER XL. Returns to the City of Hormos whereof we spoke formerly. When you leave the City of Calatu, and go for 300 miles between north-west and north, you come to the city of Hormos ; a great and noble city on the sea.' It has a Melic, which is as much as to say a King, and he is under the Soldan of Kerman. There are a good many cities and towns belonging to Hormos, and the people are Saracens. The heat is tre- mendous, and on that account their houses are built with ventilators to catch the wind. These ventilators are placed on the side from which the wind comes, and they bring the wind down into the house to cool it. But for this the heat would be utterly unbearable.'' I shall say no more about these places, because I for- merly told you in regular order all about this same city of Hormos, and about Kerman as well. But as we took one way to go, and another to come back, it was proper that we should bring you a second time to this point. Now, however, we will quit this part of the world, and tell you about Great Turkey. First, however, there is a point that I have omitted ; to wit, that when you leave the City of Calatu and go between west and north-west, a dis- Chap. XL. THE CITY OF HORMOS. 451 tance of 500 miles, you come to the city of Kis.' Of that, however, we shall say no more now, but pass it with this brief mention, and return to the subject of Great Turkey, of which you shall now hear. Note 1. — The distance is very correct; and the bearing fairly so for the first time since we left Aden. I have tried in my map of Polo's Geo- graphy to realize what seems to have been his idea of the Arabian coast. Note 2. — These ventilators are a kind of masonry windsail, known as Bdd-gir, or " wind-catchers," and in general use over Oman, A Persian Wind-catcher. Kerman, the province of Baghdad, Mekran, and Sind. A large and elaborate example, from Hommaire de Hell's work on Persia, is given in the cut above. Very particular accounts of these ventilators will be found in P. della Valle, and in the embassy of Don Garcias de Silva Figueroa. {Bella Val. II. 333-35; Figueroa, Fr. Trans. 1667, p. 38; Ramus. I. 293 v. ; Alacd. Kinneir, p. 69.) A somewhat different arrange- ment for the same purpose is in use in Cairo, and gives a very peculiar character to the city when seen from a moderate height. 2 G 2, 45^ MARCO POLO. Book III. Note 3.— On Kish see Book I. ch. vi. note 2. The Turkish Admiral Sidi 'AH, who was sent in 1553 to command the Ottoman fleet in the Persian Gulf, and has written an interesting account of his disastrous command and travels back to Constantinople from India, calls the island Kais, or " the old fformuz." This shows that the traditions of the origin of the island of Hormuz had grown dim. Kish had preceded Hormuz as the most prominent port of Indian trade, but old Hormuz, as we have seen (Bk. I. ch. xix.), was quite another place, (y! As. ser. i, tom. ix. 67.) BOOK FOURTH. WARS AMONG THE TARTAR PRINCES AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES. Note. — A considerable number of the quasi-historical chapters in this section (which I have followed M. Pauthier in making into a Fourth Book) are the merest verbiage and repetition of narrative formulae without the slightest value. I have therefore thought it undesirable to print all at length, and have given merely the gist (marked thus f), or an extract, of such chapters. They will be found entire in English in H. Murray's and Wright's editions, and in the original French in the edition of the Societe de Geographie, in Bartoli, and in Pauthier. BOOK IV. CHAPTER I. Concerning Great Turkey. In Great Turkey there is a King called Caidu, who is the Great Kaan's nephew, for he was the grandson of Chagatai, the Great Kaan's own brother. He hath many cities and castles, and is a great Prince. He and his people are Tartars alike ; and they are good soldiers, for they are constantly engaged in war.' Now this King Caidu is never at peace with his uncle the Great Kaan, but ever at deadly war with him, and he hath fought great battles with the Kaan's armies. The quarrel between them arose out of this, that Caidu de- manded from the Great Kaan the share of his father's conquests that of right belonged to him ; and in particular he demanded a share of the Provinces of Cathay and Manzi. The Great Kaan replied that he was willing enough to give him a share such as he gave to his own sons, but that he must first come on summons to the Council at the Kaan's Court, and present himself as one of the Kaan's liegemen. Caidu, who did not trust his uncle very far, declined to come, but said that where he was he would hold himself ready to obey all the Kaan's commands. In truth, as he had several times been in revolt, he dreaded that the Kaan might take the opportunity to de- stroy him. So, out of this quarrel between them, there arose a great war, and several great battles were fought by the host of Caidu against the host of the Great Kaan his 456 MARCO POLO. BOOK IV. uncle. And the Great Kaan from year's end to year's end keeps an army watching all Caidu's frontier, lest he should make forays on his dominions. He, natheless, will never cease his aggressions on the Great Kaan's territory, and maintains a bold face to his enemies." Indeed, he is so potent that he can well do so ; for he can take the field with 100,000 horse, all stout soldiers and inured to war. He has also with him several Barons of the imperial lineage ; i. e., of the family of Chinghis Kaan, who was the first of their lords, and conquered a great part of the world, as I have told you more particularly in a former part of this Book. Now you must know that Great Turkey lies towards the north-west when you travel from Hormos by that road I described. It begins on the further bank of the River Jon,* and extends northward to the territory of the Great Kaan. Now I shall tell you of sundry battles that the troops of Caidu fought with the armies of the Great Kaan. Note 1. — We see that Polo's error as to the relationship between Kublai and Kaidu, and as to the descent of the latter (see Vol. I. p. 194) was not a slip, but persistent. The name of Kaidu's grandfather is here in the G. T. written precisely Chagatai {Ciagatai). Kaidu was the son of Kashin, son of Okkodai, who was the third son of Chinghiz and his successor in the Kaanate. Kaidu never would acknowledge the supremacy of Kublai, alleging his own superior claim to the Kaanate, which Chinghiz was said to have restricted to the house of Okkodai as long as it should have a representative. From the vicinity of Kaidu's position to the territories occupied by the branch of Chaghatai he exercised great influence over its princes, and these were often his allies in the constant hostilities that he maintained against the Kaan. Such circumstances may have led Polo to confound Kaidu with the house of Chaghatai. Indeed, it is not easy to point out the mutual limits of their territories, and these must have been somewhat complex, for we find Kaidu and Borrak Khan of Chaghatai at one time exercising a kind of joint sovereignty in the cities of Bokhara and Samarkand. Probably, indeed, the limits were in a great measure tribal rather than territorial. The Jaihun or 0.\u>, Chap. II. BATTLES BETWEEN CAIDU AND THE KAAN. 457 But it may be gathered that Kaidu's authority extended over Kashgar and the cities bordering the south slopes of the Thian Shan as far east as Kara Khoja, also the valley of the Talas River, and the country north of the Thian Shan from Lake Balkhash eastward to the vicinity of Barkul, and in the further north the country between the Upper Yenisei and the Irtish. Kaidu died in 1301 at a very great age. He had taken part, it was said, in 41 pitched battles. He left 14 sons (some accounts say 40), of whom the eldest, called Shabar, succeeded him. He joined Dua Khan of Chaghatai in making submission to Teimur Kaan, the successor of Kublai ; but before long, on a quarrel occurring between the two former, Dua seized the territory of Shabar, and as far as I can learn no more is heard of the house of Kaidu. Vimb^ry seems to make the Khans of Khokand to be of the stock of Kaidu ; but whether they claim descent from Yiinus Khdn, as he says, or from a son of Baber left behind in his flight from Ferghdna, as Pandit Manphiil states, the genealogy would be from Chaghatai, not from Kaidu. Note 2. — " To the N.N.W. a desert of 40 days' extent divides the states of Kublai from those of Kaidu and Dua. This frontier extends for 30 days' journey from east to west. From point to point," &c., see continuation of this quotation from Rashiduddi'n, in Vol. I. p. 216. CHAPTER II. Of certain Battles that were Fought by King Caidu against THE Armies of his Uncle the Great Kaan. Now it came to pass in the year of Christ's incarnation, 1266, that this King Caidu and another print:e called Yesudar who was his cousin, assembled a great force and made an expedition to attack two of the Great Kaan's Barons who held lands under the Great Kaan, but were Caidu's own kinsmen, for they were sons of Chagatai who was a baptized Christian, and own brother to the Great Kaan; one of them was called Chcbai, and the other Chiban.' Caidu with all his host, amounting to 60,000 horse, engaged the Kaan's two Barons, those cousins of his, who 458 MARCO POLO. Book IV. had also a great force amounting to more than 60,000 horsemen, and there was a great battle. In the end the Barons were beaten, and Caidu and his people won the day. Great numbers were slain on both sides, but the two brother Barons escaped, thanks to their good horses. So King Caidu returned home swelling the more with pride and arrogance, and for the next two years he remained at peace, and made no further war against the Kaan. However, at the end of those two years King Caidu assembled an army composed of a vast force of horsemen. He knew that at Caracoron was the Great Kaan's son No- MOGAN, and with him George the grandson of Prester John. These two princes had also a great force of cavalry. And when King Caidu was ready he set forth and crossed the frontier. After marching rapidly without any adven- ture, he got near Caracoron, where the Kaan's son and the younger Prester John were awaiting him with their great army, for they were well aware of Caidu's advance in force. They made them ready for battle like valiant men, and all undismayed, seeing that they had more than 60,000 well-appointed horsemen. And when they heard Caidu was so near they went forth valiantly to meet him. When they got within some 10 miles of him they pitched their tents and got ready for battle, and the enemy who were about equal in numbers did the same; each side forming in six columns of 10,000 men with good captains. Both sides were well' equipped with swords and maces and shields, with bows and arrows and other arms after their fashion. You must know that the practice of the Tartars going to battle is to take each a bow and 60 arrows. Of these, 20 are light with small sharp points, for long shots and following up an enemy, whilst the other 30 are heavy, with large broad heads which they shoot at close quarters, and with which they inflict great gashes on face and arms, and cut the enemy's bowstrings, and commit great havoc. This every one is ordered to attend to. And when they have Chap. II. BATTLES BETWEEN CAIDU AND THE KAAN. 459 shot away their arrows they take to their swords and maces and lances, which also they ply stoutly. So when both sides were ready for action the Naccaras began to sound loudly, one on either side. For 'tis their custom never to join battle till the Great Naccara is beaten. And when the Naccaras sounded, then the battle began in fierce and deadly style, and furiously the one host dashed to meet the other. So many fell on either side that in an evil hour for both it was begun ! The earth was thickly strewn with the wounded and the slain, men and horses, whilst the uproar and din of battle was so loud you would not have heard God's thunder ! Truly King Caidu him- self did many a deed of prowess that strengthened the hearts of his people. Nor less on the other side did the Great Kaan's son and Prester John's grandson, for well they proved their valour in the medley, and did astonishing feats of arms, leading their troops with right good judg- ment. And what shall I tell you ? The battle lasted so long that it was one of the hardest the Tartars ever fought. Either side strove hard to bring the matter to a point and rout the enemy, but to no avail. And so the battle went on till vesper-tide, and without victory on either side. Many a man fell there ; many a child was made an orphan there ; many a lady widowed ; and many another woman plunged in grief and tears for the rest of her days, I mean the mothers and the araines of those who fell.^ So when they had fought till the sun was low they left off, and retired each side to its tents. Those who were unhurt were so dead tired that they were like to drop, and the wounded, who were many on both sides, were moaning in their various degrees of pain ; but all were more fit for rest than fighting, so gladly they took their repose that night. And when morning approached, King Caidu, who had news from his scouts that the Great Kaan was sending a great army to reinforce his son, judged that it was time 460 MARCO POLO. Book IV. to be off; so he called his host to saddle and mounted his horse at dawn, and away they set on their return to their own country. And when the Great Kaan's son and the grandson of Prester John saw that King Caidu had retired with all his host, they let them go unpursued, for they were themselves sorely fatigued and needed rest. So King Caidu and his host rode and rode, till they came to their own realm of Great Turkey and to Samarcand ; and there they abode a long while without again making war.^ Note 1. — The names are uncertain. The G. T. has '' one of whom was called Tibai or Ciban ;" Pauthier, as in the text. The phrase about their being Kaidu's kinsmen is in the G. T., " qe TAxmaz (?) meisme estoient de Caidu roi." Note 2. — Araines for Harims, I presume. In the narrative of a merchant in Ramusio (II. 84, 86) we find the same word represented by Ann and Arino. Note 3. — The date at the beginning of the chapter is in G. T., and Pauthier's MS. A. as we have given it. Pauthier substitutes 1276, as that seems to be the date approximately connecting Prince Numughan with the wars against Kaidu. In 1275 Kublai appointed Numughan to the command of his N.W. frontier, with Ngantung or 'Antung, an able general, to assist him in repelling the aggressions of Kaidu. In the same year Kaidu and Dua Khan entered the Uighur country (W. and N.W. of Kamul), with more than 100,000 men. Two years later, viz., in 1277, Kaidu and Shireghi, a son of Mangu Khan, engaged near Almalik (on the Hi) the troops of Kublai, commanded by Numughan and 'Antung, and took both of them prisoners. The invaders then marched towards Karakorum. But Bayan, who was in Mongolia,, marched to attack them, and completely defeated them in several engagements. {Gaubil, 69, 168, 182.) Pauthier gives a little more detail from the Chinese annals, but throws no new light on the discrepancies which we see between Polo's account and theirs. 'Antung, who was the grandson of Mokli, the Jelair, one of Chinghiz's Orlok or Marshals, seems here to take the place assigned to Prester John's grandson, and Shireghi perhaps that of Yesudar. The only prince of the latter name that I can find is a son of Hulaku's. The description of the battle in this chapter is a mere formula again and again repeated. The armies are always exactly or nearly equal, they are always divided into corps of 10,000 {tomans), they always halt Chap. IV. KING CAIDU'S VALIANT DAUGHTER. 461 to prepare for action when within 10 miles of one another, and the terms used in describing the fight are the same. We shall not inflict these tiresome repetitions again on the reader. CHAPTER III. What the Great Kaan said to the mischief done by Kaidu HIS Nephew. -^(That were Caidu not of his own Imperial blood, he would make an utter end of him, &c.) CHAPTER IV. Of the Exploits of King Caidu's valiant Daughter. Now you must know that King Caidu had a daughter whose name was Aijaruc, which in the Tartar is as much as to say "The Bright Moon." This damsel was very beautiful, but also so strong and brave that in all her father's realm there was no man who could outdo her in feats of strength. In all trials she showed greater strength than any man of them.' Her father often desired to give her in marriage, but she would none of it. She vowed she would never marry till she found a man who could vanquish her in every trial ; him she would wed and none else. And when her father saw how resolute she was, he gave a formal consent in their fashion, that she should marry whom she list and when she list. The lady was so tall and muscular, so stout and shapely withal, that she was almost like a giantess. She had distributed her challenges over all the kingdoms, de- claring that whosoever should come to try a fall with her, it should be on these conditions, viz., that if she vanquished 462 MARCO POLO. Book IV. him she should win from him 100 horses, and if he van- quished her he should win her to wife. Hence many a noble youth had come to try his strength against her, but she beat them all ; and in this way she had won more than 10,000 horses. Now it came to pass in the year of Christ 1280 that there presented himself a noble young gallant, the son of a rich and puissant king, a man of prowess and vaHance and great strength of body, who had heard word of the damsel's challenge, and came to match himself against her in the hope of vanquishing her and winning her to wife. That he greatly desired, for the young lady was passing fair. He too was young and handsome, fearless and strong in every way, insomuch that not a man in all his father's realm could vie with him. So he came full confidently, and brought with him 1000 horses to be forfeited if she should vanquish him. Thus might she gain 1000 horses at a single stroke ! But the young gallant had such con- fidence in his own strength that he counted securely to win her. Now ye must know that King. Caidu and the Queen his wife, the mother of the stout damsel, did privily beseech their daughter to let herself be vanquished. For they greatly desired this prince for their daughter, seeing what a noble youth he was, and the son of a great king. But the damsel answered that never would she let herself be van- quished if she could help it ; if, indeed, he should get the better of her then she would gladly be his wife, according to the wager, but not otherwise. So a day was named for a great gathering at the Palace of King Caidu, and the King and Queen were there. And when all the company were assembled, for great numbers flocked to see the match, the damsel first came forth in a strait jerkin of sammet; and then came forth the young bachelor in a jerkin of sendal ; and a winsome sight they were to see. When both had taken post in the middle of Chap. IV. KING CAIDU'S VALIANT DAUGHTER. 463 the hall they grappled each other by the arms and wrestled this way and that, but for a long time neither could get the better of the other. At last, however, it so befel that the damsel threw him right valiantly on the palace pave- ment. And when he found himself thus thrown, and her standing over him, great indeed was his shame and dis- comfiture. He gat him up straightway, and without more ado departed with all his company, and returned to his father full of shame and vexation, that he who had never yet found a man that could stand before him should have been thus worsted by a girl! And his 1000 horses he left behind him. As to King Caidu and his wife they were greatly an- noyed, as I can tell you ; for if they had had their will this youth should have won their daughter. And ye must know that after this her father never went on a campaign but she went with him. And gladly he took her, for not a knight in all his train played such feats of arms as she did. Sometimes she would quit her father's side, and make a dash at the host of the enemy, and seize some man thereout, as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird, and carry him to her father; and this she did many a time. Now I will leave this story and tell you of a great battle that Caidu fought with Argon the son of Abaga, Lord of the Tartars of the Levant. Note 1. — The name of the lady is in Pauthier's MSS. Agiaint, Agy- anie; in the Bern, Agyanic ; in the MS. of the G. T., &vs,\xa.QAy Aigiaruc, though printed in the edition of 1824 as Aigiarm. It is Oriental Turkish, Ai-Yaruk, signifying precisely Lucent Lune^ as Marco explains it. For this elucidation I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Vdmbdry, who adds that the name is in actual use among the Uzbek women. Kaidu had many sons, but only one daughter, whom Rashiduddin (who seems to be Hainmer's authority here) calls Kutulun. Her father loved her above all his sons ; she used to accompany him to the field, 464 MARCO POLO. BOOK IV. and aid in state affairs. Letters were exchanged between her and Ghazan Khan, in which she assured him she would marry no one else ; but her father refused her hand to all suitors. After Kaidu's death, this ambitious lady made some attempt to claim the succession. (Hammer^ s Ilkhans, II. 143-4.) The story has some resemblance to what Ibn Batuta relates of another warlike princess, Urdiija, whom he professes to have visited in the questionable kingdom of Tawilisi on his way to China : " I heard . . . that various sons of kings had sought Urduja's hand, but she always answered, ' I will marry no one but him who shall fight and conquer me ;' so they all avoided the trial, for fear of the shame of being beaten by her." (/. B. IV. 253-4.) I have given reasons {Cathay, p. 520) for suspecting that this lady with a Turkish name in the Indian Archipelago is a bit of fiction. Possibly Ibn Batuta had heard the legend of King Kaidu's daughter. The story of Kaidu's daughter, and still more the parallel one from Ibn Batuta, recall what Herodotus tells of the Sauromatae, who had married the Amazons ; that no girl was permitted to marry till she had killed an enemy (IV. 117). They recall still more closely Brunhild, in the Nibelungen : — ' ' a royal maiden who reigned beyond tlie sea : From sunrise to the sundown no paragon had she. All boundless as her beauty was her strength was peerless too, And evil plight hung o'er the knight who dared her love to woo. For he must try three bouts with her ; the whirling spear to fling ; To pitch the massive stone ; and then to follow with a spring ; And should he beat in eveiy feat his wooing well has sped, But he who fails must lose his love, and likewise lose his head. CHAPTER V. How Abaga sent his Son Argon in command against King Caidu. Abaga the Lord of the Levant had many districts and provinces bordering on King Caidu's territories. These lay in the direction of the Arbre Sol, which the Book of Alexander calls the Arbre Sec, about which I have told you before. And Abaga, to watch against forays by Caidu's people, sent his son Argon with a great force of horsemen to keep the marches between the Arbre Sec and the River Jon. So there tarried Argon with all his host.' Chap. VI. ACOMAT'S USURPATION. 465 Now it came to pass that King Caidu assembled a great army and made captain thereof a brother of his called Barac, a brave and prudent man, and sent this host under his brother to fight with Argon.' -|~ (Barac and his army cross the Jon or Oxus and are totally routed by Argon, to whose history the traveller now turns.) Note 1. — The government of this frontier, from Kazwin or Rei to the banks of the Oxus, was usually, under the Mongol sovereigns of Persia, confided to the heir of the throne. Thus, under Hulaku it was held by Abdkd, under Ah£ki by Arghiin, and under Arghiin by Gh^zdn. (See Hammer, passim) We have already spoken amply of the Arbre Sol (Vol. I. p. 132 seqq). Note 2. — Barac or Borrak, who has been already spoken of in chap. iii. of the Prologue (Vol. I. p. 10), was no brother of Kaidu's. He was the head of the house of Chaghatai, and in alliance with Kaidu... The invasion of Khorasan by Borrak took place in the early part of 1269. Arghiin was only about 15, and his father Abika came to take the command in person. The battle seems to have been fought some- where near the upper waters of the Murghab, in the territory of Badghis (north of Herat). Borrak was not long after driven from power, and took refuge with Kaidu. He died, it is said from poison, in 1270, CHAPTER VI. How Argon after the Battle heard that his Father was dead, AND went to assume THE SOVEREIGNTY AS WAS HIS RIGHT. After Argon had gained this battle over Caidu's brother Barac and his host, no long time passed before he had news that his father Abaga was dead, whereat he was sorely grieved.' He made ready his army and set out for his father's Court to assume the sovereignty as was his right ; but he had a march of 40 days to reach it. Now it befel that an uncle of Argon's whose name was AcoMAT SoLDAN (for he had become a Saracen), when he heard of the death of his brother Abaga, whilst his nephew VOL, II. 2 H 466 MARCO POLO. BOOK IV. Argon was so far away, thought there was a good chance for him to seize the government. So he raised a great force and went straight to the Court of his late brother Abaga, and seized the sovereignty and proclaimed himself King ; and also got possession of the treasure, which was of vast amount. All this, like a crafty knave, he divided among the Barons and the troops to secure their hearts and favour to his cause. These Barons and soldiers accord- ingly, when they saw what large spoil they had got from him, were all ready to say he was the best of kings, and were full of love for him, and declared they would have no lord but him. But he did one evil thing that was greatly reprobated by all ; for he took all the wives of his brother Abaga, and kept them for himself.'' Soon after he had seized the government, word came to him how Argon his nephew was advancing with all his host. Then he tarried not, but straightway summoned his Barons and all his people, and in a week had fitted out a great army of horse to go to meet Argon. And he went forth light of heart, as being confident of victory, showing no dismay, and saying on all occasions that he desired nought so much as to take Argon, and put him to a cruel death.' Note 1. — Abiki died at Hamadan ist April, 1282, twelve years after the defeat of Borrak. Note 2. — This last sentence is in Pauthier's text, but not in the G. T. The thing was a regular Tartar custom (Vol. I. pp. 245, 248), and would scarcely be " reprobated by all." Note 3. — Acomat Soldan is Ahmad, a younger son of Hulaku, whose Mongol name was Tigiidar, and who had been baptized in his youth by the name of Nicolas, but went over to Islam, and thereby gained favour in Persia. On the death of his brother Abaki he had a strong party and seized the throne. Arghiin continued in sullen defiance, gathering means to assist his claim. Chaps. VII.-X. ACOMAT'S USURPATION. • 467 CHAPTER VII. How ACOMAT SOLDAN SET OUT WITH HIS HOST AGAINST HIS NEPHEW WHO WAS COMING TO CLAIM THE THRONE THAT BELONGED TO HIM. -j- (Relates how Acomat marches with 60,000 horse, and on hearing of the approach of Argon summons his chiefs together and addresses them.) CHAPTER VIII. How Argon took Counsel with his Followers about attacking HIS Uncle Acomat Soldan. -f- (Argon, uneasy at hearing of Acomat's approach, calls together his Barons and counsellors and addresses them.) CHAPTER IX. iHow THE Barons of Argon answered his Address." -|- (An old Baron, as the spokesman of the rest, expresses their zeal and advises immediate advance. On coming [ within ten miles of Acomat, Argon encamps and sends two envoys to his uncle.) CHAPTER X. The Message sent by Argon to Acomat. ■f- (A REMONSTRANCE and summons to surrender the throne.) 2 H 2 468 . MARCO POLO. Book IV. CHAPTER XL How ACOMAT REPLIED TO ARGON'S MESSAGE. And when Acomat Soldan had heard the message of Argon his nephew, he thus repHed : " Sirs and Envoys," quoth he, " my nephew's words are vain ; for the land is mine, not his, and I helped to conquer it as much as his father did. So go and tell my nephew that if he will I will make him a great Prince, and give him ample lands, and he shall be as my son, and the greatest lord in the land after myself. But if lie will not, let him be assured that I will do my best to bring him to his death ! That is my answer to my nephew, and nought else of concession or covenant shall you ever have from me ! " With that Acomat ceased, and said no word more. And when the Envoys had heard the Soldan's words they asked again : " Is there no hope that we shall find you in different mind ? " " Never," quoth he, " never whilst I live shall ye find my mind changed." -f (Argon's wrath at the reply. Both sides prepare for battle.) CHAPTER XII. Of the Battle between Argon and Acomat, and the Captivity OF Argon. -f- (There is a prolix description of a battle almost identical with those already given in chapter ii. of this Book and previously. It ends with the rout of Argon's army, and proceeds :) And in the pursuit Argon was taken. As soon as this happened they gave up the chase, and returned to their camp full of joy and exultation. Acomat first caused his nephew to be shackled and well guarded, and then, being Chap. XIII. ARGON DELIVERED FROM PRISON. 469 a man of great lechery, said to himself that he would go and enjoy himself among the fair women of his court. He left a great Melic ' in command of his host, enjoining him to guard Argon like his own life, and to follow to the Court by short marches, to spare the troops. And so Acomat departed with a great following, on his way to the royal residence. Thus then Acomat had left his host in command of that Melic whom I mentioned, whilst Argon remained in irons, and in such bitterness of heart that he desired to die.^ Note 1. — This is in the original Belie, for Melic, /. e., Ar. Malik, chief or prince. Note 2.^ In the spring of 1284 Ahmad inarched against his nephew Arghiin, and they encountered in the plain of Ak Khoja, near Kazwin. Arghun's force was very inferior in numbers, and he was defeated. He fled to the Castle of Kala'at beyond Tiis, but was persuaded to sur- render. Ahmad treated him kindly, and though his principal followers urged the execution of the prisoner, he refused, having then, it is said, no thought for anything but the charms of his new wife Tudai. CHAPTER XIII. How Argon was delivered from Prison. Now it befel that there was a great Tartar Baron, a very aged man, who took pity on Argon, saying to himself that they were doing an evil and disloyal deed in keeping their lawful lord a prisoner, wherefore he resolved to do all in his power for his deliverance. So he tarried not, but went incontinently to certain other Barons and told them his mind, saying that it would be a good deed to deliver Argon and make him their lord, as he was by right. And when the other Barons had heard what he had to put before them, then both because they regarded him as one of the wisest men among them, and because what he said 47© MARCO POLO. ' B( was the truth, they all consented to his proposal an that they would join with all their hearts. So whe Barons had assented, Boga (which was he who ha the business going), and with him Elchidai, T Tegana, Tagachar, Ulatai, and Samagar, — all whom I have now named, — proceeded to the tent Argon lay a prisoner. When they had got thither, who was the leader in the business, spoke first, and t effect : " Good my Lord Argon," said he, " we ar< aware that we have done ill in making you a prisonei we come to tell you that we desire to return to Rig! Justice. We come therefore to set you free, and to you our Liege Lord as by right you are ! " Then ceased and said no more. CHAPTER XIV. How Argon got the Sovereignty at last. When Argon heard the words of Boga he took th truth for an untimely jest, and replied with much 1 ness of soul : " Good my Lord," quoth he, " you do mock me thus ! Surely it suffices that you have do so great wrong already, and that you hold me, your Lord, here a prisoner and in chains ! Ye know well cannot doubt, that you are doing an evil and a v thing, so I pray you go your way, and cease to flou " Good my Lord Argon," said Boga, " be assured v not mocking you, but are speaking in sober earnes we will swear it on our Law." Then all the Barons fealty to him as their Lord, and Argon too swore tl would never reckon it against them that they had him prisoner, but would hold them as dear as his before him had done. S. XV. & XVI. ACOMAT ARRESTED AND SLAIN. 471 \nd when these oaths had passed they struck off Dn's fetters, and hailed him as their lord. Argon then ed them to shoot a volley of arrows into the rent of Melic who had held them prisoners and who was in mand of the army, that he might be slain. At his I they tarried not, but straightway shot a great number TOWS at the tent, and so slew the Melic. When that done Argon took the supreme command and gave his rs as sovereign, and was obeyed by all. And you must V that the name of him who was slain, whom we have d the Melic, was Soldan ; and he was the greatest 1 after Acomat himself. In this way that you have d. Argon recovered his authority. CHAPTER XV. How Acomat was taken Prisoner. L MESSENGER breaks in upon Acomat's festivities with news that Soldan was slain, and Argon released and ;hing to attack him. Acomat escapes to seek shelter the Sultan of Babylon, i. e. of Egypt, attended by a small escort. The Officer in command of a Pass by h he had to go, seeing the state of things, arrests him carries him to the Court (probably Tabriz), where )n was already arrived.) CHAPTER XVI. How Acomat was slain by Order of his Nephew. so when the Officer of the Pass came before Argon jing Acomat captive, he was in a great state of exulta- 472 • MARCO POLO. Book IV. tion, and welcomed his uncle with a malediction,* saying that he should have his deserts. And he straightway- ordered the army to be assembled before him, and with- out taking counsel with any one commanded the prisoner to be put to death, and his body to be destroyed. So the officer appointed to this duty took Acomat away and put him to death, and threw his body where it never was seen again. CHAPTER XVII. How Argon was recognized as Sovereign. And when Argon had done as you have heard, and re- mained in possession of the Throne and of the Royal Palace, all the Barons of the different Provinces, who had been subject to his father Abaga, came and performed homage before him, and obeyed him, as was his due.' And after Argon was well established in the sovereignty he sent Casan his son with 30,000 horse to the Arbre Sec, I mean to the region so called, to watch the frontier. Thus then Argon got back the government. And you must know that Argon began his reign in the year 1286 of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Acomat had reigned two years, and Argon reigned six years; and at the end of those six years he became ill and died ; but some say 'twas of poison.'' Note 1. — Arghdn, a prisoner (see last note), and looking for the worst, was upheld by his courageous wife Bulughan (see Prologue, chap, xvii.), who shared his confinement. The order for his execution, as soon as the camp should next move, had been issued. BuKA the Jelair, who had been a great chief under khiki, and had resentments against Ahmad, got up a conspiracy in favour of Arghdn, and effected his release as well as the death of Alinak, Ahraad's com- •' II dit a sommgk qe il soii k mauiieiui" {fine, supra, p. 15). MARCOPOLO.VoI.il. To faceBooklV.CK.lT First Throe Lines of a Mdii^oI Letter iit Hie UiSiir Cliaracler, seiiibv Arghun Khan to Philip ihe Fair in MCCLXXXIX, and preserved in the Archives of France. (X.B- '['he Chirnse^ Sutl is Iransjerraiframiuiolhirpml of liioLffltr Lil . rraucau'elder, Palermo . Chap. XVIII. KIACATU'S SOVEREIGNTY. 473 mandef-in-chief. Ahmad fled towards Tabriz, pursued by a band of the Karaunas, who succeeded in taking him. When Arghiln came near and saw his uncle in their hands, he called out in exultation Morio ! — an exclamation, says Wassdf, which the Mongols used when successful in archery, — and with a gesture gave the signal for the prisoner's death (roth August, 1284). Buka is of course the Boga of Poloj Alinak is his Soldan. The conspirators along with Buka, who are named in the history of Wassdf, are Yesubuka, Gurgan, Aruk, Kurmishi, and Arkasun Noian. Those named by Polo are not mentioned on this occasion, but the names are all Mongol. Tagajar, Ilchidai, Tughan, Samaghar, all appear in the Persian history of those times. Tagajar appears to have had the honour of a letter from the Pope (Nicolas IV.) in 1291, specially exhorting him to adopt the Christian faith ; it was sent along with letters of like tenor addressed to Arghdfl, Gh^zdn, and other members of the imperial family. Tagajar is also mentioned by the continuator of Abulfaraj as engaged in the conspiracy to dethrone Kaikhdtu. Ulatai was probably the same who went a few years later as Arghun's ambassador to Cam- baluc (see Prologue ch. xvii.) ; and Polo may have heard the story from him on board ship. (Assem. III. pt. 2, 118; Mosheim, p. 80 ; Ilchan., passim.) Abulfaragius gives a fragment of a letter from Arghdn to Kublai, reporting the, deposition of Ahmad by the princes because he had " apostatized from the law of their fathers, and adopted that of the Arabs " {Assemani, u. s. p. it 6). The same historian says that Ahmad was kind and liberal to the Christians, though Hayton speaks differently. Note 2. — Arghun obtained the throne on Ahmad's death, as just related, and soon after named his son GhAzixi (born in 1271) to the government of Khorasan, Mazanderan, Kumis, and Rei. Buka was- made Chief Minister. The circumstances of Arghun's death have been noticed already (supra, p. 356). CHAPTER XVIII. HOWKlACATU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER ARGON'S DeaTH. And immediately on Argon's death, an uncle of his who was own brother* to Abaga his father, seized the throne, as he found it easy to do owing to Casan's being so far Frer carnaus (I. p. 195). 474 MARCO POLO. Book IV. away as the Arbre Sec. When Casan heard of his father's death he was in great tribulation, and still more when he heard of Kiacatu's seizing the throne. He could not then venture to leave the frontier for fear of his enemies, but he vowed that when time and place should suit he would go and take as great vengeance as his father had taken on Acomat. And what shall I tell you? Kiacatu continued to rule, and all obeyed him except such as were along with Casan. Kiacatu took the wife of Argon for his own, and was always dallying with women, for he was a great lechour. He held the throne for two years, and at the end of those two years he died ; for you must know he was poisoned." Note 1. — Kaiklhatu, of whom we heard in the Prologue (Vol. I. p. 35), was the brother, not the uncle, of Arghdn. On the death of the latter there were three claimants, viz., his son Gh^zdn, his brother Kdikhatu, and his cousin Baidu, the son of Tarakai one of Hulaku's sons. The party of K^ikhatu was strongest, and he was raised to the throne at Akhlath, 23rd July, 1291. He took as wives out of the Royal Tents of Arghdn the Ladies Bulughdn (the 2nd, not her named in the Prologue) and Uruk. All the writers speak of K^ikhatu's character in the same way. Hayton calls him " a man without law or faith, of no valour or experience in arms, but altogether given up to lechery and vice, living like a brute beast, glutting all his disordered appetites ; for his dissolute life hated by his own people, and hghtly regarded by foreigners." {Ram. II. ch. xxiv.) The continuator of Abulfaraj, and Abulfeda in his Annals, speak in like terms. {Assem. III. Pt. 2nd, 119-120 ; Reiske, Ann. Abulf. III. loi.) Baidu rose against him ; most of his chiefs abandoned him, and he was put to death in March-April, 1295. He reigned therefore nearly four years, not two as the text says. CHAPTER XIX. How Baidu seized the Sovereignty after the Death of Kiacatu. When Kiacatu was dead, Baidu, who was his uncle, and was a Christian, seized the throne." This was in the year Chap. XIX. BAIDU AND CASAN. 475 1 2,94 of Christ's Incarnation. So Baidu held the govern- ment, and all obeyed him, except only those who were with Casan. And when Casan heard that, Kiacatu was dead and Baidu had seized the throne, he was in great vexation, especially as he had not been able to take his vengeance on Kiacatu. As for Baidu, Casan swore that he would take such vengeance on him that all the world should speak thereof; and he said to himself that he would tarry no longer, but would go at once against Baidu and make an end of him. So he addressed all his people, and then set out to get possession of his throne. And when Baidu had intelligence thereof he assembled a great army and got ready, and marched ten days to meet him, and then pitched his camp, and awaited the advance of Casan to attack him ; meanwhile addressing many prayers and exhortations to his own people. He had not been halted two days when Casan with all his followers arrived. And that very day a fierce battle began. But Baidu was not fit to stand long against Casan, and all the less that soon after the action began many of his troops abandoned him and took sides with Casan. Thus Baidu was discom- fited and put to death, and Casan remained victor and master of all. For as soon as he had won the battle and put Baidu to death he proceeded to the capital and took possession of the government ; and all the Barons performed homage and obeyed him as their liege lord. Casan began to reign in the year 1294 of the Incarnation of Christ. Thus then you have had the whole history from Abaga to Casan, and I should tell you that Alaii the conqueror of Baudac, and the brother of the Great Kaan Cublay, was the progenitor of all those I have mentioned. For he was the father of Abaga, and Abaga was the father of Argon, and Argon was the father of Casan who now reigns.^ 476 MARCO POLO. Book IV. Now as we have told you all about the Tartars of the Levant, we will quit them and go back and tell you more about Great Turkey But in good sooth we have told you all about Great Turkey and the history of Caidu, and there is really no more to tell. So we will go on and tell you of the Provinces and nations in the far North. Note 1.- — The Christian writers often ascribe Christianity to various princes of the Mongol dynasties without any good grounds. Certain coins of the Ilkhans of Persia, up to the time of Ghazan's conversion to Islam, exhibit sometimes Mahomedan and sometimes Christian for- mula, but this is no indication of the religion of the prince. Thus coins not merely of the heathen Khans Abaka and Arghun, but of Ahmad Tigudar the fanatical Moslem, are found inscribed " In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Raynaldus, under 1285, gives a frag- ment of a letter addressed by Arghun to the European Powers, and dated from Tabriz, " in the year of the Cock," which begins " In Christi JVomen, Amen !" But just in like manner some of the coins of Norman kings of Sicily are said to bear the Mahomedan profession of faith; and the copper money of some of the Ghaznevide sultans bears the pagan ■effigy of the bull Nandi, borrowed from the coinage of the Hindu kings of Kabul. The European Princes could not get over the belief that the Mongols were necessarily the inveterate enemies of Mahomedanism and all its professors. Though Ghazdn was professedly a zealous Mussulman, we find King James of Aragon, in 1300, offering Cassan Rey del Mogol amity and alliance with much abuse of the infidel Saracens ; and the same feeling is strongly expressed in a letter of Edward II. of England to the " Emperor of the Tartars," which apparently was meant for Oljaitu the successor of Ghdzdn. (Fraehn de Ilchan. Nummis, vi. and passim ; Raynald. III. 619 ; J. A. S. B. XXIV. 490; Kington's Frederick II. I. 396 ; Capmany, Antiguos Tratados, &c. p. 107 ; Rymer, 2d Ed. III. 34 ; see also p. 15.) There are other assertions, besides our author's, that Baidu professed Christianity. Hayton says so, and asserts that he prohibited Maho- medan proselytism among the Tartars. The continuator of Xbulfaraj says that Baidu's long acquaintance with the Greek Bespina Khatun, the. wife of Abik^, had made him favourable to Christians, so that he willingly allowed a church to be carried about with the camp, and bells to be struck therein, but he never openly professed Christianity. In fact at this time the whole body of Mongols in Persia was passing over to Islam, and Baidu also, to please them, adopted Mahomedan practices. But he would only employ Christians as Ministers of State. His rival Chap. XIX. BAIDU AND GHAZAN. 477 GMzd.n, on the other hand, strengthened his own influence by adopting Islam ; Baidu's followers fell off from him, and delivered him into Gh^zdn's power. He was put to death 4th of October, 1295, about seven months after the death of his predecessor. D'Ohsson's authorities seem to mention no battle such as the text speaks of; but Mirkhond, as abridged by Teixeira, does so, and puts it at Nakshiwd,n on .the Araxes (P- 341). Note 2. — Hayton testifies from his own knowledge to the remark- able personal beauty of Arghiin, whilst he tells us that the son Ghdzin was as notable for the reverse. After recounting with great enthusiasm instances which he had witnessed of the daring and energy of Ghizdn, the Armenian author goes on : " And the most remarkable thing of all was that within a frame so small, and ugly almost to monstrosity, there should be assembled nearly all those high qualities which nature is wont to associate with a form of symmetry and beauty. In fact among all his host of 200,000 Tartars you should scarcely find one of smaller stature or of uglier and meaner aspect than this Prince." Pachymeres says that Ghdzin made Cyrus, Darius, and- Alexander his patterns, and delighted to read of them. He was very fond of the mechanical arts ; "' no one surpassed him in making saddles, bridles, spurs, greaves, and helmets ; he could hammer, stitch, and polish, and in such occupations employed the hours of his leisure from war." The ■ Tomb of Oijaitu Khan, the brother of Polo's " Casan,". at Sultaniah (from Fergusson). 478 MARCO POLO. Book IV. same author speaks of the purity and beauty of his coinage, and the excellence of his legislation. Of the latter, so famous in the East, an account at length is given by D'Ohsson. {Hay ton in Ramus. II. ch. xxvi. ; Pachym. Andron. Palaeol. VI. i ; U Ohsson, Vol. IV.) Before finally quitting the " Tartars of the Levant," we give a repre- sentation of the finest work of architecture that they have left behind them, the tomb built for himself by Oljaitu (see preceding page), or, as his Moslem name ran, Mahomed Khodabandah, in the city of Sultaniah, which he founded. Oljaitu was the brother and successor of Marco Polo's friend Ghdzin, and died in 13 16, eight years before our traveller. CHAPTER XX. Concerning King Conqhi who rules the Far North. You must know that in the far north there is a King called CoNCHi. He is a Tartar, and all his people are Tartars, and they keep up the regular Tartar religion. A very- brutish one it is, but they keep it up just the same as Chinghis Kaan and the proper Tartars did, so I will tell you something of it. You must know then that they make them a god of felt, and call him Natigai ; and they also make him a wife ; and then they say that these two divinities are the gods of the Earth who protect their cattle and their corn and all their earthly goods. They pray to these figures, and when they are eating a good dinner they rub the mouths of their gods with the meat,- and do many other stupid things. The King is subject to no one, although he is of the Imperial lineage of Chinghis Kaan, and a near kinsman of the Great Kaan." This King has neither city nor castle ; he and his people live always either in the wide plains or among great mountains and valleys. They subsist on the milk and flesh of their cattle, and have no corn. The King has a vast number of people, but he carries on no war with anybody, and his people live in great tranquillity. They Chap. XX. KING CONCHI OF THE FAR NORTH. 479 have enormous numbers of cattle, camels, horses, oxen, sheep, and so forth. You find in their country immense bears entirely white, and niore than ao palms in length. There are also large black foxes, wild asses, and abundance of sables ; those creatures I mean from the skins of which they make those precious robes that cost 1000 bezants each. There are also vairs in abundance ; and vast multitudes of the Pharaoh's rat, on which the people live all the summer time. Indeed they have plenty of all sorts of wild creatures, for the country they inhabit is very wild and trackless.^ And you must know that this King possesses one tract of country which is quite impassable for horses, for it abounds greatly in lakes and springs, and hence there is so much ice as well as mud and mire, that horses cannot travel over it. This difficult country is 13 days in extent, and at the end of every day's journey there is a post for the lodgment of the couriers who have to cross this tract. At each of these post-houses they keep some 40 dogs of great size, in fact not much smaller than donkeys, and these dogs draw the couriers over the day's journey from post-house to post-house, and I will tell you how. You see the ice and mire are so prevalent, that over this tract, which lies for those 13 days' journey in a great valley between two mountains, no horses (as I told you) can travel, nor can any wheeled carriage either. Wherefore they make sledges, which are carriages without wheels, and made so that they can run over the ice, and also over mire and mud without sinking too deep in it. Of these sledges indeed there are many in our own country, for 'tis just such that are used in winter for carrying hay and straw when there have been heavy rains and the country is deep in mire. On such a sledge then they lay a bear-skin on which the courier sits, and the sledge is drawn by six of those big dogs that I spoke of The dogs have no driver, but go straight for the next post-house, drawing the sledge 480 MARCO POLO. BOOK IV. famously over ice and mire. The keeper of the post-house however also gets on a sledge drawn by dogs, and guides the party by the best and shortest way. And when they arrive at the next station they find a new relay of dogs and sledges ready to take them on, whilst the old relay turns back ; and thus they accomplish the whole journey across that region, always drawn by dogs.' The people who dwell in the valleys and mountains adjoining that tract of 13 days' journey are great huntsmen, and catch great numbers of precious little beasts which are sources of great profit to them. Such are the Sable, the Ermine, the Vair, the Erculin, the Black Fox, and many other creatures from the skins of which the most costly furs are prepared. They use traps to take them, from which they can't escape.'* But in that region the cold is so great that all the dwellings of the people are under- ground, and underground they always live.= There is no more to say on this subject, so I shall proceed to tell you of a region in that quarter, in which there is perpetual darkness. Note 1. — There are two Kuwinjis, or Kaunchis, as the name, from Polo's representation of it, probably ought to be written, mentioned in connexion with the Northern Steppes, if indeed there has not been con- fusion about them ; both are descendants of Juji the eldest son of Chinghiz. One was the twelfth son of Shaibani, the sth son of Juji. Shaibani's Yurt was in Siberia, and his family seem to have become pre- dominant in that quarter. Arghiin, on his defeat by Ahmad (supra p. 462) was besought to seek shelter with Kaunchi. The other Kaunchi was the son of Sirtaktai, the son of Orda, the eldest son of Juji, and was, as well as his father and grandfather, chief of the White Horde whose territory lay north-east of the Caspian. An embassy from this Kaunchi is mentioned as having come to the court of Kaikhatu at Siah-Kuh (north of Tabriz) with congratulations, in the summer of 1293. Polo may very possibly have seen the members of this embassy, and got some of his information from them. (See Gold. Horde, 149, 249; Ilkhans, I. 354, 403 ; II. 193, where Hammer writes the name Kandschi.) It is perhaps a trace of the lineage of the old rulers of Siberia that the old town of Tyuman in Western Siberia is still known to the Tartars as Chinghiz-Tora, or the P'ort of Chinghiz. {Erman, I. 310.) Chap. XX. POLO'S ACCOUNT OF SIBERIA. 481 Note 2. — We see that Polo's information in this chapter extends over the whole latitude of Siberia ; for the great White Bears and the Black Foxes belong to the shores of the Frozen Ocean ; the Wild Asses VOL. II. ^ I 482 MARCO POLO. BOOK IV. only to the southern parts of Siberia. As to the Pharaoh's Rat, see Vol. I. p. 246. Note 3. — No dog-sledges are now known, I believe, on this side of the course of the Obi, and there not south of about 61" 30'. But in the nth century they were in general use between the Dwina and Petchora. And Ibn Batuta's account seems to imply that in the 14th they were in use far to the south of the present limit : " It had been my wish to visit the Land of Darkness, which can only be done from Bolghar. There is a distance of 40 days' journey between these two places. I had to give up the intention however on account of the great difficulty attending the journey and the little fruit that it promised. In that country they travel only with small vehicles drawn by great dogs. For the steppe is covered with ice, and the feet of men or the shoes of horses would slip, whereas the dogs having claws their paws don't slip upon the ice. The only travellers across this wilderness are rich merchants, each of whom owns about 100 of these vehicles, which are loaded with meat, drink, and firewood. In fact, on this route there are neither trees nor stones, nor human dwellings. The guide of the travellers is a dog who has often made the journey before ! The price of such a beast is sometimes as high as 1000 dinars or thereabouts. He is yoked to the vehicle by the neck, and three other dogs are harnessed along with him. He is the chief, and all the other dogs with their carts follow his guidance and stop when he stops. The master of this animal never ill-uses him nor scolds him, and at feeding-time the dogs are always served before the men. If this be not attended to, the chief of the dogs will get sulky and run off, leaving the master to perdition " (II. 399-400). The bigness attributed to the dogs by Polo, Ibn Batuta, and Rubru- quis, is an imagination founded on the work ascribed to them. Mr. Kennan says they are simply half-domesticated Arctic wolves. Erman calls them the height of European spaniels (qu. setters?), but much slenderer and leaner in the flanks. A good draught-dog according to Wrangell should be 2 feet high and 3 feet in length. The number of dogs attached to a sledge is usually greater than the old travellers represent, — none of whom however had seen the thing. Wrangell's account curiously illustrates what Ibn Batuta says of the Old Dog who guides : " The best-trained and most intelligent dog is often yoked in front. ... He often displays extraordinary sagacity and influence over the other dogs, e.g. in keeping them from breaking after game. In such a case he will sometimes turn and bark in the opposite direction ; . . . . and in crossing a naked and boundless taundra in dark- ness or snow-drift he will guess his way to a hut that he has never visited but once before" (I. 159). Kennan also says : "They are guided and controlled entirely by the voice and by a lead-dog who is especially trained for the purpose." The. like is related of the Esquimaux dogs. Kennan' s Tent Life in Siberia, p. 163-4 ; Wood's Mammalia, p. 266. Chap. XXI. THE LAND OF DARKNESS. 483 Note 4. — On the Erculin and Ercolin of the G. T., written Arcuhn in next chapter, Arcolino of Ramusio, HercuUni of Pipino, no light is thrown by the Itahan or other editors. One supposes of course some animal of the ermine or squirrel kinds affording valuable fur, but I can find no similar name of any such animal. It may be the Argali or Siberian Wild Sheep, which Rubruquis mentions : " I saw another kind of beast which is called Arcali ; its body is just like a ram's, and its horns spiral like a ram's also, only they are so big that I could scarcely lift a pair of them with one hand. They make huge drinking-vessels out of these" (p. 230). Vair, so often mentioned in medieval works, appears to have been a name appropriate to the fur as prepared rather than to the animal. This appears to have been the Siberian squirrel called in French petit-gris, the back of which is of a fine grey and the belly of a brilliant white. In the Vair (which is perhaps only varius or variegated) the backs and bellies were joined in a kind of checquer; whence the heraldic checquer called by the same name. There were two kinds, menu-vair corrupted into minever, and gros-vair, but I cannot learn clearly on what the dis- tinction rested (see Douet d'Arcq, p. xxxv). Upwards of 2000 ventres de menuvair were sometimes consumed in one complete suit of robes (ib. xxxii.). The traps used by the Siberian tribes to take these valuable animals are described by Erman (I. 452), only in the English translation the description is totally incomprehensible; also in Wrangell, I. 151. Note 5. — The country chiefly described in this chapter is probably that which the Russians, and also the Arabian Geographers, used to term Yugria, apparently the country of the Ostyaks on the Obi. The winter-dwellings of the people are not strictly speaking underground, but they are flanked with earth piled up against the walls. The same is the case with those of the Yakuts in Eastern Siberia, and these often have the floors also sunk 3 feet in the earth. Habitations really sub- terranean, of some previous race, have been found in the Samoyed country (KlaprotKs Mag. Asiatigue, II. 66). CHAPTER XXI. Concerning the Land of Darkness. Still further north, and a long way beyond that kingdom of which I have spoken, there is a region which bears the name of Darkness, because neither sun nor moon nor stars appear, but it is always as dark as with us in the 111 484 MARCO POLO. Book IV. twilight. The people have no king of their own, nor are they subject to any foreigner, and live like beasts. [They are dull of understanding, like half-witted persons.'] The Tartars however sometimes visit the country, and they do it in this way. They enter the region riding mares that have foals, and these foals they leave behind. After taking all the plunder that they can get they find their way back by help of the mares, which are all eager to get back to their foals, and find the way much better than their riders could do.^ Those people have vast quantities of valuable peltry ; thus they have those costly Sables of which I spoke, and they have the Ermine, the Arculin, the Vair, the Black Fox, and many other valuable furs. They are all hunters by trade, and amass amazing quantities of those furs. And the people who are on their borders, where the Light is, purchase all those furs from them ; for the people of the Land of Darkness carry the furs to the Light country for sale, and the merchants who purchase these make great gain thereby, I assure you.^ The people of this region are tall and shapely, but very pale and colourless. One end of the country borders upon Great Rosia. And as there is no more to be said about it, I will now proceed, and first I will tell you about the Province of Rosia. Note 1. — In the Ramusian version we have a more intelligent repre- sentation of the facts regarding the Land of Darkness : " Because for most part of the winter months the sun appears not, and the air is dusky, as it is Just before the dawn when you see and yet do not see •" and again below it speaks of the inhabitants catching the fur animals " in summer when they have continuous daylight." It is evident that the writer of this version did and the writer of the original French which we have translated from did not understand what he was writing. The whole of the latter account implies belief in the perpetuity of the dark- ness. It resembles Pliny's hazy notion of the northern regions :* " pars * That is, in one passage of Pliny (iv. 12) ; for in another passage from his multi- farious note book, where Thule is spoken of, the Arctic day and night are much more distinctly characterized (IV. 16). Chap. XXI. THE LAND OF DARKNESS. 485 mundi damnata a rerum natura et densi mersa caligine.'' Whether the fault is due to Rustician's ignorance or is Polo's own, who can say ? We are willing to debit it to the former, and to credit Marco with the im- proved version in Ramusio. In the Masdlak-al-Absdr, however, we have the following passage in which the conception is similar : " Merchants do not ascend (the Wolga) beyond Bolghar ; from that point they make excursions through the province of Julman (supposed to be the country on the Kama and Viatka). The merchants of the latter country pene- trate to Yughra which is the extremity of the North. Beyond that you see no trace of habitation except a great Tower built by Alexander, after which there is nothing but Darkness." The narrator of this, being asked what he meant, said : " It is a region of desert mountains, where frost and snow continually reign, where the sun never shines, no plant vegetates, and no animal lives. Those mountains border on the Dark Sea, on which rain falls perpetually, fogs are ever dense, and the sun never shows itself, and on tracts perpetually covered with snow." {N. et Ex. XIII. i. 285.) Note 2. — This is probably a story of great antiquity, for it occurs in the legends of the mythical Ugktiz, Patriarch of the Turk and Tartar nations, as given by Rashiduddin. In this hero's campaign towards the far north, he had ordered the old men to be left behind near Almalik ; but a very ancient sage called Bushi Khwaja persuaded his son to carry him forward in a box, as they were sure sooner or later to need the counsel of experienced age. When they got to the Land of Kara Hulun, Ughuz and his officers were much perplexed about finding their way, as they had arrived at the Land of Darkness. The old Bushi was then consulted, and his advice was that they should take with them 4 mares and 9 she-asses that had foals, and tie up the foals at the entrance to the Land of Darkness, but drive the dams before them. And when they wished to return they would be guided by the scent and maternal instinct of the mares and she-asses. And so it was done (see Erdmann Temudschin, p. 478). Ughuz, according to the Mussul- man interpretation of the Eastern Legends, was the great-grandson of Japhet. The story also found its way into some of the later Greek forms of the Alexander Legends. Alexander, when about to enter the Land of Darkness, takes with him only picked young men. Getting into diffi- culties, the King wants to send back for some old sage who should advise. Two young men had smuggled their old father with them in anticipation of such need, and on promise of amnesty they produce him. He gives the advice to use the mares as in the text. (See Midler's ed. oi Pseudo-Callisthenes, Bk. II. ch. xxxiv.) Note 3. — Ibn Batuta thus describes the traffic that took place with the natives of the Land of Darkness : " Wlien the Travellers have accom- plished a journey of 40 days across this Desert tract they encamp near 486 MARCO POLO. Book IV. the borders of the Land of Darkness. Each of them then deposits there the goods that he has brought with him, and all return to their quarters. On the morrow they come back to look at their goods, and find laid beside them skins of the Sable, the Vair, and the Ermine. If the owner of the goods is satisfied with what is laid beside his parcel he takes it, if not he leaves it there. The inhabitants of the Land of Darkness may- then (on another visit) increase the amount of their deposit, or, as often happens, they may take it away altogether and leave the goods of the foreign merchants untouched. In this way is the trade conducted. The people who go thither never know whether those with whom they buy and sell are men or goblins, for they never see any one ! " (IL 401.) Abulfeda gives exactly the same account of the trade ; and so does Herberstein. Other Oriental writers ascribe the same custom to the Wisu, a people 3 months' journey from Bolghar. These Wisu have been identified by Fraehn with the Wesses, a people spoken of by Russian historians as dwelling on the shores of the Bielo Osero, which Lake indeed is alleged by a Russian author to have been anciently called Wilsii, misunderstood into Weissensee, and thence rendered into Russian Bielo Osero ("White Lake") (Golden Horde, App. p. 429; Biisching, IV. 359-60; Herberstein in Ram. II. 168 v.; Fraehn, Bolghar, p. 14, 47 ; Do., Ibn Fozlan, 205 seqq., 221). Dumb trade of the same kind is a circumstance related of very many different races and periods, e. g., of a people beyond the Pillars of Hercules by Herodotus, of the Sabaean dealers in frankincense by Theophrastus, of the Seres by Pliny, of the Sasians far south of Ethiopia by Cosmas. of the people of the Clove Islands by Kazwini, of a region beyond Segelmessa by Mas'udi, of a people far beyond Timbuctoo by Cadamosto, of the Veddas of Ceylon by Marignolli and more modern writers, of the Poliars of Malabar by various authors, by Paulus Jovius of the Laplanders, &c., &c. Pliny's attribution, surely erroneous, of this custom to the Chinese, suggests that there may have been a misunderstanding by which this method of trade was confused with that other curious system of dumb higgling, by the pressure of the knuckles under a shawl, a masonic system in use from Peking to Bombay, and possibly to Constantinople. The term translated here " Light," and the " Light Country," is in the G. T. " a /a Carte," " a la Cartes." This puzzled me for a long time, as I see it puzzled Mr. Hugh Murray, Signor Bartoli, and Lazari (who passes it over). The version of Pipino, " ad Lucis terras finitimas deferunt" points to the true reading ; — Carte is an error for Clarte. The reading of this chapter is said to have fired Prince Rupert with the scheme which resulted in the establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company. Chap. XXII. ROSIA AND ITS PEOPLE. 487 CHAPTER XXII. Description of Rosia and its People. Province of Lac. RosiA is a very great province, lying towards the north. The people are Christians, and follow the Greek doctrine. There are several kings in the country, and they have a language of their own. They are a people of simple man- ners, but both men and women very handsome, being all very white and [tall, with long fair hair]. There are many strong defiles and passes in the country; and they pay tribute to nobody except to a certain Tartar king of the Ponent, whose name is Toctai ; to him indeed they pay tribute, but only a trifle. It is not a land of trade, though to be sure they have many fine and valuable furs, such as Sables, in abundance, and Ermine, Vair, Ercolin, and Fox skins, the largest and finest in the world [and also much wax]. They also possess many Silver-mines, from which they derive a large amount of silver.' There is nothing else worth mentioning ; so let us leave Rosia, and I will tell you about the Great Sea, and what provinces and nations lie round about it, all in detail ; and we will begin with Constantinople. — First, however, I should tell you of a province that lies between north and north- west. You see in that region that I have been speaking of there is a province called Lac, which is conterminous with Rosia, and has a king of its own. The people are partly Christians and partly Saracens. They have abundance of furs of good quality, which merchants export to many countries. They live by trade and handicrafts.'' There is nothing more worth mentioning, so I will speak of other subjects ; but there is one thing more to tell you about Rosia that I had forgotten. You see in Rosia there is the greatest cold that is to be found anywhere, so great as to be scarcely bearable. The country is so great that it reaches even to the shores of the Ocean Sea, and 'tis in 488 MARCO POLO. BOOK IV. that sea that there are certain islands in which are produced numbers of gerfalcons and peregrine falcons, which are carried in many directions. From Russia also to Oroech it is not very far, and the journey could be soon made, were it not for the tremendous cold ; but this renders its accomplishment almost impossible.^ Now then let us speak of the Great Sea, as I was about to do. To be sure many merchants and others have been there, but still there are many again who know nothing about it, so it will be well to include it in our Book. We will do so then, and let us begin first with the Strait of Constantinople. Note 1. — Ibn Fozlan, the oldest Arabic author who gives any- detailed account of the Russians (and a very remarkable one it is), says he " never saw people of form more perfectly developed ; they were tall as palm-trees, and ruddy of countenance," but at the same time " the most uncleanly people that God hath created," drunken, and fright- fully gross in their manners (Fraehris Ibn Fozlan, p. 5 seqq.). Ibn Batuta is in some respects less flattering ; he mentions the silver-mines noticed in our text : " At a day's distance from Ukak * are the hills of the Russians, who are Christians. They have red hair and blue eyes ; ugly to look at, and crafty to deal with. They have silver-mines, and it is from their country that are brought the saum or ingots of silver with which buying and selling is carried on in this country (Kipchak or the Ponent of Polo). The weight of each saumah is 5 ounces" (II. 414). Mas'udi also says: "The Russians have in their country a silver-mine similar to that which exists in Khorasan, at the mountain of Banjhir" (i. e. Panjshir; II. 15 : and see supra, Vol. I. p. 170). These positive and concurrent testimonies as to Russian silver-mines are re- markable, as modem accounts declare that no silver is found in Russia. And if we go back to the i6th century, Herberstein says the same. There was no silver, he says, except what was imported ; silver money had been in use barely 100 years; previously they had used oblong ingots of the value of a ruble, without any figure or legend. {Ram. II. IS 9-) But a welcome communication from Professor Bruun points out » This Ukak of Ibn Batuta is not, as I too hastily supposed (Vol. I. p. 8), the Ucaca of the Polos on the Volga, but a place of the same name on the Sea of Azof, which appears in some medieval maps as Lccae or Locaq (i.e. VOcae), and which Elie de Laprimaudaie in his Periplus of the Medieval Caspian, locates at a place called Kaszik, a little east of Mariupol. [Et. sur le Comm. au Moyen Age, p. 230.) I owe this correction to a valued correspondent, Professor Bruun, of Odessa. Chap. XXII. ROSIA. AND ITS PEOPLE. 489 that the statement of Ibn Batuta identifies the silver-mines in question with certain mines of argentiferous lead-ore near the River Mious (a river falling into the Sea of Azof, about 22 m. W. of Taganrog) ; an ore which even in recent times has afforded 60 per cent, of lead, and ^V P^r cent, of silver. And it was these mines which furnished the ancient Russian rubles or ingots. Thus the original ruble was the saumah of Ibn Batuta, the sommo of Pegolotti. A ruble seems to be still called by some term like saumah in Central Asia; it is printed soom in the Medieval Russian Church, from Fergusson. Appendix to Davies's Punjab Report, p. xi. And Professor Bruun tells me that the silver ruble is called Som by the Ossethi of Caucasus.* Franc-Michel quotes from Fitz-Stephen's Desc. of London {temp. Henry II) :— " Aurum mittit Arabs .... Seres purpureas vestes ; GalU sua vina ; Norwegi, Russi, varium, grysium, sabelinas.'' Russia was overrun with fire and sword as far as Tver and Torshok by Batu Khan (1237-38), some years before his invasion of Poland and * The word is, however, perhaps Or. Turkish; Som, "pure, solid" [%ts Favet tie Courteille, aitd Vdmbiry, ». v.). 490 MARCO POLO. Book IV. Silesia. Tartar fax-gatherers were established in the Russian cities as far north as Rostov and Jaroslawl, and for many years Russian princes as far as Novgorod paid homage to the Mongol Khans in their court at Sarai. Their subjection to the Khans was not such a trifle as Polo seems to imply; and at least a dozen Russian princes met their death at the hands of the Mongol executioner. Note 2. — The Lac of this passage appears to be Wallachia. Abulfeda calls the Wallachs Auldk ; Rubruquis Iliac, which he says is the same word as Blac (the usual European form of those days being Blachi, Blachici), but the Tartars could not pronounce the B (p. 275). Abulghazi says the original inhabitants of Kipchak were the Urus, the Olaks, the Majars, and the Bashkirs. Rubruquis is wrong in placing Iliac or Wallachs in Asia ; at least the people near the Ural, who he says were so-called by the Tartars, cannot have been Wallachs. Professor Bruun, who corrects my error in following Rubruquis, thinks those Asiatic Blac must have been Folowtzi, or Cumanians. Note 3. — Oroech is generally supposed to be a mistake for Noroech, NoRWEGE or Norway, which is probable enough. But considering the Asiatic sources of most of our author's information, it is also possible that Oroech represents Wareg. The Waraegs or IVarangs are cele- brated in the oldest Russian history as a race of warlike immigrants, of whom came Rurik the founder of the ancient royal dynasty, and whose name was long preserved in that of the Varangian guards at Constan- tinople. Many Eastern geographers, from Al Biruni downwards, speak of the Warag or Warang as a nation dwelling in the north, on the borders of the Slavonic countries, and on the shores of a great arm of the Western Ocean, called the Sea of Warang, evidently the Baltic. The Waraegers are generally considered to have been Danes or North- men, and Erman mentions that in the bazaars of Tobolsk he found Danish goods known as Varaegian. Mr. Hyde Clark, as I learn from a review, has recently identified the Warangs or Warings with the Varini, whom Tacitus couples with the Angli, and has shown probable evidence for their having taken part in the invasion of Britain. He has also shown that many points of the laws which they established in Russia were purely Saxon in character. {Bayer in Comment. Acad. PetropoL IV. 276 seqq. ; Fraehn in App. to Ibn Fozlan, p. 177 seqq.; Erman I. 374; Sat. Review, June 19, 1869 ; Gold. Horde, App. p. 428.) Chap. XXIV. THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT. 491 CHAPTER XXIII. He begins to speak of the Straits of Constantinople, but DECIDES TO leave THAT MATTER. At the straits leading into the Great Sea, on the west side, there is a hill called the Faro. But since beginning on this matter I have changed my mind, because so many people know all about it, so we will not put it in our descriJDtion, but go on to something else. And so I will tell you about the Tartars of the Ponent, and the lords who have reigned over them. CHAPTER XXIV. Concerning the Tartars of the Ponent and their Lords. The first lord of the Tartars of the Ponent was Sain, a very great and puissant king, who conquered Rosia and CoMANiA, Alania, Lac, Menjar, Zic, Gothia, and Ga- ZARiA ; all these provinces were conquered by King Sain. Before his conquest these all belonged to the Comanians, but they did not hold well together nor were they united, and thus they lost their territories and were dispersed over divers countries ; and those who remained all became the servants of King Sain.' After King Sain reigned King Patu, and after Patu Barca, and after Barca Mungletemur, and after Mungle- temur King Totamangul, and then Toctai the present sovereign.^ Now I have told you of the Tartar kings of the Ponent, and next I shall tell you of a great battle that was fought 492 MARCO POLO. Book IV. between Alau the Lord of the Levant and Barca the Lord of the Ponent. So now we will relate out of what occasion that battle arose, and how it was fought. Note 1. — The Comanians, a people of Turkish race, the Polowtzi of the old Russians, were one of the chief nations occupying the plains on the north of the Black Sea and eastward to the Caspian, previous to the Mongol invasion. Rubruquis makes them identical with the Kip- CHAK, whose name is generally attached to those plains by Oriental writers, but Hammer disputes this. Alania, the country of the Alans on the northern skirts of the Cau- casus and towards the Caspian ; Lac, the Wallachs as above. Menjar is a subject of doubt. It may be Mdjar, on the Kuma River, a city which was visited by Ibn Batuta, and is mentioned by Abulfeda as Kummdjar. It was in the 14th century the seat of a Franciscan convent. Coins of that century, both of Majar and New Majar, are given by Erdmann. The building of the fortresses of Kichi Majar and Ulu Majar (little and great) is ascribed in the Derbend Nameh to Naoshirwan. The ruins of Majar were extensive when seen by Gmelin in the last century, but when visited by Klaproth in the early part of the present one there were few buildings remaining. Inscriptions found there are, like the coins, Mongol-Mahomedan of the 14th century. Klaproth, with reference to these ruins, says that Majar merely means in '' old Tartar " a stone building, and denies any connexion with the Magyars as a nation. But it is possible that the Magyar country, i. e. Hungary, is here intended by Polo, for several Asiatic writers of his time, or near it, speak of the Hungarians as Majar. Thus Abulfeda speaks of the infidel nations near the Danube as including AuMk, Majors, and Serbs ; Rashiduddin speaks of the Mongols as conquering the couiitry of the Bashkirds, the Majors, and the Sassan (probably Saxons of Transyl- vania). One such mention from Abulghazi has been quoted in note 2 to chap. xxii. ; in the Masdlak-al-Absdr, the Ckerkes, Russians, Aas (or Alans), and Majar are associated ; the Majar and Alan in Sharifuddin. Doubts indeed arise whether in some of these instances a people located in Asia be not intended.* (Ruhr. p. 246; UAvezac, p. 486 seqq.; Golden Horde, p. 5 ; /. ^. II. 375 seqq. ; Biisching, IV. 359; * This doubt arises also where Abulfeda speaks of Majgaria in the far north, " the capital of the country of the Madjgars, a Turk race " of pagan nomads, by whom he seems to mean the Bashkirs {Reinaud's Abulf. I. 324^. For it is to the Bashkir country that the Franciscan travellers apply the term Great Hungary, show- ing that they were led to believe it the original seat of the Magyars {Ruhr. 274, Plan. Carpin. 747 ; and in same vol., D'Avczac, p. 491). Further confusion arises from the fact that, besides the Uralian Bashkirs, there were, down to the 13U1 century, Bashkirs Chap. XXIV. THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT. 493 Cathay^ p. 233 ; Numi Asiatici, I. 333, 451 ; KlaprotKs Travels, ch. xxxi. ; N. et Ex. XIII. i. 269, 279 ; P. de la Croix, II. 383 ; Rein. Abulf. I. 80 ; D'Oksson, II. 628.) Zic is Circassia. The name was known to Pliny, Ptolemy, and other writers of classic times. Ramusio (II. 196 v) gives a curious letter to Aldus Manutius from George Interiano, " Delia vita de' Zychi chiamati Cinassi," and a great number of other references to ancient and me- dieval use of the name will be found in D'Avezac's Essay so often quoted (p. 497). GoTHiA is the southern coast of the Crimea from Sudak to Bala- klava and the mountains north of the latter, then still occupied by a tribe of the Goths. The Genoese officer who governed this coast in the 15th century bore the title of Capitanus Gotiae ; and a remnant of the tribe still survived, maintaining their Teutonic speech, to the middle of the 1 6th century, when Busbeck, the emperor's ambassador to the Porte, fell in with two of them, from whom he derived a small vocabulary and other particulars. (Busbcquii Opera, 1660, p. 321 seqq. ; D'Avezac, p. 498-9; Heyd, II. 123 seqq.; Cathay, p. 200-201.) Gazaria, the Crimea and part of the northern shore of the Sea of Azov, formerly occupied by the Khazars, a people whom Klaproth endeavours to prove to have been of Finnish race. When the Genoese held their settlements on the Crimean coast the Board at Genoa which administered the affairs of these colonies was called The Office of Gazaria. Note 2.^The real list of the " Kings of the Ponent," or Khans of the Golden Horde, down to the time of Polo's narrative, runs thus : — Batu, Sartak, Ulagchi (these two almost nominal), Barka, Mangku TiMUR, TuDAi Mangku, Tulabngha, Tuktuka or Toktai. Polo here omits Tulabugha (though he mentions him below in chap, xxix.), and introduces before Batu, as a great and powerful conqueror, the founder of the empire, a prince whom he calls Sain. This is in fact Batu him- self, the leader of the great Tartar invasion of Europe (i 240-1 242), whom he has split into two kings. Batu bore the surname of Sain Khan, or "the Good Prince," by which name he is mentioned, e.g., in Makrizi {QuatremMs Trans. II. 45), also m'Wa.sii.i {Hammer's Trans, p. 29-30). Piano Carpini's account of him is worth quoting : " Hominibus quidem ejus satis benignus ; timetur tamen valde ab iis ; sed crudelissimus est recognized as such, and as distinct from the Hungarians though akin to them, dwelling in Hungarian territory. Ibn Said, speaking of Sebennico (the cradle of the Polo family), says that when the Tartars advanced under its walls (1242?) "the Hungarians, the Bashkirs, and the Germans united their forces near the city " and gave the invaders a signal defeat. (Reinaud's Abulf. I. 312; see also 294, 295.) One would gladly know what are the real names that M. Reinaud renders Hongrois and Allemands. The Christian Bashkirds of Khondemir, on the borders of the Franks, appear to be Hungarians (see J. As., ser. iv. tom. xvii. p. iii). 494 MARCO POLO. Book IV. in pugna ; sagax est multum ; et etiam astutissimus in bello, quia longo tempore jam pugnavit." Tliis Good Prince was indeed crudelissimus in pugnot. At Moscow he ordered a general massacre, and 270,000 right ears are said to have been laid before him in testimony to its accomplishment. It is odd enough that a mistake like that in the text is not confined to Polo. The chronicle of Kazan, according to a Russian writer, makes Sain succeed Batu. (Carpini, p. 746; J. As., sen 4, tom. xvii. p. 109; Busching, V. 493 ; also Golden Horde, p. 142, note.) Batu himself, in the great invasion of the West, was with the southern host in Hungary; the northern army which fought at Liegnitz was under Baidar, a son of Chaghatai. According to the Masalak-al-Absdr the territory of Kipchak, over which this dynasty ruled, extended in length from the Sea of Istambul to the River Irtish, a journey of 6 months, and in breadth from Bolghar to the Iron Gates, 4 (?) months' journey. A second traveller, quoted in the same work, says the empire extended from the Iron Gates to Yu- ghra (see p. 483 supra), and from the Irtish to the country of the Nemej. The last term is very curious, being the Russian Niemicz, " Dumb," a term which in Russia is used as a proper name of the Germans ; a people, to wit, unable to speak Slavonic. {N. et Ex. XIII. i. 282, 284.) Figure of a Tartar under the feet of Henry II. Duke of Silesia, Cracow, and Poland, from the tomb at Breslau of that Prince, killed in battle with the Tartar host at Liegnitz, April gth 1241. Chap. XXV. WAR BETWEEN ALAU AND BARCA. 4.95 CHAPTER XXV. Of the War that arose between Alau and Barca, and the Battles that they fought. It was in the year 1261 of Christ's incarnation that there arose a great discord between King Alau the Lord of the Tartars of the Levant, and Barca the King of the Tartars of the Ponent ; the occasion whereof was a province that lay on the confines of both." -|-(They exchange defiances, and make vast prepara- tions.) And when his preparations were complete, Alau the Lord of the Levant set forth with all his people. They marched for many days without any adventure to speak of, and at last they reached a great plain which extends between the Iron Gates and the Sea op Sarain." In this plain he pitched his camp in beautiful order ; and I can assure you there was many a rich tent and pavilion therein, so that it looked indeed like a camp of the wealthy. Alau said he would tarry there to see if Barca and his people would come ; so there they tarried, abiding the enemy's arrival. This place where the camp was pitched was on the frontier of the two kings. Now let us speak of Barca and his people.' Note 1. — " Qite marcesoit a k un et d, le autre;'' in Scotch phrase, "which marched v^'i'Ca. both.'' Note 2. — Respecting the Iron Gates, see Vol. I. p. 55. Tlie Cas- pian is here called the Sea of Sarain, probably for Sarai, after the great city on the Volga. T'or we find it in the Catalan Map of 1375 termed the Sea of Sarra. Otherwise Sarain might have been taken for some corruption of Shirwdn ; see Vol. I. p. 60, note. Note 3. — The war here spoken of is the same which is mentioned in the very beginning of the book, as having compelled the two Elder Polos to travel much further eastward than they had contemplated. Many jealousies and heart-burnings between the cousins Hulaku 496 MARCO POLO. ' Book IV. and Barka had existed for several years. The Mameluke Sultan Bibars seems also to have stimulated Barka to hostility with Hulaku. War broke out in 1262, when 30,000 men from Kipchak, under the command of Nogai, passed Derbend into the province of Shirwan. They were at first successful, but afterwards defeated. In December, Hulaku at the head of a great army, passed Derbend, and routed the forces which met him. Abaka, son of Hulaku, was sent on with a large force, and came upon the opulent camp of Barka beyond the Terek. They were revelling in its plunder, when Barka rallied his troops and came upon the army of Abaka, driving them southward again, across the frozen river. The ice broke and many perished. Abaka escaped, chased by Barka to Derbend. Hulaku returned to Tabriz and made great preparations for vengeance, but matters were apparently never carried further. Hence Polo's is any- thing but an accurate account of the matter. The following extract from Wassd,fs History, referring to this war, is a fine sample of that prince of rigmarole : "In the winter of 662 (a.d. 1262-3) when the Almighty Artist had covered the River of Derbend with plates of silver, and the Furrier of the Winter had clad the hills and heaths in ermine ; the river being frozen hard as a rock to the depth of a spear's length, an army of Mongols went forth at the command of Barka Aghul, filthy as Ghiils and Devils of the dry-places, and in numbers countless as the rain-drops," &c., &c. {Golden- Horde, p. 163 seqq.; Ilchan. I. 214 seqq. ; Q. Ji. "p. 393 seqq.; Q. Mak- rizi, I. 170; Hammer's Wassdf, p. 93.) CHAPTER XXVI. How Barca and his Army advanced to meet Alua. 'f-(BARCA advances with 350,000 horse, encamps on the plain within 10 miles of Alau ; addresses his men, an- nouncing his intention of fighting after 3 days, and expresses his confidence of success as they are in the right and have 50,000 men more than the enemy.) GHAP. XXIX. TARTARS OF THE PONENT. 497 CHAPTER XXVII. How Alau addressed his Followers. -f-(ALAu calls together "a numerous parliament of his worthies " * and addresses them.) CHAPTER XXVIII. Of the Great Battle between Alau and Barca. •^■(Description of the Battle in the usual style, with nothing characteristic. Results in the rout of Barca and great slaughter.) CHAPTER XXIX. How Totamangu was Lord of the Tartars of the Ponent. You must know there was a Prince of the Tartars of the Ponent called Mongotemur, and from him the sovereignty- passed to a young gentleman called Tolobuga. But To- tamangu, who was a man of great influence, with the help of another Tartar King called Nogai, slew Tolobuga and got possession of the sovereignty. He reigned not long however, and at his death Toctai, an able and valiant man, was chosen sovereign in the place of Totamangu. But in the mean time two sons of that Tolobuga who was slain were grown up, and were likely youths, able and prudent. So these two brothers, the sons of Totamangu, got together a goodly company and proceeded to the court of Toctai. When they had got thither they conducted * "7/ asenble encore sez parlement dc grand quantite des buens hovies." VOL. II. a K 498 MARCO POLO. BOOK IV. themselves with great discretion, keeping on their knees till Toctai bade them welcome, and to stand up. Then the eldest addressed the Sovereign thus: "Good my Lord Toctai, I will tell you to the best of my ability why we be come hither. We are the sons of Totamangu, whom Tolo- buga and Nogai slew, as thou well knowest. Of Tolobuga we will say no more, since he is dead, but we demand justice against Nogai as the slayer of our Father ; and we pray thee as Sovereign Lord to summon him before thee and to do us justice. For this cause are we come ! " ' (Toctai agrees to their demand and sends two messen- gers to summon Nogai, but Nogai mocks at the message and refuses to go. Whereupon Toctai sends a second couple of messengers.) Note 1, — I have not attempted to correct the obvious confusion here ; for in comparing the story related here with the regular historians we find the knots too complicated for solution. In the text as it stands we first learn that Totamangu by help of Nogai kills Tolobuga, takes the throne, dies and is succeeded by Toctai. But presently we find that it is the sons of Totamangu who claim vengeance from Toctai against Nogai for having aided Tolobuga to slay their father. Turning back to the list of princes in chapter xxiv. we find Totamangu indeed, but Tolobuga omitted altogether. The outline of the history as gathered from Hammer and D'Ohsson is as follows : — NoGHAi, for more than half a century one of the most influential of the Mongol Princes, was a great-great-grandson of Chinghiz, being the son of Tatar, son of Tewal, son of Juji. He is first heard of as a leader under Batu Khan in the great invasion of Europe (1241), and again in 1258 we find him leading an invasion of Poland. In the latter quarter of the century he had established himself as practically independent, in the south of Russia. There is much about him in the Byzantine history of Pachymeres ; Michael Palaeologus sought his alliance against the Bulgarians (of the South), and gave him his ille- gitimate daughter Euphrosyne to wife. Some years later Noghai gave a daughter of his own in marriage to Feodor Rostislawitz, Prince of Smolensk. Mangu- or Mangku-Temur, the great-nephew and successor of Barka, died in 1280-81 leaving nine sons, but was succeeded by his brother Tudai-Mangku (Polo's Totamangu). This Prince occupied himself Chap. XXIX. TOCTAI AND NOGHAI. 499 chiefly with the company of Mahomedan theologians and was averse to the cares of government. In 1287 he abdicated, and was replaced by TuLABCJGHA {Tolobugd) the son of an elder brother, whose power how- ever was shared by other princes. Tulabugha quarrelled with old Noghai and was preparing to attack him. Noghai however persuaded him to come to an interview, and at this Tulabugha was put to death. Toktai, one of the sons of Mangku-Temur, who was associated with Noghai, obtained the throne of Kipchak. This was in 1291. We hear nothing of sons of Tudai-Mangku or Tulabugha. Some years later we hear of a symbolic declaration of war sent by Toktai to Noghai, and then of a great battle between them near the banks of the Don, in which Toktai is defeated. Later, they are again at war, and somewhere south of the Dnieper Noghai is beaten. As he was escaping with a few mounted followers, he was cut down by a Russian horseman. '' I am Noghai," said the old warrior, " take me to Toktai." The Russian took the bridle to lead him to the camp, but by the way the old chief expired. The horseman carried his head to the Khan; its heavy grey eyebrows, we are told, hung over and hid the eyes. Toktai asked the Russian how he knew the head to be that of Noghai ? "He told me so himself," said the man. And so he was ordered to execution for having presumed to slay a great Prince without orders. How like the story of David and the Amalekite in Ziklag ! (2 Samuel, ch. i.). The chronology of these events is doubtful. Rashiduddin seems to put the defeat of Toktai near the Don in 1298-99, and a passage in Wass^f extracted by Hammer seems to put the defeat and death of Noghai about 1303. On the other hand there is evidence that war between the two was in full flame in the beginning of 1296; Makrizi seems to report the news of a great defeat of Toktai by Noghai as reaching Cairo in. Jumadah I. a.h. 697 or February-March 1298. And Novairi, from whom D'Ohsson gives extracts, appears to put the defeat and death of Noghai in 1299. If the battle on the Don is that recounted by Marco it cannot be put later than 1297, and he must have had news of it at Venice, perhaps from relations at Soldaia. I am indeed reluctant to believe that he is not speaking of events of which he had cognizance before quitting the East; but there is no evidence in favour of that view. {Golden Horde, especially 269 seqg. ; Ilchan. II. 347, and also p. 35; D'Ohsson, IV. Appendix; Q. Makrizi, IV. 60.) The symbolical message mentioned above as sent by Toktai to Noghai, consisted of a hoe, an arrow, and a handful of earth. Noghai interpreted this as meaning, " If you hide in the earth, I will dig you out ! If you rise to the heavens I will shoot you down ! Choose a battlefield!" What a singular similarity we have here to the message that reached Darius^ 1800 years before, on this very ground, from Toktai's predecessors, alien from him in blood it may be, but identical in customs and mental characteristics : — 2 K 2 500 MARCO POLO. BOOK IV. "At last Darius was in a great strait, and the Kings of the Scythians having ascertained this, sent a herald bearing, as gifts to Darius, a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows Darius's opinion was that the Scythians meant to give themselves up to him But the opinion of Gobryas, one of the seven who had deposed the Magus, did not coin- cide with this ; he conjectured that the presents intimated : ' Unless, Persians, ye become birds, and fly into the air, or become mice and hide yourselves beneath the earth, or become frogs and leap into the lakes, ye shall never return home again, but be stricken by these arrows.' And thus the other Persians interpreted the gifts." {Herodotus, by Carey, IV. 131, 132.) Again more than 500 years after Noghai and Toktai were laid in the steppe, when Muravieff reached the court of Khiva in 1820, it happened that among the Russian presents offered to the Khan were two loaves of sugar on the same tray with a quantity of powder and shot. The Uzbegs interpreted this as a symbolical demand: Peace or War? {V. en Turcomanie, p. 165). CHAPTER XXX. Of the Second Message that Toctai sent to Nogai, and HIS Reply. -{-(They carry a threat of attack if he should refuse to present himself before Toctai. Nogai refuses with defiance. Both sides prepare for war, but Toctai's force is the greater in numbers.) CHAPTER XXXI. How Toctai marched against Nogai. -|~(The usual description of their advance to meet one an- other. Toctai is joined by the two sons of Totamangu with a goodly company. They encamp within ten miles of each other in the Plain of Nerghi.) Chap. XXXIV. CONCLUSION. 501. CHAPTER XXXII. How TOCTAI AND NOGAI ADDRESS THEIR PEOPLE, AND THE NEXT Day JOIN Battle. -^•(The whole of this is in the usual formula without any circumstances worth transcribing. The forces of Nogai though inferior in numbers are the better men-at-arms. King Toctai shows great valour.) CHAPTER XXXIII. The valiant Feats and Victory of King Nogai. -|-(The deeds of Nogai surpass all; the enemy scatter like a flock, and are pursued, losing 60,000 men, but Toctai escapes, and so do the two sons of Totamangu.) CHAPTER XXXIV. AND LAST. Conclusion.* And now ye have heard all that we can tell you about the Tartars and the Saracens and their customs, and likewise about the other countries of the world as far as our researches and information extend. Only we have said nothing whatever about the Greater Sea and the pro- vinces that lie round it, although we know it thoroughly. But it seems to me a needless and useless task to speak about places which are visited by people every day. For there are so many who sail all about that sea constantly. * This conclusion is not found in any copy except in the Crusca Italian, and, with a little modification, in another at Florence, belonging to the Pucci family. It is just possible that it was the embellishment of a transcriber or translator ; but in any case it is very old, and serves as an epilogue. 502 MARCO POLO. Bk. IV., Ch. XXXIV. Venetians, and Genoese, and Pisans, and many others, that everybody knows all about it, and that is the reason that I pass it over and say nothing of it. Of the manner in which we took our departure from the Court of the Great Kaan you have heard at the begin- ning of the Book, in that chapter where we told you of all the vexation and trouble that Messer MafFeo and Messer Nicolo and Messer Marco had about - getting the Great Kaan's leave to go ; and in the same chapter is related the lucky chance that led to our departure. And you may be sure that but for that lucky chance, we should never have got away in spite of all our trouble, and never have got back to our country again. But I believe it was God's pleasure that we should get back in order that people might learn about the things that the world contains. For accord- ing to what has been said in the introduction at the begin- ning of the Book, there never was a man, be he Christian or Saracen or Tartar or Heathen, who ever travelled over so much of the world as did that noble and illustrious citizen of the City of Venice, Messer Marco the son of Messer Nicolo Polo. SCfianfts be to ©Dlf ! ameti ! amm ! Asiatic Warriors of Polo's Age, from a contemporary Persian Miniature. APPENDICES. s -< < s hfi iz; < Bj H w c^ K > H "is n s- J ^ c PL, o ( ) s p5 a fc, o 1 >■ J m S < X fe Q 1x1 K H W CLi b fin O < > O n -1 . oT.H i II .sg-S '0 ^.■a a:- «=». E 11= II § o s Srt 6 SOj; -ft o S. S 5-° . S^S^ • II '^j' ¥ O a <; l-T-^ o c ■£ ^ - ■ o o . oSfc'-f «•« «_c . ^J ^3|? i-.u > m ~a => <;cn.2 ,1; -^ S-t: rt §■302 rt 1! g rt rt H ■* 4> -a "^ u i-s •O'-'S Ji'Z ^ g — I „ s -«'^ 6 sir- B — S«'S — 2 S £•- ■c2 ^r II II _o c 2 o%" ■^ c ^■■s 11 2 6 5O o ^ E«i Oh ^„ .J Stn •^ 11 -oo .0 e 'S R ■"" s o'-C ?s 1'^ ■2- <^ O ^ E app. b. the two polo families. 507 Appendix B. — continued. (II.) The Polos of San Geremia. The preceding Table gives the Family of our Traveller as far as 1 have seen sound data for tracing it, either upwards or downwards. I have expressed, in the introductory notices, my doubts about the Venetian genealogies, which- continue the family down to 1418 or 19, because it seems to me certain that all of them do more or less confound With our Polos of S. Giovanni Grisostomo, members of the other Polo Family of S. Geremia. It will help to disentangle the subject if we put down what is ascertained regarding the S. Geremia family. To the latter with tolerable certainty belonged the following : — 1302. Marco Polo of Cannareggio, see vol. i. pp. 64-65. (The Church of S. Geremia stands on the canal called Cannareggio.) (1319. Bianca, widow of Giovanni Polo ?)* 1332. 24th March. Concession, apparently of some privilege in connexion with the State Lake in San Basilio, to Donato and Hermorao ( = Hermolaus or Almoro) Paulo (Document partially illegible). t 1333. 23rd October. Will of Marchesina Corner, wife of Marino Gradenigo of S. ApolUnare, who chooses for her executors " my mother Dona Flordelisa Cornaro, and my uncle (Baria) Ser Marco Polo." J Another extract apparently of the same will mentions ' ' mia cusina Maria Polo," and " mio ciisin Marco Polo " three times.§ 1349. Marino Polo and Brothers. 1| 1348. About this time died NicoLO Polo of S. Geremia, K who seems to have been a Member of the Great Council.** He had a brother Marco, and this Marco had a daughter Agnesina. Nicolo also leaves a sister Barbara (a nun), a son Giovannino (apparently illegiti- mate **), of age in I35i,1[ a nephew Gheeardo, and a niece FiLlPPAjll Abbess of Sta. Catarina in Mazzorbo. The executors of Nicolo are Giovanni and Donato Polo.lT We have not their relationship stated. Donato must have been the richest Polo we hear of, for in the Estimo or forced Loan of 1379 for the Genoese War, he is assessed at 23,000 Lire.\'^ A history of that war also states that he (" Donado Polo del Canareggio ") presented the Government with 1000 ducats, besides maintaining in arms himself, his son, and seven * Document in ^rc>%rW£7 of the Ca^adi Ricovero, Bundle LXXVII., No. 209. t Registro di Grazie, 4" c. Comm. by Sign. Berchet. + Arch. Gen. dei Giudki del Propria, Perg. No. 82, ;st July, 1342, cites this (Sign. Berchet). $ Arclu dei Procuratori di Sajt Marco, with Testam. 1327, January, marked " N. H. Ser Marco Gradenigo." (Sign. Berchet.) II Document in Archivia of the Ccisa di Ricovero, Bundle LXXIV., No. 651. ^ List (extracted in 1868-9) of Documents in the above Archivio, but which seem to have been since mislaid. ** Parchment in the possession of Cav. F. Stefani, containing a decision, dated i6th September, I3S5j signed by the Doge and two Councillors, in favour of Giovannino Polo, natural son of the Noble Nicoletto of S. Geremia (yw. Njhilis Viri Nicoleti Paulo). tt In Gallicciolli, Delle Mem. Ven. Antiche, Ven. 1795, II. p. 136. In the MS. of Capellari, Campidaglio Veneio, in the Marciana, the sum stated is 3000 only. 5o8 MARCO POLO. App. B. others.' Under 1388 we find Donato still living, and mention of Cataruzza d. of Donato ; t and under 1390 of Elena, widow of Donato. t The Testamentary Papers of Nicolo also speak of GlACOMO Polo. He is down in the Estimo of 1379 for 1000 Lire ; |1 and in 1371 an inscription in Cicogna shows him establishing a family burial-place in Sta, Maria de' Servi.t (1353. 2nd June. Viriola, widow of Andrea or Andriuolo Polo of Sta. Maria Nuova?)§ 1379. In addition to those already mentioned we have NicoLO assessed at 4000 lire.\ 1381. And apparently this is the NiCOLO, son of Almoro (Hermolaus), who was raised to the Great Council, for public service rendered, among 30 elected to that honour after the War of Chioggia.^ Under 1410 we find Anna, relict of Nicolo Polo.** 1379. In this year also, Almoro, whether father or brother of the last, con- tributes 4000 lire to the Estimo. |1 1390. Clemente Polo (died before 1397) ** and his wife Maddaluzia.** Also in this year Paolo Polo, son of Nicolo, gave his daughter in marriage to Giov. Vitturi.ft 1408 and 141 1. Chiara, daughter of Francesco Balbi, and widow of Er- MOLAO (or Almoro) Polo, called of Sta. Trinith.** 1416. Giovanni, perhaps the Giovannino mentioned above.** 1420. 22nd November. Bartolo son of Ser Almoro and of the Nobil Donna Chiara Orio. (?) %% This couple probably the same as in the penultimate entry. 1474, seqg. Accounts belonging to the Trust Estate of Bartolomeo Polo of S. Geremia.** There remains to be mentioned a Marco Polo, member of the Greater Council, chosen Auditor Sententiarum, 7th March, 1350, and named among the electors of the Doges Marino Faliero (1354) and Giovanni Gradenigo (1355). The same person appears to have been sent as Provveditore to Dalniatia in 1355. As yet it is doubtful to what family he belonged, and it is possible that he may have belonged to our traveller's branch, and have continued that branch according to the tradition. But I suspect that he is identical with the Marco, brother of Nicolo Polo of S. Geremia, mentioned above, under 1348 (see also vol. i. p. 72). Capellari states distinctly that this Marco was the father of the Lady who married Azzo Trevisan (see Introd. pp. 77-78)- We have intimated the probability that he was the Marco mentioned twice in connexion with the Court of Sicily (see vol. i. p. 78, note). A later Marco Polo, in 1537, distinguished himself against the Turks in command of a ship called the Giustiniana ; forcing his way past the enemy's batteries into the Gulf of Prevesa, and cannonading that fortress. But he had to retire, being unsupported. * Delia Presa di Chiozza in Muratori, Scripit. xv, 785. ■f- Documents seen by the Editor in the Arch, of the Casa di Ricovero. X Cicogna, I. p. 77. 5 Arch. Gen. delGiud. Perg. No 120. II In Gallicciolli, Delle Mem. Ven. Antiche, Ven. 1795, 11. p. I36. *^ Capellari, MS. : Sanuto, Vite d^ Vitchi di Ven. in Muratori, XXII. 730. ** Documents seen by the Editor in the Arch, of the Casa di Ricovero. tt Capellari. XX Libra d^Oro from 1414 to 1497 in Museo Correr. Comm. by Sign. Berchet. app. c. calendar of documents. 509 It may be added that a Francesco Paulo appears among the hst of those condemned for participation in the conspiracy of Baiamonte Tie- polo in 1310 {Dandulo in Mur. XII. 410, 490). Appendix C. — Calendar of Documents Relating to Marco Polo and his Family. 1.— (1280). Will of Marco Polo of S. Severe, uncle of the Traveller, executed at Venice, 5th August, 1280. An abstract given in vol. i. pp. 23-24). The originals of this and the two other Wills (Nos. 2 and 8) are in St. Mark's Library. They were published first by Cicogna, Iscrizioni Veneziane, and again more exactly by Ijazaxi. 2.— (1300). Will of Mafifeo Polo, brother of the Traveller, executed at Venice, 31st August, 1300. Abstract given at pp. 62-63 of vol. i. 3.— (1302). Archivio Generate — Maggior Consiglio — Liber Magnus, p. 81.* 1302. 13 Aprilis. (Capta est) : Quod fit gratia provide viro Marco Paulo quod ipse absolvatur a pena incursa pro eo quod non fecit circari unam suam con- ductam cum ignoraverit ordinem circa hoc. (Signatures.) 4-— (1305)- Resolution of the Maggior Consiglio, under date loth April, 1305 (given verbally in first edition), in which Marco Polo is styled Marcus Paulo Millioni. (See p. 66 of vol. i.) In the Archivio Generate, Maggior Cons. Reg. MS., Carta 82.t 5.-(i3ii). Decision in Marco Polo's suit against Paulo Girardo, 9th March, 131 1, for recovery of the price of musk sold on commission, &c. (From the Archives of the Casa di Ricovero at Venice, Filza No. 202.) (See vol. i. p. 6S.) (Considerable extracts of this were given in the First Edition.) 6.-(i3i9). In a list of documents preserved in the Archives of the Casa di Ricovero, occurs the entry which follows. But several recent searches have been made for the document itself in vain. * ' ' No. 94 Marco Galletti invests delta propriety dei beni clie si trovano in S. Giovanni Grisostomo Marco Polo di Nicolo. 1319, \q Settem- bre, rogato dal notaio Nicolo Prete di S. Canciano." * For this and for all the other documents marked with an * I am under obligation to Signor Berchet. There is some doubt if this refer to our Marco Polo (see vol. i, p. QU). t For the indication of this I was indebted to Professor Minotto. 5IO MARCO POLO. App. C. The notary here is the same who made the official record of the document last cited. 7. -(1323). Document concerning House Property in S. Giovanni Grisostomo, adjoin- ing the property of the Polo Family, and sold by the Lady Donata to her husband Marco Polo. Dated May, 1323. See No. 16 below. 8.-(i324). Will of Marco Polo. (In St. Mark's Library.) In the first edition this was printed line for Une with the original ; but I have not thought it necessary to reprint it. The translation is given in Introductory Essay, vol. i. p. 69 seqq.; with a facsimile. 9.-(i325). Release, dated 7th June, 1325, by the Lady Donata and her three daughters Fantina, Bellella, and Marota, as Executors of the deceased Marco Polo, to Marco Bragadino. (From the Archivio Notarile at Venice.) (Printed in full in first edition.)* 10.-(i326). Resolution of Counsel of XL. condemning Zanino Grioni for. insulting Donna Moreta Polo in Campo San Vitale. (Avvogaria di Comun. Reg. I. Raspe, 1324-41, Carta 23 del 1325.)* ' ' MCCCXXV. Die xxvi. Februariii. " Cum Zaninus Grioni quondam Ser Lionardi Grioni contrate Sancte Heustachii diceretur intulisse iniuriara Domine Morkte qm. Dni. Marci Polo, de presente mense in Campo Sancti Vitalis et de verbis iniuriosis et factis .... Capta fuit pars hodie in dicto consilib de XL. quod dictus Zaninus condemnatus sit ad standum duobus mensibus in carceribus comunis, scilicet in quarantia. "Die eodem ante prandium dictus Zaninus Grioni fuit consignatus capi- taneo et custodibus quarantie," &c. Il.-(i328). {Maj. Cons. Delib. Brutus, c. 77.)* ' ' Mccxxvil. Die 27 Januarii. " Capta. Quod quoddam instrumentum vigoris et roboris processi et facti a quondam Ser Marco Paulo contra Ser Henricum Quiring et Pauli dictum dictum Sclavo \_sic\ Johanni et Phylippo et Anfosio Quiring, scriptum per presbyterum Johannem Taiapetra, quod est adheo corosum quod legi non potest, relevetur et fiat," &c. 12.-(i328). Judgment on a Plaint lodged by Marco Polo, called Marcolino, regarding a legacy from Maffeo Polo the Elder. (See I. p. 76). {Avvogaria di Comun. Raspe Reg. i. 1324-41, c. 14 tergo, del 1329.)* "1328. Die XV. Mensis Marcii. "Cum coram dominis Advocatoribus Comunis per D. Marcum, dictum Margolin UM Paulo sancti Johannis Grisostomi fuisset querela depositata de translatione et alienatione imprestitorum dim Domini Maphei Paulo majoris Scti. Job. Gris., facta domino Marco Paulo de dicto confinio in Mcccxvin App. C. CALENDAR OF DOCUMENTS. 51 1 mense Maii, die xi, et postea facta heredibus ejusdem dni. Marci Paulo post ejus mortem, cum videretur eisdem dominis Advocatoribus quod dicte translationes et alienationes imprestitorum fuerint injuste ac indebite facte, vide- licet in tantum quantum sunt libre mille dimisse Marco dicto Marcolino Paulo predicto in testamento dicti olim dni. Mathei Paulo maioris, facti in anno domini Mcccviii mense Februarii die vi intrante indictione viii" .... Capta fuit pars in ipso consilio de XL'" quod dicta translactio et alienatio imprestitorum revocentur, cassentur, et annulentur, in tantum videlicet quantum sunt dicte mille libre," &c. 13.— (1328). Grant of Citizenship to Marco Polo's old slave Peter the Tartar (see vol. i. p. 70)- {Maj. Cone. Delib. Brutus, Cart. 78 t.)* " Mcccxxviii, die vii Aprilis. " (Capta) Quod fiat gratia Petro S. Marie Formose, olim sclavorum Ser Marci Pauli Sancti Job. Gris., qui longo tempore fuit Venetiis, pro suo bono porta- mento, de cetero sit Venetus, et pro Venetus \sic\ haberi et tractari debeat." 14.-(i328). Process against the Lady Donata Polo for a. breach of trust. See vol. i. p. 76 (as No. 12, c. 8, del 1328).* " MCCCXXViiL Die ultimo Mail. " Cum olim de mandato .... curie Petitionum, ad petitionem Ser Ber- TUTii QuiRiNO factum fuerit apud Dominam Donatam Paulo Sancti Job. Oris., quoddam sequestrum de certis rebus, inter quas erant duo sachi cum Venetis grossis intus, legati et buUati, et postea in una capsellel sigillata repositi, prout in scripturis dicti sequestri plenius continetur. Et cum diceretur fuisse subtractam aliquam pecunie quantitatem, non bono modo, de dictis sachis, post dictum sequestrum, et dicta de causa per dictos dominos Advocatores fuerit hodie in conscilio de XL. placitata dicta Dna. Donata Paulo, penes quam dicta capsella cum sachis remansit hucusque. cum per certas testimonias habeatur quod tempore sequestri facti extimata fuit pecunia de dictis sacchis esse libras Ixxx grossorum vel circha, t et quando postea numerata fuit inventam esse solummodo libras xlv grossorum et grossos xxii, quod dicta Dna. Donata teneatur et debeat restituere et consignare in saculo sen saculis, loco pecunie que ut predicitur deficit et extrata et ablata est libras xxv \sic\ grossorum. Et ultra hoc pro pena ut ceteris transeat in exem- plum condempnetur in libris ducentis et solvat eas." 15— (1330). Remission of tine incurred by an old servant of Marco Polo's. ("Reg. Grazie 3°, c. 40.)'* " MCCCXXX, iiii Septembris. "Quod fiat gratia Manulu famiUari Ser Marci Polo sancti Joh. Gris. quod absolvatur a penH librarum L pro centenariis, quam dicunt officiales Levantis incurrisse pro eo quod ignorans ordines et pure non putans facere contra aliqua nostra ordinamenta cum galeis que de Ermeni^ venerunt portavit Venecias tantum piperis et lan^ quod constitit supra soldos xxv grossorum tanquam forenses ('?). Et officiales Levantis dicunt quod non possunt aliud dicere nisi quod solvat. Sed consideratis bonitate et legalitate dicti ManuUi, qui mercatores cum quibus stetit fideliter servivit, sibi videtur pecatum quod debeat amittere aliud parum quod tam longo tempore cum magnis laboribus aquisivit, sunt content! quod dicta gratia sibi fiat." t About .^300 sterling. 512 MARCO POLO. App. C. 16.— (1333)- Attestation by the Gastald and Officer of the Palace Court of his having put the Lady Donata and her daughters in possession of two tene- ments in S. Giovanni Grisostomo. Dated I2th July, 1333. (From the ArcMvio of the Istituto degli Esposti, No. 6.)t The document begins with a statement dated 22nd August, 1390, by MoRANDUS DE Carovellis, parson of St. ApoUinaris and Chancellor of the Doge's Aula, that the original document having been lost, he, under authority of the Doge and Councils, had formally renewed it from the copy recorded in his office. (See i. p. 29. Large extracts of this are printed in the first edition.) 17.-(i336)- Release granted by Agnes Lauredano, sister, and by Fantina Bragadino and Moreta Dolphyno, daughters, and all three Trustees of the late Domina Donata, relict of Dominus Marcus Polo of S. Giov. Griso- stomo, to Dominus Raynuzo Dolphyno of the same, on account of 24 lire of grossi% which the Lady Donata Polo had advanced to him on pledge of many articles. Dated 4th March, 1336. The witnesses and notary are the same as in the next. (In the ArcMvio Generale; Pacta, Serie T, No. 144.) 18.-(i336). Release by the Ladies Fantina and Moreta to their aunt Agnes Laure- dano and themselves, as Trustees of the late Lady Donata, on account of a legacy left them by the latter.§ Dated 4th March, 1336. (In the ArcMvio Generale; Pacta, Serie T, No. 143.) (Chief part printed in first edition.) + For this I was indebted to Signor Barozzi. X About 90/. $ Of 48 lire of grossi, or about i8o/. APP. D. DIFFERENT RECENSIONS OF POLO'S TEXT. 5^3 - — 2 u en z " o i-i ij to "« 3 'o 't^ '*3 cA fl OJ !s ^ rt" (1) lU (x. D fl s s 1-t W 0) QJ S .^ i "H a aj !fl ri o OJ § U" d w N — 1 S fr l! tuO OJ o 0) ^ ■s l=i ^ •li^ (ij ,a dJ T! !>, l! b d i; S c rt cr* ^3 -41! A' !> «' S a S •« .B N u ,a a c/3 .-;, in >», ■e -H ,t^ S H Ph T3 .a "a "a" M „- .. ■y " o ►^ 'S3 s ■ g *j O 1J <1J -' .3 -Ci la 53 '=-po "-^ t- c ^ g..|o a rfn ^ '-' tn i/T u 3 ii ■5 4^ *j OJ ■4-* ,i5 "^ a^ S i^tn <" o 1 s *^ - ' S 2 ' ti a < p-i pX 5 CHc o; ci ii u ^ - o 1 -H ID SI 0) ' lg = o ? g'S-d'2 -^ ;5<3^-a>.i;s-a45SJ! cj r5 5 1^ s VOL. n. a L 5H 13 o u R:! O X t— I Q ■ W MARCO POLO. App. D. ■a ° q Q g S S |2i ■ss 5 o ^ ' ^ <*! o" .S ■** 0) cd IS o ■3 ^ u o S rf S !> " - 13 a .2 g- ;« i V V. 1 O Tj ^ 0) « a ■g o. -S g 2 > ^ rt o O ,2 ^ 5 g- s «3 a^^l, ■rt j« Si 8= 6 0) j3 , o ^ -^ _S, £ ^ ^ 'o o y o « ph -a 2 .2 ^ Tj to c n) S i ^ oa rf d ._ s a "5 si "^ f5 3 -0) S o to ;i^ ^ ^ :i2 -J^ cJ QJ O w bij nd T3 jJ O 4J rt ^ '^ " " O O ? ^ rt OJ P^ c PS « Is ^ fci s ■S-^ 2 o ,2 ^ P S a- ft S 'i 3 Pi OJ -1) ■p SI a 1 — . t» :S t-4 ■?, rJll V > OJ nl > 'ri ,=1 'IV OJ (D n OJ ■t/i H rf n tfl Ui ft rt r! (U 0) Ph s Ph ^ ^I H ft ij rt ?! li, a- 13 i.S .„ ^ ==> O S <; tj 3 o C« OJ 13 D m 13 -a 'S Ifl 13 V . .— .2 S-;^ S- < tn U Wl r- o _r p T3 rt .;2 ;S ci 4, -a .-^ I o S •- (/J O) O ^ ■? g- 3 -^ 3 ^ ^ 3 O ^ App. D. DIFFERENT RECENSIONS OF POLO'S TEXT. 515 en a o 2 " < a s-i " ,/! -^ 3 £ o.;i3 rf u -t-t s ,« T) Is a „ 0- S3 p. 6 to 1 d d > S 'I- "5 •a a* 1 1 1 a i- 3 Cl, y ," bo (1) 8 0) !^ -M ■— ' m 0- o u 1^ ^ ri 3 S T) 5 ^ 5 •2 g. fiii.ijgg.S"g3S-K O ^ Q. S-i 55 13 rQ .1:5 oj »-^ ii ^ =•? a "H !a • (U R.3 1) 0*1-1 Ph .s a ."=;^ g a 2a 1— 1 g 1^ J^ b a ^-1 -^ d W;S .2 S 2i fli a w .- O •« ^ 6 H H .a o 2 < „ o S 9 Q -ii w -S 'T' i^.a "3 ^ t! TJ o< ;s ffl "^ 3 S a S <; B o 1-1 ii ^ .3 a s .3 3 3 9 3 %1 5! a ri 3 a > 1 1 a in > rt ^~ CJ ^ "a S t>. T3 CJ s t (U 2, L 2 ■2 r. V, 5l6 MARCO POLO. App. E. Appendix E. — The Preface of Friar Pipino to his Latin Version of Marco Polo. (Circa 131 5 — 1320.) " The Book of that prudent, honourable, and most truthful gentleman, Messer Marco Polo of Venice, concerning the circumstances and manners of the Regions of the East, which he conscientiously wrote and put forth in the Vulgar Tongue, I, Friar Francesco Pipino of Bologna, of the Order of the Preaching Friars, am called upon by a number of my Fathers and Masters to render faithfully and truthfully out of the vulgar tongue into the Latin. And this, not merely because they are themselves persons who take more pleasure in Latin than in vernacular compositions, but also that those who, owing to the diversity of languages and dialects, might find the perusal of the original difficult or impossible, may be able to read the Book with understanding and enjoyment. "The task, indeed, which they have constrained me to undertake, is one which they themselves could have executed more competently, but they were averse to distract their attention from the higher contemplations and sublime pursuits to which they are devoted, in order to turn their thoughts and pens to things of tlie earth earthy. I, therefore, in obedience to their orders, have rendered the whole substance of the Book into such plain Latin as was suited to its subject. ' ' And let none deem this task to be vain and unprofitable ; for I am of opinion that the perusal of the Book by the Faithful may merit an abounding Grace from the Lord ; whether that in contemplating the variety, beauty, and vastness of God's Creation, as herein displayed in His marvellous works, they may be led to bow in adoring wonder before His Power and Wisdom ; or, that, in considering the depths of blindness and impurity in which the Gentile Nations are involved, they may be constrained at once to render thanks to God Who hath deigned to call his faithful people out of such perilous darkness into His marvellous Light, and to pray for the illumination of the hearts of the Heathen. Hereby, also, the sloth of un- devout Christians may be put to shame, when they see how much more ready the nations of the unbelievers are to worship their Idols, than are many of those who have been marked with Christ's Token to adore the True God. Moreover, the hearts of some members of the religious orders may be moved to strive for the diffusion of the Christian Faith, and by Divine Aid to carry the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, forgotten among so vast multitudes, to those blinded nations, among whom the harvest is indeed so great, and the labourers so few. ' ' But lest the inexperienced Reader should regard as beyond belief the many strange and unheard of things that are related in sundry passages of this Book, let all know Messer Marco Polo, the narrator of these marvels, to be a most respectable, veracious, and devout person, of most honourable character, and receiving such good testimony from all his acquaintance, that his many virtues claim entire belief for that which he relates. His Father, Messer Nicolo, a man of the highest respectability, used to relate all these things in the same manner. And his uncle, Messer Maffeo, who is spoken of in the Book, a man of ripe wisdom and piety, in familiar conversation with his Confessor when on his death-bed maintained unflinchingly that the whole of the contents of this Book were true. "Wherefore I have, with a safer conscience, undertaken the labour of this Translation, for the entertainment of my Readers, and to the praise of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of all things visible and invisible." App. F. MSS. OF MARCO POLO. S^l Appendix F.- -Note of MSS. of Marco Polo so far as they are known. In the first edition of this work a detailed list of these MSS. was given, with particulars regarding most of them. It is not thought needful to reprint this, and only an abstract statement will be given. I have since the first edition been able to add only three to the list. Two (rf these are in French ; one in the British Museum collection, Egerton, 2176, which appears to be a version from Pipino's Latin ; the other belonging to the Library of the Arsenal at Paris, with miniatures, some of which are en- graved in Maeurs, Usages et Costumes du Moyen Age, par le Biblio- phile Jacob, pp. 411-413. The third is a partial and defective transcript in the Venetian dialect, under the title of Itinerario di Levante, in the Riccardian Library at Florence (No. 1924), for the notice of which I am indebted to Sign. G. Uzielli. The Whole number now registered is as follows : — French. Latin. Italian. Irish. British Museum 1 Bodleian r\ c ^\ Bodleian 0^f°'^'iiMerton College .. .. r h 'H i University Libi-ary . . ^ \ Gonville and Caius . . Glasgow, Hunterian Collection Ireland Total, Great Britain and Ireland ! National Library .... 5 Formerly in Walckenaer Li- brary (present locality unknown) Arsenal Library i Total, France Luxemburg, City Library ( St, Mark's Venice < Museo Civico I Count Doni dalle Rose . . Ferrara, Public Library Milan, Ambrosian Libraiy Modena, Este Library {Nazionale and Palatina Riccardian Library Pucci Library Lucca, now in Public Library Siena, Public Library Vatican Rome < Barberini Corsmi Chigi 14 Total in Italy Escurial Toledo, Cathedral Library Total in Spain II I 29 I 2 5i8 MARCO POLO. App. F. French. Latin. Italian. German. Bern, Canton Libraiy Total in Switzerland I Munich, Royal Library Wolfenbiittel, Ducal Library Berlin, Royal Library Wiirtzburg, Royal Library . . Giessen University Jena University Mentz, Metropolitan Chapter Total in Germany Prague, Chapter of St. Vitus ■Vienna, (?) Total in Austria 4 •• 4 I . . I I doubtful . I I 2 I I [ I IS I I Stockholm, (?) And thus, classified by language, they would be distributed as follows : — Pipino's Latin 29 Other Latin versions or abridgments . . . . 12 French Italian German Irish . . Doubtful —41 10 21 4 I I Total 78 By country : — Great Britain and Ireland 14 France II Italy 29 Germany 15 Austria 2 Switzerland 2 Spain 3 Sweden i Luxemburg I Total 78 I add Lists of the Miniatures in two of the finer MSS. as noted from examination. List of Miniatures in the Great Volume of the French National Library, commonly known as ' Le Livre des Merveilles ' (Fr. 2810), WHICH BELONG TO THE BOOK OF MaRCO PoLO. Frontispiece. " Comment les deux freres se partirent de Constanti- nople pour chechier du monde." Conversation with the Ambassadors at Bokhara (fol. 2). The Brothers before the G. Kaan (f. 2 v.). 4. The Kaan giving them Letters (f- 3). 5- >> >> ,, ,, a Golden Tablet (f. 3 v.). 6. The Second Departure from Venice (f- 4). App. F. MSS. OF MARCO POLO— MINIATURES. 519 7. The Polos before Pope Gregory (f. 4 V.) 8. The two elder Polos before the Kaan presenting Book and Cross (f. 5). 9. The Polos demand congJ (f. 6). 10. (Subject obscure) (f. 7). 11. Georgians, and Convent of St. Leonard (f. 8). 12. The Calif shut up in his Treasury (f-,9). 13. The Calif ordering Christians to move the Mountain (f. 10). 14. Miracle of the Mountain (God is seen pushing it) (f. 10 v.). ■ 15. The three Kings en route [i. 11 v). 16. „ „ ,. adoring the Fire (f. 12). 17. (Subject obscure — Travelling in Persia?) (f. \iv.) 18. Cattle of Kerman (f 13 v.). 19. Ship from India arriving at Hormus (f. 14 v.). 20. Travelling in a Wood, with Wild Beasts (f. 15 v.). 21. The Old Man's Paradise (f 16 v.). 22. The Old Man administering the Potion (f. 17). 23. Hunting Porcupines in Badashan (f. 18). 24. Digging for Rubies in Badashan (f. 18). 25. Kashmir — the King maintaining Justice {i. e., seeing a Man's head cut off) (f 19 z*.). 26. Baptism of Chagatai (f. 20 v.). 27. People of Charchan in the Desert (f 21 v.). 28. Idolaters of Tangut with Ram before Idol (f. 22 v.). 29. Funeral Festivities of Tangut (f 23). 30. (Subject obscure.) 31. Coronation of Chinghiz. 32. Chinghiz sends to Prester John. 33. Death of Chinghiz. 34. (Subject obscure.) 35. Some of Pliny's Monsters [apropos de bottes). 36. A Man herding White Cattle (?). 37. Kublai hawking, with Cheeta en croupe. 38. Kaan on Elephant, in Battle with Nayan. 39- The Kaan's four Queens. 40. The Kaan's Palace (?). 41. ,, ... with tlie Lake and Green Mount. 42. 43- 44- 45- 46. 47- 48. 49- 5°- 51- 52- 53- 54- 55- 56. 57- 58- 59- 60. 61. 63- 64. 6s. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 72. 73- 74- 75- 76. 77- 78. 79- 80. 81. 82. 83- 84. Of The Kaan's Banquet. ,, worship of Idols. The Kaan travelling in Horse- litter. ,, hunting. ,, in Elephant-litter. The White Feast. The Kaan gives Paper for Treasure. Couriers arrive before Kaan. The Kaan transplants big Trees. The Bridge Pulisangin. The Golden King as a Cow-herd. Trade on the Cararaoran. The Girls of Tibet. Fishing Pearls in Caindu. Dragons of Carajan. Battle of Vochan. The Forests of Mien, Elephants in the Wood. ,, ,, and Unicorns, &c. Lion hunting in Coloman. Return from the Chase. The Queen of Manzi surrenders. The City of Quinsai. The Receipt of Custom at Quinsai. Curiosities brought from India to Great Kaan. War with Chipangu. Scene at Sea (an expedition to Chipangu ?). Cannibals of Sumatra. Cynocephali (rather Alopeco- cephali !). The folk of Ma'abar, without rai- ment. Idol worship of Indian girls. The Valley of Diamonds. Brahmin Merchants. Pepper gathering. Wild Beasts. City of Cambaia. Male and Female Islands. Madagascar. Battle of the Abyssinian Kings. Cit)' of the Ichthyophagi. Arab Horses at Calatu. Wars of Caidu. Prowess of Caidu's daughter. these Nos. i, 12, 19, 35, 37, 44, 46, SI, 55- 56, 59. 66, 70, 75, 78, 81, are engraved in Chartoii's Voyageur du Moyen Age, vol. ii., besides two others which I seem to have over- looked. No. 5 is engraved at p. 15. of vol. i. of the present work. 520 MARCO POLO. App.' F. List of Miniatures in the Bodleian MS. of Marco Polo. lO. II. 12. 13- 14. 15- 16. 17- 18. 19- 20. 21, Frontispiece. The Kaan giving the Golden Tablet. Presentation of Pope's Letter. Taking of Baudas. The Bishop before the Calif. The Three Kings at Bethlehem, White Oxen of Kerman. Paradise of the Old Man. River of Balashan. City of Campichu. Battle vpith Prester John. Tartars and their Idols. The Kaan in his Park at Chandu. Idol Worship. Battle with Nayan. Death of the Rebels. Kaan rewarding his Officers. „ at Table. , , Hunting. The Kaan and his Barons. The Kaan's alms. 22. City of Kenjanfu. 23. „ ,, Sindinfu. 24. People of Carajan. 25. The Couvade. 26. Gold and Silver Towers of Mien. 27. Funeral Customs. 28. The Great River Kian ? 29. The Attack of Saianfu. (with a Cannon, a Mangonel, and a Cross- bow). 30. City of Quinsay. 31. Palace of Facfur. 32. Port of Zayton. 33. Cynocephali. 34- 35. Idolaters of Little Java. 36. Pearl divers. 37. Shrine of St. Thomas. 38. The Six Kings, subject to Abyssinia. Part of the Frontispiece is engraved in vol. i. p. J7, of the present work. App. G. FILIATION OF CHIEF MSS. 521 522 MARCO POLO. App. H. Appendix H. — Bibliography of Marco Polo's Book. I. — Principal Editions. I do not intend to attempt a list of all the editions of Polo ; a task for which I have no advantages, and which will be found well done in Lazari's Appendix, based on Marsden. But it may be useful to mention the chief Editions, with their dates. 1477. The first Printed Edition is in German. We have given a reduced Fac- simile of its Frontispiece at page lU. "Diss hat gedruckt Fricz Creiissner zu Nurmlerg nach cristi gepurdt Tausent vierhundert vnd im siben vnd sibenczigte iar " (Marsden). 1481. A reproduction of the preceding at Augsburg, in the same volume with the History of Duke Leopold and his Son William of Austria. About 1490. Pipino's Latin ; the only printed edition of that version. Without place, date, or printer's name. 1496. Edition in Venetian Dialect, printed by G. B. Sessa. 1500. The preceding reproduced at Brescia (often afterwards in Italy). 1502. Portuguese version from Pipino, along with the Travels of Nicolo Conti. Printed at Lisbon by Valentym Fernandez Alemao (see vol. ii. of this work, p. 278). Stated to have been translated from the MS. presented by Venice to Prince Pedro (vol. i. p. iso). 1520. Spanish version by Rodrigo de Santaella. Sevilla. 1529. Ditto. Reprinted at Logrono. 1532. Novus Orbis — Basileae (see vol. i. p. 9s). 1556. French version from the Novus Orbis. 1559. Ramusio's 2nd volume, containing his version of Polo, of which we have spoken amply. 1579. First English Version, made by John Frampton, according to Marsden, from the Spanish version of Seville or Logrono. 1625. Purchas's Pilgrims, vol. iii. contains a very loose translation from Ramusio. 1664. Dutch Version, from the Novus Orbis. Amsterdam. 1671. Andreas MuUer of Greiffenhagen reprints the Latin of the Novus Orbis, with a collation of readings from the Pipino MS. at Berlin ; and with it the book of Hayton, and a disquisition De Chataid. The Editor appears to have been an enthusiast in his subject, but he selected his text very injudiciously (see vol. i. p. si). 1 735. Bergeron's interesting collection of Medieval Travels in Asia, published in French at the Hague. The Polo is a translation from Miiller, and hence is (as we have already indicated) at 6th hand. 1747. In Astley's Collection, IV. 580 segq., there is an abstract of Polo's book, with brief notes, which are extremely acute, though written in a vulgar (tone, too characteristic of the time. 1818. Marsden's famous English Edition. 1824. The Publication of the most valuable MS. and most genuine form of the text, by the Soc. de Geographic of Paris (see vol. i. p. si). It also contains the Latin Text (No. 19 in our list of MSS. in first Edition). 1827. Baldelli-Boni published the Crusca MS. (No. 34), and republished the Ramusian Version, with numerous notes and interesting dissertations. The 2 volumes are cumbered with 2 volumes more, containing, as a Preliminary, a History of the Mutual Relations of Europe and Asia, which probably no man ever read. Florence. 1844. Hugh Murray's Edition. It is, like the present one, eclectic as regards the text, but the Editor has taken large liberties with the arrangement of the Book. App. H. bibliography of POLO'S BOOK. 523 1845. Burck's German Version, Leipzig. It is translated from Ramusio, with copious notes, chiefly derived from Marsden and Ritter. There are some notes at the end added by the late Karl Friedrich Neumann, but as a whole these are disappointing. 1847. Lazari's Italian edition was prepared at the expense of the late Senator L. Pasini, in commemoration of the meeting of the Italian Scientific Congress at Venice in that year, to the members of which it was pre- sented. It is a creditable work, but too hastily got up. 1854. Mr. T. Wright prepared an edition for Bohn's Antiq. Library. The notes are in the main (and professedly) abridged from Marsden's, whose text is generally followed, but with the addition of the historical chapters, and a few other modifications from the Geographic Text. 1854-57. Voyageurs Anciens et Modernes, dye. Par M. Ed, Charton. Paris. An interesting and creditable popular work. Vol. ii. contains Marco Polo, with many illustrations, including copies from miniatures in the Livre des Merveilles (see list in App. F.). 1863. Signor Adolfo Bartoli reprinted the Crusca MS. from the original, making a careful comparison with the Geographic Text. He has prefixed a valuable and accurate Essay on Marco Polo and the Literary History of his Book, by which I have profited. 1865. M. Pauthier's learned edition. 1871. First edition of the present work. 1873. First publication of Marco Polo in Russian. I have no particulars. II. — Titles of Sundry Books and Papers which treat OF Marco Polo and his Book. 1. Salviati, Cavalier Lionardo. Degli Avvertimenti della Lingua sopra 'I Decamerone. In Venezia, 1584. Has some brief remarks on Texts of Polo, and on references to him or his story in Villaui and Boccaccio. 2. Martini, Martino. Novus Atlas Sinensis. Amstelodami, 1655. The Maps are from Chinese sources, and are surprisingly good. The Descrip- tions, also from Chinese works but interspersed with information of Martini's own, have, in their completeness, never been superseded. This estimable Jesuit often refers to Polo with affectionate zeal, identifying his localities, and justifying his descriptions. The edition quoted in this book forms a part of Blaeu's Great Atlas (1663). It was also reprinted in Thevenot's Collection. 3. KiRCHER, Athanasius. China Illustrata. Amstelodami, 1667. He also often refers to Polo, but chiefly in borrowing from Martini. 4. Magaillans, Gabriel de (properly Magalhaens), Nouvelle Des- cription de la Chine, contenant la description des P articular itis les plus considerables de ce Grand Etnpire. Paris, 1688. Contains many excellent elucidations of Polo's work. 5. Coronelli, Vincenzo. Atlante Veneto. Venezia, 1690. Has some remarks on Polo, and the identity of Cathay and Cambaluc with China and Peking. 6. MuRATORl, LUD. Ant. Perfetta Poesia, con note di Salvini. Venezia, 1724. In vol. ii. p. 117, Salvini makes some remarks on the language in which he supposes Polo to have composed his Book. 524 MARCO POLO. App. H. 7. FOSCARINI, Marco. Delia Letteratura Veneziana. P ado va, 1752. Vol. i. 414 seqq. 8. , , Frammento inedito di, intorno ai Viaggiatori Vene- zianij accompanied by Remarks on Biirck's German edition of Marco Polo, by Tommaso Gar (late Director of the Venice Archives). In Archivio Storico Italiano, Append, torn. iv. p. 89 seqq. 9. Zeno, Apostolo. Annotazioni sopra la Biblioteca delV Eloquenza Italiana di Giusto Fontanini. Venezia, 1753. See Marsden's Introduction, passim. 10. TiRABOSCHi, GiROLAMO. Storia della Letteratura Italiana. Modena, 1772-1783. There is a disquisition on Polo, with some judicious remarks (iv. pp. 68-73). 11. TOALDO, Giuseppe. Saggi di Studj Veneti nelV Astronomia e nella Marina. Ven. 1782. This work, which I have not seen, is stated to contain some remarks on Polo's Book. The author had intended to write a Commentary thereon, and had col- lected books and copies of MSS. with this view, and read an article on the subject before the Academy of Padua, but did not live to fulfil his intention (d. 1797). 12. FORSTER, J. Reinhold. H. des Ddcouvertes et des Voyages fails dans le Nord. French Version. Paris, 1788. 13. Sprengel, Mathias Christian. Geschichte der wichtigsten geographischen Entdeckungen, &c. 2nd Ed. Halle, 1792. This book, which is a marvel for the quantity of interesting matter which it contains in small space, has much about Polo. 14. ZuRLA, Abate Placido. Life of Polo, in Collezione di Vile e Ritratti d'lllustri Italiani. Padova, l8i5. This book is said to have procured a Cardinal's Hat for the author. It is a respectable book, and Zurla's exertions in behalf of the credit of his countrymen are greatly to be commended, though the reward seems inappropriate. 15. ZURLA, Abate Placido. Dissertazioni di Marco Polo e degli altri Viaggiatori Veneziani,&'C. Venezia, 1818-19. 16. 17, 18. Quarterly Review, vol. xxi. (1819), contains an Article on Marsden's Edition, written by John Barrow, Esq. ; that for July, 1868, contains another on Marco Polo and his Recent Editors, written by the present Editor ; and that for Jan. 1872, one on the First Edition of this work, by R. H. Major, Esq. 19. Asia, Hist. Account of Discovery and Travels in. By HUGH Murray. Edinburgh, 1820. 20. Klaproth, Julius. A variety of most interesting articles in the Journal Asiatique (see ser. i. tom. iv., tom. ix. ; ser. ii. torn, i., tom. xi., &c.), and in his Mimoires Relatifs a VAsie. Paris, 1824. Klaproth speaks more than once as if he had a complete Commentary on Marco Polo prepared or in preparation {e. g., see J. As., ser. i. tom. iv. p. 380). But the examination of his papers after his death produced little or nothing of this kind. App. H. bibliography of POLO'S BOOK. 525 21. CiCOGNA, EMMANUEtE. DelU Iscrizioni Veneziane, Raccolte ed Illustrate. Venezia, 1824-1843. Contains valuable notices regarding the Polo family. 22. Remusat, Jean Pierre, Abel-. Mdlanges Asiatiques. Paris, 1825. Nouvelles Mdlanges As. Paris, 1829. The latter contains (i. 381 seqq.) an article on Marsden's Marco Polo, and one (p. 397 seqq.) upon Zurla's Book. 23. Antologia, edited by Vieussieux. Tom. xix. B. pp. 92-124. Firenze, 1825. A Review of the publication of the old French Text by the Soc. de Geographic. 24. Annali Universal: di Statistica. Vol. xvi. p. 286. Milano. 1828. Article by F. CUSTODI. 25. Walckenaer, Baron C. Vies de phisieurs Personnes CMebres, Laon, 1830. This contains a life of Marco Polo, but I have not seen it. 26. St. John, James Augustus. Lives of Celebrated Travellers. London (circa 1831). Contains a Life of Marco Polo, which I regret not to have seen. 27. COOLEY, W. D. Hist, of Maritime and Inland Discovery. London, (circa 1831). This excellent work contains a good chapter on Marco Polo. 28. RiTTER, Carl. Die Erdkunde von Asien. Berlin, 1832, segg. This great work abounds with judicious comments on Polo's geography, most of which have been embodied in Biirck's edition. 29. Delecluze, M. Article on Marco Polo in the Revue des Deux Mondes for July, 1832. Vol. vii. 30. Paulin-Paris, M. Papers of much value on the MSS. of Marco Polo, &c., in Bulletin de la Soc. de Geographic for 1833, tom. xix. pp. 23-31 ; as well as in fournal Asiatigue, ser. ii. tom. xii. pp. 244-54 ; Ulnstitut, Journal des Sciences, St'C, Sect. II. tom. xvi. Jan. 185 1. 31. Malte-Brun. Precis de la Gdog. Universelle, 4'^me Ed. par HuoT. Paris, 1836. Vol. i. (pp. 551 seqq.) contains a section on Polo, neither good nor correct. 32. De Montemont, Albert. Bibliothegue Universelle des Voyages. In vol. xxxi. pp. 33-51 there is a Notice of Marco Polo. 33. Palgrave, Sir Francis. The Merchant and the Friar. 'Lon6Lon,i?,yj. The Merchant is Marco Polo, who is supposed to visit England, after his return from the East, and to become acquainted with the Friar Roger Bacon. The book consists chiefly of their conversations on many subjects. It does not affect the merits of this interesting book that Bacon is believed to have died in 1292, some years before Marco's return from the East. 34. D'AvEZAC, M. Remarks in his most valuable Notice sur les Anciens Voyages de Tartaric, Sr'C., in the Recueil de Voyages et de Mhnoires public par la Socidtd de Gdographie, tom. iv. p. 407 segg. Paris, 1839. Also article in the Bulletin de la Soc. de Gdog., &'c., for August, 1841 ; and in Journal Asiat. ser. ii. tom. xvi. p. 117. ^26 MARCO POLO. App. H. 35. Paravey, M. Article in yourn. Asiatique, ser. ii. torn. xvi. 1841, p. loi. 36. Hammer-Purgstall, in Bull, de la Soc. de Giog., torn. iii. No. 21, p. 45. 37. QuATREM^RE, Etienne. His translations and other works on Oriental subjects abound in valuable indirect illustrations of M. Polo ; but in Notices et Extraits des MSS. de la Bibliotheque du Roi, torn, xiv. Pt. i. pp. 281-286, Paris, 1843, there are some excellent remarks both on the work itself and on Marsden's Edition of it. 38. Macfarlane, Charles. Romance of Travel. London. C. Knight. 1846. A good deal of intelligent talk on Marco Polo. 39. Meyer, Ernst H. F. Geschichte der Botanik. Konigsberg, 1854-57. In vol. iv. there is a special chapter on Marco Polo's notices of plants. 40. Thomas, Professor G. M. A paper on Marco Polo in the Sitzungs- berichten der Munchner Akademie, 4th March, 1862. 41. Khanikoff, Nicolas de. Notice sur le Livre de Marco Polo, Mitd et comments par M. G. Pauthier. Paris, 1866. Extracted from the Journal Asiatique. I have frequently quoted this with advantage, and sometimes have ventured to dissent from it. 42. Cahier, Pere. Criticism of Pauthier's Marco Polo, and reply by M. Pauthier. in Etudes Littir aires et Religieuses of 1866 and 1867. Paris. Not seen by present editor. 43. Barth^lemy de St. Hilaire. A series of articles on Marco Polo in the Journal des Savants for January-May, 1867, chiefly con- sisting of a reproduction of Pauthier's views and deductions. 44. De Gubernatis, Prof. Angelo. Memoria intorno ai Viaggiatori Italiani nelle Indie Orientali, dal secolo XIII. a tutto il XVI. Firenze, 1867. 45. BiANCONi, Prof. Giuseppe. Degli Scritti di Marco Polo e delP Uccello Rue da lui menzionato. 2 parts. Bologna, 1862 and 1868. A meritorious essay, containing good remarks on the comparison of different Texts. 46. KiNGSLEY, Henry. Tales of Old Travel renarrated. London, 1869. This begins with Marco Polo. The work has gone through several editions, but I do not know whether the author has corrected some rather eccentric geo- graphy and history that were presented in the first. Mr. Kingsley is the author of another story about Marco Polo in a Magazine, but I cannot recover the reference. 47. Notes and Queries for China and Japan. This was published for some years at Hong-Kong under able editorship, and contained some valuable notes connected with Marco Polo's chapters on China. 48. Ghika, Princess Elena (Z'^'ra rf'/f/r/a). Marco Polo, II Cristoforo Colombo del! Asia. Trieste, 1869. 49. BUSSA, QuiNTO. Marco Polo, Orazione commemorativa. Genova, 1872. App. I. LIST OF WORKS CITED. 537 50. Edinburgh Review, January, 1872. A Review of the first edition of the present work, acknowledged by Sir Henry Rawlinson, and full of Oriental knowledge. (See also No. 18 supra). 51. Ocean Highways, for December, 1872, p. 285. An interesting letter on Marco Polo's notices of Persia, by Major Oliver St. John, R.E. 52. RiCHTHOFEN, Baron F. von. Das Land und die Stadt Caindu von Marco Polo, a valuable paper in the Verhandlungen der Gesell- schaftfiir Erdkunde zu Berlin. No. i of 1874, p. 33. 53. BUSHELL, Dr. S. W., Physician to H.M.'s Legation at Peking. Notes of a Journey outside the Great Wall of China, embracing an account of the first modern visit to the site of Kublai's Palace at Shangtu. Will appear in J. R. G. S. vol. xliv. 54. Phillips, George, of H.M.'s Consular Service in China. Notices of Southern Mangi, in same volume as the last. Also papers in the Chinese Recorder (Foochow), Nos. i, 2, 3, 4, 5, for 1870. (See pp. 215, 222, of the present volume.) 55. Wheeler, J. Talboys. History of India (vol. iii. pp. 385-393) contains a rdsumd of, and running comment on, Marco Polo's notices of India. Mr. Wheeler's book says : " His travels appear to have been written at Comorin, the most southerly point of India" (p. 385). The words that I have put in Italics are evidently a misprint, though it is not clear how to correct them. 56. De SkattSCHKOFF, M. Constantin. Le Vdnitien Marco Polo, et les services qu'il a rendus enfaisant connaitre I'Asie. Read before the Imp. Geog. Society at St. Petersburg, -f-g October, 1865 ; translated by M. Emile Durand in the Journ. Asiatique, ser. vii. torn. iv. pp. 122 seqq. (September, 1874). The Author expresses his conviction that Marco Polo had described a number of localities after Chinese written authorities ; for in the old Chinese descriptions of India and other transmarine countries are found precisely the same pieces of information, neither more nor fewer, that are given by Marco Polo. Though proof of this would not be proof of the writer's deduction that Marco Polo was acquainted with the Chinese language, it would be very interesting in itself, and would explain some points to which we have alluded (e.g., in reference to the frankincense plant, p. 446, and to the confusion between Madagascar and Mak- dashau, p. 406). And Mr. G. PhiUips has urged something of the same kind. But M. de Skattschkoff adduces no proof at all ; and for the rest his Essay is full of inaccuracy. Appendix I. — Titles of Works which are cited by abbreviated References in this Book. Abdallatif. Relation de VEgypte. Trad. par. M. Silvestre de Sacy. Paris, 1810. AbulpharagiUS. Hist. Compend. Dynastiarum, &c., ab Ed. Pocockio. Oxon. 1663. Abr. Roger. See La Porte ouverte. Acad. Mim. de VAcaddniie des Inscriptions. 5^8 MARCO POLO. [App. I. Ain-i-Akbari or AiN. Akb. Bl. refers to Blochmann's Translation in Bibliotheca Indica. Calcutta, 1869, seqq. Alexandriade, ou Chanson de Geste d^Alex.-le-Grand, de Lambert le Court et Alex, de Bernay. Dinan et Paris, 1861. Alphabetum Tibetanum Missionum Apostolicarum commodo editum; A. A. Georgii. Romae, 1762. Am. Exot. Engelbert Kaempfer's Amoenitatmn Exoticarum Fasciculi V. Lemgoviae, 17 12. Amyot. Mdmoires concernant les Chinois, &c. Paris, v. y. Arabs., Arabshah. Ahmedis Arabsiadis Vitae .... Timuri .... Historia. Latine vertit . . . . S. H. Manger. Franequerae, 1767. Arch. Stor. Ital. Archivio Storico Italiano. Firenze, v. y. ASSEMANI, Bibliotheca Orientalis. Romae, 1719-28. ASTLEY. A New General Collection of Voyages, &c. London, 1745-47. AVA, Mission to, Narrative of Major Phayre's. By Capt. H. Yule. London, 1858. Ayeen Akbery refers to Gladwin's Transl., Calcutta, 1787. Baber, Memoir of Transl. by Leyden and Erskine. London, 1826. Bacon, Roger. Opus Majus. Venet. 1750. Baer und Helmersen. Beitrage zur Kenntniss des Russischen Reiches, &^c. St. Petersburg, 1839, ^eqq- Baudouin de Sebourg. Li Romans de Bauduin de S., Ill Roy de Jherusalem. Valenciennes, 1841. Benjamin of Tudela. Quoted from T. Wright's Early Travels in Palestine. Bohn, London, 1848. Bridgman, Rev. Dr. Sketches of the Meaou-tszd, transl. by. In J. N. Ch. Br. R. As. Soc. for Dec. 1859. Browne's Vulgar Errors, in Bohn's Ed. of his Works. London, 1852. BUCHON. Chroniques Etrangeres relatives aux Expiditions Francaises pendant le XIII^ Siecle. Paris, 1841. BURNES, Alex. Travels into Bokhara. 2nd Ed. London, 1835. BUSCHING'S Magazin fur die neue Historic und Geographic. Halle Cahier et Martin. Melanges d'ArchMogze. Paris, v. y. Capmany, Antonio. Memorias Historicas sobre la marina . . . . de Barcelona. Madrid, 1779-92. Carp., Carpini. As published in Recueil de Voyages et de Mdmoires de la Soc. de Gdog. Tom. iv. Paris, 1839. Cathay, and the Way Thither. By Col. H. Yule. Hakluyt Society 1866. '^ Chardin, Voyages en Perse de. Ed. of Langlfes. Paris, 181 1. China Illustrata. See Kircher. App. I. FULLER TITLES OF WORKS CITED. 529 Chine Ancienne. By Pauthier, in L'Umvers Pittoresque. Paris, 1837. MODERNE. By do. and Bazin, in do. Paris, 1853. Chin. Rep. Chinese Repository. Canton, 1832, j«^y. Clavijo. Transl. by C. R. Markham. Hak. Society, 1859. Consular Reports. (See this vol. p. 126.) CONTI, Travels of Nicolo. In India in the XVth Century j Hak. Society, 1857. D'Avezac. See App. H. No. 32. Davies'S Report. Rep. on the Trade and Resources of the Countries on the N. IV. Boundary of Br. India (By R. H. Davies, now (1874), Lieut.-Governor of the Panjdb). Deguignes. Hist. Giti. des Huns, &^c. Paris, 1756. (the Younger)., Voyages d. Peking, ir^c. Paris, 1808. Della Decima, &c. Lisbone e Lucca (really Florence) 1765-66. The 3rd volume of this contains the Mercantile Handbook of Pegolotti (circa 1340), and the 4th vol. that of Uszano (1440). Della Penna. Breve Notizia del Regno del Thibet. An extract from the Journal Asiatique, ser. ii. torn. xiv. (pub. by Klaproth). Della Valle, P. Viaggi. Ed. Brighton, 1843. De Mailla. H. Gdndrale de la Chine, Src. Paris, 1783. Dict. de la Perse. Diet. G^og. Hist, et Litt. de la Perse, Sr^cj par Barbier de Meynard. Paris, 1861. D'Ohsson. H. des Mongols. La Haye et Amsterdam, 1834. DoolITTLE, Rev. J. The Social Life of the Chinese. Condensed Ed. London, 1868. Douet D'ArCQ. Comptes de VArgenterie des Rois de France au XIV' Steele. Paris, 1851. Dozy and Engelmann. Glossaire des Mots Espagnols et Portugais dirivh de lArabe. 2de. Ed. Leyde, 1869. Duchesne, Andreae, Historiae Francorum Scriptores. Lut. Par. 1636-49. Early Travels in Palestine, ed. by T. Wright, Esq. Bohn, London, 1848. Edrisi. Trad, par Amdd^e Jaubert ; in Rec. de Voy. et de Mim., torn. V. et vi. Paris, 1836-40. IiIlie de Laprimaudaie. Etudes sur le Commerce au Moyen Age. Paris, 1848. Elliot. The History of India as told by its own Historians. Edited from the posthumous papers of Sir H. M. Elliot, by Prof. Dowson., 1867, seqq. Erdmann, Dr. Franz v. Temudschin der Unerschiitterliche. Leipzig, 1862. VOL. II. 2 M 530 MARCO POLO. App. I. Erman. Travels in Siberia. Transl. by W. D. Cooley. London, 1848. EsCAYRAC DE Lauture. Mhnoires sur la Chine. Paris, 1865. ]i;tude Pratique, &c. See Hedde. Faria y Souza. History of the Discovery and Conquest of India by the Portuguese. Transl. by Capt. J. Stevens. London, 1695. Ferrier, J. P. Caravan Journeys, dr'c. London, 1856. Fortune. Two Visits to the Tea Countries of China. London, 1853. Francisque-Michel. Recherches sur le Commerce, la fabrication, et Vusage des Hoffes de Sole, Gr'c. Paris, 1852. Frescob. Viaggi in TVrra 6'a«/i? «/z L. Frescobaldi, &c. (1384). Firenze, 1862. Garcias da Horta. Garzia dalP Horto, Dell' Istoria dei semplici ed altre cose che vengojio portate dalV Indie Orientali, &^c. Trad, dal Portughese da Annib. Briganti. Venezia, 1589. Garnier, Francis. Voyage d'Exploration en Indo-Chine. Paris, 1873. Gaubil. H. de Gentchis Can et de Toute la Dinastie des Mongous. Paris, 1739. Gildem. Gildemeister, Scriptorum Arabuin de Rebus Indicts, Gr'c. Bonn, 1838. Gold. Horde. See Hammer. Hamilton, A. New Account of the East Indies. London, 17.44. Hammer-Purgstall. Geschichte der Goldenen Horde. Pesth, 1840. . Geschichte der Ilchane. Darmstadt, 1842. Hedde et Rondot. Etude Pratique du Commerce d' Exportation de la Chine, par L Hedde. Revue et completSe par N. Rondot. Paris, 1849. Heyd, Prof. W. Le Colonic Commerciali degli Italiani in Oriente nel Medio Evoj Dissert. Rifatt. dalP Autore e recate in Italiano dal Prof. G. Miiller. Venezia e Torino, 1866. H. T. or Hwen-T'sang. Vie et Voyages, viz. Hist, de la Vie de Hiouen Thsang et de ses Voyages dans I'lnde, &c. Paris, 1853. or . Mhnoires sur les Contrdes Occidentales, S^c. Paris, 1857. See Pelerins Bouddhistes. Hue. Recollections of a Journey through Tartary, Gr^c. Condensed Transl. by Mrs. P. Sinnett. London, 1852. L B., IBN. Bat., Ibn Batuta. Voyages dVbn Batoutah par Defrhnery et Sanguinetti. Paris> 1853-58. Ilch., Ilchan., Hammer's Ilch. See Hammer. India in XVth. Century. Hak. Soc. 1857. Ind. Ant., Indian Antiquary, a Journal of Oriental Research. Bombay, 1872, seqq. J. A. S. B. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. App. I. FULLER TITLES OF WORKS CITED. 531 J. As. Jotirnal Asiatique. J. IND. Arch. Journal of the Indian Archipelago. J. N. C. Br. R. a. S. Journal of the North China Branch of the R. Asiatic Society. J. R. A. S. Journal of the Royal As. Society. J. R. G. S. Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. JOINVILLE. Edited by Francisque-Michel. Firmin-Didot : Paris, 1867. Kaempfer. See Am. Exot. Khanikoff, Notice. See App. H., II., No. 39. Mbmoire sur la Partie Miridionale de I'Asie Centrale. Paris, 1862. KiRCHER, Athanasius. China, Monumentis, Sr'c, Ilhistrata. Amstelod. 1667. Klap. Mem. See App. H., II., No. 18. KoEPPEN, Die Religion des Buddha, von Carl Friedrich. Berlin, 1857-59. La Porte Ouverte, &c., ou la Vraye Representation de la Vie, des Moeurs, de la Religion, et du Service Divin des Bramines, &^c., par le Sieur Abraham Roger, trad, en Francois. Amsterdam, 1670. Ladak, &c. By Major Alex. Cunningham. 1854. Lassen. Indische A Iterthumskunde. First edition is cited throughout. Lecomte, Pfere L. Nouveaux Mdmoires sur les Chinois. Paris^ 1701. LevcHINE, Alexis de. Desc. des Hordes et des Steppes des Kirghiz Kaissaksj trad, par F. de Pigny. Paris, 1840. LiNSCHOTEN. Hist, de la Navigation de Jean Hugues de Linschot. 3^010 ed. Amst., 1638. Magaillans. See App. H., II., No. 4. Makrizi. See Quat. Mak. Mar. San., Marin. Sanut., Marino Sanudo. Liber Secretorum Fidelium Crucis, in Bongarsii Gesta Dei per Francos. Hanovise, 1611. Tom. ii. Martbne ET Durand. Thesaurus Novus Anecdotorum. Paris, 17 17. Martini. See App. H., II., No. 2. Mas'udi. Les Prairies d'Or, par Barbier de Meynard et Pavet de Courteille. Paris, 1861, seqq. Matthioli, p. a. Commentarii in libros VL Pedacii Dioscoridis de Medicd Materid. Venetiis, 1554; sometimes other editions are cited. Maundevile. HaUi well's Ed. London, 1866. Mem. de l'Acad. See Acad. Mendoza. H. of China. Ed. of Hak. Society, 1853-54. Michel. See Francisque-Michel. Mid. Kingd. See Williams. 2 M 2 53a MARCO POLO. App. I. MOORCROFT and Trebeck's Travels; edited by Prof. H. H.Wilson. 1841. MOSHEIM. Historia Tartarorum Ecclesiastica. Helmstadi, 1741. MuNTANER, in Buchon, q. v. N. & E., Not. et Ext. Notices et Extraits des MSS. de la Bibliotheque du Roy, Paris, v. y. N. & Q. Notes and Queries. N. & Q. C. & J. Notes and Queries for China and Japan. Nelson, J. H. The Madura Country, a Manual. Madras, 1868. Neumann, C. F. His Notes at end of Biirck's German ed. of Polo. Nevus Orbis Regionum &^c. Veteribus incognitarum. Basil. Ed. 1555. P. DE LA Croix. P^tis de la Croix, Hist, de Timurbec, Sr'e. Paris, 1722. P. DELLA V. See Delia Valle. P. ViNC. Maria, P. Vincenzo. Viaggio air Indie Orientali del P. F. V. M. di S. Catarina da Siena. Roma, 1672. Pallas. Voyages dans plusieurs Provinces de F Empire de Russie, Qfc. Paris, Fan XI. Paolino. Viaggio alle Indie, &r'c., da Fra P. da S. Bartolomeo. Roma, 1796. Pegolotti. See Delia Decima. Pelerins Bouddhistes, par Stan. Julien. This name covers the two works entered above under the heading H. T., the Vie et Voyages forming vol. i., and the Mdmoires, vols. ii. and iii. Pereg. Quat. Peregrinatores Medii Aevi Quatuor, Gr'c. Recens. J. M. Laurent. Lipsias, 1864. Post und Reise Route. See Sprenger. Prairies d'Or. See Mas^udi. PUNJAUB Trade Report. See Davies. Q. R., Quat. Rashid. H. des Mongols de la Perse, par Raschid-el-din, trad. Sr'c. par M. Quatremfere. Paris, 1836. Quat. Mak., Quatremere's Mak. H. des Sultans Mamlouks de VEgypte,par Makrizi. Trad. par Q. V3x\%, \Zyj, seqq. Ras Mala, or Hindoo Annals of Goozerat. By A. K. Forbes. London, 1856. Reinaud, Rel. Relations des Voyages fails par les Arabes dans Ilnde et la Chine, Ss^c. Paris, 1845. , Inde, Mdm. Gdog. Histor. et Scientifgue sur I', Qr'c. Paris, 1849. Relat., Relations. See last but one. Richthofen, Baron F. von. Letters (addressed to the Committee of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce) on the Interior Provinces of China. Shanghai, 1870-72. app. k. values of money, weights, &c. 533 Roman. Romanin, Storia Documentata di Venezia. Venezia, 1853, seqq. Rub., Rubruquis. Cited from edition in Recueil de Voyages et de Mhnoires, torn. iv. Paris, 1839. S. S., San. Setz., Ss. Ssetz. See Schmidt. S ANTAREM, Essai sur I' Hist, de la CosmograpMe, Ss^c. Paris, 1 849. Sanudo. See Mar. San. SCHILTBERGER, Reisen des Johan. Ed. by Neumann. Miinchen, 1859. Schmidt. Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen, 6-»c., verfasst von Ssanan^- Ssetzen Chungtaidschi. St. Petersburg, 1829. Sonnerat. Voyage aux Indes Orientates. Paris, 1782. Sprenger. Post und Reise Route des Orients. Leipzig, 1864. St. Martin, M. J. Mdmoires Historiques et Giographiques sur VAr- menie, ^'c. Paris, 1818-19. Teixeira, Relaciones de Pedro, del Origen Descendencia y Succession de los Reyes de Persia, y de Harmuz, y de un Viage hecho por el mismo aotor, Sr'c. En Amberes, 1670. TiMKOWSKi. Travels, &c., edited by Klaproth. London, 1827. UzzANO. See Delia Decima. Varthema's Travels. By Jones and Badger. Hale. Soc, 1863. ViGNE, G. T. Travels in Kashmir, Sr^c. London, 1842. ViN. Bell., Vino. Bellov. Vincent of Beauvais' Speculum Historiale, Speculum Naturale, Sr'c. Visdelou. Supplement to D'Herbelot. 1780. Williams's Middle Kingdom. 3rd Ed. New Yorlc and London, 1857. Williamson, Rev. A. Journeys in N. China, &^c. London, 1870. Weber's Metrical Romances of the Xlllth, XlVth, and XVth Centuries. Edinburgh, 18 10. Witsen. Noord en Oost Tartaryen. 2nd Ed. Amsterdam, 1785. Appendix K. — Values of certain Moneys, Weights, and Measures, occurring in this Book. French Money. ITie Livre Toumois of the period may be taken, on the mean of five valuations cited in a footnote at p. 88 of vol. i., as equal m modern silver value to \'&'<:nfrancs. Say English money . . l+r. 3'8i/. 534 MARCO POLO. APP. K. The Livre Parisis was worth one-fourth more than the Tour- ««>,* and therefore equivalent in silver value to .... 2T'-)^ francs. Say English money I T-f- lO'Srf. (Gold being then to silver in relative value about 12 : I instead of about 15 : I as now, one-fourth has to be added to the values based on silver in equations with the gold coin of the period, and one-fifth to be deducted in values based on gold value. By oversight, in vol. i. p. 88, I took 16 : I as the present gold value, and so exaggerated the value of the livre Tournois as compared with gold.) M. Natalis de Wailly, in his recent fine edition of Joinville, determines the valuation of these Hvres, in the reign of St. Lewis, by taking a mean between a value calculated on the present value of silver, and a value calculated on the present value of gold,t and his result is : Livre Tournois = 20'2(> francs, Livre Parisis = . . . . 2S'33 ,, Though there is something arbitrary in this mode of valuation, it is, perhaps, on the whole the best ; and its result is extremely handy for the memory (as some- body has pointed out) for we thus have One Livre Tournois = One Napoleon. ,, ,, Parisis = One Sovereign. Venetian Money. The Mark of Silver all over Europe may be taken fairly at 2/. 4!-. of our money in modern value ; the Venetian mark being a fraction more, and the marks of England, Germany and France fractions less. J The Venice Gold. Ducat or Zeoohin, first coined in accordance with a Law of 31st Oct. 1283, was, in our gold value, worth. . li'?>2francs.% or English gj. ^■2Zi\d. The Zecchin when first coined was fixed as equivalent to l8 grossi, and on this calculation the Grosso should be almost exactly ^d. sterling. || But it is evident from what follows that there must have been another grosso, perhaps only of account, which was only | of the former, therefore equivalent to 3frf. only. This seems to me the only clue to difficulties which I do not find dealt with by anybody in a precise or thorough manner. Accounts were kept at Venice not in ducats and grossi, but in Lire, of which there were several denominations, viz. : I. Lira dei Grossi, called in Latin Documents Libra denariorum Vene- torum grosorum.'i Like every Lira or Pound, this consisted of 20 soldi, and each soldo of 12 denari or deniers** In this case the • See (Dufre de St. Manr) Essai sur les Motinoies, &=€. Paris, 1746, p. xv ; and Douei d'Arcci, pp. 5, IS, &c. t He takes the silver value of the gros Tournois (the sol of the system) at 0-8924 fr., whence the Livre = 17-849 /r. And the ^old value of the golden Agnel, which passed for isi sots Tournois, is I4-I743y7-. Whence the Zra»-e= 22-6789/?-. Mean = 202639/^ X The Mark was 3 of a pound. The English Pound Sterling of the period was in silver value = 3/. SI. 2d. Hence the Mark = 2/. 3J. 5-44^. The Cologne Mark, according to Pego- lotti, was the same, and the Venice Mark' of silver was = 1 English Tower Mark -t- 7,i sterlings (i.e. pence of the period),=therefore to 2/. 41. 4-84/f. The French Mark of Silver, according to Dupre de St. Maur, was ahout 3 Livres, presumably Tournois, and therefore 2/. 2j. ziid. } Cihrario, Pol. Ec. del Med. Evo. III. 228. The Gold Florin of Florence was worth a fraction more = gj. 4-85;^. II For -js of the florin will be 6-23^., and deducting 5, as pointed out above, we have 4-99^. as the value oith^ grosso. I have a note that the grosso contained 42^ Venice grains of pure silver. If the Venice grain be the same as the old Milan grain (-051 gra-}nmes) this will give exactly the same value of 5^/. H Also called, according to Romanin, Lira d'iv!presti.ii. See Introd. Essay in vol. i. p. Git. ** It is not too universally known to be worth notini that our £ s. d. represents Livres, sols, deniers. App. K. VALUE OF- MONEY, WEIGHTS, &C. 535 Lira was equivalent to 10 golden ducats ; and its Denier, as the name implies, was the Grosso. The Grosso therefore here was 5I5 of 10 ducats or i^ of a ducat, instead oi^. 2. Lira ai Grossi (Z. den. Ven. ad grosses). This by decree of June 2nd, 1285, went two to the ducat. In fact it is the soldo of the preceding Lira, and as such the Grosso was, as we have just seen, its denier ; which is perhaps the reason of the name. 3. Lira del Piocoli (Z. den. Ven. parvulorum). The ducat is alleged to have been at first equal to three of these Lire (Romanin, I. 321) ; but the calculations of Marino Sanudo (1300-1320) in the Secreta Fidelium Crucis show that he reckons the Ducat equivalent to 3'2 lire oipiccoH.* In estimating these Lire in modern English money, on the basis of their relation to the ducat, we must reduce the apparent value by \. We then have : 1. Lira del Grossi equivalent to nearly 3/. 15^. od. (therefore exceeding by nearly los. the value of the Pound sterling of the period, or Lira di Sterlini, as it was called in the appropriate Italian phrase).t 2. Lira ai Grosai 3.!'. 91^. 3. Lira del Piocoli ' 2s, ^. The Tomese or Tomesel at Venice was, according to Romanin (III. 343) =4 Venice deniers : and if these are the deniers of the Lira ai Grossi, the coin would be worth a little less than fa?., and nearly the equivalent of the denier Tournois, from which it took its name.J The term Bezant is used by Polo always (I believe) as it is by Joinville, by Marino Sanudo, and by Pegolotti, for the Egyptian gold dinar, the intrinsic value of which varied somewhat, but can scarcely be taken at less than loj. 6d. or lis. (See Cathay, p. 440-441; and see also'y. As. ser. vi. tom. xi. p. 506-7.) The exchange of Venice money for the Bezant or Dinar in the Levant varied a good deal (as is shown by examples in the passage in Cathay just cited), but is always in these examples a large fraction (J up to J) more than the Zecchin. Hence, when Joinville gives the equation of St. Lewis's ransom as 1,000,000 bezants or 500,000 livres, I should have supposed these to be livres Parisis rather than Tournois, as M. de Wailly prefers. There were a variety of coins of lower value in the Levant called Bezants, § but these do not occur in our Book. The Venice Saggio, a weight for precious substances, was \ of an ounce, corresponding to the weight of the Roman gold solidus, from which was originally derived the Arab Miskial. And Polo appears to use saggio habitually as the equivalent of Miskil. His pois or peso, applied to gold and silver, seems to have the same sense, and is indeed a literal translation of Miskdl (see vol. ii. P- 32). * He also states the grosso to have been worth 32 piccoli, which is consistent with this and tht two preceding statements. For at 3*2 lire to the ducat the latter would = 768 piccoli, and i of this'= 32 piccoli. Pegolotti also assigns 24 grossi to the ducat (p. 151). The tendency of these Lire, as of puuiids generally, was to degenerate in value. In Uzzano (1440) we find the Ducat equivalent to 100 soldi, i.e. to s lire. Everybody seems to be tickled at the notion that the Scotch Pound or Livre was only 20 Pence. Nobody finds it funny that the French or Italian Pound is only 20 halfpence, or less ! f Uzzano in Delia Decima, IV. 124. X According to GalliccioJli (II. 5-^) piccoli (probably in the vague sense of small copper coin) were called in the Levant ropvicria. $ Thus in the document containing the autograph of King Hayton, presented at p. 12 of Introductory Essay, the King gives with his daughter, "Damoiselle Femie," a dowry of 25,000 besaus sar?-azinas, and in payment 4 of his own bezants staurats (presumably so called from bearing 3,cross) are to count as one Saracen Bezant [Cod. Diplomat, del S. Mil. Ord. Gero- solim, I. 134). 536 MARCO POLO. APP. L. For measures Polo uses the palm rather than the foot. I do not find a value of the Venice palm, but over Italy that measure varies from gj mches to some- thing over lo. The Genoa Palm is stated at 9725 inches. Jal (Archeologie Nav. I. 271) cites the following Table of Old Venice Measures of Length. 4 fingers = I handbreadth. 4 handbreadths = I foot. 5 feet = I pace. 1000 paces = I mile. 4 miles = I league. Appendix L. — Sundry Supplementary Notes on Special Subjects. \. Nationality of the Traveller William j 10. The B-Urgit or Sporting Eagle. de Rubruk. ' 11. Astronomical Instruments of the 2. Sarai. i Age of Ktiblai Kaan. 3. The Wall of Alexander. \ 12. Former Practice of Cremation iy 4. " Reobarles." ' the Chinese. 5. Pamir, and the Ovis Poli. 13. The Squares in the City of Kinsay. 6. Chingintalas. 14. Derivation of the name Kollam or 7. The Site of Karakorum. Quilon. 8. Prester John. 1 5. Cape Comorin. 9. The Milk Libation of Kublai Kaan. ; 16. The Rue. I. —Nationality of the Traveller William de Rubruk, com- monly CALLED RUBRUQUIS {Introductory Essay, p. i02). The latter form of the name has been habitually used in this book, perhaps without sufficient consideration, but it is the most familiar in England from its use by Hakluyt and Purchas. The former, who first published the narrative, professedly printed from an imperfect MS. belonging to the Lord Lumley, which does not seem to be now known. But all theMSS. collated by Messrs. Francisque- Michel and Wright, in preparing their edition of the Traveller, call him simply Willelmus de Rubruc or Rubruk. Some old authors, apparently without the slightest ground, having called him Risbroucke and the lilce, it came to be assumed that he was a native of Ruysbroeck, a place in Soutli Brabant. But there is a place still called Rnbrouck in French Flanders. This is a commune containing about 1500 inhabitants, belonging to the Canton of Cassel and arrondissement of Hazebrouck, in the Department du Nord. And we may take for granted, till facts are alleged against it, that this was the place from which the envoy of St. Lewis drew his origin. Many documents of the Middle Age.'^, referring expressly to this place Rubrouck, exist in the Library of St. Omer, and a detailed notice of them has been published by M. Edm. Coussemaker, of Lille. Several of these documents refer to persons bearing the same name as the Traveller: e.g., in 1190, Thierry de Rubrouc ; in 1202 and 1221, Gauthier du Rubrouc ; in 1250, Jean du Rubrouc ; and in 1258, Woutermann de Rubrouc. It is reasonable to suppose that Friar William was of the same stock. See Bulletin app. l. supplementary notes. 537 de la Soc. de Ghgraphie, 2nd vol. for 1868, pp. 569-70, in which there are some remarks on the subject by M. D'Avezac ; and I am indebted to the kind courtesy of that eminent geographer himself for the indication of this reference and the main facts, as I had lost a note of my own on the subject. It seems a somewhat complex question whether a native even of French Flanders at that time should be necessarily claimable as a Frenchman ;* but no doubt on this point is alluded to by M. D'Avezac, so he probably had good ground for that assumption. 2.— Sarai (Vol. i. pp. 5-6). In corroboration (quantum valeat) of my suggestion that there must have been two Sarais near the Volga, Professor Bruun of Odessa points to the fact that Fra Mauro's map presents twoaixes, of Sarai on the Akhtuba ; only the Sarai of Janibeg is with him no longer New Sarai, but Great Sarai. The use of the latter name suggests the possibility that in the Saracanco of Fegolotti the latter half of the name may be the Mongol Kiinh "Great " (see Pavet de Courteille, p. 439). Prof Bruim also draws attention to the impossibihty of Ibn Batuta's travelling from Astrakhan to Tzarev in three days, an argument which had already occurred to me and been inserted in the present edition. 3. — The Wall of Alexander (Vol. i. p. 55). To the same friendly correspondent X owe the following additional particulars on this interesting subject, extracted from Eickwald^ Periphts des Kasp. M. I. 128. " At the point on the mountain, at the extremity of the fortress (of Derbend), where the double wall terminates, there begins a single wall constructed in the same style, only this no longer runs in a straight line, but accommodates itself to the contour of the hill, turning now to the north and now to the south. At first it is quite destroyed, and showed the most scanty vestiges, a few small heaps of stones or traces of towers, but all extending in a general bearing from E. to W. It is not till you get four versts from Derbend, in traversing the moun- tains, that yon come upon a continuous wall. Thenceforward you can follow it over the successive ridges .... and through several villages chiefly occupied by the Tartar hill-people. The wall makes many windings, and every % verst it exhibits substantial towers like those of the city-wall, crested with loop- holes. Some of these are still in tolerably good condition ; others have fallen, and with the wall itself have left but slight vestiges." Eichwald altogether followed it up about 18 versts (12 miles), not venturing to proceed further. In later days this cannot have been difficult, but my kind cor- respondent had not been able to lay his hand on information. A letter from Mr. Eugene Schuyler, received too late for other than briefest reference, communicates some notes regarding inscriptions that have been found at and near Derbend, embracing Cufic of A.D. 465, Pehlvi, and even Cuneiform. Alluding to the fact that the other Iron-gate, south of Shahr-sabz, was called also Kalugah, or Kohlugah, he adds : " I don't know what that means, nor do I know if the Russian Kaluga, S.W. of Moscow, has anything to do with it, but I am told there is a Russian popular song, of which two lines run : — ' Ah Derbend, Derbend Kaluga, Derbend my little Treasure ! ' " * The County of Flanders was at this time in large part a fief of the French crown (i,ee M. Natalis de Wailly, notes to Joinville, p. 576}, But that would not much affect the question cither one way or the other. 538 MARCO POLO. App. L. I may observe that I have seen it lately pointed out that Kaluga is a Mongol word signifying a barrier; and I see that Timkowski (I. 288) gives the same explanation of Kalgan, the name applied by Mongols and Russians to the gate in the Great Wall, called Chang-kia-Kau by the Chinese, leading to Kiakhta. 4.— " Reobarles " (Vol. i. p. 117). In revising the page cited, I had not by me Mr. Blochmann's letter, or I should have quoted it, as shovping that my original suggestion of the meaning vfas by no means indefensible. He says : " After studying a language for years, one acquires a natural feeling for anything un-idiomatic ; but I must confess I see nothing un-Persian in rudbdr-i-duzd, nor in riidbdr-i-lass . . . How common lass is, you may see from one fact, that it occurs in children's reading- books." 5. — Pamir and the Ovis POLI (Vol. i. p. 185). From the officers who explored Pamir in the spring of 1874 we have as yet no formal report ; but it would seem, from such notices as have been received, that there is not, strictly speaking, one steppe called Pamir, but » variety of Pamirs, which are lofty valleys between ranges of hills, presenting luxuriant summer pasture, and with floors more or less flat, but nowhere more than 5 or 6 miles in width and often much less. Colonel Gordon, the head of the exploring party detached by Sir Douglas Forsyth, brought away a head of Ovis Poli, which quite bears out the account by its eponymus of horns "good 6 palms in length, " say 60 inches. This head, as I learn from a letter of Colonel Gordon's to a friend, has one horn perfect which measures 65J inches on the curves ; the other, broken at the tip, measures 64 inches ; the straight line between the tips is 55 inches ! 6.— Chingintalas (Vol. i. p. 214). I have left the identity of this name undecided, though pointing to the general position of the region so-called by Marco, as indicated by the vicinity of the Tangnu-Ola mountains (p. 217). A passage in the Journey of the Taouist Doctor, Chang-chun, as translated by Dr. Bretschneider (Chinese Recorder and Miss. Journ., Shanghai, Sept.-Oct., 1874, p. 258), suggests to me the strong probability that it may be the ICem-kim-jut of Rashiduddin, called by the Chinese teacher Kien-kien~(^z.\s.. Rashiduddin couples the territory of the Kirghiz with Kemkemjiit, but defines the country embracing both with some exactness : "On one side (south- east ?), it bordered on the Mongol country ; on a second (north-east ?), it was bounded by the Selenga; on a third (north), by the "great river called Angara, which flows on the confines of Ibir-Sibir " (z. e. of Siberia) ; on a fourth side by the teiTitory of the Naimans. This great countiy contained many tmmis and villages, as well as many nomad inhabitants." Dr. Bretschneider's Chinese Traveller speaks of it as a country where good iron was found, where (grey) squirrels abounded, and wheat was cultivated. Other notices quoted by him show that it lay to the S.E. of the Kirghiz country, and had its name from the Kien or Ken R., 2. e. the Upper Yenisei. The name (Kienkien), the general direction, the existence of good iron ("steel and ondanique"), the many towns and villages in a position where we should little look for such an indication, all point to the identity of this region with the Chingintalas of our text. The only alteration called for in the Itinerary Map (No. IV.) would be to spell the name Kinkin, or Ghinghin (as it is in the Geographic Text), and to shift it a very little further to the north. App. l. supplementary notes. 539 7. — The Site of Karakorum (Vol. i. p. 229). In the Geographical Magazine for July, 1874 (p. 137), I have been enabled, by the kind aid of Madame Fedtchenko in supplying a translation from the Russian, to give some account of Mr. Paderin's visit to the place, in the summer of 1873, along with a sketch-map. The site visited by Mr. Paderin is shown, by the particulars stated in that paper, to be sufficiently identified with Karakorum. It is precisely that which Remusat indicated, and which bears in the Jesuit maps, as published by D'Anville, the name of Talarho Hara Palhassoun (i. e. Kard Balghasun), standing 4 or 5 miles from the left bank of the Orkhon, in lat. (by the Jesuit Tables) 47° 32' 24". It is now known as Kara-kharara (Rampart), or Kara Balghasun (city). The remains consist of a quadrangular rampart of mud and sun-dried brick, of about 500 paces to the side, and now about 9 feet high, with traces of a higher tower, and of an inner rampart parallel to the other. But these remains probably appertain to the city as re-occupied by the descendants of the Yuen in the end of the 14th century, after their expulsion from China. 8.— Prester John (Vol. i. p. 229). Reference is there made in a footnote to a new theory regarding the original Prester John, propounded by Professor Bruun in a Russian work entitled "The Migrations of Prester John." The author has been good enough to send me large extracts of this essay in (French) translation ; and I will endeavour to set forth the main points as well as the small space that can now be given to the matter will admit. Some remarks and notes shall be added, but I am not in a position to do justice to Prof Bruun's views, from the want of access to some of his most important authorities, such as Brosset's History of Georgia and its appendices. It will be well, before going further, to give the essential parts of the passage in the History of Bishop Otto of Freisingen (referred to in vol. i. p. 229), which contains the first allusion to a personage styled Prester John ; "We saw also there [at Rome in 1145] the afore-mentioned Bishop of Gabala, from Syria .... We heard him bewailing with tears the peril of the Church beyond-sea since the capture of Edessa, and uttering his intention on that account to cross the Alps and seek aid from the King of the Romans and the King of the Franks. He was also telling us how, not many years before, one John, King and Priest, who dwells in the extreme Orient beyond Persia and Armenia, and is (with his people) a Christian, but a Nestorian, had waged war against the brother Kings of the Persians and Medes who are called the Samiards, and had captured Ecbatana, of which we have spoken above, the seat of their dominion. The said Kings having met him with their forces made up of Persians, Medes, and Assyrians, the battle had been maintained for 3 days, either side preferring death to flight. But at last Pkesbyter John (for so they are wont to style him), having routed the Persians, came forth the victor from a most sanguinary battle. After this victory (he went on to say) the aforesaid John was advancing to fight in aid of the Church at Jerusalem ; but when he arrived at the Tigris, and found there no possible means of transport for his army, he turned northward, as he had heard that the river in that quarter was frozen over in winter-time. Halting there for some years * in expectation of a frost, which never came, owing to the mildness of the season, he lost many of his people through the unaccustomed climate, and was obliged to return homewards. This personage is said to be of the ancient race of those Magi who are mentioned in the Gospel, and to rule the same nations that they did, and to have such glory and wealth that he uses (they say) only an emerald * Sic : per aliquot annos, but an evident error. 540 MARCO POLO. App. L. sceptre. It was (they say) from his being fired by the example of his fathers, who came to adore Christ in the cradle, that he was proposing to go to Jerusalem, when he was prevented by the cause already alleged." Professor Bruun will not accept Oppert's explanation, which identifies this King and Priest with the Gur-Khan of Karacathay, for whose profession of Christianity there is indeed (as has been indicated, I. 230) no real evidence ; who could not be said to have made an attack upon any pair of brother Kings of the Per- sians and the Medes, nor to have captured Ecbatana (a city, whatever its identity, of Media) ; who could never have had any intention of coming to Jerusalem ; and whose geographical position in no way suggested the mention of Armenia. Professor Bruun thinks he finds a warrior much better answering to the indica- tions in the Georgian prince John Orbelian, the general-in-chief under several successive Kings of Georgia in that age. At the time when the Gur-Khan defeated Sanjar the real brothers of the latter had been long dead ; Sanjar had withdrawn from interference with the affairs of Western Persia ; and Hamadan (if this is to be regarded as Ecbatana) was no residence of his. But it was the residence of Sanjar's nephew Mas'iid, in whose hands was now the dominion of Western Persia ; whilst Mas'iid's nephew, D£ud, held Media, i. e. Adherbeijan, Arran, and Armenia. It is in these two princes that Prof. Bruun sees the Samiardi fratres of the German chronicler. Again the expression ' ' extreme orient " is to be interpreted by local usage. And with the people of Little Armenia, through whom probably such intelligence reached the Bishop of Gabala, the expression the East signified specifically Great Armenia (which was then a part of the kingdom of Georgia and Abkhasia), as Dulaurier has stated.* It is true that the Georgians were not really Nestorians, but followers of the Greek Church. It was the fact however that in general the Armenians, whom the Greeks accused of following the Jacobite errors, retorted upon members of the Greek Church with the reproach of the opposite heresy of Nestorianism. And the attribution of Nestorianism to a Georgian Prince is, like the expression '^extreme East" an indication of the Armenian channel through which the story came. The intention to march to the aid of the Christians in Palestine is more like the act of a Georgian General than that of a Karacathayan Khan ; and there are in the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem several indications of the proposal at least of Georgian assistance. The personage in question is said to have come from the country of the Magi, from whom he was descended. But these have frequently been supposed to come from Great Armenia. E.g. Friar Jordanus says they came from Moghan.t The name Ecbatana has been so variously applied that it was likely to lead to ambiguities. But it so happens that, in a previous passage of his History, Bishop Otto of Freisingen, in rehearsing some oriental information gathered apparently from the same Bishop of Gabala, has shown what was the place that he had been taught to identify with Ecbatana, viz. the old Armenian city of Ani.J; Now this * J. As. ser. v. torn. xi. 449. t The Great Plain on the Lower Araxes and Cyrus. The word Moghan=Arrt.^'; and Abulfeda quotes this as the etymology of the name {Reinaudlisdtdr. — Y, f Continuaiia Ann. Admuiensmin, in Pertz, Scriptores, IX. 580. J E. g. ii. 42. 54^ MARCO POLO. App. L. standard looo warriors mustered. As the custom was for the King's flag to be white and the pennon over it red, it was ruled that the Orpelian flag should be red and the pennon white. ... At banquets they alone had the right to couches whilst other princes had cushions only. Their food was served on silver ; and to them it belonged to crown the kings." * Orpel Ivane, i. e. John Orbelian, Grand Sbasalar, was for years the pride of Georgia and the hammer of the Turks. In 1123-24 he wrested from them Tiflis and the whole country up to the Araxes, including Ani as we have said. His King David the Restorer bestowed on him large additional domains from the new conquests ; and the like brilliant service and career of conquest was continued under David's sons and successors Deme- trius and George ; his later achievements, however, and some of the most brilliant, occurring after the date of the Bishop of Gabala's visit to Rome. But still we hear of no actual conflict with the chief princes of the Seljukian house, and of no event in his history so important as to account for his being made to play the part of Presbyter Johannes in the story of the Bishop of Gabala. Pro- fessor Bruun's most forcible observation in reference to this rather serious diiificulty is that the historians have transmitted to us extremely little detail con- cerning the reign of Demetrius II., and do not even agree as to its duration. Carebat vate sacro : "It was," says Brosset, "long and glorious, but it lacked a commemorator." If new facts can be alleged, the identity may still be proved. But meantime the conquests of the Gur-Khan and his defeat of Sanjar, just at a time which suits the story, are indubitable, and this great advantage Oppert's thesis retains. As regards the claim to the title of Presbyter nothing worth mentioning is alleged on either side. Leaving this part of an entangled subject, a few words remain to be said upon another branch of it ; viz., with reference to Polo's story of Prester John and the Golden King (vol. ii. pp. 12 seqq.). 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, 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. 231) ; 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 1 168, 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.' " t 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 * St. Martin, Mem. sur rArmSnie, II. 77. f See also Oppert (p. 157), who cites this story from Visdelou, but does not notice its analogy to Polo's. app. l. supplementary notes. 543 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 tlie 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 ! 9. — The Milk Libation of Kublai Kaan (Vol. i. p. 291). The following passage occurs in the narrative of the Journey of Chang-te-hui, a Chinese Teacher, who was summoned to visit the camp of Kublai in Mongolia, some twelve years before that Prince ascended the throne of the Kaans :* "On the 9th day of the 9th Moon (October), the Prince, having called his subjects before his chief tent, performed the libation of the milk of a white mare. This was the customary sacrifice at that time. The vessels used were made of birch-bark, not ornamented with either silver or gold. Such here is the respect for simplicity ..... ' ' At the last day of the year the Mongols suddenly changed their camping- ground to another place, for the mutual congratulation on the first moon. Then there was every day feasting before the tents for the lower ranks. Beginning with the Prince, all dressed themselves in white fur clothing ■!■ "On the 9th day of the 4th Moon (May) the Prince again collected his vassals before the chief tent for the libation of the milk of a white mare. This sacrifice is performed twice a year." It wiU be seen by reference to vol. i. p. 300, that Rubruquis also names the 9th day of the May moon as that of the consecration of the white mares. The autumn libation is described by Polo as performed on the 28th day of the August moon ; probably because it was unsuited to the circumstances of the Court at Cambaluc, where the Kaan was during October, and the day named was the last of his annual stay in the Mongolian uplands. lo.— The Burgut, or Sporting Eagle (Vol. i. pp. 384-386). In justice both to Marco Polo and to Mr. Atkinson I have pleasure in adding a vivid account of the exploits of this bird, as witnessed by one of my kind correspondents, the Governor-General's late envoy to Kashgar. And I trust Sir Douglas Forsyth will pardon my quoting his own letter % just as it stands : — " Now for a story of the .5«?-^oo^— Atkinson's ' Bearcoote.' I think I told you it was the Golden Eagle, and supposed to attack wolves and even bears. One * This narrative, translated from Chinese into Russian by Father Palladius, and from the Russian into EngHsh by Mr. Eugene Schuyler, Secretary of the U.S. Legation at St. Petersburg, was obligingly sent to me by the latter -gentleman, and will appear in the Geographical Magazine for January, 1875. f See vol. i. p. 376. X Dated Yangi Hissar, 10th April, 1874. Biirgiii is, I find from M. Pavet de Courteille's Dictionary, the correct spelling — not Barhit, as in vol. i. 544 MARCO POLO. APP. L. day we came across a wild hog of enormous size, far bigger than any that gave sport to the Tent Club in Bengal. The Burgoot was immediately let loose, and went straight at the hog, which it kicked, and flapped with its wings, and utterly flabbergasted, whilst our Kashgaree companions attacked him with sticks and brought him to the gi-ound. As Friar Odoric would say, I, T. D. F , have seen this with -mine own eyes." II. — Astronomical Instruments of the Age of Kublai Kaan (Vol. i. p. 435)- Two beautiful photographs are before me of large instruments now standing in the garden of the Observatory of Peking and which are ascribed to the Mongol era. A generalized and incorrect view of these is given at p. 436 of vol. i., and they are also referred to at p. 365-66 of the same volume. At p. 435 it is stated that I abstained from giving an illustration of one of these instruments because doubts had been cast upon the age assigned to them, which demanded inquiry. The result of that inquiry convinces me that those doubts were without any just foundation, and I am glad to close this work with a representation in outline of this instrument, regarding it as a most interesting illustration at once of the Science and the Art of Cambaluc under Kublai. The drawing has been made for publi- cation here with the permission of Mr. Thomson, the author of the photographs ;* and I am indebted yet again to the generous zeal of Mr. Wylie, of Shanghai, for the principal notes and extracts which will, I trust, satisfy others as well as my- self that this instrument belongs to the period of Marco Polo's residence in China; The objections to the alleged age of this and the associated instruments were entirely based on an inspection of these photographs. The opinion was given very strongly that no instrument of the kind, so perfect in theory and in execution, could have been even imagined in those days, and that nothing of such scientific quality could have been made except by the Jesuits. In fact it was asserted or implied that these instruments must have been made about the year 1 700, and were therefore not earlier in age than those which stand on the terraced roof of the Observatory, and are well known to most of us from the representation in Duhalde and in many popular works. The only authority that I could lay hand on, was Lecomte, and what he says was not conclusive. I extract the most pertinent passages : " It was on the terrace of the tower that the Chinese astronomers had set their instruments, and though few in number they occupied the whole area. But Father Verbiest, the Director of the Observatory, considering them useless for astronomical observation, persuaded the Emperor to let them be removed, to make way for several instruments of his own construction. The instruments set aside by the European astronomers are still in a hall adjoining the tower, buried in dust and oblivion ; and we saw them only through a grated window. They appeared to us to be very large and well cast, in form approaching our astronomical circles ; that is all that we could make out. There was however, thrown into a back yard by itself, a celestial globe of bronze, of about 3 feet in diameter. Of this we were able to take a nearer view. Its form was somewhat oval ; the divisions by no means exact, and the whole work coarse enough. "Besides this in a lower hall they had established a gnomon This observatory, not worthy of much consideration for its ancient instruments, much * This one is now published in vol. iv. of his book Illustrations of China and its People, a work which I regret not to have seen. Besides the works quoted in the text I have only been able. to consult Gaubil's notices, as abstracted in Lalande ; and the Introductory Remarks to Mr. J. Williams's Obsen'atioffs 0/ Comets . , . extracted from the Chinese Annals, London, 1871. app. l. supplementary notes. 545 less for its situation, its form, or its construction, is now enriched by several bronze instruments which Father Verbiest has placed there. These are large, well cast, adorned in every case with figures of dragons," &c. He then proceeds to describe them : " (l). Armillary Zodiacal Sphere of 6 feet diameter. This sphere reposes on the heads of four dragons, the bodies of which after various convolutions come to rest upon the extremities of two brazen beams forming a cross, and thus bear the entire weight of the instrument. These dragons .... are represented according to the notion the Chinese form of them, enveloped in clouds, covered above the horns with long hair, with a tufted beard on the lower jaw, flaming eyes, long sharp teeth, the gaping throat ever vomiting a torrent of fire. Four lion-cubs of the same material bear the' ends of the cross beams, and the heads of these are raised or depressed by means of attached screws, according to what is required. The circles are divided on both exterior and interior surface into 360 degrees ; each degree into 60 minutes by transverse lines, and the minutes into sections of 10 seconds each by the sight-edge* applied to them." Of Verbiest's other instruments we need give only the names : (2) Equinoxial Sphere, 6 feet diameter. (3) Azimuthal Horizon, same diam. (4) Great Quadrant, of 6 feet radius. (5) Sextant of about 8 feet radius. (6) Celestial Globe of 6 feet diam. As Lecomte gives no details of the old instruments which he saw through a gi-ating, and as the description of this zodiacal sphere (No. i) corresponds in some of its main features with that represented in the photograph, I could not but recognize the possibility that this instrument of Verbiest's had for some reason or other been removed from the Terrace, and that the photograph might therefore possibly not be a. representation of one of the ancient instruments displaced by him.t The question having been raised it was very desirable to settle it, and I applied to Mr. Wylie for information, as I had received the photographs from him, and knew that he had been Mr. Thomson's companion and helper in the matter. "Let me assure you," he writes (21st Aug. 1874), "the Jesuits had nothing to do with the manufacture of the so-called Mongol instruments ; and whoever made them, they were certainly on the Peking Observatory before Loyola was bom. They are not made for the astronomical system introduced by the Jesuits, but are altogether conformable to the system introduced by Kublai's astronomer Ko-show-King. . . .1 will mention one thing which is quite decisive as to the Jesuits. The circle is divided into 365! degrees, each degree into 100 minutes, and each minute into 100 seconds. The Jesuits always used the sexagesimal division. Lecomte speaks of the imperfection of the division on the Jesuit-made instruments ; but those on the Mongol instruments are immeasurably coarser. ' ' I understand it is not the ornamentation your friend objects to ? J If it is. * Pinnula. The Yr&nf^ pinnule is properly a sight-vane at the end of a traversing bar. The transverse lines imply that minutes were read by the system of our diagonal scales ; and these I understand to have been subdivided still further by aid of a divided edge attached to the sight- vane ; qu. a Vernier ? f Verbiest himself speaks of the displaced instruments thus "ut nova instrumenta astronomica facienda mihi imponeret, quge scilicet more Europeeb affabre facta, et in specula Astrop- tica Pekinensi collocata, seternam Imperii Tartarici memoriam apud posteritatem servarent, priorihus tTtstruweniis Sinicis rudioris Minervtx, qua jam a trecentis proxime annis speculatn occupahant, indi amotis. Imperator statim annuit illorum postulatis, et totius rei curam, publico diplomate mihi imposuit. Ego itaque intra quadriennis spatium sex diversi generis instrumenta confeci." This is from an account of the Observatory written by Verbiest himself, and printed at Peking in 1668 {Liber Organicus Astronomies Europceee apud Sinas RestitutudSinas .... Ami. Nicolao Trigautio)\s o{ LugduK. t.6i6. The first edition was published at August. Viitdelicorum (Augsburg) in 1615 : the French in i6i8. APP. L. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 547 gentlemen did not much trust Father Matteo, fearing, no doubt, lest he should put them to shame ; but when at last they were freed from this apprehension they came and amicably visited the Father in hope of learning something from him. And when he went to return their visit he saw something that really was new and beyond his expectation. "There is a high hill at one side of the city, but still within the walls. On the top of the hill there is an ample terrace, capitally adapted for astronomical observation, and surrounded by magnificent buildings which form the residence of the Professors. . . . On this terrace are to be seen astronomical instruments of cast-metal, well worthy of inspection whether for size or for beauty ; and we certainly have never seen or read of anyihhig in Europe like them. For nearly 250 years they have stood thus exposed to the rain, the snow, and all other atmospheric inclemencies, and yet they have lost absolutely nothing of their original lustre. And lest I should be accused of raising expectations which I do not justify, I will do my best in a digression, probably not unwelcome, to bring them before the eyes of my readers. " The larger of these instruments were four in number. First we inspected a great globe [A], graduated with meridians and parallels ; we estimated that three men would hardly be able to embrace its girth. ... A second instrument was a great sphere [B], not less in diavneter than that measure of the outstretched arms which is commonly called a geometric pace. It had a horizon and poles ; instead of circles it was provided with certain double hoops (armillcB), the void space between the pair serving the purpose of the circles of our spheres. All these were divided into 365 degrees and some odd minutes. There was no globe to repre- sent the earth in the centre, but there was a certain tube, bored like a gun-barrel, which could readily be turned about and fixed to any azimuth or any altitude so as to observe any particular star through the tube, just as we do with our vane- sights ;* — not at all a despicable device ! The third machine was a gnomon [C], the height of which was twice the diameter of the former instrument, erected on a very large and long slab of marble, on the northern side of the terrace. The stone slab had a, channel cut round the margin, to be filled with water in order to determine whether the slab was level or not, and the style was set vertical as in hour-dials.f We may suppose this gnomon to have been erected that by its aid the shadow at the solstices and equinoxes might be precisely noted, for in that view both the slab and the style were graduated. The fourth and last instru- ment, and the largest of all, was one consisting as it were of 3 or 4 huge astrolabes in juxtaposition [D] ; each of them having a diameter of such a geometrical pace as I have specified. The fiducial line, or Alhidada, as it is called, was not lacking, nor yet the Dioptra.X Of these astrolabes, one having a tilted position in the direction of the south represented the equator ; a second, which stood cross- wise on the first, in a north and south plane, the Father took for a meridian ; but it could be turned round on its axis ; a third stood in the meridian plane with its axis perpendicular, and seemed to stand for a vertical circle ; but this also could be turned round so as to show any vertical whatever. Moreover all these were graduated and the degrees marked by prominent studs of iron, so that in the night the graduation could be read by the touch without a light. All this compound astrolabe instrument was erected on a level » "Pinnulis." f Ei stilus eo inado g%to in Jwrologiis ad fierpendiculum collocatus'^ X The Alidada is the traversing index bar which carries the dioptra, pinnules, or sight-vanes. The word is found in some older English Dictionaries, and in France and Italy is still applied to the traversing index of a plane table or of a sextant. Littrd derives it from (Ar.) 'addd, enume- ration ; but it is really from a quite different word, at-'idddat i iJjUafi ) "a door-post," which is found in this sense in an Arabic trcaliie on the Astrolabe (see Dozy and Engelmann, p. 140). 2, N 2 548 MARCO POLO. App. L. marble platform with channels round it for levelling. On each of these instruments explanations of everything v^ere given in Chinese characters ; and there were also engraved the 24 zodiacal constellations which answer to our 12 signs, 2 to each.* There was, however, one error common to all the instruments, viz., that, in all, the elevation of the Pole was assumed to be 36°. Now there can be no question about the fact that the city of Nanking lies in lat. 32i° ; whence it would seem probable that these instruments were made for another locality, and had been erected at Nanking, without reference to its position, by some one ill-versed in mathematical science.f "Some years afterwards Father Matteo saw similar instruments at Peking, or rather the same instruments, so exactly alike were they, insomuch that they had unquestionably been made by the same artist. And indeed it is known that they were cast at the period when the Tartars were dominant in China ; and we may without rashness conjecture that they were the work of some foreigner acquainted with our studies. But it is time to have done with these instruments" (Lib. IV. cap. 5). In this interesting description it will be seen that the Armillary Sphere [B] agrees entirely with that represented in our frontispiece from Mr. Thomson's photograph. And the second of his photographs in my possession, but not, I believe, yet published, answers perfectly to the curious description of the 4th instrument [D]. Indeed, I should scarcely have been able to translate that description intelligibly but for the aid of the photograph before me. It shows the 3 astrolabes or graduated circles with travelling indexes arranged exactly as described, and pivoted on a complex frame of bronze ; (i) circle in the plane of the equator for measuring right ascensions ; (2) circle with its axis vertical to the plane of the last, for measuring declinations ; (3) circle with vertical axis ; for zenith distances ? The Gnomon [A] was seen by Mr. Wylie in one of the lower rooms of the Observatory (see below). Of the Globe we do not now hear ; and that mentioned by Lecomte among the ancient instruments was inferior to what Ricci describes at Peking. I now transcribe Mr. Wylie's translation of an extract from a Popular Description of Peking : "The observatory is on an elevated stage on the city wall, in the south-east corner of the (Tartar) city, and was built in the year (A.D. 1279). In the centre was the Tze-weiX Palace, inside of which were a pair of scrolls, and a cross * This is an error of Ricci's, as Mr. Wylie observes, or of his reporter. The Chinese divide their year into 24 portions of 15 days each. Of these 24 diviiions twelve called Kung mark the twelve places in which the sun and moon come into conjunction, and are thus in some degree analogous to our 12 signs of the Zodiac. The names of these A'M»^are entirely different from those of our signs, though since the 17th century the Western Zodiac, with paraphrased names, has been introduced in some of their books. But besides that, they divide the heavens into 28 stellar spaces. The correspondence of this division to the Hindu system of the 28 Lunar Mansions, called Nakshatras, has given rise to much discussion. The Chinese sieu or stellar spaces are excessively unequal, varying from 24° in equatorial extent down to 24'.— WilliaTns, op. cit. t Mr. Wylie is inclined to distrust the accuracy of this remark, as the only city nearly on the 36th parallel is P'ingyangfu. But we have noted in regard to this (Polo's Pianfu, vol. ii. p. 12) that a college for the educa- tion of Mongol youth was instituted here, by the great minister Yeliuchutsai, whose devotion to astronomy Mr. Wylie has noticed above. In fact two colleges were established by him, one at Yenking, i.e. Peking, the other at P'ingyang ; and astronomy is specified as one of the studies to be pursued at these (see D'Ohsson H. 71-72, quoting de Mailla). It seems highly probable that the two sets of instruments were originally intended for these two institutions, and that one set was carried to Nanking, when the Ming set their capital there in 1368. % The 28 sieu or stellar spaces, above spoken of, do not extend to the Pole ; they are indeed very unequal in extent on the meridian as well as on the equator. And the area in the northern sky not embraced in them is divided into three large spaces called Yuen or enclosures of app. l. supplementary notes. 549 inscription, by the imperial hand. Formerly it contained the Hwan-teen-e [B] 'Armillary Sphere;' the Keen-e [D ?] 'Transit Instrument' (?); the Tung-kew [A] 'Brass Globe;' and \he Leang-ieat-chih, 'Sector,' which were constructed by Ko-show-king under the Yuen Dynasty. "In (1673) the old instruments, having stood the wear of long past years, had become almost useless, and six new instruments were made by imperial authority. These were the Tem-t'e-e ' Celestial Globe ' (6) ; Chih-taou-e ' Equinoctial Sphere' (2); Hwang-taou-e 'Zodiacal Sphere' (i); Te-ping King-e 'Azimuthal Horizon' (3); Te-ping-wei-e 'Altitude Instrument' (4); Ke-yen-e 'Sextant' (5). These were placed in the observatory, and to the present day are respect- fully used. The old instruments were at the same time removed, and deposited at the foot of the stage. In (1715) the Te-ping King-wei-e 'Azimuth and Altitude Instrument' was made;"" and in 1744 the Ke-hang-foo-chin-e fy\1e.xs\!ly 'Sphere and Tube instrument for sweeping the heavens'). AH these were placed on the observatory stage. "There is a wind-index-pole called the 'Fair- wind-pennon,' on which is an iron disk marked out in 28 points, corresponding in number to the 28 constella- tions, "t Mr. Wylie justly observes that the evidence is all in accord, and it leaves, I think, no reasonable room for doubt that the instruments now in the Obser- vatory garden at Peking are those which were cast aside by Father Verbiest in 1668 ; which Father Ricci saw at Peking at the beginning of the century, and of which he has described the duplicates at Nanking ; and which had come down from the time of the Mongols, or, more precisely, of Kublai Khan. Ricci speaks of their age as nearly 250 years in 1599 ; Verbiest as nearly 300 years in 1668. But these estimates evidently point to the ter7mnation of the Mongol Dynasty (1368), to which the Chinese would naturally refer their oral chronology. We have seen that Kublai's reign was the era of flourishing astro- nomy, and that the instruments are referred to his astronomer Kosheu-king ; nor does there seem any ground for questioning this. In fact, it being once established that the instruments existed when the Jesuits entered China, all the objections fall to the ground. We may observe that the number of the ancient instruments mentioned in the popular Chinese account agrees with the number of important instruments described by Ricci, and the titles of three at least out of the four seem to indicate the same instruments. The catalogue of the new instiiiments of 1673 (or 1668) given in the native work also agrees exactly with that given by Lecomte.J And in reference to my question as to the possibility that one of Verbiest's instruments might have been removed from the terrace to the garden, it is now hardly worth while to repeat Mr. Wylie's assurance that there is no ground whatever for such a supposition. The instruments represented by Lecomte are all still on the terrace, only their positions have been somewhat altered to make room for the two added. in last century. Probably, says Mr. Wylie, more might have been added from Chinese works, especially the biography of Ko-sheu-king. But my kind correspondent was unable to travel beyond the books on his own shelves. Nor was it needful. It will have been seen that, beautiful as the art and casting of these instru- which the field of circumpolar stars {or circle of perpetual apparition) forms one which is called Tze- Wei. ( IVilh'ams.) The southern circumpolar stars form a fourth space, beyond the 28 sieu.—Ibid. * " This was obviously made in France. There is nothing Chinese about it, either in con- struction or ornament. It is very different from all the others." {Note by Mr. Wylie.) t ." There follows a minute description of the brass clepsydra, and the brass gnomon, which it is unnecessary to translate. I have seen both these instruments, in two of the lower rooms," — Id. X We have attached letters A, B, C, to indicate the correspondences of the ancient instru- ments, and cyphers i, 2, 3, to indicate the correspondences of the modern instruments. 550 MARCO POLO. App. L. ments is, it would be a mistake to suppose that they are entitled to equally high rank in scientific accuracy. Mr. Wylie mentioned the question that had been started to Freiherr von Gumpach, who was for some years Professor of Astronomy in the Peking College. Whilst entirely rejecting the doubts that had been raised as to the age of the Mongol instruments, he said that he had seen those of Tycho Brahe, and the former are quite unworthy to be compared with Tycho's in scientific accuracy. The doubts expressed have been useful in drawing attention to these remark- able reliques of the era of Kublai's reign, and of Marco Polo's residence in Cathay, though I fear they are answerable for having added some pages to a work that required no enlargement ! 12. — Former Practice of Cremation by the Chinese (Vol. ii. p. ii6). We have noticed the apparent inconsistency of the assertions of this practice, by Polo and other Western travellers of the Mongol era, with the known insti- tutions of the Chinese, both at earlier and later periods ; and though one indirect confirmation is quoted from a Chinese source (p. 117), I had been unable to find in any translated Chinese work a direct recognition of the prevalence of the custom. And I am now 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, Sept. 18th, 1874, sends me the following memorandum on the subject : — " Col. Yule's Marco Polo, ii. 97 [First Edition]. Burning of the Dead. " On this subject compare the article entitled Ifuo Tsang, or ' Cremation Burials,' in book 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 1 7th 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.' " I3-— The Squares in the City of Kinsay (Vol. ii. p. 191, and note). In the note allusion is made to figures in a medieval Chinese work, which per- haps throw some light on the squares spoken of by Marco Polo (p. 184) and alluded to by Wassaf (p. 196). As Mr. Wylie has sent me a tracing of these figures, it is worth while to append them, at least in diagram. App. L. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 55^ No. No. No. 3. t i •M- a b c % X No. I. Plan of a Fangot Square. No. 2. ,, ,, in the South of the Imperial City of Singanfu. No. 3. Arrangement of Two.-Fang Square, with 4 streets and 8 gates. a. The Market Place. li. The Official Establishment. c. Office for regulating Weights. Compare Polo's statement that in each of the squares at Kinsay, where the markets were held, there were two great Palaces facing one another, in which were established the officers who decided differences between merchants, &c. The double lines represent streets, and the J are gates. 14. — Derivation of the Name of Kollam or Quilon. {Coihim of Polo, Vol. ii. p. 365.) On the suggestion ventured in the second footnote, Dr. Caldwell writes : " I fancy K6la, a name for pepper in Sanskrit, may be derived from the name of the country Kdlatn, North Malabar, which is much more celebrated for its pepper than the country about Quilon. This Kdlam, though resembling Kollam, is really a separate word, and never confounded with the latter by the natives. The prince of Kolam (North Malabar) is called Kolastri or Kolatiiri* Compare also Kdlagiri, the name of a hill in the Sanskrit dictionaries, called also KdUa giri. The only possible derivations for the Tamil and Malayalim name of Quilon that I am acquainted with, are these: (l.) From Kolu, the 'Royal Presence' or presence-chamber, or hall of audience. Kollam might naturally be a derivative of this word ; and in confirmation I find that other residences of Malabar kings were also called Kollam, e. g. Kodungalur or Cranganore. (2.) From Kolu, the same word, but with the meaning ' a height ' or ' high ground.' Hence Kollei, a very common word in Tamil for a ' dry grain field, a back -yard.' Kolli is also in the Tamil poets said to be the name of a hill in the Chera country, i. e. the Malabar coast. Kdlam in Tamil has not the meaning of pepper ; it means ' beauty, ' and it is said also to mean the fruit of the jujuba. (3.) It might possibly be derived from Kol, to slay ; — Kollam, slaughter, or a place where some slaughter happened .... in the absence, however, of any tradition to this effect, this derivation of the name seems improbable." 15.— Cape Comorin (Vol. ii. p. 372). Mr. Talboys Wheeler, in his History of India, vol. III. recently published (p. 386), says of this tract : ' ' The region derives its name from a temple which was erected there in honour See II. 376. ^5'2' MARCO POLO. APP. L. of Kumari, ' the Virgin ;' the infant babe who had been exchanged for Krishna, and ascended to heaven at the approach of Kansa." And in a note : "Col. Yule identifies Kumari with Durga. This is an error. The temple of Kumari was erected by Krishna Raja of Narsinga, a zealous patron of the Vaishnavas." Mr. Wheeler quotes Faria y Souza, who refers the object of worship to what is meant for this story (II. 394), but I presume from Mr. Wheeler's mention of the builder of the temple, which does not occur in the Portuguese history, that he has other information. The application of the Virgin title connected with the name of the place may probably have varied with the ages, and, as there is no time to obtain other evidence, I have removed the words which identified the existing temple with that of Durga. But my authority for identifying the object of worship, in whose honour the pilgrims bathe monthly at Cape Comorin, with Durga, is the excellent one of Dr. Caldwell (see his Dravidian Grammar as quoted in the passage). Krishna Raja of whom Mr. Wheeler speaks, reigned after the Portuguese were established in India, but it is not probable that the Krishna stories of that class were even known in the Peninsula (or perhaps any- where else) in the time of the author of the Periplus, 1450 years before ; and 'tis as little likely that the locality owed its name to Yasoda's Infant, as that it owed it to the Madonna in St. Francis Xavier's church that overlooks the Cape. Fra Paolino, in his unsatisfactory way ( Viaggio, p. 68), speaks of Cape Comorin "which the Indians call Canyamuri, Virginis Promontorium, or simply Comari or Cumari 'a Virgin,' because they pretend that anciently the goddess Comari 'the Damsel,' who is the Indian Diana or Hecate, used to bathe" &c. However, we can discover from his book elsewhere (see pp. 79, 285) that by the Indian Diana he means Parvati, i. e. Durga. Lassen at first * identified the Kumari of the Cape with Parvati ; but after- wards connected the name with a story in the Mahabharata about certain Apsa- rases changed into Crocodiles.f On the whole there does not seem sufficient ground to deny that Parvati was the original object of worship at Kumari, though the name may have lent itself to various legends. 16. — The Rue (Vol. ii. p. 410). I have to thank Mr. Arthur Grote for a few words more on that most interest- ing subject — touched on at page 410 — the discovery of a real fossil Rue in New Zealand. He informs me (under date December 4th, 1874) that Professor Owen is now working on the huge bones sent home by Dr. Haast, "and is convinced that they belonged to a bird of prey, probably (as Dr. Haast suggested) a Harrier, dotcble the weight of the Moa, and quite capable therefore of preying on the young of that species. Indeed, he is disposed to attribute the extinction of the Harpa- gornis to that of the Moa, which was the only victim in the country which could supply it with a sufficiency of food." One is tempted to add that if the Moa or Dinornis of New Zealand had its Harfagornis scourge, the still greater Aepyomis of Madagascar may have had a proportionate tyrant, whose bones (and quills ?) time may bring, to light. And the description given by Sir Douglas Forsyth on page 542, of the action of the Golden Eagle of Kashgar in dealing with a wild boar, illustrates how such a bird as our imagined Harpagomis Aepyornithon might master the larger pachy- dermata, even the elephant himself, without having to treat him precisely as the Persian drawing at p. 408 represents. * Iiid. Alt. ist ed. I. 158. t Id. 564 ; and 2nd ed. I. 193. ( SS3 ) INDEX. N.B. — References to Editorial Matter are in ordinary Type. References to the Text of Marco Polo are in heavy type and figures. References expressed in Italic digits are to the Introductory Notices. AAS. ADEN. Aas, Asu (or Alans, q. v.). Abacan, a Tartar general, II. 237, 344. Abah, see Ava. Abaji, son of Kublai, 353. Abaka (Abaga), Khan of Persia, 33, 36, 93, 105 ; II. 463-466, 472-476, 496. Abano, Pietro of, his notice of Polo, 116. Abash (^Hahsh, i. e. Abyssinia, q. v.), 11. 416 ; 431 seqci. Abba Gregory, II. 427. Abbott, Mr. Consul Keith E., 82, 91, 93, 98, 101 seqq.; I14-115 ; 129-13C. Abdul Kuri Islands, II. 396. Mejid, 185. Abher, 38, 82. AhnuSj the word, II. 252. Abraha, Ruler of Yemen, II. 429. Abraiaman (^Brahmins, q. v.), employed as shark-charmers, II. 314, 3 2 1 ; 348 ; high character, 350 ; distinctive thread, ib. ; their king ; their heed to omens, 351 ; lon- gevity ; the word, 35 3. Abubakr, Atabeg of Fars, 87 ; II. 333. , Ibrahim and Mahomed, engineers em- ployed by Kublai, II. 152. Abulfeda, his geography, 4 ; at the Siege of Acre, II. 148. Abyssinia (Abash), II. 421 seqq. ; outrage by Soldan of Aden causes the King of — to attack the latter, 424 ; his vengeance, further particulars regarding, 16. ; domi- nion on the Coast, 430; Medieval Hist, and chronology, ib. ; Table of Reigns, 43 r ; wars with Mahomedan States, 433. Aobalec Manzi, II. 27, 28. , or Acbaluo (Chingtingfu), II. 8, 9-10. Aooambale, K. of Champa, II. 249, 25 r. Acheh, Achem, see next word. Achin, II. 267 ; Gold of, 268 ; Lign-aloes, ib. ; conversion of, 269 ; its great power at one time, 270; elephants at, 271 ; 277; 279; 283, 285; 288 ; 290. Achin Head, II. 283, 289, 290. Achmath (_Ahmad, q. v.) the Bailo, his power, oppressive malversations, death, and posthumous condemnation, 401 seqq. Aoomat Soldau (Ahmad Sultan), seizes throne of Tabriz II. 465-466 ; goes to en- counter Argon, 467 ; rejects his remon- strance, 468 ; defeats and takes him, 469 f but hears of Argon's escape, is taken and put to death, 471 ; Notes on the history, II. 469, 472-473- Acorn bread, 126. Acqui, Friar Jacopo d', his notice of Polo, SZ, 65, 116. Acre ; Broils at, between Venetians and Ge- noese, 40; 17-22; plan of, 18 ; capture by Saracens, II. 148, 434 ; wickedness of, 43 8. Adam, Legend of, Seth, and the Tree of Life, 141. 's Apple, loi. 's Sepulchre on Mountain in Ceylon (Adam's Peak), II. 298; — 's teeth, hair, &c., 301-302 ; the Footmark, 302 seqq. ; the Peak, 298, 304, 310. Adamodana, 59. Adel, perhaps confused with Aden, 11. 428 ; 43°; 436. Aden, Horse and other Trade with India, II. 324, 333, 357, 484, 437; 379, 391 ; 399 ; 407; 422; the Soldan's treatment of a bishop, 423 ; Vengeance of the K. of Abyssinia on him, 424; apparently con- fused with Adel, 428 ; account of the Km. of, 434; 437-438; the Sultan, 434, 436, 439, 441 ; Intercourse and Trade with China, 436, 437; Tanks, 437. 554 ADORATION. INDEX. ANAMIS. Adoration of the Emperor, 378. Adulis, II. 426 ; Inscription of, 429. Aepyornis and its Eggs, II. 409. Aetius, his prescription of musk, 271; of camphor, II. 285. Africa, Sea surrounding, to the South, II. 407. Agassiz, Prof, loi. Agathocles, Coins of, 172. 'Aya^oC Salfwvos, Island, II. 293. Agha Khan Mehelati, the Living Old Man of the Mountain, 153 seqq. Aghrukji, son of Kublai, 353. Aguil, Mongol general, II. 118, 120. Ahmad of Fenaket, Kublai's oppressive Mi- nister, see Aclimatli, and hist, notes, 406-408. Sultan, Khan of Persia, see Acomat. Ahmadi, 116. Aidhab, 11. 435. Aidhej, 86. Aljaruc, Kaidu's daughter, II. 461 ; her strength and prowess, seqq. ; her name, 463 ; the real lady, ib. Ajmir, II. 420. Akbar and Kublai, Parallel of, 340. Ak-bulak salt-mines, 162. Akhaltzike', 59. Akhtuba River, 5,6. Ak-khoja, II. 469. Aktar, 98. Alabastri, II. 426. Alaoou (Hulaku), 241. See Aim. Alamut, Castle of the Ismaelites, 147-154. Alania, II. 491, 492. Alans (or Aas), Massacre of a party of, at Changchau, II. 163 ; note on employment of, under the Mongols, 164. Alaone, the name, 5/t. Alarm Tower at Cambaluc, 362, 365 ; at Kinsay, II. 172. Alau {Hulaku, q. v.). Khan of Persia, 5, 8, 10 ; takes Baghdad, and puts the Khalif to death, 65 ; Longfellow's Poem on the sub- ject, 68 ; makes an end of the Old Man of the Mountain, 15 2 ; IL 475, 492 : his war with Barka, I. 4, II. 495 seqq. Alauddin (Aloadin), the Old Man of the Mountain, 145 seqq.; 153. (Alawating of Mufali), an engineer in Kublai's service, II. 152. Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, IL 146, 153; 316; 389; 391. Albenigaras, II. 349. Al Biruni, 107, 183. Alchemy, the Khan's, 409. Alexander the Great, allusions to the Legendary History of, and Romances regard- ing, 110 seqq. ; 14, 52 ; 131, 133-138 ; 158, 159; 165, ifi6; IL 304,485. Alexander the Great, Extract from French prose romance of, 134, 138. builds the Iron-gate, 62 ; site of battle with Darius, 131, 143 ; kills a lion, 160. Wall of, 55 ; II. 537 ; Princes claiming descent from, I. 165, 168 ; fixes chains on Adam's Peak, II, 304 ; said to have colo- nized Socotra, 40 r ; tower of, on the bor- ders of Darkness, 485. Alexandria, 9; II. 217; trade to, from India, 379, 434. Alhiiide, Alfinde, Al-hint, 94. 'All and 'Aliites, 146. Alidada, II. 547. Allhaiya, general of Kublai's, II. 152. Alinak, II. 472-473. Alligator, described, and mode of killing, II. 45; eaten, 47, 49; prophecy about, at Bhartpur, IL 112. Almalik, II. 460. Almanacs, Chinese, 433, 435. Almonds, 160, 162. Aloes, Socotrine, IL 401. wood, the name,II. 252. See Lign-ahes. ' Alor,' the war-cry, il. Al-Ramni, Al-Ramin (Sumatra), II. 270, 283. Altai Mountains, 217. (Altay), the mountain where the Kaans were buried, 241, 261 ; what mountain intended, 242. used for the Khingan Range, 243, 297. Altun Khan (mountain), 242. (Sovereign), II. 10. AI-Thaibi, Family of, 125 ; IL 316. Amazons, II. 397. Amber-rosolli (?), 118. Ambergris, II. 291; 396, 398; how got, 399, 400 ; 404, 416, 418. Amda Zion, K. of Abyssinia, his wars against the Mahomedans, II. 430 seqq. ; not the K. mentioned by Polo, 431, 432. Ameri, kind of Brazil wood so called, II. 283,368. Amhara, IL 431, 433. Amien (Burma), IL 71, 72, 74, same as Mien, q. v. Amita Buddha, 441, 442. Amoy; Harbour, IL 222, 223; 225 ;— lan- guage, 227. Amphora, An/ora, IL 409. Amu, Aniu, see Anin. Amuki,oT Devoted Comrades of the King, II. 3 3 r. Anamis, R., 118. ANANDA. INDEX. ARMENIA. sss Ananda, a grandson of Kublai^ II. 25. Anarauhta, K. of Burma, II. 64, 312. Ancestor Worship, II. 70, 78. Anchors, Wooden, II. 374, 378. AndaiTie^ Andena, Andanicum^ kind of iron, see Ondanique. Andaman Islands, II. 291 ; Natives, 292, 293-294. See Angamanain. Andragiri, II. 284. Andrea Bianco's Maps, 139. Andreas, K. of Abyssinia, II. 431, 432. Andrew, Bishop of Zayton, II. 220. Andromeda ovalifolia, poisonous, 220. Andun, Andan, words for steel, 95. Angamanain (Andaman Islands), II. 289 ; described, 292 ; form of the word, *. ; 295. Angan or Hanjam, 118. Angelic French, 88. 'Angka (Gryphon), II. 408, 409, 412. Ani in Armenia, II. 540. Animal Patterns, see Beast, Anin, Province of, described, II. 101-103, 104; 105, III, 112, 113 ; 248. Annals of the Indo-Chinese States, Remarks on the Written, II. 88. 'An-nan, or Tongking, II. 103, 248. Antarctic, Star at the, as drawn by Marco Polo, 116. Anthropoides Virgo, 288. Antillia Island, II. 543. Antongil Bay, Madagascar, II. 407. Apostoille (for ' Pope '), 12. Apples of Paradise, 99, loi ; II. 352. Apricots, II. 192. 'Apuhota (Kapukada?), II. 368. Apusca (Apushka), Tartar Envoy from Per- sia, 32, 33. Arab Geography, Jf^7. . Seamen's Traditions about Java, II. 255. colonies in Madagascar, II. 407. Horses, early literary recognition of, II. 334 ; trade in, see Horses. Merchants in S. India, II. 364. Arabi, People called, (Arabs), 61. Arabia, see Vol. II. pp. 434-449. Arabic character, 30. Arababni, II. 433. Araohosia, Arachoti, II. 311, 393. ' Araines,' the word, II. 469, 460. Arakan, II., 83 ; 267; 272; 281. 'Aram' (Eardrnt), the word, 145, 147. Ai'arat, 47; ascents of, 51. Arblasts, II. 64; 143, and see Crossbows. Arbre Sol or Arbre Sec, Eegion of the, (Khorasan), 38, 84, 131; II. 464, 472, 474; Note on the subject, I. 132 seqq. Arbre Sol described, 131 ; the Chinar; va- rious readings, 132 ; the Tree of the Sun Legend (^Arbre Sol), 133-135 ; the Chris- tian Legend of the Dry Tree (^Arhre Sec), 136 ; engrafted in the Legends of Alex- ander, 137; Trees of Grace in Persia, 140; Dry Trees in Mahoraedan Legend, 141 ; in Rabbinical and Buddhist stories, and in the Legends of the Wood of the Cross, 141- 142 ; Polo's Arbre to be sought near Damghan, 143 ; the Chinar, and Sabaean Apologue regarding it, 143 ; possible clue to Polo's geographical use of the term, 155. Arhre See, 110. Seul (a wrong reading), 132, 145. ArcaU, Arculin, see Erculln. Archbishop of Socotra, II. 396, 398, 399, 401. ■ , Great, of Baudas, II. 399. See Patriarchs, Gatholicos, Sees. Architectural Remains in Indo-China, 12. Areca, II. 362. Areng Saccharifera, II. 279. Argaens, Mount, 47. Argali, II. 483. Arghun Khan (Argon, Lord of the Levant, of Polo), of Persia, «i-2S ; sends an em- bassy to the great Kaan for a wife, 32, 33 ; is dead when she arrives, 35, 36 ; 38 ; 102 ; II. 42 ; his unhappy use of the Elixir Vitae, 356; 464-465; advances against his uncle Ahmad, 466 ; harangues his chiefs, 467 ; sends Ahmad a remon- strance ; is taken prisoner, 468 ; released by certain chiefs, 471 ; gets the sove- reignty, 471 ; and puts Ahmad to death ; is recognized as sovereign, 472 ; his death, ib. Notes on these events, 466, 469, 472, 474, 475 ; his beauty, 477 ; 480. Argons or Half-breeds (Arghtin), 103 ; 275, 279 seqq. Aril, Ariana, II. 393. Arikbuga, brother of Kublai, 326. Arimaspia, II. 411. Arimaspian gold, 412. Ariora Keshimur, 87; 100, 106 ; meaning of Ariora, 106. Aripo, II. 318, 321. Arjish (Arzizi), 50. Arkasun Noian, 11. 473. Arkhaiun, applied to Oriental Christians or their clergy, 280, Armenia (Hermenia) Lesser (or Cilician), 10; invaded by Bundukdar, 22, 23, 24; characterized, 43, 44; II. 540. the Greater, 47, 100 ; II. 540 seqq. ss^ ARMENIANS. INDEX. BAHREIN. Annenians, 45, 47, 76. Aurangzib, 178. Armenian Cliristians, 280. Aurora, striking description of, 8. Armillary Spliere, Ancient, 435; II. 547; Aussa, II. 430. Jesuit — , 545. Ava (Avah or Abah), one of the cities of the Arms of Kerman celebrated, 92, 96. Magi, 81, 82, 84. of the Tartars, 252, 255 ; II. 458. 'Avarian,' epithet of St. Thomas, II. 339; Arrow Divination, 238. explained, 341. Arrows, Tartar, II. 458. Avicenna's classification of Iron, 95 . Artacki, 273. ' Avigi,' the word, 52, 58. Arts, the Seven, 13, 14. Axum ; Inscription, II. 426 ; Church of, 428 ; Aru (in Sumatra), II. 286. Court of, 429. Arucki, 273. Ayas (Layas, Aiazzo, Giazza, &c., a port of Aruls:, 11. 473. Cilician Armenia), 18 ; sea-fight at, 41, 45, Arulun-Tsaghan-Balghasun, 287, 297. M; 16,17,20,23,24; 43,45- Arya Chakravarti, II. 298. Ayuthia, II. 259, 260. Aryavartta, 106. Azumiti, II. 426. Arzinga (Erzingan), 47, 48. Azure (Ultramarine); Mines in Badakhshan, Arziron (Erzrum), 47, 50. 166, 1 70 ; Mines in Tenduc, 275, 279 ; ore Arzizi (Arjisli), 47, 50. of, 357, 359- Asbestos and tlie Salamander, 217, 218. Asceticism of the Sensin, 294 ; of the B. Jogis, II. 352. Asciar, see Ashar. Baba Buzurg, worshipped by the Lurs, 86. Asedin Soldan (Ghaiassuddin), an Indian Baboons, etym. of the word, II. 372 ; 425. Prince, 100, 107. Babylon, Babylonia (Cairo or Egypt), 22, Ashar, King of Cail, II. 357; Note on, 361. 24 ; II. 208, 212 ; Sultan of, 22, 434, 435, Ashishin (Assassins), 146, 148. 471; 540,541- Asikan, Mongol general, II. 242, 244. Babylonish garments, 67. Asoka, II. 310. Baccadeo. Indigo, 11. 371. Asper. II. 17, 18. Baccanor, II. 375. Assassins, see Ism-ielites. Bacon, Roger, as Geographer, 111, im. Asses, Fine, in Persia, 85, 88. Bacsi (Bakhshi), i.e. Lamas, 292, 293, 305 ; , Wild, in Persia, 90, 91; 127, 227; various changes of meaning, 306, 307, in Mongolia, 226, 227 ; 384 ; in Madagas- 399, 432. car, II. 405, 414 ; in Abyssinia, 425 ; in Badakhshan (Badashan), 100, 106 ; People Far North, 479, 481. of, 162, 168 ; Mirs of, 164, 165, 163 ; 180, Astrolabe, 432 ; II. 547. 181, 183; Capitals, 164; described, 165; Astrology, Astrologers, in Tangut, 208; Kings of, claim descent from Alexander, of Chinghiz, 237 ; at the Kaan's Court, 165, 168; dialects, 168; scenery, 167, 292, 377 ; at Cambaluc, 432 ; at Kinsay, II. 171 ; depopalation of, 165, 172 ; Forms of 174, 185 ; inMaabar, 328 ; in Coilum, 364. the Name, 169; 177; Kiver of, (Upper Astronomical Instruments, Ancient Chinese, Oxus), 180. 366, 435 ; II. 544 seqq. Badaun, II. 421. Atabegs, of Lur, 86; of Fars, 87, 125 ; II. Badger, Eev. Dr. G. P., 66 ; II. 441. 285 ; of Yezd, I. 90; of Kerman, 93. Badghis, 157- IL 465. Atkinson's Narratives and their credibility. Badgir, or Wind-catchers, II. 450, 45 i. 216, 217, II. 543- Badruddin Lulu of Mosul, 62. Atlas, Chinese, in Magliab. Library, II. 176. Bafk, 91. 'ATTa7as (the Black Partridge?), 10 r. Baft, 114. Auberoche, Siege of, II. 145, 149. Baghdad (Baudas q. v.), 64 seqq. Audh (Oudh), II. 421. Indigo o{ (Baccadeo), II. 371. Aufat, Ifal, II. 430, 433. Bagratidae, of Armenia, 44 ; of Georgia, 54. Augury, see Omens. Bahar, II. 421. Aung Khan (Uno Can, the Prester John Baharak, Plain of, 164. of Polo, q. v.), 227, 231, 232 ; 276, 278, Bahduddin Ayaz, 124, 125. 279; Chinghiz's victory over, 399 ; 11. 14. Bahrein, II. 333. BAIBERDON. INDEX. BAUDEKINS. 557 Baiberdon (Baiburt), 50. Baidu, II. 474 ; seizes the throne of Persia, 474 ; displaced and put to death by Ghazan, 475 ; alleged to be a Christian, 474, 476. Bailo, the title, 402 ; etym. of, 407. Baku ; Naphtha of, 48, 5 1 ; Sea of, (Caspian), 60, 61. Bakhtiy^ris of Luristan, 89. Bala-Sagun, 230. Balad-ul-Falfal (Malabar), II. 365. Balcai, The Word, II. 370. Balalaika, a Tartar Instrument? 381. Baldnjanyah, or Devoted Lieges, II. 331. Balas Rubies, 165, 169 ; II. 349. Bale (Balkh), 158. Baldac, see Baudas. Baldacohini, Brocades made at Baldac or Baghdad, 67. Baldwin de Courtenay, Emp. of Constan- tinople, 2. Bali, Island of, II. 267. (in Abyssinia), 11. 433. Balios, 407. Balish (a money of account), II. 202. jBateia, medievally always a crossbow,lI.i43. Balkhash, Lake, II. 45 7. Ballads, Genoese, on sea-fights at Ayas and Curzola, Ul seqq. Ballard, Mr., II. 371, 375. Balor, Balaur, Bilaur, Malaur, see Bolor. Balsamodendron Mukul, 11. 387, 388. Balti, 168, 187. Balustrade, etym. of the word, 36. Bamboos ; Multifarious uses of, 298 ; Jungle of, on fire, II. 38 ; largest size of, ib. ; in Chekiang, 205, and see Canes. Bamian, Caves at, 164; enormous recumbent image at, 223. Bam-i-dunyah, 184. Bamm, ti6. Bamo, and River of — , II. 87, 89, 90, 93. Bander-Abbasi, 114, 115, 117, 123. Bangala, see Bengal. Baptism accompanied by branding in Abys- sinia, II. 421, 427. Bara, II. 288. Barac {Borrak q. v.) Khan of Chagatai, 10. 10 ; his war with Arghun, II. 465. Barberino, Francesco da, 34: mentions Ca- thay, lU; J 2 1. Bardesir, 115. Bargu, Plain of, 261. Barguerlac, Bird called (Syrrhaptes Pallasii), 262, 264. Barguchin Tugrum, 263. Barguzinsk, ib. Barin, Mongol Tribe, II. 131. Bark, Fine cloths from, II. 108. Barka Ehan (Barca), Ruler of Kipchak, 4, 5 ; II. 418 ; 491 seqq.; his war with Hu- laku, I. 4, 105 ; II. 495 seqq. Barkul, 336. Barkut, properly Burgut, Eagle trained to the chase, 384, 386 ; II. 543. Barlaam and Josaphat, Story of Saints, bor- rowed from Legend of Buddha. II. 305 seqq. Barley, Huskless, 166, 171. Baroch, II. 353. Baron-tala, name applied to Tibet, 216. Barozzi, Dr. Nicolo, «, 68. Barskul (Barsool), 335, 336. Barsauma (St. Brass amo), 78. Barus, Barros, in Sumatra, and its Camphor, IL 285, 287, 288. Barussae Insulae, II. 293. Barygaza, II. 387, 400. Bashai (Pashai), 174. Bashpah Lama and the Mongol character called after him, 29, 344; II. 38. Basma (Pasei, q. v.), Km. of Sumatra, II. 265,266, 270,274, 288. Basmuls, 282. See Guasmuls. Baspa, see Bashpah. Basra (Bascra or Bastra), 64, 66. Bathang, IL 37,39,48,55,5 7- Baths ; Natural Hot, near Hormuz, 113, 126 ; Hot, in Cathay, 428 ; Public, at Kinsay, IL 173, i8r. Batigala, Batticala, II. 420, 440. Batochina, II. 2 84. Bats, Large, in India, II. 328. Battas of Sumatra and their cannibalism, II. 269; 280, 28X. Batthala (Patlam in Ceylon; Bettelar), II. 32r. Battles described; Kublai's with Nayan, 329, and note, 333; Tartars and the King of Mien, II. 85 ; Kaidu and the Kaan's Forces, 469 ; Borrak and Arghun (details omitted), 465 ; Arghun and Ahmad (do.), 468 ; Hulaku and Barka (do.), 497 ; Toktai and Noghai (do.), 501. Remarks on the authorship of these passages at p. 110. Batu, Khan of Kipchak, surnamed Sain or Good, 10 ; Founder of Sarai, 5 ; 241, 242 ; his invasion of Russia, II. 491, 493 ; made into two Kings (Sain and Patu) by Polo, 491 ; character and cruelty, 493. Baudas (Baghdad), 62 ; described, 64 ; taken by Alau (Hulaku), 66 ; Calif of, and the Miracle of the Mountain, 70 seqq. Baudekins, see Baldacchini. 558 BAUDUIN DE SEBOURG. INDEX. BODHISATVA. Bauduin de Sebourg, the Romance of, and its borrowings from Polo, 118 seqq. ; 147 ; 150 ; 196; 218. Bavaria, Duke Ernest of, a Medieval Ro- mance, II. 411. Bawarij Corsairs, II. 403. Bayan Chingsian, a great Mongol Captain under Kublai; 11; 326; 353; II. 120; prophecy connected with his name, 128 seqq.^ l^i't his conquest of Manzi or S. China, 129, 132-133 ; note on his history and character, 131 ; his exceptional cruelty at Changchau, 163, 164-165, 191; 460. Bayan, one of the Kaan's Masters of the Hounds, 386, 387. , son of Nasruddin, II. 87. Khagan of the Avars, II. 131. Bdellium, II, 387, 388. Beads, Hindu, II. 322, 330. Bearcoote, see BarJtut. Bears, 383, 384, 387 ; II. 25, 30, 34, 63 ; 371, 404, 425 ; white, in far Nortli, 479, 481. Beast and Bird Patterns on silks, &c., 65, 67; 92; 97-98; 385; II. 4r8. 'Beaten Gold,' 374, 37;. Beauty of Georgians, 62, 55 ; of women of Khorasan, 131 ; of women of Kashmir,176 ; of women of Sinju, 267 ; of the half-breeds or Argons, 275 ; of the tribe of TJngrat (Kunguraf), 348 ; of people of Coloman, II. 105 ; of the women of Kinsay, 170 ; of Kaidu's Daughter, 461 ; of Arghun Khan, 477 ; ,of the Russians, 487. Beds, arrangement of, in India, II. 329, 338. Beef not eaten in Maabar, II. 325, except by the G-ovi, ib., 334; anciently eaten in India, 335. Bejas of Red Sea Coast, II. 419, 426, 429. ' Belie ' for ' Melic,' II. 469. Bell, Great, at Cambaluc, 363, 365 ; 399. Belial Rajas, II. 3^:4. Belledi (or Balladt); Ginger, so called, II. 3 70 ; Spanish use of the word, ib. Bendooquedar, see Bibars Bundukddri. Benedict XII., Pope, II. 164. Bengal (Bangala), i2 ; the King of Mien (Burma) and ■ — , II. 81 ; how Polo came to unite these titles ; relations between medieval Burma and — ; modern claim preferred by K. of Burma, 82, 83 ; de- scribed, 97 ; alleged Mongol invasion of, a mistate, 98 ; 101, 105 ; confounded by Polo with Pegu, ill ; 114. Benjamin of Tudela on the Gryphon, II. 410. Benzoin, etym. of, II. 266 ; 386. Berard, Thomas, Master of the Temple, 25. Berbera, Sea of, II. 407. Berchet, Cavaliere G., 25 ; II. 507 seqq. Bern MS. of Polo's Book, 67, 89, 9S. Berrie, meaning and etym., 233. Bettelar, rendezvous of Pearl Fishers, II. 314, 321. Beyamini, Wild Oxen called, II. 41 ; 44. Bezants, 314 ; 391 ; 410, 411, 413, 430 ; II. 33 ; 170; Value of, 535. Bhagavata! II. 330. Bhartpiir, Prophecy regarding, II. 132. Bianconi, Prof., on the Text of Polo, 87, 97. Biar, II. 288. Bibars Bundukdari (Bendocquedar), Mam- luk Sultan of Egypt ; invades Cilician Ar- menia, 22, 23; his character, 24; extra- ordinary Letter of, 25; 151; killed by Kumiz, 251 ; II. 418 ; 428 ; 431; 496. Bielo Osero, II. 486. 'Bigoncio,' 371. Biliichis, 103 ; their robber raids, 109; Lumri, 117. Binh-Thuan (Champa), II. 250. Binkin, II. 212. Bintang (Pentam), II. 261. Birch-bark Books, 159; vessels, II. 543. Bird-hunts; Siberian, 261, 264. Bir-dhiil or Biyardawul, capital of Ma'bar, 11.319- Bir-Pandi or Pira-Bandi, II. 316, 317. Birdwood, Dr. G., II. 387, 443 seqq. Birhors of Chata Nagpiir, II. 281. Birthday of the Great Kaan, its celebra- tion, 373. Bishbalik, 216, 426. Bishop ; of Male Island, II. 396 ; story of an Abyssinian, 422 seqq. Bitter Bread, 113, 126. Water, 113, 126, 200, 20 r, 203. Blac, Blachia (Lac, Wallach), II. 490. Black Crane, 286, 288. Sect in Tibet, 317. Saints, "White Devils in India, II. 341, 345-6. Blacker the more beautiful, II. 341. Blochmann, Mr. H., 117; II. 538. Block- Books ; supposed to have been intro- duced from China, 132 seqq. Printing in Persia, 416. Blood-sucking, Tartar, 254, 256, 257. ' Blous, Bloies,' the words, 320. Boar's Tusks, Huge (Hippopotamus), II. 405, 415- Boccassini, the word, 64. Bodhisatva Avalokitefvara, II. 247. BODLEIAN. INDEX. BUCKRAMS. 559 Bodleian MS. of Polo, 17, 89, M; List of Miniatures in, II. 520. Boeach, *■- mistake for Locac, and its sup- posed position, II. 261. Boemond, Prince of Antioch, Letter of Bibars to, 25. Boga (Buka ), a great Mongol officer, delivers Arghun, II. 47O-473. Bohea Country, 11. 206-212. Bohra, Sect of W. India, 154. Boikoff, Russian Envoy, 220. Bokhara (Booara), 9, 10; II. 456. Bolgana, Queen, see Bulughan. Bolghar (Bolgara) on the Wolga, 4, S ; ac- count of, 6; Ruins of, 7; Court of, 371; II. 482, 485, 486, 494- Bolghar, Borgal, i. e. Russia Leather, 7 ; 381, 382. Bolivar, Padre, S. J., his account of the Con- dor (Bitkli) of Africa, II. 413. Bolor, iSi, 182, 187-188. Bombay, II. 386, 387. Bonga, II. 78. Boniface VIII., la, SO, 5S. Bonoccio di Mestre, 66, 66. Bonpos, Old Tibetan Sect, 306, 314, 315- 319. Boniis (Ebony), II. 250. Book of Marco Polo ; its contents, 78 ; ori- ginal language French, 79 ; oldest Italian MS. ib. ; " Geographic Text " in rude French, its peculiarities and indications of originality, 80 seqq. ; Various Types of Text— (1) The "Geographic," 88; (2) Pauthier's MSS. 89; (3) Pipino's Latin, 9S; Grynaeus's Latin, 9S; Miiller's re- print, 9U; (4) Ramnsio's Italian edition, and its peculiarities, 9lt-99 ; probable truth about it, 98 ; Bases of it, 99 ; discovery of a MS. with some of its peculiarities, 100 ; General View of the relation of the Texts, 99 ; Notice of an old Irish version, 100 ; Tabular View of the Filiation of the Chief MSS. and editions, II. 521; Geographical data in the Book, 106 ; how far it is in- fluenced in form by Rustician, 109 ; per- haps in descriptions of Battles, 110 ; Esti- mate of diflusion and number of MSS., lis ; Bases of present version, 1S5 seqq. Bore in Hangchau Estuary, II. igr. Borgal, see Bolghar. Born, Bertram de, Ul. Borneo, Tailed Men in, II. 284. Camphor, see Camphor. Borubodor, IS. Borrak (Barac), Khan of Chagatai, 10 ; 105 ; II. 456, 465, 466. Borrak, Amir, Prince of Kerman, 93. Bostam, 141-143. Bobwellia thurifera, II. 387, 444, 446; — serrata, 444 ; — Garterii, — Bhaudajiana, — papyrifera, — Frereana, 446. glabra, IL 38?. Bouqueran, see Buckram. Boxwood Forests in Georgia, 52, 58. ' Bozzi,' the word, 214. ' Bra,' the word, W. Bragadino, Marco, Husband of Marco Polo's Daughter Fantina, 75. , Pietro, supp. son of the preceding, ib. Brahma's Temple, Hangchau, II. 195. Brahmans (Abraiaman) ; Fish-charmers to the Pearl Fishery, II. 314, 321 ; Polo's view of them as merchants, II. 350, 354; virtues ascribed to them, ib. ; their augu- ries, ib. 360; longevity, 351; 360; Palla- dian Legend of, 397. Brahmanioal Thread, II. 350. Brahuis, 103. Brakhimov, 7. Brambanan, Ruins at, 12. Bran diet, 294, 313. Brazil (Wood) ; in Locac, II. 257, 260 ; in Sumatra, 282 ; manner of growth, ib. ; 289, 292 ; in Ceylon, 295, 297 ; in Coilum, called Coilumin, 363, 368-370; different kinds, '16. ; vicissitudes of the word, 369; Atlantic Island of Brazil, ib., and 543 ; use of, prohibited by Painters' Guild, 371. Brephung Monastery, 311. ' Bretesohe,' the word, 331. Brichu (Brius, the Dpper Kiang), II. 55. Bridges ; of Pulisanghin, II. 3 ; at Sindafu (Chingtu),30 ; of Suchau, 166 ; of Kinsay, 169, 171, 172, 178, 184, 19;; at Kien- ningfu, 208, 211; Fuchau, 215, 216; at Zayton, or Chinchau, 223. Brine-wells, see Salt. Brius, the River (Kinsha Kiang), II. 47, 52, 55- Brown, Sir Thomas, on Polo, 112. Bruce's Abyssinian Chronology, II. 430 seqq. Brunette Latini's Book Li Tresor, 86; 113. Brunhilda, II. 464. Bruun, Prof. Ph., 229; IL 488; 490; 537; 539 segg. Bucephalus, Breed of, 166, 1 70. Buckrams; of Arzinga, 47; note on the stuff so called by Polo, 48 ; etymologies, 50; at Mardin, 62, 64; IL 37; at Mutfili, 348, 349; in Malabar, 379; 385; 388; 425. 56o BUDDHA. INDEX. CAMBALUC. Buddha, see Sakya Muni. ; his Footmark oa Adam's Peak, II. 302 ; a Saiat of the Greek aad Eomaa Churches, 305-307 ; his Tooth Relic, 301, 311 ; his Alms Dish, 301, 310, 312-313. Buddhism; ia Kashmir, 178, 179 ; iuTaagut, 209; iu Kamul, 213 ; Amelioratiag effect of, oa rude natioas, 43 2 ; Occasioaal spiritual force of, ia Chiaa, 441 seqq, ; ia S. ladia, II. 320; aad see Idolatry. Buddhist; Decalogue, 180; Idols, II. 247, aad see Icbls. Buffet aad Vessels of the Kaaa's Table, 369, 371- JBugaei, II. 426. Buka (Boga, q. v.), a Great Moagol Chief, II. 472, 473. Bularguohi, or 'Keeper of Waifs,' 389, 393. Bulgaria, Great, 11. 267, aad see Bolghar. Bulughaa, the Lady (Bolgana), 2i ; 32,32, 38; 11.472. (aaother), II. 474. Buadiikdari, see Bihars. Burkaa Kaldua, 242-243. Burma, King of, II. 82 seqq.; 312, aad see Mien. Buraell, Mr. Arthur, 319; 345 ; 376. Burning the Dead ; ia Taagut, 207, 208, 210 ; in CMaa, apparently common ia Middle Ages, II. 116, 550, aad see Dead. Burning paper imitations of property at fuaerals, 207, 208, 210 ; 259, 260, 261 ; II. 175. ■ Heretical Men and Books, 313, 314. Widows in South India, II. 326, 334. Buryats or Buraets, 250, 274. Bushell, Dr. S., his visit to Shaagtu, 26 ! 287,397- Butchers; ia Kashmir, 177 ; ia Tibet, 180; in S. ladia, II, 326, Butiilis (for Mutfili), II. 349- Ca' Polo, or Ca' Milion, or Corte del Miiioai, the House of the Polos at Venice, i; 25 seqq.; 51; 08; 76. Caaju, Castle of, 240. Cabs, Pekiag, II, 194. Cacanfu (Hokiang-fu), II. 109, 115. Caohanfu (P'uchau-fu), II. 9, 17, 18, 19. Cachar Modun, 390, 394. Cachilpatnam, II. 376. Caesalpinia, II. 369 See Brazil. Caesarea of Cappadocia (Casaria), 47. Caichu, Castle of, II, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21; 541. Caidu, see Kaidu. Caiju (on the Hwaag-ho), II. 124. (on the Kiang, Kwachau), II. 165, 159. CaU (Kayal), II. 319; 353; a great port of commerce, 357 ; the King, «6. ; identified, 359; meaaiag of aame, i6. ; remaias, 360; 394- Caindu (a regioa of Eastera Tibet), II. 42, 44, 47, 48, 51, 55 ; — ideatified, 57-58. Calagaa, II. 168. Cairo ; Museum at, II. 41 7 ; 435 ; Veati- lators at, 45 1. See Babylon. Caitoa, see Zayton. Cala Ataperistan (or Gueber's Castle), 79, 80, Calachan, 272, 273. Calaiate, see Kalhat. ' Calamanz,' the word, II. 252. Calamina, the city, II. 343. Calatu, see Kalhat. Caldwell, Eev. Dr. E. ; On name of Ceylon, II. 297 ; Oa Shahr-Maadi aad Suadara Pandi, 316, 317; oa the Tower at Nega- patam, 319-320; etymology of name Chilaw, 321 ; on Paoauta, 330; on Gmis, 334; on singular custom of Arrest, 336; on Eainy Season, ih. ; on food of horses, 337; on Shanar devil-images, 345 ; on the word choiach, 355 ; oa portable iaiages of oxea, 358; on the city of Cail or Kayal, on Kolkkoij 360 ; on King Ashar of Cail, 361; Etymology of Kollam, 365, aad 551 ; oa Pinati, 36B ; Etymology of Sapang, 3^9) 372 i "ii Cape Comorin, 552. Calendar, Ecclesiastical Buddhist, 221, 223 ; The Tartar, 433, 435. of Documents relating to Marco Polo and his Family, II. 503. Calicut; the King of, and his costume, II. 330; 368; 370; 377; 381; 436. Calif, see Klidlif. Caligine, Calizeae {Khdlij, a canal from Nile), II. 435- Camadi, a ruined city, 98, 114, 116; pos- sibly a generic name, ib. Cambaluc (Khaabalig or Pekiag), the capital of, Cathay ; the Kaaa's return thither from campaign against Nayaa, 338 ; the palaces there, 364 seqq. ; the City, 361 seqq.; its exteat, 362; Walls aad gates ; plaa, Bell-Tower, &c., ib. ; 392, 396, 397 ; its vast suburbs, hostelries, &c. ; 398 ; cemeteries ; womea ; patrols. CAMBUSCAN. INDEX. CASVIN. 561 399; great Traffic, *.,401; Palace of the 12 Barons at, 417 ; Roads radiating from, 419 ; Astrologers of, 432 ; II. 8 ; 115 ; 196 ; 301, 302. See PeUncj. Cambay (Cambaet, Cambeth, KunbSyat), Km. of, II. 383 ; described, 388; 389, 394, 395; 420; 437; 440. ' Cambuscan ' of Chaucer, origin of the name, 242. Camels ; Camlets from wool of, 272, 278 ; white, 272 and 274; Incensing, 300; alleged to be eaten in Madagascar, II. 404 ; but really in Magadoxo, 406 ; ridden in war, 416, 419. Camexu, Kamichu, 222, 273, see Campichu. Camlets (Oammellotti), 272, 276; what? 274. Camoens, II, 248. Camphor ; Trees of (^Lauras CampJwra), in Fokien, 11. 217, and manufacture there, 219. Camphorof Sumatra, II. 268; 282; Fansuri, lb. ; 283 ; details regarding, 285 seqq. ; earliest mention of, 285 ; superstitions regarding, 286; description of the — Tree (^Dryabalanops Camp]wra\ 287; value attached to, by Chinese ; recent prices of different Isinds, 287-288; 292; use of with Betel, 358, 362. oil, 11. 287. Campichu (Kanchau), City of, 221, 222 ; 225; 262,266. Camul (Kamul, Komul), Province of, de- scribed, 212, 213. Gamut, or fine shagreen leather, BSl, 382. Canal, Grand, of China, II. 115; 121, 122, 122, 123; 126; 136; 138; construction of, 159, 160; 191 ; 205. Canale, Cristoforo, MS. by, SS, 35. Martino da, French Chronicle of Venice by, S6. Cananore, II. 3 75 , 376. Canara, II. 380. Cancamum, II. 387. Cane, Canes (always means Bamboos in Polo); Kaan's Palace at Chandu made of 290 ; how used to make roofs, ib., 298 ; Great, on banks of Caramoran R., II. 17 ; Forests of, and their loud explosions when burning, II. 33, 38; Ropes of, 156, 158; of great size in Chekiang, 203. See Bamboos. Canela brava, II. 380. Cannibalism; ascribed to Tibetans, &c., 292 ; Foundation for such charges, 302 seqq. ; ascribed to Hill-people in Fokien, II. VOL. II. 207, 209 ; to Islanders in the Seas of China and India, 245; in Sumatra, 265, 274, 275, 276, 269, 280; the Battas and regu- lations of their — , 269 ; ascribed to the Andaman Islamiers, 292, 293. Cannibals, i. e. Caribs, II. 398. Canonical Hours, II. 355-356. Cansay, (Kinsay, q. v.), II. 195. Canton, 3; Temple at, W; II. 181 ; 220; 225 ; 226; 234. Cape Corrientes, or of Currents, II. 407 ; 409. Delgado, II. 417. of Good Hope, II. 409. Capidoglio, 'Capdoille' (Sperm Whale), II. 407. Cappadocian Horses, 46. Caraooron (Kai'a Korum), 227 ; 261 ; II, 458, 460; Recent visit to, 539. Caraian, II. 58, 59; but see Carajan Province (Karajang or Yunnan), SO ; 47,52,53,68-69; 62,65; 69; 71; 73. , City of (Talifu), II. 58 ; 62, 65. Caramoran, R. (Hwang-ho), II. 16, 17 ; 124- 127; 135, see Hwang-ho. Carans or Scarans, 102. Caraonas (Karaunahs, q. v.), 99. Carats, 35 r. Carbine, etym. of the word, 103. Cardamom, II. 377. Cardinal's Wit, 21. Caribs, II. 293 ; 398. Carpets ; of Turcomania (Turkey), 46 ; of Kerman, 96. Carriages ; at Kinsay, II. 188 ; Chinese, 193. Carrion shot from Engines, II. 144. ' Carte, a la,' the expression, II. 486. Carts, Mongol, 246. Caryota urens, II. 288. Casan, see Ghazan Khan. Casaria (Caesarea of Cappad.), 46, 47. Casoar (Kashgar), 189. Casem (Kishm, q. v.), 160. Casoni, Giovanni ; on the Ca' Polo, 27, S8 ; on Medieval Galleys, 31-SS. Caspian ; Ancient error about, «, J24 ; 64 ; Names of, 60, 6 1 ; II. 495. Cassay (Kinsay, q. v.), II. 196. Cassia, II. 50, 51, 58; 380. _ — Buds, II. 50; 380. Fistula, II. 377. Castaldi, Panfilo, his alleged invention of movable Types, 1SS-1S6. Castelli, P. di, 54, 55. Casvin (Kaswi'n q. v.), a Km. of Persia, 84, 85. 2 O 562 CATALAN. INDEX. CHINANGLI. Catalan Map of 1375 (or Carta Catalana), charaoterized, J«9 ; 61 ; II. 225 ; 267 ; 349 ; 375; 386; 495- Catalan Navy ; S6-39. Cathay (>foi-thern China), «; Origin of Name, 11; is; known by name in Europe before Polo's return, lU-116 ; in Maps, US seqq.; 62; 77; 276; Cambaluo the Capital of, 354, 357, 392; 399; 404; 427, 428; II. 7; 109; 115; 117, 121; 123; 176; 381; 455. Generally Cathay is treated of in Book II. Pts. i and 2. Cathayans ; their conspiracy against Ah- mad, 403 se^g.; their wine, 427 ; astrolo- gers, 432 ; Religion of, 437 ; transmigra- tion 46.; politeness; filial duty: gaol de- liveries, 438 ; gambling, ih. ; 440. Catholioos ; of Sis, 44 ; of the Nestorians, 61, 63; 11.399. Cators, or Great Partridges (CAaforsV), 887, 288, Cat's-Head Tablet, 347. Cats in China, II. 335. Caucasian Wall, 5 5 . Caugigu, Province of, II. 97, 99, Too, 101 ; 105; III, 114. Caulking of Chinese Ships, 11. 232, 233. Cauly, see Kauli. Causeway, south of the Yellow R., 11. 136. Cauterizing heads of children, 11. 427. Cave-houses, 161, 164; II. 11. Cavo de Eli, II. 375. de Diab, II. 409. Cayu (Kao-yu), II. 136. Celtic Church, II. 357. ■ Census of Houses in Kinsay, II. 176. Tickets , ih. Ceremonial of Mongol Court, see Etiquette. Ceylon (Seilau), II. 292, 295 seqq. ; circuit of, 296; Etym. of name, ^6. ; the moun- tain of Adam's sepulchre, otherwise of Sagamoni Borcan's, 298 ; the history of this person (Buddha) and the origin of Idolatry, 299 seqq.\ subject to China, 381. Chachan (properly Charchand), see Char- chan. Chagan-Nur (N.E. of Kamul), 2x6. . , site of a palace of Kublai's, 286, 287; 297; 397; 408. Balghassun, 287, 297; II. 9; 28. Jang, II. 59. Kuren, II. 17. Chagatai (Sigatay), son of Chinghiz, 10, 100; 191, 194; n. 455, 456, 457. Chakor (kind of Partridge), 288. Chalukya Malla Kings, II. 320. Champa (Chamba), Kingdom of, II. 248; Kublai's Exp. against, 249 ; the King and his Wives; products, 250 ; 250-253; 417; 420. Chandra Banu, II. 297. Chandu (Shangtu), City and Summer Palace of the Kaan, 26; 289, 294; 396-397; 421. Changan, II. 166, 16B, 169. Changchau (Chinginju), II. 163, 164. (in Fokien), II. 222 seqq., 227. Changgan, II. 21, 22. Changlu, II. 115 seqq. Changshan (Chanshan), II. 180; 203-2o6 ; 225. Chang-te-hui, Journey of, II. 543. Chang-y, 408. Chao or Paper Money, 412, 415, 416. Khanahs, Bank-note offices in Persia (1294), 415. , the Siamese Title, II. 59. di Bux, 58. Naiman Sum^Khotan, or Shangtu, 294. See Djao. Chaohien, Sung Prince, II. 134. Chaotong, II. irj. Chapu, II. 181. Characters, Written ; Four acquired by Marco Polo, 28, 29; one in Manzi, but divers spoken dialects, II. 218. Charohan (Chachan of Johnson, Charchand), 198, 200, 201, 202. Charities of the Kaan, 425, 426, 431. , Buddhistic and Chinese, 43 2. at Kinsay, II. 172, 180. ' Chasteaux,' sense of the word, 40. Clia'ilians or Temporary Wives at Kashgar, 191. Chaul, II. 35? ; 440. Cheapness in China, II. 184. Cheetas, or Hunting Leopards, 384-385. Cheinan, Gulf of, II. 247. Chekiang into Fokien, Roads from, II. 20;- 206. Chenching (Cochin-China), II. 250-251; 258. Chenchu conspires with Vanchu against Ahmad,- 403 ; puts A. to death, 404. Cheu, the Seven, II. 2 5 8. Chibai and Chiban, II. 457. Chilaw, II. 321. Chin, the Sea of, II. 245-247. China ; appears in Maps, ISl ; the name, II. 247 ; King of Malacca at Court of, 263 ; trade to, from Arabia, 333; from Sofala in Africa, 391. See Cathay and Manzi. Ohinangli (T'sinan-fu), II. 116, 117, 119. CHINAR. INDEX. CHRISTIANITY. 5^2 Chinar, see Plane. Chinchau or Jchin-hien, II. 138; 156: 158. ■ , Chincheo, Chinchew, Chwanchew, Tswanchau, 11. 214, 219, 231, 222, 223, 227. See Zayton. Chinese; Marco ignorant of language, 107; 30; .Epigrams, 180; Funeral Customs, 210; feeling towards Kublai, 403, and see 406 ; Religion, 437, and character for iiTe- ligion, 441 seqq. ; politeness, 438, 443 ; respect to parents, ib. ; gambling, 438 ; mourning customs, II. 174; character as regards integrity, 187, 193 ; written cha- racter, 218, and varieties of dialect, i6., and 226 seqq.; ships, 231 seqq. (see Ships); Pagodas (so-called) at Negapatam, 319 seqq. ; and elsewhere, 381; .coins found in S. India, 320; pottery, do., 360; trade and intercourse with S. India, 360, 368, 374, 379, 381, its cessation, 381. Chinghian-fu (Chinkiang-fu), II. 159, 161, 162. Chinghiz Kaan; 10, 11 ; reported to be a Christian, 14; his capture of Talikan, 161 ; ravages Badakhshan, 172; at Samarkand favours Christians, 194; his campaigns in Tangut, 209, 240, 272; 228; Rubruquis's account of, 231 ; 233; made King of the Tartars, 233 ; his system of conquests, 234 ; asks Prester John's daughter ; is refused with scorn; note on this, 235 ; his anger and advance against P. John, 235 ; arrival at plain of Tenduc, 236 ; calls his Astrologers, 237 ; Presage of victory ; he gains it, 239 ; his death, 240 ; his favour to Christians, 239; his alleged relation to Aung Khan, ib. ; his aim at conquest of the world, 240 ; real circumstances of his death, 240 ; wound received, ib. ; his tomb, 241, 242-243 ; funeral, 243 ; 291 ; his presage of Kublai's capacity, 323 ; re- wards his captains, 342 ; 361, 352 ; alleged invasion of Tibet by , II. 3 8 ; his mechanical artillery, 152; his cruelty, 165 ; 456 ; 478, 480 ; Table of Genealogy of his House, 515. Chinghiz Tora, II. 480. Ching-hwang Tower at Hangchau-fu, II. 198. Chinghu, II. 206. Chlnginiu (Changchau), II. 162. Chingintalas, Province of, 214 ; the region intended, 2l5; II. 538. Chingsang, Chincsan (Ch. C/iing-siang), title of a Chief Minister of State, 418 ; II. 128, 131, 133, 202. Chingting-fu (Acbaluo), II. 9, ro. Chingtsu or Yunglo, Emperor, II. 381. Chini (coarse sugar), II. 213. Chinkin, Chingkim, Kublai's Heir Apparent, 351, 352, 353 ; his palace, 357, 361 ; 403- 404; 407. Chin-tan, or Chinasth&na, Chinese etym. of, II. lOI. Chinuohi (or Ounichi ?), 386, 388. Chipangu (Japan), II. 233 ; described, 235 ; Kublai sends an expedition against, 237 ; its disasters, 237-241 ; history of the ex- pedition, 242 seqq. Chitral, 162, i58, 173, 174. Ohloroxylon Dupada, II. 387. Chochau (Juju), II. 5, 7 ; 114. ' Choiaoh,' the term, II. 351 ; 355. Chola, or Sola-desam (Soli, Tanjore), II. 317, 319; 350; 354. Chonta, Km. of, (Fokien), II. 213 ; explan. of name difficult, 214; 218. Chonkwi, II. 214. Ghorcha (the Churchy or Manchu Country), 227, 229; 335, 336; II. 244. Christian; Astrologers, 237, 433 ; Church e.s, Early — in China, II. 21 seqq. ; Inscription of Singanfu, 22 ; — Alans in the Mongol Service, 163, 164. Christians ; of the Greek Rite (Georgians), 52, (Russians), II. 487 ; at Mosul, I. 48, 61, 62 ; among the Curds, 62, 63-64 ; the Calif's plot against the, at Baghdad, 70 seqq. ; in Kashgar, 191 ; at Samarkand, ib. ; their arrogance when in favour, 192, 1 94 ; miracle of the Stone removed, ib. ; in Yarkand, 195 ; in Chingintalas, 215 ; in Suhchau, 219 ; in Kanchau, 221 ; in Chinghiz's camp, 287 ; in Erguiul, 266 ; ■ in Sinju, ib. ; churches of, in Egrigaia, 272 ; in authority in Tenduc, 275 ; on the borders of Cathay towards Sindachu, 276 ; Nayan one, 331 ; gibes at the, on his account, 335, and the Kaan's judg- ment thereon ; at the Kaan's Court, 374 ; in Yunnan, II. 52 ; at Cacanfu, 115 ; at Yangchau, 138; churches of, at Chinki- angfu, 162 ; one at Kinsay, 175 ; at St. Thomas's, 339-340 ; at Coilum, 363 ; in the Male and Female Islands, 395 ; in So- cotra, 398, 399 ; and note on, 401 ; in Abyssinia, and their fire-baptism, 421 seqq., and 427 ; of the Girdle, 427 ; 434; in Lac (Wallachia), 487. Christianity ; attributed to many Chinghizide Princes, 14, II. 474 and 476 ; Kublai's views on, I. 339; Former, of Socotra, II. 402. a O 2 5^4 CHROCHO. INDEX. COLON. Chrocho (The Rulh), II. 409. Chronology and chronological data discussed ; of First Journey of Polos, 2; of the war of Barka and Hulaku, 8 ; of the Polos' stay at Bokhara, lo-ri ; of their departure on their Second Journey from Acre, 23-24 ; of their return voyage and arrival in Persia on return, ^^, 38 ; and of their arrival at Venice, M ; of the story of Nigudar, 10?- T06 ; of Princes of Hormuz, 124; of de- struction of the Ismaelites, 152; of history of Chinghiz, 234, 237, 240 ; of Kublai's ac- cession and birth, 325-326; of Nayan's rebellion, 326,337; of Polo's visit to Yunnan, 20 and II. 65 ; of the Battle with the K. of Mien, 87, and other wars be- tween Chinese and that country (Burma), 87-88; 93, 96; value of Indo-Chinese, 88; conquest of S. China, 131; of cap- ture of Siang-yang, i; i ; of Kublai's dealings with Japan, 242 ; of ditto, with Champa, 251, and of Marco's visit to that country, ih. ; of Kublai's expedition againts Java, 256; Review of the Malay, 263; of events in Ma'bar, 316 seqq. ; ofKin^ Gondophai'es, 343 ; of cessation of Chinese navigation to India, 381; of Abyssinia, 430 seqq. ; of Kaidu's wars, 460, 465 ; of Mongol revolutions in Persia, see notes from 469 to 474; of wars of Toktai and Noghai, 499. See Dates. Chnchu (in Kiangsi), II. 206, 212. Chughis, see Jogis. Chungkw(5 ('Middle Kingdom'), II. 214. Chungtu (Peking), 11. Churches, Christian ; in Kashgf.r, 191 ; in Samarkand, ib., 194; in Egrigaia, 272 ; in Tenduc, 278: Early, in China, II. 2r ; at Yangchau, 138; at Chinkiang-fu, 162; at Kinsay, 175; at Zayton, 220-221 ; at St. Thomas's, 339-340, 344; in Coilum, 365- 365 ; in Socotra, 401, 402. Church^ or Nyuchd, 11, and see Choroha. Cielstan, Suolstan (Shiilistan), 84, 86. Cinnamon, II. 40, 42 ; 47, 50 ; Ceylon, 297 ; Malabar, 379, 380 ; story of, in Herodotus, 379, 380. Circumcision, Forcible, of a Bishop, II. 423 ; of Socotrans, 401 ; of Abyssinians, 427. Cirophanes, or Syrophenes, Story of, II. 309- 310. Civet of Sumatra, II. 277. Clement IV., Pope, 17, 18. Clepsydra, 366 ; II. 198. Cloves, II. 264 ; 289, 298 ; Clove-like plant in Caindu, 47, 50, 51. Coal ; ancient store of, in Palace Garden at Peking, 360 ; burned in Cathay, 428 ; nu- merous fields of, in China ; in Scotland in Middle Ages, 429 ; II. 200. Cobinan (Koh-banan), 127, 128, 131 ; iden- tified, 129. Cobler, the Story of the Holy, 72 seqq. Cooaohin (Kokachin) the Lady, gl-gS; se- lected as bride of Arghun Khan, 32 ; made over to Kaikhatu in Persia, and married to Ghazan, 35 ; wept at parting with Polos, 36 ; notice of her in Persian history, 38. Cochin-China ; the medieval Champa, II. 250. 258. Coco-nnt (Indian Nut), 111 ; II. 275 ; 389; 290, 29 ( ; 340 ; 379. ■ Islands, of Hwen T'sang, II. 290. Cocos Islands, II. 292. Coenr-de-Lion, his mangonels, II. 148, 150. CofiBns, Chinese (in Tangut), 208. Cogachin (or Hukaji), son of Kublai, II. 62, 65, and see I. 353. Cogatai, 404, 406. Cogatal, a Tartar sent envoy to the Pope, 13 ; is left behind ill, 15. Coiganju(Hwaingan-fu), II. 124, 131, 135. Coilum (Kollam, Kaulam, Quilon), Km. of, II. 363 ; identity of, 364 ; meaning of name, 365, and 551 ; Church of St. George at, 365 ; Kublai's intercourse with, 363 ; modern state of, 365 ; 394, 395 ; 406; 420. Coilumin, Colomhino, Colomni; Brazil-wood so called, II. 363; ginger so called, 363, 370. Coins ; of Cilician Armenia, 44 ; of Mosul, 62 ; with Lion and Sun, 343 ; of Agathocles and Pantaleon, 172 ; found at Siang-Yang, II. 154; of K. Gondophares, 343; of Tartar Heathen Princes bearing Mahomedan and Christian formulae, 476. Coja (Koja), Tartar envoy from Persia to the Kaan, 32, 33 ; 38. Cold, intense, in Mns. of Kerman, 92, 115 ; in Russia, II. 487. * Mountains,' 117. Coleridge's verses on Kublai's Paradise, 296. College at Pingyangfu, II. 12, 548. Coleman, Province of, IL 104, 108; iii- 114; 248. Colomhino, see Coilumin.. Colon, II. 365. See Coilum. COLOSSAL BUDDHAS. INDEX. CURRENCY. S6S Colossal Buddhas, Recuml)i?nt, 221. 223. Columbus ; Polo jiavalleled with, g ; Remarks on such a parallel, i02 ; shows no know- ledge of Polo's Book, 10s. Columbum (Coilum, q. v.), the see of a Latin Bishop, II. 365 ; rationale of that form of name, ib. ; 420. Comauia, Comanians, 52 ; II. 491, 492. Combermere, Prophecy applied to Lord, II. 132. Comarl, Comori (Cape Comorin and adjoining district ; Travancore), II. 364, 87i, 374 ; 394; 420. ' Comercque,' the word, II. 30, 32. Comorin, Cape, see above; also II. 315, 36r, 379; Temple at, 372, 551. Compartments in Hulls of Ships, II. 231, 233. Compass, Mariner's, 1S2. Competitive Examinations in Beauty, 351. Conohi, King of the North, II. 478, 480. Concubines, how selected for the Kaan, 348. Condor ; habits of, II. 409 ; Temple's account of, 410; Padre Bolivar's of the African, 413- Condur, Sondur and, II. 256. Cimdux (Sable or Beaver), 395. Conia, Coyne (Iconium), 46. Conjeveram, II. 317. Conjuring; Weather-, 99, 109; 175, 178, 298, 301, 339 seqq. ; Lamas', 299, 306 seqq.\ Extraordinary, 308 seqq. See Sorcery^ also Dmil-Dandng. Conosalmi, 100, 109. Constantinople, 2 ; II. 148 ; 487. Convents, see Monasteries. Cookery, Tartar horse-, 256. Cooper, Mr. T. T., traveller on Tibetan fron- tier, 37;-39>4o; 44; 5°; 55- Copper ; Token currency of Mahomed Tugh- lak, 416 ; imported to Malabar, II. 379 ; to Cambay, 388. Coral ; highly valued in Kashmir, Tibet, &c., 177,180; IL 40, 44. Corea, 336. Com, the Emperor's Store and distribu- tion of, 429. Coromandel (Maabar, q. v.), II. 315 ; Rainy Season in, 336; omens followed in, 355, 356. Corsairs, see Pirates. Corte del Milione, ?A seqq. See Ca'. Sabbionei'a at Venice, iS5 seqq. Cosmography, Medieval, i«5 seqq. Costus, II. 387. Cotan, see Ehotan. Cotton ; at Mardin, 62 ; in Per.sia, 85 ; at Kashgar, 190 ; at Yarkand, 195 ; at Kho- tan, 196 ; at Pein, 198 ; in Bengal, II. 97 ; Bushes of gigantic size, 383, 384; 385, 888 ; stuffs of, I. 47, 48 ; 62 ; II. 348, 349; 379; 385; 388; 398; 425. Counts in Vokhan, 181, 1S3 ; at Dofar, II. 441. Courts of Justice at Kinsay, II. 186. Couvade, Custom of, II. 70, 75. Oowdung, how used in Maabar, II. 325 ; 352. Cowell, Prof., 108. Cowries (Porcelain Shells, pig-shells), cur- rency of, II. 52 ; value and extensive use of, 60 ; 62 ; 70 ; 105 ; procured from Lo- cac, 257, 260. ' Cralantur ' (?), the word, 72. Cramoisy, 46; 65, 67. Cranes, Five Kinds of, described, 285, 287-288. Crawfurd, John, II. 258. Cremation among Medieval Chinese, II. 116, 550. See Burning. Cremesor (Garmsir), 75. Cross, Legend of the Tree of the, 141 seqq. , Gibes against, on defeat of Nayan, 336. . on Monument at Singanfu, II. 22, 24. Cross-bows ; on galleys, 30, Si, 36 ; IL 64, 67, 68; 143, 144. Cruelties, Tartar, 158, 161, 257, 258; IL 165. Crusca MS. of Polo, 80. Cubeb Pepper, II. 254; 380. Cubits, Astron. altitude estimated by, II. 317, 378, 383. Cublay, see Kublai. Cucintana, II. 386. Cudgel, use of, among the Tartars, 259, 260 ; 399. Cuiju, Prov. of, (Kweichau), IL 108, iio- 113. Cuirbouly, 252, 255 ; IL 64, 67. Cuju, II. 204, 205, 206, 207. Ounoun, Prov. of, II. 19, 25, 26, 28. Cunningham, M.-Gen. A., 12 ; 106, 164, 183 ; II. 343- Gups, Flying, 292, 306 ; 339. Curds and Curdistan, 62, 64; 84, 85, 86 ; 104; 149, 152. Curmosa (Hormuz, q. v.), 85, 89. Currency, Paper, in China, 409 seqq., 412 seqq.; attempt to institute, in Persia, 415 ; allusions to, II. 108, 109, no; 115, 117. S66 CURRENCY. INDEX. DECIMAL. 121, 122, 123, 124; 136, 137, 138, 139; Dardpiir, 107-108. 140; 154, 159, 161, 163, 166, 166; 171; Darius, 131, 143 ; 168, 15 9. 203, 204. Dark Ocean of the South, II. 409. Currency, Copper Token, in India, 416. Darkness, Magical, 99, 100; 108 ; 175. , Salt, 11. 37, 45, 48-50. , Land of, II. 483; how the Tartars , Cowrie, see Cowries. find their way out of, 484 ; the people and , Leather, 416. their peltry, ib. and 486 ; Alexander's le- Current, Strong South, along E. Coast of gendary entrance into, 485 ; Dumb Trade Africa, II. 404, 407. of, 486. Currents, Cape of, or Corrientes, II. 408-409. Darraj or Black Partridge, and what it says, Curzola, Island of, U, ; Battle there and lOI. victory of Genoese, 6, kS seqq. ; Map of, liS. Daruna Salt Mines, 162. Curzon, Hon. E., on Invention of Printing, Darwaz, 168, 13^, ISS. Dasht of Baharak, 164. Customs, Custom House, II. 30, 32 ; 155 ; Dashtishtan, 87. 186; 200; 217. Dates (i. e. Trees or Fruit) ; Woods of, 64, Cutch Pirates, II. 403. 67, 90, 91; 99, 110, 112, 113; 114, 115, Cuxstac, Kuhestec, 113. 119; IL 377; wine of, I. 110, 118, II. Cuy Eaan (Guyuk), 241. 366;— and Fish, Diet of, L 110, 119; II. Cycle, Chinese, 433, 435. 449. Cynocephali, II. 292, 293. Dates (Chronol.) in Polo's Book ; generally Cypresses, Sacred, of the Magians, 135. erroneous, M, 2 ; stated, 2, 2, 17, 36, 66, 162, 233, 324(2); H. 81, 97, 128, 162, D. 241 ; 249, 260 ; 301, 339 ; 422 ; 457 ; 462 ; 472; 475(2); 495. Dabul, II. 440. Daughters of Marco Polo, 88, 69, 75, 76, 77 ; Dadidn, Title of Georgian Kings, 54. IL 504, 506. Da Gama, II. 375, 381. d'Avezac, M., II. 537. Dagroian, Km. of, in Sumatra, described, II. David, Kings of Georgia, 52, 54; II. 541 seqq. 275 ; probable position of, 280. , King of Abyssinia, II. 431, 432. Daitn (Peking), 296, 297. See Taidu. Dawaro, II. 430, 433. Dailiu(Tali), II. 59. Daya, II. 283, 288. Dakianus, City of, 116. De Barros, Geography of J., S. Dalada, or Tooth-Eelique of Buddha, II. 311. De Bode, Baron, 86. Dalai Lama with four hands, II. 247. De Borron, Robert and Helie, 57-59. D'Alboquerque, II. 263-264 ; 401 ; 449 ; and De Cepoy, Thibault ; his mission to Venice see plate of Aden, opp. p. 438. and receipt of a copy of the Book from Dalivar, Dilivar, a prov. of India, 100, 107- Marco himself, 67 seqq. ; 90 ; 115. 108. , John, 67. Dalmian, II. 280. De Gast, Luces, 57, 68 ; Sh- Damascus, 24; 149; Siege of, II. 149. Dead ; Door of the, 211; Tartar aversion to Damasks with Clwetas on them, 385 ; with meddle with things of the, II. 92. Giraffes, II. 41 B. See Silk and Gold. , Disposal of the ; in Tangut, 207-208, Damghan, 148, 154- 210; at Cambaluc, 398; in Coloman, II. Dancing Dervishes, 11. 80. 105 ; in China, partial change in Custom, Girls in Hindu Temples, II. 329, 338. 116 and 550; in Dagroian, 275 ; by the Dandolo, Andrea, Admiral of the Venetian Battas, &c., 280 ; see next head. Fleet at Curzola, 6, Ai; captivity and sui- , Burning of the, 207 ; II. 105 ; 115, cide, i6-i« ; funeral at Genoa, ib. 117, 122, 123, 124, 135, 136, 137, 139, D'Anghieria, Pietro Martire, 34 ; 117. 140 ; 166 ; 174 ; 203 ; 204 ; 237 ; 325 ; 353. Dantapura, II. 311. , Eating the, see Cannibalism. Dante ; Number of MSS. of, US ; does not Debt, Singular Arrest for, II. 327, 335. allude to Polo or his Book, 111,. Decima, or Tithe on Bequest at Venice, 69. Darabjird, 87. Decimal Organization of Tartar Armies, Darah, 11. 433. 263, 255-256. DEGENERATION. INDEX. DZUNGARIA. 567 Degeneration of Tartars, 855, 258 ; and of other warlike conquerors of China, II. 15. Deggins, Dehg&Ds, 159. Deh-Bakri, 115, 116. Deh&nah, 159. Delhi; Sultans of, 34; II. 420, 421. Del Negro, Andalo, 66. Del Riccio, Pier, 80. D'Ely, Mount, II. 374 seqq. ; 380. See Ell Demoiselle Crane, 288. Deogir, II. 421. Depopulation of Badakhshan, 165, 172. Derbend ; Wall of, 55 ; II. 496, 537. See Iron- Gate. Deserts ; of Kerman or of Lut, 126, 127 ; 131 ; of Khorasan, 156 ; of Charchan, 300 ; of Lop (Gobi), 202, 203, 204 ; 812, 214, 216, 225; of Karakorum, 225-226; 228; 233. , Haunted, 203, 204; 266. Desgodins, Abb^, II. 49. Despina Ehatun, II. 476. Devapattan, II. 391. Deiiadasi, II. 338. Devil-Dancing, 307 ; II. 71, 79-80. Trees, 142. Devils, "White, II. 341, 346. Dhafar (Dofar, Zhafar), II. 324 ; 441 ; its incense, &c., 442 ; two places of the name, ib. Sharani or mystic charms, 307. Dhulkamain (Alexander), see Zulkarnain. Dialects, Chinese, II. 218, 226 seqq. Diamonds in India, and how they are found, II. 346 seqq. ; Mines of, 349 ; diffusion of the legend about, ib. Dictation of their Narratives by celebrated Travellers, 87. ' Diex Terrlen,' 147, 148. DiUwar, supp. Dilivar of Polo, 107. Dinars, 413; II. 33; 202; 330; 333; 535. See Bezant. of Red gold, II. 333. Dinornis, II. 552. Dioptra, II. 547. Dioscoridis Insula, II. 400. Dir, 100, 106; 173, 174. Dirakht-i-Fazl, 140 seqq. i-Ehushk, 141. Dish of Sakya or of Adam, II. 301, 310 seqq. Diul-Sind, 87. Divination by Twigs or Arrows, 227, 238. Dixan, Branding with Cross at, II. 428. Dizabulus, Pavilion of, 372. Djao Naiman Sume', 26, See Cliao. Doctors at Kinsay, II. 185. Dofar, see Dhafar. Dogana, 168; possible explanations, 159. Doghlbah River, 159. Dog-headed Baces, II. 292, 293. Dogs ; the Kaan's Mastiff's, 387 ; Tibetan, II. 37, 41 ; 44 ; Fierce, in Cuiju, 108. Dog-sledging in Far North, II. 479-480, 481- 482 ; Note on the dogs, ib. Dolfino, Ranuzzo, Husband of Polo's daughter Moreta, 7S. Dominicans sent with the Polos but turn back, 88-23. ' D'or plain,' the expression, 261. Doria Family at Meloria, Si. , Lamba, 5; Admiral of Genoese Fleet sent to Adriatic, AS ; his viotgry, 4S seqq. ; his honours, IS ; tomb and descendants, AP ; at Meloria with six sons, M. , Octaviano, Death of, IS. , Tedisio, Exploring voyage of, l<9. Dorje, 352. Douglas, Rev. Dr. C, II. 215, 219, 222, 223, 227. Doyley, Sir Fulke, II. 150. ' Drapa entaUlez,' 3 79. Drawers, enormous, of women in Badakh- shan, 168, 172. Drawing after Marco Polo, 116. Dreams, Notable, 296. Drums, Sound of, in certain Sandy Tracts, 203, 206. Dryabalanops Camphora, II. 287. Dua Khan, II. 45 7, 460. Ducat, or Sequin, 412; II. 534. Dudley's Arcano del Mare, II. 248. Duel, Mode of, in S. India, II. 358. Dufour on Medieval Artillery, II. 143, 146. Dukuz Khatun, 279. Dulcamon, 169. Dulites, II. 426. Dumb Trade, II. 436. Dungen, Tungani, q. f. Duplicates in Geography, II. 401. Dupu, II. 387. Durer's Map of Venice, so-called, 26, S8, also cut at 73. Dursamand, II. 421. Dushdb, 89. Dust-storms, 108-109. Duties ; on Great Kiang, II. 155 ; on goods at Kinsay and Zayton, 172, 199, 817 ; on Horses, 434, 450 ; at Hormuz, 449. See Customs and Tithe. Dwara Samudra, II, 276, 354, 421. Dzegun-tala, name applied to Mongolia, 216. Dzungaria, ibid. 568 EAGLE MARK. INDEX. ETYMOLOGIES. E. Eagle Mark on shoulder of Georgian Kings, 52. Eaglea trained to kill large game, 884, 386, II. 545. ^ White, in the Diamond country, II. 347. Eagle-wood; origin of the name, II. 252. See Lign-aloes. Earth Honoured, II. 325. East, State of the, circa 1260, 5 segg. Ebony (Bonus), II. 250, 252. Ecbatana, II. 539 seqq. Edkins, Kev. Mr., II. 181. Edward I. ; 67, 60, ei; 2 7. II. ; correspondence with Tartar Princes, 36; II. 476. Effeminaoy in Chinese Palaces, II. 12, 15 ; 128; 189-190. Eggs of the Kuo, and of the Aepyornis, II. 409. 410. Egrlgaia, Province of, 272. Ela (Cardamom), II. 377. Elchidai, II. 470, 473. Elephantiasis, 196; II. 335. Elephants ; Kublai carried by Four, on a timber Bartizan, 339 ; the Kaan's, 377, 379 ; his litter borne by, 390, 394 ; of the K. of Mien, II. 81 ; numbers of men alleged to be carried by, 83 ; how the Tartars routed them, 85 ; the Kaan begins to keep, 86; wild, 89, 92; 99, loi ; in Champa, 250, 25 r, 252; in Locac, 257, 260; in Su- matra, 265, 270; 332; 335; in Madagas- car and Zanghibar, 404 ; trade in Teeth of, lb., 416 ; carried off by the Euc, 405, 409, 412, 414; in Zanghibar, 415; used in war, 416 ; an erroneous statement, 418 ; Nubian, 418 ; fable about, ib. ; alleged to be used in war by Abyssinians, 424 ; not bred there, 425 ; Note on alleged use by Abys., 429 ; and on training of African elephants, ib. ; War of the Elephant, ib. Eli, Ely, EUy (Hili), Kingdom of, II. 374 ; position, 375 seqq. ; 394, 395 ; 4^0. Elias, Mr. Ney, 217; 227; 269; 279,281. Elixir Vitae of the Jogis, II. 352, 356. Elliot, Sir Walter, II. 319, 320. Embroidery; at Kerman, 92; of leather in Guzerat, II. 383, 384. Empoli, Giov. d', II. 221. JUmpusa, 205. Enchanters ; at Socotra, II. 399. Enchantments ; of the Caraonas, 99. See Sorcerers, Sorceries, Conjuring. ' En fra terre,' the phrase, 45 ; II. 395 ; 450. Engano, Legend regarding Island of, II. 398. Engineers, Growing Importance of, in Middle Ages, II. 149-150. Engineering Feat, Curious, IS. England ; Kublai's message to King of, 34 ; correspondence of Tartar Princes with Kings of, 36 ; II. 476. English Trade and Character in Asia, II. 354. Enlightenment, Land of, 441-442. Erculin, Aroulin (an animal), II. 480, 483, 484, 487. Erguiul, ProT. of, 266. Ermine, 391 ; II. 480, 484, 487. Erzingan (Arzinga), 47, 48. Erzrum (Arziron), 47, 50. ' Eschiel,' the word, II. 379. Esher (Shehr, Es-shehr), II. 435 ; described, 439 ; trade with India, Incense ; ichthyo- phagy ; singnlar sheep, ib. ; position, &c., 440; 443- Essentemur (Isentimur), grandson of Ku- blai, II. 52. EstiTno, The Venetian, or Forced Loan, i5; 75; II. 501-502. Ethiopia and India, Confusion of, II. 426. Ethiopian Sheep, II. 415, 417, 418. Etiquettes of the Mongol Court, 369, 370 ; 372; 377; 379; 440. Etymologies. Balustrade, S6 ; Buckram, 48; Avigi, 58; Geliz, 60; JatoUc, 63; Muslin, 63 ; Baudeklns, 6 7 ; Cramoisy, 67 ; Ondanique, 93 ; Zebu, loi ; Carbine, 103 ; Dulcarnon, 169 ; Balas, 169 ; Azure and Lazuli, 1 70 ; None, 182; Maiomet and Mummery, 196 ; Salamander, 21 8 ; Berrie, 233 ; Barguerlac, 264; S'lmg, 268, 274 Siclatoun, 274; Argon, 280; Tungam 281 ; Guasmul, 282 ; Chakor, 288 Jaduani Tadah, 301 ; Tafar, 305 ; Bacsi; ib. ; Sensin, 314 seqq. ; P'ungyi, 318 Carquols, 353; Keshikan, 367; Ver- nique, 371; Gamut, Borgal, Shagreen, 382 ; Chinuchi or Chunichi, 388 ; Tos- oaol, 393; Bularguchi, 394; FondaoO; 401; Bailo, 407; Comerque, IL 32 Porcelain, 61 ; Sangon, 120 ; Paghfur, 131; Manjanih, Mangonel, Mangle, &c, 147; Galingale, 211; Chini and Misn 213 ; Satin, 224; Eagle-wood, 252; Aloes- wood, ib. ; Bonds, ib. ; Calamanz, ib. Bemoiu, 266; China Pagoda, 32c; Pa- cauca, 330; Balanjar, 333 ; A-muok, ib. ETYMOLOGIES. INDEX. FOOT-MARK. 569 Pariah, 335; Grovi, ih.; Avarian, 341; Abraiaman, 353 ; Choiaoh, 355 ; proques, 357; Tembul ami Betel, 362; Sappan and Brazil, 369; Balladi, Belledi, 370; Indigo Baccadeo, 371; Gatpaul, 372; Baboon, ib.; /Satoms Cinnamon, 380; KtifiaKoy, ib.; Rook (in chess), 412; Araine, 460 ; Eroulin and Vair, 483 ; MisMl, 535 ; Alidada, 547. Etymologies (of Proper Names) ; Curd, 64 ; Dzungaria, 216; Ctiingintalaa, ib. (but see II. 5 3 8) ; Camiuscan, 242 ; Oirad, 299 ; Kungurat, 350; Manzi, II. 127 ; Bayan, 131; Kinsay, 1 76 ; Japan, 238; Soraau, 260; Narhandam, 294; Ceylon, 296 ; Ma'bar, 315; Chilaw, 321; Mailapur, 345; Sona- garpattanam, 359; Pmmei-Kdyal, ib,; Kayal, *. ; Kollam (Coilum), 365, 547; Hili (Ely), 397; Cambaet, 389; Mangla and NeUla, 377; Socotra, 400; Coles- seeah, 402 ; Caligine, 435 ; Aijaruo, 461 ; Nemej, 494; Kalgan and Kalugah, 538. Chinese, II. 100. Etzina, S25. Eunuoha, 348 ; procured from Bengal, II. 97, 98. Euphrates ; 45 ; said to flow into Caspian, 54, 56. IBhiphratesia, 45. Euxine, see Blaok Sea. Execution of Princes of the Blood, Mode of, 69; 335, 336. Eyircaya, 273. F. Kacen, Dr. J., ISS. Faghfur (Facfur, the Emp. of S. China), II. 127; meaning of title, 131; 189 geqq.; his effeminate diversions, 189 ; decay of the Palace of, 190. See Manzi, King of. Faizabad in Badakhshan, 163-165, 171. Fakata, II. 243. Fakhruddin Ahmad, 125 ; II. 316. Fakanur, II. 437. Falcons, see Hawks. Falconers, the Kaan's, 327, 389, 391, 393. Famine Horrors, 304. Fanchan, i.e. P'ingchang, title of a 2nd class Cabinet Minister, 418; II. 164. Fanchan Lake, II. 23. Fanching, Siege of, II. 151-152. Fandaraina, II. 375, 381, 437. Fang, see Squares. Fansur, Km. of, in Sumatra, II. 282 ; posi- tion of, 285. FansTiri Camphor, II. 282, 285-288. Fanwenhu, or Fanbuuko, a general in Japan- ese Expedition, II. 242, 244. Faro of Constantinople, II. 491. Farriers ; none in S. India, II. 324, 448. Fars, ProT. of, 87 ; II. 316 ; 333 ; 365 ; 393. Fassa, 87. Fasting Days, Buddhist, 222, 223. Fattan in Ma'bar, II. 3 16 ; J 19. Fausto, Vettor, his great Quinquereme, SI. Female attendants on Chinese Emperors, II. 12, 15; 130; 189-190. Ferleo, Km. of, in Sumatra (Parlak, q. v.), 265, 268; 276; 277; 288. Fernandez or Moravia, Valentine, II. 278; 522. Festivals, Order of the Kaan's, 368 seqq. Fious vasta, 132. Fidawi, or Ismaelite adepts, 150, 151. Filial Piety in China, 438, 443. Finn, 126. Fiordelisa, supposed to be Nicolo Polo's 2nd wife, 18, Sh, K. , daughter of younger Maffeo Polo, IS, 6S. , wife of Felice Polo, 2i, 6S. Firando, Island of, II. 242. Firdiis, a Castle of the Ismaelites, 154. Firdusf, 134. Fire ; affected by height of Plain of Pamir, 181, 187; regulations about, at Kinsay, II. 172. Baptism ascribed to Abyssinians, II. 421, 427. Fire-Worship ; in Persia, 79 aeqq. ; by the Sensin in Cathay, 294, 318. ■ Fao (or Engines of War), supposed Kockets, 334. Fish ; Miracle regarding, in Georgia, 64, 5 9 ; . — and Date diet, 110, 119; II. 449; sup- ply of, at Kinsay, II. 184-185 ; food for cattle, 439, 441 ; and stored for man and beast, 440. Florin or Ducat, II. 199 ; 554. Flour, Trees producing (Sago), II. 282. Fluckiger, Dr., 11. 209. Fokien, Km. of Fuju, q. v. ; II. 204, 206, 209, 211-215, 219, 222, 225, 233, 255; Dialect of, 209; 218, 226-228, 258. Folin (Byzantine Empire), II. 397. Fondaco, 401 ; II. 220. Foot-mark on Adam s Peak, II. 302 ; discre- pant dimensions, 303. 57° FOOT-POSTS. INDEX. GENOA. Toot-posts in Cathay, 421. Forg, 87. Formosa, Plain of, 110, 117; the name, 118. Forsyth, Sir T. D. ; account of the Burgut or Trained Eagle, II. 543, 551. Fortune, Mr. R., II. 180; 204-306; 212; 215. Foundlings provided for, II. 130, 135. Four-horned Sheep, II. 439, 440. Fowls with hair, II. 208, 211. Foxes, Black, II. 479, 480, 484, 487. Fra Mauro's Map, ISO, 139; II. ill; 386; 397; 409; 536- ' Fra Terre,' see En fra terre. Fracastorius, Jerome, 2. Franciscan Convents ; in the Wolga region, 5,9; II. 492 ; at Yang-chau, II. 138 ; at Zayton, 220. Franoolins, 99, loi ; 110, 115; 288. Frankincense, see Incense. Frederic II., the Emperor ; his account of the Tartars, 56; his Cheetas, 384; his leather money, 416 ; his Giraffe, II. 418. French ; the original language of Polo's Book, 79 seqq. ; its large diffusion in that age, Si seqq. ; 119. Expedition up the Kamboja River, II. 50, 51, 55, 65, 103, 104, and see Gamier. Missions and Missionaries in China, II. 31, 39. 44, 49. 55. 78, 79, "O- 'FrSre Chamel,' meaning of, 195. Frere, Sir Bartle, 96, 119, 123 ; II. 385 ; 417. Fuchau (Fuju, q. v.) ; Paper money at, 414 ; II. 134; 212 ; its identity with Fuju dis- cussed, 214 scg?.; 216; 221; language of, 227; 233; Tooth-relique at, 312. Fuju (Fokien and Fuchau), II. 204 ; 207 ; 209; 2ri; 213,214; 215; 217; 221. Funeral rites (Chinese), in Tangut, 207 seqq.; of the Kaans, 241, 243 ; at Kinsay, II. 174. See Dead. Fungul, City of, II. 108 ; 110-113. Furs of the Northern Regions, 249; 391, 395 ; II. 480, 483 ; 484, 487. Fusang, fancied Mexico, II. 397, 398. Fuyang, II. 204-205. Fuzo (Fuchau), II. 220. G. Gabala, Bishop of, 229 ; II. 539 seqq. Gaisue, officer of Kublui's Astr. Board, 435. Galashkird, 109. Galeazza; Venetian, S4; 122. Gallngale, II. 97 ; 207, 208, 211 ; 254. Galletti, Marco, US ; II. 509. Galleys of the Middle Ages, On the War-, i9 seqq. ; peculiar arrangement of the oars, »- SI ; number of oars, SI, SU ; dimensions, Sl-SS ; tactics in fight, SB ; toil in rowing, ib. ; strength of crew, S7 ; cost, ib. ; Staff of a Fleet, S8 ; description from Joinville, ^. ; some customs of, 39. Galley-slaves, not usual in Middle Ages, S6-S7. Gambling prohibited by the Kaan, 43 8. Game; References to, see Sport. supplied to the Court at Cambaluc, 383, 387. Laws, Mongol, 383, 392 ; II. 8. Ganapati Kings, II. 348. Gandhira, II. 96; 310; 312; 386; the name applied to Yunnan by the Buddhists, II. 59- Ganfu, the Port of Kinsay, II. 173. Gantanpouhoa, son of Kublai, 353. GantiJr, II. 348. Gardenia, Fruit and Dye, II. 209. Gardiner's (misprinted Gardners') Travels, 168, 188. Gardner, Mr. C, II. 179, 180, 181. Garmsir, Ghermseer (Cremosor), 78, 77; loi. Gamier, M. Francis, II. 31; 40; 50, 51, 52; 55. 5^, ^^i 61 ! ^is daring journey to Talifu, 65 ; 74, 75, 77; 82; 102, 103, 104, 107, H2, 113 ; 180; 259. Garrisons, Mongol, in Cathay and Manzi, 328; II. 174, 182; disliked by the people, 187; 213. Garuda, II. 336 ; 408, 412. Gate of Iron, Existing, ascribed to Derbend, 58. Gates ; of Kaan's Palace, 355, 358 ; of Cam- baluc, 362, 364; of Somnith, II. 392. ' Gat-pauls,' Gatopaul, Gatos-paulas, II. 371, 372; 433- ' Gatto-maimone,' II. 3 72. Gauenispola, Island of, II. 283; 289-290. Gazaria, II. 491, 493. Gedrosi, II. 393. Gelath, Iron Gate at, 58. Geliz, the word, 60. Genealogy of Polos, IS; Errors in, as given by Barbaro, &c., 77-78; Tabular, II. 506. of House of Chinghiz, II. 505. Genoa and Venice, Rivalry and Wars of, S9 seqq. Pisa, Do. do., ib. and SU seqq. GENOA. INDEX. GONDOPHARES. 57^ Genoa, Polo's Captivity at, 6 ; i,6-5S. Genoese ; their growth in skill and. splen- dour, ^0; character as seamen by a poet of their own, W; Character given of, by an old Italian author, /tS ; their navigation of the Caspian, 54, 5i ; their merchants at Tabriz, 76, 77, and in Fokien, II. 220. Gentile Plural names converted into local singulars, 60. ' Geographical Text ' of Polo's Book ; cha- racter of its language, 81 ; proofs that it is the original, 8^ seqq. ; peculiarities of language, 8^; indications of verbal dicta- tion, «2; Tautology, 83; proof that it is the source of the other Texts, ib. ; its use essential to a full view of Polo's Work, 136. George, King, of the line of Prester John, 276, 276, 278; possible true form of his name, 279; possible descendant, 279710^5; II. 458 seqq. Georgia (Georgiania) and Georgians de- scribed, 52 seqq. ; their Kings, 52, 54 ; beauty of people, ib. Gerfalcons; 263, 265, 286, 388, 390; II. 488. , Tablets engraved with, 35 ; 342, 347. German Follower of the Polos, II. 141. Ghaiassuddin Balban, ro7, 108. Ghazan Khan (Casan) of Persia, son of Ar- ghun ; SS-2S ; knew the Frank tongue, S5, 29 ; his regard for the Polos, 35 ; marries the Lady Kukachin, ib.; 36, 38; 90; 106 "5; 143; 299; 415; 11.42; 149; 464, 465 ; set to watch the Khorasan Frontier. 472, 473; 473, 474; obtains the throne. 475 ; his aspect and accomplishments, 477 Ghel or Ghelan (Ghel-u-ohelani, Sea of, i. e. the Caspian, 54, 60. GheUe silk {GUi) 64, 60. Ghez Tree, 91. Ghiuju, II. 203, 205, 206. Ghuk (Goblin^), 205 : II. 408. Ghiir, 104. Giglioli, Prof H., iO. Gil or Gilan, 60. Gilgit, 168. Ginao Mountain and Hot Spriiigs, 1 26. Gindanes of Herodotus, II. 39. Ginger, II. 17, 27, 47 ; alleged to grow in Kiangnan, 166, but it is believed incor rectly, 167; 207, 208; at Coilum, 363 Different qualities of, 370; prices, ib. at Ely, 374, 377; in Malabar, 379; in Guzer.it, 383. Giraffes, II. 405, 414 ; described, 415 ; me- dieval notices of, 418 ; 425. Girardo, Paul, Marco Polo's Lawsuit with, 68; n. 509. Girdkuh, an Ismaelite Fortress, its long De- fence, 153, 155. Girls consecrated to Idols in India, II. 329. Glaza (^Ayas, q. v.), ». Gleemen and Jugglers conquer Mien (or Burma), II. 92. Goa, II. 344, 450. Gobernador, Straits of, II. 262. Goes, Benedict, 19, 185, 220. Gog and Magog ; Legend of, 5 6, 5 8 ; Country of, 276 ; Wall of China suggests the name, 283; 285. Gogo, II. 389. Goitre at Yarkand, 196. Golconda Diamond Mines, II. 349. Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, their mystic meanings, 79, 8r. ; dust in Tibet, II. 40 ; in Caindu ex- changed for salt, 45, 48 ; dust in the River Brius, 47 ; dust and nuggets in Carajan, 62 ; 70; abundance of, in Yunnan, 76; 88, 89; in Caugigu, 99; in Coloman, 106; in Chipangu infinite, 236, 238; in Islands of Sea of Chin, 246 ; dust in Islands of Gulf of Cheinan, 248 ; not really found in Java, 254; in Locac, 257, and the Ma- layo-Siamese territories, 260 ; in Sumatra, 264, 268 ; vast accumulations of, in S. India, IS, 324, 332; imported into Mala- bar, 379 ; and to Cambay, 388 ; purchased in Socotra, 399. Gold to Silver, Relative value of, 413, II. 77, and see II. 53, 62, 70, 88; 238; 534. and Silver Towers of Mien, II. 91. of the Gryphons in Herodotus, explained, II. 412. , Cloths of, 44, 52, 62, 65, 67: 75, 85, 276, 374 ; II. 17. See Silk and Gold. -Teeth (Zardandan), a people of West- ern Yunnan, II. 69 seqq., 73 seqq. Golden King, Tale of the, IL 12. Island, II. 158; 169, 160. Horde, (Kings of the Ponent), II. 493- Golfo, Indigo di, II. 371. Gomispola, Gomispoda (Gauenispola, q. v.), II. 289 seqq. Gomushtapah, Wall of, 58. Gomuti Palm, II. 279. Gondophares, a King in the St. Thomas legends, II. 343. bl-^ GOR KHAR. INDEX. HAYTON. Gar Khar, or Wild Ass, 91. Gordon's 'Ever-Victorious Army,' II. 163. , Col. T. E., II. 538. Goriosan, 11. 242. Goshawks; in Georgia, 52; 58; 98; 344; 388 ; Black, II. 266, 328. Gothia (Crimean), II. 491 ; its limit, 493 ; language, ft. Govy, a low caste in Maabar, II. 325, 334; 340. Goza, 38. Gozurat, see Guzerat. Grail, Buddhist Parallel to the Holy, II. 313. Granaries, Imperial, 429, 430. Grass-Cloths, II. no. Grasso, Donate, «. Great or Greater Sea (The Black Sea), 3 ; II. 487 ; 488 ; 491. Bear (Meistre), II. 274, 279. and Little, Force of these epithets, application to certain regions, II. 267. Greek Fire, S6; II. 149 ; 165. Greeks in Turcomania, 45. and Greek Tongue in Socotra, II. 400, 401 ; possible relic of, 402. Green, Eev. D. D., II. 176. Green Island, Legendary, II. 369. ■ Islands, II. 409. Mount at Cambaluo, 357, 360. . • Eiver, see Tsien Tang. Gregorieff, Mr., his excavations at Sarai, 6. Gregory X., Pope, see Theobald. Griut (Kurut or Sourcurd), 257. Groat, or Venetian Grosso, 410, 412; II. 17,53, 136, 184, 207,218, 220; 340; 534-5. Grote, Mr. Arthur, II. 441, 551. Grueber and Dorville, Jesuit Travellers, 268. Grus cinerea, ■ — Antigone, — Leucogeranits, — Monadms, 288. Grynaeus's Version of Polo, 93-9lt. Gryphon, The, alias Euc, II. 404-405, 408 seqq. Guasmiil, 275, 282. Gudderi, the Musk Animal, II. 37. Guebers, 90, 98. See Fire. Gugal, or Bdellium, II. 387. Guilds of Craftsmen at Kinsay, II. 169. Venetian, 70. Guinea-fowl, II. 425 ; 433. Guions, a quasi-Tibetan tribe, II. 5 1. Gumish-Khanah silver-mines, 50. Gumpach, Herr von, II. 550. Gunpowder, ISB. Gurgan, a Tartar chief, II. 473. Gurgan ('Son-in-law'), a title, 279. Gurlihan, of Karacathay, 230; II. 540 seqq., 542. Gutturals, Mongol elision of, 8, 66. Guzerat (Gozurat), IL 353, 354; 378, 379; described, 882, 888,385, 390,392; 394; 420, 42 r. H. Haast, Dr., discovers a fossil Euc, II. 410, 5 5 2. Habsh (Abash, Abyssinia, q. v.), II. 425. Hadiah, II. 433. Haffer, II. 442. Hainan; Gulf of, II. 348; language of, 227. Hairy Men in Sumatra, II. 284. Hajji Mahomed, 213, 222. Hakeddin, II. 433. Half-breeds, see Argons. Hammer-Purgstall on Marco Polo, lU. Hamum Arabs, II. 440. Hamza-Pantsuri or Fantsuri, II. 286. Han River, II. 25, 27, 28, 29; 132 ; 157. Dynasty, II. 25, 28. Banbury, Mr. D., II. 167, 209, 211, 545. Hanchung, II. 25, 26, 28. Hangchau-fu, 11; II. 131; 167-168; 176; but see Kinsay. Hanjam, 118. Hankau, II. 158, 167. Hansi, II. 421. Sardm, the word, 147. Harhaura, a region of India, ic6. Harmozeia, n8. Harpagomis, a fossil Rue, II. 410. Harsuddi, Temple of, II. 334. Haru or Aru, II. 286. Hasik, II. 441. JiashisUn (Ashishin), 146 segg., 147. Hastings, Letter of Warren, 5 9. Haunted Deserts, 203 ; 266. Sawdriy (Avarian), the term, II. 347. Hawks, Hawking; in Georgia, 62, 58 ; in Yezd and Kerman, 90, 92, 9K ; in Badakh- shan, 166 ; in Etzina, 225 ; among the Tartars, 244 ; on the shores and islands of the Northern Ocean, 262, 265, also II. 488 ; Kublai's sport at Chagannur, I. 286; his hawks in mew at Chandu, 289 ; trained eagles, 384, 386 ; Kublai's hawking esta- blishment, 388, and sport, 389, 390, 391, 392, 396 ; II. 8 ; in Tibet, 41 ; in Sumatra, 266 ; in Maabar, 328. Hayton I., King of Lesser Armenia, 10 ; his autograph, IS; 44; II. 535. HAZARAS. INDEX. HULAKU KHAN. 573 Hazaras; their Mongol origin, 104-105 ; Lax custom ascribed to, 214; II. 48. Hazbana, K. of Abyssinia, II. 432. Heat, Vast, at Hormuz, 110, 111, 123 ; II. 450 ; in India, II. 327, 363. 'Heaven City of (Kinsay), II. 166, tdj, 169, 185. Heibak, Caves at, 164. Heiglit, Effects on fire of great, 181, 187. Jlel, Ela (Cardamom), II. 377. Helli, II. 375. Hemp of Kweichau, II. no. Heraclius said to have loosed the shut-up nations, 56. Herat, 157 ; II. 393. Hereditary Trades, II. 170, see 178. Hereford Map, 1$7, 139. Hermenia, 1, 16, 20, 22, 43, 47. See Armenia. Hermits of Kashmir, 176, 177, 179. Herodotus and Polo, 108. Hethum, see Hayton. Hides, II. 388. See Leatluir. Hili, Hili-Marawi (Ely), II. 375-377, 380; 394. 395 ; 420. Hill-people, Wild, of Fokien, II. 207, 209. Hinaur, see Hnndu-ar. Hind, II. 393 ; 420 Hindu character, Remarks on frequent eulogy of, 11, 354. Hing-hwa, Language of, II. 227. Hippopotamus Teeth, II. 405, 4r4. Hips, Admiration of large, 168. Hochang-fu (Caohanfu), II. 19. Hochau, in Szechwan, Mangku Kaan's death at, 240. , in Kansuh, 11. 23. Hokian-fii (Caoanfu), II. 116. Hokow or Hokeu, II. 206, 212. Holy Sepulchre ; Oil from Lamp of, IS, 19, 20, 27 ; II. 422, 423. Hormritae^ II. 426. Homi-chau or Ngo-ning, II. 104, ir2, 114. ' Homme,' technical use of the word, 27, 3 34. Honhi Tribe (Anin), II. ro2, 103, 104. Horiad Tribe (Uirat), 291, 299. Hormuz (Hormoa, Hormes, Curmosa), 19; 85, 89; 110 scqq.; trade with India; heat and sickliness; diet of people, 111; ships ; intolerably hot and fatal wind ; crops, 112; mourning customs; the King of, 113 ; another road from, to Kerman, ib ; road from Kerman to, 1 r3 ; site of the old city, 114; Foundation of, 118; His- tory of, 124; II. 316; 324, 333; 357; 394; 448, 419, 450; the Melik of, 448, 450; great hsat, 450; Old — , Confusion about, 450; 456. Hormuz, Island of, or Jerun, 113, 114; Grgana of Arrian, n8 ; 123, 125. Hormuzdia, IJ4. Horns of Cms Poli, 181, 185. Horoscopes in China, 433; II. 174; in Maabar, 328. Horse-Posts and Post-houses, 420, 424. Horses ; Turkish, 46, 46 ; of Persia, 84, 88 ; of Badakhshan, 166 ; of strain of Bucepha- lus, ib. ; sacrificed over Tombs of Kaans, 241 ; Tartar, 262, 25 7 ; and Mares, White, 291, 299, presented to the Kaan on ^&\f Tear's Day, 377 ; of Carajan, II. 62, 63, 66 ; tails of, docked, 64, 67; of Anin, 101 ; tracking by, 158; decorated with Yaks' tails, 341. , none, or only wretched ones, bred in S. India, IL 324, 326-326, 333 ; 335, 434, 448. , Great Trade in importing, to India ; from Persia, 84, 88 ; mode of shipment, 111, 119 ; from Carajan, II. 63 ; from Anin, 101 ; from Kis, Hormuz, Dofar, Soer, and Aden, 324, 333, 367, 386, (Aden) 434, (Esher) 439, 440, (Dofar) 441, (Calatu) 448, 450; great prices fetched in India, I. 84, 88; H. 324, 333, 434; Duty on, 434, 450; captured by pirates, 385; extraor- dinary treatment and diet of, in India, 324,328,333, 336-337,448. Hospitals, Buddhist, 432. Hostelries ; at Cambaluc, 398 ; on the post- roads of Cathay, 420 ; II. 25 ; at Kinsay, Eegulations of, 176. Hot Springs ; in Armenia, 47, 48 ; near Hormuz, 113, 126. Hounds, Masters of the Kaan's, 386, 388. Hours ; struck from bell-tower at Cambaluc, 363, 399 ; at Kinsay, II. 171. , Unlucky, II. 351. , Canonical, II. 355. Huchau-fu (Vuju), II. r68. Hukaji (Cogachin), son of Kublai, 35 3 ; II. 62, 65. Hukwan-hien, II. 212. Hulaku Khan (Alau, and in one place Ala- cou), brother of Kublai, and founder of Mongol Dynasty in Persia, W ; his enter- prise against Baghdad, 68, 69 ; puts the Khalif to death, ib.; 87; goes against the Lsmaelites, 152, 160; 241, 242 ; 326 ; 574 HULLMANN. INDEX. INDIFFERENCE. his first campaign, II. no; treachery of, 142; 397; 399; his war with Barka Khan of Kipchak, I. 4, 8, 105 ; II. 475 ; 492 seqq. Hiillmann's extraordinary view of Polo's Book, 113. Human fat, used for comhustion in war, II. 165. sacrifices, 210. Humboldt, 103, 108, 109, 117, ISO; 187. Hunawar (Onore, Hinaur), II. 379, 437. Hundred Eyes, The Prophecy of the, II. 128, 133. HundKcmiy, see Ondanique. Hungary, Hungarians, II. 492-493. , Great, II. 267; 492. Himting Establishments, Kublai's, 384, 386, 393. Expedition of Kublai described, 388 ; of Kanghi, 393. ; Preserves, II. 8. See Sport. Hwa-chau, II. 23. Hwai K., II. 125, 135. Hwailu, II. 10, II. Hwaingan-fu (Coiganju), II. 135, 136. Hwan-ho, II. 5, 5. Hwang-ho, 240, 273, 277; II. 17, 19-21; changes in its course, 119, 125—126 ; 135 ; its embankments, 126. See Caramoran. Hwen Thsang, 163, 173, 179, 187, 198, 205, 224,298; 11.290,296,297; 310,312; 397- Hyena, 385. I. labadiu, II. 267. Ibn Batuta (Moorish traveller, circa A.D. 1330-1350), «7; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 37; 46; 66; 67; 77; 86; 103; 113; 114; 119; "3; 154; 169; 205 ; 242; 283; his account of Chinese Juggling, 308; 337; 395 ; II. 117, 164; his account of Khansa (Kinsay), 197; of Zayton, 220, 266; in Sumatra, 271, 276 ; in Ceylon, 297, 298, 303, 304, 321; in Ma'bar, 319, 330; 334; at Kaulam, 365, 368; at Hili, 375 ; 380; 381; 386; 389; 393; 403; 406; his sight of the Eukh, 411; 419; 420; 437; 441 ; 442 ; 449 ; 464 ; 482 ; 485 ; 488 ; 492- . Fozlan, Old Arab writer on Russian Countries, 7 ; II. 4B8. Ichin-hien, II. 138, 152, 156, 158. Ichthyophagous Cattle and People, II. 439, 441. Icon Amlac, K. of Abyssinia, II. 430-453. Idols ; Tartar, 249, 250, 438 ; II. 478 ; in Tangut, I. 207 ; colossal, 221, 223 ; of the Bacsi or Lamas, 393 ; of the Sensin, 294, 316-319; of the East generally, II. 245, 247 ; in India, II. 322, 324, 329. Idolatry (i.e. Buddhism) and Idolaters ; in Kashmir, 175, 178-180; in Tangut, 207, 209 ; 212, 215, 219, 221, 225, 256, 266, 272, 276, 276, 291 seqq., 335, 374, 432,437. Origm of, 158, II. 300, 309. of Brahmans, II. 350 ; of Jogis, 362. 'Up6Sov\oi, II. 338. leu, II. 303. Ifat, Aufat, II. 430, 433. Ig, Ij, or Irej, 87. Igba Zion, lakba Siun, K. of Abyssinia, II. 431, 432. Zlchi, meaning of the word, 30. , Cap. of Khotan, 197. Ilchigadai Khan, 194. Imago Mundi of Jac d'Acqni, 52. Imams of the Ismailis, 153. Incense ; Sumatran, II. 266 ; Brown, in W. India, 385, 387-388 ; White, {i.e. Frankin- cense) in Arabia, 439, 440, 442 ; notes on Frankincense, 443-447. India, i«; 1, 110-112, 177, 399; II. 62; 63 ; 89 ; 97 ; 101 ; 219 ; 231 ; Trade from, to Manzi or China, 173, 200, 213, 214, 217, 231 ; believed to breed no horses, see Horses ; Horse Trade to, see ibid. ; Western limits of, II. 392, 393 ; Islands of, 416, and see Islands ; Division of, 417 ; Sundry Lists of States in, 420, 421, and see 394; Trade with Persia and Arabia, 357; with Aden and Egypt, 434, 435 ; with Arabian ports, 439, 441, 448. Vol. II. pp. 313-393 treats specially of India. and Ethiopia, Confusion of, II. 426. the Greater, II. 313 seqq. ; 392 ; its extent, 417, 419 seqq. the Lesser, its extent, II. 417, 419 seqq. , Middle (Abyssinia), II. 416, 421; Remarks on this title, II. 425. Tertia, II. 397, 419. Maxima, II. 419. Superior, IL 218 ; 419. • Sea of, see Sea. Indian Steel (Ondanique, q. v.), 93. Geography, Dislocation of Polo's, 11. 364, 379, 383, 394-395- Nuts, see Coco-nuts. Indies, The Three, and various distribution of them, II. 419. Indifference, Religious, of Mongol Emperors, 14, 339-340,11. 476 seqq. INDIGO. INDEX. JEWS. 575 Indigo ; at Coilum, and mode of making, II. 363, 370; in Guzerat, 383; at Cambay, 388 ; prohibited by London Painters' Guild, 371- Indo-China, II. 419. Vol. II. pp. 33-105, and 248-857 treats of Indo-Chinese States. Infants, Exposure of, II. 129, 135. Ingushes of Caucasus, 261. Inscription, Jewish, at Kaifongfu, 337. Insult, Mode of, in S. India, II. 358. Intramural Interment prohibited, 398. Invulnerability, Devices for, II. 241, 244. 'Irdlv, 75. Irghai, 273. Irish accused of eating their dead kin, II. 281. MS. Version of Polo's Book, 100-101. Iron; in Kerman, 92, 93; in Cobinan, 128, 129; see 215. Iron-Gate (Derbend); said to have been built bj Alexander, 52, 55 ; gate ascribed to, 58; 11.494,496; 537. Irtish R., II. 494. Isaac, K. of Abyssinia, II. 482. Isabel, Queen of L. Armenia, 44. Isdbeni, II. 426.. Isentemur (Sentemur, Essentemur) godson of Kublai, II. 62, 65 ; 81. Ish — , The prefix, 364; — Kashm, 163, dialect, 168; 183. 'Ishiu, 123. Iskandar Shah of Malacca, II. 263. Islands ; of the Indian Sea, and their vast number, II. 233, 416-417, 419 ; of China Seas, II. 233, 246 ; and see Java, Chipan- gu, Angaman, Micoveran, Malaiur, SeUan, Sootra, Madagascar, &c. in the Gulf of Cheinan, II. 247. Male and Female, II. 395 seqq. Isle of Kubies (Ceylon), II. 296. • d'Orl^ans, II. 25 7. Ismaelites or Assassins, 85 ; 145 seqq. ; assas- sinations by, 15 I ; destruction of, 152 seqq.; survival and recent circumstances of the sect, 153. Ispahan, 86. Israel in China, 33 7. See Jeu>s. Istan, see Istanit (supp. Ispahan), a Km. of Persia, 84, 86. Iteration, Wearisome, II. n6. Ivongu, II. 407. Izzuddin Muzaffar suggests paper-money in Persia, 415-416. J. Jacinth, II. 349. Jacob Baradaeus, 63. Jacobite Christians; at Mosul, 48, 61 Note on their Church, 63 ; at Tauris, 76 at Tarkand, 196 ; perhaps in China, 280 II. 401 ; 427, 428. Jadah, Jddd, &c., 300. See Yaduh. Jade stone (Jasper) of Khotan, &c., 198, 199; 200. Jaeschke, Eev. H. A., 2ti, 238, 306, 317. Jaffa, Count of; his brave galley, S8, Ul. Jahangir, 178. Jaipal, Raja, II. 330. Jajnagar, II. 421. Jalaluddin of Khwarizm, 93 ; 231. Jamiluddin Al-Thaibi, II. 316, 333. Envoy from Ma'bar to Khanbalig, II. 321. James of Aragon, King, II. 146, 476. Jamisfulah (G-auenispola), II. 290. Jamui Khatun, Kublai's favourite Queen ; her kindness to the captured Chinese Prm- cesses, 39; 350 ; II. 134. Jangama Sect, II. 35 7. Jauibek Khan of Sarai, 6 ; 343. Japan (Chipangu, q. v.), II. 235 seqq. ; Kublai's expedition against, 242. Japanese Paper-money, 415. Jaroslawl, II. 490. Jasper and Chalcedony, 198, 200. Jatolic {^Catholicos') of the Nestorians, 61, 63. Jauchau, II. 225. Jauzgdn, former cap. of Badakhshan, 164. Java the Great, 12 ; described, II. 254 ; its circuit ; empires in, 255 ; Kublai's expedi- tion against, ib. ; 256. the Less, i. e. Sumatra ; Polo's party touched at, 34; described with its King- doms, II. 264 seqq.; 266; application of the name, ib. ; later meaning of ' Little Java,' 267; 283,371. the Greater and Lesser ; meaning of these terms, II. 267; 419-420. ; in the sense of the following, II. 420. Jdwa, Jdwi; applied by the Arabs to the Islands and products of the Archipelago generally, II. 266. Jerun, Zarnn (the Island on which the later Hormuz .stood), 113, 114, 118, 125. Jerusalem, the World-centre, 116. Jesuit Astronomers in China, II. 5 44 seqq. Jesujabus, Nestorian Patriarch, II. 365 ; 40 r. Jews ; in the Kaan's Camp and Court, 335, 576 JIBAL NaK6S. INDEX. KANPU. 339; in China, 337; at Kaifongfu, and tlieir inscription there, ib. ; end of the Synagogue there, 338 ; in Coilum, II. 363 ; in Abyssinia, 422, 425, 430. Jibal Nakiis, 206. ul-Thabiil, ib. Jiruft, 109, 114, ii5. Jogis (Chughi), Account of, II. 351 seqq. ; Johnson, Mr., his visit to Khotan, 197, 198, iy9, 201-202, 204. Johore, Sultan of, II. 262, 263. Joa River (Jihon or Oxus), II. 456 ; 464, 465. Jorfattan (Baliapattan), II. 375. Jubb E., II. 417. Jugglers; at Kaan's Feasts, 371, 373; 378; and Gleemen conquer Mien (or Burma), II. 92, 96. Juggling Extraordinary, 308 seqq. Juji, eldest son of Chinghiz, iO; 5 ; II. 480. Juju (Chochau), II. 6; 7; 109, 114. Julman, II. 485. Junghuhn ; on Batta Cannibalism, II. 269 ; on Camphor Trees, 287. Junks, II. 234, and see Sfdps. Justinople (Capo d'Istria), W. Juzgana (Dogana), 159. K. ' Kaan ' and ' Khan ', The Words, 9. Kaan, The Great ; see Kublai Kaan. Kaans ; the series of, and their Burial Place, 241 ; massacre of all met by the funeral party of, ib.; 242-243. Kabul, 174; II. 393. Kachkar^ or Wild Sheep (Cm Vigne{), 171. Kadapah, II. 349. Kafchi-kiie, 11. rii. KafirsofHinduKush; their wine, 89,162; 174. Kaidu Khan (Gaidu), cousin and lifelong opponent of Kublai, 10; 191, 194; 195; 216; plots with Nayan, 323, 326; 838; II. 131; his differences with Kublai, 465, and constant aggressions, 456; his real relation to Kublai ; his Death, 45 7 ; end of his House, ib. ; account of an expedi- tion of his against the Kaan, 467; and victory, 458 ; of another expedition, 458 seqq. Historical note, 460 ; the Kaan's re- sentment, 461 ; the story of his Daughter, and her valour, 461 seqq.; note on ber, 463 ; 464 ; sends a Host against Abaga, 465. Kaifung-fu ; Jews and their Synagogue there, 337; the Siege of, II. 152. Kaikhatu (Kiaoatu) Khan of Persia; «; seizes the throne, 35, also II. 473 ; not the lawful Prince, I. 35, 38 ; 93 ; his dissolute character, II. 474 ; his death, 480 ; his Paper-Money scheme, I. 415. Kail, see Gail. Kain, a City of Persia, 87 ; 147. Kaiping-fu (Keibung, Kaiminfu, Kemenfu), 86; 228; 294; 296, 297. Kairat-ul-'Arab, 115. Kaisariya (Caesaraea, Casaria), 46, 47, 50. Kais, see Kish. Kajjala or Khajlak, a Mongol leader, 107. Kakateya Dynasty, II. 348. Kakhyens, Kachyens, Tribe on west of Yun- nan, II. 67 ; 73 ; 74. Kaljula, II. 259. Kala'a Safed, 86. Kalajan (Calaclian), 273, 273. Kalantan, II. 260. Kalinur, II. 421. Kalchi, Kalakchi, 368. Kales Devar, King of Ma'bar, II. 316 ; 317 ; 318 ; his enormous wealth, 333. Kalgan or Chang-kia-keu, 286 ; II. 538. Kalhat (Kalhatti, Calatu, Calaiate), 124, II. 333 ; described, 448, 449 ; idiom of, ib. ; 450. Kalidiisa on the Yak, 270. Kalikut, II. 375 ; 381; 436; 437. Kdlim or Kdlin (marriage price), 248 ; 378. Kalinga, II. 311, 312. Kalinjar II. 420. Kalviia angustifolia, Poisonous, 220. Kalugah, II. 537. Kamarah, Komar, II. 259. Kambala, grandson of Kublai, 353. Kambayat (Cambay), II. 389. Kamboja, II. 117, 259, 363. Kamul (Komal, Carmd), 212; loose cha- racter and customs, ib. ; 213 ; 2x6. Jfandt, or Karez, 128. Kanat-ul-Sham (Conosalrai), 109. Kanauj, II. 421. Kanbalu Island, II. 407. Kanchau (Campiohu, q. v.), 222, 273. Kandahar, Kandar, II. 59. ,11. 310; 393- Kandy, II. 311. Kanerkes or Kanishka; Coins of, 183. Kanghi, Emperor, 393 ; II. 6 ; 166. Kank, 201. Kanpu (Ganpu), old Port of Hangchau, II. KANSUH. INDEX. KHAZARS. 577 Kansuh, 209, 122. Kao-Hoshang, 408. Kaoyu (Cayu), II. 136. Kapilavastu, II. 304. Kapukada, Capuoate, II. 368. Karabugha, Carabaga, Calabra, a military engine, II. 153. Kara-Hnlun, II. 485. Karajang (Carajan, i.e. Yunnan), 20, and see Carajan. Karakhitaian Empire, 230 ; II. 540. Princes of Kerman, 93. Kara Khoja, 216. Kara Korum (Oaracoron), 227, 228; 261; 11.468,460; 539. Slard Kumiz, a kind of drink, 252. Kararaiiren (Caramoran, q. v.), the Hwang- ho. Karana, meaning of, 103. Kardni (yalgo Cranny), ib. Karaniit, a Mongol Sept, 102. Karaiin Jiduu (or Khidun), ib. Karaunahs (Oaraonas), a robber tribe, 89 ; 99, 102 seqq.; 126. Karavatj an instrument for self-decollation, II. 334. Karens, II. 59. Karmathian Heretics, 195. Earniil, II. 348. KaiTah, II. 421. Manikpiir, 87. Kartazonon, Karhaddan (Rhinoceros), II. 273. Kasaidi Arabs, II. 440. Kdsh (i.e. Jade), 199. Eashan, 82. Kashgar (Oasoar), 188, 191;; II. 457; CSom- hans of, 200. KasUsh, Eashis, 71 ; II. 401. Kashmfr (Keshimur), 100, 106; 173, 175 ; described, 176 seqq. ; the people and their sorceries ; the country the source of Idolatry (i.e. Buddhism), 176, 177-180; Language, 177. Kashmiris, 77; 115 seqq. Kasia People and Hills, 300 ; II. 5 1. Kasyapa Buddha, II. 342. Kataghan, 170. Katif, II. 333. Kattiiwar, II. 385 ; Pirates, 391. Kaulam (OoUum, q. v., Quilon, &c.), II. 315; 365 seqq.; 375, 395, 437. Mal4, II. 365. Kauli (Cauly), i.e. Corea, 336, 336. Kaunchi Khan (Conohi), II. 478, 480. Kareri R., Delta of, II. 318. VOL. II. Kayeripattanam, II. 319. Kayal, Kail, see Call. Pattanam, II. 359. , Punnei-, II. 359. Kayteu, II. 216. Kazan, 7. Kazawinah, 103. Kazwin (Caavin), 84, 85 ; 103 ; 147. Kehran, II. 421. Keiaz Tribe, 188. Keibung, see KaipiTig'fu, Kelinfu (Kienning-fu), II. 208. Kemeufu, see Kaiping-fu,. Kern Eemjut (Chingintalas), II. 538. Kenjanfu, i.e. Singan-fu, II. 17, 18, 21 seqq. Keraits, a great Tartar Tribe, 231, 232, 263, 278, 279. Kerala, II. 379. Kermfc, 87; 90 ; described, 91, 92 ; capital, ib. ; history ; steel of; manufactures, 96- 98; 109; 112, 113, 113 seqq.; vessels of, 119; 124-126; Desert of, 127; King (or Atabcg) of. 111, 113 ; II. 448, 449. to Hormuz, Route from, 92, 98-100, 110, 113, 113 seqq. Keshioan, the Kaan's Life-Guard, 366 ; true form and proper etymology of word, 366-367; 380, 381. Kesmacoran (Mekran), 87; II. 392; is Kij-Makrdn, 393 seqq.; 420. ' Khakan,' The Word, 9. Khalif (Calif of the Saracens, or of Baudaa) of Baghdad (i.e. Mosta'sim Billah), 64; taken by Hulaku (Alau) and starved to death, 66. How a former — laid a plot against the Christians, 70 seqq. ; its mira- culous defeat ; he becomes secretly a Chris- tian, 74. Ehdlij, the word, II. 435. Khan Badshah of Khotan, 197. Khanfu, II. 181. Khanikoff, Mr. N. de, 136 ; Notes on Polo, 5 r, 75i 91. 98, 103, 106, 107, 108, 117, 125, »7, 145, 148. , his travels in Persia, 93, 98, 124, 127- 128. Ehanhhanan, a title, 10. " Khan-oolla; site of Tomb of Chinghiz, 243. Khansi, Khanzai (Kinsay, q. v.), II. 181, 196, 197, &o. Kharesem, 163. Khato Tribe, II. 103. Khatun-gol (Lady's River, i.e. Hwang-ho), 240. Khazars, II. 493. 1 P 578 KHINSA. INDEX KINSAY. Khinsa, Khingsai, Khinzai (Kinsay, q. v.), II. 127, 160, 196 seqq. Khitaiij Khitai, 11. Dynasty of Liao, 230, 279 ; II. 15 ; 542. Character, 29. Khmer (Komar, Kamboja), II. 259, 372. Khojas, name of the modern Ismaelite sect, 153. Ehorasan, 38, 131, 135,141, 156; 11.465,473. Khormuzda, the Supreme Deity of the Tar- tars, 249. Khotan (Cotan) ; described, 196 ; Routes between — and China, 198; Buried Cities of, 199; Jade of, 197, 199; 202; 204. KhumbaTati (Cambay), II. 389. Khiimdan, II. 21. Kiacatu, see Kaikhatu. Kiai-chau, II. 21 ; 542. Kiaking, Emperor, II. 126. Kiang, the Great (Kian and Kian-Suy, and iji its highest course Brius, the Kinsha Kiang), II. 30, 32; 39; 47; 51; 55, 56, 58; 112, 113; 132; 138; 154; its vast- ness and numerous craft, 156, 156-158; steamers on, 158; its former debouchure to the south, and changes, 181-182. See also Kinsha. Kiangchd, II. 139; 201; Limits of, 202, 207; 214. Kiang-Hung, Xieng-Hung, II. loi; no, III, 112 ; 114. Kiangka, II. 39. Kiang-mai (Zimm^, Xieng-mai), II. too, 111 ; 260. Kiangshan, II. 206. Kiangsi, II. 207, 209. Kiangtheu, II. 87; 93 ; 95. Kiang-Tung, II. 100. Kiaochi, i.e. Tungking ; Chinese etym. of, II. loi; III. Kiayu-kuan, 177. Kichau, II. 20. Kienchang (Caindu), II: 50, 51, 57, 58. Kien-chau, II. 214. Kien-kw^, ib. Kienlung, Emperor, II. 6, 179. Kienning-fu (Kelinfu), II. 308, 209. Kij-Makran, see Kesmaooran. Kilimanchi E., II. 417. Kin (or Golden) Dynasty in Northern China, 11; (Altun) 225 ; 279; their Paper-Money, 412 ; story of the Golden King, II. 12 seqq. ; 14,19, 21; 152; 542. Kincha (Ch. name for Kipchaks), II. 164. Kinchi or ' Gold-Teeth,' see Zardandan. King of the Abraiaman, II. 360. King of France, Kublai's messages to, 34. ' of England, do. ib. ; Intercourse with Mongol Princes, 35 ; II. 476. of Spain, do., ib. Kings, Subordinate, or Viceroys, in China, 352, 353; II. 18, 19, 24; 52; 62, 65; 173, 182. of Maabar, the Fiye Brothers, II. 313, 315, 318, 321; 322, 323, 327, 367, 358; their mother's efforts to check their broils, 358. King, EeT. C. W., 359. Kingsmill, Mr. T. W., II. 138; 168; 178; 204. Kingszd, II. 131 ; 176. See Kinsay^ King-te-ching Porcelain Manufacture, II. 225 . Kinhwa-fu, II. 206. , Kinsay (Kingsze or * Capital,' Khansa, Khin- sa, Khingsai, Khanzai, Cansay, Campsay), i.e. the city then called Linggan, now called Hangchau-fu, 11 ; II. 129 ; its sur- ' render to Bayan, i6., 131; extreme public security, 130; 134; 139; alleged mean- ing of the name, 166, 167, 169; Descrip- tion of, 169 seqq. ; Bridges, ib. ; Guilds and wealthy craftsmen, their dainty wives ; '. the Lake, its Islands and Garden-Houses, 170 ; Stone-Towers ; People, their clothing and food ; Guards, and Police-regulations, 171; Fires; Alarm-Towers, 172 ; Revenues; Pavements; Public Baths; the Port of Ganfu; tbe Province of — , and other Provinces of Manzi, 173 ; Garrisons ; Horo- scopes ; Funeral rites, 174 ; Palace of the expelled King ; vast Census, 175 ; Church ; , House Registers ; Hostel Regulations, 176 ; Notes : Name ; Limits of the city at various periods ; Bridges, 1 78 ; Hereditary trades ; Lake Sihu, 179; profusion of silks, 180; Charities; Pavements; Baths, iBi ; the Estuary and Sea-port; changes in the Great Kiang; Provinces of S. China, 182; Garrisons; Funeral customs, 183; Census tickets. Further Particulars, 183 seqq.; Canals ; Market-places and Markets, 184 ; fruits and fish; shops, .185; Women of the Town ; City Courts, 186 ; immense daily consumption ; character of People ; behaviour to Women, and to Foreigners, 187 ; dislike to Soldiers ; Pleasures on the Lake, and in carriage excursions ; Palace of the King, 188; his effeminate diver.- - sions, 185; ruined state, 190. Notes: These additipns from Ramusio; Tides, 191; Plan of Hangchau ; public carriages,,. KINSAY. INDEX. k6blai KaaN. 579 194. Position, and Map of the Sung Palace, 195 ; Notices of Kinsay by other writers: Odoric; Arclibp. of Soltania, 196; Mari- gnolli ; WassSf; Nuzhat-ul-Kulvh, 197; Masdlak-ul-Absdr ; Ibn Batuta; Martini; Ships of, 23T, 246. Kinaay, Revenue of, 173, 173 ; Details, 199 seqq. , Province of, 173; 199, 200; 203, 204, 207 ; 218. Kinsha Kiang (Upper Br. of Great Kiang ; Briua), 32, 39>5i>55. 58. Kinshan, see ' Golden Island.' Kinto or Hintu, general against Japan, II. 242. Eipchak (Ponent, q. v.) ; Events in, related by Polo, 22, 5, and II. 491 seqq. ; People of, 492 ; Extent of Empire, 494. Kirghiz, 300; II. 349. Kazaks, 304. Kiria, 199, 20 r. Kis, Ki'sh, or Kais (Kisi, Kishl), an Island in Persian Gulf, 64; story of the city, 65 ; 85; n. 316; 324, 333; 357,451. Eishik, Kishiltan, Eizik, KesUkohi, see Keshi- can. Kishm (Casern), 161 ; its position, 163 ; 164; 182. Kishm or Brakht, an Island in the Pers. Gulf, 125. Kistna R., 11. 349. Kiuchau, II. 206. Kiulan (Quilori, Coilum, q. v.). Kneeling oxen, 99, 101. Kobdo, 217. Koh-Banan (Cobinan), 128, 129. Kokcha R., 162, 163, 164, 170. Eok- Task or ' Green Stone ' of Samarkand, 195. Kolastri or Kolatiri Rajas, II. 376 ; 550. Kolkhoi of Ptolemy identified, II. 360. KoUam, see Coilum. Koloman, see Coloman. Kolyma, Bird-hunting at, 264. K> 3 75> 381 ; 394 ; 419 ; Princes in, 420. Malacca ; Gold in, 11. 260 ; 262 ; Chronology of, discussed, 263 ; 381. , Straits of, II. 262. Malaiur, Island and City, II. 261, 262 ; the name, 264. Malapaga, a Prison at Genoa, 49. Malasgird, 152. Malay; Peninsula, II. 258; — Chronicle, 260, 263, 268, 269, 270, 276, 283, 285, Invasion of Ceylon, 297 ; — origin of many geographical names in use, 296. Malayo, or Tana Malayu, II. 263. Malcolm, Sir John, 11. 337. Maldive Islands, their number, II. 419. Maid (in Burma), II. 93, 95. Male and Female Islands, II. 393 ; .de- scribed, 395 seqq. ; the Legend widely dif- fused, 397 seqq. ; 408 ; 409. Malifattan, II. 316. Malik al Dhahir, K. of Samudra, II. 2 70 ; 276. Salih, do. II. 270, 276, 277. Mansur, II. 270, 276. Kafur, II. 316. Malpiero, Gasparo, u. Malte-Brun, 109 ; 88. Malwa, II. 420, 421. Mamaseni, 86. Mamre, The Tree of, 136, 142. Man, Col. Henry, II. 291, 294. Mdn (Barbarians), II. 105, 127. Mancopa, IL 283, 288. MandaU (in Burma), II. 312. . Mandarin language, II. 226, 228. Mangalai, son of Kublai, »; 353 ; II. 19, 23, 24. Mangalore, II. 375. Maugi, see Manzi. Mangla and Nebila, Islands, IL 397. Mangonels ; on board Galleys, se ; made by Polos for attack of Saianfu, II. 141, 143 ; 146 ; etym. of, 147 ; 153 ; 165. See Mili- tary Engines. Mangu Kaan (Mangkii, Mongu), elder Brother of Kublai, 10, 11; 62 ; 152 ; 812; 228; 232; his death, 240; reign, and massacre at his funeral, 242, 243 ; 342 ; IL 26; 33, 38. . -Temur (Mungultemur), II. 491, 493 497, 499- Manjanik (and Manjaniki), IL 147; 153 ; — Kumgha, 15 3 ; Western, ib. See Man- gonels. Manjarur, IL 3 75 > 437- Manjushri, Bodhisatva, II. 247. Manphul, Pandit, 162, 164,. 168, 170, 172. Mantzd, Mantsd Aborigines, IL 5 1, 5 2 ; 137. Manufactures, The Kaan's, 431. Manuscripts of Polo's Book, 79 seqq., 88 seqq. ; IL 517-531. of different works. Comparative Num- bers of, lis. Manzi (or Mangi), a name applied to China south of the Hwang-ho, held by the native Sung Dynasty till 1276, S; II. 7; Wliite City of the — Frontier, 27, 28; 29; 40; 121; 123; 127; entrance to, 125; the name, 127; Conquest of, 128 seqq.; 135, 136, 138, 140, 161, 163, 165; 151; Character of the People of, 165, 187; divided into Nine Kingdoms, 173 ; its 1200 cities, and its garrisons, ib.; 176; 199; 200; 203; no sheep in, 204; 208; 213; 217 ; 218 ; written character and dialects, 218 ; called Chin, 245, 247 ; 254 ; Ships 584 MANZI. INDEX. MILITARY ENGINES. and merchants of, in India, 364, 374, 379, 381; 455. Manzi, The King of, styled Faofur, II. 127, 134; flees from his capital, 129; his effeminacy and his charity, 128-130 ; dies among the Isles, 130 ; his Palace at Kin- say, 175, 188 seqq., 194-5 ; his effeminate habits, 189-190. , The Queen of, II. 129 ; surrenders, !&., 134; her official report on the City of Kinsay, 169. , Princess of, sent with the Polos to Persia, I. 35,39. Map ; Data for one in Polo's Book, and con- struction from them, 106; alleged — from an original by Polo, 107 ; of Roger Bacon's, 187 ; — of Marino Sanudo, 128 ; Medicean, 129 ; Catalan, ib., and see s. t. ; Fra Mauro's, 130^ and see s. v. ; Ruysch's, ib. ; Mercator's, &c., 131 ; Sanson's, &c., 132; Hereford, 127, 139. See also Andrea. Maps; allusions to, in Polo's Book, II. 238; 295, 296; 417; early medieval, cha- racterized, 127 ; of the Arabs, ib. ; in the Palace at Venice, 107. Mapillas or Moplas, II. 359, 369. Mar Sarghis, II. 139, 162. Mara Silu, II. 276. Marabia, Maravia, Maravi, II. 375, 376. Maramangalum, site of Kolkhoi, II. 361. Maratha, II. 420. Mardin (Merdin), 62, 64. Mare's Milk, Sprinkling of, 291, 300, 396 ; II. 543- Margaritone, 22. Marignolli, John, II. 164; 176, 178; 196; 220, 221 ; 303. Markets in Kinsay, II. 184-185. Market-days, 162; II. 88, 89. Squares at Kinsay, 11. 184, 191, 196 ; 547- Marks of SUver, 86 ; II. 383 ; 534. Marriage Customs ; in Tangut, 245, 248 ; of the Tartars, 222, 267 ; in Chamba, II. 249 ; in India, 364. of deceased couples, 269, 260. ^— Laxities of different peoples', 198, 200 ; 11.36,39; 45,48,51; 63, 61. Marsden's Ed. of Polo, 112 ; 5 9, and passim. Martini ; his Atlas, I« ; his account of Hangchau (Kinsay), II. 197; and passim. Martyrs, Franciscan, II. 386. Masdlak-al-Absdr, 88; II. 197, 332, and passim. Mashbad, 163. Maskat, II. 450. Mastiff Dogs, Keepers of the, 387, 388. s of Tibet, see Dogs. Mastodon, Bogged, II. 272. Ma-theu, the term, II. 122. Mati Dwaja, II. 38. See Bashpah Lama. Matitanana, II. 406. Matityna (Martinique), II. 397. Maundevile; more popular than Polo in Middle Ages, IIU ; on the Trees of the Sun, 135 ; on the Dry Tree, 136. Mausul or Mosul, Km. of, 48, 61, 62, 63. ' Mauvenu,' the phrase, II. 15 ; 472. Mayers, Mr. W. F., on Chinese cremation, II. 550; see also 133. Mecchino Ginger, II. 3 70. Mediceo, Portulano, 129. Mekong E., II. 65 ; Iir. Mekran ; often reckoned part of India, II. 393; 394; 396. Mekranis, 109. Melibar, II. 374, 394. See Malabar. Melic, the title, II. 448, 449; 469. Melons, Dried, 166, 157. Meloria, Battle of, 61,. Menangkabau, II. 267; 284. Menezes, Duarte, II. 344. Mengki, envoy to Java, II. 255. Menjar (Majar?), II. 492-493. Menuvair and Grosvair, II. 483. Merghuz Boiruk Khan, II. 14. Merkit, Mecrit, Mescript, a Tartar Tribe, 231; 261; 263. "Meshid, 157. Messengers, Eoyal Mongol, 36. Miantse, II. 67. Mien, Amien (Burma); The King of, II. 81 ; his battle with Tartars, 84 seqq. ; the name, 82; Different Wars with Chinese, 88,93, 95 ; 89; City of —, 91; its Gold and Silver Towers, 92 ; how it was conquered, jj. Communications and Wars with Mongols, 87 seqq. ; Chinese Notices, ib. and 93 seqq.; III. Mien, in Shensi, II. 28. Military Engines of the Middle Ages, Disser- tation on, II. 143 seqq. ; Two classes, 144 ; Balistae or Crossbows ; Trebucliets or great slings, described ; Shot used ; carrion and other things projected ; live men ; bags of gold, 146 ; varieties of construction ; the etymology and derivatives, * The name is properly the same aa that written above, more correctly, Mashhad. MILK. INDEX. mosta'sim billah. 585 147 ; the Emperor Napoleon's Experiments ; Tast weights occasionally shot ; great bulk of the engines, 148 ; great numbers used ; heavy discharges maintained, 149 ; accu- racy of shooting ; growing importance of such artillery ; notable passage on range from Sanudo, 150; late continuance of these mechanical engines. Effect on the Saracens as described in a romance, 150. Account of Kublai's procuring engines to attack Siangyang; from Chinese arid Persian histories, 15 1-15 2 ; not true that the Mon- gols then knew them for the first time, 152; former examples; the engine Kara- bugha, or Calabra, 153 ; probable truth as to the novelty used at Siangyang ; passage from Chinese history, 16. Milk, Portable, or Curd, 864, 257. , Rite of SprinKUng Mare's, 291, 300; 396; II. 542. * Million,' Use of the numeral, 65, and see 11. 199-200. Millione, Milioni, applied as a nickname to Polo and his Book, 5 ; 5^; 116 ; various explanations, 65 ; real one ; employment in a State Record, 66, and II. 509; personi- fied in Venice Masques, 66 ; lU. See pre- ceding heading. Millioni, Corte del, m seqq. Min E. (in Szechwan), II. 32 ; 112. (in Fokien), II. 212, 213, 214, 215. Minao, 114, 118. Mines and Minerals, see Iron, Ondanique, SSiier, Evhies, Gold, Azure, Asbestos, Turqtioise, Biatmmds, Jasper. Minever, see Menuvair. Ming ; the Chinese Dynasty which ousted the Mongols, A.D. 1368; their changes in Peking, 360, 361; their Paper Money, 414; II. II ; their effeminate customs, 15 ; their expeditions to India, 381 ; annals, I. 29, II. 406, 436, 442. Mingan, Kaan's Master of Hounds, 386, 387. Minjan, Dialect of, 168. Minotto, Professor A. S., 5; II. 509. Mint, the Kaan's, 409. Mintsing-hien, II. 212. Miracle Stories ; Respecting Fish in Lent, 64, 59; of the Mountain moved, ISS, 70 seqq. ; of the Girdles of St. Barsamo, 78; of the Holy Fire, 81 ; of the Stone at Samarkand, IHI, 191 seqq. ; at St. Thomas's Shrine, II. 340, 342, 345. Mirat, II. 420. ' Mire,' the word, 81. Mirabolans, II. 377. Miskdl (a weight), 344; II. 32; 201; 535. See also Saggio. Misri (sugar-candy), II. 213. Missionary Friars ; Powers conferred on, 22, 23 ; in China in 14th cent., 1S5, II. 138, 220, 223. Martyrs, 303 ; II. 386. Moa of N. Zealand, II. 552. Modun Khotan, 3 94. Moghistan, 113. Mohammerah, II. 441. Mokli, the Jelair, II. 460. Molebar (Malabar q. v.), II. 420. Molephatan, 11. 420. Moluccas, II. 247. Mombasa, II. 417. Momien, II. 49 ; 77, 78. Monasteries of Idolaters (Buddhists), 176 ; 207; 221; 277; 293; 311; 11. 166, 157; 159, 160; 196. Money Values, see 412 and II. 533 seqq. Mongol; Power and Subdivision of it, 9-10; — Treachery and Cruelty, 62, 158, 258; II. 165; inroads on India, 1. 100, 105, 107, 108; Fall of the — Dynasty, 296. See Tartar, and Mungul. Mongotay (Mangkutai), a Mongol ofiicer, II. 118, 120. Mongou Kaan, see Mangku. Monjoie (at Acre), UO. Monkeys, II. 266; passed off as pygmies, 16.; 371, 426. Monks, Idolatrous, 293. See Monasteries. Monooeros and Maiden, Legend of, II. 273, 273. Monophysitism, 63. Monsoons, « ; II. 246. Monte Corvino, John, Archbp. of Cambaluc. 278; n. 164,342. d'Ely, II. 3 75 seqq. Montgomerie, Major, E.E., on Fire at great Altitudes, 187. Monument at Singanfu, Christian, II. 21-22. 162. Moon, Mountains of the, II. 407, 413. Moplas, see Mapillas. Mortagne, Siege of, II. 149. Moscow, Tartar Massacre at, II. 494. Mosolins, Stuffs and Merchants so-called, 62, 63. Mosque at T'swanchau, II. 224. Mossos, a Tribe, II. 51, 74. Mosta'sim Billah, last Khalif of Baghdad; 586 MOSTOCOTTO. INDEX. Story of his Death, 65, 68, 69 ; his avarice, 69. Mostocotto,Si). Mosul, see Mausiil. Motapalle', see Mutfili. Moule, EeT. G., II. 177, 178, 179, 180, 191, 192, 193. Moung MaoroDg, or Pong, Shan Km. of, II. 65-; 95- Moiint, Green, in Palace Grounds at Pe- king, 357, 360. St. Thomas's, II. 342, 344. D'Ely, sec Monte. Mountain, Old Man of the, JW, MS; 145 seqq.; his present Representative, 153 seqq. Miracle of the, 70, and see seqq. Road in Shensi, Extraordinary, II. 25-26. Mourning Customs ; at Hormuz, 112 ; in Tangut, 807 ; at Kinsay, II. 174. Muang ' ; Term applied in Shan Coun- tries (Laos and "W". Yunnan) to fortified towns, as Muang-Chi, II. 55. Muang or Maung Maorong, II. 95. Muang Yong, II. 50, 100, in. Shung, II. 104. Muldhi, Chinese form of the next. Mulahidah (Mulehet), epithet of Ismaelites, 145, 147, 148. Mulberry Trees, 409 ; II. 9 ; 18. Mul-Java, II. 334. Miiller, Prof. Max, on the Stories of Buddha and of St. Josafat, II. 305, 308, 309. Multan, II. 420, 421. Miinil Pheasant, 272 ; desc. by Aelian, ib. Mung (Nkaea), 107. Mungasht, 86. Mungul (Mongol), 276. Temur and Mongo-Temur (Mangku- Temur), II. 491, 497. Murad Beg, 164, 170, 172. Murghab R., II. 465. Murray, Hugh, II. 116, 123 ; 159; 190, 194; 486. Murus Ussu (Brius, Upper Kiang), II. 55. Mus and Merdin (Mush and Mardin), 62, 64. Musa'iid, Prince of Hormuz, 124, 125. Musk; Marco Polo's Lawsuit regarding, 68 ; II. 509 ; Earliest mention of, and use in medicine, I. 270. Animal; described, 267, 270; 356; H. 27, 29; 37; 47. Muslin, 63 ; II. 349. Mutfili (Motapall^ but put for Telingana), II. 319 ; 346; story of its diamonds, 347- 348; identified, 348; 394; 417. Muza, II. 400. Mynibar, II. 419. Mysore, II. 302. N. Nac, Nac|.uea, a kind of Brocade, 66, 67; 276, 285. Nacaires, S8, same as next. Naooara or Kettle-Drum ; The Great, which signals the commencement of Battle, 329- 330; II. 459; account of, I. 331 ; the word in European languages, 332. Nakedness of Jogis vindicated by them, II. 352. ! Nakshatra, II. 355. Nalanda, 298. Names, Baptismal, 54. Nan-Chao, Shan Dynasty in Yunnan, II. 5 7, 59; 65. Nancouri, II. 291. Nanghin (Nganking), II. 138, 139. Nangiass, Mongol name of Manzi, q. v., II. 127. Nankau, Archway in Pass of, with Polyglot Inscription, 29, 444. Nanking; not named by Polo, II. 140; 546. NanvMli, Zanmoli, (Lambrip), II. 284, 280. Naobanjan, 86. Naoshirwan, 55. Naphtha, in the Caucasian Country, 48, 51. fire in War, 102. Napoleon UI., the Emperor; his Researches and Experiments on Medieval Engines of War, II. 143 seqq. ; 147 ; 149. Narakela-Dvipa, H. 290. Narkandam, Volcanic Island, II. 294. Narsinga, K. of, II. 331. Narwhal Tusk, the Medieval Unicorn's Horn, II. 273. Nasioh, a kind of Brocade, 66, 67; 276, 285. Nasruddin (Nesor%din), an officer in the Mongol service;*lfl. 84, 87, 93, 96. Nassiruddin, K. of Delhi, M. Natigay, a, Tartar Idol, 249, 250 ; 438 ; II. 478. Navapa (qu. Lop P), 204. Naversa (^Anazarbus), 5 9. Nayan, kinsman of Kublai ; revolts, 325 ; his true relation to the Kaan, 3 76 ; is sur- NEARCHUS. INDEX. OBI RIVER. 587 prised by Kublai, 329 ; defeated and taken, 334 ; was a Christian, ib. ; the story as given by Gaubil, 354; is put to death, 33S ; his Provinces, ib., 336. Nearchus at Hormuz, ii8. Nebila and Mangla Islands, II. 397. Necklaces, Precious, 11. 322. Necuveran (Nicobar), II. 289 seqq. Negapatam, II. 319. , Chinese Pagoda at, ib. Negroes described, II. 416. Negropont, 18, 19; 36. Nellore, II. 315. Nemej, Niemicz (" Dumb "), applied to Ger- mans by Slavs, II. 494. Nerghi, Plain of, II. 600. 'ifen' for Pigs, II. 192. Nesoradin (Nasruddin), a Mongol Captam, see Nasruddin. Nesnds (a goblin), (103), 2o5 ; II. 409. Nestorian Christians ; at Mosul, 48, 61 ; note on, 62; at Tauris, 76; See of, at Kerman, 93 ; in Kashgar, 191 ; at Sa- markand, 191, 194; at Yarkand, 195; in Tangut, 207 ; at Kamul, 213 ; in Chingin- talas, 216 ; at Sukchui-, 219 ; at Kampichu, 221 ; their diffusion in Asia, 232; among the Mongols, 237, 238-239; at Erguiul, 266 ; at Sinju, ib. ; in Egrigaia, 272 ; in Tenduc, 275 ; and east of it, 276 ; in China, 278; in Tachi or Yunnanfu, II. 62; at Cacanfu, 116 ; at Yangchau, 138 ; one in the suite of the Polos, 141 ; Churches of, at Chinghianfu, 162; Church of, at Kinsay, 176; 342; at St. Thomas's, 344; Patriarch of, I. 67, II. 365, 393, 399; Metropolitans, I. 170, 172, 186; II. 365, 393. 40X. Nevergu, Pass of, 115. New Year Celebration at Kaan's Court, 376. Nganking (Nanghin), II. 139 seqq. ; 156. Nganning-ho, II. 55, 56. Ngantung, Mongol General, II. 460. Nia, in Khotan, 202. Nias, Island of, II. 281. Nibong Palm, II. 288. Nicobar Islands (Neolfc#an), II. 289 seqq. ; 293, 294. Nicolas, Friar, of Vicenza, 22 ; Fr., of Pistoia, II. 342. , Christian name of Ahmad Sultan, 11. 466. Nigudar (Nogodar, q. v.) ; Mongol Princes of this name, 100, 104 seqq. ; 173. NigudarianBanpls, 100, 104, 126, 173. Nilawar (Nellore), II. 315. Nile ; Sources of, II. 407 ; 434, 435. Nileshwaram, II. 376. Nimchah Musulmdn, 162. Nine, an auspicious Number among Tartars, 377,378. ' Nine Provinces ;' (India) 106 ; (China) II. 173, 182. Ninghia, 2 73 ; II. 1 7. Ningpo, II. 206, 209. Ning-yuan-fu, II. 5 7, 5 8. Niriz, 87, 93. Nirvana, Figures of Buddha in, 223. Nishapiir, 157. Noah's Ark in Armenia, 47. Nobles of Venice, U ; Polo's claim to be one, ib. Nogai Khan, II. 496 ; his intrigues and wars, 497 seqq. ; his history, 498 ; wars with Toktai, and death, 499. Nogodar (l^figudar) King of the Caraonas, Story of, 100. See Nigudar. Nomade Tribes of Persia, 89. Nomogan (Numughan), son of Kublai, 353 ; II. 458 seqq. ; 460. ' None,' Nono, a title, 181, 183. North, Regions of the Far, 11. 478 seqq. Star, see Pole-star. Norway, II. 490. Notaries, Validity attaching to acts of, SA, 7S ; TabelliOTiato of, ib. Note-book, Polo's, 11. 176. Novgorod, II. 490. Nubia; St. Thomas in, II. 340; 418; 422; 425 ; 429 ; alleged use of Elephants in, ib. Nukdaris, a tribe W. of Kabul, 104. Numbers, Mystic or auspicious ; Nine, 377 ; 378 ; One Hundred and Eight, II. 330- 331- Nuna, §ee None. Nusi-Ibrahim, II. 406, 407. Nutmegs, 11. 284 ; Wild, 292. Nyuch^ (Chinese appellation of the GhurcM or race of the Kin Emperors) ; 11 ; Charac- ter employed by these Emperors, 29; 229. See Kin. O. Oak of Hebron, see Terebinth, Oaracta (Kishm or Brakht), 118. Obedience of Ismaelites, Extraordinary, 150. Obi R., II. 482, 483. 588 OBSERVATORY. INDEX. PALACE. Observatory at Peking, 365, 435 ; II. 544 seqq. Ocean-Sea, HO; ia Far North, 262; 388; II. 3; encircles the World, 16; 30; 47; 129 ; 137 ; 173 ; 213 ; 220 ; 233 ; all other Seas are parts of, 246 ; 487. Ocoloro, II. 398. Odorio, Friar ; Number of MSS. of his Book, US; 82 ; 149 ; 278, 279 ; 306 ; 372 ; 419 ; his notice of Cansay (_Einsay), II. 195 ; of Fuchau, 214; of Zayton, 220; of Champa, 251; of Java, 256; of Sumatra, 277; of St. Thomas's, 344; of the Pepper Forest, 365; of brazil-wood, 368; ofThana, 386. Oger the Dane, 135. Oil ; From Holy Sepulchre, 13, 19, 27 ; Foun- tain of (Naphtha, at Baku), 48, 51. , Whale, 111, 119; Walnut and Sesame', 166, 171. Head (Oapidoglio or Sperm- Whale), II. 404, 407, and see 399. Oirad or Uirad (Horiad), a great Tartar tribe, 291, 299. Okkodai Khan, 3rd son of Chinghiz, 10, 228, 242. Olak, Iliac, Aulak, see Lac. Old Man of the Mountain ; his Envoys to St. Lewis, 49 ; 145 seqq. ; how he trained Assassins, 148 seqq.; the Syrian — , 150; subordinate chiefs, 151; the end of him, 162; Modern Representative, 153. Oljaitu Khan of Persia, his correspondence with European Princes, 14; his Tomb, II. 478. Oman, II. 333, 451. Omens ; much regarded in Maabar, II. 327, 336 ; and by the Brahmans, 350, 355, 356. Onan Kerule, 232. Ondanique (a fine kind of Steel) ; Mines of, in Kerman, 91 ; explanation of word, 93 seqq. ; 128 ; in Chingintalas, 215. Ongkor, Euins of, IS. Opera-morta, 3S, 35. Oppert's Book on Prester John, 230, 279, 283 ; II. 541 seqq. 'Or Batuz,' 375. Orang Gugu, II. 284. Orbelian, John, identified by Bruun with Prester John, II. 540 seqq. Oriental Phrases in Polo's dictation, 81. Orissa, II. 420. Orleans, Defence of, II. 148. , Isle d', II. 25 7. Orlois, or Marshals of the Mongol Host, 255 ; II. 460. Ormanni, Michele, 80. Oroech, II. 488 ; note on, 490. Orow,' meaning of, 106. Orphani, Strange custom of the, II. 281. ' Osci,' the word, II. 335. Ostriches, II. 425. Ostyaks, II. 483. Otto, Bp. of Freisingen, II. 539 seqq. Oulatay (Uladai), a Tartar Envoy from Persia, 32, 33. 0ms Poll, see Sheep. Oweke, see Ucaca. Owen, Prof., II. 410, 551. Oxen ; Humped, in Kerman, 99, loi ; Wild, Shaggy (Yaks), 266, 268 ; Wild, in Eastern Tibet, II. 41 ; in Burma, 92, 96 ; — of Ben- gal, 97, 98 ; worshipped in Maabar, 326, 334, 356; and not eaten; reverence for,. 341 ; worshipped by Jogis, 352 ; figures of, worn, ib. and 357. Oxyrhynchus, II. 429. Ozene, II. 387. P. Pacamuria (Bacoanor), II. 3 75 . Pacauta! (an invocation), II. 322, 330. Pacem, see Pasei. Paddle-wheel barges, II. 198. Paderin, Mr., visits Karakorum, II. 539. Padishah Khatun of Kerman, 93. Padma Sambhava, 173. Pagan (in Burma, Mien) ; Ruins at, M ; II. 82, 89, 90, 93, 95, 96; Empire of, 260. Old, II. 89,95.. Pagaroyang, II. 267. Paggi Islands, II. 281. Pagodas; Burmese, II, 90, 91, 96; Alleged Chinese, in India, II. 320-321, 381. Pahang, II. 260. Pai or Peyih Tribe, 30 ; II. 5 r, 103. Paipurth (Baiburt), 47, 50. Paizah, or Golden Tablets of Honour, 343-344, and see Tablet. and Yarligh, ib. and 315. Pakwiha China ware^U. 225. Pala (a, Biii), II. 336! Palace ; of the Kaan at Chagannor, 286 ; at Chandu (Shangtu), 289, 295 ; of Cane, there, 290; at Langtin, 297; at 0am- baluc, 354 seqq.; on the Green Mount there, 357 ; of the Heir Apparent, ib. Note on Palaces of the character described at Cambaluc, 358. PALACE. INDEX. PEIN. 589 Palace ; at Kenjanfu (Singanfu), II. 19, 33 ; of the Emperor of Manzi at Kinsay, 176, 188, 194-195 ; in Chipangu paved and roofed with gold, 236, 238, 256. Palembang, II. 263. •* PalioUe, Or de ' for gold-dust, II. 42. Palm (measure), II. 536. Pamier (Pamir), Plain of, 181; its Wild Sheep, ib. and 186; great height 184; pas- ture, &e., ib. ; described by Hwen Thsang, and by Wood; GoBs and Abdul Mejid, 185 ; meaning of name, ib.; 188 ; Supp. Note, 11.538. Pan-Asiatic usages, 317 ; 328 ; II. 346. Pandarani or Fandaraina, II. 375, 381. "Pandyan Kings, II. 315-319, 361. Panja E., or Upper Oxus, 182, 184. Panjkora, 106. Panjshir, 174; 11. 488. Pantaleon, Coins of, 172. Panthe, or Mahomcdan Kingdom in Yunnan, II. 60, 65. Panya (in Burma), II. 95. Paoki-hien, 11. 25, 26, 28. Pap6, Papesifu, 30; II. 100, ill. Paper-Money, The Kaan's ; 409 seqq. ; 412 seqq. ; modern, 414; also see Currency. Papien E., II. ill. Paradise ; of the Old Man of the Mountain, 145, 149 ; destroyed, 152, 154. , in Legend of the Cross, 141. Apples of, 99, lor. ■ of Persia, 117, and see 157. ■ , Elvers of, 9. Paramisura,. Founder of Malacca, II. 263. Parasol, the word, 345. Paravas, II. 360. Parez, Falcons of, 98. Pariahs (^Paraiyar'), etym. of, II. 334. Parlik or Perlak (Ferleo), a Km. in Suma- tra, IL 265, 268; 277, 286. Tanjong, II. 269. Parliament, Tartar, II. 497. Paropamisadae, II. 393. Parrots, 101 ; U. 364 ; 425. Partridges, 90; Black, loi ; Jirufti, 115; Great, called Gators (chakors?) 287, 288 ; in mew, 289. See Francolin. Parwana, a Traitor, eaten by the Tartars, 303. Paryan Silver-Mines, 170. Pascal of Vittoria, Friar, 9. Pasei, Pacem (Basma), a Km. of Sumatra, IL 265, 270; History of, 270; 276; 277; 278; 288; Bay of, 277, 278; 286; 288. Pasha and Pashagar Tribes, 1 74. Pashai, 172; what region intended, 173-175 ; Tribe so called, 1 74 ; their language, ib, Dir, 100, 106. Afroz, 1 75 . 'Passo' (or Pace), Venetian, II. 261,262; 536. Patarins, 105 ; 294, 313 ; H- 326; 351. Patera, Debased Greek, from Badakhshan, 167, 169. Patlam, 11. 321. Patra or Alms-dish of Buddha, II. 301, 3 ro ; Miraculous Properties, 294, 313 ; the Holy Grail of Buddhism, 313. Patriarchs of Eastern Christians, 61, 63 ; II. 399. See Catholicos and ^estorian. Patteik-kara, II. 82. Patu (Batu), II. 491. See Batu. Pau]dn(Pao-yng) IL 136. Paulin-Paris, M., on Polo and Eusticiano, SI; 57-61; 81. Pauthier, M. ; Eemarks on his text of Polo, 89 seqq., and numerous references through- out the work. Paved Roads in China, II. 172-173, 180; — Streets of Kinsay, ib. Payan, see Bayan. Payangadi, II. 376. Peace ; between Venice and Genoa (1299), 50 ; between Genoa and Pisa, 62. * Peaches, Yellow and White, II. 184; 192. Peacocks, at St. Thomas's, II. 340 ; special kind in Coilum, 364. Pearls, 62; 110; 341; 374; 376; 380; 410, 411; in Caindu, IL 44, 48; 213; 217 ; Eose-coloured in Chipangu, 237, 239 ; Fishery of, betw. Ceylon and Maabar, 313, 321, 323, 328; Do. at Call, 359; and at ancient Kolkhoi, 361 ; — and pre- cious stones of King of Maabar, 322 ; 350 ; 355- Pears, Enormous, IL 184, 192. Pedir, II. 271, 27B, 280, 288. Pedro, Prince, of Portugal, 207 ; ISO. Pegu; and Bengal confounded, II. 82, 98, III. Peiohau (Piju), II. 183. Pein (or Pem), Province of, 197 ; identity of, 198-1Q9. • The following passage, occurring only in Ramu- sio, should have been introduced at p. 116 of vol. ii., pfter the second line : " [There grow in this district (Changlu) peaches of excellent quality and flavour, so "Kg that one of them weighs two pounds aXUi sottili]." 59° PEKING. INDEX. POLOS, THE THREE. Peking (Cambaluc), 11; Plan of Ancient and Modern, 363-364; 365; History of, 363 ; Walls of, ib. See Cambaluo. Pelly, Colonel (Sir Lewis), 86, 87, 113-.114. Pema-ching, II. 28. Pemberton, Capt. E., IT. 65, 95. Pen and Ink, South European Dislike to, 87. Pentam (Bintang), II. 261, 864. Pepper ; Daily consumption of, at Kinsay, II. 186; change in Chinese use of, 192; great importation at Zayton, 217 ; duty on, ib. ; White and Black, 246 ; 254 ; in Coilum, 363 ; at Eli and Cananore, 374, 377 ; in Melibar, 379 ; in Guzerat, 383 ; Trade in, to Alex- andria, 217, 379, 434. , Country, II. 365. Peregrine Falcons, 262 ; II. 488. Perla (Ferleo), II. 269. Persia ; Extension of the name to Bokhara, 10; spoken of, 76; 79; its 8 kingdoms, 84. and India, Boundary of, II. 393. Persian ; Polo's familiarity with, 91 ; ap- parently the language of foreigners at the Mongol Court, 108, 368 ; II. 5. Peshawar, 11. 312. Peter, a Tartar SlaTC of Marco Polo, 70 ; II. 511. P^tis de la Croix, 191, 238. Pharaoh's Eats, 244, 246 ; II. 479. Phayre, Maj.-6en. Sir Arthur, 11. 78, 87, 94, 96. Pheasants ; Large and long-tailed, 267 ; probably Reeves's, 271 ; II. 17; 136. Pheng (the Eukh), 11. 414. Philippine Islands, II. 247, 248. Phillips, Mr. G., II. 213, 214, 215, 222, 224, 225 ; 278; 291. Phipps, Capt., II. 360. Phra Rama ; Siamese Kings so-called, II. 259. Phungan, Phungan-lu (FungvUP), 11. no, 112. Physician, A Virtuous, 442. Physicians, II. 185, 364. Physiognomy, Art of, II. 327. Pianfu (P'ing yang-fu), II. 9, 12. Ficcoli, II. 60. Pichalok, II. 260. Pigeon Posts, 424. Piju (Pei-chau), II. 123. Pilgrimages ; to Adam's Sepulchre in Cey- lon, II. 300; to the Shrine of St. Thomas, 338. ' Pillar-Road,' II. 26. , Pima, 198-199. Pinaii,"K. of Kanlam, II. 368 ; Explanation of name, ib. Pine-woods in Mongolian Desert, 226. in South China, II. 231, 233. P'ingchang, FancJian, or 2nd Class Minister, 418. P'ingyang-fu, II. 9, 12 ; College there, 12. Pinna-Cael (Punnei-Kayal), II. 359. ' Pinnule,' the word, II. 545. Pipino, Fr. Francesco ; his Latin Translation of Polo's Book, 6i, 79, M, 101; the Man, 92; 112; II. 516. Pirabandi or Bir Pandi (Vira Pandi), II. 316- 319- Pirada, II. 288. Pirates; of Malabar, II. 378, 380; of Guze- rat, 383; of Tana, 385; of Somnath, 391 ; at Socotra, 399, 403. Piratical Custom at Eli, II. 374, 377. Pisa and Genoa, Wars of. Si seqq, Pisan Prisoners at Genoa, 55, Pronunciation of letter c,- 1S7. Pistaohioes, 99, 117, 129; 160, 162. Plane, The Oriental, or Ohindr, 131, 132, 135, 140, 143, 145- Piano Carpini, 15, Poison, Antidote to, II. 64, Poisonous Pasture, 219, 220. Pole or Jackdaws on Polo scutcheon, 7. Pole-star, invisible in Java the Less, 265, 274 ; visible again in India, 371, 378, 383, 388. Police; of Cambaluc, 399; of Kinsayj II. 171-172. Politeness of Chinese, 438, 443. Polo, Andrea, grandfather of Marco, 7, lit, 25. Marco, the Elder, son of Andrea, and uncle of the traveller, II, ; his Will, 18, BS- 24, n. 509; 25; 3, 4. , Nioolo and Maffeo, sons of Andrea ; their First Journey, li seqq. ; cross the Black Sea to Soldaia, 72 ; visit Volga country, &c., 4 ; go to Bokhara, 10 ; join Envoys going to Great Kaan's Court, 11 ; well received ; Kublai's conversation with them on Religion, 339; and sent back as his Envoys to Pope, 13 ; receive a golden Tablet, 15; reach Ayas, 16, Acre, 17, Venice, 18 ; find young Marco there, ib, , Nioolo, Maffeo, and Marco ; proceed to Acre, 19 ; set out for the East ; are recalled from Ayas, 20 ; set out again with the Pope's Letters, &c., 22 ; reach the Kaan's Court, 26 ; and are welcomed, 27. See on their Journey oufwari also 19; their POLO, NICOLO. INDEX. POLO, MARCO. 591 ■ alleged service in capture of Siangyang, SI, and II. 141 seqq. ; when they desire to return home, the Kaan refuses, I. 32 ; are allowed to go with ambassadors returning , to Persia, 33 ; receive Golden Tablets from the Eaan, 34. On return see also 2i-2i. Story of their arrival at Venice, U ; and of the way they asserted their identity ,4-5 ; its verisimilitude, 5; another tradition. Polo, Nicolo ; his alleged second marriage after his return, and sons by it, 6 , W ; probable truth as to time of a second marriage, 16-18; his illegitimate sons, :SA, S5 ; approximate time of his death, 6S ; his Tomb, ?S. • , Maffeo, brother of Nicolo; in Kanchau, 222; II. 141; li; 62; time of death, between 1309 and 1318, 6i. , Marco, our Traveller; veracity, 1, perplexities in his biography, ib. ; Ramu- sio's notices ; extracts from these, g seqq. ; recognition of his names of places ; paralleled with Columbus, s (see lOf) ; why called Milioni, 5 ; Story of his capture at Curzola, B~6 ; and the writing of his Book in prison at Genoa, 6 ; release and marriage, 7; Arms, 7; his claim to nobility, ii; supposed autograph, ib. ; his birth, IB ; circumstances of his birth and doubts ; is taken to the East, 18 ; employment under Kublai, 20 ; mentioned in Chinese Eecords, *. and 408 ; his mission to Yunnan, 20 ; government of Yangchau, 2i ; employment at Kanchau ; at Kara Korum, in Champa and Indian Seas, ib. ; return home, 22-2S ; mentioned in his Uncle Marco's Will, 24 ; commands a galley at Curzola, ii; is taken, and carried to Genoa, 4fi; his im- prisonment there, 50 seqq. ; meets there Rusticiano, and dictates his Book, ih. ; release and return to Venice, 51 ; evidence as to the story of his capture, &c., 51-BS ; his dying vindication of his Book, 52; executor to his brother Maffeo, 61 ; record of exemption from a municipal penalty, 64 ; his sobriquet of Milioni, 65 ; his present of his Book to T. de Cepoy, 67 ; his mar- riage and daughters, 68 ; his lawsuit with Paulo Girardo ; proceeding regarding house property in S. Giov, Grisostomo, ib. ; his illness and last Will, with translation, 69- 72; dead before June 1325, 72; place of burial, ib.; Professed Portraits of, 7S-75; his alleged wealthy 75; estimate of him and his Book, lOi seqq. ; parallel with Columbus futile ; his real and ample claims to glory, lOS-lOk; faint indications of his personality, 105; rare indications of humour ; absence of scientific notions, 106 ; geographical data in his Book ; his acqui- sition of languages, 107 ; Chinese evidently not one; deficiencies as regards Chinese notices, 108 ; historical notices ; had read romances, especially about Alexander, 110 ; incredulity about his stories, and singular modern instance, 11^ ; contemporary recog- nition lis seqq.; by T. de Cepoy, 115; Friar Pipino, ib. ; Jac. d'Aqui, 116 ; Giov. Villani, ib.; Pietro d'Abano; notice by John of Ypr^s, 117; borrowings in the poem of Bauduin de Sebourg, 118 seqq. Influence on geography, 124 ; .obstacles to its effect ; character of medieval cosmo- graphy, MS; Roger Bacon, M6; Arab Maps, J27; Marino Sanudo's Map, J2S; Medicean, 119; Carta Catalana largely based on Polo ; increased appreciation of Polo's Book ; confusions of nomen- clature, ISO-ISS; inventions which have been supposed to have been brought to Europe by — , ISB; fictitious story of Invention of Printing by P. Castaldi of Feltre, ISS-lSi. ; the connection of Polo's name with this arbitrary, ISA; dictates his Narrative, 2; found at Venice by his Father, 18 ; his true age, r g ; circum- stances of his Birth, ib. ; 22 ; 26 ; noticed by Kublai, 27 ; employed by him, 28 ; his tact and diligence ; grows into high favour, 30 ; goes on many missions, 30, 31 ; returns from one to India, 32 ; 34 ; escapes from the Karaunas, 100, 109 ; hears of the Breed of Bucephalus in Badakhshan, 166 ; recovers from illness in the hill climate of that region, 167 ; hears from his friend Zulfikar about the Salamander, 216 ; at Kanchau on business, 222 ; brings home the hair of the Yak, 266 ; and the head and feet of the musk-deer, 267 ; a witness of the events connected with Ahmad's death, 406 ; the notice of him in Chinese Annals, 408 ; whether he had to do with the Persian scheme of Paper Currency in 1294, 416 ; is sent by the Kaan into the Western Provinces, II. 3 ; is made Governor of Yangchau, 137 ; probable extent of his authority, 139; aids in constructing engines for the Siege of Siangyang, 141 seqq. ; difficulties as to this statement, 151 591 POLO FAMILY. INDEX. PRESTER JOHN. ' seqq.; what he saw and heard of the number of vessels on the Great Kiang, 155 ; ignorant of Chinese, 167; his attestation of the greatness of Kinsay, 169 ; his notes, 176; sent by the Kaan to inspect the amount of Revenue from Kinsay, 200 ; his great experience, 219 ; never in the Islands of the Sea of Chin, 246 ; is in the Kingdom of Chamba, 250, 251; remark on his His- torical Anecdotes, ib. ; detained five months at Sumatra, 274, and stockades his party against the wild people ; brings Brazil seed home to Venice, 282 ; partakes of Tree- flour (Sago), ib., and brought some home to Venice, 288 ; was in six Kingdoms of Sumatra, 283 ; witnesses a singular arrest for debt in Maabar, 327; his erroneous view of the Arabian Coast, 45 1 (also 107} ; his unequalled Travels, 502; Venetian Documents about him, 509 seqq. Polo, Maffeo, Brother of the Traveller ; 15, 16, probabilities as to his Birth, &c., 17-18 ; SS; 25; abstract of his Will, 6i-6S, and see II. 509. , Nioolo the Younger, cousin of the Tra- veller, U, U, 63 ; 4. , Maroca, sister of the last, 1/t, 2U, and perhaps 6S ; 4. , Steffano and Giovannino, illeg. brothers of the Traveller, 2A ; M ; 63. (?) or Trevisano (?) Fiordelisa ; perhaps the second wife of Nicolo Polo the Elder, and mother of Maffeo the Younger, 18, HU ; 25. See other Fiordelisas below. -: , Antonio, illeg.son of the Elder Marco, 2U. ■ Marco, called Marcolino, perhaps an illeg. son of the elder Maifeo, 64, 76, 77 ; 11. 5 10. , Donata, wife of the Traveller, 68 ; sale of property to her husband, 28, 68 ; 69 seqq.; death betw. 1333-1336, 75; unplea- santly before the law in 1328, 76 ; may have been Loredano, 68, 77 ; 11. 510, 512. , or Bragadino, Fantina, eldest daughter of the Traveller; 69-71; 75 ; II. 510, 512. , Bellella, second daughter of ditto, 69— 71 ; died before 1333, 75; II. 510. , or Delfino, Moreta, youngest daughter of ditto, 69-71 ; 76 ; complaint of, 76 ; II. 5 10, 512. , Felice, a cousin, 2/,, 63. , Fiordelisa, wife of last, ib. , daughter of Maffeo the Younger, 18, 63. or Trevisano, Maria, last survivor of the Family, 7, 77, 78 ; doubts as to her kin- dred, ib.; II. 508. Polo, Marco, last male survivor of the Family, see as in last. — ^ , Other Persons bearing this name, 6/,, 17, 78; II. 507, 508. Family ; its duration and end, according to Ramusio, 7-8 ; Origin of, IS ; Last notices of, 75 seqq. N.B. — -For the relationsJiip of the different Polos of the Traveller's Family, see the Table at p. 506 of this vol. '■ , Branch of S. Geremia, U, 61, ; II. 507-508. Polygamy; 222; 245; 267; supposed effect on population, 423 ; II. 250, 323, 358. Pomilo (Pamir), 184. Pompholyx, 130. Ponent (or ' West '), term applied by Polo to the Mongol Khanate of the Volga (Kip- chak), 5, 8 ; 52 ; II. 487 ; 491 seqq. ; List of the Sovereigns, ib. ; errors therein, 493 ; extent of dominion, 494. Pong (Medieval Shan State), II. 65, 95. Poods, Russian, 170. Population, Vast, of Cathay, 423-424. Poroelam Manufacture, II. 218, 225 ; frag- ments found at Kayal, 360. Shells, see Cowries. Pork, Mention of, omitted, II. 192. Portoladi, Si. Portulano Mediceo, 138. Postin, 163. Posts, Post-houses, and Kunners, 419 seqq. Potala at Lhasa, 311. Poultry, kind of, in Coilum, II. 364; in Abyssinia (Guinea-fowl ?), 425. Pound Sterling, 69; 11. 53;. Powrpre or Purpura, 67, 376. Poyang Lake, II. 225. Prakrama Bahu,III.,K. of Ceylon, II. 297,311. Precious Stones (or Gems) ; 5; 76, 77 ; 110; 341: 366; 374; 380; 410-411 ; IL 185; 213, 217(2), 219; 237,246; 295; 322 ; 348 ; 350 ; how discovered by Pirates, 383. Prester John, alias TJnc Can (Aung Khan), receives tribute from the Tartars, 227 ; but they revolt ; insults the Envoys of Chinghiz, 234 ; comes out to engage the latter, 236 ; is slain, 239. Note on Prester John, 229 seqq.; Rise of the notion of such a personage, 16. ; Letters under his name, ib. ; first notice supposed to apply to the Founder of PRICES OF HORSES. INDEX. REFRACTION. 593 Kara Khitai, 230; ascription of Cliristi- anity to him ; various persons who came to be afterwards identified with the sup- posed great Christian Potentate, 231; Aung Khan, chief of the Keraits (Unc Can), 331-233; Joinville's account of Prester John, 233 ; marriage relations with Chinghiz, 735, and 275, 279; real site of his first battle with Chinghiz, 237; and real fate of Aung Khan, 238. His line remaining in Tendnc, 275 ; their continu- ance under the Mongol Dynasty, 278, 279, and II. 458. The story of— and the Golden King, II. 18 seqq., and II. 540. Oppert's Tiew about him, I. 206, 207, 253; Prof. Bruun's, II. 539 seqq. Prices of Horses, see Horses. Printing ; imaginary connection of Polo's name with introduction of, 132 seqq. ; alleged invention by Panfilo Castaldi, t6. Prisoners, Pisan, at Genoa, a ; their seal, 5S; their release, es. Private Names, Supposed, 353. Probation of Jogis, II. 353; parallel, 357. Prodieri, Si. 'Proques,' the word, II. 35 7. Prostitutes ; at Cambaluc, 399 ; at Kinsay, II. 185. Prophecy regarding Bayan, II. 128, 133. Provinoes, Thirty-four, of Kaan's Empire, 418. Pseudo-Callisthenes, 110. Ptolemy, 2 ; his view of the Indian Ocean, lb. and ISi'j almost unknown in Middle Ages, ise. Ptolemies trained African Elephants, II. 42. Puching, 11. 206, 212. Puer and Esmofc, II. 50, 100. Pulad Chingsang, 11. 202. Pulisanghin, River and Bridge, near Cam- baluc, 108, ISl ; II. 3 ; meaning, 4 ; other applications, 5 ; account of, ib. Pulo Condore (Sondur and Condur), II. .256, 257. Gommes (Gauenispola), II. 290. Nankai, or Nasi, iJ. Bras, iJ. We', Wai, or Wey, *. Pnnnei-Kiyal, II. 359, 360. Purchas on Polo and Eamusio, 97. Purpura, see Pourpre. Putchock, II. 388. Pygmies, Factitious, II. 266. VOL. II. Q- Quails in India, II. 328. Queen of Mutflli, II. 346; identified, 348. Quicksilver, and Sulphur Potion, II. 362, 356. , as regarded by Alchemists, II. 356. QuiUs of the Rue, II. 406, 412, 413, 414 ; suggested explanation, 414. Quilon, Kaulam, &c., see Coilum. Quirino, Ysabeta, M. Polo's sister-in-law, 70. , Bertuccio, 76. Rabbanta, a Nestorian Monk, 239. Rain-makers, see Weather- Conjuring. Rainy Season, II. 327, and note, 336. Rajkot Leather-work, II. 385. Rakka, Rakshasas, II. 280; 294. Rameshwaram, 11. 318. Ramnad, II. 319. Rampart of Gog and Magog, 56, 283. Ramnsio, Giov. Battista, his Biographical No- tices of Polo, 2 seqq., BO ; his Polo Genealo- gies, and errors therein, 77 ; Notice of — , 9U ; his Edition of Polo, and its Peculiari- ties, M-99 ; II. 190; 194; 363. N.B. — Throughout the Book Passagespe- euliar to Bamusio, if introduoed in the Text, are in brackets [thus]. And many others are given in the Notes. Rana Paramita's Woman Country, II. 397. ' Saonano-Sao,' 183. Ras Haili, II. 375. Kumhari, II. 372. Rashiduddin, Fazl-uUa Rashid alias, Persian Statesman and Historian of the Mongols, contemporary of Marco Polo, perhaps drew some information from the latter, 117 ; is quoted frequently in the Notes. Eavenala tree, II. 414. Raw Meat eaten, II. 63, 6t ; 70. Rawlinson, Sir H., 60, 86, 117, 118, 199 ; II. 310. Be Dor, II. 14. Red Sea ; Trade from India to Egypt by, II. 434 ; described in some texts as a River, 43 5 ; possible origin of this mistake, 91. — Sect of Lamas, 306, 307, 3 n. Gold, and Red Tangas, II. 353. Refraction, Abnormal, II. 412. 2, Q 594 REG RUWAN. INDEX. RUSTICIEN DE PISl Sag JRuwdn of Kabul, 206 ; of Seistin; ib. Reindeer ridden on, 261, 263. Religion ; Indifference of the Cliinghizide Princes in, 14, 339 seqq., II. 476 seqq. ; oc- casional power of, among the Chinese, I. 441 seqq. Remissions of Taxation by Kublai, 425. Rennell, Major James, II. 393. Reobarles, 98, 110, 112, 114, 116-117; 11. 538. Revenue of Kinsay, II. 173-174; 199 seqq. Rhinoceros (Unicom) ; in Sumatra, II. 265, 271 ; habits, 272; four Asiatic species, 271. Tichorinus, II. 412. Rhubarb ; where got, 219, 220 ; also at Su- chau (in Kiangnan), II. 165 ; which seems • to be an error, 167. Rialto, Bridge of, «. Ricci, Matteo, II. 546. Rice; II. 27, 52, 70, 97, 99, 105 ; 159, 184, 185; 274, 282, 292; 295, 325, 328 ; 339; 352, 364, 392 ; 398, 399 ; 416, 425 ; 439. • Wine, see Wine. Trade on Grand Canal, II. 159. Eichthofen, Baron F. von ; 286 ; 428 ; II. 10; II; 12; 17; 18; 20-21; 22; 23; 26, 27; 28, 29; 31; 33; 37. 38, 40; i', 52; Determination of Caiadu, 55-58; 65 ; on Frnigul, 112; 204; 542. Eight and Left, Ministers of the, 418. Rio Marabia, II. 375. RisliiSy 179. ' River of China,' The, II. 205, 225, 226. Roads radiating from Cambaluc, 419. Robbers in Persia, 88, 89 ; 99, 100, 104. Robbers' Eiver, 1 1 7. Robes distributed by the Kaan, 374, 375 ; 380. Rockets, 334. ' Roiaus dereusse ' (?), II. 385. Rome, the Sudarium at, 215. ' Sondes,' Ingenious but futile explanation of, 395- JRooli in Chess, the word, II. 412. Eori-Bakkar, 87. Eosaries, Hindu, II. 322, 330. Round-Table Romances compiled by Rusti- cian, SB seqq. ' Roze de I'Aour,' 35 7. Rubies ; S ; Balas, 165, 1 70 ; of Ceylon, II. 295 ; enormous, ih., and 297. Ruble, Russian, II. 488-489. Rubruquis, or Rubruc, Friar William de, 16 ; excellence of his narrative, iff ; studied by Roger Bacon, 1S6; his family ai ality, II. 536. Rug (Rukh) or Gryphon, the C called ; described, II. 404 ; its fea wide diffusion and various fori Fable, 408 seqq. ; the Eggs of the 409 ; Fra Mauro's Story ; Gem Bird, 410; the Condor, 410, markable recent discovery of th Harpagornis, apparently a real N. Zealand, 410 and 552; Sii Benjamin, 410; the Romance Ernest, 411; Ibn Batuta's sig Rukh ; probable explanation of 412; parallel stories; the Rook the dimensions given by Polo, Jesuit Bolivar's account ; othi 414; possible fabrication of the Riidbh' ; District and River of, 1 1. Rudder, Single, noted as peculii 111 ; II. 231 ; because the Doul was usual in the Mediterrane seqq. lifted, in Junks, II. 261. Riidkhanah-i-Shor (Salt River), 1 1 i-Duzdi (Robbers' River), i i Rudra Deva, K. of Tilingana, II. 3< Rudrama Devi, Q. of Tilingana, ih. Rnknuddin Mahmud, Prince of Ho Masa'ud, do, 125. Prince of the Ismaelites, 153 Riim, 46. Ruomedan Ahomet, King of Ho 125. Rupen, Founder of Armenian State 44- Rupert, Prince, II. 4B6. Riippell's Table of Abyssinian Kins Russia (Rosia), II. 484 ; descri great cold ; Arab accounts of, 4^ Mines and Rubles ; subjection 1 490 ; conquered by Batu, ib., 49 ; Leather, 7, 381, 382; clo 285. Russians, the King of, his Trusty 332- Rustak, 182. Rusticlen de Pise, Eusticiano, chello ; in Prison at Genoa wit and writes down his Book, BO ; 5S seqq. ; perhaps taken at M mention of, by Sir Walter Sco Romance Compilations, ib. ; his with Edward I., S7-B8 ; extract; racter of his Compilations, S8 RUVSCH'S MAP. INDEX. SALEM. 595 lentity as the amanuensis of Polo, 5.9-CO ; arious forms of his name, 60 ; coincidence f Preamble of one of his Romances with hat of Polo's Book, 60; portrait of — , eferred to, ib. ; mistake about a supposed ;rant to him by Henry III., 61 ; real name irobably Rustichello, ib.; 82; 80; 87; loq, lo ; 137; his proem to the Book, 1, and ntroduction of himself as the Writer, 2. y.sch's Map, 130. ,ba (Sava), City of the Magi, 79, 81, 82. ible; its costliness, 390, 395; II. 479; 480 ; 484, 4^6 ; 489. breddin, II. 433. bzawar, 15 7. ichiu (Shachau), 206, 209. lorifices ; of People of Tangut, 207. — Human, 210 ; II. 286. tdd-i-Iskandar, 55. Safators,' the word, 5..'. afilron, Fruit serving the purpose of, II. 207. igacity of Sledge-Dogs, II. 482. agamoni Borcan (Sakya-muni Buddha), 339; Story of, II. 298 ; the name explained, 302. lagatu, a General of the Kaan's, II. 249, 25 r. ;aggio, a weight (i of an ounce), see II. 535 ; I. 341-342 ; II. 45, 48 ; 62 ; 199, 200, 201 ; 323,324, 331; 535- ago described, II. 282, 288. iaianfu, see Siangyang-fn. aif Arad, K. of Abyssinia, II. 433. aifuddin Nazrat, 1 24. ;airaur (Chaul), II. 353. lain Khan (or Batu), II. 491, and see 493. t. Anno of Cologne, 133. it. Barlaam and St. Josafat, The Story of, or Buddha christianized, II. 304 seqq. Barsamo, Brassamus (Barsauma), 78. Blaise, 46. Brandon, II. 294. Buddha! II. 307, 308-309. • Epiphanius, II. 349- George, Church of, at Quilon, II. 365. Jolin Baptist, Church of, at Samar- kand, 192. John, Major Oliver, 93, 109, 115. Leonard's, in Georgia, and the Fish- Miracle there, 53, 59. Lewis, 88 ; his campaign on the Nile, II. 148, 149- St. Mary's Island, Madagascar, II. 407. Nin;i, 59. Sabba's at Acre, hO. Thomas the Apostle, II. 303 ; 306 ; his Shrine in India, 325, 338 seqq. ; 350 ; reverenced by Saracens and heathens, 338, 344; Miracles there, 325, 339, 340, 345 ; Story of his death, 340, 344 ; his mur- derers, 325; their hereditary curse, 335; the tradition of his preaching in India, 342 ; translation of remains to Edessa, ih. ; King Gondopharus of the old legend a real King, 343 ; Roman martyrology, ib. ; the localities, 344, 345 ; alleged discovery of the reliques in India, 344; schisms about them, *. ; The Cross, 345 ; 394, 395 ; 402 ; in Abyssinia, 422. Thomas's Mounts, II. 344. Saker Falcons, 166 ; 225 ; II. 41. Sakta doctrines, 315, 318. Sakya Muni (Sagamoni Borcan), 173, 179; death of — , i 80 ; recumbent figures of, 221, 223; 314; 316; 339; II. 247; 291; the Story of — , and its paraphrase into a Christian Romance, 298 seqq., 304 seqq. See Buddha. Salamander, what it really is, 215, 21;. Salar (Hochau), II. 23. Salem explores the Rampart of Gog, 58. Salghur Atabegs of Fars, see Atahegs. Salsette Island, II. 308; 386. Salt, H., his version of the Abyssinian chro- nology, II. 431- Salt; Eook — , 160, 162; used for cur- rency, II. 37, 45-46, 48 ; extracted from deep wells, 50, 63, 61 ; — manufacture in E. China, 115; manufacture, revenue, and traffic in — , 135, 137, 138, 155, 156 ; huge trade in — on the Kiang, 157 ; Junks employed therein, 158; — manu- facture and Revenue at Kinsay, 199, 201- 202. Stream, 127. Salwen R., or Lu-Kiang, 316. Samagar, II. 470, 473. Samana, II. 421. Samara (Sumatra), Km. of, II. 274, 276 seqq. See Sumatra. Samarkand ( Samarcan) ; Story of a Miracle there, 191 seqq. ; colony from — near Peking, 281; Gardens in style of, ib.; II. 456; 460. Samsiinji Bdshi, 387. Samudra, Samathrah, Samuthrab, see Sa- mara and Sumatra. 2 Q 2 596 SAN GRISOSTOMO. INDEX. SHAHR-I-BABEK. San GioTanni Grisostomo, Parish in Venice in whicli the Ca' Polo was, U, S5, 61 ; 68, 09 ; 7S, 76 ; Theatre of, n. Lorenzo in Venice, Burial-place of Marco Polo's Father and of himself, 7, 70, 7H, 7S. ■ Matteo at Genoa, IS ; curious engineer- ing at, ih. ; Inscription on, ^. Sand; cities buried by — , 199; Sounds like Driuns heard in — , 203, 206. ■ • -Grouse, 264. Sandal-wood; Red Sanders, II. 317 ; 289, 292 ; 404, 407. Sandu, 294, and see Chandu. Sanf (Chamba, Champa), II. 250. Sangin, Sangkan R., II. 5. Sanglich, Dialect of, 168. Sangon, the title {Tsangiiun), II. 118, 120. Sanitary Effects of Mountain Air, 167. Sanjar Sovereigns of Persia, 230, II. 540. Sankin Hoto, — Dalai, 217. Sanudo of Torcelli, Marino ; shows no know- ledge of Polo, 115; his Map and Geog. knowledge, 1Z8 ; his prophetic sense of the importance of long range, II. 150. Sappan-wood, see Brazil. Sapta-shaila, II. 375, Sapurgan (Shibrgan), 156. ' Saputa,' ' Sgue,' Peculiar use of, 423. Saracanco, 6 ; II. 536. Saracens, see Mahomedans. Sarai (Sara), capital of Kipchak, 4; the City and its remains, 5 ; perhaps occupied successive sites, 6, and II. 537; II. 495. ■ Sea of (Caspian), 6 1 ; II. 495. Saras Crane, 288. Sardines, II. 441. Sarghalan K., 164. Sarha, Port of Sumatra, II. 276. Sar-i-Kol, Lakes called, 171, 184. Sarsati, II. 421. Sartak, 11. Sati, see Suttee. 'Satin,' Probable origin of word, II. 224. Saum, Sommo, silver ingots used in Kipchak, II. 488 ; apparently the original iJitife, 489. Sauromatae, II. 464. Savah (Saba), 79, 81, 82. Savast (Siwas), 46. Sbdsalar, Georgian Generalissimo, II. 541. ' Scarans,' ' Carans,' see Scherani. Scasem, 163. ' Scherani,' 102. Schiltberger, Hans, 136. Schuyler, Mr. Eugene, II. 537. Scotra, see Socotra. Scott, Sir W., on Eustician, 58. Sea of India, 34, 64, 111, 176 ; ] of Chin, II. 245, 246. of England, II. 240. of Ghel or Ghelan, 64. of RocheUe, II. 246. of Sarain, II. 495. Seal, Imperial, 357 ; 410. of Pisan Prisoners, 55. Secreto, Nicolas, 6$. , Catharine, wife of Maff Younger, ib. Sees ; of Nestorian Church, 93, 1 213 ; of Roman Church, 194; SeUan, see Cet/lon. Self-decapitation, II. 334. Selitrennoi-Gorodok, 5, 5. ' SeUes, Chevaux a deux,' th 436. Semal Tree, II. 384. Semenat, see Somnath. Sempad, Armenian Prince, 194; Sendal, a Silk texture, II. 7, E 379, 462. Sendemain, K. of SeUan, II. 2 Sent, Verzino, 11. 368. Senshing, 314. Sensin, an Ascetic Sect, 293, 3 1 Sentemur, IL 81. See Isentem Sephar, II. 442. Sepulchre of Adam in Cey seqq.; 303, 304, 310. , OU from the Holy, 13, 1! Serano, Juan de, II. 278. Serazi (Shiraz), a Km. of Persi,' Serendib, II. 296. Seres ; — and Sina, 11 ; their T 120; Ancient character of tht Serpents ; Great, i.e. Alligators 66 ; — in the Diamond Valley, Sertorius, II. 332. Sesam6, 150, 153 ; IL 425. 'Sesnes,' the word, 287. Seth's Mission to Paradise, 141. Sevan Lake, 59. Severtsoff, M., shoots the (his P. ShabankAra or Shawankara (Sc 87. Shabar, Son of Kaidu, II. 45 7. Shachau (Sachiu), 206, 209. Shadow, Augury from length Shah Abbas, 301 ; his Court, 37 Jahan, 178. Shahr-i-Babek, 93. SHAHR-I-NAO. INDEX. SILK. 597 Shahr-i-Nao (Siam), II. 260. Mandi or — Pandi, II. 316. Shaibani Khan, II. 480. Shaikh-ul-Jihal, 148, 150, 151. Shaikhs (Esheks) in Madagascar, II. 403, 406. Shaliat, II. 437. Shamanism, 307, 317, 318 ; II. 79. See/'etiiV- Dancing. Shampath, ancestor of Georgian Kings, 54. Shamsuddin Shamatrani, II. 2B6. Shamuthera (Sumatra), II. 277. Shan (Laotian or Thai), 50, 51, 55, 59, 7?i 74, 75 ; 78 ; 95 ; Race and Country, II. 100; III; Dynasty in Yunnan, 59, 65; — , Ponies, 67; state of Pong, see Pong. Shanars of Tinneyelly, II. 80, 345. Shangking and Tungking, 337. Shangtu, Shangdu (Chandu, q. v.), 26, 294 seqq. ; Dr. Bushell's desc. of, 295 ; Kublai's Annual Visits to, 299, 396. Keibung, 297, 299. Shanhai-Kwan, 393. Shankirah, Shabankara (Soncara), 84, 87, 88. Shausi, II. 10 ; 11; 17; 18; 25; 125; 151. Shantung, II. 119 ; Silk in, 118, 119 ; 123 ; 126 ; Pears from, 192. Shaohing-fu, II. 204, 205, 2c6. Sharakhs, 156. Sharks and Shark-charmers, II. 314, 321. Shawankara, 87. Shaw, Mr. R. B., 268, 281. Shawls of Kerman, 96. Sheep ; Fat-tailed in Kerman, 99, loi ; with trucks behind, 102 ; Wild — of Badakh- shan, 166, 171; of Pamir, 181, 185, II. 538; none in Manzi, II. 204; Large In- dian, 348; — of Zanghibar, 415, 417; Singular at Shehr, II. 439, 441. Sheep's head given to Horses, II. 3 n- Shehr or Shihr (Esher), II. 437, 439, 440 ; 441, 442, 443 ; Shehri, II. 446. Shenrabs, 316. Shensi, II. 17; 19; 20; 21; 24; 25 ; 151. Shentseu Tribe, II. 103. Sheuping, II. 103, 104. Shewa Plateau, 171. Shibrgan (Sapurgan), 156, 157. Shien-sien, Shin-sien, 314, 315. Shieng, SJwng, or Sing, The Supreme Board of Administration, 417 seqq. ; II. 137. See Sing. Shighnan (Syghinan), 165, 168, 170. Shijarat Malayu or Malay Chronicle, II. 268, 270, 276, 277, 283, 285. Shikdrgdh, applied to Animal Pattern Tex- tures, 67. Shinking or Mukden, 337. Ships ; Chinese, 34, number of sails, 36 ; — of Hormuz, 111, 119; of the Great Kaan, II. 124 ; of Manzi or S. China, described, 231 ; their size, 234 ; accounts of them by other Medieval Authors ; construction, 234-23; ; frequenting Java, 256. Shiraz (Cerazi), 84 ; Wine of, 89. Shireghi, II. 460. Shirha, II. 433. Shirwan, II. 495, 496. Shi-tsung, Emperor, 301. Shoa, II. 430, 433. Shobaengs of Nicobar, II. 291. Shor Rud (Salt Kiver), 127. Shot of Military Engines, II. 141; 144, 147- 148; 152. Shulistin (Suolstan), 85. Shxils or Shauls, a People of Persia, 86, 89. Shut-up Nations, Legend of the, HI, 131 ; 52, 56. Shweli, R., II. 90. Siam, II. 258-260; King of, 239. Siangyang-fu (Saianfu), Alleged aid of the Poles in capturing, Xl, 109 ; II. 141 ; the Siege of, by Kublai's Forces, 131, 133, liO seqq. ; i50-]5r; difficulties in Polo's account, 15 r ; not removed by Pauthier ; notice by Wassaf ; the Chinese account ; Kashid's account, 152; Treasure buried during siege, 154, 156. Siberia, see II. 478 seqq. Sick Men put to death by their Friends and eaten, II. 275, 280. Siclatoun, a kind of Texture, 274; II. 7. Siddharta, II. 304. Sidi 'Ali, 160; II. 4; 393 ; 441 ; 452. Sien, Sien-Lo, Sien-Lo-Kok (Siam, Looac), II. 258-260. Sifan, II. 51. Sigatay, 191. See Chagatai. Sighelm, Envoy from K. Alfred to India, II. 344- Si-hu, The Lake of Kinsay or Hangchau ; Bright Descriptions of, 11. 170, 179, 187- 188; 183; 185; 189; 190; 191; 193; 197; 198. Sijistan, 104. Siju (Suthsian), II. 124. Sikintinju, 335, 337. Silk; called Ghelle (of Gilan), 54; grown. 598 SILK STUFFS. INDEX. SPERMACETI WHALES. II. 9 (see 17); 18; 25, ;3; 109; 118, irg; 123; 136; 139; 161; 163; 165; 166 ; 171 ; 200 ; 203 ; 308. Silk Stuffs and Goods ; of Turcomania, 46 ; of Georgia, 53 ; of Baghdad, 65 ; of Yezd, 89, 90; 92; 276; 399; II. 6, 31; 115; 117 ; 165, 166 ; 171 ; 208 ; in Animal Pat- terns, I. 65, 92; with Oheetas, 385 ; with Giraffes, II. 418. . and Gold Stuffs, 43 ; 62 ; 65 ; 75 ; 110 249, 276; 370; 374; 399; II. 6, 17, 18 115; 136; 139; 162; 165; 189; 379 404. Tent Ropes, 391 ;— Bed-furniture, 420. Trade at Cambaluc, 399 ; at Kinsay, II. 171. , Duty on, II. 200, and see I. 431. , Cotton Tree, II. 384. Silver ; Mines at Baiburt, 47 ; at Gumish Khana, 50; in Badakhshan, 166; in N. Shansi, 276, 286 ; in Yunnan, II. 77 ; Russian, 487, 488-489. imported into Malabar, II. 379, and Cambay, 388. Chair, 342, 346. Plate in Chinese Taverns, II. 170, 179- 180. Island, II. 157-15?. Simon, Metropolitan of Fars, II. 365. Magus, 306. Simum, Effects of, 111-113, 123. Simurgh, II. 408, 412. Sind, M. Sindabur (Goa), II. 379 ; 437. Sindachu (Siwanhwa-fu), 376, 286. Sindafu (Chingtu-fu), II. 39, 109, no. Sindbad ; his Story of the Diamonds, II. 349 ; of the Eukh, 410. Sindhu-Sauvira, Sindh-Sagor, 106. Sing, Shieng, The Board of Administration of a Great Province (in China), 417, 418 ; II. 23; 137, 138; 182; 221. Singan-fu (Kenjanfu), II. 17, 18, 19,21 sec/q.; the naipe in Polo, 23 ; Christian Inscrip- tion at, 21-23, 25, 26, 27. Singapore, Singhapura, 37; II. 262, 263. Singkel, II. 283. Singphos, II. 73, 74. Singtur, Mongol Prince, II. 93. Singuyli (Cranganore), II. 420. Sinhopala (Aooambale), K. of Chamba, II. 349, 25 r. Sinju (Siningfu), 266, 268. Sinju (Ichin-hien), II. 154. Sinjumatu, II. 119, 121, 122. Sinkaldn, Si'n-ul-Si'n, Mahachin, or Canton I. 285 ; II. 160, 225, 234. Sirdf, 66. Sirjan, 92, 98, 126. Sitting in Air, 307-308. Siuchau, II. 112, ri3, 114. Siva, II. 303. Siwanhwa-fu, see Sindachu. Si was (Savast), 46, 50. Siwastdn, II. 421. Siwi, Gigantic Cotton in, II. 384. Siga-gosh, or Lynx, 386. Sladen, Major, II. 67, 73, 74, 77, 89 ; 180. Slaves and Slave Trade at Venice, 2/, ; 70, 71. Sledges, Dog-, II. 479, 481, 482. Sling or Ziling, a woollen stuff, see Ziling. Sluices of Grand Canal, II. 160. Smith, Major, R.M.,R.E., 114, 115, 116, 126. Sneezing, Omen from, II. 351. Soaj), use of in Niival fights, S6. Socotra (Sootra), Island of, II. 396 ; 397; described, 398 ; account of, from ancient times, 400 seqq. Soer (Suhar), II. 334, 333. Sofala to China, Trade from, II. 391. Sogomon Borcan, 339. See Sagamoni. Sol, Arbre, see Arbre. Soldaia, Soldachia, Sudiik, lu, il,; 2, 3, 4. Soldau, a Melic, II. 469, 471. Soldurii or Trusty Lieges of Celtic Kings, II. 332. Soli, Solli, Km. of {Chola or Tanjore), II. 317; 319; 350, 354; 394. Solomon, House of, in Abyssinia, II. 430. Somnath (Semenat), II. 3B3 ; 389, 390-391.; gates of, 392, 394. Sonagar-pattanam, II. 359. Soncara {Sliawankdra), a Km. of Persia, 84, 87. Sender Bandi Davar, see Sundara Pandi. Sondur and Condur (Pulo Condore Group), II. 256. Sopracamito of a Galley, S7, M. Sorcerers, Sorceries ; of Pashai, 172, i.e. of Udyana, 173 ; of Kashmir, 175, 177 seqq., 399 ; Lamas and Tibetans, ib. ; 306 seqq. ; II. 41 ; of Dagroian, 275 ; of Socotra, 399, 402, 403. Sornau (i.e. Shahr-i-nau, Siam), II. 260. Soucat, II. 258. Spaan, or Ispahan, 84. Spelling Names in present Translation, Prin- ciples of, 1.37. Spermaceti Whales, II. 399, 400; 404, 407. 'SPEZERIE.' INDEX. SUR-RAJA. 599 ' Spezerie,' Sense of, 45, Spice, Spicery, 43 ; 62 ; 110 ; 208 ; 293 369 ; 427 ; II. 41 ; 47; 53; 97; 99; 106 184; 199; 246; 254; 261; 264; 289 292; 358; 379; 385; 416; 434; 448. Spioes iQ China, Duty on, II. 199, 217. Spioe Wood, 391, 394. Spikenard, II. 97; 254; 265, 268; 379. Spinello Aretini, Fresco by. Si, 12 r. Spirit Drawings, and Spiritual Flowers, 442. Spirits haunting Deserts, 203, 206 ; 266, Spiritualism ia China, 318. Spittoons, 410. Spodium, 129. Sport and Game, Notices of, in the Book. 43 ; 90 ; 92 ; 156 ; 158 ; 161 ; 166 ; 168 181; 182; 225; 244; 252; 267; 276 286 ; 290 ; 384 ; 388 segg.; 396 ; II. 8 ; 17 18; 25; 27; 47; 70; 92; 122; 124 136; 140 (2); 162; 163; 166; 184 190 ; 203 ; 204 ; 207 ; 208 ; 217 ; 266 282 ; 328 ; 371 ; 375. Springolds, II. 143. Sprinkling of Drink, a Tartar rite, 291, 300; II. 542. Squares at Kinsay, II. 191, 550. Sri-Thammarat, II. 259. Sri-Vaikuntham, II. 362. Star of Bethlehem, Traditions about, 83. Steamers on Yangtse-Kiang, II. 158. Steel ; Mines of, 91, 93 seqq. ; Indian, 94 ; Asiatic view of, 96. Stefani, Signer, 7, II. 507. Stiens of Kamboja, II. 67, 79. Stirrups, Short and Long, II. 64, 66. Stitched "Vessels, 111, 119. Stockade erected by Polo's Party in Suma- tra, II. 274. Stone, Miracle of the, at Samarkand, 192 seqq., 194: the Green — there, 195. Towers in Chinese Cities, II. 171. Umbrella, II. 195. Stones giving Invulnerability, II. 241, 244. Suakin, 435. Submersion of part of Ceylon, 11. 295, 296. Subterraneous Irrigation, 91 ; 127; 128. Suburbs of Cambaluc, 398. Subutai, Mongol General, II. 152. Suchau (Suju), II. 163 ; 165; 166; Ancient Plan of, on marble, 168; 182. Sudarium,the Holy, 215, 218. Suddodhana, II. 304, 305. Sugar; grown, II. 97; Manufacture, 199, 208, 213 ; Revenue from, 199 ; art of Re- fining, 208 ; 212 ; of Egypt and China, 213. ' See also Wine. Suhchau (Sukchu), 219, 220, 273 ; II. 167. Suicides before an Idol, II., 324-335, 334- Sukchu, see Suhchau, Sukchur, Province of, 219. Sukkothai, II. 259, 260. Sukldt, a stuff, 274. Suleiman, Sultan of Yunnan, II. 60, 65. Sulphur and Quicksilver, Potion of Longe- vity, II. 352, 356. Sultaniah, Monument at, 11. 478. Sultan Shah of Badakhshan, 172. Sumatra, Island of (Java the Less), 2«, 11? ; II. 264 ; circuit, ib., 266 ; application of the name Java, ib. ; its gold, 268 ; its King- doms, ib. and 288; 270, 279, 283, 285. Pp. 264-289 are occupied with this Island. , Samudra, City and Kingdom of (Sa- mara, for Samatra), II. 276; Legend of Origin ; Ibn Batuta there, and others ; Position; latest mention, 269 ; 286. Sumbawa, 11. 267. Summers, Professor, II. 258. Sumutala, Siimuntala (Sumatra), II. 278. Sun and Moon, Trees of the, 133 seqq. Sundar Fuldt (Pulo Condore Group), II. ^5 7- Sundara Pandi Devar (Sondar Bandi Da- var), a King in Ma'bar, II. 313, 315 ; death of, 316 ; Dr. Caldwell's views about, 317 ; 318-320. Another, II. 316; and yet another, 317- Sung, a Native Dynasty reigning in Southern China till conquered by Kublai, 11 • their Pajier-Money ; effeminacy of, II. 15, 128, 189 seqq. ; Kublai's War against, 131-134, 151-152, 164; end of them, 134; 176, 177. See Manzi, King of. Sunnis and Shias, 153-154. Suolstan (Shulistanj, a Km. in Persia, 84, 86. Superstitions ; in Tangut, the devoted Sheep, 207; the Dead Man's Door, 208, 211 ; as to chance shots, 426 ; Remarkable in Cara- jan, II. 64, 67-69; about devil-dancing, 71 ; about touching property of the dead, 92; of Suraatraii People, 275, 280; of Malabar, 323 seqq. ; as to omens, 327, 351. Sur-Raja, II. 361. 6oo SURVIVAL. INDEX. TARTAR LANGUAGE. 'Survival,' Instances of, 2x0; 11. 76. Taianfu (Thaiyuan-fu), II. 7 ; described, 8. Sushun, Regent of China, E.xecution of (1861), Taioan (Thaikan, Talikan), see Talikan. 415- Taichau (Tiju), II. 138. Suttees in S. India, II. 325, 334; of men, T'aiching-Kwan, 2r. 33'- Taidu or Daitu, Eublai's New City of Cam- Swans, Wild, 286, 287. baluo, q. v., 296; 362, 363. Swat, 168, 188. Taikung, see Tagaung. Eiver, 173. Tailed Men; in Sumatra, II. 282; else- Syghinan (Shighnin, q. v.), 165. where, 284; Englishmen, i6. Sylen (Ceylon), II. 420. Tailors, none in Maabar, II. 322. Symbolical Messages, Scythian and Tartar, 11. Taimiini Tribe, 102. 499. 5°o- Taiting-fu (Tadinfu) or Yenchau, II. 1 1 9. Syrian Christians, II. 365 seqq. ; 428. Taitong-fu, see Tathung. Sijrrhaptes Pa&su (Barguerlao), 264; im- Taiyang Khan, II. 542. migration of this bird into England, 265. Tajiks, 162, 168. Szechwan, II. 24, 25, 26, 29, 31, 33, 37, 38, Takfur, II. 131. 39. 50. 5 J. 5 7. "0. 117- Taki-uddin-al-Thaibi, II. 316. Talains, II. 59. , Talas, R., II. 457. Tali-fu (City of Carajan), II. 57 ; 59 ; 65 ; T. 87; 90; 93. Talikan, Thaikan (Taioan), 160, 1 61-16 2, TabasMr, II. 244; 386. 179. Tahellionato of Notaries, 72. Tallies, Record by, II. 70, 78. Table of the Great Kaan, 368. Tamarind, how used by Pirates, II. 383. Tables, how disposed at Mongol Feasts, 37r. Tana (Azov), 9, il, 70, Tablet, the Emperor's, adored with Incense, (near Bombay), Km. of, II. 353 ; 383 ; 378, 379. 385, 386; 394, 395 ; 420; 437. Tablets worshipped by the Cathayans, 437, Maiambu, II. 386. 440. Tanasi cloth, ib. Tablets of Authority, Golden (or Pdiza'i); Tanduc, see Tenduo. presented by the Kaan to the Brothers Tangnu-oolla, a branch of Altai, 217. Polo, 15 ; their powers and privileges ; Tangut, Prov. of, 207, 209 ; applications of again presented, 34; bestowed on distin- the name, ih.; 216, 219, 221, 222, 225, guished Captains, 341 ; their nature and 226; 240; 266, 268; 272, 273. inscriptions, ib. ; Lion's-Head Tablets and Tanjore, II. 317, 318, 319; Suttees at, 334; Gerfalcon Tablets, 35 and 342. Note on the 337; Fertility of, 355. subject, 342 seqq. ; — granted to Gover- Tiinkiz Khan (applied to Chinghiz), 242. nors of different rank, 417 ; Cat's Head, Tanpiju (Shaohing ?), II. 203 seqq. 347- Tantras, Tantrika, Tantrists, 307, 316, 318. Tabriz (Tauris), 23, 75, 77; II. 473, 476, Taosse' Sect, 314 seqq.; persecuted under 496. Kublai, ib. ; names applied to ; Practices Tachindo, see Tathsianlu. and Rites, 315; application of the name to Tactics, Tartar, 254-255, 258 ; II. 458. Foreign Heretics, 317-318. 'Taouin,' 433, 434. Tapa-shan, II. 27, 29. Tadinfu, II. 118, 121. Taproiana, Mistakes about, II. 277. Taeping (or Taiping) Sovereigns' Effeminate Tarakai, II. 474. Customs, II. 15. Tarantula, II. 329, 351. Taeping Insurrection and Devastations, 304 ; ' Taroasci,' the word, 358. II. 138, 140, 158, 160, i6i, 162,163, ^68, Tarem, or Tarum, 87, 126. 179, 206. Tares of the Parable, 126. Tafurs, 305. Tarmabala, grandson of Kublai, 353. Tagachar, II. 470, 473. Tamil, Burmese name for Chinese, II, 94. Tagaung, II. 89, 93, 95. Mau, and — Myo, 95. Taiaiii, II. 426. Tartar Language, 12. TARTAR. INDEX. THOMAS, MR. 60 I Tartar ; or Tatar ? 12; proper use of the term, ib. ; misuse of, by Ramusio, see 440. , Tartars, 1; 4; 6; 10; 13; 62; different characters used by, 28 ; identified with Gog and Magog, 56; — Ladies, 7 7 ; 79 ; 91 ; 98 ; 99; 100; 113; 126; 168;their first city,a27; their original country ; tributary to Prester John, ib. ; their Revolt and Migration, 228 ; make Chinghiz their King, 233 ; his Suc- cessors, 241 ; their Customs, 244 ; Houses, &c., ib., 245 ; Waggons, 244, 246 ; Chas- tity of Women, 244, 248 ; Polygamy, ib., their Gods, 248; and Domestic Idols; their Drink, Kemiz (Kiimiz), 249 ; Clothing ; Xote on Tartar Religion, 249 ; on Kumiz, 250 ; their Arms and Horses, 252 ; their Military Organization ; their sustenance on rapid marches, 253 ; their Portable Curd ; Mode of Engaging, 254 ; present degene- racy, 255 ; Note on their Arms, 255 ; Decimal Organization ; Blood-sucking ; Portable Curd, 257 ; Tactics and Cruelties ; Administration of Justice, 259 ; Marriage of deceased young couples, ib. and 260 ; the Cudgel among them, 259, 260 ; Punish- ment of Theft ; Rabruquis's account of, 231; Joinville's, 233; their Custom to play and sing in concert before a Fight, 329 ; their want of Charity to the Poor, 432-433 ; their objection to meddle with things pertaining to the Dead, H. 92 ; Ad- miration of the Polo mangonels, 142 ; their own employment of Military Engines, 152 seqq. ; their Cruelties, 165 ; their excel- lence in Archery, 86 ; their equipment with Arrows of two sorts, 458 ; their Mar- riage Customs, I. 33 ; 245; II. 466. in the Far fforth, 11. 478. of the Levant, see Levant. of the Ponent, see Ponent. Tartary Cloths, 285-286. Tatar, see Tartar above. Tatariya coins, 12. Tat'sianlu or Tachindo, II. 37, 38, 39, 4°, 44, 5', 55, 5 7- Tat'sing R., II. 1 1 9, 125. Tattooing, II. 69, 74; 99, roi ; 207, 209; Artists in,' 218, 224; 277, 280. Tat'ung or Taitongfu, 240, 277, 288. Tauriz, see Tabriz. Taurizi, Torizi, 76, 77. Tawalisi, II. 464. Taxes ; see Customs, Duties, Tithe. Tcliakiri Mondou, 394. Tea, ignored by Polo, 108. Tea-Trees in Eastern Tibet, II. 50. Houses at Kingszd, II. 179-180. Tebet, see Tibet. Tedaldo, see Theobald. Teeth ; custom of casing, in Gold, II. 69, 72-73, 74; — of Adam, or of Buddha, 301, 311, 312; Conservation of — by the Brahmans, 361. Tegana, II. 470. Teimur (Temur), Grandson and successor of Kublai, 351, 352, 353; II. 132, 457. See Timur. Tekla, Hamainot, II. 342. Telo Samawe, 11. 277. Tembul (Betel), chewing, II. 388, 362. Terakan, son of Kublai, 353. Temple, Connection of the Order of the, with Cilician Armenia, 25. , Master of the, 23, 25. Temple's account of the Condoi', II. 4ro. Temujin, see C/iinghiz. Tenduo or Tanduo, Plain of, 236, 237; Province of, 276, 276, 279. Tengri, the Supreme Deity of the Tartars, 249, 250. Tennasserim, 11. 260, 268 ; (Tanasari) 296. Tents, The Kaan's, 390, 394-395. Terebinth, 129; of Mamre, 136, 140, 142. Terldn, a Goshawk, 98. Teroa Mountains, II. 413. Terra Australis, II. 255, and see 26r. Terzarmli, SO. Thai, Great and Little, II. 259 ; 267. Thaigin, II. 19, 20, 21. Thaiyuanfu (Taianfu), II. 8, 9, 11. T'ang Dynasty, II. 22, 177. Thard-mahsh, see Beast and Bird Patterns. Theatre, Malibran, S7. Theft, Tartar Punishment of, 259, 260. Theistic Worship, 437, 441. Thelasar, II. 425. Theobald or Tedaldo of Piaoenza, 17; chosen Pope, as Gregory X., 20 ; Notes on election and character, 2 1 ; sends two friars with the Polos, and presents for the Kaan, 22; 23. Theodorus, K. of Abyssinia, II. 432. Theophilus, a Missionary, II. 401. Thin I'Eveque, Siege of, II. 144, 149. Thinae of Ptolemy, II. 2T. Tholoman, see Coloman. Thomas, see St. Thomas. of Mancasola, Bishop of Samarkand, 194 , Mr. Edward, 11, 98, 147, 345. 6o2 THOMSON, MR. INDEX. TREVISAN. Thomson, Mr. J.; his photographs, II. 544. Thread, Brahmanical, II. 350. ' Three Kingdoms ' (San-Kae), II. 31. Thresliolcl, To step on the, a great offence, 370, 372. Thuran Shah's Hist, of Hormuz, 124. T'ian-Shan, 185, 186, 198; il. 457. T iaute-Kiun, 277. Tibet (Tebet), Province of, II. 31, 33 ; 37, 40-42; Botindary of, 31; its acquisition by the Mongols obscure, 3 2 ; organization under Kublai, ib. ; dogs of, 37, 41, 44 ; 49; 55; 5 7- Tibetan ; language and character, 29; — origin of Yuechi, 183. Tibetans, 77; Superstitions of, 210-211 ; and Kashmiris (Tebet and Kesimur), sor- ceries of, 292 seqq., 306 seqq. ; accused of cannibalism, 292, 302; also see Til)et. Tides in Hangchau Estuary, II. 134; 191. Tierce, Half-Tierce, &c., Hours of, II. 351, 355- Tiflis, 59. Tigado, Castle of, 154. Tigers; trained to the chase, 384, 386; in Kvveichau, II. 110; bxit see Lions. Tigris, E., The Volga so called. 5, 9 ; at Baghdad, 64. Tigudar (Acomat Soldan), II. 466. Tiju, II. 137, 138. Tiles, Enamelled, 355, 358-9. Tilinga, Telingana, Tilink, Telenc, II. 348, 42 r. Timur (the Great), 195 ; II. 150. 7'mj7, 10 Taels of Silver (equivalent to a tael of Gold), 413 ; II. 200-202. Tinnevelly, II. 358, 360, 394. Tintoretto, Picture by Domenico, SS, SB. Titlie on clothing material, 431. Tithing Men, Chinese, II. 183. Tjajya, see Choiach. Tod, Colonel James, 185, 191. Toddy, see AWine of Palm. Togan, II. 470, 473. Toghon-Teraur, last Mongol Emperor, his Wail, 296. Togrul Wang Khan, 232, 235. See Prester John. Toktai Khan (Toctai, Lord of the Ponent), 71 ; II. 487, 491, 493 ; 497 seqq. ; Wars of, with Koghai, 498 seqq. ; his symbolic message, 499. Tolobuga, see Tijlabugha. Tolon-nur, see Bolun-nur. Toman (Tuman), Mongol word for 10,000, or a Corps of that number ; or a sum of that amount; 102, 253, 255 ; II. 175, 183, 200, 202 ; 4fio. Tomb of Adam, see Adam. Tongking, Tungking, II. loi, 103, in ; 248. Tooth-Eelique of Buddha, II. 301; its history, 311— 312. Torchi, Dorje, First-born of Kublai, 352-353. Tomesel, 409, 412 ; II. 535. Toro R., 337. Torshok, II. 489. Torture by constriction in raw Hide, II. 244. ' Tosoaol ' or Watchman, 389 ; the word, 393- Totamangu, Totamangul, see Tudai- Tower and BeU, Alarm, at Peking, 363, 365 ; at Kinsay, II. 172. Tozan (Tathung ?), 278. Trade, Dumb, II. 486. of India with Hormuz, 110 ; with Egypt, by Aden, 434, 43 5-6 ; with Esher, 439 ; with Dofar, 441 ; with Calate, 448. at Layas, I. 43 ; by Baudas, 64 ; at Tauris, 75 ; at Cambaluc, 399 ; on the Caramoran, II. 17 ; on the Great Kiang, 30, 155; at Chinangli, 117; at Sinju Matu, 121 ; at Kinsay, 170, 172, 173, 185, 199 ; at Fuchau, 213 ; at Zayton, 217 ; at Java, 254 ; at Malaiur, 261 ; at Cail, 357 ; at Coilum, 363 ; in Melibar, 378 ; at Tana, 385 ; at Cambaet, 388 ; in Kesmacoran, 392 ; at Socotra, 399. Trades in Manzi, alleged to be hereditary, II. 170; correction of this, 178. ' Tramontaine,' II. 279. Transmigration, 438 ; II. 196; 300. Traps for Fur Animals, II. 480, 483. Travancore, II. 372 ; 394; Raja of, 368. Treasure of Kings of Maabar, II. 324, 332. Trebizond, il; 36 ; 47 ; Emperors of, and their Tails, 11. 284. Trebuchets, II. 141, 143 seqq. See Military Engines. Trees ; of the Sun and Moon, &c., 133 seqq., see Arbre Sol and Arbre Sec ; superstitions .about, 135, 136, 140, 142; by the High- ways, 426; which give Camphor, II. 217; producing Wine, II. 274, 279, 282, 295; producing Flour, 282. See Pepper, Brazil, Indian-Nut, &c. 'Tregetour,' the word, 373. Trevisan, Jordan, 18, 2h, liJ. , Fiordelisa, ib. •, Maroca and Pictro, no. TREVISAN. INDEX. UTTUNGADEVA. 603 Trevisan, Azzo, 7, 71 ; Domenico, 8. Turquans, or Turkish Horses, 45. , Marc' Antonio, Doge, 8, 77. Turmeric, II. 209. Trincomalee, II. 322. Turquoises ; in Kerman, 91, 93 ; in Caindu, Tringano, II. 260. n. 45. Trinkat, II. 291. Turtle-doves, 99. ' Trusty Lieges,' Devoted Comrades of K. Turumpak, Hormuz, 114. of Maabar, II. 323, 3 J 2. Tutia ; Preparation of, 129, 1 30 ; II. 388. T'sang-chau, II. 116, 119. Tuticorin, II. 359, 360. Tseut'ung, II. 219. Tut'song, Sung Emp. of China, 11. 134; J94. Tsia-iu)-Kiv,n (' General ') II. 120, 244. Tver, 11. 489. Tsien-Tang E., II. 177, 181, 191, 198; 204- Twelve ; a favourite round number, II. 420. 206 ; Bore iu the, 134, 191. Barons over the Kaan's Administra- T'sinan-fu (Chinangli), 11. 119, 120. tion, 417 ; II. 137. T'siug-chau, II. 120. Twigs, or Arrows, Divination by, 237, 238. Tsing-chau, Kwei-hwa-chinoj, or Kuku Kho- Tyumau, II. 480. tan, 277, 279, 281. Tyunju Porcelain Manufacture, 11. 818. T'sing-ling, II. 27, 28, 29. Tzarev, 6. T'sining-chau, II. 119, 122. Tsintsun, II. 212. T'siuan-chau, T'swanchau, see Zayton. XJ. Tsiusima Island, II. 242. Tsongkhapa, Tibetan Reformer, 306. Ucaoa, (Ukak, Ukek, Uwek), a City on the Tsukuzi in Japan, II. 242. Volga, 5 ; account of, 8 ; The Ukak of Ibn Tsung-ngan-hien, II. 206, 212. Batuta a different place, II. 488. Tuo, Tuk, or Turjli, the Horse-tail or Ysik- Uch'h II. 420; Multan, 1. 87; — baligh. tail Standard, 253, 255-256. 129. Tudai, wife of Ahmad Khan, II. 469. Udyana, 173. Tudal-Mangku (Totamangu or Totaman- ITghuz, Legend of, II. 485. gul), II. 491, 493 ; 497, 498, 500. Uighur Character, 14 ; 29, 30 ; 169 ; 344 (and Tughan, Tukan, son of Kublai, 353 ; II. 25 i. see plate at 11. 472). Tughlak Shah, a Karaunah, 103. s; 77; 216; 228; 230; II. 164; 460. Tulabugha (Tolobuga), II. 497, 499. Uiraca, 273. Tuli, or Tului, Fourth Son of Chinghiz, 10 ; Uirad, see Oimd. II. 26. Ujjain; Legend of, IL 334; (O^ene), 387; Tuman^ see Toman. 420. Tuniba, Angelo di, ^U ; Marco de, G3. Ulahai, 273. Tun, aCity of E. Persia, 87. Ulatai, II. 470, 473 ; also see I. 32, 33. Tungan, in Fokien, II. 225, 227. Ulugh Bagh, on Badakhshan border, 161. TmKjani, or ' Converts,' a class of Mahome- Uman and Peman ('Black and White Bar- dans in Northern China and Chinese Tur- barians'), II. 59. kestan, 281, 282. Umbrellas, 342, 345. Tungchau (Tinju), II. 137. Uno Can (Aung Khan), see Prester John. Tungkwan, Fortress of, II. 10, 19, 20, 21. Ung (Ungkiit), a Tartar Tribe, 276, 285. Tunguses. 263. Ungrat (Kungurat), a Tartar Tribe, 348, 350. Tmmy-flsh, 102, 109, II. 439. Unicom, i. e. Rhinoceros (in Burma), II. 89 ; Tunooain (Tiin-o-Kain), a Km. of Persia, (in Sumatra), 265, 282 ; Legend of Virgin 84,87; 131, 132, 143, 151. and, 266, 272 ; Horns of, 273. Turbit, 11.379, 380. Unken, 11. 208. Turcomania (Anatolian Turkey), 45, 46. Unlucky Hours, 11. 351. Turkey, Great, i.e. Turkestan, 198; II. Unyamwezi Superstition, 134. 267; 451,465-456,460; 476. Urduja, Princess, 11. 464. Turkman, 46, 104; Turkmans and Turks, Uriangkadai, 11. 38. distinction between, 46 ; — Horses, 46, 46. Uriangkiit (Tunguses), 263. Turks ; Ancient Mention of, 56 ; — and Mon- Urumtsi, 216. gols, 285 ; Turk friend of Polo's, 215. Uttungadcva, K. of Java, IL 255. 6o4 UWEK. INDEX. WHALES. Uwek, see Ucaca. Uzbeg Khan, 343. s of Kunduz, see Murad j Vair (The Fur and Animal), 249 ; II. 480, 483, 484, 487, 489. as an epithet of Eyes, IW; 369. Vambe'ry, Prof. Hermann, 29, 216, 281, 299, 350,368,388; 11.463. Van, Lake, 59. Vanchu (Wangchu) ; 97 ; conspires with Chenchu against Ahmad, 403 ; is slain, 404. Varaegian, Varangian, II. 490. Varaha Mihira, 107. Varini^ II. 490. Varsach R., 163. Vasmulo, 283. Vateria Indioa, II. 387. Vellalars, II. 360. Venddan, Title of K. of Kaulam, II. 368. Venetian pronunciation, 97, 137. Venice and Genoa, Rivalry and Wars of, S9 seqq. ; Peace of 1299 between, 50. , 3 ; Return of Polos to, i, 23, 52, 36 ; exaltation of, after Latin conquest of Con- stantinople, 9 ; Nobles of, li; 15; le ; Man- sion of Polos at, « seqq. ; Galleys of, SO seqq. ; mode of levy for an expedition, ii- ; Arrogance of, A5 ; Curious deposits of Ar- chives at, 68 ; the Decima at, 69 ; Money of, S6; and II. 533 ; Guilds at, 70; Slavery and slave-trade at, ii. ; old Maps at, 107 ; 1 ; 2 ; 18 ; 19 ; 43 ; articles brought from the East to — by Marco, 266, 267, II. 282, 288. Ventilators at Hormuz, II. 450, 451. Verbiest, Father, II. 544. ' Verniques,' the word, 369, 371. Verzino Colomhino, and other kinds of Ver- zino (or Brazil q. v.), II. 368. Vessels oa the Kiang ; Vast numbers of, II. 155, 156, 157 ; their size, ib. See Ships. Vijayanagar, II. 349. Vikramajit, Legend of, II. 334. Vikrampiir, II. 82. Villard de Honcourt, Album of, II. 148. Vineyards ; in Taican, 160 ; in Kashgar, 190 ; in Khotan, 196 ; in N- China, II. 6, 7,9, 11; 45. Virgin of Cape Comorin, II. 372, 552. Visconti, Maifeo, of Milan, 50. Visconti, Tedaldo or Tebaldo (Pope Gregory X.), 18; 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. Vochan (or Unohan, Yungchang), II. 69, 71, 73 ; 77; Battle there, 80-8 7. Vokhan, see Wakhan. Volga; called Tigris, 5, 9; 6, 8; IL 485, 488. Vughin, II. 166. Vuju (in Kiangnan), ib. (in Chekiang), 11. 203. W. Wakhan (Vokhan); Dialect of, 168; 181; 182. Walaslijird, 109. Wall; of Alexander (or Caucasian), 52, 55 ; II. 537; another, 55 ; of Gog and Magog, i.e. of China, 108, 83, 285 ; of Peking, 362, 365. Walnut-oil, 166, 171. Wang, (Chinese Title), 232, 353 ; II. 9;. Wangchu (Vanohu q. v.). Wareg, Warang (Oroecli ?\ II. 490. Wassaf, The Historian 'Abdullah, son of Fazl- ullah of Shiraz, surnamed; perhaps drew information from Polo personally, 117-118 ; his character of the Karaunas, 103 ; his notices of Hormuz, 125 ; his eulogy of Kublai, 323; 367; 419; story of Kublai, 426 ; his account of the taking of Siang- yang, II. 133, 151; of Kinsay, 196; of Ma'bar, 315 seqq. ; of the Horse Trade to India, 333; of the treatment of Horses there, 336; his extravagant style, 133; sample of it, 496 ; 499 ; 550. Water ; Bitter, (see that woi-d) ; Custom of lying in. 111, 123 ; consecration by Lamas, 300. Clock, 365, 366; II. 547. Wathek, the Khalif, 58. Weather Conjuring, see Conjuring. Wei R. (in Shensi), II. 21. ■ (in Shantung), II. 122. Weights and Measures, II. 534 seqq. Weining, II. 113, X14. Wen E. (Do.), II. 122. Whale-oil, including Spermaceti , oil. 111, 1 19 ; II. 399, 400. Whales, II. 231 ; taken in Socotra, 399 ; and Madagascar, 404, 407 ; Species of the Indian Ocean, 400; sperm-whale (oap- doUle), 404, 407. WHEATEN BREAD. INDEX. YARLIGH. 605 Wheaten Bread, not eaten, 434; 11. 63, 60. Wheeler, Mr. J. T., II. 551. ' WMte City,' meaning of this term among Tartars, 287 ; II. 10 ; of the Mauzi Frontier, 28. ; Camels, 272; Horses and Mares, 291, 377 ; II. 543 ; ofiered to the Kaan, I. 299. Feast, at the Kaan's Court, 376, 378; 11. 543. Devils, II. 341, 346 ; — Horde, II. 480. Whittington and his Cat in Persia, 56. ■Wild Asses and Oxen, see Asses, Oxen. William of Tripoli, Friar, 21 ; his writings, 23, 24. Williamson, Rev. A., 140; II. 6, 7, 8, II, 12; 17, 22; 120. Wind, Poison-, 111-112, 123; Monsoons, II. 246. Wine of the Vine ; in Persia, 85 ; Boiled, «6., 89, 160, 162 ; laxity of Persians ahout, 89, 98 ; of ancient Eiipisa, 162 ; of Khotan, 196, and note; in Shansi, II. 9, 11 ; im- ported at Kinsay, 184. from Bice (Samshu or ckirdsun), 427 ; II. (and of wheat) 47, 50 ; 62 ; 70 ; 99 ; 106; 184; 186; 200; 416; 439. . of the Palm (Toddy) II. 274, 282; 296. from Sugar (Arrack), II. 364, 439. from Dates (Do.), 110, 118; II. 416; 439. (unspecified), at the Kaan's Table, 369 ; 379; Not used in Ma'bar, II. 326; nor by Brahmans, 360. 'Winter,' used for 'Rainy Season,' II. 381. Wisus or Wesses, a People of Russia, 11. 486. Women ; of Kerman, their embroidery, 92 ; mourners, 112 ; of Khorasan beautiful, 131 ; of Badalshshan, 168 ; of Kashmir, 176 ; of Khotan, 198 ; of Camul, fair and wanton, 212 ; of the Tartars, good and loyal, 244 ; of Erguiul, pretty creatures, 267; of the town, 398, and II. 185 ; of Tebet, evil customs, 36 ; also in Caindu, 45, and in Carajan, 63 ; of Zardandan, and their strange custom, 70 ; of Anin, 101; of Kinsay, charming, II. 170; Re- spectful Treatment of, 187 ; of Zanghibar, Frightful, 416 ; and see under Marriage, Beauty. , Island of, II. 397 seqq. Wonders performed by the Baosi, 292 seqq. ; 339- Wood, Lieutenant John, Indian Navy, 19; 165 ; his excellent elucidations of Polo in the Oxus Regions, 183 seqq. Wood-oil, II. 232. Wool, Salamander's, 316, 218. Worship of Mahomed, Supposed, 196- (see MaJtomed); by the Bacsis, 293; of Fire, 294; Tartar, 248-249; Chinese, 437. of the first object seen in the Day, II. 266. Wuchau (Vuju), II. 206. Wukiang-hien (Vughin?), II. 168. Wylie, Mr. Alexander, and Debts of this book to him. See Prefaces, and W; 29; 314; 364; II. 23; 31; 154; 168; 177; 191 ; 195 ; 311 ; on Prester John and the Golden King, 542 seqq.; on ancient astro- nomical Instruments at Peking, 544 seqq. ; on Fangs, the supposed Town squares of Kinsay, 550. X. ' Xanadu,' 296. Xavier ; at Socotra, II. 401 ; his Church at Cape Comorin, 549. Y. Yachau, II. 37, 40, 57. Yachi City (Yuunan-fu), II. 52, 53, 54, 58, 59,. 61, 65, 71, 93. Tadah, Yadagari, Yadah-tdsh, the Science and Stone of the Weather-Conjuror, 300, 301. Yajuj and Majiij, see Gog and Magog. Yak, described, 366, 268, 269; its size and • horns, ib. ; cross-breeds, 266, 269 ; its hair (tails) carried to Venice, 266 ; much used in India for military decoration, II. 341, 345. See Tuc. Ya'kub Beg of Kasghar, 197. Yakuts, II. 483. Yalung R., II. 37, 55. ' Yam ' or ' Yamb ' (a post-stage or post- house), 420, 423 ; II. 196. Yamgan, 170. Tangchau (Yanju), City of, 419; II. 137, 138; Marco's government there, m, II. 137, 139; 154; Province of, 218. Yarbeg of Badakhshan, 164. Yarkaud (Yaroan), 195. Yarligh and Paizah, 315, 343. 6o6 VASDI. INDEX. ZURPICAR. Yasdi (Yezd), 89. , a stuff so called, ib. Fas/mi (i.e. Jade), 199. Yasodhara, bride of Sakya Sinha, II. 304. Yavanas, II. 359. Ydifu, 276. Year, Chinese, 3 75 ; Mi/tgol and Chinese — Cycle, 433, 455. Yelimaia (Mt. d'Ely), II. 375. Yeliuchutsai, Statesman and Astronomer, II. 12; 546,548. Yellow or Orthodox Lamas, 307, 317. Yemen, II. 426, 428, 436, 438, 442 ; and see Aden. Yenchau (in Shantung), II. 119, 122. (in Chekiang), II. 206. Yenking (Old Peking), 363, 364. Yenshan, II. 206. Yesubuka, II. 473. Yesudar, II. 45 7- Yesugai, Father of Chinghiz, 232. Yetsina (Etzina), 226. Yezd (Yasdi), 89 ; — silk.s, ib. and II. 7. Youth, Island of, II. 369. YprSs, John of, his notice of Polo and work, 117. Yrao, 75. Ysermin of Hhdie, Western Engineer, II. 152. J"m, see Jade. Yue'chi, 183. Yuen, Mongol Imperial Dynasty so styled, 364; II. 77- ming-Yiien Palace, 298. Yugria or Yughra, in the Far North, II. 483, 485 ; 494- Yukshan or Yukshan Portage, II. 205, 2o5. Yungchang-fu (Shensi), 268. (Yunnan, Vochan, q. v.), II. 73, 74 ; 87, 88, 89, go- Yunnan Province (Carajan q. v.), Marco's Mission to, m, 28 ; II. 3 seqq. ; I. 326 ; II. 32; 37; conquest of, 38, 65 ; 48; 49, 50, 51:52,53, 55.57,59- 60,61; Recent Ma- homedan independence in, 60, 65 ; 6 7 ; 74 ; 77; 78; 82; 87; 89; 97; 103; 107; no; III ; 112. City (Yachi q. v.), II. 53, 55, 57, 61; 65; 93; 103; 114. Yuthia, Ayuthia (i.e. Ayodhya) (med. capital of Siam), 32; II. 259, 260. Zaila', II. 406 ; 430; 433. Zajtenia/!, probably origin of ' Satin,' II. 224. Zampa (Champa or Chamba), II. 251. Zanghibar (Zangibar, Zanjibar, Zanzibar) ; II. 397 ; 403, 404 ; Ivory Trade, 406, 416 ; Currents off, 407 ; 4r5 ; the name, *. ; described, 415 ; its Blacks ; Women ; ap- plication of the name,, 417; 426. Zanton (Shantung?), 3. Zardandan or ' Gold-Teeth,' a People of Western Yunnan, II. 69; the name, 108, and II. 73; identity doubtful, 73-74; the characteristic customs, 74 seqq. ; 81. Zayton, Zaitiiu, Zeiton, (^ayton (T'swan- chau ; Chwanchau or Ohinchew of modern charts), the great Medieval Port of China, II. 160; 213, 214, 215, 216; described, 217 seqq. ; Kaan's Revenue from, ib. ; porce- lain, 218 ; 225 ; language peculiar, ib. and 227 ; its identity, 219 seqq. ; supposed ety- mologies of name ; medieval notices, 220- 221; Chinchew a name misapplied, 222; objections raised recently to identity of Zayton with T'swanchau, 222; how far they affect Editor's view, 223 ; present state of T'swanchau ; derivation of Satin, 224; 225; ships built at, 234; 237; ships of, 246; 247; merchants of, 254; 368. Zebu, lOi. Zedoary, II. 3 7 7. Zenier, Abate, US. Zerms (Jerms), II. 435. Zerumbet, II. 377. Zettani, II. 224. Zhafar (Dhafar, Dofar), II. 441, 442 seqq. Zio (Circassia), II. 491, 493. Zimrae', see Eiang-mai. Zinc, 130. Zinj, Zingis, II. 114, 417, 418, 420. Zobeideh, the Lady, 164. Zodiac, Chinese, and Stellar spaces, II. 548. Zorza, II. 244. See Chorolia. Zii'lkarnain (Zulcamian, i. e. Alexander), 165, 169. Zurpicar (Zii'lfikar), a Turk friend of Marco Polo, 215. FINIS. LONDON : PEIXTKD BT WILLTAM CLOWES AND SOKS, STAMFOKD STREET, AND CHAHIHG CltOSS. tiiiKf ril-rsr-.-j*?^ J:j.< -t f._4->i iJ-+_^_^ i '_^^ #j:*_Y < *jf^->i >j-+_^_< -tjf-^-^ f S4^ ^ J. A, A<. /^ A >, 1 <'-i^-^ ^v ^ -l--^ ^ <-'-r^-*'''l^